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Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20130213

organized a petition of hadiya pendleton. we will also speak to obama's climate change policies. >> i can announce over the next year another 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. this drawdown will continue. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. >> while obama says the war will be over next year, the pentagon says the troops will remain until the 2024. we will speak to activist kathy kelly. and we will speak to aura bogado about what he did not say about immigration. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama gave further details on his second term agenda tuesday night with the annual state of the union address. on the environment, obama called on lawmakers to take action against global warming with a number of victims of gun violence in attendance, obama also urged congress to vote on new gun control measures, including background checks and bans on massive ammunition magazines. >> congress will not act soon enough to protect future generations. i will. i will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take now and in the future to reduce pollution, prepare our communities or the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. it has been two months since newtown. i know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce them violence, but this time is different. overwhelming majorities of americans, american that believe in the second amendment, have come together around common- sense reform. >> president obama also called on congress to raise the federal wage and toation. in afghanistan, obama announced his plan to end the longest war in u.s. history by withdrawing half of the forces by the end of the year. >> our forces will move into a support role bought at can forces take the lead. tonight, i can announce over the next year another 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. this straw that will continue. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. >> we will have more from the state of the union address and reactions after the headlines. the u.s. airstrike in afghanistan have killed 10 civilians. the strike hit a suspected taliban hideouts. most of the dead were women and children. california police say they believe former los angeles police officer christopher dorner has died in a final standoff in the snowy mountains of big bear. a suspect believed to be dorner took refuge in a cabin after a car chase. a single gunshot was reportedly heard from within the cabin before it erupted in flames. officers are now testing the dead body recovered from the site to confirm they have dorner's remains. the shares deputy was killed in the gunfight between police and dorner, bringing his victims to four. >> he abandoned his vehicle, fled on foot into the forest, barricaded himself in a cabin, and at that time, there was an exchange of fire between law enforcement personnel outside the cabin and the suspect inside. after that fight, two that the sheriffs were shot. one of them died after being taken to loma linda. the second is in surgery and is expected to survive. >> this would end a manhunt after dorner promised to exact revenge on the lapd after his firing in 2008. the senate armed services committee has voted to advance chuck hagel's secretary of defense nomination to a full vote. the vote was held along party lines with carl levin backing hagel. >> if there is a risk here, is that the defeat of this nomination will leave the department of defense leaderless and a timely basis commence budgetary challenges and paramilitary is engaged in combat operations overseas. such an absence of senior leadership would be unlikely to benefit our national defense or our men and women in uniform. >> the next secretary of defense will have to deal with a world on fire. i just believe the testimony of center hagel was not reassuring. i do not think he came across a clear and convincing that he had a policy against iran. >> the un security council has condemned north korea for its latest nuclear test. on tuesday, the council voted to censure the north korean government and vowed punitive measures. north korea called it a response to u.s. hostility, including the tightening of sanctions. on tuesday, the state department confirmed it received a warning from north korea of a pending nuclear test but that no date had been specified. syrian rebels had captured a military airport near the northern city of aleppo. the news comes from one ongoing violence in the capital of damascus, where both sides are fighting for control of key roads. on tuesday, navi pillay, the u.n. commissioner for human rights said that civilians are paying the price. >> the security council is at its best when it acts in a unified voice. a lack of consensus on syria and resulting in action has been disastrous for civilians on all sides. we will be judged against the tragedy that has unfolded before our eyes. this council, as well as those of us in key positions within the un will likely be asked what we did. >> according to navi pillay, the death toll in syria is approaching 70,000. barring the forces have broken up a protest with tear gas and stun grenades. hundreds of people tried to march to a demonstration downtown. more protests are planned as a band to demonstrations. italy's top intelligence official has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the kit that make up an islamic cleric. nicolo pollari was conducted in 2003. omar was taken to u.s. bases in italy and germany before taking to egypt where he suffered torture. pollari will not have to serve jail time until his efforts for appeal are exhausted. the sentencing comes days after an italian court gave the station chief seven years in absentia. 20 others have also been convicted in the case. military officials at guantanamo have admitted they've placed hidden microphones in the rooms where defense attorneys meet with detainees. the disclosure arose in the ongoing pre-trial hearings for the alleged 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed, and four others. they insisted that the military never listens in on attorney- client conversations. defense attorneys have expressed doubts about that claim and say their clients' trials may have been compromised. the senate has voted to expand the scope of the land of violence against women act. the legislation affirms an earlier vote granting domestic bond protections to 30 million undocumented immigrants. lgbt people and native american women. 22 republicans voted against the measure, including marco rubio and rand paul. president obama has announced he has signed a new executive order to defend the u.s. from computer attacks overseas. the measure creates voluntary standards for network security and promotes information sharing with private companies that help run critical u.s. infrastructure. the order is part of a wide package of steps that includes the administration's self- declared right to launch a pre- emptive cyber military strike on targets should the white house deem it necessary to prevent an imminent computer attack from abroad. in new york, a decision to lift a ban on gas drilling process known as fracking is facing a delay after regulators said they needed more time to complete a key health review. the move could delay a decision on fracking for months, leaving the ban in place. on tuesday, the top environmental regulators said he may speed the process by issuing permits before final regulations are created, if the health department conclude the process is safe. critics say fracking, which involves blasting liquid into deeper underground rock, threatens the environment, water supply, and public health. a federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the new york city police tactic known as stop and frisk. a judge ruled that a group of residents can bring claims on behalf of hundreds or thousands of their neighbors for being accosted outside of the buildings in which they live. the ruling comes one month after judge scheindlin ordered the police to seize stop and frisk procedures. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> i'm nermeen shaikh. today we spend the hour looking at president obama's state of the union address and proposals on the economy, climate change, afghanistan, and immigration. we begin with his call for new gun control. obama called on congress to reform gun-control measures, including background checks and bans and what he described as weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines. obama said each of these proposals deserves a vote in congress. >> if you want to vote no, that is your choice, but the proposal deserves a vote. in the two months since the newtown, or the 1000 birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun. more than 1000. one of those we lost was a young girl named hadiya pendleton. she was 15 years old. she loved fake newtons she was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. just three weeks ago, she was here in washington with her classmates, performing for her country and my inauguration. one week later, she was shot and killed in a chicago park after school. just a mile away from my house. parents are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. they deserve a vote. [applause] they deserve a boat. -- a vote. [applause] they deserve a vote. [applause] gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of new town deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserves a vote. the families of tucson, blacksburg, and the callous other communities report by gun violence, they deserve a vote. >> we are joined by two guests. cathy cohen is a political science professor at the river city of chicago. her group began a petition for the president to return to chicago to address the crisis of gun violence after the murder of hadiya pendleton. obama plans to visit chicago on friday. we're also joined by bob herbert, a distinguished fellow from -- will come to you both. let's begin with professor cohen. talk about president obama's addressing of the issue of gun violence as the parents of hadiya pendleton sat next to the first lady. >> i do not think there is any denying that that was probably the most moving part of the state of the union address. to hear the president talk about hadiya's life as well as her horrific death, to finally have him personalize this issue, talk about the fact that there are young people dying in chicago within blocks or miles from his house, clearly was an important for the president, really a healing moment for the city. we all continued to mourn hadiya's death, the death of all young people killed by gun violence. but we are still waiting, i think, for a comprehensive discussion from the president, comprehensive speech to talk about all the underlying factors that contribute to gun violence. we're still waiting for him, hopefully on friday, to talk about the unemployment that young people face, the inadequate schooling they face, a prominent policies around incarceration, the trauma that they face from violence in their neighborhood. without that type of discussion, we are never really going to move forward and deal with and stem the violence and the lives of these young people. >> professor cohen, explain what you did after hadiya was murdered, one week after she performed at the inauguration. >> it was not just me, i want to be clear. was the black youth project, of which i am a member and a founder. we were all sitting in a room with staff, voicing our frustration with the fact that we keep watching young people die in our city and it seems, in fact, the country does not understand the worth of their lives. it felt like we need to add our voices to an increasing collected in the city calling for the president to take some moral leadership on this issue. so we decided to start a petition. we had heard others talk about the president coming home, but we felt there needed to be an added voice of hopefully thousands of people telling the president he needed to come to chicago, he needed to come home, and the need to talk about gun violence in a comprehensive way. we mounted a petition and then we asked aisha miller if she would join. she is a friend and colleague that we trust and know. she had lost a cousin to gun violence. we thought it would be critical to have someone who has gone through this loss also asking the president to come home to speak about gun violence. we mounted a petition not long after hadiya's death. 