but now one of the most outspoken critics changing his tune after getting a chance to look at it. we'll be live at the white house with details. and even laura bush is talking about the controversyoff today's school speech. find out if she thinks that the address is a good idea about. plus she's reacting to charges that the president wants to in-dock friday nature kids. we begin, though, in washington. congress back in session this morning and health care is the critical item at the top of the agenda. and the president's wasting month time on that front. in just a few hours, he'll be meeting with nancy pelosi and harry reid and ahead of the speech to a joint session of congress tomorrow, the president is putting critics of reform squarely in his sights. >> i've got a question for all these folks who say we're going to pull the plug on grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants. you've heard all the lies. i've got a question for all

those folks. what are you going to do? what's your answer? what's your solution? and you know what? they don't have one. >> today the big play nert health care debate could be the chairman of the senate finance committee. he's a democrat pushing a new plan where there's no government-run insurance program. so we know a little bit about the senator's plan,'s trying to set plan by the end of the day. any takers? >> reporter: we have yet to see. certainly we'll pay attention today because senator baucus will be meeting with the democrats and republicans that he's been in discussions with now for months and months to see where they stand on this proposal. so what's in it? well, there is no public option as we expected. what there is a health care cooperative system. this would be nonprofit co-op,

these details from a source with knowledge of the proposal, and it would also expand medicaid. for instance, right now medicaid covers children up to the age of five and pregnant women who are either below the poverty level or up to 1/3 above it. this would cover everyone whose income level is up to 1/3 of the poverty level, so this would include more children, this would include adults who do not have children. and then the question is how do you you pay for it. well, the big tax here that would pay for this overhaul in part is a tax on the so-called cadillac health care plans. the high end health care plans that some say really i guess spur some consumers to overuse the health care system. this would be a tax on the insurance companies, not individuals, but critics say this is a tax that would just be pushed on to everyone who gets private health care insurance. >> so talking about the gop and we heard the president say where is your idea for those who are opposed, what's your plan.

if they do sign on, what are the risks for them? >> reporter: at this point, there doesn't appear to be much republican support. we're not expecting there to be a lot of republican support. and when i talk with senate republican leadership aides, they seem to be convince that had they're doing the right thing, that this is not a plan, that the administration and democrats are not going about this the right way, and that those aides telling me they feel buoyed in that conviction when they look at what happened over recess. there is still of course this concentration on this gang of six, this bipartisan gang of six, so there's concentration there, but at the same time, if democrats can in the end win over any of these republicans, there is still this budget maneuver that they have sort of in their pocket where they can go forward with only 51 votes in the senate. the thing is, the question is, will americans be okay with that considering president obama ran on a platform of a new style of politics that included consensus. >> it's interesting you talked

about some of what they heard during the recession, which is they fired up the base and they did get a lot of re-energizing of the gchlt op bio posing what the president had proposed, so we'll very to see how it all shakes out. thanks. we're also following this story from the white house this morning. suzanne malveaux is the only reporter there live this early and what do we expect to see on the health care front there today? >> reporter: good morning. we know that the president will be meeting with the democratic leadership, speaker nancy pelosi as well as majority leader harry reid here at the white house later today. essentially that the president is going to be talking about what he is going to say before the joint session of congress tomorrow evening. it has become more and administer clear, john, from his aides that he's not necessarily saying that the public option, this option government-run insurance as an it will ter in a i have to private insurance is essential or everyone the only way to go, that is certainly his preference, but he will be more specific tomorrow when he goes before congress. he is going to lay out his

outline, what he wants to see in health care reform, what is most important. but it is interesting to note that that public option that has really been pushed by the party base is not necessarily something that is going to be addressed specifically as essential to reform. >> health care and the preparations for tomorrow's night address to a joints session of congress not the only item on the agenda today. that president also giving that speech at noon to students, that speech that stirred up so much controversy last week. >> reporter: absolutely. the speech was released yesterday, a hard copy to give it to parents, to schools, for everybody to take a look at this. this is something where the white house aides in particular, robert gibbs, saying this is simply politics. he called it an animal house food fight, that this is just unwarranted and out of the mainstream. there are critics, they took a look at the speech and some of them said, look, that initially the main concern was the lesson plan or this suggestion for students to write an essay to

the president on how to help the president they felt was indoctrinating their children. i had a chance to talk to jim greer, the chair of the republican party in florida, just yesterday. he read this speech and he was the one who really got all of this going to saying that he wasn't going to send his kids to hear this type of speech because he thought it was a social list indoctrination. well, he seems to be changing his tune. it a listen so-to-what he said to me yesterday. are you going to send your children to see the speech tomorrow to school? >> i am. my children have been taught to have the highest respect for the presidency and this president and all presidents, so after reading the text, seeing the department of education have told teachers they are not to lead students in the correct that they would have a week ago, my kids will be watching therd's speech as i hope all kids will. i don't advocate children not watching this president's speech with this text. >> reporter: john, it was interesting, too, we had quit a

bit of back and forth about this and he said he didn't believe that this speech, this text that was released by the white house yesterday, is actually the original speech. he believes that perhaps they changed it to help people become more comfortable with his message. the white house says that's nonsense, but it does underscore the lack of trust and unseize of some people with this president. >> certainly does. suzanne malveaux for us at the white house. thanks so much. and we want to know what you think about the president's back to school speech. we posted the full text on our blog at cnn.com/am fix. have a read through and let us know what you think. also, former first law laura bush reveals what she thinks about the controversy surrounding president obama's speech to to school kids today. here's what she told us. >> reporter: president obama is giving a back to school speech and there's so much controversy over that. do you think it's a good idea? >> i think that there is a place for the president of the united

states to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren. i think there are a lot of people that should do the same and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and study hard and to try achieve the dreams that they have. >> the issue that's been raised by many conservatives that are critical of this, they say that this is a dangerous social list plot, indoctrinating schoolchildren. some parents say, no, our kids are staying home and not going to listen to the president talk about education and schools. >> well that's their right, you know, that certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear at school. but i think what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with this before the speech went out. and i think those have been changed. and i think it's also really important for everyone to respect the president of the united states. >> siding with the

administration about that, about whether or not kids should hear the 1350e67. >> i talked to jim greer last night, too. he said he's telling his children to respect the president of the united states. there's definitely been a difference of opinion over not so much the text of the speech, but this idea of a lesson plan. but it's really fascinating to see that president george h.w. bush said exactly the same thing, kids write me a let errands tell me how we can achieve our goals. so a little disconnect in. >> and the other interesting thing is there are some schools, some principals who are deciding not to show it, not because they disagree with it, but because they don't want to single out kids or parents or families who aren't going to have their kids watching. so unfortunately what the intention seemed to be and what it's turned in to seems to unfortunately have collided a little bit. >> that's politics in america in 2009. we'll have much more of the interview with laura bush throughout the morning. you'll hear what she thinks about president obama and what life is like now that they're

out of the white house and she and george are private citizens. other stories to tell but, the deadly arson fire burning in los angeles, more than half contained now, but still putting up a tough fight. firefighters had planned to spend labor day burning out brush along the fire's southern flank, but winds and low humidity caused a flare-up in the northeast corner. officials say the cost of fighting the fire so far is nearly $60 million. mechanics for southwest airlines will be examining a plane that was forced to make an emergency landing. it happened in tampa, florida. a light went off yesterday during takeoff signaling a possible fire in a bathroom. all 129 people on board were let out of the plane. they were bused back to the terminal and then flown to denver later in the evening. no one was hurt. and it looks like it will be a rough morning commute in southern california. san francisco's bay bridge will not reopen today by 5:00 a.m. local time. settings stage for possible grid lk on other bridges and roads and certainly a long alternate route for computers. transit officials say workers

are not done fixing a crack that was discovered over the weekend. officials are urging people to work from home if they can. 73-year-old bridge carries about a quarter of a million vehicles a day. they hope to maybe get this open by wednesday, but they're not sure. well, speaking of roads, there's a road in afghanistan, it was built with u.s. dollars designed to help make things easier on the long trip from kandahar to kabul. it was hailed as progress. well, now it's been taken over by the taliban, one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the wear. michael wehr takes us for a ride. 11 minutes past the hour. (announcer) we understand. you need to save money.

welcome back to the most new in the morning. as the war in afghanistan takes center stage in u.s. foreign policy, cnn is there. all this week we have our reporters on the ground to show was's really going on. and this morning mike at w. ehr travel as highway that was once a symbol of success in the region. today it's back to being one of the most dangerous roads in the world. evidence the country's security situation is deteriorating quickly. >> reporter: the costs of the afghan war are staggering, the loss of live, the billions upon billions of dollar, and yet what has it delivered? looking around, talking to the u.s. military, it's clear this war is not being won. for most ordinary afghans, this perhaps is the simplest, clearest measure of that. this is highway number one. it's here that kabul ends and 300 miles down that road is

kandahar and the taliban heartland. i remember when taking the journey from kandahar to kabul was more than 12 exhausting hours, but in 2004, american aid money repave this had road and cut that down to a mere five or six. now that journ any back to nine or ten hours. there's at least three known taliban check points on this american-paved highway. people are being pulled off buses and executed by the taliban. this truck driver runs this once a week. he halls fuel in this tanker. the road he says is in terrible shape wrecked by explosions. drivers are left completely exposed. >> translator: it's been blown up by land mines and there is no security on it. >> reporter: a father of three, he has to provide for his children. he takes his life in his hands each time he travels highway 1.

how else do we eat, he tells me. there's simply no alternative. highway 1 looks like this, it is one of the most vital arteries in afghanistan, rebuilt with almost $300 million in american aid money. its asphalt coals out from kabul toward the west towards kanda r kandahar, the nation's second largest city and a political epicenter. and this is the end of that road. kandahar is just a short distance down there. kabul hundreds of miles that way. but here in kandahar, this is a city surrounded by pockets of taliban resistance. and just a few miles down that dirt road is a taliban controlled district, a few miles up the highway is the first taliban check point. the fact the taliban's been able to strangle the life out of this highway is a testament to the

fact that there's simply not enough american, british, international or afghan troops to secure about. what had once been an american project hailed as a sign of progress has now become a mark of a mission in crisis. michael wehr, cnn, kandahar. >> just amazing. and a reminder, ac 360 is live from the battle zone in afghanistan all this week 10:00 p.m. eastern, 7:00 pacific. after a make or break month to oelt care concern, sprd trying to sell his plan for health care reform, one of the options being kicked about these days in congress is so-called trigger mechanism where private insurance companies over the course of two or three years didn't bring enough uninsured people under the umbrella of those that have health care, it would trigger a public option. is that something that could work? we'll ask that question coming up next. he ran off with his secretary! she's 23 years old!

