administration is handling things. dan lothian is breaking it down for us. >> the economy is leveling out, suggesting that the recession could be over. good news for your job and money. christine romans breaks it down. we begin in the fight in afghanistan. marine and afghan forces are engaged in a fierce battle for control of a strategic town in southern afghanistan. barbara starr is live at the pentagon. this comes at a crucial time for afghanistan. one week from today, afghanistan holds presidential elections. the taliban are vowing to disrupt the elections. the u.s. is doing everything it can to make sure the elections are secure. u.s. troops, as you say, marines now in the fight in the city of dahaneh. some of the video we're showing

our viewers is really extraordinary. this video, some taken at night by the associated press as they moved through the area with the marines. casualties in southern afghanistan have been heavy in recent weeks as the extra u.s. troops have moved in. president obama, of course, sending the 21,000 additional troops to afghanistan. over the next several days very intense to make sure those elections do come off and free and fair as much as possible in afghanistan and that the taliban don't disrupt them. kiran. >> we heard from general mcchrystal about the challenges there, the taliban having the upper hand. we hear about the battles. will we see more u.s. troops heading over there soon. >> that's the question on the table. general mcchrystal finishing up that assessment about what else is needed for defense secretary

robert gates and president obama. this is the question everybody is asking. there are indications that general mccrystal will ask for additional capabilities to try to get a han doll on the ied threat that's facing the troops. more combat troops? it's up to 68,000. many people are skeptical saying you can't have too heavy a u.s. combat footprint in that country. the people there will resent it. there's a lot of indications what they have there still is not enough. kiran? >> barbara starr, thank you. president obama getting ready for round two of the road show in colorado and montana. the debate is growing more passionate. arlen specter facing tough questions in a town hall meeting yesterday. hundreds of people in hagerstown, maryland booed and said just say no.

charles grassley got an earful too in iowa. >> the power of life -- >> not going to do anything that's going to nationalize health insurance -- or nationalize health care in america. i don't intend to do anything to allow government bureaucrats to get between you and your doctor. >> senator, please forgive my teleprompter here. i've heard your recent rhetoric about how we want the same thing as obama and health care reform. i disagree on every level. there is nothing in that bill that i would agree to and we have to stop giving ground. >> government isn't the answer, it's a cancer. >> right now, as dan lothian reports, the white house is working hard to stay on message.

>> you don't know. you don't know. >> 74 going to be written off because they have cancer. >> why don't they take the health care being forced down our throats. >> you don't trust me? >> there's a lot of debate about the health care debate. some are calling it a mismessage. >> there's a concern that if this misinformation machine continues and the record can't be corrected as the white house would like it to be that it could potentially make it more difficult to get health care reform? >> we'll get -- the debate is dominated by something that's not true, of course. >> but white house spokesman robert gibbs hopes public support for health care reform will hinge on the fact. >> i don't think the president believes, though, that when all is said and done that those people will make their decisions on something that is false and something that has been

presented as false. >> even if the president is trying to set the record straight at a town hall in ports smith yesterday, this is what he said about the aarp. >> aarp would not endorse a bill if it was underminding medicare. >> reporter: while the aarp agrees it would never support a bill that underminds medicare, but the operating officer indicates that any endorsement is inaccurate. >> i don't think the president meant to -- >> he just misspoke? >> right. >> they're valuable, a way to inform, and to knock down what they see is false information about health care reform. the president hits the road with town halls in bozer, montana and grand junction, colorado. the cnn truth squad is back

checking claims about the health care reform bill like this one that popped up twice during senator arlen specter's town hall on tuesday. >> page 58 and 59 of this bill which gives the government access to private individual bank accounts. we're retired agents. we worked long and hard. sir, if i want to spread my wealth around, it will be to my children, my grandchildren, to my community, my church, of my choosing. i do not think the government has the right to do that. i would think i have to brush up on my constitution. but i would think it's unconstitutional. >> so the question -- will the health care billet uncle sam in to your bank account? the truth squad on that one? false. it does not effect individuals, it affects the companies involve in the medical billing.

it's to set up a standardized payment system between insurers and doctors offices. so, no, ma'am. they won't be in your bank account. dial up our show hot line at 1-877-my-amfix. that's 877-692-6349. wild fire burning near santa cruz mountains. it's burned 2,000 acres. firefighters say they don't know how it started and they don't know when they'll be able to get it under control. the mandatory evacuations were ordered overnight. >> former vice president dick cheney discussing his years in office and ready to tell all in his memoir. cheney felt president bush stopped taking his advice in the second term. and cheney is quoted as saying the statute of limitations has expired on many of his secrets. his book is due out 2011.

>> we know tiger woods won't be watched by hugo chavez. blasting golf on his live tv program saying golf carts are proof of the sport's laziness. "the new york times" reporting the chavez government plans to shut down two of the country's best known golf courses. >> he suggested that riding a golf cart is a sign of laziness as well. >> yeah. >> you like to walk the course. >> you do admit it's -- >> i don't know if it's it's a game a lot of people like to play. can't win on this argument. not going to try. christine romans after the break. is the recession over? we'll find out. there's an app for that.

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at meineke, you're always the driver. 11 minutes past the hour. we heard the reporting yesterday, many of them, most of them, as a matter of fact, said the recession is over. are people on main street feeling that? oh. >> that's a big question. not going to feel it for a while. the federal reserve had the big meeting. it didn't change interest rates. the federal reserve said things are leveling out. this isn't growing gang busters. this is stabilization, this is signs of leveling out. this is what the federal reserve said. information suggests that the economic activity is leveling out. conditions and markets are improving further in recent weeks.

household spending has continued to show signs of stabilizing as well. so financial markets and house hold starting to stabilize again. but, look, that's -- as i said, that's not great gang busters. this is the fed signaling to us that the worst might be behind us. next step, talking to employers, it's a company that's an hr consulta consultant. this is what they're finding. are companies going to stop hiring freezes? are they going to stop being so defensive. 33% of surveyed employers are going to unfreeze the salaries in the next six months. 79% are going to unfreeze salaries in the next year. that's good news for people who have been sticking around for the past year and a half and haven't had a salary increase and 70% of the people who were surveyed said they plan to start hiring next year -- who have a freeze on hiring right now. i spoke with nine ceos yesterday -- fascinating.

three of them said they are require right now. six are not. six are still in the defensive position and looking ahead with a great deal of caution. ceos, small, mid sized businesses still quite cautious. still with an eye to washington, still worried about political risks, taxes, and still worried about -- >> going to take a while to shake it all out. >> 4,136. it's dollars. it has to do with some of the reasons why we seem to be crawling out of this -- or at least leveling off. this is every american's share of the federal budget deficit. it peaked -- >> this is just the deficit, not the debt. >> this is just the money we're spending that we don't have right now in our budget situation -- $1.2 trillion is our deficit in july, four times

higher -- >> what is our share of the debt up to? >> $35,000, $38,000. would have to run that one through. >> oh what does it mean for the average american when we have a deficit of $1.2 trillion. >> we're spending so much more money than we take in so we have to pay for it somewhere. we pay for it in lower services, higher taxes, or combination of the two things. or the economy grows so strongly that you don't have to pay for it. i don't think anybody is thinking that's part of the scenario. but some combination of those three things. >> how local school districts are trying to figure out creative ways to pay for it. >> you, me -- >> wait until you see the report on that. >> pay to play. >> we see all of this anger and emotion at the town halls on health care, a couple of people have their finger on the pulse

of what they're thinking on what's driving all them. this woman taken away by police. >> we'll be talking to her too. >> this is your place for the health care debate. all of the information you need to know to make reasonable decisions.

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♪ we didn't start the fire it was always burning since the world's been turning ♪ >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. the debate over health care reform has touched a nerve in this country. many americans with no particular politics are inspired to show up at the town hall meetings. what is it about this issue that has so many people so fired up. you recognize her as the author of "the deep end of the ocean" and the columnist from the philadelphia daily news. she join us from philadelphia. why don't we start with you. pennsylvania has been the center of some of the most rough and

tumble town hall meetings. what are you hearing from people as you sort of, you know, get a sense of what they're thinking? why are they so fired up? >> when i think about it -- i think some of the obvious questions about how will we pay for something this big, i think it comes down to issues of -- people have -- they're sort of a fundamental belief that if you just live your life right, you will never find yourself in dire circumstances. i really believe that's sort of the underlying bedrock here. get off your duffs, get the job, which will have good health care, which means the rest of us wouldn't have to carry the water for you. the people who feel that way are people who have never insurance and have been lucky enough to never have to test to the max or people who have had some luck -- they've been lucky in terms of circumstances. i do think that they're sort of -- a clash divide.

people don't want to think luck has as much to do with some of this as it does. they want to think they're not that vulnerable. i'm wondering if it's not touching a deep core of terror how vulnerable we can all be walking around in the world. >> what are you sensing about this? people are involved in this. they're fired up about this like few things they have been in the past. why has it touched such a nerve? >> because it's going away. among people i know, this is priority one. you look at the paper for jobs and very few of them offer health care benefits now that the employer even contributes any portion of the pay toward -- toward the health care that the people can buy. what i pay for in health care is the self-employed person is enough to pay a mortgage and a car payment. >> we should point out, you have seven children. >> to cover myself and --

>> i have seven kids and it covers my husband. and it's not trivial. and it can be taken away at any moment. it's for -- we hear these little slogans that the government isn't the answer, it's the cancer. health insurance is for the healthy and the wealthy. it will cover you if a window falls on you, but not if you have something wrong with you like a bunion or a heart murmur, the things for which people need health care. >> ronnie, you had some personal experience with this. i read a column that you wrote. it said you were laid up with foot surgery. a daughter had an accident in her sports pursuit and you ran into one insane week as you called it that would have put people in financial difficulty. you had health insurance, though. >> i did. i fell, broke my foot. my daughter had a concussion, in

the hopt e.r. twice in 24 hours. thank goodness she's okay. but we were able to get an m.r.i. the second concussion she had in six months, by the way. she's very athletic. with my foot, i needed surgery. having said all that, even with good surgery, we ended up paying out of pocket close to $1800 to $2,000 and some of that was just additional help i needed getting around. i couldn't drive anymore. i had to take cabs. there were deductibles on the physical therapy. there were deductibles on her tests. that's good insurance. not catastrophic injuries. >> imagine if you didn't have health insurance? >> absolutely. >> we look at the town hall meetings and the way people are passionate and the amount of disinformation and misinformation that's out there, is this an issue that's ripe for fear mongering? >> it really is. it's absolutely silly the

nonsense that's put forth that government is not the answer, it's the cancer. who -- who -- what kind of insurance do lawmakers have? who provides it? the government provides it and it's darn good insurance. there's no reason that people should be afraid of lawmakers saying don't put the government between you and your doctor. we all wish we lived in a world of 40 years ago in which the same doctor that delivered your baby delivered your grandchildren. it's not that way anymore. people don't work 30 years for the same company. they have five jobs in a lifetime or go to five different health care providers and they're lucky to have one at all because a great many of americans of significant percentage pay out of pocket for health care insurance and deny themselves care for serious things. i threw open this on facebook last night to my community at midnight.

