right. we're like 49th behind bosnia. the number one cause of death is -- >> larry: so happy, folks, we could make your night tonight. >> what? you asked me a question. >> larry: thanks, bill. >> pleasure. >> larry: bill maher. he returns with "real time with bill maher r" on hbo friday night. he'll be appearing for two nights in las vegas september 25th and 26th. this hour, everything you need to know for your week ahead including the man you just saw, bill maher, exposing the controversial past of a tea party darling and the new media darling of the tea party to cancel appearances. the head of the gay republicans here this hour. hurricane igor bearing down, thousands either fleeing or

bracing for the worst. it's a giant storm, and we're live in the middle of it in just moments. >> we begin in southern california where an overnight scare about a possible cult suicide turned out to be a false alarm. 13 salvadoran women and children who had been the subject of an intense manhunt were found today safe and unharmed. in fact, they were praying in a public part in palmdale unaware police were even looking for them. cnn's thelma guite reds has been sorting out the facts. thelma? >> reporter: don, the group of 13 including eight children and five adults were found right here at this park. they were signature on the grass in the midst of a prayer session. in fact, can you see their bibles just right over there. they were in the midst of praying, say authorities. completely unaware that there was a statewide manhunt out for them. it was officiated yesterday when two of the spouses went into the sheriff's station and said they were concerned about their wives

and children who had gone off with a charismatic person from their church and were going to the desert for a prayer session. they were concerned about their safety. >> i don't know if they were letters. they were written exclamations, if you will, proclamations, and the letters themselves could be interpreted in many ways. >> reporter: they doe weren't addressed to anyone. >> as far as i know. >> reporter: some of the language in it could be interpreted of saying good-bye to relatives but that's an interpretation. when you couple that with a missing person report and the concern and the fact that we can't find it, the fact that you can't call them, the fact that they are unaccounted for, and i said this earlier, and the sheriff's department believes this, as all law enforcement does, it's better to overreato underact. >> reporter: authorities took a 34-year-old woman in for questioning. they say that she eats leader of the prayer group. they say she appeared dazed and confused and will undergo psychological evaluation, but

they emphasize that she's not charged with a crime. no one, is because they say no crime has been committed. they found no drugs or weapons to suggest that anyone was in harm's way. don? >> we appreciate that. stories like this immediately trigger memories of jonestown, heaven's gate, the branch davidions, the mansion family and other notorious cults. my conversation with a cult expert mark galanter is coming up in just a bit on this show. back on american soil, after more than a year in an iranian prison sayro shourd is back in the u.s. following her release last week. shourd was let go after she reportedly found a lump in her breast, but now she says that doctors in oman told her she is physically well. shourd is one of three american hikers detained by iran after they allegedly crossed over the border from iraq in july of 2009. well, today she thanked iran for letting her go, but called on the country to release her fiance shane bauer and their friend josh fattal. shourd's arrival comes as

iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is visit being new york. he's in town for the united nations general assembly session that begins tomorrow. in an interview with abc, ahmadinejad talked about the relieves sarah shourd and said he'd like to see some resipcation from the u.s. >> translator: it's true that the islamic republic of iran took a humanitarian measure and released one of the three individuals who entered our borders, miss sarah shrewd. this was a huge humanitarian gesture. now you may be aware that eight iranians are illegally being detained in the united states, so i believe that it would not be misplaced to ask that the u.s. government should make a humanitarian gesture to release the iranians who were illegally arrested and detained here in

the united states. >> the hikers' families have asked for a meeting with ahmadinejad while he's in new york, but no word on whether it will happen. hear more from ahmadinejad this wednesday on "larry king live." the iranian president will be larry's guest at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. want to go now to the gulf of mexico. the all clear has been given on that busted bp well pipeline that caused so much drama, heartbreak and the death of 11 men, becoming the worst oil disaster in u.s. history. national incident commander thad allen declared the macondo oil well officially dead this morning. they bumped mud and cement into the line and passed all pressure tests. the line may be plugged but no doubt it will be years before people along the gulf fully recover. the alaska senator who lost her primary bid to keep her seat is now claiming to be the victim of a smear campaign. republican incumbent lisa murkowski is launching a write-in campaign after losing

