still want to be a doctor? >> yeah. >> really? >> why do you want to be a doctor? >> so i can help people. >> that's good. that's great. are you liking it here in america? >> yeah. >> once a victim, youssif now hopes to help others. he's truly a remarkable boy. he's also an inspiration for so many people. >> you tricked me! >> i did not trick you! >> yes, you did! >> how did i trick you? just an incredible story, youssif. you're such a brave boy. but i'm a better soccer player, right? thanks for watching. i'm sanjay gupta. stay tuned now for more news on cnn. good morning! sarah shourd is home. the american hiker held in iraq, iran, for more than a year has

just arrived back in the u.s. also, christine o'donnell cancels. the tea party darling of delaware backs out of two sunday morning interviews. this comes after a video surfaces from a decade ago where she claims she, quote, dabbled in witchcraft. plus, police in california say they are searching for 13 people led by this woman. they say letters left behind suggests they were planning a mass suicide and most of the missing are children. good morning to you all. i'm t.j. holmes, from the cnn center. this is your cnn sunday morning, 8:00 a.m. here in atlanta, 3:00 p.m. in baghdad, where we do have breaking news we want to get right to. arwa damon is live there for us. arwa, hello once again. we have a pair of blasts that have killed at least 29 people there. tell us what happened. >> reporter: that's right, t.j. one of those explosions happened when a mini bus detonated in front of a cell phone shop.

the other explosion taking place at a fairly busy intersection. them happening within a few minutes of one another, at around 10:15 in the morning. now, sunday in iraq is the first day of the workweek, and while not full-on rush hour at that time, the streets still fairly busy. we also had a few other incidents that are worth mentioning. a sticky bomb, or, rather, a magnetic bomb was placed underneath the vehicle of a mini bus driver and his son, killing both of them. another magnetic bomb overnight placed underneath the vehicle of a member of the ministry official. and this goes to show, even though the u.s. military has declared its combat zone here is over, the war is far from coming to an end. many we speak to talk to us about how fearful they are whenever they're stuck in a traffic jam, especially at checkpoints, knowing they could be targeted. others say that part of their regular morning routine is to walk out of their home and check underneath their vehicles. they talk about this ongoing sense of fear and anxiety,

especially since this nation remains without a new government, since we had those inconclusive elections back in march. there is some intelligence that does suggest that al qaeda is making something of a comeback, especially in the areas around baghdad, to the east, to the west, and to the south. there is also intelligence that suggests that some of the iranian-backed militias are also taking to the streets once again. all of this, some are saying, because the u.s. military has significantly decreased its footprint and iraqis are greatly concerned that their own forces will not be able to hold on to these so-called security gains. on a day like today, for example, how is it with so many checkpoints, so many police and army on the road, are explosives still able to get into the capital, t.j.? >> our arwa damon on it for us this morning in baghdad. arwa, we appreciate you, as always. and after more than a year now in an iranian prison, u.s. hiker sarah shourd is back on american soil. she was released to oman last

week on $500,000 in bail. she arrived at washington's dulles airport just about an hour ago. her two hiking companions, however, still remain jailed in iran. our susan candiotti is in new york for us. susan, hello to us. once again, she got back to d.c., but do we have it right, her schedule still has her doing something a little later in new york today, is that right? >> that's right. she's on tap to make her first public appearance here in the united states this afternoon. she will be meeting with reporters, but it seems, at this point, that she's not prepared to take any questions. we expect her to be reading from a prepared statement. and her mother as well. however, we do understand that the mothers of her fiance, shane bauer, as well as the mothers of josh fattal, the two hikers and friends that she left behind, will be taking questions from the news media. and so it will be interesting to ask them as many questions as we can, to try to talk about her experience. how many details might she give

us? or will she hold back and continue to be very guarded, as she was before. as you indicated, her freedom came with a price, $500,000 bail was paid. we don't know exactly where that money came from, but we are looking forward to hearing from sarah this afternoon. >> susan, as well -- >> i will always associate your country with the first breath of my freedom. the sweet smell of sandalwood, and the chance to stand by the ocean, listening to the waves. i thank the good, hospitable people of oman for your support and ask you to please, please extend your prayers to my fiance, shane, and my friend, josh. in shalla, they will soon be free. >> and that, of course, is what she said before she left oman, thanking the government there as well as the united states. she might be staying in new york, possibly, because the

