garden, picking food, tasting the food and learning about it, they're more likely to try it. >> grab a muffin. >> my wifing cooed these for you all. they're made with this. >> how do you find your place in whatever community you're in to jump in and swim and dog paddle and touch what you can in it? it's a safe, friendly place. it's a good thing. it's nutritious. >> all of that right in the middle of the city. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. time now for more news room. time now for more news room. p.j., go. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm p.j. holmes, in today for my friend ali velshi. this is what we have. storms making air travel a nightmare as you can imagine.

chad myers has his eye on all of that. plus the world's largest airline has been officially created now. today. what does this mean for your fees, for your fares? we'll ask the ceo of that airline. and militants, attacking a life line. meantime pakistan closing off a door to the war. we will be going globe trekking. let me go over here right now. if i told you to name the second most powerful job in u.s. government, what do you think you would say? maybe speaker of the house? maybe vice president? huh-uh. a lot of people tell you it's the white house chief of staff. you probably wouldn't come up with that. but because this is, by many accounts, the second most powerful job in comment. it's a big deal when that job has a turnover as it did today a while ago in the white house east room. the hard-charging former illinois congressman who has been at the president's side since inauguration. stepped aside. why? because he wants a different

job. what's better than being the second most power man in government. to him it's chicago mayor. that's job that only turns over once in a generation, you have to get in while you can. the president warmly saluted rahm emanuel with whom he started and ended every work day over the past few years. take a listen. >> he's a great friend of mine and will continue to be a great friend of mine. he's been a selfless public servant, an outstanding chief of staff. i will miss him dearly, as well as members of my staff and cabinet with whom he's worked so closely and so long. >> all right. off to the side. you know we were focusing on the president. rahm emachine well. might have seen the stalky guy, that's pete rouse, rahm emachine well's successor. only place he's a household name

was the white house and house of congress. he was chief of staff to the newly elected senator obama and mapping the president's run for president. before that he was chief of staff to former senate majority leader tom daschle. sometimes called the 101st senator for the uncanny knack for politics. rouse has amazing capacity to bring people together and create unity. it comes from three area, really. let me explain a little bit about what this person does. they actually set the president's schedule every day. that's a big deal. they can say who gets in, who does not get in. he or she also guards the president's door, at least met forically speaking, plays a huge role in crafting the president's agenda every single day. rouse will need skills and experience. as the white house is facing a tough time right now. the skills and experience of this discussion to cnn's state

of the union. candy crowley, good to talk to you. nice to talk to you as opposed to sunday morning before your show. >> we do have a thing going. >> never thought i would hear candy crowley say she has a thing with me. thank you for that. but let's talk for a second. can you be a quiet guy and have this job in the white house? >> sure. sure. there's those before him that have been quiet and get the job done? this is a person. what's interesting to me, first of all, we should point out they're calling him interim chief of staff. a lot of people say he'll eventually get it. right now they're calling it inframe. what's interesting, the personality differences, rahm emachine well was very good on house matters. he came from the house. he worked with speaker pelosi, although some think he didn't work quite as well as he should have. but nonetheless.

he was able to drive a lot of controversial pieces of legislation through the house. he convinced house members that they ought to do it much what happened, over in the senate after house democratic members went on a limb, the senate didn't pass it. the complaints that emen well pushed things through the senate. harry reid said look, we can't do it. we have to scale this back. now we have pete rouse who is really a creature of the u.s. senate. he does have -- 101st senator that said something. he worked well with all of the senators that are there. a different time and different place. so much of the president's legislation got stuck in the senate. i think it's interesting, they have someone who is an expert in the senate they are putting in as chief of staff. >> how helpful can that be? he's coming in with tough types. sounds like you're saying he has the right skill set that's useful right now. >> he does. it's going to get -- if we are

to believe the polls, the margins of democrats come down. there will be more republicans therefore the work gets harder. one of the things that's interesting, senator daschle, i believe said that pete rouse puts out fires. he is able to bring everybody together in a room to talk. that's going to be a skill you're really going to need if indeed more republicans end up in the senate and house. just one little anecdote, and that is that pete rouse was able to convince those members who were left from the grateful dead to come together. if he can bring the grateful dead together. certainly he can work this on the senate. so we'll see. >> all right. we appreciate you as always. i'll see you sunday for our thing. okay? >> it's a deal. >> okay. talk to you soon. we'll turn to equador now. this, after a police officer roughed up and tear gassed, the

country's president held him hostage. loyal troops were able to move in and rescue the president. he spoke to supporters with the coupe attempt. that's today's sound effect. [ speaking in important language ] at least two police officers and a soldier were killed in a gun battle. dozens of others wounded. national police chief resigned. today, no signs of renegade officers on the streets. officers said they were opposed to a new law that reduced their

pain. >> the storm killed hundreds of people. moving right up the east coffee. today we're tracking it for you, chad myers will be with us. stay with us. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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a large storm continues to make its way up the coast. north carolina, hardest hit right now. five people dead there, in weather-related incidents. hundreds of roads are closed. at least 150 people are evacuated from neighborhoods under water in wilmington. reporteding it's been inundated

to 22 inches of rain. north carolina, flooding downtown. take a look. >> i used to live in houston and thought i had seen a lot of rain there. this is incredible. i've never seen flooding like this. >> i'm on the third floor. i think it's okay. i have to get food for my kids. >> i went to get food for my kids, went half block and the road was flooded. so i got my kayak out. >> also st. mary's, maryland. a foot of rain. >> what we don't have with this flooding. will be rivers that are above record crest. okay. because we didn't put the water mountain areas. up toward new england. talking about where the 22-inch rainfall happened. 22 inches. wilmington -- ever been here? >> i don't think so, no.

>> a lot of eastern north carolina, also the low country of south carolina, flat. the water runs up, goes down into the ditches, goes bayous, and water goes south. that's great. really the rain, devastating rainfall, couldn't have happened any place else with the lowest amount of flooding possible, other than out here. you would have put this much rain back out here in piedmont, we would be talking about thousands of people without their houses, without power, in shelters, that's the good news. it just didn't happen in the wrong place for a change. on up towards hampton roads, into richmond, baltimore. 6 inches of rain in one day in baltimore. water came up. water went down. most places it's down. i saw a couple of shots out of willi wilkes-barre, scranton. that's what happened when we got

far up north. good new, rain is essentially over for all of new york. airports are not good. travel this weekend, all of the way through tomorrow will not be great. today, with roads being flooded. see the cones, don't go around them. find some place that's higher. airports, you might want to see whether -- make sure your flight is leaving. i'll put it that way. >> even though, get out of there this weekend, still have issues. >> water can't get to the ocean immediately, it takes a couple days. >> appreciate as always. >> coming up here we'll tell you about a new deal created today that's created the world's biggest airline. we're talking to the new ceo first. talking about investors and employees and of course you. f@@

