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Arizona Battles Wildfires; Syrians Fleeing; Battle Over Debt Ceiling Continues

Aired June 09, 2011 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon to you.

I begin here with the raging inferno still in Arizona. They're calling it the massive Wallow, which is threatening to jump across the border into New Mexico. We're getting a better look here as to how far, how quickly the fire spread from this progression map.

Take a look at this with me. The whole thing started back on May 29. It is now bigger than the size of New York City and Chicago combined, more than 600 square miles in 10 days.

Chad Myers, I want to bring you in. I feel like the first time we were really talking about this, it was about 200,000 aches scorched. Now it's something around 400,000. The bit of a silver lining, this is the first, what, non-red-flagged day because of the winds.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct.

BALDWIN: But, still, that can burn some grass and move on through.

MYERS: Oh, it's certainly -- it's still out of control. Just because the winds die off don't mean that -- I mean, it has nothing do with this thing being contained. Another gust today, 15, 20, 30 miles per hour, and it's just going to again.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: And there will be those type of -- there won't be gusts to 40 and 45 and 50, like we had yesterday. That's the good news. That's why the red-flag warning has moved east into Albuquerque.

But now we have these people in Albuquerque and points eastward that have to breathe this smoke. And it's relatively dangerous to be out there breathing it. You know, geez, people can die from smoke inhalation, not from this diverse and diluted type, but if you get very close to it and breathe it for a long time, if you have asthma, you're going to get problems. You're going to have immediate problems.

You need keep the house closed. They're also saying turn off those swamp coolers. You ever had a swamp cooler.

BALDWIN: No. No. MYERS: You know what that is? It's actually just a -- kind of a membrane that gets wet and the fan blows through. The fan evaporates the water. Your house cools off. Don't use that today. Use the regular air conditioner because it's a better filter.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, I want to stand by because I want to get straight to Jim Spellman, who is -- literally, he's been driving toward the fire.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: And it's been touch and go in terms of our communication with him. So we want to get him on the line as quickly as we can before it goes away.

Jim Spellman, let me look down and see where you are. You're near Springerville, Arizona. I know you're driving toward this fire. Talk to me about conditions. Chad and I were just saying it's the first non-red-flagged day. I imagine a lot of firefighters trying to take use of it while they can.

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, they sure are, Brooke.

And one of the things that it allows them to do is really build this line out more stably where they purposefully burn away fuel that is there. They try to build a 300-to-400-foot trench basically where there's no fuel, so that when the fire gets to it, it has nowhere to go. Really hard to do that with the high winds. It creates what is called spotting. It blows embers a mile, two miles, three miles behind the firefighters.

Then they have got fire on both sides. And then they have to pull out and start over again. So they hope to take advantage as much they can today, Brooke, to take care of building those things around the populated areas here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What kind of tools, Jim, are these firefighters able to use?

SPELLMAN: Everything from bulldozers that you might get at a construction site to a lot of hard work. There's not a lot of roads here, so they have got to hike in these use hand tools to dig out these trenches.

But today, because of the lower wind, it's enabling them to use a giant DC-7 to drop retardant on. They have been trying to add this to the arsenal, but for the last 10 days, the wind's been too high to make it an effective and safe operation. So they have that getting ready. They hope to get that up later today and do a retardant drop over parts of the fire.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SPELLMAN: That will help build out this buffer zone between the populated areas and the fire -- Brooke. MYERS: Hey, Jim, I heard -- this is Chad -- I heard something about the fire getting close to some power lines. And that could affect people, you know, power going back and forth across the state. What do you know about that? What do you know? You're closer than we are.

SPELLMAN: Yes, absolutely.

They are doing burns underneath some of these power lines to try to create a controlled buffer around them. It's one of the main power lines that heads into New Mexico, also fiberoptic lines. And if those fiberoptic lines go, all communications, Internet, telephone, everything -- they will be down to just radio-to-radio communications here even in the fire zone. So, that's something they're definitely worried on.

They don't think that's an issue today, but that is one of their high priorities when they look at sort of a worst-case scenario in the next few days.

BALDWIN: Jim, we have been reporting, in terms of the damage, 11 buildings, perhaps homes have been destroyed and something like 600 others are threatened by this fire. Towns, in terms of evacuations, we keep hearing about, one that you're near, Springerville, and also Eagar.

