athena jones, thanks so much. we'll check in with you. >>> senate majority leader harry reid had had this to say on the decision to downgrade the u.s. credit rating, quote -- >> the republican hopefuls are weighing in on the downgrade from mitt romney who says, quote, america's credit worthiness just became the latest casualty in president obama's failed record of leadership on the economy, standard & poor's rating downgrade is a troubling indicator of our country's decline under president obama. coming from the presidential contender. here's what minnesota's michele bachmann also a presidential contender for the republicans had to say. quote -- >> and then there's this from gop presidential candidate jon huntsman, president obama's former ambassador to china, also a presidential contender, quote -- . >>> the u.s. credit downgrade won't just hurt the government. average americans trying to make ends meet could feel the pinch. felicia taylor joining me this morning from new york to tell us why this is important. yo

we are going to be checking in with our athena jones. she's in d.c. for us.ciano in new york for us this morning. athena, let me start with you. d.c., it was supposed to be a big weekend. >> it was. they were supposed to dedicate the martin luther king jr. memorial tomorrow, it was going to be a big deal on the anniversary of this march on washington and his famous "i have a dream" speech, but that's been postponed. there's a state of emergency here in the city. we don't expect to see the strong winds and rain come until the afternoon, although the winds have picked up. but city officials here say that they are prepared. we spoke earlier with d.c. fire and ems chief kenneth ellerby and i asked him about the whole category 1 versus category 2 situation and whether people should still be concerned. let's listen to what he had to say, t.j.. >> even a tropical storm can do a lot of damage, so people need to be vigilant. we're prepared and we want them to rest assured that we're prepared for anything that comes up. >> reporter: so one of the ways that the city is

athena jones is in the nation's capital. and reynolds wolf is feeling irene's fury as it batters the north carolina coast right now. he is in kill devil hills on the outer banks. you can see the wind on the those outer bands of that storm right now slapping him around there. reynolds, give me more specifics. what's going on? >> reporter: absolutely. the latest we have here, really not much at all in terms of rainfall. in fact, i can't feel a single raindrop at all. i can feel a lot of sand that continues to get picked up from the beach, driven right towards the side of the building, towards our camera, too. behind me, you have a lot of whitewater being pushed toward shore. some of it actually crossing over highway 12 to our south, completely covering the roadway. much of the outer banks is only about 7 to 10, maybe 11 feet above sea level. that's going to be cut off completely shortly due to the storm surge. water has been coming up all the way to the dunes in some locations. the wind has caused power outages. over 200,000 p

athena, this president has been referred to as "no drama obama."re they reacting to this news? >> well, the administration is certainly not happy. we haven't seen anyone come on camera yet to respond to that. but we got a written statement from the white house press secretary jay carney a short while ago responding to this s&p downgrade. interestingly enough, it doesn't actually mention the words standard & poor's in the release. but they're addressing some of the same concerns that standard & poor's raised in their support on this decision. so carney says the deal to raise the debt ceiling took too long, both parties need to show their commitment to working together. i'll read one line from what he said. over the coming weeks, the president will strongly encourage the bipartisan fiscal committee as well as all members of congress to put our commitment to a sounder long-term fiscal path above our political and ideological differences. he's calling on this special commission that this debt ceiling deal is going to form, this committee of republicans

where i was supposed to be this weekend with athena jones. she is there in d.c. show was supposed to be on the road for the big mlk dedication on the national mall. that is on hold right now. >> reporter: exactly. it has been postponed. safety first. there was a whole series of events around that. thousands of people were expected to come for this dedication that was set for tomorrow, sunday. the 48th anniversary of the march on washington and the famous martin luther king, "i have a dream" speech. the d.c. mayor vincent gray has declared a state of emergency for the city. he was one of several mayors and governors who had a conference call with president obama yesterday morning to talk about the storm. i should mention the president has cut short his vacation on martha's vineyard. he returned with his family late last night. people have been preparing for the storm for days. engineers were scramble to plug holes in the washington monument which was damaged in tuesday's earthquake. they were stuffing flexible insulation in the holes. they were also working on the

athena jones is live in washington and we'll begin with her. athe athena, right now the obama administration, bad news for them. how are they reacting? >> reporter: well, not well. they're not happy. they believe this was a rush to judgment on the part of the s&p. they wanted them to wait and review their analysis. treasury officials pointed out to the s&p that they'd made a $2 trillion mistake in calculating future u.s. deficit, and that's an important calculation that goes into the whole debt-to-gdp ratio, but they have also pointed out that there are two other rating agencies, fitch and moody's that still have the u.s. as a aaa rating. they're at least happy about that, for the moment, those two other agencies haven't followed suit of what the s&p has done. >> is it fair, then, to say that the u.s. has lost its sort of gold standard, or just one in area, technically? >> reporter: well, it's hard to say how the markets are going to react. some of these officials we had a breathing with have said that s&p acted on news that was already in the