all right. the deal closed today on a huge merger between united and continental airlines. between the new and biggest airline. huge new, doesn't impact businesses in the corner of offices. impacts the entire airline industry. we all have your gripes with the airline industry, don't we, richard quest? joining me, talking to the new ceo after the deal before anybody else did. he wants to make this a global airline. does he not? >> well, it already is to some extent. it is one of the largest route networks in the world. because of united and continental reach. but it is just an enormous airline. together they have more than 700 planes, they will board a 400,000 passengers a day. and the tentacles of the new

united go to just about every continent on this planet. however, the man at the helm has to intergreat united and continental. two airlines with different cultures. they have 86,000 employees. my first question, where would there be gross, and where might the ax fall? >> i don't think there will be an ax, richard. we have very complimentary networks. as a result. there is very little overlap and very little effect on our frontline employees. what we'll be doing is allocating the aircraft across a much broader route net, would. we have ten hubs worldwide. i expect to see growth, certainly from international perspective, because we are a jobal ar year and will be the world's global carrier.

>> a lot of spec u lags. of the ten global hub, eight or nine in the domestic u.s. a lot of talk about whether it makes sense to have so many hubs. >> well, if you were starting an airline from scratch, i think what you have in the u.s. is the hubs we have. we've got hubs on the east coast. in the west coast. we've got hubs in the midwest, in the south. both east-west. off the west coast of the pacific. off the east coast of the transatlantic. this is a perfect structure for an airline. >> within that structure, the biggest challenge, you've been on the record saying it's not going to be easy. you may make mistakes on the way. airline mergers bringing the two together are notoriously difficult. paved with areas of the past because of cultural, union, all

sorts of problems. >> richard we'll have a culture at the new united very like what we have today at continental. we're going to work together. treat people with dignity and respect. treat customers with dignity and respect. have direct, open and honest communication. when you have the right culture, this is a service business. when you have the right culture, then your co-workers want to do a good job. you can lecture them, the only way you can have somebody in a service business do a good job is if they want to. they want to give good service, customers come back. we'll make money and invest in the product, invest in people and have a very successful area. >> right. >> t.j., yes, clearly, this is a merger. because, both parties have brought something to the table. united with its vast reach. continental with good hubs and service structure. but i have to tell you, sometimes in talking to people in the industry, one does wonder who is actually got the upper hand.

and probably, today, bearing in mind, listen to what smisek just said to me then. it's continental concept, continental culture. that's what would be the dominant force, i suspect in this new airline. >> dominant force, what everyone is wondering to the u.s. viewer, how long before you new culture gets in place. what can they expect to see? worried about fee, fares, things going up and worried about route. how long before our folks could see a new airline that actually impacts their life. >> okay. pocketbook issues, if you like from smisek. there's very little difference immediately. obviously they start getting things together. next year, next spring they won't tell me what date they have customer day. that's the moment when people start to see real differences. again, midway in 2011, they will merge the two frequent flyer programs. one pass, mileage plus. that's what we're waiting for.

believe me, i'm a member of both frequent flyer programs. i want to see what benefits will come from one versus the other. will my status here be there? these are the big issues. on the question of fees and fares, they say, because there is so little overlap of the two net works, that won't have major competitive disadvantage. that was born out by the department of transportation in the u.s. and department of justice. and finally, when will you start see the difference? they say, it will be by mid to late next year that you start to see one airline flying into the ground. >> all right. well, richard, we are concerned about your frequent flier miles, we hope you keep your elite status. >> you're concerned. i'm having sleepless nights. >> richard, buddy, always good to see you, my man. sweep well. hopefully we'll talk to you soon.

thanks so much. of course, your money. you can see that saturday with ali velshi, christine romans, sundays at 3:00 eastern time. i want to take a check at some other stories making headlines, including iraq's political impasse. that update is now it's in a class of its own. today is the 208th day the country has been without an elected government. that would be a new world record. the netherlands went some 207 days without a government in place back in 1977. iraq's two top parties have been jockeying for power ever since march's close parliamentary vote. more than 1200 nasa employee turning in their i.d. badges due to the demize of the shuttle program. being laid off. a special program has been set up to help them find and prepare for new jobs. and an unusual apology from the u.s. to guatemala today. the u.s. government saying it

regrets a research study that took place back in the late '40s that deliberately affected guard mallons with sexually transmitted zees. gall maulen officials said they are sad to hear of the study but recognize the moern apology. coming up she's a breast cancer survivor and through her own research discover wonderful news. i see a lot of teeth that look great... until i look at the gumline. the problem is, you could have plaque along your gumline that can lead to gingivitis.

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. 25 past the hour now. geralyn lucas had breast cancer in her 20s. later learned about a canc gene

test. >> gerilyn lucas is take looking for a gene to see if breast cancer is hiding in her dna and if so, is sky inheriting it? the test takes about a minute. the test called b.a.r.t., searches for dna to look for breast cancer genes. >> this is a blood sample. for gerilyn this is her future. perhaps more importantly, this is about her daughter. this is about what happens to her daughter. >> reporter: if this test does show gerilyn has a genetic mutation she'll have ovaries and other breast removed.

there's a 50/50 chance she passed that gene to sky. >> i feel guilty this is part of her world and vocabulary. but i feel i'm teaching her a lesson. knowledge is power. >> how have you been? >> nervous. >> a month passes, dr. welner has the results in her hand. >> no surgery needed. >> it's negative. i don't believe it. >> momny got her results. it's negative. >> yay. >> how did it feel to tell her just now? >> getting to tell sky was the hugest thing of that news. i feel i did it for her. >> and what's pretty amazing, geralyn, she discovered this test on her own from other breast cancer survivors. >> what lessons have you learned from this? i have to keep searching, can't rest on my laurels. >> reporter: by doing her own research, geralyn stayed ahead

of breast cancer. and elizabeth cohen doing the reporting joins me live as well as geralyn lube as, she joins us from new york. hello to you as well. you tell me, first of all, start with you, are you amazed how many women do not know about this test? >> i am. hey, testimony j. i want women to know, if they've had genetic testing, and they think that they're safe, they don't have the gene, there is a new enhanced test they can get called b.a.r.t. that might yield a different result for them. >> and, geralyn, i know you have other messages for women out there about how to prevent breast cancer. today is the first day of breast cancer awareness month. so go ahead, let's hear it. >> hey, elizabeth. well, i just really want women to know about early detection. early etekz saves lives. i was 27 when i found my lump.

