sale, it's broken. it disempowers all the lower class. >> my "end point" is the catholic church and this whole contraception thing. if you look at one statistic, the number of women who are catholics who use contraception, it's a high number. the catholic church is out of it up. up. we go to kyra fill -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we begin with the heart breaking view owe sentencese vie in syria. you can see right there through video that's sent in to us that innocent families are caught in the cross fire between the government and opposition forces desperately trying to crush this. some 6,000 people have died since the uprising began less than a year ago. an exact number is impossible to tell you because syria bans international journalists. russian's foreign minister is in syria trying to keep it from

being the latest arab government to fall. many world leaders say moscow is ignoring the slaughter of civilians. ivan watson is in istanbul, turkey, covering this for us. is there any optimism that russia can rein in this violence? >> reporter: that's a big question. the russian foreign minister definitely got a hero's welcome as he arrived in damascus. he seemed to be one of the biggest allies and friends of president bashar al-assad right now. the russian line has been that the western governments have not been putting enough pressure on the opposition groups to stop violence as well. if you want to know how wide the differentiation is between the two sides in syria, just about 100 miles away the artillery shells continue to rain on the opposition held city of homs where hundreds of civilians are believed to have died in just the past couple of days, kyra. >> now you're also seeing a growing divide across the

region. what can you tell me about that? >> reporter: just today a couple of hours ago the turkish prime minister, i'm here in turkey, he called for a new initiative that would put countries that are with the people of syria and against the syrian government together to try to come to a resolution here. so you're seeing soouny muslim governments, saudi arabia, qatar, turkey lining up against shiite muslim allies. the shiite movement hezbollah. that is a bad sign for increasing polarization and tension in a turbulent middle east. >> going to keep talking about this story throughout the morning with you, ivan. the world is paying very close attention to this crisis in syria. cnn's max foster is joining us in london. he's been following the global reaction. hi, max. >> reporter: yeah, kyra. there's been a lot of

frustration with what happened with the u.n. i spoke to a spokesman from the state department and french foreign ministry and it's clear that they're discussing things and speaking to the syrian opposition to try to find an alternative way ahead. newspapers making much of this around the world. south china morning post their headline after libya, no vote is no surprise. china russia went along with the rest of the security council on libya and then had to watch as western governments overstepped their mandate to protect civilians. is it surprising that they are no so pliant this time? today's zaman says that the arab league got it all wrong. a civil war in syria is likely to cause much trouble in turkey where ivan is. clearly it would be to the benefit of all players in the region if russia finds a formula that can secure its own strategic position. "the wall street journal" asia says that obama is falling into a u.n. trap.

americans are preoccupied by domestic issues, but syria is a good test of president obama's foreign policy. with each week of mr. assad's brutality, the cost in lives and the odds of civil war will continue to rise unless mr. obama does not than bow before the false moral authority of the united nations. the question is, will the united nations be the route map ahead discussing alternatives. >> we'll talk about those alternatives as well. max, thanks. now let's talk about presidential politics here in the u.s. three more republican contests today. 70 delegates at stake. none will be awarded today though so the big prize really is momentum. cnn political editor paul steinhauser live in washington. paul, mitt romney hoping big wins today will make him even more unstoppable. challengers are, you know, saying not so fast. >> reporter: here we go again, kyra. i guess you'd call it game day one more time. this is the first time we've gotten multiple contests on the same day. let's go back to the map. three contests as you've

mentioned. 70 delegates at stake in minnesota and colorado between those two caucuses. you have the nonbinding primary in missouri. if romney wins all three contests it will seem more inevitable already than he does seem. two of the other candidates feel they could do very well here tonight. take a listen to what rick santorum told our john king on j.k. u.s.a. last night. >> i think we can do very well there. yeah, i think we certainly have a chance of winning one or more of those states tomorrow, but, you know, a strong showing is say strong showing. we're very encouraged that we're going to have a strong showing in all three states and we'll go from there. >> reporter: santorum has been campaigning in all three states. ron paul's been campaigning pretty heavily in minnesota and colorado. he has a pretty good grassroots effort in those states. he would like to pick up some delegates tonight, kyra. >> paul, gingrich, we haven't heard much from him. >> reporter: you're absolutely

right. what about tonight? listen, newt gingrich isn't even on the ballot in missouri. nonbinding primary, but he wasn't able to get on the ballot. 's trying to play catch-up it seems in minnesota and colorado. if he doesn't do well, it could be a problem. listen, newt gingrich says he's looking ahead to the super tuesday states on march 6th when you have a lot of southern states that are voting that he could do well in. a portion of tonight definitely will not help his cause. we'll keep our eyes on everything tonight. >> paul, thanks so much. don't forget, tonight live coverage of state primaries and coverage beginning at 6:00 eastern. "john king u.s.a." and then cnn has complete live coverage at 7:00 eastern with the best political team on television. this morning a reminder of just how power full super pacs are when it comes to fundraising. president obama is reversing course, dromg his opposition to the shadowy fundraising tactics of super pacs and now nudging his donors towards an outside

group. pry ortsz u.s.a. is run by a couple of former aids. brianna is at the white house. >> reporter: kyra, i think in a phrase it would be if you can't beat them, join them. this is a big change from the obama campaign. they'll be allowing campaign aids as well as administration officials to fund raise for this super pac, priorities u.s.a. now that said, the first lady, michelle obama, will not participate nor will the vice president, joe biden or his wife, jill biden. this super pac, as you mentioned, is run by former obama administration officials, had found itself very much neutered because president obama had come out against super pacs, specifically against the supreme court decision citizens united that arguably spawned them. we had heard from president obama even as recently as sunday when he did that interview with mat lawer from nbc lamenting the effects of these super pacs and the negative advertising we've

seen on the campaign trail for republicans. super pacs have some advantages compared to the dnc or rnc. they don't have limitations on donations. they don't have to report who their donors are. they can run negative ads and the candidate doesn't have to have the message at the end saying i endorse this message. it allows not to have the fingerprints on this negative advertising. i think what this means is that you'll be seeing more of a two-way street kind of really bitter battle as we expected, but even more so here going into the general election, kyra. >> all right. brianna keilar at the white house. thanks so much. we're expecting a ruling today on california's prop a but could the decision mean guys could marry each other in the state. the florida ever glades are being overrun with pythons. that's just when they thought it couldn't get any worse. >> reporter: here's one of the problems with trying to completely eradicate the python. you probably don't even see it. it's right here, a six footer. >> a look at how these snakes

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well, about four hours from now we expect the same section marriage ruling from a federal

appeals court. the state voters approved the same-sex marriage -- a judge ruled to overturn it was challenged because he was gay. let's talk about this with ashleigh banfield. what's today's decision going to mean in california and will gays be able to marry? >> that's a very good question. for a lot of viewers, this is a complicated issue. it's legal, it's not legal. the challenge prevailed but it's not legal. the story is it is not legal right now only because there's this legal thing called a stay and that's in place protecting prop 8. the ballot initiative said, sorry, no, not legal. today's decision could go either way. it could decide prop 8 is, i'm sorry, unconstitution nal. it doesn't allow people equal protection under the law or they could decide it's constitutional, and you know

what, prop 8 is the law of the land. here's the little hitch. even if the 9th circuit court of appeals decides that prop 8 is not constitutional and that gays should be allowed to marry in california, don't go breaking out the champagne if you're planning to get married because it's highly likely that the challenge is right behind them and another stay might be put in place. tomorrow we might be in the exact same position we're in today regardless of what the 9th circuit said? >> how do analysts feel that they'll rule? >> we have covered a lot of stories on the 9th circuit. it gets the wrap that it's a pretty liberal court, pretty liberal panel. this is a three judge panel. a lot of the analysts are saying it's likely that they will side against prop 8. again, it's the double negative. you have to decide if you're against prop 8, it means gay people should be allowed to marry. the only reason that that is also sort of backed up is that the judge who decided this originally, that prop 8 was not constitutional, was a republican judge as well in california.