i want to go to athena jones. an update from emergency management officials in the state of virginia. >> that's right. you can see here in alexandria, we've been seeing wind and rain, we're told by d.c. officials, emergency officials across the potomac they've seen downed trees and power outages. we spoke with virginia emergency operations and got this update, about 960,000 customers statewide without power. three fatalities reported so far, all from fallen trees. they'll have to wait to assess more of the damage. they say they haven't received a lot of requests for assistance. once the sun comes up they'll be able to get out and see what's going on. they'll do surveying by helicopter. we know some of the hard-hit areas, norfolk, hampton road, we may expect to see more damage, john. we're encouraging customers to be safe, use generators safely and they'll wait and see what happens when the sun rises. >> athena, as you know, one of the big concerns all along the east coast, it's been a soggy summer already, where w

. >> reporter: athena admits she has a tough time putting her iphone down. for many, it's become an essential part of everyday life. >> it's my life. if i lose it, i feel like i'm . >> reporter: but thieves have dialled in on that. police are seeing iphone thefts nearly every day. and it's not just happening in berkeley. this video shows a suspect swiping one right from the hands of an unsuspecting user in san francisco last month. >> thieves and robbers are focusing on iphones in huge, huge numbers. >> police say criminals have figured out how to jailbreak or unlock iphones, essentially wiping them clean, reselling them on craigslist for big bucks. >> the individual which buys it can use it with any of the other carriers, transform it into an ipod or i touch. >> nina and her boyfriend michael have learned the hard way just how hot the devices are. they've had five iphones stolen between them. >> you know, i've had a situation where i put one down at a restaurant and you walk away to go to the bathroom and it's gone. i had one stolen at a frat party. it happ

athena, what are the congressional leaders saying about this? >> well the congressional leaders, it's interesting, you heard what poppy said about what standard & poors said about congress, this is really an indictment of congress and the dysfunction we have been seeing over the past few weeks with republicans and democrats not able to get together and agree. so they were able to agree at this last moment. but they kicked the can down the road, they put off the tough decisions on things like tax revenues and entitlement reform and what you have seen is that even after this, right after this decision was announced last night, you saw members of congress sending out a whole slew of e-mails and it looked like they were still in their respective corners. you have john boehner saying this s&p decision just proves that the democrats have been overspending and we have got to cut, cut, cut. and you heard senator harry reid say this is means there needs to be a balanced approach, taxes and cutting entitlements. >> wow, this is just a pretty remarkable an

athena jones talked to a married couple in washington.y have four kids and both have been out of work for over two years now. >> this is the wedding dress. >> okay. >> reporter: the ripple effects of the recession can be felt here at the washington home of nathan and kiyana wallace. both have been out of work for more than two years. and their unemployment benefits have run out. the wallaces live in public houses and don't have to pay rent. but they have struggled to pay their utility bills and recently had their power cut off. >> we did candles. we just, you know, some days during that six-week period it was either the kids eat or we eat. we just had to make sacrifices. >> reporter: both of the wallaces' cars have been repossessed. and they'll have to come up with $120 a month for mote row passes for their four children once school starts. they once brought in $5,000 a month and say they're determined to get back on track. >> i get up with my boxing gloves on every day for them. >> reporter: according to to a study by a national charity,

cnn's athena jones joins us from the white house. athena, let's start with geithner. the president has pretty much put in a vote of confidence for him now, hasn't he? >> well, i think it's fair to say the answer is yes. we heard from white house press secretary jay carney earlier today. he said the president had asked treasury secretary geithner to stay on at treasury, and he welcomes his decision to stay. >> now what is geithner hoping to accomplish during tonight's conference call? >> well, it's not surprising officials aren't saying too much about this call. but we can expect that geithner is going to want to share the u.s.'s point of view on all of this. we know that the administration is angry about this decision the s&p has made. they believe there was a rush to judgment on the agency's part. and ever since the announcement was made on friday, they've been stressing the point of this $2 trillion mistake they say the s&p has made, and that the s&p has acknowledged making in calculating future u.s. deficits. it's a mistake that one of the president's own economic

