boehner urged the president to call on harry reid to appoint negotiators to this conference that we now are talking with so much about to try to hash out the differences between the house and senate. as you well know, senate majority reid has no intention of negotiating and as he read in a letter to speaker boehner, along with speaker boehner and all congressional leaders and the white house, they want that deal and senator reid says not until they have the assurance that the tax cut will not lapse come january 1. so they are pushing -- he is again pushing as well as the white house, to put -- to push through the two two-month extension. but bottom line, where do things stand? talks are not happening. there isn't any real progress because there aren't real talks happening. both sides are very dug in. they all seem to want the end goal but absolutely talking with each other at this point. >> let us know if that phone call manifests into a meeting. thank you. appreciate it. let's go to the white house and president obama's push to pass the payroll tax extension. jessica yellin, senior white house correspondent there for us. and the real message was to speaker boehner to pass the two-month extension and the message in the white house is that there isn't time to get that one-year deal done and to pass a one-year deal ultimately and so in the interim, to get past the hump, they need to get this two-month extension done and there's no time for anything short of that. beyond that, the white house maintains that what the speaker is doing right now is catering to the internal politics of his republican caucus on capitol hill instead of attending to the bigger issue. they are persuaded that there is a vote to pass the two-month extension because democrats in the house, plus about 30 republicans, they are convinced here at the white house, would vote to pass this but the speaker, in their opinion, is simply letting the more conservative group within his caucus dictate what he's doing. so the president is trying to keep up pressure on the speaker and siding with harry reid saying that the senate is not going to come back to negotiate further. >> so are they keeping the pressure on? at some point he's supposed to be headed to vacation in hawaii. apparently he took a trip shopping to pass the time. is that right? >> reporter: yeah, he's home alone with sasha, malia, and michelle in hee yee. if the family is watching, don't look. i think they will know what he's getting them. i'm going to check my notes. he got a "let's dance" for the wii and he said we're not going to get a video of him playing it because he gets an f when he does it. and do you remember the video during the 2008 campaign and went on the ellen show and danced, we all remember that. i guess he doesn't want to reenact men in black. to he bought some chew toys for bo. he bought pizza for the staff here, which was nice for him although i bet it got cold in transit. $50 apple gift cards, for itunes or whatever, and the simms 3 pets, you can have an interactive family online. you add in pets with this. >> so that's for the girls? >> yes. go spend money at christmas, go out and have some fun, and he needed to get out of the house, jay carney said. >> i guess so. i guess so. jessica yellin, thank you for those very important nitty gritty shopping presidential detail. we appreciate it. jessica yellin, our seen your white house correspondent. now to this. and brian todd is in washington. >> new rules on pilot fatigue. in buffalo, a crash that killed people, a pilot mishandled the control column of the plane and found that fatigue was a factor. one of the pilots had commuted from tampa too newark and the other from seattle. the new rules unveiled today is a way to head off the pilot fatigue. pilots will have a minimum ten-hour rest period between shift, two hours less than they have now. that means another new factor in all of this. the opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. that means it limits a pilot's time in the day. and for the first time the government is defining and limiting the so-called flight duty period during the day from when a pilot arrives for work to when their last flight is completed. the new rules do not apply to cargo plane pilots because officials say it would cost that industry too much. that was also a complaint from the passenger airlines at first. they had worried about staff and now they say they will take another look at this. pretty drastic new rules for pilots that have got to get more rest than they are getting between flight shifts today. >> a lot of new rules and guidelines. ultimately, when do they go into effect? do you know? >> for not another two years because it takes the airline industry too long to figure out how to change its scheduling practices. it's going to take pilot training and react cak cli mags and all of that has to play out over two years. it's going to be at least 2013 before these rules take effect. >> brian todd, thank you. let's go to chris lawrence talking about the arrests of eight soldiers charged in the death of one of their own, an army private named danny chen. it sounds like a case of bullying but it happened on a military unit instead of school, right? >> that's correct. a teenage american signed up to serve his country and it looks like he was pulleyed to the point where he shot and killed himself. the military believes that he killed himself in a guard tower in a very remote base stand back in october but now the eight fellow soldiers, all higher ranking than private chen have been charged with everything from dereliction of duty. they don't believe they had anything to do with the actual death but it's their conduct leading up to it. basically, that they harassed him verbally, physically, that he was abused and harassed to the point where he literally just broke. brooke? >> chris, where are the men who have been arrested now? >> they have been moved to another base in afghanistan, brooke. for their own protection as well. there may be some concern that