stories driving the news this morning right here in the "cnn newsroom." first lady michelle obama stepping into the health care fray this hour. can she sell reform with a soccer mom approach? and an american immigrant that recognized nazi cruelty arrested after taking on those with signs of the president reflecting hitler and tony perk seasons with me live. i'm tony harris. you're in the "cnn newsroom." so let's quickly get you caught up on the day's hot headlines and take the time to break down the big issues to find out why they really matter leading the way this hour, a charm offensive in the battle over health care reform. first lady michelle obama pushing her husband's message.

she's set to speak shortly. you're looking at live pictures of the very popular first lady using her appeal to win over women to health care reforms. it's seen as crucial for her husband to get his plan through congress. state by state unemployment numbers for august came out last hour. the labor department says michigan has the highest jobless rate in the nation at 15.2%. that's more than 5 percentage point above the national average. nevada recorded the next highest rate over 13%. rhode island, california, and oregon fill out the top five. denver airport shuttle bus driver is expected to return this hour for a third day of fbi questions. sources tell cnn najibullah zazi a 24-year-old afghan immigrant may be pardon of a madrid subway style bomb plot. >> my client has no comments.

all i can say is if they have found bomb making material in his home or in his car or in the apartment, do you really think the fbi would have allowed us to walk out of here last night? >> more to come on zazi and this investigation. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve is digging on this story in denver. iranians took to the streets of tehran today in an annual pro-palestinian rally. witnesses tell cnn government opposition supporters gathered near the city's revolution square while they chanted anti-government slogans on one side of the street. supporters of mahmoud ahmadinejad chanted pro-movement on the other. they were chanting death to israel. we'll get a live report from the region at the half hour. that's a look at the day's

business sto big stories. let's go in depth. adding a cooler touch to the hot button issue of health care reform, michelle obama holding an event to winover women to her husband's plan for overhauling the system. live now to suzanne malveaux. good to see you. the first lady using her personal appeal, personal capital, to promote the president's plan. i'm curious, who's in the room? >> reporter: there are people that we haven't seen in this debate before that are actually going to be in that room. this is an event sponsored by the white house council on women and girls. all-see you'll see an audience of wwca and the national congress of american indians. these are folks that are getting into the health care debate and it really is meant to show this picture of health care reform being necessary for everybody. for every day americans. and that's what we're going to hear from the first lady. some people call her the secret weapon. it's no secret at all that she's

very popular. she puts a friendly face on this health care debate. it's not just going to be eat your vegetables and that kind of thing although she has a vegetable guard ten white house and made that part of her platform but she's also going to talk about the need and necessity for health care reform specifically for women. for their families. and how this impact them directly whether they have a pre-existing condition and can get insurance or not and whether or not they have health care expenses and bills that are just out of control. these are the kind of real day scenarios she'll talk about. we do not expect she'll get into the weeds of the baucus bill and how that weighs up against what republicans want but paint a friendly approachable face and storyline to this whole health care debate. >> to the president now, coming off what was an upbeat and ruckus campaign style rally at the university of maryland yesterday, the president launching an all out media blitz

today. >> reporter: we'll see him over and over and over again. we have seen the carts of all of the different crews coming in here. each one of the networks, five networks a media blitz for sunday shows. they get 15 minutes with the president in the roosevelt room and hit dave letterman doing the comedy circuit as well. we've talked to white house aides and we asked, you're getting criticism for overexposure and they say we're not worried about that. this is the best person to put forward in health care and get people riled up and sunday's show are important. you're talking about policy makers, the opinion influencers, those kind of folks, voters who will be watching those shows listening carefully to his message. it does underscore two things. he's confident about being in front of the cameras, in front of the media, but also he needs to get this message out. he has not made a convincing enough case for health care reform. they don't have that legislation yet. he's making his final push. >> all right. suzanne malveaux at the white

house for us. appreciate it. let's show you the room again. eisenhower executive office building next to the white house where michelle obama will be appearing shortly to talk about health care reform in a pretty friendly setting with friends and other stake holders that we have heard much from in the debate so far. when the first lady begins her comment, we'll give you a sense of that"cnn newsroo newsroom". at the center of this debate is a proposal from max baucus. members of baucus own party are balking at the plan. here's dana bash. >> reporter: forget about republicans, even democrats who spent months negotiating with max baucus isn't ready to support his health care proposal. >> i favored having a public option available and voted for one in the health and education health committee bill. so i hope we can do that. >> reporter: in fact, outside a

closed meeting of the senate finance committee, almost all of the democratic senators we talked to say they wanted to change what their democratic chairman, max baucus, calls a consensus plan. one huge issue -- >> affordability. >> affordability for middle class families. >> reporter: concerned that americans would not get enough financial help buying the health insurance they would be required to have. >> this has to work for families. i understand all of the tra tradeoffs but that cannot be a middle class family can't afford the insurance in this bill. >> reporter: are you prepared to vote against this? >> i can't support a plan that doesn't have affordability of health care and doesn't have affordability for my constituents in it. >> reporter: many democrats don't like one way baucus helps pay for his health care overhaul. taxing insurance companies for high cost plans. it was john kerry's idea. >> it was my idea originally. >> reporter: even he now opposes it saying the way baucus structured the tax it could

penalize the middle class including union members. >> we need to make it fairer to working people so working folks don't get dragged into this at a level where they just don't have the incomes that support it. >> reporter: olympia snow is still the one republican democrats think they can still persuade. >> it has to be practicalpracti achievable and doable. >> whatever she wants. >> reporter: in all seriousness, senator baucus said he's willing to make changes to address concerns about affordability and potentially taxing the middle class. he knows he has no choice in order to get votes from fellow democrats and pass this proposal in his critically important committee. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. >> we invite you to join cnn sunday morning when president obama sits down with cnn's chief national correspondent john king on "state of the union" sunday

morning at 9:00, 6:00 pacific. we want to hear your thoughts about senator baucus' health care proposal. do you plan to read it? of course you do. you certainly aren't going to rely on the media debate to shape your view. send us your thoughts at cnn.com/tony. we have a link to the baucus plan on our website to find it quickly and read it during all of the free time you'll have this weekend. still to come, days and days of soaking rain in the southeast leaving homes in shambles. the big man, rob marciano, with the pictures to prove it. did you see that? the interior "positively oozes class," raves "car magazine." "slick and sensuous," boasts "the washington times." "the most striking vw in recent memory," declares-- okay, i get it already. i think we were in a car commercial.

