crashed overnight and at least 31 special forces troops were killed. most of them were members of the u.s. navy's elite s.e.a.l. team and they believe the helicopter was shot down. barbara starr, any new details about that helicopter crash? what do the officials think happened? >> indeed, joe, at this point, 22 navy s.e.a.l.s have lost their lives, most of them are the member of the same covert unit that went after osama bin laden, not the same exact commandos, they have run a name checklist and none of the men that were on the bin laden mission were involved in this tragedy. but nonetheless, 22 navy se.a.l.s have lost their lives. they were working at what is called a quick reaction force. they had been called in to get on a helicopter, move very fast to try and help another unit that was pinned down, that was

involved in the firefight and had called for some additional re-enforceme re-enforcements, some additional help. that's when this happened. at this point, a full investigation underway, but an official telling us they do believe there's a very good possibility it was shot down, there was enemy fire in the area. but nonetheless, they will conduct an investigation. and of course, right now, the prime mission really is for those casualty assistance officers to move very quickly across this country to hometowns, home bases and try and get to the families who have lost their loved ones, notify them of all the details they can and get them whatever help they need to get through this. joe? >> so where does this crash stand compared to other deadly incidents? and there's been many in afghanistan. >> i have to tell you at this point by all accounts, we think this is perhaps the one with the highest casualty rate. there was an incident that

involved both helicopters and a firefight in june of 2005 when 19 troops lost their lives in essentially what became a single incident. you want to acknowledge of course that every single loss is a terrible tragedy for the families involved. but it is the scope of this one, 22 navy s.e.a.l.s, this will be felt across the navy s.e.a.l. community for some time to come. think of it this way, it was 22 s.e.a.l.s, a total of 25 special operations forces, there were some others from other services on board. they're going to have to replace them in afghanistan very quickly. these are the units that go out every night on these helicopter assault missions into some of the toughest areas of afghanistan, go after the insurgents, go after those so-called high value targets. those missions don't stop, that job continues and will continue,

and as difficult it may be to acknowledge so soon after this, the men who lost their lives, they are going to be replaced, the military says it will continue with its mission. >> so the president is out at camp david as we have been reporting and we all know that he's, you know, kept in constant contact, especially on important situations like this one. but who is it that is talking to the president? there you see a photograph that was released by the white house. >> well, sure, i mean an incident of this magnitude, of this scope, certainly notified to the president as soon as word comes in to the white house situation room into the national security council, there are people who are always on tap with the president who will wake him up in the middle of the night when one of these crises occurs. he will -- is kept in contact today with defense secretary leon panetta, admiral mike

mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the u.s. military, they have continued to brief him on these developments as they move forward. the next step, of course, will be for the arrival of the remains of those who have been killed at dover air force base, that is now where for so many years, we have seen these very somber ceremonies of flag covered caskets come home, there will be quite a number of them coming in the next few days, joe. >> barbara starr, thanks very much for that, a very sad day in washington, d.c. and around the country as we look for more details on that helicopter crash in afghanistan. thanks, barbara. a little while ago i talked to a retire u.s. army general who told me the impact on the special operations cannot be overstated. >> my recollection, there are probably seven s.e.a.l. teams in the country, i don't know the exact number in each s.e.a.l. team, but probably not more than a couple of hundred at most.

so when you start talking a total s.e.a.l. population of perhaps under 1,000, if in fact you've lost two dozen, it's not solely a tragedy for the families, and it's a tremendous tragedy and our hearts go out to those families, but there will be an operational consequence to the s.e.a.l. community of losing that large a number. >> again, if the casualty numbers are confirmed, this crash will be the deadliest single incident for u.s. troops so far in the afghanistan war. the u.s. no longer has perfect credit. after taking the country's top rating down a peg for the first time ever yesterday, the s&p said there is plenty of political blame to go around, but the agency's managing director says the downgrade could have been avoided. >> i think you could have done a few things, the first thing you could have done is to have raised the debt celling in a time lly manner so that much of