i had no known family history. since that time, as you report in the special. people in my family have had breast cancer. i want women to exam their breasts, get clinical exams and get a mammogram when they're 40. >> geralyn, before i let you go. do you think thrash there's a lot of confusion, you know this as well. about when women should get mammograms. is it too confusing, do you think, geralyn? >> it bothers me so much. i did a video, all of the crazy things women do instead of getting mammograms. last year there were new recommendations. all of the experts told me 40, every year. not 50, not every two years. again in your 20s, exam your breasts. feel your boobies. >> better said by you. >> geralyn. thanks for taking part of our

coverage. geralyn lucas, thank you so much, you are encouraging folks, sometimes the doctor might not know about some of this stuff. check it out on your own. >> sometimes you have to be the one to save your own life. you'll meet all sorts of incredible inspiring people who saved their lives or the lives of someone they loved. it's such an uplifting hour. >> give me the times. >> 7:00, saturday and sunday. >> we'll see you this weekend. thank you so much for that. coming up. nato, the attack that destroyed pakistan. strategic ally in the war of afghanistan. that's the latest of incidents straining an already fragile relationship. [ male announcer ] there's a big idea happening in health care called the humana walmart- preferred prescription plan. it's a medicare prescription drug plan that saves you an average of over $450 a year, with monthly plan premiums less than $15

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just in, i want to pass this along that crews may be able to reached those trapped miners in chile sooner than they thought. you know this story. they've been trapped down there since early august after mining accident. we've got 33 miners down there. we were told initially we might

not get them out until christmas time. working with several different drills trying their best to get down to them. they have been able to get food down to them. other supplies, videos. they've gotten cigarettes, all kinds of things. everybody able to make the men comfortable but still quite some time until they got to them. word that it could be sometime in the next two weeks or so. sometimes between october 15th and 30th. they expect to have them out. drilled a hole about the size, circumference to get the body down in it. they've tested some of those baskets to try to pull guys up. they believe they're working, word is maybe sometime even in two weeks they could have those guys to bring the 33 up. i wanted to give you that update now. i want to go globe trekking with you now. first up, pakistan, a strategic country. a key u.s. ally in the war of afghanistan. events raised in serious questions about the future of the already fragile relationship

between the u.s. and pakistani military. i have a map we show you what happened, a day after closing a major border crossing into afghanistan used by nato supply convoy, suspected militants now today attacked and set fire to more than two dozen tankers carrying fuel for u.s. and nato troops in afghanistan. that attack happened near a southern pakistani city. the convoy like the ones seen in pictures we got are vital to the effort in neighboring afghanistan. border closed yesterday remains offlymphs to convoys. it's believed pakistan took response to a nato air strike that killed three pakistani soldiers. joining me in islamabad, in the capital to talk about the war effort this will have on the u.s. pakistani ties is cnn's frederik pleitgen, hello to you. we're learning that they were in

fact two attacks that took place. get us up to speed. >> you're right. there were two attacks that took place today. one took place this evening. was actually there, only one truck that would attack -- strayed from the convoy, has been attacked by militants with automatic rifles and fire bombs. what happened, two pakistanis were killed in the attack and one set on fire. bigger attack was the one you were mentioning before. is really a major attack on a convoy, a 27-truck convoy that was attacked as it was parking in the early morning hours there. 25 of those trucks were set on fire. also, insurgents coming or militants coming with automatic weapons with fire bombs and firecrackers setting the fuel on fire that was in that convoy. it was diesel and regular fuel, as you said, for the troops in afghanistan. certainly those are major issues

for the u.s.'s war effort in afghanistan. >> last thing too, frederick, what do we know about what is going on? how intense are the talks and negotiations behind the scenes between u.s. and pakistani officials trying to mend this last couple of dace of incidents? i think they are more major than a lot of us would like to think. i think the pakistanis are angry with things going on the past couple dace. look at that once incident where an american helicopter crossed from afghanistan into pakistan and opened fire on the pakistani military post killing three soldiers, it's unclear whether the soldiers fired on the helicopter before the helicopter shot a missile. but certainly pakistanis are absolutely enraged by what happened much there's a lot of diplomatic back and forth. a phone call between john kerry

and spack stanny prime minister. the rhetoric is amp'd up, the prime minister talking about this and the president said they're very, very angry what's go on. that's having an impact. >> fred, we afoesh yat you as always. well, coming up here a director of conservative music videos, and an anti-gay activist. rising stars on the rise. you'll meet them straight ahead. ...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. 100% delicious.

welcome back, they're a new political activist.

investigative reporter, using social media to get the message out. special investigations unit correspondent is here and has been doing that following for six months. all will come together this weekend. in a special you'll see. you got a lot together in six months. >> absolutely. we thought it would be interesting to dive in and follow world people passionate about their beliefs. just the idea of whether you agree or disagree with their viewpoints, you can't deny their passion. for the last several months we follow aid group of young conservatives. the clip we're about to see involved a 23-year-old filmmaker trying to make it big in hollywood and you'll meet ryan, an anti-gay activist who enjoys spurring up controversy and pushing the limits. >> for months, we documented

christian hartzog. a young conservative trying to make it big in hollywood. >> zooming in, zooming out, boom. >> today we're directing a movie video he's directed. >> i don't necessarily want to change people's minds. i would rather turn heads and get people talking. my job is to make provocative content. >> you say get against the car. >> and he does that with controversial people. ryan is rehearsing the part of the fbi agent in the music video. >> first of all there's a scene where mary landrieu will be here. she's going to be freaking out on us. >> okay. cool. >> you talk about the tea party. >> we first met ryan at a meeting for young conservatives in california. christian introduced us. >> i heard you all moan and groan about liberal media. do you view cnn as liberal me a

media? >> yes. >> what is it like to have me here? >> come knit news network. i feel afraid a little bit. >> i don't watch cnn or msnbc, except once in a blue moon. >> at age 28, ryan sorba is the oldest young conservative we've met. he invited us to a chicago suburb for an anti-gay event called americans for truth academy. >> the nature of man. >> after the speech outside of chicago, a group of gay rights protesters is ready to take ryan on. and ryan is ready. >> do you guys hate christians? >> no. >> then why are you protesting a christian church for promoting their most fundamental beliefs? >> you want to put us in gas chambers you [ bleep ]. >> no, we don't.

