and i don't cop out on stuff. i hope i'm alive to see the day i'm out of debt, you know? i'm 36 years old. >> she is something, huh? katherine. if you're looking more of what you've been seeing here on cnn, check out cnn.com/healthcare. you can even find out about the closest town hall meetings to you, the key players in the debate, the different plans and, of course, the controversial sticking points to the plans. it's go time. we are pushing forward now with the next hour of "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips! >> tony, thanks so much. prevention, protection, preparation. we're pushing forward on a flu season like none we've ever seen. best guess? half the u.s. population could catch h1n1, the so-called swine flu, and regular flu isn't going away. talk about your vital signs. home values are going up for the first time in years. but so is the nation's debt as far as the eye can see.

best-case scenario, another $7 trillion in the red. and should you be alarmed over alli? the only nonprescription fda-approved weight loss drug may carry serious risks. hello, everyone, i'm kyra phillips, live at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. you're live in the "cnn you're live in the "cnn newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it took the world by storm in the springtime. now, when it comes to swine flu, the h1n1 virus a presidential panel says that fall and winter may be a whole lot worse. under a so-called plausible scenario, 30% to 50% of the u.s. population could be infected with almost 2 million sick enough to be admitted to hospitals. as many as 90,000 swine flu patients could die versus the roughly 40,000 who will die each year of seasonal flu.

cnn's senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, joins me now to talk about this. now, 30,000 to 90,000 people at risk. who are we talking about? >> we're talking in many ways about younger people. usually with seasonal flu, you think about, you know, your grandmother in danger of dying. but, really, with swine flu what we're talking about is younger people. the bulk of the people who die from swine flu are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, and many of the people who get swine flu are children. now, children don't get quite as sick, however they do tend to get swine flu and then give it to other people. but i want to take a look at the numbers that kyra was just talking about and try to put them in perspective. what the presidential panel found they think there's going to be 30,000 to 90,000 swine flu deaths alone, that doesn't count regular flu. regular flu by itself 36,000 people die each year. again, the prediction that kyra mentioned, 30% to 50% of americans will get ill with h1n1. regular flu usually affects only 5% to 20% of the population.

>> all right, so what's the status of the vaccine? >> the status of the vaccine is they expect to have some ready in the middle of october. there's certain people that should be first in line to get it, like kids and pregnant women and some other groups of people. there won't be enough for absolutely everyone who is supposed to be getting it in the beginning, but they hope to have enough ready by the end of the year. >> all right. so, what can we do to prepare and not get sick? bottom line, that's what everybody wants to know. wash our hands, stay home if you're sick, that's basic. >> that's two-thirds of it. and i'll give you the other third in a second? you stole 1 2 out of 3 of mine. >> i'm sorry. >> there's not that much to say, unfortunately. there are things to keep in mind to keep yourself healthy during flu season. wash your hands a lot. soap and water, hand sanny tideer, it works. don't go out if you're sick. keep your kids home if they're sick. and cough into your sleeve and not your hands if you're sick. and if you choose to, you can

get immunized which should give you some level of protection. >> you say stay home if you're sick. and i know a lot of people are worried in the working world, well, i could get fired. >> sure. >> i wonder if my boss will judge me. we're actually going to talk about that later on in the hour. we've got a guess to talk about that plan. so, we're pushing it forward. thanks, elizabeth. thanks. we found this map, the cdc put this together and it's on its website, cdc.gov. you can actually click on and take a look at this. they update it every week. it's basically the weekly influence surveillance report that they put together here. you can see all across the country from no report of flu to no activity, sporadic, local, regional, widespread. you can see that alaska and maine have the most cases of flu right now, but it's interesting, there's no white spots here on the map, which means that virtually every state somehow has been impacted by the flu. regular flu, swine flu, if you want to check out the cdc website, it's really a great

resource to see what's happening from state to state. now, also a few simple ideas that won't be easy. the cdc's advise to employers as flu season looms, and i talked a little bit with elizabeth about this. first, you know, let sick workers stay home without fear of losing their jobs, but that's not all. the feds say employees also need to stay home to care for sick children or even for healthy children if schools shut down. also employers are urged to stay in close touch with state and local health departments. okay, you know we have to push forward on this one. i urge everyone to stay with us here in the "cnn newsroom," because next hour we're actually going to get the hr view, as i mentioned to elizabeth, of h1n1, human resources put to the test. all right. so, just how deep is the federal deficit? depends on whom you ask. budget analysts for congress predict a cumulative $7 trillion deficit from 2010 to 2019.

the white house came up with a different and bigger number, a shortfall of $9 trillion over 10 years. both congress and the white house, number crunchers, agree on this year's deficit, $1.6 trillion. usually, almost always, the white house has a much rosier deficit projection, but not this time. and he's america's money man. and president obama wants to keep him on the job. mr. obama revealed this morning that he'll nominate federal reserve chair, ben bernanke, nor for a second term, that announcement from martha's vineyard, where the family is vacations came through. he said bernanke has led the u.s. through the worst economic crisis that we've ever faced. he'll have to be confirmed by senate where some lawmakers might not be too happy with his first term. promising news on the housing front, and it's about time. a closely watched index shows home prices have posted their first quarterly increase in 3

years. it was nearly a 3% jump from the first quarter but still down 15% from the second quarter of last year. home prices are now at home levels not seen since early 2003. there's a lot of optimism about the economy in asia, but how about new york? cnn's richard quest joins us once again, but this time not from the front of the new york stock exchange, he's in brooklyn. what have you found there besides the waterfront, my friend? >> reporter: i've joined the b and t brigade to come into brooklyn. i have my passport ready. you won't need it to get across this expanse of water. it's almost as wide as the atlantic ocean itself. you know that phrase mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun? i don't know about the mad dog, but the englishman standing here on the promenade, i'm the only person, as you can see, who is standing here in a hot wool suit. what i can tell you, it's true!

i mean, what on earth i thought i was doing? >> am i supposed to ask you why in the hell are you wearing a wool suit on a hot die in brooklyn? >> reporter: mad dogs and englishmen. look at this tie. i bought this as i came out of the stock exchange yesterday. you know, those ties that you see on the street in new york? they were selling them $6 each or 4 for 20 bucks! let me see. now, that's what i call a recession bargain! more seriously, the rest of the world will be extremely relieved that ben bernanke is to be re -- or has been nominated to serve a second term as the fed governor, kyra. they'll be a lot of unease about whether or not politics would come into this at the last hurdle. the new york economy, from what i've discovered in the last 24 hours, you want the two extremes of this? my $6 tie and my $20 drink last night in one of the bars at the

time warner center. >> yeah, that's about average. by the way, what are you doing drinking before working on the job? >> reporter: it was a -- well, i had to buy one or two for other people, you see? it was the whole hospitality industry. i tried to keep -- i have to tell you, though, what i am discovering, the one thing more than anything else i can feel in this city from when i was here, say, four or five months ago, there is just a scintilla of optimism coming back. now, whether that is completely false, predicated on a stock market that's risen out of all proportion, i don't know. but people are at least thinking that they're not about to fall over the edge, and there may be about to be a recovery under way. >> good news. where you going to be tomorrow? >> reporter: tomorrow i am at the -- oh, i'm at the nymex. my word, i spent a day with a trader at the nymex, if you

