i thank you he was saying something that i construe as hate speech. i'm joined by jesse ventura. it upsets me because i think to say that muslims killed us on 9/11 is like -- could you say that about any group. to lump an entire group like that. >> we reached out to you for your views. i will read two. let's take a look at what we're getting. ignorance and rage are fueled by fear. how can you host a talk show if you aren't willing to take views from all of your guests. this encourages open conversation. you can weigh in on my facebook and twitter pages. we look forward to seeing what kind of respectful dialogue we can have about all these issues. >> have a great weekend. tony is out, t.j. is in. >> thank you, kind ma'am. hello to you all. live from studio 7 at the cnn world headquarters. we have big stories coming up. an american soldier allegedly

beaten by others in his own platoon. look at the pictures here. they say he was a snitch. the soldier who exposed a rogue killing squad accused of picking off civilians. also, fight night in las vegas, not what you think, not necessarily prize fighters. the prize they're fighting for is a seat in the senate. the senate's top democrat is it tangling with a tea party insurgent. some name-calls went on. she's telling harry reid to man up? he's telling her she's an extremist. and, are you looking for a job out there? what is your ideal job? how about this guy? he gets paid to get high? yes, he tests medical marijuana for a living. he smokes all day. kind of like a food critic here only with a different kind of pot. >> i got a joint, a pre-rolled joint of sour diesel and really

chunky, real good-looking pot. >> sure you don't want to stick around. we're talking weed the next two hours. >> i did not inhale. >> you didn't hear that. all of that and a lot more coming up. hello to you all, i'm t.j. holmes in for tony harris. your comments and those stories right here right now in the cnn newsroom. about how much red ink on the government balance sheet? the congressional budget office says the federal deficit is just now under $1.3 trillion. good news is that's low are than it was last year. bad news, it's $1.3 trillion. second year in a row that the deficit has been above 1 trillion. down about $125 billion from last fiscal year. those numbers, we're getting today, also the unemployment numbers we got not too long ago.

these are some of the final reports and the numbers that people are going to walk into the voting booth with in 18 days. we have these critical midterm elections coming up. the most powerful man in the senate, the head of the democrats, he is in a tough fight to keep his seat, the senate majority leader harry reid going up against tea party favorite sharron angle, locked in a neck and neck race. most polls have them just a point or two apart. they did have a debate last night, the only one we'll see them in. let's listen to an exchange. >> social security is a promise we have to keep. it takes care of seniors in their golden years. that's why i worked so hard to protect social security. i feel so strongly about this that i took on the president of the united states when he tried to privatize it, and we won that battle. social security is an important program. the accountants and also the cbo

has said that social security will pay out 100% of its benefits for the next 35 to 40 years. >> man up, harry reid. you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. that problem was created because of government taking that money out of the social security trust fund. in 1990, you said it was stealing to use social security for anything but social security, and then you voted to take that social security money into the general fund where it could be generally used for generally anything. >> now, coming up in a moment, we're going to be talking more about that race and debate out in nevada with our political folks in d.c. also, we've been waiting all this time. the miners came out with the hugs and tears and crying and all of that. everybody's waiting to hear the stoert about these guys being trapped 69 days under ground. you're going to have to wait for it or pay for it.

they have agreed they're going to sell their stories in books and interviews and divide the money up among the 33 miners. they're keeping details close to the chest. you're seeing video of one of the miners, three altogether but one leaving the hospital there. more are expected to leave today. they're not saying much. one says that the 17 days that nobody knew they were alive, those were the you toughest days. >> what was the worst moment? >> transi think the worse thing is to pass three, four, five days without food to know there might not be any future. another story, gay rights groups not so happy with the president today. the administration will appeal a judge's decision that struck down don't ask don't tell as unconstitutional. the president was talking in a forum with young voters in washington and says he opposes

the law that forbids gays and lesbians for serving in the military but wants it to come from congress. >> i agree with the basic principle that anyone that wants to serve in our armed forces and make sacrifices on our behalf, on behalf of our national security, anybody should be able to serve and they shouldn't have to lie about who they are in order to serve. so we are moving in the direction of ending this policy. it has to be done in a way that is orderly because we are involved in a war right now. but this is not a question of whether the policy will end. this policy will end, and it will end on my watch but i do have an obligation to make sure that i'm following some of the rules. i can't simply ignore laws that are out there. i've got to work to make sure that they are change. >> the president talking a little policy there. meanwhile, the top u.s. military commander, he is talking in

afghanistan about that the fight there, yes, it's tough, and it's headed in the right direction, he says and is also backing the afghan president's efforts to pursue peace talks with the taliban. we are talking about david petraeus speaking at a british thinktank. >> no one should have any illusions about how difficult the fight will continue to be as we and an afghan partners strive to bring tease that nation that has suffered through more than 30 years of continuous war. still, u think we now have the right strategy in place. we turn to a special investigations unit update. we told you about american soldiers accused of killing afghan civilians for sport. now a story about a man who exposed this, and the price he paid and the military's move to keep him silent. here now, drew griffin. >> reporter: these are pictures obtained by cnn of a u.s. soldier in afghanistan, a soldier who blew the whistle on

what the army says it was a platoon gone rogue. bruises on his back, arm and neck of private first class justin stoner, bruises received not in combat but in his bunk, beaten by fellow soldiers who feared stoner was a snitch. jeremy morelock, a soldier accused of killing three afghan civilians told investigators he was there the day private stoner was beaten. >> we just walked in the room, locked the door behind us, and a couple guys just started talking to him. we laid it on him. >> what do you mean? >> it started with talking. why would you rat on your guys? you know, stuff like that. and then led into someone grabbing him. >> did he deny it? >> yeah, at first he did. and then he made some comments about how he was tired of

being -- something like that, and he made a comment about. i think someone grabbed him at that point and punched his chest and he made a statement like, hey, you guys can sit here and punch me all day long if you want or something and once that was made, he grabbed him off his cot, threw him on the ground and got a if you licks in. >> reporter: morelock told his attorney he was had combat injuries when the crimes can committed. sergeant gibbs who has tattoos on his leg which he says represent kills in iraq and afghanistan is the alleged ring leader. he is not ready to comment. others also said they believed stoner was a rat and about to tell commanders about the drug use going on a forward operating

base ram rod. at least seven members of the rogue platoon entered his tent on may 5th, surrounded him and then according to stoner's statement, collectively stomped, kicked and punched me everywhere on my body below the neck. last week stoner agreed to talk again. this time to cnn in an on-camera interview, but just three hours before that interview was to take place south of seattle, cnn received of this e-mail from private stoner's military attorney. about two hours ago, prosecutors and i met regarding the disposition of the case against pfc stoner. based on this meeting, pfc stoner will be given full immunity in this case and not be prosecuted for any allegations made against him, contingent, also, however, on staying away from media. with that, the interview was cancelled.