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. christine romans is here minding

your business. >> we look like two bum bell bees. >> this is an argument i have with my friend. the hollowing out of american manufacturing about. shipping jobs overseas. he says it's fine as long as we oent companies. i say the chickens will come home to roost one of these days. >> tell that to the employees who are told the company is still american. 30 years after the beginning of the decline of american manufacturing employment, we now have a czar for manufacturing. the obama administration has named a point person, a senior counselor ron bloom who used to be on the auto task force and will remain there, but this is a harvard mba, former investment banker, he will be working with the trade representative, the congress department, the state department, the treasury, everyone who has some sort of stake in american manufacture to go try to craft a manufacturing policy that's best for the united states and also puts

manufacturing competitiveness front and center. here's what they face. manufacturing over the past 30 years has been declining in employment quite dramatically. this of course is the industry that built the american middle class. 40,000 factories have closed just in the past ten years. 5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000. 2.3 million manufacturing jobs lost just to china since 2001. since china entered the world trade organization, our trade deficit has reached record proportions of just so far this year i think we've imported $103 billion more than we've exported to china and that's even in the middle of a recession. and we know from the people who worked at whirlpool that we're also moving jobs to mexico and a lot of other countries, as well. why do these jobs leave is this because other countries don't have american laws. they pay 30 cents an hour, they don't have environmental standard, they can dump something right into a river, they can poison the ground water and people don't have protection, rights, and companies are very eager to get the cheaper labor and move it.

so we'll see if now -- >> can we bring manufacturing back. >> that's the question. and this looks -- >> what i can't wait to see is how this administration will really illustrate its trade and manufacturing policy. are they really going to did something that will protect manufacturing competitiveness and realize that american manufacturers say workers say they are competitive. the problem isn't american manufacturing competitiveness, are the problem is it isn't a level playing field. >> that leads us to a number that christine brings us every day driving the story about your money. what is it today? >> it's 95,667. we had 20 month of a recession. manufacturing jobs have been really aggressively over the past few years even before this recession and now during this recession, that's how many lost every month during the recession. that's enough to devastate a whole town right there, boom.

95,000. so i've been to these factories. i've talked to the people. there is a real crisis here. i can't wait to see -- >> and you eye are two who believe you actually have to make something at home -- >> i want to be a troll at the bridge, too. >> you can't just own the stuff made overseas. we're talking about the president's education speech today and what about those approval ratings? are they really the worst since? we'll put those statements through the truth owe meter, 24 minutes after the hour. it's the wall street way of doing business. getting rich is everything. reward yourself for failure. employees don't matter. exploiting them is acceptable. don't let workers get ahead. that's why they think they

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welcome back. 27 minutes past the hour. we're getting down to the wire as we talk about health care reform. with president obama set to address a joints session of congress tomorrow, it's make or break time and the white house is scrambling it find a compromise. jim acosta takes a look at one possibility, now the so-called trigger option. he joins us live from washington to tell us more about it. hey, jim, good to see you this morning. >> reporter: good morning. trigger is not just roy rogers horse. wednesday's speech to congress, we'll hear more about that trigger and that's speech is starting to look like one of the high noon moments of his presidency. surrounded by liberals demanding the public option and send truss democrats who want to dump the option, president obama just might have his finger on something that can get his through this health care showdown, the trigger. >> we hahave never been this close. >> reporter: as the president delivered one more

campaign-style pitch on health care reform, the question remains whether he will make a play for the public option, the idea of giving americans choice of joining a government-run insurance plan. >> i continue to believe that a public option will help improve 9 quality and bring down costs. >> why do you continue to support an option policy -- >> reporter: during that noisy congressional recess -- >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? >> reporter: -- one of the more soft spoken voices of the senate, olympia snowe, because quietly talking to the white house about a compromise that would replace the public option with something called a trigger. unlike the proposal in the house, the trigger would threaten the insurance industry with a public option down the road. the idea is backed by two former senate leaders. >> we recommend that after about five years, if the insurance companies don't clean up their act, then there's sort of a trigger where certain things happen and we think that's a step in the right direction.

>> reporter: snow has shied away from radical changes to the nation's private insurance system. >> protect those who currently have good health care, insurance plans, and they want to maintain it. we don't want to interfere with that, nor do we want to interfere with the doctor/patient relationship. >> reporter: even though snow's trigger could win over those like ben nelson, congressional liberals have said in no uncertain terms no public option, no deal. >> i say there is no option but a public option. for those who say we need a trigger, i say be quaf, you could be shooting down health care. >> reporter: political analysts wonder whether in the end democrats will shoot themselves. what politicians say in september and what they do in november or december are often two different things because they come to terms with reality. and that reality is the trigger may be the last best hope of

getting a few republicans on board. but after those rowdy town halls, liberal democrats wonder if a bipartisan health care deal is already out the window and many in the party say the trigger just gives the insurance industry one more pass. >> all you have me thinking about is the horse now. thanks. >> reporter: yeah, a trigger, maybe roy rogers horse, but in this case, president obama may end up like the lone ranger. >> there was pretty good. all right. thank you. we'll check in with you later. we are crossing the half hour, checking our top stories. millions of kids heading back to school and on today's lesson plans? a speech by president obama. critics and some parents complain the speech would be political, but a text of the speech only asks students to dream big, study hard and respect their teachers. also, election officials in afghanistan now say they're tossing out about 200,000 vets as they investigate the country's presidential election.

widespread allegations of fraud, polling irregularity, voter intimidation and also ballot stuffing are threating the election while the votes are still being counted. prs karzai needs more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. scientists say one day they'll be able to use the fat removed during liposuction to create stem cells. that means your love handles could one day be used to cure disease and regenerate damaged tesch should you. the stem cells from fat have many of the same basic properties as embryonic stem cells but do in the raise the same ethical questions because they have the potential for become any tissue in the body and you don't have to destroy embryos to get them. returning to the president's much discussed speech to america's school kids today, conservatives have claimed that the white house is trying to in-dock friday nature the nation's youth. joining me to put this claim and others to the truth-o-meter test is bill a dare, the founder of politfac fachlt.com. so the president is giving his education speech at noon.

jim greer, the chairman of the florida republican party, was one of the most outspoken critics of the speech. not having seen the text of it. but mostly because of this lesson plan that had been included with it. he said, quote, schoolchildren across the nation, quote, will be forced to watch the president ju justify his plans for government run health care, increasing taxes on those who create jobs and racking up more debt than any other president. we should points out he has since modify his opposition to the speech, but what did the truth-o-meter find about that statement? >> we gave that one a pants on fire, which is our lowest rating on the truth-o-meter. it was just preposterously false. back last week when he said he said it, if you click through to the link to the republican party of florida provided, it went to a press release that said the president was going to talk about staying in school and studying heart and that's, of course, what the speech is all about, so it was just ridiculously false. >> it just so happens that last

thursday evening, i spoke with jim greer about that. and talked to him about his statement and your rating of it. let's listen to that exchange between he and i. political toe fact ran that and they said that's pantses on fun you you true, that you just made that up. >> well, i really don't have or believe in much credibility of political fact because it's run by some left leaning people that don't really focus on the issue. >> so what do you say about that, bill? left leading people who don't focus on the issues. >> well, we welcome criticism and we hear a fair amount of it, but it's just silly to say that we don't focus on the issues. we've done over 1,000 truth-o-meters rulings in our two years. some of them make republicans unhappy, smch them make democrats unhappy, so we're all about the issues. we call them as we see them. and we should remind jim greer, too, that it's politifact and

not political fact. also, the president's giving the health care speech to a joints session of congress tomorrow night, of course one of the most controversial aspects of this is the public plan. president says he would like to see it, it's an pofrpts aspect of health care reform. rps say we don't like that, some democrats fiercely twending it, including democrat he can congressman anthony wiener of new york who said, quote, understand the plan, for the first five years, your employer not only has to keep the coverage, but you can't migrate to the public plan. this would be an answer to criticism that everybody in america will be forced in to a public plan. what did the truth-o-meter find out about that? >> we gave that a barely true. he's really manage link the details. the part highway gets right is that employers could not force you on to the public plan. but pretty much everything else he said in that statement was wrong. and the five years, there's no such requirement, but there are some protections. and it's important i think this

gets to the democrat's chal being. i don't know that fef's done a very effective job at telling people how this plan would work. for 2/3 to about 3/4 of the people, they would maintain their employer provided insurance coverage. the other 1/3 or so would go into the health care exchange. one of the options in that health care exchange would be the public option. so definitely mixing up some of the detail there is. >> last statement that we want to run through the truth-o-meter has to do with the president's approval ratings. they are down prompting newt gingrich to say, quote, since world war ii, only gerald ford and bill clinton have had worst rating after seven months than president obama. sounds like an interesting claim. the question is, is it true or not? >> that one get as true on the truth-o-meter. indeed when you look at the gallup results, gerald ford was down around 40% and bill clinton was around 45%. obama was at 51%.

so beginnigingrich is right. >> bill, great to talk with you this morning and having worked with you for more than a year now all through the election campaign and everything, politifact certainly does focus on the issues. thanks for being with us. and to check on more, head to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. meanwhile, there are changes of a foot as we've been talking about this cuba. one of them has to come with whether north cubans themselves can stay at some of these resorts. they used to not be able to. times are changing. maybe because of the worldwide recession, tourists aren't coming there as much so it means the doors are opening up for the locals. we'll take you there.

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welcome back. cnn has been following the changing landscape of cuba. for years cubans were banned from their country's five star hotels. the ban was known as tour rs apartheid. but president raul has lifted

some of those bans and they're turning to locals to fill empty rooms. the story now from havana. >> reporter: you won't find any americans dancing the congo around the pool of this five star hotel. their government banned american traveling to the communist islands. but until recently, you couldn't find many cubans enjoying the resorts either. for year, luxury hotels were reserved for foreigners. a much needed source of revenue. no longer. we're having a great time says this woman. she and her family are taking in a dolphin show. down the road from their all inclusive resort. they used to rent a room at a local house for the holiday. less than two years ago, president raul castro lifted restrictions on cubans staying in hotels, a move welcomed by many, although some of the most expensive destinations are still financially out of reach.

this is one of the top resorts. you'll find sailboat, beautiful white sand beach, swimming pools and cocktails. what you won't find are a lot of cubans. but this summer faces the global slump of tourism, many resorts turned to locals, offering deep discounts to fill rooms. >> translator: this has favored a lot of cuban families who before didn't take advantage of domestic tourism and are doing it now. >> reporter: officials say this summer cubans accounted for about 40% of visitors giving a boost it to the cash-strapped economy. i think it's good for the people, he says. it's a positive pleasure for the country's economy and for people to join in. and foreign tourists say they like the new mix, too. >> if you come, it's always beneficial to learn a culture, a little bit of language, a little bit of dancing. >> reporter: as for americans, those who want to join the party will have to hope u.s. congress

votes to lift the travel ban. now, that would be great news for cuban's tourism industry, but some of the tourists themselves we talked to, canadians and europeans, say they're pretty happy having the island a all to themselves. >> that's understandable, too, because judging from the shots, absolutely gorgeous. all right. great to see you. thanks. a couple of bills in congress that would let of lift those travel restrictions. maybe they'll have some company. we've got tropical weather happening. tropical storm fred far out in the atlantic. rob is tracking its path. that's coming up next.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. it's 45 minutes past the hour. vegas 74 going up to a sunny 98. >> 3:45 in the morning in vegas and it's that bright. rob is tracking all of the extreme weather and we have another tropical storm out there. is this one going to be any kind of a threat to land or more of a threat to fish? >> right now the fish are getting churned up pretty good. it is way out there, but this time of year we get storms firing off the coast of africa, the cape verde island. right now this thing is about 300 miles southwest of the cape verdes. it's getting a little more organized.