think that's a testosterone-fuelled environment, not for the fainthearted. see how i fared when i tried to do all that! >> oh, i'm sure you fit in just perfectly, richard quest. you probably have a backup job if you ever wanted to switch. >> reporter: all i can tell you is that the oil gets delivered next week. >> buy, sell. buy, sell. all right, richard, we'll see you tomorrow. let's talk cash and clunkers. dealers have until 8:00 local time to get their info to uncle sam. it's been bumped up a bit so they can get their money. it's the second deadline by the way. the federal program cranked out $2.8 billion in government vouchers and helped move 665,000 vehicles off of car lots. at 8:01 tonight local time the carriage might turn into a pumpkin again. automakers and dealers will have to bring in customers the old-fashioned way, in a market that's not been kind. that program might have stolen sales from this fall and next year. death of the king of pop. did michael jackson die from a

cocktail of powerful drugs? well, we've got the findings.

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so, what killed michael jackson? that's been the central question with the investigation into his death ever since the pop star died last month. now, we may never have an answer. here's cnn's thelma gutierrez. >> reporter: this 32-page document released in texas reveals there were lethal levels of the powerful propofol in michael jacksons blood at the time of his death according to preliminary findings of the los angeles coroner. the police affidavit says dr. conrad murray, jackson's personal physician, told detectives he had been treating the star for insomnia for six weeks, giving him an iv drip with 50 milligrams of propofol diluted with lidocaine every night. murray worried jackson was becoming addicted to propofol. in an attempt to wean him off,

murray put together other combinations of drugs that succeeded in putting jackson to sleep for two nights prior to his death. on june 25th, when those drugs failed, murray told detectives what he did hour by hour. he said around 1:30 in the morning he gave jackson ten milligrams of valium. at 2:00 a.m. he injected jackson with an anti-anxiety drug. an hour later, the sedative versed, at 5:00 a.m., more ativan, at 7:30 more versed. murray said he monitored jackson's vital signs the entire time. according to documents at 10:40 a.m., after repeated requests and demands from jackson, murray administered 25 milligrams of propofol. and jackson finally went to sleep. after ten minutes, murray says he went to the bathroom and was gone for two minutes. when he returned, he says, jackson was no longer breathing. murray says he administered cpr until paramedics arrived, but

those efforts proved futile. dr. conrad murray's attorneys released a statement saying -- thelma gutierrez, cnn, los angeles. well, he was a mayor who was bloodied, but he's now back on the job. we told you how milwaukee mayor tom barrett risked his life by responding to a man's cry for help. a man arguing with a woman charged barrett at a fair and beating him with a metal bar. he suffered gashes to his head and face and smooshed teeth and a fractured hand. and here's what he had to say about being back at work. >> a cabinet meeting that i stopped in and going over the budget stuff. and had a lot of corns i was going through. slowly we'll get back in the saddle. so, it feels good to get back.

>> barrett's attacker has a hearing on thursday to determine if he'll stand trial. a "newsroom" follow-up now. yesterday we talked a lot about pennsylvania's money problems. well, it's one of only two states that hasn't pass address budget for fiscal 2010 and now it's paying the price. i don't mean cutbacks and furloughs and unfunded schools, though it has plenty of those. i'm talking about a bigtime cut from big-shot film director, m. knight shimon. he lives near philadelphia and has shot most of his movies there, but he's moving his current production to toronto. it seems that he can't be sure the state's film tax credit will survive the spending roar. small estate, big money problems. take a look now at what rhode island is doing to slice $68 million off its state budget. one of the solutions? shutting down the state government for 12 days. the governor expects the state to save more than $21 milli

the first shutdown day would be september 4th. the last would be june 11th. now, ten essential agencies would stay open like prisons, state, police, and also 911. top stories now -- this is why the u.s. is building up troops in afghanistan. a police commander says that 33 civilians have been killed and nearly 40 wounded in a car bombing in chanda har. that blast happened outside a government building. the documents are not easy to read, but former vice president cheney is defending them. a cia inspector general report details harsh interrogation techniques used on terror suspects. it says interrogators threatened to kill the children of former mohammed. cheney said the tactics prevented more terrorist attacks. a partial success, south korea calls its first rocket launch. the satellite that the rocket carried separated like it was supposed to, but overshot its intended orbit.

south korea's been trying for years -- for nearly four years, rather, to get this right. a technical glitch is one thing. a technical glitch that mistakenly tells hundreds of military veterans they've got a cruel and fatal disease, well, that's an outrage. seems like our heroes just can't get a break. if you've had a heart attack

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it's basically a big blob of moving clouds and it's just moving over the caribbean. chad myers, let's define "big blob." >> that. >> picture right there. >> a picture worth a thousand words. that's the new blob that very well could be danny later on tonight or even tomorrow.

we do know they're planning to send an aircraft out there to take a look for the circulation. right now they can't find anything that's all that organized. you have to find a north wind and a south wind and something coming in from the west to actually get it organized. here's the u.s. just to kind of give you an idea. there's puerto rico and the dominican republic. and the whole forecast is for this thing to eventually kind of move itself on up towards the north and the northwest. we'll have toe see. for today, we have the chance of this -- i know this is early. but when we finally start to get models running, we like to see where they're going to go, all of these models according to stormpulse.com missing the u.s. i think it's really too early to go there just yet, because we still have a potential for a landfalling hurricane here. we'll see. the forecast is for it to become much stronger than it is right now. we also have a shuttle that's trying to take off again tonight. it didn't get a chance last night. it tried, but a couple showers and clouds got in the way. we expect to try again at ten

minutes after 1:00 in the morning coming up here. what is it now? 11 hours or something less. 11 hours. 30% or less of weather getting into the way. the only problem, kyra, yesterday the number was only 20% of the weather getting in the way, but it did. don't go to vegas on those odds. the mega million is $2.5 million this week. i got $10 in my pocket. >> i think i'd rather go to vegas. >> let's go. >> all right, thanks, chads. special needs kids, a problem urgent enough for congress to demand action. you won't believe what's been caught on cam this time. tylenol pm quiets the pain that keeps you awake. and helps you sleep, in a non-habit forming way.

so, here's the story where just a few seconds of cell phone video could change everything. let me set the story up first. an 11-year-old boy with autism in class at a public special ed school in pittsburgh. the teacher was accused of abusing him in the past, but there was no real evidence, not like this. when the alleged abuse started back up, well, a teacher's aide was ready with his cell phone camera.

