it is set to be another eventful day involving the occupy wall street protests. one group is calling for protesters to crash the new york stock exchange website. in the meantime, reverend al sharpton is taking his radio show to the middle of where this is happening. in egypt, a violent and chaotic scene. and it appears researchers may have figured out why your brain rejects negative thoughts, even when things are looking really, really grim. good morning to you.

this is your "am: wake up call." this is a crucial week for president obama. the senate is expected to vote tomorrow on bringing the measure up for debate. president obama has been pushing this bill ever since unveiling it about a month ago saying it's what is desperately needed for this country to put people back to work. among other things, the president's jobs plan would cut payroll taxes on workers and employers, extend unemployment benefits, and spend money on public works projects. of course, republicans oppose how to pay for this plan. >> what's concerning is he put ideas in this jobs bill that have already proven to fail. instead of trying to get compromise, he's embracing conflict. he's running around the country campaigning on a bill he knows

won't pass. >> all right. you didn't hear what president obama said because we were having technical difficulty, but here it is. >> these independent economists say we could grow the economy as much as 2% and as many as 1.9 million workers. >> even if the senate passes the president's bill, it stands virtually no chance of getting through the republican-controlled house in its current form. the "occupy wall street" protepss are now in their 24th day and show no sign of slowing down. in new york where it all began, protesters today are asking parents to bring their children to a planned rally. over the weekend, demonstrators were out in full force in several cities denouncing corporate greed and social inequality. about 100 people demonstrated outside the white house

yesterday. the secret service says one person was arrested after throwing a shoe at a uniformed officer. as you probably guessed, republicans and democrats on capitol hill have two very different views of the protesters. >> i, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying wall street and the other cities across the country. >> i didn't hear him say anything when the tea party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of congress here in the capitol. >> so far, as far as we know, there's no one leader of the "occupy wall street" movement. an online hackers group also plans to take aim at the new york stock exchange. it says it will launch a distributed denial of service attack around 3:30 p.m. eastern. a message posted on youtube says the protest will be an extension of the "occupy wall street"

demonstrations. attorney general eric holder is firing back at republicans saying he hasn't been forthcoming about a controversial gun running operation that was known as fast and furious. federal agents allowed illegally purchased guns to enter mexico from arizona in the hopes of tracking down drug cartels, but many of those weapons were lost. in may, holder testified to congress that he had known about the operation only for a few weeks. holder took sharp issue with his critics in a letter to congress friday saying, quote, such irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric must be repudiated. the chairman of the house oversight committee says holder knew about the operation earlier than he admits. >> well, eric holder is acting like a politician rather than like the chief law enforcement officer. >> he says he may subpoena some members of the obama administration as early as this

week. a tense situation once again in egypt. the country's prime minister says instead of going forward, the nation has found itself scrambling for security. it comes in the midst of clashes between christian protesters and military police. they killed at least 23 people. the protests in cairo were triggered by the burning of a christian church in southern egypt just over a week ago. the protesters demand equality and protection for their places of worship. christians make up about 9% of egypt's people. imagine if you can treading water for 20 hours. that's what a 4-year-old girl and three others did off the florida keys before they were rescued by the coast guard. an 80-year-old woman drowned before she could be pulled from the water. three others were picked up by another boat. all had been on a boat that sank on saturday. let's head to atlanta now and check in with rob marciano. >> good morning. listen, big doings in texas over

the weekend. you got to check this out. much, much needed rainfall across a draught-stricken state. in some cases, seeing four and five inches of it from dallas up through west texas and areas that have draught and saw wildfires. they'll take it. they'll go out in their shorts and t-shirts. no rain jackets. absolutely celebrate that stuff. there was minor flooding in spots, but they'll take the rain. that's for sure. another spot that needs the rain, but probably not this much, they got some wind as well. titusville, florida. a tremendous amount of rain here. in some cases, up to 10 inches for the weekend. the rain continues to come down this morning. winds gusting over 50 miles an hour as well. power outages has been a big problem with this system too. here are some of the rain totals we've seen across parts of texas and florida over the past couple days. looking at 8.35 inches in waco,

