longer the elephant in the room, governor rick perry announces he's joining the republican party for president. >> he may be the republican front-runner but he was not feeling the love at the iowa state fair. he got heckled and laughed at over three words he said, words he may come to regret on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ing. >> oh, thank got it's friday. >> wait a minute. i've got to move my stuff. >> good morning. happy friday to you. it's august 12th. welcome to "american morning." up first, texas governor rick perry, the elephant in the room, is about to go on for 2012. perry says he's ready to toss his 10 gallon hat into the ring. >> we're going to have an announcement at 1:00 eastern time over in south carolina and then hop in an aircraft, come straight to new hampshire, and i hope you'll be watching your television set and listen to however you're picking it up on the internet or whatever. we'll have our announcement to give our intentions of what our future holds and i think a little bit about what the future of america holds as well. >> he's talking about tomorrow, of course, and jumping in an aircraft and going up to new hampshire. perry's candidacy would be a game-changer. in iowa, they were asked about perry joining in. >> i'm pleased he's coming in because he represents the status quo and i sort of feel like i'm separated. so he'll just get all their votes. >> welcome to the contest. from my perspective, it doesn't bother us or my campaign. that's just one more politician and that makes this business of problem solving all stand out more. >> we all need prayers and i hope he offers a lot for everybody on this stage. >> they shared the stage ahead of a key test vote tomorrow. we keep talking about that. the iowa straw poll in ames. cnn political deputy director paul steinhauser has an envee able job this morning. he's live in des moines where the state fair is going on with some morning analysis. good morning, paul. >> reporter: good morning, ali. you guys were talking about it. a lot of story lines in this debate. this was the first presidential debate in two months. what happened to our debate in new hampshire? michelle really shined. since then she's been doing very well on the polls. the other governor, tim pawlenty, not door very well. he questioned the congresswoman's agenda, she in a way comparing him to barack obama. those are fighting words. take a listen. >> i didn't cut deals with special interests where you put pro life issues with tax increase issues. that's a fundamental, a nonnegotiable. when we come to a nonnegotiable, we must stand. >> if there with two things, bills increased and we were stripping away prolife productions which we weren't, then it's a double against it. she voted for it. >> i need to respond to that. i need to respond to that. >> just a little taste there of that back and forth gone on all night. both need to do well, show they've got a lot of momentum. one of the reasons you saw that big dynamic last night. >> mitt romney coming under attack as the front-runner. tell us a bit about that. >> yeah. he is the front-runner right now. at this point in the race he's at the top nationally and in most state polls as well. we thould he would come under attack. it didn't happen. except for his health care plan in massachusetts. remember tim pawlenty had a chance to go after him two months ago, he didn't. there was a lot of criticism over that. take a listen. >> obama care was patterned after mitt's plan in massachusetts. for mitt to say they are not substantial similarities or it's not the same plan it's incredible. that's why i called it obamniecare and i call it that tonight. >> reporter: another dynamic last night. santorum and ron paul. as you also mentioned. you've got rick perry jumping in, making it official in south carolina. he's going to be here in iowa on sunday. guess who's probably going to show up right here around the corner, sarah palin. i tell you, guys, this campaign is definitely changing big time by the end of the week. >> i love the bus and i miss the fair. they're like my two favorite things in the world. >> he wants a deep fried pickle. >> i want a deep fried something. i'm sure somebody's heard about this. he said corporations are people. remember those words. they were at the iowa state fairfielding questions for voters and some democratic plans, to be honest about it. when he was asked about the question of raising taxes and that's when things heated up. >> ultimately, not just this year but over the coming decades going to be able to balance our budget and not spend more than we take in, we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are propss we can keep and there are various ways of doing that. we can raise taxes -- of course, they are. everything corporations are ultimately go to people. where do you think it goes? >> as you might expect, democrats are jumping on romney's "corporations are people's" line. they're calling it a shocking is admission and shameless. it's interesting the plans we've seen in this event, stirring it up, looking for a justice kind of a moment to capitalize on. >> the thing is mitt romney hasn't been campaigni ining in and all of a sudden he shows up at the fair and gibbs an impromp impromptu. >> shareholders are people, too, ali. wall street bouncing back, speaking is of shareholders and investors and the rest of us watching our 401(k)s moving around, snatching up stocks that have been beaten down. the dow jumped 423 points, nearly 4%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 were also up. what we've seen this week was unprecedented. never before in history has the dow bounce fourth degree 00 points up or down four days in a row. if you feel like yu ire reliving history, you are righting. >> japan's nikkei was down. in london, trading is under way right now. stocks are higher. all right. the super committee is set. six members of congress, six senators, they now have less than three months to agree on a $1.5 trillion in budget cuts. here are the final three democratic selections made by house minority leader pelosi. clyburn, van hole enand becerra. here's the game of 12. they call them 12 often gri men. there's one woman. i guess you can't do that. back before she joined the administration in 2007 she was a professor of economics at berkeley. she co-wrote a paper on the effect tax changes have on the economy. researcher has been quoted to make the case for raising taxes to lower the deficit and for making the case against raising taxes because of the harmful effect on economy and jobs. one study going both ways. i asked her to set the record straight. >> even though i very much support raising taxes to deal with the deficit gradually over time, now's not the time to do it. either raising taxes or cutting spending now would absolutely be very hard on the economy. that doesn't mean you can't legislate it to kick it when the economy is back to normal. that's when the economy would be much more able to deal with it. >> you can see the entire interview with christina romer here on the weekend. 38 people died in last weekend's attack. 22 were u.s. navy personnel including 17 s.e.a.l.s, five so-called conventional forces who worked regularly with the s.e.a.l.s, three were with the air force and five were with the u.s. army. eight were afghan personnel. they've been raiding homes trying to track down homes to track those responsible for days of violence and looting. more than 16 people have been arrested in connection with the rioting. they say prime minister cameron waited too lodge. casey anthony is responsible for the death of her daughter caylee anthony. that's according to a report released by the department of children & families. that's a month after a jury acquitted anthony of murdering caylee. they say their case is now closed. the financially strapped postal service is asking for the removal of bargaining commit minutes. mounting losses and declining mail volume require drastic measures to cut costs. >> are you ready for this? >> i'm ready for it. >> okay. now's your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question this morning, should there be gay characters on children's television shows? you know where i'm going becausety e-mail sure you called. there are calls for better and ernie to get married. it's the brainchild of chicago man who says we're not asking that sesame street do anything crude or disrespectful. only that they allow better and ernie to marry or even add a transgender character to the show. evangelist lar evangelist. spongebob squarepants also targeted because they hold hands a lot. they, too, accused of sending the wrong message but according to the creator of the better and ernie petition to get married a same-sex marriage or gay character on television will teach tolerance. he says they're best friends. they remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation. still, should there be gay characters on children's television. facebook.com/americanmorning. it's all on the front page of the "new york post." sesame wed furor. >> i always thought they were brothers. to find out they're friends, that's cleared up a little more for me. >> they can't possibly be brothers. they have different-shaped heads. >> i think what the chicago man is trying to point out. but can't, you know, children television be the last bastion of no sex, no gender? >> as abc put it, they have nothing below the waist anyway. the pentagon conducting a test flight. the first 30 minutes went smoothly and then something went terribly wrong. >> a bull running free through the streets of new york. it was an escape attempt. he didn't want to become dinner. running bull video. today is an episode of -- speaking of the running bull video, there he is. we'll tell you how he is. >> that's a hartford though. >> oh, sorry. tiger woods. i was so enamored of the bull. tiger woods showing absolute brilliance. absolutely imploding. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. 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[ female announcer ] nourish plus. only from aveeno. trouble at 13,000 miles an hour. the test flight and the fastest plane in the world, the htv 2 ended in 30 minutes when the officials lost contact two the aircraft and it crashed into the pacific. it was designed to reach any military target in the world in "60 minutes." put it in perspective how fast it could go? it could go from new york to l.a. in 12 minutes if it doesn't disappear. >> they have trouble keeping track of this thing. he's runnering if his life. look closely. that's a bull running rampant in queens, new york. he made his way onto your college campus, ended up smacking into a scaffolding. his freedom was short-lived. >> if he could escape, he should get a get out of jail free card. >> very permissible. first it's the cartoon characters, the bull. everyone should be free to go do whatever they want. the slaughterhouse workers wrestled him to the ground. i'm not judging. i'm telling you what happened. what do you mean by free? loose in queens? >> no, he shouldn't be loose in queens. >> i think if you were smart enough to run away you should get a get out of jail free card. >> for a few moments during the first round of the pga championship it sure looked like the old tiger woods. three birdies had him at the top of the leaderboard briefly. then it all unraveled. that was a nasty shot. woods followed that up with three double both guys finished with the worst score ever. stricker who tied the record for the lowest run ever recorded in a major tournament, 7 under par 63. >> yesterday we were talking with the guy from tnt. he said he thought tiger wouldn't win but he would do better, like he would come back. >> you cursed him. >> i said that i thought his mental issues were a bit more important than the need. >> it's not over yet. >> she's very sympathetic to the bull. >> animals and muppets get a pass. tiger woods, he is not. >> rob is live at the pga sight. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning. aren't you all sympathetic to the bulls? isn't that what you do? it seems obvious to me. >> when we see a bear, we think it should be trapped and thrown into a cage. >> reporter: good morning, guys. we're talking about another animal. tiger firing a 77. what he told the media after the round he decided to play by feel after he was playing so well. he's been playing so well and had so many mechanical swing thoughts. that's when things went awry. maybe he's not at that point yet where he can forget about mechanics and start playing by feel. that was the explanation he gave the media. we saw him on the range yesterday. he was lacing them and i caught up with some fans to ask them some hard-hitting questions. >> what do you thing of tiger's outfit today? >> it looks good. >> do you like the purple? >> it's a nice touch. >> are you looking to be on tiger's back? >> no. >> you don't want that kind of media attention? >> how about you? who have you got your eyes on? >> i'm looking at rory. >> rory. where is rory. >> he's not out here right now. >> so he's not out here but you're looking for him to play well. >> he did great at the u.s. open. he should come back. >> how old are you? >> i'm 18. >> so you're a young punk like rory, so that's why you want him to win. of course that young punk rory showed how tough he was. injured his wrist by swinging into a tree root. he managed to come in with an even round 7. he'll be on later today. we'll see if he decides to go off because of that wrist injury. weather should be okay. on the toasty side. high temperatures, of course, will be in the 90s. increased chances for showers and thunderstorms sunday. speaking of cooler, dallas -- they broke the streak. temperatures, yesterday, they hit 97 with a little bit of much needed rain getting into part of texas. you talk to folks in dallas and they say, you know, we want -- you know, you suffer for so long, you want to at least break the record and they would have to get to sunday. the bad news is it will probably be up to 101 for today. it will be toasty for round 2 of the pga and we'll be back to feel. >> did you say he was feeling by feel or playing the field? >> she's relentless. >> i work too many days in a roam. somebody's got to send me home. >> there were interesting remarks on the range. >> i bet there were. i'm saying what they're all saying in the gallery, and you know it. live coverage of the tournament can be seen all day on pga.com and beginning at 1:00 p.m. on tnt. we'll be right back after that. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. minding your business this morning, another big upswing. the dow gained back about 4%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 each gained a little more than 4%. but the stocks are still downgoing into the session. a lot of volatility and free market trading ahead of the opening bell. right now the u.s. stocks are trading higher gain. retail numbers are coming out. investors also watching european markets in an effort to calm down the markets there. italy, france, belgium and spain have announced a temporary ban on short selling. short selling, of course, betting the financial stocks will go down in value, which the government there hopes it will take some of the speculation out of the market. they did this in 2008. financial experts are mixed. and here statewide mortgage rates are still falling. the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 4.3% in the past week. that's getting close to record lows, according to a survey by freddie mac. have you checked to see if you can refinance? you can see higher food prices at the supermarket this fall. the usda say heat, drought, flooding have made a poor growing season. that's expected to push up the prices for food-related items. that includes everything from pasta to soda. 120,000 postal workers could lose jobs or face big cuts to their benefit packages, this if congress approves a cost-cutting proposal to the u.s. postal service. they need to eliminate 220,000 jobs by 2015. the mass layoffs require, of course, congressional approval. 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[ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. good morning to you and thank you for waking up with us. it's 32 minutes past the hour. time for this morning's top stories. overseas markets up after it shot up over 423 points yesterday. the nasdaq and s&p 500 up. if you look at the past week the dow is still down over 300 points. the debt super committee is all set. house minority leader nancy pelosi making final three selections adding democrats james clyburn, chris van hollen of maryland and. they have less than three months to agree on $1.5 trillion onin spending cut. rick perry is joining the party. he's scheduled to lapp. his bid at an event in south carolina tomorrow. from there he'll head to other voting states to new hampshire and iowa. philadelphia is fight back against flash mobs. kids have joined these groups. they're going around attacking random people. >> he's tightened team curfews on friday and saturday nights and he says he's ready to punish the par it is pants in these mobs and their parents. cnn susan canndiotti joins us. the mayor has made it clear. this is a family issue. he really gave it to people saying you've got to be in charge of your own kids. >> oh, yeah. he's had it up to here and he's making no bones about it and take nothing prisoners. you know, there's tough talk from mayor michael nutter. he's had enough of violence and shenanigans stirred up around his city, so tonight's the night. a curfew in philadelphia is being extended by an hour in a few areas starting at 9:00 instead of 10:00. anyone under 18 you'd better be off the streets or else. there have been about eight incidents in under two years and at the end of last month, two especially violent attacks involving teenagers and a youngster who's only 11 years old. the major says those involve ready predominantly black and he's had harsh words this week. in his words you damage yourself, you damage your own race. >> there is no excuse for young people being out so late at night by themselves and then making bad decisions and literally assaulting other citizens. i will not tolerate that. >> but the mayor is not laying this all at the doorstep of young people. he's calling out parents. he's going to start enforces laws that slap parents with fines. first they'll get a warning if their kids get in trouble. after that, the parents will have to pay up to $500 and they could be liable for injuries. one young woman, an editor for "onion" suffered a broken leg during an attack in june. >> i would imagine that these kids don't have great lives if this is what they're doing, and, again, i don't know if they really means that i feel bad for them. >> the mayor's calling on volunteers to beef up civilian patrols this weekend to send a message that enough's enough. and because of all the attention, the question is does this mean that other areas might be neglectedf. but, no, the mayor is saying we have enough police elsewhere. yes, if trouble crops up someplace else, we'll get calls and take care of it. >> what's it going to cost? >> they're not going to expend any more money. they're not hiring more people or bringing in people from other places but they're reassigning people in areas or keeping them on longer than expected. >> some of those pictures are interesting because it reminds me of some of the wide shots we've seen in london. people are asking could that happen here. apparently it's happening here. >> i mean, look, philly has struggled over the years. they've struggled as a place of crime. i think they're determined to not push people from coming to philly. >> and i think other police agencies are spending more time monitoring social meade ja to keep track of these things and asking for help from the public. >> let's hope it works. et it's a great city, philadelphia. more now on the gop candidates taking part in the debate in iowa ahead of tomorrow's straw vote. the campaign has been a rocky road so far for house speaker newt gingrich and he bristled at a question about the current state of team begin gingrich. >> one of the ways we judge a candidate is the way they run a campaign. in june almost all of your campaign staff resigned along with your staff here in iowa. they said that you were undisciplined in campaigning and fund raising and at last report you're a million dollars in debt. how do you respond to people who say your campaign has been a mess so far. >> let me say first of all, chris, i took seriously brett's injunction to put aside the talking points and i wish you would put aside the gotcha question. >> but the gotcha question came from the fox news. i don't know if that would have worked as well. >> he's a conservative sort of strategi strategist. he said the two biggest winners were barack obama and rick perry. >> because they weren't there. >> i think mitt romney came off quite well. >> do you? >> i do. he stayed above the fray, didn't get too involved. et didn't participate in the extra poll i heard it was boiled down to snippy minnesotaens. to you now, mr. cain. not only did you embrace the idea, you upped the antewith a 20-foot barbed wire electric fence. were you serious? >> america's got to learn how to take a jokeing. >> he is funny. in the meantime the fox news debate moderators learned something about one of the other candidates. no one puts rick santorum in a corner. >> we have other people here. >> i have to respond to that -- i need to respond to that. >> michelle -- michelle there are some -- >> i understand. you had a chance to -- >> you have the next question, senator, i promise. >> poor rick santorum, he couldn't get a word in edgewise because michele bachmann and tim pawlenty were arguing. >> it was feisty. a lot of people trying to make sense of what happened in the stock market. the dow's been up or down more than four points in the last four days. every single day it's been either up or down. what's crazy is that the first three days of the week were the biggest move of the year. so what can we expect next? we're going to get some insight. you cannot afford to miss it. >> i'm not watching. layoffs for a group of factory workers from ottawa. don't feel bad just yet. they're now $7 million richer, and you see why. we'll be right back. this...is t- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. your nutritional needs can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge! some optimism returning to wall street at least for a day. the dow bounced back. the s&p 500 which reflects possibly some of your investments almost up 5.75%. this week's dizzying swings has left many of you wondering about the value of your 401(k). joining me now, good to see you. >> hi, ali. >> people are confused what to do. one of the discussions for those prepared to kobts doing, is whetherer oer not stocks right now are undervalued. whether it's too much of a selloff and wherever they say it's a possibility to back up the truck. you're not of the view that its's unvalued right now. >> no. before the recent decline it's somewhat expensive. >> it's not expected necessarily but current earnings. they look cheap. the problem is wall street is always trying to sell stock and they're always taking what is peak earnings which is virtually in a bubble and they're saying from those peaks earnings are going to soar skyward. that's not going to happen. they're going to come down from here. companies haven't hired virtually at all since they laid off tons of people in 2008 and 2009 as if there were a depression coming. they have to hire again. margins are very high. that brings margins down. so profits will decline from here. we're already seeing problems with that. >> you think problems will decline. that's whether or not they're slowing. you think there are circumstances that will cause it. >> yes. we saw zero profits overall in 2009, for example. we have periods where profits go to zero literally because i did the fortune 500 list many times and they go in very, very wide swings. they do not go into bubble territory and rise for long. so stocks were relatively expensive. and then you had this sudden reappreciation of how risky the world is. >> right. >> people woke up a few mornings ago and decided that they wanted much higher returns on stocks and bonds than they had the week before. we've seen obviously dangerous signals from all over the world anded when people perceive that the world is risky they mark down the prices of things and that's what happens. you have a combination -- it's not a good combination when you have relatively expensive stocks and the world getting risky. >> so the question is whether or not you think it's risky as many investors have thought it has been in the last week or so. >> it appears the growth rates are coming down. >> sit's very difficult to predict where the economy is going to go. i remember being in a class with milton friedman years ago. he said something about future growth rates. he said why is this any more reliable than taking the last five years and dividing by five. it's really very difficult to predict these things. most forecasts are wrong. it's a probability thing. the probability of a recession is less than 50%. but who really knows. >> i guess the point is what do you do then? do you think the stock market needs to come down further and if it does do you thing our viewers should get in and buy? >> again, stocks are not a huge bargain if you buy the whole s&p. however, there are high dividend stocks that are looking pretty good. with dividends yields are very low in general. usually you have a correction. it ooh tess same argument i used before, but there are a lot of consumer stocks like a heinz, for instance, with a 4% dividend yield, con edison. when you have very reliable earnings that's the place you want to be. you do not want to be in apple. not that it's not a great company but it's a very high percentage of the market cap of the s&p and a very relatively low percentage of all the assets and earnings, et cetera. so it just can't grow fast enough to give you a return on top of a very high price. so the danger is really in a lot of very, very expensive tech stocks. >> your view is be caution. if you talk about the whole market, you think it's overpriced but there are companies with stable earnings and high dividends that are priced comparatively lower. >> correct, yes. there are opportunities there. you want to stay out of these very, very high-priced growth, especially the technology stocks. >> shawn, good to see you. check out his online version on money.com. take a look there. am i going to break now? christine, go ahead. >> you're going to me. yay. nice to see you, shawn. you can't get any luckier than this. imagine getting laid off -- this is the lucky part -- and then winning a lottery. that's what happened to a group of employees at an ottawa manufacturing plant. they won the lottery the same day their company announced sweeping layoffs. ten of them received their notices. >> i looked at the numbers and i had to ask somebody to come take a look at them because i wasn't sure i was reading them right. she said, oh, you've about got them ought. i started vibrating, shaking in my seat. i had to go out and tell others who were in it and nobody believed me. >> each worker will take home about $400,000 and apparently a nice bottle of scotch. >> i love their accent. can you do it? >> of course, i can do it. >> give me two days in toronto. >> two days and you'll be out and about in central park. the most googled presidential candidate in iowa a right now. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor. so, you've been double crossed by other travel sites and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? 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[ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from the new line of neutrogena naturals. ten minutes to the top of the hour. here's what you need to know. so much for minnesota. nice. misch shall back man and tim pawlenty in a verbal stage fright. they're trying to impress voters. the man who wasn't part of the debate may have made the biggest splash. texas governor rick perry says he's entering the gop race. he's going to make it official at an event tomorrow. tea partier misch shall back man is the most googled. searches have surged in the last week. she's generated far more interest than any other candidate. more american lives lost in afghanistan. officials say five u.s. service members were killed yesterday by an improvised explosive device. their deaths coming just a few days after americans died in a helicopter crash. markets overseas are up this morning after the dow soared more than 400 points. it's the first time the dow has had four consecutive days of four consecutive wins. singers will be performing at a michael jackson tribute concert. it will be held october 8. a portion of the proceeds will go to charity. that's the news you need to start your morning. yrty. all righty. for years a pair of friends shared a home and a bedroom though they had separate beds. there's a petition online to have the two get married. they say it would be a way to teach tolerance. sesame street says the two do not have a sexual orientation so they will not be getting married on the show, but, still, it begged the question. should there be gay characters? >> can we just say christine thought they were siblings? >> i thought they were siblings like felix -- >> that's exactly what they are like, felix and oscar. anyway we asked the question should there be gay characters. >> this is from emily. hould wow they introduce that they were gay. better and ernie in a civil union ceremony, both wearing a gay pride t-shirt. >> why do they'd have to be gay, straight or anything else. people need to get a life. our children are losing their innocence earlier and earlier. et it's sad really. this -- people don't act gay, they are gay. why should we develop a gay character and then label them. just develop a character with particular characteristics and allow people to embrace what they like. >> bernie and ert would be your alternatives on sesame street. >> keep your comments coming. keep your comments coming on facebook.com/americanmorning. more funnies from the boys of late night. we love these. take a look. president obama took a campaign volunteers out for burgers yesterday and apparently he left a 35% tip. man, that guy is so generous with china's money. according to the so-called super committee to deal with this debt problem. you know, look, i'm no expert on the topic but, really, these are the best financial minds you can come up with? take a look. >> he gets to pick three, he's done it and here they are. all three are experts in taxes and finance. wesley snipes of new york, nicolas cage of california and willie nelson of texas. coming up next, whiplashed on wall street. they staged a rally. we'll check the numbers heading into today's session to see how your day is holding up on this "american morning." wherever, whenever you want.rs one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. they're itchy, dry and uncomfortable. i can't wait to take 'em out, throw 'em away and never see them again. 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[ male announcer ] discover why it's the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. if you have astigmatism, there's an acuvue® oasys lens for that too, realigning naturally with every blink. ask your doctor for acuvue® oasys brand. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. he's getting in. a potential game-changer. texas governor rick perry is joining the 2012 presidential race. many conservatives saying he is the right man for the job. >> i don't mean to bring you down with this question. are you better off than you were yesterday? the markets take another wild swing, but what goes up has gone down this week. what can we expect today? when will china become a world super power? did we just miss it? why the u.s. downgrade may have been the moment. on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it is friday, august 12th. welcome to "american morning." all we know is on friday we don't trade stocks on saturday and sunday snoom yeah. that's the one sure thing we can say. there will be no trades coming up in the affect two days. up first, let's talk politics. texas governor rick perry says he is running. he plans to make an official announcement tomorrow at an event in south carolina. what could it mean for the gop field? jim acosta live in washington to tell us. who loses most by perry's entrance into the race? >> well, you know, a lot of them do lose, carol. he's not quite the lone star in this gop field but he is making it interesting. he's throwing his hat into the ring or cowboy hat, if you'll excuse me. he's really making all of the moves of a presidential candidate at this point. he is going to south carolina to make the speech at the redstate.com conference. he's not going to the straw poll in iowa which is where all the candidates are right now. he's really trying to steal the spotlight. and after this speech he's going up to new hampshire, which is, of course, another crucial early voting state. then on to iowa. and he is already starting to do the things that a presidential candidate does. last night he taped an interview with one of our affiliates up in new hampshire wmur where he previewed his speech. he's going to focus heavily on the economy. >> i think when you look at the record, the last ten years of my leadership in texas, you see what's occurred in the state, and, again, i'm going to go back to this time after time. the issue that americans really care about right now is jobs. it's about how do we get america working again? and i'm going to lay out a positive -- a bright future tied to the vision that i have for going to washington, d.c., making a difference. >> and the main argument that the republicans for perry will make is that if you look at texas in the last two years, half of the jobs created in the united states over the last two years were in texas. so that's going to be a big part of rick perry's pitch to the american people. in the meantime you can see that he's already gotten the attention of his gop rivals in that debate last night and there were failed parting shots is of the texas governor. >> i'm very pleased that he's coming in because he represents the status quo and i feel like i'm sort of separated from the other candidates with my strong belief in liberty and limited government and different foreign policy and the way to deal with the fed. >> welcome to the contest. from my perspective, it doesn't bother us or my campaign. that's just one more politician, and that makes this business problem solver stand out that much more. prayers and i hope he offers a lot more on this stage. >> that was a reference to rick perry's prayer event in houston last week. they were asking which candidate does this hurt the most? it could be michele bachmann. he's right behind the gop front-runner. michele bachmann has fallen back into the pack. that might explain why last night back man's staff was saying where's rick perry, why wasn't he here tonight? >> carol. because he hasn't declared yet. that's easy to answer that question. >> that's right. but they're champing at the bit. they want this fight. >> they sure are. jim acosta, thanks so much. >> you bet. they took the stage last night. two of them stole the show. michele bachmann and tim pawlenty. setting aside minnesota nice but verbally attacking each other, paul steinhauser live in des moines this morning. we learned why it's called the straw poll. you put the extra in and see which way the wind is blowing. did it give any more indication of the straw and its leaning in whose direction? >> reporter: they have a lot on the line at the straw poll tomorrow which is a big test. listen. since our debate, christine, two months ago, in new hampshire, which was the last presidential debate, michele bachmann has been on the polls, tim pawlenty, not so much. they've been sniping on the campaign trail. since then it blew up on the presidential stage. she may be in a way almost comparing him to barack obama. take a listen. >> she's done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it's an undisputable fact that in congress her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. >> when you were governor in minnesota you implemented cap and trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional mandate and you called for achoiring all people in our state to purchase health insurance that the government would man dade. third you said the era of small government was over. that sounds a lot more like barack obama if you ask me. >> there wasn't a lot of love last night. there were also fights between rick santorum and congressman ron paul. mitt romney, the front-runner right now in the polls got left off unscathed. it really wasn't that much of a debate. didn't come under that many attacks. the straw poll tomorrow. a test. guess who may show up? sarah palin, the former alaskan governor snoop paul, you're a skinny guy. do you eat a lot of the deep fried stuff at the state fair? >> reporter: you've about got the twinkie logs and fried twinkie logs. >> paul's got a jaime tab lichl. >> carol doesn't approve of my dieting habits. >> no, i don'ting. >> the front-runner for the republican press den chal nomination was at the iowa state fair yesterday. fielded questions from voters and was asking about the questions of raising taxes. listen to their interaction. >> not just this year but over the coming decades going to be able to balance our budget and not spend more than we take in, we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are promises we can keep. and there are various ways of doing that. one is we can raise taxes on people. >> corporation. corporation. >> we can raise taxes -- of course, they are. every corporation ultimately goes to people. [ laughter ] >> where do you think it goes? snoorp so democrats are jumping on romney's "corporations are people" line. we should say there's some grounding in fact to what he says. the way u.s. law looks at corporations, they've been deemed to have the -- >> that's what the u.s. supreme court ruled, right? >> that's right. >> by corporations -- he says what's good for corporations are good for people, but are corporations hiring people with their problfits and money? no. >> it probably wasn't the best idea to say it the way he did. >> it's three little words that will -- >> look at the people he's appealing to. certainly democrats don't like what he said. we'll have to see. wall street bouncing back beat time, snatching up stocks that have been beaten down in the past week. the dow jumped 420 points. the nasdaq and s&p 500 were up. what we've seen this week was unpress denltsed. never before have they bounced 400 points up or down four days in a row. overseas hong kong's hang seng was up, nikkei was down. stocks are in positive territory. 