>> you stay up there! stop moving your chair back. you stay up there! >> unbelievable. first the slap then the verbal abuse. this happened in march of 2008. and that teacher, by the way, laurie davis, was fired days later. well deserved. a school spokesperson tells cnn she hasn't stepped foot in a classroom since. the state revoked her teaching certificate as well. the parents had not seen this video until just last week. they sued the school system last year, but now probably because of this video, they're thinking about filing criminal charges. bigger picture now. the alleged misuse of physical restraints to control special needs children in public schools is an urgent problem for the department of education. earlier this year, scathing government reports detailed shocking cases of children getting hurt, even killed, while being restrained.

and congress is demanding action. cnn's special investigations unit correspondent, abbie boudreau, has been looking in to a case from a young man living in florida. his story sheds a lot of light on all of this. >> reporter: christopher, out for a walk. that spinning? a sign of autism. no one argues this teenager has been a very difficult child to manage. but here he is again last october. the abrasions? his parents say they're signs of abuse. >> look at this when he was injured at school and this ended up being his very last day of school. >> reporter: the school said the injury happened during a bar procedure, or brief assisted relaxation restraint. and this is how that relaxation technique looks on school security video. what you're seeing is footage from the princeton house charter school for children with autism in orlando, florida. notes sent home in 2008 by princeton house show a disturbing es escalation of

christopher's disruptive behavior. >> he slowly started to become a loner. he started to become really quiet. >> reporter: and his mother says, he was becoming increasingly violent, so destructive his parents even had to call the police for help. as things got worse, they started asking questions. which brings us to this tape. when they got it, they could barely watch. >> and every day, no class, no school, papa, said, no, you have to go to school. you have to. and i'm going to have to live with this guilt. i know everybody said it's not -- you should not feel guilty, but this is my boy. >> reporter: the video chronicles two days last october. it was given to christopher's parents, who showed it to us. october 2nd -- christopher flips his desk, not uncommon for children with autism. and then he gets dragged from class repeatedly. at lunch, he's put in a face-down, prone restraint for seven minutes. a short time later, he's restrained another ten minutes.

finally, this scene in the library. with the staff member next to him, christopher upends a table and is once again restrained. teachers struggle to pin him down. >> this is what disturbs me. these staff members are not in physical control of him. >> reporter: for professor wanda moore, a top expert on special needs children, these are precisely the kinds of situations where children have been seriously injured, sometimes fatally. >> it's one of those things there, but for the grace of god go i. this is why we stress that these are interventions or procedures of very last resort, because they are deadly. >> reporter: florida regulations only allow restraints to, quote, prevent injury to self and/or others. for example, in cases of hitting, kicking, head butting another person. none of that happened prior to the restraint we saw on the tape. and while common sense dictates there should be consequences for bad behavior, according to

experts, that approach doesn't work well with autism. princeton house's core staff were trained by the professional crisis management association in sunrise, florida. the director of that program says while he's not seen christopher in person, and doesn't know a lot about the teenager's background, the behavior on tape did not seem to merit the staff's reaction. >> several things in my opinion were not done correctly. in several of those instances, it didn't look like crisis to me. it looked like a single episode of table flipping. >> reporter: so, should he have been put in prone restraints? >> from what i can see, i would say no. >> reporter: we asked princeton house and the state department of education to speak with us on camera about the video, but they all declined because the incidents are now under investigation. christopher is now at a new school and is doing much better. his parents say they're wiser for what they went through, and so far christopher has not needed to be restrained even once.

abbie boudreau, cnn, atlanta. well, i tell you what, these ongoing screwups at the va are breaking my heart. and here's the latest heart break. at least 1,800 vets were told they have a fatal, excruciating and cruel disease, als, better known as lou gehrig's disease. it kills slowly over about five years and robs victims of their quality of life before killing them. just imagine opening that letter. pause, wait, panic! do i make out a will? tell my family that i'm dieing? and then five days later, oops, we're sorry. your diagnosis was a mistake. a technical glitch. but a lot more bad news from the va is very real. not so much glitches as they are pure lack of oversight or downright sloppiness. in just the past year, we told you about dirty colonoscopy equipment at va hospitals exposing thousands of our vets to hiv and hepatitis.

then the va medical center in philadelphia disclosed it gave at least 98 vet incorrect radiation doses for cancer, and then ptsd on the rise, suicide on the rise, and now this mistake. the va relates the statement say it is immediately reviewing the individual claim files for all the recipients of this letter to identify those who received the notification in error. can't our vets just catch a break? diplomats were called, charges flying between iraq and syria over the deadly bombings in baghdad last week that killed more than 100 people. iraq recalled its ambassador from syria and demanded the syrian government hand over two suspects from the attack. it claims they are former members of the saddam hussein's ousted baath party. that group claimed responsibility for the attack. syria in turn ordered its ambassador home saying the iraqi claims were made up for political goals. a developing story now in afghanistan. more than 30 civilians killed today in car bomb attacks in the

southern city of kandahar. the city has been the target of several large taliban attacks in recent years. so far, no claim of responsibility. the attack comes as the country waits for results from last week's presidential elections. partial results released today show a slim margin separating president hamid karzai and abdullah abdullah. abdullah is a former foreign minister and he was a spokesperson for the northern appliance which helped the united states top the taliban. full results are expected sometime next month. 46 years ago this week, martin luther king led a march on washington and made his famous "i have a dream" speech. and today, another dream, inspired by the civil rights leader, needs your help to come true. you're looking now at a virtual tour of the planned king memorial. it will sit on four acres of land, right next to the fdr memorial in washington, d.c. 1 $one osick million have been raised and another $14 million

are needed before groundbreaking can start. if you want to help out, you can go to the website buildthedream.org. you make a donation and find out about a program unveiled today in washington called kids for king. it's a contest for children to express what dr. king's legacy means for them. that's buildthedream.org. if you take the weight-loss drawing alli, you'll want to listen up. the fda is now investigating the pill. her things you can tell people about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

the food and drug administration is looking in to reports of liver damage in people who take alli, the only over-the-counter weight loss pill approved by the agency. the fda has received more than 30 reports of liver damage from people who take alli and its prescription version xenical. but it hasn't determined a direct link between the drugs and liver injury. signs of liver damage include fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting. glaxosmithkline markets the drugs. the company says there's no evidence that they cause liver injury. now, as america debates health care reform, we might want to look at ireland and its health care system. several years ago that country transformed its system, going through some of the same debates we're seeing here in the u.s., cnn's chief medical, dr. sanjay gupta, travelled to ireland to get a look at some of those lessons learned. >> reporter: hey there, from the global cancer summit in dublin, ireland. we've been out here for a few

days now, but i couldn't help but think about health care reform back home. about five years ago, ireland found itself in the same position that the united states is in now, trying to reform their health care system. so, i took advantage of a unique opportunity to sit down with the health minister, find out where ireland stands, what went right and what went wrong. in ireland, everyone has access to health care. via a taxed public plan. but half choose to spend additional money on a private plan. why does that happen? so, if you have access to the public system, is it not good enough for 50% of the people like you say? >> they do it for choices of facility or choice of doctor or choice of accommodations, better quality accommodations, single rooms in private hospitals, for example. speedier access in many cases, more routine procedures can be done much more quickly. and if you have access to private health insurance. >> in the public sector, one can wait up to three years for a hip replacement or a corneal lens

transplant. >> reporter: mary harney says many waiting lists have been cut from years to just a few months. but tough choices still have to be made. if you look at sort of the silos of how they predicated health requirement, you talked about decreasing costs and increasing access. can you do both? i mean, if you increase access, can you really decrease costs across the board as well? >> well, it's possible only if you reduce the number of procedures or the costs of those procedures. >> reporter: some will say that's rationing. >> no matter how much money you put in to health, no matter how good your system is, you'll always have more patients than you have capacity at any one time, and the question is how quickly can you prioritize the treatment for all patients whether they're urgent or not so urgent. >> reporter: no matter what country you're from, ireland or the united states, it seems to always come down to cost. so, say the medicare system in the united states is going broke. they say it will be broke by the year 2017. it's very expensive and hard to maintain budgets. same problem here in ireland?