athena jones is also live in washington, d.c. athena, the relocation of a number of those veterans, that was to take place anyway just from some restructuring of how the war injured are being treated. but they just accelerated it quite a bit because of hurricane irene, right? >> reporter: that's right. they've been planning to close down walter reed. this is the last transfer -- the last set of patients to be transferred. they were planning on doing it tomorrow. but instead, they moved it up by a day. this all took place this morning between about 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. they transferred 18 patients in 18 ambulances from walter reed to the navy medical center in bethesda. this closing of the hospital has been long planned. they just want to shift the transfer up to get ahead of the storm. several different kinds of inpatient-type people, people who may have been critically injured. i believe there were four critically injured, nine wounded warriors among the people who were transported. as you mentioned, of course, this postponement n

athena jones, thank you so much.se, we're tracking hurricane irene covering this monster of a storm from every angle. we'll be right back with more. and push janet who's 6 chapters ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] with interactive learning solutions from dell, mrs. davis can make education a little more personal. so every student feels like her only student. dell. the power to do more. >>> hurricane irene is project today hit the northeast in less than 48 hours. this is a major concern to the new york city area since the region is not accustomed to storms of this magnitude. new yorkers in low-lying areas are under a mandatory evacuation order. here are the top five dangers new york city would face if hurricane irene hits the area. first, storm surge. water pushing toward the shore by high winds. second, debris and lot of it. downed trees, power lines, cluttered streets, dangerous anyone trying to get out of harm's way. third, this is a big one. no subways. heavy rain and storm surge from irene would cause major flooding a

and get more on this from our athena jones who's been standing by for us this morning. and athena, the plan was for me to be there with you and a lot of us to be there to cover the dedication tomorrow, but just not possible. >> reporter: exactly. safety first. they've had to postpone that memorial dedication. it was going to be a huge event. thousands of people coming in. a whole series of events leading up to it, like the one you just reported on, but that's going to have to be postponed. we're here now on the national mall. the d.c. mayor, vincent gray, has declared a state of emergency, and we're just now starting to really feel the rain about to pick up. we don't expect it to pick up and be strong until later this afternoon, but i'm talking to some residents here on the mall. we've got neil and fiona mulholland. are you worried about the storm? >> yeah, we're worried. we've got food at home, a couple good books at home ready to go, a couple movies lined up to watch. we're going to enjoy the morning, go home, and spend the afternoon and evening and tomorrow inside un

let's go to athena jones who is there traveling with the president, and athena, being in the room there, i'm sure you could hear this very impassioned voice. seemed to be speaking to one very specific group in congress who as he said more than once is putting party in front of country. >> that's true. he was very fired up today. we didn't just hear him talk about this -- this company here that's working on advanced battery technology which is the reason he came to tour. you also heard him talking about urging congress to find common ground. now this is not unusual to hear the president urge congress to compromise. we hear this all the time from him, but today we heard a little bit more impassioned language from him. he said he's frustrated. you can probably hear it in my voice he said at one point. at one point he said people have been saying after all of this mess with the raising of the debt ceiling, with the downgrade, that he should be calling congress back to washington to work together towards reaching these more deficit reductions that are required by this debt ceiling deal. he s

joining us from washington now is athena jones.pen this afternoon on the hill and are we likely to see resolution before we go to sleep tonight? >> well, that's certainly everyone's hope here, ali. it's anyone's guess what will actually happen. as you said, the plan is for the senate to go first and the thinking is that there will be beginning debate around noon, maybe until 2:00, vote some time in the late afternoon and send that over to the house. the thing is, this morning, caucus -- leaders on both sides of the hill and both parties will be meeting with their members, explaining what this deal is all about, maybe some cajoling going on. we know what some of the issues are on both sides already. on the democratic side we know there are people disappointed that the bill, the issue doesn't include tax increases. republican side, conservatives, the tea party members, who don't want to see the debt ceiling raised at all. we know that the leaders on both sides and both parties understand what's at stake here. it was interesting last

. >> let's bring in athena jones. she's been look into statements about global warming causing a bit of an uproar. what are you finding out? >> we, that's right, wolf. 9 texas governor rick perry has been making news nearly every day since he entered the race. so we thought today we would take a closer look at one of his statements. this time it's about the cost of efforts to slow down climate change. rick perry is not afraid to say what's on his mind. he's bashed federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treacherous, or treasonous. >> he's also criticized steps to reduce global warming. >> the cost to the country and to the world of implementing these andy corbin programs is in the billions, if if not trillions of dollars at the end of the day. >> perry said global warming is a theory that hasn't been proven. his doubts about global warming aren't new. in his book "fed up" he called the science of climate change a contrived pho

