garage to change in his car and come out dressed in his tighty whiteys is hanging up his briefs, at least while campaigning. vote for the naked cowboy. >> for a real change. >> reporter: of underwear. ♪ coming to a town near you >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> don't touch the squishy parts. >> reporter: new york. >> oh, my lord. i never thought we would see jeanne moos in briefs, were they boxers or boxer/briefs? >> those were boxer/briefs. i don't care to know boxer/briefs really on anyone. >> just the naked cowboy saying "squishy" grossed me out. have a great weekend. >> always fun with you, kyra phillips a great weekend as well. live from cnn headquarters in atlanta, the big stories for friday, october 1stship. a very big one. the president's chief of staff is heading for the exit this hour. his expected replacesome described as rahm's polar opposite, the anti-rahm. they call it citizen journalism.

young conservatives, they target liberal politicians with ambush interviews. they say they are doing the job the mainstream media won't. and a middle schooler gets teased about his weight, so a family gives, a you know, menu a makeover. >> felt great. made me happy. i achieved my goal. >> we have been doing it all week, wrapping up our week-long series, eat to be transky si. i'm don lemon. tony harvis off today. those stories and your comments right now in the ynn newsroom. want to get you live to washington, straight away, a live look now at the east room in the white house. you see everyone is gathering there because president obama plans a rather grand sendoff for his chief of staff. we are talking about none other than rahm emanuel. emmanuel is going home to chicago. we are told to run for mayor. he says it is the only other job he would ever want and he plans to do that you can see them gathering there we are going to follow that the announcement

unfolds live in the cnn newsroom in a few minutes. you won't miss any of it. right now, watches from the carolinas to maine. north carolina is hardest hit. four people drowned in a weather-related vehicle accident there entire neighborhoods under water. and dozens of people are in temporary shelters right now. the city of wilmington has been inundated with 22 inches of rain and in carolina beach, a lake overflowed, flooding downtown. >> i used to live in houston and i thought i'd seen a lot of rain there but this is incredible. i've never seen flooding like this. >> i'm on the third floor, so i think i'm okay, i just got to get food for my kids. >> i got in my car to go to the store and i got half block and the road was flooded. going to go get a soda. so, i got my kayak out. >> go right now to cnn's severe weather center and rob marciano joining us. inundated is a good word. >> widespread, don, the big

thing. so many people affected by this situation and as we mentioned, wilmington, that has been a week-long event. you go up the roads here, hampton roads, eastern pennsylvania, norfolk, seeing almost a food of rain yesterday, plus they had wind, trees down in williamsburg, six inches in baltimore, seven inches in alan town, now the rain moves on. other interesting records of note, four inches in binghamton, new york, very far inland, far to the north. the most rain they have had ton on that day. the wettest day ever. about the more, maryland, wettest shept day ever, six inches, syracuse, the wettest september day also, very far away from the coastline, the tropical system merging with a midlatitude system and interesting weather across a wide variety of places, to say the least. as far as where the rainfall is now, moving across parts of the east coast. with that, we are looking at some travel delays. actually, if you can give me the radar on gustav that would be

sweet. laguardia, 3 hours and 20 minutes, yeah, traveling in and out of that area, going to be a problem. 1:15 now at jfk and teeter borrow tops to have some delays. here is the the radar. and look at this just in the past couple of hours, we are seeing a little bit of a wave develop right in through here and so the rains have been slow to move out of new york but they will do so, starting to get some dry air in through philadelphia, phone lit rain after a rough day yesterday in d.c., beginning to dry out. the heaviest amounts of rape, going to cause some flooding across eastern and northern new england but not only rainfall, a tremendous amount of wind with this system i think as it cranks up across eastern new england. 50 to 60-mile-an-hour wind gust, eastern long island, connecticut, rode island and massachusetts, including boston. so this system is not done yet, don, but it does -- there is light at the end of the tunnel. hope to talk about that later in the hour. >> talk more about it, rob, our i reporters are out there and they are sending us images from flood zones. these photos from ireporter, this is from vickcy soma,

elizabeth city, north carolina, she says her home is near a river so the neighborhood usually floods, but not to this extent. another ireporter from cnn ireporter corey adams from end cot, new york, he says heavy rain dumped four to five inches of water on his street, causing a river to form in front of his home. we are going to check other top stories of the day now. more than 1200 people who worked for nasa are being laid off today. many of them have worked on the shuttle program for almost 30 years. the program comes to an end next june. militants hit nato supply flux southern pakistan. some two dozen fuel tankers headed to afghanistan got torched at a truck stop. militants often attack nato convoys in northwestern pakistan in the tribal areas. supply truck notice south, which is considered safer, usually don't have pakistani security forces with them. a new audio message to muslims. if authentic it is the first we have heard from osama bin laden

since march. the speaker on the 11-minute recording urges muslims to help pakistan's flood victims. the message is posted on islamic websites often used by al qaeda. it doesn't contain the usual anti-american rhetoric and threats though. south american leaders are today condemning what they call an attempted coup. the president of ecuador had to be rescued by his country's troops yesterday. they thought police officers who were protest a new law, they claim, would take away their bonus and reduce their compensation. president raf yale corera went to the protest to tuck to the police but he says officers kidnapped him and tried to suffocate him. he is thanking his bodyguards for saving him and pledging to stick with reform. >> translator: we knew these risks that we would face when we said that we were going to change our country and if those risks mean losing my life for my country, so be it. i wouldn't say i would happily give my life. we all fear death. but i would be willing to make the sacrifice if it means having

the kind of country we all want. >> and those are your other big stories. right now this is a very big story, we say cnn equals politics. the setting, of course, the white house and the east room. the president's chief of staff leaving washington to run for mayor of his home city, chicago. senior white house correspondent ed henry is in chicago, rahm emanuel's kind of town. ed henry? >> don it is interesting. as you know the, a lot of anticipation about this. we have known for days this rahm emanuel is likely to leave his post as white house chief of staff, come here to chicago to run for mayor. two big stories out of it here on the ground here in chicago, i can tell you, you know chicago politics as well or better than anyone, this is not going to be a slam dunk for rahm emanuel. interesting that he is the top dog right now at the white house but there are already, as you know, about ten candidates who have jumped in to the mayor's race. the election is going to be on february 22nd, sort of a narrow amount of time here to build

support. there is about a dozen more people weighing bids, maybe going to jump in as well. rahm emanuel hoping that with the money he has got in the bank, $1 million left over from when he was a congressman, his house campaign account, he can use now the contacts, the power thank he is, he can win this it is not going to be a slamdunk there is going to be a lot of work he needs to do in washington, he is going to be passing the tore so much pete rouse, who is sort of a real sharp contrast to rahm emanuel, who is this hard-charging, gruff fast-talking sometimes profane staffer, very powerful. pete rouse has the same amount of power but is low key, self-efacing, doesn't bring a lot of attention to himself, really the an test cis to rahm emanuel. you talk to senior democrats back in washington, you think, look, rahm emanuel's hard-charging style is just what the president needed in the first two years of his administration, with the financial crisis and all these problems coming at him so fast