this debate could have been avoided. it's been done 17 times since 1960 without that much debate. so that's point number one. and point number two is they could have come up with a fiscal plan, similar for example to the bowles simpson commission which was bipartisan. >> so just how big a deal is this? poppy harlow's here to break it all down. poppy, this essentially kicks the united states out of an exclusive aaa club, but what does that mean, really? >> it absolutely does and there are more and more that are saying right now that that is a wakeup call that the united states needed, that it wasn't on a fiscal path that was sustainable and it does. let's take a look at the countries that still retain their aaa credit rating, the united states not among them now, countries like australia, canada, france, germany, the united kingdom, switzerland, the united states was part of that

exclusive club up until 8:00 eastern when s&p downgraded it. it is no longer part of that. just to put this in perspective for you, we're still rated at aa plus, that's still a very high rating, this puts us right in line with belgium. this is still a high rating, but the concern is what does this do on one hand to confidence, to the american consumer right now, given the high unemployment, given the lack of consumer confidence, what does it do to the stock market? we'll know that monday morning here in new york when wall street opens. and what does this do to the invest at home? does this drive interest rates up? that's the fear. we don't know because this has never happened in the history of this country, so it's an unprecedented move and we're in uncharted territory. >> let's talk about s&p's reason for doing this. what are the factors that they use to make this decision, to downgrade the u.s. credit? >> they follow five sort of different guidelines, we'll pull them up on the screen and show them to you, but there's two real key ones, you see political

climate and that was number one for a reason, there was a lot of talk about the political fight in washington over the debt ceiling deal that contributed to this decision, the real economy, what's the state of the u.s. economy, and we all know how sour that is right now. the face call situation, you heard the head of s&p say last night that it will really determine how long they keep this downgraded rating on the united states, if we see an extension of the 2001 and 2003 bush tax cuts, if we let those lapse, he said that will give us an additional $950 billion and that could help. also the external situation, how is the global economy? it's not strong right now. and monetary policy. where do the feds stand on interest rates? the two parts of it is the political climate and the fiscal path. and politics played a huge part in this. >> right, and that's the thing that sort of set off some alarm bells because it's kind of surprising, isn't it, for an

agency like this to make a decision on the country's credit based on the internal political infighting, if you will. >> i think it is surprising, i was certainly surprised to read that in the statement that s&p issued, but at the same time, it's not unwarranted or uncalled for. i mean we all saw how that debt debate played out in washington and how unbelievable it was that it was carried to the 11th hour. i want to pull-up a statement here that came from standard & poors, i think this really exemplifies it. the political break through highlights what we see as america's governance and policy makes becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable than what we previously believed. what this says is they do not believe lawmakers that we pay to handle our budget as a country deserve a aaa credit rating right now. so there's going to be a lot of

arguing about whether it was warranted for them to take the political angle on this, but bottom line, they did. >> it sure was brinksman ship and it sure did make you feel that it was unstable there in washington, d.c. so hard to argue with that. thanks so much, poppy. there's a lot of uncertainty here since this is uncharted financial territory, fallout from the credit downgrade is reverberating inside the washington belt way. our athena jones is in washington with reaction from the white house. athena, what are the congressional leaders saying about this? >> well the congressional leaders, it's interesting, you heard what poppy said about what standard & poors said about congress, this is really an indictment of congress and the dysfunction we have been seeing over the past few weeks with republicans and democrats not able to get together and agree. so they were able to agree at this last moment. but they kicked the can down the road, they put off the tough decisions on things like tax revenues and entitlement reform

and what you have seen is that even after this, right after this decision was announced last night, you saw members of congress sending out a whole slew of e-mails and it looked like they were still in their respective corners. you have john boehner saying this s&p decision just proves that the democrats have been overspending and we have got to cut, cut, cut. and you heard senator harry reid say this is means there needs to be a balanced approach, taxes and cutting entitlements. >> wow, this is just a pretty remarkable and also on the campaign trail, you're actually seeing a lot of people out there particularly republicans, blaming the obama administration which is a very interesting dynamic, especially when you consider the fact that clearly the public blames both parties for not getting together on

these things. thanks very much for that reporting athena jones. warren jeffs is back in court today for more testimony in the penalty phase of his trial. jeffs faces up to life in prison after being found guilty of child sexual assault. the 12 and 15-year-olds were called his so-called spiritual wives. a new orleans jury has convicted four current police officers and one former one in the controversial shootings on the dan zinger bridge. two men were fatally shot on the bridge in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. four others were founded. the fbi has launched a nationwide manhunt for three florida siblings, they're accused of alluding police in a high-speed chase and shooting and a police car, running it off the road. they're allegedly wanted for