>> we're going to follow it right along with you. thanks. >> sure. checking stories across country now. portland oregon occupy demonstrators marching against what they call police brutality. they were warned to stay out of the street. when they didn't, ten people were arrested. in for the smith, arkansas, cops are having a tough time getting a description of this local bank robber caught on surveillance tape. 's wearing a pillow case over his head with a couple of holes so he's able to see. he had socks on his hands trying not to leave any fingerprints. and in georgia people are going nuts for pe cans as prices soar. some farmers have set up surveillance cameras around their orchards and hired security guards to patrol their properties 24 hours a day because of thefts. thousands of bur mees pythons are lurking in the florida everyglades basically wiping out other species but

what happens when the python's food source runs out? john zarolla reports. >> reporter: florida's ever glades, hoenl to an incredible cluster of species, but some are disappearing and disappearing quickly. >> raccoons were such a problem that we had to put a policy in place to try to manage them. >> reporter: no policy needed now. scientists believe this invader to the everyglades, the bur mees python, is responsible for nearly wiping out several species. for eight years researchers drove back and forth over t main roads in everyglades national park. they compared the number of dead animals they found, road kill, to the numbers recorded in past decades. in areas inhabited by pythons the longest, the findings were stunning. rabbits and foxes gone. raccoons and owe opossums down 99%. >> if they're looking for something to eat.

what does a bobcat do now? >> reporter: scientists worry what will the snakes eat next? even more frightening, these nonvenomous con distributor snakes may be here to stay. no way to get rid of them all. >> no example we can turn to that they've ever been eradicated by any of the tools and techniques we have. >> reporter: it's a problem that has frustrated park biologist skip snow for years. poison would kill native creatures too. traps would catch others besides pythons, and visually hunting them down across a million plus acres, next to impossible. >> reporter: here's one of the problems with trying to completely eradicate the python. you probably don't even see t. it's right here, a since fox fo. you could walk up on this and you wouldn't even know it's sitting there. >> reporter: there may be as many as 100,000 pythons slithering throughout the glades. the perception they're

everybefore is flat out wrong but it is a perception not lost on park visitors. >> i don't know if i want to stop there because i was afraid there would be snakes everywhere, pythons and everything. >> reporter: it's no great mystery how the pythons got here. people bought these exotic pets and when they got too big they got rid of them. no one would have guessed just a decade ago snakes in this river of grass might upset the balance of nature here forever. john zaralle, cnn ever glades national park. b.p. marks a big profits report as a turning point. less than two years after the gulf oil disaster the company's net income surges. celebrating 200 years of one of the world's best loved writers. we're going to go to london to see how the royals are remembering charles dickens. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

it's a happy homecoming at the norfolk naval station. this video coming in to us moments ago. 2,000 sailors returning to home court. they're back from the longest deportation. also returning the u.s.s.mesa verde. during the 11-month deployment they supported the nato led operation libya. they supported u.s. operations in iraq and afghanistan. celebrating 200 years of charles dickens. the british novel list is being honored worldwide. the biggest events are taking part in britain.

atika is joining us. >> reporter: hi. as you can imagine, britain is definitely celebrating 200 years of one of its greatest authors. prince charles and camilla came here to westminster ab by where they laid a wreath at his grave. this is where charl dickens is buried. they were joined by film makers, writers, but also more than 200 direct descene dents of charles dickens. it was the largest dickens family gathering. they did so to commemorate his works. they say really that his themes of poverty, social injustice are still very much echoing today. in fact, as part of that the cabinet ministers are being given each a book of dickens' work reflecting not just their personality but their jobs. prime minister cameron for example today received a copy of "great expectations " and "hard times" apparently to inspire him

in dealing with the political and economic recession for the country. >> sort of ironic we're celebrating his life and sort of seeing his writings play out right now in 2012. atika shubert, thank you. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. b.p. is making millions of dollars. that's hard for a lot of people to watch, alison. >> yeah, it's kind of interesting to see b.p. in terms of its financial health back on its feet, but in terms of its reputation, that's a little questionable. the environment, of course, and of course all those lives lost. let's go ahead and focus on its finances. in fact, b.p. says in the third quarter, that was the turn around, the tipping point for the company to get back on its feet. by the fourth quarter b.p. was marked by growing profits, more oil production. in fact, in the fourth quarter b.p. made almost $8 billion. that's up 37% from the fourth quarter in 2010.

b.p. is clearly confident at this point, at least for its finances. it's raising its dividend. so it's on its way financially. as i said, it's clearly questionable what it means for its reputation. >> well, and there's all the costs associated with the spill, the cleanup, the lawsuits. b.p. isn't finished with all that have? >> you're absolutely right about that because it's a huge concern for wall street. that really hits at b.p.'s bottom line as well because b.p.'s u.s. shares actually are down 2% just before the owning bell right now. investors are worried about b.p.'s liabilities relating to the spill. that's still a big question mark, especially with the civil trial that's going to begin at the end of this month. analysts say, you know what, b.p. could be on the hook for tens of billions of dollars of fines and this comes after the company lost some recent decisions that looked to hold haliburton and trans ocean

responsible. as for the broader market, kyra, we are looking at a weak open. investors still nervous about greece's debt problems. r. >> alison kosik, thanks so much. straight ahead, if outside military help is to come in would the u.s. play any role? and a bill to ban getting welfare money out of the strip club. some democrats voted against the bill, l.z. granderson lets them have it. [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips.

