electora electorate, it's what the politician's going to do for the electorate. that's what people are demanding and that's what's resonating. >> reporter: voters are more cynical, he says, when voters hear i'm just like you coming from the mouth of a politician, it sounds just like the check's in the mail. cnn newsroom continues and filling in for me today on the 1:00 to 3:00, take it away, my man, it's all yours. >> i'm ali velshi, in a moment, we're going to do something very special and very different on this show. we're also going to get you caught up on the day's headlines. first the federal reserve might take some bold steps to jump-start the sputtering economy. but no one's calling ate second stimulus plan. plus we're going to get to the bottom line of the foreclosure freeze. guess what, it's not going to wipe out most foreclosures.

and the high stakes midterm elections. nevada's senate race, if harry reid loses, he would be the first senate majority leader to lose an election in more than half a century. we'll look at last night's debate between reid and his rival sharon angle. and we have got a six-foot high robot that can retrieve all sorts of things. it might one day be a fixture in your home or workplace. i'll have a live demonstration. but first, i'm going to show you something as far from robotic as you can get, something from the heart, something that choked me up when i first saw it. we here at cnn have worked to bring you the -- but to many people, politics equals something less than noble, almost every day, especially election years, you can tune in or login and ear acrimony,

personal attack and sigher attack, real problems that cry out for honest attention are ignored. not today, today on this program, we're showing you a side of politics that you may have forgotten still exists, a public official speaking from the heart about a matter of life and death, truly of life and death. you may have heard about this on the web, it's all over the place. you may have seen clips on a newscast. but what i am going to bring you you won't see anywhere especially, at least not just yet. it's going to take me some time to get through it. what you'll hear are words that may change a life or save a life n a few minutes, you'll meet joel burns, in his first network tv interview, but first you're going to hear the incredibly personal and courageous remarks he made to his fellow councilmembers and the public on thursday night. it stirs up debate among generally well meaning people. but it all comes down to the

right of children and teens not to be persecuted or beaten up or driven to suicide merely for who they are. some of the language you're about to hear is coarser than we would normally bring you, but we made a decision to air these remarks unedited. we'll talk to joel burns about a cause you may see differently after you hear his story. >> i want to ask my colleague's indulgence in allowing me to use my time to talk briefly about another issue that pulls at my heart. would you go ahead and run the -- the parents of asher brown, who you can see above complained to school officials that their son was being bullied and harassed in school. the bullies called him fagot and queer. for years the harassment

continues. a couple of weeks ago, after being bullied at school, asher went home, found his father's gun and shot himself in the head. his father found asher dead when he came home from work. asher was 13 years old. i would like for you to look at his face. unlike asher, indiana teen billy lucas who was never identified as gay, but was perceived as being gay by the people who harassed him daily. three weeks ago he hung himself in his grand parents' parent. minnesota 15-year-old justin auburn came out to friends at age 13 after harassment and bullying began. when he found the harassment more than he could bear, he hung himself in his room and was found by his mother. classmates started teasing and

name calling seth walsh in the fourth grade, it continued through his middle school years where other students told him the world didn't need another queer and that he should go somewhere and hang himself. after being threatened by a group of teens, he went home, threw a noose around a tree branch and he did just that. he hung himself in his backyard. his mother saw him, pulled him down, sat by his bed for nine days before dieing a couple of weeks ago. he was 13 years old. teen bullying and suicide has reached an epidemic in our country especially among those who are perceived to be gay or who are just different. tyler clementi jumped off a bridge to his death after his roommate outed him on the internet. rhode island teen hung himself in hiss dorm room and we learned

just yesterday of oklahoma teen zack carington who killed himself after attending a city council meeting in norman, okay okay where speakers made disparaging, anti-gay remarks. there's a conversation for the adults in the room and those watching to have and we will have it. this bullying and harassment in our schools must stop and our schools must be a safe place to learn and to grow. it is never acceptable for us to be the cause of any child feeling unloved or worthless and i'm committed to being a part of that conversation. but tonight i would like to talk to the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17-year-olds at arlington heights high schools or at dagget, rosemont or any school

here in ft. worth or anywhere across the country for that matter. i know that life can seem unbearable. i know that the people in your household or your school may not understand you and they may even physically harm you. but i want you to know that it gets better. when i was 13, i was an awkward teen who had grown too tall, too fast, who would trip over my own feet. i was the son of a pianist and a cowboy named butch. as a kid in a small town, there was a certain image of who i thought i was supposed to be and as i entered eed a les sense. i was a sensitive kid but friendly, i was a band dork, i

played basketball but not very well. i was teased like all kids but i was fairly confident and i didn't let it bother me much. one day when i was in the ninth grade, just starting crowley high school, he was confronted by older kids who roughed me up. they said that i was a faggot and that i should die and go to hell where i belonged. that unleashed the fear that what i was beginning to feel on the inside would somehow be showing on the outside. ashamed, humiliated and confused, i went home. there must be something very wrong with me, i thought, something i could never let my family or anyone else know.

i don't want my mother and father to bear the pain of having to hear me say -- >> thank you for staying with me during this, we're going to take a break, when we come back, you're going to hear the rest of councilman burns' story. a story he has never told before.

we're breaking with our ordinary format to bring you a -- joel burns made a highly

personal appeal for simple civility, humanity towards the youngest and most vulnerable among us. we just aireded the first half of his speech at the city council meeting on tuesday night. we're doing to run the rest of it and afterward we'll talk to joel. >> i have never told anyone, 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 for telling my story, the story is not just for the adults who might choose or not choose to support me, this story is for the young people who might be holding back the rope or the

bill p pill bottle. you need to know that the story doesn't end today. there's so, so, so much more, yes, high school was difficult, coming out was painful, but life was so much better for me and i want to tell any teen who might see this, give yours a chance to see just how much better life will get. and it will get better. you will get out of the household that doesn't accept you, you will get out of that high school and you will never have to deal with those jerks again if you don't want to. you will find and you will make new friends who will understand you, and life will get so, so, so, so much better. i look back and my life is full of so many happy memories that i wish i could share with those who were shown up above earlier and those who have taken their lives. memories i wish i could share

with the 13-year-old version of me on that very unfortunate natural day. if i could i would take the 13-year-old version of me by the hand and take him to the campaign office of 1982 where governor clinton made a very speechless moment -- i would take that 13-year-old me to the first day of spring in 1999 on a west texas ranch hill top surrounded by a dozen head of black angus cattle and as the sun set turn the sky purple, pink and orange in only the way a west texas sun set can, i jammed my hands into my pocket and pulled out two -- that i had spent my last dollar on and pulled it out and ask jamie to spend his life with me.

