good morning. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started. >> we've got a lot of breaking news coming into our offices from around the world. you know this story already, remarkable pictures out of italy, and now we're hearing the rescue operation of that cruise ship listing on its side has been suspended once again because the ship is moving. not only that, one of the res e rescuers had to be rescued as well. we'll get you detailed. and wikipedia and other websites going partially dark. right after midnight that happened. they're protesting anti-piracy bills. that's google right there. if you thought that all's fair in love and war and even the fringes of war, the u.s. and pakistan are having trouble right now. pakistan has said to the united states, you know that special envoy you sent us? send them back. we don't want them. weem get to the details. mitt romney reports that he pays about a 15% tax rate. how do you feel about that? he is resisting calls to release his tax returns. we've got a lot more details headed your way on that. first up, we want to get you breaking news from overnight, the rescue operation we've been covering since the weekend of that doomed cruise ship that is listing perilously on its side in 60 feet of water. all of the rescue operations for the remaining people who are considered to be on board have been suspend ed because once again that ship is moving. it's sitting in 60 feet of water on rock, but there is ocean movement. there are tides. and that means there is movement, and it is dangerous, especially for those trying to do the rescue. you see the gurney coming out? that is a rescue worker on that litter being rescued from the operation itself. clearly, it has become dangerous for all involved. u.s. coast guard says the coast guard workers felt sick because of the stressful conditions under which they have been operating. and by the way, new today, the captain of the doomed cruise liner is out of jail. he was released overnight. we have video. it's so strange, looking as though he's being put into a confined vehicle and taken away from the jail. perhaps for his own safety, perhaps it's standard operating procedure. >> he actually looks like he's in handcuffs as he's being escorted out. >> it would be odd particularly because yesterday was a perfunctory investigative process as opposed to a typical american court hearing. he's still got the presumption of innocence in that country. >> it was odd to see him in handcuffs if he's going into house arrest. journalist barbie nadeau on the phone. >> reporter: i would say there's outrage that captain francesco schettino is home south of naples right now. he was whisked away from the jail at 2:00 a.m. local time, arrived at his home in naples, and that's where he'll stay until the judge makes another decision. the prosecutor is livid. he's made comments this morning to a number of reporters that he's going to try to get the captain back in jail. yesterday at a hearing, the judge made a decision not to make a decision about whether or not he should stay in jail for the duration of the investigation. and between the time she made that decision and this morning, he was let go on house arrest. that doesn't mean he's going to stay there for the duration, but it's where he is right now. as the workers in giglio are braving dangerous conditions and stormy seas to try to conduct the rescue operations. >> barbie, the transmissions that we've been listening to between the captain and the port authority have been absolutely remarkable, more than anyone assumed could be. i'm wondering if there's talk in italy right now about just how guilty this makes this man sound and how the locals are reacting, as well as the people who are still there, the passengers still probably in country waiting to go home. >> reporter: and don't forget 1,000 italians who are on that ship listening to this in their native language. if you understand italian, the nuances of this commander of the coast guard as he was speaking to this captain, who wasn't speaking to him in a formal tone and was sort of talking to him like he's talking to another sailor, it's just incredible. the coast guard official handled it so professionally. his concern was obviously safety first. he is trying to downplay the notion that he's the hero, this coast guard official. he said, people are dead. there is no hero. this is a real drama at this point. this is just the beginning. there's a number of missing people on board, and there's also the threat of an environmental emergency. there are 500,000 gallons of fuel on that boat. there's a storm predicted, sea storm with waves up to six feet, which is huge for the mediterranean. the mediterranean is a very calm sea. and all of these factors are swirling around. and this captain at home. it's really unbelievable. >> barbie nadeau, thank you for following this for us. we're going to check back in with you. she's live from rome. so many details emerging this morning. it's kind of tough to see him in handcuffs going home. >> i couldn't tell though. >> his hands, i looked at it very carefully to see. his hands are in the front. >> it would be odd, certainly as you're free. >> something we would never do in this country. >> you are home, right? as you're looking at headlines, i don't know if you've got your early papers, this one is absolutely remarkable. the "new york post" basically saying "chicken of the sea" with a picture of this captain. in the smaller print, it has the port authority's quote to him over the transmissions. "get back on board for "f" sake." that wraps up the conversation between the two parties. and we're hearing about the huge operation in that ship. there is a heck of a project they're start to go think through. step one, get what barbie was talking about, the 500,000 gallons of fuel out of the ship's 17 tanks. it was only three hours into the cruise, so it was pretty much full. that process could take weeks on weeks. then they have to decide what to do with the mess. if they can right the ship. they've got to decide whether to cut it up, haul it away for scrap, salvage it in some way. and the workers thinking about the salvage are working alongside the rescuers as well. >> and up until the rescue operation was suspended, they continued to blast holes in the side of the ship. they were loorbgiking for signs life. so far they haven't seen in. the death toll stands at 11. two dozen still missing, including the american couple from minnesota, jerry and barbara heil. a prayer vigil will be held for the two of them. there's a picture right there. the couple's children waiting for any word about their parents. >> my mom never travels much until after my dad retired. so they've been going a lot of places. i was really happy for them because they deserved to go on this awesome trip that they had planned. >> this was a 16-day vacation they had planned with a trip to the vatican, devout catholics. really tough to hear the family there. as for the owner of the cruise line, it insists that its ships are safe. >> translator: an episode like this which was caused by human factors cannot and must not destroy what we've all done collectively. our ships are as safe today as they were on friday. what happened has nothing to do with maritime safety. it has nothing to do with policies and procedures or our technology, training, and quality of our staff. >> coming up in the next hour at 6:00 a.m. eastern, we're going to talk to joe ryan. he was a passenger on board that cruise ship. so one of the things you might do, if you're like zoraida or me, is you get up in the morning and log on. you start looking for information, whether it's news or sports or all sorts of fun things. you might head on to, i don't know, your google. there's a lot of sites you're not going to be able to get to today. wikipedia for one is completely blacked out. that's what you'll see. and i decided to call up my google page to do a quick search. come on over here and take a look at this. >> you can get an google. you're just a little blocked out. >> it's funny. the way google operates, they always have a message on their icon. that's the message today. big old black bar over the google icon. this is essentially a protest over anti-piracy bills. you probably heard of sopa, the stop online piracy act. it's being worked on, but it's real sluggish. things aren't going so well on capitol hill. i think the intentions were good here. i do think the intentions of this bill were that online piracy is a big problem. hollywood, television, music, they all suffer from it. they lose billions of dollars from people who steal. so the bill is an attempt to sort of mitigate that, but it's not going over so well with people who think it amounts to censorship. >> we're actually going to break it down for folks so they understand how it works for them as well. >> last night on cnn's "up front" with erin burnett, the co-founder of wikipedia says it amounts to online censorship. >> in the worst version, wikipedia wouldn't be able to even link to pirate bay or the scientific discussion of what pirate bay is. that raises freedom of speech issues. >> cnn actually supports the legislation, the sopa sitting before congress. he says by censoring free and open internet, the u.s. would be doing exactly what china does. u.s. markets higher yesterday. the dow and nasdaq each gained about .5%. the s&p 500 up about .3%. >> i don't know if i should be taxing you on sopa so early. christine romans, i'm sure there's a huge money issue to deal with that. aren't people more concerned with their credit card debt? >> credit card is down over the past year. now it stands on average about $6,576. how much credit card debt do you have. the national average is $6,576. it depends where you live. some states have more credit card debt than others. you can see from this, the more red it is, the more likely you are to have higher than average credit card debt. especially the end of the year. a little thing i'm concerned about is the holiday spending. we started putting money back on our credit cards. so this overall number for 2011 showed we were paying down our credit card debts, guys, but we were still picking up more auto loans, more student loans. our mortgage debt didn't go down. but we were paying down our credit card debt a little bit. i think this year we have to really watch to see if people start -- economy gets a little bit better. people start adding more credit card debt. the banks are sending me notices. have you been getting the notices in the mail? >> two a day. >> the banks are starting to send them. finding people that aren't going to be good customers. >> they think i'm not going to be a good customer. maybe it's all the moving i've done. >> they'll find you, zoraida. >> be careful when you add the debt. >> are we talking politics? >> i want to talk politics quickly because, as the candidates head south, they're getting into new territory in terms of unemployment rate, in terms of foreclosures. they're going to a couple of big states. big primaries coming up, south carolina and florida hurting in a couple of ways. south carolina, the unemployment rate 9.9%. half of the people unemployed are long-term unemployed, meaning they're really hurting there. 1 in 70 properties in south carolina is in foreclosure. let's head to florida. unemployment rate is 10%. 240,000 long-term unemployed. and 1 in 9 properties in some form of foreclosure. so housing and long-term unemployment two very big things for the gop candidates as they head south. >> and i'm sure you're working on nevada with those housing numbers. >> nevada's housing numbers are just unbelievable. >> they're like florida, aren't they? >> i think they're worse than florida. they're both so bad that it just hurts. >> christine, thank you. 13 minutes past the hour here. they're getting a big blast of winter in the pacific northwest. seattle bracing for five to ten inches of snow. we say that's no big deal. for them that's a very big deal. it's usually what they get in a year. could be one of the largest snowfalls since the 1940s. >> rob marciano has his finger on the pulse. he's in the weather center watching the snow, watching the reaction to it, and letting us know what's going to happen. >> in that part of the world, one inches of snow, two inches of snow is a big deal. to get several is certainly going to be epic, especially south of seattle. right now in portland, we're seeing several inches of snow on the ground. chaos for the most part has ensued there. there are actually 10,000 people without power at the moment as this stream of moisture makes its way into the pacific northwest. eventually, it will get down to the northern california area. winter storm warnings issued from the canadian border all the way south towards northern california into utah as well. this is a big event. the good news is it will replenish or at least start to build some of the snow pack that's been so, so low this year. snowing in portland. vancouver, three inches on the ground. the rain/snow line just south of portland. the warmer air will push in. seattle just about to get the snow. the second round started. several inches expected. at least five, if not ten inches expected seattle, tacoma, in through parts of olympia as well. the east coast, a little frontal action moving through the southeast and cold and blustery. colder, i should say, across the northeast. hold on to your hats. windy conditions expected from new york to boston today. >> rob marciano, thank you so much. still to come on "early start," rivals want mitt romney to show them the money. he's not revealing tax returns, but he is offering up new information about how much he pays uncle sam. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix. have i got a surprise for you! yeah, [ bait's beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? 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(announcer) starts working on contact and at the nerve level. to block pain for hours. new capzasin, takes the pain out of arthritis. it is 5:18 in the east. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida soambolin along wit ashleigh banfield. it is a temporarily suspended cruise ship rescue because the costa concordia is moving off the coast of italy. in the meantime, the captain has returned home under house arrest, taken away in handcuffs, it looks like, as he's headed to house arrest. and wikipedia partially dark this morning. critics say the stop online piracy act, sopa, amounts to online censorship. time warner, in sake of full disclosure, supports this legislation. and authorities say a smoking object was thrown over a white house fence during an occupy wall street protest. the president and first lady were not there at the time. they were out there celebrating michelle obama's 48th birthday. if you've been watching mitt romney and his money seems to be a pretty big headline and a real nagging one for the republican front-runner because his rivals are pushing like mad saying, all right, romney. release your tax returns. everybody knows that mitt romney is a wealthy man. but mitt romney isn't interested at this point in releasing his tax returns. he's definitely trying to mitigate the situation. kind of threw this piece of meat to the circling media lions. >> what's the effective rate i've been paying? it's probably closer to the 15% rate more than anything because the last ten years, my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income. i get a little bit of income from my book, but i gave that all away. and then i get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. >> speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. that's going to be key for my panel in just a moment because from chicago we've got conservative radio host mike mcallister and from political roll call and democratic strategist maria cardona. lenny, i want you first on this one. not very much, apparently, the speaker's fees. when you look at what his speaker's fees were from last year, $374,000. i don't know about you, but for me that's a lot of money. does this play to that whole argument from his fellow politicians and candidates that he's out of touch? >> it absolutely does, and it's not good for the gop from an establishment standpoint to push him as the nominee. he pays less of a tax rate than other americans do. some think it's not a lot of money to get over $300,000 in speaker's fees. somebody that can throw around $10,000 bet. and the big thing for me, what he mentioned on monday night, saying that felons who have paid their debt to society, that are moving forward with their life and have reformed, still shouldn't get their voting rights reinstated, something that rick santorum did stand for? this is a guy who can't relate to the vast majority of a diverse america moving forward in the 21st century. he couldn't relate to the issues rick santorum brought up in black america, can't relate to people who are struggling, he thinks that $10,000 bets are something to throw around. this is not good for him. the grass roots of the republican establishment and the conservative base are going to say something about it to be quite honest with you. >> and they're going to invoke his own family's words because our intrepid reporters at cnn were able to dig back to 1967 for an article from the "st. joseph missouri gazette." the income tax returns for the last 12 years revealed by romney. that would be george romney, mitt romney's dad. this was unprecedented. he's the first politician really to have done so, and he released 12 years. so, shira, what is the harm, at this point, because it's getting so ugly, for mitt romney just to do what his dad did? >> i think there's probably something in those tax returns that doesn't make us look too favorably on romney. we're already talking about this being his biggest weakness on the campaign trail, he's uncomfortable talking about his own wealth. he's referred to in the past -- remember in new hampshire several months ago he joked he's unemployed too. it's not funny when you're a gazillionaire like the people in the diners with them. i think there's something in those tax returns he doesn't want people to see. if there wasn't, he would go ahead and release them already. >> i love this. on sean hannity's show last night on a certainly cable news show called fox, we had a comment from the lovely and talented sarah palin. i am always fascinated by what she has to say. she gets traction no matter what you think of her. this is what she had to say about the candidates and which one in particular she likes. >> if i had to vote in south carolina, in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt, and i would want this to continue more debates, more vetting of candidates. >> i'd vote for newt. all right. so, maria, she'd vote for speaker gingrich. i wanted to sort of get a feel for what all of that meant to the democrats as they continue to mount their eventual general campaign against whomever the front-runner is going to be. does what sarah palin says matter or make it easier or harder for the democrats' battle? >> i think it matters in that she still has a lot of followers who listen to her, and i think it also matters because it underscores essentially what lenny was saying earlier, which is this huge tension in the republican party between