>> yes. and we spend -- this year we will spend over 40% of the money we will raise in taxation in the country on health -- on public health care. >> reporter: 40%? >> it's an incredible amount of money. and, therefore, if we're going to do that within the existing budgets, then we have to get smarter in the way we provide treatment. >> reporter: and it is worth pointing out that every physician in ireland has to accept all types of insurance, including the public insurance. overall, minister harney thinks things have gotten better here in ireland. waiting times are shorter. everyone is insured. but as you can see, it has come with a tremendous cost. your top stories now -- we definitely pushed forward on this. the h1n1 commonly called swine flu should cause up to 90,000 deaths when it likely resurges this fall. plus, the virus could infect up to half the american population. cash for clunkers technically not over yet. car dealers now have until 8:00 p.m. eastern to turn in their

paperwork so uncle sam can reimburse them under the just-ended program. the reason for the extension qdqdqdqdqdqdqdcdcdcdbdbd department website. a warm welcome for castor semenya. the championship runner was all smiles in south africa. she got cheers despite questions about her gender. the questions came up after her stunning 800-meter win at the world championships in berlin. even with all new orleans went through -- >> i actually look at the storm as a blessing in disguise. >> almost shocking to hear that, huh? stick around. e. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life. please talk to your doctor about aspirin and your heart. i'm going to be grandma for a long time. what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family.

for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening.

he helped lieges of students do better on their college boards, or at least feel better when they picked up the number two pencil. stanley h.kaplan founder of the first test-prep business has died at the age of 90. he he'd wanted to go to medical

school but was rejected, he thought because of his working-class jewish background. so, he started the business in his parents' basement in 1938 to help other students level the playing field. four years ago, friday, hurricane katrina leveled new orleans. it was an awful lesson for that city and the country on preparedness, infrastructure, disaster response. katrina and its aftermath have clearly become a symbol of what can go wrong, but surprisingly, in some cases of what can go right as well. here's cnn's sean callebs with a look at one silver lining. >> reporter: the floodwaters washed away so much here. so much lost. but they also washed away a crippling problem, a terrible public school system. todd purvis is principal of the kip central city academy. >> you know, right now it's louisiana, mississippi, always at the bottom of the two in public education. are you optimistic that's going to change? >> i'm very optimistic. i mean, when i talk to teachers and families, especially people

that say we are trying to change this here, i tell them that i firmly believe that new orleans in five or ten years will be looked to as the model for how you reform an educational system. >> reporter: donnell bailey says before the storm he did poorly in a poor public school. he failed fourth grade and says he never thought about his future. >> i actually look at the storm as a blessing in disguise. >> reporter: the storm forced an education overhaul from the ground up. this man, paul valles, who turned around schools in philadelphia and chicago, is driving the change, and he's in a hurry. >> in the recovery school districts alone, in the last two years we saw an increase in test scores in every subject, at every grade level. >> reporter: vallas inherited a district in which only 4 in 10 kids graduated from high school. in fact, so many students were failing so badly, the state had taken control over 85% of the district's schools. well, vallas is now spending millions of federal dollars that are pouring in, giving kids laptops and offering smaller

class sizes that give more one-on-one instruction. but, perhaps, most importantly, he hired a small army of young, motivated teachers from across the country from the organization teach for america. some of whom replaced veteran teachers who were considered underperforming. >> they bring a certain energy, and they bring a certain, you know, personality and drive into the schools that really creates the culture of high expectations. >> reporter: as for donnell bailey, that's why he calls the storm a blessing. >> what changed were my teachers. the teachers are better. the expectations were more higher, you know, and my teachers are expecting me to live up to those expectations. so, like, the drive that my teachers gave me, it really pushed me up to that level. >> reporter: in fact, donnell's new public schoolteachers pushed him so well and he did so well that he received a scholarship to a $17,000 a year private school. it's a good story. it's a formula for new teachers and renovated schools and new

lapt laptops, but there are not all good stories. if the students don't pass an exit exam at the end of eighth grade, they don't are not promoted to high school. la teesh ya davis studies at home because she failed that test. her mom says that she has a learning disability. difficulty retaining information. she doesn't want the 15-year-old to attend the eighth grade for a third time. and she says the district isn't providing adequate tutoring that might give her a chance for a high school diploma. >> reporter: are you worried she could fall through the cracks and get frustrated and drop out? >> i feel she has already fallen through the cracks. she is already three grades behind. >> reporter: the new education czar says the sways is disappointing.

>> i have always thought you give the test and if a child does not pass all the components of that test, then you conditionally pass the student if the student has hit other benchmarks. >> reporter: the district's long time goal g--- >> who is going to college? >> reporter: for the fomlys, only 7% of new orleans school kids graduate from college. just 7%. some things never change here. once again, it is hurricane season and thoughts of katrina are always here. there is now hope because katrina did bring paul and his army of new teachers and there is hope of a brighter future for the kids. cnn, new orleans. >> sean's report first aired as

part of the program after the storm. we are pushing forward on an issue that could set students back. schools in the red getting rid of yellow buses. will budget issues make bud jets obsolete. the voice of a generation might be the voice telling you how to get to the nearest chili's. they can't agree on anything except google. the online giant could face its second suit on skank in nyc. 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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i'm sorry to have to tell you this but skankgate continues. it was the model versus the outed blogger and now the outed blogger versus google. watch out for what you are about to see now. cnn's jason carroll right there in new york following all the drama. jason, i really do love the fact that this actually care reried

weight in court. we have all been subject of these anonymous bloggers who are complete cowards. >> it is a lesson for all those people out there anonymously blogging and thinking that they are protected in some way. this sort of case puts that in a whole different light. for months, there was some speculation about who was this anonymous blogger. her name no longer a secret. she used harsh language to describe a model. she says the language she used and her identity should have been protected. >> reporter: it's the kind of photo spread no model would want. feature on the blog called "scans in new york city." liskula cohen ended up there and was determined to find out who was putting her there. >> i wanted it gone. i didn't want it to be there for the rest of the my life. i knew the only way for it to be

gone was to call my lawyer. >> reporter: she is not the only one calling a lawyer. so is the woman behind the blog, rosemary port, a 29-year-old fashion student and casual acquaintance. her attorney saying she is the real victim. >> i feel it sets precedence that anyone with money and power could get the identity of anyone that decides to be an anonymous blogger. >> reporter: cher name was released after a judge sided with cohen to sued google to reveal information about the anonymous blogger. blogger appeared on google's website. they say blogs like hers serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinion and shouldn't be regarded as fact. the court says, there was specific evidence that this one person may have libeled another person. in that circumstance, we are going to disclose that name. >> reporter: google says it complies with court orders saying we have a legal team

whose job it is to scrutinize these requests and make sure they meet not only the letter but the spirit of the law. the court says google should have kept her name private and plans on suing google for $15 million. cohen's attorney says he can't believe her nerve. >> her being a victim, i have trouble understanding that. >> reporter: web watchers like wired magazine's nicholas thompson says this is a lesson for all anonymous bloggers. >> some of the effects will be good. people will recognize that the law applies to the blogosphere or it will be good for society. >> reporter: we will have to see what sort of effect it has on bloggers. cohen's attorney says that much could be avoided if port would have apologized for what she did. they still have seen no apology.