united nations general assembly will be meeting here. perhaps she will try to lobby for the release of her companions. back to you, t.j. >> susan candiotti for us in new york on the story. we appreciate you, as always. thanks so much. want to give our viewers a look at some of the other stories making headlines today. including in afghanistan, where nato says afghan and coalition troops have killed at least seven insurgents during a joint operation in the eastern part of that country. among the dead, a suspected taliban commander. meanwhile, a bombing in southern afghanistan killed two nato service members. also, pope benedict xvi is wrapping up his four-day state visit to the uk. the pontiff publicly apologized for the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the catholic church. meanwhile, uk authorities have released six suspects arrested friday on suspicion of possible terror activities. that's after a search of several homes and two businesses apparently turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. and the process of permanently killing bp's ruptured oil well in the gulf of mexico appears to be just about

finished. they're going to be doing some pressure tests to determine that there are no leaks. want to make sure everything is done and this thing will officially be declared dead. also, we are following a story out of california. a disturbing story right now, where officials say 13 people are missing and they fear they may be on a suicide pact mission. among the missing is this woman, reyna maresol chicas. eight children are among the missing. two husbands of the missing alerted the police on saturday. the children missing are between the ages of 3 and 17. authorities say the group left behind notes indicating plans to commit mass suicide. >> there were notes, "we're going to go meet jesus," as you said, "we're going to go meet our relatives," who are deceased, looking forward to it.

there were personal belongings, deeds to homes, there was cash. there were items that would lead you to believe that somebody is leaving it behind. >> we're keeping an eye on this story. we'll pass along the updates as we get them. as you may have seen, there is a new player in the republican party, ahead of the midterm elections. christine o'donnell, you have heard that name planenty over t past week. going to be hearing it some more. she's getting a lot of attention these days, but some of the limelight also exposes a candidate's past. she appeared on bill maher's talk show, "politically incorrect," that was back in the late '90s and she said something that may come back to haunt her. >> i dabbled into witchcraft. i never joined ed a kochb coven. >> you were a witch? >> i dabbled in witchcraft. i hung around people who did these things. i know what they told me they

do. in one of my dates -- >> wait, wait, wait. >> one of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar and i didn't know it. there was a little blood there. >> your first date was a satanic altar. >> went to a movie and had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar. >> after that tape surfaced, o'donnell canceled her appearance on two sunday talk shows. o'donnell's spokeswoman told the associated press she canceled those appearances so she could attend church events in a key county today. our cnn contributor john avalon had this to say about this cancellation. >> she was on a surge, giving a speech at value voters just the other day, talking about how, you know, some people out there call us wingnuts, but we represent "we the people," and getting a positive reception at the value voters forum. so news that this was coming down the pike is what causes campaigns to go into massive defensive mode. and when you're booked for the sunday shows, and then you go into retreat, that is a sign of

a candidate in panic mode. >> so who exactly is christine o'donnell? she is the republican senate candidate from delaware. she beat out the establishment gop pick to fill vice president joe biden's vacant seat. o'donnell enjoys strong support from the tea party, both sarah palin and south carolina senator jim demint endorsed her. one day after her nomination, she saw $800,000 pumped in her campaign coffers. she's considered a conservative values candidate. and indiana representative, mike pence, he has a reason to smile. he was the top choice in the 2012 republican candidates. he got 24% of the vote, edging out mike huckabee, who got 22%. coming in third, mitt romney at 14%. and fourth with 10%, the former house speaker newt gingrich. sarah palin did not attend the summit, but she did finish fifth in that poll with 7%. president obama says his win

in 2008 wasn't just about electing a black president. the president told the congressional black caucus last night they should rally constituents and remind them that more work must be done to move the country forward. also took a swipe at republicans. >> because everything that we are for, our opponents have spent two years fighting against. they said no to unemployment insurance, no to tax cuts for ordinary working families, no for small business loans. no to providing additional assistance to students who desperately want to go to school. that's their motto. no, we can't. >> now, the president also talked about his administration's accomplishments, including passing the health care reform and wall street reform bills and also ending the combat mission in iraq. let's take a look now at what the president has coming up this week. tomorrow, noon eastern, he takes part in a town hall meeting on jobs in washington. later, he goes to philadelphia to help raise money for the