athena jones, thanks so much. >> thanks. >>> a lot the at our other top stores.embattled president is give an interview to state tv to talk about his country's future. among other things he's expected to discuss reforms and political and economic pressure from the west. he faces growing calls to end his brutal five-month crackdown on opposition protestesters. >>> gunfire and explosions rocked tripoli today, as fighting intensified. a fierce gun battle broke out near a hotel where many international correspondents are staying. thousands of rebels are reportedly closing in. libyan official deny rebels are making any gains and say thousands are ready to defend tripoli against any invasion. >>> speculation is growing today that the sexual assault charges against former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn may be dropped. the woman making those charges has been asked to a meeting with the prosecutors in new york. >>> and she is being called a pint-sized nancy drew. 12-year-old jessica maples solved a burglary case that police couldn't after his late great-grandmother's ho

athena jones is standing by in alexandria, virginia. what's the situation there, athena? alexandria seems to have missed the worst of it. there's no flooding to speak of, which is a big deal around here. it's a flood-prone area. we spoke with the city. they couldn't the themselves court gnat. we have people out of power, there's been wind and rain but no fatalities. in the state of virginia there's nearly a million people with no power, three fatalities, all from fallen trees. we spoke to maryland's department of emergency and there's one fatality there because of a fallen tree. lots of power outages, lines down, electricity companies warning people to not go out and pick up them lines themselves. we expect the numbers in terms of outages to change, go up and down a little bit as they get repairs done. one thing to mention in chesapeake bay down here south of us, calvert cliffs, there's a nuclear plant there, the constellation nuclear energy group. one of its reactors is offline. it automatically went offline after a piece of siding ran into the reactor. they put it offli

cnn's athena jones is at the white house. any plans for the president to talk given the current developments? >> well, not so far, joe, there was no plan to hear from him today or see any more statements on this subject. he just returned -- didn't speak to the press as he walked back in the white house but the white house did put out a statement after the crash and i want to share what the president had to say. sent his condolences and thoughts and prayers to those killed and said the deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary ak fiss made by the men and women of the military and their families. we'll draw inspiration from their lives and stand up for the values they embodied. we're going to follow the developments into this investigation. the more details we get out about this crash and the circumstances surrounding it but from the white house today we don't expect anymore, joe. >> thanks so much, athena jones reporting from the white house. >>> in new york, the ultimate endurance test for athletes, the triathlon kicked off

. >> reporter: athena addison admits she has a tough time putting her iphone down. for many, the iphone has become an essential part of everyday life. >> it's my life. if i lose it, i feel like i'm losing my life. >> reporter: but thieves have dialed in on that. berkeley police are seeing iphone thefts nearly every day. and it's not just happening in berkeley. this video shows a suspect swiping one right from the hands of an unsuspecting user in san francisco last month. >> thieves and robbers are focusing on iphones in huge, huge numbers. >> reporter: berkeley police say criminals have figured out how to unlock or jail break iphones, essentially wiping them clean, then reselling them on craigslist for big bucks. >> the individual who buys it can use it with any of the other carriers, they can transform it into a ipod or an itouch. >> reporter: nina barren and her boyfriend michael olmstead have learned the hard way just how hot the devices are. they've had five iphones stolen between them. >> i -- i've had a situation where i put one down at a restaurant and you wa

athena jones, thanks so much in washington. >> thanks. >>> now another story about charity. this one mixing heart break with hope. 9-year-old rachael beckwith of bellevue, washington, died in a car accident last month. her dream of bringing clean drinking water to african villages lives on. she was trying to raise $300 for the cause when she died. when people heard about her story, their hearts and wallets simply opened up. donations to her fund-raising page have now drawn over a million dollars. >>> we'll check in with jacqui jeras now. the heat wave has been something the entire country has been dealing with. now a little relief. maybe in a big way. at least for the folks in texas. >> huge. we have been focusing on dallas a lot. they have been seeing this streak of days and days. and today is really the first day that they have had measurable rain. they had a little measurable rain july 16th, .09, if you want to counsel that, which didn't do anything except make your sidewalk damp. cloud cover has been across the area. temperatures much cooler. we have broken that streak o

a shrunken recently is about a thousand sea lines come here each summer the females affair from athena's they leave the beach as soon as they see. that the sea lions are building hiram's for themselves by gallery and together a group of cows they always try to keep the cows by their sides because if they leave they may not come back this is a last ditch battle for the males. bearing islanders well away from normal sea routes and fishing boats in the rain giants will complete the security. of the beaches the whales often enter the day with a local see them and say look at the whales to each other which was as a common thing for the residents of the monkey because whales migrate past the commander islands so it's very easy to observe them will go. dr olga a philosopher and even fit buton have been studying the behavior of whales for many years the scientists are luck of respirations of beaked whales has approached them and i know. they were first discovered off the sort of man. drop. it what it will look like you they don't let people approach them and that is why we're in such a hurry if