>> do you hate christians? why are you yelling at me? >> this is the definition of tolerance, ideological diversity in action. >> go all the way to hell, pretty boy. >> that brings out the best of us, does it not? abbi you heard him talk about the communist news network. how difficult to be invited in? they had to let you in. how difficult to get access to these guys skeptical about media? >> it was not easy. let's put it this way. it took months to get them to agree to be part of this project and build trust, to trust us in the first place. it took a long time to say this isn't going to be a gotcha piece, and people can decide for themselves whether they agree, disagree or whatever the case

may be. >> just a look inside. we talked this week, one of those you were going to defeat, james o'keefe. was part of the whole a.c.o.r.n. bringdown. that hold thing. trying to punk cnn as you will. is that -- is he essentially not part this documentary? we hear any more about that? does that play into the documentary? >> yeah, it is part of the documentary. it is nowhere near the entire documentary. the entire documentary focuses on this movement as a whole. he plays a very small part. >> i'm sure a lot of conservative activists would pre her him not to get a part. a lot of people behave, if you will. i like how you hold your tongue. >> saturday, sunday, 8:00 p.m. and again at 11:00. >> abbie. good to see you as always. thank you so much. coming up we'll pair

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now, this week, cnn has been taking a "a closer look" at the dinner table. we've been calling it eat oocra. mind, body spirit. we have a zodoozy here. we see this contraption up here. this contraption itself. growbot garden.

sum that up for me. >> we're doing research how to design technology for local small scale farming. the way we do that we work with formers to design them together. we have workshops and other types of activities, where we come and say here's interesting things we do with robotics. here's challenges we have about the local small scale organic farms, and we work together to prevent possible solutions for the projects. >> when you talk farming you think arkansas, georgia and simple folks not sophisticated when it comes to doing farming. they've been doing the same things for years and years, then you bring a robot into it? >> that's a misconception. the amazing thing about industrial farms. they have huge amounts of technology. what we want to do is say, how can we support the organic farmer, the small skal farmer who has a different farm but use

these technologies, how do we support it that way? >> when you say small scale, what do you mean? >> some you work with, that we saw produce from. some are small. >> how could something like this help out. >> we get a shot at this fascin. >> this is a model created by one of the small-scale farmers we work with. the idea that it's going to cut grass under electrical fences. the problem is electrical fences if the grass touches it is short. to cut grass you have to take the fence down. the small-scale farmer, they don't have necessarily the same crew to help them. she came up with this idea to help her do something she has to do regularly on her farm. have it automated so she can continue to tend the lands and produce the great produce. >> there are things like this -- how how close are you to producing this? are we talking so specialized

robots for every farm? do you go to each farm and say what do you need and design sk for them? >> we work with individuals and like to get their input. realistically, if we got the right support from businesses these type of technologies could help small-scale farmers within a matter of years. this is not ten years out. this is not a mars rover robot. this is something that we can produce pretty quickly if we just made a commitment to helping small-scale organic farmers. >> how receptive when you br that or talk about robotics to the farmers, how receptive are they? >> ra mazingly re septemberive. they're resilient and already using new technologies such sass mobile phones and other kinds of things to help them in their farming. >> okay. grow-bot garden. >> a student-led project at georgia tech. >> all right. carl disalvo at georgia tech. good luck. we will see you down the road and see these roving around somebody's farm one of these days. thanks so much, buddy. good luck to you. coming up we'll look ahead

to 2012. hillary clinton may be a wild card? cnnpolitics.com update up next. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

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i saved because they insure my home too. [ chuckles ] with 40 million fans out there, you're bound to know one of them. so talk to your neighbors, then call a state farm agent at 1-800-state-farm or visit discountdoublecheck.com. ♪ good hot dog. all right. time now for our cnnpolitics.com update. our senior political editor mark preston there for us watching the developments. mark, what you got? >> hey, t.j. i'm here with peter hamby. i was talking about my years i spent at roll call , which is the newspaper at capitol hill. the reason we're talking about there is because when i was there i interviewed pete rouse in one of the rare interviews that he has given. of course our viewers know pete rouse is now the interim chief

of staff at the white house. pete is one of these real interesting characters. he's very low key, very well respected on capitol hill or when he was on capitol hill as somebody who is well thought of. doesn't try to get the big glare of the cameras. kind of low key. so i had the story. roll call allowed us to republic it from 2004. here are a couple of take-aways. i asked him about when he worked for tom daschle. that's when he worked on capitol hill and was the senate minority leader. he said his job my basic role to make sure everything stays on track and help out here and there and on controversial issues not just political in south dakota but matters of principle. the same thing we expect pete rouse to do now that he's the interim chief of staff at the white house. go to cnnpolitics.com to check out that story. one of the main jobs he'll have regardless if he stays as chief of staff or senior adviser is helping president obama get reelected. you know there's this

hypothetical question out there of whether hillary clinton will challenge president obama. it's not going to happen, but gallup has put out a poll. the poll shows that in fact president obama would defeat hillary clinton. t.j.? >> always interesting to talk about, though. mark, we appreciate you. your next cnnpolitics.com update next hour. [ water ] hey, it's me water.

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we have answers to the crash of 2010, if you will, the flash crash. let me bring in allison. dow went down 300 points and people were freaking out. but we have an answer now. >> reporter: we're kind of laughing about it now but it was hardly a time to laugh back then. the fcc and the commodities futures trading commission came out with a 104-page report that found what many people already knew here at the new york stock exchange. what was the problem? the problem was that automated trading, that was the culprit of the flash crash. as we go into this report we're getting more details. it's really blaming one large investor for contributing to the eye-popping plunge where the dow plunged almost 1,000 points within a minute. all of the blame is really focused on the use of high frequency trading. the sale of a large block of futures contracts is what started this flash crash and triggered a series of other orders that the market just

couldn't handle. the report says that the combined selling pressure from this one order caused all of these high frequency traders to wind up driving down the price of these futures and at the same time people who would normally buy into the market were actually selling all of their individual stocks. so you saw all the selling pressure especially on the dow industrials. that's what we're talking about here. that's why we saw it fall so fast. and regulators are saying this investment group -- and they're not really naming which one -- is really the culprit. i want you to think about what the day was on this day may 6, what was happening that day. it was a very turbulent day in the market and volatile with worries about the european debt crisis spilling around the globe. i was actually here and waxed the dow fall. traders had their jaws drop. they couldn't believe it. they were also watching the riots that were happening in greece about these austerity measures on tv monitors all over the trading floor here.

and everybody was watching as the dow plunged almost 1,000 points. but it comes down to technology that was really the issue here. >> we have answers here. i'm sure we'll get some more answers about exactly who this firm was as well. thank you. appreciate you as always. top of the hour, a new hour and new rundown. up first air travel. it's going to be nasty this weekend, folks, because of that massive and also deadly storm making its way along the east coast and beyond right now. we're tracking this. chad myers is here in our severe weather center. students can now study with anybody in the world. all you have to do of course is click that mouse. also, have you heard the stories all the time? seems like every time there's a misprint of a phone number anywhere -- it can be off just by one digit -- it ends up being a phone sex line. why are there so many lines out there? we have another example and more details. something to say about it in my "xyz" today. for days we've been following this outrageous story, this story about a personal

crusade against a university student at ann arbor by one of the state's assistant attorney general. today a major new developer. the crusader apparently out for now at least. going to bring you the details in a minute on that. first let me bring you up to speed on this story. chris armstrong is the name of the university of michigan at ann arbor, their first openly game student president. he's not targeted for a suspected crime. instead in a venomous blog the assistant attorney general of the state andrew cherville claims he's pushing and he calls him a racist elitist liar and pervert as well. in memorable appearance with my colleague anderson cooper he didn't back down but defended them and kept up the attack. >> i am doing this as a private