those that believe mitt romney is possibly the most electable candidate and those who believe that it's completely the opposite of that because he is not somebody that can be trusted to carry the flag of conservative ideals. and it is something that he cannot -- and lenny alluded to this -- he cannot be trusted to relate to middle class families and working families who are going through so much pain right now. frankly, in the general election, they're the ones who are going to be making the decision about who they're going to vote for president. when you have somebody like mitt romney representing those interests, he's not credible in that. so sarah palin and the other conservatives are desperate to find somebody who can really compete with romney, who can relate to middle class families and blue collar workers and frankly carry the ideals of conservative voters, and mitt romney is not that person. >> just to end on a fun note for those who said i'm not interested in getting in the race. she can still get in. i know it sounds crazy. there's a technical way. a whole online movement where she could get on the ballot in all 50 states. that's not even a conversation for now. it's for another day. >> or ever. >> that would be great. >> lenny, i agree. i'm all for it. we'd love that. >> guys, thanks. we'll see you in the next hour. for the best political coverage in television, make sure you keep it here on cnn. tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern, joan soledad o'brien and the rest of the cnn news team for live coverage of the republican presidential debate. and also be sure to stick right here at 7:00 eastern for live coverage of the south carolina primary. 5:25. ahead on "early start," a developing story in islamabad. a u.s. envoy to pakistan says you're not welcome. u.s.-pakistan divide perhaps widening? 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[ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test. still to come, wiki, google, all your favorite sites. are you going to get them today? not so sure. they went dark last night, some of them. >> they're protesting a bill aimed at stopping online piracy. ahead, why this matters and why you should care. thanks for joining us this morning on at question"early st" i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ashleigh banfield. we've got a lot on the agenda. over the next half hour, incredible news from italy. terrified passengers, just absolutely incredible, words they heard on the loud speaker on a british airways flight. they're all sleepy, and they hear, "our plane's going down on a water landing." how'd you like that? turns out it was a false alarm. how'd you like that? >> surprised there weren't any heart attacks on board. an italian cruise ship disaster. can the wrecked costa concordia be saved? they're attempt to go do that now. huge problem with the oil on board that ship. we're going to get details. first let's check the stories making news. wikipedia, among several prominent internet sites, partially shut down in protest at midnight last night. the companies are fiercely opposed to anti-piracy bills working their way through congress. they believe sopa, which is the stop online piracy act, will lead to censorship. time warner supports the legislation. co-founder of yahoo! calls it quits. jerry yang resigning as director of that company. it all began with yang in 2009 when he snubbed a $24 billion buyout from microsoft. and the rescue operation off the coast of italy has been suspended. the italian coast guard says the cruise ship is moving. the ship's captain is now out of jail. he is under house arrest. also, we have new and dramatic video of the holes the rescuers blew into the side of that ship. did you see that? also new this morning, you can see rescuers risking their lives, hoping to find more survivors. our dan rivers is live on giglio island, italy. dan, every time we hear more details about this story, it becomes more and more remarkable. the captain was actually released and went home under house arrest? >> reporter: absolutely amazing for his critics here. yeah, i imagine it's being challenged now by the prosecutor, challenging that decision to allow him to go home under effectively house arrest because the impression we were given initially from the judge or the prosecutor, that initial hearing was that he was going to be held in custody. and then suddenly there was news that he'd gone back to his hometown south of naples. they are going to challenge that and get him back behind bars. behind me, if you can see the scene there, there's still a rescue operation ongoing this morning. one of the actual rescue team members had to be plucked off to safety, suffering from, i think, exhaustion and stress with all this work. and they brought in this huge crane as well this morning, that they're going to start presumably thinking about how to salvage this ship. there are still a large number of people missing, though, and they've been working all through the night. we were down here until very late last night watching the boats down here, and they're resuming again this morning, 23 people still missing, and they're very determined to make sure they've searched the entire ship. >> dan, you're staging on the island of giglio. the rescuers, we've heard some reports they're so demoralized by this. this is a really tough assignment from them. are you getting any buzz from the people that you're around. when they hold these meetings, are they talking to you about your mood and how they feel about this work? >> i think they are. they're absolutely shattered. they've been going at this now since friday night here, and you can imagine a lot of them have been doing four hours on, four hours off for five days. they're all exhausted. a lot of the people on the island anyway, some of the rescuers as well, knew the boat, knew members of the crew. this ship used to go past every week. it wasn't like some distant boat from thousands of miles away. this was a kind of local ship, if you like, crewed by a lot of italians, some people from this island, and i think this is just devastating to have to search through it now for bodies, including missing italians, and see the ship as it still is every morning when the sun comes up. it hits you like a slap in the face when you see this thing lying on its side and you just realize the terrible sort of trauma that must have gone on on board as she went over. >> dan rivers live in italy. thank you very much for that report. >> and once the rescuers they're talking about are able to go back to work -- because everything shut down as it started moving again. they're going to decide if it's a complete and total loss or if can be safely righted and floated. christine romans has been looking into the possibilities and different scenarios. what have you found out about that operation? >> to do this without any loss of life is very important because these are very dangerous procedures. this thing is sitting on its side in 60 feet of water. it's the size of a skyscraper, and they're all kinds of perils and damage inside. first thing that happens to happen is naval arc tebllingts, divers, computer operators. they have to decide how much damage is done and if this is seaworthy. one thing is to get it upright by something called parbuckling. the ship's starboard is under 60 feet of water. they'd have to inflate a balloon and get this thing popped up, and you'd have cables, barges attached to the land to raise this thing. even just getting it upright, you can see the technical skill involved in all this. they've got to make sure the shifting weight doesn't cause the vessel to roll. if they're going to refloat it, they need to repair the gaping holes, and it really is a long process. they would get it upright. what's interesting is there are 17 different tanks full of oil. that's really important. they've got to pump all that oil out, get this thing solid, and as they're pumping it out, they've got to also be careful to pump out the sea water and replace it with air. that would allow the ship to rise. they've got to do that really carefully as well because this is in 30,000 square miles of a marine mammal sanctuary. so any time, just getting this thing up, when you don't even know what's happening inside of it, is going to be quite difficult. the step of moving this up with the air bags and the barges pulling on the cables attached to the ship is incredibly technical. this could take weeks and weeks. and the question in the end, once righted, they've got to decide if they're going to tow this away, scrap it, try to repair it. $450 million. this thing was $450 million in 2006. they've got some really big questions longer term about what to do with this thing. tear it apart in place? take the pieces off for scrap? you could repair it and put it back in service, at least until december, according to the ship's owner. we're right at the very beginning still here. they're still looking for people inside of this ship even as they're concerned about a storm coming, as it's moving, and even this morning finding out the coast guard has halted any kind of salvage operations because they're concerned that this whole thing is shifting on the rock right now. >> when you look at that monstrosity and you see the gaping holes in it, it seems almost impossible that they could repair that and that would set sail again and you would feel comfortable getting on it. >> they're going to need welders, computer modelers, special engineers. they're going to need divers, underwater welders. this is just the very -- i can't even -- they're talking about what to do right now. the salvage experts are right there with