>> again, athena, all this talk about cutting government spending and more cuts are coming, how is this going to have an impact on the places like the one you vis i'd? >> we talked to this local food bank and a national organization that feed america that helps feed 37 million americans across the country and they're worried that as this super committee in congress looks to make recommendations for further cuts, $1.5 trillion in cuts, that they will end up targeting programs that, for instance, provide government subsidized food to these programs or that they will cut programs for the needy and that that will increase demand at these food banks and put a strain on their resources. >> athena jones, good to see you. thank you. >>> 18 minutes past the hour now. if the economy goes into a double dip recession, are you rea ready? five things you need to know and maybe need to be doing to make sure you recession proof yourself. that is next. ♪ [ doug ] i got to figure this out. i want to focus on innovation. but my data is doubling. my servers are maxed out. i need to think about something el

athena jones, give us an idea of what kind of damage. of toppled trees throughout east coast. >> reporter: well, exactly. as you can see, rather a large tree fell here at the national cathedral overnight toppling another tree. this is one of the 200 or more trees that have fallen in the d.c. area, brought down by the storm. but i've got to tell you, as you guys were mentioning, this site, this cathedral has seen a rather interesting week in terms of natural events. the earthquake on tuesday toppled some of the main spires you see at the top in the back of the cathedral on the backside, toppled those so, the cathedral has been closed. on a normal sunday like today they would have four church services. that was combined into one and moved to a synagogue nearby. this is what we're seeing in the d.c. area. we were in alexandria this morning, didn't see flooding there. haven't seen a lot of flooding in d.c. mostly about people who have been out of power. about 1.5 million or more if you count virginia, maryland, d.c. in the last couple hours.

athena, what are you hearing from lawmakers there on capitol hill? >> reporter: well, this is really interesting. as we just heard from the last two guests, one of the things the s&p cited when making this decision was all the political problems we saw in congress and getting everyone to agree to raise the debt limit. they said this long, drawn-out debate didn't give them optimism that another deal could be reached later on with this joint committee of democrats and republicans who have to come together to make these further cuts that they promised down the road. the s&p says congress has kicked the can down the road on tax revenues, on entitlement reform. and what's interesting that as soon as that news came out last night, we got a whole slew of e-mails from members of both parties. you had speaker boehner, for instance, saying that this s&p decision shows that democrats have been spending too much and this proves that the republicans are right, we've got to keep cutting spending. the good news is that we're now talking about that. then you had sen

now where athena jones, like i said, planned to be up there with you, athe athena, but the weather had plans. >> reporter: well, that's right. it was going to be a big event, thousands of people going to come. now that's been postponed, will t.j. the d.c. mayor has declared a state of emergency. he did that yesterday after joining a conference call with other mayors and governors with president obama. but city officials here say they're p prepared. we don't expect to see rain really begin here until later this morning, pick up in terms of wind and rain and intensity in the afternoon. and city officials say they're ready for it. just a little while ago we spoke to d.c. fire and ems chief kenneth ellerby about preparations. less's listen in. >> we feel extremely confident we're prepared. i don't know if you know about it, but i'm sure you do, we had an earthquake earlier this week and that helped us be prepared. we've already been doing exercises. we've transferred from exercise to real world now. >> reporter: they say they're ready now. the fire chief told residents they should have bat

it will take people from both parties to come together on this, kyra. >> athena. brianna, this compromise a win for the president? what's the reaction there? >> reporter: certainly he gave a lot. the white house understands that. at the same time, there's still a lot of this deal that is to be determined. while the debt ceiling will be increased here in the short term, this committee, this bipartisan committee will determine exactly what, perhaps, comprehensive deficit reduction looks like. we don't know the end game on that. i think in several months we'll have a better sense of really who is the winner and who is the loser. the other thing is, i think it was obvious that democrats in the white house lost certainly a lot of leverage when republicans won over the house in november. and this is sort of the obvious result from that. another way to look at this in the game of politics as well, kyra, that president obama has been playing very much to independents, talking about compromise. so, certainly with a lot of these spending cuts, he is losing with his base for