texas -- or 5.83. wrong source up there, apparently anyway, rainfall in florida is going to be moving up towards the southeast coastline. that may cause some delays across atlanta later on today, but the bigger rains will continue to the atlanta metro area during the day tomorrow. most of the rain will stay south of new york city, at least for now. all right. i want to tell you about this story. a gentleman in georgia loves superman. loves him so much he'll do anything possible to look like him and not just get the gear out. he's undergone a number of plastic surgeries in order to become more like him. i'm not sure which one -- there he is. got the cleft chin, the nose, and the iconic swirl of the hair there. and some make-up as well. i'm not sure if superman wore

that much make-up, but nonetheless, there it is. >> i'm not sure he did either. so he's trying to look like the comic book version of superman, who was just redone, actually. oops. >> oh, he was. that's right. i remember that. so, yeah. there he is. and there's the green lantern behind him. not nearly as made up, but equally recognizable. >> thank you very much. i don't even know what to say about that. more power to him if that's what he wants to do. >> exactly. >> thank you, rob. if your name is in the news a lot, you might ends up on "saturday night live," especially if you're a politician. this weekend, the cast went to town on mitt romney. here's your punch line. >> america needs a leader to return it to its position of the strongest nation on earth. >> yes. >> who do you think that leader is? >> well, obviously, you know, i think it's me. >> yeah, but let's say you could

pick anyone. not just the candidates who've announced. >> the deadline for candidates to file to be primary eligible is october 31st. >> uh-huh, yeah, that's right. >> would you be in favor of pushing that deadline back to give the party more time to find a viable candidate? >> well, obviously, i think i'm a viable candidate. i mean, i'm not just a guy who runs for president because i can afford to. >> oh, okay. >> yes, you. >> this tuesday, governor chris christie announced he would not seek the republican nomination. have you considered calling him and trying to convince him to run? >> do you know someone who is cheery all the time? to paraphrase lady gaga, maybe they were born that way. in fact, most of us are wired to be optimists, really. that's coming up. first, let's check out today's quote of the day. this is the quote. quote, i don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody

back in a big way, end quote. find out who said this in 90 seconds. it's nine minutes past the hour. rare and magical fruit, which provided for their every financial need. [ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. it is 11 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wake up call." before the break, we left you to guess the quote of the day. this is the quote. i don't believe racism in it country today holds anybody back in a big way, end quote. that's what republican

presidential candidate herman cain said on cnn's state of union. he went on to say, he does not believe, quote, people sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for not being able to achieve what they want to achieve, end quote. the tributes to apple co-founder steve jobs, who passed away last week, are not over, but one is certainly raising eyebrows. let's head to hong kong. tell us about this. google paid tribute to the late steve jobs on the search engine home page, and now one of their, i guess, new product launches have been postponed. >> that's right, by samsung. samsung is delaying the launch of its new google android smart phone. a spokesman of the company said, we decided it was not the right time to announce a new product while the world was expressing tribute to steve jobs' passing.

both apple and samsung are in the midst of this major legal battle. they're suing each other in ten countries over 20 cases. samsung says apple-- as for its android smart phone, samsung has announced this delay but has yet to decide on a new date. back to you. >> let's talk about the computer in our heads. there's new research saying most of us are wired to be optimists. as a person who's not an optimist most times, i don't believe that. >> you know, i'm with you. this is an interesting study. it turns out there is a reason, a scientific reason, why hardcore optimists always manage to stay positive. it's a new study that says the brain is very good at processing good news about the future. for some people, anything negative is just ignored so they