robbing a georgia bank. their mom urges them to surrender, but they sent a text to their mom saying there's a time for all of us to die. the university of alabama was finally able to hold commencement ceremonies today three months after a devastated tornado ripped through the state. the graduation ceremony back in may had to be postponed. six graduates were killed and their parents accepted posthumous degreeses for them today. critics of governor rick perry's prayer rally want to know how he would separate church from state if he runs for president. and a surprising retreat in somalia, a militant group with ties to al qaeda suddenly leaves mogadishu. or rich dark chocolate flavor.

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developments from the very troubled horn of africa now. the president of somalia announced today that the rebel group that runs much of southern somalia has pulled out of the capital of mogadishu, the militant group al shabob is -- that news comes at the same time the united nations and international red cross announced a horrifying number of people affected by famine, gripping somalia now, the latest estimate, 29,000 children dead from lack of food and water in the past month alone. teams from cnn are on the way to somalia this weekend. look for reports from chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay group that and his team shortly after they arrived.

other international news now, the former prime minister of the ukraine went to jail yesterday. these people rallied jos the courtroom in ke yef. she left office last year and is now on trial charged with corruption. yesterday the judge ordered her arrested and removed from the courtroom saying she was disrupting the child. the president of venezuela says this is his new look. president hugho chavez showed up with most of his hair shaved off. he underwent chemotherapy in cuba. chaves does acknowledge he's a cancer patient but has yet to say what type of cancer he has. they continue to break records in texas and as much as texas likes being on top, this is one record texans would rather leave to others. also comedian margaret cho

knows part of her job is pushing the limits. cho weighs in on a recent remark by tracey morgan that rattled the gay and lesbian community. our fredericka whitfield sits down face to face with margaret cho this hour in the newsroom. ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] the new hp touchpad. get it now for $100 off, starting at $399.99. ♪ what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon.

so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. 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. there was so much rain in cha charlotte, north carolina yesterday afternoon, rescuers had to pull people from cars, not once but dozens of times. in some areas streets were turned into rivers. that's just pretty amazing. now we're going to bring in

jacqui jeras. that's just so much rain there in charlotte. i used to live there, i don't think i have ever seen it flooded. >> this was two neighborhoods in particular that were hit so hard, low-lying areas and so much rain just came in a short period of time that the waters came up. this is what we call flash flooding, it happened very quickly, caught up unexpectedly for a lot of these folks, but we have had day after day, believe it or not of these popup showers and thundershowers in the carolinas, down across the deep south. so it was more in the coastal areas as opposed into charlotte as we speak this hour. so we have got a lot of activity out there, just hit and miss and some folks who are getting it are getting a lot and some folks are just suffering in this unbearable heat. if you have travel plans or maybe if you're even heading out to dinner for tonight, we're also seeing a lot of rain across parts of south florida and this could get worse in the next couple of days, we're keeping our eye on this cluster right

here and this is is remnants of what was tropical storm emily. we think for the most part, it's going to be staying here in the bahamas and skirting on up towards the north, so we may be getting brushed by this in the next couple of days. right now the best thinking is that this thing is going to continue to move to the north and swing away from the u.s. coast. here you can see the area better on satellite that we're talking about and it's getting a little bit more organized. hurricane hunters have been flying into this thing today and we could possibly see this regenerate into a tropical aggression depression. our other story is the heat remains unrelentless. we will get a break, especially in this area here starting as early as tomorrow. but places like texas and oklahoma, they'll just drop down a little bit, be a little bit closer to normal by the end of the week. >> wow, it's been a long time

since you have seen those triple digits like regularly up and down the east coast. >> yeah, like 36 days. >> unbelievable, and they have got even less out in the plains. forbes magazine has released its annual list of hollywood's highest earning actors. coming in at number 5 is actor tom hanks who reportedly made 35 million between may of last year and may of this year. actor will smith came in fourth raking in $36 million and actor adam sandler came in third bringing in $40 million. so who are the highest paid actors? you're going to have to wait until after the break.