the rescuers because this is the same kind of operation in the very early stages, but there's a long way to go for this thing. >> and the storm coming that you just mentioned, that is just ominous. christine, keep an eye. thanks very much. and still ahead, wikipedia and other popular sites going dark to protest piracy bills in congress. we're going to speak to the managing editor of one of those sites, boing boing. full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in. have i got a surprise for you! yeah, [ bait's beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] beneful healthy fiesta. good morning to you, houston, texas. it's 45 degrees outside. only 4:40 in the morning. don't despair. you're heading up to 64 today. by the rest of the nation's standards, that's a vacation spot. hi, houston. love you, miss you. >> how long were you in houston? >> i was actually in dallas and spent time going back and forth to houston. i spent 4 1/2 years in texas, and it's like an adopted home. every time i talk about texas, i start talking texan. don't know why that is. internet sites, wikipedia and other internet sites like boing boing partially dark for 24 hours. why? they're protesting legislation by congress to fight online piracy. they fear that more government control will lead to censorship of the free and open internet. time warner, the parent company of cnn, supports this legislation. and rob beschizza, managing editor avenue boing boing is with us from pittsburgh via skype. did i get your last name right or wrong? >> you did perfectly. thank you. >> excellent. when we come in in the morning, we go online. we're trying to do a bit of research, perhaps we're looking at video. how are we affected by this legislation that you oppose? >> in the past, the media industry has gone after particular fringes, people who downloaded stuff and are sharing it. now they're going after websites that link to these things, and the bill is supposed to let corporate holders get against them. there's various methods for getting sites blacklisted or blocked. the problem is that the measure,so wide ranging, so open to abuse, that we're worried sites like ours can be brought down by frivolous claims. >> how does that affect the average user? i don't mean to use us as an example as the media, but us as an example, as the average person. >> what it means is the sites they like will be taken down off the internet, and it also means sites where they participate and contribute content such as redhead and such as boing boing might not be able to let them publish anything they like because of the liability it creates for them and for us. >> but piracy is a big issue on the internet. so if not this legislation, then what? >> the problem is this legislation won't stop piracy. and years of laws and aggressive legislation, none of it has had the slightest impact on piracy. even if they get everything they want, there's no reason to think that pirates won't find a way around it. if the media industry, the mpa and so on, if they want to find a way to stop piracy, they need to spend less money on legal threats and more money working on their culture and pr a bit. >> so what about this legislation would you change? >> i would kill it because the whole thing from the ground up was designed to interfere with how the internet works. that's the current kind of solution that the media industry is approaching. it can'ti be fixed because when you start with blocking dns and the internet, you're only reaching censorship because you're using methods that authorities use in nonfree places in the united states. >> all of these websites were supposed to go black initially, and they didn't. do you think that the sites actually support the legislation? because maybe it's a little bit more difficult to navigate or you get a little confused, but they didn't actually go black. >> ours is black. if you go to boing boing.net, you'll see exactly what will happen to our website if laws like this pass. i don't think it was fair for people to expect big sites like twitter and google to go down because they kind of serve as a communications medium, as an infrastructure medium. they can't really go down. but sites such as ours, which are small sites, which are easily put in all sorts of trouble by frivolous lawsuits, we're the people who really need to worry about this, and i think our readers will understand why we're doing it. >> rob beschizza, managing editor of boing boing, thanks for joining us this morning. it's 44 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to get you up to date on the top stories of the morning. the rescue operation on board the capsized cruise ship in italy on hold again this morning. concerns because that ship once again is moving in the ocean. the ship's captain at this point is under house arrest after being released from jail late yesterday. republican presidential candidate mitt romney revealing he pays about a 15% income tax rate. so far he is still resisting to release his tax returns. romney says his annual income is overwhelmingly from investments, which is taxed at that rate. and leaders of the occupy wall street movement are approving a partial spending freeze on their movement after their website showed the group spent almost $2,500 on tea leaves and herbs and another $3,000 on, quote, supplies for puppets for halloween. now there could be puppets for protest purposes. i've seen those before. that may not be such a bad thing, but just seeing that in print might not be too palatable for some. still to come on "early start," a developing story out of pakistan. that guy, that happens to be our u.s. envoy to pakistan. and pakistan is saying thanks but no thanks. on your way back to the u.s. what exactly is wrong with our relationship with someone who's supposed to be our ally? 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[ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. welcome back. it's just about 6:00 in the east here. we're keeping you in the pop culture loop by taking a look at what's trending on the web and social media. this is a doozy here. british airways is apologizing to passengers. they mistakenly played a frightening message during a flight from miami to london friday night. the passengers were actually told they were going down and to brace themselves for a water landing. >> ow. that would be horrifying. >> so a flight attendant comes on 30 seconds later, and she apologizes for the mistake. in the meantime, there are folks crying, thinking they're dying. it was just horrific. when they got off the plane, there was a letter waiting saying we're sorry. we made a mistake. >> they pressed a button? is it that simple? >> there's been no explanation for it. >> it's a good thing there's a good ending. if you like the food channel and like the southern belle of butter -- i like paula deen. she's now confirming she has type ii diabetes and has had it for three years. she was on the toochlt sh"today talking to al roker and wanted to keep it private. but she's a paid spokesperson for a pharmaceutical company that supplies her the medication to treat diabetes. she has talked about sugary and fatty foods for a long time. >> a lot of people are upset about this. >> these foods are terrible, but in moderation you can manage it. and she's going to tailor a lot of what she does to healthier eating. >> they're upset she waited so long to make the statement. and now that she's making money off of a pharmaceutical company. >> especially with all that attention to butter. i love butter like the next guy, but it is a fear. it is for sure. in the next hour on "early start," the italy cruise ship disaster. new developments with the captain. and also how do they salvage the wreckage? are they going to be able to do that? they're working hard to accomplish that. very dangerous conditions. if someone threw a smoking object over your front lawn fence, how would you react? i bet you you wouldn't have a bunch of people out in front of your lawn protesting to start with. you know what, the white house takes everything on its lawn seriously. we'll tell you what it was that was hurled onto the lawn. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go goodmorning. it is 6:00 on the east coast. and all of the way over on the left coast, 3:00 a.m. good to have you with us on "early start." >> we're bringing you the news from a to z ppts wednesday, january 18th. let's get tart started here. braking news overnight. the rescue operation in italy has been suspended. why that cruise ship is slipping. it is very dangerous conditions out there. also, a big headline if you like to logon in the morning as you may be seeing this, nada. wikipedia and a number of very popular websites in a protest that basically leaves them dark or somewhat dark. it's all in a protest over, strangely enough, anti-piracy bills online. we'll sort it out for you. mitt romney reveals he pays 15% tax rate. still resisting calls to release his tks returns. do you remember that drone that we accidentally lost to iran? it crashed or fell down, whatever story you believe. iran has a message for us, we're going to give it back to you. but there's a catch and it's a really itty-bitty teeny-weeny catch but it is very unusual. we'll explain that. but first, to the breaking news overnight. rescue operation to find signs of life aboard the cruise ship on hold this morning. it was suspended just a few hours ago. the ship is teetering on the seafloor. it is slipping. it is moving. i believe 60 feet of water that it's? >> but precipitously could slide to 200 because it is such a steep shelf. also have new video that came into our cnn offices around the world. and they show one of the rescue workers being pulled from the ship and treated by paramedics. dan rivers suggesting it could have been exhaustion, stress, of course, the waters are so cold. 57 degrees as well. the coast guard said the worker felt sick because of the stressful conditions under which they've been operating. >> fear of hypothermia. also, overnight, the captain of the doomed cruise liner is out of shal this morning. this is video we've been showing you here for a while. this is video of him leaving court. he's handcuffed there. he does remain under house arrest. a journalist is on the phone from rome. what can you tell us, barbie? >> there is definitely outrage to find out this captain of this tragedy was, you know, whisked away in the mid of the night, after 2:00 a.m. he arrived in his house in italy, beautiful off the coast area. and he is on house arrest. the prosecutor has indicated that he is wants him back in jail, he wants the judge to re-examine the case. and at this point we're just wait and see. the judge jed yesterday decided to make a definnive decision about custody, meaning that by law in italy, you can be held in jail up to a year before formal charges has been filed. he has not been charged with a crime at this point. 