with students in the democratic republic of congress. >> a flight nightmare. dozens stuck in the tarmac all night long. oh, my goodness, how would you like to be trap there had? what happened and why it's sparked new calls for a passenger's bill of rights. a white house preparing for a fight. president obama ready to hit the road in a few hours to sell his plan for health care reform. he'll be canvassing the country holding three town hall meetings. they're calculated to ease the fears of millions of americans who don't want the government to mess with their health care. one woman packed a senior center in north arlington, new jersey. here's her concern -- >> my opinion is we have the best health care in the world. they have lost -- where are we going to go? if this bill passes -- [ inaudible ]

>> in a moment, brianna keiler will be live from missouri where tempers flared in another town hall meeting. we're talking about the president tweaking his message as he heads to new hampshire. is that a sign that the administration is concerned about the ratcheting up of this debate that's going on around the country? >> they're trying to tackle some of the criticisms head on. the white house is trying to aim its message, kiran, more directly to people who have health insurance. we heard white house officials refer to this now not as health care reform but health insurance reform. you can expect president obama to hit on familiar themes, things like making sure insurance companies can't deny someone coverage buzz of pre-existing conditions. things like putting a cap on out of pocket expenses. the same time the administration is concerned about the critics.

it's launched on its website -- a thing called reality check. this is a sign that the white house is concerned -- some of the arguments might be getting traction. so this is just the latest tool, the so-called reality check that the white house is using to try to counter some of the criticisms out there, kiran. >> we heard the president address it in his weekly radio address where he said, you know, don't listen to some of the misinformation out there. but other than that, we haven't had a reaction from the fireworks of the town hall meetings. any insight to what the president thinks about them. >> the president briefly talked about this yesterday in new mexico. look, it's a healthy thing to have a vigorous debate he believes necessary right now. he believes health care reform cannot wait. the president thinks it's not constructive, productive, when you have people outshouting or trying to outshout other people on town hall meetings on health care. he said in the long run that

doesn't do anything to help nip or further the debate. >> thank you so much. democratic lawmakers have been hitting a wall of opposition trying to pitch the health care plan. town hall meetings across the country turning to shouting matches. they're afraid of losing what they have now and what they might have if the government steps in. more of the same in rural, missouri. brianna keiler is live in poplar bluff where it's a tough sell in the show-me state. hi, brianna. claire mccaskell was supposed to have two town hall events today. but the one this morning was cancelled. the high school where it was supposed to be held, officials citing security concerns and going ahead and cancelling it. neither events got out of hand but one got pretty close. >> reporter: poplar bluff in southeastern missouri. it's rural communities like this

one where democrats are trying to win the health care debate and senator claire mccaskill is aware it's a tough crowd. >> this is more about taking power and control than it is about health care. because -- it's only socialism. >> reporter: the mccaskill town hall meeting in poplar bluff threatened to boil over at times. >> why -- >> 50 miles southeast, another smaller meeting was downright civil. one audience member, a critic of democrats' health care reform efforts asked mccaskill what she makes of rowdiness at the health care events. she was empathetic. >> it's a huge mistake to suggest that anybody opposed to the health care plan is manufactured. it's not manufactured now. both sides are organizing but that's what we do in a democr y

democracy. >> reporter: as she tried to disarm the critics, she was quick to rebuff conservative claims that it would limit care for seniors and fund abortion. >> there is nothing in the bill that mandates any kind of abortion coverage. that's simply not true. >> reporter: or if it is the government takeover of health care. >> congress is not going to pass a single payer plan. >> reporter: and mccaskill points the finger at insurance companies. >> in 2007, they made $12.9 billion in profits. we have to do something about health insurance reform. if you get really sick and lose your job, they have the right to say we're not going to give you insurance. >> that is a key talking point for democrats, painting the insurance companies as the bad guys. democratic leaders in the house and the senate pushed

congressional democrats to push hard on that, john. thank you very much. this lights up our amfix hot line. here's what you all are saying. >> i think these town hall meetings are a necessary part of our democracy. >> it's ridiculous this bill is on the table. let's help those people who don't have health care. let's come up with a program to help them. >> i support the health care bill. we do need change. and i can't afford to pay my insurance anymore. that's my problem. >> i'm a democrat and i am opposed to the health care plan. nobody's paid me to call you. and i'm not a part of no large group except i'm 52 years old and having problems with medicare already. >> if the american people just sat back and take care of themselves, health care would be the least of their problems. >> we want to hear from more of

you. call our show hotline or drop a note on our website at cnn.com/amfix. the family of eunice kennedy shriver is at her bedside in a cape cod hospital after she took a turn for the worse. california governor arnold schwarzenegger left the state to be with his mother-in-law and a vatican official says the pope is praying for her. >> locating the wreck ablg of a small plane and the dozens of people inside. we're hearing the first 911 calls from witnesses just moments after impact. >> 911 operator 132, what is your emergency? >> i just saw an airplane -- a helicopter in the hudson river here. the location is river road and

4th, approximately. >> river road and 4th street? >> yes. an airplane just hit a helicopter. the helicopter went into the water, the plane, i'm not sure what happened, where it is. i can't see it from my window. >> the crew will begin the process of lifting the aircraft to the surface. two dozen people struck on a roller coaster in an amusement park in california. they were stranded for hours in 90-degree heat stuck 90 feet in the air. it took several hours to get everybody off. the ride stopped because of mechanical failure. scary moments but everyone was okay. undim low mattic moment for hillary clinton in africa. she flashed some acre in response to a student's question.

he wanted to know what president obama thought -- instead she asked what president clinton thought. here's what followed. >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state, i am? ask my opinion,ly tell you my opinion? i'm not going to be channeling my husband. >> it all ended well, though. there were hand shakes, afterward, and apparently no hard feelings. >> it turns out, it was the -- the lost in translation. >> lost in translation moment. she was asking what president obama thought and it was translated as mr. clinton. they were asking what the president thinks. >> a little sensitive there. >> she -- she was shielding a lot of questions about what her president was doing when it came to helping lisa ling and euna lee. >> a long trip. >> yeah. she's human. she's human. all right, talk about an in-flight nightmare. you're stuck on a tarmac for six

hours. not in a comfy big train, but a little small regional. >> shouldn't have to fly on those things but sit on them for six hours overnight. >> the person i was speaking to said it was like being in a sardine can. and wait until you find out what the airline claims is the reason why they would about let the passengers including the screaming babies off of the plane overnight. hey smart, heard you're getting free nights from hotels.com.

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president's health care plan, quote, downright evil, former alaska governor sarah palin said we need civil discourse on health care reform. on her latest on-line posting, palin said people must stick to discussing the issues and not get distracted. >> she raised a lot of eyebrows with her facebook entry about, quote, death panels. bad loans are still a big threat to america's banks. a congressional panel overseeing the $700 bailout that even though the financial system has stabilize, banks are holding billions of dollars in bad loans and many of the banks could fail if unemployment goes higher or the commercial real estate market collapses. the streak is over. the cost of a gallon of unleaded regular went down overnight by .2 cents. the national average is $2.64. i've noticed a correlation

here. gas prices go up until we discover it and then we say something about it and then they go back down again. >> that's powerful. >> we talk about that all the time. >> why are they not watching -- >> exactly. >> stephanie elam here this morning for christine romans, minding your business. good morning. >> good morning. gas going up, overdraft fees going up too. go to the bank. >> finding ways to make money. they're hiking the fees on people. >> i saw this bank where you had to put a quarter in the door to get it open i'm kidding. >> you're making that up. interesting stuff at the ious coming up on the atms. go to the bank, you take your atm card, you pull out money or you pay for something at the grocery store and you're $20 over the limit. the bank says, oh, don't worry we'll pay that but we'll put on a $30 fee. that's overdraft fees. it turns out this is a nice big

cash cow for banks. they are looking to make $35.5 billion this year off of these fees. we're talking about just these fees alone related to overdrafts. that's a record number. it's double the $19.9 billion we saw in 2000 from the -- in that year. take a look at the fees overall. and this year, we can say that the fees have gone up. they're saying that the national overdraft fee rose to $26 from $25 in 2008. per overdraft, if you do this a lot, you're paying $26 for each time you do that. the larger banks, the median is $35. this is from meds services trying to track this data and try to figure out how to protect these people. and here's the thing -- overdraft revenue is making more money for the banks than income. this is huge. they're not going to get rid of it because it works. but at the same time, they're saying consumers need to know

how much this is affecting them, how much they're paying. 90% of the overdraft fees paid are coming from 10% of banks customers. these are the same 10% going back over and over again. that's how much they spend, it probably really hurt. probably -- >> oh, yeah. there are a lot of other changes they're tacking on the annual fees that used to be free and various things. trying to make money in these times as well. >> who got tagged with a $450. someone works here. >> they said it on the air. >> wow. >> that's painful. >> it wasn't christine. but they did something and they thought they had more money they did. $450 later they're like -- whoa. >> they all add up. they get people -- a lot of people who are doing it are the credit scores below 590. >> oh, it was gerri. >> gerri is the one telling you to watch out. >> telling you how to watch your money, she can't watch your own.

>> that goes to show you how easy it is to get people. people who are used to knowing all of the information. a big revenue maker but at the same time it's one of the things that you have to track. >> how far are we -- kidding about putting the quarter in the door. you have to put your card in the slot to open the door. >> wasn't happening. >> may have given them an idea, john, great. >> we'll check in later. >> minding your business this morning. talking about the in-flight nightmare. passengers got stuck on the tarmac. rerouted and got stuck on the tarmac overnight with the regional planes. we have a person who lived through the nightmare. he'll join us to tell us what happened.

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20 minutes after the hour. most news in the morning. sad news to report to you. eunice kennedy shriver, one of nine kennedy children has died today. she was 88 years old. she had been sick and debilitated after a series of small strokes.

she was in cape cod, massachusetts. family had been summoned. they knew that the end was there. this morning we get the news that eunice kennedy shriver, again, the sister of president john kennedy, robert kennedy, husband of simon shriver died this morning at the age of 88. >> marie shriver's mother and the moerm of arnold schwarzenegger. she's someone who started the special olympics and beloved figure in the kennedy clan. wolf blitzer now takes a look back at her life. the fifth child of justice and rose kennedy was a tireless crusader for the development tally disabled. in 1962 when her older brother, john, was president, shriver wrote an article revealing that one of the kennedy siblings, rosemary, was retarded. she called for a national campaign to bring people like her sister in the main stream of american life. after the assassinations of her

brothers job and bobby, eunice shriver's crusade continued. >> in ancient rome, gladiators went to the arena with these words on their lips -- let me win, but if i cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. >> she founded the special olympics in 1968. the fist games lasted two days attracting 121 athletes from the united states and canada. operating with a high-octane fervor, she helped to develop the special olympics to a year-round global enterprise in which 1 million athletes participate. in 1984, president ronald reagan gave her the medal of freedom, the highest award. >> for decency and goodness. she deserves america's praise, gratitude, and love.