to joe miller on tuesday. now she's accusing the tea party express, which backed her opponent, of dirty tricks in an interview with cnn's candy crowley on today's "state of the union." >> doesn't it look like sore loser to now launch this write-in campaign? >> what happened in my particular race, you had the tea party express, this california-based group, come in at the last minute in a campaign, run a -- a mud-slinging, smear, just a terrible, terrible campaign with lies and fabrications, mischaracterizati mischaracterization. they came in and dumped $600,000 into -- into a small market here in alaska and they absolutely clearly influenced the outcome of that election. >> well, the man who beat murkowski in the primary joe miller tells fox news somewhat that she's just not getting the message. >> she's not listening very well to the alaskan voters because this primary, we had the largest turnout of republican voters in the history of the state, and

they said resoundingly, well, 2,000 votes, those as resoundingly as it gets, that in fact the views that we eesks pressed during this campaign are the views that the future of the state needs to embrace, so i think that really she's just got a real disconnection from reality in thinking that the voters of alaska are extreme. >> more politics, a bizarre-at-admission from the newly minted republican nominee from delaware. tea party darling christine o'donnell in a 1990 clip from bill maher and abc's "politically incorrect." >> i dabbled into witchcraft, never joined a covent. >> you were a witch? >> i didn't join. let's get this straight >> you were a witch? how were you a witch? >> i dabbled in witchcraft and i hung around people who are doing these things. i'm not making this up. i know what they told me we would do.

one of my first dates -- >> wait, wait, wait. i want to hear about this. >> one of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar and i didn't know it. a little blood there. >> your first date was on a satanic altar. >> went to a move and had a little satanic -- >> bill maher showed that program on his new program ap l aprilhbo's realtime." o'donnell called off two appearances on talk shows today because her campaign says she had obligations in delaware. more political news to come. we're learning of infighting in the gop over plans by one of its leaders to attend a fund-raiser for gay and lesbian members of the party. we're talking live with the head of the log cabin republicans in just a minute and hurricane igor bearing down at this hour on bermuda. reynolds wolf joins us live from the center of the storm and jacqui jeras is in the hurricane

headquarters to tell us where it's all going. it's time for you to be part of the show. right now make sure you logon on to the special networking sites and send us a message and check out our blog at cnn.com/don. our points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel. we're like forget florida, we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it. sethasauraus. really. your points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel?

means better vacations. that's incredible. believe it...with chase sapphire preferred your points are worth 25% more on travel when booked through ultimate rewards. ♪ [ female announcer ] good friends never run out of things to talk about... and during endless shrimp at red lobster, you can keep the conversation going over endless servings of your favorite shrimp. from classics like garlic shrimp scampi and decadent shrimp pasta... to new creations, like crunchy parmesan shrimp. our best value of the year, endless reasons to get together. during endless shrimp, right now at red lobster. during endless shrimp, host: coulswinto geico did the little piggy cry wre on wee all the wahome? piggy: weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeee weeeeeeee.

mom: pix. ...maxwell! mom: you're home. piy:h,ol, anks mrs. a. anncr: geico. minutes could save you 15% or more. one tiny island. one giant hurricane. hurricane igor is pounding the tourist haven of bermuda right now with fierce winds and rains. jacqui jeras is tracking the storm at cnn's hurricane headquarters right here in atlanta. reynolds wolf braving igor at elbow beach in bermuda. let's start with you, reynolds. what's going on?