the military, which had not charged stoner with any crime was threatening to bring charges against him and then offered him a deal as long as he didn't go public. the u.s. army appears to be trying to limit further damage by this rogue platoon. the evidence including damning photographs. those who have seen them tells cnn it shows soldiers posing with dead afghans like hunting trophies, worse than those at abu ghraib prison. this military directive orders all photos be immediately returned to the criminal investigation division at ft. lewis. last week, pentagon spoexman jeff morrell refused to speculate on the case. >> i don't want to do anything that could in any way jeopardize the prosecution or the ability of the defendants in this case to get a fair trial. >> reporter: for now the army is working hard to contain witnesses and containest to

control a story about a ploot toon even the army says was out of control. well, what happened in vegas last night could determine what happens in washington for years to come. more on the political showdown between harry reid and sharron angle. >> let's say hello to rob marciano. there is severe stuff out there? >> there is. we will talk about a couple things, tropical depression paula. bye bye to her, but hello to a pretty big nor'easter exploding off the new england coastline. rain, wind, pounding waves and even some snow. cnn newsroom is coming right back. gecko: gd news sir, i jugot ae

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boss: thanks gecko: no, no i got it, sir. ncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. as you know, the critical midterm elections now just 18 days away, and the senate majority leader, harry reid is trying to hole on right now. he's in a you have to battle with sharron angle. they sparred last night in las vegas for their debate. just one of the topics they talked about was health care. take a listen. >> for a long time in this

country, insurance companies have dominated the health care delivery system. you pay your freedom jumps. you get sick or hurt, they walk away from you. we passed health insurance reform because we had no choice. >> america is about choices, and we need to allow people to have those choices. the free market will weed out those companies that don't offer as many choices and don't have a cost-effective system. let the people decide where they want to buy their insurance. >> i want to bring in our senior political editor mark preston. hello to you, kind sir. i have been to plenty of fight nights in vegas. this didn't live up to the billing. >> no, they seemed very flat. harry reid didn't seem to be on his game and sharron angle didn't deliver that knockout blow that some people thought she would. talking to a republican a couple of minutes ago, they said she didn't need to deliver it but

didn't need to fall down on her face. no real winner. >> this isn't going to move a poll i assume. they don't have another debate planned. >> these two couldn't get together on agreeing to do a debate and this is the only one they would agree to do together. we haven't seen any numbers. since it was three hours behind on the west coast, we'll probably see some numbers in the next 24 hours and see what people thought. i'm sure it was well watched out in nevada. really, this comes down to the closing dates. who will not fall down or make a big gaffe? they both have pen prone to making big gaffes. >> what does this do possibly for the tea party? there are other races. 37 is the number of senate seats up for grabs. if the tea party is able to knock off the majority leader, what does that sell us? >> huge. it would be huge for them.

the tea party express, one of the main tea party organizations are going to be in reno on monday to kick off the last cross-country tour. sarah palin will be there speaking. if they are able to depete harry reid, the senate majority leader, can you imagine what power thf over the republican party as a whole. add in marco rubio and other tea party candidates across the country. you are very likely to see the republican party move further to the right than what it is now. >> don't want to sell him short. this man a literally and figure toughly a fighter. >> no question about that. he took on the mafia when he was on the gaming commission. he knows how to win. look, he won in 1998 by 428 votes. he is one of these guys who will go down fighting. he says he'll spend $25 million to win this contest.

problem is sharron angle raised 14 million in the 30 quarter a alone. >> interesting throughout in vegas. we'll see you soon. i will see a lot of folks out there on the road soon. cnn election express hitting the road. next week we will travel across the southeast this time, talking to you about what you're concerned about and also trying to get answers from a few folks out there. first stop is charlotte, north carolina, one of the biggest financial hubs outside of new york. that's monday, and then columbia, south carolina, down to tampa, florida. see you on the road.

19 minutes past hour here now. you often hear republicans talk about having to slash government spending. that is the way to balance the budget. they accuse democrats of just being on a spending tear. that's a battle cry from the tea party leaders as well. you have to cut government spending. our elliott spitzer had specifics on cutting spending and did it on "parker spitzer." >> reagan when he ran for president in '76 said we need new leadership unfettered by old ties and unrelationships. the tea party is unfettered by old ties. they're changing america. >> that was fascinating, but we have some questions. i picked up on that. i have this persistent habit.

i was a lawyer once. so where are you going to cut? >> well, we start with the republican proposal. we go back to the spending limits. >> you got to cut over $1 trillion. there's only 500 billion in nondiscretionary money to start with. are you going to cut medicare? >> what you're going to do is change the entitlements. >> you're going to cut medicare. >> america is not going to function in 20, 30 years unless somebody, democrats or republicans, conservativives and liberals figure out how to get away from the entitlement society. one, you change the retirement age. most people getting to 60 are drawing social security. you can't continue that when people live into their 80s and 90s. >> "parker spitzer" is going to explore the difference between president obama and president reagan's views on the role

government plays in society. turning now to some of the stories that are making headlines, including testimony resumes today in the hearing for the accused ft. hood gunman. yesterday witnesses identified umar farouk abdulmutallab as the shooter the hearing is to determine whether he will be court-martialed. >> florida and 19 other states are suing over the mnd date that individuals get health care. the suit also challenges the requirement for states to expand medicare. a judge threw out four other counts. also, take a look at this. a mother and child reunion. isn't that great? that's candice winslow, who spent the last four months deployed overseas, got home ahead of schedule and surprised her son at school.

they have to wait on daddy to get home. pop is still deployed as well but a nice surprise for the young man at school. what is your dream job? a man in denver may have found his. he is getting paid to smoke weed. what's this option? that's new.