>> there is no benefit. it is such a sign of weakness. what kind of legal standing does the blogger's attorney think they have? >> here is what they say. they say they really don't have a legal standing here. port's attorney basically says at the very least, they should have been given the opportunity to appeal the judge's decision before this information was released. so that is why they say they are going to at least for now proceed with this lawsuit against google. >> we'll follow it, jason carroll, thanks so much. pushing forward on a decade of deficits, a debt load that may double the white house and congress, each predicting monument tall budget gaps, $7.1 trillion. $9 trillion if you believe the white house. the projected short fall for this year is $1.6 trillion. far and away, the most ever. the recession gets most of the blame, unemployment benefits,

health care, bailouts. at the same time, tax revenues are down because so many people weren't working and tax credits are part of the federal stimulus. now, to a guiy that affects all our wallets. mr. obama reveals that heel nominate bernanke for a second term. in confirmed by the senate, he would begin his second term early next year but it might not be that easy. a lot of senators yes his tenure amid the recession. the announcement came on martha's vineyard where the president and his family are now vacationing. >> he approached with calm and wisdom, bold action, out-of-the-box thinking that has helped to put the brakes on our economic free-fall. >> the federal reserve has been challenged by the unprecedented events of the past few years. we have been bold or deliberate, as circumstances demanded.

>> a bit later in the "newsroom," we will go live at the new york stock exchange where stephanie elam will fill us in on what bernanke has done to earn the president's approval. california's economy has taken a beating. government jobs have escaped some of that pain felt in the private sector. >> reporter: california has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates, 11.9% last month. since july, 2008, california has lost more than three-quarters of a million jobs. hardest hit, construction, manufacturing and trade. as those private sector jobs disappear, the number of people working for the california state government has risen by 1,600 in the past year. the private sector is always worried about the threat of failure. in the private sector, if you don't pay your bills, you go bankrupt, lose your job, your

company gets closed down. it ends up in the hands of the creditors. governments don't have those kind of pressures. >> reporter: government arnold schwarzenegger has ordered many to take unpaid furloughs. they have approved budget cuts to reduce government jobs. still, the perception persists that california's state government is a bloated, inefficient impediment to private sector growth. >> reporter: this month, neighboring nevada despite a higher unemployment rate than california wants an aggressive advertising campaign designed to lure businesses away. one golden state lawmaker is retaliating. >> what happens in vegas, let's face it, stays in vegas. what happens in california makes the world go around. >> reporter: asked assemblyman jose solario, what are lawmakers

doing to spur private sector job growth in california? >> we enacted $8.7 billion in tax cuts for targeted small businesses, whether they are in the movie, tv production area, whether dealing with trying to get more small businesses to hire new workers, to a very successful new home buyer tax credit that helps the home buyer but also helps create new jobs in the construction industry. >> reporter: even so, california lost nearly 36,000 more jobs last month alone. there are a few bright spots in california's employment picture. jobs in health care and education services, as well as jobs in agriculture have all grown slightly over the past year. despite the continuing growth in tax-funded taxpayer jobs, they have one of the lowest per capita tax ratios of any state. more than 13,000 rhode island state workers are being forced to stay home 12 days without pay.

rhode island is the latest state to issue mandatory furloughs in an effort to balance the budget. the government says it will save $22 million. critical workers such as police and prison guards will still have to report to work during the shutdown. katherine howard was 29 and self-employed in san francisco. she bought a health care policy but she found out when cancer struck she was on the hook for thousands of dollars for unkoufu uncovered expenses. she tells her story. >> i have a great job. i live like a pauper, because i spend all of my money servicing the debt that i accrued while i was sick. in 2004, i was working as a documentary film producer. i wasn't making a lot of money but i knew that keeping up my health insurance was a priority. i was afraid that i would break my arm snowboarding or take a

fall at work. i picked up the phone. i said, i would like to buy some health insurance, please. this is the outcome. i ended up almost $100,000 in debt after being diagnosed with breast cancer, having surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. so many things, i just put them on my credit card. if i don't die, i will deal with this later. i paid something around $1,800 a month towards all my debt rel e related to my illness, the tens of thousands of dollars that i paid because my insurance didn't cover me. then, not being able to work. i have this great plan through my work now. if i went back on the open market and tried to buy myself some health insurance, they wouldn't cover me. i have a pre-existing condition. once you have had cancer, i

could never go out and just buy the same crummy coverage that i had before. i would be denied. i am a really determined person. overcoming cancer, i felt, has been my mission for the last couple of years. getting out of debt, i guess, is another one. bankruptcy seemed like a copout. i don't cop out on stuff. i hope i'm alive to see the day i'm out of debt, you know. i'm 36 years old. while we talk about the high price of health care, happening right now, a town hall in phoenix, arizona. senator john mccain taking q and a from folks there. we are monitoring that for you. so we'll bring you interesting q and a once that begins, if they start talking about issues that we think you will want to hear. we are watching it. this is why u.s. troops are

building up in afghanistan. nearly 40 civilians killed and up to 80 wound bid a massive car bombing. the attack happened just outside a government building. let's get straight to atia. here we are monitoring or watching the election process, already called about corruption and more troops have been sent into afghanistan and now we are seeing a kickup in violence. can we put it all together? >> reporter: well, absolutely. it all fits together. it is a circle right now. the taliban not happy with the afghan government, not happy with the elections. they intimidated many afghans, particularly in the south, particularly where this attack occurred not to go to the polls. now, they are attacking an area that does have many government buildings. we are also hearing it was also near a private construction firm owned by the japanese but the workers were primarily afghan

and pakistani workers. in the end, what they do, what the taliban with the insurgency in afghanistan do, they target the coalition troop, the afghan government. in the end, they kill more civilians, more muslims, their fight is a fight for a warped version of islam that they think is the right version. in the end, they are killing more muslims than their intended target. we are seeing that nearly 40 people have died in kandahar. the explosion occurred in the holy month of ramadan after fast break. some people are going out to restaurants, going to get bread for their family for fast break. this is a kind of disaster, the kind of government that they want to bring in. obviously, it is not working for the afghan people. the afghan people at the same time not trusting their own government. they don't know if they should trust the coalition troops.