60 people answered questions about health care and they said -- and only two of them said they were satisfied with the health care that they had. >> well, you know, it's -- people are satisfied with the health care they have. other people aren't. nobody wants it to change. a difficult debate. we thank you both for being here this morning to share your experiences and talk about what you're getting for people. great to be with you this morning. thanks so much. appreciate it. >> kiran? 24 minutes after the hour. when we come back, we'll tell you an interesting phenomenon that seems to be happening to more and more people. the bank forecloses on your home. to add insult to injury, you find out you're on the hook for more cash. alina cho explains why.

♪ all you got to keep is strong move along move along ♪ >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. the soft housing market is giving rise to the trend where the bank returns it foreclosed home back to the owner. >> no corporate act of kindness. a new phenomenon is taking hold. the homeowners who thought they were out is back on the hook. one couple's story in an a.m. original. >> the bank never takes the title at all. it's such a fascinating and disturbing trend and happening a lot. everyone knows it housing crisis caused a record number of foreclosures. there's something happening that surprised a lot of us. people whose homes gone in to foreclosure finding out months, years later the very banks that seized their homes are walking away from them.

it's leaving the homeowner c confused and stuck with thousands of bills. >> reporter: when they found the bank was taking possession of their home after defaulting on their mortgage, they thought it was the worst days of our lives. they were wrong. >> we could spend 45 days in jail over the housing issue. >> does that seem ridiculous? >> we don't own the house. >> reporter: they do own it. in november of 2006, a judge agreed the sharp's home was the bank's property and should be sold at auction. the couple moved out. a year later, they learned that bank of america never followed through on the foreclosure. in the statement, b of a told cnn the bank has not foreclosed on the property and the customer still holds the title. the sharps are shocked and the practice is legal. >> a number of the properties have little value left in them at the end of the foreclosure process. if it's more expensive to follow

it through and take the property, they won't do it. >> reporter: it's happening in cities across america, banks walking away from so-called toxic titles. facing thee fines from the city of buffalo, new york for property violations and unpaid taxes on top of the thousands they paid in court fees. >> look at this. >> reporter: daniel benning works as an immediate yea tore. he calls the vacant homes vulnerable targets. >> these are attractive to persons of criminal intent. >> reporter: they're empty. >> the bank refuses to allow anyone to move in, but they refuse to do anything to the property as you can see. it affects not only this property but the properties next to them. >> reporter: the city of buffalo filed a lawsuit alleging 37 banks that walk away from foreclosed homes are responsible for the city's loss in property tax revenue and the police and fire costs.

as for the sharps? >> you look and you find something you thought was gone and is still there, now it's what's next? >> reporter: what is next? >> we have no idea. we have no idea. >> reporter: the next court date, september 29. this is happening across america. the hardest hit are rush belt cities. places like detroit, flint michigan, youngstown, ohio. places that have older housing that's not worth as much. the banks don't think it's worth their while to pay all of the administrative legal costs to foreclose on a home. it's incredible. it's happening across america. it's a growing, disturbing trend. >> any cities addressing the issue doing anything about it on their own? >> oh varies state-to-state, county to county. one is allowing the homeowners used for fines to move to their

homes so they could move back in or sell it. most places in america, the sharps, the couple in buffalo are paying for property violations, broken windows, vandalism, arson in their case, they weren't even inside the home. they're on the hook for property tax violations. listen to this -- if your house is ordered demolished, the homeowner could pay for that as well and that could run $60,000. >> shining a light on it. >> we hope so. half past the hour now. checking the top stories this morning. u.s. marines and afghan forces are battling the taliban for a control of a strategic town in southern afghanistan trying to secure the area before next week's election. the taliban being blamed for two roadside bombings in southern afghanistan that killed 14 ci l civili civilians. an international search

after a cargo ship being blamed for a crew being attacked. the cargo ship was on course for algeria when the 15-member crew reported a group of masked men had boarded the ship. all necessary measures will be taken to find the missing ship and if necessary, free the crew. don't be surprised if you're asked for your date of birth and gender when making travel arrangement ms. they plan to use that information to check passenger lists for terrorists on all domestic flights by next year. >> more than 1 million children in afghanistan have been orphaned after decades of conflict. most forced to fend for themselves. the side of war we don't often see. christiane amanpour travelled to a remote region of chaghcharan where she travelled to keep the children from becoming easy prey for the taliban.

>> reporter: in the mountains of afghanistan, a young boy is cast out. and this is how the battle begins. >> translator: my step mother was beating me a lot. then she forced me to leave the house. >> reporter: she was just 10 years old when he fled the beatings and the abuse at home. you're just a little boy. it must have been so hard? >> translator: yes, it was very difficult. i was spending my days and nighs here and there. >> reporter: for months, naseen wandered from village to village in search of food and shelter. he became a virtual slave to the townspeople.

but things changed for him when he arrive in the town and met yaseen fahreed who works for an american aid group. he introduced me to the orphanage. >> reporter: here 150 boys sleep two to a bunk. they wake up to face each day trying their best to bring some semblance of order to their lives amid the desperations that is afghanistan. >> reporter: you think you're cracking the back of this beast. >> my guide inside this world is mandy gustafsson, an american who grew up in afghanistan. she's been rebuilding broken shelters in this broken country.

she took me to a desperately poor neighborhood on the outskirts of town to met naseen's mother. she was also kicked out of the house when his father, an opium ph farmer, took a second wife. >> tell me why you can't have your kids live with you. >> his father doesn't let me keep them. when he forced me out of his house, he became like a wolf and my sons had to run away to two different places. >> reporter: his older brother may be in even more danger. the only thing she and her staff learn when they managed to call naseen's brother is that he's studying in a remote unsanctioned madrassa where the taliban is active. >> the two boys one in a madrasseh, the other in an

orphanage, is that something that epitomizes what's going on here in afghanistan. >> i really do. i really think it does. i can only speculate. but it is certain that madrassehs in the southern regions that are priming them for insurgents. they will go to the insurgency in some way or another. >> the story of young children who don't have hope are fertile ground. >> the median age is 17. and there's a huge amount of young people oftentimes orphaned as christiane showed us. in many ways, they don't have hope. where do they go? how are they going to get jobs? >> big problem. big, big problem. so how do we keep the taliban from preying on vulnerable afghan children? we'll be joined by the executive director of the interfaith youth corps with interesting insights to share with us. how? well, funny you should ask. you see, after i book 10 nights, i get a free one.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. just before the break, we ran part of christiane amanpour's documentary, generation islam. you witnessed firsthand the struggle for the young boys in afghanistan with few paths to choose from, sometimes ending up

in schools or madrassehs known to feed the taliban. how can these children be bodied down a nonviolent and productive path? joining us from chicago is the executive director of the interfaith youth corps. a chance to see christiane's documentary and take part in it. look at the challenge, especially the median age of people is 17 years old. unemployment is 40% or higher. what are specifically the challenges especially for muslim youth in afghanistan to find a way to be productive, to earn a living, and to be a contributing member of society? >> right. well, kiran, i think the first challenge is how we view the young people. they can become medical doctors or suicide bombers. the road they take has everything to do with the education that they get -- the mentoring that they get. which is why organizations like

mine, the interfaith youth corps are working all over the world to make sure young people view their religious identity as something that gives them hope and something that inspires them to lead a productive and positive life. >> you talk about education being key. we see that time and time again. you see you are educated. you can go on to higher education, the chances of a good-paying job are higher. the chances of getting hit by a relate session or economic downturn, lower. not only is the availability of these schools but also what's being taught there. >> exactly right. the taliban is not islam. let's be clear about this. the taliban is not religion. the taliban is a sickness. and that sickness infects the parts of society that are particularly weak. in areas where there is no school, the taliban sets up a school. so it has the only free lunch program. it has the only health clinic. it has the only educational institution. and families are, a, effectively

forced to send their kids there. and, b, feel like they have no alternative. we can do something about that. the afghan government and community and ngos with the united states of america can build schools in those areas. we can look at the young people as potential scientists and poets. we can build the institution that helps them get on the positive path. >> it's not just afghanistan. look at the larger issues in that region in the world in pakistan. it's economics that you said factor in to where the kids go to school. enroll the kids in a madrasseh. free room, board, clothing. this is attractive for impoverished families. what they're learning there isn't necessarily giving them life skills to move on and get a job. so how do you get in to that? how do you penetrate that and make a change? >> as i was saying earlier, this is a problem that can be solved.

if the taliban can set up a school in a remote region that's teaching hate, that responsible dimensions of the international community and the afghanistan government can set up a school in that region that's teaching hope. we have to care about this issue more than the taliban. we can't forfeit a generation of young people in this region to the taliban. that begins with us believing in the young people and making a commitment to invest in their future. their future and our future are linked. >> thank you so much. and by the way, we want to let people know he's put together a list of recommendations about engaging the muslim communities for the senate foreign relations committee hearings. you can check it out. there's a lot of interesting things going on there. watch generation islam with christiane amanpour tonight at 9:00 eastern here on cnn. john? 40 years ago this weekend that people flocked to bethel, new york for this festival.

a festival that changed a generation. one of the performers, right there, ar low guthrie. he talks to carol costello about what's happening since then.