10 days later, there were over 47,000 signatures. i believe it was on sunday that the president announced he would come to chicago this friday to talk of a gun violence. >> chicago is often cited as an example of why gun-control laws do not work. it has some of the strictest gun acquisition laws, but at the same time, among the highest levels of gun violence. can you talk about that? >> absolutely. there are some on the right who will say, look at chicago, this is my gun restrictions do not work. i would say this is why we need comprehensive gun control legislation. the truth is there are no gun shops in chicago. but if one travels five minutes outside of the city, you can buy a gun -- individuals -- and you can see the illegal flow of guns into the city. so without comprehensive gun legislation, including background checks, other types of legislation and regulation, even though we have very strict laws in chicago, those laws are easily violated by going outside the city, going into indiana, and that is what we have seen. last year, the chicago police department confiscated over 7400 illegal guns in the city. >> bob herbert, i want to bring you into the conversation to ask what you think the likelihood is of successful gun-control laws being passed. surely after the address last night, republican from oklahoma said obama's agenda on gun control was a disaster and that as congress contemplates new legislation, i will oppose anything that further restricts the second amendment or its contribution to the free exercise of all of our constitutional rights. >> i am not hopeful about any comprehensive gun control legislation moving forward. republicans are a problem, but so are a lot of democrats. it does not look like we are going to get an assault weapons ban even, so it is starting to look like this gun-control push is much ado about nothing. but i could not agree more with ms. cohen. in addition to addressing the problem with guns, which we should be, we have to address the issues of joblessness, poverty, loss of hope, despair in these inner city neighborhoods that are driving so many of our young people to violence. it is not just comprehensive gun control that we need. we need a comprehensive policy to address violence in this country, and i do not see anything happening on any front. >> i wanted to go to this issue of guns and the republican response, which was interest in the divided between the tea party, rand paul, and marco r ubio of florida. rubio called for greater calls against gun-control. >> unconstitutionally undermining second amendment rights of law-abiding americans is not the way to do it. >> bob herbert, your response? >> we need copper into gun- control but we also need to go into inner-city and begin to do gun buyback programs on an intensive scale. we need to ban assault weapons and those ridiculous clips. we need to have comprehensive gun registration laws, licensing laws. we need to move all those fronts. we also needed to something about the manufacturing of guns in this country, which is out of control. we have 300 million guns in a society of 300 million people? it but does not make sense. too many people are making too much money off of the gun and violence industry. >> the polls show overwhelmingly americans and gun owners want gun-control. democrats have joined with republicans in dropping the issue. it goes to the issue of money and politics and the national rifle association. to you see a change with president obama and congress? you have democratic senators who will be fighting this, too. >> i do not see much of a change with a democratic congress. we have gone backwards from the clinton era when we had an assault weapons ban. there was a change in the language nationally. perhaps more important, there are an awful lot of people now outside of government, elected officials, pushing on this issue. cathy cohen, her organization is an example. there are many across the country. if we can begin to change this done and violence culture in this country, we may be able to make some headway. >> we are going to move onto the economy after the break. we are to ask cathy cohen and bob herbert to stay with us. we are going to talk about afghanistan. we will also be joined later by aura bogado to talk about what president obama did not say about immigration. [♪] >> "shiny happy people" by r.e.m. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> president obama opened his state of the user with a call to revive the middle class. congress to back his proposals. >> businesses have created over 6 million new jobs. we buy more american cars and we have been five years. and less for oil than we have in 20. [applause] our housing market is healing. our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners into a stronger protection than ever before. [applause] so, together, we have cleared a way we did away the rubble of crisis. piquancy with renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong. [applause] but we gather here knowing that there are millions of americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. our economy is adding jobs but to many people still cannot find full-time employment. corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and income have barely budged. it is our generation task then to reignite the true engine of america's economic growth, a rising, thriving middle-class. [applause] it is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country. the idea that if you work hard and your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, the matter what you look like or who you love. >> that was president obama in his state of the union address. bob herbert and cathy cohen are with us. your response to president obama? >> i agree that the unfinished task is to make sure that those who work hard and take care are the responsibilities can get ahead, but he has not, and neither has anyone in congress laid out how we will get there. the biggest problem facing the country is still and climate. too many people out of work into many underemployed. the president touched on something of the need to do. we need to increase infrastructure, invest in research and development, climate change, whether rising buildings from coast to coast. all those things cost money. he also said that nothing he is proposing will add even a dime to the budget deficit, so one part of the speech is fighting another, so i do not know how we make headway if we are not going to make investments in those things that will put people back to work. >> you pointed out a report that talks among the top 1% capturing 120% of all income gains between 2009 and 2011. to what extent do you think president obama's speech addressed this imbalance? >> he mentions it, but he does not address it. if you have the top 1% getting the 121% of income gains, it meets the standards of the rest are declining. that is what has been happening. median income has gone down since the recession ended. poverty is expanding. 50 million people officially poor in this country, another 50 million close to pour. that is close to a third of the entire population. so there is no way to address challenges that are that enormous, without making enormous investments. yet, we are in a period out of austerity, so i am not sure how you begin to slice through the gloom. >> let's talk about the minimum wage. president obama called on congress to raise the minimum wage and automatically adjust it to inflation. >> let's declare in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour. we should be able to get that done. [applause] this single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. it could mean the difference between groceries and the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by were finally getting ahead. for businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. all lot of folks out there would probably need less help from government. in fact, working folks should not have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while ceo pay has never been higher. here is an idea that governor romney and i agreed on last year. let's tie the minimum wage to the cost of living so that it becomes a wage that you can live on. >> how significant is this call? >> it is critical that the president attached himself to an increase in the minimum wage. the concern is that there is other legislation that has been offered that puts the minimum wage at $10, in some cases, $10.10, so we see a form of backtracking. i am not sure that is flattering to the middle class. but i think it actually speaks to a glaring absence in the president's state of the union, which is a serious discussion of poverty in this country. we talk about aspiring to the middle-class, expanding the middle-class, these are all good things to be focused on, but as bob said, almost a third of the country is close to party. we need to have a clearer sense of what we will do for those communities, individuals to change their lives and provide them with real opportunities for mobility. >> some critics have pointed out, in 2008, president obama in his election campaign, promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.50, which never occurred. you were speaking about meeting income. talk about the discrepancies of median income in the u.s. across race and class. >> one of the thing that is not talked about very much that so many of the people who are at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder are racial and ethnic minorities. if you look at african- americans, pew says the median household income is around $5,000. that is really nothing at all. i was up at brandeis university a few months ago for a seminar on poverty. one of the people presenting was talking about the median wealth of single african-american women with children under the age of 18. their median wealth is $1. that is just crazy. >> explain that. >> wealth includes any money that you would have in a bank, assets, stocks, bonds, the value of your home, etc. the median for that group that they were talking about is $1. basically no money at all. the meeting is in the middle, so that means 50%, the median is less than $1. it is impossible to survive there. if i could make a comment on minimum wage, it is important to raise the minimum wage. we have talked for decades about the importance of manufacturing jobs in creating the middle- class in the post-world war ii era. people have lamented the loss of those so-called good jobs. but if you recall, those jobs were not always good. the people that worked in the steel mills, plants, mines, they were dangerous, terrible, low- paying. because of government support in some cases and especially because of the support of labor unions, those lousy jobs at the time were transformed into a very good jobs that build the american middle-class. we can do the same thing with low-wage service jobs in this country right now. we could turn those jobs by increasing the support and pay for those jobs we do we could turn them into jobs that would begin to rebuild the middle class. >> let's talk about what causes people to become bankrupt and become impoverished. the president said the biggest driver of long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. he said he would protect medicare but was open to reforms. >> i am prepared to deny her formidable achieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the bipartisan bowles simpson commission. already the affordable care act is helping to slow the growth of health-care cost. [applause] and the reforms i am proposing go even further. we will reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. we will bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for medicare because our medical bills should not be based on the number of tests order or days spent in the hospital. it should be based on the quality of care our seniors receive. [applause] and i am open to additional reforms from both parties so long as they do not violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. >> what is he signaling? >> he wants to do something about the rising cost of medicare. he was not specific at all, but it sends a chill through me. the last thing you want to do now is attack medicare or social security. what i really wanted all along was an expansion of medicare, so you get the type of coverage that medicare provides to more and more americans. to begin to pull back on that is frightening. he was the very suspect -- specific, so i cannot be sure what he was talking about. >> another issue that president obama addressed last night was climate change. during his speech, he heartened environmentalists with one of the strongest statements on the topic in history. >> for the sake of our children and future, we must do more to combat climate change. [applause] now, it is true no single event makes a trend, but the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods all are now more frequent and intense. we can choose to believe superstorm sandy and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires states have ever seen were all just a free coincidence, or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it is too