>> reporter: well, this is the worst we've seen so far. i hope the mike will pick it up. incredible wind gusts here over the past i'd say 20 to 30 minutes. center of circulation still pushing west of the island but there's still plenty of wind and very heavy rains and at times incredible surf. we're up on a bluff overlooking elbow beach. [ inaudible ] we'll show you the video and give you an idea of what we saw. as you can imagine, the conditions there were just as bad. very difficult trying to stand. it was just hard to believe, just out of the sheer force of the wind that's churning up the water. the wind and waves coming right up and going right up against the beach bluff itself. this is a scene that's been playing up and down these islands, what i can tell you is all 138 islands that consist of

bermuda, a third in size of washington, d.c., the effect has been detrimental. there's been widespread power outages, as you might imagine. people with that power, 21,000, roughly two-thirds of the population without power as we speak. there have been reports that the causeway that connects part of the island together closed. the airport closed. shelters, the few that have actually gone to the shelter, anywhere from 40 to 50 and actually much higher than the number of people who went to the shelters back in 2003 with hurricane fabian. again, the storm is going to pass to the west. that's the good news. the bad news is once it continues to travel farther to the north, it will [ inaudible ]

there's no doubt that the damage could be great before all is said and done. don, back to you. >> reynolds, hang on. back to you in just a bit. we'll see reynolds again. meantime, let's get to jacqui jeras at the center hurricane headquarters. jacque, he's getting really battered there. >> this has been going on for hours, like he mentioned. i think that igor has gotten as close as it's going to get to bermuda, and it's starting to actually pull away from the islands now. it's a category 1 storm. 75-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds, but we've been seeing those frequent hurricane force gusts now, and when it's so persistent for so long, you tend to have a little more damage. the eye of this hurricane is west of bermuda but the west of the hurricane force winds extend so far out from the center of the storm. that's what continues to lash this island. it's moving to the north, and it's going to hook to the right, and it is impacting the u.s. with these large swells and rip currents. we've been seeing them all

weekend long along the atlantic coast, and those will continue into tomorrow. now, we've got a couple of other big weather headlines to tell you about. these pictures coming in out of utah. this is outside of salt lake city. mandatory evacuations have been order now for the division in harriman, about 100 to 150 homes, people who live in them, have been told to evacuate because the smoke is so thick and this all got started through a military exercise. national guardsmen were using machine guns and, unfortunately, that sparked the fire. no structures have been burned so far, and then last but not least we want to tell you what's been going on in the state of texas. would you have thought this is a tropical system. an upper level disturbance bringing flooding rains and major flooding in corpus christi. record rainfall and within a 50-mile radius of this city. dozens and dozens of roads which are closed and many area schools have been closed for tomorrow as well. more rain in the forecast, at least through wednesday. we've got an update coming in from the national hurricane center before the top of the hour, don, an igor.

we'll tell you about that when that comes in. >> thank you very much. the new darling of the tea party movement and her past comments about witchcraft. the fallout from christine o'donnell's decade old remarks. we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪ i'm ahmed mady and i'm a homebuilder. my father brought me up to give back to society... felicia jackson promised her late sister that she would take care of her children. but she needed help. i used my american express open card to get half a million points to buy building materials to help build the jackson family a new home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt...

he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back.

>> it's time now for your cnn equals politics update. we're keeping an eye on the latest headlines on the intelligent.com political ticker as we start the new week. let's join our senior political editor mark preston from the best political team on television. mark, what's crossing right now? >> 44 days until election day and the white house is taking notice. expect to see president obama and vice president biden on the campaign trail. president obama heads to philadelphia as well as new york city to raise money for democratic candidates and democratic campaign committees. meanwhile, biden goes to massachusetts. he goes to ohio. he goes to maryland, and he closes the week in florida, raising money for the very crucial campaign dollars heading

into the mid-term elections. meanwhile, christine o'donnell, seems to be the republican, the politician that everyone is talking about right now. she is the come-from-behind kid, come out of nowhere kid. christine o'donnell beat the republican establishment candidate to win the primary in delaware, happens to be joe biden's seat. however, a lot of questionable things that come up about her past. some of the statements that she has made, including the fact that she dabbled a little bit in witchcraft. a lot of fighting right now. a lot of confusion within the republican party. what did she mean? christine o'donnell making headlines throughout this weekend and continues throughout the week. let's talk a little bit about the republican party right now, don. it's doing very well. expected to pick up at least 30 seats in the house, maybe take back control of that chamber and pick up several seats in the senate, but what about the direction of the party? we had social conservatives here this week for the values voter summit. they said that the republican party has to continue to talk about moral issues. meanwhile, the tea party express has found all of its success