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property of arrow smith and boston in the background. thanks to our friends at whgh in boston. high of 69 today. plenty of rain in the forecast. >> still a mystery about what happened to steve tyler. he fell off of the stage but the condition -- not releasing information. they think he might have hurt his back or neck. >> we'll send jay up to boston to find out what's going on with steve tyler. any bad weather across the nation today? >> he may have fell off of the stage when he found how low his band ranked on the all-time list we were going over yesterday. >> we got news on that. we need to clear something up. the reason it lined up the way it was because the pew research folks didn't ask who's the favorite bands of all times. they listed from all them and then gave suggestions. not all the bands were included.

do you know these people, and that's why the lists ended up. >> the write-in candidates like u-2 and aerosmith -- it was a finite list. >> never well in statistics. >> not an all-time battle of the bands. >> anyway. we wish the best to steven tyler and our friends in boston. new york to boston. rain on and off at time ms. some of it heavy. the soil is saturated from the rain you've seen all summer long. the rain mostly showers across new england. look for slowing down at the airport. boston, philly, new york. showers, thunderstorms today, an hour delay in shots. atlanta, charlotte, low clouds. miami, orlando, houston, will see afternoon thunderstorms. 77 in new york today. 87 in atlanta. rain-cooled up there in new york.

depression number two. winds at 30 miles per hour. it has weakened. the forecast takes it to tropical storm strength and move it toward the leeward islands. see if it survives. having a hard time out there. not everything conducive for hurricane development. talking about it all season long. becomes the first tropical storm of the season. that would be a nice thing. >> el nino? >> more than likely. wind sheer going on. warmer waters. see if it develops. it can stay out there. no problem with that. >> stays out there. thanks so much. every friday rob is on the road for rob's road show. he was innen the tn for the world's biggest yardsale. tomorrow he's in the biggest yo-yo contest in orlando. give us some ideas. maybe a sausage festival in guam or something. >> maybe. well, probably. i said he should go to cedar

point where they have crazy roller coasters and see how many he can handle, see how many he can ride in the course of the show. >> hooked up to a wireless camera while he's on a roller coaster. >> we'd love that. >> week stock, 40 years later? where's the time gone? carol costello's one-on-one with one folks singer famous for his protest songs. what he's up to now. bicycle, what are we waiting for? 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...

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♪ you can get anything you want ♪ ♪ at alison's restaurant >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. the artists making wood stock

famous. remembering the three days of peace, love, and music in 1969. >> this weekend marks the 40th anniversary of that megamusic festival, the cultural phenomenon. arlow guthrie still speaking out on health care reform. carol costello and the story. what was it like 40 years later to meet him? oh. >> awesome guy, very kind, very down to earth. were you surprised that an anti-war guy was a registered republican? that was a surprise to me and his fans. why a hippie from the '60s known for a anti-war song has long been a registered republican. >> reporter: wood stock, 40 years ago now.

hundreds of thousands immersed themselves in mud, music, and many of them drugged hoping they could change the world. >> what do you remember in those days? being at wood stock? >> i remember getting there. >> reporter: in the movie, arlow guthrie seemed a bit overwhelmed? >> how did it change you? >> i never participated in anything or indulged in anything before a concert again? >> reporter: why? >> because at the same time it was a wonderful double-edged sword where i was in no shape to be performing and at the same time it was the performance of my life. it's freaking shakespearean to me. >> reporter: he calls wood stock a single unifying icon that comes to symbolize bigger more important movements at the time like the civil rights movement

and the anti-war movement. and guthrie is more well known for his anti-war anthem in film "alison's restaurant" than he is for wood stock. ♪ al son's restaurant >> and this is the allison's restaurant, really a deconsecrated church. guthrie bought it and turned it to a spiritual community center. if his life sounds like one long stereotypical hippie trip, you're wrong. >> reporter: i told people i was going to come up and talk to you, the first thing he said was, my god, isn't he a conservative now? are you? >> i'm never a conservative. >> reporter: he is a registered republican. did you vote for john mccain? >> my voting record isn't up for discussi discussion. >> reporter: sarah palin? >> i think she's spunk.

>> reporter: he admires her spunk. he's a family values kind of guy, married to jackie for 40 years, plays in a band with his own kids, lives in the same house he bought with profits from "alice's restaurant" back in 1969. and as a republican, he fears a democrat controlled country. besides -- >> i'm more comfortable being a loyal opposition than a rah-rah let's go get them we're in power now kind of guy. >> that said, he's still a child of the '60s, still vehemently anti-war, anti-establishment, beliefs born at wood stock have not changed with time. >> it revived your faith in human beings. it made you feel like you could trust your buddy, even though they were telling you you couldn't. >> guthrie told me watching barack obama's inauguration is a valid part of what they fought for. as a republican, he doesn't much

like president obama's stimulus package or health care reform plans but wishes republicans would come up with better ideas rather than just protesting against those policies. there's a lot going on there, carol. a very complex web of politics he's living with these days. >> you know, we often stereotype people. people aren't that simple. they're complicated. they have a lot of different ideas -- republican or democrat or somewhere in the middle. but we tend to label them one thing or the other often mistakenly. >> i love the fact that he said he was so high he went on stage he had no business to be there. he wasn't the only one, that's for sure. >> it was the best performance of my life, double-edged sword. >> he wishes he could remember more of it, i think. >> what i remember is it was the best performance of my life. >> if you remember the '60s, you weren't really there? >> yeah. >> thanks so much for that.

we continue to weigh in at the health care debate. a lot of the town halls we showed you have been focusing on democratic members of congress. wait until you see what happened when one republican member of congress held a meeting. chuck grassley's town hall coming up in a couple of minutes.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. crossing the top of the hour. 7:00 eastern. thanks for joining us on this thursday, the 13th of august. i'm john roberts. >> i'm kiran chetry. first, marines are in a battle in southern afghanistan to take a taliban stronghold before next week's presidential election in that country. it could be a long hard fight against insurgents who are dug in and vowing to disrupt the vote. barbara starr is monitoring developments for us. live from the pentagon in a moment. senators, members of

pentagon, and the president taking debates from the people in town hall meetings across the country. all sides and the facts about reform proposals. why one key republican is feeling the heat over health care. back from the brink -- the federal reserve saying the economy is leveling out following the worst economic downturn since the great depression. the closest to an official pronouncement of the end of the recession so far. but it comes with the word of caution that most americans are not feeling like it's significantly better right now. coming up, we'll have a noted economist to explain to us. we begin the hour with afghanistan. a dangerous fight under way right now. u.s. marines are on the ground trying to take a key city that's really an important part of a summer strategy that could help turn the war. barbara starr is working at the pentagon this morning. as we've been talking about, this comes as a crucial time for afghanistan ahead of a presidential election. >> one week from today, afghanistan's scheduled to hold

that presidential election. and that means that the u.s. marines are stepping up the action right now. up close with marines on the front line. >> going to get out here. >> reporter: part of operation eastern resolve two, the third major push this summer into the dangerous and lucrative center of afghanistan's drug trade. 400 u.s. marines and 100 afghan troops jumped taliban lines in helicopters to take the town of dahaneh in helmand province, the first time u.s. troops have entered the city. >> dahaneh is one of the big towns. this is where the bah as a is. >> the marines took part of the 21,000 extra troops president obama ordered up earlier this year. the immediate mission, break the

hold on the city and free residents to vote on the election. >> to the right of the wall there. >> the taliban called for the boycott and threatened to ruin the election which the u.s. concedes is a challenge. >> holding an election in a war-time situation is always difficult. but a government needs legitimacy. and this election was called for you should the constitution. >> reporter: in dahaneh, commanders predict a few more days of intense fighting before the town is secured. so, for the u.s. marines in the fight right now, that means several more days of combat and 120-degree weather and still turning up their heat on the taliban. kiran? >> yeah, big channelsllenges ah for sure. thanks. the white house is trying to stay on message with the make-or-break push on health care reform. the president and the democrats are not the only ones feeling the heat. chuck grassley working on a compromise with those across the

aisle is getting an earful in town hall after town hall across the state of iowa. candy crowley is live in west des moines, iowa this morning. what are we hearing at the town halls, candy? >> we're hearing many, many things, really across the board. people for it, confused by it. senator grassley has not seen this kind of passion since 1989 two decades ago. that is not coincidental with catastrophic health care congress was trying to sell to senior citizens. you are seeing that passion here now in iowa. >> if it's okay with you, i'll get started. >> chuck grassley holds his 72nd town hall meeting this year. and what a year. >> we're here at a time when i sense people are scared for our

country. >> stimulus plan, bailouts, government spending, health care, grassley gets two, sometimes three times the crowds he's had in previous years, many people, so many hands in the air. >> where do my children go to get their insurance if they don't want government health care? >> how are you going to change the insurance so that the small businesses can compete? >> reporter: so many cross currents. >> i need to know what are you doing to the insurance companies that are putting everything in their pocket and laughing at everybody else. >> simple math even for this southern iowa red neck shows -- we can do -- we can cover the people who want coverage with a private policy cheaper, one-third, than what the government is proposing. >> a trickery one for the senator. he's ranking the government on the finance committee and the smaller group, republicans and democrats, trying to come to moderation, trying to piece

together a compromised bill. some constituents urging to press on, but the core of his base is concerned that grassley will bend too much on the way to compromise. bouncing from town hall meeting 72, 73, 74, 75, grassley up for re-election next year starts with what he won't agree to. >> i'm not going to do anything to nationalize health insurance -- or nationalize health care in america. i don't intend to do anything to allow government bureaucrats to get between you and your doctor. >> the senator pushes back against people he says want him to sit at his desk with his feet up. he's at the center of the senate negotiations, he says, to keep the senate from giving away the store. >> the old saying -- if you're not at the table, you're the menu. >> doesn't seem that things are going so well at that table despite the august recess senator grassley said in a couple of the town hall meetings

that he will not walk away from the table, but he may be shoved away from it by the things that the democrats want that he can't agree to. at one of these stops, john, the senator said he wasn't altogether sure that when they came back from the senate recess that democrats wouldn't just go it alone. john? >> was there any single theme that emerged as a focus of criticism there? we hear about costs. we hear about public insurance program. denial of service. is there any one thing in particular that rose to the surface? >> as far as the critics are concerned, all of that fits under one big umbrella. that is big government. what we heard was not just health care. it was primarily health care questions that the senator got over at the town hall meetings. but he was also hearing about property rights and stimulus package. so a very real feeling from critics and those who are looking to stamp this particular health care bill obama style is,

listen, the government seems to be in to everything. bailouts taking over or at least helping out the auto industry -- that big still plus plmulus pla. there's a general feel that the government is getting too involve in the private lives. >> the small splice of bipartisanship may be coming to a close? >> it's as pessimistic as i heard senator grassley be about the small meetings. that seems to center around not surprisingly the criticism, the idea that our public insurance that people or businesses can buy into, something he said he won't agree to. >> thanks so much. always great to see you. coming up on "the most news in the morning," allegations of race and health care debate. maxine johnson was pulled out by having a poster held by a democrat senator claire mccaskill. there's a nice side to that

story. what happened. the most news in the morning a half an hour from now. other stories -- dick cheney discussing years in office and appears ready to tell all in his memoir. cheney said president bush stopped taking his advice in the second term and the statute of limitations expired on many of the secrets. gasoline prices are creeping up. the national average of regular unleaded now, $2.65 a gallon up a fifth of a penny. the highest prices in hawaii, the cheapest in south carolina. you know the old saying, if it seems too good to be true. wednesday morning, best buy accidentally posted a 52-inch samsung plasma hdtv on its website for $9.99. of course that's not the right price. many people tried to get in on it, though. they listed the real price of a tv which was then $1800.