i countless family and friends erupting in cheers when it became clear that i would win my first election, and i could feel the love and support for me that was in the room that night. i would take the 13-year-old me to just a few days ago at baylor hospital, to see our dad, our dad who's no longer the 40-year-old tough cowboy that he was when i was 13, who i thought would never understand me, but is now the 67-year-old dad and still a tough cowboy, and the 13-year-old would see me today holding my dad's weathered hands and see my dad as he woke up

from his operation and him squeeze my hand and look up at me and say, joel, i'm so glad you're here today. and i said, i am too, dad, i am too. for those who are feeling very alone tonight, please know that i understand how you feel. but things will get easier. please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself. it may not seem like it tonight, but they will. and the attitudes of society will change. please live long enough to be there to see it. and to the adults, the bullying

and the harassment has to stop. we cannot look aside as life after life is tragically lost. if you need resources, please check out the trevor project.org online and you can call me and i will get you whatever resources you need. my number is [ bleep ] i want to thanks those in this room for allowing me this time and to j.d. and the rest of my family, i am sorry for you having to hear this painful, personal story in this public way for the first time, but know that i am able to tell it because of your love for me. and mom and dad, i'm alive "today" becautoday because you loved me. again, attitudes will change, life will get better and you will have a lifetime of happy

memories if you just allow yourself and give yourself the time to make them. thank you. >> this is the second time that i have washed that, it was hard to watch both times. joel burns was watching it with us and after a break, we'll talk to him and find out why he's made this decision to talk with us as openly as he did. on a day-to-day basis. natural gas is cleaner burning than most fossil fuels and it's vital to our energy needs. increasingly we're finding gas in hard to reach areas, but now we've developed technology that enables us to access gas in hard rocks so we can bring more fuel to homes and help provide a reliable source of energy

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west just -- we have just aired something you wouldn't normally expect to see on a newscast, unedited remarks from a local councilmember in texas. we did it because of the honesty and the passion of the teacher. joel burns in public for the first timeshared his heart rending experience of bullies that attacked him because he's gay. people know that joe burns is gay, he now knows he's among the lucky who survived to lead rich and productive lives and he wants other gay teens to survive too. he wants to kids who are bullied to stand up and stay was. joel, thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much. joel, you took your earpiece out, i didn't live your experience and it was hard for me to watch, both times i have seen it. you took your earpiece out while you were watching it. it's hard f . >> it was the first time i had heard it but the part about my

dad is still the toughest part for me, as you can see are the video from tuesday night. >> that's part of the important part, that's the part that you want people to remember, that as hard as it seems it gets better, and as hard as those pressures are, stick around, it gets better. >> how does it get better? >> it gets better in way you can never fathom as a 13 or 14-year-old. times are dark and you're either being harassed or bullied inside the school or outside the school. you have a household that may not accept you, there may be any kind of abuse around it. there's just no hope that there's life after your adolescence and after your teenaged years. i have often thought wouldn't it be wonderful if i could go back to the me that existed as a teenager that really didn't

think that the future was all that bright at times, and show him just the amazing wonderful things that have happened in the course of my adult life and, you know, it's a story that continues. i mean i wish i could show the 13-year-old not only all the things that i said in that video, but the fact that i'm on c nrks nrknn today is something would have guessed as a 13-year-old or any other age for that matter. >> you are openly gay, but people didn't have the impression perhaps that you struggled the way you did as a kid? and i think that's the issue here, that we're not realizing in that interim, in that stage where people start to feel different and maybe it's because you're gay, maybe it's not, maybe you're just different from everybody else, are we not providing a society, the civility or the access to the help and information and support that kids need? >> i think the recent rash of suicide is indicative of the fact that we're not doing our jobs in that regard. i have a sister who's a teacher

in a rural texas high school. she's been teaching about seven years now, she told me the night of this, she called and said i want you to know that i see this every day, and it's not just gay kids, it's anybody who's different, a person perceived to be different. it i think yes, it has gotten worse and the rash of suicide is very indicative of this. you said to the adults, the parents this has got to stop. what do the rest of us do who are not the bullies and who are not the bulled? >> i think there's a wide variety of things, and i think for the parents, the too mueach the school admed administrators

tell those kids it's okay to know that you have power. who in my school is being bullied, even if they're not being bullied, but statistics say nine out of ten kids report some kind of harass mptd while in jr. high and high school, even if they're that 10% that's not getting harass itted. ask them to -- let that kid know that it's okay that there's someone who might stand up for them, there's someone they can lean on, someone who will have their backs. it's important to give their kids that permission, and say hey, i know times are hard for you, if you ever need a friend, let me know and i'll be there for you. >> your twitter page, as mine is -- even if i disagree with that lifestyle, we should love. that's kind of the point, we're

not asking people to make decisions about whether you approve of homosexuality or not, that's not what this discussion is, this discussion is about civility, it's about pluralism, it's about respecting differences. >> it's not just that, but it's about creating a safe place for our kids to go to school. and even when they're out of school and they're at a local convenience store or at the shopping mall or wherever they are, that they're not subjected to the kind of really just over the top harassment and bullying that we have seen. some of the kids, some of the guys that i referenced at the beginning of my comments, they had survived literally years of harassment and bullying that has largely according to their parents gone unanswered from the administrators and the principals and teachers. and that's something that has to stop. >> joel, how is your dad doing? >> he's out of the hospital and this i think has been tough for him. i talked to my mom again this morning.

my dad and i are close, we operate often times in a way where we communicate sometimes through my mom, she's a little more chatty than my dad is, i talk to my mom about, how is dad doing? because i specifically referenced him on tuesday night and i think that this has been hard for them. i think that, you know, i have really fantastic parents. and i know that in my upbringing, that they wanted to be as there for me as they possibly could and if they could interpret what i said on tuesday that there was some failing on their part. and the reality is they never failed me once. it's just that kids go through tough times and experience things outside the eye of their parents and unfortunate things happened to me outside of their viewpoint. and, you know, those weren't things that they could protect me from and i don't know that i would want them to be there at every single moment protecting me from them. but they're doing okay, my dad is -- yes, sir.