late. [applause] the good news is, we can make minimal progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. i heard this congress to get together and pursue a bipartisan market-based solution to climate change, like the one john mccain and joe lieberman work on a few years ago. but if congress will not act soon to protect future generations, i will. [applause] i will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. >> some environmentalists were disappointed he did not go further and call for carbon emissions cuts, and other issues. >> in my view, climate change is where necessity and opportunity meet. we have to do something. we see what is happening all around us. this also is the pathway to the future, it would seem to me, in terms of the economy, other aspects challenging the united states. if we were to address climate change the way we address the challenge of something like world war ii, and we said we have to do something about this, we are going to put people to work, we are going to do research and development, conservation, we are going to whether rise buildings from coast-to-coast, the united states could become the world leader in this issue. we begin to develop new products, new automobiles, new forms of energy, and that sort of thing, would become the driving force for industry, going forward, under the way to revitalize the economy. we should be bringing together and the brightest minds in this country for an obsolete long- term campaign to fight climate change. -- absolute long-term campaign to fight climate change. make it like the moon shot. the cliche is a new marshall plan. that is the root got to be following, at this point. but it also requires tremendous investment. we have to figure out how to pay for these investments. >> finally, the issue of responsibility, wall street nurses main street. who pays for the crisis we are in and who does not? >> one of the things that has been problematic, the reason we have this imbalance of wealth and income in the country, the sacrifices we have gone through as a result of our economic problems have not been properly shared. most people's standards of living are declining while the top is doing great. we should be raising taxes -- this is heresy -- but we should be raising taxes on everyone because we need to raise revenue to make these long-term investments required. but of course, the taxes for those near the top of to be met raised much more than those of middle or low income. but this is not an issue that has any kind of political resonance in washington. >> thank you for being with us, bob herbert. cathy cohen, thank you for being with us as well. we will certainly follow up when president obama goes to chicago on friday. when we come back, kathy kelly joins us from chicago, just back from afghanistan, to respond to president obama's statements about war. [♪] >> "changes" (that's just the way it is) by tupac shakur. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> we continue our coverage of the present state of the union address, turning to his statements on afghanistan. >> tonight we stand united in to the troops to sacrifice every day to protect us. because of them we can say with confidence that america will complete its mission in afghanistan and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al qaeda. [applause] already we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. this spring, our forces will move into a support role, while afghan security forces take the lead. tonight, i can announce, over the next year, 34,000 american troops will come home from afghanistan. by the end of next year, our war in afghanistan will be over. [applause] beyond 2014, america's commitment to a unified and sovereign afghanistan will indoor. but the nature of our commitment will change. we are negotiating an agreement with afghan government that focuses on two missions, training and equipping afghan forces, so the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue al-qaeda and its affiliates. >> the announcement comes as a u.s. strike and afghanistan has killed 10 civilians. most of the dead were women and children. for more, we are joined by kathy kelly, she just returned from her most recent trip to afghanistan. your response to president obama saying that the u.s. troops will be out next year, although the pentagon says it could be another 10 years? >> president obama is a hawkish president. the pentagon has said that the troops will be in afghanistan until 2024 and beyond. in the 21st century military that the president and pentagon want to create, it unnecessarily need huge military bases all across afghanistan. what they want our special operations troops working in coordination with the capacity for drone strikes, but denies drone strikes and drone surveillance. what you mentioned in relation to the tragedy, just less than, it is so symptomatic of what happens. the civilians are at high risk, the antagonism towards the u.s. continues to rise, and the taliban says until all the troops are out, they will continue to fight. so afghans are saddled with this ongoing war. >> you spend one month and afghanistan recently. can you talk about the people he met and what their reactions have been to the u.s. presence? >> printers are so harsh in afghanistan. -- winters are so harsh in afghanistan. this time i was able to go up to the mountains to visit with those who are pushed up to a mountainside because they can afford piped water, so they move higher where they shell almonds all day and you the shells to fill their home. the conditions for people in afghanistan are deplorable. in fact, particularly in the south of the country, the un is very alarmed. over 1 million children under age five are suffering from acute malnutrition. the expenditures that the nine it states development groups have made are now approaching $1 billion. and yet afghanistan is still considered one of the worst places in the world that a person can live. 35% unemployment among men. education system is completely correct. this correction is linked to the way that the united states has put money into the pockets of corrupt warlords across afghanistan. >> what about not only the u.s. military, but the private companies -- the number of people serving in the company's equal the number of soldiers. >> it is anecdotal, but every time i travel into afghanistan, the plan is filled with security contractors, military people. the black water co., now in its third renaming -- now called acadamie -- is building a new base outside of kabul for training of special operations forces. these are some of the most fearsome military people in the world, navy seals, army rangers. these are people who engage in a despicable night raids which has caused so much anger and confusion with afghans. reporters have talked about how soldiers tornado through homes, hurling bodies across the room. many people have been killed returned to be civilians. and then later you will hear an apology from the top military brass in afghanistan. the night raids, and drone surveillance, in drone attacks, all can be accomplished by special operations forces. that is the future military presence in afghanistan. >> in addition to that, in a recent report found, torture was used by security forces, forces that have been trained by the u.s. are you familiar with the report, did you hear anything about this while in afghanistan? >> people are terrified of being arrested and imprisoned because of the possibility of torture and also because you can be held for months and months without charge. the united states is still completing construction of three new prisons with possibly would be turned over to afghanistan. karzai himself, the president of afghanistan, says he believes that the un report is true. the claim that the united states will be able to effectively train the many different militarized forces in afghanistan is very hard to believe, because so many of the people drafted into the afghan military are illiterate, many of them are there because they are desperate for money, but there are other kinds of security which are crucial, essential in afghanistan. food security, health care delivery security. some security that people could get an education for their children. the resources and ingenuity constantly gets poured into military. >> we have to break, but quickly, what do you believe needs to be done? >> every country that has it evaded -- invaded and wrecked afghanistan should pay in reparations to help rebuild the country. >> thank you for being with us. this was your 12th trip to afghanistan? >> i think that is right. >> kathy kelly, thank you. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. >> as we wrap up our look at the present state of the union address, we look in his statements on how to deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the united states. >> we are stronger when the harness me talents of hopeful immigrants. right now, leaders from business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities, they all agree that the time has passed -- come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. now it the time to get it done. now is the time to get it done. [applause] real reform means stronger border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made, putting more boots on the southern border than any time in history, and reducing illegal crossings to the lowest levels in 40 years. real reform means establishing irresponsible pathway to earn citizenship, the pathway that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning english, and going to the back of the line behind the folks tried to come here illegally. >> for more we are joined by a reporter in new york, aura bogado. she wrote a piece just after president obama spoke. she wrote about what president obama did not say about immigration. her latest article is "dreamers fight deportations." >> great to be here. we heard the same focus on border security when, at the time, he mentioned, -- people were hoping to hear a halt to deportations. there were at least five dreamers in the audience. one of them was not even eligible for the dream act, even though she has worked tirelessly for a perioit. because she is 32 years old, she missed the cutoff date. she is the founder of united we dream. she said she was honored to be there. >> who invited her? >> one of the centers, i am not sure. she is happy to be there, have been that obama has an inclusive agenda, in terms of recognizing lgbt partners,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom 20130215

thanks for joining us on this busy morning. coming up monday, quvenzhane walis and alison brie, mary bono mack and connie mack. meanwhile "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. happening now in "the newsroom." >> don't like this. >> meteor shower breaking overnight, amazing pictures out of russia. hundreds are injured as fragments of the meteor slam into earth. plus -- >> it was kind of crazy. >> tired but ready to get on a bus and go get a shower, be in a place where the toilet flushes. >> i just really want a bed. >> reporter: sweet home alabama, back on land, the cruise from hell finally over for thousands of weary vacationers. also, charged. prosecutors arguing the so-called blade runner olympian committed pre-meditated murder, reportedly shooting his girlfriend four times through a bathroom door. plus this. >> don't you just love it? >> love what? >> tiffany's. >> reporter: it's "breakfast at tiffa tiffany's" not breakfast at costco. the discount warehouse known for gallons of mayo and bulk packs of underwear selling what they say are tiffany rings. the people behind that little blue box calling costco out this morning. "newsroom" starts now. good morning, thank you so much for joining me. i'm carol costello. we begin with the shock and awe of a meteor shower, raining down on southern russia, nearly 1,000 people now reportedly injured. millions mesmerized by the incredible images now streaming in. watch as that fireball grows bigger and bigger as it races across the daytime sky and erupts into this blinding flash of light but it would take several seconds for the sound to catch up. >> like this -- [ speaking in foreign language ] >> unbelievable. witnesses say there were three separate explosions that ripped across the region and jolted buildings with a sudden and frightening violence. keep in mind no reports of anything actually hitting the ground. this damage is just from the shock wave from the meteor as it burned into the earth's atmosphere. this factory, a wall collapsed, the roof caved in, one of nearly 300 buildings damaged, including schools and hospitals across at least six towns, thousands and thousands of windows shattered, and the number of injured could very well climb. here's what we now know about this meteor. it weighed about ten tons when