democratic national committee, as well as representative joe sestak. on tuesday, he awards the medal of honor posthumously to air force sergeant richard etchberger for his actions during the vietnam war. on wednesday, he hosts an event on the patient bill of rights before heading to new york and the u.n. thursday, he addresses the u.n. and later meets with the leaders of china and japan. then friday, the president attends the u.n. general assembly meeting. he's also hosting a meeting with the association of southeast asian nations in new york. and as always, for the latest on political news, you know where to find it. you know where to find us. cnnpolitics.com. well, bermuda is still bracing for hurricane igor. we'll show you exactly where this category 1 hurricane is now and where we think it's headed. it's 12 minutes past the hour. are you suffering from frequent heartburn? heartburn that keeps coming back? then you're ready for new zegerid otc. zegerid otc is the first 24-hour treatment ever with two active ingredients: prescription-strength medicine

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hit from hurricane igor. forecasters say the eye of the storm will pass over or very close to the island later tonight. our meteorologist, reynolds wolf, is there watching the storm from the beaches of bermuda. >> reporter: when it comes to igor, there is some good news and bad news with this tropical system. the good news, that it has weakened considerably. that's the good news. it is a category 1 at this time. however, the bad news, this storm is still posing quite a threat to much of bermuda. the storm remains well offshore at this point. it's getting closer. we've had some scattered showers that have moved through. some tropical storm force winds, some hurricane-force gusts can be expected as it gets closer to us. and it may get closer, i would say, late sunday evening and into monday. however, because the storm is so expansive, because it is such a broad field of wind, we're going to be feeling some of those rough conditions long before the center comes close to bermuda itself. it is very different in comparison with fabian in 2003. hurricane fabian was a much faster-moving storm. this storm will be affecting the

island possibly two or three times longer than fabian struck it. this coast is still going to experience some monstrous waves, coastal flooding is possible throughout bermuda. power outages certainly going to be expected. so this storm is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with for quite some time. we'll keep a very sharp eye on it. from bermuda, back to you in the studio. >> thanks to reynolds wolf. it's 17 minutes past the hour. a quick break. boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko. gecko: ah, t, as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance...

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20 minutes past the hour now. improving your health by eating right. it's a great idea, but it can cost a fortune to buy the right foods, the healthy foods. it doesn't have to, though.

in our "fit nation" report, cnn's dr. sanjay gupta gets some tips from a world-famous french chef on eating healthy and saving some money. >> reporter: with the economy in a slump, families are struggling to make ends meet. but you don't have to sacrifice good nutrition. where better to look for tips on healthy eating on the cheap than a five-star french chef. >> if you put some of your interest into the food, it's easy to find ways to eat for a budget which is not too expensive, good food. >> reporter: world-renowned chef eric repair says it's all about doing what works for you. >> you can buy a chicken, chst very inexpensive, instead of buying the chicken already cut or cooked, you buy it whole. and therefore you save a lot of money. if you want something healthy and something inexpensive, you have to think seasonal. if you want to eat tomatoes in january, it's very expensive. now, if in january you eat root

vegetables, if you make a soup with a squash, it's going to be very inexpensive. >> reporter: is how does this french chef extraordinaire stay healthy himself, surrounded by top-notch cuisine all day long? >> before i leave the house, i have a little bit of dark chocolate, very good quality. i leave my house around 10:00 and i walk through the streets of new york. it takes about 40, 45 minutes. i think it keeps me in a certain good health and in shape. >> reporter: the bottom line, says ripert. >> i'm a strong believer you can do a lot of things in terms of eating, which is, you can eat butter, you can eat chocolate, have a little dessert here and there. but again, it has to be in a quantity that is controlled and you have to compensate with exercise. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. its great. i eat anything that i want.