other soldiers would try to take retribution for what happened to private chen. you think about base. you say the word base and people think it's a big prauling complex but these remote outpufts in afghanistan, lieutenant may be the highest ranking on that base. they are very small and very isolated. >> chris lawrence, thank you. still ahead, a college student disappears after this bizarre encounter with a strange man. police are reportedly asking neighbors to check their yards. plus, a heartbreaking moment. >> it means the ultimate sacrifice for your country. you know, you were wounded. you can't get much closer to the end than that. >> a pawnshop owner says a soldier walked in and sold his purple heart. wait until you hear what the owner says as i speak with him live. awarded $150 billion verdict? we'll tell you why and why they don't care if they ever see a penny of that. also, new polls suggest republican presidential candidates may have a big battle in the race for the white house. be right back. you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. if it's interesting, it's happening right now. rapid fire, let's go. the government revealing new rules to protect the environment. it would reduce the amount of mercury in the air which usually ends up in our water. this means less contaminated fish which experts link to learning disabilities in our kids. bernie fine accusing him pleads guilty to child sex abuse charges in an unrelated case, 23-year-old zack thamacelli says he faces up to three years and three months in prison. before we tell you this next story, a heads up, this image we're about to show you is tough to look at. perhaps for some parents. a father is in court today. police say he bound and gagged his 22-month-old daughter with tape and put the picture on facebook. here you go. this is the image. this is no longer on the social media site. you can see her christs and ankles and even her mouth was bound with painter's tape. the father made his first court appearance this morning in chicago. too many times you can see the horrors of war on the face of a child and i want to warn you this next piece of video is graphic. case in point. this is a 4-year-old girl, burned in a u.s. drone attack in pakistan two years ago. she is now receiving free reconstructive surgery in galveston, texas, but scars cannot hide this little one's child. her caretakers named her shakira which means thankful. >> children adapt to adversity a lot better than adults. >> shakira was found burned in a trash bin. her recovery will take at least one year. and the international space station is about to get three new visitors from earth. watch. >> the international space station. >> how about that? a russian rocket made a spectacular and successful launch into space just this morning. the crew with one american astronaut is expected to reach the space station by friday. and police in kansas is reportedly asking people in kansas to search their yards for this missing college student. aisha khan hasn't been heard from since she left a frantic voice mail for her sister. family members posted these pictures on facebook. they are offering up a $10,000 reward for information that leads to her return. her sister appeared on hln's "issues" with jane velez-mitchell. she talked about this confrontation with a creepy man who smelled of drugs. >> yeah, that was during the message, you know, when a creepy guy came up to her and harassed her. she described him. she said that he smelled really bad. that he smelled like marijuana. and she slapped him and after that she hung up. she said, please come and pick up your phones. i need to talk to you. and, yeah, just pick up your phone. that's what she said. and then she hung up. >> that investigation is ongoing. coming up next, new polls suggest republican candidates, any of them, may have an up hill battle when it comes to the race for the white house. paul steinhauser will tell me why. plus, you know those diaper changing tables in bathrooms, you better think twice before using them or even getting near them. we'll tell you why, next. y, youg a necklace! see what i mean? i'll surprise you. please. [ male announcer ] the only place to go for last-minute christmas gifts. walmart. mmm... pillsbury crescent wrapped brie just unroll, wrap the brie and bake. it's so easy. now this might even impress aunt martha. pillsbury crescent wrapped brie. holiday ideas made easy. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. all right moms and dads, you may want to think twice about using those baby changing tables. an informal study released found that 92% of more than 100 baby changing tables had traces of cocaine on the baby changing tables. if you need to change a baby's diaper in public, use a changing pad. now to politics. president obama's rating is up which may be a good sign for his re-election campaign. let's go to paul steinhauser with our america's choice 2012 update. president obama, he must be happy. >> i think he must be happy. those guys in chicago must be happy, too. his approval rating is up. up five points from november. check this out. who do you have more confidence, either the republicans in congress to really -- let's do this number first. brooke, if you put something on the screen, i will talk about it. >> go with it. >> right now voters say 52%, 45, the president would come out on top. one month ago, romney had a one-point margin. that's about confidence, who america has more confidence in so what's behind all of this rise in congress and over the battle of extending the payroll tax cut, it's boosting the president's numbers and hurting the republicans, brooke. >> we heard from jay carney in the white house daily briefing that the president has reached out to harry reid and john boehner on this whole back and forth impasse that we've been talking about on television. in the meantime, we've heard from jessica yellin that in the meantime he's been out shopping. let's rehash that list, if we may. paul steinhauser, what's he buying? >> this is