now, actually pretty good since where it started pretty much in the 100 level, stocks are negative even though one of the big three credit agencies affirmed the u.s. government's aaa rating today, calling its credit worthiness exceptional. that's a sharp contrast to this month's downgrade by standard & poor's. we told you this this was going to happen yesterday. it did. protesters make san francisco's rush hour commute a mess. bay area rapid transit shut all four downtown b.a.r.t. stations last night to protesters angry over shootings involving b.a.r.t. police officers. b.a.r.t. blocked cell service at some stations last week so protesters couldn't coordinate on social media. well, phone service stayed on last night. news corps exec james murdoch may have to answer new questions in parliament on that phone hacking scandal. a british lawmaker says murdoch may have misled his committee about settlements paying to hacking victims. they want him clarify his statements. murdoch's father rupert murdoch apparently would not be required to go back and give additional testimony. australia is asking the u.s. to extradite paul douglas peters after his arrest in kentucky last night. police in australia are saying peters is the one who strapped a fake collar bomb to the neck of a wealthy software engineer and left a note demanding money. the girl believed the bomb was real and she had it around her neck for ten terrifying had hours. the fbi says peters does have ties to the u.s. >> mr. peters was arrested without incident by our louisville fbi s.w.a.t. team at the home of his former wife. +5ahj;eé#x%z"ñj believe peters former wife knew about this collar bomb incident or was involved in it in any way. a maryland sheriff wants you to look at this surveillance video, a flash mob. if you can identify anybody, he wants to know. there's about 30 people here swarming a convenience store in germantown in the middle of the night, sunday. they helped themselves to just about everything, candy, chips, sodas, other stuff. the shoplifting spree took about a minute. a much more serious appeal for help from london police. they released this video, a car runs down two police officers who were chasing looters during last week's riots. police hope the video prompts witnesses to come forward. both officers are recovering. police say they're treating this as attempted murder. friends from all over the world descending on graceland. elvis presley died 34 years ago today at his memphis mansion, but he still rakes in big money even though he's been dead almost as long as he lived. "forbes" said elvis' estate made $60 million last year. and as always, your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of today. the big question, is warren buffe buffett's tax talk good or just polit politics? >> it's not often you hear, someone say, oh, please tax me. please. but today's question is, is warren buffett's tax compromise good or just plain politics? now we've had a day to digest buffet's plea to, tax me more, it's time to ask that very question. buffet is largely a twitter hero, but as far as republicans are concerned he's a shield for president obama. buffet begs to differ. he's offering an alternative. instead of raising taxes on americans making $250,000 and up up, he told charlie rose, raise taxes on the very, very rich. >> we're also in the process undertaxing the very rich. what i propose incidentally would not touch the taxes of 99.7%. i'm talking about three tenths of one percent of the american public. the people from $1 million and on should be asked to share in the sacrifice. >> president obama embraced the idea. republicans did not. senator john cornyn tweeted, for taxraising antics like warren buffett, i'm sure treasury would take a voluntary payment for deficit reduction, as in, hey, mr. buffet, just send the u.s. treasury a check. the red dog report says, everybody knows if tax hikes on the rich fails to solve our economic crisis, which we know they will not, then team obama can go back and ask for more, opening at door to a big tax hike on america's middle class. never mind poll showed most americans favor taxing the rich more and many economists say spending cuts alone won't solve our debt woes. sot "talk back" question today, is warren buffett's tax compromise good, or is it just politics? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> thanks, carol. here is a rundown of some of the stories ahead. first, we are waiting live in iowa as the president's tour bus cuts through the heartland there. then parents disgusted and skeptical on atlanta's school system after a widespread cheating scandal. we'll ask ron clark how to win back the confidence of parents. as muslims across the world celebrate ramadan, grieving egyptians remember those who died in the fight for freedom. plus, a car flies off the road and crashes into a riverbed. >> heard this smash, seen a cloud of dust, went down there and cut the woman out of it there and pulled her out of the car. >> heroic. a california homeless man now being called a hero. and do nice guys really finish last? a new study tries to prove why you earn less for constantly saying yes. ♪ mr. grinch [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. president obama's bus tour of the heartland is rolling through iowa farm country today. the president holding a rural economic forum with farmers and small business owners. during his stop yesterday, he got into an exchange with tea party supporters. that support he was upset over a reported remark by vice president biden comparing tea party members to terrorists. the vice president deny itted making that comment, and the president said the real issue was the debt limit stalemate. take a listen to this. >> when you're talking about -- how is your vice president calling us terrorists? i'd like to understand that. >> okay. i will explain right now, sir. >> he said we were acting like terrorists. >> no. what he said was that for us to be willing to take the economy to the brink was irresponsible. and it was. now, the truth of the matter is, considering what's said about me consistently. >> white house correspondent brianna keilar joins us live from peosta, iowa. you talkeded to that guy, i guess you could call it a confrontation, seemed like just a lively debate to me. what did he have to say? >> reporter: you know, he wanted to ask a question, and the president was calling on people who had their hands raised. and toward the end of it, this gentleman, ryan rhodes, the founder of the iowa tea party, he said he wanted to ask his question. so he just shouted it out. the president, during the town hall, actually said, we'll talk about this later. and he did talk to ryan rhodes about this. but it's been reported, drew, that vice president biden -- and this was happening over once the debt ceiling had been negotiated, the debt ceiling increase -- while he was talking behind closed doors with democrats, multiple democratic sources telling cnn they were venting about house republicans, tea party republicans, and that the reports are that vice president biden used the word "terrorists" to describe those lawmakers. what you heard president obama saying to rhodes there was kind of a semantic, hairsplaiting thing. he said, no, he didn't call you that. he said you were acting like that. again, president obama did talk to rhodes after the town hall meeting, and we had rhodes tell us exactly how the exchange went. >> i don't think he wanted to hear what i had to say and so he stated that i didn't want to hear what he had to say. he just kept saying, my vice president didn't say that, but it's on the news everywhere that he absolutely said it. >> reporter: okay, so we don't have the president's side of this, drew, but suffice to say it sounds like the two men kind of agreed to disagree and really the broad strokes here are that republicans have been frustrated by some of the language the democrats were using, be it it hostage takers or terrorists, talking about what other democrats have sort of called irresponsible brinksmanship, certainly something we've heard the president characterize that debate as, drew. >> well, breanna, the president wanted to get out of washington, d.c., to sort of meet with the people. is he accomplishing what he intended to do on this bus tour? we're just about halfway through. >> reporter: you know, certainly in that regard he is, drew. you can't get farther away from washington than we are right now here in peosta, iowa. and there's a couple of things here. he wanted to come to the rural area, no doubt, because this is a problem that it democrats really had a problem with in 2010. the president had actually done pretty well in 2008 in the counties he's visiting. but just in generally rural areas overall, democrats had a really hard time. that's why they saw themselves losing control of the house. so that's one thing. and then also the president's message has really been to come out here and to slam washington and sort of the business of washington. so being away from washington and having that backdrop has allowed him to do that successfully. the white house would argue, but he's also here unveiling a new plan for rural economic job development. he's going to be meeting today with local business leaders, farmers, unveiling new things like more capital, more loans for small businesses in rural areas, and also some increased job training and technology for economic development in rural areas as well, drew. >> brianna, thanks. wolf blitzer will take you along on the president's bus, i think, and go one-on-one with the president in an interview today. what are his plans to turn the economy around, and can he convince voters in key states? i'm sure wolf will ask him about that little exchange with the tea party fellow. you can see the interview 5:00 eastern today in "the situation room," of course. . checking some of the stories our affiliates are covering across this great story. the coast guard pulls a man to safety off cape cod after he fell off a boat. the guy 77 years old. he had been in the chilly water for an hour. his grandson didn't know how to sail so he couldn't turn the boat around. amazingly, the man is doing okay. the coast guard says that's likely because he had that life jacket and didn't have to tread water. swimmers in surfside, florida, are having to dodge what seems like a jellyfish invasion. huge swarms of them along the shore. a few beachgoers were treated for skin irritation. ocean currents are pulling the jellyfish to shore. and a homeless man being called a hero, mission bay, california. he saw a car kareen off air road and flip into a riverbed. he rushed to the car. he and two other men cut a woman out of her seat belt and pulled her to safety. >> heard this smash, seen a cloud of dust, went down there and cut the woman of there and pulled her out of the car. i didn't think she was alive when i first got up there. she started moving and moaning. >> good for you. another major credit agency rates the u.s. government. find out what fitch has to say about the world's largest economy. and what happens when the world's largest retailer raises prices? 