whitney houston on a dangerous path days before her death. she drank heavily in the days before her death. she started drinking 10:00 in the morning poolside. also, have we got a deal for you. and i mean it. a payroll tax cut deal is now actually in place. the lawmakers using a word they haven't used in a while, the big c word, compromise. iran showing off a new level of nuclear know-how and playing the oil card, as well. what does iran want and what is it capable of? we're speaking to an expert who has been inside iran. if you are about to or in the middle of packing your children's school lunch, you will love this one. does the government know better than you what to put in that lunch box? aapparently in one town they seem to think they do. is it going too far? find out what was in the lunch box and what the mom got in trouble for. >> what they replaced it with is what shocks me. singer whitney houston was drinking heavily at her hotel just days before she was found dead. tmz photo here taken by the hotel pool where the sources claim she ordered several drinks. we don't know, however, what is in the glass beside her, but we do know some of those same sources say she was arguing with a bartender because she thought they were putting too much ice in her drinks. >> they haven't yet determined the cause of death, have to wait for the toxicology on that, take a look at this. this is her death certificate and if you zero right in on cause of death, it is listed as deferred. they're waiting to hear what the toxicology may determine and, of course, manner of death after that. a private funeral service on saturday that's what the family decided. they will stream the images online and television possible, as well. friends and family chose the private service and they wanted to remember whitney houston at only they knew her. >> this is my daughter. this is my sister, this is my mother. this is my friend and we want to do this with dignity. we don't want to have a parade. we loved her when she was nippy in new jersey. the world loves her because of her voice. but if she could not sing, the houston family would love her. >> pastor marvin winans, who actually married bobby brown and whitney houston and will proceed over the funeral services, as well. susan standing by with the latest on the investigation. the pastor said they want to remember whitney the way they remember her. and they're now looking at the subpoenas that have been going out to doctors and to pharmacies. what's happening? >> you can't forget about her brilliant career, but this is the hard reality that coroners have to look at what led to her death. you indicated the disturbing details. drinking as early as 10:00 in the morning on tuesday and thursday. remember, her body was found on saturday. ordering drinks and complaining to the bartender that they were watered down and too much ice in them. people describing her as doing somersaults and running in and out of the pool and wearing mismatched clothes and erratic behavior that didn't sound rith. they're trying to piece together medications she was on, what she was drinking and whether there was any interaction and whether any of this had anything to do with her death. >> i'm sorry, i thought you were throwing to a sound bite there. let me ask you about the people who are expected to be coming to this funeral because it is the invitation only services we are told and pretty significant vips and actually even performers, right? >> oh, absolutely. aretha franklin. i mean, come on, she's been invited to sing. how could she turn that down. dionne warwick, these are relatives. chaka cahn. some live in new york and l.a. they're all going to be here. a huge list of invitas. again, private funeral, you have to have a ticket to get in. >> susan candiotti, thank you. cnn will air special coverage of whitney houston's funeral and it gets under way saturday at 11:00 in the morning eastern time. it is five minutes past the hour, switching gears here. china is sending a top envoy to syria for talks on ending the violence there. no let up for the crackdown on the opposition. syrian forces are said to be storming towns in search of military defectors. cnn's arwa damon is seeing the bloody onslot first hand in the city of holmes. >> the bombardment at some points was so intense that buildings were shaking, glass was shattering. a 9-year-old girl that was caught in the house that we were in burst into tears and absolutely no way to comfort her. we also spent a couple hours that medical clinic inside the neighborhood that has been the hardest hit in this most recent government onslot. nonstop shelling residents here are telling us is going on for 11, 12 days now. the doctors now are beside themselves. >> arwa is there with the cnn news team. the u.n. general assembly set to take up a symbolic resolution condemning syria. china and russia blocked that security council action earlural. ivan watson will join us from syria with a live report. >> arwa damon is the only one of the major networks in america that could breach the border and now this is two correspondents that we were able to get into this country. since march we have been trying to get people in and we were able to go in with weapons and monitors not weapons but monitors, but this is really quite remarkable and we can't understate how incredibly dangerous this is for anybody to be doing this. this is remarkable risk to them. just want to make sure we underscore that. the gop presidential candidate rick santorum gave it up. tax returns, not just a couple. four years worth, that is the most any republican candidate has coughed up. >> christine romans is here with us and she's been pouring over them this morning. >> taxes are so much fun first thing ing the morning. >> he has been on the campaign trail for a while it has taken him some time because he said, i do them myself. >> it says self-repaired right on his four years of returns. what we know about rick santorum, even as he was trying to put himself very apart from mitt romney and his vast wealth. he made more than $900,000 last year. he paid a higher tax rate than mitt romney and the others. 28.3% was his tax rate there. we also know he gave $16,000 to charity. two kids in college and a house that lost 40% and he points out that the reason why he pays a higher tax rate because he earns his money and goes out and works for his money and just doesn't make money with money. listen. >> i don't have any income that would come from investments or wealth. i mean, almost 90% plus of the money on the tax returns i went out and earned and as a result i am paying social security taxes on them earned income and that's why i pay they can make more money than any of us will ever make. >> talk to me about the policies. the poll that breaks down all the gop policies and what policies favor the rich? >> that's what this whole tax story. everyone wants to see the tax returns because these candidates are trying to position themselves as relating to us. to real people. to real working americans, right? and this poll shows how well they're doing. who favors the rich. romney, 65% said that his policies favor the rich. gingrich and romney are seen as favoring the rich but santorum does better on this front and then president obama, 26%. a whole narrative right now, right, about rich versus poor. who is going to work for me, who will work for the haves and the have notes. all playing out on the campaign trail. that's why they're figuring out everyone's tax rates. >> just as you pored over them, did you find anything surprising? >> i was surprised about the $16,000 last year to charity. they didn't list who they gave money to and the like. i would like to see more about the charitable donations, especially because you're talking about values and talking about your fellow man. >> i bet charitable donations are down across the board especially for everybody. >> especially if you have college and your house value is down and for people who run charities and religious organizations, they would like to give a little bit more. still to come, reports of armed militias running wild in libya, torturing detainees. the same liberators who toppled gadhafi. first, though, to rob marciano for the travel forecast with anybody who is headed somewhere. good morning, rob. >> good morning, guys. a big shield of rain moving across the eastern third of the country, moving into colder air. for the most part a colder event. 32 in buffalo and spreading to the i-95 corridor, as well, throughout the day today and into parts of tomorrow, as well. not a ton of severe weather with this overnight but bringing beneficial rains to parts of the southeast. this will ride up the appalachians and tap moisture from the east coast over the next day and a half. what we're really worried about is the next storm that will come through the mid-atlantic come sunday. if you're upstate weatherwise, "early start" is coming right back. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? 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[ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. okay... ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do we are talking catwalks this morning. what it takes to become a top model. but what is it like to be on top? that was like, i lived that song in the '80s, right? >> alina cho, didn't that song bring you right back? >> i'm too sexy for this segment. >> listen, it's always fun to follow a top muddle, right? you think about it, naomi, christie, gisele. that is the case with joan smalls. seemingly overnight she went from catalog model to catwalk stunner. what is it like to be jones? we followed her during fashion week. one look at her and it's clear, joan smalls is not just a super model, she's a star. >> it's kind of like a go-getter heart. like i'm coming. i'm coming to get it. i'm coming to be great. >> on the catwalk at louis vuitton, mark jacobs, gucci. the it-girl designers must have like derek lam. >> she's like a seasoned actr s actress. >> jason wu. >> she represents the girl that i feel i design for. the girl that who never gives up. >> reporter: what does it take to be joan smalls? >> how did it happen? >> it happened with a leap of faith. >> reporter: born in puerto rico, in the early days joan was a catalog model. three years ago, she wanted more. she switched managers who directed her to change her approach. for instance, at casting calls, dress the part. >> high heels. >> high heels. show off those legs and show off that great body of yours. >> reporter: joan started booking jobs. her biggest breakthrough, an exclusive contract in january of 2010. during high fashions, most coveted runway, catour. >> don't go anywhere else, i have goose bumps all over my body and i smiled so hard. >> reporter: did you realize that would be a breakthrough moment for you? >> i think you realize when you want something so bad and something great happens, i think it's instinct. this is the moment that is going to change everything. >> reporter: it did. >> her second job was italian steven and then afterwards, vogue and shortly afterwards to represent estee lauder. >> reporter: the cosmetic giant's first lutina face. a multi-year contract at a rate of more than $1 million a year. have you seen what it has done to models and career? >> it definitely makes a household name immediately. >> reporter: fitted by vera wang, stella mccartney and most recently chanel. >> i always wanted the greater and the bigger. i came here with a purpose and to be an inspiration to others. >> what can you say? she's gorgeous and she's nice. so, what's next for joan smalls? she says her big dream is to land the cover of american vogue. vogue does not comment on covers, but a top vogue editor did tell me that joan is a pleasure to work with and she is a friend of vogue. vogue does not take its relationship with models very lightly. they say they have become embasders for the magazine and they nurture these models and don't discard them. being in vogue as a model, as you know, i'm sure. >> i don't know. >> trust me. >> last time i was in "vogue" it was very different. >> the one thing i will say about joan smalls. in january of 2010, not that long ago, the designer ricardo very respected in the industry believed in her. signed her to that exclusive and that was it. the phone never stopped ringing after that. >> here, two things, a good agent and never give up. that's what she said. she said, i'm coming to get it. >> you have to want it. her agent said beauty is the standard in the industry, you have to bring the personality. >> all right, alina, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> don't miss alina's special. "fashion backstage pass" it airs next saturday at 2:30 p.m. eastern on cnn. you will not want to miss it. we'll be right back. all right, so, 20 minutes past the top of the hour now. let's get you caught up on the top stories as you're heading out the door or just getting ready for your day. a source telling us whitney houston was ordering a lot of alcohol at her hotel in the days just before her death. her death certificate is listing her cause of death as deferred until they find out more. some militias that helped topper mogar ammar gadhafi are engaging in torture and abuse of the prisoners they took. a payroll tax cut deal is in place this morning. congressional negotiators sealed the deal late last night that legislation to renew the tax cut for 160 million workers and the jobless benefits from millions more. general motors is ending pensions for 19,000 salaried workers. the automaker is moving the traditional pension plans to 401(k)s. they hope to lower financial risk for the investors. coming up in just a moment, it's not easily done, but arwa damon has done it and now a second correspondent for cnn has done it, as well. breached the borders of syria. we're going to take you live for a report inside northern syria in just moments. a first-hand look. [ tires squeal, engine revs ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] not everything powerful has to guzzle fuel. the 2012 e-class bluetec from mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. welcome back to "early start." we do have breaking news here. no apparent let up in syria's government