>> in 1998, another president and first haydy paid tribute to shriver on the 33rd anniversary of the founding of the special olympics. >> anyone steps back for a minute and watches eunice in action, it's exhausting. a lifetime of dedication to public service. she's been a personal inspiration to me and to so many others. >> shriver was married since 1953 to sergeant shriver, the first director of the peace corp. and democratic nominee for vice president in 1972. five children, including the first lady of california in broadcast journalists, maria shriver schwarzenegger. re restless, deeply religious, she changed the way the world viewed the disabled. when the full judgment of the kennedy family is made, the changes wrought by eunice kennedy shriver may well be seen

as the most consequential. >> eunice kennedy shriver dead this morning at the age offal 8 you could buy 300 bottles of water.

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then shows it in the sink. ewww. gross. cool! (announcer) listerine® smart rinse™. to save, visit listerinekids.com if it hasn't happened to you, you know someone with an airplane horror story to tell. these passengers do have a horror story to tell you today. >> the flight was supposed to take three hours. it lasted nearly 12. most of the time the passengers were trapped in a stuffy plane overnight with little food or

water and the stench of the overflowing restroom. some airport officials say it didn't have to happen. rochester international airport was supposed to be a pit stop but they ended up spending the entire night, stuck inside a small commuter plane on the tarmac. it was after midnight. babies, several of them, were screaming. and if that wasn't enough to keep you awake, the stench coming from the restroom was. it was a trip link christian will not forget. >> everybody in the plane was trying to move to find positions to sleep in. there wasn't room. >> six long hours, chrysin and 44 ohs sat trapped and helpless. through the window they could see the terminal 50 yards away. >> the smells were getting worse, the bathrooms were getting worse. the babies had obviously gone to the bathroom.

>> the flight was headed from houston to minneapolis when it hit thunderstorms. it circled, had to land in rochester, minnesota. from there, it got worse. expressjet decided to wait for the weather to improve. >> we were going to wait until the storms got better. we waited like good passengers for a couple of hours. >> at 2:00 a.m., the flight was cleared for takeoff. more storms moved in. the passengers sat waiting, and waiting with no food and no water. >> nobody said anything about what was going on. >> at 5:00 a.m., cleared again, but then the crew had worked past the legal time limit and couldn't fly. it was about until an hour later, six hours since they landed, that the passengers were let in to the terminal. expressjet said they had to wait until security screeners were on duty. >> there were a variety of options to utilize, not the least of which is to call the manager of the airport. >> the airport manager said he

never got that call and told the newspaper that the delta flight deplaned at 3:30 a.m. and he would have let the continental passengers in but that decision is up to the airline. >> makes your skin crawl, doesn't it? to hear that. the plane got a new crew and they did take off but with the same busted toilet on that plane. the continental crew has called the situation -- continental airlines called the situation completely unacceptable and it's working with expressjet to resolve the issue. the passengers will get a full refund and a voucher good for future travel. >> the passenger you heard from, link chrysin is going to be here in a little while to recap that in person. it leaves you wondering where the passenger bill of rights stands on capitol hill. it turns out the senate commerce committee passed legislation to force airlines to let people off the plane after they have been

stuck on the tarmac for three hours. it would require the airlines to provide adequate food, water, and bathrooms and establish a hot line for people to file a full complaint. the full senate is expected to take up legislation in september. president obama is hitting the road to sell his health care plan. he's in new hampshire this afternoon for a town hall meeting. the white house tried to calm growing criticisms and calm fears. house democrats backing down from a deal that would have forced the pentagon to buy four new passenger jets used for travel by senior government officials and members of congress. democrats were criticized for adding $330 million to the airport's budget to buy the jet even in the pentagon. two powerful earthquakes in asia. in japan, one person killed and dozens injured when a 6.5 quake hit tokyo.

a 7.6 hit india ocean near the indian islands triggering a tsunami watch. right now, the white house is working on a list of 50 new guidelines to measure how successful the war is going in afghanistan. our top military official there, general stanley mccrystal said the taliban is gaining momentum and we should be prepared to lose more of our troops in the coming months. the fellow for new american security. he returned from afghanistan where he served on general mccrystal's strategy review team. good to see you. glad you could be with us. >> sure thing. we're talking about a report that talks about afghanistan and the possible solutions. the deterioration of the situation in afghanistan is conspicuous. general mccrystal told "the wall street journal" that the taliban is gaining the upper hand. you recently returned from

there, as you said, what did you find that the situation on the ground? >> the situation is deteriorating in one sense. the other sense, the american people should understand that it's not like the taliban or the network or any of these insur jebt groups in afghanistan are going to be able to take over the government any time soon. we're not at that phase. but what we are worried about is we're not so much worried about the attacks against the u.s. and coalition troops, but we're worried about a campaign of fear and intimidation we believe is taking place in key population centers in afghanistan, specifically kandahar in the south. >> there are estimates that the taliban controls 30% to 40% in the country. the situation is worse now than at any time in the war in october in november and december of 2001. what's going on? what went wrong? >> it's frustrating for the american people. on the one hand, people lose sight of the fact that afghanistan has been an economy of force mission for the past

five, six years as we've been concentrating on iraq. we're moving to the ninth year of open combat in afghanistan. i can understand the frustration. people need to understand that we never really made afghanistan the main effort. we never properly resourced this war and paying the consequences right now. >> the member of the review group had this assessment -- he said, quote, there's not enough money, troops, arming of the afghans. and failure is all too real a possibility. what needs to be done, andrew, to turn things around there? >> i think tony put his finger on one thing -- that's more resources. not just more troops on the ground, but even if you put more u.s. or allied troops on the ground, what we really need to do are build up serb kcertain k institutions in the afghan state. specifically building up the afghan security forces. big problems in the afghan

national police and army and we need to invest more in both -- both organizations. but not only that, we need to partner with these organizations so that when we spend afghan national police out to the field, they're not being predatory against the afghan people which is all too often the case in afghanistan. >> at the heart of the report is the battle of the drug traffickers in afghanistan. attacking the opium trade would dry up the source of revenue for the taliban and weaken them. they're targeting 50 prominent drug traffickers. it brings to mind the idea that we've been fighting drug trafficking in the western hemisphere for decades without a significant can't debit. how can we change the outcome in afghanistan by going after drug traffickers? >> i'm skeptical of any drug

problems. the money goes to the hand of the local power brokers, not necessarily the taliban. i'm not sure that narco trafficking will have a dem demonstrable effect on their capability. i'm skeptical of counternarcotics operations. we need to privilege our operations to those that will protect the afghan people of the campaign of fear and intimidation that the taliban and allies are waging in southern afghanistan. >> do you think this thing is winnable? can the united states get to the point where we can pull out our troops where the taliban will not take control and the place won't fall apart again and become a haven for terrorist as it was in the late 1990s? >> the answer is yes, but. yes, the situation in afghanistan -- we can win the war. we can build up an afghanistan state that will be capable and institutions will be able to

defend it from al qaeda and the allies, but having said that, we need a lot of help from the afghan government. what the afghan government does after the election. what ministers they keep in place. what governors they keep in place. if they put in cronies or people who -- more war lords to power, we have a problem as far as the government's legitimacy. if we're able to keep key ministers in place, you can build up the institutions who are partners for the united states and nato allies, you might have a better chance for success. >> thank you for being with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> sure thing. >> kiran? we've gotten word that the autopsy is complete on michael jackson. but that is far from being released as many, many questions still linger in this case. more details for you coming up. %

welcome back to the most news in the morning. a quick check of the am rundown. extreme weather on the move. a storm watch in hawaii. a tropical depression just formed in the atlantic ocean. jacqui jeras is tracking felicia

in the pacific. what's going on in the atlantic. the mexican drug cartels are expanding their criminal enterprise smuggling not only drugs but humans. americans are rolling up their sleeves as clinical trials for potential swine flu vaccine get under way. elizabeth cohen is following that for us today. kiran? >> with the developments of the investigation of michael jackson's death, the l.a. county coroner's office knows what killed michael jackson but not going public with the information just yet. ted rowlands is following that for us and the battle lines in the fight over michael jackson's estate. john, kiran, six weeks after investigating the l.a. county coroner released a statement saying they've finished all of the work. finished the investigation in to the death of michael jackson. presumably a cause of death has been determined. however, they will not be releasing that information to the general public because the lapd has asked them to keep

ahold on that information until the police investigation concludes in the death. so, while they know what killed michael jackson, they know what's in his system, the toxicology is back. the public will not know until the lapd gives them the go ahead. they're not sure when that is going to happen. they're saying basically the security hold in place will be kept in place indefinitely until the lapd gives them the okay. busy day in court as well on monday. the attorneys all gathered as they continue to haggle over the estate. the judge in the case determined that jackson's children needed representation. he said he couldn't make some decisions in terms of the deals out there if the children didn't have a voice. so he's appointing a lawyer for the children. he's delayed a couple of decisions. specifically a decision for some concerts next year in london and a memorabilia tour until someone representing the children's interest can come in to court and basically argue for their

side. the judge did give the go-ahead for soni pictures to release a documentary in october using footage from the jackson rehearsals. that's expected to be finished soon. they paid sony a minimum of $60 million to get that footage for the documentary. john, kiran? oh. >> thanks so much. checking in with michael ware. he's been looking in to the drug trade in mexico. he's talking more about drug cartels that are branching out, smuggling not only drugs bull humans as well. express each one more with downy simple pleasures feel more calm with new downy lavender serenity feel more daring with spice blossom dare feel more elegant with orchid allure now all have renewing scent pearls that help you express every side of you downy simple pleasures. feel more

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we're back with the most news in the morning. a live look at atlanta with the sun coming up this morning. 75 there right now going up to a high of 92. and, as can be expected this time of the year, thunderstorms in the forecast again. it's 45 minutes after the hour. fast forward to stories that will make news later on today. the federal reserve starts a two-day session this morning. a lot of analysts waiting to hear if we turned the corner on the recession. most expect the fed to keep key interest rates near zero. gm ceo fritz henderson will make an announcement about the company's products. yesterday, the automaker revealed plans to sell products on ebay.

give customers the option of avoiding showroom sales people. and 3:00 eastern, bernard madoff's right-hand man is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges. frank depascali agreed to enter the plea in a federal court in manhattan. buy a car on ebay? >> no. get in there, feel it, see what it's like. >> i remember when i was a kid -- i know it was after the extinction of dinosaurs. that's the thing you did in the fall is go around in the dealerships and see the new cars, you know? we're talking about 1968 models here, but what the heck, it was a lot of fun. >> if you were my parents, you went dealership after dealership and rode car after car after car. >> it was 1972, the dodge super b came out. the wing on that. what a year it was. they cleaned up in nascar as well. >> show me pictures.