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>> well, there's a little good, little bad. for sales here in the u.s., stores open at least a year, sales are down for the ninth straight quarter. we like to look at walmart, it's a good indicator of how the u.s. economy is doing in terms of consumer spending. with the latest earnings report with walmart, it looked like walmart could lose its edge. there's concern the company has lost its reputation for always having the lowest prices. in fact, you're seeing the recent survey results on the screen, 86% of walmart shoppers no longer think walmart offers the lowest prices. of course if people believe it, they'll shop elsewhere. we're seeing proof of that because a lot of shoppers are going to dollar stores and spending their money. wall street is reacting positively, walmart shares are up about 4%, looking at the nugget saying that sales at sam's clubs and overseas walmart stores did pretty well so that is keeping the stock at least elevated today. >> alison, thanks. we'll stick with you throughout this trading day. here is a look at today's "choose the news" stories. this is where you text 22360 to vote for the news story you want us to tell you about. first, a condolence letter from a very unlikely source, a pakistan military pilot who shot down an indian plane 46 years ago is trying to make amends. second, a tattoo that could change the face of medicine. it it can monitor your heart and brain activity and possibly save your life. the third possibility, a home for a whopping $160 million. that's all. we'll take you inside one of the most exclusive homes in london, if you vote for it. you can vote by texting 22360, 1 for condolence letter to india, 2 for the electronic tattoos or 3 for a look inside that luxury home. the winning story airs next hour. right now, though, a look at severe weather. check out derby, connecticut. looks like there's a river running right through it. just a mess of flooded backyards and ruined basements. cnn meteorologist rob marciano joins us live. rob, any news on when it will dry out up there? >> little today, more so tomorrow, then a bit more rain. the problem is here, a lot of these spots got two months' worth of rain in one day, hemp p stead, long island, saw a tremendous amount of rainfall, backed yards, driveways, secondary streets flooded. also down in baltimore, they had problems, the baltimore d.c. parkway seeing some issues, amtrak shut down for a time. and this is from the rainfall from yesterday morning, doesn't include what happened the day before that. and a sinkhole from sunday's rain in staten island, concord, staten island. there's the sinkhole because the water around the sewer pipes was leaking, causing problems there. all sorts of issues with the rainfall that's been around the northeast. these are the latest totals just from sunday to monday, jfk, 7.8 inches of rainfall, laguardia -- remember, august gets about 3.6 for the whole month. there you go, two months' worth of rain in just one day. what are we seeing now? little bit of rotation around the back side of this low that's been very slow to move out. philly to d.c. and points further south, we're really starting to see a little bit in the way of some drying. how long will that last? that's a good question. here is our computer model showing the last bit of moisture that's going to be wrung out of the clouds today, tomorrow looks dry. then we've got more rain coming in tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. so that's the issue there. shouldn't be a tremendous amount of rain, but certainly is causing some travel day delays. want to talk about one other thing, the threat for severe weather across the northern plains, down across the south will continue to be hot across texas and tropical storm gert did not become a hurricane so that's a record. since we've been naming storms we've never getting through the g storm without a hurricane. so it's been a very active year, but they've been weak storms that haven't lasted long. we're watching this head into the eastern caribbean. it has the potential to form a tropical storm. it has us a bit on edge. we'll monitor it. >> we've been doing pretty good. >> yes. last few years actually. >> thanks, rob. teachers who feel pressure to cheat. a problem that extends way beyond just atlanta, and mostly hurts the kids. so what's the solution? we're going to find out from this guy, ron clooshg from the successful ron clark academy. 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[ female announcer ] yoplait greek. it is so good. oh, and there's a smile. it is so good. at exxon and mobil, we engineer smart gasoline that works at the molecular level to help your engine run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. the eagle flies at dawn. the monkey eats custard. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor. so, you've been double crossed by other travel sites and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% i'm in i know the lady in leather travels on three wheels. wait, is that code? that's my secret weapon... ...naomi pryce see winning hotel bids now at priceline. here's what we're working on, some of the stories for later on this hour. up next, the cheating scandal that changed the school smt. we'll look for answers and solutions from the founder of one of atlanta's premier academies. tles a new texan trying to take washington. he sounds a lot like the other guy who did it. 11:45, you better turn that smile upside down. a study trying to prove that nice guys remain at the bottom of the pay scale. students in philadelphia goe back to school in three weeks but they may not have enough teexers. >> i have never seen this many vacancies this late in the summer. >> the district has 1300 unfilled teaching positions and they're statered across almost every school. thousands of children don't have an assigned teacher just yet, the result of a 6$650 million budget gap that led to major teacher layoffs in june. officials say they're hiring back some of those teachers and holding interviews for others. now to teachers and principals who cheat. the problem may not be limited to just atlanta's school system, if you've been reading about that. check this map. schools in pennsylvania, new jersey, washington, los angeles, and detroit under investigation for doctoring student answers on these standardized tests. the "usa today" investigation found widespread test result irregularities in several more states including florida, ohio and arizona. so the question is, why is this cheating happening and what can be done to fix our schools? joining me is ron clark, founder of ron clark academy here in atlanta. ron was named disney's american teacher of the year in 2000. his nonprofit academy is visited by educators all over the world to learn how it to do things right. >> exactly. >> let's talk about why things are going so wrong and why teachers and administrators feel the pressure to change these test scores and basically cheat. >> sure. in our country we have a culture where we're really pushing test scores and telling teachers, teach to the test, get these kids to get high test scores. we've narrowed the curriculum. no longer do we have art and music and science and social studies are minimal. they're out of the classroom so we can focus teaching to a test. teachers are telling kids, pay attention. we're not creating lifelong learn hes, just for kids to test well. we're doing a big disservice to all of our student. >> tis the problem the national push for a national standardized test and removing the education frommed local systems? >> i don't think that's the problem, whether it's national or local. the problem is putting too much emphasis on testing and test scores. if we're teaching kids just to pay attention to take a test, we're not getting them to really love to learn. what we call molasses classes, we say, these are classes where teachers are sitting at the desk, students are bored. there's no passion. at the ron clark acadekd we wan to come up with 101 ways parents and teachers can get their kids excited about learning so it's not just preparing for a test. >> let me ask you, if you're a parent, you want your kid to get the best education possible, hopefully. maybe not all parents want that. hopefully. a lot of the parents feel helpless. they live in a school system that stinks. they don't have the economic ability to move out or to move their kids to a private school. how can they get involved or do something extracurricular that will make their child a better student, a better human? >> first of all, they need to not only rely on the school, they need to find ways to help