and furious, now in the next few months shall at least it san interim appointment, although pete rouse could get it long term they still sorting that out, that maybe pete rouse's self-efacing style will work well for the president coming out of these midterm elections where it is expected he will be dealing with either a republican congress or a severely weakened democratic congress, he may need someone a little less aggressive. maybe be that can reach across the aisle and work the back rooms of the senate. pete rouse was senate chief of staff for barack obama when he was in the senate and before that really cut his teeth as a chief of staff to then-senate majority leader tom daschle, where he was known as the 101st senator because he had so much influence behind-the-scenes. it interesting to see how this plays out, don. it will be. rahm emanuel was my congressman, fifth district, when i lived in chicago. chicago, ed, as you know, very insular. the new york times did a big thing today on why he might win, why he might not win, white house, question mark, but it is the big league's now, rahm. you know, chicago -- changes look at their politicians as if

it is really the country because they are the biggest city in the midwest, so, it really sort of revolves around them, everything outside of the east coast. >> absolutely. you look at the newspaper, the "chicago tribune" this morning, when i woke up at the hotel, you know, it was not rahm emanuel on the front page, the felt attorney generalize expected, it was governor quinn in that race and a little thing over here, rahm will leave white house, see page 8. you are right. i mean, there is a lot of people jockeying for mayor. i think that tells a story, in part. rahm emanuel, sure, top dog at the white house but as you know better than anyone, it doesn't guarantee that he is going to win this. he has got to do a lot. there is going to be african-american candidate, maybe some hispanic candidates getting in here. as you noted, chicago politics can break down along ethnic lines and rahm emanuel is going to have to navigate that and some of the battles that he had back in the white house over health care may be child's play compared to what he is going to do here. and one quick note that sort of hard-charging style, one of the legendary stories about rahm emanuel is he sent a dead fish

years ago to one of his political opponents here in chicago. my colleague, dan lothian, just sent this in, posted on cn inch.com, austan goolsbee, also worked with barack obama back here in chicago, now at the white house, a top economic adviser, presented this big going away gift at the white house, looked very formal, rahm emanuel toned up and it was a dead fish. so his colleagues playing a little bit of a practical joke on rahm emanuel, maybe having a little fun at his expense, making light of the fact this is someone who has been seen as very ruthless, very tough and aggressive there in washington. now going to have to bring that style to chicago and as you noted, some people like that. i talked to people outside city hall, one woman put it chicago mare, sometimes you need to be nice, sometimes you need to be not so nice, don. >> i heard one of the pundits this morning saying you can't make it in washington, you can make it in chicago. we will see. ed henry, stand by, we are waiting for president obama to arrive in the east room of the white house at any time right now.

those are live pictures, they are gathering there. he has really got a big staff change to announce here, live coverage here in the newsroom. don't go anywhere, right after this. well you could never do this before. or this. or this. you definitely couldn't do this. play kate's mix. or this. temperature, 72 degrees. say hello to the new edge with myford touch.™ quite possibly the world's smartest crossover. [ male announcer ] nature is unique... ...authentic... ...pure... and also delicious. ♪ like nature valley. granola bars made with crunchy oats and pure honey. because natural is not only good, it also tastes good. nature valley -- 100% natural.

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we are well aware of what is going on at the white house. we got the two-minute warning, you respect going to misit rkge in. they are the new generation of political activists, they are young and conservative. they are using social media to get their message out. more than six months, cnn followed a group of rising stars in the conservative movement. our special investigations unit correspondent abbie boudreau is here to talk about her upcoming documentary "right on the edge" it is called. quite the buzz on this project online. one person you followed is 27-year-old jason. >> he is an author of a best-selling book called "obama zombies." best known for videotaping ambushes with liberal politician and posting them on youtube. he told us he has no problem confronting the left. really citizen journalists fed up with the direction of the country and they are going out

there and doing something about it. >> mr. rangel, jason metra. i'm from brooklyn new york. i love buttering them up. >> what are you doing in brooklyn? >> you are a young kid, a young lefty, a fan of his, once they are buttered up, you just go in for the kill. why the hell do you drive a taxpayer-subsidized cadillac, use four rent-controlled apartments and failure to pay tax on rental properties. you writ tax code. i'm serious why are you such a disgrace? >> in the crowd? it is an adrenaline rush when do you it. i knew i caught him. >> do you think you cross a line of just being disrespectful? >> i'm fine disrespecting the left, honestly. >> reporter: jason's confrontation with congressman rangel was shot more than a year ago, before the mainstream media was covering the story. some of the issues jason grills him on would become the subject of an ethics committee

investigation, a full-blown washington scandal. >> so here is a question, how far are these young activists following go with this? >> we talked to so many young conservatives for this documentary, we learn there had are few rules and few bound there is some of these activists live by. what we heard over and over was truth at all cost and that's what you will see in the documentary. >> all right. very interesting. the documentary coming up saturday and sunday, right here on cnn at 8 -- >> 8 and 11. >> 8 and 1 1 eastern, called "right on the edge" by our special investigations correspondent, abbie boudreau, very interesting. all right. here we go the president expected in the east room at any moment now to talk about some big staff changes at the white house. he is expected to talk about his now present chief of staff, which is going to be his chief of staff very soon. believe he is leaving to go to chicago to run for mayor there. we are talking about rahm emanuel. rahm emanuel says it is the only other job that he would ever

want. we are following this. you are not going to miss any of it. we are back in a moment here on cnn. those details coming up after the break. ♪ check your email messages ♪ check the money in the bank ♪ check the gas in the tank ♪ check the flava from your shirt ♪ ♪ make sure your pits don't stank ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo, check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ free-credit-score ♪ you won't regret it at all! ♪ check the legal y'all. >>offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.®

♪ 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 ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ running a little bit late at the white house. get pictures of the east room, where the president is expected to make an announcement there it is behind me, any moment now about rahm emanuel. get newsed to this name, pete rouse. pete route. you can exchange that for rahm emanuel in the next couple of hours. we are standing by for that announcement. meantime, i think we have

time for top stories now, catch you up. ecuad ecuador's president is safe today after soldiers rescued him fromming an angry police mob. the officers pinned the hospital down at a hospital for ten hours. they are furious about benefit cuts. the president got tear gassed and roughed up but otherwise okay j crews in chile tested a rescue cap schull for 39 trapped miners and it worked perfectly. they are using three drills to reach the men. the miners have been trapped since early august. can you imagine? leftovers from tropical storm nicole are drenching new york and new england today. the blustery weather system caused widespread flooding from the carolinas to new jersey. wilmington north carolina has had 22 inches of rain this week. you know, 40% of food we produce in this country is simply thrown away when so many need it we will talk to the author of "american wasteland" abouting what he do to stop the waste and we are going to get you to the white house after the break. was gathered together in one place.