50% of the cases are in italy the suspect does have to remain in jail during that time. she, the judge, she has just decided she needed a little bit more information. she was waiting yesterday to have a definitive number of the fatalities and other factors here. the risk of the operation, the recovery operation is still ongoing and she felt that needed to be closed before she could make a definitive decision. he did go back to jail yesterday after court and in the middle of the night he was risked away to home. >> here in the united states there is such incredible out rage. i'm going to hold out for our camera the headline of the new york post this morning. close-up face of the captain. it says "chicken of the sea." it quotes the port authority say, b get back on board for f sake. look, the united states has a pristine tradition of innocence before guilt. and i'm just curious about how the italians are feeling about this captain. is he being given any kind of leeway that there may have been miscommunication, that he may have done something right here and the media has jumped all over him? >> well, you know, there were 1,000 italians on that cruise ship and there was outrage. they think he should be in jail. if the judge says that he was not a risk of -- did not pose a risk of flight, that was one of the things that n. a document which we have right now the judge's decision, and that she needed more proof. and that is the recovery -- the recovery phase is completed. this doesn't mean he's going to be enjoying the sun because until he isn't potentially in court and facing charges, it means that he's there for now. and so she can make a decision. it's very possible the judge will re-examine this as early as tomorrow or next week at the very latest, when we know more, when she knows more, when the prosecutor gives her more information. right now his lawyer said that he would -- it's not a definitive situation. it's a very volatile. in italy, though, unlike in the united states a us speth can be held in custody for up to one year without actually being charge with a crime. it's a little different system and it's one that's very complicated and a lot of different avenues and a lot of different circumstances depending on what the crime is and who the suspect is. >> barbie nadeau live for news italy. joinsi joining us now is joe ryan from kentucky. thank god he's home and alive with us to speak with us today. hi, joe. great to see you. i want to jump right into this because with all of our reporting today i'm sort of wondering if you've had a chance now, digesting the news you've been seeing since arriving back home to come to terms with the magnitude of the crisis that you were involved with and how lucky you are. >> yeah, i was just tell anything mom this morning, i said, i really don't -- it's hard to think that i'm a survivor. i haven't heard that term, someone said, you know, i'm so lucky, you're a survivor from this. i never really thought of it that way. i just thought how lucky i was to get off and be alive. but to realize that people did die and people are hurt and people are still risking their lives to try to find others and see if people are still alive down there. >> it's just harrowing. you know, joe, your friend who you were with, lauren, joined us yesterday by telephone. sort of reflected the same notion but at the same time she said when we showed those pictures of the infrared helicopter image of all of those passengers clamoring over the side of that ship and you can see just hundreds of them trying desperately to escape as to what can only be imagined as the most frightening and darkness. i wonder you have the same feelings as lauren, you're wondering if these people on the screen right now were some of the missing or some of the survivors. >> i totally agree. if no one was there seeing people off or giving directions, i honestly hope those people did make it ashore and make it off, especially at least following others who made to it safety and did their best to try to get on a boat of some sort and make it out there. >> joe, i read something about your account of getting into your life boat and how difficult it was. we heard of others struggling to find a life boat. this one really struck me. in your life boat it was so full and people were still trying to clamor on that your fellow passengers in the life boat started screaming in fear that the hydraulics, the cables might snap and then started beating the other passengers off? what on earth was happening? >> yeah, it was just -- we were completely full and they had tried -- they maxed out our boat. i was able to kind of view the smallest little area that we had to see other people. people's faces were just panic and they were trying to jump in and they just started hitting people with anything they could, the ores, the poles, trying to push people back saying it's full, it's full, it's full. just kept pushing but people kept persisting. that's when the screaming started and the boat and everyone was screaming. and that's when they said, all right, we need to go, we need to get this down. it was just heartbreaking to see people still not being able to find a ship but then again, we were kind of he'llelpless just sitting in the boat knowing that our boat was full. >> i'm going to join the chorus of friends and family and welcoming you home to safety. our thoughts to people on the ship who may still be missing. thank you. in less than 30 minutes paul cowen, criminal defense attorney, who knows a thing or two about italian law, is going to talk about the legal action passengers can take and also, not only that, but the kind of exposure this captain has after some of the things he said on tape. >> really great to see the survivors, isn't it? fantastic. >> lucky. nine minutes past the hour here. have you been try in vain to look up something in wikipedia this morning don't worry, it's not you. they went partially dark at midnight for 24 hours. protesting anti-piracy bills. specifically stop online piracy act, or sopa. renlg lags is working its way through congress. hollywood is pushing hard for this. we have something for you. we have a way around this. so you type wikipedia in the web browser as the page load it is you hit the escape key, it stops the blackout page. last night on cnn's "up front" with erin burnett, cofounder of wikipedia said it lamt amounts online censorship. >> in the worst versions of the bill wikipedia would be defined as a search engine and you would not link to it. that's a real problem. that raises really serious first amendment issues. >> wales also says by censoring free and open internet the government would be doing factually what china does. cnn's parent company, time warner, actually supports this legislation. iran is kind of playing games. i don't think i've ever had any headline like a. iran is having fun with the united states. >> those kind of games sdp? >> yes. tweaking an offer to return our stealth drone that crashed there last month. instead of the original top secrets game playing, what you're seeing i don't know your screen which was sent over to us by the iranian, an iranian company says he's going to send president obama a teeny tiny toy republic a of it. the company is trying to determine what president obama's favorite color is before sending it back. the iranians apparently are also going to be able to buy the replica of the toy drone at $4, i'm told, in their local dollars there. you will remember that i found this to be very odd but the white house asked formally for the return of that many billion dollar drone. it had been operating over in eastern afghanistan and the whole story was it was just spying but there might have been some story about it getting into the airspace. all sorts of reasons why that drone went down. >> unofficial return. >> yeah. i like the story. it's the first time we've had some nice conversation back and forth even if it is a joke. >> all right. and happening now, have you seen this? pacific northwest getting a good taste of old man winter. seattle could see the biggest snowfall in more than half a isn'try. more than a foot of snow is expected by tomorrow. that's more than seattle normally gets in an entire year. alaska airlines has canceled dozens of flights because of the heavy snow forecast. tell ma thelma gutierrez is live in seattle. did you guys shut school down yesterday? >> reporter: well, it did shut the schools down