♪ memoirs 47 minutes after the hours. jacqui jeras in the weather center in atlanta for us. would you buy a car on ebay? a lot of people do. >> i agree with you. you've got to drive it. you've got to drive it. definitely. talking about the tropics this hour, guys. we've got a new tropical depression. this is the second one now of the atlantic hurricane season. it's number two. way out there just off of the coast of africa. we'll zoom in and give you a better idea of where it is. it's expected to strengthen a little bit in the next 24 to 48 hours. it could become the first named storm. it could become tropical storm anna. now we have another system we're dealing with. check out the wave action. this is off of the coast hawaii where tropical storm felicia has been bringing in huge waves, in fact, as big as 15 footers. high surf warnings are in effect there today. they could see strong, gusty winds associated with it and

heavy rainfall as well. packing in winds at 40 miles per hour at this time. barely a blip here on our satellite picture. will likely become a tropical depression later on today. other big stories, rain here in to the northeast. and a lot of heat, guys, heat advisories in effect for new york city going to be 95. >> jacqui jeras for us. thanks so much. check back with you a little later on. drug cartels in mexico. the violence and the people who are dead. yesterday, michael ware brings us a story about el choppo. not only are they trafficking in drugs, but in humans? people sold in to slavery. wait until you hear some of the stories that he heard from a group of women who were trafficked by these drug cartels. just absolutely stunning. join michael coming up in a few minutes. for dazzling white teeth, give toothpaste the brush off.

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police in mexico have reportedly broke up up a plot to assassinate president felipe cauldron. five suspects were arrested on sunday including a member of the well known drug cartel. these days the drug dealers will stop at nothing to protect their interests and make money. they're branching out, smuggling not just drugs but humans too. this is worse, much worse. this is a story of those who fall prey to mexico's drug cartel because of their hope to come to america.

>> reporter: i cannot tell you her name or anyone else's in this story nor can i show you their faces or tell you where i met them. if i did, they say, they will almost certainly be killed. that's because the violent drug cartels have a new and lucrative business. a hostile takeover -- the people smuggling business. this woman fled the poverty of her hometown, the seventh of 12 children. as hundreds do every week in central america, she headed north to mexico, bound for the u.n. only to be seized by one of the most brutal cartels in the business.

>> the cartel gets whatever they can get, this family couldn't pay. >> they have the money, they have the people, they have the guns. they have everything going out to control everything. >> reporter: this man is one of few working with the cartels' victims. he tell us the cartel's new business, human trafficking, is flourishing. >> yes, it's getting money. where the money comes from? they don't care. >> reporter: some of the money is used for bribery. when the car carrying the young woman arrived at an immigration check point she hoped her ordeal with the cartel was over. but she says the immigration officials were in on it.

>> reporter: this is another woman held by a cartel. her family was unable to pay a ransom. so for four months, she was forced to work, working for the other hostages and the cartel kidnappers themselves. anything that makes them stronger is a threat to america, particularly if it means importing more drugs. >> they're a prime example of an organization that has from a traditional perspective looked at other areas of making money, specifically with the smuggling situation. it's a means of pushing drugs into the united states. >> that means one thing -- many more horror stories to come. michael ware, cnn, mexico. >> disturbing stuff. >> it is. it's terrible. as michael was saying last night

on "360," any lucrative business they think they can get in to and more and more pressures on the drug smuggling operations, they will turn to other businesses. they suggest while engaged in the criminal activity, they might get involved in legit businesses. >> anything to make money? >> anything to make money. going to talk about trying to find a vaccine for swine flu. starting the clinical trials for a potential swine flu vaccine. should you get it? it comes out in the fall. who's at risk? going to talk to our senior medical correspondent about that. 90s slacker hip-hop. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause pu're taking a ride ♪ ♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt your pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. flu season is fast approaching. swine flu is expected to hit hard. so would you be the guinea pig for a vaccine? if you said yes, you're not alone. eight states, people are racing to sign up. elizabeth cohen shows us why. >> reporter: when keira smith's girlfriend suggested they be guinea pigs in a vaccination study, she wasn't so crazy about the idea. she doesn't like needles but she thought she'd help. >> i think it's good i can help people. >> lewis and smith are mock the first americans to receive vaccinations against the 2009 h1n1 virus. they're part of the study of 2400 people. they'll give blood samples and keep diaries of their symptoms all as part of the effort to get a swine flu vaccine ready for the fall.

>> the purpose of the study is to try to collect information that will help to inform policy makers about the best way to give the pandemic h1n1 flu vaccine. we need one or two doses and what strengths we need it. >> the studies are done at eight centers nationwide. now only adults are being tested. >> i understand the process and doesn't intimidate me in any way. >> pediatric trials are scheduled to begin in a few weeks. officials are ready to have a vaccine by mid october but concede it might be later. certain groups of people will be first in line to get it. pregnant women, anyone between the ages of six months and 24 years old, parents and caretakers of babies under the age of six months, emergency and health care workers and seniors with health problems. elizabeth cohen, cnn, atlanta.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. 7:00 on the dot here in new york. on tuesday, august 11, i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm john rob efforts. we begin with breaking news, sad news to tell you about. eunice kennedy shriver is dead this morning. the 88-year-old suffered a series of strokes in the past few years. her family says she died at cape cod hospital in massachusetts at 2:00 a.m. eastern time. she was well nope for the founding of the special olympics. the family released a heart felt and emotional statement a couple of months ago. in part, it reads, quote, inspired by her love of god, devotion to family, relentless belief of the dignity and worth of every human life, she worked without ceasing. her passing leaves two surviving members of the kennedy clan, senator ted kennedy and gene kennedy smith. breaking down several big stories for you in the next 15 minutes. the president getting ready for a road trip to sell his plan for a health care reform.

he'll sell his plan in a town hall meeting. live this morning where the president is planning to change his tone and tactics. secretary of state hillary clinton loses her cool while meeting with students in the democratic republic of congo. she thought she was being asked what her husband thought on an international issue. it was a misunderstanding. it was lost in translation. show you her reaction. >> stranded on an airplane, all night long. 47 passengers on a copt nental express jet from houston to minneapolis wound up trapped on a tarmac in another cities. babies were crying, diapers were filling up, toilets were filling up. no food. a passenger on a flight on a night that he would rather forget. the top story the health care reform. the president's big pitch. he's starting with a town hall meeting in port smith, new hampshire and change the approach in the criticism and

the fear expressed by one woman in a senior center last night in north arlington, new jersey. >> my opinion is we have the best health care in the world. people from canada and europe come here for life-saving procedures? where are we going to go if this health care gets passed and you know -- jim acosta is live in port smith. we've seen some spirited protests. we start at the white house with elaine. elaine, we understand that the white house plans to employ some new tactics today. what are those tactics? that's right, john. the white house is looking at aim the message on health care to people who have coverage. the president is heading to new hampshire, a state where a lot of people, 90% of the people have health care. we're going to hear president obama hit on familiar themes, includingi changing the system o

make sure they cannot deny someone because of pre-existing conditions. the white house is pushing back on another front. if the pwebpage calling it the reality jacket. it underlines the fact that some of the arguments out there are getting some trash in. another tool that the white house is using to push back against what it sees as misinformation. john? >> we haven't heard a lot about the fireworks. are we getting any insight to what the president thinks about them? >> oh we heard from president obama himself yesterday. he said, look, these are vigorous debates, they're healthy, necessary, because he believes that health care reform is something that cannot wait. aides say that the president believes that shouting someone down is not constructive. it's not productive. it doesn't do anything to further the debate. so we'll see what happens at the town hall meeting coming up

here. but obviously the white house will want to be respectful of the people who have legitimate concerns. he said it's another thing if you're just trying to out-shout someone else. >> opponents of health care reform and this particular form of health care reform planning some protests out side of that venue. see what happens. if the president continues this make or break push on health care, americans are bitterly divided on the issue and going grassroots, making signs, flooding the web. what kind of perception can president obama expect today in hb hn. jim acosta is live in port smith taking the temperature out there, talking to both sides of the fight. hey, jim. good morning, kiran. the president could get a taste of some of the rowdy town hall meetings. asked by white house officials whether or not the president would get shouted down by some

of the protesters showing up at the town hall events, white house officials said that the president does expect a vigorous debate. they think there will be roughly 1800 people at this event. that will be inside the auditorium. there should be hundreds more gathered outside to protest. opponents for democratic plans for health care reform aren't just sounding off at congressional meetings. in new hampshire, protesters descended on jeanne shaheen in the middle of a constituent's meeting. it wasn't a downhall reform and the senators weren't there. the protesters recorded the situation and put it on youtube. >> one constituent was there and wound up in tears where our staff person had to be escorted out with a police escort. >> have you seen anything like this? >> never where people have been encouraged to be disrespectful.

>> democrats charge people shouting health care questions at members of congress these days are being encouraged by the likes of rush limbaugh whose website compares the reform supporters to nazis. a conservative group that's backing the protest insists the anti-reform movement is there. how do you respobd to the charge that this is all orchestrated and artificial if it's coming from talk show hosts and websites? >> reporter: if that were the case, you wouldn't see the massive turnout. the average person is at work when rush limbaugh is on the radio. >> reporter: out of nowhere, a bystander listening in came up to us to say ditto. >> thank you very much. >> you happen to agree with this gentleman? >> i do. >> reporter: democrats are flexing their grassroots. the former obama volunteers are back in campaign mode. >> we have folks who are anxious

about change who love to play the fear card. >> reporter: it's about facts not fear. but time and again, he falsely compared democratic health care proposals to a canadian style universal system. >> the ones coming out the house are not canadian style. you know that? >> universal health care in any way, shape, or form is a bad notion. >> reporter: as for senator jeanne shaheen is not sure she'll have a live town hall meeting here in new hampshire. she had more than 10,000 people call in on a telephone meeting. to give you a sense of the public discourse, a political cartoon in the conservative manchester local newspaper, the union leader. it says it's a doctor standing in the doorway saying, hello, i'm your doctor, bend over. and the name tag reads karl marx. if that gives you a sense of the public discourse -- that's in the newspaper -- as to how things are shaping up out here, it should be as the white house is calling it a vigorous debate

today. >> what did cory said after you said, wait a minute, you're saying it's canada-style health care and it's not. >> i tried my best. he would not concede this is not canadian-style health care. i talked to this organization in the past based out of washington, he's the new hampshire rep. what they believe is this public option being debate in the democratic health care plans would lead to a canadian-style health care plan. that's why they think they can say that. that is not the case. if you look at the bills that are being proposed right now, even the one talked about in the senate fbs committee, they're not talking about canadian-style health care. the president himself trying to bat that down. with a lot of the rumors, the president, the white house, trying every day, every hour to try to bat down some of these claims that we've been reporting. the white house is setting up a

back page change from the websites to go after these erroneous comments. the health care debate has some of our viewers fired up. calls pouring in. we love to hear from you. here's a little sampling. >> very disturbed at the town hall meetings and the misinformation that's out there on health care. i think it's really -- a lot of americans don't know what's going on. so they're just ranting. >> this is the worst bill that's ever been introduced in congress. it will take us to socialism and socialized medicine and will do anything to make health care higher. >> i live in branson, missouri. i've got to tell you, there's so much bigotry down here and death threats about obama and his health care. they don't care about whether it gets fixed. all they care is trying to destroy what he's doing. >> we do not want people telling us what kind of health care insurance we want. please, do not pass this.