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check out these crazy looking clouds in florida. the sweeping formations actually look like waves washing over those condos. tell us what's going on. >> how cool is that? this was posted by a helicopter company. they took the picture around noon on sunday on their facebook page. then it started going all over twitter. here it is, just a still shot. but you see just how those clouds really just a little bit of moisture over here. very, very light fog. as that on shore flow hit the buildings they acted lake a mountain and lifted that air up and just condensed it even more to form these more dense clouds. you only see it over top of these buildings along the panama city shoreline. very, very cool stuff. here's a little bit more descriptive analysis of what happened there. light winds in the morning, real light. as the air heated the ground here we got a little bit of an

on shore sea breeze. the winds off the water was lifted by the buildings themselves, maybe a little bit of convergence as well at the base of those buildings. then on the back side of this you get an eddie that flows here. that's why you see that curvature of the clouds coming down the back side of it. vertical circulations develop on the back side. a little bit of fluid dynamics for you early in the morning, i know, but the bottom line is, cool pictures. we love that the modern technology allows us to get those from folks who are just flying choppers over panama city beach. have a look down there. beautiful emerald coast line. also affected by that is the weather across lower manhattan, kyra, as you know. the weather perfect for the giants ticker tape parade. >> we're excited. back to those pictures. you would see that and have a total panic attack. seriously. you have visions of tsunami and then it's pretty fascinating to

learn what really caused those. >> you can get clouds that look like this a little bit higher up. they have a fancy err name, slightly different process, even more rare. if you get a treat like this along the coast line, soak it all in. >> what's the fancy name. >> calvin helmuth. we call them k.h. >> that's easier. thanks, rob. >> see ya. checking top stories, investigators in washington state say it was the boy's father who struck them with a hatchet before all three of them died in a house explosion. cops say that josh powell had planned the murder suicide for some time. powell had been a suspect in the 2009 disappearance of his wife as well. florida lawmaker plans to introduce a bill to put up electronic warning signs at this i-75 crash sight. you may remember at least 11 people were killed in a multi-vehicle accident last week. that area is prone to very dangerous fog. and voters go to the polls today in three republican

contests. there's caucuses in colorado, minnesota, and a nonbinding primary in missouri. colorado and missouri won't award their delegates into later in the year. marshall artist and actor endorses a gop candidate. tell you which one next in showbiz headlines.

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in syria desperate pleas for international help, and this is why. families being forced to run for their lives as gunfire and explosions just erupt around them. it's almost a year into this up rising and u.n. officials estimate 6,000 people have now died in this ongoing violence. now russia's foreign minister is in syria this morning trying to keep its ally from becoming the latest arab government to fall.

many world leaders say that moscow is just ignoring the slautering of innocent civilians. u.s. leaders are also considering their options. president obama is trying to downplay military action. >> not every situation is going to allow for the kind of military solution that we saw -- >> but would you consider military action with our allies without u.n. approval? >> i think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention, and i think that's possible. mark kimmet retired army general join me from washington. you heard what the president said, general. give me a reality check from your experience. it is possible we could see the u.s. play a military role here starting out with an air campaign? >> well, that's true, but i think the president was very clear that that probably wouldn't be done until all other

options failed, diplomatic, coercive. i think also he was very clear that this would require a u.n. security council resolution which at this point the chinese and russians don't appear to be likely to permit. >> but we also have seen in the past how a u.n. resolution can be bypassed if a president wants to go to war, so looking at this scenario, how many people have died, in your opinion is it more possible to see an air campaign or is it more likely that this will stall and stall and stall for a number of months, maybe even more than a year? >> well, again, i think that until there's an international consensus expressed through the united nations in the form of a security council resolution, there are very few countries that will act either

unilaterally or in combination with other states to do anything about syria. this is not a situation that a lot of countries want to get into, and without a u.n. mandate, it would be unlikely to see any type of actions either on the ground or in the air. but if, in fact, there was, it would be a tough campaign. >> well, we saw what happened in libya, and that wasn't necessarily a tough campaign militarily because we saw the way the bombs dropped and how quickly that went down. syria is another story, correct? not so easy to hit your target. >> well, it's not just the issue of hitting the target, it's the fact that the syrian air defense system is probably one of the best inside the world. it's been heavily supplied by the russians. they have some of the most advanced early warning radars, have some of the most profoundly effective surface to air missiles, and they've got, quite frankly, one of the largest air defense systems in the region,

if not the world. over 4,000 missile launchers, over 4,000 guns. >> so making the point that syria is backed by russia, we see that the foreign minister is there in syria this morning. behind closed doors there could be some interesting conversations going on, do you agree, at the pentagon? >> well, i suspect that the military at the pentagon and places such as central command are doing exactly what we want them to be doing, preparing a series of options so if the president says i need some options and i need some courses of action, they don't get caught flat footed. there will be options and there will be great plans put forward, but the fundamental question of what we can do and what we should do really has to be addressed before we contemplate any operations inside sir yeah, either unilaterally or with our allies. >> general mark kimmitt, thanks

for coming in this morning. increasing violence has led to powerful calls for international intervention in syria. next hour, what the world is saying about that situation. well' get the global reaction. and right now we want to take you live to cincinnati. the latest stop on newt gingrich's presidential campaign. he's reaching out to republicans taking part in i ohio's early voting. we are going ahead of the march 6th primary there. ohio is a key battleground state in presidential elections. also coming up, welfare money in strip clubs. l.z. granderson tells democrats this is a battle they shouldn't fight. and he quotes kenny rogers to get his point across. l.z.'s next. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion.

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well, beyonce stepped out on the town last night to attend her hubby's concert. we got to see the first picture of the new mom since giving birth. a.j., no surprise, she's still

gorgeous. >> yeah. i don't think we should be shocked at all. all new moms look gorgeous to me, kyra. beyonce, she was looking good last night. this was her first public appearance si appearance since she had a baby. she felt it was time to put on a sexy outfit, take a picture. she was attending a jay-z concert. this event was a benefit for the united way. shawn carter scholarship foundation, his real name. good to see the two of them not letting all that new parent exhaustion get in the way of helping others out. i believe they have some help at home, but it's just in the first month. it's tiring. you know that. >> yes, indeed. you have to have your date night too. can't let that marriage suffer. what's this about chuck norris getting all political? >> yeah, chuck made a presidential endorsement. he did it on the conservative website world news daily. he has a regular column there.

norris getting behind newt gingrich. let me repeated read to you. as a six time undefeated middle weight world karate champion i have a pretty good idea what makes a warrior. there's one presidential candidate in the political ridge who wears those gloves better than the others. even when he is knocked down, he has astounding agility and rebound. that is what chuck norris wants in a candidate apparently. i'm sure newt appreciates his support, but he probably wishes chuck norris actually had those super natural powers that everybody jokes about these days. kyra, you know when the boogie man goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for chuck norris. >> yes. there's just something about him. you just want to go ahead and do what he says. a.j. thanks. >> yeah. >> a.j.'s going to be back with us next hour to explain what singer m.i.a. was thinking or not thinking when her gesture during the super bowl half-time show occurred. all right. checking stories cross-country

now. in florida dea agents raid two cvs pharmacies. they say stores ordered more than 3 million units of the painkiller oxycodone in one year. in saga that you michigan a terrifying circus act crash all caught on cam. motorcyclist fell 25 feet to the ground after his bike hit a wire. he suffered some broken bones but is expected to recover. researchers in boston are trying to find out why dolphins are becoming stranded on cape cod. a record 129 dolphins have beached themselves. 37 have been successfully rescued and released. eli manning's not just super bowl mvp, he's a good brother too. he had a chance to turn on peyton but he wouldn't do it. we're going to show you in sports seven minutes from now.