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all right. we have video at some point to show you coming out of tennessee. they got soaked yesterday with heavy rainfall and it's been several days with the heavy rain and with that saturated ground it doesn't take too long for those river banks and creeks to go up and over the banks. livestock and people alike on the run from some of this high water. here it is with a decent amount of rainfall now heading into memphis. it looks like focus shifted toward the western part of tennessee. most of that flooding yesterday was in the southeastern part of the state. memphis really starting to get hit with some heavy rain at the moment. this is an area that has expanded as far as flash flood watches and warnings from northeast texas all of the way to eastern parts of tennessee and georgia. another couple inches possible today and tomorrow but the problem is the ground is already saturated so there in lies the

issue. 80 degrees in memphis. check out the totals since the storm began over a foot in mena, arkansas. arkansas, florida, louisiana, everybody getting into the act. as far as where the nicer weather is, it's across parts of the northeast. you have good looking days coming up this weekend. not too shabby in chicago for half of the weekend. most of the west coast looks good. showers in seattle and portland today. later today and tomorrow and then the weekend -- rest of the weekend at least looks to be pretty good. that's the latest from the weather department. have yourself a great weekend.

let's do this. we're taking a closer look at the labor market this morning. we know the nation's overall unemployment rate is 9.7%, the highest in 27 years. some states are faring better than others. susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange to break it down for us. good morning. good friday, susan. >> good friday to you, tony. 27 states and the district of columbia reported an increase in their unemployment rate. 23 states either stayed the same or declined. the highest rates, well, kind of can guess. number one, michigan. unemployment rate of more than 15%. the association with the auto industry has been devastating to that state. number two, nevada, because of all of the real estate speculation that went on there. and number three has been very high before.

it may be a surprise to a lot of folks. rhode island with an unemployment rate of nearly 13%. a lot of construction and manufacturing jobs went by the wayside. california and oregon both with a 12% unemployment rate. both tied to the housing bust but oregon because of its timber industry which is so huge. let's tell you where unemployment rate is really low. north dakota. 4.3%. i think that qualifies if you want to work, you can work there. >> what's going on there? what sectors are hiring there? so this report clearly, susan, underscores why so many people are relying on the government for help right now. you know, the truth here is that a lot of those people are completely exhausting their benefits. >> that's right. that's why congress may extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. this extension would affect the hardest hit states.

those states with at least an unemployment rate of at least 8.5%. 16 states full into this category. the house will be voting on this next wednesday. most states people get 26 weeks of benefits. high unemployment states folks can get up to 79 weeks. why is there a consideration for yet another extension, tony? by some estimates nearly 1.5 million people will lose their benefits by the end of the year and let's face it, even though we're seeing signs of recovery, tony, there are more than six workers for every job opening. it's tough out there. >> it's just tough. we talk about it being a lagging indicator. the economy could be improving dramatically and still we could be slow in seeing recovery in the jobs area. would you for a moment here, susan, remind us of some of the good signs we've seen this week pointing to a recovery in this

economy because there have been a few. >> that's very true, tony. i'm looking at one of them including the stock market where the dow is less than 200 points away from 10,000. we continue to see a market rally really since march because of signs that the economy is either bottoming out or improving. i would say if i had to pick one headline it would be ben bernanke, frahchairman of the federal reserve, saying the recession is likely over. that came on the same day we saw retail sales rise nearly 3% and even when you take out -- if you took out auto and gas from that, you saw broad based spending and things nonessentials. that was another good sign. industrial production rose. that was another report we got this week. we saw factories turning out more cars and clothing and machinery and food. let me see if there's one more i can think of. new jobless claims. unexpectedly fell this week. that's just a weekly number. we like that trend. the jobless rate is at a 26-year

high. we like the fact that we saw initial benefits decline. >> i together totally forgot th. >> you promised me. >> i forgot this morning. >> you and i had our happy talk. >> we did. see you next hour. gerri willis answers questions about unemployment benefits, debt relief, tax credits next in the "cnn newsroom." ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

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let's get you caught up on top stories right now. the lab worker accused of killing a yale grad student who was a control freak who clashed with scientist a source tells the associated press. new haven's police chief called annie le's death a case of workplace violence but police haven't released a possible motive yet. photos now of the inside of the home of nancy and phillip garrido. the california couple accused of kidnapping 11-year-old jaycee dugard in 1991. investigators are using ground penetrating radar today to search the property after two dogs show interest in part of the property. police say they could indicate possible human remains. not guilty is the verdict for a former high school coach accused of reckless homicide in the death of one of his football players. the 15-year-old player died of heat related illness after collapsing during a hot practice last year. we will have more on this story coming up in just a couple

minutes for you here in the "cnn newsroom." can debt settlement companies help you gain control of your finances and will unemployment benefits be extend and how do you qualify for the education tax credit? you e-mail us the questions and gerri willis has answers from new york. good to see you. good friday. >> good to see you, sir. >> do you want to dive in here. >> let's go. >> our first question -- help, gerry. >> you know, i got to tell our viewer here, choosing the best debt settlement company is like asking which is the best prison to go to. there aren't any good debt settlement companies but services they offer can be

damaging. the truth is whatever a debt settlement company can do for you, you can do for free. credit card companies will accept less than what you owe with your kind of debt load $77,000 you may consider talking to a credit concert putting you on a debt management plan and maybe referred to a bankruptcy attorney because you may be a good candidate. >> this one comes from tony. >> right now an unemployed worker can get up to 79 weeks of benefits. that's the total. it's also estimated that 1.5 million people across the country would use up unemployment benefits by the end of this year. right now there's pending legislation that will extend

benefits for another 13 weeks for people in high unemployment states. that legislation will be taken up next wednesday in congress. if you want to keep up, you can watch cnn or go to unemployedworkers.org. in the meantime, check out your local goodwill store that can provide with you job training, resources, child care, transportation, financial literacy all for free and to find one in your area, you can call 1-800-664-6577. >> a couple more. this is from chris in georgia -- >> you talk about the hope scholarship tax credit that you can apply to tuition fees and course material expenses you had during the 2009 tax year. it does not matter if you weren't enrolled for part of the

year as long as you were enrolled half time during one economic year that began during the tax year and you have to hear this response. we got this e-mail from charles. we asked what did you learn in the financial meltdown? no one cares more about your money than you do. that's the smartest thing we heard from charles. if you have any questions, please send them to me. gerri@cnn.com. great comeback. >> that's perfect. it's spot on. we talk about your bottom line. it's friday. we have to tee up the show this weekend. >> that's right. you'll be watching, i know. we'll talk about the layest on health care reform. what those proposals would mean to your bottom line. and winterizing your home. we're seeing it in new york. save big money. we'll cover it all. hopefully you'll be there, too. >> we'll turn around some of the

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in denver today the fbi is questioning a young afghan man for a third straight day about an alleged terror plot that stretched to new york. cnn homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve in denver digging on this story. >> reporter: this is an ongoing investigation. authorities are still trying to get their arms around exactly what they're dealing with here. now, sources have told cnn that during the search in new york on monday they did find multiple backpacks that were used in the madrid subway system and the discovery in new york led some in law enforcement to think this alleged plot had to do with an attack on transit. somewhere where there would be a lot of people but minimal screening of baggage.