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perfect timing here. get doubt white house in the east room. you see the president of the united states making his way to the podium. let's listen in, everyone. >> thank you. thanks, everybody. thank you. [ applause [ applause ] everybody take a seat. that's not for me.

all right. good morning, everybody. good morning, everybody. and welcome to the least suspenseful announcement of all time. [ laughter ] as almost all of you have reported, my chief of staff, rahm emanuel, has informed me that he will be leaving his post today to explore other opportunities. this is a bitter sweet day here at the white house. on the one happened, we are all very excited for rahm as he takes on a new challenge, for which ex-extraordinarily well qualified. but we are also losing incomparable leader of our staff and one who we are going to miss very much.

when i first started assembling this administration, i knew we were about to face some of the most difficult years in country has seen in generations. the challenges were big and the margin for error was small. two wars, the economy on the brink of collapse, tough choices about issues we had put off for decades, choices about health care and energy and education and how to rebuild a middle class that had been struggling for far too long. and i knew that i needed somebody at my side who i could count on day and night to help get the job done. in my mind, there was no candidate for the job of chief of staff who would meet the bill as well as rahm emanuel and that's yes told him he had no choice in the matter. he was not allowed to say no. it wasn't just rahm's broad array of experiences in congress and in the white house, in

politics and in business, it is also the fact that he just brings an unmatched level of energy and enthusiasm and commitment to every single thing that he does. this was a great sacrifice for rahm, amy and fat limb to move out here. rahm gave up a position on capitol hill to do this and in the past 20 months, rahm has exceeded all of my expectations it is fair to say that we could not have accomplished what we have accomplished without rahm's leadership. from preventing a second depression to passing historic health care and financial reform legislation to restoring america's leadership in the world.

for the past two years, i have begun my work day with rahm. i have ended my work day with rachlt much to amy's chagrin, i have intruded on any day, any day of the week with just enormous challenges. his advice has always been candid. his opinions have always been insightful. his commitment to his job has always been heart felt, borne of a passion to move this country forward and lift up the lives of the middle class and people struggling to get there he has been a great friend of mine and will continue to be a great friend of mine. he has been a selfless public servant. he has been an outstanding chief of staff. i will miss him dearly as will members of my staff and cabinet which he has work sod closely and so well. now, i don't think anybody would disagree that rahm is one-of-a-kind. i am very fortunate to be able to hand the baton to my wise,

skillful and long-time counselor, pete rouse. pete, who has more than 30 years of experience in public service will serve as interim chief of staff as we enter the next phase of our administration. many of you remember pete as the then-aide to tom daschle. he was known as the 101st senator. from the moment i became a u.s. seine to he has been my closest and central advisers. he was my chief of staff in the senate. he helped orchestrate and advise my presidential campaign. he has served as one of my senior advisers here at the white house. in that role, he has taken on a legislative challenge with clarity and common purpose. there is a saying around the white house, let's let pete fix

it and he does. pete is known as a skillful problem solver and the good news for him is that we have plenty of problems to solve. so, i amex record to nea extrao to him to serve as interim chief of staff and look forward to working with him in this new role. obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. i mentioned, for example, this is a couple of years ago, i pointed out that rahm, when he was a kid, had lost part of his finger in an accident and it was his middle finger, so it rendered him mute for a while. pete has never seen a microphone or a tv camera that he likes.

[ laughter ] and yet, there's something in common here. you know, as president of the united states, you get both the credit and the blame for what happens around here and the blame is usually deserved, or at least i happily accept it because that comes with the territory, but the credit really goes to the men and women who work in this building. it goes to people like rahm and pete and the hundreds of others who are here today, who sometimes get some attention and sometimes don't, but these are folks who give up incredibly lucrative opportunities, sacrifice enormous ly and their families sacrifice enormously

and they come here every day to do the best possible job on behalf of the american people and oftentimes, they don't get the thanks that they deserve. so as your president, and as a fellow american, i want to take this moment to say to all the staff, all the cabinet members, how proud i am of you and how grateful i am of you. and how particularly proud and grateful i am to my outgoing chief of staff, rahm emanuel. [ applause ]

>> thank you. slightly different reception than i got at my bar mitzvah, but i appreciate it. thank you, mr. president, for those generous words but more importantly, thanks for your warm friendship, your confidence and the opportunity to serve you and our country in such consequential times. needless to say, this is a bittersweet day for me, too. on the one hand, i'm excited to be heading home to chicago, which, as you know very well, mr. president, is the greatest city in the greatest country in the world. i'm energized by the prospect of new challenges and eeker to see what i can do to make our hometown even greater. these are unprecedented and great times in chicago, mr. president. the chicago brariears are 3-0.

i'm also sad to leave you, the vice president, terrific colleagues and friends in the cabinet and friends on pennsylvania avenue with whom i have worked as a chief of staff and a member of congress i watched you confront some of the toughest challenges of our time. you have done it with unfailing grace, intelligence and courage. you have the tough -- the guts to make the tough calls that stopped the freefall and saved our country from a second great depression. you have taken on some of the most powerful interests in this town to stand up for the american people. and you have been willing to challenge the worn out ideas and the stale thinking that often stands in the way of progress. mr. president, i thought i was tough. but as someone who saw firsthand how close our nation came to the

brink and what you had to do to put america back on track, i want to thank you for being the toughest leader any country could ask for in the toughest times any president has ever faced. [ applause ] and even on the hardest days, you never lost focus on why we are here, not just to score political points but to solve problems. not just to win the next election, but to make a difference for the next generation. i have served you, mr. president, as a member of your staff, but i also observed you as a friend. i have seen what few are privileged to see. the father whose heart breaks when he writes a letter to parents whose son or daughter

has been lost on the field of honor, the man, quiet, committed faith who always appeals to the better angels of our nature and the proud product of the american dream, who sees in the reams of economic statistics the child who struggles and the single parent with limited income but unlimited potential. you have lived that american dream, mr. president, as have i. my father, my grandfather came to this country for opportunity. they came here for a better life for their children. my mother marched with martin luther can king because she believed that none of us is truly free until all of us are. both my parents raised me to

give something back to the country and the community that has given us so much. and i want to thank you for the opportunity to repay in a small portion of the blessings this country has given my family. i give you my word that even as i leave the white house, i will never leave that spirit of service behind. [ applause ] now because my temperament is sometimes a bit different than yours, mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues for your patience the last two years that you have shown. i'm sure you've learned some words that you've never heard before and in any -- in an

asortment of combination of words. what we learned together was what a group of tireless, talented, committed people can can achieve together. and as difficult as it is to leave, i do so with the great comfort of knowing that pete rouse will be there to lead the operation forward. from the moment i arrived ant moment he arrived, pete has been a good friend with great judgment. he commands the respect of everyone in this building and brings decades of experience to this assignment. finally, i want to thank my wife amy and our three remarkable children, zack, lana and leia, without whose love and support, none of this would have been possible. i hope to end this soon so they can all get back to school today and finish their exams. mr. president, thank you. and thank you all. i look forward to seeing you in chicago. [ applause ]