crackdown on the opposition. >> our ivan watson has been able to get over the border into northern syria this morning. an area that has seen a lot of fighting in recent days. ivan, i know you're joining us and we're not going to give away your location, obviously. are you able to see specific evidence of what has been reported by the opposition members for so many months now? >> ashleigh, i think what is astounding here is that the countryside in northern syria, much of it is in open revolt. this is a rebellion of farmers, of carpenters and of high school teachers and we have traveled from village to village to town and sat in town council, village council where people sit in circles, young men, old men, chain smoking and brandishing what appear to be assault rifles that they've gotten within the last couple of months. it does appear that villages and towns in northern syria have been, basically, out of government control for several months now except when government forces have tried to conduct deadly incursions into these towns that are temporary at best. nearly everybody we talked to was able to show photos in their cell phones of neighbors and relatives who have been killed in some of these incursions. an additional point that is fascinating is that these communities are now experimenting in self-rule, providing their own services to their communities. in many cases, hosting hundreds of defected syrian soldiers who they identify as the free syrian army. from positions that we have been in, syrian government forces have only been a few forces away. within line of sight, actually. we've gotten one view of one of the largest cities in the region and it's incredible. you can see the syrian government flag flying in the center of that city, less than a mile away in the center of the city, you can also see the rebel flag flying. these are government and rebel forces very close together and, in some cases, engaging in fierce battles with a daily report of casualties of civilians dying as a result of these deadly clashes. >> so, ivan, so many questions. but, obviously, right off the bad, he says he's dealing with a handful of bad terrorists and what you're reporter teachers, farmers and carpenters with small arms. sounds like something completely different. are you seeing any evidence of increased artillery being brought in to help these people to do what they're trying to do? >> so far the only weaponry we have seen are assault rifles which can't really do a lot of damage, ashleigh, against the kind of armor and air power that the syrian government has. what we're hearing, but we have not seen with our own eyes from the opposition here is that they're trying to defend their communities, their villages and towns with improvised explosive devices. land mines and they're using them to ring some of these communities. yesterday, we're told, that one of the villages in the area was attacked by artillery, by tank shells and that it killed at least two residents of that community. they do seem to be preparing for the possibility of a syrian military offensive that they know they won't have considerable weaponry to defend themselves against. what many of the people here have said is because of the brunt of the syrian military is targeting much larger population centers like the city of holmes, which are much larger population centers. that is occupying the syrian military and allowing the people in these areas in northern syria to continue living, as they call it, in liberated territory. >> obviously, let's hope that they lay maps when they lay those land mines down because that could be an entirely different crisis later on. ivan watson, goes without saying, be extraordinarily careful. we want to remind our viewers the kind of danger that ivan and arwa damon are in. we will be right back after this break. with a selec-terrain dial that adjusts the jeep grand cherokee's performance for specific weather and road conditions, even heavy snowstorms won't keep you from getting to work... our apologies. dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave. [ telephone rings ] [ sighs ] i need a new i.t. guy. [ male announcer ] in a small business, technology is all you. staples easy tech experts are here to help. you must be... ...dave. [ male announcer ] with everything from new computers, to set-ups, to tune-ups. stapes. that was easy. and a very good morning to you, 31 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. they issued a lot of subpoenas. pakistani intelligence officials say a u.s. drone strike killed five suspected militants in the tribal region along the afghan border. the drone fired at a suspected militant compound. the house is expected to vote in the next couple of days on a deal, a final deal that was reached to extend the payroll tax cut. deals now in place according to several aides in congress. if you filed your taxes electronically, it seems you can't track the status of your refund right now. the where's my refund tool on the irs.gov site not working. irs says it hopes to have the glitch fixed soon, the refunds are being processed normally, according to those in the know. let's go back to the payroll tax deal. democrats and republicans have come together on a deal to extend the payroll tax cut for millions of working families. the unemployment benefits for millions more. that word came from congressional aides late last night. the house vote could come today or tomorrow. >> of course, what this means to you because the language sometimes become very arcane is that the holiday you have been getting, the paycheck you have been getting should kind of stay the same. it won't go drinking at the end of the month. 1,000 bucks over the course of the year if you break it down to the paycheck per paycheck amount, about $40 that you can continue keeping. why this is happening, the lawmakers are doing something they rarely do these days, compromising. >> this is a compromise. there are technical issue. we will let counsel finish those. we'll be able to move forward later. >> christine romans is here to talk about this. we talked about the payroll tax card and we want to talk about the jobless benefits. >> in some parts of the country, you can get jobless benefits for up to 99 weeks. that's something that republicans have said, come on, 99 weeks, that's just too long. we have to figure out how to pay for it. they will extend jobless benefits, but not up to 99 weeks. more like 73 weeks and it will have to be paid for. not something that they will add to the deficit. that's what they're working on. it will depend on the state's jobless rate for that. you can also, interestingly enough, see drug testing for some of these benefits. people who are experts in employee rights, they don't like testing for benefits. you get benefits or you don't, right sphbut if you failed a drug test and lost your job, to get jobless benefits going forward, you would have to take another drug test and pass it. or if you refuse to take a drug test and lost your job and didn't get a job, you would have to do the same. looking into all the language in that. a lot of people just said, you can't give checks to people forever. we have to start thinking about how we're going to be creating jobs and dprgrowing the economy. >> only under those circumstances if you have failed a drug test in the past or that's why you lost your job. >> or you refuse to take one. also another provision in there about the biggest welfare program afor people and families. they'll make sure those debit cards. they'll make sure you can't use those cards in a strip club or something, i'm not sure how big of a problem that really is, but, obviously a nod to conservatives who are saying, look, we have to stop paying taxpayer money. >> did someone debate they should be able to use them in a strip club? >> i think it's probably more an oversight, again, i don't know how big of a problem it is, but that is something in this, as well. >> on its surface, i want to go back to the, we don't want to give our taxpayers money, but it's important to test. >> i don't know how you monitor and make sure, it's a hurdle to getting jobless benefits and that's is, i guess, the intent. >> some communities have found it is a lose/lose more money drug testing than stopping the benefits for drug users. >> they are testing in florida. >> they stopped the program, it was too expensive. >> look, the thing is you want to grow the economy and you don't have to have people who need jobless benefits. the answer is growing the economy. even though there was compromise, they haven't figured out the best ways to compromise the economy. >> in an election year. at the end of the year, we get the extension that everybody wanted. >> i like that. the president says he says he wants to see it signed first. >> diddly is not the word of the day today. >> okay. >> manimsm. >> what does it mean? >> the greedy pursuit of riches and i got it. done. >> that works in a congressional story. >> i agree. i should have been more clever and i'm sorry i wasn't. coming up ahead, iran. are they flexing their nuclear muscle more than usual and is there something about the way they flexed that we should be more concerned about? vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money [ male announcer ] aggressive new styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. ♪ the new c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. welcome back to "early start." 40 minutes now past the hour and iran continues to thumb its nose at the international community over its nuclear program. not a new story, but a different version of this story. president mahmoud ahmadinejad wearing a white lab coat in the center of your screen doing a tour at a local tehran nuclear facility. what's critical about this tour is that he was actually showing off the very first locally made fuel rods being loaded into the nuclear reactor and the core. that's important because they're banned from getting a lot of that kind of material imported into their country. so, making it themselves gets them on the road to being self-sufficient in a nuclear program. iran now says it plans on producing yellow cake. that's another step towards getting some very fine enriched uranium at weapons grade level. what should america do about it? anything? military strike, option? i don't know. erin burnett out front talking with paula broadwell about some of the possible reprecussions to do a military strike on iran. take a look. >> what iran's retaliation will be. i think it's likely that they will take advantage of some of their proxies. they have ties with hamas and gaza and open up attacks on some of our softer targets like u.s. embassies and u.s. troops abroad and remember iran is right next to a country we have a very large unprotected u.s. presence. unprotected in a sense that wevent been targeted by iran in that part of the world yet. >> jim walsh is an international security expert from mit he's live in boston with us. jim, i have so much to ask you. what paula was saying was so significant and maybe we're jumping the gun here. i think the more critical question at this juncture is, iran postures all the time. is there anything different this time? >> you're right, ashleigh. often there are big announcements and then the follow through isn't as big as the announcement. there was not a game changer yesterday. there were several announcements on the nuclear program about that facility, the underground facility. as you pointed out, about fueling the reactor, the medical reactor. but there's nothing that suddenly today iran is any closer to a nuclear weapon than yesterday. what is missing in all this, though. at the end of the day iran submitted a letter to the europeans saying they are ready to rejoin negotiations. so, all of this, this was no coincidence. all of this happened on the same day for the same reason, which is they are planning to reenter negotiations. that's a bit of positive news. >> when you say negotiations, i was reading in a different way that they were threatening to the permanent members of the security council plus one that they would pull their oil supplies. less like a negotiation and a threat that might have some backbone. i haven't really seen that kind of language before. >> remember it was the europeans that first passed a resolution saying they would stop buying iran's oil. this is iran responding to that form of pressure. but, you know, ashleigh, when you go into a negotiation, especially if you think you're the weaker party, you try to improve your leverage going into a negotiation. what are they saying? you said it at the top of the story. trying to communicate a message that they're self-sufficient in different nuclear areas and the feeling there is that, therefore, when they go into a negotiation, they are in a better bargaining position. >> let me ask you this. let me jump in, i'm always curious so much of what happens undergrou underground, physically under the earth. it's hard for our technology to spy on that. it has its inspectors on the ground in iran and have been there for a long time and they put forth a few reports saying it's not good. we do suspect there is nuclear activity that is weapons related and not science related. what do they really know? what kind of access do those guys actually have? are they corruptible? >> i would say in general, no. they're not seen as a corrupt agency. there may be individual inspectors that have issues, but, no. they have access, they have access to the underground facility and they have video monitors and they oil and air samples. the quality of information coming out from the iaea from people on the ground is very good. including that underground facility. now, it's not as good as they would like. they would like iran to sign on to something the additional protocol to give the iaea. even more access but most of the agency's concerns are things about what happened prior to 2003. these alleged weapons related activities. not past 2003. our intelligence agency just, the head of that, the dni, director of national intelligence just issued a report at the end of january saying iran has not yet made a decision to develop a nuclear weapon. it made a capability decision, but hasn't made that