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you've got to buy the kids the backpacks, the notebooks, the new clothes for school, the pen, the pencils. then shell out $400 for the kid to ride the school bus. sounds steep, but that's what parents in parts of massachusetts may soon have to fork over to get their kids to class. carl azuz, always good to have you here. this one will certainly have a lot of parents perking up this morning, what did he say? >> it has a lot of parents, especially in framinframingham, massachusetts, perking up. because what we're seeing there, unlike a lot of school district where is they're cutting bus routes or field trips, this school district has cut bus service to students that live within two miles of school. and at least at the elementary level, parents are saying, that's too far for my kids to walk, so they're having to drop those kids off at school. we have pictures from framingham with cars lined up for what looks like miles. parents of elementary schools

dropping them off. and the school is talking about reinstating that bus service for students within two miles, but for a price, and that's between $400 and $500. >> for the year? >> that would be per student for the school year. so if you have three kids in school, you could be looking at $1,500. >> oh, my goodness! the parents went this route, started to drop them off, causes all that congestion around the school. >> yes, sir. >> when will we know whether or not this is actually going to happen. >> this is something they're trying to work out right now, because this is a decision no school district ever wants to make. we wanted to look at how many kids actually ride the bus. we had a government statistic that said 25 million students ride the bus. it is the most popular form of transportation. we asked our students audience at cnn student news, how many of you ride the bus. you see the results right there. they're saying 37%. it is in line that the bus is the most popular route of transportation, but it's actually closer nationally to

50%. so you understand how many students depend on bus service and why, especially, in a recession, you see the school cutting their bus service, trying to make ends meet. obviously, a lot of parents are cutting their own budgets, trying to make ends meet. so $1,500 is going to be a lot of tough for a lot of people to make. >> but it's a two-mile radius, you say, within -- >> within a two-mile radius. the next step for us is, what do you guys think of this? we're asking our student audience, what do you think. these are students at the middle and high school level. $400 might be what they make in a month working over the summer part-time. so by and large their comments were, this is absolutely out of the question. my family can't afford it. but there were a couple interesting comments. the first one from elani, who gave us a perspective saying, if you walk to school, you get exercise, it might increase obesity and decrease pollution. that's an interesting perspective from her. that might be better at the high school level, where parents feel more comfortable with teenagers walking to school. but one other comment i have

from ms. turner. she wrote to us saying her district has ads on the sides of buss to assist in the cost rather than the community paying more in taxes, or in this case, paying directly for buses. what's interesting about that story is we saw that about a year ago. one school district putting ads on the side of buses. and at the time, people thought, no, school buses should not have ads. i think as these budget cuts continue, perception on that might shift over saying, well, maybe not such a bad idea. >> paying $400, $500 per kid to ride the bus, that is just absurd. i know things are tight, but people can't do that. plus, the little ones, elementary school kids shouldn't be walking. the older ones, no problem, but the little ones can't walk. carl, thank you so much. appreciate you. coming up, we've got a conversation about islam. and we're having this conversation with deepak chopra. she's going to be joining us live. there he is, standing by for us. he has a new book on the subject. you need to hear what he has to

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we're watching out of baghdad, where police say separate explosions killed at least 29 people this morning. more than 100 wounded. one of the blasts came from a mini bus parked outside a mobile phone company. another rocked a neighborhood in northwest baghdad. also, sarah shourd is back home in the u.s. she had spent more than a year locked up in an iranian jail after iran said she and two friends illegally crossed into the country from iraq. she and her mother arrived at dulles international airport outside washington about an hour ago. you're seeing video of her yesterday right before she left on a flight from oman. also, israel does not plan to extend the moratorium on settlement building in the west bank. this despite a threat from palestinian officials to walk away from the current peace talks if building resumes. the ten-month freeze on construction in the west bank expires at the end of this month. it has, a key point of contention in the peace talks between the two sides. well, pope benedict xvi, his

state visit to the uk is ending today. he spent the last four days to try to repair the battered image of the roman catholic church, but he did take time this morning to bring a catholic cardinal one step closer to sainthood. atinka hubert has been covering the visit, she brings us the latest on the trip. and the trip is almost over. >> it's almost over and the beatification of cardinal paul newman was the centerpiece of the whole visit. they amassed this morning, an historic first for him. now he's off to meet with several private meetings with bishops, and then he's returning to rome. another highlight of his trip, however, has to be the fact that he did meet with several victims of child abuse yesterday on saturday. and he also made mention of it at his mass on saturdays, apologizing once again for those victims of abuse and saying how

ashamed he was for what happened. so that is, perhaps, one way he tried to reform the image of the church on this trip. but probably wasn't enough for critics. at the same time that he was meeting with victims, protesters took to the streets, saying that really they need more than apologies. they want to see action they haven't seen it yet. >> another big story is the fact that six people were alleged in an alleged terror plot and it seems that wasn't necessarily the case now. >> that's right. they made six arrests on friday, but they released all six men on saturday night and early sunday morning, released them without any charge. and there's no explanation what or if there was any terror-related activities that in fact these men were involved with. we simply don't know. according to the uk law, of course, they can arrest any suspected -- anyone suspected of terror-related activities for up to 28 days without charge.