the movement of this is westerly at 15 miles an hour. the general track is more for northwesterly component and that remains to be the case, even though it is forecast to become a hurricane, that would bring it more into the central atlantic as opposed to continue traversing across the southern towards the caribbean and u.s. so we'll have to see if that pans out. but right how fred is certainly on the radar scope. also on the radar scope this morning, looking at some showers and thunderstorms that will become quite prevalent across parts of the carolina coastline here. this actually not tropical at all, but national hurricane center says there's a small chance of becoming something to worry about. what you'll have to worry about across the del mar have a, about as far north as philly, maybe trying to get it up to new york being but i think you'll be dry and then down about to the south carolina border, this will be heavy rainfall from virginia beach southward. so just be aware of that if you are extending your holiday plans. meanwhile, comfortably cool across the northeast. another nice day with

temperatures in new york about 75 degrees. great way to start off i guess the unofficial start of fall and people getting back into the xwruf for work and certainly kids getting back to school. >> fall's not for another 20 days. actually, it's -- >> come on, embrace it, john. it's right around the corner. >> we've got another two week of summer. don't be rushing the season. >> you've just dried off from the surf and all your fun. we aren't done it yet. we haven't strapped on on the -- whatever. the -- >> the leash. we'll see you guys out there at jones beach. i'll be out there this afternoon. mean wheel, whwhilemeanwhil back, u.s. troops possibly storming a hospital in search of insurgents and how top brass wants to deal with the situation. it's now 48 minutes after the hour.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. a new controversy brewing in afghanistan. right now the u.s. military is investigating claims that american troops stormed a hospital while looking for insurgents. barbara starr is live at the pentagon and, barbara, with general stanley mcchrystal's new proposal to win hearts and mind, this is the last thing he wants

to hear about. >> reporter: absolutely. this is just another problem for general mcchrystal. it is now acknowledge that had u.s. troops from the 10th mountain division went to this hospital, they say they played by the rules. the investigation is under way. it was only later they say that troops told them they were looking for an insurgent leader. >> they didn't find any insurgents in the hospital and didn't hurt any of the -- any of the staff. still, this is a clear violation of internationally recognized principles and rules. >> nato is investigating, but it couldn't come at a worse time for general cristo. he's trying to convince afghans that foreign troops will protect

them against the taliban, but for now, he's busy trying to explain nato's actions. he personally inspected the strike where a predawn air strike killed perhaps dozens of afghan civilians and he promised another investigation. >> from what i have seen today and going to the hospital, it's clear to me that there were some civilians who were harmed at that site. >> afghans are already upset by civilian casualties caused by nato. mccrystal may be asking for more troops and informing afghans more foreign forces will be on their soil. those familiar with mccrystal's thinking say perhaps his most urgent worries, the afghan through that the ongoing counting of the vote in the presidential election is riddled with fraud and what mid karzai may not win the people's

support. without it, it will be tough to ask others to invest in afghanistan's future. >> we need, at the end of the day, to have a degree of support for the legitimate government of afghanistan that at least exceeds the support for the taliban. >> reporter: well, we now know that the afghan selection commission has ordered a partial recount of the votes because of so many fraud allegations. but that is really the bottom line problem for stanley mccrystal right now. it's going to be very tough for him to ask nato and even the u.s. congress for more support for afghanistan and even more more troops if hamid karzai's government is not even as being legitimately elected. >> and barbara, the ambassador to afghanistan met with karzai urging him to let this commission condoesn't a free and fair investigation. >> absolutely brilliant meeting calling karzai on the carpet, looking him right in the eye and saying, we believe there is the possibility of fraud in this election. you have to fix it.

you cannot take office and have the afghan people believe this was a fraudulent election. it will be impossible for the allies to support that over the long-term. so -- >> barbara starr at the pentagon this morning, barbara, thanks so much for that. a big challenge in prison keeping the contraband out. one of the most prized thing is to have a cell phone in prison. now guards and corrects officials are trying some very interesting technology to fight back. our jeanne meserve is going to show us what they're up to. we'e trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world.

56 minutes past the hour. across the country, prisoners are using sneaky tricks to pass cell phones behind bars. now corrections officials are using their own technology to fight back. jeanne meserve has the story

from washington this morning. >> reporter: using dogs and searches, maryland corrections officials ferreted out more than 900 contraband cell phones last year. across the country, inmates have used cell phones in ex authorizations, escapes, drug deals, even murders. in 2007 been a maryland prisoner used a cell phone to order a hit on a witness who was about to testify against him in a homicide case. >> we want to use all the technology available to detect, to jam, to discover. >> reporter: jamming is illegal, but other technologies recently got a try out at a closed prison in jessup, maryland. one product claims to detect a cell phone every time the phone is used or turned on. >> and then they will know exactly where that cell phone is and go and tremendous treef it. >> another product says it can

select and block calls. >> it didn't go through. >> if legally authorized, it can collect information about calles and even record them. >> if mike is calling john and mike tells him kill sam, we know exactly who said what. >> reporter: some say a more effective solution would be to jam all cell phone calls in and out of prisons. but critics say that could block legitimate users nearby, even emergency calls. >> maybe that 911 call for somebody who needs urgent help right away, right now, and that would be tragic if that call was blocked by jamming technology. >> reporter: congress is considering changing the law, banning jamming to make exceptions for prisons. many corrections officials favor that idea, but say they would like an array of tools to fight what has become a pervasive and dangerous problem. john and kiran, back to you. >> jeanne meserve for us, thanks so much. welcome once again.

it's tuesday, september 8th. glad you're with us. >> and i'm john roberts. here is what the owes agenda this morning. heading back to the hill, lawmakers are inside the belt again after taking a month off. can a bipartisan solution be found on health care? and before the president takes his health care push to congress, he'll be facing a bigger and younger crowd. s makes a nationwide address to school kids at noon eastern. it's a speech that had critics up in arms before they ever saw it. now we have it. what will he say and why some schools still won't be listening. plus, a cnn sclus i. one-on-one with laura bush. she's speaking out against the deep political divide in washington. find out what she thinks of the man in office now and the current first lady. her answers may surprise you. and her pictures defined an era, gracing the cover of vanity

fair and voicing. now photographer annie lebowitz could lose her life's work. how could this happen to an artist who has made millions over the years? we begin the hour with congress back in session this morning after taking the month of august off. there's a live look at capitol hill for you this morning. look at that. they waushed the capital dome. first on their to do list, health care. after weeks of conference calls and fiery town halls with melt many plans on the table, can they find a bipartisan solution? max bachus is still trying to find a way to tax the priciest plans. brianna keilar is working her sources this morning. what are we going to see? >> reporter: instead of a public option, john, it includes a health cooperative approach. this is a nonprofit health co-op approach. we're not surprised it's not a public option. and it would be governed by the

patients that it serves. so this is the key element of the proposal that senator max baucus will be talking over with a key group of democrats and republicans, the supreme court gang of six that he has been working with for months trying to forge a compromise. they'll be meeting this afternoon. this baucus proposal expands medicaid. right now, medicaid covers children up to 5 years old, covers pregnant woman below the poverty line and up to one-third above it. under this proposal, that would be expanded to include all people who are up to one-third of the poverty level so more kids and even adults who do not have children. there's the big question, of course, john, how do you pay for it? as you mentioned, a tax on the priciest plans, a tax on those cadillac plans, high-end plans that some say encourage consumers to overuse health care. this would be a tax that's supposed to be paid by the insurance company, not the

individual, but critics here, john, say it will trickle down so that actually individuals, people, all people who have these private insurance plans will be footing the bill from this tax, john. >> bipartisan group of senators, brianna, have been trying to hammer this out for weeks thou. they're known as the gang of six. they'll all be together today for a meeting. do we have any idea how this gang of six is receiving this? >> you know, we don't know at this point. these three republicans and the two democrats besides senator baucus have not put out their position on how they feel about this prose yool posal. we're getting the details on this from an anonymous source. this is it for this bipartisan group to come up with this to see if they can work out a compromise. that's where we're going to look at today for this group that seems like the best chance for a health care overhaul. >> brianna, thanks so much. a member of the gang of six is

montana senator chuck grassley. sorry, iowa senator chuck grassley. i'm sorry. he's going to join us in our 7:30 half hour to talk more about this idea of baucus's plan and why it might fly with republicans. senator grassley, who conducked town hall meetings in 30 counties in the great state of iowa will be with us in about 20 minutes or so. >> in the meantime, it's back to school day for many kids across the country. at noon eastern today, a lot of them will be putting down pens and pencils and listening to a pep talk from the president of the united states. it's a speech that drew fire days before anyone actually saw it. and now, almost everyone seems to have an opinion about it, whether they have kids or not. here is a little bit of what you were saying. >> well, i think that's a good idea, to talk to the children, because they need to know that it is their responsibility because apparently a lot of the parents are not taking the responsibility. >> we're going to be seeing

posters of his face all over the buildings and that kids are going to be having emblem owes their shirts going to school, and i just feel like that's what it's coming to. >> if i has a hidden agenda or he's promoting something else that we may not approve of, then i think we ought to know or be able to screen it before they see it. >> he only has a good message. is it all about politics? no, not necessarily. it's about being a good person and doing the right thing. >> white house correspondent suzanne malveaux joins us. this whole speech and the controversy surrounding it has taken on a life of its own. >> it certainly has, kiran. and the white house is quite surprised of it. but they did release an advanced copy of the speech to try and quell the nerves of some nervous parents and school teachers to take a listen and look at this before it's delivered. the president will go before a group of ninth graders in

arlington, virginia, he's going to talk to them and deliver this speech to the nation's school children. now, i had a chance to talk to jim grier out of florida. he had essentially the one that got all of this going in terms of the criticism, saying that he believed it was a socialist ideology, that this was indoctrination of the nation's school children and that he himself did not want his own four children to listen to this, prompting some parents to decide to pull their kids out of school rather than listen to the president speak. i want you to take a listen. i pressed him a little bit when he took a look at the speech and get his thoughts. is there anything in this speech that is sociologist ideology that you have complained about before? have you seen anything like that in his speech. >> dmo. and the text that was released today, suzanne, is a speech that every president, whether it's democrat or republican, should give to students about the importance of education. there's nothing wrong with it. it's never been about the president talking to them.

