season. in afghanistan, you have what's called a fighting season. in the wintertime when a lot of the taliban are holed up in areas that are inaccessible because of the mountain ranges and the snow, it becomes much harder to fight. and then you've about got the time that they plant a lot of the poppy, the drugs that fuel the insurgency. so you've got window and we're smack dab in the middle, fredricka. >> who are the attackers? >> what did you say? >> who are the attackers, do they know? >> taliban is claiming responsibility. isaf says 50% of the time when you have these green-on-blue attacks it is the taliban infiltrators. the other times it's afghan forces with personal beefs against the americans or perhaps an afghan who got caught up in debt and was paid off to do something. >> chris lawrence at the pentagon. thanks so much. >> yep. relatives and members of the community are coming together in oak creek, wisconsin, today to remember the six people killed in the sikh temple shooting. sikh temple members broke with tradition to hold a public wake and memorial service. they say they wanted to give the community a chance to share in their grief. just moments ago attorney general eric holder spoke at that service. ♪ we're going to try to bring you the comments of attorney general eric holder later. our ted rowlands got an exclusive look inside as workers worked to reclaim the temple and change it from a crime scene to a place of worship again. >> reporter: a bullet hole is still in the door of the main prayer room inside the oak tree temple. the plan is not to fix it but to keep it forever as a reminder of what happened. everything else was quickly cleaned by volunteers who showed up almost immediately after the crime scene was cleared. >> it takes its toll when you think of the lives are lost and that our temple is never going to be the same again. >> reporter: of the four people killed inside, the only female died here in the prayer room. the three others were all shot and killed in the room down this hall, whereas you can see the carpet has been replaced. this teeny pantry just off the kitchen area is where more than 15 women and children hid for more than 15 hours, some of them injured, none of them knowing if the gunman would return to kill them. several of the victims' family members were there to help clean and pray. some of them joined reverend jesse jackson on the floor. >> simply put, our families, his mother who left behind two beautiful boys and was the only mother -- imagine losing your mother -- the victims, the police officer who did his job, they are hero. they're living the american dream. the other person was a coward. and at the end of the day, he should always be remembered as a coward. >> reporter: the hope here is that these six lives will be remembered as a reason to change the way people treat each other. >> i think that's really what this message is. we're all god's creation no matter where we come from, no matter what we believe. we're all joined together. >> and ted rowlands joining us live now from oak creek, wisconsin. ted, you know, eric holder speaking moments ago right there at the temple. offering his words of comfort. this is what he had to say. >> we've been brought together by an unspeakable and devastating tragedy. we are bound together by much more. we are united today not only by a shared sense of loss but also by a common belief in the healing power of faith. >> ted, so how impactful, how important was it for eric holder to be there to speak one on one with people? >> reporter: i think it was very important, fredricka, because one of the things the sikh community wants to do is break down barriers between them and the country, and having someone from the u.s. government here does help. one of the questions they've asked in the wake of the shootings is what's being done about these hate groups? are they really being monitored? is the federal government really taking things seriously? and i think this was a good gesture by the united states to send him. and i do think their overall goal of having this event here, which is complete break from sikh tradition is making an impact. we've seen thousands of people from around the world descend on this tiny town in wisconsin, and people were very, very moved inside throughout the day. >> and now what about the followers of this temple? how are they sealing them coming together as a community? how are they seeing the healing process unfolding? >> reporter: well, they think that if this is going to be a situation where these lives weren't lost in vain, then there does need to be a barrier change because they do feel discriminated against and they do feel that they were targeted by someone who had so much hate in him, so they're hoping that these lives will will help people see that the sikh people are who they are and they want to share their religion, they want to share who they are with the rest of the united states and the world. anyone who's willing to listen, they're more than happy to engage them and they're hoping the one thing that is positive out of this is that barriers will be broken down. >> all right. in oak creek, wisconsin, ted rowlands. thanks so much. bond has been set for the man accused of taking weapons to a theater in northern ohio. authorities believe scott smith was planning a copycat movie massacre on saturday night. he allegedly had a loaded 9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun, two loaded magazine clipse and three knives in a bag he carried to the theater where the latest batman movie was showing. smith pleaded not guilty to 21 counts, including carrying a concealed weapon and having weapons under disability. he says he has been carrying the weapons for protection. a judge set bond at $250,000 and ordered scott to stay away from the regal cinemas. a preliminary hearing is scheduled next week. and here's what we're working on for this hour. despite some recent good news on the economy, more americans think things are getting worse. is that perception or reality? we have a fact check. a photographer in philadelphia doesn't think people know the full extent of how homicides are hurting communities, so he started a project to show us. >> i want them to see what i'm seeing every night in this city, the children watching crime scene investigations. an unbelievable new photographs of the surface of mars. it's the red planet in all its glory. we're at the prime time steak house in houston where we switched their steaks for walmart's choice premium steak. let's see what people think. it's a steak-over. it's juicy. it's tender. it seems like it just melts in my mouth. that's a nice steak. only one in five steaks is good enough to be called walmart choice premium beef. you are eating walmart steaks. really? this is fabulous. the steak is excellent. i'm gonna go to walmart and bring it here. 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go to the next screen. this is interesting. will the economy get better if barack obama getwins? 