sylvester sheber is author of "the predictable surprise." sylvester, why is it predictable?heir pension benefits as they are accumulating them, they are going to get into trouble. ultimately, they will go bankrupt because these obligations overwhelm them. we have relearned this time and again. in 1960s we had stooud baker. in the 1980s, we had a number of steel companies. most recently, we have been seeing auto companies and the airlines succumbing to unfunded liabilities. in the case of social security, franklin roosevelt knew in the 1930s if we didn't accumulate some of the contributions and actually lay them aside and invest them in interest that the system would get extremely expensive. probably too expensive. he said it would be unfair or immoral. but we went the other route, and now we're experiencing what he thought would be unfair. >> it's an interesting thing. you just gave us a wide variety of anecdotes all suggesting the same problem. if you commit retirement resources to a group of people, but do not fund the resources as they are incured, that inevitably, you en

♪ >>> lisa sylvester is monitoring other top stories, including a new video of a huge explosion in syriae blast allegedly occurred at a checkpoint in the province of homs after a large number of soldiers defected from president bashar al assad's army. the opposition says more than 50 people died in syria today, and more than 8 thousands since the uprising begains. -- as a response to rockets fired into israel in the past day. there are no reports of casualties, but both sides seemed reluctant to carry out the cease-fire. >>> after eight years, a missing child has been found safe. texas police say a woman was baby-sitting her neighbor's 8-month-old child. the case fell through the cracks under child protective services investigated the woman. the alleged kidnapper is in police custody. >>> ink that you, lisa. >>> george clooney is just back from sudan, where there is ongoing fighting, and he's using his star power to encourage congress to take action. athena jones has details of his testimony on capitol hill just a few hours ago. >> wolf, you don't usually find throngs of autograph seeker

lisa sylvester is monitor that. what do you want? was a down day on wall street as the dow, nasdaq and s&p all fell sharply. though has not been a good month so far, it's still been a solid year. since the start of 2012, the dow is up more than 4%. for the first time in nearly a month, the nationwide average price of gasoline did not go up today. aaa says the average price dropped slightly to $3.76. that's up four cents from last week, and almost 30 cents from a month ago. >>> a federal injure has four running a ponzi keep. three years ago, the securities and exchange -- three of his companies of orchestrating a $9.2 billion investment in sales fraud. most of his victims have not gotten any of that is money back. >> lisa, thanks very much. you won't see newt gingrich actually voting. joe johns is standing by to tell us what's going on. then super tuesday is drawing yawns from some republican voters. dana bash goes into an ohio bar and talks to the sister of the house speaker john boehner. i think the volt is an awesome car. and i rea

our lisa sylvester is monitoring that. what have you got?ravi is facing up to ten years in prison and deportation for using a hidden webcam watching a sexual encounter of his roommate. clementi jumped off the george washington bridge after learning about the incident. >>> a rocky day on wall street the dow closed down about 20 points as the investors did i jested new reports. economists say the consumer price index was up just 0.1% for the month, but despite soaring gas prices, inflation still is in check. pet owners are demanding the government take action against toxic treats made in china. they say are either killing or making their dogs sick. according to abc news, the fda has received more than 500 complains in the last four months, but because a definitive cause for the illness hand been determined, china isn't being blamed action and no products have been recalled. >>> and horror in the waters off a florida beach. a mother goes to war with a shark to save her daughter, our affiliate wkmg has this report. >> sydney levy wasn't up to ta

our lisa sylvester has been watching what's going on.ther top stories in "the situation rom." i think those three paratroopers. what's the latest? >> this is chilling new video taken from inside mohammed merah's apartment. a french citizen of algerian descent was shot dead by special forces after a more than 30-hour siege in toulouse. he attended an al qaeda training camp and was under surveillance. police had no ground to arrest him before the deadly siege. and this update to a controversial story we brought you yesterday. facebook is now joining the public outcry over job applicants and workers being required by employers to disclose their facebook passwords. the social media giant said the practice not only violates the user's privacy, but also those of his or her facebook friends and it's also warning employers could be liable for doing so. you might be familiar with the hit nbc comedy 30 rock, but you may not have seen this. >> you listen to me, blitzer. either cnn gets back on the jess up story or i'll tell everyone your real name