12 lucky lawmakers, six democratses, six republicans that now have less than three months to agree on $1.5 trillion in cuts or new revenue. here are the final three democratic selections made by house minority leader nancy pelosi. representative james clyburn of south carolina, chris van hollins of maryland and xavier becerra. this is basically judge and jury for how we're going to get this debt situation going. all right. still to come this morning. next we'll talk to one democratic congressman who disagrees. find out why he's urging lawmakers to get back to work. >> and tiger woods showing clashes at the pga before he absolutely tanked. you're watching "american morning." it's nine minutes past the hour. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first pitch and fouls it deep back into the stands. [ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. hensarling, hensarling, hensarling, dave camp, upto jooirksz 6 ask not going to call congress back to session despite the ailing economy. he says lawmakers should be at home listening to their con state yechblts. >> there's been a lot of talk in washington right now that i should call congress back early. the last thing we need is congress spending more time arguing in d.c. what i figure is they need to spend more time out here listening to you. >> all right. but my next guest is one of four democratic lawmakers urging lawmakers to end their recess and call congress back to work. congressman jim cooper joining us live from tennessee. nice to see you again, congressman. >> nice to see you again, christine. >> you want them to come home. tell me why you think that this is something is an urgent moment for america. >> well, i like vacation and time off as much as anybody else but we need to get back to work. our nation has serious problems. we've already had a couple of weeks off. why don't we get back to the john. every day that we wait to solve our deficit problems is probably costing us another 14 or so billion dollars a day so i think it's time to get back to work. >> you sent a letter to the leadership saying our fiscal and job situation is dire, both deserve the full and immediate attention of congress. we ask that you resume the house immediately, that congress can solve these big problems in a bipartisan fashion. have you heard anything back? >> i haven't heard anything back and predictably it's not going to be popular to call people back in with the congressman but i think it would be popular withing the american people. the president is right. we shouldn't come back to town to argue and bicker. we should come back to do real work. it's the job of the speaker to call people back. it's not the job of the president. we're a co-equal government. >> you mentioned the financial government. it's putting pressure on washington, on congress, putting them on notice that whether or not you want to agree with the downgrade of s&p, the market is telling us that the u.s. has to get the house in order. how much pressure are they p putting on the 12? >> you've already pointed out. we need to do our job in washington to give security to the markets. it's not just the committee of 12 that's going to have to decide on this. all of congress is going to have to vote by christmastime on this package. many haven't done their homework yet to decide exactly what cuts should be made. i'm thinking it's time to get back to work and put our nose to the grindstone. >> who's most likely? you need one from each side to cross over so there can be a package to move forward. when you look at these 12, who do you think is the most likely to be the compromiser or the person who can leave re-election hopes, fund-raising and ideology behind to get something done? >> i'll have to tell you, christine, i don't see a single one. they're all selected to be hard core, democrats or republicans. they're unlikely to be able to compromi compromise. that means a 6-6 deadlock. it could be devastating, for example, to areas of defense where most people think they shouldn't be treated like every other area of government. >> what you're telling me is really troubling. we're p really hoping this is not going to be a shrunken down version of congress. you see the same ideologies playing in this group of 12 that caused the u.s. to be downgraded and all the problems we have in the markets. >> you're right. it's like a mini me, a tiny version of the dysfunctional congress unless there's a miracle and each one has a change of heart. remember how they're selected. they're preselected by their party leaders to be absolute true republicans or democrats. >> you have been a blue jog. you've been fiscally conservative. you've been talking debt and deficits to deaf ears, i will say, in washington for a very, very long time. could you tell me from your perspective why is it that this was ig interiored, the problem was ignored forever and then now all of a sudden it has insighted all of this ultimatums and grandstanding in washington when no one ever paid attention to it before? >> well, nobody likes to listen to bad news. standard & poor's starting warning us about it six years ago. i got a book on it six years ago, but nobody paid attention. it's been since ross per roy ran in the 1990s. then we fell into the ditch again. so this is not easy for americans to handle. there's a lot of denial here, a lot of programs that folks don't even think are part of the government like medicare like government. we need to inform them. >> you have tax entitlements, tax increases for people, for companies, for people who are people if you're mitt romney. i mean do you have everything on the table. do you have tax refortunately? i mean quickly in the perfect world what should people do? >> not only should everything be on the table. i think the bow simpson people put it on the table. >> i'll tell you. he's been talking about this for so long. he did put out a book many years ago called "the financial statement of the united states government." it was basically the united states financials. he said, this is what it looks like. >> it ain't good. et it can't go on like this. >> instead of writing the book he should have gone to the meetings and got in some congressman's face. >> some of his critics said he's a one-note johnny. all he talks about is debt and deficits but it works in his district because people in tennessee are like, you're right. you can't spend beyond your means forever. now the same tone has taken hold in washington and people like jim cooper are saying compromise, people say no compromise. >> let's hope he's super on the super committee. rob marciano is joining us again. tiger woods tanked, baby. >> reporter: they started off strong, guys. he was looking sharp. he got out on the course and got it to 2 or 3 under quickly. then he said he started relying on his feeler, going out and forget about mechanics. he said maybe he's not at that point yet. we'll see what he does today. the other news is rory mcilroy injured his wrist earlier and managed to tough it out. he plans to be on the range in a few minutes. tee-off time is at 8:30. we'll see if that wrist is aaffected and if he'll even go out and play. we talked about the greens. there was slight damage to 14 and 17. ken magnum spoke with the media yesterday and addressed that issue. >> everything's fixed, everything is fine. it will not bother the tournament this week. it's like cutting yourself with a razor on your wedding day. >> reporter: their hearts were in it as well. it's going to be ground repair which does affect play. if your ball is near or in in that area you can move it somewhere else on the green so that may affect the play. as far as yesterday, it was warm. today will be toasty as well. temperatures will get into the 90s and there's a slight chance of seeing showers on saturday and sunday with cooler weather expected on sunday. speaking of cooler weather, the record across the country is beginning to shrink, and dallas for one did not hit 100 yesterday. and i tell you what. folks were disappoint ed. they wanted to break the record. that would have been on saturday or sunday. that did not happen. the good news is slightly cooler and wetter weather has moved into the texas area. round two of the pga championship about to get under way and it promises to be a dramatic show. tnt, by the way, if you're not going to mention this, 1:00 p.m., eight hours. and pga.com is where you can go forrer the latest live coverage of the marquis groups this morning. guys, back to you. >> i was going to mention it but, you know, you did it better than i have. good to see you. we'll check in with you later. >> okay. you've all been looking forward to this question. now's your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question this morning. should there be be gay characters on children's television? there have been called for sesame street's better and ernie to get married. 6,000-plus signatures so far. it's the brainchild of a chicago machblt he says we're not asking that sesame street do anything crude or disrespectful. only that we allow them to be married or add a transgendered character to the show. even though it's allowed in six states, that's controversial. who can forget tinky winky. evangelist jerry fall low accused him because he carried a purse. also spongebob square pants. it will teach tolerance to those who are different. as for what sesame street says, it says bertd and ernie are best friends and they remain publics and do not have a sexual orientation. they have no lower bodies, guys. so the talkback question this morning is should there be gay characters on children's television? facebook.com american request morning. facebook.com/americanmorning. we'll be right back. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. and clean for ♪ communities and the environment ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. excuse me? 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[ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. minding your business this morning. another big jump in u.s. markets. yesterday the dow gained back about 4%. nasdaq and s&p 500 gained more than 4.5%. the stocks were still down overall for your the week going into today's session. as we've seen all week, a lot of volatility in premarket trading ahead of the opening bell. right now all three trading potentially higher. retail numbers for july, that report comes out in an hour. investors are also watching the european markets in an effort to calm down the markets there. they announced a temporary ban on short-selling or making bets that investments will go down in value which the government hopes takes a lot of speculation out of the markets. the u.s. did this back in 2008 during the financial crisis. here stateside mortgage rates are still falling. the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 4.5%. that's getting close to record lows. 