forbes magazine has released its annual list of highest earning act fors between may 2010 and may 2011. before the break, we found out the bottom three on the list, adam sandler, will smith, tom hanks, so who are the top two highest earning male actors in hollywood? johnny dep comes in at number two earning $50 million and leonardo dicaprio, pulling in a cool $77 million. looking for an action packed weekend, you may want to head to the movies and check out "rise of planet of the apes." first let's talk about "the romantic comedy" where justin bateman and ryan reynolds switch

lives. one is married, one is enjoying the single life. >> i envy your life. i envy yours. >> i wish i had your life. >> i wish i had your life. >> i'm in your apartment. open the door. >> i knew it. >> you wished for my life when we were visiting that found dane. >> i was just trying to be nice. >> oh, my god! >> i know some guys i would like to switch lives with. at least for a little while. what about you, matt? >> you know, leo dicaprio, $77 million a year, i would switch with him. >> you got that right. what did you think of this movie? >> it was pretty good, i was a little surprised, but both switching comedies, it's kind of hard to do them right.

i think the ideas have been done too many times, it's a little bit cliche. but once they switch personalities you get to see them kind of imitate each other and that's quite enjoyable. the end is pretty cliche. olivia wilde has never been sexier in a movie. and it explores what might happen in that type of situation. >> going to cut to the chase here, now what's the grade? give me your grade. >> i give it a c, better than i thought it was going to be. >> all right, okay. here we go now, sci-fi thriller, "rise of the planet of the apes" one man's genetic experience leads to a planet of the apes, a war between humans and apes. check out the clips. >> you have no idea what you're

dealing with. >> you know, this is not your father's planet of the apes movie. i mean they look realistic, don't they? >> you know, the apes look great. they're almost completely cgi. there are a couple of scenes where they're computer generated. but all of the major performances are referenced to an actual actor. the lead chimp is played by andy circus. he puts in a fantastic performance here and makes you

really kind of empathize with this chimpanzee, that's what makes the movie work so well. i'm not sure i buy james franko as a genetic scientist. >> a high mark? >> i give it a b, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than i expected and i think if you go and see it, if you're looking for some fun ape violence, you're going to enjoy this movie. >> max, thanks for that, and we'll be seeing you here next weekend. i think fred will be here. >> great. tiger woods is back on the links and back in the competition. so how did he do in his come back bid? [ male announcer ] millions of men 45 and older

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[ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. checking our top stories, it may be the deadliest incident since the beginning of the war in afghanistan. 25 special forces troops are now confirmed killed. the pentagon says 22 of them were members of the navy's u.s. elite s.e.a.l. teams. >> on the iset public operational indecks fade there was a report in that area

that -- ied makers, there may be a connection between the two. but i think all of us understand the tremendous cost that ieds have had both in iraq and afghanistan. and if you've got a major cell of ied makers, that's the type of mission that they might want to send a special operations unit up against. >> since talking to general chem m ch kemmet, u.s. military officials believe the chinook was shot down. people in tacoma, washington are remembering the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. general shalikashvili died july 23 at the age of 75. he'll be buried at arlington national cemetery. the head of s&p's sovereign

ratings committee said there's plenty of blame to go around over the u.s.'s first ever credit downgrade. he laid out the main reasons to anderson cooper last night. >> two reasons, the first reason is the one you've outlined being from our view of the political settings in the united states have been altered. we have taken them down a notch, taken the rating down a notch. the political brinkmanship we saw over raising the debt ceiling was something that was really beyond our expectations, the u.s. getting to the last day before they had cash management problems. there are very few governments that separate the budget process from the debt authorization process and we also think more broadly that this debate has shown that although we do have an agreement that we do believe will deliver at least $2.1 trillion of savings in the last decade, it's going to be difficult to get beyond that at least in the near term and you

do need to get beyond that to get to a point where the debt to gdp ratio is going to stablize. >> the other leading rating agencies are keeping the u.s. at their top rating, but they say they are worried about the u.s.'s long-term prospects. not surprisingly, reaction to the downgrade from republican presidential candidates was fast and furious. mitt romney released a statement saying america's credit worthiness just became the latest casualty in president obama's failed record of leadership on the economy. standard & poors's rating downgrade is a -- and this reaction from michele bachmann, i call on the president to seek the immediate resignation of treasury secretary timothy geithner and a plan with a list of cuts to implement this year and put our americans back to work. and john huntsman says for far too long, we have left reckless