and the metro would have no right to take it down. >> reporter: lisa sylvester, washington. >>> the ad is scheduled as to run until march 11. it costs the film producer $800. >>> >> seems to want a piece of facebook but this lawsuit is different. the monday morning court date that might make some soon-to-be millionaires very nervous. >>> not enough rain. the rare source one bay area water district is tapping into for the first time in years. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the san francisco-based revw site saw its stock prices se mo >>> rave reviews for yelp on its first day of trading. of course we'll see how they go in the next few days. the san francisco-based review site saw its stock prices surge more than 60% in the first hour. >> so it's like a 1999 ipo again. it's a big bump in the stock price. so obviously people want this stock. >> yelp's stock closed at over $24 a share. >>> as facebook gets closer to its ipo, it's facing legal trouble. they might be making some of the soon-to-be millionaires nervous. julie watts on the lawsuit that stands out from the rest. >> reporter: for most, faceboo

lisa sylvester joins us with the details.a goose and gander story. >> bill maher and rush limbaugh couldn't be further apart on the political spectrum but they're both under fire for comments they've made recently and raises the question, when does comedy go too far? for bill maher there's a thin line between comedy and controversy. maher used a crude obscenity to refer to sarah palin, a tweet during tuesday's primaries took direct aim at the south, "toothless tuesday, too tight to tally." maher has taken on gop candidate rick santorum whose children are home schooled. >> he wants them locked up in the christian madrassa, the christian family room, not out in public with reason. >> reporter: even for comedy it's out of bounds, sher ye jacoby says is. >> making fun of a candidate's family or religion is downright nasty and calling women names that no woman should be called, then you've crossed the line. >> reporter: republicans are holding up maher as a counter example to rush limbaugh with. limbaugh used derogatory names to r

lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. >>> all right.in parts of louisville, kentucky are spending the weekend cleaning up. a tornado ripped through their community yesterday. the storm destroyed at least one home and damped about half a dozen others. police say no injuries were reported. >>> in jefferson county, illinois, a 60-year-old woman was killed when a is spected tornado blew through her trailer taking it across the road. bonnie schneider in the weather center subpoena lots of severe weatherthe horizon? >> right. earlier today we were talking about a tornado warning just to the east of charleston, south carolina. that tornado warning expired but the threat of severe weather continues. you can see, heavy thunderstorms slamming into charleston. we have now four watch boxes in effect. so on the wider scale, the severe weather threat is extended all the way into west virginia. now northward. these storms are really getting powerful going through the afternoon. that's because the heating of the day tends to make the atmosphere more un

china may be the biggest beneficiary as lisa sylvester is working this story for us.t's going on, apple, china, american workers, go ahead. >> if throngs of people lined up outside the apple stores to get the new ipad. and apple hasn't been an engine of u.s. manufacturing job growth in the united states. apple has made so much money it's worth more than several countries like bangladesh, but the people who actually make the ipads and iphones, not americans. it's hundreds of thousands of workers in fox come factories in china. working long hours, even sleeping in the dorms in the factories. one of our staff ordered -- the parts made in china, assembled in china, even packaged in china. this man with a group that fights to keep jobs in the united states. he says apple like many multinational corporations maximizes profits by moving to china. >> apple's success is a classic and glaring example of an american company free riding on american prosperity and not paying any of the costs for maintaining that prosperity. >> at a twitter town hall meeting president obama gently

lisa sylvester is monitoring that, some of the other top stories.a, there's new danger to people trying to get out of syria. what's going on? >> that's right, wolf. the u.n. says about 30,000 syrians have fled this kind of onslaught. now the refugees face another threat. human rights watch sis syrian forces are placing landmines near the country's borders. the group says the opposition has cleared mines of russian origin. president bashar al assad continues to blame violence on armed terrorist groups. >>> president obama today announced the united states is taking on china over rare minerals. it's joining europe and japan in a trade case over china's growing export restrictions. known as rare earth, they are key to the production of many high-tech devices like flat-screen tvs. the u.s. says china is hoarding the minerals. >>> and maybe add author to what 12kr50ibd whitie bulger. court documents show he may have written two memoirs. one manuscript was seized in 1995, and juan was found where he was arrested last june. he has pleaded not guilty to all