it slammed into the earth's atmosphere. it was screaming at about 33,000 miles per hour, and for all that widespread damage it was only about the size of a big kitchen table. cnn's bill black is in moscow. wow. what's the government's response to this, phil? >> reporter: well, the government has been responding to this, they have a team of tens of thousands of people there on the ground helping with the cleanup, urging people to stay calm, say there is no threat and some initial concern because there is a cluster of facilities in the area but none of them were damaged. there is no change to russian ambient radiation at even that area. they've been trying to help the people that have been hurt and a lot of different numbers have been coming to us from different russian agencies over the course of the day and a number of people who are injured in this incident, but they all have one thing in common, they keep going up. as you say, the total number of injured is now close to 1,000. there's how many people they say, between 30 and 100 have been treated in hospital and a smaller number, less than ten we are told are said to be in grave condition. fortunately for all the drama, for all the sheer terrifying elements to all of this, the damage although widespread is not significant. it is largely broken glass. the people that were showered in broken glass as they were struck by the sonic booms that most of the injuries are not more serious than simple cuts and scratches. >> unbelievable. phil black reporting live from moscow. let's talk more about the piece of meteor itself, because indra petersons, please help us understand this. as you look at this thing, it clearly is on fire when it enters the earth's atmosphere. am i right? >> absolutely. i definitely wanted to start you with the distinguishing factor between an asteroid and a meteor. it's an asteroid before it enters the earth's atmosphere. once it enters the earth's atmosphere you're talking about friction with their atmospheric compositi composition, that makes it start to be a fireball. as it moves closer towards earth it continues to burn up and gets smaller. that's what we're watching. if it hits the ground it's called a meteorite. look at the video. it entered at 33,000 miles per hour, so remember, we talked about this being ten several meters wide like a semitruck hurling at us at 10,000 miles per hour. of course it started to burn up, started to slow down with friction and then the huge boom everyone's talking about. 760 miles per hour is the speed of sound. remember this thing started off at 33,000 miles per hour, at some point it slows down to 200, 400 miles per hour. either way you can see that boom be anywhere from is.5 to even five minutes thereafter intending on the speed of that. that's the reason everyone's been able to get their cameras up in time, capture the video and hear the large boom. >> so the boom, the sound itself shook the earth and broke the windows and scattered debris, is that how that happened? >> absolutely. we're talking about something that moves through a medium much faster and i say medium as a scientific term but whatever it is around it, this case being the air so much faster than the surrounding area, that's just a blast, typical blast like any other explosion, like any bullet or anything else. same thing, on a much larger scale. >> yes e were ety scary stuff. indra petersons, thank you so much. wow, let's turn to another reason for eyes on the sky today, this giant rock nearly half the size of a football field dwarf's today's meteor shower over russia. even though this will brush by the earth it will be 1,000 miles away. scientists say there is absolutely no chance of impact. cnn's jason carroll is in new york at the american museum of natural history, but jason, in light of what happened in russia, it just makes you a little nervous. >> reporter: you know, carol it's a wake-up call. you look at what happened in russia, you look at what's going to happen later on this afternoon. the name of that asteroid is 2012da14, not a very inspiring name for such an incredible object and you know, as the animation shows, at its closest point that's going to be at about 2:00 this afternoon, 2:24 i think to be exact, it will pass just about 17,200 miles from earth. that may sound like it's far away, carol, but that's actually very, very close. some of our communications and weather satellites are actually in that same area but we're told from scientists that this particular asteroid is not going to have any effect on any of our communication satellites but still this is something to keep a very close eye on. someone who has been watching closely, it's dr. denton abel, he's 6'5", back just a little bit. he's curator here at the hall of the universe and you've been studying meteors, asteroids for quite a long time. when you look at what's happening with 2012da14, the asteroid passing by this afternoon, what are some of your thoughts? >> my thoughts are what is it made out of and why is it coming so close. we know it probably comes from the asteroid belt. i study meteorites, i study this stuff, the astronomers look at things far away so this is sort of in between that space. >> reporter: you no he what fascinates and frightens me about this, carol, if you think about this particular asteroid, you think this was discovered by amateur astronomers in spain. >> sure. >> reporter: just about a year ago. if we were to discover another one that was going to impact us, we wouldn't have the capability to stop it if it was discovered in, you know, a year out of impact, maybe in a year and a half? >> well, that's too short a time span. the political will doesn't really exist to mount a global protection effort, but the amateurs in spain in this case who discovered this, there's plenty of will in the amateur scientific community and the professional scientific community to find these things. we do know 95% of the big ones, the ones that are greater than a kilometer in diameter, but here we have a tiny object over russia, an air burst in an area where they have nuclear weapons plants, who knows what's there, but they woke up and smelled the asteroid today. >> reporter: they certainly did. >> this afternoon we'll see another small body, 45 meters, not a big deal. >> reporter: we'll be checking back with you this afternoon as we continue to watch this particular asteroid, 2012da14. it is not going to impact the earth but carol definitely a close call. >> i don't want to wake up and smell the asteroid today, at least not in the united states. i feel sorry for our friends in russia. thank you very much, both of you. take a look at the new pictures, they show oscar pistorius breaking down in tears after a judge formally charges him with murder this morning. the olympic track star accused of shooting and killing his model girlfriend on valentine's day. prosecutors say they will argue pistorius committed premeditated murder, he planned it according to police. cnn's robyn curnow is following this from south africa. robyn so many confusing things are coming out of this. is it true that police are alleging that he shot her through a bathroom door? >> reporter: lots of things to talk about. you've just been running that story about a meteorite hitting. for many people here in pretoria, across south africa it meals like a bombshell has hit. people are still very much reeling from this information, from the story, this valentine's tragedy. it's everywhere in this country, and like you say, there is still a lot of confusion, still a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation about what happened in oscar pistorius' house valentine's morning. there he is, his girlfriend shot dead. we understand from media reports she had full bullet wounds, where she was found, where her body was found one newspaper saying it was found in a body and that there were bullets going through the door of the path room, and another newspaper, though, contradicting that saying her body was found downstairs so i think we've got to be very careful about coming to any sort of understanding of what transpired. this is the court where oscar pistorius appeared this morning. his bail application was denied until tuesday, but crucially as you mentioned, the state feeling like they have a very strong case against the olympian. they want to charge him with premeditated murder, but pistorius has just put out a statement via his agent and says he strongly disagrees with these murder charges. i think it's going to be a long, drawn out court case. >> robyn curnow reporting live from south africa this morning. big companies have already made their decision, they're distancing themselves from pistorius. nike pulled this ad already which included the phrase "i am the bullet in the chamber." makie is not withdrawing support for pistorius even though this could cause a public relations nightmare, frankly. >> at the beginning of any crisis, you have to say something. very often we call dressing up no comment as a comment. i think in the past nike has been very clowe to respond to a tiger woods situation or other situations and that makes the public question what their true motives are. >> nike as well as oakley and other pistorius sponsors express condolences but would not any further comment. a history-making move, senate republicans blocked chuck hagel from becoming the newest defense secretary for at least two more weeks. cnn's chief congressional correspondent dana bash has more for you. >> on this vote the yeas are 58, the nays are 40. >> reporter: it was a moment for the history books. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: chuck hagel fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a gop filibuster of his nomination to be defense secretary. only four republicans supported their former senate gop colleague. >> the filibuster of senator hagel's confirmation is unprecedented, i repeat, not a single nominee for secretary of defense ever in the history of our country has been filibustered, never, ever. >> reporter: republicans argued they need more time saying hagel is too controversial to be confirmed only days after getting through committee on a party line vote. >> the president has a right to appoint people in whom he has confidence, but we have a constitutional responsibility to consider the nominee. a number of the republican senators have questions. >> reporter: democrats see it another way, republicans are dragging their feet on hagel in order to look for more information to bring him down. >> let's not hide behind a filibuster. let's have the courage to vote yes or vote no. don't hide behind parliamentary tricks. >> reporter: the white house knew from day one hagel's confirmation would not be easy. controversial statements on israel, jews and gays, as well as his positions on iran and iraq put him in the cross-hairs of senators on both sides of the aisle but mostly fellow republicans, and a widely panned performance at his confirmation hearing even by democrats didn't help. >> i -- uh -- misspoke and said i supported the president's position on containment. >> reporter: only in the last 48 hours did it become clear hagel did not have the votes to overcome a filibuster this week. >> senators have the right to have those questions answered. >> chief congressional correspondent dana bash joins us now from capitol hill. so dana, is it just about chuck hagel's being a controversial guy or does benghazi play into this, too? >> reporter: all of the above, but i think at its core, it is chuck hagel being a controversial guy. look, we and most people, including the white house, thought that this was going to be okay, that the filibuster would not continue, but it changed because primarily senators like mccain and others who had said they wouldn't support a filibuster switched because they were pressured by fellow republicans who said they wanted more time and so they said okay, fine, we'll give you that. the issue for hagel supporters is that there are people out there who, groups out there who are determined to use the next ten days to try to dig up something else to torpedo his nomination once and for all. although carol i talked to a number of republican senators who voted no yesterday and told me they would absolutely vote yes the next time this comes up, which is in about ten days you never know what's going to happen and that is a lifetime when you're talking about a controversial nominee kind of hanging out there. >> you're going to be back in 15 minutes and we'll discuss this further and we appreciate that. dana bash reporting live from capitol hill this morning. costco, the big box retailer where you can find flat screen tvs, giant tubs of mayo, and tiffany engagement rings? 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[ woman ] learn from my story. 