in addition, two sources tell cnn that authorities have found instructions for bomb making. one law enforcement source says it was found on a computer carried to new york by najibullah zazi. zazi is the 24-year-old afghan national at the center of this probe. his lawyer says that it just isn't so. >> i have no information confirming anything like that. all i can confirm is that my client has no comment at this time. any questions can be directed to me. all i can say is they have found bomb making materials in his car, on his computer, or one wild report i saw yesterday that there were enough explosives in the apartment to blow up two buildings, do you think the fbi would have allowed us to walk out of here? >> reporter: zazi is reportedly meeting today with the fbi for the third day. law enforcement sources continue to say they believe this is the real deal and additional resources have been put in new york and denver but there have been no arrests made in this

case to date. jeanne meserve, cnn, denver. iranians in tehran were chanting death to america, death to israel at the annual pro-palestinian rally in iran. witnesses tell us there also were anti-government protesters. live now to islamabad, pakistan. any clashes between those opposition protestors and security forces? >> reporter: there were no reports of widespread clashes. there were some but not many. that came as a surprise to a lot of people because the iranian leadership and security forces revolutionary guard warned the opposition supporters not to come out today and hijack this event. they came out any way. tens of thousands of them probably the largest crowd we've seen among the opposition since july 17th. this occasion was a day that's supposed to show solidarity with the palestinian cause but as

they've done in the past, the opposition supporters took advantage of what was a government approved event and came out and once again protested the june 12th vote. president ahmadinejad and the government crackdown that followed that election while he was speaking inside tehran university opposition supporters were chanting liar, liar, death to the dictator and also we heard a new chant, no to gaza. no to lebanon. i'm giving my life for iran. >> i guess the question is opposition leaders said they would take part in the rally. did they show up? >> reporter: they did show up just like they said they would. we saw four very important faces. one of them is the opposition leader pictured over there. also showing up was another disgruntled opposition candidate that's been the loudest and most

aggressive critic of the crackdown that followed the elections. also showing up former president there and some reports that he was attacked and also showing up was a former president that's been a key figure for the opposition. he's not really considered an opposition leader but you recall on july 17th he came out. the head of the assembly of experts in lending support to the opposition movement that really gave them some momentum back in july. they did show up. >> one more quick one for you. we started this by telling everyone that there were chants again of death to america and death to israel. can you please tell us again, where does this come from? why does this -- it feels like such an old narrative at this point. is there any power for this narrative in tehran, in iran?

>> reporter: well, there's some but not much. the key is if you go outside of iran. we're in pakistan right now. if you go to areas in south asia and middle east and you talk about president ahmadinejad, they praise him. why? because he's taken ownership of the palestinian cause. no one has really stepped up like iran's leadership. he knows that he's going to gain support from this region if he takes ownership and he's done that. keep in mind, if you go to aran like you saw today, many will say that iran's people have been oppressed and suffering through economic woes and the government should focus on iranian people before they focus on the palestinian cause. >> good to see you. thank you. >> you can't hold down a job if

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work with employers so before they lay someone off, hopefully we have a solution. we started taking donated cars and doing repairs. also, you give three volunteers hours a month back to the organization. jessica, number two. >> i wanted to tell you thank you so much. >> you're so welcome. >> receiving a car is more than just the car. people literally see how their life will change. >> this is awesome. i have my own car. >> i love what i do. my life has made a difference. >> find out more about susan's work. just go to our website, cnn.com/heroes and get ready. coming october 1st we reveal the top ten heroes of 2009. a student dies after a gruelling football practice in the summer heat.

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jobless rate more than is 12% in five states. a suicide car bomb exploded near a crowded market in northwest pakistan today killing at least 25 people. most of the victim were shias who live nearby. several shops and buildings collapse trapping victim. police in ohio say a woman took a stranger's toddler over her knee in a store and spanked him. she's charged with assault. the woman says she merely patted the boy's backside because he was upset. >> are you fired up? ready to go? fired up?

ready to go! >> that was yesterday igniting enthusiasm for his health care reform plan as support slips. president obama targeting young people yesterday. and a rally at the university of maryland today. the suspect getting help from his better half. first lady michelle obama holding a health care event right now. let's listen in and give you a bit of the flavor of her remarks. >> women are affected because of the jobs that we do in this economy. we all know that women are more likely to work part time or to work in small companies or businesses that don't provide any insurance at all. women are affected because as we heard in many states insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender. and this is still shocking to me. these are the kind of facts that still wake me up at night. women in this country have

withbeen denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions like having a c-section or having had a baby. in some states it is legal to deny woman coverage because she's been a victim of domestic violence. in a recent study it showed 25-year-old women are charged up to 45% more for insurance than 25-year-old men for the exact same coverage. as the age goes up you get to 40, that disparity increases to 48%. 48% difference for women for the exact same coverage in this country. but it's not just women without insurance as we've heard. as we know who are affected. plenty of women have insurance. but it doesn't cover basic women's health services like maternity care or preventive care like mammograms or pap smears which we all know we have

to have. we can't go without these basic services. but many insurance policies don't even cover it. or policies cap the amount of coverage that you can receive as you've heard or it drops coverage when people get sick and they really need the care. or maybe people have coverage but they're worried about losing it if they lose their jobs or if they change jobs or if the company changes insurance carriers. out of pocket costs get higher. >> michelle obama holding a health care event at the eisenhower executive office building next to the white house. we'll follow her remarks and turn around a bit of her comments maybe for next hour. and if you would like to watch her comments as she continues to speak, you can go to cnn.com/live. the president launching an

all-out blitz to ramp up support for his plan to overhaul health care. let's get a couple minutes with our senior white house correspondent, ed henry. doing the radio show in washington. let's give everyone the number here. >> 877-266-4189. we had a caller say i think the answer comes down to whether or not you're a fan of the president or not that we've become so polarized. fans of the president say get out there and talk about agenda and folks opposed to him are, like, turn it off. we've seen enough of him. interesting how that reflect the polarization. >> it's interesting. i wonder -- part of this is that perhaps there's no one better than the president to make the case for what he sees as reform in this country moving forward. i guess you could turn it over to kathleen sebelius, secretary of health and human services doing her bit and it looks like there are a number of people in

their particular lanes on this but who at the end of the day is better and who ultimately takes ownership of this more than the president? >> that's what's funny. when i talked to top white house aides and notion is the president overexposed they laugh. there's a disconnect with people on the outside thinking that enough is enough. he just did "60 minutes" last week. a few days before that that speech to a joint session of congress. millions of people saw him there. white house people say, look, when we get him out there talking about the agenda and what he's pushing for, they think when he's on substance, the american people react. republicans respond to that saying then why are we not seeing it reflected in the national polls a real hunger to get what the president is pushing on health care. he's had the time to make his case. i think this weekend will be fascinating. he'll do the full ginsburg. he was getting his 15 minutes. some joked he was getting his 18 minutes of fame. he wanted to be on tv all the

time talking about the lewinsky case. he went on all of the sunday talk shows one weekend. no other major news maker has done it since. clearly no president has done it. he's going to do almost all of the major networks i should mention. certainly including cnn and john king will sit down with him later this afternoon. it will happen at the white house back to back to back. >> the president may be overexposed, ed henry wouldn't say no to an opportunity to speak to him. >> let's get him on 44. >> appreciate it. thank you. there's the number again if you would like to give ed a call on his radio show. let's get you back to the first lady, michelle obama. >> a marketplace with a variety of options that will let you compare prices and benefits. this is exactly the approach that is used to provide members of congress with insurance. so the thought is that if it's good enough for members of congress, it should be good enough for the people who vote them in.