>> very poignant moment from rahm emanuel, i guess we can say now the former chief of staff to president barack obama, the president there flanked by his new chef of staff pete rouse and then rahm emanuel, his outgoing chief of staff. i want to bring in ed henry who is our senior white house correspondent. ed, it is very interesting to see this side of rahm emanuel. and you heard the president say, you know, these two men have two different styles here. i'm wondering, as i'm listening

to all of this is this a new day, maybe, a new approach by the white house? rahm emanuel mentioned the accomplishments, why he worked with the president, what they have accomplished the past year. i wonder if they will take it down a notch when it comes to the president, at least what his mission is between lawmakers at least? >> i think there will be a shift and part of it is not just personnel, sort of the nature of the times. you heard both the president and rahm emanuel talk about the first 100 days, at the beginning of their time together and sort of the nature of the problems coming at them fast and furious, trying to prevent a second great depression. there were decisions that had to be made quickly. there were a lot of critics in their our party saying they were taking on too much, too much on the plight for any one administration to handle. in fact that is being debated out in the midterm elections right now as we speak, as to whether or not the president bit off more than he could chew with health care reform, for example. and i think in the next two

years, you're certainly going to see, when you talk to senior officials inside the white house, a different approach, less on their plate, if you will. they are still going to be attacking these many problems but they realize the political reality of situation, coming out of these midterms it is very likely there will either be a republican congress or a dink congress with a lot less room to run. they won't have the votes to pass health care reform-type stuff by those margins. they just are not going to have the votes anymore. so there is going to be a need to be a shift and maybe some of the aggressiveness, maybe some of the tough talk from rahm emanuel that might not have worked so well in the next two years anyway and maybe self-effacing behind-the-scenes player like pete rouse will be able to hand that will over the next few months into the next two years. one other quick point, it is interesting to me the emotion. you heard rahm emanuel choking up there as he talked about his time with the president. you're right we don't see that side of rahm emanuel. i was thinking back to the divisive democratic primaries,

rahm emanuel, as close as he is to the president now, joint roots in chicago, he did not endorse his, as you know, in those presidential primaries because he also worked for bill clinton and he was close to hillary clintonen and he stayed out of that yet, i remember being here in chicago, just about two years ago, during that presidential transition, and president-elect obama immediately went to rahm emanuel said regardless of what happened in the primaries, i need you. i think on balance, while it wasn't perfect, he certainly got a lot accomplished. >> i interviewed him right after he got the call from president obama, he walked out of his office and talked about his mom then. no matter how tough skinned you are, talking why about your mom and dad, you see the softer side. thank you, ed henry you appreciate it. thank you so much. we will be watching. going to be interesting the next few months at the white house. 40% of the food we produce in this country simply thrown away when so many need it we will talk to the author of "american wasteland" about what we can do to stop the waste. i don't want you going out on those yet.

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we have been doing this all week, cnn taking a cross-country food journey all this week and we have sent reporting teams to every corner of america, even beyond that our mission to get fresh answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budget and really, just the pure joy of eating. we have teamed up with the new cnn.com food destination called eatocracy.com to bring

eatocracy, mind, body and wait. wasted food, whether thrown in the dumpster or not, big restaurant portions like spaghetti that you see or good fruit laying on the ground, look at all that stuff, it was good before it hit the dumpster, a lot of it someone could have used it, a lot of people need it freelance journalist john than bloom stays is unnecessary and unethical. i want to tell you he wrote the book called "american wasteland" from firsthand experience here and he joins us now from raleigh, north carolina. hey, jonathan, thanks for joining us. how did you come one this idea and why did you do it? >> i grew up appreciating food. and my parents taught me to both enjoy food as something that tastes great and also to value it. so, if you were to look into the refrigerator at my household when i grew up there were leftovers of all shapes and sizes. then later on, i was volunteering in a place called d.c. central kitchen and that is a food recovery organization and what they do is they recover all these foods that would otherwise be thrown out and i started to

see all these foods that they had saved an it was really nice stuff and so i had a little epiphany, i thought, well, what happens in places that don't have this kind of food recovery group? >> yeah. you know, some people 40%, jonathan is that a bit inflated? i would imagine it might be more than that when you think about it. that is a really big number. almost half the food that could be consumed. >> yeah, it is staggering, isn't it? so, when you -- when you try and get a picture on what that looks like, well, you know the rose bowl, it is a 90,000-seat stadium in southern california, well, every day, america wastes enough food to fill that stadium. >> okay. so tell us about your research then for people who may have questions about these numbers. how did you come up with it? how do you know that it is fairly accurate here? >> sure. well that 40% figure comes out of an nih study there have been various estimates, they range from about a quarter to half of all the food produced but 40% is pretty solid and so what i've done is i have gone throughout the food chain, from

farm-to-fork.and really take an lock at how and why we waste and then suggested some solutions on how we could do better. >> all right. so, answer those questions for me, how much really the thing i want to know, i know how, but why do we waste so much food? why aren't people doing things about it? all the food can be going to homeless people or people who are below the poverty line, people who are hungry. >> yeah, well, primarily, we take food for granted. why do we do that? it is abundant. you walk into the supermarket and you see these stacks of food, the displays are three or four alps high. everywhere we turn, it seems there is food. now it is in pharmacist and places like home depot and gas station and so we are kind of inundated with food. we don't value it as much. part of that is because it is actually pretty cheap. i know food prices have been rising, but when you look at how much of our income we spend on food, it is only about 10%. and that is less than in any

other country. >> jonathan bloom, thank you so much. good information there and i guess the best thing to know is probably knowledge and knowledge is power. we can figure out exactly what we need to do so we can stop wasting so much food an get some people fed. hey, we appreciate what you're doing, okay? >> thanks for having me. >> thank you. next hour, we will hear another side of the food problem, families that don't waste food but eat too much of the wrong food. how one family completely changed their eating habits. [ female announcer ] there's a new way to let go of some of the annoying symptoms menopause brings. introducing one a day menopause formula. the only complete multivitamin with soy isoflavones

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all right, so if i say alex p. keaton, you know who i'm talking about? michael j. fox. michael j. fox trained his body to learn to live with parkinson's disease, makes him one of the inspiring people we talk to in our new series called human factor. here is our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. >> i had the rare opportunity to sit down with michael j. fox for an unprecedented 90 minutes. these long interviews are something he hardly ever does anymore. we wanted to talk about parkinson's disease, talk about his foundation and talk about the numerous obstacles that he has overcome the last 20 years since he was diagnosed. >> a real clear period there in 1993, '94, two years after

diagnosis, when i just got it. i just accepted it. and i realized that the world was saying my happiness was in direct proportion of my acceptance in reverse to my expectation. this is what it is, and so now what? >> so, once you were not in denial, you think you were happier? >> yeah, i actually was. when you can look at the truth of something, then that is what it is. it is what it is. now you have options. the only thing do yo have a choice about whether i have parkinsons. everything else is my choice. did before. >> yeah, i know.

and play hockey, i played golf. i played guitar. i mean, it's -- if it seriously, women are restricted, adversely affecting my ability to react to my kids, i think that's something hard to deal with. >> he's just a remarkable guy. it was captivating conversation. his foundation has raised over $200 million, which they're putting to lots of different uses, including answering some questions regarding the mystery of parkinson's's also setting up the bio marker study. trying to figure out, there are clues within people's bodies that help become targets for made indications down the line. back to you. >> sanjay, thank you very much. the u.s. is apologizing for deliberately affecting people with sexually transmitted diseases. it happened to research study from the nation from 1946 to

1948. secretary of state hillary clinton and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius issued a statement calling the action reprehensible and unethical. said the conduct during the study does not represent the values in the united states. elizabeth cohen will join me live at the top of the hour with more on this very disturbing study. [ female announcer ] join yoplait in our commitment to fight breast cancer.