1 minutes past the hour. more than 900 people reportedly hurt after a meteor explodes over southern russia. most injuries are minor, from flying glass. witnesses say they saw a bright, white flash and felt a big old boom. glass in hundreds of buildings shattered and there are reports shock waves also set off car alarms and cut cell phone service. better safe than sorry. european planemaker airbus is ditching plans to use lithium ion batteries in its new passenger jets. investigators haven't confirmed those same batteries caused serious problems in boeing's 787 dreamliner, but with scores of those planes grounded, airbus is not taking chances. two months after the sandy hook massacre more than 5,000 gun control advocates rallied at the connecticut state house. governor dannel malloy said no one should be able to buy a gun without a background check. in a few hours president obama will head to chicago to speak at a south side high school. he's expected to focus on improving the middle class but also he'll likely talk about gun violence. that's because 15-year-old hadiya pendleton was shot and killed a mile from obama's chicago home, days after performing at the inaugural luncheon in washington, d.c., during inaugural week. that sparked a petition with nearly 50,000 signatures demanding the president visit chicago and outline a specific plan to prevent gun violence. joining us from chicago is the woman who helped start the coalition, kathy cohen and mike shields, president of the chicago fraternal order of police. welcome to you both. >> good morning. >> thanks for having us. >> kathy, the president made a plea for congress to vote on his gun control proposals during the state of the union. that didn't satisfy you? >> no. i mean we're really looking for the president to offer a comprehensive analysis of kind of the factors that underlie gun violence. we support the president in looking for legislation to deal with gun control, but we also want the president to talk about the unemployment that young people face, the levels of poverty that they face, the kind of failed experiment with excessive incarceration, and we know that unless we deal with these underlying factors, actually we'll never really deal with the crisis of gun violence. >> it seems to be difficult in this country to deal with shades of gray. it seems everything is in black and white. is that our problem? >> i think it's hard for people to understand that we have a long-term issue here that deserves kind of sustained investment. i think we're looking for i dare say and i hate this term the silver bullet. we think if we can just figure out a way to kind of take illegal guns off the street which is critically important that that will deal with the issue, and i think most of us know that, in fact, these are long-term issues of disinvestment in certain communities that leave young people with very little options and very few opportunities and makes it more likely that they're going to make bad decisions with a gun in their hand. >> mike, we always hear, oh chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation and yet you have this terrible problem with gun violence. first of all, is it true that chicago has strict gun laws? >> i believe chicago has the second strictest gun laws in the united states, but unfortunately we're not able to enforce them. chicago policemen lock a guy up and he's getting out of jail in two days because some of the judges are, you know, weak on the bond ruling and we need to be able to enforce the laws that we already have on the books. we have plenty of laws, plenty of enforcements. we need to be able to you know have a true penalty instead of six months later this guy's out. >> and is it because, i mean, i know we have problems enforcing laws for many different reasons but as far as police on the streets are concerned, is it because the police seem outgunned? are there too few police? what is it? >> the problem in chicago is that we're down about 1,500 chicago police officers and unfortunately mayor emmanuel balanced two budgets at the expense of public safety, and truly chicago needs to hire more police officers. they need to stop with the press conferences every five minutes, look what we're doing, we're going to change this, we're going to change that. the fact of the matter chicago is the victim of their own success. about 2004-2005, people were truly getting locked up for great drug cases and different gang cases. now these same people, they're getting out right now, they're getting out on the outskirts of chicago and they're on the streets again and look what happened the other day with the 15-year-old girl getting killed. that's just one small example of what happens all the time in chicago unfortunately. >> mike shields, cathy cohen thank you so much for joining us. president obama will be in chicago later today to talk about the economy and also talk about gun control measures. blade runner oscar pistorius, like lance, tiger, a-rod, another fallen star. are there any hero athletes left? it's our talk back question. 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[ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. good morning. thank you so much for joining me. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in "the newsroom" at 30 minutes past the hour, you're watching the opening bell at the new york stock exchange. we could see the dow open lower today. investors concerned about europe's economic health and we're waiting on a handful of new economic reports. the irs knows you are eager for your refund but it's asking for a little tiny bit of patience. early filers have been overwhelming the where's my refund website, and smartphone app trying to figure out exactly when they will get their refund money but checking every five minutes will not help you. officials say the information is only update the once a day, and usually overnight. more than 900 people reportedly hurt after a meteor explodes over southern russia. most injuries are minor and blamed on flying glass. witnesses say they saw a bright white flash and then felt a big old boom. glass and hundreds of buildings shattered, there were reports shock waves set off car alarms and cut cell phone service. history on the senate floor, and in a special political buzz, three minutes of hot talk on benghazi, chuck hagel and of course partisanship. playing today, chief congress n congressional correspondent dana bash, espn senior writer l.z. granderson and republican strategist rich galen. >> the only person being paid on this program. >> oh my gosh! >> wow, we're starting there already. boy! >> okay, before we begin -- >> strap in. >> i've been sitting here to think what to say. >> before we begin the conversation a little explanation. republicans successfully blocked the confirmation of chuck hagel for defense secretary in part because of hagel's controversial remark on gays and jews and his terrible performance during his confirmation hearings, but also because five months ago, terrorists attacked the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. >> we will continue pushing and asking questions about benghazi, not because it's personal, not because we're republicans and he's a democrat, but because america needs to learn what happened and we need to learn from our mistakes. >> this, despite testimony on benghazi from general petraeus, hillary clinton, admiral mike mullen, leon panetta, martin dempsey, but it's not enough. republicans want to know what happened as the attack in benghazi went down and who changed those talking points. they want more answers from the president. so dana, is chuck, is the blockage of chuck hagel's confirmation because of benghazi, as lindsey graham illustrates or is it because of something else? >> reporter: it is mostly because of chuck hagel. benghazi was, they sort of have been on a crusade to get more answers for benghazi and like you see many, many times here in the senate, they saw chuck hagel and his nomination as a way to use that as leverage to get answers and they did, they got an answer about what the president's role was on that day. but really this is mostly about chuck hagel and you know, john mccain is actually the perfect example of why it is about the man himself, and that is he said last night after he had kind of given lots of different explanations, all of them i think are credible from his point of view, that the real fundamental thing that has bothered most of hagel's fellow republicans here, former colleagues here, is the way that he defied his party, defied his president, then george w. bush, on iraq, and that really did not sit well with many republicans here, and they remember that. it's a whole bunch of other issues but that at its core is the fundamental problem. >> so rich, i'll ask you as a republican strategy, are the concerns over chuck hagel serious enough to filibuster and block confirmation? that's the first time this has before happened in the history of u.s. politics. >> well, everybody says that, but that would get two thumbs up in the political fact check so john bolten was blocked and the ambassador to the u.n. was a cabinet level slot. the republicans i think dana have said that they'll probably let this thing go after the ten-day presidents' day holiday. they're holding it up another ten or 12 days. the president only nominated him on january 6th or 7th, so it's not like this has been hanging around for six or seven months and the republicans are dragging their feet, dragging their feet. i suspect senator hagel will be the defense secretary and from somebody who has to write three days a week, having to take a list of defense and carry it in state, that's like mana from heaven. >> it boggles my mind, l.z., we're pretty certain chuck hagel will be nominated or confirmed anyway, why waste our time? >> it makes for good theater. you know, i encourage all ever your viewers, you know, when they get done watching us to google chuck hagel and senator mccain. you don't have to go very far before you see quotes from senator mccain praising chuck hagel, calling him an outstanding citizen and someone that he would be proud to serve with, had he become president back in 2008. what has changed since when those quotes were given to today? the only thing i can think that has changed is the fact you have a president they don't like and they want to stick it to him. this is about theater more than anything else. mitch mcconnell praised him as well on the way out so i'm trying to figure out what has happened over the short period of time? everything he said about w., that happened prior to the comments being made. >> but l.z., he has given speeches and written and joined, been on the board of organizations that frankly make me a little uncomfortable and again i'm on the side of giving a president wide latitude in picking his cabinet, but those things have happened since he left the senate, so i'm not sure it's fair to compare what mccain said four or eight years ago and what he is saying today. >> if i could just maybe shed some light on that, it was back in 2000, when chuck hagel was actually john mccain's national co-chair of his presidential campaign, that's when mccain said that he personally he would even have chuck hagel as his defense secretary and what did change is what i mentioned before, it really was iraq that changed, that sent them on their separate ways personally but much more importantly on a policy level, and that was the fundamental problem at its foundation but there's no question that republicans see hagel's positions on iran as a big problem, and then, yes, of course, that's on top of that is the fact that they don't love the fact that the president nominated him, someone who they think is, for lack of a better with a i to say it, a political traitor, to be the next defense sec. secretary. >> dana you're reporting on the day that -- >> the press has quoted him -- >> let me get back to this. >> all right. >> and then i'll stop. on the day he testified, your reporting was fantastic in the dismal job that he was doing and i believe he used, you used the word "shocked" coming from senators' mouths. i think for a lot of, for some republicans there was sort of, that feel like me that the president should get who he wants, they think if that's how badly he did in that forum and he's been a member of the senate, that maybe we need to give this just one more breath before we vote yes. >> l.z. wrap it up for us. >> i just, well i just wanted to point out that while it's true his initial quotes in 2000, the associated press has quotes from him as early as 2008-2009 still praising the man so it's not as if i'm reaching out for a decade for old quotes. these are still relatively new in the political cycle. debris chuck hagel did a horrible job. i'm trying to figure out why these two men who praised him fairly recently in the cycle, why are they trashing him this hard? i think it's personal, in addition to his performance. >> all right, thank you so much for the interesting discussion this morning, our cnn cnn chief congressional for xondent dana bash, cnn contributor l.z. granderson and our boulevard republican strategist, thanks to all of you. many passengers from the carnival "triumph" are already back in texas, arriving not by ship but by bus, after their nightmare cruise finally ends. 