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. back to the cnn newsroom. i'm rob marciano, tracking this nor'easter which is really beginning to take shape.

it's just off the cape cod coastline. you see the swirl of moisture working its way in from the atlantic owing. we have a lot of wind gusts and rain moving into new york. we will see a little bit in the way of flooding. also, maybe a little bit of snow in the higher el vagus. pinks and whites trying to work their way into the radar scope. we'll probably see -- we have already seen reports of wet snow above the 3,000 foot mark and i think we can see anywhere from 2 to 8 inches of snow above the 200,000 foot mark. getting a head start on ski season here. the bigger story for a wider range of people from the big cities from boston to new york and d.c. is the amount of wind because it will get stronger and not move out rapidly. through tonight and tomorrow, it will be blustery and windy across much of the northeast.

30 to 50-mile-an-hour winds potentially. that will take down tree limbs. the heavier snow will also take down some tree limbs. you were see power outages. still cool out west and the other thing i wanted to taje on is this is paula, which is pretty much done. a couple clouds in the bahamas, not worried about that. the other thing of interest, if you live in little rock, you felt this puppy, 4.2 magnitude earthquake early yir this morning just north of conway, hark saw, enough to rock the house hold. that will get you out of bed in a hurry. >> growing up in arkansas, we had to do the earthquake drill in school. >> there is a fault there. >> new madrid seismic zone. >> all year, we have introduced you to incredible folks, everyday people who are changing

the world. we call them our cnn heroes. we have another one to introduce you to. to get help, listen to actress ava men december. hello, i'm eva mendez. last year i had the honor of recognizing the great works of everyday people changing the lives of people. as a champion of the arts, i'm committed to creating joy in the lives of hospitalized children and many thrilled to help cnn introduce one of this year's top ten honorees. now more than ever the world needs heroes. >> juarez was a very nice place, and now nobody can go out. at this moment of crisis, people have to have a secure place where healing goes on. i started the hospital of the

family in downtown juarez. we have been working there for 37 years with the community. every day we have from 800 to 1,000 people. some of them can pay, some of them cannot pay, but we don't turn anybody away. i believe that help is the most important of the human rights. life is all about empowering people, and it's very important to have an institution giving them hope for the future. >> so, who will be the cnn hero of the year for 2010? don't ask me. we're asking you. you can decide this. go to cnn.com and vote for the cnn hero that inspires you the most. all ten will be honored on

thanksgiving night. you saw it last year and we're going to do it again this year. it will be hosted by anderson cooper, but only one, of course, will be named cnn hero of the year. it's time we took familiarity back. and that's exactly what we've done with this car. >>i dare you to look at this car and find something that stands out. it simply can't be done. when we came up with this idea, we thought, let's not come up with any other ideas. this idea is good enough. >>instead of breaking the mold... we went down and found those pieces from that mold... and we put it back together. [whisper] mediocrity. ♪ who's born to care

this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference i've been looking at the numbers, and i think our campus is spending too much money on printing. i'd like to put you in charge of cutting costs. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business.

we're at the bottom of the hour here at the cnn newsroom. marijuana is on four state ballots this november. in california, the big one out here, with prop 19, voters are going to decide on. that is going to allow small amounts of marijuana on a person to be legal and taxable. this essentially would be the first state to make it legal to smoem week for recreational purposes in small amounts. also in south dakota and arizona, the issue of legalizing marijuana for various medical conditions, and in oregon, where medical marijuana has been legal, the question before the voters, should the sale of medical marijuana be available through dispensaries. up to this point, people who want to smoke medical marijuana have to grow it them thfls at home. you didn't have dispensaries to go buy the stuff. cnn newsroom is taking a look at

the marijuana argument as it stands today and what yes votes could mean for americans down the road. medical marijuana, as we know, has been around for sometime, including colorado, been legal for the past decade. in denver you alone, they have more than 200 medical marijuana dispenries, and one man gets paid to check out the quality of that marijuana at each and every one of those dispensaries. cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow has this story and she tried to do it without getting any contact smoke. >> reporter: not only is this legal, it pays the bills. so you get paid to smoke sbot write about it. >> i do. >> reporter: his pen name is william breathes and he is one of the first marijuana critics in the country. we can't show you his face because he job depends on staying anonymous like a restaurant critic. >> you can be high doing your

job. a decade after medical marijuana was legalized in colorado, it's estimated about 2% of the state's population or more than 100,000 people have applied for medical marijuana licenses. according to one harvard economist, roughly $18 billion is spent on pot every year in the u.s. and denver's westward paper has capital iced on just that, hiring breathes as a pot critic, who reviews the dense pennsylvaniarys and the quality of the marijuana. >> he has a journalism degree and a good writer and could punctuate and spell. >> reporter: as for breathes, he's been smoking for 15 years to ease chronic stomach pains, but now his medicine pace his mortgage. we tagged too long see for ourselves and didn't take our cameras inside, but take a listen. >> that's great. >> i have to go with that. >> an eighth?