their kid themselves. in the morning, you want to remain positive and not chaotic. because if you're full of drama in the morning, running around with your kid, almost late for school, you drop him off, you're, like, whew, but when he's in my classroom, he's diskcombobulate discombobulated. when you work with your kid at night on homework, don't get frustrated. if you are, your kid will be. then, if you got a bad teacher, a teacher you don't really like, what you can do is still support the teacher and deent talk negatively in the home about her. if you don't respect the teacher, the kid won't and that will lead to more problems. we listed all these ways in the end of molasses classes so parents who may not know what to do and can't reach their kids, they can use these tips to help their kid be successful even if the child is in a bad situation. >> and behind it all, i think the message is, get involved. >> yes. >> with your kids' education. you can't just dump them at school and expect them to come home educated. >> xpaktly. the book is about parents and teachers working together. i tell teachers, this goes both ways u. need to respect the parent and realize that child is the most important individual in the life of this parent. you really need to respect them. one easy way we mention in the book is just learn their name. you can't assume because you teach chad jones that his mother is mrs. jones. she may be mrs. smith. he she may not like mr. jones anymore. respect the parents and know their names. it works both ways. parents respect the teachers. one of my pet peeves is when i take a kid to a parent and i say, he did this and this. and the mom will look at the kid and say, is that true? i just told you it's true. trust the teacher. support the teacher. then we'll have a successful relationship. >> ron, thank you so much. the name of the book, "the end of molasses classes". >> the proceeds go to support our academy, ron clark academy, we invite anyone to come visit and see how we're teaching kids to be successful. childhood obesity is the number one health concern for children in this country. nearly a third are overweight or obese. a school in illinois making a name for themselveses by take being the fight against fat further than just cafetericafet. >> reporter: drew, if you can get to age 50 they say without any risk factors for heart disease, you have virtually zero chance of ever having a heart attack. that's the good news. but trouble starts early. it's shocking. in one in five kids these days isn't just overweight but obese. there are best practices out there, things really working. we found a school in illinois where they're doing everything they can to try to turn that number around. northeast elementary school in danville, illinois. the kids here eat healthy foods. >> we had chicken sandwich and apples. >> yogurt. >> fruit and juice. >> reporter: when she got hired, the school board told principal mcintyre, make health a priority. >> we had lots of fry ied food,e had a lot of processed food. now nothing is fried. we have to have fish several times a month. we have fresh fruit and vegetables at every lunch. >> reporter: and there are also 30-minute phys ed classes every single day. kids take yoga breaks during class. and the annual fund raising event that used to be a bake sale is now a one-mile walk. all of these choongs made northeast the first lltelementa school to win a gold award for the alliance for a healthier generation. the changes at school are changing habits at home as well. >> they're going home and talking to their parents about the new things that it they have tried and tasted at school and encouraging their parents to 0 buy it at home. >> because you said these students are sort of a mirror of the community at large. >> they are. and word has gotten out that this is what we have to offer here and parents have come to us wanting that for their children. >> reporter: heart disease is america's number one killer, and the risks? they start right here with children. northeast elementary is one of a growing number of schools fighting back and pointing the way toward a healthier future. drew, i want to add something else as well. when we talked for this documentary "the last heart attack," mr. clinton was very candid about his history of heart disease, how his doctors missed it when he was in the white house despite executive level health care and more importantly how he's completely reversed his heart problems now. there's a lesson in there for everyone, i think, drew. back to you. >> thanks, sanjay. don't forget tune in this weekend, sanjay will report on "the last heart attack," this sunday night 8:00 eastern. sanjay will talk to doctors on the cutting edge of heart disease prevention including a former surgeon who created a radical diet who can make anyone heart attack proof in one month of. a reminder to vote for today's "choose the news" winner. text to vote for the story you want to see. here are the choices, 1 for the pakistan war vet sending a condolence letter 46 years after shooting down an enemy aircraft, one man expressing sorrow to the pilot's daughter. text 2 for a different kind of tattoo, electronic one that can monitor your heart, brain activity and more. or text number 3 for the luxury home sale in london. got to see the kitchen in this $160 million mansion. the winning story airs next hour. text 22360. ordinary rubs don't always work on my arthritis. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. punch line time now. the best of late night tv. texas governor rick perry has hit the ground running. every day we're learning more details about the candidate, conan o'brien even doing some investigative work. >> governor rick perry has entered the race. i've got some facts for you. it's being reported that in his early days in the texas state legislature rick perry used to wear his jeans so tight that his nickname -- and i'm not making this up -- was "crotch." ladies and gentlemen, i don't know about you, but item number 77 on my bucket list is a president of the united states named "crotch." wouldn't that be amazing? >> our jeanne moos is doing her own digging on the newist white house hopeful and taking a look at the comparisons being made between perry and another touchy feely guy with a texas twang. >> reporter: he came toting a corn dog and more, with his leg on a bale of hay, spouting y'alls. >> y'all. >> reporter: we're thinking that texas talk sounds mighty familiar. >> i told him, dadgummit. >> reporter: some critics are saying rick perry is the mirror-image of another famous texas politician. the "new york daily news" even concocted a photo illustration showing perry looking into the mirror and george w. bush squinting back out. the column called "perry w. 2" with much better hair, hair by the way that's looked pretty much the same since his days of the corps of cadets at texas a & m. in his first presidential campaign video -- >> he wore the uniform of our country. >> reporter: -- he sure reminds us of president bush. but perry dismisses similarities saying -- >> we're not all carbon copies in texas. >> reporter: no less than what president clinton said of perry. >> he's a good-looking rascal. >> reporter: when he was asked if he's armed today, he declined to say adding, that's why it's called concealed. he sure doesn't conceal his touchy feely side. in a typical encounter, he put his arm around an iowa voter, then proceeded to pat, then slap and squeeze her before giving a final good-bye tap. he loves s to tossle the hair kids. even a cnn producer got the cheek treatment. >> governor, what are your thoughts about what appears to be -- >> back in the pen. >> reporter: and the photographer got a leg pat. perry's got that down-home charm that you know who had. remember all that winking? president bush even winked at queen elizabeth. well, don't blink or you'll miss rick perry's wink. and guess how perry pronounces this -- >> i am a supporter of nucular energy. >> reporter: they both support nucular pronus yaigs and rick perry even winks while he drinks. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. today's "talk back" question, is warren buffett's tax compromise good or is it just politics? does it matter if it's politics or not? the truth is the truth. more of your responses ahead. i know you're gonna love. 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story you want to see. 1 is a condolence letter to india from a fighter pilot ordered to take down an enemy. he's seeking forgiveness. text 2 for electronic tattoos. this could actually keep you alive. text 3, luxury homes in london, the market is red hot in the central part of that city. just brace yourself for the price tag, though. wait until you see it, if you pick it. the winning story airs next hour. right now, though, you have been sounding off about our "talk back" question. carol costello joins us with your responses. >> drew, today's question is, is warren buffett's compromise good or just politics? he echos what majority of americans want and know must happen to move toward a balanced budget. lin says -- mr. buffet, while you're waiting for congress to fight over and then not enact a close of loopholes or raise in taxes for the mega rich, write a check. this from kevin -- warren buffett is on track. i embrace this idea 101%. this alone will not solve our problems, but it's a step toward the solution which we all know has to be multifassetted, including increasing revenue and a spending reduction. and this from daryl -- they should pay their fair share. the backs of the middle class have been carrying the load long enough. our backs are broken. keep the conversation flowing, facebook.com/carolcnn. >> carol, you're not mean, are you? >> no. i try to be very nice, although i really don't like your suit today. >> you don't like my suit. that could get you a raise, being mean to me. listen to this next