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with rerun? anyway, time for cnn equals politics update, cnn.com update. pete joins us live. >> you know what it is? "sanford and son." that's what it is. where is -- >> politic, are you ready? >> yes. we're going to start out on the ticker in florida with the florida's governor's race. a new poll showing democrat ail cink, trailed rick stott, 39-33. rick scott was a former health care executive. >> a big opponent of health care. he's running a barrage of television ads in florida. according to the poll, a lot of

voters find it annoying but apparently it's working. take a look at the eighth congressional district. alex grayson, as you know, is a top target of the republicans. he said republicans want americans to die quickly. he's a very outspoken liberal. national republicans out with a new tv ad calling grayson a national embarrassment. comes out on the heels of an ad run by dan webster, calling him taliban dan. keep an eye on this district. it's in orlando. a swing district. grayson is running unabashedly to the left at a time democrats are dealing with this enthusiasm. he's trying to rally this base. we'll see how that plays out. finally, tomorrow, mike pence, will be going to iowa to speak to the iowa christian alliance in des moines. pretty much made clear he's thinking about maybe a presidential bid, possibly run

for governor of alabama. he is one candidate, if you look at field of republicans when they run for president, people often say, there's main stream republicans on one side, and social conservatives on the other. mike pence kind of straddles the line here, he's a strong fiscal conservative. he also got strong roots in the social conservative community. activists around the country know who mike pence is. that will help him as he runs for president. >> pete, much appreciated. your next political update is in an hour, and for the latest political news, you know where to go, go to cnn politics.com, of course. >> hello, everyone, i'm don lemon, tony harris is off today. anything can happen. here are the people behind today's stories.

for some the stimulus is wearing off in a personal way. their temporary jobs ending. >> will we regress now? tell them the probability of a shelter is not too far away. this is a real-life situation. >> boy, this is a mess. up and down the east coast, things are pretty wet. we'll get the latest on the rain-soaked storm. you are online and we are too. josh is following. what's up? >> south american leaders are condemning what they call a attempt attempt attempt attempt attempted coup. >> shocking, officials deliberately affected people with sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s. elizabeth cohen gathering details when it came across the

wire. when you start to dig deeper, wow, what happened back then? >> it is so horrifying. they tell us about some of the horrible, outrage use things that have been done over the years. this one is really incredible. sounds almost unbelievable. this was unearthed by a researcher in wellesley college. what she found in the 1940s. doctors part of the health service, part of the u.s. government was interested in studying syphilis and penicillin. so they went to guatemala. found prostitutes and ranked for the prostitutes to have sex with prisoners in jail and patients in a mental hospital to affect those patients and give them penicillin to see if it worked. sometimes the patients didn't get sick. what they did, and this is really horrible. they took their arms and mean iss and would abrade them, rough them up and pour the bacteria on

that skin. when that didn't work, they would innoculate into the spine, do a spinal puncture and give the syphilis that way, and then try the penicillin and see how it worked. let me read a little from the apology. this is today. >> this is a u.s. government we're talking about. >> correct. >> human guinea pigs. sponsored by the u.s. government. >> here the apology. we deeply regret is happened and apologize to all of the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices. >> remember tuskegee research they did on african-americans? why did it take 60 years to come to light? >> apparently this was -- nobody knew about it. this researcher at wellesley college was looking at experienced done in tuskegee, that this one doctor. before he did tuskegee, he went

to guatemala. she found these documents and brought them to light. we called the guatemalan embassy to get a response. they didn't have anything to say. they said this is new to them. they just heard about it. >> we mentioned tuskegee experiment. is there a relationship? >> that was a relationship. it was the same doctor. in tuskegee, what they did. this was the '30s to the '70s with african-american men. they naturally had syphilis, they caught it on their own. but the government had a medicine for the syphilis, they had penicillin and they didn't use it. they chose not to use it so they could study the natural course of the disease. both are horrible. but they are different. >> it's unfathomable, as you said. i saw you reading and getting choked up there. i can't believe it. >> yes, it's so disturbing. thank goodness there are

different standards. at that time, it was like the wild west. you could do whatever you wanted now there are standards for it so those kinds of things we hope don't happen. >> secretary of state. health and human services secretary apologizing as well. this doesn't live up to our standards. >> no, thank good, hopefully this does not happen now. there are standards in place. you never get away with doing this now. >> thank you, elizabeth cohen. this story is still developing. elizabeth will be following along with the rest of our medical team. thank you so much. somewhat positive news about the state of the u.s. economy today. personal income scored its biggest gain of the year in august. congress said it jumped much more than experts predicted. the gauge of consumer sentiment didn't fall as much as economists thought it would. fell seventh tenths of a point. leading up to the recession.

jobs, program, paid for with federal stimulus dollars are starting to expire now. that means americans are losing their jobs. mary snow reports. >> reporter: for 57-year-old greg wilkerson, working at this nonprofit organization in philadelphia has meant the difference from living in a shelter versus an apartment. after struggling to find work, he was hired in may at $13 an hour to do outreach work and help the unemployed to services they need. he tells us it's a job he desperately needed. >> i'm a single parent. i help take care of my son. pay our bills, we have a roof over our head. i was telling him we had a problem before. a stable living environment for my son. now wilkerson is out of thousands out of work because the stimulus money used to subsidize those jobs expired. $1 billion was used from the fund for temporary assistance to

needy families, a couple that advocates for low and middle income families advocate that more than 250,000 jobs were provided across the country in both public and private sector with programs in 11 states ending now. illinois an exception. >> i don't want to see 26,000 people lose their jobs. >> illinois's governor temporarily extended the program with the state's own funds until congress acts. but that's a big "if." an effort to extend the program for three months was blocked. republican opponents resisted more spending saying it would add to the ballooning deficit but wilkerson is having a hard time reckoning with billions in bailout money. >> we don't have the money to save large corporations, we don't have to save money for the oil industry. >> as wilkerson now look force work. it comes 14 months into recovery. economists say the economy isn't as strong as it should be. and the intent of short-term