yesterday in some areas. today, definitely so. but i can tell you that right now as you can see, there are snow flurries, really the big storm is expected to hit in a few hours. we're expecting about five to ten inches of snow in this area, making it one of the worst storms in a very long time. in fact, we're told by the national weather service that if we get seven inches of snow here this could make it one of the ten worst storms since the 1940s. when you talk about that amount of snow, if you're from snow country, it really doesn't sound like a lot. but if you've ever been to seattle you know how treacherous this can be. this is an area we have very steep hills and especially in this downtown areas. that can make driving very, very dangerous. the department of transportation since last night, 9:00, they've had many trucks out. salting the roads, bridge, the overpasses and emergency shelters have all opened up. everyone just really keep an eye on this storm, see how it develops today. zoraida? >> thelma gutierrez, live for us in seattle. thank you. let's bring in rob marciano, are you going to look that? >> yes, they've seen several inches as thelma reported and now the big push is coming. the leading edge of the precip is beginning to push into the seattle, tacoma area. snowing fairly heavy in tacoma and olympia. the heaviest almost will be between seattle and the oregon border. three inches in vancouver. several inches in portland. you can see the warm air push into the portland metropolitan area. damage is done. 30,000 people are without power around the portland metro area because of that heavier snowfall. out to the east we go with some blustery conditions expected here. winds are gusting over 100 miles an hour. five to ten inches of snow expected across the pacific northwest later today. guys, braackout to you. >> i realize we are almost in february and so we do get a lot of snow. and i know some states have a better time dealing with it than others. >> on that particular one, right, because snowplows and how do they make it through. >> no salt, either. >> you worry about folks perhaps getting into accidents and being stranded. >> those snow days are a blessing. i never had one growing up. never did. 14 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. time to get you caught up on top stories. the rescue efforts have been suspended again in italy for the costa concordia cruise line cher is now shifting in the ocean. by the way, reminder, there's a half a million gallons of diesel that have to be pump fred that wrecked cruise liner. tanks were full, folks. cruise just started. it's the first step towards haul that massive ship away for either a complete overhaul or a complete scrap-up. wikipedia and other popular online sites partially dark for 24 hours. they're protesting anti-piracy legislation now making its way through congress. critics say it's too broad based and amounts to censor ship to free and open. authorities are describing some smoking object apparently that was thrown over the white house fence during an occupy wall street protest. they are most certainly looking into it. nobody was hurt. the president and the first lady were not there at the time. they were out celebrating, in fact, because if you didn't hear, you missed your chance to say happy birthday to the first lady. it was michelle obama's 40th birthday yesterday. ahead on "early start," romney under fire, rivals want america to see his tax returns. he said maybe in april. he's resisting but he is offering new information about how much he turns over to uncle sam. you're watching "early start." can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? 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[ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we're talking 3% back on gas. good morning to you, new haven. it is 25 degrees. 21 later, and a little bit of snow headed your way, as well. >> i live fairly close to new haven. >> i felt like it was 40 this morning. >> it's weird. i'm so spaced out. i have this response to all weather in the morning because i just don't even know who i am. at 1:15 in the morning when we wake up you can only say you feel verier little. mitt romney's personal taxes are really under the radar after he admitted that he pays only about 15% tax rate on what he has. newt gingrich was on it, pouncing. take a listen. first of all, you've got to release the taxes aepd fine out whether or not it was really 15%. and second, i think that we ought to rename our flat tax. we have a 15% flat tax. this will be the mid romney flat tax that all americans should then pay the rate romney mpays. that's terrific. >> let's bring in christine romans to explain. >> 15%, what does he mean by that? effective tax rate, federal tax, is he counting -- we do need to see his tax forms. ve not seen his tax forms. >> tax necessary general are such an arcane machine to figure out what anyone pays. >> do you know, okay, here's a quiz for you. what does it take -- what do you have to earn to be in the top 1%, the top 1%, what do you have to earn? what do you think? >> $150,000. >> $343,000. some people think the top 1% must be making millions and millions. $343,000. fyi. >> interesting. >> so mitt romney is in the top of the top of the top. >> did you notice that what he said about his speakers fees? >> not very much. $374,000 is what we he earned in speaking fees last year and he characterized that as not very much. this is going to play out ston the campaign trail, he's very rich, doesn't pay his fair share of taxes. newt gingrich jumped in on this. 15% tax rate, roughly about there. dividends and capital gains, if he's not working, getting a paycheck, a paycheck, his tax rate would be 35% on a paycheck. capital gains and dividends, 15%. this country, again and again, administrations tried to push to give tax breaks or lower taxes for people who invest because they think that's how you build bridges, that's how you fund sewers and schools and getting investments. net worth over $202 million. the big question here is is he paying his fair share. there are tax breaks for everyone. tax breaks for the middle class. >> tax breaks for moms. >> mortgage deduction, tax breaks for kids, state income tax you can write off. people who are middle class earners who are also not paying their marginal tax rate because they're using deductions, charitable giving and the like. we need to see mitt romney's tax records so that we can really see what his tax burden is and how he is paying 15%. like he says. the top 1%, according to the irs, top 1% on average has an effective tax rate of 24%. so mitt romney is doing better than the other very rich people. >> what's amazing is there is no law that says he has to. >> oh, yeah, this is all legal. oh, yeah. oh, yeah. >> christine romans, thank you very much. >> way out there. so how much of a liability is mitt romney's money if we're going to get your panel to way in. chicago, conservative radio host, lonnie mcallister, and sheera topliz and maria cardona. did you just recently have a birthday, lenny? >> yes, i did. >> happy 40th. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. i don't like a day over 40 at this point. >> no, you don't. i don't know if i just outed you and there's a problem with that. there you go. 40. you look great. >> zoraida, not today because wikipedia has been blacked out for a little while. i'm pretty good with that. >> let's start with what gingrich said earlier. that they'll call his flat tax plan on mitt romney, because it's 15%, flat tax. he also said that this is what mitt romney said. he says he doesn't make very much in speaking fees but as we heard, not very much is $374,000. last year that is according to his financial disclosures, and so one of the things that he has been criticized for is for being out of touch. how is this going to play out? >> it's not going to play out very well for romney at this point because you have a lot of class warfare arguments being shrunk back and forth toward the republicans and democrats and democrats towards republicans in regards to the tea party. all that means is the grass roots and everyday working american on both sides of the political isle are engaged and invigorate and here comes the epitome of the 1% coming out there and has done a lot of not wise things in regards to the $10,000 bet and other things that make him seem detached. and when you have president obama who, even though he has likability issues from a political standpoint that hamper him, from a personal standpoint he's still a very likable president. you contrast that with the guy that doesn't seem to be able to relate to the rest of america, if it's those two going for the presidential white house in 2012, it looks as though president obama is going to have an easier path than what these polls are indicating at this point in time. >> maria, you're smiling there because this is great ammunition for you, right? look a what i found. when we were talking about the income tax returns, i don't know if we actually have a full screen graphic of this but it was mitt romney's dad. here you go. you can't really see it because it's on white. there it is. there it is. this is from st. joseph, missouri. income tax returns for the last 12 years revealed by romney. but this is dated back in 1967. so it looks like, in fact, the democrats are getting some really good ammunition here with this 15%. >> absolutely, zoraida. and i think, again, what it underscores is exactly what lenny said, that this is a guy who is completely out of touch with middle class families, with working class families who are really struggling in this economy. and if you look at everything