citizen off work time as the university of michigan alum. we're quibbling over tactics. we're not quibbling over substance. the substance of the matter is chris armstrong is a radical homosexual activist who got elected partly funded by the gay and lesbian victory fund to promote a very deeply radical agenda at the university of michigan. >> well, the very next night, shirvell's boss michigan attorney general mike cox told ac 360 shirvell is clearly a bully but has a first amendment right to air his opinions. now word comes that shirvell has taken a voluntary leave of absence. duration of that leave of absence is unknown right now. i want to turn to david jesse, journalist with the site annarbor.com. what do we know about this leave of absence? what happened here? >> we don't know very much about it. sometime late thursday afternoon, we're hearing that andrew shirvell, the assistant attorney general, decided to

take a leave of absence. no one in mr. cox's -- the attorney general's office saddam hussein comme-- attorney general's office has commented how long that will be. all we know he's not at work today. >> at this point he has disappeared. what else have we been getting from the attorney general who came on air here at cnn who defended shirvell's right to that first amendment speech. has he come out and changed his mind in any form or fashion as far as disciplinary action against shirvell? >> his office has said there will be some sort of disciplinary hearing once shirvell comes back to work. exactly what that is, it's unclear. in a radio appearance this morning, mr. cox still continued to defend andrew shirvell's ability to say what he wanted to say while also decrying, saying he was an internet bully and he was picking on the student. i think some of the new stuff from mr. cox this morning was he was talking about how andrew

shirvell was showing up at chris armstrong, the student body president's house at 1:00, 1:30 in the morning to picket ape take pictures and do stuff like that. >> what else for our viewers -- is there anything else we need to know about the relationship between shirvell and attorney general cox? it's one thing to defend an employee's first amendment right but are they close, do they have a history where he would be taking up for a friend if you will? >> we're still trying to explore fully what the link is between the two. we do know that andrew shirvell was a paid employee of mr. cox back in 2006 during -- on his campaign staff as he ran for attorney general. it's unclear mike cox ran this year for governor -- it's unclear whether he worked on that campaign or not. >> is that site still up and running that shirvell had that was essentially blasting the kid at michigan? >> late last night, i think

probably just about the time he got out of work, he made that site password protected. so if you know andrew shirvell and can get a password from him, you can get in. but for you and me, t.j., we're on the outside. >> i'll pass, david. >> okay. >> david jesse, we appreciate you. appreciate your help on this story. you've been all over it. thank you so much, buddy. you take care. coming up, calling all college students. there's now a group online that allows you to study in a unique way. you can get help from across the globe. you don't need a passport.

we turn to "chalk talk" today now. we are checking out a new study group geared toward helping college students succeed. it's an online study group called open study and linking students from around the world helping them pass tough courses. joining me is asham rahm with the computer lab. one of the founders of open study. thank you for being here. this is a worldwide study group. do i kind of have that right? >> open study is a place for studying. a worldwide social network that allows them to study together and get help when they need it. >> you said you've been thinking about this for a while. what were you trying to work out, make sure there is a market for it or complicated technology? >> actually both. we wanted to get the value proposition right. we spent a lot of time researching the core need students have. >> what did you determine was the core need? what did you find they needed? >> students all over the world are hitting the textbooks late

at night cramming for exams or working on review problems, watching video lectures on youtube. when they need help, who can they turn to? the core need was to be able to find someone who can help them and give them hepp right there, right then, no matter what time they needed the help. >> this is again supposed to link students with students. a study group like at the library. >> we want to make the entire world your study group. >> how does it work? looks like a social network page. >> it does. let's say you are a student and one of 10,000 studying computer science on m.i.t.'s website and working on video lectures and you have a question. what do you do? you join a study group. when you do you're dropped into the m.i.t. open study group. we have over 2200 people out there. i notice we just had someone join us from kenya. we have students from 13 countries from around the world.

that's 71% of the world's country. >> does this cost the kids anything to sign up for? >> no, it's completely free. >> so you can -- you talk about kids up all hours of the night. no matter where in the world somebody will be up and logged on and studying. >> you can go in and help somebody but if you have a question or just want to study together with someone, you click on ask a question, type a question in that you want help with and say ask now. the question is posted. everything updates in realtime. and you go back to the site and then someone will be available to start answering you. >> are you ready for growth? because this might catch on. are you ready -- >> we are ready for growth. we've had remarkable growth already. we've only been live two weeks and already have 6,000 using the site. >> this will be the next facebook. 500 million. come back when you get 500 million. ashwin ram from georgia tech. thank you. cool concept. at a age when lots of people

think about retirement, introduce you to a lady thinking about raids on brothels. that's why she's one of the top ten cnn "heroes." f@@

we had some 10,000 submissions this year from you guys about our cnn hero. we have unfortunately had to weed through a lot of them and we're down to top ten, all heroes but still we're down to the top ten and the finalist will be named soon and you'll see that. first meet one of the finalists now who is giving a voice to the powerless. >> i am anuradha koirala. it is my strong hope to stop

every nepali girl from being trafficked. when we go to the border he havity -- exit points we're intercepting four girls to five girls a day. >> anuradha koirala is one of our finalists and she is on the line with us right now from nepal where she does so much of her good work. thank you for being on the line here. first, let me just get your reaction to being one of our cnn hero finalists. >> thank you. it was like -- all my children and myself and my girls. it was -- i cried at first and it was excitement and i was also very happy that at least we were recognized for doing our work and at least the whole world knew about the trafficking on

the problem. the most heinous crime to girls in our country. and that now we are going to get the support, i hope -- we all hope that you are going to get the support. >> i heard you say there -- and we hear from people who are finalists before. they say they were shocked and happy but don't even hear them say they cried. you say you cried when you heard. why is that? >> i think it was i was too excited or it was tears of happiness for being recognized. >> what do you think is next now? you kind of eluded to it, that maybe you will get more of that recognition. i know you don't necessarily want some award. but it's nice that you now have a platform through the cnn "heroes." what do you think or how do you think just this recognition now will be able to help you with your mission moving forward? >> can you repeat the question, please? >> i'm asking how now being nominated as a cnn hero, how will it help you with your mission moving forward?