talking about economic issues. so what is the direction of the party? a very important fund-raiser for the log cabin republicans this week, don, and they are going to have some big-name gopers there, including the head of the republican arm, john cornyn. tony perkins from the family research council asked cornyn not to attend that fund-raiser because the log cabin republicans is a gay advocacy organization. john cornyn said, you know what, i'm going to attend. yes, a lot of questions for the republican party, don, heading into the mid terms and beyond. >> great reporting on that log cabin republican dinner, mark, and i'm going to talk with the executive director of the log cabin republicans in just a moment here on cnn. you know i want to talk a little bit more about christine o'donnell. where does she go from here? can she win and does she threaten the republican efforts to retake the senate. >> i think the republican party would have had an uphill battle no matter what in gaining the ten seats they need to wrest control of the senate majority out of democratic hands. the fact is christine o'donnell

has helped to "nfl liveenliven party express even more. however, there's a lot of questions about her past and some of the statements she has made. i think her advisers have gotten to her and told christine o'donnell, do not continue to make statements. try to go out and talk to the base voters in delaware. that's the best way to win in november. it will be interesting to see, don, if christine o'donnell tends to go underground and only talks to voters in delaware over the next six weeks or so. >> and she cancelled all of her appearances object sunday talks, and i hear she's cancelling more of them and as you said they probably want her to talk to the people and not necessarily get on television and talk to the media. thank you very much, mark. >> thanks, don. >> and that's the cnn equals politics update. for the very latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. and we have more political news. an update to mark's report about top gop, a senator who plans to attend a fund-raiser for gay and lesbian members of the party. we're talking live with the head of the log cabin republicans,

and also tonight -- >> the city looked at gene, saw that he had two felony convictions in his past and said, therefore, you can't work for the city. it didn't care about his rehabilitation. >> transitioning from behind bars to behind a desk. taking steps to help unemployed men with a criminal past get a fair shot at a job. s. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. the smell of freshly juiced wheat grass and hand pressed shirts. whatever scents fill your household, purina tidy cats scoop helps neutralize odors in multiple cat homes.

purina tidy cats scoop. keep your home smelling like home. i'm ahmed mady and i'm a homebuilder. my father brought me up to give back to society... felicia jackson promised her late sister that she would take care of her children. but she needed help. i used my american express open card to get half a million points to buy building materials to help build the jackson family a new home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt... he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back. [ tires screech ] [ engine revving ] [ drums playing ] [ male announcer ] 306 horsepower. race-inspired paddle shifters. and f-sport-tuned suspension. all available on the new 2011 lexus is. it isn't real performance

unless it's wielded with precision. just look for a business with the superguarantee® shield. you'll get the job done right, or we'll help to make it right. protect yourself with the superguarantee® only at superpages.com®.

as you heard our mark preston talk about moments ago, a leading senate republican enters a new week at odds with social conservatives. texas senator john cornyn, who is leading the gop effort to take control of the senate, plans to attend wednesday's fund-raiser for gay and lesbian republicans. clark cooper is executive director of the log cabin republicans. clark, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, don. >> listen, conservative groups like family research council, they are asking cornyn to skip your dinner, and they are blasting your organization for leading the fight to repeal don't ask, don't tell in the military and opposing attempts to ban same-sex marriage. are your views at odds with the republican party? >> not at all. actually being conservative and being gay are not mutually exclusive, and we try to remember and try to remind our fellow republicans that the two basic core conservative tenets, or i would call them book ends for conservatives, are individual liberty and

individual responsibility. we're -- fill in those two book ends and you have positions like strong economy, free market economy, tax reform, strong national defense, a confident foreign policy and the list could go on, but the basic two tenets of individual liberty and individual responsibility, and that is conservative small "c" and that's what we're reminding our folks about. >> so that trumps gay marriage, and that also trumps don't ask, don't tell. you said those tenets that you talked about. >> that actually falls under that, so part of don't ask, don't tell repeal is allowing for open service so that all americans can serve their country the way i do and my fellow colleagues. many members of log cabin republicans, because we're strong and pro national defense, are serving our country. active reserve or national guard rolls. >> you understand though if many conservatives had it their way you would not be able to serve