>> that's good, i wanted to know because i know that was a big part of motivating the comments that you made. and we thank you for doing what you did. w we thank you for joining us, you're a credit to politics, to texas, to your country, you're a hero and your words will save lives. [ male announcer ] the turn changes everything. ♪ the turn will make you think. ♪ make you re-examine your approach. change your line.

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when is a stimulus plan not a stimulus plan? federal reserve chairman ben bernanke gave a strong signal this morning that he is ready to act again to try to kick start the u.s. economy. he said there would appear to be a case for further action. he said a lot more than that, but we're not going to bore you with the rest of it. he is not going so far as to talk about another stimulus plan. so what can bernanke do to save this economy that everybody else hasn't zodone. let's turn to my co-host christine roman, because at times like this she's smarter than me. what does that mean? >> they want to stimulate the economy in the way that the fed does stimulus and that is to basically inject, goos te the economy as much as it can, by buying treasury related assets out of the market, and flooding back into the market and you've

got money available and you've got the whole thing humming along again right? the problem here for the fed and what bernanke is saying is that unemployment is still too uncomfortably high, in fact inflation isn't a problem, but in fact inflation might be too low, but this is a fed that's been arguing about this for a few weeks, but is very closely watching a recovery in the american economy that it thinks is sub par. >> let's talk about one of the ways to goose the economy, maybe you flood the economy with money, maybe you print more money, they like to say, the effect is that there's more money available, it's easier to borrow money, and we have just seen brand-new mortgage rates out, how many times do i say mortgage rates aren't going to get any lower. >> for a year you have been saying mortgage rates are at rock bottom, they're so low, 4.21% according to the mortgage bankers association, interest rates in this country are incredibly low, the dollar is weakening. all this -- the way these

markets work together is quite complicated, but bottom line here, around the world, you have countries who are trying to goose their own economies, get their export machines humming so they can try to pull themselves out of this wreck and they're not actually -- we're not actually working all in concert together, which is one of the reasons why you're hearing people talk about currency wars. >> so you want to try and bring your currency down to make your exports more attractive to other countries, but all those other countries including ours, have to have demands, they have to have people who want to work, who want to buy oall of that stuff. >> we have not figured out how to get demand going again, it probably has a lot to getting jobs going again, the housing crisis as well. interest rates are incredibly low right now, we have a fed that says it may have to step in and do some more goosing to the economy. i suspect we'll know more about that the next time the fed has

one of its big meetings, maybe they will pull back the vaeil a little bit and show us what they're going to do going forward. >> the fed, an a-political organization handing that. christine, you can watch her every day and you can also watch us every saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, and sunday 3:00 p.m. eastern. she's the author of a new book, smart is the new rich. you can watch christine every morning, you can watch christine every afternoon, you can watch her on saturday and sunday, then you can read her book to end your day perfectly. coming u, we're going to take a closer look at one of the more contentious battles, one of the more important battles. itit t adwiwiout food al

>> so, ah, your seat good? itit got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.

to toll politics now, there's just 18 days until the critical midterm elections. i'm talking about nevada. the senate majority leader harry reid against tea party favorite sharon angle, she's the republican candidate. they're neck and neck right now depending on which polls you look at, but let me tell you why a reid loss would be historic. notice they're black and white. that's because it was a long time ago. the man on the left, senator ernest mcfarland, he lost in 1952 to barry goldwater. the man on the right, scott

lucas, is also senator, he lost in 1950 after being targeted as a communist sympathizer. here's the way the reid-angle angle shapes up now. reid with a slight leedad. but then there's the mason-dixon poll. angle says she's raised over 14 million. look at this quote from july. you can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that's an honest job. that's what she said. quote, i'm tired of some peel calling me whacky. those people have been fodder for the reid campaign. last night the two of them faced off for their one and only debate. >> my opponent doesn't like any insurance companies to have to

do anything. she's against mammograms, colonoscopies and insurance coverage for kids that have autism. that's really extreme. >> the sluolutions to the healt care insurance cost problem are simple and they reside within the free market. we need to get the government out so we can go across state lines to choose insurance companies. we need to get the government out of the process so that we can take off those mandated coverages. >> we need them to be forced to do mammograms. that's why you see breast cancer awareness month, you see the baseball players wanting pink shoes and you see the football players having pink helmets, it's because people dread breast cancer and you don't get breast cancer, you correct breast cancer, you detect it, if you do a ma'mmogram. >> pink ribbons are not going to

make people have better insurance plans, what makes better insurance plans is competition. >> we'll have more on politicians later. but here, robots are the future and the future is right here next to me in the studio, the story behind this five-foot fella coming up in today's big eye. you've got to see this guy in action. ♪

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all right. you saw this just before we went to the break. this is a robot. robotics are a big part of our life right now. but i wanted to show you what some of these robots can actually do. i'm joined now by charlie hemp, he's the director of the center for health care robotics at

georgia tech, our good friends at georgia tech populate a lot of our tech segments. often we have two people here when we have a technical demonstration. charlie, what does this do? >> this is a robot called the personal robot 2. it's called the notion of it's sort of like a personal computer. and this is a research robot. wilagrashs the company that makes this robot. and the program is to build this infrastructure for robots. >> so they build a robot, and other companieses do this. but they build a robot with as many capabilities as possible and then they send it out to you and say create applications. >> so we don't have to develop it from scratch. >> they've got these arms and

they're very articulate like our arms. if you were to go into a factory and you see an arm there, it's like a brick wall. and this base can go side to side, for example. and finally, this year, lots of sensors. >> let's move it around a little bit. >> travis, you want to show it can go side to side here. it's not constrained, it sort of moves forward like a car. >> you can see the world and better interact with it. >> and you've got sensors here. >> so for example, this actually shoots a laser out, makes a 3-d measurement and based on that creates a 3-d view like you might have on a video game. >> so the idea is that this can be fully remotely controlled? >> i think both autonomous and nonautonomous operations going to be important. but the exciting future is that these robots are actually going to do things on their own.

the research project at georgia tech, we're focussing on how this type of robot can make a difference for older adults. and the result is they can provide more independence, a higher quality of life and let them live at home longer. a problem for adult is what medicine to take when. robots can worry about which medicine has to go to which person at which time..