can keep that rosy view of the world. they reached their conclusions by brain scans. when subjects were given positive news, they had more activity in their frontal lobes. with negative news, the most optimistic people had the least activity in their frontal lobes, which means they simply didn't process the bad news. the authors of the study also said -- and you're going to get a hoot out of this. they said about 80% of us are optimists. that was a rosy statistic. what do you think? >> i don't know. i know a lot of my friends are optimis optimists, but i figured i'm just not attracted to negative people. i didn't know that was the majority of people. >> yeah, the majority of people, according to this study out of the u.k., are optimists. i consider myself of more a depressive realist, meaning i look at view -- i use a realistic view of the world and

sometimes get depressed. but i surround myself with happy people, so it all balances out. >> thank goodness for that. thank you so much. >> take care. >> a depressive realist. i like that. an influential pastor tells republicans not to vote for mitt romney because he's mormon. he calls romney's religion a cult. how are others responding to the controversy? we'll tell you. [ male announcer ] it's a fact: your nutritional needs can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system.

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time now for your political ticker with tim farley live from washington. good morning, tim. >> how come you never give me the brain stories, carol? >> there's a reason for that, but i can't get into that right now. >> okay. >> you're an optimist. >> i am. >> so, tim -- you are an optimist. i like that about you. let's start with mitt romney's religion this morning. we know that what a pastor said at the value summit. he said that mitt romney is not a christian, and mormonism is a cult. let's listen. >> he's a mormon. that much i know. i am not going to do an analysis ofismonism versus christianity. >> i think the focus is on religious tolerance. that's really what this is about.

to make this a big issue is just ridiculous right now. >> of course, that's what some of the gop candidates are saying about the charge that mormonism is a cult religion and that mitt romney's not exactly christian. so is this going to hurt mitt romney in the end? we talk abouted this in 2008 too. >> sure, we did. robert jeffress is the evangelical who made that comment at the values voter conference this weekend here in washington, d.c. he said eventually he would hold his nose and vote for mitt romney as opposed to barack obama, and that is the key, is it not, whether they would vote for somebody who is a mormon or not. gallop did a poll in june that indicated about 22% of americans would not vote for a mormon. if you dig down into it, 27% of democrats would not. the percentage is even higher among some of the groups that you think philosophically would be different. look, this -- what's interesting

to me is watching this and hearing people not necessarily say that mormonism is not a cult. it's just sort of saying, i'm not going to talk about that. it's not important. they help to keep that alive a little bit. when it gets down to it, maybe we've gotn to the point that people are just going to make the vote based on whether or not the individual is qualified or not. there's another mormon in the race too. it's john huntsman. i don't think it's been too much of an issue. mitt romney did address it in 2008. >> well, at the values voter summit, which took place this week and where the reverend said this stuff about mormonism, there was a straw poll. interestingly enough, ron paul came in first. in second place came herman cain. mitt romney was way, way down there, as was michele bachmann and rick perry. what did you make of this? >> i think it means that ron paul is able to activate people because there were a lot of tickets that were for sale. these are events, just like the iowa straw poll, where you have to get people to show up to

vote. that indicates that ron paul is able to activate those people who are on his side. the fact that michele bachmann and rick perry were down low was a bit of a surprise to me. again, if it means that they were not focusing on this so much as they are on iowa and new hampshire where they have a big debate tomorrow night, maybe that was a part of the reason why. but ron paul certainly showed he has some staying power, and herman cain once again doing well. >> tim farley, thanks so much for joining us this morning as usual. tim farley, host of "morning briefing" on sirius radio. >> thanks. libya's new regime says it is on the verge of claiming victory in moammar gadhafi's hometown. that means they could gain complete control over the country. we'll have details just ahead. first, don't forget today, here in the united states, we are celebrating columbus day. christopher columbus is said to have officially arrived in the americas on october 12, 1492.

which of course, isn't today. it's 20 minutes past the hour. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. [ male announcer ] glucerna. helping people with diabetes find balance. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