stimulus programs was to prevent people from being unemployed too long. >> the hope is, if you keep them employed on a short-term basis they wouldn't lose as many soft skills they need in the labor force. the problem is, there aren't those job there's now, to replace the ones we are losing. >> as wilkerson faces getting the last paycheck, he's struggling to hold on to the stable life of his son he now cherishes. >> we regress now. tell them i send the possibility of a shelter is not too far away. this is a real-life situation. >> mary snow, cnn, philadelphia. >> we turn now to the weather. heavy rain is causing flood warnings and watches. up and down the east coast from carolinas to maine. north carolina is hardest hit. four people drown in a vehicle-related accident. wilmington has been inundated

with 26 inches of rain. go to baltimore, more than 6 much ins reported making it the westest day ever. roads quickly turned into rivers. >> the storm came through here, and we came down about two hours ago, and the whole thing just flooded out. >> oh, my gosh. >> oh, jesus. >> looks like a hell of a mess. that's what it looks like. >> chad meyer, talk about needing some drying out there. >> yeah. most of the flood watches are over. we're not watching them anymore. it's already happening. they've been pushed up to warnings. a lot of rain coming down. i don't think you can really fathom what 22 inches of rain would be like, even in a desert, or in a rain forest for that matter. in basically five days. even baltimore yesterday at six. norfolk, almost a foot of rain in 36 hours. and, yes, it's close to the water and, yes, water runs off but there was significant travel

problems there. it was really a travel issue. yes, there was water in homes. we didn't have water up to the yves in homes. this water came down so fast, basically in flat land areas, that the water was literally up to your knees but in your house. also up to your knees so you couldn't drive away. people were just stuck. laguardia. two hours. jfk. 1:15. san francisco a completely separate situation. i want to take you to an ireport. if you have some turn them in. send them in to me. this is out of endecott new york. i know this may not look like a street. but it is. when water is swift like this. it can pick up a car. even though it's only 8 inches deep. you're in a mini cooper that's not far off the ground. little cars can float in 8 inches of water. not so much it floats you and

drop you off somewhere. it may drop you somewhere much deeper than that. obviously that water is going to a low area. that's problem a creek, stream or river. you don't want your water or truck flowing into that river. that's for sure. the rain is coming down in some spots. we know where the rain is, as it's slowing down in new york city. still raining very hard in hung new england. the watches are done. not watching it anymore. the warnings are in effect for a lot of areas, don't drive into water especially in the dark. you can't tell how deep it is. turn around. >> we hear so many story, listen to chad myers. >> the dark is a scary time when the water is coming down or even sitting there. >> appreciate it. see you in a bit. >> pakistan violence. cell phone records disturbing images of a execution. first, our random moment in 90 seconds. workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches,

and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

you know the song and saying, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. random moment of the day explains that one. indiana woman turned a 140-year-old jailhouse into a bed and breakfast. you don't check in, you get booked in. at least that's what happened. and really can leave, but you have to leave with a pardon. nine rooms have a cell -- have cell doors and a theme like the

bonnie and cylde suite. want to stay there? it's our captivating random moment.

supply troops for u.s. fors in afghanistan are in jeopardy. militants torched 25 trucks heading to the zone. the border is still closed. pakistan shut it down as three soldiers were killed between fighting of militants and nato troops. we must warn you about the disturbing video. it comes out of pakistan. cell phone images apparently show soldiers executing a group of men. cnn's frederik pleitgen is following this story. >> reporter: this video shows a university of pakistani soldiers lining up a group of men some quite yong bound and blind followed. it seeps to have been shot on a cell phone. at one point a soldier approached them and speaks

briefly and then the soldiers open fire with rifles. >> as the video continue, the audio suggests some of the victims are still alive. one soldier approaches the victims and shoots again. cnn has not been able to verify whether the video is of an actual' vent, or when and where it was shot. pakistan's military said it doesn't know wetter the video is real or a forgery, but has launched an investigation into the manner. a retired pakistani general said judging from the uniforms, weapons and posture of those involved the video could be authentic. >> most probably, we have to assume there is some level of credibility and go for it. and then do a thorough investigation. >> reporter: human rights groups have frequently accused

pakistani security forces of extra judicial killings especially in the military taliban offenses. pakistan human rights says such killings are not condoned by the leadership but the chairman said the military must crack done on anyone involved in human right has abuses or risk losing support of people in areas formerly held by the taliban. >> it can demolish armed forces being appreciated by the people for a long time. >> the five-minute video already appeared on islamist websites while questions about its authenticity remain. groups opposed to pakistan's government and military are already using the video as propaganda. fred pleitgen, cnn islamabad. >> we did warp you.

new details on the u.s. army sergeant ordering his men to kill innocent civilians. cnn learned calvin gibbs had six skull tattoos on his leg which was away to keep track of his kills in iraq and afghanistan. a soldier under his command said gibbs was associated with skinheads online. there's no comment from gibbs. members of his platoon say they fear him. >> i take him very seriously. he likes to kill things. he is pretty much evil. i have never met a man, that for one minute will be joking around, and kill the neck. he labors to kill things. >> that was specialist adam winfield. he is one five u.s. soldiers accused of killing for sport. his father tells cnn he warned the army about what was going

on. >> should he have taken it upon himself to stop this, to take that chance, to let someone know? >> it's easy for someone to sit in a safe area, you know, back here in the states. to say that. but when you're put in that kind of position where you have the good guys threatening to kill you. bad guys threatening to kill you and you're stuck in the middle. you're 21 years old, and you got this monster of a man, 6'4", 245-pound psycho path sergeant that is controlling your every move, no, i don't think he could have done anything else. >> the afghanistan killings, took place between january and may when helps of gibbs' platoon admit they were heavily smoking hash. some of it laced with opium. 11 minutes of new audio, if it is the real deal. it is the first message from osama bin laden since march, but

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let's take a look at top stories right now. explosions rocked nigeria's 50th independent celebration. militants claimed responsibility for this car bomb that killed seven people. a different kind of message today reportedly from osama bin laden. the al qaeda leader urged muslims to help must lip, tackle famine, food relief and clean water. authenticity of the message is

still being verified. and china launched a moon rocket. the propose is designed to orbit within 10 miles of the moon's surface. china hopes to land on the moon by 2013. >> ever notice how a little color can brighten up your day? how one group is changing lives one paint stroke at a time.

zoom new york city kids are out painting the time. education contributor steve perry has the story in this week's what matters segment. >> teen know diablo had no idea a paint brush would change his life. he moved from west africa to new york city when he was 106789 what is the reason you came to the u.s.? >> better education. my mother thought i'd have a better opportunity to succeed in life. >> he hard a hard time in school. speaking english, then hang out with the wrong crowd. until he found publicolor. it puts brushes in the hans of students. it was founded 14 years ago with the idea color can positively

affect attitudes and behaviors. so in these places where you changed the color, what impact do you think that has on people? the colors we choose brighten up a person's mood. >> just a change of color? >> just the change of color. your whole perception of the place changes. >> what impact do the colors have on you? >> when i finish a project, i can say, wow, i really helped the community. i really made this place way better than i already did. it makes me feel proud of myself. >> it's often said about children in general in this generation specifically, that they just don't care about anything. >> oh, i don't think it's true. i think society is letting kids get away with not caring, i put a lot of blame on us, on all of us. these kids will become what we help them become. they are walking potential.