for them, a lose/lose situation. >> we are eager to hear the outcome of the elections. more outrage over the release of a convicted lockerbie plane bomber. gordon brown is speaking out bruntly over the hero's welcome that that bomber received when he returned to libya. brown says he doesn't disagree with scottish officials who freed him because he is dying of cancer but he says the man's homecoming turned his stomach. >> my first thoughts would be with the families of the victims of lockerbie bombing. i was angry and repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber, guilty of a huge terrorist crime, received on his return to libya. >> as for libyan leader, moamar quadafi, he is in for a rude abake kenning when he returns.

they are trying to prevent him from staying in this mansion. residents are riled up by reports that quadafi may stay in a tent. he praised the release of the lockerbie bomber. fewer school buses will be rolling through a neighborhood near you. what are kids and parents so worried about? what are they going to do? reading about washington these days... i gotta ask, what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family.

for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening.

as you know, we've been dipping in across the country listening to all the various town halls held by our dem kralt and republican leaders. now, to arizona with senator john mccain. let me just mention to you. you know, you see a number of

organizations like the ama and some others who are, quote, signed on, which is remarkable but by the way, in england today, you know this, the nice is the outfit called national institute for health and clinical excellence. they have repeatedly blocked breast cancer patience from receiving breakthrough drugs and forced patients with ms to wait 2 1/2 years to receive treatments prevent patients in early stages of alzheimer's from receiving medication. that's what they do there. obviously, we don't want that in this country. i would like to mention and quote to you two things. one is the mayo clinic. mayo clinic said, the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher quality, more affordable health care for patients. in fact, it will do the

opposite. the mayo clinic went on to say, unless legislators create payment centers that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise for american health care will witt thir and the real loses will be the citizens of the united states. that's what the mayo clinic says. let me tell you what the cbo says, the congressional budget office, and i quote, when they were evaluating the health bill that's winning its way through the senate and the house, okay, on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs. the changes we have looked so so far do not represent the sort of fundamental change on the order of malany tud that would be necessary to offset the direct increase in federal health costs included in the insurance coverage proposals. when he was asked if the cost was reduced over time, the cbo director said no. the way i would put it is that

the curve is being raised. now, so you don't have to take my word for it, my friends, we're talking about a new trillion or multitrillion dollar debt laid on the american people and unfortunately, not an improvement on the quality of health care in america. so let me just say, what can we do? what should we do? what must we do? first of all, we want the premise that health care should be affordable and available to all americans. we all want it available and affordable to all americans. how do we do that? let me give you some ideas. let's focus on what we can afford. i talked to you about the fiscal problems we are in. insurance reforms to improve access. let's make sure that americans are not denied access to insurance policies and those who have pre-existing conditions, those who have or are quote

unensurables, let's put together risk pools and get them insurance so they will have it available. let's reform medical malpractice. any one of our physicians will tell you that they practice defensive medicine and understandably so, because of their fear of being sued. in no bill that's going through congress is medical malpractice part of the bill. why? because they are trial lawyers. dah. we could save $100 billion a year in health care costs just by allowing physicians not to have to practice defensive medicine in the prescription of tests and procedures that are absolutely unnecessary. there are some specialties that are paying as much as $200,000 a year for their insurance for

medical malpractice insurance. who ends up paying for that? we all know who ends up paying for that. let's have tax reforms and incentives to purchase insurance. during the campaign, i was much maligned because i said that we should give every family in america a $5,000 refundable tax credit so they can go any place in america and purchase the insurance of their choice that best suits the needs of themselves and their families. we should. right now, you can't go across state lines. if you live in new york and you think there is an insurance policy available in arizona that's better, you are not allowed to do that. why in the world is that? as you know, there is great disparities between the cost of health insurance varying from one state to another. back on malpractice a second, california has enacted some real improvements. texas has enacted some real improvement. we need national change too medical malpractice.

let me mention, i'm not going to get into too many more details. one of the biggest problems is readmission to hospitals. we all no someone who was discharged too early and had to go bablg to the hospital again. the costs have dramatically increased. the problem there is the insurance companies

>> now lobbyist for the drug company makes over $1 million a year, went to the white house and he was quoted, quoted across this country when he says and i quote, we assured we need somebody to come in first. if you come in first, you will have a rock solid deal, unquote. billy tozan, sceo of pharma on august 6th. then mr. tozan said the white house had tracked the negotiations throughout,

ascenting to decisions to move away from ideas like the government negotiation of prices or the importation of cheaper drugs from canada, the $80 billion in savings would be over a two-year period. then a quote again, $80 billion is at max, no more, no less, he said, adding other stuff changes the deal, that's by the head lobbyist, has anybody here been invited to the white house for a deal lately? huh? look here's a pharmaceutical companies, who have done everything they can to block generic drugs from being on the market, which are much cheap, who are blocking, now got a deal with the white house, apparently, that there won't be competition in medicare between drug companies so get you the lowest price, now the white house will adopt a policy of blocking reimportation of drugs from canada. that's the price of pharma. by the way, they're reportedly spending $150 million in ads

supporting, guess what? the democrat bill. so that doesn't make you cynical, my friend, nothing will. we've got to take back our government from the special interests. >> hi there. thank you, mr. mccain. you are the most patriotic person that i've had the honor in my lifetime to know. >> you -- i knew i should call on you. >> i worked on your campaign, are too. but anyway, my concern is a.c.o.r.n. what in the world is going on with that? and why do we keep giving them money? this is ridiculous. and it's a -- it's just out of control. thank you. >> well, let me just say that most of you know, they are,

quote, community organizers and there are allegation of irreal layerties in the last election an previous elections. i think that those irregularities like any other allegations need to be investigated. but i do not have information that would indicate except for what has been alleged there needs to be an investigation. so far, i do not think there has been. yes. in the back. wait until the microphone comes, if you would. a little closer. mechanical failure. it's intentional. no, go ahead. we'll get you another one. >> is it work iing now? >> there you go. >>. you're fired.

>> i just want to say that we the people want to express our concerns about our country. i went last week core. i noticed a t-shirt that said, hr 676. it is an old bill that's been reemerged. they chanted health care now, health care now. i didn't know anything about it. i haven't heard anything on fox news. i found out 676 is now on the house floor as the wayner amendment. it will replace division a of hr 3200 and make it a single payer legislation. all their talk about co-op and public option, we will become a single payer. the bill actually states it is the united states national health insurance act, establishing a unique american universal health insurance program with single payer financing. the bill would create a publicly

financed privately delivered health care system that improves and expands the already existing medicare program to all u.s. residents and all residents living in u.s. territory. it says eligibility. every person living or visiting the united states and u.s. territories will receive a united states national health insurance card and i.d. number. how do they plan to pay for this? >> how long is it? >> it's just how they say they will pay for it. maintaining current federal fubd funding, a modest payroll tax on all employees and all employers of 3.3% each. a mod test tax on the top of the 5% of income earners. a small tax on bond transfers. repealing the bush tax for the highest 1% income earners. do you know about this bill and the validity? >> with typical senate snobbery,