23 minutes past the hour. well come back. libya's new regime says it is on the verge of claiming moammar gadhafi's hometown. let's head to monita rajpal. when they finally get it under control, what will this mean? >> well, what we're hearing

right now, carol, is that these anti-gadhafi fighters are saying it's a matter of time before libya is free. fighters say they are ready to take the center of sirti within a matter of hours. it's gadhafi's hometown. if they take control of sirte, they say they will have control of the country. it's a moral as well as t strategic town they need to take control of. they say some of the key structures there are under their control such as the hospital, the university, and even the conference center, which the fighters of the national transitional council say has been a major objective. also a major objective was the control of the airport, which the fighters say is now under their command. now while all of this is happening, there's still no word on the exact whereabouts of colonel gadhafi. >> i know. where the heck is he? let's talk about this ship off the coast of new zealand.

this could end up a potentially serious blow to the environment. >> not only the oil spill itself, but also the weather conditions. high winds and strong swells are now hampering efforts to contain and recover oil, masses of oil spilled from a ship off the coast of new zealand. 30 tons of fuel have already leaked from the cargo vessel. from what i understand, the weather is expected to continue to deteriorate today. authorities are saying that the oil has started to wash up on a popular beach in the area, and they're saying that this is highly toxic. the government has established a one kilometer exclusion zone around the ship because of the health risks posed by the oil spill. >> monita rajpal reporting live from london this morning. thank you. one of the fab four makes it

number three. sir paul mccartney says he's feeling wonderful about his marriage to nancy chevelle. sunday, he married the american heiress. ringo starr was there as well as barbara walters. time is almost up for the nba players and owners to reach a labor deal. could we lose the first two weeks of the regular season? and california tells teens they're now banned from tanning beds. more on those stories just ahead. it's 26 minutes past the hour.

good morning to you.

it is monday, october 10. this is your "am: wake up call." i'm carol costello joining you live from new york. a big week on tap in washington. the senate expected to vote on the president's jobs bill. it includes funding for infrastructure projects and job training. the package will be paid for by a tax on millionaires. there is strong republican opposition both to the bill and how it's being paid for. unemployment remains at 9.1%. the reason democrats argue that a jobs bill is essential right now. chicago mayor and former white house chief of staff says president obama's re-election is far from a sure thing. speaking on nbc's "meet the press," he says americans will hold the president accountable for the bad economy. >> the bottom line -- you may say the president is looking at the long term. how much trouble is he in for re-election with this economy? >> there's no doubt there's a challenge politically because

the economy is not where the american middle class family needs it to be for their bottom line. >> but he defended his former boss for making tough decisions that will benefit the country in the long term. it is day 24 of the demonstrations that began with "occupy wall street" in new york. massive demonstrations have popped up all over the country with protesters venting about the lack of jobs, social inequality, and what they call corporate greed. on sunday a group of about 100 gathered in front of the white house. the secret service says one demonstrator was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer after that protester threw a shoe at him. today is the deadline for nba players and owners to reach a labor deal. without one, commissioner david stern says he will cancel the first two weeks of the regular season. at issue, how to split the profits between the owners and the players. both sides are still talking and will be back at the negotiating

table this afternoon. a number of death ts blamed on a listeria outbreak blamed on continue lopes is up to 21 now. the cdc says at least 109 cases overall have been reported in 24 states. they're afraid that number could rise. all the contaminated cantaloupes have been pulled out of stores. because it can take a while to get sick from listeria, we may not have seen the end of this. better education opportunities now await illegal immigrants in california. it's part of the state's controversial dream act. governor jerry brown signed it into law over the weekend. it allows students who are on the path to citizenship to apply for state-funded financial aid starting in 2013. also in california, a bill barring teenagers aged 14 to 18 from using tanning beds is now a law. it's the first law of its kind in the country. don't worry, kids. you can still use spray tans. new developments in europe as leaders there try to avoid a

banking crisis. a major bank that has done a lot of business with the united states agrees to a bailout. we'll have details for you in 60 seconds. it's 32 minutes past the hour. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

just about 34 minutes past the hour. welcome back. a major european bank, one that does a lot of business with the united states, agrees to a multi-million dollar bailout. let's head to christine roman. she's here in new york with me. what does this mean for the united states? >> well, it means a lot. it shows you that what's happening in greece and with european banks definitely matters to what's happening here. why? because this bank, which has basically been bailed out, nationalized by a consortium of governments. this bank provided financing to local governments here in the united states. municipal bonds financed by this bank, backed by this bank.