>> yeah, an eighth. >> you can show us what you got? >> i got a joint, pre-rolled joint of some sour diseasal and really chunky, real good-looking pot. >> reporter: i can smell it. it is permeating the whole car. >> yeah, exactly. that is something you really look for. >> reporter: does that mean it's good? >> yes. >> reporter: back at the home office, it's time to get back to work. >> i load up a little bit and taste it. try and taste the smoke as it comes out. you know, like i was saying, it has a real woody finish. after a few hits of that, you try and feel what type of buzz it is and what it's doing to my body medically. >> reporter: you know the critics would say you just want to get high. >> oh, yeah, definitely. and i'm not going to lie, there's a fun aspect to this medicine but if could you see me on a morning when i'm really

sick, it's truly medical. >> poppy, come on. >> i'm serious. i have to tl you, this guy changed my perception of people that smoke marijuana. he is on the straight and narrow. he has a good job. he just bought his own home, has a mortgage. he is super responsible. he takes this seriously, no joke. he told me, i'm not going to get used to getting paid to take bong hits but the industry is changing. colorado is regulating it. you don't buy it at ail? >> what makes him the expert? >> he's been doing it for so long. he went to journalism school. he's a writer and has relationships with people what run the dispensaries all over town. what makes someone an expert in a new industry? he is the first of his kind, but in all seriousness, they're changing the industry. felons can't run dispensaries now. doctors have stricker rules in

giving prescriptions, and those dispensaries now have to grow 70% of her own pot because they don't want them bringing it in from mexico. >> he's testing it not just on the taste but on how it makes him feel? >> every day, morning, noon, night, he has to take bong hits and gets paid for it. >> poppy, how do you get some of these assignments. always a pleasure. can't wait for your next one. coming up, they spent 69 days living a life under ground. they finally get out, and the whole world has been waiting to hear their story. you have to wait a little longer. we'll explain why. ♪

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taking a look at some of the stories making headlines. condoleezza rice heading to the oval office today. the former secretary of state, national security adviser to president bush has a private meeting with president obama. you can watch her later as she sits down with our wolf blitzer. also, today, actually happening in two hours, rapper ti going to be heading to court in atlanta. he has a hearing on drug charges that threaten his probation on a

previous weapons violation that could send him right back to prison. he just got out earlier this year. this comes just days after ti convinced a man to come down after threatening to jump from a midtown atlanta building. old miss has a must mascot. seven years after sacking colonel there, who conjured up images of the old south. finally got rid of him. going to replace him with the rebel black bear. that is what the students wanted. we don't have a picture of the black bear but trust me, it's not that impressive. i say that because i'm not a grad. don't call. it's okay. it's a college football star who faced down the toughest competitor of his life, cancer. dr. sanjay gupta has more on the biggest win of one linebacker's life.

>> reporter: as he leads his team onto the field, you can see had, mark hurz lick is fierce, dedicated, a devoted team player. >> football is really my life blood. >> reporter: few things have ever stood in his linebacker's way, not his opponents on the football field and not even cancer. >> high whole left leg was completely white, meaning there was a tumor that surrounded my femur. >> reporter: it was during his junior year that he developed a pain in his leg that simply wouldn't go away. many doctor visits later, he was given a devastating diagnosis, sarcoma, a rare, often deadly form of bone cancer that strikes roughly 1 in 600,000 people. >> it went from when am i playing football again to when do i start treatments, what is my treatment, what's

chemotherapy like? will i live. >> reporter: he had chemotherapy for two straight months and additional radiation sessions before and after every chemo visit. his motivation always being to get healthy and get back to playing football. >> i knew that if i got back on the feel thak i would have come full circle, beaten the cancer, gotten my physical strength back and be where i want to be and once again be happy doing the thing i love to do. >> reporter: that internal drive helped him mount a triumphant return. now, he's cancer-free. he's back to playing football this fall, and football fans young and old, well they're celebrating with him. >> we love everything about mark herzlich up here in the stands. >> you can do incredible things as a human being. you can defy the odds en, even if someone says you won't make it.

you have to push you'reself to have the will to get there. i got there. >> this weekend on dr. sanjay gupta, m.d., actress christina applegate. she talks about insurance companies and what she think thinks they're neglecting that could save your life. information coming in about the search for david hartley, the american who went missing in the waters of falcon lake, a lake that borders the u.s. and mexico border. you've seen the story for sometime now. his wife tiffany claims he was shot while they were on the lake. a lot of people suspected possible mexican drug lords had something to do with this. the search has been suspended for her husband's body. our paul corson is on the line, a producer who has been on the

story why did they decide to quit searching? >> the reach knoll governor of the area where falcon lake is located is in washington for annual meetings that will scheduled not related to this at all but we managed to track him down, eugene hernandez flores. he says there no investigation into the whole falcon lake incident. he did confirm that david hartley's wife is going to be meeting in texas with the fbi and mexican federal police today to file a formal statement of her account of the events, but he did not say there is any formal investigation under way right now, but he did say that he will be meeting himself today with fbi officials by the name of hector gonzalez. i don't know his formal title at the fbi, here in washington to make sure u.s. and mexican authorities are cooperating if there's any investigation that needs to move ahead. >> help us understand what that means, because we have been watching a whole lot of what

appeared to be investigating going on, certainly by americans from the american side, if you will. so what up to this point have mexican authorities been doing? it makes it sound like we haven't been involved or got an formal complaint almost. >> one of the things that seems to have complicated this case is the death of an investigator that was assigned to the hartley case at falcon lake. his death was a coincidence it seems, according to flores, who we talked with. he said this is a long-time investigator in this governor's state, and he had a number of cases this may have been atribed to. he refused to thing of link it to anything to do with the hartley case. and, as i said, he would not elevate it to that of a formal investigation, while saying that tiffany hartley does today plan to meet with both mexican federal police and the fbi in texas to possibly more formalize whatever investigative process

has been under way. >> paul corson, we appreciate you tracking him down, one of our producers working the story from the other end. we got a estimate from tiffany hartley's mom. it says, we are very disappointed. the longer this goes, the less chance there is of finding david. she's saying she's disappointed because we're getting word that the formal search has been suspended for the body of david hartley. we will continue to follow that story when we come back. fiber one chewy bar. how'd you do that? do what? it tastes too good to be fiber. you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. do it again. turn it into something tasty. this guy's doing magic. there's chocolate chips in here now. how'd you do that? right! tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. what's she thinking?