>> to help kids realize that potential p.publicolor provides tutoring, mentoring, scholarships and career workshops. >> last year, 8 % of high school seniors graduated on time versus 42% in their schools. and 100 paraguay of our students went on to college. >> reporter: last year thieno graduated from college. today he's one of the organization's staff leaders with plans to open his own business. >> publicolor is around to make me come back to who i am, what i need to do in life to stay on my path and reach success. >> steve perry, new york. >> steve, thank you, to read more stories that matter pick up the latest issue of "essence" magazine right now. he's known for hard edge and blunt style.

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let's check cnn money.com. this is breaking news. a report said electronic cell program played a key role in triggering the flash crash. boy that was crazy. also america's brainiest places to live. d.c., san francisco and i think san diego is number three. go to cnn.com and find out where your city or town ranks on that list. let's check the dow, up 29 points nasdaq down 2.36. there you go, look at that picture. at the white house last hour in the east room. the president had praise for the departing chief of staff. rahm emachine well is going home to run for mayor. he was the key strategist behind the president's legislative victory, including health care and finance reform. he's known for the get it done

yesterday style. >> i don't think anybody will disagree rahm is one of a kind. i am very fortunate to be able to hand the baton to my wise, skillful and longtime counselor, pete rusk. pete also more than three years of experience, will serve as interim chief of staff as we enter the next phase of our administration. >> mr. president, i thought i was tough. but as someone who saw first hand how close our nation came to the brink and what you had to do to put america back on track. i want to thank you for being the toughest leader any country could ask for, in the toughest times any president has ever faced. >> that press conference happening in the east room moments ago. rahm emachine well's replacement for now is pete rouse.

a low keyman who work has as a fixer. he's served as the president's deputy chief of staff. top aid to tom daschle and moved to president obama's senate office after daschle lost his seat. more to come on that. a middle scholar gets teased about his weight so the family gives it a menu makeover. >> it felt great. made me happy. i achieved my goal. >> now he's healthier now. cool hair cut as well. how the family got motivated and got rid of the candy and health problems at the same time. 'terha t adththod it's dif - alcium c

welcome back, everyone. cnn taking a cross country food journey all this week. here's our mission, to get fresh answers how our food is grown, how choices we make impact our health and our state of mind, our budgets and the pure joy of eating. we've teamed up with new food destinations to bring you eat

ole ocracy mind, body and wallet. why can't we get control of the problem? because it's challenging. one family found strength and motivation to do it thanks to their son. here's their story. >> tony and mill greg scott spent a lot of time in the vegetable and fruit aisles in the grocery store these days. it's complete turn around for the former soul food junkies. >> we would load up mashed potatoes with all of the butter that's how weate. >> in the greens i put fatback in it. it wasn't healthy. >> scotts changed their unhealthy ways after one conversation. the 10-year-old son told his mother i'm tired of being teased about my weight. he said they are teasing me at school because i'm fat. i don't feel fat but they are telling me i'm fat. if you want to help them.

you got to listen. to be 10 it wasn't good for him. >> reporter: the scotts felt compelled to make a change after the heart-breaking talk. mildred enrolled isiah in a week-long camp to teach kids what to look for on food labels and portion size. >> i was quite surprised all of the stuff i was putting in my body. >> reporter: his dad started buying fresh veggie, stopped frying and started baking. >> i realized that i was cooking all wrong for my family. it wasn't healthy. >> reporter: today this is the new isiah. he's 20 pounds lighter. >> it felt great. made me happy. he has more energy. >> i would get up and do it attitude. >> reporter: he's found new inner confidence and improved academically. >> i mean, i can't believe the point average was 3.2, before it

was 2.something. >> reporter: he's one of the best players on the middle school football team. >> i'm more athletic and passionate than i was. >> reporter: and the girls -- >> they notice me a lot more than they used to. >> reporter: after three hours on the practice field the 13-year-old comes home hungry every night for his father's revamped menu. tonight it's baked chicken. well seasoned veggies and whole grain bed. a diet isiah learned to love over time. >> it took a minute. isiah didn't like asparagus, he didn't like spinnage. his dad would taste it and he would say i like this. >> reporter: his mother got rid of bowls of candy around the house. >> if you don't buy it. you don't eat it. see that bowl? that's what we eat. >> i don't like candy anymore. it's out of my system. i love eating apples, bananas, i

love salad. isiah's mother who is diabetic, changed too. >> i'm glad we eat that way. >> reporter: mildred's blood sugar is down, she walks every day with her husband and no longer takes pills for diabetes. >> it's because of isiah, because of him wanting to look better and feel better. >> reporter: isiah has advice for the 12.5 million overweight kids in this country. >> don't put yourself down and say you can't do it. keep telling yourself you can an you can do it. let's talk right now. why can't all families do this? joining me, the scotts reached out to you. they've been really successful. >> yes, they have. >> that's tough. they are an example what families should be like. that does not happen any time, unfortunately. >> it can happen quite often more than not. we just try to work with families and have them

understand it's just small changes that you need to make in your life style and overtime change will come. >> do you do it incrementally. many time people roddickly change their diet they can't stick with it. do you do it in increments? >> exactly. if you're trying to make something very drastic it's more like a quick fix, but if you make it part of your life style, it's something you gradually change overtime. >> i have to say this. i'm a fooddy. i was at a barbecue place, i jokingly tweeted, do i get the cnn healthy bash for that. i like soul food. i like louisiana cooking. what's your advice? >> it's okay to still have the foods -- it's called cheating. it's okay to have that every now and then. it's more about balance. it's more about if you're able to change your eating habits, so that if you have holiday or christmas and you want to have that extra piece of pie, that's fine.

but it's more of trying to control your portions. >> you know, but i pay for it, because i have to work out like a fiend, drink lots of water, constantly running to the restroom because i have to clear that out of my system. i wouldn't have to work as hard if i eighth healthy all of the time. >> exactly. but it's back to balance. if you're exercising, less sugary drinks, less soft drinks. >> and people should. listen. so you said incrementally. right? >> yes. >> what is your best piece of advice for people starting out, besides incrementally. is it almost like, you know, when there are people who have problems with alcohol, have problem with drugs, unless you hit bottom. there's nothing i can say to change you. is that the same way with this? >> it is mental. of course, if you do want to change, you can change. but as long as you try to take it in steps, that's what -- with us, we work with a lot of

overweight kids, we tell them they didn't gain that weight. don't expect to lose it overnight. as long as you understand something can happen over time and you have a support group around you, change will come. >> we're talking about food. get moving, you got to get moving even if you eat the right things. how long does it take for something to stick van etta? >> if you do something for five days in a row. that's a good habit. if you walk five days in a row, you expect to change. president's healthy challenge is one you walk five days in a row. it's a challenge to see who can do exercise five days in a row. >> if you walk this time of year the weather is cooling off, it's great. >> yes, yes. >> see. it wasn't that hard on you, right? >> no. this was awesome. thank you vanetta keyes. founder and executive director of a group in atlanta called