in many members of the military, gay members of the military aren't able to serve because of the views of your party. >> well, that's not exactly accurate. we're trying to -- we're working with other members of the republican party to get the party back to basics. back in 2008, our party lost, and we lost big, and as we say in the military, there's a big aar, or after action review, and one of the things that was realized by republicans across the board regarding -- regardless of where they were on the political spectrum, was that part of how we lost was devisiveness and wedge issues. mostly focused on social issues, not completely. >> okay. >> and so looking forward where we're going to win is focusing on common points -- common points within the party, such as the economy. >> yeah. >> let's move on. i want to move on and talk about your dinner. we have a fund-raiser that's scheduled for next week which is one day after a key senate vote on repealing military's don't

ask, don't tell policy. here's how tony perkins of the family research council described your efforts to abolish don't ask, don't tell. how can a group that professes allegiance to the gop at the same time be committed to do judicial activism to advance its radical social policies even at the risk of undermining the u.s. military and as a result national security. are log cabin republicans undermining the u.s. military, as tony perkins claims? >> not at all. many have recognized, including on our side of the aisle, the current statute, the don't ask, don't tell statute, 10 us c654 is actually a threat to national security. folks are being asked to redact their parts of their lives. dod is the last national security agency not to have open service. the central intelligence agency, the federal bure oefrks investigation, the nsa, that whole alphabet soup agencies for national security have open service right now. dod is the last to have that, so it is preposterous to claim

for -- for anyone to claim to say that open service is a theat. it's actually reversed. having closed service or making it impossible for people to be honest about who they are is a risk for compromise of security and national intelligence. >> hey, clark, i've got to ask you this, because i want to get your feelings on it, and if you think it advances the log cabin republicans at all, former republican party charge ken melman recently acknowledged he is gay so what are your thoughts on his past role in the bush campaign and the policies that he promoted? >> right. well, ken has already said on record that he regrets those policies having been under his purview during that time and you're referring to the '04 cycle. he was in a different time and place. he was not out to himself per se. he was going through the coming out process, and so he is looking forward, as far as

helping advance more equitable party, a more inclusive party. again, focusing back on the core conservative tenets that are book ended by individual liberty and individual responsibility, and ken is committed to making sure that republicans are leaders in that, and we are. there are a number of republican past and current leaders who are working toward marriage equality, towards open service in the military and toward employment non-discrimination as well, and i'm happy to say -- >> clark, that will have to be your last thought. hate to cut of you off, but it's a very busy news evening. >> don't miss our dinner. sorry. >> don't miss our dinner, wednesday the 22nd. >> all eyes will be on that. >> yeah. >> and also what's coming up in the senate next week with that key vote on don't ask, don't tell. >> clowe tour vote. >> clark cooper, head of the log cabin republicans. have a good evening, sir. >> thank you. >> one day after referencing the

sexual abuse scandal plaguing catholic church, pope benedict references another controversial topic, nazi germany. first it was pakistan and now the monsoon season is proving deadly in another country. [ wind howling ] [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪

the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

announcer: there's an easier way. create your own business site with intuit websites. just choose a style, then customize, publish and get found. sweet. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com.

top stories right now on cnn. pope benedict xvi has wrapped up his historic visit to the uk. before leaving for rome today, the pontiff condemned the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests. he said the abusers had brought shame and humiliation on the church. the german-born pontiff also praised the british people for standing up to nazi germany during world war ii. in iraq, violence across the country today killed at least 36 people. more than 100 others were hurt. most of those casualties were from two massive car bombs in baghdad. another car bomb in fallujah killed five. no northern india, the annual monsoon season has proved deadly. authorities say at least 63 people have died in widespread flooding and landslides over the past two days. about 5,000 people have been evacuated from the hardest hit

areas. the worst may be yet to come though. more heavy rains have been forecast over the next 24 hours. housing prices, jobs and starbucks, signs the economy, well, may be on the rebound or headed in reverse. cnn's stephanie elam is getting down to business. >> reporter: we may be seeing signs of stability in the housing market. national home prices rose 3.6% over the past year. but some experts say that number was helped by the home buyer tax credit and could fall again soon. look for the latest housing numbers out on tuesday. well, lawmakers in washington work on fixing on the economy, new numbers suggest the healing could start right away in the nation's capital. the district of columbia gained almost 18,000 jobs last month, and employment is up 3% this year, outpacing every state in the nation. we'll find out more on unemployment this week. well, looking out for signs of economic recovery, a different kind of sign is causing a controversy.