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[ male announcer ] get adt installed for just $99. and ask about adt pulse, advanced home management here today. adt. always there. keeping heart healthy is many times like alphabet soup so what do all the letters mean? know your numbers or bp, ldl and hdl. bp is blood pressure, hdl and ldl are cholesterol. >> hdl which is your good cles kohl, high density lipo proteins and for men above 40, women above 50 and you should know your ldl, which is your low density lipo proteins, the bad needs to be under 100 for the general population. >> what does bmi stand for? >> it stands for body mass index and it's a calculating of the percentage of someone's body that is made up of fat and we have ranges we know are healthy and unhealthy. bmi less than 25 is healthy, above 25 you're overweight and you need to do something about it. >> reporter: and an ekg or ecg? >> ekg is actually the german abbreviation for electrocardiogram. in english we say ecg but it's an electrical measurement of the heart's activity. >> if you suffered from a t.i.a. should you be worried? >> it's a transient ischemic attack. it's a warning sign you're at risk of a stroke and that should never be ignored. >> reporter: all important things to know when it comes to your health. elizabeth cohen, cnn. 45 minutes past the hour. over 900 hurt after a meteor hits ulan, russia. glass and hundreds of buildings shattered and there are reports shock waves also set off car alarms and cut cell phone service. to oregon where the same-sex spouse of a military veteran will be buried in arlington national cemetery. it's thought to be the first of its kind since secretary veterans of affairs personally approved the burial. his decision was based on evidence of a committed relationship, it does not change the military's policy of not recognizing same-sex marriage, however. the monster beverage company plans to start listing how much caffeine is in its energy drinks. the change is part of a voluntary move toward compliance with stricter federal guidelines. critics including officials in washington questioned the safety of energy drinks. red bull already uses stricter labeling. 3,100 passengers from the carnival "triumph" are on a new trip this morning, and that would be oh, a blessed trip home! passengers so happy to be on land, one of them actually kissed the ground. others are just happy for the basics, you know, like a shower and hot food. brooke baldwin has more on their nightmare vacation. >> reporter: the scene in mobile, alabama, passengers cheer and wave as the carnival cruise ship "triumph" makes its way into port. others show signs like "sweet home alabama" relieved their vacation is finally over. >> good to be back on solid ground and you think about a good three-day cruise that we had and then it was a bad four-day camping trip. >> reporter: the ship limped into port late thursday night, some four days after an engine room fire knocked out power aboard the vessel. >> we are glad to be on dry land. our -- it's just been a horrible experience for us. >> reporter: having seen and heard the frustration, carnival's ceo said he boarded the ship to personally apologize to all the passengers. >> i know the conditions on board were very poor. i know it was very difficult and i want to apologize again for subjecting our guests to that. we pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case. >> reporter: passengers had to endure toilettes that didn't work, some reported sewage in the hallways, long lines for food, and hot, smelly cabins. but through it all, some passengers say everyone pulled together. >> i think i saw a lot more of the good behavior and a lot less of the bad behavior, so the tempers would flare occasionally but nothing too dramatic. >> reporter: as you might expect there were a few reunions on shore, brooklyn burgess was among them overjoyed at the sight of her father, who was there awaiting her arrival. >> he picked me up and hugged me and i started crying. it was just, it was so good to see him. after being on that boat for that long and not knowing when or how we were getting back. >> reporter: brooke baldwin, cnn, mobile, alabama. costco, the big box retailer where you can find anything, flat screen tvs, giant tubs of mayo and tiffany engagement rings? tiffany has something to say about that. 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[fight bell: ding, ding] how many here are google users? what if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results? prove it. let's look up some taco places. i like the left side. yeah? okay, do we need to find out what the waves are like down at the beach? what side do you like better? i like the results on the right. i'm gonna go with the one on the left. oh! bing won! people prefer bing over google for the web's top searches. don't believe it? go to bingiton.com and see what you're missing. did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt and.us?one. oh no, i... just used my geico app to get a tow truck. it's gonna be 30 minutes. oh, so that means that we won't be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh. (holds up phone) fruit ninja!!! emergency roadside assistance. just a click away with the geico mobile app. this, i take it was not purchased at tiffany's? >> no, actually, was purchased concurrent with -- actually came inside of -- well, a box of cracker jack. >> i see. >> oh, the audrey hepburn classic "breakfast at tiffany's." while that clerk seemed a little nonplussed, while the real clerk was livid over rings sold at costco. >> reporter: hey, carol, what this lawsuit reportedly does is accuses costco of a big faux pa. it said the discounter wrongly promoted as tiffany engagement rings on signs located inside the store when they were not tiffany rings. costco does sell engagement rings. i saw one for $62,000 on their website there. none are sold in that famous blue box. tiffany's lawsuit reportedly says tiffany has never sold nor would it's ever sell its fine jewelry through an off-price warehouse retailer like costco. the brand name is everything when it comes to luxury goods if you can buy tiffany jeweler at a costco, what it does is cheapens that brand. we did reach out to tiffany and costco. no comment from either of them but costco reportedly took down those signs when tiffany complained last rear. hmm. carol. >> i know, i was hoping that i coo buy tiffany rings in bulk. although i don't think that would make it any cheaper. >> sell them on the street. >> let's do it. alison kosik, thanks so much. call it intermission at the australian open. golfers pored to take a break when the course is overrun by kangaroos. lobsterfest is the king of all promotions. there's nothing like our grilled lobster and lobster tacos. the bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobster's lobsterfest. with the year's largest selection of mouth-watering lobster entrees. like our delicious lobster lover's dream, featuring two kinds of succulent lobster tails. or our savory, new grilled maine lobster and lobster tacos. it's back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for loberfest. my favorite entree is the lobster lover's dream. what's yours? come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. the streak is over for the nba's reigning mvp but, oh, lebron james is still on fire for the miami heat. jeff joins us with the bleacher report. >> yeah, the streak is over because of one shot. one shot that lebron didn't need to take. he missed a three-pointer in the final two minutes which dropped that shooting percentage under 60% for the game. in this game was all miami, they beat oklahoma city by 10 points to win the seventh straight game. lebron was great again. scored over 30 points. 39 to be exact. but this is the shot that dropped his shooting percentage to 59%. which is 1% shy of extending his nba report to seven straight games. >> you had your 60% field goal percentage going until you jacked up that three in the shot clock. were you aware what that meant? >> no, i wasn't aware, but all good things got to come to an end at some point. you know, it was a good run. we got the win tonight and that's the most important. >> hey, mate. it's a kangaroo. look at this he lpga tournament in australia. it was delayed by what else -- yes, kangaroos. dozens of them bouncing up and down the fairway. play was actually stopped for a short time. you know, seeing the kangaroo ares, carol, got us thinking wondering if one of those kangaroos happened to pick up one of the player's golf balls would that player be penalized? we found out not, because the kangaroos, as you might be surprised in australia are not part of the golf course. you have heard of this, the harlem shake? it's quickly become the internet sensation. it starts with one person dancing kind of crazy then a whole bunch joins in. here's nascar jeff gordon and his pit crew version of the harlem shake. ♪ all right. pretty good. they're even doing this thing at spring training. here's the arizona diamondbacks. ♪ >> all right. so for more entertaining sports news check out bleacher report.com. carol, the harlem shake started with a couple guys in a dorm room. i'm sure they were kicking back a few. now internet sensation, nascar, spring training. they're doing it on subways. you name it. harlem shake. >> you just put a weird thing on your head and dance. that's it. joe carter thank you. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" after a short break. ent drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. happying now in the newsroom -- meteor shower. breaking overnight. amazing pictures out of russia. hundreds are injured as fragments slam into earth. plus -- >> it's kind of crazy. the shower, get to a place where the toilet flushes. >> i just really want a bed. sweet home, alabama, back on land. the cruise from hell, great for thousands of weary vacationers. and also, charges bladerunner repeatedly shooting his girlfriend four times through a closed bathroom door. plus, it will not land you in jail overnight from the big apple. "newsroom" starts now. hey, good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being with me. we begin with the shock and awe of a meteor, raining down on south russia. more than 100 people reportedly injured. millions mesmerized by the images streaming in. wash that fireball as it grows bigger and bigger as it races through the sky. and then erupts into light but takes seconds to for the sound to catch up. that's what you call a sonic boom. it exploded across the region and jolted buildings with a sudden and frightening violence. watch the very moment of impact. now, keep in mind, that was the shock wave hitting the buildings. not part of the meteor. across six towns, thousands and thousands of windows were shattered. hundreds of buildings were damaged. in just a minute, we'll take you to russia, to moscow for the latest developments. first, let's turn to an astronomer to tell us from the thing. he's from the science museum, his name is david dundee. how are you doing, david? >> i'm good. >> i watched that thing. it was a scary thing. tell us, it was a piece of a meteor, and was it actually on fire as it entered the earth's atmosphere? >> well, what's happening, actually, this object, ten tons traveling 33,000 miles per hour. and when it hits the earth's atmosphere, it's like almost hitting a brick wall so it's releasing a lot of energy and it's causing the air around the meteor right to get very hot and to glow. so that's the bright light that you're seeing. the shock wave that caused a lot of the damage on the ground was from this impact that this object hitting the atmosphere of the earth. and apparently, from the footage, a lot of pieces broke off and perhaps made it to the ground. >> so, it was really the sound. and does it make up into a million tiny pieces and they're not really particularly dangerous? >> yeah, depending on the composition of the meteor right, on whether it will survive its actual trip down to the surface of the earth, but most meteorites will burn up in the atmosphere. this tiparticular one is bigger than your average meteorite, so it made a bigger splash, if you will, in the earth's atmosphere. this is a kind of event you can count on happening roughly once every ten years. it's kind of a once in a decade kind of event. and it's also the kind of objects that nasa cannot predict ahead