classic. he goes to best buy and not only any best buy but this is the same shopping mall -- remember when the first lady went to that target? same shopping center. we were just talking about the president's poll numbers where they were doing pretty well and he's giving himself some pretty good numbers, i guess. he doesn't feel the same way when it comes to shopping. take a listen. >> in case you guys were wondering, just dance for the wii, the girls beat me every time on these various dance games. so i'm going to every time. merry christmas to you. >> i guess if it came to dancing, that was the most important thing. the president -- >> he would be a no go. >> the economy is more poor to america's minds. he's okay for now at least. >> you know who else we can't get dancing on tv, wolf blitzer. both of them have been on ellen but i guess they don't dance when we'd like them to have a little bit of time. >> keep working it with wolf. you're going to get him to dance. >> i try. paul steinhauser, thank you. now this. >> it was much more a rich man's game. not that i was rich. but i mean, it was designed for banks, for insurance companies, or rail roads, public utilities. that man there is 106 years young. he still goes to work on wall street monday through friday. we ask him what he thinks wall street has become today. poppy harlow with that right after this quick break. [ male announcer ] if you're giving an amazing gift, shouldn't it be given in an amazing way? ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. quaker oatmeal is a super grain. ♪ it gives me warmth. ♪ [ boy ] it gives me energy to help me be my best. quaker oatmeal has whole grains for heart health. and it has fiber that helps fill me up. ♪ [ male announcer ] great days start with quaker oatmeal. energy. fiber. heart health. quaker oatmeal. a super grain breakfast. he is 106 years young and he's been working on wall street for 80 years. he still goes to work each and every day and sat down with poply harlow to reflect on wall street, the both past and present. >> reporter: wall street, 80 years ago. >> when were you born? >> december 19, 1905. >> reporter: he rang the opening bell on wall street on his 1 hn 100th birthday. that was six years ago. >> how has wall street changed your life? >> it was designed for banks, insurance companies, rail roads, public utilities. it's no longer a rich man's business. it's a business for everybody. >> do you still watch the stock market closely every day? >> well, i don't watch it because i'm not a trader. >> reporter: you're a value investor? >> right. and i stick to the 20 odd stops. >> reporter: who is your idol? >> ben graham. >> reporter: that is warren buffett's, too. >> he works every day. >> reporter: what do you think is to thank for your father's longevity? >> i would think that he has an office to go to and a job and responsibilities is extremely posh. >> do you think that you will live as long as your father and do you want to? you didn't always have bloomberg terminals, right? >> no. i was very lucky being born in 1905. radio, television. >> reporter: do you have a cell phone now? >> yes, i do. i don't use it much other than to remind myself what my number is. >> i see. but he doesn't think technology necessarily makes it easier when he looks at the gadget that his grandson uses. >> he also has to know how to work the i book. you have to interrupt me or otherwise i talk too much. >> poppy harlow, i don't know how you found him. i love that he has his cell phone number taped to his cell phone. did he have any wise words -- financial words of wisdom for you? >> yeah, he did. he says he's a value investor. he doesn't trade when the market goes up and down, up and down. he holds about 20 stocks and doesn't like stocks that go up ofr down. he likes stocks that pay a good dividend. just go at it for the long haul, brooke. >> poppy, let me ask you about this piece of news here, just in, barveg of america has to pay $335 million to settle claims. can you talk about that? >> sure. this was just announced by attorney general eric holder. announcing a record settlement. $335 million between the doj and countrywide financial. they were purchased by barveg of bank of america in 2008 and this is the largest fair practice lending settlement in the history of this country, according to eric holder. attorney general eric holder said they found that a federal probe found discrimination against some 200,000 qualified african-american and hispanic borrowers between 2004 and 2008. i have a statement that came to us in the last few minutes from bank of america. it says, we reach this settlement to resolve issues about countrywide historic practices that occurred before bank of america acquired the company. the whole story is at cnnmoney.com. a settlement between the doj and bank of america. brooke? >> poppy harlow, thank you so much. a shocking hate crime. why you may be surprised to hear who is accused of attacking these amish people. plus, a boy is molested, set on fire, and then dies years later. but he reveals the name of his abuser on his death bed. find out why his family was just awarded $150 billion but likely will not see a penny of that. casey jordan is standing by on the case with us tie day. that's next. i wouldn't do that. get married? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn... double miles on every purchase. [ sharon ] 3d is so real larry. i'm right here larry. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. really? a plaid tie? what, are we in prep school? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? i was gonna say that. uh huh... on the case today, a texas jury awards a grieving family $150 billion. to tell the story, i have to give you the heads up because the images that you will see are graphic. the award goes to robby middleton. he was doused with gasoline and set on fire as an 8-year-old and then died 12 years later. he died in 2010. criminologist casey jordan is on the case. i know that the family's lawyer -- he's gotten the larges