they bear the name of his predecessor. president obama is seizing the bush tax cutted and calling for them to be extend, but not for everyone. the president wants to let them expire for the wealthiest americans. that puts him at odds with congressional republicans, as well as his rival mitt romney and sets the stage for a very heated battle with less than four months to go before the election. our white house correspondent brianna keilar is covering this for us. first of all, why is the president doing this today? >> reporter: well, wolf, this is certainly part of his narrative that he's trying to put out there as he runs for re-election. this is very much happening through that political prism. he tried to portray himself as really the one fighting for the middle class. now he's trying to portray his opponent mitt romney and congressional republicans as being defenders of the wealthy. so what he's calling for is for an extension of the bush-era tax cuts only for american families making up to $250,000. and people -- families making more than that under his plan would see their taxes increase at the end of the year. here's how he explained why he wants to pursue this. >> it is a stalemate in this town, in washington, between two very different views about which direction we should go in as a country. and nowhere is that stalemate more pronounced than on the issue of taxes. many members of the other party believe prosperity comes for the top down. if we spend trillions on tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, that will somehow unleash jobs and economic groutd. i disagree. #. >> now wolf. president obama said the wealthy can afford to pay more. and this is an idea that historically, including in cnn orc polls has polled well on how wealthier americans pay more money. but it also has trouble getting through congress. president obama backed the same idea in 2010. he tried but ultimately ended up signing a two-year extension for all across the board tax cuts from the bush era tax cuts. and wolf, i will say republicans now seizing on this. white house speaker john boehner saying this is just president obama trying to distract from the poor job numbers that we saw out on friday. >> what would happen -- i know you've been checking with your sources over there, brianna, if the house of representatives, which has a lopsided republican majority and the senate, which has a narrow democratic majority, but they're half a dozen democrats who may vote with republicans on this one. let's say they pass legislation to extend the bush tax cuts for another year for everyone. middle class as well as wealthy, would the president of the united states veto that legislation? >> white house press secretary jay carney said today he would veto that, wolf. and it is a very good question since it's something that parking light obama passed in 2010, or signed into law in 2010, i should say. what's interesting and we pressed jay carney on this during the briefing. he said that the president would veto an across the board extension. i asked him, what about if the threshold were $1 million. what it for americans making $1 million and less instead of $250,000 or less. it appears the door is left open there. he said he wouldn't negotiate the particulars on that one. >> nancy pelosi, the democratic leader in the house, chuck schumer, the democratic senator from new york want the threshold to be $1 million, not the $250,000 threshold that the president has been pushing for. brianna keilar is at the white house. thank you. let's dig a little bit deeper with our senior congressional correspondent dana bash and gloria borger. why is the president trying to frame this debate right now? >> because it works for him. and they also understand that summer is the time, when you're heading into a presidential election, when people's notions about who the candidates are really crystallizes. and they believe if they resurrect this fairness argument, which has worked for them in the past, for democrats in particular, and they can portray themselves as on the side of the middle class, on the side of the little guy, in concert with, of course, health care reform, which they're going to try to use in the same way, then they can try to portray mitt romney and his republican party as people who care about the wealthy, and believe in what the president called today top-down economics. back in the reagan days they called it trickle down economics, but it's the same thing. but whatever it is, it's people who believe if the wealthy do well, it trickles down to the middle class. the president says i believe it comes for the bottom up. >> it's interesting. the polls show that the americans are with the president on raising taxes on the wealthiest americans. not necessarily obviously on the middle class. they believe this is a winning issue for them now. >> no question. the minute we found out about this i was getting e-mails from republicans engaged in getting republicans elected not just on the national level from mitt romney, but on the senate level. they not only welcome this. they are telling republican candidates out there to hit the president, hit democrats the minute this speech was out there because the point is that they believe that any tax increase will hurt small businesses. and throughout the day you saw republicans try to put some meat on that bone. for example, jon kyl, who is the number two republican in the senate said that it would hurt 940,000 small businesses. so they're trying to make this not just a theoretical argument, but a real tangible argument of how they believe this -- any kind of tax increase, even for wealthy people, will hurt people not so wealthy. >> on the hill you're talking to democrats as well. they insist this is not a losing issue. >> they do. we were talking earlier today about that there are a number of democrats who are in danger in the senate who don't necessarily want to vote on the tax issue because they don't want to be portrayed as raising