bomb decision, which is sort of the real deal here. that's why, personally, i worry about a military strike. i'm afraid it will have the same impact. if israel strikes iran, it will push them to the bomb when they haven't yet made that decision. that's sort of what happened before with iraq and i fear that here, as well. >> i have ten seconds and i can't leave you before asking this. ahmadinejad surrounded himself with dead pictures of nuclear scientists and he said they were all assassinates and they probably operate working over t their shoulders. iran would be a lot further ahead except for the guys getting blown up when they come up with a good technology. >> it becomes an issue of nationalism and as we saw this week, reports in thailand and georgia and india of iran starting to strike back with attacks of its own. i think it's a mixed bag and i don't think it's a good idea. >> jim walsh, you're smart, you're a smart guy and good to have you on this morning. thanks for getting up for "early start." soledad o'brien joins us now with a look at what is ahead on "starting point." >> did you just mess up my name? >> good morning to you, soledad. >> you know what, when you have a name like zoraida, you should be careful with people's names. welcome, everybody. in just about 15 minutes or so we'll start "starting point" one topic today is this tweet about chim chim chimmachanga. this was the freeze that was retweeted by president obama's campaign manager. that is insulting towards latinos. the producer of the movie "sparkle" that stars whitney houston and he had been working with her. we'll talk to him a little bit about whitney houston and now what happens with that movie now that she has died. also, we'll talk a little more about linsanit. jeremy lin has led the knicks to their seventh straight win. he has a friend who is an nba writer and he will join us to talk about their friendship and how it started. all that and much more ahead this morning on "starting point" which begins at the top of the hour. ♪ 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™. and the chefs at lean cuisine are loving tangy lemon, peppery poblano, sweet butternut. we're roasting, and grilling to create must-have meals with no preservatives. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. singing you in this morning with "eat it." good reason for that song this morning. should a state we determining whether a child's home packed lunch is healthy enough to eat? if they say it's not healthy enough, should the state be able to take that lunch away? >> in north carolina a preschooler's bagged lunch, turkey sandwich, banana, potato chips was deemed nutritionally inadequate because it was missing a vegetable and it was missing milk. instead, this is what the school did. they gave her chicken nuggets, which is all the child ended up eating. sarah joins us from raleigh. thanks for being with us this morning. the preschooler brought her homemade lunch and deemed nutritionally inadequate by whom? >> yeah, and one of the misconceptions is that the lunch was actually taken from her. it wasn't physically taken from her and confiscated or thrown away. she and the other preschoolers in the classroom that day took their lunches home at the end of the day and that's what clued this parent into the fact that she hadn't touched her lunch. but what happened, sorry, go ahead. >> what we understand that, why was it replaced with chicken nuggets or why was she offered the chicken nuggets from the cafeteria? >> right, so, the teacher went to the cafeteria and brought every child in the classroom a tray whose lunch didn't meet the standard. the tray, i guess, met the usda guidelines as far as having two servings of fruit or vegetable, milk a meat and a grain and i'm not sure what these particular trays had on them, but i do know that the girl only ate the three chicken nuggets. >> now, who makes this determination as to what is a nutritionally healthy lunch because what was originally packed for this child seemed nutritionally healthy. maybe except for the potato chips. >> that's what the parents thought. the state is the one who decided to adopt the usda guidelines for all prekind garten programs. i spoke to someone from the director's office in the division of child development, which is under our department of health and human services here and she said she's not sure why that lunch would not have met the standard because there was cheese on the sandwich, she says which should have met the dairy requirement. she said it might have been some confusion on the school's part. i spoke to the grandmother yesterday morning and she said ever since this incident for the last two weeks the girl has been given a carton of milk. so, either they're not determining that her cheese is sufficient or she's not bringing cheese every day and the grandmother is assuming that the bill for this milk will be coming shortly. i'm not sure if that is the case. >> that's part of the problem. two things confusing me a bit here. is there somebody who is designated to be in the classroom that is to check the children's lunches? is this a mandate or just arbitrarily that the teacher is doing this trying to follow the guidelines? >> well, this day, according to the parent and the principal of the school, someone from the division of child development and early education was at the school evaluating their prekindergarten program and inspecting. i'm not sure the employee actually went through the lunch boxes or that was the teacher, but i know the school lost points for having too many children with home packed lunches that didn't meet the standard. so, someone had to inspect the lunches to determine that that was the case. on a day-to-day basis, whether it's a private or public preschool or even an in-home day care, it is up to the child care provider to determine whether the lunch is being brought from home meet the standard. if she determines that they are not, it is his or her responsibility to provide them with supplementary items to meet the standard. so, i'm assuming that somebody is in the classroom or at the home day care center looking at these meals. >> sarah, associate editor "the carolina journal" thank you for joining us this morning. what is interesting the little girl is confused whether she is supposed to eat the she brings from home or whether she has to eat the food from home. still ahead, just that remarkable story out of the state of washington, josh powell. he blew up his own children. he set his home on fire, he killed his two young sons. should he be allowed to be buried beside them? not if that town gets its way. we'll explain. we have a deal. late last night word that payroll tax cut is now in place. we're really close to a deal here. you are watching "early start." when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. and that is the last of "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" is next with soledad o'brien. >> it's really australian. my dad is really australian. >> that's a new breaks. all right, welcome, everybody. you're watching "starting point" we focus on whitney houston and how she spent her final days by some reports on a dangerous path. sources say she was complaining that her drinks that she was having poolside were too watered down. also oil prices rising as the nation showing off new technology and threatening europe. we'll talk about what's happening there. proof that the world, indeed, could end in 2012. congress has come to an agreement on something. yes, agreed on tax cuts for millions of working families. >> we have an agreement and we're moving forward. >> an agreement, moving forward, oh, my goodness. also this morning, we'll talk about my favorite story of the day. this is a sign, this is a sign, the most boggling road sign ever. you'll have to slow down because it's broken down by the minute. what the speed limit is. crazy. that's our -- isn't that weird? under the category you cannot make this stuff up. we begin with mary j. >> all right, mary j. is going to make us feel all right. >> you have to slow down to read the sign. you know what speed you would have to go. >> i don't think that is the original intention, but it is working. penny lee is joining us this morning and served as political consultant to harry reid. nice to have you. will cain is with us and matt caby, nice to have you, as well. what are you doing? they're taking a shot of you reading your ipad. is my show not compelling enough to you today one minute in. i'll work harder for you, matt. i'll work harder to deliver a good show for you today. let's talk about whitney houston this morning. reportedly spent her final days drinking heavily. she was seen drinking by the pool starting around 10:00 in the morning on the day that she died. there is a photo that shows whitney poolside last wednesday. a drink by her side. certainly unclear what exactly was in that drink. also, there is now a copy of the preliminary death certificate that has been obtained and the cause of death is listed as deferred and that's because when they do the drug screening, the toxicology reports won't be complete for several weeks, eight weeks we're told. they put deferred on the death certificate. "forbes" magazine is reporting that whitney houston did -- the funeral is now on saturday. anderson spoke to the pastor marvin winans who will deliver the eulogy on saturday and he asked why the funeral was going to be private. >> cissy and the houston family, i don't think it was a matter of public or private as it was, this is my daughter, this is my sister, this is my mother, this is my friend and we want to do this with dignity. i knew that mama houston would do it the way she wanted it done, which we're going to church and we're not going to be worried about if the world can get in. >> a question a lot of people have asked, why a private service when there are so many fans that wish they could also remember her. we'll talk to bishop jakes and he'll attend that funeral, as well. he produced whitney houston's movie "sparkle." he was a producer of that movie. turning now to iran. iran is claiming that two key achievements have been met in its nuclear research program. another step to developing an atomic weapon, possibly. u.s. says those claims are embellished and today downplaying that significance. what should be done about it? is military strike an option? mike rogers is a former fbi agent who is now the chairman of the house intelligence community. nice to see you, sir, thanks for talking with us this morning. got a lot to get to. >> nice to see you, thanks for having me. >> when you see pictures coming out of iran with ahmadinejad surrounded by the scientists and there are a couple of options. number one, people have said, listen, iran is overinflating its capabilities. number two, a message being sent. a domestic message and an international message and number three, some of these threats that have been thrown about on state tv there are empty threats. let's walk me through what exactly happened yesterday and what does it mean? >> well, i think what you're seeing is the aftermath of what happens when the sanctions are starting to bite a little bit and what's happening is average iranians can't go down to the bank and get cash the way they used to. they're having a cash problem because of the sanctions and europe joined in on some of those sanctions and it's having a real bite on the iranian regime. what you see is a little bit of everything going on. they're trying to accelerate their ability, i believe, to enrich uranium or give the perception that they can do it. they have done these outside their country attacks outside their embassies to show they're not going away any time soon and this, this, i think new round of threats is really designed to throw the price of oil up and try to get people to back off the sanctions that we think are having an impact. >> let's talk about options then. when you look at polls. i think we have a new poll. 17%, low numbers of americans support military action to even get involved in iran's nuclear program. you've said before that you think any kind of unilateral strike by the united states would be very problematic and cause security problems for the united states. beyond sanctions, what are the options? >> well, let me, i said unilateral strike on behalf of israel on iran. so, if they did it by themselves, i think that's a problem. i think military options have to be laid on the table. they need to understand, we're serious about this. i'll tell you why. a nuclear iran means nuclear proliferation across the middle east. it's a middle east nuclear arms race. turkey says they'll get in. saudi arabia says they're going to get a bomb. egypt says if they have one, we're getting one. that creates an unstability problem that the next five generations of americas will have to try to deal with. that said, i don't think military options ought to be our first course of action. they should really be the last course of action and if israel did it by themselves, it causes a unique set of problems for the united states because we lose our middle east moderate allies. it creates a problem and we'll get dragged into something that we didn't make the affirmative action on. but at the same time, israel does need to take into factor that this is a country that if they get a nuclear bomb they'll use it on israel. they have those factors and they have egypt on their south is giving them trouble now that they haven't experienced in some 30 years. you can see the cauldron is kind of simmering here, soledad. >> let's turn and talk politics, if you can. you're a republican from the state of michigan. you are the special adviser of the romney 2012 presidential campaign. look at the poll numbers for your candidate and they have to be troubling you. michigan's governor snider is set to endorse mitt romney and these poll numbers show santo m santorum, i'm trying to see which poll is this that we're looking at here. this is the arg poll santorum with the lead of 23% and mitt romney 27%. how are you feeling about that poll? >> we're going to go into the campaign mode here in the week or so before the primary and i think mitt romney is going to do well. at the end of the day, michigan more