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it is. ♪ there is always something day in and day out with this critical midterm elegation. let's check in with paul ste steinhauser. >> you're stuck with me for another 18 days, but you and my buddy mark preston, we were talking about that big debate between harry reid and sharon angle. it was a big showdown in washington state between anna rice, and patty murry, and peter

ros rossi, the republican nominee. a great article by our peter handy who was there at the debate. that's what happened last night. let's look ahead to tomorrow, because there's a couple of things going on. let's start with the president barack obama will be helping out the first term governor who's needing help. michael steele, the chairman of the republican national committee, teaming up with sarah palin, the former alaska governor and former vice president nominee. she'll be there to help raise money for the republican party. you can see all this stuff, of course, on the cnn political ticker and we're talking about it, t.j., so there you go. >> looking forward to the next 18 days with you. the next political update comes

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a city councilman in texas is getting very personal about bullying during a meeting. we're going to bring you his emotional plea. that's in the next hour of the cnn newsroom. we're going to meet a young man who's educating black students about the history of the n-word in an effort to get kids to think twice before using it. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪

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well, chile's miners turned media rock stars had a lot of time to think down there. and, boy, they have got their minds right now on their money and money on their minds. the men have agreed now to sell their story and they're going to split the profits. we're talking book deals, movie deals, endorsements, you name it, they want it. some would say they deserve every penny of it. brian todd takes a look. >> why is this man so happy? he's got a new lease on life, but also what appears ahead. a lot of these men might have been charting their future path. he wrote last week, if we do this properly, we won't have to work for the rest of our lives.

how much do they stand to gain? here's what we're looking at. the paper, the mail on sunday said that tv networks are offering up to $400,000 each for the miners to tell their exclusive story. and predictably, agents are climbing all over themselves to sign the miners and their families to lucrative book and movie deals. one chilean mining tycoon has pledged to give each miner $12 million. according to various reports, they have gotten offers to endorse various products. let's take a look at some of those, including mining equipment, of course naturally. chocolate bars, clothing, beer and a sexual enhancement vitamin, i'm sure we can't wait to see those commercials. some things you wouldn't necessarily figure, but are interesting nonetheless, are some gifts that these miners have it go on.

the soccer team real madrid has sent jerseys and balls to the miners. one of the most popular soccer team in the world has sent tickets for each of those miners and their families. and free wine for a year and here is my personal favorite, this is miner edison pena, he's a die-hard elvis fan, he led the miners in sing longs. he's been offered to attend graceland. i'm brian todd in washington. hello, everybody. top of the hour here, i'm t.j. holmes sitting in for my good friend tony harris. let me give you a look at some stories and the people behind those stories. victims of bullying, a mother pleads with president obama, says stop the bullying which led her son to commit suicide.

also the politics of marijuana. the editors and writers of "high times" magazine. keeping a close eye on what's hot out there. >> the walkout on "the view." the comments that followed that from both sides, hours later, we'll have that for you later this hour. >> we'll talk to you here shortly. let's get to a story we want to bring you here first. a powerful new in the growing outcry against bullying. this one goes voiral on the internet. he had an impassioned mess sags saj of hope for teenagers who are being bullied. john is following this which has blown up on the web. >> when this ft. worth, texas

city councilman began speaking at a meeting the other night did not that way he he would say would move millions of people. he opened up about his struggles growing up as a gay teenager, thinking something was wrong with him, that he had to make sure no one ever learned who he is. >> i had never told this story to anyone before tonight. my family, my husband or anyone. but the number of suicide in recent days have upset me so much and it just tore at my heart. and even though there may be some political repercussions, this story is not just for the adults who choose or not choose to support me. this story is for the young people who might be holding that kind of thought.

give yourself a chance to see just how much life will get. -- how much better life will get. and it will get better. you'll get out of the household that doesn't accept you. you will get out of that high school. you will find and you will make new friends who will understand you and life will get so, so, so much better. >> and talk about how much things changed for him. he said he wished he could take his 13-year-old self to the experiences he had later on in life, including his 67-year-old father who he said is still a pretty tough cowboy. >> the 13-year-old me would see me today holding my dad's leathered hands and see my dad wake up from his operation and squeeze my hands and look up and

me and said, joel, i'm so glad you're here today. when he said that, i had tears. >> you can see why he has become a phenom swraun line. he talks about the way that he's been moved by the overwhelming support and touching comments that so many people have sent to him and he's encouraging young people out there who might be going through those troubles to go here, at trevorproject.org, that focuses on helping gay teens and ending suicide among them. ali velshi will be speaking with him next hour, that's the 1:00 p.m. eastern hour here on cnn. i'm going to tweet the length of

the entire video so people can see the whole thing including what happened at the end and that power standing ovation. meanwhile the mother of an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide today plans to join the white house in an effort to stop school bullying. he hanged himself in his closet in april. his mother said the fifth grader had been complaining about being bullied in his georgia school but she didn't know how bad it had gotten. her son's case helped get a new anti-bullying law passed in georgia. but she says still, more needs to be done. she spoke to our kyra phillips. >> reporter: a year has passed since jahine's suicide and i haven't got any justice, mr. obama, i really don't know what to do, i have cried too much and i feel like a failure to my son. why do you feel like a failure? >> because i just keep seeking

the justice and i mean these people don't want to accept responsibility that my son was getting bullied in school. they always want to say, oh, no, it wasn't going on. so i feel i'm trying my best to let these people know that it was bullying going on with him and they keep sweeping it under the rug. so i feel like i failed him. i can't get no justice. a year has passed and it's still the same thing, they keep denying it. >> we are as you know, 18 days away, about, all of us should be going to vote. if you don't plan on it, make sure you get out there. but still millions of voters are going to be casting ballots in the highly-contested midterm elections. in november, americans are going to decide 37 senate and 435 in

the house. 37 states are going to be electing governors. of course politics is local. ultimately this all comes down to the balance of power the washington, d.c. republicans hope to take back enough seats to gain control of the house and senate from democrats. the house a certainly contentious battleground here. the republicans need to win 39 seats to become the majority. that's a tall task but not unlikely. the some say the gop has to regain ten seats. every midterm election is known to have some pretty big turnovers. back in 1949, republicans left 54 seats on der the guidance of newt gingrich. among like low voters, cnn pollers show republicans with a seven-point lead going into the