well, cnn.com contributor l.z. granderson says the great american philosopher kenny rogers gave the world a solid piece of advice. ♪ you've got to know when to home 'em ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em ♪ know when to walk away ♪ know when to run >> so how do kenny rogers, l.z., and a house bill to stop people from spending their money on strippers. kenny's not available for us. your new opinion column calls out democrats who oppose the bill, l.z. >> reporter: you know what, this

congress, so many people focus in on president obama's approval numbers that have been up and down and they're up again. this congress has consistently had some of the worst numbers we've ever seen. this is one of the examples as to why. this is a very simple bill. we don't want you making it rain with taxpayers dollars in strip clubs so we're putting this bill into place. because republicans came up with this idea, there were 26, i believe 26 or 24 democrats who actually opposed it and voted against this by. this is the reason why washington is broken, because there are some things that just makes common sense and just because the other team put it up doesn't mean you have to fight it all the time. they just look absolutely ridiculous. >> bottom line this is a battle that undermines democrats cry that the gop doesn't care about the middle class? >> reporter: absolutely. seriously, as taxpayers who are actually footing the bill, right, for this welfare money. we're talking 2% of people who receive aid actually receive this money. it's not a lot of people, but

it's the principle of it, right? if you're a taxpayer, you don't want to think about people using your money to go to strip clubs with. you would think that would just be a common sense thing. you can't say you're fighting for the poor while deflecting any opportunities to defray or move away from any fraud that could happen with welfare. the democrats look really foolish with this. >> what about drug testing for welfare recipients, do you support that? >> i do. i also support drug testing for legislators as well. i believe what's good for the goose is definitely good for the gander. i think it's interesting that the republicans who did propose this idea of drug testing for welfare recipients backed away from the idea of testing for legislators. so i think we should probably be more aggressive in wondering why they're deflecting that as well. >> you can read l.z.'s column at cnn.com/opinion. it's called strip club bill, a no brainer. you can look for those timeless kenny rogers lyrics at the top. l.z., thanks.

all right. stories that we're working on for you. later today 11:00 eastern in new york a ticker tape parade for super bowl champs11:25, preside speaks at the second white house science fair celebrating winners in science, technology, engineering, and math. at 1:00, ohio governor john kasich gives a historic address at wells academy. it's the first state of the state speech given by an ohio governor outside the capitol. we're following lots of developments in the cnn newsroom. we'll check in first with mark preston. >> you know, the race for the republican presidential nomination has gone national. voters in missouri, minutes, and colorado all -- minnesota and colorado all weigh in in what can only be described as a fight for math and momentum. i'll have more at the top of the hour. i'm max federal governmenter in -- max foster in london. i'll have details in the next hour on an alternative plan being discussed behind the

scenes in syria by diplomats. and i'm in new york where we're waiting finally for a big deal between 40 states, the federal government, and also the big banks to make homeowners whole again. maybe a million homeowners who are under water could get up to $20,000 off their principle. vile more at the top of the hour. >> thank you very much. next hour, occupy the classroom. the movement that started on wall street is now a college course. we'll talk with the professor who's teaching it and a student taking the class. [ man #2 ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ man #3 ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ woman ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom,

and people like that who work on engines every day. [ man #4 ] i would love to see this thing fly. it's a dream, honestly. there it is. awesome. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] i wanna see that again. ♪

new yorkers lining up the sidewalks for a big celebration. i wonder what that could be. >> yeah. talk about a city that loves to celebrate a winner. we're expecting over a million people for the parade in new york. the ticker tape parade honoring the giants kicks off in an hour in lower manhattan. the site is dubbed the canyon of heroes for all the stietds that have been celebrated. eli manning already got a hero's welcome on david letterman's show last night. letterman tried to get ethrough sti -- eli to stick it to his brother, but he wouldn't fight. >> how long will it be before you feel comfortable in your role as two-time mvp super bowl winner to start teasing your brother? [ applause ] >> never. >> never? >> never, never. this is -- >> i'd give it a week and go right to work on the guy.

look at this -- what do you think, peyton? oh, looky there. >> eli has two, peyton only has one. sunday's super bowl was the most-watched show in u.s. television history. neilson says it reached a total audience of 166.8 million viewers. that's more than half the country. the giants/patriots game topped the highest record set last year, the fifth straight year the super bowl set the record for the most viewers. patriots may have lost super bowl xlvi but they're favorites to win super bowl xlvii. mgm grand sport book makes new england the 5-1 shot. the packers have the second best odds followed by the eagles and steelers. then you see the giants at 8-1. getting no respect. after sunday's game there was a surprise visitor on the field. jimmy kimmell spotted it -- i did, too. this really happened. watch this. >> it was supposed to be an interview with giants coach tom coughlin. >> nice man.

nice. they just didn't pay the man -- just to let you know. i mean -- >> flava flav. with the trophy in his mouth. >> reporter: a great line. i have no idea. i spent all morning looking on the internet. why would flavor flav know tom cough coughlin? a serious coach, oldest coach to win a super bowl title. then there's flavor flav. giving -- yeah, boy! i have no idea why the two might know each other. maybe coughlin was being polite and giving the man a hug. >> that's what i'm thinking. stay tuned. it will be interesting figure there is a connection. >> i'll keep digging, yes. >> all right. it's one thing to call a cop a pig. it's another to put an image of a pig on a mr. chairman -- on a policeman's car. >> reporter: forget pigs in a pen. this is about a pig that came out of the pen as in penitentiary and ended up on

vermont state police cruisers. the cruisers are decked out with decals based on vermont's coat of arms. at a correctional facility print shop where female inmates make the decals, someone changed the spots on the cow. the pig ended up on as many as 30 police cruisers, and you know from the movies what pig means to police. >> bacon, pig, oink, oink, police officer. >> you're going to jail. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: in this case the perpetrator was already in jail. it's believed an inmate doctored the image at the printing shop four years ago. though the pig wasn't noticed until an officer saw it on a cruiser just last week. next thing you know, people start spotting pigs in places other than the cow's spots. they're seeing a pig's head formed by the cow's shadow. it may be a stretch, but do you see two ears and a snout? vermont's state senator john

campbell laughed off the incident. >> just like where's waldo, we're going to say where's the pig. >> reporter: vermont's corrections commissioner wasn't so jolly about the police being slipped a pig. >> and i apologize to them. >> reporter: a spokesperson for the state police says they understand the humor in this, but the prank does come at a cost to taxpayers. new decals will run about $800. using the term "pig" isn't what it used to be. >> i smell bacon. does anyone else smell bacon? >> yeah. i definitely smell a pork product of some type. >> reporter: nowadays, police themselves call their own sporting events the pig bowl. and while everyone was looking for more pigs, some wanted to know what the weird yellow mushroom phallic things are. get your mind out of the gutter. they're bundles of grain. stop being a pig!