we want to hear more from you. call our hotline. you can drop us a note on our website as well. cnn.com/amfix. >> you wonder if the two sides will come together on this. >> there is so much out there. there's so much being said about where this would lead. and it is -- it's hard to wade through it and really see how you feel. >> yeah. and -- see if the plan is still in flux, no one knows what the original -- yeah. >> that's why the discussion is so contentious. new stories this morning -- divers will be back in the hudson river afflalo kating the wreckage of a small plane and the body of a small victim inside. nine people died when a helicopter collided with a plane saturday. the 911 call from witnesses moments after impact.

recovery crews will begin the process of lifting the plane to the surface. the national average of a gallon of unleaded is $2.64. it's down a fifth of a penny overnight. but it is the first drop in 21 days. >> take it when you can get it. a rather undiplomatic moment for secretary of state hillary clinton. in the middle of a tour in africa and flashed some anger in the student's question. he wanted to know president obama's opinion on an international trade deal

involving china. the translator misspoke. instead of saying president obama, the translator asked the secretary what president clinton thought. here's what followed. >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state, i am. you asked my opinion, i will tell you my opinion. i'm not going to be channeling my husband. >> oops. it all ended well, though. there were hand shakesafter ward. apparently, no hard feelings, at least not after the initial hard feelings. >> she's -- it's -- they explained it was also in the context of, you know, talking about violence and victimization against women and women not being held to the same esteem and stature in parts of africa. so, that's a whole mix there. >> what a moment to get lost in translation, huh? >> exactly. >> all about timing. >> at least she wasn't stuck in a plane overnight for ten hours. >> can i tell you something?

i hate flying on the little tiny regional jets to begin with. if you have to spend an hour in one, it's like -- >> our next guest describes it as being stuck in a sardine can but -- >> cigar tube. >> now i personally would have gone crazy. >> how long were they in there? >> 10 to 12 hour, including overnight, seven apparently crying babies and an overflowing toilet. why all of this happened anyway in the first place. >> i would be psychotic. >> 13 minutes after the hour.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. summer thunderstorms can mean delays in airports. but how about this one? 47 passengers trapped on a plane that wasn't moving, on a runway all night long. limited food and water. the continental express jet was flying from houston to minneapolis when the storms hit and when the nightmare began.

link christin recounts what happened. thanks for being with us. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> you guys are from houston headed out to minnesota, minneapolis when this happened. the thunderstorms forced you guys to go down in rochester. so you're sitting on the runway there. take it from there. what happened after this? >> they took us to rochester to refuel. the plane was a very small -- cigar-shaped commuter plane and didn't have a lot of gas. so we went to refuel. they -- they told us for an hour or two they were waiting for the storm to pass in inyaplis. -- minneapolis. we all waited. they told us that they had a bus ready to take us back to the twin cities only 60 miles away. they spent the next three hours telling us the bus was going to come, the bus wasn't going to

come. they were having problems. that's what happened throughout the night. at all points, we thought we were just a half hour from leaving the airplane. >> during this process, you're describing a plane that was very small, as you said, it was full, right? there were babies on that plane. so what was it like after all of the time was ticking by. were people asking to get off? people were saying, hey, we need something to eat or drink here? >> there was little communication among the passengers. we were all bunched in in these tiny seats strapped in. i didn't see a lot of communication with the passengers. i had a baby two seats in front of me on the lap of two young parents. i had a baby behind me on the lap of two young parents. i was by the bathroom. so i was able to observe what was happening with the babies and with the bathroom. >> so, sort of describe how things started to go from bad to worse, then, when you were on that plane.

>> each hour, the bathroom got worse, the babies got worse. the air got staler. people got tired. people were hungry. no food whatsoever. i had made a connecting flight, for example, and had not eaten for 15 hours. so i think the combination of thirst and hunger and not able to sleep because the babies were crying, there's a deterioration that took place throughout the flight in terms of people's emotional stability. >> i understand there were a few things that came in to play. the flight crew was claiming they were on limited flying time. they hit their limit. they had to bring another crew. they claimed that they couldn't let you off because tsa screeners had gone home and you couldn't get back on the plane. the airport manager said that wasn't the case. there is a secure area. another flight had to deplane in the middle of the night as well and those passengers were brought in to the airport. what do you think when you hear

all of these reasons or excuses for why you guys were stuck on that plane all night long? >> i think, my own observation is they were not doing what they should have done was to get us off of the airplane. we were in a tiny airplane all night. they need to get us off of the airplane. there's a terminal 50 yards away. when we went in to the terminal at 7:00 in the morning and spent another three hour, we never went through security. we sat in the terminal. it's off security. we spent three hours, we got back on the plane. security was not involved in that point and should never have had to be involved. >> continental said we're reaching out to our customers to apologize and offer them a full refund for the entire trip and certificate good for future travel. is that enough for you? >> no. i haven't thought about what is enough -- and i'm not sure anything is enough. the question is what's the right

thing for them to do? and i really haven't thought about that and thought it through yet. continental can do something, i think, that is the right thing to put people through what is a unique experience. i'm not sure a travel voucher and refund escalates to that level. >> is there a lack of common sense or good judgment in what went on? >> there's a horrible lack of judgment and there certainly was no consideration of the -- of the psychological needs, the medical needs, the physical needs of the passengers. you had 47 people with different situations and i have no idea what their stories might have been like. there were people who suffered egregiously. i don't think continental thought for a second about the needs of those passengers. they need to get them in to the terminal. if they want to make decisions, they can. we're comfortable.

lights, bathrooms, telephones, food. why they didn't put us in the terminal, i quite frankly have no idea. >> it's something we can all sympathize with. it's something nobody would want to have to go through for sure. elaine christin in the plane overnight. thanks for telling your story today? >> you're welcome. >> you have to wonder how all of the nightmare stories we report on over these years how something like that could ever happen? 21 minute after the hour. you want to buy a new car. you don't want to go to the showroom or deal with the sales people? general motors wants to give you an alternative. how would you like to buy a car on ebay? tell you how coming up. ing fo? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine,

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♪ if you stop it up >> christine romans is out today. stephanie elam is here to talk your business. we can't stop talking about in a flight. >> we would think of all of the things we would do. >> take one for the team. i'm coming, got to get me off. >> john said he would be arrested. >> i would be in jail in a heart beat. >> i would e-mail and call everyone at cnn i know. >> i would be on every cable channel the next day as the hero who rescued everybody and took one for the team and went to jail. >> it is. you talk about the tough times for the airline industry and everything that's going on. that's the exact type of thing you don't need to see happen. >> that's the last thing that

you need as a public thing -- you can't get people from a small town up to where they're trying to go. >> let's talk about what you hear for us. selling cars on ebay. lots of people do it. companies are going to do it. >> the company would be gm. large company trying to do new things, reinvent themselves, get you back in there. that's what they're doing with a website called gm.ebay.com. they're working with 225 dealers in california. if you're not in the golden state, this is not for you. this is a four-week trial selling cars made by chevrolet, buick, gmc, and pontiac. a selection of up to 20,000 vehicles and model years 2008, 2009, and 2010. the program does begin. you have a couple of options. go in and haggle for the price they want to pay or buy the average highest price you see out there. you do not like the idea of

haggling. that's how a lot of people think they'll get the best deals. the trials run from september 28. get cars in the neighborhood. i went on the website. type in the zip code of where i grew up in california. and it shows you -- i was looking for an envoy. if you look for an envoy, there you go. there's the website. type in the zip code and they tell you how close they have to where you are. i came up with this 350 miles away from where i grew up. that's a little far. but depending on where you are in california, find it, decide if you want to buy it now and put in all of the details that you want. you can get a car through ebay and gm. a press conference at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. >> you need to know what you want. >> right. >> at some point, you need to go to the dealership to find out what you want or drive a friend. >> it's a good idea to tangibly figure out what you like about a car and do the test driving. once you figure it out, a lot of people think they can get a

better deal and not deal with the sales people and the interaction they don't like. >> yeah. interesting, see how it works. we talked about for the last couple of weeks that the divisions that the health care reform is causing. how about splitting families. in a couple of minutes, going to introduce you to the woodhouse brothers. when you know is the with the grassroots coalition opposing health care. the other is a communications director of the democratic committee trying to sell health care. if families can't come together, how is the nation going to come together? 27 minutes after the hour. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live...

...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on.

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son-in-law, california governor arnold schwarzenegger. well known as the founder of the special olympics died at 2:00 a.m. eastern at cape cod hospital. he's in trouble for abandoning his state to see his soul mate in argentina. now there are new calls to impeach mark sanford. the senator he broke the law on not taking the cheapest flights on china a few months back. the results are in. but the l.a. county coroner's office is keeping the results of his autopsy sealed. police are trying to determine whether anyone should be charged. we know from a source that jackson's physician, dr. conrad murray gave the singer the powerful drug propofol in the 24 hours before he died. a make or break month for health care reform. south of the border, president obama brought up the debate. he's back from mexico and taking

the push to new hampshire. a town hall meeting there. the president could find that debate divided. the debate is divided on political lines and familial lines as well. dallas woodhouse is against the proposed reforms. and his brother, brad woodhouse is in washington, brad is the communications director for the democratic national committee and is for the reform. let's start off for you. your brother organized bus trips under the banner of hands off my health care, he called it health control, rationing. you have called the people coming out angry mobs of rabid right wing extremists. did you include your brother in that? >> i think i do. i didn't see the results of his

bus tour. but it's the misinformation that, in fact, in some cases the out and out lies that the other side is telling about the president's plan that are insighting these people and making them angry. some of the things that they're saying about the president's health care plan were true, i'd be angry. the fact of the matter is, though, they're not. whether it's the euthanasia charge or rationing or government take overor canadian-style health care, these are crazy charges. and, of course, they would make people angry. the problem is they happen to be true. >> let's bring dallas in here. he says you're helping to insight confusion and anger, spread mistruths about the health care reform plans. what do you say to that? >> it is simple that the president is losing this debate. you know he's losing this debate when people like my brother and the white house start attacking hard-paying tax-paying citizens as mobsters and when nancy pelosi calls it un-american.