taxes on anybody. a democrat e-mailed me an example of how they're not running from this, but running towards it. claire mccaskill is one of those endangered democrats. watch one of her ads. >> they want more tax breaks for mul multimillionaires and oil companies. claire cuts taxes for the middle class. >> now just before coming on got an e-mail from a democrat briefed by the white house on why they did this today and what their point is, and i think the most interesting thing i saw tr the e-mail, wolf, in the source, is they believe this opens up a second front in the war on faxes. they were already getting hammered and will continue to be hammered by republicans for the health care law, which the supreme court said is the tax. and now this allows them back on this. >> the lines are neon between the two parties on all kinds of issues. and, you know, the democrats clearly believe they have a winning issue here on fairness, but the republicans are saying, you know what, people just don't want taxes, and they don care how. >> tax reform, though, is something the democrats say they want. the republicans say they want. we've been hearing it for decades. there's got to be -- this irs code is way too complicated. way too unfair. these benefits and whatever they get -- some big corporations get, for example, the tax shelters, you have to have major tax reform. they're talking about it but it never happens. >> for years and years. the president had a tax reform plan presented to him by the simpson-boles commission. he decided to punt and not take it. he has the plan, mitt romney has the same thing. but the devil is in details of tax reform. if you're going to lower the top rate, where are you going to get the money from in you're going to have to get rid of cherished deductions like home mortgage interest. so this is where it becomes a huge problem. i mean, i believe, and dana knows much more about this than i do, at some point when they look over the fiscal cliff and they're faced with $98 billion in budget cuts, which is going to come after the election, and expiration of tax cuts and all the rest, they're going to look at it, and they're going to say, we have to do something. but after the election. >> that's the key. that all is not going to happen. expiration date is the end of the year, which is two months after the election. that is key. the house is going to vote on this. the republicans are going to vote on this because they want tax reform. to end it where you started it, just to be clear, this is political posturing. unfortunately when it comes to real legislating, it's not going to happen. >> i'm shocked. >> after november 6th, before december 31st, you guys thought you would be resting during the lame duck. forget about it. thank you. deeply disturbing video of a public execution. a woman is killed before a cheering crowd. it's a story shocking afghanistan and the world. also, foreign bank accounts and companies overseas. the obama campaign trying to shine a spotlight on mitt romney's wealth. last going on? and the unknown illness killing dozens of children. dr. sanjay gupta has the latest on the the race to solve this medical mystery. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪ the all-new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. good news for all of our viewers. jack cafferty is back from vacation. he's here with the cafferty file. we missed you. >> you're very kind. good to be back. thank you. put down the iphone or blackberry. look up from your computer screen or video game. stop texting, e-mailing, chatting online. it turns out that the internet could be driving us crazy. "newsweek" magazine has a fascinating report on a growing body of worldwide research that shows how much the technology may be damaging us. researchers find that the internet may be making us more depressed, anxious, stressed, suicidal and prone to sicknesses, like obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder. the brains of internet addicts look like those of drug and alcohol addicts. americans spend eight hour as day, on average, staring at a screen. that's more time than we spend doing anything else, including sleeping. teenagers spend seven hours of screen time into the average school day. 11 if you include the time they're multitasking on several devices at once, and more than a third of smartphone users get online before they get out of bed. meanwhile, the average person sends or gets about 400 text messages a month. teenagers, the number jumps to 3,700. time online includes exercise, face-to-face contact with real people. these are the reasons some of the countries like china, taiwan and korea have begun treating web use like a health crisis. it's no wonder the experts are alarmed as they describe the computer like electronic cocaine that fuels cycles of mania followed by depression. they say the internet, quote, encourages and even promotes insanity. here's the question. is the internet making us crazy? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. go to a post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> i read a story the other day that says if you keep your ipad or other smartphone device too close to youred by while you're sleeping, it may keep you up at night. not because of noises, but because of blue light coming out of it. you may get insomnia in the process. some people wonder why they're not getting a deep sleep. maybe fast a factor. i don't know if that affects you. >> i don't have those things. i have none of that. i have a desk top computer and a room at my house away from the master bedroom. that's it. >> you're getting a good night's sleep every single night. and your brain is not cluttered. >> my brain is not in good shape. but it's not because of the internet. >> plenty of other stuff. thank you. a very serious story we're following right now. a woman today kaccused of adult publicly executed, apparently by theal pan. we have disturbing new details coming out of afghanistan. we want