>> athena, we'll continue to watch that.many areas we'll be watching as hurricane irene moves north. new york hasn't seen a hurricane in more than 70 years. sunday that's going to change most likely. because forecasters say irene really could smack right into the big apple. if that happens, well, it could be catastrophic. some of the possible scenarios coming up next. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. >> it's hard to imagine a hurricane this size slam into new york city but even if irene turns and new york avoids a direct hit, the storm surge could cause a lot of damage. how is manhattan preparing? >> reporter: steve and debbie o'sullivan live in rockaway beach in queens, new y

athena jones is live in washington with more on this. figure this out and to try to get jobs. >> reporter: it absolutely does, deb. this is an indictment of congress. s&p is saying that let's look at the dysfunction that we is seen over the last several weeks or months. no ability to agree to come together. it took until the last minute to come together on the debt deal. if you look at the s&p statement on the decision throughout it is it sprinkled to reference to politics. there is pessimism over the parties coming together to reach real reductions in the future. the whole issue of the debt ceiling and the threat of default have been used as political bargaining chips. this deal that was struck last week kicks the can down the road. now everything is going to be dependent for future reductions on the joint select committee. they left aside if there are tax revenues involved. the s&p statement says the republican party is against that. without singling out either party, the s&p is calling on congress to come together and do something con

. >>> athena jones is on capitol hill. the numbers are huge. 4,000 faa workers furloughed and tens of thousands of other workers idle and doesn't include the billions of dollars in tax money that won't be collected. >> it's not just the thousand of workers who aren't getting a paycheck and therefore not spending their paycheck in this fragile economy. it's the money and tax receipts the government is not going to get and because the two parties can't agree on a temporarying funding measure for the faa. they have done it 20 times since 2007. but as always, who is to blame? well, it depends on who you talk to here onhe hill. listen in to what a couple of congressmen had to say about this. >> so we passed a bill in the house, reauthorization bill. it went to the senate. the one person that has the power to bring it up for a vote chose not to and that is senator reid. so i would say that -- maybe the secretary didn't want to say it -- but senator reid should call the senate back in, take up the bill, and pass it. >> we need to

and peak credit over the past fifty years the growth of the banking in athena growth the growth of financial is nation the growth of the bernie made our pines the theme like wass tree layer upon layer upon layer the rivet of debt and more of the rent of has been contingent on the growth of credit as relates to oil and talk about the interactivity between peak that and peak oil debt has become the lifeblood of the society and in many ways we have a debt based currency we the way we create money these days is through they close so in order to grow the economy in order to grow the money supply we have to have ever more debt so we've done it over the past several decades particularly the last couple of decades consumer debt has grown of course we we suffered in the early part of the twentieth century from over production with cheap oil we could make stuff faster than people could buy it so we created the advertising industry in the consumer credit industry. and afternoon the early one nine hundred seventy s. when u.s. wages started to stagnate. people continued to buy more stuff because they wer

well karen is staying in town athena but nineteen forty four is a scene of fierce fighting between status soldiers yes this. one here by the monuments commemorate the savior soldiers that died in that fight less than a mile away it was also the scene of a gathering of veterans of the stone year and that is an event a widespread criticism of the glorifying. of former soldiers laugh this off or on. it's something the moment you don't think about later or think about the people of. the for. him country and most of year at these kind of events a band. and to hear. it in a state in years is a different story altogether. it's common and strong enough to call these people freedom fighters we hold or protest rallies on the stream do you hold this event to remind them what they are giving allegiance to hitler can tell them that they have never liberated. moreover none of them are engaged in and all of them are more or less accomplices of crimes committed by nazi germany. in fact in recent years he is still you know thirty and made it increasingly difficult the v.c. come to accuse the event this ye

let me start with athena jones live in washington d.c. washington d.c.ot used to dealing with hurricanes, but it was a big weekend for d.c. in a lot of ways and all of that will be put on the back burner. >> reporter: exactly. we are here on the national mall. the d.c. mayor vincent gray declared a state of emergency. we don't expect the rain to pick up until this morning and wind and rain in the afternoon. people have been preparing for it. the national park service crews were scrambling to fill the holes in the monument. they were working to fill the turrets on the smithsonian castle. it has been a big weekend in terms of natural events here in the city, t.j. this oncoming storm has forced the postponement of the dedication of the martin luther king memorial. that was set tomorrow, which is the 48th anniversary on washington. thousands of people were expected to come. they decided to put safety first. that has been postponed until september or october. city officials have been advises residents to be prepared for power outages and have canned goods on