they're losing the bill, they're learning information. they know the government -- the same government that can't get water to thirsty people in a hurricane will destroy the best health care system in the world by complete government takeover. they do not want a washington bureaucrat in the exam room with them and their doctor. by the way, brad, when you report me to the white house snitch campaign, please get my name spelled right. dallas, like the city, last name, woodhouse. >> you're not going to report him to the white house, are you? >> of course not. this is the problem. you cannot have an honest debate with folks like my brother on this issue. no one has proposed -- the president is the last person to propose a government takeover of health care. he said we need to build on the current system. >> hundreds and billions of dollars out of medicare. you can't cut hundreds of billions of dollars out of medicare without denying sick and old people treatment. your mother is on medicare,

brad, your mama. >> first of all, that's not true. that's not what the president has proposed. >> is it not in the house bill to -- >> he told the aarp group -- he told the group there's not one penny of benefit cuts propose bid the president out of medicare. he'sing about something that we've talked about for a long time. bringing inefficiencies out of the system. >> you mean sick and old people. >> and closing the -- closing the prescription drug doughnut hole. you're pedaling falsehoods and you shouldn't do that. >> let me play mom and jump in here to keep the brothers apart. your group of americans for prosperity are advertising against the proposals making their way through the house and the senate. let's run one of the ad campaigns. >> you trust washington in your life? congress is rushing to take over health care too, paid for by $600 billion for taxes and cutting $400 billion for

medicare. tens of millions will lose their current insurance and wind up on the government health plan. >> take a look at that. you talked already about the cuts in medicare. there's some argument about that. but you said tens of millions of people will lose their health insurance and be forced to a government plan. where does it say that in any of the plans? oh. >> we're reasonable people that can look at a piece of legislation and look at the consequences of what that legislation will do. it doesn't have to be written on paper. it wasn't written in the fema administration to get water to thirsty people. the reality is this plan will incentivize private companies for dropping their insurance. three questions -- can he guarantee no company in america will drop private insurance to put people on the public plan? can he guarantee it won't increase the deficit? and can he guarantee it won't put the government in charge of rationing health care. he can't say that. >> let's answer these three questions? i can answer all three of the questions. first of all, the president's

plan will eliminate the type of rationing the insurance companies are doing now. remember, the insurance company rationed health care by denying people coverage for pre-existing kpns, dropping people when they get sick. the president's plan will say no more of that. second of all, the cbo said that the president's plan would not result in insurance companies -- >> after he put the muzzle on them at the white house. >> i'm answering your questions, dallas, with the public option. so you're pedalidling more falsehoods. >> what about a the deficit? cbo said it would add to the deficit. >> the president said it has to be -- he said he won't sign a bill that's not deficit neutral over the next ten years so he'll depend on the cbo to score whatever the final bill is. he said he will not sign it if it's not deficit neutral. i think i answered all of your questions. >> one more question to both of you. take a few seconds to answer this. if two brothers can't agree on this plan, how is the rest of the country ever going to agree

on this? >> i think the country has agreed on it, john. they don't like it. the polls show the president dropping like a rock on this issue. the reality is he's losing on the merits because more people find out about it, they don't like it. they may be frustrated at their insurance companies but at the end of the day, they do not want government managing all of the health care system. at least with the private insurance companies, they don't like them, they can go sue them. >> can't you all get along? >> clearly we can't. clearly my brother is looking at maybe his own polls. i mean, over and over again, the public has said they want to reform the health insurance system. and you know what? the problem for dallas and the people that are doing these protests is the truth is in the end the president is going to get a bill. >> they're going to shove it down the throats of the american citizens. >> do you guys get along normally? are you buds or do you guys butt

heads? >> we're very close. i love my brother to death. he's one of the best partisan political acts in america and he wouldn't be at the white house and he wouldn't be invited over to the cocktails of the white house if he weren't very good at what he does. i'm just a little simple community organizer -- >> like, that's just -- >> north carolina and i go around defending taxpayers. >> all i can say is -- >> it's going to be an interesting thanksgiving. >> very loud at the woodhouse house. >> it is very loud. >> i love you, brother. spell my name right? >> bye, dallas. >> we'll get you back again. this is too much fun. we'll hear from you what you want to hear from the president. and what kind of health care reform do you think we need or at all? leave a comment at our show blog or call our show hotline at 1-877-myamfix. >> can i leave a comment now?

mom and dad, thank you for making me an only child. thank you. mary matalin and james carvil carville. they love each other to death. but she calls him stupid and -- >> it's passion. it's love. >> and sometimes that just fuels the fire. >> all right. well, speaking of fueling the fire, how about this? in the midst of a global downturn, there's one thing that's recession-proof. there's many. but this is a good one. cuban rum. how? well, funny you should ask. you see, after i book 10 nights, i get a free one. say i spend 2 nights at a big name hotel, 3 at a boutique, and 5 at a beach resort... and boom! free night. ( dings, monkey chatters ) ( in a baby voice ) aren't you a smart one? ( monkey laughs ) accumulate 10 nights and get a night free. welcomerewards from hotels.com. smart. so smart.

42 minutes after the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. rum is making the recession a little more bear arable to the people who drink it and people who sell it in cuba. the rum business is booming even though they can't sell it in the united states. we're minding your business live from havana, cuba this morning. good to see you. >> the main export, nickel, the price has plummeted. but others are relatively, shall

we say, in high spirits. >> reporter: not even a global financial crisis can stop the flow. aged in oak barrels, native ingredients and centuries of know how. could cuban rum be recession-proof? double digit growth may slow this year but they expect an increase in sales thanks in large part to the international cache of cuban rum. they've been popular for a long time now, at least in spain, says this tourist. but consuelo said in mexico, even the bars are feeling the prices. with expensive blends, frosty daiqui daiquiris, and mow he toes, rum makers have overcome the stereotype of teenage party drink. but a bigger obstacle -- the u.s. trade embargo. it's a joint venture between the

u.s. government and france's ricard. the image, cuba in a bottle, is a big reason in the boom in sales. the embargo banning the import of all cuban goods, a huge market is 90 miles away but off limits. bacardi registered the trademark in the united states. the bacardi family left cuba when their assets were confiscated. according to the website, bacardi owns the rights of the havana club rum brand having purchased the trademark from the original legal owners, creators, and the pro pry tors of the brand. but now relations have started to thaw. and under the obama administration, calls for an end to the embargo are getting louder. havana club is listening. >> it would be great if the american consumer could enjoy a cuban rum and for us, it would make things easier. we could access a market that

represents 40% of the global market. >> a lot could happen before this rum is uncorked. now, the next move could come this fall if congress decides to come on a bill that would allow all americans to come to cuba and taste some of the forbidden fruits while they're here, kiran. >> we know many who would like to do that. thank you so much. 45 minutes after the hour, surf is up in hawaii. riding the waves as tropical storm felicia approaches. jacqui jeras has the latest and is there trouble brewing in the atlantic ocean? so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska?

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good morning. central park here in new york city where it's partly cloudy and 76. later on today, afternoon thunderstorms and a high of 87. you know what that will mean. >> it means -- >> flying in to laguardia will be a real problem. >> great. >> if someone opens a wet nap in laguardia -- jacqui jeras is watching the weather including some tropical weather the pacific and something brewing in the atlantic ocean as well, jacqui. hey, guys. i like your wet nap analogy.

you know there's problems in laguardia. if there's any kind of hiccup. and 87 degrees may be a little conservative today. we're going to get well to the 90s. heat advisories here to new york city. record highs yesterday to washington, d.c. still in the low 90s. heat advisories for houston. so a lot of people are going to be feeling some very sticky weather across the eastern part of the country. the thunderstorms have been across parts of new england for the most part this morning. few sprinkles here to boston this afternoon. see more of that action. thunderstorms could be a little bit on the strong side. but we think the greatest potential for severe weather will be down here in to the lower mississippi river valley. let's talk traffic now for a minute. a new tropical system. td number two which is out there in the atlantic. it has some potential to strengthen. it could be anna way too early to tell whether or not this is going to be impacting the u.s. coastline. what will be impacting the u.s. is tropical storm felicia.

check out the huge waves off of hawaii from yesterday -- 15 footers are out there and likely for today, the storm is continuing to weaken, but will be bringing in heavy rabefall to much of hawaii. heavy rainfalo much of hawaii. john and kiran, back to you. >> thanks so much. we'll check back with you later on. >> at least for now the surfers are loving it out. >> getting some good rides there. well, still ahead, sanjay's going to join us. helping answer some of the questions people have about health care reform, what it may mean for you. he's going to join us. 50 minutes after the hour. ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

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month for health care reform. and with all of the carrying on at the town hall meetings and all of the information. it's more important than ever to understand the shouting. we're cutting through some of the confusion to try to clarify what the changes could really mean for you and your family. >> all this week, dr. sanjay gupta takes your questions to do just that. sanjay's with us in atlanta. today's question has been thrown around a lot. one of those hot-button topics. let's listen. >> hi, there is randy from alaska. do they plan to cover illegal immigrants with their health care plan and their children? >> all right. so, you know, this is a specific question about undocumented aliens, undocumented workers. we're hearing this quite a bit. and it is controversial, john, as you mentioned. this idea of how would you pay for that? who is covered specifically? just give you a couple of numbers, first of all, when you talk about the 46 million number uninsured, about 17%, roughly, are undocumented workers. so that's a number to sort of keep in mind. how exactly will they fall into

this insurance plan? well, the president was asked specifically that by katie couric and this is how he responded. >> do you think any illegal immigrants should be eligible for health care under the new plan? >> no. the one exception that i think has to be discussed is how are we treating children? partly because if you've got children who may be here illegally but are still in playgrounds and at schools and potentially are passing on illnesses and communicable diseases -- >> aren't getting vaccinated. >> aren't getting vaccinated, that's a situation where you may have to make an exception. >> you have a firm there from the president, at least with respect to adults. john, kiran, as i mentioned to you, we've been drilling down on this, trying to read the entire house bill. we want to give you some of the details specifically around this issue. for example, in the house bill, there's a section that specifically deals with this specific issue.

i don't know if you can read that. what it says basically is nothing in the subtitle, referring to the question of undocumented aliens. nothing in the subtitle should allow on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the united states. now, again, with the details that people will say what about the situation where you have one legal parent, one illegal parent? what is the verification process going to be? if you start to sign up for something, how do they verify whether someone is lawfully or unlawfully present? these are some of the details being worked out. >> right now, if you need critical emergency care, you go to the emergency room and get treatment, they don't ask whether you're legally here or not. would that change under a new plan? >> probably not. that's the way it is now and it probably won't change, in part because a lot of the situations are emergencies. if you are in an emergency situation, doctors are rushing to take care of the patients,

nurses not doing the triage as far as insurance goes. >> dock, great to check in with you. thanks so much. you saw the movie "lost in translation," right? what happens when the question to the secretary of state gets lost in translation? it ends up making the news. we'll show you what happened coming right up. 56 minutes after the hour. rewrite your hair's past and give it a whole new life. new aveeno nourish plus. active naturals wheat formulas proven to target and help repair damage in just three washes.

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good morning again, on this tuesday, august 11th, glad you're with us. >> i'm john roberts. here's what's on this morning's agend agendas. president obama heading to new hampshire this afternoon for a town hall meeting on health care reform. no one is sure what he'll encounter there. meetings like these across the country have turned into shouting matches like this one last night in maryland.