of time. they're too small to actually track. the as asteroid that's passing the earth later this afternoon is an object that nasa can pick up ahead of time and can track. by the way, the two events are not related in any way. it's just a chance circumstance that both of these happened on the same day. >> okay. well, let's talk more about this asteroid. as we said, we know that's coming. so every ten years we can expect this sort of thing that happened over russia to happen somewhere in the world and there's not much we can do about it? >> no. there's no way really to predict objects that small coming into the earth atmosphere. tellus museum here is part of the network of nasa set up with fireball cameras. we have several in the southeast. and a few in the west. and this is part of a project, an effort, to track bright meteors. and we track about 8 to 12 bright meteors every night over cartersville. but when we link it with other cameras, we can tell how fast, how high, and even plot where in the solar system these smaller objects are coming from. and what nasa is trying to determine through this project is the density, how many of these things are, and where most of them are coming from. and so that's the kind of data we're gathering here in tellus and other places in the southeast. >> keep on going with that. david dundee, thank you for being with us this morning. >> my pleasure. let's turn to another reason to keep your eye on the sky. david mentioned that, a giant rock nearly half the size of a football field dwarfs the meteor over russia. but it will brush by the earth. it will be 17,000 miles away. scientists, you heard david, he said there's no chance of impact. cnn's jason carroll is in new york at the american museum of natural history because of in light of what happened in russia, i'm a little nervous, jason? >> well, i have to tell you, a lot of scientists have been watching what happened in russia very closely. they're also watching very closely what's going to be happening later today. these are unrelated events. let me sort of set the scene where we are, carol. in the hall of the universe. a meteor, about the size of a small car if you look at this one. this one discovered in 1902. the one that we're going to be watching later today which is expected to pass by the earth at its closest point at 2:24:25 this afternoon is literally going to pass about 17,000 miles from earth. it's about half the size of a football field. much larger than the one, obviously, that you see behind me here. one of the scientists that is going to be watching very closely is dr. denton able. he's curator here of meteorites at the museum. there was a previous interview that you couldn't hear. but an important point that i think should be made, a lot of these asteroids that we're talking about, like the one we're looking at this afternoon, we don't know that they're out there? >> oh, no, this russian meteorite literally came out of the blue. and this big object, 45 meters, that's not that big. but it's pretty big. and that object was only seen a year ago. and it's the first time something that's come this close has been seen ahead of time. so we didn't go, oh, there it was. and now we're going to go, here it comes. we can get ready for it. we can look at it, observe it and study it. >> and this one discovered by amateur astronomers in pain? >> well, this was an effort to do the science. to understand the space rocks. i mean, i studied them in the lab, the real stuff. astronomers, they see them far away. and this stuff that's coming into our atmosphere, in the case of the russian fireball. or that's coming really close to us, that's in that area that we have to collaborate. and we do that. >> dr. denton able, i want to thank you for that again. 2:24, that's where the asteroid is at its closest. we're watching. >> i'll be watching hopefully, i won't see a thing. jason carroll, dr. denton, thank you so much. jackpot, powerball welcomes a new couple into the winner's circle. the only question now, what will they buy with millions of dollars they're now taking home? 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[ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! in just a few hours, president obama will head to his hometown of chicago. to speak at the south side high school. he's expected to focus on improving the economy for the middle class, but he's also going to talk about gun violence. cnn's ted rowlands is in chicago with a preview. good morning, ted. >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's what people in chicago will be listening to. he'll be talking to in hyde park, at this high school in hyde park, near where his home is near this high school. it's also near where hadiya pendleton was killed. you remember hadiya pendleton, the 15-year-old killed in chicago. her parents sitting next to the first lady during the state of the union. we talked to person arrested in that murder. his family members. michael ward accused of murdering hadiya pendleton. we talked about the gun problems in chicago. they say this has hurt everybody. they say they're heartbroken over the loss of hadiya. and they also believe if all the focus on michael and not a focus on the greater problem that this will be a loss. >> he is about to be the poster boy for gun violence. this is what he's about to be. and this is sad because, like she said, we have kids getting killed every day. every day. >> and they say that michael ward was a good kid. is a good kid. he's 18 years old. and the problem in this city is that these kids are out of control in these gangs. and this gun violence is just hurting everybody in these neighborhoods. they're hoping the president just by being here will extend this conversation that really was sparked by hadiya's death. they're hoping it can extend to the point where real change can be accomplished. carol. >> i'm just struggling to understand michael's family members. he hasn't gone to court yet. but accused of being involved in hadiya's murder. so why shouldn't he be the poster boy if he's guilty of this crime? >> well, their point is this is a young man like a lot of young men in these urban areas, specifically in chicago, that are caught up on this. they don't believe he's guilty. they don't know. they waiting for the facts to come out. they're claiming he's not guilty but they are keeping an open mind. the bottom line, their family is hurting just like other families. you take hadiya are pendleton's case, the whole country knows about that. their point is this happens up the time in the cities. there are cities devastated by the gun violence. >> ted rowlands reporting live. an ad for chanel perfume starring actress kearia knightley banned for being too sexy. we'll let you be the judge. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. 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[ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4.99. it's an epic breakfast sandwich. welcome to our new half hour show. "talk back." three hot comments. hagel's historic filibuster, winning the war on guns and another fallen hero oscar pistorius. joining us lz granderson. maria and jason johnson, rounding things out nicely, republican strategist rich galen. welcome to all of. you. >> morning. >> thank you, carol. >> on to question one, why the historic filibustering of chuck hagel? history of the u.s. senate. not the lincoln and the 13th amendment history but the partisan kind. republicans have successfully blocked the nomination of chuck hagel in part because of hagel's controversial remarks on gays and jews and terrible remarks. and five months ago because terrorists attacked the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. >> we will continue pushing and asking questions about benghazi, not because it's personal. not because we're republicans and he's a democrat. but because america needs to learn what happened. and we need to learn from our mistakes. >> this, despite, testimony about benghazi from general petraeus, hillary clinton, admiral mike mullen, defense secretary leon panetta and general mark dempsey, nevertheless, they want more answers from the president, even though the president sent them a letter overnight with more details. first "talk back" question, why the filibuster of hagel, rich? >> i don't think it's a filibuster. it's a temporary hold. when they get back from their two-week vacation because they have works three weeks in a row, i think hagel will be the defense secretary. he was only nominated on january 7th. it's not like this has been held up six or seven months. >> what's the most danger? what do they fear the most from chuck hagel? >> i don't think they fear anything. you get a chance to poke your finger in the eye and you take that if you're a southerner. that's what they do for a living? >> jason, they do that? >> they're bitter and petty. but this is not new for the republican party. the senate judiciary committee has blocked every one that barack obama has brought forward. the republicans continue to be a party of no. this say waste of time. we need a secretary of defense when we got sequester coming up. >> and marietta is going to beat hyrum. >> man. maria, you would think that democrats would have finessed this better and tried to avoid this from. happening because it's kind of embarrassing, isn't it? >> well, look, i actually think it's more embarrassing for the republican party. this is just about the two ps, carolyn. i'm not talking about the conditions on the cruise ship. this is, it's personal and it's political. it's personal, frankly, john mccain was very clear about this on another network yesterday, carol. he and many other republicans have not gotten over the fact that when hagel was in the senate he was absolutely against the rough war, never mind the americans ended up against the iraq war as well. this is something that he's never been forgiven for. and secondly, it's political, because back to what jason said, and i completely agree. this is a republican party who is hell-bent on not ever willingly giving president obama what he wants. >> right. exactly. >> and there's a big danger here because the american people were very clear during the election that they want the two parties to work together. and the republicans have only obstructed and said what they're against. they still have not told us what they are for. >> right. >> el, l.z., you mentioned earlier that john mccain spoke in glowing terms of chuck hagel just a few years ago. and he already knew about that iraq war thing? >> right, he was before hagel before against him. he pulled a john kerry on us. this is what america has said, it's political and petty. while it's true he wasn't officially nominated or presented until january 6th or 7th, the fact his name has been floated out there since november. it's not as if the republicans didn't tell us ahead of time they that were going to do this. they told us before the official process began. >> let me remind everybody about john bolton. the democrats -- they blocked him forever to be the ambassador to the u.n. solely because they didn't like this personality. and ultimately, george w. bush needs to use his resources to put him there. >> wait a minute, there were reports that john bolton had sexually harassed people working under him. this is a bit deeper. >> there were reports -- let me just tell you something, if having reports were a disqualification for public service -- >> well, it's a legitimate -- it's an absolutely legitimate concern for the senate to ask about. this is nothing but petty politics. >> the statements are iraq and israel, those are not necessary? >> well, those are questions that have asked and answered. issues here, what else do republicans want other than to poke barack obama in the eye. >> rich, wait a second -- >> stop with the projectile sweat. in 12 or 13 days he'll be the defense secretary. >> exactly. i was just going to ask you about that. it's likely he'll be confirmed anyway despite the lull in the action, so to speak. but the pentagon has to deal with congress, with republican lawmakers and won't this affect their relationship? >> of course not. this is always transaction. as it happens for the last 70 or 100 years. whatever of the things, hagel was a senator, he understands how the place works how he's got three people that can help him because the president doesn't like dealing with the senate very much. who can blame him now he's got joe biden, john kerry and chuck hagel all skilled with dealing with the senate and that will be helpful for him moving through. >> you know, carol, this is one of the reasons why it's so problematic for republicans. and rich is right that there have been some holds and some there be something like this in the past. but we're in a very different place right now. and the reasons that they are stating as to why they are against chuck hagel do not pass muster. >> right. >> the american people are sick of petty politics in washington. this is a president, he has said he's willing to meet the republicans halfway. we have yet to see the halfway that they're willing to meet this president. >> okay. >> if i could just add this -- >> sure. >> -- if i could add one bit of caveat here, if we fast-forward in three years, everyone's projecting that hillary clinton's going to run and be the democratic nominee. the more that they're able to drum up this kind of mess and have this kind of archived if you will, the more they'll have artillery to be able to combat her when they do have to face her in the general election. i don't think this is all checkers. i believe there's chess involved as well. >> interesting. we want to hear what our facebook friends feel. why the historic filibustering from chuck hagel. this is from jody, hagel is just the flat out wrong person for secretary of defense. that said, they may have been okay for another staff position. there's more to benghazi than said publicly. from vicky, republicans will go against anything that president obama wants or does. it's shameful and continues to ruin their reputation if they even have one left. keep the conversation going facebook.com/cnn or tweet me 80 carolcnn. who's winning the war over gun control? 