♪ you know we love technology here. we love the big "i" every day. it's happening right now. we know robots. i tweeted out that we're going to have a real robot on the set. and somebody said to me, a real robot as opposed to what? i said, a robot as opposed to to the robots you see in movies and cartoons. this is made by a company called willow garage in california i'm joined by the owner of the company. you make a bunch of these, send

them to researchers, researchers find application for them. tell me about the future of robotics? what are these things going to be able to do in our regular lives? we know they're used in manufacturing. tell me what i don't know. >> this is really exciting because this new field of personal robotics has the potential to revolutionize at home and at work in a way robotics of today hasn't been able to touch. >> tell me about some of those ways. >> talking about personal robotics, we think of it a lot like the personal computer. it's about giving people -- individuals tools to automate the remedial parts of their everyday lives. it's a real shame how many people spend very little time doing the creative problem-solving we're great at and spend most of their time doing remedial tasks -- >> this is where these devices can start to do that and free us

up to be more creative? >> exactly. exactly. >> tell me a little bit about what this does for us in terms l terms of productivity, in terms of being able to do something and not being physically present. what else can be done because there's a physical presence of a robot where a human may not be present? >> we're looking at industries everywhere. and there are lots of industries in the office and even in places where you think of robotics already existing today, in assembly and manufacturing, where you still have really skilled people where they're spending a lot of their time doing repetitive tasks. we're looking to make applications for those people, sort of like on iphone app, if you will, that lets them automate the repetitive part of what they do in that job. >> when will the cost of these that start to see them be used in smaller-size businesses, maybe even people's homes? >> that's not where we are

today. we think it's a couple of years out but not 20 years out. this is starting to happen. the work that you see with pr 2 going on around the world, charlie's work is a great example of that -- it's just absolutely amazing and they've only been out for four months. we think as tlooez these platforms are out there and other companies make better and cheaper platforms and we do as well, we're going to see applications coming really soon. >> congratulations to you and the folks at will le garage. keenan, thanks for allowing us to play around with one of your great creations and to georgia tech. the republican strategy for election day success, pick on pelosi. your cnn political update next. ah! ah! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that? how come my dap wasn't like that? huh? it's just an "us" thing. yeah, it's a little something we do. who else is in this so-called "us"? man, i don't know. there's a lot of us. [ chuckles ] ask your friends what it's like to be part of a group that's 40 million strong.

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as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. see if america's most prescribed ed treatment is right for you. it is 18 days until the critical midterm elections. we want to get you updated on the latest developments from the campaign trail. our cnn senior congressional

correspondent, dana bash, deanna, fantastic to see you again. what's going on? >> reporter: you know if you turn on your television anywhere from here in new york all the way to california and in between, you're probably going to see a republican television ad linking democratic candidates to nancy pelosi. we have know data compiled for us at the campaign media analysis group that illustrates how valuable that message is to republicans. $42 million, that's right, $42 million, that's how much republicans have spent, the party, republican candidates, outside groups, to vilify nancy pelosi and tie her to candidates in television ads all across the country. she's appeared in 356 ads. they've run over 112,000 times. that's a figure that's going up every day. pelosi's always shrugged this off. a spokeswoman told me that she's being targeted because she is effective. the race in wisconsin, senate rays race there is something that you talked to republicans and democrats about.

they all say what's happening in the state of wisconsin is really fascinating. it is a reliably blue state. but democrat russ feingold who is one of the most independent senators in washington is struggling in his re-election bid. he's been in washington a long time. people are really mad at washington. his opponent ron johnson is stoking the fire by saying he's never been in washington until this year. he's a conservative who has run along the lines of other tea party candidates around the country. one last thing to tell you about, condoleezza rice, president bush's former secretary of state is going to meet with president obama at the white house today. she's been on a book tour. she's going to go and talk to president obama. she says they're going to talk about a wide range of foreign policy issues. >> i guess there's more to it

than -- >> reporter: do you think he'll buy one? >> i think he'll buy one. these are two interesting people. you want to know about their pasts. condoleezza rice has a remarkably rich past. it's not her political memoir. it's her life memoir. >> reporter: absolutely. your next political update is just an hour away. 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. as we start our second hour, we're going to do something very special and very different. we're also keeping you up to date on the latest headlines. we'll get to the bottom line of this foreclosure freeze. in your home is being foreclosed on, this freeze is only temporary relief. chances are, you're still going to lose your home. we'll tell you why. plus, it has been one of the

deadliest weeks for coalition forces in afghanistan in a month and a half. the taliban are reportedly getting stronger and gaining more recruits. so why is a top general saying we're on the right track and why are we reportedly reaching out to the enemy? we'll go globe trekking and tell you. and nevada's senate race, if harry reid lose, he would be the first sitting senate majority leader to lose an election in more than half a century. we'll look ahead and look back on last night's debate between reid and his rival, sharron angle. politics is important to cnn because, like it or not, politics is important to you. we like to say here that cnn equals politics. but to many people, politics equals something less than noble. almost every day, especially in election years, you can tune in or logon and here acrimony, sanctimony, personal attack and counterattack. almost every day, real problems that cry out for honest attention are ignored. not today.