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[ male announcer ] learn more at acuvue.com. acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. slugfest in iowa as candidates pick apart each other. we'll pick the winner three u the power of social media on this "american morning." oh, happy friday to you. good morning. it is august 12th. welcome back to "american morning.." >> wow. it's been like two weeks. >> he heard friday. >> yeah, i needed to be convinced it was friday. i thought it was friday on wednesday. >> you've about got a long time to the closing bell, opening bell and closing bell. this morning, stock futures are up after a nice rebound yesterday. the dow shot up 423 points. the nasdaq, s&p 500 were up more than 4%. but if you look at the past week, the dow is still down by more than 400 points and down by more than a thousand or 1,500 points in july. overseas japan's hang seng closed up and in london where trading is now happening stocks are higher. rick perry is getting in it to win it. the texas governor announcing his plans to run for the republican presidential nomination. perry will make it official at an event tomorrow in south carolina. he'll be in iowa on sunday. meantime the gang of eight gop candidates who already declared shared the stage last night in iowa. the stage was dominated by two minnasotans, michelle back man and tim pawlenty who didn't play nice. >> her record of accomplishments and results is nonexistent. >> you said the era of small government was over. that sounds more a lot like barack obama if you ask me. >> it's not the spine. sit's the record result. please stop because you're killing us. >> of course that would be the key test vote. the ames straw poll which is arguably the first major vote of the 2012 presidential campaign. it's often described as a county fair and a political convention with candidates making their case directly to the voters. it's been around since 1979. the poll is not binding but three out of five times the winner has gone on to win the iowa caucus and the nomination. it's just as likely to break the campaign as it is to break one. joining us now is al. he's been monitoring all of this online, all of this buzz online and i can't wait to talk to you. also in des moines i want, ann setzer. great for you to gin us. >> great to be here. >> they really tore into each other. they were almost obsessed with each other. let's hear a little more about what pawlenty said about back man. >> she's fighting for these things. she fought for less government spending. we got a lot more. she led the effort against obama care. she led the effort against t.a.r.p., we got t.a.r.p. she said she's got a titanium spine. itz ooh is not her spine is resulted. please stop because you're killing us. >> so, ann, a lot of political observers out there say no one came out the winner of this because they were fighting over, you know, what many consider were local issues and why weren't they fighting against mitt romney who leads the pack right now? >> well, they were all fighting against barack obama and then you saw them try iing and they separated from the pack. michele bachmann came out of the previous debate with a big target on her back. it was not surprising for tim pawlenty who had the most to gain was the most aggressive in going after her. >> al, people online love this stuff. so what's the buzz online? >> you know, this story, the iowa straw poll, is actually the third most buzz story in news in the last three days behind only the debt ceiling and the dow jones dropping 600 points. so people are really, really liking this. the positive rankings on both candidates are very, very strong. so it's really, i think, going to be a two f h horse race between michelle back man and mitt romney. tim pawlenty was swinging for a major home run, a grand slam. we'll see what happens in the next day or so whether he actually connected or it did him more harm. >> it will be interesting. let's talk about newt gingrich. he punched back at the lame stream media last night when he asked about this mass exodus of his staff and campaign spending. listen to what he said. >> i took seriously brett's injunction to put aside the talking points and i wish you would put aside the gotcha questions. i would love the to see the rest of tonight ee's debate asking us what we would do to lead america whose president has failed to lead instead of playing mickey mouse games. >> ann, the first question that comes to mind can a fox news person ask a gotcha question to a republican candidate? >> i think newt gingrich is doing his best to take a shot at separating himself from the pack and he's taking on anybody who wants this to be about the small things, the campaign tactics. he wants this to be about the big things, big ideas, how go fix government, how to get legislation through government. that's where he shines. >> let's face it. the man has had experience. but he's absolutely nowhere in polling. what about online? >> online he's a very, very strong base. he has a tremendous number of twitter followers and his facebook likes are very high. this is a must-win for newt gingrich. as a matter of fact, the cluster words they're mentioning in their blogs are crucial, critical, must win. he came out swinging because he knows maybe this is his best shot. >> and i want to ask you about mitt romney because he's not campaigned in iowa and he's not taking part in the straw poll. yet there he was at the iowa state fair talking to people out there and some might say it dblts go well for him. let's listen. >> we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are promises we can keep. and there are various ways of doing that. one is we can raise taxes on people. >> corporations. >> corporations. >> corporations are people. >> no, they're not. >> of course, they are. everything earned in a corporation ultimately goes to people. [ laughter ] >> where do you think it goes? >> maybe there were a few democratic plants there, i don't know. it was an uncomfortable moment. what i want to ask you, ann, is will this really hurt him with the republican base? >> what mitt romney's advantage is -- he actually has two. he's been in iowa before. he won the straw poll. he invested a lochlt didn't feel like he got enough of a bounce, decidet not to play this time around. but he's got a base here. i thinking he's decided to let the candidates slug against each other and he stands above, that looking for the more presidential. that can help him because there are plenty of iowaen republicans who are disenchanted with them. >> how many hits do you think that video clip will get online? >> i think there will be the late. mitt romney was the clear leader going into iowa. the words that we're hearing in the last couple of days are mistake, no-show. his base has dropped four points in terms of positive ranking. though he will not be in iowa, the impact of him not being there will have an impact on his overall ranking. >> thank you for the conversation. thank you, both, ail diguido and ann selzer. >> they are sure to inherit a staggering debt and stumbling economy and raising taxings will be a likely issue. i had a chance to interview christine roamer yesterday. back in 2007 she co-wrote a paper on the effects that tax changes have on economic growth. that paper has been used to make a case. so i asked her to set the record straight. >> even though i very much support racing taxes for dealing with the deficit gradually over time, now is not the time to do it. either raising taxes or cutting spending now would absolutely with very hard on the economy. that doesn't mean you can't legislate it to kick in when the economy is closer back to normal. then that's when an economy would be much more able to deal with it. >> you can see my entire interview with christina romer on saturday and sunday at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. christine? how the government is man e managing its books has to do with how you're saving. every little news headline about weak growth, europe's deadline, everything, ink yaing stocks around. we wanted to give you some perspective this morning. we wanted to show you the treasury department's official college register for the month, what comes in, what goes out. in case you're wondering, 9 cents of every dollar they spent last month went to pay interest on the money we borrowed. last month the government took in about $159 billion. it spent $288 billion. that means we had a deficit of $129 billion. this is the difference of the money coming in to the government and the money going out to pay the bills. here's one way to think of it. it's like a family earning, say, $4,200 a month but spending $7,500 a month. that means the rhett of this is put on a credit card to cover the difference. the difference, i think of a family spending. that's what the american government is doing but it's a good thing that america's credit card, by the way, has super low interest rates, much lower, i'm sure, than yours. that's one month. here it breaks down how much we're spending as a nation and how much we're bringing in. this is how much we're spending as a nation. this is how much we're paying. the treasury department every month bring this out. look, you're paying interest on your debt, paying national defense, paying other nondefense, social security and medicare, that is the biggest chunk of all of the total outgoing money. so there you go. that's the treasury department's checkbook for the month and where it stands. and that credit card that we have, it's right up against the limit. as you know. they raised the debt limit. all of that borrowing raises the amount america borrows. who's america's biggest foreign banker? china? so is that country on the verge of becoming the country's next biggest super power or did it already happen? it's true. you never forget your first subaru. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. china's second largest train maker is recalling 54 bullet trains. the decision comes three weeks after a stalled bullet train was hit by another train, killing at least 40 people. the chinese government is also ordering these trains to slow down by about 30 miles per hour. currently their top speed is 217 miles per hour. and, quite frankly, many people in social media and china were outraged by the government's response to that disaster, much like many responses to natural disasters in china when the news is clamped down. china's bullet train an example of its rise and might. but after the downgrade of america, is it time to stop calling china as an emerging super power and simply refer to it what it is, a super rival power. joining me now is gordon chang. gordon, after the downgrade of the united states credit rating and many folks watching china's 8% to 10% economic growth as the u.s. lumbers along with maybe 1%, there's this nagging feeling in this country that ascended. is that too pessimistic? >> i believe that we're going to go into the second part of a double-dip downturn. and in this, america with the world's largest internal market will do just well. china, which is especially dependent on international commerce, will be the biggest loser. we've got to remember that it was the current account surprise countries, the exporters that suffered the most in the great depression. so, you know, america, which is a deficit country, an importer, will be just fine. >> we know this week we saw numbers from china that shows china is pushing record surpl surpluses. china is exporting more than ever before and the united states is importing those goods. the united states borrows the money from china to buy chinese goods. then china takes the money and invests it in its military and bullet trains and power. when you look at that relationship, it's incredibly tilted in china's favor, isn't it? >> well, i think that it is. you know, you have to remember that last year 149.2% of china's overall trade surplus related to sales to the united states. american consumers are just about tapped out. and although china had really good july export and import numbers, the problem for china is that orders, manufacturing orders, have been tailing off precipitously since june, and that really means that china's export boom is just about over. that's why the factories in the guangdong province are starting to grow and they're freaking out about this. >> let me talk to you about this aircraft carrier, for example, this week that they're doing the test on. the pentagon, as our barbara starr has reported, is concerned about the modernization and buildup and modernization of the military china, by the way, which comes with the u.s. dollars. it comes from the profits of the u.s. trading dollars. even if the inflation bubble pops or china slows down, hasn't it already been 20 years in the making. don't they have the money to move forward while the u.s. languishes? >> i actually don't think so. you look at china's economic boom. it was powered by reform, a very good external environmental and growing work force, but none of those conditions no longer exist now or are disappearing fafrt. we're going to see a super cycle in china but this time the super cycle will be down. if this coming downtourn is around the world, then china is going to have real problems trying to weather this. you see growth slowing, inflation accelerating. not a good combination. >> when the s&p downgraded the u.s., china had harsh words condemning the u.s. for your our debt addiction saying the good old days of borrowing are over, using it as a way to sort of embarrass america, an embarrassing moment. but some people have said that's h hip pock rahcy. it's built on the very things it's telling us we shouldn't be doing. >> china said at the end of last year it's debt to gdp was 17% but almost every analyst said it was close to 19%. many people now are starting to say that china's ratio is really 150% to 160%. that makes it worse than greece. >> all right. thanks so much. he gordon chang, columnist of forbes.com. what does this mean for factory workers, companies who might want to move their factories back on shore here. quite frankly, so much investment has happened in china. they all talk about what the next move is in china. they don't say what the next move is in canton, ohio, and that's the honest-to-god truth. >> i know. and i'm sad about that. >> we're speaking to a ceo this weekend who took the entire leadership staff of the company over to shanghai for six weeks to run the company out of there to get familiar with their biggest client. >> interesting to us, cities like toledo, ohio, offset the loss of whole manufacturing towns -- >> we've argued about this. i know you don't believe this. >> we argue a lot. i'm worried that the relationship with china means that american families can't keep up with the pace of economic change that this relationship has brought. that's a problem for cities and towns. good americans. >> still ahead, computers are getting under your skin. take a look at this. futuristic electronic skin tattoo that can monitor your health and link you to the web. 51 minutes after the hour. neigh. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. i miss atlanta. sunny and 74 later and then it's august, mostly sunny and 92. electronic tattoo in the a.m. house call. a new device may replace the bulky monitoring machines. this acts as a second skin and applied to your own skin like a temporary tattoo and filled with tiny sensors that can sense and monitor medical conditions. check your heart rate and other vitals. the scientists hope to release the device early next year. >> that would make me paranoid. constantly monitoring your vital signs? as opposed to plugged into a machine. >> you can't do it at home and get the results, right? >> this is much more detail. this is like big machinery. it's not one of those little things you plug into. call it designer dna. researchers say they have created the first animal with artificial information built into its genetic code. cambridge scientists used a worm for this study. never before seen in nature produced. this could be a huge leap in science because researchers say it could debit them atom-by-atom control over human beings. >> too early in the morning for this. >> i think we tried but that is definitely -- >> what kind of worm? >> hematoad. >> you lost me with worm! >> now is your chance to talk back. a pair of famous friends have shared a home and a bedroom, although they do sleep in separate beds and talking about bert and ernie. a petition out there asking the show to allow the two to get married. we asked the question this morning should there be gay characters on children's television shows? this from katie. from the looks of this thread is something that is sorely lacking among grown adults in this cup. prosecute the start one of the fundamental goals of sesame street has been to celebrate diversity, not quash it. open your eyes and realize no everyone in the world has to be like you for them to be a good person and start teaching your children the same thing. this from thomas. i don't believe that children's television shows should be implicating any type of sexual behavior. the fact is that shows these days are heading in a risky direction. whatever happened to the abc's and 1, 2, 3's? the content has changed into marriage and fashion and being famous and throwing sexuality into our children's minds at such a young age is uncalled for whether it's straight or gay. this one oisin. in the eyes of young children there is no gay or straight. you don't see programs teaching kids about being straight, do you? >> some people thought teletubbies was teaching kids about being day. >> that is jerry falwell back in the day. keep the comments coming. thanks for writing in. >> i just don't want any controversy with my fuzzy animals. >> chris steen still things ernie and bert were siblings. >> aren't they? >> toad, worm, ernie and bert. >> sesame street says they are friends ian. >> and they have no lower bodies. >> correct. they are pup it's. >> top stories after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. i don't need to tell you. wild swings on wall street. i'm christine romans. stocks in the united states come roaring back. overseas markets are also up this morning. what can we pecket when the opening bell rings in 90 minutes, though? >> i'm carol costello. after weeks of holding his cards, texas governor rick perry is going all in for 2012. perry set to announce he is joining the republican race for president. >> i'm ali velshi. a gop face-off in iowa. the debate featuring the usual attacks on president obama and a bitter war of words between two candidates from minnesota on this "american morning." ♪ good morning, everybody. it's friday. let me say it again. it's friday! august 12th. >> that means no more trading days after today this week. >> i know but you can still have politicians raising money. >> that's true. there is politics. >> still money made and lost. >> yeah. >> spending money in iowa, however. we don't blame you if you feel dizzy after watching the markets bounce up and down all week so we have to think about the financial things first before politics. right now, futured are up after the dow fell nearly 4% yesterday to close above 11,000. a lot of people are getting back into the stock market because the prices are so darn low. overseas japan's nikkei was down slightly and hong kong's hang seng was up. ftse like most of the european markets are up. president obama ripping into lawmakers accusing them politics before patriotism. he defended the american worker and urged congress to pass bills that will create jobs. >> start making things here in america that are sold all around the world and that is why i'm here today. i've said it before, i will say it again -- you cannot bet against the american worker. >> i hope he's right. the president also saying he is reluctant to call congress back to work on the deficit. >> corporations are people. remember that line because it may come back to bite mitt romney. he was at the iowa state fair yesterday and fielding questions from voters when he was asked about the issue of raising taxes and that is where things got a little awkward. >> if we are ultimately, not just this year, but over the coming decades, going to be able to balance our budget' not spend more than we take in, we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicare and medicare we can keep. one is we can raise taxes on people. >> corporation! big-time corporation! >> everything corporations earn ultimately go to people. where do you think it goes? >> in their pocket! >> it doesn't sound like republicans coming out to hear the thoughts of one of the potential candidates, does it? >> the fellow who was heckling him has done that before. he makes a habit of it. democrats are jumping on romney's corporations are people line. dnc chair debbie wassermann schultz called it a shocking admission and called it shameless. >> it could take a hit now that texas governor rick perry has decided to get in. gop voters generally dissatisfied with the current field of candidates. perry is expected to launch his campaign tomorrow in south carolina and, from there, he'll head to iowa. >> some people are talking about perry/palin ticket. >> perry/palin? >> think about it. >> it is just overwhelming! >> it is. a very attractive team they would be. i don't know. talk about that in a little bit. the gang of eight republican presidential hopefuls shared the stage in iowa last night. the two candidates from minnesota stole the show engaging in political hand-to-hand combat. >> i didn't cut deals with special interests where you put the peril life issue together with tax increase issues. that's a fundamental. it's a nonnegotiable and when we come to a nonnegotiable, we must stand and i stand. >> her answer is illogical. if there were two bad things in a bill, a tax increase and stripping away pro life production which we weren't a double reason to vote against it. she voted for it. >> i need to respond to that. >> in the meantime, fox news debate moderators learned something about one of the other candidates. no one puts rick santorum in a corner. >> okay. we have other people here. >> i need to respond to that because -- i need to respond to that. >> michele, michele, michele. >> i understand. >> some other people are here. >> you have the next question. i understand. you have the next question, senator. i promise. >> so rick perry getting into the race and the bachmann/pawlenty grudge match, signs the gop presidential life may be coming to life. >> it was feisty last night. joining us now from des moines, iowa, candy crowley, our chief political correspondent and host of "state of the union." in your mind, candy, was there a winner last night? >> listen. >> reporter: in the end, i don't think there were -- anybody's position in this race changed mightily. i think, first of all, we have like the next shoe to drop and that will be the iowa straw poll on saturday. there is sort a lot of commentary that pawlenty didn't look that good. i can tell you when two people who are standing on faith fighting, the two people who win are the other ones? when much of the audience can't follow what the argument is b you'd have to look and say, listen, mitt romney managed to stay above the fray. he went in this as the presumed front-runner and i think how he comes out and i think the rest of that ticket of slate of candidates kind of stays the same. >> i heard a republican strategist say the winners were barack obama and rick perry because they ernt on that stage and looking presidential off camera. >> reporter: well, listen. the president, who we did not expect to show up at the republican debate, certainly took a lot of hits last night and rick perry took some hits afterwards before the bachmann people saying why didn't he show up? if he is going to be a candidate, after all michele bachman she showed up before where was he. that fight is already joined. in the end when you look at the mix of this race everybody thought it's mitt romney versus mitt romney. the slot of mitt romney is not open. that is where rick perry comes into play. can he take over bachmann's position and that kind of thing. it's not essentially that mitt romney won anything last night, but he didn't lose anything last night, so it seems to me the race is stable until saturday night and then ask me again sunday. >> let's talk about saturday night. i'm curious. ron paul spent an awful lot of money, like $31,000 for a special position so he could attract the right audience and keep it and give his little pitch. is he still strong in iowa? who is expected to win the straw poll? >> reporter: well, bachmann, paul. you know, the first three, maybe four lots, will matter in this straw poll. in the end, let's remember, this is a party fund-raiser. this is a republican party fund-raiser. you have to pay mightily if you're a candidate to get that tent that paul has of $31,000 because i think it's next to where everybody goes in and they all come. and bring free food and have a tent and do this. they pay for buses and tickets to bring in voters. so, yes, it's a test of organization, but it's also a test of the pocketbook. >> a test of the organization of the campaign. >> who could bring them? >> the pain who -- whose campaign is in the best mode really. >> reporter: well, yes, maybe. but, remember, a very small group of people -- by that, i mean a small group of people within iowa come and are the most conserve pif. ron paul -- and the most passiona passionate. ron paul has the most concerned and compassionate in whatever state he is in. the advantage goes to that candidate. at this point, if you talk to a lot of folks on who have been watching this for some time on the ground here, they will tell you they can't actually call it. it's going to be fun to watch because there is no clear oh, and owner so is going to take this away. so it will be a surprise and shake up the race for a week and then see what happens after that. >> thank you, candy. exciting to watch the next few days and exciting to watch candy's show, "state of the union" sundays at 9:00 a.m. eastern. this sunday at 9:00 a.m. eastern a particularly insightful show as it always is on cnn. >> she said the mom knee and anti-romney and the whole republican field is the anti-barack obama field. >> we will have had the straw poll and rick perry announce by the time you see candy crowley on sunday. and you won't have the stock market to distract you. >> thank goodness for that. it appears michele bachmann's message is getting through. ahead of the straw poll, her searches have surged the past week. she has generated far more interest than any other candidate on the straw poll ballot. >> i wonder if some of that is that "newsweek" cover. people were looking up michele bachmann a lot. >> no publicity is bad publicity. >> i agree. >> she never said a word about it. >> smart. >> we have been talking about "newsweek" a lot because of these covers they do with diana and kate middleton and now this. no publicity is bad publicity for "newsweek" either. a pit bull and siamese cat and little chicks. one of only many, many unusual friendships between polar opposite in the animal world we have got to show you today in this fantastic book. stay with us. there are some fantastic pictures in here that you'll want to see. also mattel has come out with a new barbie doll in honor of the late actress farrah fawcett. she is wearing the famous red swimsuit. we will show it to you. after a month of 100-degree heat is it true? the triple digit heat streak over in texas? what about the record? 11 minutes past the hour. [ man ] natural gas vehicles are used somewhere... but not in my neighborhood. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. all right. awe ruban officials say the suspect in a missing american woman in america gary giordano is no longer cooperating with police and detained in connection with robyn gardner who went missing last week. two were vacationing together after meeting on a dating website more than a year ago. fbi authorities are asked to help with the investigation. police in london raiding homes and trying to track down people responsible for days and nights of street violence of looting. more than 1,800 people arrested now nationwide so far in connection with that rioting. the crime spree is what the british prime minister called it saying police waited too long to arrest after a shooting last weekend. in east st. louis, illinois, called the new wild west. among the most dangerous places in america. that is why illinois senator dick durbin is calling in federal law enforcement to help out state and local police to deal with all of the crime. he plans to assign the patrol the city's drug infested public housing complex. >> east st. louis is on the east side of the mississippi so it's in illinois. kids as young as 11 have joined groups wreaking havoc and attacking people. starting tonight, a citywide curfew is enforced. philly's mayor says he is really to punish mob participants and, by the way, if they get fined a second time, the parents get fined as well. >> like 500 bucks. >> yeah. they lost the fastest plate in the world. the pentagon law firming the hypersonic fastest plane. they lost contact and it crashed into the pacific. it is designed to reach any military target in the world within an hour. it can fly from new york to l.a. in 12 minutes hypothetically. obviously, it's a huge experiment. it's a big experiment. >> it's not meant for commercial. >> no. >> but very. >> caller: science in there. >> it goes suborb bittal, it does and comes back down. >> the question is what happens to your face when you're going mach 20? >> nothing pretty, for sure. scorching texas heat finally eased just a bit enough to end a 40-day streak of triple digit temperatures in dallas and two days shy of consecutive days of triple digit heat set in 1980. it will be around 100 again today and through the weekend. next week, a new streak could begin. >> there is dallas you're looking at right now. >> good morning, dallas and good morning rob marciano who is in johns creek, georgia, the heat is a subject of controversy there as well. hey, rob. >> reporter: good morning, guys. it will get cooler as we get towards the end of august and september. that is inevitable and inevitable as we head into the end of august, the final pga imagine championship here at the atlanta athletic club. rory mcilroy injured his wrist early in the round and managed to finish even getting through the pain. it is a strained tendon and he just arrived on the practice tee, expected to go off in about 20 minutes so we will see how he does today. weather has been hot. 90% of the guys have been wearing white hats just to stay cool. 92 today for a high. 90 expected saturday and a better chance of seeing showers on sunday. you mentioned the record heat or the lack thereof. in dallas yesterday the list of records have been shrinking thankfully but 102 in houston and 97 in dallas yesterday and that stops their streak at 40. the odd thing is that people wanted to break the record after suffering for 40 days of 100-degree plus temperature. they got a little bit of rain outside of dallas yesterday and take it in west texas. lubbock and midland saw rainfall yesterday but they need much more than that. the northeast looks nice today and dry with comfortable levels of humidity. as far as the tournament is concerned, two popular midwesterns at the top. round two of the pga championship now under way here north of atlanta. guys? >> thank you, rob. >> track your favorite players through the weekend. live coverage of the pga championship all day on pga.com beginning 1:00 p.m. eastern on tnt. farrah fawcett has been immortalized. >> she already is on that poster. >> true. maybe it's better this time. she has been immortalized as a barbie. fawcett posed in a red bathing suit. they captured her perfectly. from her big smile to her feathered blond hair. i had that stairstyle. i'm sure you did, too, christine. >> mine is too thin to feathered like that. i only dreamed of it. >> i didn't. just saying. >> you had to have hair at some point in your life. >> i did. didn't look like that. i'm not going down that road! >> dig up those pictures. >> the farrah fawcett doll is wearing a small gold elect nekas and on sale for about $35. >> no little girl is going to remember that. >> right. >> but they are going to see -- >> no interns or any of our production assistants know what we are talking about. i feel old. she may have a superstar mom but madonna's daughter is unveiling her new material girl beauty line made of up of cosmetics aimed at teen. she has a clothing line launched last september. she is only 14 years old. all of the products are sold at macy's also in the do i feel old category. i thought she was 3 and suddenly she became 14 overnight. >> she looks like a grown-up and exactly like madonna. now is your chance to talk back. the question this morning should there be gay characters on children's television shows? you know where i'm going because i'm shudder you have heard calls for sesame street's bert and ernie to get married. online petition has been flying around the internet. 6,000 plus signatures so far. it's the brain child of a chicago man who says we are not asking that sesame street do anything crude or disrespectful, only that they allow bert and ernie to mary or even add a transgender character to the show. when same-sex marriage is allowed in six states is controversial. who can forget the tinky-winky controversy? jerry falwell accusing him to be immortal because he was carrying a purse and he had a thing on his head. spongebob squarepants is also accused. same-sex marriage or even a gay character on children's television will teach tolerance for those who are different. as for what sesame street says, it says bert and ernie are best friends and they remain puppets. the talkback question is should there be gay characters on children's television? e-mail us, give us a tweet, tell us on facebook and we will read through some of them later in the show. >> what is tinky-winky meant to be? >> have you ever watched it? it's hallucinogenic. very strange. teletubbies! >> they want a transgender monster. is there one? >> i thought it was a no gender. what do i know? >> what do you know? markets zigging or zagging? tell you on the other side. k of. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. big springs in premarket trading ahead of the opening bell. all three market indicators closed higher yesterday. mortgage rates falling. the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 4.3% in the past week. getting close to record lows according to a survey by freddie mac. you could be seeing higher food prices at the supermarket this fall. usda says heat, drought, flooding made for a brutal growing season for corn, soybeans and wheat and expected to push up the related food items. what is is that? everything. pasta and soda and anything made with any of those crops. texas governor rick perry getting into the race now. he is expected to shake things up so what is his strategy to win it all? we will tell you. "american morning" will be back after the break. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. ♪ good morning, washington, d.c. a beautiful shot of the white house this morning. partly cloudy. 74 degrees. heading for a high of 89. even before rick perry decided to make it official the texas governor was considered a leading republican candidate for president. a recent cnn/orc poll showing perry was the second choice of the gop voters behind romney. in a matchup against president obama, perry had 46% compared to obama's 51%. rick perry will officially announce his campaign for the white house tomorrow. but joining us from austin, texas, is james moore, co-author of "brush's brain." and covered texas politics for decades. thank you for joining us this morning. >> my pleasure. >> you have followed perry his entire career and you think he is going to take the republican nomination. why? >> i think there are a number of reasons, but among them are the competition and it's interesting that we don't speak about some of the most critical factors in these presidential elections and in this particular election, one of the unspoken issues is religion and perry, of course, is front and center, wears his religion like a power tie and what he is saying to everybody who in the party, particularly in the primary process, the tea party individuals and the evangelicals i'm not a mormon. is there a difference for the republican party to vote not for a mormon. they are resistant to vote for a mormon and perry is trying to send the message he is the guy. i think he will do very well and mitt romney has to struggle against this even as a front-runner right now. >> you thought he held the prayer rally, we already know that, but once he is seriously in the race, isn't he just going to talk about jobs, jobs, jobs and then like kind of be a little quiet on the religious aspect of his campaign? >> i think that there is no question, carol, that is exactly what he is going to do is that he is going to go back to the center and he is going to beat up the president on the economy. he is going to talk about the jobs that exist here in texas. and every time that the obama team criticized the texas jobs and talks about the fact that many of them are minimum wage jobs, the perry team will turn around and turn that into an attack on the working men and women of america and suggest that the white house is insensitive. you're not going to see any talk about religion in the campaign significantly, but perry is going to continue to wear his faith very out front and center for people to see it so that the distinction between himself and mr. romney is very obvious to people and i don't expect -- go ahead. >> let's talk about rick perry. supposedly he has created many, many jobs for the state of texas. the creation of jobs, half the new jobs in this country were created in texas and rick perry is taking credit for that. how much of the credit belongs to rick perry? >> that's a good question and many analysts have suggested that the numbers are blown up but there is a significant amount of economic activity in texas, even though many of these jobs are smaller. i don't think he should get much credit for it frankly at all. although we have a climate no income tax and no personal income tax and makes companies want to come down here. that existed before rick perry came along. there is good weather. is there a good population. a look of opportunity for entrepreneurs and the silicon hills in austin and the tech industry is really taking off in texas so a lot of things are happening. but many of these are blessings of geography and weather and simply circumstance that have absolutely nothing to do with rick perry. >> and oil, by the way. >> and oil, by the way. >> one is dogging perry and after he announces is this intimidation that maybe texas should succeed from the union. this is what he said a couple of years ago. let's listen. >> there's absolutely no reason to dissolve it but if washington continues to thumb their nose at the american people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. >> so in listening to that, can that be potentially damaging down the line? >> i think he is going to walk it back. you know, most people consider that an irresponsible statement and many people consider it reprehensible that a governor of a state would suggest such a thing. he has got to walk it back. he was, obviously, appealing to the tea party folks who have energized his campaign and who have energized the republican primary process right now. but he's going to hear about that in the future from the obama team and from his opponents within the primary process. but he has got to walk it back and say, look. i was speaking to an attitude in texas that we have had for ever and ever. and there isn't any succession as a possibility here under the texas constitution, but he is speaking to a discontent that exists in this state and it resonated with the number of crowds and it made him very, very popular very early on when it a number of other republicans and other political activists were stepping away from the tea party, he was embracing their sentiments and it helped him a great deal. >> right. the tea party loves states rights. james moore, thank you so much for talking with us. fascinating conversation. >> my pleasure. >> we appreciate it. still ahead, a question. what would you choose? saving jobs or saving the environment? that is the issue at the center of the debate over coal mining. a center kind of coal mining in america. cnn's soledad o'brien goes to a quiet small town in west virginia and gets in the middle of a loud high stakes fight between coal