Have you had a chance to talk to some of these folks? We had a guy on just yesterday who lives right around one of these towns. He said, sorry, I'm not leaving my house.

Is that not necessarily the norm? Are most folks for the most part getting out of town?

SPELLMAN: Yes, there's certainly only a handful of people that are doing that. But every time there's an event like this, there's people who want to ride it out. We spoke with a guy yesterday. He's set up his own little home sprinkler system around his house. And he's got a water pump on the back of a little four-by-four to battle any hot spots that should land there. And he's determined to ride it out.

It's the last thing these first-responders need is to have to worry about people inside the evacuation zone. But, ultimately, as long as they sort of sign a waiver saying they acknowledge the risk, they can stay.

BALDWIN: Jim Spellman, I just want to ask about you. I know you and I were e-mailing before the show. You said you were driving very close to the fire. How close are they allowing you to get? And, also, where are you? And what do you see? What do you smell right now?

SPELLMAN: Right now, we're about to leave the main road, 260, and head into town of Greer. Last night yesterday -- late yesterday afternoon, the fire flared up near Greer, and it's damaged, possibly destroyed a handful of structures in town of Greer. This is the area that they're most worried about, the northwest corner of the fire. It got behind them yesterday afternoon. They had to pull back. And this is where they're least defended. So, this is where a lot of their emphasis is right now.

We are trying to head down into Greer right now. They have locked down this whole area. Roads are closed, so we're being escorted by some of the firefighting crews here. And it's slow going. A lot of roads are closed. And we are trying of course to stay out of the way.

But you will see spots that are fine and then a whole side of a ridge that's smoking heavily right now that we didn't see smoking yesterday. So it's definitely made progress. And despite that lack of a red flag warning today, they told us, definitively, this fire will grow today. Just because those winds are not as high as they have been, it will grow, without doubt. They're just trying to make sure that it's not growing in -- at all possible, into structures and where people are.

BALDWIN: Jim, I want to let you get off the phone. Go grab some pictures. Be safe. Get some pictures. And do me a favor. Sent them back to us. Maybe we will get you back in, back on the phone -- back on the phone line. Jim Spellman, thank you.

One more thought from you?

MYERS: When the fire gets this big, 600,000 acres, whatever it's going to be tomorrow, the next day --

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: -- you have to talk about the mileage of the fire line. You're -- when you have a small fire, and it's 640 acres, you have got a mile on each side.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Talking about the circumference?

MYERS: Circumference. Now, all of a sudden, your circumference is as big as the state of Rhode Island. Could you imagine trying to fight a fire, stopping it from going to Connecticut or Massachusetts the size of Rhode Island? And that's what these firefighters literally have to do.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes --

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: -- spread out.

BALDWIN: -- Chicago and New York, yes, massive.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, thank you very much.

Now to this -- they're fleeing for their lives, thousands of Syrians trying to get out of the country. Our Ivan Watson is at the border crossing. He's going to join me next with that.

And then the woman everyone is talking about today, Anthony Weiner's wife, here she is. We have some video of her traveling in the Middle East, traveling with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We're going to have more on her coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Syria, refugees are rushing to the border with Turkey, trying to stay ahead of feared government crackdown. Now, Turkey says more than 1,000 Syrians have crossed the border, this happening just overnight.

CNN's Ivan Watson reports from this hilly border area between these two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you're looking at one of the (AUDIO GAP) that have been moving up and down the border road here from Turkish territory to the Syrian border very close by.

Many of them have been carrying back refugees, Syrian refugees, from just over here, less than a mile from where I'm standing back to (AUDIO GAP) territory. Many of these refugees have fled the Syrian border town of Jisr Al-Shugur. That's about 10 miles as the crow flies over these hills.

Why have they been running? Because they're afraid that the Syrian army's going to come and attack them in that town. They're describing the town as a ghost town right now. The Syrian government claims that up to 120 Syrian security forces were massacred in Jisr Al-Shugur. That's an account that the refugees themselves are disclaiming.

They say, no way, what happened is the soldiers started firing amongst themselves when the soldiers were asked to open fire on peaceful civilian demonstrators. The point is, is that, in just a few days, more than 2,000 refugees have crossed the border here into Turkey.

They are being housed now at a refugee camp run by the Turkish Red Crescent in an abandoned tobacco factory. There have been scores of wounded people, mostly young men with bullet wounds, shrapnel wounds, burns, being treated at local hospitals.