some $54 billion worth. they also finance things like greek debt. now this bank has found itself in an awful lot of trouble. it turns out, though, carol, that everything from, say, chicago's o'hare airport to municipal bond projects in massachusetts have seen the writing on the wall and have been pulling themselves out of their relationship with dexia. also because they're bailing this bank out. they're guaranteeing it to the tune of 90 billion euros. it shows you that what's happening on the streets of greece, what's happening with the european banks definitely matters here. it's all tied together. the lead of the guardian story this morning kind of caught my attention. it says dexia has become the first casualty of the 2011 banking crisis. there you have it. it's been named. and we're here. >> don't like the sounds of that. christine romans, thank you. >> see you in a bit. you're welcome. they've been springing up in cities across the nation, those

massive protests. just ahead, why some republican presidential candidates say some demonstrators are going about it the wrong way. but first, today is columbus day, but there are three days that do not observe columbus day has a holiday. can you guess which states those are? here are your choices, a, california, nevada, and hawaii. b, arizona, california, and oregon. or c, california, nevada, and utah. the answer after a break. it's 36 minutes past.

38 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wake up call." today is columbus day, but there are three states that do not observe columbus day as a public holiday. can you name those three states? here are your choices once again. a, california, nevada, and hawaii. b, arizona, california, or

oregon. c, california, nevada, and utah. the correct answer is a. california, nevada, and hawaii do not celebrate columbus day. time now for our political ticker. let's bring in our deputy political director. he's live for us from washington. good morning, paul. >> kraicarol, how are you? >> i'm terrific. let's start with the presidential candidates about a the protesters. >> barack obama's policies have put us in one of the worst tail spins economically that we have. >> if they're frustrated because they don't have jobs, if they're frustrated because the economy is not guilty moving, they ought to be protesting the white house because of the failed policies. >> i wish they were down picketing the federal reserve and the treasury because that's where the real grievance is. it's been bad management by

bernanke and geithner that the america people should be angry about. >> but certainly, paul, they say the anger should not be directed at wall street. why might they be saying that? >> well, all three of those people you just ran want sound from, they're running against president barack obama, or they want to next year in the general election. they're trying to redirect that anger from the protesters towards the administration and say, listen, it's the administration's fault for all of this because of wall street reform and other things they did to help prop up wall street. i guess they're trying to deflect the anger against them towards the democrats, towards the president. you know, carol, the democrats are doing just the opposite. they're saying, we're with you supporters, protesters. we're with you. we understand what you're going through. listen, it's the republicans who are trying to stop all those reforms, repeal those reforms against wall street that the democrats and president obama passed. no surprise, both sides see a political opportunity here. politics loves opportunities. >> that's true. i think nancy pelosi came out and said something about the

protesters, but she said completely opposite of what those republican candidates said. >> oh, yeah. >> okay. another presidential debate this week. you know, you'd suspect that this debate will be focused mainly on the economy. it's also going to be a very important debate for rick perry. >> oh, no doubt about it. the debate is on tuesday night. it's up in dartmouth university, new hampshire. an important location. i think rick perry probably has a lot on the line. all the candidates do, but maybe him more than the others. the last debate was about three weeks ago. he had that uneven performance. since then, he was the front runner in the polls. not anymore. i think he needs a strong debate to show he can debate well and he can maybe change the dynamics of the race. who else has a lot at stake? mitt romney. once again, he's back on top. when you're on the top stop, they're always gunning for you. i think herman cain has a lot at stake too. he's been ridesing in the polls.