>> you're going to kill the -- >> in a moment, tom foreman from that town hall where average americans really opened up about their hopes and fears for our health care system. also divers going back into the hudson river today, looking for the last of nine people killed in saturday's midair collision between the helicopter and a small plane. the plane wreckage also still under water. they have located it, but it's been really rough going trying to bring it back up to the surface. the accident raising questions about air traffic safety over the hudson. we're going to be talking to michael goldfar. and american banks collecting more than $38 billion in overdraft fees this year. it's a record windfall and most of it coming from the accounts of americans who can least afford it. stephanie elam is minding your business for us this morning. president obama says it is okay to have a spirited debate in america about health care. he's also retooling his message

when he takes his pitch for reform to a town hall meeting today. it'll be in new hampshire. many of these sessions have been turning into shouting matches as we've seen. a lot of people saying they fear reform. like one woman in a town hall meeting in new jersey last night. >> it's my opinion that we have the best health care in the world. people from canada have come here for life-saving procedures. where are we going to go if this health care gets passed and you know this president only -- >> towson, maryland, last night where the democratic senator was booed repeatedly. the crowd was told to calm down so he could even speak.

he's been defending the president's plan in health care reform. and he says it will give people more choices and more americans were covered. tom foreman was there and taking the temperature of people on a hot night in maryland. >> he came here to the outskirts of baltimore to meet with about 500 people, about 500 more could not get into the university hall where this event was being hosted. outside, people were sweltering in the heat and getting more heated by the moment as they talked about this issue. some in favor of it, a great many more against health care reform. listen. >> there's nobody that understands this, the congressmen haven't even read this bill. it's 1,000 pages plus, they don't know what's in it themselves. >> you don't see any transparency in this? >> absolutely not. >> i'm a union guy, a big strong supporters of my union, but i don't think we should be forced into an option that you may or may not want. >> i'm just an average citizen who believes that the people

have a right to speak. >> do you compare the united states to a lot of developed western nations, there's a number of things we're falling behind. we're falling behind in life expectancy -- >> why does everybody else from the world come here for health care then? >> they come here because we have the good facilities. now what i would do, i would favor a system where it kind of -- can you let me speak, sir? do you mind if i speak? >> inside the hall, it was much the same way once the meeting got underway. the senator tried to take questions from the audience many times, booing broke out, jeering, people got very involved in the conversation. listen to some of the exchange that happened as he tried to explain his decision and others tried to make theirs, as well. >> the answer is that congress, federal employees, all will be covered by the plan. we want the co-ops or the public land available for those who may

need it. if i were to lose a job, which you never know, i might need it. >> in the end, however, the meeting did manage to go the full length. they were able to get in a good many questions from the audience there, and despite the booing and carrying on, by and large the senator was able to answer the questions whether or not the crowd liked his answers afterwards, he said he was pretty happy with the fact that americans have a right to protest, happy people came out to listen, whether or not they wanted to listen very much and there will be a lot more changes to this bill before it will ever become law. >> tom foreman, thanks so much. for the president, it's a make or break month on health care. going grass roots, making signs, going to meetings, flooding the web. what kind of reception can president obama expect in new hampshire? our jim acosta is live this morning talking to people on both sides of the fight. we should point out that at

least inside the hall, the president should operate in a more controlled environment than some of the town halls that we've seen. it still leaves open the possibility of some interesting debate. >> reporter: that's right, you never know who is going to get inside and fire off a question at the president. and he might get a taste of those town halls later today. the white house is expecting about 1,800 event, but there may be hundreds more gathered outside of the event and asked if the president might be shouted down by one of the protestors. mr. obama expects a quote vigorous debate. >> reporter: opponents of democratic plans for health care reform aren't just sounding off at town hall meetings. protestors descended on staff members in the middle of a routine constituent services meeting. it wasn't a town hall forum and the senator winter even there.

the protestors recorded the confrontation and put it on youtube. >> one constituent who was there wound up almost in tears where our staff person had to be escorted out with a police escort. >> and have you ever seen anything like this in all of your years of public service? >> never where people have been encouraged to be disrespectful. >> reporter: democrats charge the people shouting health care questions at members of congress these days are being encouraged by the likes of rush limbaugh. his website compares reform supporters to nazis. but with americans for prosperity, a conservative group that's backing the protests insists the anti-reform movement is real. how do you respond to the charge that is all orchestrated and artificial if it's all coming from talk show hosts and websites. i think if that were the case, you wouldn't see the mass turnout at every event. the average person is at work when rush limbaugh's on the radio. >> reporter: a bystander listening into our conversation came right up to us to say

ditto. >> thank you very much. >> and you happen to agree with this gentleman. >> reporter: democrats are reflecting their grass roots. back in campaign mode. >> i think you've got some folks very anxious about change who really love to play the fear card. >> reporter: she says it's about facts, not fear. but time and again, he falsely compared democratic health care proposals to a canadian-style universal system. >> the ones coming out of the house are not canadian-style universal health care and you know that. >> reporter: universal health care in any way, shape, or form is a bad notion. >> reporter: the white house administration have set up a page called a reality check to counter some of these bogus claims and as for senator jean shaheen, she's not sure if she's going to hold her own town hall in the state. but this is not just geared toward people in new hampshire,

just across the river as you know, john, is the state of maine where two key senators republicans will be key votes in this health care debate, john. >> lots of protests planned from outside the venue, as well, jim. >> reporter: that's right, a lot of people out there, and not just opponents. on both sides, obama supporters that you saw drawing up those signs in our piece. they plan to be out there, as well. they have spread the word through the democratic party/white house organizing machine. that has also gotten a lot of people fired up for this. so you may see competing sides of this debate going at each other outside of this event later today, john. >> powerful lobbies on both sides of this issue. jim, thanks. beautiful place to be at any rate. i'm envious. the health care debate has you fired up. calls pouring into our amfix hot line and here's some of what you're saying. >> i'm very disturbed at the

town hall meetings and the misinformation that's out there on health care. i think it's really a lot of americans don't know what's going on and so they're just ranting. >> this is absolutely the worst bill that's ever been introduced in congress. it will take us to socialism and socialized medicine and we'll do anything to make health care higher. >> i live in branson, missouri, and i've got to tell you, there is so much bigotry down here and death threats about obama and his health care. they don't care about whether it gets fixed, all they care about is trying to destroy what he's doing. >> we do not want people telling us what kind of health care insurance we want. please, do not pass this. >> drop us a comment at cnn.com/amfix. we'll read some on the air, or call the show hot line.

in 20 minute's time, we'll take a closer look at the uproars. is the debate out of control. james carville and former council to president george w. bush will join us live. nine minutes past the hour right now. also new this morning, a member of a great political dynasty. eunice kennedy shriver died in massachusetts around 2:00 a.m. eastern. shriver was 88 years old and suffered a series of strokes in the past few years. she spent her life improving the welfare of the mentally disabled. she founded the special olympics. family released a very heart felt and emotional statement a short time ago and in part it reads inspired by her love of god, devotion to her family, and the belief in the dignity and worth of every human life, she worked without ceasing. new this morning, two powerful earthquakes have rocked asia. 6.5 magnitude quake killed one woman and left more than 60

injured. and 7.6 magnitude quake in the indian ocean triggered a tsunami warning that was later lifted. myanmar's leader guilty of violating her house arrest, but she is not going to prison. she will be allowed to serve a 1 1/2 year sentence under house arrest. and hillary clinton wants to make one thing perfectly clear, she is the secretary of state. the secretary lost her diplomatic cool when she thought a student in congo asked what her husband, the former president thinks about a chinese trade deal with congo. >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state, i am. you asked my opinion, i will tell you my opinion, i will not be channelling my husband. >> okay. but it turns out that the student really wanted to know president obama's opinion. the translator kind of got lost

in translation and said clinton instead of obama, so hence the reaction from the secretary of state. apparently everything turned out fine, everybody shook hands and agreed to have a beer and get over it. >> they had another beer summit? >> i threw that in. >> did you see how tall the guy was behind her? he had to duck to get out of the door frame. >> she's a little sensitive about -- >> well, yes, she is. and she had been fielding a lot of questions earlier in the week about the north korea hostage rescue, the two journalists, the former president was able to craft and so -- maybe she wanted to talk about herself for a little while. anyway, still ahead, we're going to be talking about whether or not it's time to rewrite traffic rules for planes and helicopters that fly over the scenic view of the hudson river. michael, former chief of staff with the faa going to join us to talk about it.

this is a live look right now of the hudson river where divers are heading back into the water today. they are trying to bring up the last of the nine victims. and also the plane wreckage after saturday's midair collision between a small plane, a fixed wing and a helicopter, sightseeing helicopter. we're also hearing the first 911 calls that were made in the moments after that crash. >> in hoboken, new jersey, in the river, a helicopter landed on the fourth and river street. >> have you seen anybody injured? >> oh, my god probably all injured. >> crashed? >> crashed. >> well, nine people died in that accident. it's raising some new questions about air safety over the hudson and whether or not the faa should step in. right now we're bringing in the former faa chief of staff. thanks for joining us this morning, michael. >> my pleasure, kiran. >> we've been learning in the days after the accident the air space in this area is virtually

unregulated for small planes and the very popular sightseeing helicopters that can fly under that 1,100 foot ceiling and basically visual flight rules. is it time for the faa to start rethinking whether or not there needs to be more regulation over the hudson? >> it's way past due, kiran. they can issue an emergency order this afternoon. there's no public safety value having those small aircrafts there. basically not under air traffic control on their own. some pilot described it that he had an electronic box in his aircraft like a gps, every time there was a plane or a helicopter or some other kind of vehicle, it would squeak traffic and it was a constant traffic, traffic, traffic. that's how busy it is. so you're asking a pilot, some of whom have not gone through that kind of air space to not only be seen and be seen, visual flight rules, but also sightseeing, looking at the statue of liberty. it's past time to get the small aircraft out of that space. they have laguardia at 1,100

feet above them, too much congestion, too many airplanes. >> it's interesting you say that. a lot of times, this is something people love to do. in the months after 9/11 they talked about restricting that air space and there was a big lobby to open that back up again. it's lucrative, i'm sure, for the sightseeing helicopter companies that do that, but also, it's a pleasure for general aviation. how do you fight against that? >> well, the small plane lobby is as tough as the gun lobby and faa is constantly fighting between the right of the -- we don't need small planes in the busiest air space in the world. so that's a tough battle, but make no mistake, faa has the authority today to close down that air space and to keep those aircraft out of there, and i think the public would appreciate that to help reduce some of that congestion. >> all right, well, you know, it's interesting a number of local officials gathered yesterday. they were right there with the hudson river behind them and they were weighing in different officials calling for different things. i want to run by some of the regulations or suggestions and i

want you to tell me just, you know, how feasible it would be and whether or not it would make sense. one of the recommendations was to split the air space, reserve the lower altitudes for the helicopters and slightly higher for the fixed wing private planes. would that be something that could work? >> bad idea. air traffic controllers would be very unhappy with that. it makes already complex air space even that more difficult. and it also affects weather so you're giving a smaller corridor for smaller aircraft and planes that have to occasionally deal with bad weather. that idea is a work around, doesn't get to the heart of the issue. >> another suggestion was to limit the number of hours, perhaps, that either planes or helicopters could be in the air. would that work? >> it would reduce it somewhat. but we have another problem with the helicopter industry ntsb has made 16 recommendations since 2002 about the problems of the higher risk that you face when you get on those tourist helicopters. they're largely unregulated, the pilots fly longer hours.