study. men, carol, who rated themselves high on a scale of being agreeable, they earned about 18% less than guys who aren't so nice. that's $9,772 less annually than the mean guys. women who rated themselves as agreeable earned only 5% less than their meaner co-workers, about $1,800 a year less. that study, by the way, put together by folks at notre dame, cornell and the university of western ontario. you know what i'd like to find out, though? what percentage of those mean people eventually get fired? i mean, do they get fired more than nice people and does it all balance out in the end? >> and, you know, i mean, even if you have money, if you're mean and nasty and disagreeable, you have no friends, who cares, right? >> it's a lot of work to hate. >> i'm not a hater. i'm a lover. can i have a raise? >> i love it. >> carol, see you in a bit. we showed you these erie imagesed yesterday of former egyptian leader roz locked in the iron defendant's cage. the judge has since closed the courtroom to cameras but the trial still goes on. mubarak being tried for allegedly commanding his security force tos to fire on protesters. more than 840 people died before mubarak stepped down in the country's unprecedented revolution. we visited with the family of one of the victims of the uprising, a family that's still mourning and still fighting for justice. >> reporter: this holy month will go without celebration. ramadan arrived and i don't feel anything, nasr's mother tells me. then she is overtaken by grief. the sight of my son in front of me is worth the world to me, she says. they've deprived me of him. he is one of the egyptian revolution's victims. his family says he was heading to a protest on january 29th when violence erupted in their neighborhood. he was shot in the head. just 18 years old, he died four days later. the martyrs sacrificed their lives so that everyone could have justice, says his brother. we are the people who are suffering injustice the most right now. we're not able to get our rights. like so many victims' families in egypt, they brought a court case against those they allege are responsible for the death of their loved one. but they're frustrated at how slowly it has progressed. they want to see the culprits convicted and executed. they waited six months and say very little concrete action has been taken by the court. i'd like to speed up these procedures for the family, says an attorney for the family. i want them to feel comfortable. if these people felt comfortable and secure and believed that justice had been served, then the country would begin to mend. some feel the only way to expedite things is to combine their efforts. at this meeting attended by nasser's brother, family members of some of those killed during the revolution discuss ways to streamline the process. we felt that the lawyers were more concerned with getting us financial compensation, says mohammed. this is irrelevant to us. we want them convicted. the supreme council of the armed forces insists it is doing all it can to alleviate the suffering of these families, that among other things, funds have been set up to compensate and support them. but for many victims' relatives, that's simply not enough. even at a time when hosni mubarak, egypt's deposed president, is being publicly tried for corruption and conspiring to kill protesters, when the egyptian government is trying to convince its citizens that the crimes of the former regime will be punished, nasser's family and the families of many like them remain skeptical. it's very sad, he says, that my brother would die for justice yet i am not able to get justice for him. that's very sad for us. cnn, cairo. back here in the u.s., he worked on al gore's presidential campaign. now he's a conservative candidate for the republican nomination. we look at rick perry's tr transformation, ahead. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it 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of the best political team on television, live from the political desk in washington. joe, this has been kind of a lifelong conversion, right? >> well, yeah. he's the hottest new thing in the republican presidential race. seems like he's everywhere right now. there are people who think he's got the conservative credentials to have a big impact on the race, and in spite of all the back and forth about his record as texas governor and the way he mixes prayer and politics, there's one little nugget on his resume that opponents could have a lot of fun with. rick perry all the way back in 1988 was texas chairman for al gore's presidential campaign. that was the gore campaign that went nowhere, by the way. one year later, perry switched parties and now in all honesty, a lot of, you know, well-known politicians have actually switched parties, but al gore? perry says he became a republican when he came to his senses though he's already been called on the carpet for it by none other than presidential candidate ron paul. paul pointed out perry's connection to gore just last week and said even though it was 23 years ago, apparently he doesn't consider it ancient history. at the time paul said he was about to celebrate his 76th birthday and doesn't consider 23 years ago a lifetime. >> let's talk about ron paul. he's come out swinging strong, as you say, but there's a lot of people saying he did pretty well in this poll in iowa. why aren't we giving more attention to him, why isn't he becoming more of a player in this thing? >> well, i have to tell you, compared to the last time he ran, we've actually given him a lot of attention. ron paul now is sort of a household word, if you will, in presidential politics. now, he is going up with a television commercial in iowa and new hampshire that targets three of his rivals for the gop nomination, that ad titled "the one," it basically groups rick perry, mitt romney, michele bachmann and with, of all people, president obama. the paul campaign has confirmed to cnn that it's putting up six figures to run this spot. it's a 60-second long spot. it will go in new hampshire, which is of course the first primary state. they describe this buy they're going to do as well in iowa as substantial. the ad buy we're told is the second one for the paul campaign and the first one since that big showing in the ames straw poll. >> joe, thanks a lot for that and for the latest political news, you know where to go. an affair derailed his marriage and this guy's political career. former south carolina governor marc sanford is talking about the fallout from his indiscretion and what comes next. in his first live interview since the scandal, he told cnn's piers morgan he and the woman he had the affair with are still together. he looked back at his past mistakes and ahead toward the future. >> do you feel great regret or is that the wrong emotion? >> well, i think that -- i mean, anybody who has been married doesn't start out the beginning thinking boy, i hope i some day get divorced. i hope that some day, the train comes off the track. so there's got to be regret. there's something sacred about a family unit, about boys, i have four boys, you have some boys, and anything that brings harm to your boys, you have genuine regret about. >> others saying is this part of a comeback. you must be tempted to have another go at this. >> no. you know, my go is that i want to begin the process of speaking out on things that i've cared about for 20 years. that doesn't mean candidacy. it means at some level having a voice, however muted it might have been, on the direction of this country because i think we are at a gut check moment in terms of what comes next. top of the hour now. let's get you up to speed with what's happening. president obama looks for new jobs in iowa, opening a rural economic forum later this hour. the president will sit down with farmers and small business owners for the afternoon to look at ways to create jobs in rural communities. the president's bus tour wrapping up tomorrow with stops in his home state of illinois. a three day dow rally fizzled today so far but investors are cutting their losses as the trading day goes on. blue chip stocks are off about 33 points. stocks turned negative even though fitch, one of the big three credit agencies, affirmed the u.s. government's aaa rating today. that's a sharp contrast to this month's downgrade by standard & poor's. a federal judge in louisville, kentucky today ordered this guy, australian man, held until extradition. his name is paul douglas peters. he is accused of strapping a fake collar bomb around a teenager's neck and then leaving a note demanding money. that happened in australia. 18-year-old madeline pulver believed that bomb was the real thing. it took australian police ten hours to get it off of her. her father is a wealthy internet executive in sydney. >> on behalf of the entire family, we are enormously relieved that an arrest has been made in the united states overnight. these past two weeks have been a very difficult time for us and we are hopeful that this development marks the beginning of the end of this traumatic ordeal for our family. >> the fbi arrested peters at his ex-wife's house in louisville, kentucky in the suburbs there. that's why he was there. but they don't think that ex-wife was involved in this. a serious appeal for help from london police. they released this video today. it's a car running down two police officers. those officers were chasing looters during the riots last week. police hope the video gets some witness to come forward, tell them who did this. both officers are recovering. police say they are treating this as attempted murder. showing you this for a couple days now. investigators are now looking at the wreckage of the weekend stage collapse for possible structural flaws. the company that set up the stage is also doing its own investigation. five people died when that thing toppled at the state fair saturday night. family members say they want answers. listen to the mother of the stage hand, one of those killed. >> just hurt. i feel hurt because of everything that happened, for nathan and all the people that was hurt. >> malfunctioning equipment sends a surge of chlorine to a kids' wave pool at a sacramento, california water park. 20 people had to go to the hospital. they had burning eyes, some were throwing up and they had trouble breathing. most of the victims were kids and their parents. people across the new york area are getting a day to dry out and clean up. record rain over the weekend sent flash floods into streets and homes, communities in long island reported almost a foot of rain. that's more than the area gets on an average for the entire month of august. more details now on the court hearing for the suspect in that elaborate bomb scare in australia. paul douglas peters is the guy's name, accused of strapping what was thought to be a bomb around the neck of a teenaged girl in a wealthy sydney suburb. the young girl spent ten terrifying hours attached to the device, which turned out to be a fake. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti joins us on the phone from louisville, kentucky. what happened in court today? >> reporter: well, this was an appearance, first court appearance only, for this man who is being held now on a provisional arrest of a warrant from australia. he appeared before a u.s. magistrate and it was a pretty perfunctory appearance. he was dressed in khaki shorts and an oxford shirt and he had nothing to say in court other than to hear this provisional complaint. basically, it was about saying australia wants us to hold on to you, the u.s. martials will do that until his next court appearance in 60 days which gives australia plenty of time to formally ask for his extradition back to australia to face these kidnapping and extortion charges. >> what i find so interesting about this case is where he was found in louisville, kentucky, 9,000 miles away from australia. any insight as to how they tracked him down, how they found him there in kentucky? >> reporter: yes, this is really intriguing. this is all from the complaint of the provisional arrest warrant. amazing how they tracked him down. after this incident happened, they traced from a note that he left behind, the note that was attached to the fake bomb, an e-mail address so they researched the e-mail address, the australian authorities did, tracked that to some internet cafes in a library and in turn, looked for who had used the library at this time, caught a man on surveillance tapes, saw that he had been to a liquor store, then saw the car that he was driving, traced the car and the driver's license to get a picture and a possible name, then found that he had traveled to kentucky, where they then traced him to his ex-wife's house. so that was quite a series of events that led him there just yesterday. >> wow. good police work, too. is there a connection between this guy and the family of the teen? how did he know that they were rich and the teen would be there? anything like that? >> reporter: well, you know, there are some tenuous connections the australians are pulling up. for example, the father of the young girl who was the alleged victim in this case and mr. peters, these two gentlemen were both in the financial, worked in the financial world. mr. peters, an investment banker, according to his lawyer. they both did work in asia. they both have daughters. and so they are trying to take it from there to see whether there is some other way in which their paths crossed. >> susan candiotti, that sounds like a good one to cover. we'll certainly look for more details both later in the day and i'm sure you'll be filing on dot-com as well. thanks, susan, near louisville, kentucky. here's your chance to talk back on the big stories of the day. today's question is warren buffett's tax compromise, you know where he wants billionaires like himself to pay more taxes, good policy or is it just politics? carol costello joins us from new york. >> yeah, the question today is warren buffett's tax compromise, is it good or plain old politics? now that we have had a day to digest his plea to tax me more, it's time to ask that question. as far as republicans are concerned, he's a shill for president obama. buffett begs to differ. he is offering an alternative. instead of raising taxes on americans making $250,000 and up, he told charlie rose, raise taxes on the very, very rich. >> we're also in the process undertaxing the very rich. what i propose incidentally would not touch the taxes of 99.7%. i'm talking about three-tenths of 1% of the american public. the people from $1 million on up i think should be asked to share in a little of the sacrifice that we're all being asked to share in. >> president obama embraced the idea. republicans did not. senator john cornyn tweeted for tax raising advocates like warren buffett i'm sure treasury would take a voluntary payment for deficit reduction as in hey, mr. buffett, just send the u.s. treasury a check. conservative blogs fired back, too. the red dog report said everybody knows that if tax hikes on the rich fails to solve our economic crisis, which we know they will not, then team obama can go back and ask for more. opening the door to a big tax hike on america's middle class. never mind polls show most americans favor taxing the rich more and many economists say spending cuts alone won't solve our debt woes. so the talk-back question today, is warren buffett's tax compromise good or is it just politics? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> thanks, carol. look forward to it. here's a rundown on some of the stories we're covering over the next hour. first, he just got in the ring and is already throwing punches. tough talk from texas' rick perry aimed at the federal reserve. plus, where do you go to find work? we're counting down the cities with the highest ten-year job spurt. then sex offenders on the internet, the aclu goes after a louisiana law that's aimed at keeping offenders off the web. plus, the guys in lab coats responsible for many of the high tech things we use today. we will take you inside an agency called darpa and too much television could kill you. our senior medical correspondent warning you why you need to get off the couch. 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. texas governor rick perry threw his hat in the ring for the presidency less than a week ago but the newest republican candidate sparking controversy already by calling out fed chair ben bernanke texas-style. >> printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous, in my opinion. >> lot of people making a lot of hay about those words, fighting words, they're telling us. alex, what do you think, really? is that tough a talk? >> well, i'll tell you, when you think your country's going over the edge of a cliff, when you think it's in decline because washington is spending us into bankruptcy, it's a drastic situation so you see political figures using drastic language. >> you think that kind of language, though, is going to get him in any kind of hot water or kind of paint the picture, you're a republican strategist. is he going to paint himself into the tough texas cowboy kind of thing that plagues so many other republican candidates? >> well, perry has always been known as a tough campaigner. when he goes on the attack, it's like a bear trap. you have to chew your leg off to get out of it. so that's just his style. but that may not help him in a general election when he has to win the philadelphia suburbs or the soccer mom vote in ohio, but in a republican primary, it can be pretty effective talk. >> all right. i want to play another piece of video for you. this was the president yesterday. he wanted to go out, meet and greet the real folks, and he met some real folks, some tea party members who had some, well, not so kind comments for him to say -- to listen to. let's take a listen. >> when you're talking about [ inaudible ] how is your vice president calling us terrorists? i would like to understand that. >> he did not call you guys terrorists. >> he said we were acting like terrorists, hostage takers. >> what he said was for us to be able to take the economy to the brink was irresponsible. >> the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are promises we can keep and there are various ways of doing that. one is we could raise taxes on people. >> corporations! corporations! >> corporations are people, my friends. >> no, they're not. >> of course they are. everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. where do you think it goes? >> it goes in their pocket! aren't you paying attention to what's going on? >> we had a couple of segments there, but i mean, if these candidates and the president really wanted to meet the people, they are meeting the people, kind of these unscripted sessions. are these good or bad for candidates or the president to have all the rest of us view? >> well, we have a lot of evidence now why it's easier to lose campaigns than to win them. more people do lose them than win. we're now in the youtube age where every little slip, every imperfection becomes viral and travels around the country. so these moments, these moments can trip up a campaign. they change the agenda. the important thing about these moments is do they tell us something about the candidate, are they a little window into something bigger and more important and more relevant to us. is he really a big business republican, mitt romney, that doesn't care about people. is perry too extreme. is barack obama a weak leader who really can't, you know, look you straight in the eye and tell you what happened. that's what you look for in these moments. are they bigger than the moment themselves. >> yeah. but you know what, behind it all, especially the one with the president, the