to warn our viewers this story contains graphic video. >> reporter: wolf, shock and outrage have mounted since a chilling amateur video surfaced showing an afghan woman being publicly executed. it was horrific. and we must remind viewers this report includes graphic and disturbing content. a burka clad woman sitting on the ground, awaiting her execution. the man with a rifle is just a few feet away. a scene so disturbing we stopped it here. he begins shooting, firing again and again. she slumps over after the third shot, but the executioner isn't finished. in all, he fires nine times. around him, dozens of men on a hillside cheer. god is great, they chant. this amateur video was taken in afghanistan. in the village just north of the capital. afghan government officials are blaming the taliban. they believe the woman was killed because of f a dispute between two taliban commanders who had some kind of a relationship with her. that in order to save faith, they accused her of adultery and then swiftly executed her for villagers in the area, they're outraged. >> what do they want to prove by this action, asks this man. we want rule of law. >> if our mother and sister watch this video, they will be shocked and will be scared. this is against the law. >> while this public execution may be the latest and among the most shocking examples of violence suffered by women in afghanistan, it's not an isolated case. a 2012 human rights watch report found that nearly nine out of ten afghan women suffer physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetimes. afghan lawmaker and womens rights activist wept as she watched the video of the execution. >> i think there is little tolerance about such things and about the silence of government. this happened a few kilometers away from kabul. we will have to do seriously something about this. >> afghan government officials are vowing to hunt down those responsible. >> we are going to investigate thoroughly into this video and we will find those culprits and those taliban who are behind this act of violence. >> despite the reassurances, many women are still fearful. there are renewed concerned about what the 2014 withdrawal of nay to troops will mean for women, who have basic rights after the fall of 2001. >> we have had very bad experience with taliban in the past several years. everyone is in shock and scared that, god forbid, if the taliban return, what will happen. >> reporter: but analysts warn the taliban don't have a monopoly on violence towards women. that in this deeply conservative culture women are constantly at risk. and the draconian justice is what they live with every day. for many in afghanistan, this execution is just a reminder of what life was like between 1996 and 2001, when the taliban ruled that country, and when public executions were common. wolf? >> thanks very much for that report. a soccer star goes on trial. did terry hurl racial slurs at an opponent? a lip reader was called in to testify. and a meltdown at a little league game. it was the parents who were acting like children. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. scrambling for crews to find a child killer. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other top stories in "the situation room." doctors are baffled by a mysterious illness na has killed dozens of children in cambodia. since april at least 64 children have fallen ill and died within a day or two of being admitted to the hospital. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta went to find out what is going on in cambodia. he will join us live at 6:00 p.m. in "the situation room." and a lip reader had eyebrow raising testimony at today's trial of john terry. john terry is charged with racist abuse for hurling obscenities at an opponent during a match last october. the lip reader translated what was caught on video for a magistrate in london, including two extremely vulgar words. terry does not deny foul language. if convicted he could be fined $4,000. and either some really good driving or just plain luck. averting what could have been a disaster. in akron, ohio, take a look here. watch as the tractor trailer rig is captured by a gas station surveillance camera barrelling down a freeway exit ramp and trying to turn left. the driver told police his brakes failed and his car go caused the rig to fall on its side and slide to the gas pump. fortunately no one was seriously hurt. those are amazing pictures. and a little league official says a brawl that broke out after a game this columbus, georgia, over the weekend is an embarrassment for the city. the fight wasn't between the kids, but between adults watching the game. it's all caught on video. a verbal battle in exchange of blows over the last play of the game flchlt the end two men were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. they are to appear in court in august. what is really, really sad about that, wolf, is those kids were watching the parents go at it, and that's not what you want in a role model, wolf. >> not a good example for those young kids. thanks, lisa. thanks very much. mitt romney has a huge personal fortune. president obama wants to make sure you don't forget about it. details of the democrat's emerging campaign strategy. and new sightings of great white sharks off cape cod. some are getting way too close for comfort. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting? the lexus ct hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ i'm wolf blitzer in washington. here's the stories we're working on for the next hour. a war of words and chest beating. syria fires up war games while the president charges the united states with supporting terrorists on his overthrow. so much for relief tr the heat. a cold front breaks the heat wave, but sets a punishing round of storms that near the nation's capitol. and congress is looking at closing the no sales tax loophole on internet shopping. standby. you're in "the situation room." protector of middle class. it