>> okay. this is going to be -- this is going to be absolutely a very big platform for us because now cnn has already chosen me as the top ten heroes and it's going to be that all over people will know about this issue. and i think now at the first moment also i'm getting calls from different places and they're talking about this issue. they're trying to support me. so this is a big platform that people are knowing and all the people around the globe are trying to come together to fight this crime. >> all right. well, anuradha koirala, good luck to you. congratulations on the work you have already done being recognized already as one of our top ten cnn "heroes." we will talk to you again soon, ma'am. thank you so much. and the hero of the year is going to be revealed, this happening thanksgiving night our fourth annual all-star tribute. you get to decide who that finalist or who that winner if you will -- they're all winners but who the hero of the year

will be. head to cnnheroes.com. once you're set hit the vote now button. we'll tally those up in time for our thanksgiving tribute. let me turn now to some of the stories that are making headlines. we'll start in iraq where that political impasse is now in a class of its own. today the 208th day that the country has been without an elected government in place. that would be a new world record. the netherlands held the record. went 207 days in 1977. the two top parties have been jockeying for party since the march parliamentary vote. more than 1200 nasa employees having to turn in their badges today. they're being laid off due to the demise of the shuttle program. many did very specialized work, so specialized that it could be tough to transition into something else. a special program has been set up to help them find and prepare for new jobs. a built of a strange apology from the u.s. to guatemala

today. the u.s. government saying it regrets a research study in the late '40s that deliberately infected guatemalans with sexually transmitted diseases. guatemalan officials say they're saddened to learn of the study but say they do recognize the american apology. coming up, we're told it's going to be a mess out there. it's a mess now. going to be a mess through the weekend especially for your travel. chad myers keeping an eye on the forecast. fire was fire. and the first language, the language of chemistry, was universal and eloquent. and the unique ability of chemistry to change everything has never changed. it is still the hope of human history to come. it is still the bond in partial between the elements. hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and human.

all right. still got a big storm, chad. still making its way up the east coast right now. north carolina got hit hard. >> it was the wettest, for lack of a better word, lame tropical

system i have ever seen. but what happened, we had a front. it was a front that just kind of snaked this way along the east coast. and then all of a sudden all this moisture tried to go up the front. you push moisture up, whether it's a mountain or cold front or a warm front you're going to get rain. and that front never moved and the rain stayed in the same place. and 22 1/2 inches of rain fell in wilmington, north carolina, over the past five days. six in baltimore yesterday and a fo foot in hampton roads. >> if rain is going to fall and we don't want this much and it turned out to be deadly but it was kind of a good spot because the landscape. >> if you put rain in a lowland area that doesn't have a lot of topography and valleys, then all of a sudden your 12 inches of rain is a 12 inch flood. if you put it in west virginia and all of a sudden 12 inches of rain becomes a 15-foot flood because all the water needs to get down into a valley. it's all that drainage problem.

now, there are still drainage issues, but i would rather deal with the two inch flood in my house than 15 foot over the top of my house. that's what they're dealing with now. there are a lot of people with water problems in the house, whatever it might be. the weekend dries out nicely. sunshine everywhere. won't even have a shower -- sorry to jump in here. i have a live picture i need to show our viewers. at the supreme court elena kagan, the newest supreme court justice having a friendly stage chat. what do you think they're talking about? >> that it's sunny. >> chief justice john roberts. she was sworn in already. we saw that back in august. you'll remember that taking place. you saw that ceremony. today she has a more formal ceremony taking place there. oftentimes we see them come out. not allowed to get too close to them. reporters held at pretty much a distance but they're at the stems of the supreme court. they come out and have the photographers have a picture. we show you the live picture. this is called the formal

investiture ceremony. it involves more pomp and circumstance, kind of a more formal ceremony where she's officially conferred and gets on to the court. but, again -- you're not seeing much of the ceremony but they keep us back for a reason because they know we'd be rude and yelling questions. not rude but doing our job and trying to get a sound bite. i shouldn't say that. another historic moment. she's about to start up on the court and take up a lot of major issues. she -- i can't remember the vote off the top of my head but she was confirmed fairly easily, as was expected. the fourth woman in history to be on the court. the third woman sitting on the court currently. now, guys, is there -- i doubt if there is any sound. i don't know if they're possibly trying to talk to some of the reporters there. i'll just pause for a second. no sound i am just told in my ear. chad, i'm going to come -- a little better shot there. we'll stare at them as long as we can as we wrap up the weather here. we just wanted to show you that. again, live shot.

we don't have a lot of control of this particular live camera right now. just wanted to show you what was happening today with her ceremony. >> interesting to see the sun shine in d.c. yesterday people weren't going to work because of the rainfall yesterday. >> moved pretty quickly? >> it's gone. it's still raining in new england but not in d.c. or new york anymore all though there is still some spinning around and because new york had rain earlier, look at that. how much fun would it be in newark waiting three extra hours for your airplane or on the grounds even to try to get to newark so you can get somewhere else? that's the problem with newark. it's a connection airport. you're going somewhere else if you're on continental and already three hours behind. >> what are you saying, no one wants to hang out in newark? >> i've read some pretty good books lately in newark. coming up, nato fuel trucks attacked and destroyed in pakistan. this is a strategic partner of ours, an ally in the war in afghanistan. the latest in a series of

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we turn to "globetrekking" now. our stop now is pakistan, a strategic country that's a key u.s. ally on the war in afghanistan but events this week have raised serious questions about the future of the already fragile relationship between the two countries. this map here shows you what happened today. one day after closing a major border crossing into afghanistan used by nato supply convoys, now suspected militants today attack and set fire to more than two dozen tankers carrying fuel for u.s. and nato troops in afghanistan. that attack happened near the southern sindh province.

the supply convoys like the ons seen here are vital to the war effort in neighboring afghanistan. the border closed yesterday. it remains off limits to convoys today. it's believed pakistan took the action response to a nato air strike earlier this week that killed three pakistani soldiers. let me turn to islamabad now, the pakistani capital. our frederick pleitgen is there. explain to folks how vital this is to getting supplies to our troops in afghanistan. >> reporter: almost 50% of the supplies that go to the troops in afghanistan go through this, past peshawar into afghanistan from pakistan. it's vital. we saw today, you see those 25 of 27 tanker trucks that were set on fire. that's a major below because it takes a lot of petrol, a lot of gasoline to actually fuel what's going on in afghanistan right now. so this is a very, very important route and remains closed till right now.

no supplies going through there to the american troops in afghanistan. >> you talk about how vital it is, so i would assume that a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to try to get it back up and running. how close are we possible to a resolution of these tensions we've been seeing the past couple of days? >> reporter: well, it will probably be resolved in the next couple of days. however, there's still a lot of tension between america and pakistan. on the one hand, pakistan thinks america is doing too much in the way of drone strikes and helicopter incursions. you mentioned one where an american helicopter went into pakistani territory and killed three pakistani soldiers by accident. on the other hand, the u.s. obviously thinks pakistan isn't doing enough to stop militants from going from pakistan into afghanistan and threatening american troops. so that's something ongoing right now. i wouldn't say it's at a boiling point, but it's at a pretty tense stage at this point. they're going to try to resolve it in the next couple of days simply for the fact that the convoys have to go and resupply american troops in afghanistan.