exchange with the president, i thought man, what a great country this is that people can just go out there and really point some hard questions right at the guy who is leading the country with no ramifications, nobody's getting thrown in jail here. i just thought it was a great political moment, actually, for the country in general. >> you know, drew, i was just at the iowa straw poll and had exactly the same feeling. i saw families there coming from all over iowa who had scrimped and saved to make the trip. why? because they're concerned about their country, concerned it's in decline, and they live in a country where they can get up and go do something about it, where they can voice their concern and try to change the country's course. democrat or republican, you got to be encouraged about this. that's why i think for democrats or republicans, this process is so important. >> if you do know anything about alex, you know he was born in a country where you can't do that, right? >> yeah. most of the world, you can't do this. you can here. >> thanks a lot, alex. born in cuba. thank you, sir. cnn's wolf blitzer takes you along on the president's midwestern bus tour. wolf will go one-on-one with the president in an interview slated for this afternoon. what are his plans to turn the economy around? can he convince voters in key states? wolf blitzer's interview with president obama is today at 5:00 eastern in "the situation room." as president obama travels through the midwest to talk about jobs, cnn found out where the jobs actually are. cnn money's poppy harlow joins me from new york. we keep hearing how bad the job market is but you found ten cities where there's pretty good job growth. what are they? >> you know what, it's not surprising a lot of these aren't in places like texas where the recession hasn't hit as hard on housing or jobs. let's take a look at the first five, then i'll go through some of them. you can see all of them on cnn money. number one on the list is rockwall county, texas. over the last decade, they have seen job growth of 97.9%. next on the list, loudoun county, virginia, williamson county, texas, douglas county, colorado, hamilton county, indiana. first, rockwall county, texas. this is the smallest county in texas but has almost doubled the number of jobs in the last decade. they have lured in businesses, that means a lot of jobs. they have brought in some folks from nearby cities and they do that largely because they have major incentives for businesses to put people to work. as a result, their population has doubled in the last decade. lot of tech jobs there. let's go to loudoun county, virginia, number two on the list. they have been dubbed the silicon valley of the east. they have a lot of tech jobs there as well, tech jobs not necessarily hit as hard in this downturn. they have also got one of the nation's highest concentrations of individual smaller tech firms. williamson county, texas, once again in texas, no surprise here, a lot of it has to do with education. 40% of residents have a college degree, 70% of those residents have some sort of post-secondary education and when we look at the unemployment numbers, what we see is that people that have college degrees have a much lower unemployment rate than those that don't. >> two of the top five in texas. that's already playing out on the campaign trail. what are some of the other towns? >> it certainly is playing out on the campaign trail. let's pull up the others so you can see what we're looking at. delaware county, ohio, almost 50% job growth there over the last decade. desoto county, mississippi, utah county, utah, ascension parish, louisiana, good to see manufacturing jobs coming back there along the mississippi. then campbell county, wyoming. i thought this was interesting. this is a place where you've got big coal, big oil and natural gas producers creating a lot of jobs. say what you will about those jobs, they are very controversial, but mining in that community accounts for one-third of the jobs. so as we see energy prices go up, the flipside of that is energy jobs. as you saw, texas doing incredibly well. tech jobs doing well, too. we've got actually 25 counties where we have seen the most job growth in the last decade. >> thanks a lot. appreciate it. would you consider yourself a couch potato? you could be losing years off your life. if you're doing what this guy's doing. ask me what it's like... when my tempur-pedic moves... ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america... ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. these are real tempur-advanced ergo owners! find one for yourself. check out twitter. try your friends on facebook... see what they have to say...unedited. it goes up... ask me what it's like to get a massage ---any time you want. ...it goes down... ergo...nomics... ergo...nomics... tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. (in chinese) ask me why i never want to leave my ergo. ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait 'till i was too old to enjoy this. start asking real owners. ask me how to make your first move... find out more about the tempur advanced ergo system! call the number on your screen for your free dvd and information kit. to find an authorized dealer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. still time to vote for these choose the news stories. 22360 is what you text to vote for these. the first, press 1, a condolence letter from an unlikely source. a pakistan military pilot who shot down an indian plane 46 years ago. he's trying to make amends for this. second, a tattoo, it could change the face of medicine. it can monitor your heart, brain activity, possibly save your life. or number 3, a home for $160 million. we will take you inside this exclusive home in london, if you vote. 22360. 1 for condolence letter, 2 for tattoo or 3 for that luxury home. we'll have the winning story later on in this hour. did you know that being a couch potato could shorten your life? a new study says watching an average of six hours a day of tv knocks five years off your life expectancy. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here to explain. that's a lot of tv. >> it is a lot of tv. it is a lot of tv. so those people were really, you know, going to town there. but there's also a statistic that shows that even if you're watching less tv, it makes a difference. if you're watching, if you're over the age of 25, every hour of tv that you watch, will shorten your life by about 22 minutes. >> this is watching tv doing nothing. essentially doing nothing. >> exactly. you're not running around vacuuming or doing housework or anything. you're just sitting there. this really isn't about television. i feel compelled to point that out since we are on television. this isn't really about television. this is just about sedentary lifestyle. if you're sitting around that much, you're not exercising. >> a lot of people do not do much of any exercising and maybe think they don't know how to get started. >> you know what, i think what is to blame for that to a large extent is sort of all of these you see advertisements for gyms and you see people doing all these fancy kinds of exercises, it's like just walk, just get out of the house, walk to the end of your block and come back. if you're doing nothing, start with five minutes. start with five minutes. that is way better than what you're doing right now. it doesn't have to be fancy. you don't have to buy special clothing or equipment. just get out there for a few minutes. >> according to the researchers, the study, the stuff you have been studying, how much or little exercise does it take to really improve your life? >> there is actually a study out this week from the lancet that shows that people that exercise 15 minutes a day live three years longer than people who didn't do anything. so even just 15 minutes a day makes a difference. to a lot of people who live in cities, they do this already because they walk to the subway and walk back, and that in and of itself makes a difference to your cardiovascular system, to other parts of your body. >> not only live longer, live better. >> right. exactly. so even if -- i'm a little afraid people will hear this and say i like being a couch potato so i live to 70 instead of 75, who cares. but think about your quality of life. that stroke you had may not kill you but it may turn you into a vegetable and your family will have to take care of you. if you exercise not just to live longer but so that you won't be a burden to your family later. >> thanks a lot. everybody get up, start moving around, exercise, keep watching us, though, okay? thanks a lot. you love facebook, right? do you have a constitutional right to these social sites? one state says no. louisiana is that state. it's banning sex offenders from facebook to protect children but some say hey, can't do that. we'll look at both sides of what's turning into a hot debate. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before. what, did you invent this or something? well, my team did. i'm dr. eric first, from bayer. wow. look. it has microparticles. it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of pain. better? great! thanks. 