today on this program we're showing you a side of politics that you may have forgotten still exists. a public official speaking from the heart about a matter of life and death, truly a matter of life and death. you may have heard about it on the internet. you may have seen clips on a newscast. but what i'm going to bring you in the next 20 minutes, you're not likely to see anywhere else, you won't. it's going to take me about 20 minutes to get through it. that's more time than some of you have. but stick with me, i ask you, what you'll hear are words that may change your life and may save a life. you'll meet joel burns shortly, a city councilman in ft. worth, texas, and here the incredibly personal and courageous remarks he made to his fellow council members and to the public on tuesday night. he spoke out on a subject that stirs up debates among people. but it all comes down to the right of children and teenagers not to be persecuted, not to be beaten up and driven to suicide

merely for being who they are. some of the language you're about to here is coarses than we ordinarily bring you in these statements. joel will tell us exclusively about his life and his cause, a cause that you may see differently after you hear his story. >> tonight, i ask my colleagues' indulgence in allowing me to talk about another issue that pulls at my heart. would you go ahead and run -- the parents of asher brown who you can see above, complained to school officials outside of houston that their son was being bullied and harassed in school. the bullies called him queer. they punched him. the harassment, intimidation and threats continued. for years, it continues. a couple of weeks ago, after being bullied at school, asher

went home, found his father's gun and shot himself in the head. his father found asher dead when he came home from work. asher was 13 years old. i'd like for you to look at his face. unlike asher, indiana teen billy lucas never self-identified as gay but was perceived to be by bully who is harassed him daily at the greenberg community high school. three weeks ago, he hung himself in his grandparents' barn. he was 15 years old. minnesota 15-year-old justin harbe harberg's bullying began from middle school to high school. he hung himself in his room and was found by his mother. classmates started teasing seth walsh in the fourth grade. it continued through his middle

school years where other students told him the world didn't need another queer and that he should, quote, go hang himself. on september 18th after being threatened by a group of older teens, he went home, threw a noose around a tree branch and he did just that. he hung himself in his backyard. his mother saw him, pulled him down, seth stayed on life support on nine days before dying a couple of weeks ago. he was 13 years old. teen bullying and suicide has reached an epidemic in our country, especially among gay and lesbian youth, those perceived to be gay or kids who are just different. in recent weeks, new jersey teen tyler clemente jumped off a bridge to his death after his roommate outed him on the internet. rhode island teen raymond chase hung himself in his dorm room and we learned just yesterday of oklahoma team zach harrington

who killed himself after attending a city council meeting in norman, oklahoma, where speakers made disparaging anti-gay remarks. there is a conversation for the adults in this room and those watching to have. and we will have it if this bullying and harassment in our schools must stop and our schools must be a safe place to learn and grow. it is never acceptable for us to be the cause of any child to feel unloved or worthless. and i am committed to being a part of that conversation. but tonight, i would like to talk to the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17-year-olds at pascal and at arlington heights and at tremble tech high schools or at dagette and rosemont middle schools or fi school in ft. worth or anywhere across the country for that matter.

i know that life can seem unbearable. i know the people in your household or in your school may not understand you and that they may even physically harm you. but i want you to know that it gets better. when i was 13, i was a skinny, lanky, awkward teen who had grown too tall too fast. i was the son of a med dis church pianist name jeanette. there was a certain image of who i thought i was supposed to be. as i entered adolescence, i started having feelings that i didn't understand and couldn't explain. but i knew they didn't mesh with the image of what i thought i was supposed to be. i was a sensitive kid but friendly. i was a band doshg. i played basketball but not very well.

i was teased like all kids but i was fairly confident and i didn't let it bother me much. one day when i was in the ninth grade, just starting crowley high school, i was cornered by older kids who roughed me up after school. they said that i was -- that i should die and go to hell where i belonged. they erupted the fear that i had kept pushed down that what i was beginning to feel on the inside must somehow be showing on the outside. ashamed, humiliated and confused, i went home. there must be something very wrong with me, i thought, something i could never let my family or anyone else know. i think i'm going to have too hard a time with the next couple of sentences that i wrote. and also, i don't want my mother

or father to bear the pain of having to hear me say them. >> as i told you, we take a break. when we come back, councilman burns is going to tell us more of the story he's never told anyone. i know the best card you're holding. you do? your medicare card. [ laughing ] but don't let me or anyone see it except your doctor or their staff. and don't tell anyone your card or social security number over the phone.

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it's simple. annual enrollment starts november 15th and ends december 31st. so don't delay. call securehorizons today about aarpmedicarecomplete. be covered. not confused. ♪ we're breaking our normal format to bring you an extraordinary act lie a local politician in texas. this week, joel burns, a city councilman in ft. worth, made a highly personal appeal for simple civility, humanity toward the youngest and the most vulnerable among us.

we just aired the first half of his remarks from a city council meeting on tuesday night. we're going to run the rest and stay with us afterward for an interview you won't see anywhere else. >> i have never told the story to anyone before tonight. not my family, not anyone. but the number of suicides in recent days have upset me so much, they have just torn at my heart. and even though there may be some political reper suggesticur telling my story, the story is not just strt adults who may or may not support me. the story is for the young people who may be holding the gun or the rope or the pill bottle. you need to know that the story doesn't end where i didn't tell it. on that unfortunate day. there's so, so, so much more.

yes, high school was difficult. coming out was painful. but life got so much better for me. and i want to tell any teen who might see this, give yourself a chance to see just how much life -- how much better life will get. and it will get better. you will get out of the household that doesn't accept you. you will get out of that high school and you never have to deal with those jerks again if you don't want to. you will find and you will make new friends who will understand you. and life will get so, so, so much better. i look back and my life is full of so many happy memories that i would i could share with those whose photos were shown up above earlier and those who have taken their lives. memories that i wish i could share with a 13-year-old version of me on that very unfortunate day. if i could, i would take the