>> frederick pleitgen for us in islamabad. appreciate you as always. coming up we are once again putting your food in focus. the high cost of being obese. we're going to be talking to farmer d. as he's called. he's trying to make organic farming more accessible. it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open,

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work time becomes well-deserved downtime. apply now at marriott.com/freenightstay. you've got staying power. this week here on cnn we have been talking a lot about food with our series eatocracy. mind, body and wallet. right now we want to get to the wallet part of things and more specifically the cost of being obese. our ali velshi is not here today but he did leave us this piece

to explain exactly what we're talking about. >> more than a third of american men and women are obese according to a new study by the george washington university. the excess weight is not just killing their health. it's killing their wallets. the economic cost of being oh bees can be as much as $4879 per year for a woman. this is medical and nonmedical costs. on the medical side it makes sense, hospital visits, emergency room fees. obviously, if you're bigger you have greater risks of health problems, doctor visits and prescription drugs but a lot of the nonmedical costs -- this is where it seems less intuitive -- are in things like lost wages and lost productivity when you have aren't working as hard as you could be. excels gas charges. i grew up in west canada where in winter you put bags of salt

in the back of the car. everybody i grew up with said they got worse mileage as a result. the excess weight as isly as it may sound costs you excess gas. i don't know how much though. why is it harder for women than men? why does it cost more money per year if you're obese for a woman versus a man? some say it has to do with gender disparity in our economy, mostly lost wages. bottom line if you're a guy and you're heavy, it doesn't cost you as much as if you're a woman and you're heavy. there are just things you can't -- you won't get hired to do because society isn't all that fair. so if you're a woman and you're obese, you are much more likely to earn significantly less than if you are a man and you're obese. other factors not included in the study by the way -- this is where it gets a little interesting -- are sort of some of the nonquantifiable factors. let's call it things like that. the study cites things like excess clothing, food, larger auto sizes and furniture.

this is -- you can debate this sort of thing. excess clothing, as i always like to say, they don't really make prada for big people. so you save because you don't buy from prada. when you weigh more you eat more and might take in more calories and we know that costs money although we live in a society where high calorie foods tend to be less expensive. i don't know if there's a correlation between the fact that big people drive big cars. this is america. everybody likes driving big cars. furniture is debatable too. might be other factors but ultimately it's your health and wages. there is good news in weight loss. even in small amounts it could benefit your waist line and your bank account. what you can't put a price on of course is the sheer joy of eating, so there's a lot of food for thought in this one. i'm ali velshi. >> the sheer joy of eating. a lot of people as we know now like to eat organic. we're told that's healthier for you.

oftentimes it seems more expensive but a lot of people go that route. farmter d. is joining me from new york. i have to start with this. i had to check and make sure. that's the farmer now. because my granddad is a farmer. my granddad didn't look like you. >> well, thanks, i'll take that as a compliment. >> he's a good looking guy but you look like a very hip guy, a very hip farmer. what is this? george is the founding president of farmer d. organics. what is your mission here? >> our mission, t.j., is primarily inspire and empower people to grow their own food and be more conscious consumers what they eat. so choosing organic options, eating local, shopping at farmers markets. we're really passionate about inspiring children and families to make better choices about the type of food they choose to eat and maybe even get them inspired to grow their own food at home or in their schools or in their communities. >> remind us. we hear the debate all the time. seems like we've been hearing it

for years. you sum up for me what is the benefit of organic? >> well, there's lots of benefits of eating organic. one conventional and industrial food uses a lot of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides that are harmful not only to the environment but our human health. so i believe people who eat healthier, fresher food are going to feel better. like ali was saying, they're going to reduce the cost of living and they're going to have more energy to go out into the world and do something positive with themselves. >> how do you have get people on this kick? because it seems like such a laborious thing. we have busy lives and we're tired and sounds like an extra effort to try to do our own farming, if you will. >> well, that's not entirely truly really. it's not hard to grow your own food at home. it's really not. it's as simple as putting some plants in the ground and nurturing them. and people have been gardening for obviously centuries and centuries. farming is the founders of

civilization. finding local organic food is not as hard either. you can even buy them with sfood tam ms and wic at supermarkets. even at big grocery stores you'll find organic options. the price is not so bad. when you look at the long-term cost of eating food with chemicals in it that more and more research is showing how that can really detriment our health in the long haul, eating organic might save money. you can also buy directly through arm faer through a community-supported agriculture situation where you actually re dues the cost of food by cutting out the middleman. >> what is this concept of biodynamic farming? >> biodynamic farming is a type of organic farming that really looks at the land with more reverence and respect for both the soil and the animals, the plants that grow there. so in biodynamic farmers, they work with creating a very diverse, balanced ecosystem on

their farm. whereas typical organic farms -- and the goal of organic farming is what you see in biodynamics which is to have a healthy sustainable farm. because organic has become so big, we've started to see the return of organic farming moving more to an industrial scale. biodynamics looks at the farm as a living ororganism, self contained entity. biodynamic farmers work hard to give back more than they take on the farm. >> darren ojoffe, one of the coolest, no doubt the coolest farmer i have ever laid eyes on. good to talk to you today. congratulations on what you're doing. thanks so much. enjoy the rest of your day. >> thank you, t.j. appreciate that. it has been rumored for quite some time. we got the confirmation today. there is a new chief of staff at the white house. now, how are we going to go from

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we've been talking about this flooding.

some 22 plus inches fell in certain parts of north carolina. new pictures we're just getting in here gives you more of an idea just howe bad it got there. wow! you're also getting from state officials there in north carolina that fact they've had to rescue 75 people had to be plucked either from houses or from the water in some way, form or fashion. we did get word that a number of people were killed as a result of some of this flooding. again, 75 people had to be rescued in some way, form or fashion because of this flooding. again, new pictures. this gives you an idea as we look above windsor, north carolina, from up above. giving us more of a perspective and more of an idea how bad it is there. they'll be dealing with certainly these waters for a little while longer. according to our chad myers, it should recede fairly quickly. but the rain has moved on at least. but just new pictures we wanted to share and new information that 75 people have been rescued over the past day with that devastating flooding we've been

seeing there. going to turn back to washington, d.c. now. the second most powerful job in washington, in government, a lot of people would say, the white house chief of staff. rahm emanuel, he doesn't want the job anymore. he wants another job. bring in ed henry, senior white house correspondent. good to see you as always, buddy. you are in chicago. that's now where rahm emanuel wants to be employed. >> reporter: yeah, he's going to be headed here. it's interesting if you saw the ceremony in the east room of the white house, it was very interesting how rahm emanuel sort of the rough edges, gruff, p pro-fain. even joked about he taught the president some words he didn't know, four-letter words perhaps. we saw him choke up. there was a bonds with the president. a lot of people forget when we were covering the presidential campaign rahm emanuel was on the sidelines. he would not endorse either candidate obama or candidate

senator hillary rodham clinton because he had friends with both of the families. nevertheless as soon as he became president lekt, barack obama jumped at the chance to get him as chief of staff. he thought it was a unique time in history and this was the person to run the train. i remember calling rahm emanuel. he was on the treadmill at a gym and said i don't know if i'm going to take the job. he wanted to stay in the house and become maybe the first jewish a speak of the house. but he did serve as chief of staff. they acknowledge they've made mistakes but on balance what then president elect obama wanted to do was get this guy high energy to come in and deal with all the problems p they got stimulus and health care reform and wall street reform. they haven't gotten everything but a lot of big, big things when we look back ten years from now. >> got emotional. there's no crying in politics.