election. here's what both sides of the aisle are calling the enthusiasm gap. 54% of republicans say they're pumped about going to the polls in november, but only 34% of democrats getting pumped about getting out there and voting. last night in las vegas, the senate majority leader harry reid is trying to hoed on against tea party backed challenger sharon angle. jessica yellin reports achkal through some pretty sharp jabs. >> reporter: there were no knockout punches in this fight, it was probably the dullest thing that happened in las vegas last night. democratic senate majority lead leader harry reid who spent so much time trying to be likable that he missed some opportunities on his client. sharon angle game the aggressor

in the fight but she still sometimes seemed confused on the facts and even got lost in her own answers. these two candidates did present starkly different views of the proper role of government in our lives. harry reid argued that government should help be the engine of job growth here in nevada which as you know has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, angle argued, no, that's the role of the private sector entirely. the contrast between the two, was their tussle over social security, angle has said that she would like it to be private advertised and phaseded out but has shifted her position. harry reid took her on on that point and then she challenged his manhood. >> social security is a promise we have to keep. it takes care of seniors in their golden years. i feel so strongly about this that i took on the president of the united states when he tried to privatize it and we won that

battle. social security is an important program. the actuarial of social security and the cbo has said in the past month that social security will pay out 100% of its benefits in the next 35 to 40 years. and even after that, there would be a short fall of 15% to 20%. we need to take care of that 35 or 40 years from now. don't frighten people about social security. the deal was made by president reagan and tip o'neill is holing strong. the money is there and it's taking care of our folks and will for the next 35 years as i have just indicated. >> man up, harry reid, you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. that problem was created because of government taking that money out of the social security trust fund. in 1990, you said it was stealing to use social security

for anything but social security and then you voted to take that social security money into the general fund where it would be generally used for generally anything. >> reporter: although there were no knockout punches, there were also no major gaffs on either side as well. which means it's up to their respective campaign teams to see who can get the job done. she has enormous enthusiasm on her side, on his, a very effective get out the vote operation. early voting begins tomorrow. jessica yellin, cnn las vegas. did you even know that there was a magazine out there that's dedicated solely to marijuana? where do you think they come down on whether or not it should be legalized? we'll take you inside the high times coming up. the final presentations ♪ ♪ sally, i'm gonna need 40 copies, obviously collated ♪ what's going on? when we're crunched for time, brad combines office celebrations with official business. it's about efficiency. [ courier ] we can help.

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at about a quarter past the hour, i'm going to bring you an embarrassing moment that is also our random moments of the day. a pittsburgh area teenager, congratulations, son, you just passed your driver's test, you got your new driver's license. then he commences to crash his car into the dmv office. he's the newest man at the wheel and he was dropping off the guy who had just given him his driver's test. we're told the teenager gets to keep his driver's license.

why? why? but, still, the ride of his young life so far makes him our random moment of the day. sure sounds good for all of us on medicare. starting next year, we'll get free check-ups, cancer screenings, lower prescription costs. and better ways to protect us and medicare from fraud, so it will stay strong for our kids and grandkids. now, that's music to my ears. ♪

marijuana is on four state ballots this november. in california, that is the doozy that everybody's keeping an eye on. voters there are going to decide on problem situation 19, that would allow small amounts of marijuana on a person to be legal and taxable. this would be the first time a state actually voted to make the recreational use of marijuana legal. now let's tu to south dakota and arizona. the issue there is legalizing marijuana to treat various medical conditions. and then there's oregon, where the question before voters is should the sale of medical marijuana be available through the dispensary? cnn has been taking a close look at what this could mean for americans down the road. one magazine has pushed for this

for years. it's hauled snchtd high times." >> this is our cover for it. >> "high times" magazine is the number one magazine in the world. "high times" magazine is an advocacy magazine. >> we're fighting for people's rights, their rights to free expression, their rights to put into their bodies what they choose. >> we believe we're more of a cause than a magazine. >> "high times" mag zone came out in 1974. he was the first one to take pictures of marijuana and say this is beautiful. >> we aren't trusted about what's going on in the marijuana community. and particularly in the medical marijuana community.

>> the message that the magazine is trying to get out to the world is that it's okay to smoke cannabis. it's okay to grow cannabis, it's okay because it shouldn't be illegal in the first place. >> they're very strong advocates for growing marijuana for personal use. they continue to be the largest donator for the reform of national marijuana laws. >> we have events that spread the word of marijuana, spread the word of legalization, spread the word of growing. we believe it's everyone's right to grow or smoke marijuana. >> we have had obstacles we have had to jump over. there's still place where is we have to poly bag the magnify zo magazine. >> this is the number one event

in the whole world. >> my responsibility is to tell the truth. it has like any other medication its limitations, but it's positive affects far outweigh anything you could say about marijuana. the detractors of marijuana say there's nothing good to say about it and they couldn't be more wrong. coming up, we have got the first nor'easter of the season, it's whipping through the northeast right now. our real national pastime?

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good hot dog. taking a look now at some of the stories that are making headlines. more of those miners in chile are expected to leaf the hospital today and head home to their families. officials expect all 33 of the men to be home by sunday. although the obama administration is appealing a decision on don't ask, don't tell, the -- the president said he prefers congress repeal the law. also a federal judge in atlanta may revoke rapper t.i.'s probation today. this is set to go out in about an hour and a half. the rapper was arrested on drug charges in september that triggered this court appearance. the hearing comes just days after t.i. helped the suicidal

man who wanted to jump to his death here in atlanta. >> if you believe that, you would then have to -- you will have to in some way assume or hint to the fact that i talked a man on to the roof in order for me to plan to talk him down. and i think that is preposterous. you know, the policemen were there, they can account for how i got involved. >> now what you heard t.i. there actually referring to is that a lot of people thought it was awful convenient that he just showed up at a scene when a man was trying to jump off a roof. some said that he possibly set this up as a publicity stunt before he went before the judge. but right now, i think bonnie snyder, we can call this one of the top stories as well, this is a nasty little storm? >> it is, t.j and travel was