[ applause ] and this is also an important part of the plan. if you already have insurance and it seems that there are a lot of people who worry that they'll lose what they have under this plan but under this plan if you already have insurance, you're set. nothing changes. you keep your insurance. you keep your doctors. and you're blessed. this plan just puts in place some basic rules of the road to protect you from the kinds of abuses and unfair practices that we've heard. under this plan insurance companies will never again be allowed to deny people like debbie and her son coverage for pre-existing conditions. sounds like a good thing. so whether you have breast cancer, diabetes, asthma or

hypertension or just had a c-section or some mental health treatment that you had in your past, none of that will be a reason to refuse you coverage under the plan that my husband is proposing. because when you are fighting an illness, he believes that you shouldn't also have to be in the process of fighting the insurance companies at the same time. [ applause ] it's a basic idea. under this plan insurance companies will no longer be able to drop your coverage when you get too sick. or refuse to pay for the care that you need or to set a cap on the amount of coverage that you can get. it will limit how much they can charge you for out-of-pocket expenses because getting sick in this country shouldn't mean that you go bankrupt. that's a basic principle of this

plan. finally, this plan will require insurance companies to cover basic preventive care. seems simple. [ applause ] from routine mammograms to pap smears, and this would come at no extra charge to the patient. so, folks like roxie can get the chance to get the kind of screenings that she needs to save her life, because we already know that if we catch diseases like cancer early, we know this, it's much less costly to treat and we might just be able to save some lives. we know this. so, under this plan, we can save lives, and we can save money. it's not just good medicine, but it's good economics as well. so, i think this is a pretty reasonable plan. i don't know about you.

but i know many of you believe it's a good plan as well. and i know that many of the groups that you represent believe that what we're doing here, this fight, is important. it's important to this country. it's important to women. it's important to families that we succeed. and now more than ever, as tina said, secretary sebelius said, we need to act. no longer can we sit by and watch the debate take on a life of its own. it is up to us to get involved, because what we have to remember is that now more than ever we have to channel our passions into change.

that's nothing that you all haven't done before, right? you all have been the driving force behind so many of our greatest health care achievements, whether it's been children's health insurance to funding breast cancer research, stem cell research, to passing the family medical leave act, the folks in this room, you're the ones that made those phone calls, right? that you wrote those letters. you knocked on those doors. you're the ones that helped make that happen. and that's exactly what we need you to do today for health insurance reform. we are going to need you over the next few weeks to mobilize like you've never mobilized before. we need you to educate your members about what the plan really is and what it isn't, because education is the key to understanding. and it's going to take phone

calls to explain, to talk things through, to make sure that people understand, not just what's at stake, but what this all means. and we know there will be all sorts of myths and misconceptions about what the plan is and isn't, so it's so important that you make sure that people know the facts, and at least they make their decisions based on the truth of what this plan is and isn't. we need you to make your voices heard right here in washington. and you all know how to do that. and, no, it won't be easy. because there are always folks who are a little afraid of change, you know? we all understand that. we talked about this all during the campaign. change is hard. sometimes the status quo, even if it isn't right, feels comfortable because it's what we know. so, it is understandable that

people are cautious about moving into a new place in this society. there will always be folks who will want things to stay just the way they are, to settle for the world as it is. we talked about that so much. this is one of those times. but, look, i am here today, standing before you as the first lady of the united states of america because you all didn't settle for the world as it is. right? you refused to settle. and as a result of many of your efforts, as a young girl i was able to dream in ways that i could have never imagined, that my mother could never have

imagined, that my grandmother could never have imagined. and thanks to so many of you, i am raising these beautiful young women, you know? who are going to be able to think so differently about their place in the world because of the work that you've done. health care reform is part of that movement. health insurance reform is the next step. so, we're going to need you all, focused and clear, picking up the phones, talking, calling, writing your congressmen and women, making this something that is the highest priority for all of us so that we can make sure that every single family in this country can move forward as we hope that they can, that they

don't have to worry about whether they can insure themselves. they don't have to worry about whether their kids are going to break an arm. that's what kids do, they break stuff. so, i am grateful for all of you, for the work that you've done, and for what i know that we can do together over the next several weeks. but we have to be, what, fired up and, what? >> ready to go. >> a little fired up and ready to go. so, thank you so much. god bless you all, and god bless america. >> yeah. that's a different tone, a different take, a different touch on this health care reform debate from the first lady of the united states, michelle obama. the first lady saying i think the baucus plan is a pretty

reasonable plan. the first lady in essence signing off to the baucus plan that is working its way, being debated now by the senate finance committee, costs and affordability being the keys in that debate right now and a couple of key sticking points right now. a couple of stories that we're looking at for the next hour of "cnn newsroom." conservative christian activists descending on the nation's capital right now. we will check in on this year's value voter summit. and in our "what matters" segment, we will take a look at some of the women in the obama administration. who are they and how will they impact american politics? someday, cars will be engineered, using nanotechnology, to convert plants into components. the first-ever hs hybrid. only from lexus.

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okay. time now for your midday reset. i'm tony harris in the "cnn newsroom." it's 12:00 in the white house where first lady michelle obama opens a fall focus on health care reform. it's noon in atlanta where the doctors from centers for disease control are updating us on the swine flu and the vaccine to fight it. and it is 9:00 a.m. in contra costa, california, where police will discuss the search for possible victims of accused child kidnapper phillip garrido. let's get started. first lady michelle obama add adding her voice for the push for health care reform. she is using her considerable popularity to try to win over women to her husband's plan. speaking just last hour, the first lady focused on the challenges of everyday highlighting the effects of the current system on women and their families. >> no longer can we sit by and watch the debate take on a life of its own. it is up to us to get involved, because what we have to remember

is that now more than ever we have to channel our passions into change. >> winning the support of women is seen as crucial for president obama, as he fights to get his plans through congress. an airport shuttle bus driver is supposed to be at an fbi office in denver right now for a third day of questioning. sources tell cnn najibullah zazi, a 24-year-old afghan immigrant, may be part of a madrid-style subway bomb plot. a co-worker says that is laughable. and listen to zazi's lawyer. >> i have no information confirming anything like that. and all i could possibly say is that my client has no comment at this time. if you have any questions, you can direct them to me. all i can say is that if they had found bomb-making materials in his car, on his computer, or one wild report i saw yesterday that there were something like enough explosives in the apartment to blow up two buildings, do you really think

the fbi would have allowed us to walk out of here last night? california investigators will be using ground-penetrating radar to search the property of nancy and phillip garrido. the california couple is accused of kidnapping 11-year-old jaycee dugard in 1991 and may be linked to other crimes. our dan simon has more. >> reporter: a couple of developments to report. we're not entirely sure how significant the first one is, but we want to report that a couple of cadaver-sniffing dogs zeroed in on a patch of land behind the garrido home. now, these dogs are trained specifically to pick up human remains, so authorities certainly want to investigate that patch of land further. probably dig it up to see what's beneath the soil. >> during today's search, one of the dogs gave an indication on one of the areas of the garrido residence. after the dog gave what is determined to be somewhat of a tentative look at the -- or tentative feel for the cadaver,