best buy saying we're sorry and adding that they could not honor the wrong price. so they refunded the $10 plus shipping, etc., back to the customers who had already ordered it. many people had ordered multiple tvs. >> well, you know, sometimes the price is the price. but there's a little -- there's language on their website that says prices may be incorrect and we're not bound to honor the price we show here on the website. >> what a deal it would have been. >> what a deal. yeah. sometimes they have the blowout promotions. but not in this case. so is the rehegs ovecession? some economists think it might be. jeff sax joins us to give his assessment of where the economy is and where it' headed. taking its rightful place

in a long line of amazing performance machines. this is the new e-coupe. this is mercedes-benz. this is the new e-coupe. [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics. desperately trying to stop you from discovering that reform won't hurt medicare. it will actually strengthen it by eliminating billions of dollars in waste

and lowering drug prices. tell congress not to let myths get in the way of fixing what's broken with health care. learn the facts at healthactionnow.org. welcome back to the most news in the morning. stocks rallied when the u.s. reserve said the u.s. economy is leveling out. the majority of the economists

surveyed by "the wall street journal" say yes, we are. but we're dealing with unemployment. 9.4%. that's twice what it was two years ago. so how does the news that perhaps we're out of the woods help you? joining me to answer some of these questions is jeffrey sax, the director of the institute at columbia university and advisor to the u.n. secretary general. great to have you with us. when the fed speak, when they say economic activity is leveling out. you have the economists saying the recession is over. it's reason to hope, especially given what we've been dealing with for the past several months. are we out of the woods yet? >> we're in the woods still, unfortunately. but we're heading out now because we're reaching the bottom of what was a steep fall. panic, that's subsiding. the panic sense in the financial markets really have gone away. there was the housing bubble. that's subsiding. we don't have much growth.

we're at the bottom and it's going to be a long, slow climb. the white house says we're going to have more than 10% unemployment rate. that's likely. >> in terms to that, what does it mean to the average person says when the fed says and noted economists say it looks like we're out of the woods but be people are saying, i don't have a job, my neighbor doesn't have a job, my house isn't worth what i bought it for. when am i going to feel better? >> the economists sensed there was some chance. they exaggerated that we would go to a great depression. we're not going to have a great depression. that's the sense of relief. some sectors pumped up like banking. profits are propped up again. they're going to take megabonus which is is unfair in my opinion. they feel exuberant again. for the rest of us, a long, slow process. many tensions in the economy still. we have this massive budget deficit that's going to have to be attended to. so there are many problems that are going to have to be worked

out. it's not going to feel good for quite a while. the panic we can put aside. we're not going in to collapse. >> you called it grossly unfair. we're told six, eight months ago, banks are on the brink, the whole financial system is in danger of collapsing. the government pumps billions to propping up the banks and the banking sector. they're on easy street again it seems and people are saying, wait, my local plants are shut down, manufacturing plants are gone. we're in trouble. how does this work? >> it's unbelievable, even in the year these banks were losing tons of money and kofss all the rest of us pension money by the trillions, these banks continue to take billions of profits in individual bankers taking home more than $1 million eep. the each. there was a terrific report by andrew cuomo who documented through subpoenas and other evidence what the bonuses were in the massive loss year of

2008. $33 billion in bonuses taken home by the top bankers in the nine banks that caused so much trouble. i'm waiting for washington to get serious and say we can't live in a society so unfair where the bankers walk away in billions and billions in loss-making years. we'll bail them out and say, well, that's our money too. we'll take that, thank you. if we don't get some sense of responsibility from our financial system. if washington doesn't impose some sense of responsibility, i think the anger will rise and this will also frustrate what a lot of us hope for, which is a recovery we can believe in. >> private analysts say we think we added one percentage point to economic growth in the second quarter, the impact that the billions in stimulus money had. how significant is that? >> the main reason we reached the bottom is the panic subsided, that the federal

reserve did pump in a lot of money. that is not the stimulus from the treasury. >> did the stimulus work too? >> the stimulus had a slight effect, not a big effect. because we're seeing in europe where there was no such stimulus that germany and france grew this year without any kind of stimulus package. i don't think one could argue that the stimulus was the key to this. my own view is that the end of the panic is the key. that the aggressive action that the fed took in lowering interest rates, making sure liquidity was maintained, the banking sector didn't collapse was the essence. the deflating of the housing bubble played its role. but the worries about the budget deficit going forward are real and going to have to be attended to. >> great to talk to you, jeff, as always. have great insight. thanks for being with us this morning. 7 million women in this country are suffering from some form of infertility. with people waiting until later

in life to have children, more and more are turning to invitro or assisted reproductive activities to have a child. are doctors too quick to turn to ivf? the answer is yes. the gold delta skymiles credit card... from american express... it's the official card...

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. militias have been behind some of the bloodiest home grown terror attacks and standoffs in american history. armed with plenty of firepower and mistrust of government, a brand new report shows right wing militias across the country are regrouping and growing. our brian todd is breaking down the tletd from our washington bureau this morning. good morning, john, kiran. in the 1990s, they were blamed for espousing the ideology putting in to practice for the bomber timothy mcveigh.

anti-government militias inside the united states are making a comeback. a posting on youtube, a tribute to the militia. >> things are bad. things are real bad. it's going to get a lot worse. so basically the people need to wake up, start buying some of these -- see. >> the video is an example of how militias are making a come back according to a new report from the southern poverty law center. >> we're in a very worrying moment in my view. a perfect storm of factors that favors it continued growth of this movement. nonwhite immigration of the economy that's in dire straits. >> a homeland security in april says address indicate the insurgence of strong well armed extremist groups. how dangerous are they? far too numerous to mention.

regrettably so. some want to do what happened in oklahoma city. that is commit violent acts within the homeland. >> reporter: the government asaysment said lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing right wing extremist ideology are the most dangerous terrorism threat in the united states. a leader of the militia group told us members of established militia groups like his that do first aid shouldn't be talking about violent extremists. >> we don't want innocent americans to get hurt. >> he described it as pro freedom and pro constitution, not anti-government. >> i don't mean to suggest all of these people out there with these kinds of ideas are kill s killers. that's absolutely and clearly not true. does this movement produce people that engage in criminal actions and sometimes terrifying ones? i think that's unquestionable. >> several high-profile criminal suspects have been linked to

racist or right-wing ideology. the man charged with killing a kansas abortion doctor in may, and the alleged gunman at the holocaust museum in washington in june. the election of the first african-american president is serving as an extremist recruiting tool according to the department of homeland security. officials tell cnn while barack obama had a significant number of threats in his campaign since his swearing in, it's not been much different than other sitting presidents. >> the historical nature of this presidency is something the secret service is aware of. >> reporter: a report focused on cyberattacks by left wing groups and environme . >> brian todd, thank you so much. first your bank forecloses

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♪ to this house we're born into this world we're thrown ♪ >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. the soft housing market giving rise to a new national trend. foreclosed properties being returned to their owners. >> not an act of corporate kindness. a new phenomenon putting homeowners back on the hook. >> far from corporate kindness. good morning. this frankly surprised a lot of us around here. people whose homes are finding

out months, even years later that the very banks that seized their homes are walking away from them. leaving the homeowner confused, and, worst, stuck with thousands of dollars of bills. when the sharps found out the bank was taking possession of their home when they defaulted on their mortgage, they thought it was the worst day of their lives. they were wrong. >> we could spend 40 days in jail over this housing issue. >> reporter: does that seem ridiculous. >> we don't own the house. >> reporter: they do own it. in november of 2006, a judge agreed the sharps' home was the bank's property sold at auction. the couple moved out. a year later, they learned bank of america never followed through on the foreclosure. in the statement, b of a told cnn the bank did not foreclose and the customer holds the title. the sharps are shocked and the practice is legal.

>> a number of the foreclosed properties have little value left in them. it will be more expensive to follow the foreclosure all the way through and take the property, they won't do it. >> reporter: it's happening in cities across america. banks walking away from so-called toxic titles. the sharps are facing thousands of fines from the city of buffalo, new york for property violations and unpaid taxes. that's on top of the thousands they've already paid in court fees. daniel bening works as an immediate yea tore. he calls the homes vulnerable targets. >> these are attractive to persons of criminal intent. >> reporter: they're empty. >> the bank refuses to allow anyone to move in. they refuse to do anything to the property as you can see. it affects not only this property but the property next to them. >> reporter: the city of buffalo filed a lawsuit, alleging 37

banks that walked away from foreclosed homes are responsible for the tax revenue and the increase in police and fire kos. as for the sharps? >> you look and you find something that you thought was gone and is still there, now it's -- what's next? >> what is next? >> we have no idea. >> no idea. >> we have no idea. just incredible. we do know their next court date is september 29. now, as i mentioned, this is happening in cities across america. but the hardest-it places, rust belt places, detroit, michigan, cleveland, ohio, places with older housing stock with declining value. the banks don't think it's worth their while to pay all of the legal and administrative costs. imagine going through the grief of losing your home. >> finding you're still owning it and tagged for all of the expenses. >> these are people who lost their jobs like the sharps. they didn't have the money to pay the mortgage now hit with

thousands of dollars in fines. >> so any of the cities -- city-by-city level. >> city-by-city, state-by-state, county by county. in cleveland, ohio, this is happening a lot. one judge is allowing the homeowners to use the money they pay in fines to fix up their homes so they can either move back in or sell their home. what's incredible, guys, is most of these people, like the sharps, are hit with thousands of dollars of property violation fines like for vacancy and arson they weren't even inside their homes. and if the city ordered the home demolished, the homeowner is on the hook. if you don't think it affects you, think about it. you have an eyesore in your neighborhood. >> drags down the price of all of the homes in the area. >> maybe shining the light on this will help get something done. >> well, wild fire burning near california santa cruz mountains forcing hundreds from their homes. a look at the flame there.