jeanne moos, cnn, new york. at the top of the hour, thank you very much for joining us here in the newsroom. let's talk about presidential politics, shall we? three more republican contests today. 70 delegates at stake. none will be awarded today. so the big prize really is momentum. mitt romney already racked up wins in nevada, florida, new hampshire, newt gingrich captured south carolina, and rick santorum, well, he had the surprising victory in iowa. cnn political director mark prestbreaspreston here in atlan. we'll get to the santorum factor in a second and see if we could see surprises. let's start with the nonbinding election. no delegates, so really what's the story here? >> well, let's break it up and look at missouri first. that's really a beauty contest today. newt gingrich is not even on the ballot. did not try to get on the ballot. but it's a state that rick santorum thinks that he can win. and in fact, mitt romney has been taking some pokes at him. we'll get on that in a moment. rick santorum really focusing on

missouri. going to colorado now, mitt romney's out there as is newt gingrich and rick santorum. that really is the stronghold now for mitt romney today. and then shoot up to minnesota which a lot of people view as a liberal state in many ways. however, for these caucuses, conservative voters play a big role in them. so rick santorum, newt gingrich, and ron paul have spent a lot of time there to try to win the caucuses. >> mitt romney getting really aggressive. his campaign getting really aggressive. >> he is -- you know, i had a conversation with the romney official yesterday and said, wow, you guys have turned on the fire hose so to speak. they said, no, that's not the case, we've always been this way. just yesterday we saw them go directly at rick santorum. they put tim pawlenty, the former governor of minnesota, on the phone to criticize rick santorum. suggesting that he's a pork barrel spender. at the same time, they were putting out research paper to us in the media suggesting that the attacks by rick santorum against mitt romney on health care were in fact false. and today, they go after newt

gingrich. in just a couple of hours, they'll put a georgia legislator on the phone and will have the legislator say that newt gingrich is not a true leader. >> rick santorum a bit of a wild card, yes? >> he is a wild card. and his role in this race now is for newt gingrich to falter and fall aside. and then he becomes a conservative alternative. right now, there's no question about it. mitt romney is the front-runner in this race, and of course ron paul tells us he will stay until the end. he has a very loyal support. >> mark preston, thank you very much. >> thanks. and of course, cnn tonight, live coverage of state primaries and caucuses beginning at :eastern with a special edition of "john king usa," followed by complete coverage of the results at 7:00 eastern with the best political team on television. the president is turning his attention from politics to science. he's hosting a science fair right now at the white house. and next hour he's going to discuss how important it is for the stoumu.s. to regain its sta in math and sciences. that speech, 11:25 eastern.

it's going to also -- he will unveil a new plan to prepare teachers to hopefully help more students excel in those areas. we're going carry the speech live. let's talk more about the heartbreaking stlals we're seeing in syria in a crisis that's political and all too human. what you're seeing, innocent civilians caught up in the crossfire there between the government and rebel fighters. some 6,000 people have now died since the uprising began less than a year ago. an exact number is really impossible to give you because syria is banning foreign journalists from getting there. syrians are pleading for international help. >> we are getting shelled every moment. we are not able to get even basic medicine to injured people. children are really hungry.

i swear, children are hungry. no power. no fuel. it's too cold. too much. for god's sakes, this is too much. >> wow. as we hear the heart wrenching calls with people risking their thrives do that. earlier this morning, russia's foreign minister arrived in syria as world leaders are saying that moscow's just jug ignoring the slaughter of civilians by its ally. he is meeting with president assad. jill daughtery is live at the state department. the international condemnation seems to be growing. tell us about the latest diplomatic efforts to rein in this violence. >> reporter: well, i guess the very latest is that we now have the gcc, the gulf cooperation council, pulling out its ambassadors. now there are a number of countries in that.

the uae, bahrain, saudi arabia, oman, qatar, and kuwait, all of those in the gcc, and they are pulling their ambassadors just as the u.k. did and also as we've been reporting the united states pulled back its ambassador and staff here in washington. shuttering the embassy. and it's really -- wrud have to say, an international walkout now on syria. whether that is going to do anything is really a question because one of the problems is that diplomacy, at least in the united states -- at the united nations, has failed. so what they're trying to do is now muster the international community outside of the u.n. to put as much pressure on assad as possible. and you also have the russian there, whether he can accomplish something we'll have to see. >> and i mean, i know you're covering the diplomatic side to this for all of us. we can't help but talk about the

military, as well. and we have been talking to former generals, trying to get word out of the pentagon. obviously it's laying all kinds of options on the table there. what are you hearing at the state department, jill? is that even coming up in the conversations that are you a part of? >> reporter: it's a natural thing that people would want to discuss. there is no question that military action might be a possibility. but president obama has already ruled that out. and one of the reasons is that syria is a very, very complicated country. it has a lot of grave implications for the region. it's a lot stickier and a lot more complicated than libya ever was. so to do that, to take military action at this point, it appears no appetite even internationally. arming, say, the opposition? countries are already doing it. there's some soldiers that have come over and have gone with the opposition. and that might be something.

obviously it's happening in some cases. but with the u.s. -- would the u.s. actually do it? at this point that's not likely. so the push is really to put the pressure on and try to get the people who are supporting assad to peel away, drop him, and realize that eventually pressure is going to grow, and that he will fall. but in the meantime, you can look at those pictures. >> right. jill daugherty at the state department. thank you very much. the world is paying close attention to the crisis in syria. max foster is following the global reaction for us. max? >> reporter: yeah, it's interesting because there's so much sympathy really for these -- the ordinary syrians really complaining about being abandoned by the united nations. it's reflected in the newspapers, actually. the "south china morning post" under a headline saying after libya, no vote is no surprise. china and russia went along with the rest of the security council on libya and then had to watch as western governments ov

overstepped their mandate. giving a sympathetic view but not necessarily saying it's okay for ordinary civilians. today, zaman writes, arab league got it all wrong. a civil war is likely to cause much trouble for turkey. clearly it would be to the benefit of all players in the region if russia finds a foreigner that can secure its own strategic position. the "wall street journal" in asia writes, "obama falls into a u.n. trap. americans are preoccupied by domestic issues, but syria is a good test of president obama's foreign policy. with each week of mr. assad's brutality, the cost in lives and odds of civil war will rise unless mr. obama does more than bow before the false moral authority of the u.n." if indeed he goes through the u.n. there are other discussions going on, of course. >> max foster out of london. thanks. and chilling new evidence in the murder/suicide investigation

of josh powell. police say this may be one of the last message that powell left before he killed his two sons, then took his own life in a house explosion. >> hello, this is josh. and i'm calling to say good-bye. i am not able to live without my sons. and i am not able to go on anymore. i'm sorry to everyone i've hurt. good-bye. >> thelma gutierrez has been following the story from the beginning. thelma, what more can you tell us about this voicemail? >> reporter: i can say that with everything that we know now about this terrible crime, it is a chilling voice message. it was left by josh powell. he sent it to family members shortly before this explosion. he also sent a text message to his attorney shortly before the explosion saying "i'm sorry, good-bye." and investigators say that this

is evidence that josh powell had planned this terrible crime for a long time. in fact, if you take a look behind me, you can see what's left this house. inside, investigators found two five-gallon gas cans that he had used to burn down this home. also in the days leading up to the crime, he gave away the children's toys. donated them. and he made calls to his pastor and his friends, and he spelled out directives saying what to do with his money and what to do after his death. >> and you actually talked with family members that are speaking out about this tragedy. what -- what did they tell you, thelma? >> reporter: the family members have been speaking out, and the grandparents who are just heartbroken over this terrible situation have said that they knew all along that he was capable of committing such a crime. they had worried about these

children, and the grandparents had custody at the time that they allowed these children to come to this home for supervised visit. >> we were doing everything we could to keep them safe and healthy. and, you know -- that was all taken away, too, by a selfish, cowardly act in my mind. just the slaughter two of innocent children. >> reporter: and you can see outside of this home a memorial, stuffed animals and balloons, people here in this neighborhood devastated over what happened. both charlie, who turned 7, and braden, who just turned 5 years old, had celebrated their birthdays this past january. kyra? >> thelma gutierrez in pierce county for us. thanks. if you're one of the million americans who have foreclosed on your home, stay with us. you may be eligible for as much as $20,000. we've got the details ahead.

and think you pay a lot in taxes? mark zuckerberg's tax bill could be in the billions.