when you jump that high so quickly, you come under a lot of scrutiny. stand by for that tuesday night. >> you mean herman cain is going to be the new pinata. >> he could be, carol. we'll see. there's a good chance he's going to get a lot more attention now. >> all right. paul, thanks to you. just ahead on "am: wake up call," a peaceful protest turns into the worst violence egypt has seen. a and a man born without hands or fee preparing to climb a mountain. before we go, a look at history on this day in 2004. superman christopher reeve dies. he suffered from heart failure. as you know, he spent the last nine years of his life in a wheelchair after being paralyzed in a horse riding accident. he was a leading advocate for spinal cord research. it's 42 minutes past the hour. i want healthy skin for life.

[ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

good morning to you. it is monday, october 10. this is your "am: wake up call." i'm carol costello joining you live from new york this morning. it is 45 minutes past the hour. it's being called the worst violence in egypt since the uprising that toppled former president hosni mubarak. what's happening there, ben? >> well, what happened was last

night there was a demonstration by christians here. in fact, just in the street below me. they were demonstrating against the burning of a church in southern egypt. now, what happened was as this crowd of protesters came down the street, they apparently were -- came under stone throwing by people in the area. clashes began. the army became involved. they brought in some heavy vehicles, which according to eyewitnesss, ran over at least half a dozen of those demonstrators. at this point, it appears that 24 people were killed in this clash. more than 200 wounded. it certainly has set off alarm bells throughout the country. the cabinet this afternoon will be meeting in emergency session. there's been a curfew imposed in this part of town from 2:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. clearly, the concerns are that all the hopes of the revolution are now being dashed with with

these sectarian conflicts. >> i don't want to exaggerate here, but could this be the start of another revolution? >> reporter: it's very early to tell. on the one happened, many of the people who led the revolt against hosni mubarak feel that really not much progress has been made, that the ruling military council is dead set against the sort of reforms they're interested in. on the other hand, the great majority of egyptians are far more concerned about the deteriorating security in this country, the absence of law and order, and also the fact that the economy has really crashed. just this morning, the cairo stock exchange fell 5% on worries of the possibility of an outbreak of sectarian violence across the country. carol. >> ben, thank you. this is a crucial week for

president obama and his nearly $450 billion jobs bill. the senate is expected to vote tomorrow on whether to bring the measure up for debate. president obama has been pushing the bill hard ever since unveiling it a month ago saying, it will do what's desperately needed, put people back to work. >> these independent economists say that we could grow the economy as much as 2% and as many as 1.9 million workers. >> among other things, the president's jobs plan would cut payroll taxes on workers and employers, extend unemployment benefits, and spend money on public works projects. of course, republicans oppose much of that plan. >> well, what's concerning about it is he put ideas in this jobs bill that have already proven to fail. instead of trying to get compromise, he's embracing conflict. he's running around the country come paining on a bill he knows won't pass. >> even if the senate passes the president's bill, it stands

virtually no chance of getting through the republican-controlled house in its current form. the "occupy wall street" protests are now in their 24th day and show no signs of slowing down. in new york, where it all began, protesters are asking parents to bring their children to a rally. over the weekend, demonstrators were in force in several countries denouncing greed and social enequality. about 100 people demonstrated outside the white house yesterday. one person was arrested after throwing a shoe at a uniform officer. as you've probably guessed, republicans and democrats on capitol hill have two very different views of the protesters. >> i, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying wall street and the other cities across the country. >> i didn't hear him say anything when the tea party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of congress right here in the capitol. >> so far, as far as we know,

there's no one leader of the wall street movement. an online hackers group also plans to take aim at new york's financial center. anonymous is planning to crash the new york stock exchange's website today. says it will launch a service attack around 3:30 p.m. eastern. a message posted on youtube says the protest would be an extension of the "occupy wall street" demonstrations. attorney general eric holder is firing back at republicans suggesting he has not been forthcoming about a controversial federal gun running operation that was known as fast and furious. federal agents allowed illegally purchased guns to enter mexico from arizona in the hopes of tracking down drug cartels, but many of those weapons were lost or ended up in criminal hands. in may, holder testified to congress that he had known about the operation only for a few weeks. holder took sharp issue with his critics in a letter to congress friday saying, quote, such irresponsible and inflammatory