than any other state has been hit as hard economically as you can possibly imagine and really what's happening is who are we talking to at the kitchen table who has seen their friend lose their job and their neighbor lose their house in our great state and manufacturing shrink in a way that's breathtaking. who can bring that back? i think what people will do, soledad, when they walk in that booth and say who's the person that can rebound this economy, repeal that obama health care law that is a drag on the economy. and i think when they come to that conclusion, they're formulating those ideas right now. i think they'll pick mitt romney. >> november 19th, 2008, "new york times" op-ed by mitt romney. if general motors and ford get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the american automotive industry good-bye. are you worried that the automotive industry and are you worry thad something like this in the state of michigan would come back and be a huge, huge problem for your candidate? >> he offered a counter to the way the obama administration did this. remember ford motor company came out with these bumper stickers, not the motor company, but a lot of people in michigan on their own came up with a bumper sticker that said, built without your tax dollars in michigan. there was discussion in michigan, was this the right way to do it? many believe there is an alternative way where the federal government didn't own a part of a car company and i think that's really the difference between how mitt romney would have helped the car companies. >> but he was against the bailout and the bailout looking back now is successful. >> listen. no, i think, again, there is the nuance on how you can do it. i ended up bailing out the auto end but at the same time, i disagree would the fact that the government was going to take ownership and shares of a company. i think that's a dangerous way to do it. now, it worked because they had capital and i think what mitt romney is saying, listen, i would have found a way to get them capital like the private market does in a way that would help the companies get access to the capital that they need. it wasn't the money in and of itself that saved the companies. that was the designers and the folks that built those cars. if you look at the new generation of automobiles coming out of detroit, they're fantastic. that happened because of those people. they just needed access to capital. i think what romney was saying, listen, there was probably a better way to do this. at the end of the day, i agree with him on this. i think there was a better way to do it. the way it was presented to us at the time and it needed to happen and they needed to get access to capital. but i think that discussion will probably happen and you'll be surprised how many people in michigan were concerned that heavy hand of the government when they took over these automobile companies. >> it will be interesting to see if that is reflected in the vote when that happens. congressman mike rogers joining us this morning. thank you. other headlines to get to, christine has those. good morning. >> the extension of the payroll tax cut clearing a major hurdle in congress. house and state negotiators reached a deal last night to renew that tax cut for 160 million americans through the end of this year. it means you'll keep more money in your paycheck this year, just like last year. the deal extends unemployment benefits and cutting fees for medical doctors. a u.s. drone strike in pakistan killed five militants along the afghanistan border. pakistani intelligence said the drone fired at a suspected militant compound. the drone strike was the sixth this year. the violence inside syria escalating. cnn's ivan watson is in northern syria right now where he says entire communities have been establishing militias and have seen little government presence. meantime, the u.n. general assembly is expected to take up a symbolic resolution today condemning president bashar. trying to convince russia to support this measure. earlier this month russia and china vetoed a security council resolution calling for assad to step down. meeting with congressional leaders. vice president ping telling business leaders that china and the u.s. must work towards building mutual trust. china faced accusations of ma p manipulating its currency which makes chinese goods cheaper. republican presidential candidate rick santorum releasing his tax returns for the past four years. that's the most of any candidate so far. they show he earned 3.6 million in those four years. his highest tax rate was 28.3%, he paid that last year. minding your business, u.s. stock futures pointing to a lower open this morning. dow futures down about 30 points right now. european markets are down, too. all because of greece. the leaders of the european union still negotiating with greece over the terms of the bailout to save it from default. as long as the negotiations continue, we'll see volatility in those markets. that jeremy guy, the new york knicks fenomled his team to a seventh straight victory last night over the sacramento kings. i guess, soledad, the linsanity continues, although, i don't know about you, i am starting to get tired. >> i love it. >> you do? >> i love the underdog story and i love the story of someone who comes from wibehind and no one expects he'll do it. >> i love it, too, but the lin puns. >> that's killing me. >> i love lin, not the lin puns. >> i'm with you on that. josh powell, you remember, of course, that washington state man who apparently blew up his home and himself and his two little boys when he was denied custody of them. he's been blocked from being buried near his two little boys. the nonprofit group that is called crime stoppers has purchased cemetery plots on both sides of the little boys' grave site. they will be buried together. he was accused of murder/suicide killing himself and the two boys and the pierce county sheriff says it's disgusting that a murder suspect would be buried next to his victims. so, you sort of can understand that. >> that story has just been a horrible story from the get go. i would agree with that. still ahead this morning on "starting point" the investigation into whitney houston's death is under way. subpoenas for her medical records. what happens from here? also, a teacher who has an assignment for her fifth graders. write to my boyfriend in prison. do you get an a if you do that? no joke. our get real this morning, the road sign that has everyone's head turning and turning because it's completely impossible to understand. tell you that story straight ahead. you're watching "starting point" we're back in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. quaker oats. energy to get you going, fiber to help fill you up and help keep your heart healthy. super people eat super grains. ♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ [ mom ] hi, there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of a tiguan, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ this is from my playlist, too. don't you love him? this is the best thing to wake up in the morning. welcome back, everybody. joe is a criminal defense attorney and joins us now to talk more about the whitney houston investigation. let's begin with the toxicology tests because they keep saying it will take eight, ten weeks, why? >> well, because that's if john smith dies, that's what happens. there are 50 other people who they have to go through a week. so, normally, that's how long it takes. >> but we know they moved whitney hoousen to the top of the list and she is getting this toxicology test done and why doesn't it take two and a half days? >> it will take shorter than six to eight weeks. they don't want to miss something and they don't want to be wrong and also they're not going to release the results until they have the complete investigation concluded and that includes finding out what prescription medication she had, she was on, was she using an ales. i will point out that the coroner today said he ruled out foul play in her death and does not appear that there was any criminal activity. unlike the michael jackson investigation that there appeared there was. from the get go. >> part of that was because the drug found with michael jackson. it was a drug you were supposed to have in your house at all and in this case we have seen the name of some of the drugs that have appeared to have been in that room and they are, one was an antibiotic and drugs that are not so hard to come by with a preskripg, certainly. they subpoenaed the medical records. >> also subpoenaed the local pharmacies to determine if there were any prescriptions that whitney had filled recently and, also, they are trying to determine because this is a big one with these hollywood celebrities if there are any aaliases being used. michael jackson dozens of aliases to get prescriptions. according to the coroner, prescription medications found in the room were not the type that would kill somebody. i think right now and hopefully this is the way it ends up. it is an accidental drowning death in her bathtub. you rule out another celebrity dying by an overdose of prescription medication. >> is everybody cooperating with police at this point? >> by all accounts. police have actually come out and said the doctors that she, you know, observed and went to and, you know, given scripts by are cooperating. her family is cooperating. they said by all accounts, no foul play apparently and to date doesn't look like anything awry with her medications. that's how it is going to be. >> did you guys read this report in forbes.com about the bathtub. did you see this? kind of strange. on the night before she died, bathtub was overflowing into the tub below. the guest below went upstairs and found the bathtub running and tv cracked. just a weird aside. >> people close to whitney saying she had a rough couple days leading up to this. as you just suggested. if we're reading between the lines, everything coming from somebody official suggested no criminal play, no foul play. nothing out of the ordinary regarding a prescription. reading between the lines, there doesn't seem to be anything controversial involved in this, beyond a relatively young lady dying. >> that's right. but that's why they're reluctant. they can't do this one twice. they can't come out and say no criminal activity here and accidental drowning death and four days later find out she has a prescription in the name of joan smith for valium or something like that. >> they can't rule out foul play until they get the toxicology report back. who knows what she was actually on. maybe there was something at the scene that wasn't on her body. >> these toxicology reports are very detailed. not like go take your blood and two days later you have the results back. i have been involved in this as a prosecutor's defense lawyer and the labs are very thorough and also sent out and going to be looked at by every supervisor that has worked. >> such a horrible thing for family members because as they're trying to mourn the death of a family member. when do the tox results come out and how do we find out what is in her blood stream. >> she's 48. she's not supposed to die at 48 years old. an otherwise healthy individual who had some problems in the past. >> thanks, appreciate the update. we know you zipped in from home. we appreciate it. he's like, no problem, i'll kill you later about that. still ahead on "starting point" a new medicare rescue plan for seniors. we'll talk to the others of that plan straight ahead. letters to prison from grade schoolers. a teacher gives her kids kind of a strange assignment. their parent not so happy. we'll update you on that straight ahead. 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"i'm with scottrade." ♪ [music] willie nelson, "rescue river." time to get real this morning. let's take you to suburban detroit where you might have to really, really, really slow down just so you can read some of the traffic signs they have there. take a look at this one. this one is not photo shop, by the way. above the times there is 25-mile-per-hour speed limit. these are the times when the drivers need to slow down to 45 miles per hour to 25 miles an hour over a one-mile stretch. it's not just near one school in white lake township. three different schools within that mile. okay. so, here's how it works out. school days drivers need to slow down to 25 miles per hour from 6: 49 to 7:15 and 7:52 to 8:22 and 837 to 9:07. that is just the morning. then there is an afternoon shift. 2:03 and 2:33. 3:04, i mean, it is completely, look at that, it's insane. here's the school explaining why they thought this was a good idea. >> the law states you have to do it in a certain window for the starting times and ending times. you can't chunk it off and make it a big block of time. >> is it 2:17? very distracting. >> can't they make the whole thing 25? >> because that would be easier. some people would want an electric flashing sign that would do that, too. now, it's 3:07. so that 40 drops down to 25 miles per hour. yeah, i think if it's overly complicated you need to revisit the issue. >> absolutely. >> watch is synchronized, we're going to have a seven-minute window to slow down to 25 miles per hour. we'll talk to the lawmakers behind the new gop medicare plan. higher premiums for healthier retirees is just part of it. also, this story. a teacher has her fifth graders send cards to her boyfriend in prison. and some of those letters because the whole thing is ridiculous, included the kids' home addresses. >> it's a sweet, sweet story. oh. should we be letting him p-l-a-y with our t-a-b-l-e-t? 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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip. you'll never roam alone. i like that. that is a good song to start your morning. that is off of senator richard's playlist. let's get right to some headlines. christine has those for us. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. the united states is in the middle of secret talks with afghanistan officials in kabul. harmid karzai said they could lead to peace negotiations but discussions are only preliminary at this point and the taliban has stated it would not negotiate directly with karzai. teams are now working to identify the charred bodies of more than 300 people killed in a prison fire in honduras. investigators believe a short circuit or a mattress fire may have sparked the deadly blaze. those people all trapped. the defense makes its case in the university of, her alcohol was 0.18 she likely suffocated. the medical expert blamed cpr for her bleeding and the prosecution and the problems that neuropathologists found in her brain do not explain why love would be in the position, you know, face down on a pillow. huguely faces murder charges in her death. four football players have been arrested for selling drugs. police say the students sold various drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, weed, acid. all right, your am house call. a new study shows a link between sleep and alzheimer's disease. the sleep patterns of 100 patients and found those who sleep soundly through the night develop fewer risk factors associated with alzheimer's. those who tossed and turned at night showed greater risk but the study did not determine a clear cause/effect relationship. a newly released video of randy travis' arrest for public intoxication. he was nabbed at the parking lot of a church and hauled off to jail last month. he partied too hard during the super bowl and got into an argument with his girlfriend. a new york city teacher facing dismissal sending holiday cards from her fifth grade class to a prison inmate, once charged with child pornography, by the way. he was charged with child porn back at two2008 and pled to a higher charge of gun possession. some of the kids had their names and addresses on those cards. child porn. nice. >> you know, i was telling that storey and i left that important detail out. that's just craziness, really. >> really bad judgment all around. >> understatement of the morning. christine, thanks. let's talk a little bit linsanity. back on his home court last night really getting a hero's welcome. so nice to see the new york knicks beat the sacramento kings. lin had only ten points but a career high 13 assists and the man who seems to have come really out of no where is now just an old blown super star. brian cho knew lin before all this and brian is now a columnist for the bleacherreport.com and joins us this morning from bloomington, indiana. thanks for being with us. everyone has said and we just said it, as well, he came out of no where. you would disagree because you followed him for a long time. give us a little sense of jeremy lin's background. >> he had a lot of success playing with palo alto state. won a lot of awards in that sense and when he played at harvard, although he didn't get any division i scholarships he helped his team to a 21-8 record his senior year. he had this sense of tenacity and he was able to really go about following his dream and he would do anything to get to that point. even asked me if i wanted to play basketball with him and get a run in. any type of experience he could get, he was going to go all out for it. >> did he believe it was correlated to the fact that he was asian and asians aren't going to be the greatest basketball players? >> i was surprised about the whole thing about not getting division i scholarship and i had asked him that point blank saying i listed all off his accolades and i said, jeremy, what do you think about not getting a division i scholarship. he kind of chuckled and said, what do you think? i said, does race have to do with it? he said, i can't think of anything else. it's been pretty mind boggling and, you know, i guess he's proving everyone wrong now. >> so, when you guys would swap stories and i read some of the articles that you have written about him over the years about race and racism and he told you unpleasant things that have happened to him over the years. what did he tell you? >> he told me in 2008 that when he was on the road just playing for harvard that he would hear a lot of things such as chinese import, yao ming, open your eyes. the orchestra's on the other end of the building and when he was telling me these things they resonated with me and i saw similar things as journalist and even in my personal life instances in the supermarket having people hit my cart when i'm pushing it along the aisle and people saying not great things about me being allowed to be in the same aisle as them. when i was telling him stories like that, he totally connected with me and to see him being able to have that inner strength, to still block all of it out and still go about his business and still pursue his dream and doing whatever it takes and not giving up, it's an inspiration not only to the basketball community, but also to the asian community in general. >> hey, brian, will cain. jeremy has been released by two teams already this season already. the golden state warriors and rockets. his contract with the knicks where he was threatened to be released by the knicks. did he think he would stick around with this team? the answer now, yes. did he think he was going to at the time? >> you never know when it comes to this league and a lot of it has to do with the money aspect of it so, it was just sort of the perfect storm for him. a lot of injuries hit in the point guard position a lot of point guards and all of them were injured and stoudemire came out and stoudemire had personal issues and the perfect storm and under d'antoni's system he was able to flourish. steve nash has been able to do it and now you see jeremy lin doing it and now back-to-back double, doubles and led this team to seven straight victories and 15-15. at one point they lost 11 of 13 games and it's been a crazy ride, that's for sure. >> go, knicks. nice to have you joining us this morning. how much do those teams regret have cutting him. >> a lot. >> a lot, i would agree. brian, thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point" we'll talk to the lawmakers behind this new gop medical plan. higher premiums. we'll dig into that straight ahead. cnn is live inside of syria as there is a new drive to try to crush the opposition. we'll bring you pictures from there straight ahead, as well. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. welcome back to "starting point, everybody. 80% of americans woonlt cut medicare at all. there is a new plan to secure the system today and it's coming from republican senators richard byrd and tom coburn. a private plan to compete with medicare and increase the age of eligibility from 65 to 67 and set a new cap on out of pocket expenses and include means testing, meaning that wealthier recipients would have to pay more. joining us this morning the authors of that plan. richard burr from north carolina and tom coburn from the state of oklahoma. coburn is also a doctor, i might add. nice to see you, gentlemen, thank you for being with us. sometimes this is described as a third rail of politics because no voter, not one, really wants this messed with. why did you think this had to be done? >> well, soledad, everybody in washington sits idly by as the congressional budget office tell us about the involvancy of part a medicare some time between 2016 and 2022. tom and i felt as a member of congress we had a moral obligation to our parents and to our children to make sure that we saved medicare and that we put it on the financial footing that we would expect to hand over to them. and as we did that, to create choices where seniors could choose how they navigate health care which is very difficult and very expensive. what we've done is we put together a tremendous blue print that will seek the input of seniors, stakeholders, insurance companies and government officials for the next several months. >> let's walk through the blue print because the focus is on how you get prices to come down. that at the end of the day and if you have two theories, if the government is in charge of the medical care and they could be the 600-pound gurorilla and dri prices down. the other side of that you shift to private coverage and that allows competition and competition in and of itself brings prices down. what do you focus in on this? >> well, the one question that's not getting asked in our country today is what does it cost? and why does health care cost so much? why is one out of every $3 spent on health care, not just in medicare, but in your own private health care not helping anybody get well and not preventing anybody from getting sick. the reason that we're there is because we all think somebody else is paying the bill. one of the ways to have better scrutiny on and also better outcome and better values is to reconnect payment and purchase to a point where we can actually save medicare and improve the outcome. that's what we're trying to do. we're trying to allow market force with both traditional fee for service. you can be in either one of those you want. you can go out and buy what you want or stay right where you are, but have them competing against each other and have some connection to what something costs with something new. that's why we limit the availability of zero first dollar, zero dollar coverage as far as the supplemental policy. >> but in private insurance, if i am very sick, i cost more. my premiums are higher than someone who is perfectly healthy. don't you run the risk that people believe sort out of the government paid portion of medicare, meaning you leave behind the people who are sicker because the people who are healthier can opt into something that can cost less. people who have high premiums. because they're sick, they'll stay with what they have and that and in itself will cost more. >> well, soledad, it costs the same whether the american taxpayer pays for it or paid for out of the medicare trust or paid for out of the private insurance plan. what we tried to do is exactly what we did when we created part d medicare, the prescription drug plan. we instituted competitive bidding. but unlike any pruprosal that happened, we said we want to keep fee for service, but we want it to compete with private coverage. and through that competitive bidding process, what we're going to see is a more efficient and transparent fee for service traditional medicare and we think we're going to see what we saw in part d, which is new innovative types of coverage. at the end of this process, what we've got to do in policy is try to help the american people make smart health care decisions. we've had to keep people well longer and get them well faster and keep them out of the hospital and we've got to really focus on how we maintain chronic disease, not just with seniors, but all americans. >> how does that differ? explain something to me. how does that differ from medicare advantage. when they break down the numbers on that, it's actually something like 11% more expensive. >> it is. but medicare advantage was designed that way from the beginning because many members of congress in rural areas felt they wouldn't have medicare advantage unless they overpaid for the preme i. we have to change that. but more importantly, we can get private sector competition and then let seniors choose. i think transparency and choice are absolutely essential in whatever the final product looks like. >> how likely is this going to actually move forward? i started with the polls. 80% of the people don't want you to touch it and we're in an election year. >> i think that's the real, you know, that's the problem with congress and leadership in washington today. we're going to do what seems to be politically safe rather than fix the real problems. is it important for us to ensure that there is solid health care for seniors in the future and is it important that our kids have a future by not consuming their future through that program. and i think the fact that people are willing to stand up and talk about it is exactly what the american people want. there's a big line going on and the big lie is this, soledad. medicare's just fine. it's not. and in less than four years, maybe five, the trust fund that pays all the hospital bills is going to be out of money. and the time to fix that is now, not when the house is on fire. you put a smoke alarm in before and now is the time to do it and we can do it in a way that assures better care, lower costs and more choice. why would we not want to do that? because it's difficult for the politicians to get re-elected? i think that's the last thing people in this country care about. >> you know, sometimes the elected officials care a lot about it. senator tom coburn joining us and also senator richard burp. believe me, sir, that's a topic for another day. still ahead, cnn is live inside of syria. city's overwhelmed with the number of dead. please stay with us for the story. also one of the last people to work with whitney houston. you're watching "starting point." ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ 53 minutes after the hour. a couple quick headlines for you. amnesty international report says some of the libyan militias that helped topple moammar gadhafi are now out of control engaging in torture and abuse of prisoners. libya's ambassador to the u.n. says he's working to stop it. more than six years after hurricane katrina the last of the fema trailers has now left new orleans. at one point more than 23,000 fema-issued trailers and mobile homes were being used there. >> let's get to breaking news. the syrian government forces are continuing their assault on the opposition. human rights groups say that at least ten army defectors have been killed during bombing in ham ma province. ivevan watson is there. ivan, walk us through what exactly is happening there now. >> reporter: well, i think what's astounding is that in the 11 months since this up rising began, the syrian government has lost control of its own territory, soledad. the opposition in the province of idlib are claiming that most of the countryside, most of the villages and towns are firmly in their hands aside from the city centers of some of the largest population centers here. so basically it is the countryside in control, and we have not seen signs of the military in many of the villages and towns. in fact, no presence of syrian military checkpoints whatsoever. instead, what we've gotten is an informal tour led by the syrian opposition of a number of different villages where you're ushered in to these town council, village council rooms where the leaders of these communities are sitting chain smoking next to assault rifles that they and their sons and brothers are now armed with. these are light weapons that they appear to have gotten within the last couple of months. this is an armed revolt. what started out 11 months as a peaceful protest movement calling for more democratic rights in this country. >> ivan watson for us this morning coming to us from the north part of syria. thanks for that update. those pictures, pretty incredible. still ahead on "starting point," a warning parents need to hear. arsenic found in some baby formula and cereal bars. plus the man who produced whitney houston's final performance. t.d. jacques is going to join us. ade adele. i love adele. rumor has it. ♪ sergio! christina! question for you. what factors led you to buy your explorer. definitely the ecoboost option. what's pretty amazing is that you can get the fuel economy of a car in an suv. that basically did it for us. and the technology... oh, my goodness, the technology is amazing. everything is touch. you can actually talk to the car and it talks back to you. what have your friends said about your explorer? can we drive it? can we borrow it? what's your answer? no. no way. uh uh. 