i do not know of a house bill. i have heard of similar proposals that has come from the liberal left in america. i understand that. i respect their philosophies and views. obviously, i would vehemently oppose such a proposal. [ applause ] >> that is what we are looking at as comes from the people in this country in all sincerity who believe that the a government-run health care system is best for america. if you like that, you will love cash for clunkers. the point is, that i would never support such a proposal. i have seen those proposals around and obviously, the quote, public option to whatever degree it is, in my view is the beginning of the end of private health insurance in america because of the advantage that it would give to the government plan. if you are an employer, and you

can get a health insurance plan that's less expensive, at least initially, from the government, of course, you are going to take it. if you are facing a fine, you are going to pay the fine and have the government provide the health insurance or you are going to adopt the health insurance policy that if it is not government run, then it has such high requirements that it basically is harmful for your ability to hire and keep employees. yes, ma'am. >> thank you very much. i may be a literally one-person minority here but i wish to speak anyway. it is kind of interesting that republicans have been in control of government at almost all levels, presidency, as well as congress, for a number of years. >> tragically, we lost to the

house and senate in 2006. >> i'm not arguing that. >> so we have not been in control for the last three years. >> but during the time when george bush the first was in, when ronald reagan was in, george bush, the second, there were no attempts to change and reform the health care system. during that time, all the studies show that the number of uninsured and underinsured, which is something you haven't talked to at all, a lot of people have health insurance but it really doesn't cover major situations when they occur or as with my own daughter i know and her family and i'll make this much shorter. there is limitations to everything. so pass the cap and think don't pay. so how come during that time when the republicans were in power, the number of, like i say, uninsured and underinsured

rose and health care costs skyrocketed and the drug companies and the insurance companies have made a huge, huge profit and, of course, their administrative costs are twice that of medicare, if not maybe more. so i would appreciate some kind of response to that, senator mccain. thank you for the town hall. >> thank you, thank you for being here. [ applause ] >> one, we should have done more. two, there were several attempts that were made such as inauguration, medicare advantage program and some others but we should have done more. we should have done more on a bipartisan basis. we also needed to work more on a bay bipartisan basis now. there were a number of attempts. i will be glad to give you many of those bills. in the senate, when you don't have 60 votes, those can be blocked even for consideration. i am not here defending the spending practices when republicans were in power.

i, in fact, i fought against them at the time and i fight against them now, whether it be republican or democrats. obviously, health care issues such as medical malpractice reform were not going to be accepted by the democrats either but we need to do a better job. the time us now. i think we should. obviously, there is plenty of responsibility to go around. but, now, we are where we are. the solution proposed by the democrats in my view will destroy the quality of health care in america. >> i appreciate this opportunity to ask you a question, senator. i'm an 87-year-old veteran of world war ii. [ applause ]

>> i was very fortunate to survive the war fighting with the 29th infantry division. i think you realize where their position was in world war ii in france and germany. that's beside the point. i've been blessed by my god to have lived for these 87 years and 66 with my beloved wife. [ applause ] >> 23 years on social security. what country would support me for 23 years with social security payments far above what i ever put in. i'm on a medicare advantage plan. i am very happy with it. i am happy with my personal physician. [ applause ] >> my bottom line question is, will i be able to maintain this,

or will the government interference drive me to a plan that the only thing you can say for it is so far, we've spent several trillion dollars and haven't gotten anything for -- i know the bill hasn't passed. every time an objection comes up on the points that are printed already and it turns out to be something kind of sour, the president gets up and says, we are not going to put that in there. i want to be sure it doesn't get in there. i appreciate you and your work across the aisle. i recognize that you reach across the aisle. i don't know how much reception you have gotten but that we end up with something more than a pig in the poke. thank you. [ applause ] >> well, i'm always honored to

be from the presence of the greatest generation and i thank you. could i just say, that's what this national debate is all about. i still believe, i still believe that the american people can overcome the special interests, the national interests. they'll overcome the farm sult cal companies, the american medical association, with all due respect, aarp and others who have dogs in this fight. i think we will be able to succeed because your program is typical of so many millions and millions of americans who like their health care plan, who like their medicaid, who like their medicare, who want to keep it. so our job is to get the cost down, which, as you know, is double digit inflation and at the same time preserve that same quality of health care which america has in some very small way repaid you for your great service to this country.

>> senator, it is very nice of you to be here with us. i would like to know how the president is getting by with all of this money. it's against the constitution. doesn't he know that we still live under a constitution? [ applause ] >> i'm sure that he does. no. no. i'm serious. i'm sure that he does and that he respects the constitution of the united states. i really do. i am absolutely convinced of it. i just believe, my friends, that there is a fundamental difference in philosophy about the role of government. that's why we have competition for public office and

competition amongst parties and competition about different ideas and visions for the future of america. i am convinced the president is absolutely sincere in his beliefs. he is sincere in his beliefs. we just happen to disagree and he is the president of the united states and let's be respectful. yes, in the back there, yes. >> thank you, sir. >> by the way, could i mention that i still want your sympathy for the mothers of arizona, because arizona is still the only state in america where mothers can't tell their children that someday, they can grow up and be president of the united states. >> well, i think i'm the mother of a daughter that will probably be there. >> good. we don't give up hope. >> no.

>> i would like to tell you that i agree with what you've said today but i want to know how. i thank everybody for being here today. what do we do? tell me what to do. >> see that list right over there. we need to have malpractice reform, we need to have outcome base treatment for patients,we need to have risk for those who have pre-existing conditions. we need to have long-term reductions and incentives for wellness and fitness. we need to reward people for not smoking and wellness and fitness. we need to check in to what the school lunch program is. we can do a whole lot. >> i want to be involved. i want that to happen. that's why we are all here today. >> yes, yes. >> i don't vote for the public or government options. you do. we want to know how to help you.

>> thank you, thank you. [ applause ] >> by doing exactly what you are doing today. participating in the most fundamental and i think the most valuable part of democracy and that is participation by our citizens in the process. and making their wishes known. i repeat again, i still believe if it had not been for the veritable uprising of people about these proposals, would not be discussing this. with he would be lamenting. in the back, yes, ma'am. >> good morning, senator. what i want to say is, first of all, some input from a con stitt went and a question to follow. input on the, i guess it is plan bfrnl b where we are going to have

nonprofit co-ops instead of the public option. thank you to j.d. haworth for telling us exactly what that means. he says, they are going to be called gse, government sponsored enhits. those are fannie mae and freddie mac. we don't want a health care bailout in ten years. they are just another means. so no co-ops. we want typical -- what we have now, private enterprise. >> thank you very much. >> secondly. >> could i answer that and then you go to the second one really quickly. >> one, i agree with you, number one. number two, if you want to start a co-op today, you can start a co-op. really, what they are talking about is a back door entrance into a government-sponsored program. go ahead. >> what will make any health care reform a nonstarter, what will shoot it down from the

beginning is failure to exclude illegal aliens from the benefits. when you are talking -- [ applause ] >> let me detail that. currently, the plan for tax credits to purchase insurance is no less full of loop holes than the earned income tax credit will illegal aliens avail themselves of all the time. there has to be a verification of legal presence in this

country through the same system that every social security number covered under the tax credit plan is a valid one and a legal american resident or citizen. under no circumstances will there be compromise, none. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> that's the input. my question is this. >> i knew we would get here. >> the idea that the president can appoint 30 plus czars with no accountability for anything to anybody is appalling. what's even worse, what's even more appalling to me is that nobody in congress seems to be objecting. [ applause ] >> let me just say, i object.