this pilot i believe had quite a bit of experience. so we have a situation where once again these are on the margin of reforms. they need to take this problem head-on and do it and do it quickly. and i believe a couple months from now, kiran, they will. why wait? >> what is your suggestion then for the faa? >> to issue an emergency or an immediate rule, restricting that air space to work with the board to find out the cause of this crash. but essentially, in that narrow canyon above the hudson small aircraft like on the east river, they're not allowed -- ought not be allowed to fly, let them yell and scream, but i think public safety would be improved. >> also given your experience, would you if you were a tourist or had some friends coming into town and they said hey, i want to take one of these tours over the hudson, what would you say? >> i get very nervous. i've flown a lot of helicopters back in my career, but i would say no. there's a 50% greater fatality rate on demand aircraft, those are primarily sightseeing

helicopters around the country. they're unregulated, 60% of them are over 20 years old, there's no requirements. look at them from a maintenance standpoint. it's just not where it ought to be. and the board itself has been upset about this and the inspector general just released a report 30 days admonishing the faa for dragging its heels once again on helicopter safety. i would say take a circle line if they have that or stay on the ground. >> you're talking about the boat tours around the hudson. >> yeah. >> great to get your point of view this morning. thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. how many times has this happened to you? you write a check to pay for something, comes back a day later, overdraft charge. $10 or $15. well, banks discovered they can make a lot of money doing this so they're jacking up the charges and wait until you hear how much money they have made on overdraft charges this year alone. our stephanie elam's got that coming up for you. 19 1/2 minutes after the hour.

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helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. it's going to be a very nice day in atlanta. sunny and 76 degrees, later on today, it's going to be hot, though, 92 degrees and, of course, the ever present chance of thunderstorms when it gets that warm there in georgia. >> and stephanie elam joins us this morning minding your business. we're talking about these overdraft fees. thanks for looking for more and more ways to make money. and one of them is targeting people who maybe don't check their balance enough? >> they don't manage their finances well enough, basically. >> unlike this one who has never had an overdraft charge in her life. >> only because my parents

threatened me with an inch of my life. >> that's like the good geek type of stuff. that's a good geek. >> i don't balance my checkbook, that's far too confusing, but they draw it from savings if you accidentally mess up, right? >> yeah, some people do have that factored in. not everyone knows to do that. not everyone knows to go to your bank and say i have this much money in my savings if i ever don't have enough in my checking, pull from there, don't charge the fee. that is one option out there, but overall, people, we are spending a lot of money on overdraft fees as a nation. the banks are expecting to make $38.5 billion this year on just overdrafts. that's a huge amount of money. and it's almost double the near $20 billion in 2000 that the banks were collecting from these fees. these fees have also increased this year and that's something that's not really happened in many decades, something like 40 years during a recession. have we see fees like these go up, and they have. according to a service that tracks these kinds of tidbits of

information, the average amount, the national median overdraft fee has risen to $26 from $25 in 2008. for large banks, however, though, the charge is $35 on average. really showing you how much we're spending per mess up. that's what happens. it's making the banks a lot of money, a fee that's been around for a while. they're making more off of this than net income. something like that when you see how much pain the banks have been going through, it's not going to go away. what they want to see happen is that people are more aware what's going on with their finances. because 90% of these errors are happening by 10% of the population that has accounts with these banks. it shows you it's the same small subset of people making the mistakes, but all people, rich people, poor people, people not managing their finances. all walks of life. >> people who aren't balancing their checkbooks? >> no, i mean -- >> do people balance checkbooks? i go online.

>> it drives me crazy, i go online and double check everything. >> do you balance the checkbook still? >> do you balance your checkbook? >> heck no. >> i didn't think so. >> he's got the old school register. do you remember that in the book. i had my first checking account like that. looked like a passport. >> i just do it all online. >> right. it's so much easier. and if you do it often enough, you can get an app for your iphone in some banks. >> not going to get that complicated. >> that's easy, then you know. >> really getting into geek-dom. >> geeks are hot. >> i agree. >> stephanie elam, thanks so much. coming up right after the break. james carville and ed galespie. why was congress trying to buy executive jets? and has president obama weighted into another controversy by saying he favors an immigration program with a quote path to citizenship? coming up 26 minutes after the hour.

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28 minutes past the hour now, we check our top stories. and sad news this morning, former president kennedy's sister eunice kennedy shriver passed away this morning at the age of 88. her family says well known as the founder of the special olympics died around 2:00 eastern time. statements are pooring in. he says my family will miss her with all of our hearts. president obama and the first lady told the family their thoughts and prayers are with them. and former president george w. bush added that shriver helped build a more compassionate america. he's already in trouble for abandoning his state to see his soul mate in argentina, now new

calls to impeach south carolina governor mark sanford. the state senator says the governor broke the law by not taking the cheapest trips on trips to london years ago. and the results are in that the l.a. county coroner's office is keeping michael jackson's autopsy sealed because of the ongoing investigation into his death. police are still trying to determine whether anyone should be charged. we know from a source that jackson's physician conrad murray gave the singer the powerful drug propofol in the 24 hours before he died. well, the august recess hasn't provided much of a break from politics. protestors are shutting down health care town halls, there's so much ranker on both sides of the aisle. where is this headed? joining me from washington, james carville and ed galespie. gentlemen, good to see you. james, let's -- actually, ed, let's start with you for a change here. these town halls, why is there

so much anger, mistrust, and misinformation going on? >> well, for one thing, john, health care is a very personal issue. and when you're talking about making reforms to a system that most people, 88% by one account are satisfied with, they're concerned about that. they're scared, frankly, that they're going to see a diminishment of their quality of care, they're going to see their costs go up, they're worried about the deficits. this is a $1.6 trillion proposal, one of the proposals is, going to increase the deficit by $250 billion. people are legitimately concerned and they're express g ing those concerns and worried this is going to be rushed through. the goal was to get these done before the town halls take place. people are legitimately concerned. >> do you agree with that, james? >> i think these people are frustrated. you saw it in delaware where this woman was saying that the president wasn't even born in the united states and you see this sort of death panel thing, which is laughable, if you will. you see this stuff all the time.

these are people that haven't had very good election cycles, see the economy getting better and they're afraid they might not have a good one in 2010, so they express themselves. that's just part of the american political process that we're watching unfold in front of us. and i think you're seeing it's better if the democrats let it go on and the republicans get a good chance funded by health care lobbyists, funded by people who believe we have a top-notch health care system in the united states. >> what about some of the claims we've seen and from some prominent people in the last few days, sarah palin saying on her blog that president obama wants to establish quote death panels, newt gingrich was on with george stephanopoulos talking about the slippery slope towards euthanasia. opponents of the health care bill saying it would fund abortion. none of those things are true. >> well, look, the fact is, there are -- what's going to happen with the medicare and the cuts in medicare is you're going to have to have people make

decisions about care at end of life. some of the language, i grant you, is not the most thoughtful in terms of how to characterize these things. we ought to have a very thoughtful debate about this. in the same way i don't think it's helpful for the speaker of the house or the majority leader to talk about people for un-american or james to say they're funded by lobbyists. these are people with legitimate concerns about the proposals that are going to affect the quality of life. >> james -- >> allow them to have the conversation. by the way, house republicans, for years have had people come to their town hall meetings from the unions, from sierra club, anti-war protestors, code pink, moveon.org, challenge the members of congress. no one said a word about it, that was considered descent and patriotic back then. >> to say that dick army and rick scott is behind this is like saying there's water in the ocean. i mean, maybe this is a party that you obviously argue evolution, we argue evolution. you guys really like believe

the -- of course it's funded by health care lobbyists, they're sending out stuff, they're all out there. nobody's denying that. it's a fact. >> no, no, it's not a fact. >> you can't deal with not -- >> to say anyone who stands up in a town hall meeting. i saw a clip of a doctor the other day been trying for three days trying to get a member, the member of congress attacked him said who sent you here? he said i'm a doctor, i have a concern -- >> so some of this may be grass roots and organic, but is james right? is at least part of this funded by the health care lobby? >> i don't know if part of it's funded by the health care lobby or not, but so what if it is? when unions fund people and pay them to come to town hall meetings and raise kwea question, does that mean they don't have a right? do you not have a right? what if you're getting private health care and forced into a government-run system and your

costs are going to go up. this is a distraction to give james and the democrats credit, they would rather talk about this and talk about the object over here than talk about the fact they're going to raise costs on americans, they're going to push 88 million people into a government-run system and 88% of americans are satisfied with their care. >> no you did it. you mentioned the 88 million figure and so now we've got to let james respond. i really want to get in one other topic. go ahead, james, respond to the 88 million people forced -- >> i think these are a lot of frustrated people. you saw it with the death panels, and probably very important republicans that are saying anything because they know they have a group of people out in this country that are willing to believe anything. this is just something that we got to -- we've got to deal with, what they need to do is start telling these people the truth. and of course, the health care lobbyists are funding. when we get to a point in the debate we can't say there's water in the river, maybe we ought to say there's air in the

river. they're playi ining on people's fears. they have to deal with this. and the truth of the matter is, people do want some change to the health care system, they're going to get it at the end. >> just because i'll get tons of e-mails on this, let me point out that the number of people who go into the government system depends on how the public plan is written and hasn't been fully fleshed out. we don't know how many people will go in that. >> i cited an estimate and the numbers i cited also on the budget impact were from the congressional budget office, james. i'm sure you think they're a bunch of birthers over there. >> we should point out too, ed, in fairness, the numbers go from a range of 119 million down to 10.4 million depending on how this is written. hey, i wanted to get into congress trying to buy itself some executive aircraft, but i think we're out of time. we'll leave that for another day. >> i think that's not going to happen anyway. >> something james and i agreed on. >> well, they trimmed that back. but james, quickly, what the

heck were they thinking? last year -- now congress tries to slip $550 million to buy five 737s and three g-5s. >> i'm not sure somebody was thinking and i think there's some dispute how this got into the bill. i'm sure that'll be covered a lot here in the few days. >> a dispute between the pentagon and the leaders in congress. >> i'm very big on the pentagon since now global warming is the biggest threat to our security. they're not global warming -- >> pentagon didn't ask for the aircraft, somebody did. it's always great, thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. we had some people weighing in. we asked for blog comments on whether or not you think this whole health care debate and some of the comments have gone too far. we had one person, karl writing in that caring americans want reform, tired of preexisting conditions and overpriced services, insurance companies are paying big money to prevent reform through scare tactics.