it started last night. it burned 2,000 acres. live pictures courtesy of our affiliate out there. firefighters don't know what started it. the mandatory evacuations started being ordered last night. former staffer for bill clinton betsy wright is denying felony charges that she tried to smuggle a knife, a box cutter, tweezers, and 48 tattoo needles to an arkansas death row prison. the associated press reports state police found the knife and the needles inside of a doritoses bag. wright, a vocal opponent of death row told the guard she found the bag in a vending machine. she was chief of staff for former president clinton when he was the governor of arkansas. in manhattan, the freedom towers starting to take shape. crews have put in a 70-ton steel column, the largest so far in place. three more scheduled to go up

today. it takes it skeleton several stories above street level. the freedom tower is expected to be finished in 2013. all over the world, just-released numbers show first-time mothers are getting older in america. every year over age 30, a woman's chance of getting pregnant declines. women are dealing with infertility. many are turning to the laboratory with assisted reproduction called ivf. that's how nadya sulaiman became the octomom. dr. sammy david said too many women are getting pushed toward ivf. on the other side of this debate, a reproductive endocrinologi endocrinologist. good to see you both this morning. let's go to you first. you claim in your book that 50% of ivf procedures are unnecessary. where's the evidence for that? >> well, the evidence -- the book is written with my

co-author is jill blakeway, a wonderful acupuncturist. 40% of infertility is male related. why ivf doctors are pushing the drugs on the women when in fact the man is the one that should be evaluated. so many couples are being herded in to ivf when perhaps there are much easier cause -- much more treatable causes for their infertility instead of giving them high dose of drugs with the risk of drugs, preterm delivery, with the risk to the baby. there are easier ways, better ways, and in this economy, a lot cheaper ways of having a baby other than having to insert the invitro. >> are too many people being pushed to infertility and are women given the drugs when the man should be treated here? oh we're not pushing patients to invitro fertilization. that's the last, not the first.

we diagnose patients. we treat specific problems we find. it is true, 40% is a factor. those men are worked up and treatable problems are corrected and the appropriate treatment is given, based on data, evidence, and when simple things fail, ivf is the last resort and it's the most effective treatment. >> let's break this down to categories here. starting line -- a 35-year-old woman walked into your offices having trouble getting pregnant, how would they be treated differently? >> it would depend on whether they've seen other doctors before me. one thing is to go over a complete -- totally complete history. find out about the woman's habits, her hobbies. the husband -- does he take tub baths? does he put a laptop computer on his lap? a lot of these little questions are not raised at the time of interview with the ivf doctors. a good history should take one hour. need to know everything about the woman and the man. then you run the appropriate

tests. cultures on the cervix, hormone tests on the woman. examining a man critically. let's look at his sperm shapes, not just counts. is there an infection in the man. are the tubes okay? are the uterus okay? you must be complete. this is where a doctor is meant to be. >> is that different from what you do? >> it's exactly with what most of us do. you treat patients -- you make a diagnosis and give specific treatment. our treatments are aimed at increasing the odds of getting someone pregnant. and it turns out that ivf for many patients the most effective treatment. that's why we resort to it when simpler, less invasive treatments don't succeed. >> you're doing the ivf as a next procedure. are you really that much at odds with each other? >> we're not at odds with each other at all. i send patients to invitro but

only after everything has been tried and tested. on the reverse, though, what i'm finding in my own practice, i find as many ivf failures coming to me or to jill blakeley to become pregnant. especially the women who are hopeless. >> a lot more issues to talk about. be back in a minute. stay with us.

back with our two doctors and two different views in making babies in the laboratory. is this still in some ways a big experiment? you talk about the effects of drugs use in ibf, dr. david, in your book. some studies show an increase in fertility risks in cancer drugs, a study over the course of decades found no increase in incidents of ovarian cancer because of fertility drugs? >> another study? '08 when people were evaluated. not to scare people away from ivf, a slight increase in ovarian cancer, but more importantly, an increase in other types of tumors that were not cancerous or precancerous

called borderline tumors. this is not to scare people away from ivf at all. an easier, less expensive way, more natural way of achieving a pregnancy in this economy and our concerns, why are we doing aggressive therapy? >> one of our producers here at "american morning" had breast cancer, and also ivf. she got concerned would she be at higher risk because of the drugs she took? >> not one study documented that. the problem is it's been known before fertility treatments that the group of infertile women had a higher risk to begin with. if you compare that population to the normal population, these population studies are fraught with problems in analysis. they're only good if you follow them forward in time. two big studies found no difference. the worry is limited and if there are risks, they're small

if at all. >> how old is too old? and dr. david, you talk in your book about discrimination against women who are older. you look at the hormonal panel and if certain hormones are above a certain level, they're not particularly a good candidate. but predominantly, it's older women pushed to ivf. you're trying to argue it both ways here? >> i think what i'm seeing it in my practice and jill blakeley as well is patients are given a hopeless chance. 45 years old, 43, a 32-year-old is being turned away by ivf doctors saying your eggs are too old. you have to give that person a chance to achieve a pregnancy. i'm sorry for the patients. >> that may be your experience. that's not how we practice. we tell the patients what their chances are. a 32-year-old doesn't have a -- a marker for ovarian reserve and

good egg quality. if that value is elevated, your chances are lower. if we don't tell them their facts, we aren't being good doctors. i never tell a patient their case is hopeless. there's always hope. but we have to navigate the series of choices they make in their treatments. educate patients and help them make good decisions. when you do that, they make good decisions. >> science versus luck. you write -- i have helped many patients become pregnant. there's a huge population who failed invitro and have been able to conceive without invitro and fertility drugs. what do you know that ivf specialists like dr. grippo have missed. >> the infections in the husband's see men. >> we have see men analysis. we do a culture. >> virtually every case i've seen that come to me failed ivf.

a mild bacteria in the semen. this is not what they're looking for. week after week, jill blakeley and i will see patients who will not succeed in ivf but succeed in easier, less expensive ways. >> refer to ivf and sometimes doctors will refer back to you. it's a circle. how much of this is luck versus science. >> everyone has a baseline pregnancy rate. there's a chance they'll get pregnant. some patients it's a low chance. sometimes there are treatment independent pregnancies that occur. after failing ivf, there are patients who get pregnant. it's a fact. but not the most likely event you see as a doctor. so we're trying to help patients get the best chance. as we get lower, the chances get lower. if you get older and you don't treat them, then you ruin your chances of being successful. >> great discussion. great to be with you. appreciate you coming in. >> oh thanks for having us. >> kiran? right now, we're going to be talking about the health care and the town hall meetings that

are taking place all over the country. scuffles, shouting matches. but one in particular, senator clair mccaskell's town hall things got really ugly. a woman was ejected, pulled out of the town hall meeting. she brought a sign in to the meeting. somebody ripped it out of her hand. her name is maxine johnson. she'll be joining us live to tell us what happened. ad. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

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can't you read the signs ♪ 48 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the mowe news in the morning. you've probably seen video of senator claire mccaskill's town hall meeting. she faced an angry crowd at a town hall she held outside st. louis. something happened in the crowd there. a woman well known in local politics was able to get a poster inside of the meeting. they said signs and posters were going to be banned, not by senator mccaskill but by the facility itself. here's the video of what happened next making the rounds of youtube. >> as a provider. so i'm doing this here in september. i hope you guys watch it and pay attention to it. the government has a million data bases. they don't talk to each other and we do a pretty good job protecting your privacy but we don't do a good job of communicating with each other. we kept it -- hey, hey, hey!

>> ma'am? >> you saw what happened there. a woman was sitting there. she had a rolled up poster on the chair in front of her. she says that local reporter wanted to see what the poster was. that's when the man ripped it out of her hand. he was arrested and held on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. a picture of rosa parks was removed. her name was maxine johnson. she joins us live this morning. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> we saw what happened. give us context -- what was going on with that meeting and what happened when things took a turn there? >> we were on line for an hour. he was from missouri. he walk in the side door. we didn't see any sign posted

and the security guard said have your purse checked. we had the posters opened in front of our bodies and two other security guards checking our purses, saw the wide on our bodies and they told us going into the gymnasium. you go down the middle aisle and sit down on the floor, and all of a sudden the crowd start saying put up your signs, your posters, and i was just curious because i knew it was a rosa parks sign, the highway we just got off of was rosa parks, and i couldn't understand the connection between the rosa parks sign and the hearing. it was no relation. and finally, i just to the senator yes ma'am, senator, we will comply and i sat down in my seat, rolled the sign up, and a reporter asked to take a picture and the gentleman to my right in the bleachers suddenly leaped from the bleachers, ran to me, and it happened so quickly my daughter said he twist my arm, pushed me on to her, snatched the sign out of my hand and as he walked away i realized he crumbling up my sign.

i leaped out of my seat to go retrieve my sign. and i said don't take my sign. and before i knew it, i had four or five officers on me and one on him. and i said, wait a minute, he took my sign. and four other officers -- i began to say obama, obama, we went to the meeting purposely to support the voice of the people in our neighborhoods, which is predominantly all black. because many of them do not have health coverage. we went to support senator mccatskill and president obama. we were there to support them. and i have never experienced anything like this in my entire life. i was insulted the fact they were all on me and this young man was basically walked out the door and they were dragging me out the door. >> let me just stop you there. as we understand it, this man was arrested, and he was actually charged with misdemeanor assault in this situation. we spent all morning trying to contact him and we have not been able to.

you said you thought there was a racial element to this. explain that. >> can't you read? can't you read? as we looked around the room, there were several people in the room that had other signs. there was a person that had a sign. and you know, my point is, there were signs that were not allowed, why did the officers allow this in the room? and then we comply and there were other people with signs, they were not black, there was about 3,000 people, about 30 african-americans and i asked another and i said, what was the problem it was rosa parks, a historical figure. and the woman says it wasn't rosa parks, you were the threat, you are a black woman. and the people who took our report, they say, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection, you must leave, we cannot protect you. you don't know these people. they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> let me let you listen to something a little bit later after that happened last night. senator mccatskill was on with

anderson cooper and he asked her that, as well. did she think there was a racial element to what went down at her town hall. let's listen to what she said. >> i'm not sure that it would be accurate to make that about race. the disagreement yesterday was more because somebody broke the rules and brought in a sign when nobody else was allowed to bring in the sign. >> what is your reaction to what the senator says? >> and i heard but i could not believe it because if you go to youtube.com and you go to the reference of this town hall meeting, in the very back, there was a gentleman with a sign that says don't tread on me, the police approached him and then they walked away. it was clearly black because if i was white with a sign, it was either black against obama because the black president, or black because of who i am. we were clearly the minority. if i was a white person, this would not have happened. and respect to senator claire mccatskill, she's not black. i go to my neighborhood with a

sign, they don't attack me. >> and i also want to make sure we have time to get to the issue of health care reform, as well. you said it was very important for you to be at this meeting. you do community organizing, you say you see so many people without health insurance, your personal situation is that you do have health insurance, your husband's worked for nearly two decades for a company. you have good, private insurance. why did you feel so strongly you wanted to come out in favor of health care reform and the president's proposals? >> you know, eminent domain, i'm not going to do it, if i'm going to represent concerns to the restoration neighborhood community group, even situation that takes place in that community, i am to be their voice. i asked my board men to come with me, why are we going to this meeting? because we're here for the people. there are people who do not have insurance, we need to let them know we support this reform. if no insurance, anything is better than nothing. >> i was able to go to the emergency room yesterday to have my arm checked out. i can go to any emergency room, i don't have to call anybody to say.