choices. we really appreciate it. good stuff, good stuff. >> thank you. >> learning first hand about forming and veggies in the middle of the city. how kids are getting a new appreciation for healthy eating. so i threw it right back... with yoplait light -- around 100 calories. now i love my curves in all the right places. ♪ i was tired of living in my apartment. decided hey, let's go buy a house! i could go to quickenloans.com and sign all of the paper work i needed to take care of. and it didn't have to be between 9 and 5 -- which doesn't always work for me. the people at quicken loans really care. it was nice to being able to call them whenever i needed to answer questions. they were on it. they were on top of everything. quicken loans made everything super convenient and easy. so the fact that they could work with my schedule was just wonderful. that's why i love quicken loans! ♪

time now for the cnn politics.comdesk update. national political correspondent jessica yellin, joins me now live from washington, d.c. look at her chilling out in our pure row there in washington.

what's -- >> cool set, right? >> it is cool. so chill here. that's my boss over there. he fixed my schedule. had to be nice to him. so in california, the controversy over illegal immigration, and california gubernatorial candidate meg whitman keeps going. she's the candidate running to be the next governor of that state. it was revealed that for nine years, she employed an illegal immigrant as her house keeper. that house keeper went on television weeping, saying that meg whitman was mean to me. now today will be the third day of the story. meg whitman is denying she knew she was illegal, denying she ever mistreated her and the major development, the major union, sciu is running a huge

campaign hitting meg whitman in spanish in that state saying she's basic will i a hypocrite. meg whitman has gone up with another ad saying she cares about latino, cares about the latino vote. what that tells us, the latino vote is in play. as california goes, so goes the nation eventually, sign how latino politics is increasingly playing a major role in politics across the nation. a lighter story now, don. you know, one of the things you often see with new politicians, they like to blame the staff when things go wrong. >> yes. >> i often find it funny, they rarely say when things go right i had nothing to do with it, it was all my staff. joe miller, a republican, posted a series of tweets online, like i think i'll do house hunting while in d.c. guess i'll pick office furniture while in d.c.

he doesn't want to say i got this thing locked up and what is he doing? he's blaming a staffer saying he didn't have anything to do with it. our last story, i'm doing it so i use as many cooking puns ab possible, things heating up for the south carolina race for the senate. a new chef is stirring the pot and turning the fire up on that race. you know your friend alvin green who came out of nowhere to be the democratic nominee, running against jim demint, natalie dupree a big chef said she's going to be a write-in candidate. folks can vote for their favorite chef. >> look at you, stirring the pot. i can't believe it. jessica yellin, hi to paul sitting behind you. thank you. your next political update coming up in one hour. latest political news you know where to go. go to cnnpolitics.com.

now answers how to plug ahead in the troubled economy. here's poppy harlow. joining me, john. first question from chris in ohio. wheat the best thing to do when your family is facing foreclosure and you don't qualify for government assistance? you're stuck in the middle? >> yeah, they're stuck in the middle. it's difficult to answer. there's no good way out of a bad mortgage. if she can come up with cash at closing to pay for the understandage. she can short sale the house. she can try to modify the loan but the loan modification program is a disaster. if you're able to find someone who will pay an amount sufficient to cover all of the loans, clearly that's the best option but unfortunately the best type of housing market.

buyers are very smart and not paying the price. >> many people renting. short sale is the best option. >> your question is from aaron, i have an after-tax i.r.a. i have for years. how are those when converted? >> if aaron has the after-taxi i.r.a., what happens the initial tricks will not be taxed but the earnings will. on an income tax basis. good new, this year if the conversion is done you can spread the earnings across 2011 and 2012 next year will be paid in the sub subsequent year. there's one kicker if this is the only i.r.a., you've got a hodgepodge, they are all put together. then use the weighted average in running to the calculations. >> good to know. thank you, appreciate it. help desk about getting you answers. send us an e-mail or logon to cnn.com/help desk to see more financial solutions.

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and we're back in the news room. following what's hot for you. today we have something serious for you. ellen degeneres is one of the celebrities recorded a message. she's talking about bullying and talking about young teenage gay people and talked about what happened with tyler clementi. and talked about usher brown, billy lucas, all cases of suicide after what has been believed to be bullying, involving them being gay. she's one of the celebrities now put together a video message. we have part of it for you here. >> this needs to be a wake-up call to everyone that teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country and

death rate is climbing. one life lost in a senseless way is tragic. four lives lost is a crisis. these kids needed us and we have an obligation to change this. there are messages everywhere that validate this kind of bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop. we can't let intolerance and ignorance take another kid's life. and i want anyone out there who feels different, and alone to know that i know how you feel. and there is help out there. you can find support in your community. if you need someone to talk to, or if you want to get involved, there's really great organizations listed on our website. things get easier, people's minds will change, and you should be alive to see it. >> powerful words there. we've written about this on cnn.com. it's on our blog right now. if you go to cnn.com today it

will pop up to you. we're seeing more and more people speak out about these issue, saying we need to look at what is going on in our country. >> thanks for bringing that. learning first-hand lessons about farming and veggies in the middle of the city. how kids in d.c. learn to appreciate healthy eating. d askn sufferers, like carl, to put prilosec otc's 24 hour heartburn protection to the test for two weeks. the results? i can concentrate on everything i'm doing, not even think about it anymore. since i've been taking it, i've been heartburn free, which is a big relief for me. [ male announcer ] take your 14-day challenge. ♪ prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on.

into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. we're talking a lot about food this week on cnn. it is not automatic, unless you were raised to eat veggies and

fresh foods, you may not want or appreciate them. one nonprofit group in washington is helping kids get first-hand experience on a farm. >> catch up with the beets. the famous k street in washington, d.c. >> what is this called? kale. >> all walks of life. from commuters to politicians, crossroads is a really good word for it. >> all eyes on me. >> we're going to pick up class. >> all eyes on you. >> i've been working extensively with kibder gardeners, more than any other class trying to change the culture of eating. welcome to the form. >> they named themselves super hero farmers. >> we're trying to get worms in will. dump. >> we sat and talked about what we can do. how we can turn this into an outdoor classroom. this is a walker jones

initiative. >> can you say beets? >> about half an acre of farmland. teachers bring their kids out here. they do vegetable picking. >> there's more squash. >> not only is it great for our kid, they get to come out and do real science and math connections, but the whole notion of knowing where our food comes from. >> eight weeks ago, this was just a field of grass. but it's interesting, even in those eight weeks, just the pure quantity of food that's been produced. >> this is the school, when d.c.p.s. is doing, whoever is allowing this to happen, it's good for everybody. >> this is really great. >> i oversee all of the good that goes into the schools as well as new garden program. >> one of my main goals is get nutritious food for kids. >> remember the first day we were out here, we taffed herbs?