you can't cry at the white house, can you? how emotional? just a little sniffle or -- >> reporter: looked like he was tearing up a bit there. what's funny, though, is that early in the day there was a little bit of humor at the white house. my colleague dan lothian did a story on cnn.com. funny details because they have the senior staff meeting, super serious. rahm emanuel's really last day as chief of staff. hard charging always yelling at people or what not. austan goolsbee, someone else from chicago presented a problem and he opened it up and turns out that there's a dead fish in there. that's because erlt in his career rahm emanuel sent a dead fish to a political enemy to send a message, a joking message, we should point out, harkening back to one of "the godfather" movies and shows that on the last day it got emotional but people were having a little fun at rahm's expense as well because they realize this has been somebody who is a high

wattage personality, a lot different than steve rouse. >> that's the funny story, a dead fish? they are hilarious up there in d.c., aren't they? >> that's our idea of a joke in washington. >> you mentioned steve rouse. see if you can do this quickly. a contrast in style we keep hearing. >> reporter: the bottom line is this is someone long time in the senate tom daschle and then senator obama. he's not going to be on the sunday shows or with candy controly hanging out on sunday. that's not the high wattage personality but behind the scenes people say he has the president's trust and will get things done without maybe some of the drama of rahm emanuel and may be good for the president. some of the big things they did early on they have to go to smaller things because they have to deal with either a republican congress or democratic congress that's severely weakened coming out of these elections. >> always good to see you, buddy, in chicago right now. enjoy your time there and by all means got any funny little

anecdotes from washington, d.c., we'd love to hear them. >> reporter: it was a funny story. we'll let the humor continue with our senior political analyst gloria borger. a funny story in d.c. is a dead fish, huh? >> reporter: yeah. >> what's crossing that desk right now? >> reporter: actually, t.j., i just got back from a session with a bunch of reporters in the house speaker's office, nancy pelosi. i want to share a couple of things from that session because it was quite interesting. first of all, i'd have to say the house speaker is completely defiant about what's going to happen in this next election. she would not give an inch. we've all been talking about a wave election for republicans. and she said, in fact -- let me quote this. she said, i would rather be where we are than where they are. hmm. talk about defying conventional wisdom. as about the dispirited base we've been talking about, will the base democratic voters come out, she said, look, i am the

base. i know the base of the democratic party. the democratic party voters will come out because, she said, we have better trained, better equipped candidates out there. number two, i asked her about her democratic critics. you know, there are lots of moderate democrats who are backing away from nancy pelosi. one of them congressman walt minnick recently said to cnn, look, i'm not so sure i would support nancy pelosi as speaker. i asked her how she feels about that with her own democrats distancing themselves. she said, go for it. just go win your election. i want them to win. it's their election. it's not about me. so she's given them permission. third thing is obviously we've got the talking points about this being a choice election, about going back to george w. bush versus going forward with barack obama. but i've got to say, the interesting thing to me was her favorite word in this session seemed to be tattoo as in we're

going to tattoo the republican candidates with a special interest money that is funding their campaigns. but in the end, t.j., after a long discussion about why people are turning off of government, why they don't like big government, she says, by the way, it's nothing new -- the one thing she did allow is that unemployment number of 9.5% is quite difficult for democrats to fight. she said any political party that can't exploit 9.5% unemployment ought to hang up their gloves. >> boy, it is -- it's just a wacky day in washington, as always, isn't it? >> reporter: it is. but she's a fighter. nancy pelosi, she's a fighter. so she said today don't count her out. >> all right. gloria borger with the update from the desk. gloria, always good to see you. we will see you plenty. for our viewers be sure to stay here at cnn for key issues

of the key races heading midterm elections. your next politics update an hour away. ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light. it's work through the grime and the muck, month. tow and pull without getting stuck month. sweat every day to make an honest buck...month. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. during truck month, use your all-star edition discount for a total value of five thousand dollars on silverado.

see your local chevrolet dealer. you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. [ security agent ] right. you never kick off with sales figures. kicking off with sales figures! i'm yawning. i'm yawning some more. aaaaaaaand... [ snores ] i see your point. yeah. [ snores ] [ male announcer ] we understand.®

you need a partner who delivers convenience. next time use fedex office. we turn to "wordplay" now. today's word ties into my chat with our cnn hero earlier. we're looking at the word traffic. most of us fortunate only to know it as a noun and only caught up in it temporarily. it means to trade or deal in a specific commodity or service often of an illegal nature. today we were talking about sex

trafficking, modern-day slavery where women and girls are just something to buy, sell and exploit. for folks who don't know this is a huge global problem. it's an embarrassment as well according to the u.n. the u.s. is one of top ten destinations where victims of trafficking are brought. at any given time around the world 2.5 million people are believed to be the victim of sex or other human trafficking. hats off to our cnn hero and others like her trying to right humanity's wrong. what's this option? that's new.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. in today's "xyz."

this cereal is meant to help a nonprofit organization. he's the receiver for the cincinnati bengals. you buy it and the proceeds go to this organization feed the children. it has a number you can call on the side that you can call and make a donation. but when you call this number on the side of this box, you actually don't get a person on the line to take your credit card for a donation. oh, you still get a woman who wants to take your credit card number but she's offering a type of satisfaction that differs from the kind you get from making a charitable donation, if you get what i'm saying. the wrong prefix is listed here. it's supposed to be 1-888. instead it says 1-800. that leads you to a phone sex hot line. you can see where that's maybe an honest mistake. but we've seen these type of mistakes before. but for some reason we see them all the time. "american idol" last year put out the wrong number for a contestant, led to a sex line. florida governor charlie crist last year supposed to give out

the number for a children's health insurance program sex line. new york the old state dmv phone number sex line. the white house press release last year for a foreign policy conference call sex hot line. it happened to minnesota governor tim pawlenty, gave out a call-in number for a radio show and the callers were directed to a, quote, good time. recently the rnc sent out a fund-raising mailer with the wrong number on this. every time it seems there's a mistake on a phone number, why does it always lead to a phone sex line? how many of them are there in the world? is it really that random? apparently yes. as i was writing this "xyz" i decided to just dial 1-800 and i dialed my parents 'phone number. when i dialed 1-800 followed by my parents 'number, sure enough i got an offer to, quote, get together with interesting local people. now, most of these mistakes are because someone just like this