starbucks newly designed thrive-through menu offers their 16-ounce grande and 20-ounce cups of coffee with no mention of the cheaper 12-ounce tall size for sale. logs are heating up saying the coffee giant is trying to trick customers into buying more, but starbucks says they are just trying to simplify business. that's this week's "getting down to business." stephanie elam, new york. >> all right, stephanie. police feared a mass suicide might be in the works that. turned out not to be the case, but it raises questions, i should say, about what exactly is cult-like behavior and when should we be alarmed about it. a cult expert joins me next. plus, hurricane igor is bearing down on bermuda, but the u.s. coast isn't off the hook yet.

♪ [ female announcer ] good friends never run out of things to talk about... and during endless shrimp at red lobster, you can keep the conversation going over endless servings of your favorite shrimp. from classics like garlic shrimp scampi and decadent shrimp pasta... to new creations, like crunchy parmesan shrimp.

our best value of the year, endless reasons to get together. during endless shrimp, right now at red lobster.

a group of salvadoran women and children were found safe and sound today in southern california after an overnight manhunt by police. authorities had feared that they were part of a cult and had planned to kill themselves. neither of those assumptions was correct. cult expert mark galanter is author of "cults, faith healing and coercion" and earlier i asked him whether authorities were right to be worried. >> yes, i think there was, and i

think we can underestimate how certain behaviors can evolve into very problematic actual outcomes, so although these women apparently were not doing anything harmful, the very fact that evidence was found in these pocketbooks that they were going to rejoin their dead relatives may well have meant that something more problematic was in the back minds of their leader, at least. >> so you think -- do you think we're going to see something more coming out of this story? might investigators or authorities there in the california area be looking into this particular group more? >> well, i think now that they have gotten this much publicity much to their surprise they may be very cautious, but i think there are groups like this all around in many respects. they come to different conclusions. most of them are relatively benign, but it's very hard to

predict hour a given group will unfold and what will transpire with them. >> mr. galanter, how do we know that, you know, something is in fact a cult or not? some people would say that there are religious groups, and very popular religious groups, which we don't have to name, that they have cult -- they have cult-like parts to their organizations as well, so how do we know exactly what a cult is? >> yeah. well, i labeled my book cults because i thought it was something that is understandable to most people, but actually the more appropriate term that's used in the book is a charismatic group which is a group that sees itself as transcendent in some way, that's highly cohesive, everybody supports each other, that has shared beliefs that can be either positive or can be problematic, and they vary so much that there are some that

historically have been actually and clearly very dangerous. >> well, we've talked about -- we know some of the ones, the heaven's gate, jim jones, all those sorts of cults, but one -- you wonder what makes people become susceptible to these sorts of cults when there are other groups or religious groups that aren't considered cults where they can join and that have transcendent qualities but don't quite live up to being a cult. >> they usually get involved with some charismatic person, some person that maintains that they have some contact with the -- with the divine, some special message, and then it plays into the psychological needs of people who may be depressed, who may be displaced, troubled over some personal matters, and then as they

support each other they become involved in the beliefs of the group, and once they do, they will comply with whatever the group leader feels is most important, and that could be positive, but it could also be negative. >> mark galanter. what if a criminal past could become a thing of the past? >> it's giving people a fair shot to compete for jobs where they are qualified. >> some states are taking steps to remove criminal history questions from job applications, and not everyone is happy about it. that story is next. plus, fall is here. one of my favorite times of the year. the leaves are changing. the weather is cooling and, oh, oktoberfest starting early. my mom, my business partner,

that's my wife... look, you've got people. chances are, state farm has them too. see, state farm insures more drivers than geico and progressive combined. 40 million drivers, more savings and discounts of up to 40%. so talk to your neighbors. then call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. [ jeff ] my wife called again, then there's my neighbor. [ cellphone rings ] hold on. it's my daughter. hey, schmoopie woopie! [ laughing ] hey, schmoopie woo...pie.