charles says too far not at all continually said during the last election that people were participating in greater numbers. so this isn't one-sided. it's america, protest is part of your basic right. as we saw last hour, those two brothers deeply divided over this issue. you've got to wonder how the country's going to come together on this. >> we want to keep the comments coming. head to cnn.com/amfix. passengers stuck for some 10 or 11 hours, forced to spend the night in one of those small commuter regional planes. >> not like they were stuck on a 777. >> not that that would be ideal either. they were running out of food, running out of water, and running out of bathroom space if you know what i mean. we're going to talk about how this is able to happen 37 minutes after the hour. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. if it hasn't happened to you, chances are you know somebody who has an airplane horror story to tell. 47 passengers who flew continental express from houston to minneapolis certainly have a story to tell everybody they know. >> yeah, flight that normally takes about three hours ended up

lasting 12, and most of the time the passengers were trapped in a stuffy plane with little or no food. the stench of the restroom and several crying babies and what may be more infuriating, some airport officials say it didn't have to happen. rochester international airport was supposed to be a pit stop for passengers on board one flight. but they ended up spending the entire night. stuck inside a small commuter plane on the tarmac. it was after midnight, babies, several of them were screaming, and if that wasn't enough to keep you awake, the stench coming from the restroom was. it was a trip not soon forgotten. >> everybody was moving, trying to find positions to sleep in. there wasn't any room. the plane was getting warmer. >> reporter: for six long hours he and 46 others sat trapped and helpless and through the window they could see the terminal just 50 yards away. >> the smells were getting

worse, the bathroom was getting worse, the babies started going to the bathroom. >> reporter: they flight 2816 was headed from houston to minneapolis when it hit thunderstorms. it circled for a while, then had to land in rochester, minnesota. from there, it just kept getting worse. express jet, which operated the flight decided to wait for the weather to improve. >> we were going to wait until the storms got better, so we waited like good passengers for a couple of hours. >> reporter: at 2:00 a.m., the flight was cleared for takeoff, but more storms moved in. passengers sat waiting and waiting with no food and no water. >> nobody said anything about what was going on. >> reporter: at 5:00 a.m., cleared again, but then the crew had worked past the legal time limit and couldn't fly. it wasn't until an hour later, six hours since they landed that the passengers were let into the terminal. express jet says they had to wait until security screeners were on duty. >> i think there were a variety of options they could have

utilized, not the least of which was to call the manager of the airport. >> the airport manager says he never got that call and told a local newspaper that a delta flight deplaned at 3:30 a.m. and would've happily let the continental passengers in. but ultimately that decision is up to the airline. >> well, there you see, that plane eventually got a new crew, but they ended up having to take off in the same plane with the same busted toilet. they called the situation quote completely unacceptable and working with express jet to resolve the issue. passengers will be getting a full refund and a voucher good for future travel. and we asked link whether he thought that was sort of okay. >> he didn't seem to think that was enough compensation. >> he just said that, you know, there were 40 different lives -- 40 different situations and stories and people might have suffered some irreparable damage from what happened. >> good thing we weren't on that plane. >> well, we already had our scenarios worked out.

it's coming up on 44 minutes after the hour. just getting news in from the associated press, authorities in kuwait, apparently have foiled an al qaeda-linked plot to attack an american base in kuwait. apparently was only in the planning stages. a number of people are under arrest. we'll have that news for you when we come back.

it's 46 minutes past the hour right now. we're tracking breaking news right now.

according to the associated press, officials in kuwait are saying they foiled a terrorist attack on a u.s. base in their country. and they say the group behind it was linked to al qaeda. they also say that the plot was only in its planning stages. right now we bring in cnn national security analyst peter bergen in kabul this morning. thanks for joining us on the phone. peter, i want to ask you this. they claim it was in the planning stages, they arrested about half dozen people and they confessed to buying a truck that they intended to load with fertilizer, chemicals, and gas cylinders and then ram it into the camp. you've been to that camp in kuwait, what do you make of this? >> reporter: well, this, kiran, is a major facility in kuwait, it is used as a major logistical supply point for iraq. it is termed temporary base because of the sensitivities that the united states understands about permanent military installations in that part of the world. but it looks -- doesn't look very temporary.

it's a very substantial basase with thousands of people on it. buildings that have been up for more than six years now. kuwait has been not a place where you've seen a great deal of al qaeda activity. it's a very small country, the whole country you can drive across it in half an hour, it's a little bit bigger than washington, d.c. it's prosperous country, it is not a country where al qaeda has had much of a hold, but next door is saudi arabia and next door is also kuwait. historically have had substantial al qaeda presences. and if indeed the allegation is true, clearly camp arifjan would be a very rich target if this plot had succeeded. >> peter, it's john roberts. this is not the first time that the authorities in kuwait have foiled an al qaeda attempt against an american target. police there in the military service, are they pretty adept

at uncovering this sort of activity? >> reporter: yeah, i think so. kuwait is, you know, it's not saudi arabia where you've had historically a very large al qaeda presence. it is a country with obviously very substantial oil reserves. parties have done somewhat well, but that hasn't really translated into a great deal of support for al qaeda. i think similar to jordan, which has also got a pretty efficient police operation against al qaeda, this is a country that, you know, quite unusual this kind of thing. >> and peter, just to update our viewers right now, we just got confirmation, cnn has confirmed that authorities in kuwait say they've arrested six people, a group linked to al qaeda for trying to attack as you said arifjan military base. it's not a u.s. military base, but used by the u.s. military. one of the things that some were

talking about is it would be unlikely that an attack could be successful due to the high level of security. and as you said you've been there before. what do you think of that assessment? >> reporter: like any military base in the middle east, u.s. military base, it's, you know, it's in the middle of nowhere. it's highly protected. you know, multiple levels of security. even if you succeeded in detonating a suicide truck at a base like this, you know, the actual most of the people very far in from the prim sister. perimeter. so even if the plot had succeeded, these are very tough targets. >> well, peter bergen for us. thanks so much for the update on that. and we'll continue to follow the story again. the kuwait authorities say they have foiled a plot to try to attack camp arifjan.

six people in custody. only in the planning stages, a good thing. we'll continue to follow developments throughout the morning. 51 minutes after the hour.

the high cost of the hospital stake can practically put you in cardiac arrest. they see the charges they're not only confusing, but they seem outrageous. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us to talk about why hospitals charge so much. you hear these stories and you've seen them yourself. if you didn't have insurance and for people that don't have insurance and have to get a hospital bill, it really is astounding. >> you know, i tried to look at

these hospital bills myself and really make sense of them. i can tell you it is challenging for anybody. because there's a lot of things within the bill that you just don't make sense and a lot of things that you never see that should probably be in the bill. we decided to take a closer look. >> and all the x-rays, there's a rotation tool for 119, there's a wrench kit. >> reporter: on its face, it looks pretty straightforward, but your hospital bill is anything but. something 56-year-old debbie frazier found out the hard way when she had surgery in march. >> i just had to have the battery replaced on my defib rue later. i was there three days and it was $196,000. >> reporter: because once you strip away what you pay for your care, there are layers of charges that have nothing to do with your hospital stay. take a look at debbie's bill, nearly $3,000 a day for room and board, $72,960 for the

pacemaker, $44 for tlipator pills. and the key is what you don't see on the bill. >> i think it would help if they understand that bill represents really four tiers of costs. >> reporter: there's the direct cost of your care, then there's the overhead cost, the cost of running the hospital, things like administrative staff, the utilities. there's also the operating margin, that goes toward things like new medical technology, replacing worn equipment, and finally subsidy costs or uncompensated care. insured patients help pay for the uninsured and underinsured who can't pay their bill. >> it's a significant part of the bill you'll never see it written in the bill, but it's sure there, it's a hidden surcharge. if the costs weren't passed on to consumers, we wouldn't be able to care for people who have no insurance, we wouldn't be able to train physicians and doctors for the future, we wouldn't be in a position to maintain the facility.

>> reporter: the american hospital association's james bentley admits it's a complicated system. and it's almost impossible to look at a bill line by line and pull out the direct cost of your care. >> that's not the generic. not the generic i take anyway. >> reporter: frazier says it's time hospitals got creative. she's even got a suggestion. >> they need to use generic medication, that would keep their costs down. >> reporter: and hopefully, those savings would be passed on to you. >> so you get an idea there of looking at a hospital bill, four tiers there and each one of them probably has some room for more efficiencies, which is a big target of everything we're hearing with regard to health care reform. incidentally, kiran, you look at paying for the uninsured, it's about $1,000 per hospital bill on average to pay for uncompensated care. so that's another charge, as well, that's often factored into your bill. >> just many of these hospitals aren't making a ton of money, right? >> a lot of them aren't, and it

does vary from hospital to hospital and area to area. so you're going to see the same exact procedure, same exact hospitalization with a complete bill in miami versus minnesota. >> yeah. it is confusing and i feel for the lady. opening up that bill and seeing nearly $200,000, wow. mind boggling. >> and unable to piece it all together probably for her. >> thanks for breaking it down for us. great to see you this morning. as always, we welcome your comments on our blog, as well. cnn.com/amfix. >> the thing that really stunned me $72,000 for a pacemaker? >> i know. >> they're usually $10,000 to $15,000. >> maybe they need to buy the generic version. >> god knows i can't figure it out. hey, the cnn election express, which we only call the cnn express now because it won't be the election express until next year. ali velshi is talking about health care with the folks across the country. we'll find out what's on people's minds coming up next.

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president obama pushes health care, our own ali velshi is out on the road taking the pulse of the people. >> as he found out, the economy is still by far issue number one. >> we're struggling, i've lost $1,400 that month in income. it's not payday to payday, it's running short trying to keep up. >> i'm employed fortunately, i have friends who are unemployed and i think chattanooga is feeling the recession. >> i work in the restaurant business and we've had more applications than i've seen in a long time. >> a lot of people are seeking jobs. >> there are a lot of people just taking minimum wage jobs to

support a family on, just to be employed and i have a 15-year-old who wants the get a job, but as a manager myself, i can't justify hiring a teenager when there are adults with families to feed. >> reporter: and that's the story we're getting across america from -- at least for the beginning of this trip. we're going from, we start in atlanta, we're in chattanooga right now on the tennessee river, we're going to head into kentucky today, into southern illinois, missouri, and into iowa for the iowa state fair. but listen, it's not all bad. i spoke to a real estate agent who actually told me he's seeing things pick up, more people looking for houses, he's actually seeing more people signing deals. the other thing, of course, is health care, a big deal. we're talking to people about how their impressions of health care are formed. how the media coverage is forming opinions or if they're doing their research. i'm going to be asking that question today. pulling out in a few minutes and