31%. they say things will not get better if either guy wins in november, fred. >> big concern for either camp? >> a big concern for the president. it's the top issue on the minds of the americans. who gets blamed for the economy? the guy in the oval office. that is the way its. that's the concern for the president. you see the unemployment levels creep up over the last couple of months. that may be one of the reasons why you're seeing the perceptions of the economy, at least our poll, go that way. that may be a concern for the p president. mitt romney needs to say i can do better. that's not happening right now. we have three months to go right now. anything can happen. >> that's true. anything can happen. you look at the poll numbers and you wonder whether, you know, the voting elect rat thinks differently. >> yeah. and sometimes they're not in sync, right. and the president and his campaign pointing to that number. the overall level has been creeping up, regardless of the reason it creeps up and people see that. while the national numbers are important, it's also important to look at the state numbers. this is a battle. it's a battle for the states and the elective votes so it's important to look at the battleground states and how those numbers are doing. >> very good. 88 days. it's right around the corner. it ooh going go just like that. paul steinhauser in washington. despite the pessimistic views about the economy, we receive some encouraging signs late lately, but the economy struggling still to take hold. alison kosik with a reality check. what are some of the positive developments that everyone can agree on? >> okay, fredricka. so, yeah, the economy has certainly been sending a lot of mixed signals. let's start with sort of a temperature check on key readings. for one, housing, it is one of the biggest cornerstones of the economic recovery. it is what drove us into the recession in the first place. many say it's really what we need for a true comeback to take hold. and believe it or not, it's been one of the few bright spots recently. foreclosures have been slowing and home prices are slowly rising. it's more of a mixed picture. on the plus side, employers did add 163,000 positions in july that rebounded from a few weak months but the unemployment rate went up and the sectors at added positions were lower paid areas and this was a problem because you really want to see job gains in these more higher paying areas, so those people can really go out and pump more money in the economy. fredricka? we have seen this before. the economy seems to be gaining some traction, but then it hits a rough patch. so what are some of the factors which will determine which way things ultimately do go? >> yeah. there are two big wild cards in the mix. one for sure is europe. there's still a lot of issues out there. the european central bank isn't meeting again until september. investors are hoping they will take some concrete action to get the debt crisis under control in a meaningful way. you know, issues overseas can have a huge ripple effect just as our recession drove others down. the reverse can hold true because the european union is our trading partner. the other, the fiscal cliff. that's when tax increases and spending cuts go into effect on january 1st. congress needs to figure out how it's going to keep us from falling off this so-called cliff. here's the thing. nothing's likely to be done until after the election. it leave as small window for congress to get off its you-know-what and do something about it. meantime we're also getting new pictures of the martian surface from nasa, and we'll show you some of them. the rover curiosity on the surface of mars, day five, nasa scientists just spoke to reporter john zarrella who's staying on top of e everything at the jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena. so, john, they talked about the seven moments of terror, so to speak. why are they going over that again. >> yeah, fredricka. we hadn't heard about the landing and descent. they're still talking at this briefing because they're still all jazzed up by how well everything went and how well their calculations worked. in fact, they started off the press briefing by saying, you know what, we traveled more than 350 million miles to get to mars and we missed the entry target by less than one mile. that's pretty phenomenal when you think about it. they were, for all intents and purposes, right on track. then they began ticking off all of the different time lines throughout that descent and they actually brought up an enhanced image that was taken from the mars reconnaissance orbiter shown on the end of the parachute and they talk about how the parachute deployment took place right within the time line when they thought it would take place, how the parachute slowed them to just exactly what they thought it would slow their speed to, how the heat shield deployed and how they showed new enhanced imagery from the heat sensor camera. they continued on ticking off all of the different events during the course of that seven-minutes of terror that took place right within the windows of the times that they thought they would take place, which ultimately led to the incredible safe landing of curiosity on the surface. now, one thing we did not see yet today and probably won't now is that full resolution color panorama of the surface of mars. they're doing a lot of data now, getting a lot of data dumps. that picture just has to take a back seat to some of the science now. fredricka? >> i wonder with all that's taken place, you know, did all of these things kind of meet expectations, with what nasa thought might happen? or did they observe or learn anything new? was there the unexpected? >> well, thing what they're learning, at least right now, is that they were able to pull this off quite successfully beyond their expectations and all the scientists and engineers that i've about had the opportunity to speak with the last five or six days here has said the same thing. curiosity has performed well beyond our expectations. everything worked perfectly. and, of course, that sets the bar very high for down the road and the rest of the mission once they get going, start dog the science, which is going to be a couple of weeks. but they could not be happier. they are tickled pink at how things have worked so far. >> okay. what's next for curiosity? >> well, what's next is they're going to take a couple of days to upload some new software to the new vehicle. so we probably won't see any more new pictures for at least a few days, a couple of days. and once they get through with that, they're going to continue the checking out of the systems, and then after all that is done, it will be another week or two, then they'll actually start to perform the real science and curiosity will start moving out across the landscape, and they will start looking for the signs of water, looking for the signs of carbon, all of those things that could be the building blocks of life which is the mission of curiosity. but as one scientist told me, fredricka, this is not a sprint. this is a marathon. it's a two-year mission, so we're taking our time. >> okay. patience is a virtue. john zarrella, thank you so much. appreciate that. >> reporter: sure. we're heading into the final week of competitions aet the olympic games in london. we're going to reflect on some of your favorite moments and my favorite moments, especially since i got to tag along with that gentleman. his name happened to be whitfield, mal whitfield. just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery, the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. well, almost. the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice. splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours. i'll give you money for gas. 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