that romney has said during this campaign, what democrats are going to do is we're going to use his own words against him because they are very powerful words that really underscore the fact that this guy just doesn't get it. and what's really important here to keep in mind is when a voter goes into the voting booth, especially during a difficult economic time such as we're going through now, they inherently will vote with their gut, with their instinct, and they will vote for the person who they believe understands what they're going through and cares about what they're going through. in the fall, fit does end up being romney against president obama, that is a fight that we are looking forward to having. >> before we get there, we've got south carolina. so let's talk about that. gingrich said, in his own words, that south carolina is his the last ditch effort. he said, quote, if i don't win the primary saturday, we will probably nominate a moderate. and the latest polls show that romney's 29%, gingrich at 25%. does he have a chance to win here? is that why he's coming out with, you know, this concept of, hey, you're going to have a moderate? >> yeah, i think h has a small chance. it's not a great chance. i think he's correct in his assessment that this is a bit of a last-ditch effort by his campaign, whether romney is a moderate is subject to a lot of debate. that's why gingrich is going all out. it's not just him, it's all of the republicans who really dislike mitt romney, south carolina represents your last chance to defeat him or slow down his momentum before the rest of the states because after south carolina comes florida and romney is doing very well in florida. it's a very expensive state to run ads so candidates have to have the financial means to run a florida campaign. according to the primary calendar, we basically wait a whole other month before we get to a lot of contests on super tuesday tuesday. the next week and a half is going to be active weeks on the campaign trail that starts with this saturday. if they defeat him or slow him down or hold him, a percentage or two of mitt romney, maybe they can slow him down. if not, you might as well give him the nom now. >> thank you for joining us this morning. for the best political coverage on television keep it here on cnn. tomorrow night join soledad o'brien and the rest of the news team for live coverage of the southern republican presidential debate. then join us saturday night at 7:00 eastern for live coverage of the south carolina primary. >> okay, where have all the occupiers gone? 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[ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. try nourish plus haircare. life with crohn's disease is a daily game of "what ifs". what if my stomach pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if this takes too long? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist. welcome back. it's 6:31 in the east. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. still ahead in this half hour we're going is have more on that awful cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy. the captain is under house arrest. there are a lot of people saying this morning he should have gone down with that vessel instead of getting overboard somehow. but legally, what and could -- what should and what could happen to that man? wisconsin governor scott walker facing a recall petition that has been filed. more than a million signatures were submitted. more than half of what they needed. walker says he is confident that he will survive this. he will be back in office again. but first, let's check the stories making news this morning. wikipedia is one of several websites that partially shut down in protest at midnight last night. they a opposed to antipiracy bills working their way through congress. sopa will lead to wide spread censor ship. time warner, the parent company of cnn, supports this legislation. >> full disclosure on that one. relations between our country and pakistan centering on this man right now. that's our u.s. envoy. cnn's ressa is report that pakistan has asked mark grossman, stay away from our country, for now at least. senior pakistani official is saying a visit from mr. grossman could spark antiamerican sentiments and cause some serious problems for the pakistani government. the rescue operation off the coast of italy, italian coast guards say it is too dangerous. that ship is moving. 11 people are now confirmed dead. two dozen others are still missing. two american ace monk those. the ship's cap ptain has been released from jail and placed under house arrest. >> incredible recordings between the port authority and the captain. and there are so many. >> outrageous. >> they're outrageous because they are damning. they're strong, they're emotional. there are swear words throughout in italian. the captain had to be asked, how many women and children are still on board. the conversation got so heated, i want you to listen to some of this but make sure that you're near you're tv screen because the italian translated to english is going to be printed along so you can read along with it. >> you can hear it in our voices but if you couldn't read fast enough, the port authority said,ly make sure you go through a very rough time. i will make sure you go through a lot of trouble. get on board, damn it. that's the port authority talking to the captain who's left the ship. paul callan is a cnn legal contributor and defense attorney who has been looking into this for us. i don't know where to begin with you, paul. i guess the first thing would be, is there some law that says he has to go down with the ship or cannot at some point go overboard or get off the ship? >> well, we think of this as, of course, a grand tradition in maritime law that the captain goes down with the ship. we're captain smith, of course, from the titaniitanic. it's somewhat of a maritime myth. there's no law that requires the captain to go down with the ship. he is required to be there to ensure the safety of his crew. there might be a situation where he could best do that off the ship. but, boy, i think -- i don't see it here. and frankly, it's a very, very rare situation that would justify a captain leaving his ship while passengers are on board. >> i'm glad you said that. he actually referred to why he was off the ship, saying that he got tossed. let's have a listen. again, follow along with your screen because the italian translated to english will be printed out. paul that last part, catapulted into the water, that struck me because i felt like it was mitigating in all of this. if, in fact, he was catapulted into the water, does that amount to that italian law that is so serious, abandon ship? >> we have to see how the facts play out on this. obviously this ship was listing heavily and if he was thrown into the water, and then he was desperately trying to get back on board to supervise, he's got a very good defense. but you know something, ashleigh, i have any doubts about this. i mean, he's now sitting in a life boat and the coast guard commander who is now in charge of the scene, because the captain has left his ship, has said, i've been trying to get you to get back on that ship for an hour. and he makes excuse after excuse. one of the excuses he makes is, that it's dark outside. and there are passengers still on that ship presumably trapped. so some defense lawyer is going to have a real tough time justifying this captain leaving the ship. >> paul, you going to like this one. breaking news for you coming in from the prosecutors in italy as we speak. they're apparently announcing they're going to appeal the judge's decision to let him out on house arrest. i know you know from all the work you did on the amanda knox case in italy that they move like molasses but that is not even 24 hours and they are on this like crazy. is there anything that can mitigate the case against this man, against this captain, the fact that he steered it into shallow waters. is there anything that this guy can hope for at this point? >> obviously italy is suffering international humiliation as a result of this incident. i think prosecutors are going to be extraordinarily harsh here. can he mount a defense? he may very well be able to mount a defense. he says the rock that the ship hit was an unchartered rock and that he was following in a path that should have been a safe path for the ship. of course, on the other side of it, ashleigh, there are claims that there was a head waiter on the boat who lived on a nearby island and the captain was trying to veer in close to the island to sound the ship's horn. >> to show boat. >> yes, show boat in honor, endangering 4,000 passengers. so right now it's not looking too good for the captain. >> we'll watch and see if there were some mechanics that went wrong because that would certainly make a difference in all of this. paul, great. thank you for all that. >> nice being with you. >> you as well. sorry in this circumstance. in 30 minutes as well, we're going to hear from captain jim staples who has been a captain for 20 years. he's going to start to soledad on "starting point" about the captain's action to abandon the ship while passengers were still on board. >> so many layers to that story. >> it will go on for a long time. >> right. so front page faces coming up next. that's the faces behind the stories. over 1 million people signed a recall petition in wisconsin. governor scott walker responds now and we're talking with wisconsin democrat and republican leaders. going to get their take on this. you are watching "early start." yeah, it's beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] beneful healthy fiesta. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. welcome back to "early start." we have a segment called "front page faces." so we kind of talk to the folks who are making head likes here. we're talking about the wisconsin recall, the big recall, democrats are handing in over 1 million signatures in a petition to oust governor scott walker. walker responding in a statement saying, in part, i look forward to talking to the people of wisconsin about my continued promises to control government spending, balance the budget, and hold these line on taxes. i expect wisconsin voters will stand with me and keep moving wisconsin forward. on the phone and now is chairman and face of wisconsin's democratic party, mike tate. good morning, mike. >> good morning. thanks for having me on. >> listen, this is costing taxpayers $9 million. it's not just a gooup guber toial recall. the lieutenant governor and three state senators as well. why not just let walker finish out his term? why spend all of this taxpayer dollar? >> well, obviously i think it's a really good question. and the answer is the people in wisconsin just won't wait. i mean, we have the governor who frankly lied to the people when he campaigned for office. didn't talk about how he was going to govern. didn't tell people he was going to do it. over 1 million citizens have taken a stand and said that they simply cannot wait for the next election and it's unfortunate this is going to cost a little money but frankly i think whatever question spend on this will be the best down payment on the state's future we can make. >> $9 million is not a little bit of money but at the end of the day governor walker was able to sign a budget that nonpartisan will leave the state in surplus at the end of two years. that is opposed to the shortfall the state was in before. your unemployment rate is headed downward. it was 7.4%. it's now 7.3% which is well below the national average of 8.5%. can you argue with those results? >> i think you can because i think they don't tell the whole story. frankly, over the last five months wisconsin has led the nation in job loss. since scott walker signed this budget we have lost more jobs than any other state in the country. and, you know, there are general accounting principles have looked at this budget and said it is not a balanced budget. he balance it by giving a tax break to the top 1% and raising taxes on the working poor and cutting public education by over a billion dollars. it's not the way you balance the budget on the backs of working families. it is simply the wong priorities of this state. >> let's hear from the other side now. talking now with brian shemming, vice chairman of the republican party of wisconsin. thanks for joining us this morning. so we just talked about the victories, right, in your particular state. so why is it that they were able to amass over a million folks to want to recall the governor? what went wrong? >> well, zoraida, the plain fact of the matter is they decided very early on to go after the governor. they talked about signatures in the last 60 days. this has been an anti-walker campaign that has been going on for months. it's been led by the state's public sector unions. and so the governor really -- what they want people to focus on is the million signatures. what they do not want people to focus on is the mess that scott walker got when he took over as governor. the $3.5 billion budget deficit. 150,000 jobs lost under former democrat governor jim doyle. >> i have to say, if i can interrupt you here, the way that he went about curtailing the collective bargaining rights of most state employees, there were a lot of major protests happening. do you think that approach was simply the wrong approach? >> no, i think it was the right approach. he came up with a plan. he talked about it statewide. the legislature passed it. and while the legislature was trying to do its job, 14 democrat senators who frankly just didn't like the plan decided to escape the state and go down to illinois for weeks on end. i don't care what party you're in. that's not a responsible way to govern, is to run out on your job. so the governor is taking the state in the right direction as he said. it's about controlling taxes and spending. frankly, sor darzoraida, we're o have this contrast because now it's not about doing a few signatures on ballots across the state. it's about a choice between going forward and going backward. and that's what we're going to be talking about. >> brian schemming,thanks for joini joining. the election board will have to review the signature on the petition. >> light reading for saturday. ever heard of jerry yang? es a h big cheese. why is he stepping away from the company he co-founded? the yahoo! leader saying, bye-bye. you'll find out why on "early start." forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. very good morning to you. 49 minutes past the hour. time to get you caught up on top stories. just into cnn, prosecutors in italy will appeal the judge's decision to place the captain of a capsized cruise ship under house arrest instead of jail. captain was released from bars overnight. by the way, rescue operations were also put on hold overnight because, once again, that vote has started slipping back and forth in the ocean. wikipedia along with several other websites partially down this morning. protesting anti-piracy renlg lags that the non-profits believe will ultimately lead to wide spread censorshicensorship. time warner, the parent company of cnn, supports the legislation. yahoo!'s cofounder yearry yank is resigning from the board of directors and will no longer have any part of the company. he served to 2007 to '09 and stepped down because shareholder were furious he snubbed a buyout bid by microsoft. now he's gone all together. soledad o'brien joins us now with a look ahead at "starting point." >> we're going to continue to talk about the cruise ship with the audio reports coming out about the captain. remarkable. we'll talk about the search for survivors that has been suspended with a former navy s.e.a.l. they're going to talk about how dangerous and risky that snchts plus, iran says no, they will not be returning that secret spy craft, the drone that crashed in iran. however, they are willing to send a $4 small toy model to the president. talk about that. plus, you're moms, i'm a mom. how much do you think the job of a mom is worth? give me a number. just laughter. just laughter. yes. >> billions. >> yes, that would be just hysterical laughter on that. we'll crunch the numbers and tell you how much a mom is worth so we can go home and present that bill to people. that's ahead this morning. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go good morning, san francisco. 39 degrees there. guess what, later it's going to be sunny, a high of 57. you're going to be loving it. it is 6:54 in the morning here in the east. and we're getting an early read on your local news that makesing national headlines. first up, the california utility pg&e is under fire this morning after admitting that it lost track of how many homes had been built near more than 300 miles of gas lines. all those lines should have been inspected regularly with pressure limitations. in september 2010, explosion in san bruno killed eight people. destroyed an additional 38 homes. a pg&e spokesman says our customers deserve better. >> if you're a fan of the tab-shaped papers, the "new york daily news" or loon ok line, the occupy wall street and movement in new york at least seems to have fizzled a bit. maybe call it winter hibernation. but we do know this, donations are dwindling. occupy leaders are voted to freeze a lot of spending and now actually conceding a movement of losing steam, so to speak. barricades have come down but not that many protesters are coming back. they are saying that things could really start ramping back up as we get closer to the summer because the conventions are coming. democratic conventions in charlotte and september. gop conventions in tampa in august. >> and it will be warmer. >> and lovely weather outside. tenting is beautiful at that time of year. >> we'll be right back. you're watching "early start." hey, guy, really good stuff coming up. for the best political coverage on tv, keep it here on cnn because tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern you can join soledad o'brien and the rest of the cnn news team for live coverage of the southern republican presidential debate. >> then join us saturday night at 7:00 eastern for live coverage of the south carolina primary. >> it's politics, politics all week. that is it though for us. this is "early start," i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien is starting your way right no now. >> i'm laughing because our executive producer is like, oh, they're on tv now. i need to get out of the shot. i was going to introduce her if she would just stay. you can tell she's a chicken. we're talking about the rescue operations that were suspended in italy. the death toll is now 11. there are 23 people who are still missing. surprisingly, the captain is now out of jail. he's been put under house arrest. also this morning, we continue to talk about politics. mitt romney says he thinks his tax rate was around 15%. >> make everybody happy. heads explode. >> heads exploding this morning as will cain shows it up. >> my friends across america. >> he didn't say 15%. he said approximately, i think -- or maybe more like, exactly. we're going to talk to our panel about that, much more. plus, this weather in the pacific northwest. bracing for unprecedented snow. ten inches expected.