it appears in this case, there was no reason to keep them any longer, so they released them. >> atika shubert for us in london, we appreciate you. thank you so much. the world-renowned spiritual teacher, deepak chopra hopes to change possibly your perceptions of islam. he'll be here with us this morning. he has a new book out called "muhammad: the story of the last prophet." the timeliness of this book, of its release, at least, no coincidence. deepak joining us this morning. good to have you, as always. thank you for being here. before we get to our conversation, the publisher of your book made what they called an unprecedented move to release your book early as an ebook and this is why they did it. they say, quote, the move comes in direct response to mainstream media and blog postings that have been eager to bring chopra and his portrayal of muhammad into the larger national conversation about the proposed mosque and islamic community center near ground zero in new

york city. so deepak, you tell me, what do you think this the book, your book can possibly lend to this national debate we seem to now be having about islam in america? >> t.j., the fact is that 65% of americans state that they know nothing about the prophet muhammad or about islam. 25% say they think that president barack obama is a muslim. with that kind of lack of awareness, it's no wonder that we give in to bias and emotional reactivity. the rational things go by the wayside. so it's -- i didn't plan to release the book right now. actually, it was part of a trilogy that i was doing, jesus and then buddha and now muhammad. but as you said, there are no coincidences. this seems to be a sink ronicity. there's a lot of conversation around the mosque. and i think there are a lot of creative solutions around the mosque. i was speaking with president clinton the other day at a

private function and he said, why not dedicate the islamic center to the victims of 9/11, including the 60 muslims who died. that would be a very creative solution. after all, the imam and his wife are committed to interfaith dialogue, and this would be the right thing to do right now. >> now, you say that's an idea a lot of people say might be a good one, but do you think given the climate. and you named a number. i think you said 65% in a poll you quoted there don't know anything about islam or muhammad, so given the ignorance to islam, if you will, that so many americans have, is -- can you expect them now to be so open and receptive to this, since they are -- they don't know a whole lot. >> t.j., we're having this conversation so we can enlarge the conversation. i mean, there's no excuse for lack of awareness. the only way you can be violent against someone, and this holds

true of the islamic extremists as well, you have to demonize somebody in your mind in order to kill them or to harm them. if you don't demonize them in your mind, it's impossible. human beings, by nature, are compassionate and kind. so we need to stop this demonization, on all sides, and the only way we can do it is by knowing the other person. and when we know the other person, we realize they're just like it. >> and there's no doubt, you say when people find out more, you say they don't know about islam, when they find out more, you think it's a no-brainer the conclusions they will come to and it will lead to more understanding and compassion, or you think it can backfire if people learn more about islam in any way? >> i think more awareness leads to a contextual understanding, so that even some of the things that with we have considered very dangerous in the past, we find creative solutions for those. you know, violence is not a

solution for violence. we know that. if the whole world believed that an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, in the words of ghandi, we'd all be blind and toothless by now. so there is always a creative solution for every problem and there's a creative solution for the mosque situation, the islamic center, with further interfaith dialogue, but i think that needs to be the emphasis. the emphasis needs to be also that this islamic center will dedicate itself to the memory and in honor of all the people who were victims of 9/11, including the 60 muslims. who can fight against that? >> deepak, do you -- and i didn't plan on spending so much time talking about the proposed islamic center there, but do you think -- since we're on the topic -- do you think the imam and others who are planning that islamic center and mosque have made some mistakes in that outreach? could they have done a better job with the community and

explaining to the american people when they're proposing to do there? >> yeah. yes. i think it could have been said better. but when you look at what they're doing and i've had them on my radio show, they are very much trying to reach people. and perhaps that has not been emphasized in the media as it should have been. because, you know, everybody lumps all muslims in one basket. if the ku klux klan are christians, that doesn't mean all christians are the ku klux klan. >> one more thing here to you, deepak. is there a risk for you, is there a risk involved in you writing this book, putting this book out at this time? >> well, i considered that. and some people have said that, yes, there is a risk. but i wrote the book with respect, with honesty, looking at the facts of history. beyond that, t.j., i can't control people's reaction. >> buddha, jesus, muhammad now.