cnn's lisa sylvester is digging deeper for us. tell us what you're finding out. >> hi there, wolf.o feels that employer should not be forced to is the legislation is so controversial. it applies across the board. under the bill, in order for a woman to have her birs control paid by employer, she needs to prove it's for medical reasons, not to prevent pregnancy. that's why some groups are furious. >> under our law so far, women have kept that information private, but the bill we see as representing an invasion of privacy. now the woman is going to have to tell her employer private details. >> reporter: the big has passed the arizona statehouse, and allows an employer to refuse to cover the cost of it if they're opposed to it on moral grounds. >> what my bill does is basically says that arizona employers can act out of the contraceptive mandate if they have a religious objection. that's all my bill does. it's really about religious liberty and our protection of our first amendment rights. >> reporter: the bill mirrors an effort on the federal level to lift a federal government mandat

dear michael jordan, dear sylvester stallone. guess what happened? nothing. then at christmas time i got one check for $100 from tom brokaw and then i saw my climbing ger and i sold it and i sold my car for $500 that i got from my grandfather in a seedy area in oakland. by string i o spring i had only $2,400. my mother invited me to come and talk to the kids. when i got ready to leave, a fourth grader named jeffery looked me in the aye and he said i've got a piggy bank at home and i'm going to help you build that school. west side school raised 65, 300 pennies. it wasn't the celebrities or the sports heroes or movie stars or if i lan throw pears but children reaching out to children half way around the world to help them build a school. what can you buy with a penny the bay area? probably nothing. in montana you can buy 1/2 tootsie roll. but in afghanistan you can buy a pencil. it's not that's so important but education gives a child hope. you know, if you fight tear riz her rorism it's based in fear but the real enemy is ignorance that bleeds hatred. here in

lisa sylvester is monitor that and other top stories in "the situation room."ccording to a human rights group linked to the opposition, at least eight people were killed in cities across the country including a 14-year-old shot by a sniper. government security forces are stepping up raised and have detained hundreds of civilians. they say as many as 2,000 refugees have crossed into lebanon since yesterday. >>> thousands of people are rallying on the streets of russia after vladimir putin seems to have easily won re-election for the presidency. demonstrations for and against him are taking place today. putin said he, quote, won and opened and honest fight. but the international observers say they observed ballot stuffing and other irregularities in about a third of the polling stations they monitor. he got more than 63% of a vote, easily avoiding a runoff. >>> and these pictures are proof that things don't always go as planned even for british royalty. a speedboat carrying britain's prince harry broke down in the bahamas and in another strange twist, he was resc

cnn's lisa sylvester is following the story for us. what's the very latest?nielle pilaias is making her first meeting to the d.c. the valedictorian case has made headlines after an immigration judge said she had to leave the country by march 28th, missing her graduation. but now things have turned around for her. daniella is value ticket tornado of her north miami high school. instead of getting her diploma, she was on the verge of getting a deportation order. she's in the united states illegally, but a last-minute reprieve will now allow her and her sister diana to stay for the time being. >> very fabulous moves, my attorney was able to get a two-year deferred action and waived our deportation for two more years. >> reporter: why do you want to stay in the united states? >> i've lived here since i was 4 years old. i consider myself american. i just want to live the american dream like everyone else. >> reporter: her hiss rallied by her side. 2500 students and teachers holding a protest last week. members of congress appealed to immigration authorities to giv

lisa sylvester is back. she's working this story. what happened here?ots of theories of what happened to amelia earhart and the new one may be the best guess yet. she and her navigator were able to land in the south pacific. amelia earhart was attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. she was roughly 20 hours into the trip flying from new guinea to the island when she and her navigator vanished over the pacific ocean. now a new clue may solve the decades-old mystery. this picture was taken a few months after earhart disappeared and it's after the pacific atoll. rick gillespie has spent 20 years searching for earhart. >> this is the ship that ran aground in 1929 and it was an old wreck then and what struck us is that there's something sticking up out of the water over here. this is the piece of the jigsaw puzzle that fits in with the other pieces we had, so yeah i think it is the landing gear of her airplane. >> forensic imaging specialists say it could be part of her plane's landing gear and there are more clues, items common in the 1930s were fou