treacherous across new york city, i had reports of water covering the bridges. many people were having trouble dealing with the situation there. we can show you where the water is, and there was a lot of it. new york city catching a break, but boston, it's not over for you yet, as well as the rest of new england. you can see a little bit of white right here in the higher elevations of vermont, new hampshire. we had some reports of light snow from this system way up in the mountains there, and this is the beginning, we're in october, i'm sure very soon enough we'll see systems like this bringing lots more snow than that as we get into the colder numbers, but a lot of the rain is pushing off to the northeast, but as long as this low sits here, we're still going to see very windy conditions and heavy downpours of rain particularly to the north where the rain is at its peak right now, look at bangor, hammered with rain at this time, it's not letting up. now remember, even when the rain

pulls away to the northeast with a nor'easter, you get a blast of wind coming in. so the wind advisory you see here all the way from new york's long island up into northern maine and back up towards vermont, we're going to see winds straight through tonight and through early tomorrow morning. so a lot of these advisories continue for tomorrow. it's just going to slow things down at the airport. we'll talk more about that. some young kids getting a powerful lesson in language. >> after what i seen and looked at, it's not a good thing to say. >> people talked about it and i learned about it, but i never thought about it how he made me think about it. >> the it they're talking about? the n-word. we'll tell you about a man on a mission to take away its power.

first here, i just want to warn you that this next story is going to use some language that some people will find offensive. garard mathis got fed up with hearing his peers use the n-word to refer to themselves. he decided to do something about it, educating and empowering black students. tony harris has the story. >> i just wanted to start us off talking about the n-word, the word nigger. >> reporter: it is an uncomfortable topic to talk about. >> some of this stuff, i didn't learn myself until i got into

college. so definitely don't feel ashamed, don't feel like i should know this, no, you shouldn't. >> garard's goal is education and empourmt. . >> i became sort of frustrated with, i think, the lack of consciousness among black youth. i felt like they didn't know our history as much as they should know. and i think as a result that led to an atmosphere of just respect. before slavery, we were kings and queens. >> reporter: garard channels his frustration into what started out as a college project called empowering ourselves now, a series of workshops to encourage dialogue among young people by close examining pieces of history that were left out of schoolbooks. >> little kids were brought to this and they didn't see anything wrong with this.

this man's arm was cut off on the ground, already? and people are standing around smiling. what bothered me when i heard young people using the n-word, who were 5, 6 years old, they didn't have any -- they referred to people as the n-word. >> i ain't going to lie to you, people call each other niggers and stuff because it's cool. and now i don't want to let the word pass out of my mouth again. >> can someone tell me what the word dehumanize is? >> reporter: the discussion can be candid by letting the kids express themselves. by soliciting feedback on surveys about what was most

effective after completing a session, garard was able to taylor his work ship. >> a lot of the kids often argue that it's just part of the language, it's just a word, but then i argue that the word is so negative and it was such an integral part of dehumanizing our people that you can't take something that's been so negative and make it into a positive. >> reporter: tony harris, cnn atlanta. >> now he's raising money any way he can, including raffling off some prized sports jersey. to read more stories that matter to all of us, pick up the latest issue of "essence" magazine. >> what matters is brought to you by red lobster, enjoy endless servings of your favorite shrimp only during

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all your news about money, this is going to be a big headline. social security cost of living, they're not for the second year in a row getting a cost of living increase. the ten least stressful jobs out there, you might want to check that out. i assume one of them was the kid

out in colorado who smoked weed for a living, that's probably not too stressful. nasdaq up 22 points and also the dow is down about 36 points right now. we'll keep a close eye on all of that stuff of course. dealing with debt collectors, dealing with student loans and senior citizens being harassed about their home mortgage. stephanie elam has the answer. >> thanks for being here, guys. let's get right into our questions which start with michael who writes my student loan debt was bought by a debt collection agency and gave me really bad advice and then started garnishing my wages, i wasn't given a buyout on my loan and it appears they're trying to get me to pay all the interest and penalties, is this legal and what are my options? >> it's a really difficult

situation, advice from a debt collection agency, not a good idea, let me just start there, it depends on the documents that you signed, if they were fraudulent in laying out the rules to you, you certainly should have a buyout, i'm sure you do have the ability to do so, but it sounds like what debt collection agencies do, they just try to jam you into something and not have you understand it. >> the next question here is from nina. we are retired and upside down on our mortgage, but on time not delinquent. the banks will not help, should we default and is the property deed all they can get from us? can they touch what legal is left in our ira? should we get a lawyer? >> it sounds like she can afford her mortgage, she's questioning whether or not she should continue to pay it. first off look at the rental market in the area, she'll still need to live somewhere, she may

not save as much as she thinks, and they could come after her for additional money, in fact they might if they think she can afford to pay it and she is defaulting by choice. she may also owe taxes on the money, so before making a decision, consult a lawyer and a tax professional. >> thank you both for being here, the help desk all about getting you answers, so sent us e-mails at cnn.com/help desk. you can pick up the latest edition of "money" magazine on newsstands right now. ♪ i hate suburbia and the bourgeoi-sie ♪ ♪ but i really love my bank ♪ i hate-- didn't quite catch that last bit.

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all right, taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. the mexican government now says it has suspended the search for missing american david hartley, this comes a couple of days after the lead investigator on

the case was beheaded. hartley's wife says he was shot on a sightseeing trip on falcon lake, his body though has not been found. and the israeli government is planning to erect new houses in jerusalem. also the world's longest tunnel has now been finished. it stretches some 35 miles beneath the swiss alps, but it's going to take another seven years for that tunnel to handle high-speed rail service. home coming from afghanistan, a bit of a letdown, came back and considered that his home was destroyed in a fire. but we have got some good news, our clark howard, our sister network hln, he came to help out. wsb diana davis with the story. >> reporter: the home he dreamed of gutted, michael walker was just back from one year's duty

in afghanistan. as he and his wife prepared to drive home, he learned hiss house had been flooded. >> everything was new in the house. >> the walkers paid off the land with the insurance settlement, but had no money left for a new house for mobile home. habitat for humanity and channel 2's clark how waard stepped in. howard wrote a personal check for $35,000, asking for a community match. what most assumed would be a long-term fundraising product wasn't. >> what we thought was a couple of months, but with clark howard, we had it in two weeks. >> the economy's so bad, i didn't think anything like that would even come around. you know, because everybody's having hard times now. >> reporter: in three or four months, the family will move in,

the children already dreaming of their new rooms. >> the 3-year-old is like every day, when are we going home? as soon as the house is built. well, when is the house going to be built? asking 1,000 questions. making an endorsement, that's ahead in our political update. i used to see the puddles, but now i see the splash. ♪ i wanted love, i needed love ♪ ♪ most of all, most of all... ♪