where everyone doesn't have that. and i'm not selfish, it's not about me. if i can be a voice to save somebody from something they're going through, i'm going to do that even though i have a degree in psychology. >> why has it gotten so ugly? what is your opinion of why these town hall meetings have turned into shouting matches, scuffles? what is it about this issue that have made people so angry? >> you know what? as i watch the video coverage on the tv and the internet. i really think that people are still upset that we have an african-american president. because there was one lady that came out to testify, a caucasian lady, she said i'm so afraid. when i drove up here with my obama sign, people bum rushed the car, yo obama lover. she had to sit in the police car to make a report. this is america. we should be able to have the freedom to voice our opinion. if i walked into a town hall meeting with a historical person, nobody should be allowed

to jump out the bleachers, jump on me and attack me because i have a sign of a historical character. >> all right, and we are -- >> we still have some issues in america and that's clearly obvious. >> and this man was arrested, though, for that -- for what happened for misdemeanor assault. so we'll keep on that. maxine, it was great to have you on and give your opinion about what went down. thanks for joining us. so you're the host of a crime television show and you're looking for ratings. what's the best way to boost your ratings? hire people to kill people? well, that's the charge that's going on right now in brazil. that story coming up. four minutes now to the top of the hour. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ . gaerguspromise not to wait as long to go for our ride. i don't know anything about computers and my daughter is going to college, so she needs one. - can you help me? - ( shouting ) - yes, you. - our line of next class laptops are perfect for college, and they start at just $650.

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talk about dying for ratings. a popular television show host in brazil is under

investigation. police say he set up murders to generate news and get ratings for his show. but he says he's being set up. this bizarre story for us this morning. >> reporter: a popular tv crime show, the host denounces criminals while his crew gets to the crime scene first capturing dramatic footage like this dead drug trafficker. but now police say the host had a news gathering edge. >> translator: in truth, he went as far as creating facts and ordering that crimes be committed to generate news for the program. >> reporter: murder for ratings say police who were investigating tv host walasuza who is also a state lawmaker. they suspect he commissioned at least five murders. and not just to boost his audience, they say he's also a drug trafficker who was eliminating his rivals. he denies all criminal allegations.

>> translator: in all, the investigations made by the public ministry and the police so far they have not been able to present any proof of any kind. >> reporter: he says his political opponents and drug dealers are setting him up. he says he gets good footage because his crews have good sources and listen to the police scanners. he remains free because he has legislative immunity while officials keep investigating. the show itself which had been very popular in arizona state has been off the air since late last year. rosemary church, cnn, atlanta. >> what a way to get ratings. it's thursday, 13th of august, thanks for joining us as we cross the top of the hour. i'm john roberts. >> and the stories we'll be breaking down for you, the fight for afghanistan. american marines are in a battle to take a taliban stronghold in

time for afghans to go to the polls in peace when they vote for the president next week. we're going to be live with barbara starr at the pentagon with more on this challenging mission. members of congress and the president all taking the health care debate to the people in town halls across the country. we're looking at all sides and giving you real facts about reform proposals. plus, why one key republican is also feeling the heat over the health care debate. right-wing militias are regrouping driven by a hate of the government and in some cases by racism. they thrived a decade ago according to this report are now growing again across the country. >> it really has a lot to do with the rise to power of a black man. you know, for these people, for this movement in general, the primary kind of enemy is the government, the federal government, that was true in the '90s and it's true today. but the big difference today is

the face of the federal government is the face of a black man. so, you know, i'm not suggesting that all militias or all people involved in this movement or this ideology, you know, are really klans men secretly, but it's a far more racialized movement than we saw in the '90s. >> brian todd is breaking down this report from washington this morning. but we begin the hour with the taliban under attack in afghanistan and in pakistan. at least 12 militants reportedly killed in attacks by the pakistani military near the afghan border. in the meantime, there's an intense fire fight going on right now in southern afghanistan. u.s. marines are trying to take a taliban stronghold ahead of next week's afghan presidential elections. barbara starr is working this at the pentagon this morning with more details. good morning, barbara. >> good morning to you, kiran. news cameras followed u.s. marines right into the action in southern afghanistan. we are one week away from that presidential election and the marines are stepping up the action.

>> reporter: up close with marines on the front lines. >> it's good to get out here. >> reporter: part of operation eastern resolve two, the third major push this summer into the dangerous and lucrative center of afghanistan's drug trade. 400 u.s. marines and 100 afghan troops jumped taliban lines in helicopters to take the town in helmand province. the first time u.s. troops have entered the strategic city. >> it's one of the key towns in the area. all of the smaller towns depend, for example, in is where the bazaar is. >> reporter: the extra troops president obama ordered up earlier this year. their immediate mission, break the taliban's hold on the city and free residents to vote in next week's election. >> all right, to the right of the wall right there. >> reporter: the taliban have

called for a boycott and threatened to ruin the election, which the u.s. concedes is a challenge. >> holding an election in a wartime situation is always difficult. but a government needs legitimacy. and this election was called for under the constitution. >> reporter: in dahana, they predict a few more days of fighting before the town is secured. so expect to see more fighting across southern afghanistan for the next several days, kiran. u.s. troops determined to make sure that it does not, at least, appear that the taliban can ruin the upcoming election. kiran? >> barbara starr for us this morning from the pentagon, thanks. the white house is trying to stay on message today with its make or break push on health care reform. but the president and democrats are not the only ones who are feeling the heat. republican senator chuck grassley who is working on a compromise with those across the aisle is getting an earful at town hall after town hall across iowa. let's bring in our senior

political correspondent candy crowley live in west des moines. we're used to seeing it at democratic town halls, but chuck grassley got an earful yesterday. >> reporter: he did from all sides. i would call these pointed but polite exchanges. you know, chuck grassley says he's done about 2,800 town hall meetings in the 30 years that he's held, first as a congressman, then as a senator on capitol hill. and he is so far off to a good start this year. they are not getting any easier. >> well, if it's okay with you, i'll get started. >> reporter: winter set, iowa, he holds his 72nd town hall meeting of the year. what a year. >> we're here at a time when i sense that people are scared for our country. >> reporter: his town halls have been twice sometimes three times as large as they have been in previous years. so many hands in the air. >> i need to know what are you

doing to these insurance companies that are putting everything in their pocket and laughing at everybody else. >> simple math even for this southern iowa redneck shows that we can cover the people who want coverage with a private policy cheaper -- >> making his way through the questions festering in the iowa country side, grassley is really in a mine field. why does he support cuts in medicare? he doesn't. will he support a plan with a government insurance option? no. and about those so-called death panels, a term critics use to argue against a provision they say will put the federal government in the euthanasia business. grassley, a man with enpsych kn. >> he should not have a -- we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on

grandma. >> reporter: put him down as not on target, the program inserted in the house bill would allow federal reimbursements for doctor who give end of life counseling to patients who want it. critics say the counseling may become coercive. grassley has a reputation as seasoned, he works with republicans and democrats trying to come up with a middle ground bill. a capitol hill lawmaker for 35 years, up for reelection next year about which he is reminded daily. >> democrat or republican, for whoever senator or congressman that votes for this bill, we will vote you out. >> the senator threads his way between his core constituents angry that he's trying. >> there's nothing a liberal wants that i would agree to and we have to stop giving ground. >> reporter: and others who have voted for him for three decades angry he's not trying hard enough. >> i want to ask you why you won't use your strong republican voice to clarify the outright

lies that are out there about the programs that are being proposed. >> at day's end, grassley was in an open air park in adel, iowa, for his 75th town hall meeting of the year. >> i've got 16 more meetings, so i don't want to draw a conclusion from four. >> reporter: august may not be the coolest month, but it's going to seem like the longest one. as for those negotiations, senator grassley is participating in up on capitol hill, he doesn't sound very optimistic. he says he has no intention of walking away from the table, though he is getting some heat from conservatives for being there. but he says he may be shoved away from the table by democrats who he believes may come back in september and want to go it alone. john? >> we hear show many criticisms at these town halls at the plans out there before congress. is there any single theme that's a common thread with all of these town halls. >> overall, on the critics side, it's big government. it sort of fits under the

umbrella. what senator grassley says he's been hearing all year. he says his crowds are two to three times as big as they have been. last year and the year before. he says they're talking about the stimulus plan, the bailout. something they think is government intrusion now into their own private lives and that is this health care reform bill. on the democratic side or at least on the side of those who support obama-style health care reform, it seems to be the insurance companies. i'm getting ripped off, the insurance companies are pocketing all of this money, we need reform. so it generally divides along those two lines. >> divide being the operative word there. candy crowley for us this morning. >> reporter: exactly. >> thanks so much. >> she was just talking about the insurance companies and it's very interesting because they were sort of painted as the big problem behind a lot of this. it'll be very interesting. we're going to be talking in a moment to to a health care insider, a view we haven't seen before.

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♪ 12 minutes past the hour right now, a beautiful look at washington, d.c., and the capitol this morning. 73 degrees, a little bit later, and they could be looking at isolated thunderstorms down there in the nation's capital. 83 degrees for a high today. and welcome back to the most news the morning. you know, so many americans fired up about health care reform, we've gotten a rare chance this morning to hear from someone with inside knowledge about the insurance industry. and its practices and tactics. wendell potter's a former insurance company executive and once the chief spokesman from the signa insurance company. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thanks for the opportunity.