rhetoric must be repudiated in the strongest possible terms. the chairman of the house oversight committee says holder knew about the operation much earlier than he admits. >> well, eric holder is acting like a politician rather than like the chief law enforcement officer. >> he says he may subpoena some members of the obama administration as early as this week. let's head to atlanta now to check in with rob marciano. lots of people in the airports this morning wondering about flight delays. >> atlanta, san francisco, those are going to be the big ones. the northeast should be okay. beneficial rains this weekend in places like texas, where the fires the past several months have been burning and the draught is ongoing. comanche, texas, 8.35. can you believe this? in some places, this is more rain than they've seen all year.

dallas and fort worth seeing similar numbers. the other big story this weekend, newark, 88 degrees. come on. 87 in boston. 86 in providence. 85 in hartford. these are all record high temperatures. today's highs will be similar. 84 expected in new york city. indian summer in full swing. 77 in chicago. the cool air out west will slowly make its way off towards the east. here are the more highlighted delays we expect today. atlanta. orlando, jacksonville to a lesser extent. flooding in florida has been pretty intense. that's getting to the southeast coastline. tornado watch in effect for the southeast coast of georgia and florida until 1:00 this afternoon. on the west coast of mexico, watching this major hurricane.

category 3 jova heading towards puerto vallarta. expected to make landfall tomorrow. could be a category 3 storm there. inspiring story i want to share with you, carol. a guy named kyle maynard is from beauford, georgia. he was born without hands and without feet. now he is set out a goal to climb mt. kilimanjaro. how about that? he's going to do a practice run, get together with some of his supporters and test out some of his equipment. or he did that on friday. there's some of the video. unbelievably unspiably inspirin. this young man can do that, shows you people can do just about anything. that's your monday inspirational story. >> that's more than inspiring. you go. >> yeah. >> thank you, rob. >> all right, carol.

we're asking people what they're predicting the u.s. economy will look like in 2012. details in a live report from the nasdaq market site. first, let's take a look at the word of the day. it's juvi-sync. find out what it means and why you need to know after this break. it's 53 minutes past the hour.

welcome back. it's just about three minutes until the top of the hour. let's get back to the word of the day, shall we? the word of the day is juvisync. what does it mean? if you have the double whammy of type 2 diabetes and high

cholesterol, juvisync may be for you. this pill was just approved. it's supposed to lower your glucose and cholesterol. now you know. they keep talking to me in my ear. carter evans, we're going to you. every day we keep hearing stuff about economy. we've asked people to say something about 2012 that's remotely positive. did anyone say anything like that? >> oh, absolutely not. let's go ahead and look at that. this is a new poll on cnnmoney.com. it asks, how do you think the economy's going to do next year? the overwhelming majority opinion is not so good. 30% think it's going to slip back into a recession. 42% think the economy is going to stall and stagnate. only 22% think it's going to grow fast enough to spur hiring. only 6% think it's going to be a strong bounceback. i do have some good news to end on. take a look at futures today. european leaders are saying they'll have a comprehensive plan to put an end to the debt

crisis over there by the end of the month. they also nationalized a bank. that's giving hope on wall street. dow futures up 110. s&p 500 up. >> we'll take it. it is monday. did you hear that new research that came out that said most people's brains are wired to be optimist snick. >> yeah, and i agree with that for the most part. we want to be happy. we want to see good things happen, right? >> yes, we do. although, i think i fall into that 20%, which disturbs me. >> that's a little scary. >> it is. >> you also seem bright and happy though. >> it's all an act. no, i'm just kidding. i am bright and happy because i surround myself with optimistic people like you. >> there you go. >> carter evans, thanks so much. "american morning" starts right now. i'm christine romans. president obama steps up