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if portland, oregon, occupy demonstrators are marching against what they call police brutality. police warned them to stay off the street. when they didn't, ten people were arrested for allegedly harassing and interfering with an officer. in ft. smith, arkansas, cops are having a tough time getting a description this local bank

robber caught on surveillance tape. he's wearing a pillowcase over his head. a couple of holes there so he could see. and socks on his hands to try not to leave any fingerprints. and in georgia, people are going nut for pecans. as prices soar, police are reporting a huge spike in pecan thefts. some farmers have actually set up surveillance cameras around their orchards and hired security guards to patrol their properties 24 hours a day. today could be a big day for rick santorum's campaign in minnesota. he's got some evangelical help, too, from gary borgandale of christian talk radio. he's not always been a santorum guy, though. first he supported former minnesota governor tim pawlenty, then rick perry, then herman cain, and now santorum. notice who's not on the list -- minnesota's own, congresswoman michele bachmann. former candidate who says she was the perfect candidate. so gary, why didn't you back bachmann? >> well, his an interesting

choice, i got to work with governor pawlenty and congresswoman bachmann. it was at this time that the lord directed me to work with pawlenty. >> what are your listeners talking about? what is it about santorum that they like, that you like? >> well, the listeners are really listening to who has a -- a sincere faith message, and also along with that, what is the values that they represent? senator santorum has been one of the only candidates that has brought the family the importance of uplifting the institution of marriage into the economic debate. and that's one of the thing that resonates very well with our listeners. >> so let me ask you this -- many pundits think that mitt romney will face romney in the fall. could you support romney? >> yes, if he is the endorsed candidate. i very much can support mitt romney. >> and you do say that our

country has continued to walk away from god. i saw this quote in one of the articles that i read about you. you know, mormons believe in christ divinity as you do. if romney were president, how do you think that his faith would impact his ability to govern? >> well, i think it would be very impactful, as well as he has very strong morals and guides from his faith. though i believe that there is a specific difference between the christianity and mormon faith that governor romney does support his faith. >> now you say you were intrigued by newt gingrich, as well. what happened there? >> well, newt has great ideas, but one of the things is that he has incredible baggage. and what we've seen is in both in iowa and florida, when the heavy guns came out against newt gingrich, he wasn't able to respond. and he was flat in the last

couple of debates. he has enough baggage for two suitcases. >> gary borgendale, christian talk radio. appreciate you weighing in. we'll see how it goes in your state. >> game on, santorum for minnesota. >> all right. tim tebow says that he won't rule out a run for political office somewhere down the road. and the campaign slogan could write itself. i'll ask the political panel to weigh in just ahead. and facebook founder mark zuckerberg may be hit with the biggest tax bill on record -- as much as $2 billion. we'll tell you what's triggering that gigantic sum.

if you were approved for a mortgage that you couldn't afford and foreclosed, that lending bank could be shelling out big bucks to get you off their back. let's bring in christine romans. how much money are we talking about? and is it just 40 states that have agreed to this deal? >> yeah, 40 states that agreed to a draft of this big deal, this huge foreclosure relief agreement, right. what is means is a million people, a million people who are under water on their loans would see according to sean donovan from housing and urban development up to $20,000 in principle writedown on their mortgage. meaning you're under water, this house, you owe more than it will ever be worth. if you're part of this, this big mortgage settlement, it would be a $20,000 writedown for underwater mortgages. $25 billion in total coming from the banks, five or six big banks. the hope is there would be up to a million qualified homeowners. you pointed out it was 40 states. yesterday was the deadline to sign on. the attorneys general from the

states to sign on. some didn't, nevada, california, florida, new york, a lot of foreclosures there. some attorneys general don't want to give up the right to pursue banks in their investigations. still, 40 states, the biggest so far. >> would this settle. repair the damage that's done from the nor closure crisis? i mean, is it even enough? >> if you could write down, really write down the mortgages of a million people, that would provide relief. but there are have been numerous -- there have been numerous housing rescue plans that have not really provided the relief to everyone that it was advertised for. about one in four people from the government's plan so far have actually been helped, who thought they would be helped. this also would be interesting because this as jen at cnn money said the banks have to promise

to give a fairer shake to people under water or in the foreclosure process. there's some critics, consumer advocacy -- advocates who say they should be given a fair shake anyway. should be not so difficult to be in the foreclosure process. some folks aren't ready to give the banks a clean break or ummunity from the bad acting of the past years. but a million homeowners, that would be something, wouldn't it? >> sure would. how's this for a tax cut bill? facebook's ceo mark zuckerberg could pay $2 billion. a lot of money. then again, he's a really wealthy guy. >> reporter: yeah, put it in perspective, right? what -- this is why it's going to be, his tax bill could be so much. he's going to be exercising his stock options. and those are taxed as regular income. so you know, we got in juicy detail from facebook's ipo filing. that came out last week. basically, zuckerberg is going to plan to buy more facebook shares. and it will give him a bigger

stake of his company. and you know what, he's going to buy 120 million shares at six cents each. facebook's shares are valued at $30 or more. zuckerberg's options could be worth from $5 billion, say, so that $2 billion tax bill, ain't so bad. if you're going to, say, buy an astin martin, if you have to ask how much the car insurance, is maybe you shouldn't be buying it anyway. it's relative, that $2 billion. >> that's the line of the day. alison kosik, a hell of a deal. all right. so with $2 billion in a tax cut bill, would this actually make him the biggest taxpayer? >> reporter: that's a good question. we don't know for sure because the irs doesn't comment on individual taxpayers. analysts say the $2 billion bill could be a record.

the 1% pay an average of $49 approximately in taxes -- just a little tiny fraction of zuckerberg's $2 billion. so once again, it's all about perspective. real fast, as we talk about money, seeing more money going out of the market today. the dow is down 24 points. we're looking at investors on edge still about what's going to happen with greece. everybody waiting for greece to agree on terms of a bailout. greece needs to pay its bills and get the next big loan. that is the focus of the day. >> thanks. the president is doing a big reversal on superpacs. he's ready to use them. skiel i'll ask what's behind the shift and how it will change his campaign for re-election. we want to know what makes you an american. share your story of what makes you an american and you could end up on cnn. just go to cnnireport.com. include the name and words "i am america."