do they have a whole lot more in common than they had differences? you've gone through three of these books now on these three individuals? do they have more in common than we ever realized? >> well, at least muhammad, gee s jesus, moses, they come what is called from abrahamic tradition. they have a common interest and they're called children of the book or people of the book. and they all resort or at least have their insights from the mystery of revelation. so here is muhammad in a cave. he doesn't know how to read or write, and suddenly the angel gabriel says to him, recite, in the name of the lord who made humans from drops of congealed blood, recite. if the name of the lord, the bountiful, the merciful, recite, by the pen, i dictate the truth to you, or words to that effect. this is the awe of revelation, which you find in the old testament, which you find in

christi christianity. they're all children of the book, i said, and the jews and the muslims are first cousins. it's a family feud. it's time to end the family feud. >> deepak chopra, always good to chat with you. thank you so much. good luck on this next book. it's called ""move", you can ge it electronic it. when i was seventeen, i was not good to my skin. long summer days, and not enough sleep. what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare, exclusive ion2 complex combined with activating cream helps restore collagen depleted skin. neutrogena clinical skincare is clinically tested to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks.

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hurricane igor has its sights set on bermuda. people there hoping the category 1 storm won't hit so hard. >> as the receding surf from the hurricane gets bigger and bigger, it is absolutely mad. >> the eye of the storm, about 200 miles south of bermuda right now. i have a meteorologist here. i don't know why i'm trying to give the weather report. but the hurricane center says the island already feeling some tropical storm force winds. it's also producing huge waves on the east coast, has top sustained winds of about 85 miles an hour. this is the interesting part you were saying earlier. even though it's huge, you hear category 1, so you assume it's going to be little, but that doesn't necessarily mean that. >> this one has been enormous. we look at it on the satellite imagery, and it looks like it's engulfed such a big portion of

the atlantic, at least the western atlantic. we've got a picture of it right there. it is a category 1 hurricane. we were looking at this, oh, a week or so ago, it was a category 4. it became category 3, and a 2 yesterday, and now it's 1. still reporting winds of about 85 miles an hour. right here is hammiltohamilton. that's bermuda. we're looking at this live weather imagery from weather.bm. they let us use this so we can show you what's going on. these are some of the outer bands moving across bermuda now. and we had a top wind gust, in the past hour or so, of just about 50 miles an hour. so this is really kind of kicking up a storm. and it's going to be fairly relentless, in that it's not going to give up very easily. already it's situated about 200 miles to the south of bermuda. and it's slowed down just a little bit. but we think that it's just kind of gearing up and may start to increase in intensity over the next 12 to 24 hours. when do we expect landfall?

well, the computer models right now are saying, maybe early monday morning, about 2:00 a.m. we think anywhere between the late hours of sunday, going into the early morning hours of monday. and that will be just about it. elsewhere across the u.s., temperatures mostly in the 90s. and t.j. i mentioned yesterday, officially, summer ends on wednesday. it can't come soon enough. these 90s should be out of here. >> well, on wednesday, i'll try to get a summer vacation in before then. thank you so much, as always. a quick break here.

president obama says his win in 2008 wasn't just about electing a black president.

the president told the congressional black caucus last night, they should rally constituents and remind them that more work must be done to move the country forward. the president also talked about his administration's accomplishment, including passing the health care and wall street reform bills, also ending the combat mission in iraq. he also took a swipe at republicans. >> they want to take us backwards, we want to move forward. their main strategy is they're betting you'll come down with a case of amnesia and you'll forget what happened between 2001 and 2009. what that agenda did to this country, when they were in charge. >> now the congressional black caucus is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that serves african-americans and underserved communities. the president spoke at their annual awards gala. and one of the biggest political battles the president is facing right now is about your money. tax cuts. president obama wants to roll back the tax cuts for wealthier