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"talk back" question, who is winning the war over gun control? president obama is all touchy feeling emotion when it comes to guns surrounding himself with gun violence at the state of union. many can choking up as the president pleaded -- >> deserves a vote in ytucson ad blacksburg and countless other communities ripped over by gun violence. they deserve a simple vote. >> it cannot get more raw than that. at the same time, for the national rifle association, the nra, it's all about fear. >> we're the millions and millions of americans who take responsibility for our own safety. and protection. of our children. as a god-given right. and for our second amendment freedom, mr. president, we will stand and fight throughout this country as americans for our freedom. we promise you that. >> it's almost as if you don't own a gun, you'll die. you can't trust anybody, that is, except your gun. in the political game, it's sorrow versus fear. so the question, who's winning the war over gun control? lz? >> president obama, right now. but i think the more that you have the emotional speeches and victims and survivors on camera without any action, the less power influence you'll have in the american people start to tune him out. i think there's a very finite window that this administration begins to act. the longer it takes, the less influence he's going to have. >> maria, i spoke with a community leader out of chicago today because the president's going to go there. he's there right now. he's going to talk about gun laws. this community leader said, you know, it's great to talk about murder victims and the families who are left behind. but we need concrete ideas. we need the president to come up with something for legislators to consider. and he's not doing that. >> oh, i would disagree, carol. the president has been very clear on what we can do legislatively to try to prevent, even at least one gun murder in the future. and here's where i think that the president is winning the p.r. battle. because he has put out sensible solutions versus wayne lapierre and the nra and wayne lapierre rants that he put out in the "daily caller" yesterday, again focused on the fear that you just talked about, carol. talking about hispanic gangs going crazy. talking about those people in brooklyn after sandy. i mean, it was just a very racist rant that does not do any good for their position. and the reality of it is, carol, the positions -- the proposals that the president has put out are very sensible. there's a quinnipiac poll that came out yesterday that essentially said that 56% of americans, a majority, not a huge majority, but a majority, support bans on assault weapons on and on the high-capacity magazine clips. 92%, carol, support the universal background checks. >> but there's no chance of -- this community leader also says, you can talk about banning assault weapons all you want. but you have to get to the root of the problem. and the problem she says, isn't so much about guns, it's about the gun culture. and the culture of violence. >> i agree. >> especially on the main streets of chicago. go ahead. >> and the president absolutely should be addressing that as well. there's no question about that. >> here's the thing, barack obama already won the p.r. battle because the nra ever horrible representation of gun owners in america. most gun owners in america are responsible, reasonable people. the nra is running around saying let's arm people because slavery would never have happened. barack obama is not going to win the legislative battle and that's the real concern that people have. none of his proposals are going to pass congress. very few of them if they pass congress will be implemented in any functional way at the state level. that's the battle. the p.r. battle was won the minute children were getting killed. >> i will say the nra's idea to arm security guards in schools has caught on in some school districts across the country. >> let me take a wild flyer here, suggest of the five of us i'm the only one that owns a gun and is a member of the nra, let me just posit that as -- >> i'm a gun owner but not a member of the nra. >> i'll send you the form. >> that's quite all right. >> i don't think there's anything wrong with going to -- for a local district, if they so choose, to use retired local cops who have known these kids. knew their parents, maybe, and ask themful they would like to have a part-time job during the day. and the schools i suspect a lot of communities would find that comforting because they know who's supposed to be in there, who's not. going back to the ohio days, marietta ohio, i guarantee the cops know all the kids. >> on a scale of one to ten, ten being the best shot, so to speak, how likely is it that some kind of bill is introduced in our legislature, in the bodies of congress, by the end of the year. rich? >> if it's such a good idea, harry reid is bring up a bill anytime he wants. two out of ten. >> jason? >> getting passed, four out of ten. >> maria? >> i'm going to say seven out ten. universal background checks. let's start with that. >> lz? >> i'm going seven out of ten as well. i agree i believe there's sensible things that are proven to be bipartisan that we can go through without saying get your guns out. >> our facebook friends. clets check. who's winning the war on guns? for matthew, gun makers and campaign fund-raisers and especially the lawyers. from justin, the left is understanding misunderstanding how pro-gun and rational the u.s. is. from david, the criminals. the law abiding americans argue who is right. keep the conversation going facebook.com or tweet me @carolcnn. "talk back" question for you, are there any hero athletes left? mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004. the battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. "talk back" question for you, are there any hero athletes left? oscar pistorius, once a hero, a double amputee who ran into olympic history. >> you know, international sports has a responsibility that comes with that. having told that, remembering there are kids these days that look up to you is definitely something that you need to keep in the back of your mind. >> now, mr. role model is accused of murder. pistorius breaking down in court. accused of shooting his girlfriend four times reportedly through a bathroom door. we don't know what happened, although his agent denies the murder charge. still, there are hints pistorius may not be the man we thought he was. police say there were allegations of a domestic nature at his name before this incidents. sadly, the story is latest fallen hero. it's frankly, exhausting. los angeles, tiger, a-rod. brought down from everything to cheating in sports to cheating on their wives. maybe charles barkley was on to something. >> i am not a role model. i'm not paid to be a role model. >> like it or not, sir charles, we look up to people like you. maybe it's time to look elsewhere. "talk back" question, are there any athlete here's left? rich? >> yeah, maria and i live here in washington. we have six professional sports teams. the only reason i know this i'm on the nationals press list. they send me all their stuff. and these men and women go to schools. they go to bethesda to visit with wounded warriors. they do good stuff all time but it doesn't get on the news. nobody makes the news for stopping at all the stop signs on the way to work. yes, these people make a ton of money and work very hard for the community to come out and see them play. >> yeah, but always in the back of your mind lurks suspicion that these people might not be -- come on, jason. you get when i'm going with this? >> the only hero athletes are the ones successful on the field. i still root for lebron and the miami heat. you look this sunday, michael jordan's 50th birthday. michael jordan is one of the greatest basketball player. one of the athletes in american history. he was terrible to his roommates. probably unfaithful to his wife from what she said, but it's what they do on the field not off the field. >> i think that word is misplacmisplac misplac misplaced. why is someone a hero, lz, because they're good at making baskets? >> they're good at the game. i think we create this myth up to be more noble than they may actually be. i'll tell you, it's a long time since an athlete's personal life disappointed me. when i read that story about bladerunner that one hit me. definitely for me, my bias. he was a double amputee. i wanted him to be more noble because we were behind him because he was a double amputee and he did this great thing. if he been fully an athlete, i mate not have been that surprised. but that added to it made this story more shocking. i'm trying to remember a time which we had heroes. you know, ty cobb was considered a racist back then. babe ruth was a philander as well. >> how about roberto clemente? >> maria, you got a point. >> look, it all depends, you said this, carol, what we mean by hero. and the fact that we tend to really overuse that term. and frankly apply it to people that don't deserve it. yes, these people are who are incredibly successful in their field. of sport. and that's fine. and if you want to call them a hero in that sport, that's fine. but i think it takes much more to be a hero. and to rich's point i do think there are hero athletes. roberto clemente is an example. steve nash opened a cardiac clinic in paraguay for little kids. you have others doing things in their home countries that people don't focus on. m manny pacquiao, for example, how much has he done for his home country. i think it is the fact that we put this hero title on people who don't deserve it. but i'll give you the other side of that, lance armstrong, carol, how many cancer survivors are there that do think that lance armstrong is a hero for all of the money that he raised and all the focus on cancer research? again, it's upon us. >> he is a hero -- >> what? >> i would argue that lance still is a hero. >> and manny pacquiao wasn't a hero either. >> you democrats are cynical. you need to back down a little. >> rich, you live in washington. rg3. he's a fabulous athlete. he seems to be a fabulous human being. i'm just waiting for something to drop. i don't want him to mess up because i admire him so much. >> pat tillman who turned down a multimillion-dollar contract to fight for us. >> here's a hero. rich? >> if you look hard enough, you'll find something. perception say religious concept. not a political or sports concept. >> and they're human. >> right. arthur ashe, muhammad ali. there are sports stars who are political ambassadors. it's not heroeheroes. what are we looking at? a hero who does their job well, doesn't get in a tremendous amount of trouble and gives me entertainment on friday and saturday night. >> that's a hero? we've got to wrap this up. lz granderson. maria cardona. rich galen. thank you. are there any hero athletes left -- this from cal. we should not put anyone on a pedestal as a hero until they do something heroic. does it save a life or improve the quality of life. this from michael. peyton manning, not only a great athlete but an excellent role model. contributed a lot to indianapolis, including a fine children's hospital. richard, be your own hero. role model and one to set and achieve standards. keep it coming at facebook.com or tweet me. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. 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