it's been about the president and the white house trying to circumvent parents in this country and go directly to students without even making parents aware that there were lesson plans out there encouraging teachers to have students write letters of how we can help the president. >> jim greer is referring to the lesson plan, the department of education asking students to write a letter to help the president, how would they help the president? that task has since been removed. that was part of the controversy, as well. but i also asked greer whether he would, in fact, have his four children listen to the speech. he said, yes, he thinks it's a good speech. and he also said is that he doesn't believe that this was the original speech the president was going to deliver to school children, that perhaps there was something else that was more sinister than calling for children to take responsibility. and that underscores the conundrum that the white house is in, that there are some

people that feel a sense of unease with this president in talking to their children. >> so because of the political pressure surrounding the planned speech, that they made some tweaks? >> reporter: that's what he believes. the white house says that's nonsense. greer does not believe that this is the original text. when i talked to him, he just does not have the belief, the faith that this president has good intentions, that that is just something that he believes. he's suspicious of the president because he says the president believes that the government should get involved in people's lives, whether it's the economy, whether it's health care, and now whether it's education, as well. and that is really the fundamental concern that he had. but obviously, in reading the text, and what the president is going to say today, he feels comfortable in sending his four children to school to listen to them. >> so a turn around for him. suzanne malveaux, thank you so much. and we want people to have an opportunity to read the full text themselves. we've posted it at

cnn.com/amfix. cnn will, of course, carry the president's back to school speech live in its entirety from wakefield high school in arlington, virginia, at noon eastern. now for a cnn exclusive, former first lady laura bush is out of the white house and working on her memoirs. she says readers will be in for some surprises. >> reporter: give us a taste of your memoirs. give us a tease. >> well, i'm talking really, of course, about the years in the wlous, a lot of it about the years in the white house, but also my vantage point, the viewpoint that i had living inside the white house, you know, these really very dramatic times that we lived in, certainly, and interesting times. >> reporter: what will surprise readers, for example? >> i think maybe parts of my background will surprise readers. i'm talking about growing up in west texas and what that was like and i think there's mayor a stereo typical view sof what

that would be that i think people will be interested to hear what it was really like. >> we're going to have much more of laura bush's exclusive, including what the former teacher says about president obama's speech and what happened when she saw michelle obama at ted kindy's funeral. big speech tomorrow night being delivered to congress. what does the president need to say to convince opponents of his that his health care plan is the way to go to try and bring more of the uninsured under the umbrella of health care?

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welcome to theladders. a premium job site for only $100k+ jobs and only $100k+ talent. there's a look at the capitol today. washington having a little bit of light rain off and on. 66 degrees there. a little later today, a little more rain and a high of 74. welcome back to the most news in the morning. at a place where the

unemployment rate is already at 11%, a fired up president obama tried to capture the momentum that he had as a candidate and sell his health insurance plan to union workers in ohio yesterday. he's now trying to take back control of the debate and the message to congress was clear. stop dragging your feet. >> every debate at some point comes to an end. at some point, it's time to decide. at some point, it's time to act. ohio, it's time to act and get this thing done. >> aides say this is a preview of what we can expect on wednesday when the president talks to both chambers ooh congress. for more, let's bring in tony blankly as well as joe cline, columnist for time magazine. let me start with you. you've written about health care for a decade and covered this president extensively. when we heard him yesterday, he sounded like he was back on the

campaign trail, rally b, chanting, clearing crowds. what's hat stake for the president as he tries to push this through? >> people have been describing it as a make or break moment. it isn't. bill clinton failed and it didn't break him. but it is a crucial moment right now and he's been on the defensive for the past month with all these lunatics out there, the birthers, the deathers and all the rest and it's time for the president to try to regain control of the debate. >> tony, what we've been saying make or break here at cnn it's because many believe it's now or never when a president has negative capital to do what he's trying to do which is overhaul what many administrations have failed at. is the gop ready to jump on board? >> it depends. the president has said the time for debate is over and he hasn't announced where he stands on the issues yet. even today, a day before his big speech, the white house is

keeping open the option of going either way on the public insurance option. so i don't think the debate is over. until we know what the bill is, you can't know whether or not you're going to support it or not. you must say, joe, i guess there are a lot of us lunatics out there the i'm not a birther or a deather, but i am among those who have their doubts about the current proposal. >> what current proposal? you just said there isn't one. you are absolutely right, that has been a huge problem. the president has to say what he's in favor of. and i think there's a way to do this, especially if he keeps it simple, where he can regain the political advantage. >> well, something that everybody is in favor of, and if the republicans continue to oppose that, they're going to be in some trouble. >> well -- >> joe, this is what i want to ask you about that. there are a few articles one saying two-thirds of people aren't exactly sure what it means to them. so there is room to explain to people. >> absolutely. but when we talk about is there a specific plan out there, we're

talking about max baucus saying, listen, perhaps there is a compromise that doesn't include a poub option, but rather a health care cooperative. is that something the president is going to go for? >> well, from the start, one of the biggest problems with this whole public option debate is that it is a side light. it's not the most important thing in this bill. and co-ops are even less important. and as long as the debate is focused on this aspect of it, which kind of smells a little bit of government control, the president is going to be on the defensive. if it becomes a debate on whether or not the insurance companies can deny you coverage because of a pre-existing position, then the president is on the offensive. >> tony, i want to ask you about this, this is one interesting thing some analysts point out, what's different about now and when bill clinton was trying to pass health care in 1993 and '94, is there's basic universal

thought that the system cannot go on the way it is. yet what we've mostly been hearing, the gop argument that some say are false about pulling the plug on grandma, about socialism, etcetera. are the republicans missing an opportunity to highlight whether or not this is affordable and whether or not they can put forth a plan or at least some sort of alternative option to being able to pay for this? >> well, look, there's several points you make. first of all, the public thought there was more of a crisis in 1993 than they do now, according to the polls. so while the experts may be more coless on one position, the public is not. as far as the republican alternative, the republican alternative has always been to drive more market forces into the health buying decision. and that will then reduce prices. as far as the problem with the president's plan to expand the coverage at a time when the deficit is going up at a rate that marty feldstein said this

morning is unsustainable, as has the president's director of omb, are a adding another $1 trillion to the cost is going against the central economic problem that we're going to have over the next few years. so i don't think this debate has even been joined yet. first, the president has to settle on a bill he's going to fight for. then we have to understand the full economic implications and the policy implications. so the debate isn't over. it's just beginning. >> well, what tony just said is a little misleading because the -- if it costs $1 trillion, the president has said that he's going to find ways to pay for it. now, the problem in the long-term here and the problem with market-oriented solution is this isn't a free market in health care. about half of the health care in this country is delivered by the government via medicare and medicaid. and so market alternatives can have some impact, but i think that there are more basic changes required, like the way

we pay doctors. do we pay them according to the procedures that they perform or do we pay them by salary? a lot of people believe paying them by salary is a far more effective way to do this. >> there is still a lot of this debate and i want to thank you for joining us this morning. john. icon nick photography annie lebowitz, her life's work is on the line as a loan becomes due today. could she declare bankruptcy? could she lose it all?

christine romans, minding

your business this morning and trouble for annie lebowitz. what's going on? >> this is remarkable news. a $24 million loan coming due today. bankruptcy attorneys are saying that the famed photographer should file for bankruptcy simply because she could lose control over every picture she has ever taken, everything. this is a woman who essentially made photography fine art. or i will say she perfected photography as fine art. she's made some pretty big business mistakes in the past. she went to a group called art capital group, which calls its the private banking for the art world and secured a $24 million loan to cover all this. now this group is suing her saying that she has not been making her payments, that she has fallen in neglect to the terms of that loan. now they say that they could move forward in court and take control of all of her asset here because of this unpaid bills. her attorneys are not saying this morning what her next move

will be and art capital group has not returned a call for comment. so we don't know what's going to happen next. but today is the deadline for her to settle this otherwise potentially lose. she essentially mortgaged her intellectual property. >> it's amazing that she could take these incredible photographs, everything from john lennon nude to the queen and be in such financial trouble. >> there's a couple of big high mortgage properties, there's some big real estate costs here, as well. this is a woman who, when she does it, she does it big. i mean, each one of these photographs clearly spent a lot of money on location and the time. there are a lot of artists, when you go through history, you can see a lot of artists who have been brilliant at what they do but have made financial mistakes around the world. >> with singers as well as michael jackson. >> billy joel went early on. >> yeah, but he claims his manager has ripped him off. >> and he has overcome it, as

well. the question is can she overcome it, can she keep control of this artwork? this is not someone who wants to see her images on the side of a can of soda, which could happen if you sold off these images to be used for something else. >> hopefully they'll be able to come to an agreement. christine romans, thank you very much. still ahead, john will be speaking to senator charles grassley. where are republicans willing to compromise, if they are? is there anything to, perhaps, senator baucus's bill and will we see health care reform passed in this congress? dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes.

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vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. 24 minutes past the hour now. for more of on our cnn exclusive, former first lady laura bush has been out of the white house and out of the spotlight. but she's been busy. she's been in paris promoting

the importance of worldwide literacy. she sat down one-on-one with our own zain verjee. we'll see what the former school teacher says about president obama's school speech and what happened when she talked to michelle obama at ted kennedy's funeral. >> how is president obama doing? >> he's riding his mountain bike and he's very disciplined by writing his memoirs. >> reporter: better than you? >> he's a lot more disciplined. i keep telling him that i've gotten to the second grade in my memoirs. >> reporter: how do you think the world will remember him? >> i think the world will remember him for, really, what he is, and that's waing people will get to see both from his memoirs and for mine and that is somebody who stood for freedom and who stood for the security of our country. and i think people know that. i think the people that really know him know what he is like

and they see what he stood for and that's the freedom of 50 million people in afghanistan. >> reporter: many around the world would say that he stood tore destructiveness. >> well, i would say that that is absolutely not right and i don't think they have either the right view of him or what his responsibilities are and were as president of the united states. >> reporter: how do you think michelle obama is doing? >> i think she's doing great. i think she's doing very well. >> reporter: you've been there. you -- >> well, i saw her at the funeral, teddy kennedy's funeral last week and asked her about the girls and how they're doing. and i know what she's doing. it's what every woman who moves there does and that's try to make it a home. both for her husband, who is the president, and for her children. >> reporter: president obama is giving a back to school speech. there's so much controversy over that. do you think it's a good idea? >> i think there is a place for the president of the united states to talk to school

children and encourage school children. i think there are a lot of people that should do the same, and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have. i also am happy that it seems like that have not -- the obama administration has not backed off the accountability part of the no child left behind act that president bush worked with ted kennedy to pass. i think that's important. we want every american child to have the very best education possible. and i think that's what that legislation really demands. >> reporter: the issue that's been raised is by many conservatives critical of this. they say that this is a dangerous socialist plot that's indock nating school children. some parents say, no, our kids are going home and not going to listen to the president talk about education and schools. >> well, that's their right. that certainly is the right of

parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school. but i think, really, what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with the before the speech went out and i think those have been changed. and i think it's also really important for everyone to respect the president of the united states. >> reporter: do you think he's doing a good job, president obama? >> i think he is. he's got a lot on his plate and he's tackled a lot to start with and that's probably made it more difficult. >> reporter: what's it like for you being a private citizen? >> well, it's great, really. it really is nice. we're enjoying our home in texas a lot. we have a new house and -- >> reporter: furniture yet? getting some furniture. we had a lot of fun working on that. we're both working on our memoirs, writing our memoirs and then we're also building the presidential library at smu with the institute that will be a part of it and i've been the