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[ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. here's a rundown of the stories we're working on. keeping convicted sex offenders off the internet. there's a law to limit their web exposure but it's under challenge by the aclu. then, the world would be a lot darker without darpa. we go inside the agency with a small budget, behind some of the biggest high tech innovations on earth. later, ford drives up into the electric car market. first, a law to limit sex offenders access to the internet comes under legal challenge in louisiana. the aclu filed suit to block the law, arguing it's too broad, infringes on constitutional rights. supporters say the law is aimed at keeping sex offenders convicted of crimes involving children from trolling for victims on social media sites. state representative is the author of the law and joins us from baton rouge. why did you write this law? what was the need? >> well, with the increase of technology and the increase of the use of many of our children are utilizing the internet on a daily routine, i saw that this law was basically inevitable. it was time for us to make sure that we protect these particular sex offenders from how much contact they have with our children, not just physically or near their schools but also on the internet. so i found that at this time, it was important that we implement some legislation to prevent these individuals from accessing these social sites. >> it looks like it will be tested in court and there may be a big constitutional question of whether louisiana can actually do this or not. but on a very specific level, i want to ask you, how can you keep people off the internet? how is the state of louisiana actually going to police this? >> well, i have met with some law enforcement officials and they are very confident that they will be able to actually monitor this and actually be able to take action on these individuals. >> how? >> the key is, though, many -- well, many of the social sites currently prohibit these sex offenders from accessing their site, that's their policy. but there's no -- if there's no legislation in place, there's no way to enforce it. currently in louisiana, the only laws that we have was in the event that the offender was attempting to solicit a minor by meeting them somewhere and what we're basically saying is we don't want you to even have communication with them. so we're going to make it a crime just as all of our laws are, many of our laws, we have crimes in place, you can't catch maybe every person but when you do catch them, then now you can actually prosecute them under a crime. >> i've just seen other attempts at trying to limit media -- not media access, but internet access, and you know, you can borrow somebody else's device, you can go to libraries these days, you can just access other people's accounts. i'm wondering if you have thought this through as to whether or not there is going to be an effective way to stop them. >> well, we have thought it through and again, like i said, there are methods in place by some of our law enforcement officials here in the state of louisiana. we have also considered, you know, some of the things that you're saying but in addition to that, you have to keep in mind that it's just important if this even prevents one individual from coming in contact with a child, we don't want to have our internet in the state of louisiana as a place where you can actually lure more victims such as our children that are very innocent and many of them are now setting up profiles at ages such as 6 years old, they have profiles on facebook. i'll tell you something that was very interesting to me was that i went to the registered sex offenders site in louisiana, some of our registered sex offenders, and i actually went to some of these social sites and these individuals were using their own name on these social sites. so i was able to finger some people that were using their name. they weren't using alias names. so that concerns me, that these individuals think that it's okay for them to be on a site that already tells them that they have a policy against sex offenders being on that site. basically the message we want to send is that if you're going to do this, you're not going to do it in the state of louisiana. >> i think you would agree with me, all the more reason parents should be monitoring with their kids are doing on these internet sites. you said 6 years old having facebook. that's incredible to me. >> you know, i do agree with you. i am a parent and i will tell you, many parents, i know a lot of responsible parents have things in place like to monitor where their children visit on sites but again, the child isn't the criminal. they're not the one that is, you know, shouldn't have the opportunity to maybe join groups with their families or things like that on facebook or myspace, but i do think that it's important that we limit the individuals that have contact with them and again, with these cell phones and other devices, where they are able to also access the internet, sometimes even a good parent might not be able to find out exactly which sex offender is talking to their child. >> scary stuff. thank you so much. we'll follow this law, see whether it holds up to the aclu lawsuit. thanks for joining us. living in a world without the internet, without gps, prosthetic limbs. one agency is behind many of these remarkable innovations that we take for granted. now they are taking flying to a whole new level. i will talk to a technology analyst about darpa. ♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. 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[ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. i don't know if you remember this from last week. an agency funded by the department of defense attempting what we thought was impossible. launching an unmanned aircraft from a rocket flying 20 times the speed of sound, and then controlling it long distance. they called it hypersonic test vehicle 2. meteorologist chad myers joining me on this one. it didn't quite go well. >> it didn't go the way they thought but i love this agency. it's called darpa. you probably never heard of it. d-a-r-p-a. go look it up. they're fantastic. here's their motto although it's not official. if you're not falling down skiing, you're not learning anything. you're just going along. hey, no big deal. if you're not on the edge, you're just taking up too much space. these guys are on the edge. think about this. 25 years ago, somebody walks up to a guy and says i want you to make me an airplane that our enemies can't see on radar. you're going to go what? radar can always see an airplane, they are made of metal. we have stealth fighters, we have the internet, things that darpa, this entire agency, has made. now, there was a lot of criticism because it didn't work. people were saying hey, how much did this failure cost us, right? we're all in budget deficits, do we really need to be spending this, but these guys are on the edge of some very fantastic things and they have changed our life from gps to other things, and their budget is not very much. >> let's show you what else they have invented. they are responsible for these things in our lives. gps systems, prosthetic limbs, the internet, and a lot of these other things we take for granted. let's bring in technology analyst michael belfure live from woodstock, new york, author of "the department of mad scientists." how darpa is remaking the world. michael, what's next for this style of travel? are we really going to get on this some day? >> we are going to get on it. it might take awhile, though. in 1986, ronald reagan announced that we were going to have an airplane that could take off from dulles airport, fly to tokyo in a couple of hours. they have been working on this problem ever since. >> these guys are only $3 billion into our pocket every year but they have made some amazing inventions, some discoveries that we can't even put our hands around and we only know about 50% of the stuff they did because they won't tell us about the rest. what do you know that we don't know that these guys are doing? >> well, i know they are a great american success story, a lot of people don't know that. it's precisely because they have permission to fail. the current director of darpa says that the same nerve that's required to do something extraordinary and succeed is the same nerve that's required to follow through and fall flat on your face if you have to. i think we need more of that going on right now. >> in terms of we're in a time of budget cuts, always looking for things to cut, these guys might be in the wrong department because department of defense looks like it's going to get hit. but really, these guys have paid us back and doing stuff that private companies won't do precisely because what you just said, they are destined to fail. that is what they are actually going out to see if they can do. >> right. they are only one half of 1% of the dod budget. one half of 1%. go ahead, michael. >> it's a very small investment in our future. it's an investment that most businesses can't make. a business that said 25 years ago hey, we'll fly from dulles to tokyo in two hours would be long gone by now. but a government agency like this who has permission to pursue these high risk, potentially high payoff projects can succeed in the long run. >> this thing failed, we know, we know it spun out of control, lost whatever telemetry. what did they learn from the failure? >> well, they learned what not to do, hopefully. they've got to go back and analyze. they have nine minutes of flight data which is approximately six minutes longer than they had before. they did a test last year that went for three and a half minutes at hypersonic speed. inch by inch, little by little, collect more data, find out how to control this vehicle, find out how to control this vehicle through that supersonic or hypersonic, actually, five times the speed of sound and above flight regime, then push the envelope as far as we possibly can. >> michael, appreciate that. chad, thank you so much. >> kind of like my 6-year-old when he learns how not to do something because it didn't work the first time. it's like learning by failure's not a bad thing. >> some guys also have a problem not learning from their failures. >> that's another problem. >> thank you so much. some of the first automobiles on the road in this country were ford's. now that company is leading the way in electric vehicles. will people actually buy into this new technology? we'll take a look at a solar powered sedan that might be in your price range. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. after years of predictions and promises, electric cars finally going mainstream, we're told. ford set to release its first fully electric sedan later in the year, and for buyers willing to shell out some more bucks, you could take the extra step of using solar power to actually get that car on the road. cnn's silicon valley correspondent dan simon joins us live. i don't know where you are, dan. where are you? >> reporter: we are at sun power, one of the leading solar power companies in the country, and this is where they actually manufacture those panels that go on top of, you know, businesses and homes. you can see right here, they're putting one of them together right in front of me here on this line. now, sun power and ford have teamed up here to do something pretty unique. ford is coming out with a new electric car, the focus electric, later in the year, and the two companies asked the question what if you could run that car entirely using solar power. we're not talking about taking one of these panels and putting it on the top of the car. what this would be is they would actually install a system in your home and it would be designed to fuel up your car using solar power, and you could run the car for 1,000 miles a month, again, entirely on solar. this would be a way of going entirely green. i talked to officials from both companies. take a look. has anything like this ever been tried before? >> no. the idea of mainstream top five auto company working with a solar company, it was crazy five years ago. this is ground-breaking. i think it demonstrates that solaris going mainstream. >> what we found is that customers that are looking to purchase this vehicle are also likely to be interested in renewables such as solar. we partnered with sun power to design a system that is essentially sized for the focus electric. >> reporter: now, there is a catch for all this. it will cost you. if you want to get one of these systems, first of all, you got to buy the car. then you got to buy the system. that's going to cost you about $10,000 after federal tax rebates but the good news is, you can say that you're going entirely green and you would never have to put a drop of gas in your car ever again, if you got one of those cars. >> that sounds terrific, but i always thought the idea would be to put the solar panel on the car so you're driving around with your fuel source. is that just too big? >> reporter: that's too big. they haven't developed the technology for that quite yet. matter of fact, when i heard about this story, i had the same vision you had, but we're not quite there yet. maybe in a few years. >> how do these vehicles that ford's making going to be different from the prius or chevy volt? >> reporter: you know, it's a good question. those two cars are hybrids so they have gas motors. the prius, electric and gas, and the volt will go about 50 miles entirely on electricity, then the gas engine will kick in. this is a car, the focus electric, and one of its competitors, the nissan leaf, also getting high marks. they don't have any tailpipe so they are entirely electric vehicles. the ford electric is a bit different in the sense that, you know, you can use the solar power thing. they have come up with this novel idea to get your car on the road using the sun. >> sounds great. thanks a lot. good story. today's talk-back question is warren buffett's tax deal good or just politics? here's what bill says. i don't know how much it can help the deficit reduction but i definitely don't think it can hurt. in for it. more of your responses ahead. lot of americans, tax the rich. first, free money advice from the cnn help desk. >> time for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, a personal finance expert and the president of consumer education at smart credit.com. thanks for coming in. got some interesting viewer questions. first for you, john, coming from patricia in phoenix. she asks i'm a grad student with about $13,000 in credit card debt. i'm considering taking out a student loan to pay it down. is that a good move? >> oh, man. i would love to say that's a terrible move but i'm not going to say that because believe it or not, there is -- there are hidden gems of gold within that question. you're converting revolving debt to installment debt, better for your credit score. you're converting not tax deductible debt to tax deductible debt but you are converting dischargeable debt to nondischargeable debt. you're borrowing from peter to pay paul. you're still in the same amount of debt but less expensive and more beneficial debt. if she is disciplined and will attack the debt as aggressively as she should attack credit card debt, not a bad move. >> talking about 13 grand, not 300,000. the next question comes from david in chicago, who wrote my wife and i both have our 401(k)s set up through the same company. should we keep things simple and mimic each other's investments or should we have a separate strategy for each? what do you think? you think diversifying would be smart here. >> it's interesting, this question comes up a lot in financial planning and one of the things i like to point out is people forget that women and men have different life spans and oftentimes an age difference. for instance, i'm 41 and my husband's 59. if we were at the same place, we should not have portfolios that look the same, not necessarily from a strategic standpoint in terms of value versus growth but just an asset allocation standpoint. so my advice to keep it simple is to be investing in target date retirement funds through their plans that are age-appropriate. that will adjust for any age differences they have that enable them honestly to have a set it and forget it approach. that will add to marital harmony. >> which a lot of people want. >> that is priceless. >> thank you, guys. if you have a question you want answered, please send an e-mail any time to us at cnn help desk@cnn.com. can i have some ice cream, please ? 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[ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. that's congresswoman michele bachmann and presidential republican candidate in spartanburg, south carolina. we're monitoring what she is saying and talking about a lot of politics today. we'll wrap that up later in the day. another big political talker you have been sounding off on. our talk-back question. carol costello joins us with your responses. carol? >> good responses today. today's question is warren buffett's tax compromise good or plain old politics. shill or not, the only thing good about the tax idea is that it might be a good start and they should at least get started. this from toni ann, taxing the rich is a real and viable solution although not the only one. if the wealthiest 1% of americans are making the most money, wouldn't taxing them help reduce the debt? this from tom, if we raise taxes on the rich or simply let the bush tax cuts sunset it will help offset the structural shortfall immediately. while it won't fix the entire deficit it will certainly get us back on track. this from carlos, does the guy who was filthy rich from knowing how to work the system have a good idea? i'm going with obviously yes. facebook.com/carolcnn. thanks as always for your responses. take a quick break. what if we dd an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. [ slap! slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums you voted and we listened even though i wanted to see that $160 million house in london, you chose a tattoo that could change the face of medicine. so here's mary snow's report. >> reporter: when you think of tattoos, medical advances are probably not the first thing that come to mind but consider this small electronic tattoo of sorts. a study in the journal "science" says this tiny device can fundamentally change the way patients are monitored. university of illinois professor john rodgers is the study's co-author. how do you see this being used immediately? >> it would be in clinical use, in hospitals for monitoring health, wellness, physiological status. >> reporter: the beating of the heart, brain activity and muscle contractions, say researchers, could be monitored by this thin electronic skin that can last about two weeks, replacing uncomfortable, sometimes irritating devices. but researchers found other possibilities in taking the body's signals and transferring them to machines. one of them, computer games. >> what we've demonstrated in this paper is the ability to take one of these devices, laminate it on the throat area and use it to record muscle contractions as the wearer is speaking different words, and it turns out there's sufficient information content in that kind of measurement to allow software algarithms that can be used to then control a computer game. >> reporter: he says it could be used to help people with throat disorders to communicate. along with the amazement, says one bioethicist, there is a downside. >> remember, what somebody can put on you voluntarily to say let's monitor your heartbeat or let's monitor some chemicals within your body, they can put on you by force. in other words, your boss or the military or some organization can say you have to wear this, we want to know whether you're taking your pills, we want to know whether you get stressed out. >> reporter: this device raises questions about potential uses beyond medicine. the study's researchers say they are focused on practical uses. down the road, they see it being used as a smart bandage that can help heal wounds. right now, i'm going to go check out that $160 million house. we will put it up on suzanne's page. in the meantime, the news continues. here's randi kaye. the straw poll is history. the caucus is still more than five months away and still, it is all about