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until you head out for these midterm elections. and a lot of people are getting endorsements, they want to brag, i've got this politician supporting me, i've got that politician supporting. somebody is getting support from beyond. paul steinhauser joins us for the political desk update. what's going on? >> t.j., you're absolutely right, if you want an endorsement from a republican in alaska, you want it from ted stevens. but the problem is, ted stevens died in a plane crash. but before that crash, he served with lisa murkowski and also served with her father. she decided not to run that way before the republican primary. but since she lost that primary, she's now decided to run as an independent. she's now running that. in fact steven's daughter comes on in front of this commercial

saying our father would want this to run. so up in alaska a 60-second ad of ted stevens endorsing lisa murkowski from beyond the grave. >> the today party organization kicking off their fourth cross country caravan. who's going to be there with him in reno, nevada? sarah palin. she's helping them kick off their fourth tour, they'll be targeting a number of democratic candidates who are running in this november's election. back to you, mark. >> t.j., as we're getting very, very close to the election, you can't get enough of it. well, you can now get it on your mobile phone. if your photographer, jeremy, will come close on that, you can actually download this free election center app, you can get

it for your iphone, for your android, for your blackberry. you don't have to be in front of your tv, you don't have to be in front of your computer, you just have your phone with you, you can get the news as it breaks. >> gentlemen, we appreciate you as always. we're going to have the next political update coming your way folks in the next hour. and of course, the latest in political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. we'll continue with a little politics here, and a lot of people talk about slashing government spending, that's what you need to do to balance the budget. you hear republicans talking about that and it's a big battle cry for the tea party conservatives. >> regulating -- new leadership unfettered by old ties and old

relationships. the tea party people are unfettered. >> wait, wait, wait, wait, richard, i was fascinated. but here's a question. i have this persistent habit, i was a lawyer once, so where are you going to cut. >> well, we start with the republican proposal, we go back to the spending limits of -- >> you got to cut over a trillion dollars, there's only $500 billion in nondiscretionary money to start with, where are you going to take huge pieces? are you going to cut medicare. >> what you do is you have to change the entitlements. america is not going to function unless somebody, democrats, republicans, conservatives and liberals get together and figure out how to get away from the entitlement society. a very simple way to do it is, one, you change retirement age, most people when they get to 62 are drawing social security.

you can't continue that when people are living into their 80s and 90s. >> a new documentary that explores the difference between president obama's and president reagan's view of the role government plays in society. you can get that on "parker and spitzer jshsz. >> have you seen what happened on "the view" yesterday? things often do get so heated, but so heated that somebody got up and walked out. it's what's hot. we'll bring it to you. [ commentator ] lindsey vonn! she stays tough! earlier, she had an all-over achy cold... what's her advantage? it's speedy alka-seltzer! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief for all-over achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus.

all right, what's hot.

josh levs is here be that. isn't that routine, don't they walk out every week on "the view"? >> this is what sparked it, it was on "the view" yesterday. he brought up the planned islamic center near ground zero and here's what happened. >> they didn't kill us on 9/11. >> oh, my god. >> muslims didn't kill us on 9/11? is that what you're saying? i'm telling you, 70% -- >> i don't want to sit here. i don't. >> all right. i want to say something to all of you.

you are just seeing what should not happen. >> barbara walters said that they should not walk out. after o'reilly explained that the extremists were responsible for the attacks, that's what happened last night, bill o'reilly talked about it on his show. on the fox channel, "the o'reilly factor." >> i'm not in the business of sugarcoating harsh reality. this program and my book state the truth as i see it. i enjoyed jousting with "the view" ladyies because i love to see both sides. >> joy behar talked about it, to understand what she's saying,

her book is called pin heads and patriots. >> today on the view, bill o'reilly had a real pinhead moment. i thought he was saying something that i construe as hate speech. i'm joined by former governor jesse ventura. to say that muslims killed us on 9/11, you could say that about any group, to lump an entire group like that. >> she had this conversation with jesse ventura. i thought what good is going to come out of this is that at least we can have a conversation as a country about intel lent respectful ways to share. >> you know who's hot? you guys are hot. >> see you, enjoy. >> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] a little bit of this,

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just like you, really? 18 days left to go before the midterm elections, we thought we would see if the voters are buying into this catch phrase. >> today it seems like every politician is fighting for the i'm just like you crowd. it must work, right? well, we wonder ee eewonderered. do politicians really want a politician in office just like them? >> christine o'donnell the first

one to say she's you? >> i'm not a witch, i'm like you. >> reporter: she said it in a way that few politicians have. parodies abound, queue youtube. >> america's a 300-pound bearded diabetic man, send me your donations and i will go to grandma's house and order pizza tonight. >> all joking aside, the i am you political strategy is ubiquitous, it seems to be in every politician's playbook, no matter how ridiculous it might sound, you're wondering why? >> they do it because they win. >> president reagan on a horse was a lot more subtle on a horse than bill clinton's i like you grab, all those mcdonald's hamburgers, the jogging shorts and marriage problems.

he was a baby boomer's i am you dream, he connected and he won. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: actually analysts say the i'm like you strategy really exploded in 2008. >> joe six pack, hockey moms across the nation, i think we need to band together and say never again, never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again. >> reporter: and although some strategists might say it's a tired tactic, the idea of you running the country resonated with many voters. >> because they're angry, they don't trust anybody. who are they most likely to trust? themselves. >> reporter: but is that what voters really want? do they want a peanut farmer a cowboy, a good old boy, or a hockey mom? you know, someone just like them to run the country? in the end, zimmerman, a democratic strategist says no. >> this election is not whether a