companies, politicians, and environmentists. it's a difficult, but fascinating debate and she gives us a sneak peek of battle for blair mountain coming up next. 36 minutes after the hour. a battle raging in the coal fields of west virginia. a big controversy over mountain top removal mining. >> this is pitting environmentalists. they say it simply destroys nature. >> it is ugly as you see it. as part of our upcoming documentary, soledad o'brien introduces us to people whose lives and futures are most affected and she joins us live now. i can't wait to see this. >> it has turned into a great documentary and what great timing. you have been talking jobs, jobs, and jobs. we are talking about mountain top removal mining. you say people who drive by and say that has ruined a mountain. others who say i see that mountain and i think of jobs. think productivity and i think my family working. so it's coming down to this debate framed as this debate between jobs and the environment and should you have to pick between a healthy environment and a community that has been put to work? so we went to blair mountain in west virginia to explore what their big fight is really over. take a look. >> reporter: james and linda dials live near blair mountain in west virginia. ground zero in the battle over mountain top removal mining. one side says it's a fight to preserve jobs. the other side says it's about preserving mountains. >> as far as the community goes, it's not much left any more. you know? there is still some people here, but in this area, that's all there is. the coal company, if it shuts down, it would be a ghost town. nothing left. >> reporter: people have said to me you're asking me to pick between how a mountain looks and how a job, i'll pick the job, i'll pick someone's job because that means feeding their family and giving them a livelihood and a community. >> but it's temporary. the job is temporary. what they have done here is permanent. >> see that mountain right there? if they would strip, you know, mountain top removal i will be the first one to complain about it. that is my job is reclamation. seeing it's being done right. >> reporter: james believes surface mining projects bring jobs into his area. >> they need to understand that, yeah, you can mine coal, you can give jobs to people, but you can't do it at the expense of their lives, their health, their water, their air. that's too much. >> reporter: that's why, as 2011 begins, lisa jackson, the head of the environmental protection agency, is weighing whether to allow the largest mountain top mining permit ever proposed in the state of west virginia. it's called spruce one. >> this document is really the battle over spruce one and what happens when the epa yanks that permit and really some of the coal mining housewives become activists and some of the environmentalists activists who march on blair mountain try to bring attention to the issue. i think it comes down to jobs. another job in retail does not come close to that. >> is there somewhere they can meet in the middle? i know they try to rebuild the mountain tops but the question you just told me is the coal company really doing that? >> mitigation is what it's called and some people work to try to rebuild. you don't have to rebuild the mountain top but rebuild to the same slope, a similar slope. a lot of question about that. does it have the same integrity meaning when it rains does stuff slide down the mountain, is it the same thing. this is what we investigate and uncover. and, ultimately, there are no green jobs at this moment moving into this location in logan county. you know, google is not about to build an office in logan county and everyone will have a great job. that is a realistic concern for those who live there make $65,000 a year and can support their families. >> it is not about logan county. we are burning and using every lump of coal we can get out of the ground as a nation. you know? we are using all of that energy. >> more than half the electricity in this country is generated by coal. not natural gas, not nuclear, not wind, not water. it's coal. >> i think it's typical not to have a long-range plan that transitions people from good jobs as opposed to transition them out of jobs altogether and 15 years later, into a good job. >> the thing i don't understand is if you look at west virginia, it's a sad state. not like it's -- it's a beautiful state. >> the mountains. >> as far as it's suffering its own economic woes, despite the coal industry. at some point, don't the state leaders say we got to figure out something else, instead of just trying to save one industry? >> they actually, financially, are doing well because of coal. where they rank low is in certain measurements like education, et cetera, et cetera. you're wondering why is there so much poverty in take state at the same time you're doing well. that is one of the long-range questions can kill people in the short range. in the long-range we are trying to get people jobs. >> not any different than the auto industry. >> one horse state or one horse state or county. >> i ask that question because it's a frustration. you see the great talent moving out and not staying in ohio because there is nothing there except certain industries. >> right. what you do is you have to have someone thinking about changing from a one-horse town but at the same time, transitioning people. i have been ton sha shenandoah, pennsylvania. no one moved in and no big industry has come come to over in shenandoah. >> but pittsburgh is now a diversified base and doing well. >> it's all about the planning. >> the choices our elected officials are making is so important and we have so much faith in them. >> we look forward to it. >> in logan county, the elected officials are underwritten, in many cases, by the coal companies. >> i can't wait to see it. you can watch "battle for blair mountain" sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. animal friendships like a gorilla and a kitten, isn't this nice coming? >> look at this thing! a little kitten. i love this! i'm crazy for this book! >> i'm concerned you love this story so much. >> i want to know why the gorilla doesn't eat the kitten. so many examples of pairings of animals that make no logical sense. polar opposites in the animal world. sit down with the author next and talk about it. ♪ while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. ♪ ♪ i want to live i want to run through the jungle with the wind in my hair ♪ >> what about birds of a different feather or birds and other animals as you hear birds of a feather flock together. >> we are talking about a leopard cuddling with a cow or a kitten cuddling up with a gorilla. >> you get the picture. joining us to talk about it is jennifer holland, the author of "unlikely friendships," and a senior writer for "national geograph geographic. >> you're saying this is unusual? when i see a picture like this, think it's bizarre. >> it does happen in the wild. >> the animal on another animal? a lot of these pictures one of the animals is a little baby. >> sometimes that is the case. i think so the context is important. sometimes an animal has lost its mother or baby and it seems to instinctively need the companionship it would have gotten from that other animal. >> let's take a look at this one. >> is this your favorite? >> it's not. my favorite is the next one. this is the most unusual to me because it brings me to the question why one of these things, i guess because they are in captivity. it does seem weird a gorilla and kitten hanging out. >> a gorilla wouldn't eat a kitten. >> you would think it would crush this kitten in its hand. primates, they are nurturing and having a pet is -- isn't completely crazy apparently for something like a gorilla. >> we have a ridgeback and a piglet. >> look at that piglet at the bottom there. >> he printed it out and put on his computer screen and have it forever. >> i think in this case the pigget is a snack. >> the dog saved its life, right? >> the dog nurtured this pigget that would have died probably without having the sort of parent figure and it's just a gentle wonderful loving dog that clearly has this instinctive wonderful nature toward other animals. >> the next one is a orangutan and tiger cub. why are people so fascinated by looking at these types of pictures? >> a good question. i feel it's such -- the news is so bad out there, as you guys certainly know. >> right. >> having something like cute animals getting together and just kind of seeing these endearing moments, i think, resonates with people. >> you notice, carol, there isn't a donkey and an elephant in here. >> i know. >> we have to get same species of humans to agree on stuff. >> christine and i were trying to come up with the oddest combinations. mine was nancy pelosi and rush limbaugh. >> mine is sarah palin and dennis ckucinich. >> a lot of people have associations with pit bulls as rough. you have a pit bull, a cat, and little chicks. >> and chicks, yeah. this is a wonderful household. i'd like to be a part of this household because the owner, helen arnold, takes terrific videos and has a gentle kind pit bull and goes against the stereo type of what you think a pit bull is. every animal she brings home, the pit bull -- she spends a lot of time photographing and taping them. >> the dove. this was a beautiful one as well. >> this is great. this is great. it's -- >> look at that. >> that really happened? >> yeah. >> come on! >> this is in a park in china. >> how did the bird stay there? >> no. the bird had probably lost its mate and the staff at this chinese sanctuary brought the dove in and the monkey lost its troop and the two hit it off for about two months. >> come on, carol, makes you want to cry. >> doesn't it show you a need for connection? real connection? >> absolutely. i think human animals like people need xanship and need that warmth. >> isn't that you kissing a grouper? >> that is me in australia. i get up close and personal as often as i can. >> is it true your husband lived with a raccoon? >> he did. he gre up with a raccoon, one of the smartest pets you can have, apparently. >> oh, yeah. they can unlock your door. >> it took showers with him and rode on his shoulder when he rode his bike. an incredible animal. >> i would teach a rah don't know how to give me a massage and cook. it's fantastic opposable thumbs. everybody loved this book. they would look at it and start chuckling. it's not the stock market and not politics so it's a good book. >> unlikely friendships how democrats and republicans can get along even if you don't feel like the same breed. >> jennifer hole rand land, thank you very much. daddy taught us not to take the last piece of bread from the table. somebody may come along that is hungry. i'm helen. the happy founder of the love kitchen. we address the needs of the homeless, the hungry, the hopeless, the home-bound and the helpless. do you have the coffee and the cups out? my sister ellen is a blessing to me. and how about those small tomatoes, ellen? the lord sent two because so much more to do than one! you want me to help you? >> we went to nursing school. back then, segregation was pretty rampant. i just saw the black people having problem with transportation and food. >> so what we start off with this morning? every day on my way home, i would tell my sister, one day, i'm going to do something about this. we getting ready to open the line! the first day we served 22 meals. that was in 1986. and since that time, we have been growing, growing, growing, growing. ♪ >> everybody here is a volunteer. they enjoy doing what we are doing. we deliver from 1,400 to 2,200 meals every thursday to our home-bound people. >> she's my buddy! >> we will talk to work for what we got and to share what we did get and we help so many people that are in need and that is what keeps us going. what is that? it's you! it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? let's go back to drawing. a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspiration. [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test. chosen b♪ ar & driver as the best luxury sedan ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. ♪ ♪ rubber ducky you're the one ♪ >> talk about a bad song leading into our talkback question. we ask this question because some people want bert and ernie to get married. here are some of your responses. sexuality incorporated froointo program for toddlers is not appropriate. anyone opposing to seeing characters of different orientations is simply closing their eyes to the reality of life. why push the subject so far? i teach my children to respect others but i think it's going way too foor when it's in my living room and my children's tv shows. can we stop trying to be so politically correct on this? it's getting ridiculous. with the straight characters on children's television are we giving our kids a balanced view of the real world. >> what is unbalanced about cookie monster?