13-year-old me by the hand and take him to the campaign office in 1992 of then governor clinton for a special moment, my partner and i saw each other for the first time. i would take that 13-year-old me to the first day of spring in 1999 on a west texas ranch hilltop surrounded by a dozen head of black angus cattle and as the sun set in only the way a west texas sunset can, i jabbed my hands into my jeans pocket and pulled out two rings and put one on j.d.'s hand and asked him to spend the rest of his life with me. i would take the 13-year-old joel to election night in 2007 in a room filled with countless family and friends erupting in cheers when it became clear that

i would win my first election so they could see the love and support for me that was in the room that night. and i would take the 13-year-old me to just a few days ago at baylor hospital to see our d dad -- our dad who's no longer the 40-year-old tough cowboy that he was when i was 13 who i thought would never understand me, but is now the 67-year-old dad, still a pretty tough cowboy, who's grown older. and the 13-year-old me would see me today holding my dad's weathered hand and seeing my dad as he woke up from his operation and him squeeze my hand and look up at me and say, joel, i'm so

glad you're here today. and me say back to my dad, i am, too, daddy, i am, too. to those who are feeling very alone tonight, please know that i understand how you feel. but things will get easier. please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself. it may not seem like it tonight, but they will. and the attitudes of society will change. please live long enough to be there to see it. and to the adults, the bullying and the harassment has to stop. we cannot look aside as life

after life is tragically lost. if you need resources, please check out the trevorproject.org on line and you can call me and i will get you whatever resources you need. my number is [ bleep ]. i want to thank those in this room for allowing me this time. and to j.d. and the rest of my family, i am sorry for you learning of this painful personal story in this public way for the first time. but know that i am able to tell it because of your love for me. and, mom and dad, i'm alive today because you love me. again, attitudes will change. life will get better and you will have a lifetime of happy memories if you just will allow yourself and give yourself the time to make them. thank you.

[ applause ] >> well-deserved standing ovation. when we come back, my exclusive interview with ft. worth city councilman joel burns. a differ? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪

we just aired something that you wouldn't expect to see on a national cable newscast, roughly 13 minutes of unedited remarks from a local city council meeting in texas. we did it because of the honesty and the passion of the speaker and the life and death nature of the subject.

joel burns in public for the first time shared his heart-rendering experience as the target of bullies who attacked him because he's gay. he now knows he's among the lucky to survive and lead rich and productive lives. he wants gay and bullied teens to survive, too. he joined us last hour for his first national interview. i didn't live your experience and it was hard for me to watch both times i've seen it. you took your earpiece house when you were watching it. it's hard for you to listen to your own words. >> it's true. it's the first time i had heard it without seeing it and the part about my dad and really about my parents in general is still the toughest part for me, as you could see from the video from tuesday night. >> that's part of the important part, that's the part that you want people to remember, that as hard as it seems, it gets better and as hard as those pressures

are, stick around and life gets better. how does it get better? >> in a wide variety of ways. the reality is that it gets better in ways you can never fathom as a 13 or 14-year-old. when you're experience has been what it has been up until that moment and times are dark and you're either being bullied or harassed at school or outside school, you've got a household of folks who may not accept you. there may be any kind of abuse around it, and you may think there's really no hope of that time after adolescence and after your teenage years. and as i mentioned, i've often thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if i could go back and show to the me that existed as a teenager that really didn't think that the future was all that bright at times and show him just the amazing, wonderful things that have happened in the course of my adult life. it's a story that continues. i wish i could show the 13-year-old not only all the things that i said in that video but the fact that i'm on cnn

today is just something i would have never guessed as a 13-year-old or etch a few weeks ago. >> you weren't looking for publicity. i know that. you are openly gay. but people didn't have the impression, perhaps, that you struggled the way you did as a kid. and i think that's the issue here, that we're not realizing in that interim n that stage where people start to feel different and maybe it's because you're gay, maybe it's not. are we not providing a society the civility or the access to the help and information and support that kids need? >> i think the recent rash of suicides is indicative of the fact that we're not doing our job in that regard. i have a sister who's a teacher in a rural texas high school and she's been teaching for about seven years now. she told me the night of this, she called and said, i want you to know that i see this every day. it's not just gay kids. it's anyone who's different, anyone who's perceived to be

gay, perceived to be effeminate, out of the norm. these kids can be very mean. she and i talked about her experience as a teacher in rural texas. she says it's unlike anything when she first started teaching seven years ago. so, yes, i think it has gotten worse and i think that the rash of suicides is very indicative of that. >> you said in your speech for the adults, for the parents, this has got to stop. what do we do? what do the rest of us do who are not the bullied and who are not the bulliers? >> i think there's a wide variety of things. i think the very first thing for the parents, the teachers, the school administrators, the coaches, is to enable those kids sh remind those kids that they have power and that it is okay for them to look around them and try to think of who in my school is being bullied, even if they're not the ones being bullied, even though statistics say nine out of ten kids report

some sort of harassment in high school. even if they're not the percentage of kids being bullied, people that they see getting picked on and let that kid know that it's okay, that there's someone who might stand up for them, there's someone who will have their back. it's important for the parents to give their kids that permission, to remind them that they can go to their classmate and say, i know times are hard for you, if you need a friend, i'll be there for you. >> your twitter page must be getting a lot of hits. mine has. we're not asking people to make decisions about whether you approve of homosexuality or not. this discussion is about civility, pluralism, it's about respecting difference. >> well, it's not just that. but it's about creating a safe

place for our kids to go to school. even when they're out of school and they're at a local convenience store or at the shopping mall or wherever they are, that they're not subjected to the kind of really just over-the-top harassment and bullying that we've seen. some of the kids, some of the guys that i referenced at the beginning of my comments, they had survived literally years of harassment and bullying that had largely, according to their parents, gone unanswered over the course -- from the administrators and principals and teachers. and that's something that had to stop. >> joel, how's your dad doing? >> he's doing okay. he's out of the hospital. and this, i think, has been tough for him. i talked to my mom again this morning. my dad and i are close. we operate oftentimes in a way where we communicate sometimes through my mom. she's a little more chatty than my dad is. and i talked to my mom about, how is dad doing, because i specifically referenced him on

tuesday night. and i think that this has been hard for them. i think that i have really fantastic parents. and i know that in my upbringing, that they wanted to be as there for me as they possibly could and that they could interpret what i said on tuesday, that there was some failing on their part. and the reality is, they never failed me once. it's just that kids go through tough times and experience things outside the eye of their parents. and unfortunate things happened to me outside of their viewpoint. those weren't things that they could protect me from. and i don't know that i would want them to be there at every single moment protecting me from them. but they're doing okay. my dad is -- yes, sir? >> that's good. i wanted to know because i know that was a big part of motivating the comments that you made. and we thank you for doing what you did. we thank you for joining us. you're a credit to politics, to texas, to your country. you're a hero and you will -- your words will save lives.