we brought in a second dog, and he also indicated on that particular part of the property. we're not going to say exactly where that part of the property is, but it is definitely on the garrido property. >> reporter: the second element deals with some new photos. of course, everybody saw what the backyard of the garrido home looked like, those series of tents and sheds. well, what you're seeing inside the home really isn't any better. in fact, it's arguably worse. you're basically seeing trash everywhere, dishes stacked up in the sink. it's really a mess. and that is exactly why authorities red tagged that property, saying that nobody could live there. dan simon, cnn, contra costa county, california. okay, there is a news conference going on right now in california, contra costa county, california, and the focus of the investigation today obviously is on debris removal on all of the garrido properties, the search

of the inside of the garrido house, the scan of the properties underground. let's listen to a little bit of the "q" and "a" going on right now. [ inaudible question ] >> thus far in the operation we have not found a piece of physical evidence that tells us conclusively that phillip garrido is involved in the michaela garecht abduction. i'll turn it over for the answer to that question. >> the same answer would be the same for the other abduction. there are a couple of pieces of evidence we want to look closer at and examine, but nothing with certainty that leads us to believe there's a definite link between the garridos and eileen's disappearance. [ inaudible question ] >> i know the lieutenant has been in touch with the family. he can address that. we've been in touch with sharon every single day. i've talked to her every single day.

i think she's an amazing woman. she's doing everything she can to keep michaela's face and story out there, hoping, again, if this isn't the tip, that there is something out there that knows where she might be and can help us find her and solve this case. >> we spoke with the micheleoff family yesterday as i explained earlier in this operation. they're currently out of state on a family emergency. but they are very supportive of our efforts here, and they appreciate very much the media coverage that this is getting, because it is putting the message out, putting eileen's picture out to the public, again, in the hopes that if this operation does not develop a substantial lead, that hopefully somebody will see this and come forward with some information that will help us bring a resolution to this case. right here. >> have you been getting anything at all from phillip garrido?

is he saying anything whatsoever, yes or no, about any of the cases you're looking at? >> hayward police department has still not had contact with phillip garrido. >> and nor has the dublin police department. >> and over here. >> currently he is in custody, and we have not made an attempt to speak with him. >> is that lack of evidence a source of frustration for your two agencies, all of the work that you are doing? >> i wouldn't say the lack of a key piece of evidence is a frustration for us, you know, we certainly hope to find more, but in a sense, it could indicate that they're alive somewhere, so it's really a mixed blessing either way. >> at this point you get the sense that investigators have just about everything that they need on the jaycee dugard case, but right now the investigation seems principally focused on -- on finding any evidence at all linking phillip and nancy

garrido to other missing persons cases. and we will continue to follow developments there as we told you just a moment ago, a couple of searches going on of the properties today, an inside search of the home, a scan of the properties underground areas as well, and also debris removal on all of the properties taking place. and we will continue to follow developments in the story and give you the latest information as we get it. president obama's approval numbers holding steady amid his make-or-break pitch for health care reform. a new cnn poll of polls shows 55% of people approve of the way the president is handling his job. 39% disapprove. this month's numbers, the same as last month's. they come as the president intensifies efforts to gain support for overhauling the health care system. the president today getting some help from his much more popular wife! live now to cnn white house correspondent, suzanne malveaux.

and, suzanne, look, i was struck by the first lady's comments today. you want to talk about a different tone, a different take, a different touch on this -- >> reporter: absolutely. >> -- health care reform debate, you saw that from the first lady. >> reporter: absolutely. and it was really nothing like her husband, fired up and ready to go kind of speech at all. perhaps it was from emotion, but very soft-spoken, at times her voice even shaky. she's really trying to put a personal touch to this whole health care debate. she talked about her father who had multiple sclerosis. she talked about her daughter sasha at 4 months they thought perhaps had meningitis, and said thank god they had health care insurance. they don't know what they would have done if they hadn't had health care insurance. they had other folks on the stage that really weren't so lucky and talking about devastating things in their families. she is really trying to put a totally different kind of message and tone this.

she is making this about women and their families and taking care of their families. i want you to take a listen. this is how she began her -- her statement. >> for two years on the campaign trail, this was what i heard from women, that they were being crushed -- crushed -- by the current structure of our health care, crushed. but these stories that we've heard today -- and all of us, if we're not experiencing it, we know someone who is. these are the stories that remind us about what's at stake in this debate. >> reporter: so, tony, they really are trying to completely change not only the tone, but the message, of this debate here. she's talking about this as an issue of equality for women, opportunity for women, and she says if you believe in those things, then you have to support her husband's health care plan,

and then she does go ahead and mention some of those things. you talked about her -- her popularity. i want to show you some numbers here. this is the latest poll that we have, cnn/opinion research corporation poll, favorable at 67% have a favorable opinion of her. only 22% have an unfavorable opinion of her. so, they really want her to be out there, to talk about this issue, and to bring it home in a way that we have not heard in some of these debates and some of these speeches before congress. so, this is something that they believe is really going to push forward and help them. we know that the president's going to be out there. he's doing the sunday talk shows. but, cleary, michelle obama bringing a totally different kind of tune -- tone, a mood and a message to this debate. we'll see if it works. >> we will see. all right, at the white house, suzanne malveaux for us, suzanne, appreciate it. don't miss president obama taking questions from cnn chief national correspondent john king. this will be good. at "state of the union," 9:00

a.m. on cnn sunday morning. one group not happy with the way the president is running the white house, so-called values voters. i will talk with tony perkins the head of the family research council next.

the season of shrill, the health care debate degenerated into ugly name calling over the summer. now the house speaker worries the debate may turn violent.

here's cnn political correspondent, candy crowley. >> good morning. >> reporter: the speaker of the house says some of the things she's hearing in the health care debate border on dangerous. >> i saw this myself, in the late '70s in san francisco, this kind of -- of rhetoric was very frightening, and it gave -- it created a climate in which we -- violence took place. >> reporter: to review -- the pro-reform side, including the president, has been called sociali socialist, marxist and un-american, those against the president's plans have been called wing nuts, fringe groups and racist. republicans accuse democrats of stoking a false racism charge to diminish honest opposition. democrats say for political reasons republicans won't condemn the clearly racist signs and words at some protests. oh, how the white house wants to put a lid on this one. they've been trying since sunday. >> i don't think the president believes that people are upset

because of the color of his skin. the president does not believe that -- that the criticism comes based on the color of his skin. >> reporter: the vice president chimed in from iraq -- >> as you approach the resolution of an incredibly controversial issue, ideologically, politically, and every other way, usually you find excesses grow from that. but the president does not believe, nor do i believe, it's racially based. >> reporter: it's not that the president is above a good partisan fight. he was out there proving that. >> i've heard a lot -- a lot of republicans say they want to kill obamacare. some may even raise money off it. but when you ask these folks what exactly my plan does, they've got it all wrong. >> reporter: here's the problem, beyond the four walls of that rally, who's listening? the sideshow, the debate about