government spending go unchecked. we need new leadership in washington, committed to fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget and job friendly policies to get america working again. after a three-month layoff, tiger woods is back on a course he once could not lose on. but after today's round at the bridgestone world championship, he's way off the leaderboard. joe carter is at the tournament in akron, ohio. >> well, after three rounds here at the world government championships, tiger woods finds himself nowhere near the leaderboard. after three rounds he's 13 shots back, he says he's encouraged about his game. he says he feels good, he's hitting the ball flush, hitting it strong, it's just a matter of knocking down the short puts. >> today i didn't hit the ball well starting out. i fixed it and really hit it good coming home, starting the ball at the right flight, every

two shot was flush, everything was back to where it was at the beginning of the week, only difference was i didn't putt well again today. >> reporter: tiger woods is going to use his final round as a chance to tune inand get ready for next week's pga championship. he always said his ultimate goal is to pass jack in those 18 major wins. if he picks up that major win that's 15, and puts him in the driver's seat to get back to come nance. we'll see, though, there's a whole lot of time left between now and then. back to you. what's the secretly to living a long life? this woman who recently turned 104 years old and still going strong said it may not be what you think. >> no running, no working out at the gym? >> no, no. >> find out her secret after this. [ drew ] give me volume.

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do you think that exercise and eating your veggies is going to lead to a long life? you may be right, but there may be more to it, according to a new study, living to 100 and beyond may depend on your genes. that's our weekly look at how to get healthy and stay healthy.

senior medical continue elizabeth cohen caught up with a woman who at 104 years old is still going strong. >> happy birthday dear dori. >> reporter: guess how old this woman is in 80? 90? 100? think higher. dori is turning 104 today. >> congratulations i hope i make it to 104. >> reporter: dprksori is what scientists call a. >> dori has to go to work. >> reporter: and once a week, she even delivers mail at memorial regional hospital. >> i'll slow down if you want me to. >> reporter: you're all over this place, you're walking here, you're walking there. >> yes. >> reporter: where do you get the energy at 10 4?

>> i don't know, i often wonder, i feel good. >> reporter: at 104, most people are, well, dead. so what's kept dori not only alive, but alive and thriving? not exercise. no working out? no going to the gym? >> no. >> reporter: a new study by the american ger yacht -- geriatrics society looked at people from 95 to 112 and said that their lifestyles were no different than anybody else's, similar diets, similar exercise patterns, they were just as likely to be overweight. >> you've got some pretty good genes, huh? >> i have some very good genes, yes. >> reporter: a genetic blessing that may be the most important

secret to an exceptionally long life. >> many more, dori, many, many, many, more. >> that's really just incredible. 104 years old and she is moving around, too. coming up inside the crisis in somalia, cnn has one of the few international reporters in mogadishu, a report in the next newsroom. that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th.

as texas governor rick perry is thinking about running for president, he took the stage at this football stadium in houston for an event dubbed the response. it was a day of prayer and fasting. it was also part revival, part rock concert. as you can see right now, musicians were on stage all day long, so were pastors, spreading what was basically a christian only message. and as 30,000 people packed into this stadium to watch the governor offer up a spiritual

message, he mixed his script with scripture. >> in these difficult times, father we pray for our president, that you would impart your wisdom upon him, that you would guard his family. we pray for our military and the families who love them. oh, father, especially, for those special operators who lost their life yesterday in defending our freedoms. >> reporter: the protesters gathered outside this stadium say this event tears down the walls separating church and state. they also blasted one of the events' key organizers, the american family association which has made some white, hot, incendiary comments about gray

rights activists. many of the wore shippers told us they were here for the christian message, not it's high profile messenger. rick perry is thinking about running for president and he's going to be answering a different calling and that is from gop fund-raisers and conservative activists about whether or not he should make a run for the white house. jim acosta, cnn, houston, texas. and for the latest political news you need to know, you know where to go. cnn politics.com. the international red cross is ramping up its emergency operations in south and central somalia, hundreds of thousands of people, desperately need food and water, ccnn's nima -- >> the humanitarian crisis is deeping and hue -- in their fight against hunger and