thanks for being with us. >> thank you, i appreciate it. >> we'll be right back. with st. stelara® helps control moderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections, like tuberculosis, require hospitalization. before starting stelara®, your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, or have had cancer. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal condition affecting the brain. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently r. with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses

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to someday help meet the world's energy demands. we've got some news in to cnn. we're hearing of a big settlement in the government's fraud case against some former top executives at countrywide. remember countrywide? it was once the big e mortgage lender in the united states and fairly central to this entire mess that nearly brought our economy to its knees. poppy harlow, always in new york with cnnmoney.com. what a treat to have you here. poppy, you have been on the story since the beginning. it's ideal you're here for this. >> s.e.c. settling a $67.5

million fine they agreed on just minutes ago with angelo mazillo, the man at the helm of countrywide, 2006, 2007, he told off $140 million worth of company stock at the same time as saying our portfolio is strong, we are in a good position. so what the s.e.c. did is they took this almost to trial. they were supposed to go to trial in u.s. district court on tuesday. they were there. but they settled. this is what's interesting. the biggest find e if not the oy fine we've seen on an individual -- >> has anybody had to pay anything for anything they did wrong? a lot of players in this thing were saying, we were playing by the rules. so it may not have been fair. but in this case, they were going to trial to say angelo mazill a, you had information that people were foreclosing, people were going to stop making their payments. you saw an uppick on that and you went out in public and you said, everything is fine. and that, under the law, is not

acceptable. >> what's key is that in this settlement, he doesn't have to admit or deny guilt. that's exactly what happened in the goldman sachs settlement, $550 million settlement therement he doesn't have to. this was a civil case. he could have faced criminal charges. what this does, lawyers would say, is this really lessens the chance that he's going to face criminal charges and potentially go to jail. that's the issue. >> he was at the absolute front end of this foreclosure mess. now the latest thing in the foreclosure mess, the investigations into the freezes. >> let's pull up the banks. if you have your loan through these banks, jp jp just told us this jpmorgan, what they won't tell us is they're still evicting people. ally bank halted foreclosure sales in 23 states, bank of america halted them in 50 states. i spent a long time on the phone with someone who is the head of

a mortgage publication. he said for borrowers, get this right. this doesn't mean you're not going to get evicted. bottom line, no legal way for you to stay in your home, if you haven't paid your mortgage for a year and a half, this will delay it. >> and the monosense in the media, check because they're affecting the wrong people is not what this is about. this is just the banks not having followed proper rules. eventually they'll have to fix it. but if you're being foreclosed upon, nothing is likely changing for you. >> probably not going to change. but for buyers, this could be a very good -- >> a lot of people out there with good credit, low interest rates, you may not to buy a foreclosure -- >> homes are going to be cheaper. there are going to be more homes sitting on the market. here's the thing. if you're buying a foreclosed home, you're probably going to have to wait. but the lawyer told me it's only going to take two to three months for the foreclosed homes to go back on the home. i said, who's going to make money from this? the lawyers. >> poppy, great to have you

here. contradictory assessments of the situation in afghanistan are coming out today at this week's coalition. body count continues to rise. ts with his arthritis pain. that's breakfast with two pills. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

time now to go globe trekking. we're going to start in the always contentious middle east. the israeli government has just announced plans for new construction in disputed new jerusalem. it comes amid an impasse that has seen israeli/palestinian peace talks put on hold over israel's broader settlement plans in the west bank. if israel continues to build,

the league might ask the u.n. to recognize a palestinian state without israel's approval. over to afghanistan now where we're getting very different assessments of the situation on the ground in a speech today, the u.s. commander in afghanistan, general petraeus, says he is confident, quote, we are confident we have the right strategy in place, end quote. the ngo safety office says there's been nine consecutive months of deterioration in the security situation there. the report says these last three months, there's been a 59% increase in insurgent attacks compared to the same quarter last year. and the coalition casualty count this weak bears out that pessimism. 16 coalition troops have been killed in attacks around the country over the last three days. we've heard a lot today from a man who many consider to be a hero. you'll meet another one, a grandmother bringing health care to the murder capital of the

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it is time to highlight this week's top ten cnn hero. meet a grandma on a mission in the murder capital of the world. >> juarez was a very nice place. and now nobody can go out. people have to have a secure place where healing goes on. >> and that's what she's devoted most of the last four decades to. she joins us now from el paso, texas. she founded a hospital in juarez, mexico, that takes everybody, whether or not they can pay, and it does it in the middle of a drug cartel war zone. guadeloupe, i was reading this week, three men were gunned down right outside the hospital there. you're literally putting your life on the line every single day when you go to work. what has kept you doing that?

this situation has gotten worse and worse over the years that you've been doing this. >> well, the problems in juarez have been getting worse lately. but i believe that we have the responsibility to keep the hope of the people going on. we have to provide services at the hospital. and everybody has to know that we will receive them and we will heal them and he will continue saving lives. >> a lot of people say, why does this violence continue? what can we do about it? why don't we just write it off? tell us the story about the other day when you went to the hospital. there was a woman who gave birth to a baby at 9:00 a.m. >> yes, yes. >> and then what happened? >> it was a very young girl, about 17 years old. and she gave birth to a little boy. at 9:30 in the morning, she was crying and i went to her and asked her, what happened to you?

she says, my husband brought me at 6:00 in the afternoon and by 10:00, he was dead. so in the morning, she was saying she has to go back because she had to go to the funeral of the husband. >> what makes you want to keep doing this? why do you not want to say, let me just stay back in el paso? >> well, i think that's a sense of responsibility. that's a desire deep rooted desi desire f equality and justice. we have to help the people because that what really gives meaning to our lives. we have to say "yes" to life even in an environment of tragedy some problems like this because positive energy

sometimes can churn -- turn tragedies into triumphs. so we have to keep going and keep working. more now than ever. surrender is not an answer. >> surrender is not an answer and that is why you are one of our top ten heroes. it's a real honor to have you on the show. thank you for being with us and we hope your work continues in juarez. 74 years old and you know why she is one of our heroes. the entire top ten will be honored next month. but only one will be named cnn hero of the year. we don't decide on that. you do. you pick the top ten and you get to pick the top one. head to cnnheroes.com and vote for the person who inspires you the most. their stories are all there. and tune into the cnn heroes all-star tribute with anderson cooper on thanksgiving night. let me bring you up to speed