the debaters, drowns out the president at a critical point in his bid for health care reform. >> all of the background noise, the conversation behind the conversation, is hurting his ability to get his policy agenda implemented. >> reporter: and the bitter sideshow on one of the most politically toxic topics turns off moderate, less partisan voters, and makes the opposition more opposed. >> all of a sudden, to be accused of being racist for expressing those concerns, you know, it further polarizes an already polarized debate. >> reporter: there is bipartisan agreement on this -- politicos on both sides say the health care debate is the nastiest in decades, only one thing missing -- >> this is not about black and white. this is about insuring america. >> reporter: oh, yeah, health care. candy crowley, cnn, washington. conservative christian activists are in washington today for a values voters summit. it is the fourth year for the summit which is organized by the conservative advocacy group family research council. some of the breakout sessions

are titled obamacare, rationing your life away, and countering the homosexual agenda in public schools. speakers include 2012 presidential possibles, mitt romney, tim pawlenty and mike huckabee. >> the last few months the audacity of hope has become the audacity of hypocrisy. at times it's a country almost difficult to recognize. we have become the land of czars, clunker cars, and hollywood stars. but unfortunately, it's also become a place where we've lost any semblance of those promises of transparency and accountability. >> health care is a hot-button issue at the values voters summit. a panel earlier today asked some really tough questions about the proposed government plan. joining me now from that summit, tony perkins, president of the family research council. go right to the top. tony, good to see you. thanks for your time. >> good to be with you. >> you know, i haven't heard you

on the baucus plan so far. i can't watch 24 hours of television, so forgive me if you've already spoken on this, but let me get you on the record while i have you. the baucus plan so far, released with no republican support, let's put aside for the moment the legitimate, real concerns over cost to taxpayers, affordability for americans, which are points that are being worked out right now, as you know. are you convinced, now seeing the language of the baucus plan, that there won't be anything in the final bill that allows for federal subsidies for abortion services? >> no, not at all. we don't see that in the bill to prohibit that at all, and that's part of the concern. and i should note that it's not just republicans that aren't signing on, there are a lot of democrats that aren't signing on to the bill either. so, it is a problem. and had is something that has a very simple solution. over a dozen amendments have been offered through this process that take the hide language, which is an annual

appropriations writer, and makes it statutory on the measure. and that takes the abortion issue off the table. the president won't take that, nor will the supporters of the bill in congress. >> although, senator kent conrad said the language is there. i believe we have some language that will pull up as well that suggests pretty clearly, as we read it, that there will be no federal money going to abortions. but you're still not satisfied is what you're saying? >> no, because it still has the -- the -- the funding mechanism which creates these so-called separate pools of money, and so what -- we just need to just very straightforward language that says government money will not go into it, and then that issue's satisfied. but they've yet to do that. >> are you convinced that -- >> i think that's important, though. i think that's important so we can get on to this discussion about health care. i think it's important. because americans need accessible -- to be have -- affordable health care accessible. >> got you. >> and that hasn't happened yet. >> are you convinced at all now, seeing the language of the baucus plan, that there won't be

federal dollars going to subsidize the health care of people in the country illegally? in the final bill. >> well, that's not been an issue that we've been focused on, so it's not one that we've researched in this bill, so i couldn't answer that question. it's not one we've been tracking closely. we've been focusing on the issue of rationing, which amendments also have been offered on that, to prohibit government rations of health care. >> yeah. >> the other thing we're very concerned about is the conscience rights, the conscience protection be in there for health care workers, whatever health care plan passes. >> what is that? explain it to us. >> it's very simple, health care workers, whether you be a doctor or nurse or pharmacist couldn't be forced, like the nurse up in a hospital in new york, a catholic nurse, who was forced to participate in a late-term abortion, and she did not want to be a part of that. she had stated that. and the previous administration, before they left, put in place some very solid regulations that

would enforce the current conscience protection laws. >> okay. >> those were struck down and suspended by this administration, so there's really no protections for health care workers. >> you're also opposed to mandates, correct? >> yes. we don't think that that's the way to go about this. we don't think that because someone in their 20s coming out of college waiting to land a good job and not having health care, they're healthy, they don't want to put, you know, what little savings they have into a health care plan, i don't think that's irresponsible. and i think that's a massive shifting of expense from an older population to a younger population. i mean, that's just one example. so, i think a mandate is a bad way to go about this. >> but, tony, don't you think there will be plans that will -- the idea here is to obviously get as many people in the pool as possible to make it affordable for the whole. don't you trust that there will be plans in place and subsidies in place for the people you describe? >> well, not necessarily. and i think there's ways we can

address some of this. if you really begin to break down the 30 million, whatever, the number keeps changing, of uninsured americans, when you get down to a hardcore number, it's 5 million to 10 million, that can't afford health care. out of a nation of 330 million people, that's a very small percentage. there's a more efficient way to get those folks covered than totally taking over the entire health care system and rearranging it for everybody else. i mean, we can go -- i do like the president's idea of -- and this is something that conservatives advocated for years is allowing people to go beyond state lines and create associations where you can create bigger pools of insurees driving down the cost by spreading out the risk. you can take those young people i just described, allow them to be carried on their parents' health care insurance until age 25. not making them -- >> yeah. >> -- get off as soon as they get out of college. >> that looks like it's going to happen, wouldn't you say? that that looks like it's going to happen. >> what's that? >> that provision, that young

people will be allowed to stay on their parents' insurance for longer. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> there needs to be some things done in health care, but i think what we should do is take a market-based approach, we should take an incremental approach and address the specific problems. >> got you. >> not taking over the whole program. >> and there's still some debate whether it's 9 million, what the total number, there's some census numbers. >> right. >> okay. issues you're talking about at the values voter summit, the threat of immigration, abortion, we mentioned that a bit, gay marriages, got to ask you -- >> spending. >> spending, absolutely. with this administration so focused on the economy, on health care, how do you get your group's concerns on these issues on the president's agenda? >> well, i think we see americans that are concerned about these issues speaking up pretty vocally, so much so, you know, the house speaker is running in fear saying their they're dangerous. i mean, these are americans who are very concerned about the future of this country. it's interesting here, a year

ago we were here in a presidential election year, we have more people here this year. the enthusiasm level is three or four times greater than it was last year. i think what's happened is americans have seen liberalism uncensored. they've seen what the policies that this administration has put forward. congress gone wild. and they're ready to take bask the country. and they're enthused about doing it. it's not through organized efforts. it's really more of a spontaneous reaction to what they perceive and what is really happening, and that is taking the nation in a wrong direction. >> tony perkins, appreciate your time. and good to sigh. it's been a while. thank you. >> thanks. good to be with you. still to come, heavy rains are causing flooding across the south. chad's in the severe weather center checking it all out for us. in your legs causing you pain. ok-what is it? dad, it more than doubles your risk of a heart attack or stroke. i can't keep anything from you. you better read about plavix. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke.