>> you spent 22 years in the industry, you've seen a lot of things that a lot of us haven't. what do you think the three most important things, if you had to list them, to making our health care system work better in this country? what three things do we need to do? >> we need to have a public option, public entrance option that provides another alternative. over the last decade and a half, the industry has converted from a non-profit model to for profit. so most of the insurance companies that dominate the industry are for profit. a lot of our premium dollars are going into the pockets of shareholders. we need more regulation of the insurance industry. we need to make sure that there are no more -- it's not possible to exclude because of pre-existing conditions and that we should ban insurance companies from cherry picking the healthiest. >> let me ask you a question. at the beginning you said they're a for-profit industry. if they're for-profit industry, they're trying to find ways to make money.

and so insuring people with pre-existing conditions would be a reason they wouldn't make money because it would cost them a lot to care for that person. how do the two come together? >> well, they don't, really, in 1993 and '94. they are saying the same thing they are now. they were opposing to pre-existing conditions to be an exclusi exclusion, but never did anything about it. they had 15 years to lobby congress to get rid of that, but they never did. and, you're right, the insurance industry is more accountable to wall street and there is this pressure from wall street to always bring down costs and to get rid of sick people and it's what they do. they methodically will kick out people who get sick when they file claims and also purge small businesses from the roles when employees file claims. >> there are people who say a public plan, though, would kill insurance companies, the private insurance companies, meaning that if you can get on a public plan cheaper, people eventually

migrate to that. and after time, there are no more public or private insurers. is that something you think is realistic? >> no, it's not going to happen. the public plan would help keep the private insurance industry honest, and it would be a good alternative for people who want to enroll in a public plan and they're eligible for it. we have almost 50 million people who are uninsured and another 25 million who are under insured because of the practices of their private insurance industry. so we need to have that. and it would provide an alternative for people who would rather not have their premium dollars going into wall street investors. >> so the other question is, we've heard a lot of misinformation out there saying that what's eventually going to happen. well, i say misinformation, but it's almost lack of information. we don't really know yet how all of this would play out. under some of the scenarios, though, people are saying that what they have now and they claim they're happy with it, they're afraid it's going to change. do we know whether or not adding

a private -- a public option to the private insurance plan would actually eventually kick people off or change the way that they now get insurance? >> not the government action. not anything the congress is doing. but people say that they're happy with their insurance plans, and i think that's reasonable. because most people don't use their insurance plans on a regular basis. what they don't understand is that the health insurance industry and employers are pushing people out of the plans they like. if they haven't been pushed out yet, they likely will out of to the plans into what the insurance industry calls consumer driven plans. high deductibles that shift more of the financial responsibility on to the shoulders of employees, working men and women. >> we talk about poll after poll where people say they're largely satisfied with what they have. are we missing something in do we not know how good it could be? if there is reform that includes public options, that includes changes to the way things

happen? >> very good point. it's exactly true. because people don't know what the other options could be. we've never had a public option that could be available to people to enroll in. we've never had anything to develop their citizens and that have been able to achieve universal coverage. we don't know what we could have. >> there are many experts that say there is no way around it, a public option will ultimately lead to rationing of health care. >> it will not. we have rationing right now. that's probably more insidious than anything that could happen with the -- with the government plan. first of all the government plan does not remove options. you would still be able to enroll in the private plan if you wanted to. what you have now is a corporate bureaucrat who is between you and your doctor calling the shots and helping to ration care and you have people who are uninsured or underinsured who can't afford to get care. that's some of the worst rationing you have anywhere the western world. >> what about this notion of a co-op? a lot of people say even the word is so loaded right now,

perhaps anything that comes out of congress in a compromise would include a co-op insurance co-op, but not necessarily a public option. what does that mean? >> it means it would be something less, maybe public option light. but it wouldn't work. and it's something that the health insurance industry even though is saying it wouldn't want that either, it would go along with that because a co-op would not really have any chance of succeeding in the private market. and because the insurance industry is so entrenched in all of our major markets that they -- the barriers in entering any given market is almost insurmountmeabl insurmountable. >> very interesting perspective, wendell potter, now a senior fellow with the center for media and democracy. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. there are so many things being said about the health care debate that are true and so many things that aren't true. we're separating fact from fiction this morning. bill adair is here with his truth-o-meter this morning.

we'll run some of what's been said over the past couple weeks through the truth-o-meter. and how much trouble are schools in? how about paying to march in the marching band? and what about instead of lunch to school, you've got to bring office supplies. christine romans has all of that for us.

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yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time. helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. 21 minutes past the hour. right now christine romans is minding your business. perhaps it's the time of the signs.

a lot of school districts are feeling the pinch of the recession and it's really having an affect on children and their families. >> when you send your kids back to school, you're going to notice a difference and you'll be paying, as well. when you talk to schools, we've been talking to them about how the classroom is going to be different this fall. many schools will have larger class sizes, fewer teachers aides, furor music teachers. i was just home in the quad cities in the midwest and on the front page of the newspaper, they were taking donations for copy paper and toner for school offices. this goes beyond just bringing scissors and crayons and glue, this is a lot of work parents are going to have to do to help pay for what their kids are experiencing, including paying to play sports, paying to be in extracurricular activities. we've been talking to schools and organizations that are watching this, you can expect in many school districts to pay $100 to $350 to play on the football team or on the soccer

team or on the band or to be a cheerleader. that's on top of the equipment you'll be paying for your kid, $100 on average for clubs, including in a few places, paying to be a part of the national honor roll. also $200 to $1,000 maximum charge per family for many of the school districts we've been talking to you. some places are putting in a cap, only up to $200, you're going to pay these extra fees for your child to participate in some of these other things, up to $1,000 for some school districts. so i think what this tells you is that 4 out of 5 american families are going to be feeling the recession at school and it's going to mean dig deep, folks. >> there are parents who struggle to get together the $25 for a field trip. where are they going to come up with the money for this? >> in some of these districts, they are actually dropping these programs altogether. when you're talking about these fees, this is what they're trying to put just so they can keep these things. there are many, many school districts that are going to end these programs. there will not be a marching

band unless the parents are going to dig deep and pay for it. >> every day we reach into our pocket and get $20 so christine can get a romans' numeral. >> $578.72. this is a number you're going to feel. >> back to school? >> back to school. >> paying for the supplies, new shoes. >> the national retail federation says expect to pay $548.72 per family for k-12 education back to school shopping and that is down about $45 from last year, four to five families say the recession's going to have them pulling back. >> at the same time, the recession may increase the overall burden because of what you were just telling us. >> absolutely right. christine, thanks. well, anti-government militias, talking about why internet recruiting videos are actually on the rise.

27 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. militias have been behind some of the bloodiest home grown terror attacks and standoffs in american history. now armed with plenty of fire power and mistrust of the government, a brand new report shows that right-wing militias across the country are regrouping and growing. brian todd is breaking down the threat from our washington bureau this morning. >> reporter: good morning, john and kiran. in the 1990s they were blamed for espousing the ideology for timothy mcveigh, now militias inside the united states are making a comeback. >> reporter: a posting on

youtube, attributed to the ohio militia. >> listen, people, things are bad. things are real bad. it's going to get a lot worse. so basically, the people need to wake up, start buying some of these, see. >> the video is an example of how militias are making a comeback. according to a new report from the southern poverty law center. >> we're at a very worrying moment in my view. we're seeing the kind of perfect storm of factors that favors the continued growth of this movement. we're talking about, you know, non-white immigration, a black president and an economy in very dire straits. >> reporter: a homeland security professional said recent arrests in some rural areas. how dangerous are they? >> it's a number of groups, almost far too numerous to mention and regrettably so. but some of them, indeed, want to do what happened in oklahoma city. that is commit violent acts

within the homeland. >> reporter: the assessment said lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing extremist ide idealology are the most dangerous in the united states. members of established militias like his, which do training on firearms and first aid shouldn't be lumped in with violent extremists who talk about mounting attacks. >> it's not something we want to tolerate. we're not going to let any innocent americans get hurt. >> reporter: he described their ideology as pro-freedom and pro-constitution, not anti-government. >> i don't mean to suggest all of these people out there with these kinds of ideas are killers, i think that's absolutely clearly not true. but does this movement produce people who engage in criminal actions and sometimes really terrifying? i think that's unquestionable. >> reporter: several high-profile criminal suspects have been linked to ideology recently. the man charged with killing a kansas abortion doctor in may,

and the alleged gunman at the holocaust museum in washington in june. the election of the first african-american president is serving as an extremist recruiting tool according to the department of homeland security. law enforcement sources tell cnn, while barack obama had a significant number of threats during his campaign, since his swearing in, it's not been much different from previous presidents. still, a former secret service agent tells us -- >> i think the historical nature of this presidency is certainly something the secret service and the whole country's aware of. . >> reporter: neither of these two reports mention left wing extremi extremist, but a report focussed on cyber attacks by left wing groups and law enforcement has charged environmental extremists who committed arson attacks. john and kiran, back to you. >> brian todd, thanks so much for crossing the half hour now, it's 8:30 eastern and checking our top stories. a former staffer for bill clinton, betsy wright is denying felony charges she tried to

smuggle a knife and 48 tattoo needles into an arkansas death row prison. the press report found the knife and needles inside a doritos bag. an opponent of the death penalty reportedly told prison cards she found the bag at a vending machine. wright was chief of staff for former president clinton when he was governor of arkansas. a sneak peek of dick cheney's book, the washington post, reporting it will be a tell-all and cheney feels former president bush stopped taking his advice during their second term in the white house. the former vp has been quoted as saying the statute of limitations has expired on many of his secrets. that book is due out sometime in 2011. the freedom tower starting to take shape. crews have put in a 70-ton steel column, the largest piece so far in place. three more are scheduled to go up later on today. the columns take the building's skeleton several stories above street level. it's set to be finished in 2013.

it's a make or break month for health care reform. and while the town hall shouters are getting lots of attention, some of the comments the president has made are causing a big buzz too. so we're bringing in bill adair, founder and editor of politifact.com. a lot of material to run through the truth-o-meter. how are you doing? >> doing great. >> you all set to go here? >> we are. we've been very busy this week. that's for sure. >> and you'll be busy in the weeks to come. the first thing we want to run through the meter is something that president obama said generated controversy in the town hall meeting has to do with the aarp and its endorsement or lack thereof of the plans making their way through congress. let's listen to what the president said. >> we have the aarp on board because they know this this is a good deal for our seniors. >> the aarp is on board, right after that the aarp fired out this statement saying quote, indications we have endorsed any of the major health care reform

bills currently under consideration are inaccurate. was the president wrong? and the truth-o-meter says -- >> barely true for president obama on this one. indeed as aarp noted, the aarp has not explicitly endorsed any particular bill. now, the true part of the barely true is that back in the middle of july, the aarp really gushed with praise for the house version of the bill. it has since, though, since there's been a lot of protests kind of backed away from that a little bit. and even in front of the president made the point it was not explicitly endorsing a bill. the president gets a barely true on our truth-o-meter. >> at some of the town halls, the president has been asked, does he support a single-payer system for health care? and people asking that question point to a 2003 recording where then state senator barack obama says and we quote "i happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care program, i see no reason why the united

states of america, the wealthiest country in the history of the world cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody." here's how the president responds. >> i have not said that i was a single-payer supporter. >> the president says he's not a single-payer supporter. and the truth-o-meter says? >> false. yeah, he -- as the 2003 statement clearly indicates, the president has said in the past that he supported single-payer, and even today when he's asked about it at town halls, he's often asked how his ideas have evolved on a single-payer system, he says that if he was starting a system from scratch, that he would use a single-payer plan, but that's not realistic now. for him to say that at the town hall in new hampshire the other day, he really was misstating it so he gets a false on the truth-o-meter. >> all right. final statement we want to run through the truth-o-meter from our old friend michelle

bauchmann congresswoman from minnesota. caught our attention about rahm emanuel's brother ezekiel. she said, quote, one of president obama's key health care advisers says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled. so watch out if you're disabled. what did the truth-o-meter say about that one, bill? >> gave that one a false. and when you go back and you look at what emanuel wrote, it was a very academic paper. and he was raising some questions in a very philosophical piece, but clearly not endorsing them. and he has made clear that he's not endorsing them now, didn't endorse them now. she gets a false on the truth-o-meter. it's worth pointing out that congresswoman bauchmann, we've rated six of her statements, all of them have been false or pants on fire. she has the distinction of a perfect record.