with the top stories. we learned just this hour that a settlement has been reached in the government's case against countrywide co-founder angelo mazillo he had been negotiating with federal regulators to settle civil fraud and insider trading charges. he must pay more than $68 million in fines. he was scheduled to go to trial next week. the company became the larger before it imploded. ben bernanke gave one of his clearest signals yet that the federal reverse is about to act to further jump-start the u.s. economy. speaking this morning, he said high unemployment is too great a threat to the economy and that the fed has to be creative in using the tools at its disposal. the fed's main weapon is usually lowering its main interest rate. but that's been sitting at zero for sometime. a bit of good news in this sputtering economy, retail sales rose in september. the commerce department says it was a jump of just 0.6% over the

previous month but retailers are hoping it will translate into a better holiday season. already we've seen lots of increases in the number of people planning to be hired for the holiday season. consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity in the united states. we're taking a break. when we come back, president obama is back, out on the campaign trail. our buddy ed henry to join us to talk about the delaware stop and about a special guest coming to the white house today. [ male announcer ] you wouldn't swim in a pool with no water.

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let's go to the "stakeout" with ed henry. i'm not sure why that crime scene tape is behind you. what's going on? >> reporter: i don't know. it's part of this construction

project. but it keeps spreading. the yellow tape has nothing to do with me, i swear. >> good, good. nice to see you, ed. >> reporter: good to see you. president's out there in delaware today. he was campaigning. what's interesting, he was pretty fired up. he's pushing for the democrat there. wolf has the big debate with christine o'donnell in the middle of the week. chris coons is in the middle of this race. the vice president was there and randomly shouted out to people hey, lynn, hey, joe. he basically knows everybody in delaware. not a big state. while the president was fired up, this is not the kind of state you want to be in in the final couple of weeks. if you're the president at this point, you want to make sure you've got the states that are usually yours locked down and you want to go to some of those so-called purple states and

expand things for the democrats. you had the first lady in their home state of illinois. you have the president and vice president in joe biden's home turf of delaware. they're still trying to lock down their own states. that's why, another sign -- doesn't mean they're going to take a pounding. they could still come back. but it shows in the final days, they're using their time in places that they should have already locked down. >> who's running the shop at the white house? >> reporter: i saw robert gibbs a short time ago. he's still here. they've got a lot of senior officials -- there are all kinds of senior officials here. >> pete rouse was supposed to be the new chief of staff. how's that going? >> reporter: what i'm starting to pick up from democrats outside and inside this white house is that whole interim title that the president gave him when he was named to replace rahm emanuel is not going somewhere. it was a natural fit. he's a former senate chief of staff for barack obama.

there are some democrats inside and outside the white house telling me they think pete rouse may o on the job, six months to a year, maybe through the re-elect in 2012. things are going pretty smoothly behind the scenes. so much so, that they're talking him up something long term. >> ed, it's october, i'm about 14 days from my birthday. >> reporter: big day. yeah, i thought i mentioned. i was on twitter right before we came out and i saw that you wrote, my birthday is on october 29th. can all of ed henry's followers on twitters follow me. one of my followers said, okay, that is just sad, but i will follow him to make it stop. and i agree with that, actually. >> there you go. ed, have a great weekend. good to see you. our senior white house correspondent -- we have 14 more days for you to wish me happy

birthday. >> reporter: we can do it every day. >> he's our senior white house correspondents. republicans are holding a pretty big edge with just 18 days to go before the midterm elections that ed was just talking about. your cnn "political update" up next. raspberry cheesecake... ...yeah, every night its something different. oh yeah yeah...she always keeps them in the house. no no no, i've actually lost weight... i just have a high metabolism or something... ...lucky. [ wife ] babe... ♪ umm, i gotta go. [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. yoplait, it is so good. indulge in yoplait light's two new flavors. triple berry torte and black forest cake. we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? 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.

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it is 18 days until the critical midterm elections. we want to get you updated from the latest developments on the campaign. mark preston, part of the best political team on television. take it away. >> reporter: look, bad news again for democrats. seems that i keep telling you this day in and day out. we have a new cnn poll of polls. we have taken the average of five national polls of the generic ballot. we're trying to figure out what voters are thinking regarding the midterm elections and what we have from this average is that democrats right now are down six points. the numbers are 47 to 41. meaning voters are more likely to vote for republicans come

election day than democrats. again, ali, it's not will democrats lose seats on election day, it's how many seats they will lose. air force friend i want to bring in from our time warner family from "fortune" magazine. this is tori newmire. we just wrote this story "who can magically fix the economy." and he's come to the conclusion that nobody can. he's written this story along with allen sloan. we don't have him miked up, he can't talk to us. but not good news regarding the economy. he says that, look, things have been so devastating, it's going to take some time to get it back. let me show you another thing online here. you need to get this mobile application. it allows you to follow the elections minute by minute. you can find out polling, the latest in news, you don't have to be at your computer, you don't have to be in front of your tv.

let me bring in steve bruskin. over the next 48 hours, tell us the big three political events. >> bill clinton campaigning for democratic candidates is going to be in california tonight. one of the stops with jerry brown, trying to help his bid for governor. they're coming together tonight to make this happen. sarah palin, lots of events with her, usually on her own behalf. today this weekend for the first time, she's helping the republican national committee, fund-raiser, big one in anaheim, california. and we'll see the obamas for the first time together on sunday. president obama and michelle obama teaming up for events in ohio, big rally in columbus. >> big weekend in political, ali. >> can your cameraman show us your human prop again? >> this is tori newmire from "fortune." >> you just showed me a guy -- >> i said his name. we don't have him miked up. i love it. mark, good to see you, my

friend, and steve and tori. we'll have another "political update" in just an hour. coming up, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy has to go through legal hurdles before it ends. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal!

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. time now for the "xyz" of it. on tuesday, a federal judge told the u.s. military to stop enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy which bars gays from serving openly in the military. now the justice department is pushing to keep the judge's order from going into effect, even though the obama administration has come out against "don't ask, don't tell." plus, the military's now telling troops not to alter their behavior in any way.