[ boy humming ] ♪ [ humming ] ♪ [ humming ] ♪ [ female announcer ] the simple joy of a happy meal. [ boy ] ♪ ba da ba ba ba

it's time now for what we call the week ahead whip. from washington to hollywood, these are big stories coming up to mark on your calendar. let's begin with the white house. >> reporter: i'm ed henry at the white house where the president will be working on politics and foreign policy this week. monday he's in philadelphia raising money for senate democratic candidate joe sestak whom the white house originally opposed and then it's on to new york for the general assembly meeting where they will be working to contain iran's nuclear program and trying to make progress on israeli/palestinian peace. >> reporter: i'm dana bash in washington where congress returns this week for more of their brief session during this campaign season, and in the senate look for a big vote on tuesday. democratic leaders will try to start debate on a defense bill,

which among other things, authorizes the pentagon to repeal its controversial don't ask, don't tell policy on gays. republicans are trying to block the legislation for several reasons. they are accusing democrats of holding purely political votes to apiece key constituencies that have been frustrated with democrats in action. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. coming this up week on wall street, critical news for the housing market, but first all eyes will be on the federal reserve when central bankers announce their decision on interest rates on tuesday afternoon. it's expected the fed will keep those rates near zero, but the language in the report will be dissected on wall street, and then we'll get the latest new and existing home sales reports this week. investors hoping for any upbeat news from the battered housing sector, and finally there's a hearing slated on friday on citigroup's proposed $75 million settlement with the s.e.c. over its subprime mortgage holdings. we'll follow it all for you on cnn money. >> i'm a.j. hammer. we're expecting big reality news breaking this week. monday we'll find out whether

sarah palin's daughter palin bristol has got what it takes on "dancing with the stars" when the she's new season premiers. and this week, we expect to learn officially once and for all who is going to be replacing simon cowell and ellen degeneres on "american idol." "showbiz tonight" is live at 5:00 p.m. eastern on hlm, and we're still tv's most provocative entertainment news and tv show at 5:00 and 11:00 p.m. pacific. >> now becoming smart about what's happening internationally. it's happening here in the u.s., the u.n. general assembly and of course ahmadinejad causing some controversy there. >> as always. >> yeah. >> the u.n. general assembly is going to meet this week and flocks of world leaders will be there and the focus of this world meeting will be on poverty and health and education of developing countries. now, world leaders will take the podium thursday, and we can expect ahmadinejad to be making some comments that we will be watching closely. >> okay. we'll get you to hold that. having a little bit of trouble

hearing you here. let's go to munich and talk about oktoberfest coming up. >> oktoberfest, the legendary beer festival kicks off its 200-year an versery, and what we're going to expect is the mayor of munich, this is on tuesday, at noon. he'll tap the first keg of beer and for almost a little over two weeks people will be out in the streets drinking, and we can expect over 6 million people to attend this event globally. >> all right. thank you very much. that is going to be the last one, but we also want to tell our viewers to pay close attention because on sunday venezuela, election. we appreciate you joining us every sunday. have a great week, okay? >> you, too, thanks. black men make up 44% of the nation's prison population. they also struggle with a 16.7% unemployment rate. now, some cities and states are trying to decrease those percentages by helping unemployed ex-cons get a fair shot at a job. cnn's stephanie elam explains.