starvation. the world food program through its local partners is supporting so-called wet feeding programs where the food is cooked and then distributed. the last time aid agencies rolled out a wet feeding campaign was in haiti. for those people who see queuing here, this is the only guaranteed meal that they have. and wet feeding is especially necessary in somalia. increasingly here, the hungry and vulnerable are being targeted for the little aid they're receiving. >> it was their suggestion to move my -- their foods should be cooked and everybody benefits, it's better that way, other than others taking away their food. >> reporter: but it's not just corruption that worries them. one woman who refused to speak on camera said her son was killed by the al qaeda

affiliated al shaboob group. it's a seemingly never ending struggle, they must fight to protect even what little they have. >> the numbers are unimaginable, nearly 30,000 children have died in somalia alone in the past month. cnn's chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta, heading to the famine stricken region before this day is out, let's listen as he explains the trip. >> when you're talking about this part of the world, you're talking about a primarily agricultural community, they live off the land, they grow crops and now you have lack of rain and several things start to unfold, the crops obviously die off, the livestock living off those crops die off and now you have hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who are without food and without water. it's as simple as that, they walk for dozens of miles trying to get some sort of help, some

sort of relief. they walk into these camps, but so many are not able to make the journey. >> sanjay will be tweeting up dates from the field during in tripe. you can follow him at sanjay gupta.cnn. the many agency -- log on to cnn.com/impact. comedy can be the route to discussing sensitive issues in our culture, but what happens when the medians remarks backfire? face to face with margaret cho, she talks about the recent tracey morgan episode. thin squares of crispy granola layered with creamy peanut butter or rich dark chocolate flavor. lightly toasted for a delicate crunch. 90 calories. 100% natural. and nature...approves. ♪ granola thins. from nature valley.

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in the world of comedy, you can say or do just about anything, it's the just about that gets most people in hot water. take for example, tracey morgan, a very popular comedian and actor. but when he talked about the possibility of a gay child really it crossed the line. fellow comedian margaret cho talks about pushing the limits herself in an exclusive face to face interview with fredericka whitfield. >> i never saw asian people on television or in movies, so my dreams were somewhat limited.

i would dream maybe someday i could be an extra on m.a.s.h. >> in comedy, you have to push the limits, you poke fun at yourself, culturally, sex, all of those things, kind of all bets are off. so then when your colleague tracey morgan pushes the limits, you've worked with him, 30 rock. >> i diffuse a bomb black partner, hasta lavista. >> how does a comedian kind of explain when you push the limits sometimes it is uncomfortable for people and then you have to take it back? >> well, it was uncomfortable for me, when tracey morgan said

he would stab his son if he was gay, these things that were very -- for me it was very hurtful because i'm so hurt by homophobic speech. i was really in pain about it. and really sad about it, because i work with him, i really like him. i really love tina fey and i love the show 30 rock and it's just something that hurt my heart, but his apology was very, i thought, sincere and when he went to nashville and met the guy that made the facebook post, he went farther than i think a lot of other people would in terms of trying to rectify that error. >> was it necessary? does that in a way impact or even hurt comedy that a comedian will then have to explain away.

>> tracey morgan said he would stab his son if he was gay, and i would like to have a gay child, i don't know if i would stab my child if they were straight, but there would be consequences. like go to your room and redecorate it. there's a way to find the joy in something, like even though there's such sadness, you can move past it. and this is what comedy teaches us and this is what life teaches us, saying, you know, i feel like it's so interesting that this whole thing with tracey morgan happened and then gay marriage is passed in new york. and i feel like these events could be connected because, you know, there was such incredible anger and fear over what he said that we realized as the gay community, we need to step it up, we need to step everything up. and i think because of that, we

were united enough to bring this about, and we have been working for gay marriage for so many years, i have been working for it as an activist since 2004, and i've been working on it every day. and there's this connection there that can't be denied and that's really powerful. >> and you can see more of margaret cho's face to face interview with fredericka whitfield, just log on to cnn.com/fredericka. that will do it for me, cnn newsroom continues at the top of the hour with don lemon. es the ? my mom and sunny d! i love the taste. mom loves the vitamin c. and now it has 40% fewer calories than most regular soda brands. sunnyd! ♪ make today a sunny day! collect sunny d labels to get free books for your kids' classroom. go to sunnyd.com