[ applause ] >> they have now more czars now than the romanoffs had. it's a way of getting around the confirmation process of the united states senate, which is examination of people's records and whether they are qualified or not. it has been done before but certainly never to the degree that this has been done. it's funny you mentioned that, because i think it causes a significant breakdown in the efficient conduct of foreign policy, among other things, national security policy. so i agree with you and i think that this is now come to a circumstance couple vengs

circumvent of the senate. you are going to see some efforts at curbing what has become an excessive practice. there is no proposal that i know of that would include illegal aliens. but the problem -- illegal immigrants. the problem we have got is we still have to get the borders secured. the problem is, because people come across the border illegally that are here, so that's why i put on the board there that 11 million of the people that are lumped into the, quote, uninsured, are people who are in this country illegally. we have to continue to secure the borders. we have to continue to work with the mexican government to stop the drug cartels that continue to export poison into this country that's killing our children. em. >> senator mccain, i'm a lifelong democrat but not this last time. i voted for you, the republican

party, straight on. i contributed and i answered your phones. and i think i'm speaking for the majority here today. we're very regret full that you are not in the oval office. first, the health care proposal needs to be killed now in its entirety. no compromises, senator, please. if it passes in any form, it will give the obama administration opportunity to build on it and i think we all know that. with all due respect, senator, i propose that you go back to d.c. and propose that congress trourn the medicare health care plan and the social security retirement plan, because if these plans are not good enough for you and your family, sir,

then they certainly good enough for us and our families. [ applause ] no compromises, no compromises, no compromises. senator, nuke it now! thank you. >> i'm glad i called on you, ma'am. thank you very much. could i just say, look, on this issue -- really, let's have some straight talk here, my friends. the system is broken. the cost of inflation is not acceptable. the medicare trustees sat sis say the system is going broke. social security is going broke. whenever you have double digit inflation, then you have a huge problem. so i can't just go back, in all

due respect, ma'am, and say, we'll do nothing, because our kids and our grandkids should be able to have medicare and social security as well. it has to be there for them. so let's go back with constructive, free market incentives to improve the quality of health care and the affordability and availability. so i understand your frustration at a government-run proposal and an increase in taxes and all of the things that you hear bandied about including the legislation that the young woman in the back talked about but we need to fix this system. let me just mention one idea to you if i could. since we can't act, what about a brak commission where we get the smartest people in america. we get together and say, here are the long-term fixes for social security and medicare and have congress vote up or down? [ applause ] >> because the systems are going

broke. we have to preserve your health care, medicare, medicaid, social security. our trustees of the system tell us that they are going broke. so we have to fix it. so to go back, frankly, and do nothing just delays this problem for other people who come after us. so i hope you appreciate that, to do nothing is not the answer either. you are very skeptical but i hope to be able to convince you of that. to have a government takeover is exactly the wrong way to go. >> what we need in washington are true statesmen, not more trial lawyer politicians. we need to encourage or

congressmen from the state of arizona because he is a true statesman from the state of arizona. >> may i interrupt you a second and say, do you know the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? one is a scum sucking bottom dweller. the other is a fish. there goes the lawyer votes. >> also. >> my lawyer friends know it was meant in jest. >> also, i think it is a noble idea to examine the health care from foreign countries on a national level, if they have national health care but we have something that's closer to us. we have what we call american indian reservations. we should be examining and

studying what goes on on those reservations as far as government health care goes. it pains me and it scares me to hear american indians who, by the way, are american citizens, say, if you get sick or you have an accident, do it before june, because after june, the health care on the reservations runs dry. [ applause ] >> i understand. the indian health service has got a lot of good people in it. the indian health service has been continuously underfunded and indian health service has not complied with the treaty obligations that we made with our native americans. yes, all the way in the back, yes.

>> thank you, senator mccain for coming today. i do agree with most of your views. i want to thank you for being one of the first to try to stop runaway spending in years past, not just this year. i do have a question. may i respectfully ask you about guantanamo bay? i feel that we should keep that open. president teddy roosevelt negotiated with cuba. i thought was ours. why do we have to build and put money into other prisons and get these terrorists killers on our soil? and i respectfully ask you, why you voted to close it? i really am befuddled?

>> guantanamo bay is a symbol throughout the world of mistreatment of prisons. my friends, it is. let me just tell you a story real quick. we all have the right to disagree. i was in camp -- a prison camp in iraq with senator lindsey graham, who is an air force lawyer. we met with a former high-ranking member of al qaeda, a terrorist, a murderer and a killer. in the course of our conversation, i said to him, how did you succeed so well after the initial american invasion. he said, two things. he said, one, after the initial invasion, there ways total chaos, murder, rape, robbery, everything was rampant, because you didn't have control of iraq. he said, the second thing that

and thousands of young men was abu great. so, in my view, we have to have a policy, hopefully return of these detainees to the couldn't interest i they came from or put them on trial and then keep them in prison for as long as is necessary. by the way, this return of this guy to libya is really an absolute outrage that was responsible for lockerbie. in my view, the mistake that the obama administration made is that they didn't have a policy as to how to put these people on trial. they are enemy xat tants. some cannot bring to trial and cannot release. there is no overall policy yet associated with it. thank you. >> thank you, senator mccain.

i am an emergency nurse. it's something i have done for the past 43 years. >> thank you for all you do. >> you are welcome. i can say is that all you have to do is stand in an emergency department for an hour or two, and you can see the problems inherent in our system. patients can't get to their primary care health physician. any reform has to improve access to family practitioners. from a personal point of view, it is expected that in 2020, we are going to be over 1 million nurses short in the united states. >> could i ask you a question? >> yes. >> do you see a lot of this problem that i was talking about, readmissions? >> every single problem you have mentioned, i have seen and i seen daily. so i agree with all of your issues on health care reform. as a nurse, it's hard for me to

know all the answers. i would leave that to your expertise and the experts that you use. but from a nursing point of view, i definitely would like to see more primary care physicians. >> how do, in your view, can we, one, get more people in the nursing profession and more primary physicians? >> from a nursing care perspective, most of the nurses my age are retiring. that includes faculty. last year, almost 100,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools in the united states because there were not enough faculty to teach them. so there does need to be some fiscal responsibility to increase nursing going on to become faculty and nursing schools. >> could we do this through financial incentives? >> certainly, through financial ensense tifs, giving back to the community and nurses that are willing to take positions in

area that are undeserved. >> thank you very much. >> you are very welcome. >> i too want to thank you for coming today and i thank you for looking to the right, instead of always to the left. i was pleased, senator mccain, to see that you support some of the objectives of president obama and his health care proposals, like coverage for all, lowering the costs, eliminating pre-existing conditions and things like that. some of the thanks were said here today, i don't agree with. you mentioned the two-year wait in england to be treated for ms. i have a daughter-in-law who has m.s. she waited 20 years, because she could get n