. >>> lisa sylvester is monitoring some of the top stories. >> a lot of folks excited over there.uba have been anticipating for months. pope benedict xvi has arrived for a three-day trip. the hope has been vocal about more than religion recently, he puts cuba's political system no longer corresponds to reality. three service members are dead in afghanistan. all three appear to have been killed by nato authorities. and another member whose nationally is not yet known was killed by afghan police at a security checkpoint. 93 coalition forces have now died in afghanistan this year. >>> dominique strauss-kahn is being questioned about his involvement -- strauss-kahn's lawyer acknowledged that his client attended sex parties but he was unaware the women in attendance were prosecutes. and the strong rally for the stock market, after the comments by ben bernanke. he suggested the fed will keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future. that sent the dow up 64 points, and the nasdaq also rose more than 1% on the day. >> and you're in "the situation room." rick santorum tells me why he

out of the state of maryland, lisa sylvester has the story for us. lisa? >> hi there, wolf.ill be legal in the state of maryland next jan wear. governor martin o'malley has just signed the legislation into law. five states allow civil unions that provide rights similar to marriage. >>> nasa says 48 computers were lost or stolen in a recent two-year span. one of the computers contained codes used to command and control the international space station. a congressional report finds that nasa lags far behind other agencies in protecting data on laptops. >>> montana's chief federal judge is in hot water for sending a racial e-mail. a local newspaper says the e-mail contained a jokes about the president's mother. the judge is apologizing, calling the e-mail inappropriate and stupid. he was appointed by president bush back in 12001. >>> is your password the word "password" with a capital p, and the number 1 at the end? you're not alone. easily guessable are the most common vulnerable leading to a security breach. experts say to make your password something long and yew symbolling t

lisa sylvester is working the story for us. what is this all about?the years there have been lots of theories of what happened to amelia earhart. a new one may be the best bet yet, that she and her navigator were able to land on a rein the south pacific. amelia earhart was attempting to circumnavigate the globe. she was roughly 20 hours into the trip flying to howland island when she and her navigator vanished over the pacific ocean. now a new clue may solve the decades-ole m decades-old mystery. it's off of former gardner island. ric gillespie spent years searching for earhart. >> what struck suss that there's something sticking up out of the water over here. this is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that fits right in with the other pieces we had. so i think it's probably the landing gear of her airplane. >> forensic imaging specialists say it could be part of her plane's landing gear. and there are more clues. items common in the 1930s were found on excavation sites on the island. >> the artifacts we found on the site are bottles from personal care item

women and children allegedly, allegedly targeted in syria, lisa sylvester is monitoring that.tories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on? >> hi, wolf. syrian opposition groups say at least 45 women and children were massacred in the city of homs late on sunday. they claim children were stabbed to death in front of their mothers and girls and women were sexually assaulted and then shot to death by syrian forces and thugs. opposition leaders have declared an official day of mourning tomorrow. cnn cannot independently confirm reports coming from inside syria. >>> and the worst violence in months is flaring in israel and gaza. police say militants in gaza have fired more than three dozen rocket into israel and more than 200 since frayed. israel has responded with air strikes that have killed at least 23 people, including five today. >>> authorities in indianapolis are investigating a deadly school bus accident. the driver and a girl of about 5 years old were killed when the bus hit an overpass abuttment. no other vehicles were involved and witnesses say they saw noth

lisa sylvester and monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room." >> this4500 acres so far and officials have confirmed a second person has been found dead in the fire zone. firefighters say the blaze is still out of control. strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions are fueling the flames in a mountainous area near denver. 16 structures have already burned. >>> and if you live on the east coast you might have had an early wake-up call courtesy of nasa. just before 5:00 a.m. it launched five rockets as part of the study of the upper level jet stream. each rocket released a chemical that create these milky white clouds. scientists will track them to study winds at the edge of space that are well over 300 miles per hour. >>> and pope benedict has arrived in havana, cuba. speculation is growing over whether he'll meet with fidel castro during his three-day visit. the pope will celebrate mass in the capital's revolution plaza where he will speak directly with the cuban people. he said cuba's marxist political system, quote, no longer corresponds to rea

this is in between putny and sylvester.re in between putny and sylvester, you need to take your family and get to a safe room now. that storm is going to be heading over you. you're in a tornado watch until 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. it will continue into this afternoon. especially app alachicolapalach. a very strong storm. not as bad as yesterday but the thrill still continues. back to you. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. time now for a check of the morning's other tom stories. for your that we turn to tom llamas at the news desk. >>> much of the presidential focus is on super tuesday, but washington state holds its caucuses today. mitt romney has been shorts in the caucus states so far but more than 2,400 people packed a building in bellevue which was packed with enthusiasm to hear stump speech. >> if i'm lucky enough to get in the white house, i won't be playing -- i won't be playing 90 rounds of golf in my first term, that's for sure. getting good jobs for you will be the job i care most about. i want to have more jo