athena jones is in annapolis maryland, and people are worried about flooding, aren't they?absolutely. was a beautiful day today. we saw a lot of people out. we know it's not going to look like this tomorrow. the mayor declared a state of emergency. they expect three-foot storm surge. this is a place that floods easily in a rain storm let alone a hurricane or tropical storm. people are taking things seriously. we've been here all day. you see these empty slips behind me. people have been coming in since early this morning and taking their boats out of this smaller dock area to a place of safer harbor to protect them from the storm. that's been the message from the city to the residents to take this storm seriously and take precautions. we saw a run on sandbags the city was providing all throughout the day with trucks arriving every 20 minutes at first and later every 40 minutes. they ran out of the 1,600 handbags they handed out. came back with 800 sandbags. we talked to one resident about why it's so important to get these sandbags to protect her home. you've got all these

cnn's athena jones join us from capitol hill on this dispute.ut and what are the options now that lawmakers have left town? >> reporter: i'll tell you, this is usually a pretty routine extension, they have done this 20 times since 2007. they have temporarily extended funding for the faa. this time they're running into problems. the house passed a bill extending funding but a republican congressman from florida attached a provision to it that would eliminate funding for some rural airports, that's subsidizing rural airports, we're talking about airports in small towns in places like nevada, new mexico, montana, airports that may serve only 500 passengers a year. and so you have the government spending millions to help subsidize these tickets to the tune of $3,700 in one example. so republicans don't want to see, they say they's a waste of money. democrats believe they're just using that issue to force their hand on a larger issue, which is the issue of unionization when it comes to the longer term funding of the faa. democrats want airline worker

athena jones, thank you so much.or the president there who is about to speak in holland, michigan and tour the johnson controls, inc, the battery facility we were just talking about. we'll take a quick break, and as soon as the president starts to speak, we'll be here with it. and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. >>> and we want to remind you that we're waiting for president obama to speak. he'll be speaking any moment now we believe in holland, michigan. he's been touring a plant there for hybrid car battery technology, and this very plant was actually created with stimulus funds. >>> now for some other headlines and news you might have missed. u.s. markets are back up today after positive news about corporate earnings and the labor market boosted investor sentiment. the dow up 389 points

athena jones, i appreciate it. much. >>> there are travel concerns also to worry about besides moving your boat out of the bay. new york, washington, boston, philadelphia are hope to some of the busiest airports in the country. they could all be impacted by hurricane irene. all on alert for cancellations and delays. we have alexandra steele with an update. >> the enormity of the travel situation is large. we are talking about trains, planes and automobiles. 65 million people living between new england and norfolk, virginia. it has been incredible. airports have been impacted. miami and savannah and richmond. just getting word that jetblue in anticipation of this in and out of new york city for saturday night and sunday cancelling over 400 flights. that is really become the new standard operating procedure. in anticipation of the storm, they begin cancelling as opposed to waiting for it on the door step. jim talked about d.c. and baltimore and jfk and laguardia. one thing about jfk and laguardia, tonight and tomorro

athena jones reports on a washington area food bank and some of the people who used to donate food thereg to benefit from it. >> reporter: it's a friday morning in august and volunteers at this maryland food bank are preparing boxes of fresh produce, canned goods and other items to distribute to people in need. the food center provides each family with 70 pounds of food every 30 days. >> what would you do if you can't come here, do you get help from other places as well? >> i would probably run out of food by the end of the month and it gives us that extra boost. >> reporter: a record 45.8 million people received food stamps from the government in may. that's one out of every seven people. for many food stamps alone don't meet their needs or they don't qualify for federal help at all and some of those who have jobs still struggle to feed their families. >> we have been rationing food and just scraping by, me and my sister are -- >> reporter: that's where organizations like mana step in. since 2008, the number of people they have served as more than double. any growth that the economy is

athena jones caught up with a couple in washington who have fallen on hard times. >> this is the weddingion can be felt here. both have been out of work for more than two years, and their unemployment benefits have run out. they live in public housing and don't have to pay rent, but they have struggled to pay their utility bills and recently had their power cut off. >> we did candles. we just, you know, some days during that six-week period, it was the kids eat what we eat, and we had to make sacrifices. >> both cars have been repossessed and they will have to come up with $120 a month for metro passes for their kids once school starts. >> i get up with my boxing gloves on every day for them. >> reporter: according to a study by a national charity, 1 in 5 children lived below the poverty line in 2009. they receive food stamps each month, but run out after three weeks. nathan mows lawns, and she sells candy. >> i do it on the corner. with the candy, i do it all on the metro. i do it at the subway stations and do it up and down the street. i do what it takes to make sure we can survive ano