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checking top stories now. gulf cooperation council nations just announced they are calling their ambassadors out of syria. an opposition activist saying that 21 people were killed just today. global leaders are slamming russia for failing to back a u.n. draft resolution halting the regime-led violence. and the captain of that shipwrecked italian cruiseliner must remain under house arrest. an italian judge made the ruling today. but he denied a prosecution request for the captain to be sent back to jail in a defense motion that he be set free. and we could hear a ruling today prop 8. an appeals court is expected to decide whether california's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. the case may ultimately wind up before the supreme court. all right. political buzz. your rapid-fire look at the best

political topics of the day. playing today, strategists. okay, first question, guys. three primaries today. not so many delegates at stake. but some bragging rights and momentum on the line. what are you watching for, and could there be any surprises? boris? >> i'm watching from minnesota, rick santorum has put all his chips into minnesota. he's going to go out and say, listen, i'm the guy for you. well, minnesota's voted for jesse the body in the past. it's also voted for walter mondale. the only state in 1984. they've done strange things before. i'm watching that, watching missouri. and if romney winds all three, well, then -- wins all three, well, then it's off to the races for him. i refer to february as the dog days. basically the dog days of summer, these are the dog days of the election. romney's the front-runner, a division leader. he can't give it up to the -- [ buzzer ]

>> it's easy to write the contests off as beauty contests. hard truths could be revealed. if rick santorum is to have any rationale to continue his candida candidacy, he's going to have score impressively or win minnesota and missouri because of the republican strong religious base in those states. likewise, romney's got to duplicate his 2008 numbers in colorado and win big there. and ron paul, if he's going to have any rationale for continuing, has got to show he can be competitive in caucuses. i want to see them all succeed so the contest can keep going. there's going to be spinning tonight. get the drama out. >> dean? >> i think like a lot of american since the debates haven't been on, we've moved on. we're watching "american idol," back on, kim kardashian's dating, and that's taken our focus. i think regardless who wins these primaries in minnesota, colorado, missouri, mitt romney's the nominee unless he begins dating one of the kardashians. barring that, it's romney's race. stay-at-home has moved up only

because -- santorum has moved up only because of romney. if he gets the nomination if will be like 1964, barry goldwater all over. the republican party devastated. i think it's over. back to "american idol." >> there's dean, one more guy obsessed with the croatkardashi. imagine that. is the power of the super pac too much to ignore? robert, you want h the quote of the day in "the new york times." what was that line? >> i simpley -- pointed out that it's difficult -- very difficult to pass the plate for super pacs if you're preaching from the democratic leadership the evils of it. it sounded better in print. the point simply is as much as i'm profoundly committed to campaign finance reform because you can't begin to change our governmental process or our system of government until you change how we fund the campaigns, the reality is that the president had to take these steps and move forward because ultimately he can't compete with

one arm tied behind his back. there can't be two sets of rules. that said, the president and the -- [ buzzer ] >> that said, the president, the democratic congress has got to show leadership for campaign finance reform by supporting senator schumer's -- >> bore sis going to come in on this one. >> no buzz at off. we're sitting next to each other. from my perspective, president obama is like that parent that keeps telling his kids, don't go in the cookie jar, don't go in the cookie jar. when he gets really hungry, he's going in the cookie jar. let's not make it seem like president obama was lagging in finance or campaign fundraising. he was still above the republicans. democrats were $5 million above the republicans. it's not like they needed the money. this is the president who attacked the supreme court during the state of the union which was completely unacceptable. now he's going back on his word. this is in of the worst flip-flopping since the famous flip-flopper john kerry. >> can i ask a question? >> you're breaking the rules, robert. >> this is my time -- >> it rules are out the window now. [ buzzer ]

>> i got put in my place. >> not my buzzer. >> go ahead, dean. >> i hope that's not for me. this is the most flip-flopping since mitt romney yesterday. are you kidding me? you know what, i'm a comic. let's be serious, the superpacs are scary, a threat to our democracy. we should have an occupy super pac movement. there's slush funds. there's a reason there was campaign reform after watergate. the stock is costing millions of dollars. mitt romney raised $30 million from 200 people last year. this is scary. it's a threat to our democracy. we should look at super pacs. the supreme court established them, something has to be done. >> we've had democracy a long time before campaign finance reform. >> okay. look at you guys throwing in your extra thoughts for five seconds. come on. play by the rules, boys! >> not that i'm interrupting boys, but we'll give up our super pac, boys, if your republicans give up their super pacs. >> why would we do that? >> buzzer beater time. 20 seconds each on this one -- could this man be the future

president of the united states? i'm talking about tim tebow. he actually said in an interview that he isn't ruling out a run for political office sometime in the future. in fact, he says politics is definitely something, that's a quote, that he prays for. so let me ask you this -- if you're his campaign manager, what are you putting out there as his campaign slogan? boris? >> if arnold schwarzenegger could do it, so can i. >> robert? >> tim tebow's one of the most inspiring figures in public life today. he's inspirational. hopefully he'll look beyond politics to a nongovernmental group like the clinton initiative. a slogan in my opinion should be "believe again, tim tebow." >> dean? >> i have three. if you allow me. the first is -- vote tebow or jesus will hate you. that's my first. the second, vote team tebow or enjoy the apocalypse. or team tebow, he can play for you or against you. >> i have one more -- what about

it takes one knee to raise a country? >> oh! i tell you what, tim tebow, i'll be curious to see who he's going to call out of you three. we will do this again. >> i have him on speed dial. >> i want five extra seconds, rob interstate you're being quiet. >> no, i'm bailing out this on the tebow slogans. >> bye, guys. >> bye. the occupy movement seems to be almost everywhere. [ chanting ] >> now it's not just in the street or the park. it's in the classroom. kids are writing papers on it, too. that's later. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. beyonce stepped out on the town to attend her husband's concert. someone snapped a picture. the first since mom gave birth. and boy, does she look fabulous, a.j. >> oh, yeah. this is beyonce's first public appearance since having a baby. she had her daughter blue ivy a month okay, january 7. she felt that an important charity event with her hubby, jay-z, was the right time to put on a sexy outfit, have her picture taken for the world. this concert event took place at carnegie hall, new york city. it was a benefit for the united way. her husband, sean charter's

scholarship foundation. and for all we know it was her first full night out of the house since giving birth. she maximized the experience. she stayed out after the show, went to the after party at a club owned by jay-z. what we didn't see was a picture of beyonce inevitably on her phone all night checking in on blue ivy. you remember what the first night out was like, right? >> yes. and you're constantly panicking, yes, indeed. >> hard to be relaxed i'm sure. >> it is not easy. let's segue to the super bowl. we're hearing from mia now and the whole drama moment, flipping the bird. what's the sdmeel. >> yeah. well, officially we haven't heard anything directly from mia. we did reach out to her. of course we wanted to know why she decided to give super bowl fans the finger. a source close to mia who's not authorized to speak on the record is telling "showbiz tonight" that mia knows she

messed up. sources say she was amped up and in performance mode. she was nervous and not thinking and adrenaline took over. it wasn't meant as a statement of any kind, it was an artist who had a mishap. she feels horrible for putting madonna in that position. she messed up. i would think that madonna's not happy with her either. madonna put on a great show. everyone's talking about mia's middle finger. i think it will die down, but that's what the headline is now. >> that's tacky. no class. a.j., thanks. if you want all information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, a.j.'s got it every night on hln. coming up, occupy the classroom. the movement that spread across the nation is a college course. i'll talk with the professor who's teaching it. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids,