>> we -- she gets the dreaded pants on fire. that's a great writing. bill adair, it's great to talk to you. thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> thanks a lot, john. >> we should point out that ezekiel is an oncologist, so he is involved in a lot of end of life care and also writes philosophically and ethically about a lot of these issues that are facing us as we go forward with this health care and a lot of people who have pointed to some of what he said as extraordinarily controversial. bound to hear more about that. we've been talking all morning about the signs of life that the economy's perhaps improving. a lot of economists saying we are out of the recession. but there are some new numbers in right now on retail sales. a decline in july, what does that really mean for us? christine romans is going to join us in just a moment to break it down. 36 minutes after the hour. gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz,

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just into cnn, retail sales for the month of july. we thought maybe the recovery was underway. now indications perhaps not. >> the consumer may not be feeling it yet. retail sales lower than expected for the month of july. people were buying cars. auto sales up because of cash

for clunkers. outside of that, the consumer still nervous and pulling in more than the consensus of economists had expected. retail sales falls 0.1%. retail sales dropping at a time when economists thought it would be picking up again. the point i want to make about this number and what it says about the consumer. it says the consumer is still pulling in, the consumer is still frugal and about the foreclosure situation. i think we're going to head into a period where there's going to be a lot of conflicting economic numbers that are going to show just how fragile any kind of recovery is. >> auto sales were up, and almost everything else was down? >> makes you wonder how much they'd be down by if cash for clunkers wasn't implemented and they didn't renew -- >> they'd be down about 0.6% if you didn't have that cash for clunkers number. so there you go. >> all right. christine romans for us this morning. thank you. >> you're welcome. these tough economic times are taking a toll on historically black colleges where many students rely on financial aid to get their education. in this money in mainstream

report, sandra shows us what's happening to help keep these kids in school just in the nick of time. >> reporter: she found a perfect fit at the college. >> this place is meant for me. >> reporter: when the economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags ready to drop out. >> i wasn't able to get loans, neither were my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country, but especially at historically black colleges and universities where in some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president barack obama has moved to increase financial aid with stimulus and budget funds, but still, many black colleges expect enrollment rates to keep shrinking. as families and students struggle in the economic downturn. >> many students want to come, will they be able to afford to come? >> reporter: since 2004, $238 million of federal funding was

earmarked annually for historically black colleges, and in the last two years, those institutions also benefitted from an extra $85 million each year under the college cost reduction act, which ends in may of 2010. so those institutions may feel the squeeze even more. >> you're underresourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means that our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, moorehouse college laid off more professors. and the budget acts fell with 70 professors and 30 staff members let go. the white house budget office says president obama's budget calls for a 5% increase in permanent funding for historically black colleges. >> we're saying you're moving in the right direction, but unfortunately, in these tough times not far enough. >> reporter: for williams, a scholarship came through at the last minute. and she says the struggle to stay at a historically black

college was worth it. >> i was completely relieved and now i'm focusing on my studies. >> reporter: cnn, atlanta. all right, for more stories of people thriving in a tough economy, watch for more money in main street reports tonight right here on cnn. rob marciano's tracking the extreme weather today. we've got something brewing out in the atlantic ocean. could it turn into the season's first tropical storm? it's 43 minutes after the hour. i've helped somebody. you know, it makes me feel pretty good. we're offering a solution for a customer that maybe has to choose between paying their credit card or putting food on the table. our main objective is to reach out to the customers that are falling behind on their payments. a lot of customers are proud and happy

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rob marciano's tracking the extreme weather across the country and things to come. a little something, something out there in the atlantic ocean, rob? >> yeah, watching this tropical depression, john, and it has weakened a little bit over night and saw a chance to develop. this is one of three things the national hurricane center is watching. it has a ways to go. potential to the u.s., that we'll have to wait and see. it still has yet to become a tropical storm. let's go out west, big time fires happening in santa cruz county. this this is the fire north of santa cruz, about 2,000 acres burned and evacuations 3,000 people, 300 firefighters working this blaze overnight and once the sun comes up, my goodness, that's dramatic. once the sun comes up, choppers back in the air and try to get a handle. we do have northwest winds today exacerbating that, keeping things dry and that will continue to be a problem, not only today, but going forward. wish they could have the rain the northeast has been getting the past couple of weeks.

another wet day across new york. as a matter of fact, jersey has flash flood watches for rain falling on top of already saturated soils. rain cooled, we expect in boston, 84 in chicago, 88 degrees in atlanta, and if you are doing travel today, look for some delays across the northeast. miami, orlando, and houston might see some afternoon thunderstorms, which could spawn some travel delays, as well. that's the latest from here, guys, back to you. tomorrow we'll be in orlando doing some yo-yo action. put in your request for tricks. >> do you know how to yo-yo well? >> it's been a while. >> it's been a while since i got the old butterfly out. we'll see if i can be -- >> we will be testing his expertise. don't forget, every friday rob leaves the office, heads the outdoors for something new we're calling "rob's road show." we'd like to send him to some place fun and we'd like you to help us out. if you've got an idea for his next trip that's much more interesting than yo-yoing in orlando, head to our website,

cnn.com/amfix. well, meantime, woodstock, 40 years later, one ma who promoted the ideals of the '60s generation, a lot's changed in four decades. carol costello sits down with him next. upbeat rock ♪ singer:wanted to get myself a new cell phone ♪ ♪ so i could hear myself as a ringtone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com!

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♪ shot of columbus circle out here. where it's cloudy and 70 degrees, not going to be much warmer than that, only a high of 73 and scattered thunderstorms. we're back with the most news in the morning. and the artist who helped make woodstock famous, now remembering those three days of peace, love, and music, back in 1969. it was august 15th 40 years ago. >> may seem like yesterday, but yeah, this weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the mega-music festival. and one of the singers is still speak out on politics and war and health care reform. he sat down with carol cost tell and. more on what he's up to four decades later. hey, carol. >> hi, kiran, i've met a lot of famous people, but never any as

real as him. we talked about everything from woodstock, to family, to politics, and why a hippy of the '60s known for an anti-war song has long been a registered republican. >> reporter: woodstock 40 years ago now, when hundreds of thousands immersed themselves in mud, music, and many of them drugs hoping their shared experience would change the world. >> what do you remember from those days being at woodstock? >> i remember getting there. >> reporter: in the movie "woodstock," ario gurthrie seemed a bit overwhelmed. >> how did it change you? >> i never participated in anything or indulged in anything before a concert again. >> why? >> because at the same time that it was wonderful double-edged

sword where i was in no shape to be performing. and at the same time, it was the performance of my life. it's shakespearean to me. >> reporter: he calls it a single unifying icon come to symbolize more important movements of the times, like the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement. and gurthrie is perhaps more well known for his anti-war anthem in film "alice's restaurant" than he is for "woodstock." and yes, this is the alice's restaurant, really a deconsecrated church. he bought it and turned it into a spiritual community center. if his life sounds like one long stereotypical hippy trip, you're wrong. the first thing people said was, oh, my god, isn't he a conservative now?

are you? >> i've never a conservative. >> reporter: but he is a registered republican. >> did you vote for john mccain? >> no. my political sort of voting record is not up for public discussion. >> reporter: sarah palin? >> i think she's fun. >> reporter: gurthrie admires her anti-elitist spunk. he's actually a family values kind of guy, married to jackie for 40 years, plays in a band with his own kids, lives in the same house he bought with profits from alice' restaurant back in 1969. and as a republican, he fears a democrat-controlled country. besides -- >> i have always been more comfortable being a loyal opposition than a rah-rah, yeah, let's go get them, we're in power now kind of guy. >> reporter: that said, gurthrie is still a child of the '60s, still vehemently anti-war, anti-establishment, beliefs born at woodstock that have not changed with time.

>> it revived your faith in human beings. it made you feel like you could trust your buddy even though they were telling you you couldn't. >> something else interesting gurthrie told me. you know he was watching barack obama's inauguration and he looked at it as sort of a validation for the woodstock generation. it's a large part of what they fought for. as a republican, he doesn't much like president obama's stimulus package or health care reform, but he does wish republicans would come up with better ideas rather than just saying no. >> interesting mix of policies going on in the same person, carol. >> he's a complex interesting guy. i had a great time talking with him. >> excellent. great piece. >> thanks, carol. so you heard of all you can eat buffets, right? >> heard, put a hurting on a few. >> what about flying all you can? we'll tell you about an all you can fly deal coming up next. 56 minutes after the hour.

♪ all right 58 minutes past the hour. those summer shoes you love have a dirty perhaps even deadly little secret. two new york reporters newspaper reporters put their flip-flops to the test after wearing them all around the city for four days, lab tests revealed tons of bacteria, including a germ that could be fatal if it gets into the bloodstream and goes untreated. >> sounds a little obvious, doesn't it? >> yeah, but why blame the flip-flops? the new york city streets. >> why would you expose anything to new york city streets bare? you've heard of all you can eat buffets, why not all you can fly? jetblue announcing a new promotion allowing customers to fly as much as they want between september 8th and october the 8th, for $599. it lets you book any available

seat as long as you give three day's notice ahead of departure. not a bad deal. >> all right. hopefully you'll arrive on time, as well, every time you fly. well, if you like that deal, you're going to like this one, although it wasn't a deal for very long. it was advertised wrong on best buy's website that you could get a 52-inch flat screen for $9.99. that was a mistake. best buy says it will not honor the advertised sale price because it was wrong, it was supposed to be $1,800. it was an online error. for all of the people that raced to buy it, they're getting their $10 back. >> there you are. continuing the conversation on today's stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. thanks so much for joining us this morning. we'll see you again tomorrow. in the meantime, "cnn newsroom" with rick sanchez. >> thanks, guys. flames light up the night sky, hundreds of homes right now in danger of wildfire threatens a northern california town, look at those pictures.