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boy, want to turn quickly to the weather now, because the northeast i guess is looking pretty good. but, man, if you're in the south here, yeah, saturated south, flood watches really sort of all over the map in the south today. let's bring in our chad myers.

and, you know, chad, what it says to me, there's some kind of a system, some trough, some front or something that is just parked over the south and is just dumping all this rain on us. >> it is. in fact, it's a low-pressure system, kind of well off to the south. almost in the southwest part of the arklatex. and the rain's going to continue and it's going to be with us most of the weekend, i'm afraid, tony. some of the heavy stuff right now, some of it will be around memphis and savannah and henderson counties. this entire area won't be as bad i don't think as it has been the past couple of days. the storm has sort of run out of steam, all right, i'm done already. but look at how many areas have already seen flash flood watches in the light or in the dark green where something is flooding in all of those dark-greene counties, either a river, a creek, a stream, or for that matter, even a city, because of that right there, tony that. that low right there will not move. it hasn't moved for quite some time. we talked about it on monday. the good news, even though atlanta looks awful.

here's what atlanta looks like. the top of the buildings, and atlanta only 15-minute delays right now. that's a miracle. >> it really is. >> somebody is really doing some good work out there to keep the planes only 15-minute delayed on a getaway friday. >> is this all weekend, even into monday as well. ? >> yep. >> really? >> yep. my air conditioner hasn't turned on for a week. saving me money. >> i want to get some golf. good luck with that. >> the golf balls will stick to the greens, that's for sure. have to dig it out. >> thanks, chad. they are lovely, smart, did i mention smart, women in the white house, get to know obama's dream team. (announcer) what do people notice about you?

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call now! "essence" magazine calls them obama's dream team. they are african-american women who hold some of the highest-ranking jobs in his administration, and they are changing the face of politics and policy. >> reporter: it is the largest group of black women to ever work for a u.s. president. and many are the first to hold their various positions. like the director of the domestic policy council, melody barnes. barnes is an attorney who served as chief council to senator ted

kennedy for more than seven years. before coming to the white house, she was the executive vice president for policy at the center for american progress. >> we're having very good and productive productions. >> reporter: susan rice showed her loyalty to president obama early as an adviser during his campaign. she is now the u.s. ambassador to the united nations and is no stranger to the white house. she served in several positions in the clinton administration, including the assistant secretary of state for african affairs during the embassy bombings in tanzania and kenya in 1988. >> and our mission is simple. >> reporter: valerie jarrett may be one of the longest-serving confidantes to president obama, but before her appointment, jarrett didn't have any experience inside the beltway. she began her political career in chicago, with mayor harold washington. and then mayor richard daley. in 1995, jarrett left politics for the habitat company where she served as a ceo. these are just a few of the

black women in the obama administration who have stepped into their roles quietly, but may leave a profound mark on american politics. >> and joining us now is the journalist who was able to get these women together. i don't know how you did that! "essence" magazine's washington correspondent, cynthia gordy. cynthia, good to see you. >> good so see you. thank you for having me. >> that was a struggle. how did the president find 16 black women to place in critical positions in this administration? got to tell you, i have sat through so many diversity discussions, where i've listened to executives say they can't find minority candidates for jobs. >> right. >> and this president finds 16. were you surprised to find this number of black women in key positions? >> well, first i think i should mention that there are more than 16 women that we featured in the photo shoot. two of them had not been confirmed at the press time and that was -- >> so, how many in all? >> there's three more that i wanted to mention in the really

high position s fcc commissione, and he's tapped dr. regina benjamin to be surgeon general, and dr. margaret hamburg is the commissioner of the food and drug administration. and the list goes on and on. and i think it just goes to show you there are qualified, experienced women of color to serve as experts in any field, whether it's science and the environment or foreign policy and education. they're all there. we've always been here. >> yeah. >> and i think the president recognizes that, you know, black women are out there as experts. he trusts us to be experts. and it also shows that he values a diversity of opinion at the table when people are shaping his policies. >> got you. >> he wants to it be reflective. >> hey, cynthia, the potential is there for a negative reaction to everything, particularly these days when we seem so polarized. i can imagine a negative reaction to this level of diversity in this

administration. any hesitancy from the white house to cooperating for this piece? >> no. from the white house, they were on board with it. i think any hesitancy really had more to do with not wanting to spend too much time celebrating the moment, you know? and just really focusing on the work at hand. and i think that was also reflected in my interviews with the women themselves. who, on the one hand, they're very well aware of their place in history. and they think that's great, but more than that, they're really focused on getting to the enormous work ahead of them. >> all right. what were you struck by as you talked to this group individually and saw them come together in that photo shoot? >> well, and i've been covering this administration since the beginning, since january. and, of course, i was familiar with them. i'd interviewed several of them individually and met them individually. but to see them all together, in this one group serving at this level of government, was really just showed how far we've all come -- or how far black women have come.

and i think talking with them individually, i was struck by their sense of purpose, wanting to use their positioning to really make their -- to really serve the american pool. >> ooh. >> they want to make their positions relate to the everyday lives of the american people. >> i love that quote from valley jarrett. i wish i had it here. it was terrific, to that very point. okay. "each and every one of us keeps in mind that we have to put the american people first. that's so important to the president. all these women embody that spirit." and valerie jarrett is a senior adviser to the president. one more quick one here, and you touched on it a moment ago. history tells us that these women will move on to be leaders in corporate boardrooms, right? leaders of think tanks. creators of businesses. are they aware of their position, their power today, and in the future? >> absolutely. i think -- i think the women who touched on that most directly was united nations ambassador susan rice, who said that, of course, you know, in their current capacities they have a

huge influence over policy and the future direction of this country, but, you know, beyond that, they're going to have an impact on all other areas -- >> yeah. >> -- of their professional life. and, you know, history has shown us, as you said, that when you leave the white house, you take that power and that influence with you to other areas of your professional life. so, you know, this is only the beginning. and this is the first time that we've seen so many african-american women serving at this level, having this access. >> and how about that, cynthia, on cue, cynthia rice -- susan rice, i'm sorry, susan rice speaking right now at the white house briefing. perfect, couldn't have been better. cynthia gordy, we appreciate your time. great piece in the magazine. >> thank you. >> and you're doing some terrific work, by the way. thank you. thank you for your time. for more on president obama's dream team, pick up the october issue "essence" magazine on newstands now or go online at cnn.com/whatmatters. welcome to our mcdonald's.

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all right. let's get you caught up on our top stories right now. first lady michelle obama adding a personal touch and softer tone, decidedly, to the battle for health care reform, speaking to a room full of women just last hour. the first lady said the current state of this nation's health care is unacceptable, and women have an important role to play in changing that. cadaver dogs helping search the property of accused kidnappers phillip and nancy garrido. police are looking for evidence that might lirn the couple to two other abductions 20 years

ago. a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old, both disappeared then. a manhunt in dallas happening right now for a gunman that shot and killed a security guard outside a bank. police say the guard was servicing an atm when he was gunned down. the centers for disease control and prevention updating the h1n1 flu virus just this hour. some comments from a short time ago from dr. daniel jurnigan from the cdc. >> there is an increased amount of folks that are coming into the clinics with flu new. it's about twice at least from what we would expect this time of year. if you talk to doctors, they'll tell you, boy, i'm seeing lots of flu at this time of year. that's something that we do not see normally. all right elizabeth cohen, our senior medical correspondent, is here, elizabeth, what is the latest in terms of how this is spreading? >> right. here's a statistic to go with what the doctor was saying. 21 states in this country are