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the occupy movement began on wall street and spread out from there. [ chanting ] now it's spreading beyond the streets, the parks and courthouses. occupy wall street is actually a college course. the political science professor jeff edwards is teaching it. amecia cross is the dprad student taking it. we'll talk about her grade in a moment. my guess is she's doing very well. jeff, your expertise is social movement. what is it about occupy that

made you think it was worthy of a college course? >> well, i think number one, all analysts agree this has changed the discourse of american politics already. and it seems to me it's a movement that's going to have staying power, that's going to be around for a long time and have impact. it was playing out across the street from our campus. and it's a youth-led movement. so i thought it would be perfect for our students. >> did you get any resistance, jeff? >> no, none at all. my department chair, my dean, students, were enthusiastic. students joined me last fall to start to plan the class. >> so amecia, why did you want to take the course? >> i wanted to take the course because i'm highly interested in social movements, but one thing that struck me, i'm a grad student in the course. as an undergraduate student, his a professor tell me that my generation was no longer interested in social movements and that young people would not get involved in movements or

activism. see something happening now in the midst of the current economic crisis is a big deal in understanding why it works, how it started, and where what are the goals and where are the movements going. i wanted to get to know those things. >> and what made the biggest impact on you so far? >> what's probably made the biggest impact for me is a lot of the course material that we've had thus far. i've got the opportunity to read things from the occupy newsletters as well as watch videos in regards to social movements in the middle east versus social movements here, and also relate things historically based on social movements that have occurred in america in the past. and just like dr. edward said earlier, knowing that occupy happens for us across the street from the university. and having students actually in the class who are active occupy protesters. >> interesting. so when you look at historic movements that have changed the world like the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, things you probably studied already, do you think this

occupy movement lives up to that standard? >> i think this occupy movement definitely does. i think that the movement itself, just being based out of such a need to see some change and to bring together people if diverse backgrounds and beliefs and come together in a sense that they are a unified movement and believe in having this their change and pushing for it and understanding that they must do these things together and having on the grounds noersz a lforces a lot of areas where they've come to make an organization and belief system that is something that i think has a national presence. >> interesting. jeff, what do you think with regard to that question? and do you actually think that this occupy movement course will be a course five years from now? >> i think it will be a course five years from now. but i do think movements play out -- effective movements play out over a long period of time. so the montgomery county bus

boycott was 1955. and african-americans were not registered to vote at the same rates as whites in the south until the 1980s. so that movement took decades to fully play out. and i expect that this will play out -- if it's going to be effective, it will have to play out over such an extended period of time because this movement is tackling huge issues in our society. >> wow. that's fascinating that there's now a course. and i thank you both for joining me. and on the record, jeff, is amecia going to get an a? i'm putting you on the spot. >> it's looking that way. it's looking that way. >> okay. that's pretty good. you keep me posted. you let me know what happens. thanks, guys, so much. appreciate it. >> sure. searching for your soulmate on line. lots of singles are doing it. but is it really the best waying to. >> coming up, a new report on the benefits and pitfalls of online dating. as producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions...

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this morning a reminder of just how powerful super pacs when it comes to fundraising. president obama is reversing course, dropping his opposition to the shadowy fundraising tactics of super pacs and now nudging donors toward an outside group. priority usa is run by two former obama aides. let's bring in mark preston to talk about this and why the reversal. you know, some would say that the republicans are playing by one set of rules, democrats now believe they need to play by the same set of rules. you know, this is a difficult thing for the obama campaign to do. president obama has made such a big deal about decrying the use of super pacs and the supreme court ruling in 2010 that allowed them to come into play. and basically for our viewers who are not up to all the

details of the super pacs, super pacs give people unlimited donations to organization that's can go out and run campaign activities, namely television advertising to support or to take down one of their opponents. we've seen that play in the republican arena -- >> what does this tell us about the fact that he's backing super pac now? >> that they're concerned that republicans, when they settle on a nominee, will be able to get a certain chunk of money for that unemployment. assume it -- nominee. assume it's mitt romney. >> coming down to dollars and cents? >> deep-pocketed republican donors who want to see president obama defeated and not just individuals, perhaps corporations. >> thanks. cnn tonight live coverage of the caucuses. don't forget, 6:00 eastern with a special edition of "john king usa" followed by cnn's love coverage of all the results at 7:00 eastern with the best political team on television. next hour, in the cnn newsroom, suzanne malveaux, a desperate situation in syria. protesters being slaughtered by their own government and women

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newsroom. all right. daily dose. on line dating. it may offer sijs a bigger dating pool -- singles a bigger dating pool, but a review suggests that the benefits don't go much further than that. according to a team of psychologists who went searching for the pros and cons of online dating, profiles are the biggest pitfall. the study says that browsing through too many of them can overwhelm people or encourage them to treat their search like shopping. it's been decades since jfk's death, but rumors of the affairs he had in office have never been laid to rest. now there's a book that claims that he had an affair with a white house intern. cnn's mary snow has the story. >> reporter: her name is mime beardsley alfred, and the 69-year-old grandmother writes in a new book "once upon a secret," that she began an 18-month affair with president kennedy in the summer of 1962. four days after starting as a white house intern, she says she met the president in the white

house swimming pool after being invited by a presidential aide. "the president slid into the pool and floated up to me. it's mimi, isn't it? and you're in the press office this summer, right? yes, sir, i am. in an exclusive interview with nbc, alfred says she didn't consider the invitation unusual. >> it really didn't seem unnatural. just because everybody was friendly, and i went back to work afterwards. >> you dried off and went back and nobody blinked? >> no. no one said anything. >> reporter: later that day, alfred says she had sex for the first time in her life with the 45-year-old president in mrs. kennedy's bedroom. she claimed she stayed over at the white house on many occasions as mrs. kennedy was away that summer. do what you want, the president would say to me, you can go home or you can stay. alfred says the two raced rubber ducks in a white house bathtub and that the president taught her how to make scrambled eggs the way he liked them. she claims to have traveled with

the president on several occasions and writes that after returning to college, she was still flown back to see the president. and that includes a visit, she claims, in october of 1962, during the cuban missile crisis. the last time she says she saw the president was on november 15, at the carlisle hotel in new york, just days before he was asass nasassinat assassinated. he took me in his arm for a long embrace and said, i wish you were coming with me to texas. then he added, i'll call you when i get back. alfred said she reminded the president she was to be married in just months, but she claims he said, "i know that. but i'll call you anyway." mimi writes that presidential aide dave powers was the one person who knew about the relationship. but whatever he knew, he took to the grave, dying in 1998. in 2003, mimi beardsley alfred issued a written statement about the affair. it came after historian robert

dowlike wrote that it was rumored that president kennedy had an affair with the intern. and this account from a white house press aide during the kennedy years found at the kennedy library. it's a transcript from 1964 in which he talks about mimi having a special relationship with president kennedy. she talks about the press, inquiring why mimi was on presidential trips. and she talks about girls in the white house going swimming with the president and dave powers. the big question is, why is she talking now? beyond the book deal, it's not exactly clear. but alfred writes that she didn't want to continue keeping these secrets anymore. mary snow, cnn, new york. stories that we're working on for you later today. in a few minutes, in new york, a ticker tape parade for super bowl champs. the new york giants. looking at live pictures right now. that parade scheduled to start at 11:00. at 11:25, president obama speaks at the second white house science fair, celebrating winners in science,