folks. how could all of this, though, affect you? josh, the debate seems to be over the wealthiest, but if they don't get this done, it's going to affect everybody. >> it's a debate inside his own party now as well, which is interesting coming off that clip we heard the president talk about republicans. and we have heard this a lot. the president saying he believes the bush-era tax cuts on couples making more than $250,000 should be rolled back and the republicans don't. but a lot of democrats are now disagreeing with him as well. just the other day, 33 house democrats called a sign letter calling on him to keep cuts for wealthier americans as well. it was penned by four of those house democrats. all of them signing on to that. and they have the support from others who say they feel the same way. gary peters joined us on "american morning" and here's what he said. >> folks in the higher income brackets account for a large percentage of consumer spending. 70% of the economy is consumer

spending. right now demand is still very soft on the consumer side. we want to make sure consumers are still out there spending, creating demand. >> what we're really seeing here is the battle the president has inside the democratic party as well as with a lot of republicans. and we want to boil all this down to how it might affect you. there's this cool tool, i'll show you in a second, called the tax calculator. we plugged in some information, we're using our friendly neighborhood avenatars here and i'll show you what could happen based on different scenarios of this debate on taxes. if we take a couple and put them right in the middle of the income in america, this is the middle, $57,000. if they're paying taxes now, around $3,400, and those current tax cuts were to expire, they'd be paying $2,000 more each year. that's a big chunk of change. it would be for you if you're in this income range. but no one wants to take away those tax cuts because they're down in the $57,000 rain. let's take a look at the wealthier americans, over $250,000. what might happen under

president obama's plan? we plug this in. if they are making about $396,000 now, paying taxes, about $102,000. you'd see those taxes go up about $6,000. and one thing we keep hearing, a big buzz word in this debate. millionai millionaires, that millionaires shouldn't be holding on to so much money at a time when the government is spending so much. if their income is $1.75 million, their taxes are up here, about $573,000. we found that their taxes would now go up $70,000. so $70,000 more in taxes. and that's where you get this debate. what you're looking at right now in the u.s. the idea whether it makes more sense to leave that money in private hands for investment, for spending, or to give it over to the government and maybe actually do something about the national debt or pay off some of the projects that are currently being not fully paid for. this is the idea right here. and you can check all this out at taxpolicycenter.org and see

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on tuesday, president obama will award the medal of honor to a man who died 42 years ago on a mountaintop in laos. for decades, even his own children didn't know about his heroism. now the whole world will. our jeanne meserve reports. >> reporter: air force chief master sergeant richard etchberger died in 1968. >> so this is where your grandfather's buried. >> reporter: cory etchberger was in third grade when he was told

his father had died in a helicopter accident in southeast asia. only at age 29 when the air force declassified his father's story did he learn the truth. >> i was stunned that, in fact, he wasn't killed in a helicopter accident. it was the first time i knew of anything of his heroic deeds. >> reporter: during the vietnam war, the u.s. military wasn't supposed to be in laos. it was a neutral country. so etchberger and others shed their uniforms and posed as civilians to run a super-secret radar installation on a laotian mountaintop. in 1967 and '68, lima guided bombing of vietnam. in march of '68, north vietnamese soldiers scaled the tall cliff and attacked. the technicians were attacked. etchberger picked up an m-16. >> it's foggy.

weapons are going off all around him. he's got these comrades next to him, two of whom are shot and killed and fall off the cliff in front of him, and yet he continues to defend his men, his people. >> reporter: one of them was stanley sliz. >> i got hit in both legs and everybody was screaming and hollering. but they weren't able to get close, because of etch, firing at them. >> reporter: john daniels still has the shrapnel wounds he fwgo that day. >> he was the only one that did not get injured in this firefight. they kept throwing grenades and shooting, and we would pick up hand grenades and throw them back at him or throw them over the side of the mountain. >> reporter: when an american helicopter came to rescue them, etchberger took enemy fire to get his teammates first. etchberger did not survive. as the chopper pulled away,

there was gunfire from the ground. >> etch had been sitting on the jump seat right above my head. that bullet went right through him, killed him instantly. i live it every day. i live it every day. it haunts me. >> reporter: etchberger was posthow maniously, secretly awarded the medal. since his story became public, his hometown of hamburg, pennsylvania, has erected a memorial. his name is displayed proudly on the town sign. by only now, 42 years after his death, will he get the military's highest award for bravery, a tribute many feel he is due. jeanne meserve, cnn, washington. well, she has made it home. freed american hiker sarah shourd touched down in dulles international airport outside d.c. a little more than two hours ago. she left oman yesterday. you've s