seeing widespread flu activity. i got to tell you, that's crazy. that's whacky. that has never happened. this is the middle of september. flu season is usually december, january, february. so to see almost half the country in widespread flu activity is really odd. >> usually when we're talking about the flu, we're talking about older people. and we're talking about young people this time around, aren't we? >> right. we are talking about young people. let me go through a little bit about what they said at this press conference. there were a couple of highlights. first of all, they mentioned that 21 states have widespread flu activity. >> right. >> and also they said that younger people, children and young adults, are being hardest hit and will more likely end up in the hospital. again, this is another wacky thing with the h1n1 vaccine -- with the h1n1 virus, rather. as tony sid, usually we think of the elderly as being hardest hit by flu. but you know what, this is a good time to be an old person. and the reason is, if you were alive in the '40s or '50s, your body may have seen a virus that

was out at the time that's very similar to the h1n1 that we are seeing right now. so, you've got some resistance. a younger person like you or me, we may have never seen -- you're well under 60. >> i remember those days! >> our body has never seen it before, and we'll have a much more adverse reaction to it. a good time to be around. experience pays off in this situation. >> whoo! a vaccine, what's the latest? when are we going to see this vaccine that we were told so much about? >> we were told in the cdc press conference that there should be a vaccine for the swine flu flu in the hands of doctors in the first week of october and the first to get it are pregnant women. so obstetricians are being given this vaccine, had is unusual, because usually they're not given the vaccines. october 1st, a little bit earlier than we thought. are you ready for this moment? >> yes. >> a light moment, health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius, admonishing -- let's call him

out, too, nbc correspondent chuck todd. chuck, you know better, at this briefing this week. chuck! >> at this meeting -- >> bless you. >> -- he described a possible impediment. >> i mean, what is that about? geez! who's got some purell? give that to mr. todd right away. a little -- a little hand sanitizer. good. good. we'll have elmo give chuck a special briefing. we'll get elmo over. elmo knows how to sneeze. >> so, this administration wants to call you out! okay? >> i guess what mr. todd did is he sneezed into his hand. >> yes! >> which is a no-no and at a white house briefing i was at a month or so ago, mrs. sebelius talked about that's what she taught her sons to do, sneeze into her hand many years ago. she said, what were we doing? you don't sneeze into your hand. you sneeze into your sleeve. >> give us guidance. the idea is to sneeze right in

here. >> right. that's how flu is spread. if you sneezed right now and you sneezed, i'd probably get swine flu. gut if you sleeve into your sleeves -- hands are bad. we shake hands. >> i tell you, i'm the picture of health. >> you look like it. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> have a good weekend. >> you, too. poppy harlow has our "breakdown" next.

a year after the collapse of lehman brothers, are big bonuses and golden parachutes coming back to wall street? cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow has the "breakdown" from new york. poppy, you know, there has been a lot of talk about this, and there will be more talk next week in pittsburgh at the g-20, but what actually has been done so far to curb excessive pay? >> great question, tony. not much. a lot of talk as you said. not much action. what has happened is president obama has appointed a pay czar, that is, attorney kenneth feinberg, but he can only review compensation at banks that got bailout money. but there's some news today,

some front-page news in "the wall street journal" that the fed may be trying to enact its power to limit pay for all bankers. "wall street journal" reporting 5,000 banks could be affected by this, 25 of the largest banks in the company, you could probably name them, would be under the most scrutiny. the plan would affect all banks regardless whether or not they received bailout money and this could apply to high-paid traders, loan officers and also, of course, top execs at the banks and this would likely include what you heard about, clawbacks, for bankers that took big risks that ultimately resulted in big losses at their banks. take a listen what the head of the fidic sheila bair told me this week. >> there is a difference between capitalism and unbridled greed. there are also financial institutions themselves should take some leadership here, too. and they should recognize that there was a lot of excessive risk taking and the government had to step in. regular working americans and their taxpayer dollars had to

chom in a some in and support them. it's unseemlying to have the eye-popping bow bonuses and the "business is usual" culture and they should exercise more self-restraint. >> strong words there from the head of the fdic. tony? >> has any legislation been passed to curb this excessive pay issue? >> nothing has been passed in full. the house did pass a bill in july, tony. what that did is it gave shareholders more say on pay for executives. it would also limit bank bonuses at places where there is the, quote-unquote, excessive risk taking. but the senate hasn't even looked at it the fed's plan, though, that is just a few weeks away from a final vote there by their board. we'll see what will happen. the interesting thing to note here, tony, if the fed passes this, congress doesn't have to weigh in. so, people are watching this one very closely. >> all right, poppy, good to see you. have a great weekend. >> you, too. who is really to blame for soaring medical care costs? one doctor says he knows. d whatr can cost you some money.

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a malpractice lawyer and insurance companies are often blamed for the high cost of health care in this country. cnn's gary tuchman found a smalltown texas doctor who places the blame somewhere else.

>> how you feeling? >> reporter: this heart surgeon says the price of medical care in mcallen, texas, is just way too high. and he's paying the price for speaking out. >> post-op day five. >> reporter: do you think you're committing professional suicide? >> i do. i have. i mean, the results are plain. all right. deep breath. >> reporter: dr. lester dike doesn't put most of the blame on malpractice lawyers or insurance companies for the rise in medical costs here. he blames his colleagues. >> a lot of doctors here are -- are practicing in a way that treats the patients like atm machines and essentially extracts the maximum amount of profit from -- from the patient. >> reporter: dr. dyke now spends much more time relaxing on his ranch because he said other doctors are angry at him and have stopped referring him patients. his practice he says is down 70% since he started speaking out months ago. >> i am being blackballed. the only way they can pressure me to stop doing what i'm doing is to essentially cut off my

referrals and try to make me quit practicing, and it may succeed. hello? >> reporter: other doctors in mcallen acknowledge they are not happy with the charge, the physicians here are excessible concerned about profits. gastro gastroenorologist dr. cardenas. >> i think he's an excellent doctor. >> reporter: do you think he's right about this? >> i think he's wrong. because i think the overwhelming physicians practice good medicine. >> reporter: he says there is no organized effort to stop referrals to dr. dike, but there is no doubt about this fact, per-patient costs in mcallen are astounding. according to a dartmouth study, mcallen has the second highest health care costs in the nation, only miami is more. but it's one of the poorest counties in the u.s. the average worker here makes about $12,000 a year, yet incredibly the average health care cost for a patient in this county is almost $15. what medicare spends for the

typical spisht in mcallen is almost double what it spends on the average patient nationwide, so what's going on in mcalen? >> the alreadies are able to profit not just from being physicians like we have traditionally, but by ordering tests on equipment that they own or x-rays on equipment that they own or sending patients to facilities that they own or have a financial interest in. >> reporter: extra tests and services to patients are offer referred to as utilization. >> i think we may have high utilization because we care for a lot of very sick people later in their disease that require more care. and if you require more care, you're going to have mr. utilization. >> reporter: dr. cardenas works in an ultramodern hospital in town called doctors hospital at renaissance. he's one of the doctor owners in the hospital, and that is also criticized by dr. dike, who offers this characterization. >> a lot of these doctors value money more than their patient's well-being. >> it hits me viscerally, because i know it's not true. >> there are a number of