chairman of the design committee and that's been a lot of fun to work with bob stern, our architect and michael van berg, our landscape architect. we just had our last design meeting and now we'll get ready, i hope, to break ground in sometime a little over a year. >> there you go. she's keeping busy and she seems really glad, you know, to be out of the public eye for a little bit. >> interesting, too, to hear what she has to say about this current administration. laura bush there with zain verjee. coming up to the half hour, checking this morning's top stories as promised, the white house delivered the text of a speech that president obama will be giving to schools in a few hours. one line reads no matter what you want to do with your life, i guarantee that you will need an education to do it. officials in afghanistan are now ordering a partial recount

in the wake of the country's august 20th presidential election. they've already thrown out about 200,000 votes. opponents of current african president hamid karzai. since the vote, there's been more than 2,000 claims of voter fraud. willing for a compromise on health care reform, the senate's so-called gang of six, three republicans and three democrats will be meeting later on today. the six negotiators who are members of the senate finance committee will be considered by the senator's plan to drop the public option and tax the priciest insurance plans. one member of the gang of six is iowa republican senator charles grassley. he joins us this morning from capitol hill. senator, it's great to see you back in washington. i hope the month of august was xoble for you. >> it was very enjoyable. >> terrific. hey, listen, during the august recess, you said of the efforts to craft a bipartisan bill, you

said, quote, i don't think it's going to be possible to work it out with the administration because they're all over the field. now that you're back there on capitol hill, are you going to walk away from this or are you going to stick with the gang of six to come up with a plan? >> well, we won't know until we meet with the president at 2:30. the president has the good and bad of the president speaking this week is we had to speed up the work of our group to have something ready. the other thing is that the president -- and that's bad because we should have probably taken a little more time just over this weekend. and then the other issue is that the president, if he does come out with specifics, probably would make up for that criticism that i gave during august that they were all over the ballpark, and they were all over the ballpark. >> now, one of the proposals that was being handed to you is from senator max baucus, nonpublic coopens would provide insurance for those uninsured,

it expands medicaid eligibility, as well. is that something that you can support? >> well, one thing about the co-o co-ops, if they're going toned up just the way we've known co-ops for 150 years in america, the answer is yes because they're consumer driven and all the consumers benefit from it. they're organized by members. there's no federal government running the co-ops, etcetera. and that's the way that senator conrad has devised them and i've been discussing that with him and along the lines of what he suggested, it's very favorable. and just in case, that somebody comes along and wants a federal board, the federal government to accept risks so we ended up with a health care fannie mae, then that would away no-no for me. in regard to the tax that you asked about, the only thing i

would suggest is both congressional budget office and the joint committee on taxation has said that those costs would be passed on to the premium holders. so it's going to drive up the cost of insurance, maybe at a level of insurance that we shouldn't be subsidizing in the first place, but the case is that the extent to which consumers pay for it, that is a concern as opposed to if the corporations would have had to pay for it, the people providing the insurance, it probably would be a better approach. >> senator, of course, the president has this speech to a joint session of congress tomorrow evening. he kind of laid down the groundwork for that, yesterday's speech to the afl-cio in which he took on people like yourself who have been critical of his plans for health care, saying what have you done lately? let's listen to what the president said. >> yeah. >> what are you going to do? what's your answer?

what's your solution? and you know what? they don't have one. >> the president charges, you can't have a solution. let me ask you now, what is your solution to health care reform? what's your plan? >> well, don't forget, i've been working the last three or four months with senator baucus one-on-one and later with a group of six to come up with a bipartisan plan. and it seems to me that the bipartisan approach is the president. and if you look at the president during his campaign, he wanted to be port partisan, and it seems to me like those statements yesterday were very partisan, contrary to what he promised in the last campaign. but i would be working towards a bipartisan effort. if we don't get a bipartisan effort, there are so many things in what i've been working towards that could easily go into my plan or a republican

plan and don't forget there's already four republican plans out there introduced by other members of our caucus. but because we're the minority party, you at cnn and other places haven't given our plans much publicity because i suppose we're in the minority and you want to help the president so much so that i hope that if we -- if we don't have a bipartisan plan, that you'll start giving some attention to the republican plans that are out there. >> well, i can assure you, senator grassley, it's not our intention to help any politician, president, you, anyone else. we're just merely telling people what is out there and we will redouble our efforts to illuminate republican plans. >> thank you. >> you're up for re-election next year. you recently sent out a fund raising letter in which you said to your constituents, quote, we ask for your immediate support in helping me defeat oh bam in-care. speaking of you, it was said he

has created a campaign programised on his role in stepping obama's health care reform effort. it's not clear how he could pivotal to save it, even if he wanted to do so. have you left yourself with this preelection campaign, senator, any room for compromise? >> absolutely, yes. you know what obama-care is in the public's minds, my constituents' minds? it's all that public option. it's all the inventorial nationalization of health care in america. run entirely by the federal government. and that letter associates obama care with the public option and the people of myspace and i think most of the people in this country don't want the government to take over federal health care. >> senator grassley, we look forward to the results of the meeting later today. thank you. >> thank you.

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everyone is wearing yellow today. it thought it was me. 39 minutes past the hour, welcome back to the most news in the morning.

when the president gives his back to school pep talk today, students all over america will be listening. the text of the speech has been posted for parents to be able to read it. some schools, thoent, still don't want you to hear it. gary tuchman went out to find out why. >> this north carolina president had to decide whether to provide president obama's speech for his students in school. >> this may sound a little strange, but after a flurry of phone calls, my first thing was to go in my office, shut my door and have a prayer because i knew i was going to have to make a decision. >> reporter: what was he hearing from parents? mostly comments like those we heard at the county fair just down the road. >> do you think the school should play barack obama's speech sfp. >> absolutely not. >> it's more like communism saying we're going to do this and we're going to do that. >> i think it should be up to the parents of whether they want their children to hear that

speech or not. >> reporter: and that is exactly what the principal decided. the students would not be watching. >> it's not something we want to divide our school with. >> reporter: in our research of the schools and school districts that will not be showing the president anticipates speech live, we found most of them perhaps not surprisingly are in counties where barack obama did not do particularly well during the november elections. catawba county is no exception. john mccain received 67% of the vote here. this is what he's going to say in his speech. if you quit in school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country. isn't that a message you want your kids to hear? isn't that part of what education is about? >> most definitely. and we've asked our parents, again, going back to responsibility. a responsible parent is going to sit down and talk to their kids about staying in school. >> reporter: but barack obama's message about it will not be shown here even in part in the days to come.

let's say if president obama calls you up and says, i want to make a live appearance at your assembly. you would be dealing with the same things with these parents, wouldn't you? >> i would, probably. >> reporter: how does that make you feel? >> well, we have a long way to go. and the issues out there today are the issues, they're sensitive issues. but if the president wanted to come to claremont elementary school, he would certainly be welcome to come to claremont elementary school. and i guess i would have to go back in my office and shut the door and pray again. >> to see the full text of the president's back to school speech for you to read, go to our website, cnn.com/amfix and check it out. the president's speech is at noon eastern, 42 minutes now after the hour. i can enjoy the zoo with my grandkids.

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. morning, atlanta. it's clear and 65 degrees there right now. a beautiful start to the day later on today. partly cloudy with a high of 87. atlanta, where rob marciano is this morning tracking the extreme weather across the country. >> good morning. the outer banks will get nontropical storm rainfall. let's start off with tropical storm fred to the southwest of the cape verde islands. that's pretty much off the coastline of africa. this thing, even if it were to hit the u.s., it's at least a week away, if not more. but it's getting fairly good organization. it's moving to the west at are 15. and the forecast is for it to strengthen to hurricane status. so looking at this track, it does cover to the northwest. there's a good chance of this becoming a fish storm, but notice that the last couple of days of this thing, it stalls

and makes a little bit of a wobble to the west. so that let's us to a little bit of concern. in the mid-atlantic, you are getting hammered with rainfall. the outer banks and the delmarva easterly winds have been keeping things rather cool and wet. a lot of rain in the past day or two. as far as where the rain is going to be cooling things down the most, maybe d.c., 73 degrees there. i think new york city will be up to 75. 76 degrees in chicago. i would say comfortably cool, john. i don't want to rain on your parade here. you're right. we'll try to hold on to summer a little longer. >> he's postponing his parade because of the weather. >> summer went by so quickly, anyway. don't rush it, rob. >> i understand. maybe a nice indian summer around about november for you. >> we would love that. >> how about a nice indian

summer between now and thanksgiving, can you arrange that? >> i'll give it a shot. still ahead, sanjay gupta has been doing some reporting. he's in afghanistan and talking about what exactly it's like to be on the ground in a war hospital, in a war zone. tough to watch some of it. incredible report. he's going to join us to tell us exactly how these heroes medical heroes stabilize every day. 47 minutes after the hour. r ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. you know, you think you know what it's like inside a hospital emergency room, but really, you've never seen anything like

this. this one is busier, grittier, possibly the most intense er on earth. we're paging dr. gupta this morning from the other side of the world. other chief medical correspondent our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is inside an afghan trauma medical center where soldier's and little children's lives are on the line. >> reporter: hey, john and kiran. i'm here in this dusty desert tent, which is also the home to an operating room. it's being used to take care of patients here in the helmand province. i want to give you an idea of what battlefield medicine is all about. take a look. early morning, kandahar. we've been here just a few minutes, we're already getting an idea of just how busy this hospital is. out there is the busiest airstrip, supposedly, in the world. flighting landing all the time,

to get patient s like this into the hospital. this is a very urgent case, lots of bleeding, possible double leg amputation. >> the tourniquet was put on about 45 minutes ago, bilateral tourniqu tourniquets. >> reporter: dr. hayes is communicating with the patient, translating, trying to figure out exactly what happened to him. we don't know much, middle aged, afghan national. but only a quarter of the patients brought here are u.s. or coalition forces. the rest are locals. >> you have no idea the severity of injuries, they've got to roll the patient, check his back, check his spine. make sure there's nothing else -- >> you can see the tourniquets are still holding. >> reporter: putting big i.v.s in here. there are a couple of tourniquets holding all that blood from coming pouring out of

his legs. 24/7, a battlefield hospital in the middle of a war zone, like this. surgeons working on a young soldier, ied, improvised explosive device attack. as you watch him wheeled out, his face is torn, his left arm terribly damaged, and underneath that blanket, one of his legs is gone. surgeons tell me his mother received the awful call just a short time ago. >> ready? >> don't move him yet! >> reporter: it's all hard to watch and the process, they are brothers, friends, neighbors, but here is where it gets worse. that sound you hear is a drill being used to remove the skull of a child, a 2-year-old afghan boy. he fell down a cliff while playing. his name is malik and he has a

massive brain injury, almost dead. doctors here are trying to give him a fighting chance. he is one of the cutest boys you'll ever meet. it is nighttime now in kandahar. see what's going on behind me, you have a helicopter that's about to land. it's very windy. we don't have a lot of information. we just know there are patients on this particular chopper. over there, look over there, two ambulances, all the medics over here, they're starting to run out to the chopper to see what's going on. they just got the all-clear signal, we're going to go with them. 30 seconds later, the patient is inside. as you can see, there's a lot of triage going on right now. they have the breathing tube checked. he's moving both of his legs and both of his arms. very good signs. there's a concern about head

injury, but it's probably not that severe if he's able to do what he's doing now. and keep in mind, in the midst of all this, a young boy, malik, his life still hangs in the balance. and john and kiran, the story of malik is something i'll be following along all week long, checking in on him to see how he's doing. there's some lessons on how they take care of patients here and i'll be focusing on that. >> sanjay, thank you so much. you can see more exclusive reporting from sanjay on "a.c. 360." he's live from the battle zone, so is anderson, all week in afghanistan, 10:00 p.m. eastern, 7:00 pacific. (announcer) time brings new wisdom new aches and pains, ...and new questions about which pain reliever is right for your body. tylenol 8 hour works with your body, with one layer that dissolves quickly...