lisa sylvester is working this story for us.of a pretty amazing story. >> this is an interesting one, wolf. a marine sergeant is under investigation for posting negative things about the president. he has started a tea party facebook page for members of the military and their families. now, he says he's exercising his right to free speech. but the military has rules against members in uniform questioning their superiors, including the commander in chief. >> you don't have to guess where marine sergeant gary stein falls politically. this is front and center on a facebook page of a group he started. here's a sample of some of his postings. "obama is the domestic enemy our oath speaks about." " obama obama row maines the target. >> stein has been an active duty marine for eight years. he started the armed forces tea party patriots facebook page as an expression of free speech. but one posting in particular now has him in hot water. he originally said he wouldn't follow orders from president obama. later modifying it to say he won't

lisa sylvester is investigating a frightening trend.ny kids, he loves playing baseball, guarding second base, but unlike other children, ian has a lengthy credit report, none of it good. among the charges, $5400 on a bankamerica credit card. $2700 owed to allied financial bank and $4500 to a california jewelry store. ian is a victim of identity theft. >> at the time this happened he would have been 6 and they indicated to me that there was six or seven accounts opened totaling about $15,000 worth of purchases. >> the problem began after the family's california health insurance company lost a computer hard disk drive, a credit monitoring service caught the suspicious purchases, but not before someone had racked up thousands of dollars in charges. trying to explain a lost identity to a young child can be difficult. >> he said that someone -- someone stole the computer and found my name on it, and they made, like, a card and did my name on it. >> more than 19,000 children were victims of identity theft on it according to the federal trade

lisa sylvester, cnn, washington.

lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. >> i hope so.> absolutely. >> that does it for me. fredricka whitfield is e.

lisa sylvester has the details. >> reporter: something will certainly catch your eye, this line, go tos caught the eye of writers, too. >> it's think it's offensive. >> i think it's tasteless. >> i think it's terrible. it only feeds to the political discord and partisanship of the country. >> reporter: the ad is promoting a new dvd kok meant tree called "sick and sicker" that rips the obama health care plan. it's produced by a man who makes no apology for the inflammatory ad. >> when you use strong language, you're expressing not only disagreement but the degree of disagreement. i very strongly disagree with socialized medicine. >> reporter: it's not just metro riders offended by the comment. >> on private property i think you should have much more discretion as to what you want to show. but the taxpayers at the federal, state, and local level are paying for this facility and to have it host an ad that tells the president of the united states to go to hell in their language, i think that's inappropriate. i think it's offensive. it's profane. >> reporter: representative moran has asked

chuck whetner improbable 12 rounder with muhammad ali set the way for sylvester stallone and a movie" the epic boxing match was this week. and the writer who called it passing away 37 years older this weekend. he played off his favorite subjects, muhammad ali when he added i'm the other one and only. a guy who came out of law school but never practiced law because he said he found it too dull and boring. so he went in advertising where his quick wit and jingle tone mind helped produce too many hit ad campaign to mention. do you remember this? [ singing ] >> that was bert. in the end, advertising was not for bert. but what was, was boxing. not that he could box, but bert sugar told you everyone no who did fight and every moment. rich legacy of knowledge he put to paper in "boxing illustrated." and then 80 books, invariably hundreds upon hundreds of tv appearances. the go-to guy that got it, every blow, every time, all the time. ali-frazier, frasier-foreman, foreman, ali, tyson, holmes, norton, shavers no one knew them better or covered them better. years later, no one shared their sto

lisa sylvester has been following story. what is going on?> daniella is making her first trip to washington, d.c., and her day included high level meetings with u.s. senators and congressional representatives. the valedictorian's case has made national headlines after an immigration judge said she had to leave the country by march 28th, missing her own graduation. but now things have turned around for her. daniella is valedictorian of her north miami high school. instead of getting her diploma she was on the verge of a deportation diploma. she's in the united states illegally. a last reprieve will allow her and her sister diana to stay for the time being. >> fabulous news, my attorney was able to get a two-year deferred action and we've waived deportation for two more years. >> reporter: why do you want to stay here in the united states? >> i've lived here since i was 4 years old and consider myself american. >> reporter: her high school rallied by her side. members of congress including senator bill nelson appealed to immigration authorities