>> here's a basketball. >> reporter: gene mayes knows all too well what a criminal record can do to a job search. once the top of his class in high school he dropped out of college and began selling coke to support his habit. >> once i started doing cocaine, it just shot straight to the top as far as my priority list. >> reporter: in 1989, he went to jail for drug trafficking. he served his time, paid his dues. >> it's october 7th, 1997, and that's the day that i got clean. name and -- >> reporter: flash forward a decade, mays, now married and a father, was studying to become an electrician to better provide for his family. >> did i something that they said had never been done, and that was got 100 oneach one of the 12 tests during my first year. >> reporter: despite this, the city of cincinnati revoked its electrician job offer. david singleton is may's lawyer. >> the city looked at gene, saw

that he had two felony convictions in his past and said, therefore, you can't work for the city. it didn't care about his rehabilitation. it didn't care that he was ranked number one in his class each the five years of the electricians' training program. >> reporter: singleton successfully fought to get cincinnatti to ban the box, removing the criminal history question from its job applications. employers are still free to ask the question later in the hiring process. the point is to give ex-offenders a chance at an interview. >> it's not felon first employment program. what it is it's giving people a fair shot to compete for jobs where they are qualified. >> reporter: so this box issue, is it more of an issue for people of color, for black men? >> statistics bear out that if you're a person of color, you're more likely to be the focus of the police. you're more likely to wind up in the criminal justice system. >> reporter: this summer connecticut joined minnesota and new mexico in banning the box on state job applications.

while massachusetts and hawaii ban all employers from using the box. massachusetts state representative james micel li is against softening these laws. >> i want to give everyone access to all of the information regarding someone's criminal record that they can get. why not disclose everything up front? >> fighting a financial crisis from the pulpit. the black church has fought for civil and human rights and now it's waging a war on debt. almighty debt. a black in america special coming thursday, october 21st, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. hurricane igor taking aim at bermuda. right now a new advisory on its strength and where it's going just issued by the national hurricane center. meteorologist jacqui jeras updates us after a quick break. [ drums playing ] [ male announcer ] 306 horsepower.

race-inspired paddle shifters. and f-sport-tuned suspension. all available on the new 2011 lexus is. it isn't real performance unless it's wielded with precision. it isn't real performance logistics makes the world work better. ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ carbon footprint reduced, bottom line gets a boost ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ with new ways to compete ♪ there'll be cheers on wall street, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when technology knows ♪ right where everything goes, that's logistics ♪

♪ bells will ring, ring a ding ♪ ♪ ring a ding, ring a ding, that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea. just one bite ope ♪ dreams of land meet sea, deliciously ♪ ♪ friskies surfin' and turfin' faris.♪ ♪ feed the senses.

as promised, going to get you caught up on hurricane igor. the huge storm is battering bermuda. much of the island has no power, and the capital looks like a ghost town right now. jacqui jeras tracking igor at cnn headquarters and reynolds wolf getting drenched at elbow beach in bermuda. let's go to reynolds first.

reynolds? >> reporter: well, don, the latest we've got is basically more of the same. gusts coming in that have been very strong. i've got to tell you when it comes to the storm, although it is a category 1, israel it's going to be in a dying state over the next 12 to 24 hours, the biggest danger for this region has not been just that the strength of the winds but rather the direction of the storm, how long it's been coming, how long is the island been subjected to hurricane gusts and tropical storm force winds. and the problem is it's not going to just fade as the storm passes north, but rather it's going to continue. some of the tropical force some winds, we could see further power outages as we make our way into monday, perhaps even into tuesday, and i'll tell you. last time when this -- when an event like this occurred back in 2003, with that hurricane i've got to tell you with fabian, it took some parts of the islands three weeks before power was fully restored. going to take a long time before we see the full applications

what have this storm means for the people of bermuda. back to you, don. >> thanks very much. a new advisory on igor is just in from the national hurricane center. going to get to meteorologist jacqui jeras at the cnn hurricane headquarters. jacqui. >> just combine it all. question to have an update from the national hurricane center. we told you that we thought igor was as close as it would get to bermuda. the nhc is confirming that. it's 40 miles to the west of the main island there. still packing winds at 75 miles per hour. maximum sustained, so that's a category 1 storm, and we just got an observation off the island as well that the winds are gusting at 93 miles per hour, so that certainly can cause some damage. the forecast track is unchanged. it started now that northeasterly turn, so we'll watch it start to pull northeast away and eventually becoming extra tropical. hurricane force conditions expected here into early tomorrow morning for several hours, and then we'll start to