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. cnn is following the changing landscape of cuba. for years, cubans were banned from their country's five-star hotels. it was a practice known as tourist departe but raul castro lifted those restrictions and hotels are now turning to locals, offering deep discounts to fill empty rooms. cnn's shasta darlington has got that story for us this morning from havana. >> reporter: you won't find any americans dancing the conga

around the pool at this five-star hotel in cuba. their government, for the most part, bans them from traveling to the communist island. but until recently, you couldn't find many cubans enjoying the tropical beach resorts either. for years, luxury hotels were reserved for foreigners, a much-needed source of revenue. no longer. we're having a great time, says lisandra. she and her family are taking on a dolphin show down the road from their all-inclusive resort. they used to rent a room at a local house for the holidays. less than two years ago, president raul castro lifted restrictions on cubans staying at hotels. a move welcomed by many, although some of the most expensive destinations are still out of reach. this is one of the top resorts. you'll find beautiful white sand beaches, swimming pools, and cocktails. what you won't find is a lot of

cubans. but this summer many resorts turn to locals, offering deep discounts to fill rooms. >> translator: this has favored a lot of cuban families who before didn't take advantage of domestic tourism and are doing it now. >> reporter: officials say this summer cubans accounted for about 40% of visitors to hotels, giving a boost to the cash-strapped economy. joel is one of them. i think it's good for the people, he says. it's a positive measure for the country's economy and for people's joimt. and foreign tourists say they like the new mix too. >> if you come to strange countries, it's always beneficial to learn the culture, a little bit of language, a little bit of dancing if. >> reporter: as for americans, those who want to join the party will have to hope the u.s. congress votes to lift the travel ban. that would be a huge boost for cuba's tourism industry, by some estimates, doubling the number of visitors. but we talked about to some of

the tourists here now, canadians and europeans, and they said they'd actually be happier keeping the island for themselves. >> that's shasta darlington this morning for us from havana. coming up on the top of the hour. thanks very much for being with us on the most news in the morning on this tuesday morning. i'm john roberts. >> and i'm kiran chetry. here's what's on the agenda. congress is going back to work this morning. one senator will be working hard to sell a new health care plan and another lawmaker just putting a time line on when we could see some progress. that's just into us. and we're going to be getting details on that live from capitol hill. do you hear that? it's the sound of school bells this morning and president obama is kicking off the school year by speaking directly to america's classrooms. the planned speech sparking a firestorm, but now at least one big-name republican is endorsing it. we're live at the white house today with details. also, an exclusive one-on-one interview with laura bush, the former first lady

talking about the president's speech to school kids today. whether she thinks it's a good idea. we begin, though, in washington. congress back in session this morning and health care is the critical item at the top of the agenda. the president is wasting no time on that front. in fact, in a few hours, he'll meet with house speaker nancy pelosi as well as senate majority leader harry reid and ahead of his speech to a joint session of kocongress tomorrow, the president putting critics of reform squarely in his sights. >> i've got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we're going to pull the plug on grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants. you've heard all it will lies. i've got a question for all those folks. what are you going to do? what's your answer? what's your solution? and you know what, they don't

have one. >> well, this morning, all eyes and the health care debate are on capitol hill. our brianna keilar is there and as lawmakers return, you're breaking news about whether there is a plan out there. >> reporter: hi, kiran. we're paying a lot of attention today to a meeting going on at 2:30 this afternoon between that so-called gang of six. those three democrats, the three republicans on the senate finance committee who will be reacting to a proposal they got from the chairman of that committee over the weekend. i just spoke with charles grassley, who was on "american morning" in the last half hour and i asked him, you know, what is he hoping for this meeting. he said that they will just be reacting and really stating their opinions on this proposal they got. but what he said, he understands that senator max baucus, the chairman of the committee, wants something that he can take, some sort of agreement among this gang of six that he can take to the full committee and he said it's not -- he said that senator baucus wants to do that before

the president's speech tomorrow night. he said it's not ideal timing. i said, ideal, perhaps not, but is it possible? and senator grassley told me, kiran, he hopes so. so what we're going to be paying a lot of attention today is what comes out of that meeting. there are certainly some issues that republicans may raise about this proposal that they've gotten from senator baucus, but senator grassley saying he hopes they can reach an agreement that they can take to the full senate finance committee and move forward from there. so they're talking about a bipartisan agreement and he is hopeful, kiran. >> interesting. because likely, if they do come up with a bipartisan agreement, it would have to be theened of the public option. is that why you're talking about whether or not it's ideal ahead of the president's speech? >> reporter: well, when he said it wasn't ideal, he meant he would like to have had more time. the time line had been september 15th and the president's speech, he said, accelerated the time line, that they really need to figure out something before the speech tomorrow. so having a week less time.

but what it would be based on, and senator grassley said the proposal that they got from senator baucus was a lot of ideas that this gang of six have already agreed to, here's what senator baucus' proposal is. a co-op, not a public option, but we're not really surprised by this, because they've been talking about this health care cooperative, which would be a nonprofit co-op governed by the patient that it serves. they've been talking about this all along for the last months, kiran. this plan of senator baucus' would also expand medicaid. right now, medicaid covers kids up to five years old, pregnant women who are below the poverty line and up to a third above it. under baucus' proposal, it would expand to cover everyone who is up to one-third above the poverty level. so more kids, and even adults who do not have children. and then the other question of how do you pay for it. well, in part, kiran, the idea would be to tax these high-end health insurance policies, these cadillac plans.

critics say this is going to be a tax that's passed on to the consumer, even though it's supposed to be the insurance companies who are paying them. that is a concern of senator grassley's, and obviously something that will be discussed today at that meeting this afternoon. >> all right. just quickly, yes or no on the pre-existing condition situation. would this bill knocked dropping people for pre-existing conditions? >> you know, i don't know that specific detail, kiran, because what we have is a proposal that's come from a source familiar with the discussions, from an anonymous source. so we're still trying to figure out exactly what the specifics are. >> all right, brianna keilar with us this morning with new details on whether or not an agreement can be reached ahead of this speech tomorrow, at least in one of the committees in the senate. very interesting stuff. we're also following a story from the white house this morning. our suzanne malveaux is live there this morning. suzanne, what do we expect to see on the health care front there at the white house today. we know what's going on at congress, but what about there at 1600 pennsylvania? >> reporter: john, the president's going to be meeting with democratic leadership at the white house this afternoon

to talk about various plans, various possibilities in his speech. we know that he's working on his speech before the joint congress and obviously nancy pelosi as well as harry reid figuring in in terms of trying to push forward that public option, white house aides have made it clear over the last week or so that this is something the president, he prefers, but it certainly is not necessarily essential in calling for health care reform. but the president is going to be more specific when he goes before congress in terms of what he wants to see out of health care reform. but that is the main thing here, john, that we don't necessarily expect that this whole idea of a public option, the government's alternative in providing some sort of competition to private insurance companies is necessarily going to be a part of this. it may be part of a deal later on down the road, if you find that private insurance companies don't actually reform on their own, that this kind of trigger for the public option would take place, that that is something that they are heavily discussing with republican olympia snowe. >> so lots of meetings, lots of

talk on health care ahead of the president's address to a joint session of congress tomorrow evening. but in the meantime, just about four hours from now, the president's going to be talking education. he's giving that speech to students that stirred up so much controversy last week. >> reporter: and john, it doesn't end. it's still very controversial to a lot of folks. obviously, the white house trying to tamp it down. they released the text of the president's speech that he's going to give to the schoolchildren, wakefield high school, later this morning. he'll be speaking with ninth graders and then they're going to go ahead and broadcast the speech to schools and teachers throughout the country. but really trying to calm the nerves here of people who were concerned about what was the message. i spoke with jim greer. this is the guy who kicked off all of this, the controversy, the chair of the republican party out of florida. he said, look, i think this is a socialist ideology. i'm afraid he's going to be indoctrinating my children. he take a look at the speech and seems to have had a change of heart. i spoke with him yesterday and

here's how he put it. are you going to send your children to see the speech tomorrow at school? >> i am. my children have been taught to have the highest respect for the presidency and this president and all presidents. and after reading the text, seeing the department of education have told teachers they are not to lead students in the direction they were supposed to a week ago, my kids will be watching the president's speech as i hope all kids will. i don't advocate children not watching this president's speech with this text. >> reporter: john, what he did say is that he objected to the lesson plan the department of education suggesting that children go ahead and write an essay on how to help the president. the white house has since removed that request for that lesson plan, but one thing that was really fascinating, i asked him about this, i said, you know, why do you have such suspicion of the president's intentions. and he said, well, you have president obama the auto executive, president obama the doctor, now he's going to be the schoolteacher. because the president feels

there's a more significant role for the government that somehow he will take over this role of education. that was one of his concerns and he was so suspicious, john, he says he doesn't even really believe this was the speech that was going to be delivered to schoolchildren. he says he believes it was changed. the white house says that's nonsense. >> significant to point out that president obama is not the first president that talked about education with students. and even jim greer was going into classrooms in florida talking with students. where do you draw the line between being someone encouraging people to stay in school and becoming a schoolteacher. >> former president h.w. bush was in the classroom saying the same thing. and this speech is about kids taking responsibility. certainly doesn't sound like anything political. >> suzanne malveaux live from the white house, thanks so much. we would like to know what you think about the president's back-to-school speech. we've posted the full text on

our blog. read it and tell us what you think. and in a cnn exclusive, former first lady laura bush reveals what she thinks about the controversy surrounding president obama's speech to schoolchildren today. here's what she told our zain verjee. >> president obama is giving a back-to-school speech and there's so much controversy over that. do you think it's a good idea? >> i think that there is a place for the president of the united states to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren and i think there are a lot of people that should do the same, and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have. >> the issue that's been raised is by many conservatives that are critical of this. they say that this is a dangerous socialist plot that's indoctrinating schoolchildren. some parents say, no, our kids are staying home and not going to listen to the president talk about education in schools. >> well, that's their right.

that certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school. but i think, really, what people were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out with the -- before the speech went out and i think those have been changed. and i think it's also really important for everyone to respect the president of the united states. >> and so for more on zain's interview with the first lady, the former first lady, we're going to hear it throughout the hour and you'll hear what mrs. bush says, she thinks, about president obama, and also how she's enjoying life now as a private citizen. >> seems to be enjoying it. putting the house together and the former president said they're riding the mountain bike a lot. >> she's also trying to get a library in the name of the president already. the whole nine yards. busy, busy. still ahead, we'll be speaking with one congressman who's still undecided on health care. as we know, it's a huge debate. many, many congressmen and women have been hearing from their constituents on both sides. what will it take for him to