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( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. good morning. welcome back. some new details to tell you about whitney houston's final days. there is a source that says she was drinking heavily at the hotel where she was found dead. talk to a man later this morning who produced her final performance. it was supposed to be her come back film. plus iran is putting its nuclear know how on display, but may be over doing it a little bit. some say the u.s. is warning of new threats at home over the standoff. the do something congress. a vote coming later this week on a payroll tax deal, a deal that would keep paychecks from shrinking. starting point begins right now. ♪ ♪ my way ♪ ♪ my way ♪ you know about usher, it's a consistent beat. you can run to it. very good on a treadmill. he's very cute. welcome back, everybody. back to our panel. penny lee joins us this morning. she served as a political advisor to harry reid. will cane is here, you don't get a second line. will cain. >> cain. will is here with us. >> that would be great. like adele, madonna. will. >> yes, yes, yes. >> editor of rolling stone joins us. bishop t.d. jacques is going to join us. he's going to talk about "sparkle," they're in post production. they got through the shooting and then her untimely death. we'll chat with him about how she seemed during that and what his plans are and what her legacy is as well. other news making headlines. first though christine romans has that. hi again, soledad. let's talk about that payroll tax cut. the extension clearing a major hurdle. house and senate negotiators roechg a major deal to renew the tax cut through the end of this year. it means you're going to keep more money in your paycheck just like last year. it extends unemployment benefits and it avoids cutting fees for medicare doctors. the poison arsenic has been found in some baby formula and serial bars in the u.s. that's according to a brand new study out of dartmouth college this morning. they're not naming specific brands but they do say foods that use organic brown rice syrup as a sweet ner have six times the limit of this toxin. police officials in thailand say iranian suspects arrested for street violence in bangkok were arrested. they say the devices were similars to bombs targeting israelis in india and the republic of georgia this week. iran denies any involvement in those attacks. the world bank is hunting for a new leader. rumors are rampant will hillary clinton be the new world bank president. the current president will step down in june. u.s. treasury secretary tim geithner says the obama administration will put forth a new candidate in the coming weeks. washington has for decades in practice picked the world bank leader. clinton repeatedly has denied having interest in a world bank job. minding your business this morning, u.s. stock features, s&p 500 that is the best indicator for your stocks, all of them down. holdups in negotiations over more bailout money from greece for the european union. new this morning, general motors posting a record profit of $7.6 billion last year. that makes 2011 the first year since 2004 that all big three automakers turned a profit just two years after those huge bailouts. that stock though down this morning. frankly analysts had thought they would do a little bit better. the asian actress that starred in a campaign ad said it was a mistake. that ad was criticized for playing on cultural stereotypes. here's the ad. >> thank you, michigan senator debby spend it now. debby spends so much american money you borrow more and more from us. you're con mi -- >> the actress lisa chan posted an apology on her facebook page and said i'm deeply sorry that the character i poor raid brought to my communities. i've this role is not representative of who i am. soledad? >> yeah. that was another one. there's so many of these little stories now. thank you, christine. like this latest dana millbanks story which we've been talking about. can we do this now? do we have time for this? all right. she says, sure. thank you. you're the best. she's in the control room this morning. you see this chinese young woman who now is apologizing for portraying the role of a woman in china basically trying to slam debbie stapenhouse's campaign. then you have the tweet that comes from jim massena,'s he a -- >> campaign manager for obama. >> what he tweeted was a coast from the washington post. i need a chart. washington post dana millbank has a column about the gop carrying about latino voters. his take away is not really, they don't. the last line of dana's column is the chim mi change ga, it might be the only thing that is left to offer latinas. he's standing up effectively trying to block the nomination of a cuban born judge to serve on the court of appeals who is an obama candidate to be the judge, alabama, georgia, florida would be the 11th circuit court of appeals. that's the background, people. the chimichanga -- i need a chart. it is. >> you need one. >> when he tweeted this line line of the day from the washington post, the chimichanga, it might be the only thing republicans have left to offer latinos. that's what dana millbank said. everybody is going crazy. >> they need to chill out, you know? so sensitive. >> it's an election year. i'm sorry, did you not realize that? >> i forgot. >> the truth of the matter is what he was trying to do and illustrate. >> says our democratic strategist. >> the irony about it was was that mccain was filly bustering hispanic nominee. jim massena was trying to make the point, taking it from a columnist, the irony or lack of sensitivity that republicans have on hispanic issues. they vote against the dream act, voting against comprehensive immigration. their front-runner, mitt romney says we're going to do deportation. we're going to be putting grandma back on the boat and getting her out of the country. there is this complete incensetivity that the republicans have right now. so they are trying to seize on every small moment that they can to illustrate, oh, no, no, no, it's not us. it's the democrats. >> will cain? as we've explored in our relationship, my moral outrage -- >> whoa. wow. >> we have one now. my moral -- >> he didn't say a good relationship. he said our relationship. >> my moral outrage muscle is completely underdeveloped. what i'd say is this is -- if republicans are consistently portrayed as racially insensitive, as you just did, penny, then they are going to respond in irrational ways. this is completely irrational. >> or is it just an election year and everyone will jump. >> lighten up. i agree with matt. we are so sensitive about everything. everybody is. i don't think republicans should indulge in this kind of moral outrage. >> but i've got to tell you something, when white people say we're so sensitive, it sends people of could have lor -- >> if you want to say i can't dance. >> i did not. >> people that look like matt and i can't dance, i am not going to be upset about it. >> that's not what i mean. what i mean is when people say oh, ignore this stuff often they're white people. that's true. and i think for people of color they're like, easy for you to say. i have no idea if you can dance. our relationship has not progressed that far yet. >> but it's people that can't have a sense of humor about silly things like this who make south park funny, fringes. we want to make jokes about this stuff because people can't tolerate this kind of silliness. >> legitimate things, the pete hoaxster ad is legitimately offensive. when you attack efrl single slightest indiscretion then you make things that are legitimate watered down. >> when you call racism racism no one listens. all right. we have a relationship. wow. >> you asked me to marry you one day. >> no. i said you're my tv husband which is -- >> i didn't hear that. >> all right. we're turning now. let's talk about a serious topic which is really whitney houston and her final days. there's a source that's telling cnn that whitney houston was seen drinking on the morning that she died, drinking heavily the day before -- days before, wednesday and thursday. and there is this picture, which i think comes from tm znchts that shows whitney houston pool side on wednesday. there's a drink by her side. you can't tell what's in that drink. the funeral as we've been reporting is going to happen on saturday. anderson cooper spoke to the pastor that will be delivering the eulogy. he asked the pastor why a private service when so many fans really would love to be able to pay their respects as well? >> knowing cissy and the houston family, i don't think it was a matter of public or private as it was this is my daughter, this is my sister, this is my mother, this is my friend and we want to do this with dignity. i knew that mama houston would do it the way she wanted it done, which we're going to church and we're not going to be worried about if the world can get in. >> well, the world will be able to get in this summer. they'll be able to see whitney houston's final performance in the film "sparkle." it's in post production. t.d. jacques will be speaking at houston's funeral on saturday. is the movie now in post production? >> yes, it is in post production. it's pretty much finished. >> and how is whitney houston's performance -- this is a movie i wanted to see certainly before all of what happened with her death. people are saying it's really good. it's a great performance. is that right? >> soledad, it was absolutely amazing. i mean, we all agreed, mary chase and myself, the entire sony department agreed that whitney houston would be a great choice. when she walked out there and began to perform, we were all just stunned at how well she did, not only with the singing but also with the acting as well. >> and she was the executive producer, right? how did it all come to you? the last time we spoke you were doing another movie, "jumping the broom." i'm like you're a pastor. when did you become a movie producer. you told me at that time if someone brought "mission impossible 5" to you you would produce that. how did this all come to you and how did she come to you? >> kind of by location. i live in two worlds. i'm interacting with just a few people out there in hollywood. we were given a script to read about the remake of "sparkle." i saw the original "sparkle" and loved it. i thought it spoke to hope and the resilience of the human spirit in the midst of the decadence of life. so it's a great story. it's a great script. when mara got through with it she took it to another level and we really worked on it together. i just thought this would be amazing if we could pull it off. and we green lighted it. >> jordan sparks, young woman who's a singer, is also starring in this film. here's what she had to say about working with whitney houston. listen. >> she got her priorities straight. i heard her talking to her daughter. she's comforting me. she's dealing with all these different things. it's cool to see somebody who's got everything, you know, trying to balance and juggle everything as well as wearing the executive producer hat. >> there are so many peopling who said that whitney houston not only executive producing, starring in it, singing as well. i know she was in the recording booth as well, but also just incredibly generous to help her co-stars also have a good experience too. just in ways that often you don't hear about in kind of the behind the scenes chatter about movies. >> well, you know, the odd thing about it, there was certainly a synergy between she and jordan sparks. when you look at their natural lives and look how jordan has shot into stardom and whitney has been there and done that, there was almost a sense of mentoring or camaraderie between the two of them that existed on and off the set. the oddity is that their characters are in many ways the reflection of their own lives. whitney played effie who is a mother who has sung secular music, has gone to the apex of her career and settled down into singing in the church and sparkle who plays her daughter, i mean, jordan who plays her daughter is singing in the choir where whitney started and launching her career. so there are some interesting parallels between the script and the lives of the two women. >> i want to before we go to commercial break, i know we'll pick up on the other side of it. i want to play at the waters singing "eyes of the sparrow" because it's such a great song. this is what whitney houston was recording because this is kind of the main theme from the movie. let's play that first. we'll talk on the other side. ♪ for his eye is on the sparrow ♪ ♪ and i know he watches me ♪ >> we call that an old church song but also, like lots of old church songs, you have to really have a great voice or everyone will know. there's no faking it in that kind of a song. how was her voice when she recorded that? >> you know, it was -- that was probably one of the stellar moments in the movie when she began to sing it. we had had some deliberation about that and singing possibly another song that we all knew and liked, mary don't you weep, but she said she preferred to sing his eye on the sparrow. i think it was in some way the personal testimony because when she began to sing it the entire cast and crew were teary eyed. it was almost as if we were not filming, that we had really gone to church for a few moments. it was a great moment. >> i believe it. i know you're the producer, but i really want to -- i know you want everybody to go see this movie, but i really want to go see this movie. i'm going to hold you over from the break, if i can, sir. we have to take a commercial break. we'll come back to talk a little bit more about whitney houston and also the funeral, some of the details about that. also ahead this morning going to talk about mitt romney releasing his taxes now. now it's rick santorum who's released his taxes. what do we learn when we compare the two of them? one makes less money than the other. can you guess which one? >> tell you after the break. >> tell you after the break. how's that for the tease. who's got the higher rate? also the debate over raising the high school dropout rate. some say 16 is really too young. can you force kids to stay in school. we'll be back in a few moments with bishop jakes. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. ♪ ♪ we're doing the fake backup singing on that song. welcome back, everybody. we're talking about whitney houston. she's going to be laid to rest this weekend. her family will get to say their final good-byes. the funeral will be private. there will be folks present, family and friends, god mother aretha franklin, chaka khan. bishop t.d.jakes will be speaking at her funeral. he's back with us. i know you've done this before obviously, speaking at the funeral of someone who is very beloved, but what do you say? how do you sit down and write remarks for somebody who everybody felt like they knew and who died at a time that was way, way too early? >> you know, i think the major focus is to comfort the family and not to try to provide answers for which there are no answers. people often try to reconcile in their own minds why did this happen, and i think sometimes over the years i've learned that when you really try to over answer and speak on behalf of god you get yourself in trouble but rather than to encourage the family to withstand the acts of life that come to people. use their faith as a catalyst to continue on their journey. to learn life lessons from the gift of whitney houston, both her strengths and weaknesses teach us something about life and cause us to reflect on ourselves. i think that through that, through the prism of those ideologies we'll be able to leave some fragments of encouragement. it really takes time and faith and everything else and family to get through that kind of crisis, but the service does memorialize and point to the fact that something significant has been taken out of this life and away from this world. i think not only does the family need that but the fans also. >> yeah, which brings us to the public service. there are so many fans on twitter. i follow you on twitter. you've seen them. what do you mean, a private service? what do you mean? we loved her, too, and now we don't get to be part of some kind of an event that memorializes her. how do you explain that to people? >> well, you know, it's a personal choice. people have to realize that families not only share this moment with them, but they've shared whitney with the world all of their lives and often that's very difficult for children, mothers, people who love you because fans crowd in sometimes at the expense of family. and this is a moment that they get to control and do the way they want to and acknowledge that she was more than a diva and an actress but she was a mother, she was a daughter. and as pained as we are, we don't even compare to the reality of the memories that comprise the grief that they have. it's a personal choice. some people choose to open it up to commemorate the death of a loved one. others do not. it's a decision each family has to make. >> you said you're going to focus on the life lessons from both the good times and the difficult times in whitney houston's life. what are the life lessons? what are the take aways? >> i think there are many life lessons to learn. she was a very resilient person who in spite of personal difficulties and tragedies was resilient and strong willed and able to rise above the fray. i think there are lessons to be learned from that. i think there are lessons to be learned that if we seek the light, we often have to be prepared for the heat that comes with the light for there's a great deal of heat that comes with public exposure as you well know. i think there are lessons about choices, who we marry, where we go, even how we manage life itself and our associations where we can walk away from it and say am i on the edge? am i being pushed too far? am i failing to reconcile the difference between who i am privately and who i am publicly? you don't have to be famous to need to do that. everybody who goes to work in the morning puts a smile on their face and goes forward and does their job often at the expense of personal tragedies and problems that they conceal, it's just that when you're a public figure you've got really bright light on you. everybody has an opinion about every detail of your life. if you change your hair people will blog and write and say things. anything you do they feel that they have a right to interject their opinion into your decision. >> that's an awful lot of pressure. >> absolutely. >> as you were producing "sparkle," a lot of people said this was her comeback, she hasn't done a movie since 1996, did you get a feel from her like, listen, this has to work? there's in the a couple of people rooting for me, the world is watching to see if i'm going to succeed in this new thing that i'm trying to relaunch? >> it was beyond it's got to work. it was to the extent that we knew it was going to work. we were just certain that it was going to be the relaunch of her career, and many of the other actors, there was mike epson, others were incredible in how they did what they did. jordan sparks is so believable in "sparkle" it was scary. it was just that magic that comes together sometimes on film that is a great team of people, celine mckiel. all of that together was the perfect storm. and we thought we would see a great relaunch of her career. we did not know that we would be left with the -- i think it's a responsibility to hold in our hands her last cinema particular production. >> is that pressure? >> there is a sense of responsibility. >> that sounds like when you put it that way, that sounds like a lot of pressure. >> it is because i mean who would have ever thought, i certainly did not. we finished in november. we walked away going to post production and you go into that stage of marketing and all of that sort of thing, and all of a sudden you're holding an archive in your hand, a piece of american history that affects the whole world. we didn't think when we started that it would end that way but it has, in kt if a, ended that way. and i'm just proud and honored that it is such a tremendous, tremendous show. i think it will highlight whitney. i think it will highlight what many actors go through and artists go through behind the scenes, not only whitney but around the world, and i think it will caution people to reflect with solemnness on who she was. >> nice to talk to you, sir. thanks for being with us. i'm looking forward to that movie. everybody is going to want to see that. still ahead on "starting point," raise the dropout age? president obama is calling for kids to stay in school. is it realistic? also the h.u.d. secretary is going to talk to us about the mortgage settlement with banks. does it fall a trillion dollars short. >> yes. >> will cain says yes. we'll talk about whether or not you can even cash in on it. you're watching "starting point." we're back after this. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street legal. ♪ is it safe? oh ya, it's a volkswagen. 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[ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. ♪ can't you see sometimes your words just hypnotize me ♪ ♪ and i just love your flashy ways ♪ it's just not thursday if we don't have a little notorious b.i.g. that's steve perry's tunes. the question this morning is how old is old enough to drop out of school? many people in 19 states in fact you only have to be 16 years old to drop out of school. those are the states highlighted in yellow. president obama talked about changing that when he delivered his state of the union address. here's what he said. >> when students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. so tonight i am proposing that every state, every state requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. >> so the debate's picked up some steam again this week. an editorial in "usa today", i think it was, backs what the president calls for. some people say it is not far enough. steve perry is the cnn education contributor. we did a documentary, back in america 2 was done on his school. nice to see you. good morning to you. so if you change the dropout age as the president's suggesting to 18 or just never, you're not allowed to drop out, do you think that would make a real difference? >> i don't know that it will make a lot of difference. you can't force a kid to stay in school. we have a kid right now who's a senior who's doing all he can to drop out. we're sending people to his house. sometimes some kids will drop out, however, you can create conditions in which graduation rates will improve. look at new hampshire, for instance. they have an amazing program in which they create a flex school day for some children. they allow some children to take gym, for instance, at their local ymca or gym. they create other opportunities for students to finish and as a result governor lynch has created a program in which they claim to have a 1.6 -- 1.16% dropout rate. >> which would be really, really low. the "usa today" story that i was talking about cites a study from the gates foundation. half of the dropouts leave because they're bored with classes or they feel like what they're doing that moment in the classroom has no actual correlation to what they're going to do in their lives. they suggest expand vocational programs. give them something that would help them sort of see a connection to what they're doing and an actual job. do you think that could work? >> well, one of the reasons why people often go to the vocational conversation is because they think that these children don't want to go to school because they want to work in a trade. that's not typically the case. in many cases too often children are deciding upon a trade because they don't feel like they fit in a college preparatory academic experience. that has more to do in the way in which schools have prepared them up to that point as opposed to their love for a vocation. i think what we need to do is do a better job of creating academic experiences which compel children earlier on. that's where the problem lies. one of the reasons why you have schools in which you have a 40, 50, 60, 70% dropout rate, the children feel like they're anonymous. children feel like they're being put upon, bullied, made to feel like they don't fit into school. fit is a very important part of continuing your academic experience. when children feel like someone cares about them by creating more, smaller, compelling academic experiences you have a much smaller graduation rate. that's one of the reasons why i look at new hampshire as aed montpelierle. they have a reverse achievement gap. if you look at the shot report it says that 83% of african-american males graduate while 78% of white males graduate. >> a lot to be learned from the state of new hampshire which has a very small african-american population. steve perry, thank you. i've done stories on schools that have a 75% and 79% dropout rate. the graduation picture was all empty seats and then four rows of students. >> you have to ask the question as to why. is it teacher inadequacy? is it too large of classrooms? societal? what is it that's making these kids not -- >> parents. >> parents. we do need to have a conversation because our education system is failing. >> large percentage are latinos. far greater percentage than african-americans and white students. still ahead this morning on "starting point," a $26 billion settlement comes from big banks as an attempt to repair trillions of dollars in damage to the u.s. housing market. we will' have an exclusive conversation with the h.u.d. secretary whether this will work or fall short. plus north korea saying happy birthday to its fallen dear leader. a show that's so massive it's almost hard to see. we'll explain straight ahead. you're watching "starting point" is what i'm trying to say. we've got a commercial break. da. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. ♪ i'm living my life like it's golden ♪ ♪ living my life like it's golden ♪ >> for a democratic strategist, you have an excellent play list. >> thank you very much. little bit of an eclectic mix. >> no, you win. really. >> what's my prize? >> we overlap. >> she's blushing a little bit. i am continually surprised by how personally both positively people take comments on their musical choices. >> he did not submit his play list so next time, next time. >> rolling stone. >> musical illiterate. it would have been embarrassing. >> never. i have a terrible play list. that's all right. we like to make fun of people. let's get to the headlines this morning. christine has those for us. i have good news for you. just in to cnn the labor department announcing 348,000 jobless claims filed for the first time last week. that is the lowest level in almost four years. any time this number comes in less than 400,000 it's a sign that the labor market is heading in the right direction. we have a trend now in place where these jobless claims have been averaging down here in the 350 range. good sign. basically means it's the best labor market in the very short term that we've seen in about four years. also just in to cnn a new picture out of syria showing thick, black smoke billowing from that sabotaged pipeline in the city of homs. activists accuse government forces of bombing the pipeline yesterday. meantime, the violent and deadly crackdown in syria. dozens more have been killed in fighting today. the u.s. in the middle of secret talks with the taliban and afghanistan officials in kabul. the president hamid car zied saz they could lead to a negotiation. they said they would not negotiate with him. gop presidential candidate rick santorum releases his tax returns for the last four years. that's since he's been out of the senate and in the private sector. they show yearly earnings at more than 900,000 last year. 3.6 million over the four years. he paid $260,000 a year in taxes. the highest tax rate was 23.8%. that tax rate twice mitt romney's. another candidate hoping to join congress, joseph kennedy iii. grandson of robert kennedy. formerly announced the run for a massachusetts seat held by bank any frank. kennedy is running as a democrat. his family has deep roots in the fourth congressional district. it's the birth place of his great uncle, late president john f. kennedy. >> they're celebrating the death of kim jong il. he would have been 70 today. the milestone commemorated by parades, speeches. current leader kim jong un bowed before his father's portrait. >> lin-sanity, he led the team to the seventh straight victory last night over the sacramento kings. the lin legend growing with each day. >> wasn't drafted out of college. two nba teams, the rockets and the golden state warriors both cut him. the knicks scooped him up. they sent him to the d league. because of injuries he was called back to the team. in one week this unknown asian american with a degree in economics from harvard has put up lebron james numbers. >> he came out of virtually nowhere. >> yes, he came out of nowhere, which is my nickname for harvard. folks, you know things are rough when a harvard economics grad has an easier time getting a job as an nba point guard than a wall street bond trader. >> you know something, soledad, you have a better chance of coming out of harvard of being president than a professional basketball player. >> that's so funny. i didn't realize that. >> five presidents from harvard and four professional basketball players. including rob marciano. he told me that. >> did he? i think he is right on that. wow. so even more power to jeremy lin. let's talk about ad wars. have you seen this new ad? it's a rick santorum ad making fun of mitt romney. we're going to play it for you now. >> this time romney's firing his mud at rick santorum. romney and his super pac have spent a staggering 20 million attacking fellow republicans. why? because romney's trying to hide from his big government romney care and his support for job cutting cap and trade. and in the end mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to back fire. >> effective? >> oh, absolutely. >> says the democratic person. >> i have to couch everything you say. >> it's so funny that these elections come down to who makes the best commercials. it doesn't have to anything to do with what the actual issues are? would you agree? >> that one he's really trying to bring the attention to the romney and health care. there's a little bit of an issue in that although the actual ad -- >> i saw a dude shooting another guy with a gun. i didn't hear -- >> it's an inoculation ad. he knows the onslaught from mitt romney is going to come, similar to what he did in iowa to newt and florida when he put $20 million of negative ads on the air. so rick santorum is getting prepared for that because he's undefined right now. so mitt romney wants to take this opportunity in michigan, which he needs to win, and try to define santorum. so santorum's putting this out ahead of time and saying here comes the old mud. >> interesting strategy. the ad about the ad that's to come. >> i disagree with you matt, if it was about who makes the best ads ron paul would have it. he has spike lee tv director making his ads. they're awesome and he's not winning. this is a good ad. mitt romney and his team are in a tough spot. how do you go after rick santorum? it was very obvious how you go after newt gingrich. there was a buffet of items from which to pick from. in a republican primary how you go after rick santorum, yo you are' going to say you're more electable over and over. that's not very compelling. doesn't inspire passion. >> one of the problems that mitt romney has is that he's getting criticism that he's not conservative enough. he can't go after rick santorum. he is as right as the right. the most conservative. >> i totally disagree with that. >> so he can't really attack him. >> february 28th will be the day to watch. the michigan primary. still ahead on "starting point," $26 billion settlement from big banks in an attempt to repair the housing market. we have an exclusive interview with the h.u.d. secretary of whether it is good enough or whether it falls short. forced into marriage at the age of 17 and out of that marriage and out of her religion by the age of 23. we'll talk to you about a woman who's written a new book about her life. ♪ dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? 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[ male announcer ] with everything from new computers, to set-ups, to tune-ups. stapes. that was easy. to set-ups, to tune-ups. there's another way litter box dust:e purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder from big banks in an attempt to who's written a new book abouzes welcome back to starting point, everybody. the white house is pushing the benefits of the $26 million mortgage settlement. they've made a deal addressing the housing meltdown. $17 billion will go for paying down mortgages for people who are underwater and behind on their payments. 1.5 billion for the 750,000 people who lost their homes to foreclosure. $3 billion to facilitate refinancing. that might sound like a whole bunch of money, but if you put it into perspective, more than 4 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. an additional 11 million homeowners are underwater. we've asked shaun donovan, the secretary of housing and urban development to join us. why do you think it's going to work this time? these bailouts have been done and deals have been done before. >> one of the things that's critical about this is that it's mandatory. this isn't a voluntary program. these aren't incentives. the banks have to do this and if they don't, there are huge financial penalties to them, and because it's part of enforcement, it's registered in the court and we can go back into court and really force them to do this. so it's very different from the other types of things we've done before. >> you're talking about h.a.m.p. and h.a.r.p. that's the home affordable refinance program. they said they were going to help 5 million people, 4 million people. they helped both those programs under 1 million. >> the facts are that in total we've actually helped about 5.5 million families get modifications to stay in their homes. if you look at where we are today, foreclosures are down almost 50% since the president came into office. so we've made progress. but the president said, we have to do more. we have a fundamental choice here. there are those that would say let the housing market hit bottom and when we really look at what that means, that means the families around this country whose life savings are invested in their homes that are going to send their kids to college with those savings, they'll start small business, they lose those savings. so we're going to keep going. the settlement is only one piece within a series of things we've a uns noed. universal financing. unemployed homeowners can get more help. a homeowner bill of rights. all of these fit together. the settlement alone isn't going to fix the whole housing crisis. we never said it would. we need all of these pieces to come together. >> $700 billion in negative equity and then you compare that to this deal which is $29 billion. it's like, uh. not even close. >> again, soledad, this is the worst housing crisis this country has faced since the depression. these are the servicing problems, right? servicing problems hurt families. they made the situation worse for them but it didn't cause the crisis to begin with. what caused the crisis was the origination and the securitization of these terrible mortgages. at the very same time we announced this the president announced a joint task force with new york attorney general, a range of other state attorneys general where we're going to step up the work that we're doing to hold banks accountable on the things that really caused this crisis to begin with. >> you're not holding them accountable in some ways because this particular agreement states that the state -- settles a state and federal investigation about the foreclosure documents. you know what i'm talking about. part of the deal will be open to investigation but in this deal part of it's closed. >> but, again, the piece that we're settling here is not what caused the crisis to begin with. it made the crisis worse. it was horrendous what happened to many families. these are folks who lost their homes that shouldn't have, many of them, but the real cause of the crisis can't be solved just on the servicing side. that's why you have to see this in the context of a whole set of other -- and remember, soledad, this is the biggest joint federal/state settlement in the history of the country. it's the biggest accountability action to hold banks accountable of the crisis thus far, so it's important, don't get me wrong, but it's only one piece of a series of things the president has done to help keep the momentum moving. >> does the release only cover robo signing. i've heard reports that it is much broader than that, that it covers origination? what does it cover exactly? >> it leaves a huge territory for us to continue to go out there. no criminal release whatsoever. no securitization release. all of our federal origination claims remain. no release of mers. the list fwoes on. no release of civil rights claims. >> all these things can be litigated? >> all of these things can be pursued. >> is there some origination that's being released? >> the states did choose to release their origination claims and that was part of an agreement they made to get $3 billion in help to homeowners for refinancing. the fact is many of those claims are old. the statute of limitations is running out. we had a terrible decision a few years ago on preemption of state origination claims so that was a choice that the states made. we at the federal level preserved our origination claims and in fact just yesterday we announced here in new york, we announced an agreement with citi bank where they're going to pay over $150 million just for a few year of violations around fha origination claims. we'll keep going on those claims moving forward. >> shaun, i've heard you say several times in this interview that this is one piece, one piece of what you hope to end up being a much bigger package? will it work? how concerned are you? it seems to me that is all dependent on one premise, that in three, four years home prices will be higher than they are today? how confident are you that that's the case? how concerned are you that there's a mentality that has set in that renting is smart? >> look, there is no question that there are real barriers that remain. the three key things we're facing, one is we've got to keep more people in their homes. more foreclosures we have, even though they're down by almost half, there's still too many. that's hurting other people's home prices. when a foreclosure sign goes up next door, your own home loses 5 to $10,000 in value. that's key. we also have to make sure that we're taking steps with those homes that are already sitting vacant on the market to renovate them, rebuild them. one of the things that the president announced over the last few weeks is a project rebuild that would put 250,000 construction workers back to work rebuilding those homes. >> you are betting home prices will be higher in three or four years, am i wrong? >> look, we've already seen encouraging signs with job growth up this morning. >> is that a yes or a no? sir? >> i am confident that these steps that we're taking are going to work and continue this recovery. it's not going to turn around overnight, let's be clear. this is the toughest housing situation the country's faced since the depression but we are making progress. >> we talked about some numbers that are pretty dire, 4 million homes lost to foreclosures since 2007. how many do you think that this program will actually help? >> well, the -- we think the settlement itself will be close to 2 million. about 1 3/4 million people will get help. with all the focus on the settlement, there are many other things we've announced over the last few weeks. we think an additional million other people could be eligible for the modification programs with the changes we made. there are about 3.5 million families that if we can expand the refinancing work we've done with fannie and freddie to other homeowners that are current on their mortgages and been doing the right thing, that's 3.5 million more families that can be reached there. when you put all of these together, there is no single piece. there's no silver bullet here, but all of these together can make a real difference and build on the progress that we're making. >> nice to have you join us this morning. little bit late. >> traffic. >> i know. we've got an -- "end point" is next for our panelists. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. and it's time for "end point." we've been able to convince the secretary to stay with us. we'll get to him in a minute. will cain will start with us because we have all new people on our panel. >> get back to romney versus santorum narrative. the narrative that keeps getting

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