athena jones is in washington, d.c. and in the new york area, poppy harlow is in lower manhattan, elizabeth cohen at an evacuation center there in the city. and rob marciano is on long island. we'll check in with all of them. north carolina's outer banks are getting battered by irene's fury. gusty winds and rain are hammering kill devil hills. we have david mattingly getting whipped up by the storm right now. >> every hurricane that comes through is unique. it has its own special qualities and always remembered by certain things. this storm is going to be remembered by its size and its duration. right now, we have now been rained on for about 22 straight hours. about 20 straight hours of tropical storm force winds. now i'm feeling some strongest winds of this storm yet. this hurricane is not done with the outer banks and north carolina by any stretch of the imagination. we have been watching the surf all day long. there hasn't been that much of a problem with storm surge from the atlantic ocean. but what he wiwe are bra

athena jones is live for us in washington. the tempers are starting to flare about this issue.s not just these thousands of workers who are being furloughed. not collecting paychecks. and, therefore, not spending their paychecks in this weak economy. it's also this nearly more than a billion dollars in uncollected tax revenues that this will amount to if this stalemate passes or continues all through the congressional recess. that is to say past labor day. it really depends here on capitol hill who you talk to in terms of who is to blame. let's listen to what republican connie mack had to say from florida and then we'll listen to steny hoyer from maryland. >> so we passed a bill in the house reauthorization bill. it went to the senate. the one person that has the power to bring it u for a vote chose not to. and that is senator reid. so i would say that and maybe the secretary didn't want to say it, but senator reid should call the senate back in, take up the bill and pass it. >> we need to get this done and we should get it do today. unfortunately, republicans continue to pract

athena jones caught up with a couple in washington who have fallen on hard times.four children. >> this is the -- >> okay. >> reporter: the ripple effects of the recession can be felt here at the washington home of nathan and kianna wallace. both out of work for more than two years, and their unemployment benefits have run out. the wallaces live in public housing and don't have to pay rent, but have struggled to pay utility bills and recently had their power cut off. >> we did candles. we just -- you know, some days during a six-week period, the kids eat has we eat but we just have to make sacrifices. >> reporter: both of their cars reposed and they'll have to come up with $120 for metro passes for their four children once school starts and once brought in $5,000 a month and say they're determined to get back on track. >> i get up with my boxing gloves on every day for them. >> reporter: according to a study by the neck foundation, a national charity, one in five children live below the poverty line in 2009. the wallace family receives food stamps each month, but t

athena jones joins us from holland, michigan, with more. you could see the president was a bit more encouraged, and a bit more vociferous today. >> reporter: absolutely, wolf. the president brought his jobs push here to the battleground state here in michigan. to the pace he gave earlier, he lashed out at congress, telling them to stop playing political games, end the gridlock and work together. as we found here in the city of holland, those new jobs can't come fast enough for some. holland, michigan, a summer playground for tourists, with packed cafings and bustling downtown. but just blocks away, foreclosed homes dot the streets, a clear sign many families are struggling to make ends meet. people like hope mccoy, a single mother who lost her job as an engineer a few years ago. >> i was definitely middle class. >> she took another job that paid her half as much, and was laid off again. after depleting more than $120,000 in savings, she lost her home and moved in with her eldest son. she's worried about the slow pace of job growth. >> they'

athena jones is joining us from annapolis. good to see you. how are folks reacting?, are they ready for what they will be hit with? >> reporter: they are trying to get ready. this morning we spoke with the mayor of annapolis, and they are saying the officials are protecting a two to three foot storm surge. let me tell you, this is a flood-prone area a. low-lying area. and even when the high tied comes in, which is about a foot in annapolis, you can see some of the areas around here are flooding, and you see a lot of traffic and a lot of activity as people come into town to try and get supplies, to get prepared. you see these businesses around here. these are businesses that would have seen several feet of water after a hurricane issie isabel 2003. and the mayor had something to say about the businesses here, too. >> a lot of businesses are going to sustain flooding damage if we get the storm surge. the city has sandbags available at several locations already. you can can see the residents and business owners taking the sandbags, and tomorrow morning everybody will ha

that the lame -- the land would no longer be called that judaica, that it would be called pallas athenaid palace -- palestina. the original philistines were not arabs, they were not from that region. they were great. when you hear people talking about free palestine or returning it to the original owners, the original owners are very simple. the original owners are the jewish people. [applause] >> in this irrational emotionalism and not being a product of the media being put out there, i do not think a lot of americans, given the earthquake and what was going on with hurricane irene, it is only intensifying, ladies and gentlemen. >> beth from boca raton has some concerns about the obama administration's position on israel and asks if there is any hope that the obama administration might reconsider their current position. >> i can tell you that that is untenable for israel. now you are talking about the modern day state of israel being only 9 miles wide, which is not feasible. when i spoke to leadership over there, there is uncertainty causing a lot of the concern. saudis are really angr