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. 14 minutes past the hour. as we know, over the past several months, we've seen the health care debate get very heated over the country and members of congress have picked sides. some for the plan, some against it, some for a public option, others against it. the one lawmaker still on the fence, virginia democrat. you sat down with some folks over at a retirement home in your district to talk a little bit about what their concerns are when it comes to health care. what did you hear the most

common questions from your constituents about what they can expect, if there are changes passed? >> well, will i still have private choice? how will this affect medicare? what does it do in terms of cost? won't this increase cost, because you're bringing so many more people into the system? now, there are a lot of other sort of fears that have to be addressed that have been sort of whipped up by some talking heads on one of your rival networks. but the basic concerns have to do with how does this change the existi existing system and will i still have the choices i have now. >> and the president will be speaking about this tomorrow, expected to give some greater detail. there's still a good chunk of people polled who says they still don't know what it means for them. but one of the things you've talked about is the cost. you want to know, how are we going to pay for this and

where's the proof of any type of long-term savings. are you still facing those same concerns, or do you think they've been answered? >> no, i still have those concerns. i'm not convinced that we've wrung out all of the savings that we can in the system. a quick example, the drug companies have put $80 billion, voluntarily, on the table to help finance this reform. the hospitals have put $130 billion on the table to help finance this reform. the insurance companies, which are the biggest profit makers in the hole health care system, have put zero dollars on the table. so there are more savings to be had and i would like to look at those savings before we even talk about revenue enhancement. >> you also have concerns about fraud in the system. that's also a big deal and perhaps when a lot of people have said, which is the electronic medical records. are there possibilities, as we've seen in other countries, like france, to go completely electronic and save money? >> absolutely. my doctor, my primary care physician tells me about 30% of his time is just spent on mr

administrative overhead, filling out forms. >> a lot of them say that. when we talk about if there's anything realistic, a lot of people agree that we have to find a way to get costs down. at our current rate, medicare and medicaid will not be sustainable in the next few decades, et cetera. in the meantime, how do you put that into practice? right now in the senate, it looks like the finance committee is trying to hammer out something. would you be willing to listen to what the bipartisan consensus is, if there is one in the senate, and find a way to hammer that out with your colleagues in the house, and would that be okay if it includes no public option? >> with respect to your first question, absolutely yes, i want to hear what they come up with. and if they can appeal to a broader array to members of congress on both sides of the aisle, that has a certain appeal to it. i don't think we should be making these things a matter of theology and drawing lines in the sand. because that's going to make an ultimate compromise, which is

inevitable, much harder to achieve. if we are really committed to getting meaningful health care reform in america, and i certainly am, than i think we need to keep our powder dry and work through the system with a set of principles, certainly we're committed to, but retain some flexibility about how we get to the outcomes all of us want to see. >> there are other concerns as well. there are some on your side of the aisle who fear that they could lose re-election because if they sign on to something that their constituents have let them know they're not happy, it could mean that they don't get re-elected. how much of this is political and how much of this is trying to change a system that many agree is not sustainable? >> you know, honestly, most of the colleagues i talk to the in the congress are far more preoccupied about the substance, about health care reform, than they are about the politics of health care reform. and i think, frankly, most on our side of the aisle, anyhow, would recognize that to do nothing, to have this effort

fail is far more perilous from a political point of view than to try to get some meaningful health care reform done this year. >> does what the president say tomorrow night play a role in whether or not you ultimately agree to sign on to health care? >> absolutely. it's going to play a critical role. and i think he's got to do sort of three things. he's got to lay out with more specificity what he wants to see in a health care reform bill. he's got to speak directly to our senior citizens to allay the fears, the legitimate fears many of them have about this process and what it might mean for them, and he has to show some passion. he has to show that he can go beyond being the cerebral, analytical cool hand at the tiller, which is fine in a crisis, but right now we need to hear more from his soul and his heart about his passion for this subject if we're going to get it done. >> and why he's willing to take it on, right, despite the fact that it's turned into quite a heated debate everywhere around the country. congressman jerry connolly, very

interesting to get your perspective this morning. thanks for being with us. so in the economic downturn, is the whole idea of conspicuous consumption dead? are people less materialistic now than they were just a couple of years ago? our christine romans takes a look at that. she's minding your business this morning, choosing walmart over tiffanies. you'll be surprised to see what the survey said. welcome to the now network. right now five coworkers are working from the road using a mifi-- a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wi-fi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. christine romans here minding your business. and frugality is the new chic here. >> i can't tell if we're less materialistic because it's the

right thing to be or if it's because we're broke and we can't buy anything. >> it's a person of scottish heritage, it's the way i was wired. >> and i grew up with my grandparents talking about depression era, a fool and his money are soon parted. but this new study saying that, frankly, we're becoming more simple, less materialistic, we're giving our things away. we're paying more attention to what we buy. we're living a less materialistic lifestyle. it's amazing. john zogby, the pollster, says that people are moving towards a simpler, less materialistic life. i call them secular spiritualists. he surveyed people and found that 80% of them gave away some belongings in the last year and two-thirds of them, just over -- hold on. a third of them have given away more of their belongings in the past year than they had previously. then he said, look, there's this tiffany blue box with $500 item and then there's this $250 item at walmart. >> the same item, or same

looking. >> most people said they would pick the walmart. i said, are you less materialistic or are you just broke? i think it's pretty reasonable you would not be buying something from tiffany right now if you had the choice if you were stuck. but i've been looking at these numbers and i see this new normal for the american consumer. people are making a list and clipping coupons, so 1960s, 1970s. shopping for store brands, shopping at dollar stores. >> and there are so many people laughing right now saying, i've always done this, done it when times are good, times are bad, and we're saying, day do crazy things like clip coupon. >> this is because for so long people were living beyond their means, living on plastic. you have no choice. stores are starting to bring back layaway. people are eating in. people want an experience with their money. and they know what a dollar is worth and they know what they can get for the dollar. imagine -- i know it sounds horrible. >> but the average retirement

savings account is under $20,000. >> you can say, good job, americans are becoming less materialistic or you can say, we simply don't have a choice and were idiots for living beyond our means for so long. whatever it is, a new normal for the american consumer. here to say. >> we're getting new seeds for christmas. we would like you to grow us some tomatoes and some cucumbers. >> green shoots in the economy. >> there you go. >> thanks, christine. there's a lot of talk about exactly what would happen if this public option, government getting involved in competing with private insurance in this health care debate. what about the talk about the trigger option? jim acosta will tell us what that means. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. it is make or break time for health care reform. the white house scrambling to find a compromise. one possibility is being called the trigger option. our jim acosta joins us now live from washington with the details. so, jim, this trigger option, what is it? it sounds like a horse. >> it does sound like a horse, but we're not talking about roy rogers in this equation, john. it's interesting, you were just talking to congressman connolly, and he said, if we don't pass something, we could lose 30 to 40 seats in the house in the upcoming midterm election. so democrats know, at least some know, that they have to compromise and wednesday's speech to congress will be one of those high noon moments in the obama administration, surrounded by liberals demanding the public option and centrist democrats who want to dump the option, president obama might just have his finger on something that could get him through this health care showdown, the trigger.

>> we have never been this close! >> reporter: as the president delivered one more campaign-style pitch on health care reform, the question remains whether he will make a play for the public option. the idea of giving americans the choice of joining a government-run insurance plan. >> and i continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices will help improve -- >> why do you continue to support a policy -- >> reporter: during that noisy congressional recess -- >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? >> reporter: one of the more soft spoken voices of the senate, maine republican olympia snowe was quietly talking to the white house about a compromise that would replace the public option with something called a trigger. unlike the proposal in the house, the trigger would threaten the insurance industry with a public option down the road. the idea is backed by two former senate leaders. >> we recommend that after about five years, if the insurance companies don't clean up their

act, then there's sort of a trigger where certain things happen and we think that's a step in the right direction. >> reporter: throughout the health care debate, snowe has shied away from radical changes to the nation's health insurance system. >> we obviously want to protect those who currently have good health care, you know, insurance plans and they want to preserve it and maintain it. and we don't want to interfere with that, nor do we want to interfere with the doctor/patient relationship. >> reporter: even though snowe's trigger could win over senate centrists like nebraska democrat ben nelson, congressional liberals have said in no uncertain terms, no public option, no deal. >> i say there is no option but a public option! for those who say we need a trigger, i say, be careful, you could be shooting down health care. >> reporter: political analysts wonder whether in the end, democrats will shoot themselves. >> what politicians say in september and what they do in november or december are often

two deferent things. because they come to terms with reality. >> and that reality is the trigger may be the last best hope of getting a few republicans on board. but after those rowdy town halls, liberals wonder if a bipartisan health care deal is already out the window and many in the party say the trigger just gives the insurance industry one more pass, john. and as some democrats are already saying, the trigger has already been met. the insurance industry, they say, has already shown it can't be trusted. so why have a trigger? >> as we heard from senator chuck grassley earlier, jim, they're at least going to give it the old college try in reaching a bipartisan agreement. jim acosta this morning, thanks so much. >> it's now 31 minutes past the hour. we check our top stories this morning, terrorists setting their sights on smaller targets, perhaps hotels. that's the finding of a new study by global intelligence company strap 4. the company says terrorist organizations like al qaeda are changing from centralized groups. they're franchising out

according to the study. these smaller cells then get less training andless money so they set their sights lower on, quote, softer targets. congress is one step closer to a law that would let passengers stranded on the tarmac for at least three hours get off the airplane. the business travel coalition which represents hundreds of companies will throw their support behind such a law today. government numbers show in june 278 flights sat on the tarmac for three hours or more. well, the taliban claiming responsibility for a deadly car bombing outside of a military airport in kabul. officials think three people were killed, six others hurt. the attack was apparently targeting a nato convoy. it's the third major attack by insurgents in the afghan capital this past month. meantime, there's a new controversy that's surfacing in afghanistan. right now the u.s. military is investigating claims that american troops stormed a hospital looking for insurgents. cnn's barbara starr is live at the pentagon. barbara, with general stanley mcchrystal looking to win hearts

and minds, how is he hoping to deal with this situation? >> reporter: well, this is just more news that general mcchrystal really doesn't need, kiran, as you say. u.s. troops acknowledge they were at this hospital but they say they obeyed the rules. >> reporter: swedish charity workers say u.s. soldiers and afghan forces forcibly entered this hospital last week, breaking down doors, ordering patients out of their beds, and tying up staff. it was only later, they say, the troops told them they were looking for an insurgent leader. >> they didn't find any insurgents in the hospital and they didn't hurt any of the staff. still, this is a clear violation of internationally recognized principles and rules. >> reporter: nato is investigating, but it couldn't come at a worse time for general stanley mcchrystal, the commander of u.s. and nato forces. he's trying to convince afghans that foreign troops will protect

them against the taliban. but for now, he's busy trying to explain nato's actions. mcchrystal personally inspected a site where a pre-dawn air strike are two hijacked fuel trucks killed perhaps dozens of afghan civilians and he promised yet another investigation. >> from what i have seen today in going to the hospital, it is clear to me that there were some civilians who were harmed at that site. >> reporter: afghans are already upset by civilian casual tis caused by nato. mcchrystal may soon be asking for more troops to deal with the rising taliban threat and then informing afghans more foreign forces will be on their soil. those familiar with mcchrystal's thinking say, perhaps, his most urgent worry, the afghan view that the ongoing counting of votes in the presidential election is riddled with fraud and hamid karzai may not win the people's support.

without it, it will be tough to ask others to invest in afghanistan's future. >> we need, at the end of the day, to have a degree of support for the legitimate government of afghanistan that at least exceeds the support for the taliban. >> reporter: many u.s. commanders, kiran, are saying this whole issue of election fraud is really so critical right now because if hamid karzai cannot take office as a legitimate candidate in the eyes of the people there, it will be very tough for general mcchrystal to ask nato and the u.s. for more troops, more equipment, and more support and whatever went on at that hospital still remains to be sorted out. kiran? >> all right, barbara starr for us this morning. thank you. former first lady laura bush sat down with our zain verjee for an exclusive interview. we hear from her on her thoughts on living in texas, what she and the former president are up to, as well as her thoughts on michelle obama and the upcoming memoirs of the bushes. it's coming up now on 36 minutes after the hour. ( whooshing )

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welcome back to the most news in the morning.

and more of our cnn exclusive, former first lady laura bush has been out of the white house and out of the spotlight, but she's certainly been keeping busy. >> she's been in paris, promoting her worldwide literacy tour. also, around 700 million adults around the globe cannot read and she's hoping to change that, so she's giving a speech on literacy there today. but first, she sat down for a chat with our zain verjee. take a look. >> how's president bush doing? is he glad to be out of the spotlight? >> he's doing very well, thank you for asking. he's riding his mountain bike a lot, he likes that, and he's very disciplined about writing his memoirs. >> better than you? >> a lot better than me. he's always been a lot more disciplined than i am. i keep telling him that i've gotten to the second grade in my memoirs. >> how do you think the world will remember him? >> well, i think the world will remember him for really what he is, and i think that is what

people will get to see, is really who he was, and that is something that stood for freedom and stood for the security of our country. and i think people know that. i think that people that really know him know what he's like and they see what he stood for. and that's the freedom of 50 million people in afghanistan and iraq. >> many around the world would say that he stood for divisiveness and destructiveness? >> well, i would say that that's absolutely not right. and i don't think they have the -- either the right view of him or what his responsibilities are and were as president of the united states. >> how do you think michelle obama's doing? >> i think he's doing great. i think she's doing very well. >> i saw her at the funeral, teddy kennedy's funeral last week and asked her about the girls and how they're doing. and i know what she's doing. it's what every woman who moves there does. and that's strives to make it a home, both for her husband, that's the president, and for

her children. >> president obama is giving a back-to-school speech and there's so much controversy over that. do you think it's a good idea? >> i think that there's a place for the president of the united states to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren and i think there are a lot of people that should do the same, and that is, encourage their own children to stay in school and study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have. i also am happy that it seems like they have not -- the obama administration has not backed off the accountability part of the no child left behind act that president bush worked with ted kennedy on to pass and i think that's really important. we want every american child to have the very best education possible. and i think that's what those -- that legislation really demands. >> the issue that's been raised is by many conservatives, critical of this. they say that this is a

dangerous socialist plot that's indoctrinating schoolchildren. some parents say, no, our kids are staying home and are not going to listen to the president talk about education and schools. >> well, that's their right. that certainly is the right of parents to choose what they want their children to hear in school. but i think really what parents were unhappy about were the guidelines that went out before the speech went out. and i think those have been changed. and i think it's really important for everyone to respect the president of the united states. >> do you think he's doing a good job? president obama? >> i think he is. i think he's got a lot on his plate. and he's tackled a lot. to start with. and that's probably made it more difficult. >> what's it like for you being a private citizen? >> well, it's great, really. it really is nice. we're enjoying our home in texas a lot. we have a new house -- >> furniture yet? >> getting some furniture. we had a lot of fun working on that.

we're both working on our memoirs, writing our memoirs and then we're also building the presidential library at smu with an institute that will be the part of it and i've been the chairman of the committee and it's been fun to work with our architect. we just had our last design meeting, so now we'll go to the construction plans and get ready, i hope, to break ground some time in a little over a year. >> sounds just as busy as when she was in the white house. >> absolutely. and doing a lot of interesting things too. doing a lot of traveling there in paris. good to see her out there. so a lot of criminals go d behind bars, that doesn't necessarily mean they stop committing crimes. what could make it easy to commit a crime in prison? a cell phone. the high-tech way the authorities are trying to combat this.

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background. >> the admiral -- >> the arthur ravenel bridge, also known as the cooper bridge between charleston, take you out to mt. pleasant. a fabulous place. can you tell i've got a daughter going to college in charleston. >> you have a daughter and got an e-mail about calling it the wrong thing. >> the words i used to describe my frustration in calling the wrong thing i got e-mails about. mostly sunny, 90 degrees there today. >> but that's a bridge that's working. we can't say the same thing about the bay bridge in san francisco. >> a beautiful bridge. very nice. rob marciano in the weather center in atlanta tracking all the severe weather across the nation and way out in the atlantic ocean. good morning, rob. >> good morning, john, good morning, kiran. that is a beautiful bridge, especially in hurricane country. we'll start you off with tropical storm fred. right now with winds of 50 miles per hour. getting a little bit of strength here in the last day or two with this thing really starting to blow up. southwest of the cape verde

islands. the general direction is westerly at 15 miles per hour. the forecast for this is to take it a little bit more northerly. and that would be ideal, even though the national hurricane center has it as developing to hurricane strength. then you have it kind of stalling just a little bit. we're concerned about that as well. speaking of the carolinas, north carolina really under the gun today, again, for heavier, heavier rain. everything south of, say, trenton will get a piece of this rain throughout the day today and then cooler weather out west. and that's good news for folks who are dealing with the fire. check out this cool video. came in yesterday. a combination of low clouds, fog, and smoke that's pouring in over some of the mountains that are dealing with that fire. contained, especially on the western flank, which is the most populated area there. over 50% containment. most of the fire burning away from populated areas, but they're still having trouble with mt. wilson, not giving the all clear there, but certainly some cool video with cooler air coming into southern california and that is always a welcome we

leaf for the firefighters out there. john can kiran, back up to you. >> rob marciano for us, thank you so much. ave all this energy here in the u.s. we have wind. we have solar, obviously. we have lots of oil. i think natural gas is part of the energy mix of the future. i think we have the can-do. we have the capability. we have the technology. the solutions are here. we just need to find them here. [ birds squawking ] [ moos ] [ man announcing ] if you think about it, this is what makes theladders different from other job search sites. we only want the big jobs. welcome to theladders. a premium job site for only $100k+ jobs and only $100k+ talent.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. 51 minutes past the hour. now, across the country, prisoners are using some really clever tricks to sneak cell phones past the guards and they're using them on the inside to commit more crimes. so now corrections officials are

using technology to try to fight back. our jeanne meserve has the story from washington this morning. >> reporter: using dogs and searches, maryland corrections officials ferreted out more than 900 contraband cell phones last year. across the country, inmates have used cell phones in extortions, escapes, drug deals, even murders. in 2007, a maryland prisoner used a cell phone to order a hit on a witness who was about to testify against him in a homicide case. >> we want to use all the technology available to detect, to jam, to discover. >> reporter: jamming is illegal, but some other technologies recently got a tryout at a closed prison in jessup, maryland. one product claims to detect a cell phone every time the phone is used or even turned on. >> and then they will know exactly where that cell phone is and they can go and retrieve it. >> reporter: another company says its product can selectively

block unauthorized calls. >> an at&t network and it didn't go through. >> reporter: if legally authorized, it can also collect information about calls and even record them. >> if mike is calling john and mike sends a call to sam, we know exactly who said what. >> reporter: some say a more effective solution would be to jam all cell phone calls in and out of prisons. but critics say that could block legitimate users nearby, even emergency calls. >> maybe that 911 call for someone that needs urgent help right away, right now, that would be tragic if that call was blocked by jamming technology. >> reporter: congress is considering changing the law banning jamming to make exceptions for prisons. many corrections officials favor that idea, but say they would like an array of tools to fight what has become a pervasive and dangerous problems.

john can kirand kiran, back to . >> jeanne meserve for us, thanks so much. the president giving his big speech today on education, 12:00 noon eastern. you can see it right here on cnn. but there are some schools that won't be carrying the speech. >> that's right. and not necessarily because they officials don't agree that it's a good thing. they say they're doing it to try to avoid controversy. we'll explain. gary tuchman join us in just a minute. (pouring rain)

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>> it may sound a little strange, but after a flurry of phone calls, the first thing was to go into my office, shut my door, and have a prayer, because i knew i was going to have to make a decision. >> reporter: what was he hearing from parents? mostly comments like those we heard at the county fair, just down the road. do you think the school should play barack obama's speech? >> absolutely not. >> it's getting more like communism, saying we're going to do this and do that. >> i think it should be up to the parents' decision if they want their children to hear that or not. >> reporter: that's exactly what principal chris gibbs decided, the speech will not be played. teachers back the school. >> it's not something we want to divide our school with. >> reporter: in our research of the school and school districts that will not be showing the president's speech live, we found that most of them are in counties where barack obama did not do particularly well during the november elections. catawba county, the home of the claremont elementary school is no exception. john mccain received 67% of the

vote here. this is what he's going to say in the speech. if you quit on school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country. isn't that a message you want your kids to hear? isn't that what education is all about? >> most definitely. and we've asked our parents again, going back to responsibility. a responsible parent will sit down and talk to their kids about staying in school. >> reporter: but barack obama's message about it won't even be shown here in an edited forms in the days to come. the principal has decided if the children are to see any of it, it should only be from their parents. >> reporter: let's say president obama says, i want to have a live appearance at your school and have an assembly. you'd be dealing with the same thing with these parents, wouldn't you? >> i would, probably. >> reporter: how does that make you feel? >> well, we have a long way to go and the issues out there today are divisive issues. they're sensitive issues. but if the president wants to come to claremont elementary school, he'll certainly be welcome to come to claremont

elementary school and i guess i'll go back in my office and shut the door and pray again. >> reporter: gary tuchman, cnn, claremont, north carolina. >> by the way, we've posted the full text of the president's back-to-school speech to read ahead of time, three hours before the speech, so lots of time to read it. go to our blog to check it all out. and cnn will carry the president's back-to-school speech live in its entirety from wakefield high school in arlington, virginia at noon eastern. >> at least the principal was keeping a good attitude about it. >> crossing his fingers that the white house never calls him and says, can we drop by? >> a lot of praying, that principal. >> today is the first day back to school for lots of kids out there, so good luck. not going to give any speech about staying in school, but good luck. >> thanks so much for joining us this morning. the news continues now with heidi collins in the