The Turkish government, which was a close economic and political ally of Syria, they have announced that their borders will remain open. So we can probably expect more of these refugees in the days ahead. Brooke, we actually talked to one activist in a town further into Syrian territory, and he described Wednesday night that protesters were out burning tires, trying to block a column of at least nine Syrian tanks from moving through their town to this rebellious northern border town of Jisr Al-Shugur -- back to you, Brooke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ivan Watson, thank you so much there in between Turkey and Syria.

And now, back in Washington, desperate times call for desperate measures. So, Vice President Biden is now involved. He's jumped into this contentious debate over our nation's very, very real money problems. So, coming up next, we're tell you what he's doing today and how all of this affects you.

And now a quick quiz. The current debt ceiling is just a tad over $14 trillion. It's $14.3 trillion. But do you know how much it was back when first set in 1917? Here are a couple of guesses. Multiple choice, making it easier for you. Could it be, one, $11 trillion, two, $11.5 billion, or, three, $730 billion? The answer right after the break.

But, first, here is some free money advice from the CNN Help Desk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get answers to your financial questions.

Joining me this hour, Manisha Thakor is a personal finance author. And Doug Flynn is a certified financial planner and founder of Flynn Zito.

Let's go to the first question, guys. It's from Randy in Cameron Park, California. Randy asks: "Our house is about 41 percent underwater and we will struggle to pay the $2,800-a-month mortgage when I retire in nine years. What are the downsides of walking away now," Manisha.

MANISHA THAKOR, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: There are a lot of downsides. First, we have got the whole moral issue, and how you're going to feel about doing that.

Another one is just the impact that it's going to have on your credit score if you ever are needing to borrow money going forward. I notice Randy said she's planning on retiring in nine years. And I'm wondering, why think of retiring if you have still got this situation?

What I would rather him do is talk to somebody maybe at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Homeowner Crisis Resource Center and really try and figure out what they can do with their budget. Can they refinance? Can they do a short sale? Are there other things they can do to get in a position where walking away doesn't feel like the only option?

ULRICH: Right. Great advice.

Now, from Terry in Belvidere, Illinois.

Terry asks: "If I retire at 62 and collect Social Security, I'm allowed to make $14,400." That's this year, right? "Now, can I continue to work and contribute all of my $14,400 of those earnings to my 401(k)?"

Doug?

DOUG FLYNN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: Well, the first part is I think it's actually this year $14,160.

ULRICH: Ah.

FLYNN: Beyond that, they take back one of every two dollars that you make from Social Security. So, you do -- you do have that.

So, the second part of his question is this. You can if it's -- if your plan allows it. And what that means is, you can absolutely put 100 percent of your income away up to the limits -- this year for people over 50, it's $22,000 -- and wipe out that taxable income. But your plan has to allow it.

See, there are federal rules and then each plan is approved by the Department of Labor. Your plan might be an old plan, where it only allows 15 percent or 25 percent of your earnings. If that's the case, even though you should be able to, you may not be able to.

So -- but if the plan has been updated and it allows 100 percent, you can do exactly what he's looking for. But here's the thing. You have to get the summary plan description, or an SPD. They legally have to give it to you, although it's difficult to get, but they have to give it to you. And that will tell you exactly what you can do.

ULRICH: Plan by plan. Thank you, guys, so much.

Now, do you have a question that you want us to answer? Well, send us an e-mail any time to the CNN Help Desk at CNN.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, just in to us here at CNN, some breaking political news about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He would like to be president come 2012. Came under fire recently after throwing his hat in the ring and then taking a two-week vacation to the Mediterranean with his wife.

Let's go to senior political editor Mark Preston with the breaking news.

Mark, what are you learning? MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, Brooke, you're right, House Speaker Newt Gingrich deciding -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich deciding that he does want to become president. Well, his road is going to be a little bit more difficult.

CNN has learned, as other news agencies are now reporting, that his campaign manager, Rob Johnson, has resigned. In addition to that, several other senior staff members have left the Gingrich campaign. This comes at a very critical time. Next week on Monday night, CNN will be holding the first real Republican presidential debate, where all of the candidates will be on stage.

Newt Gingrich, however, doesn't appear to have his senior staff in place heading into Monday night. Of course, we will be following this to try to figure out what will be Newt Gingrich's next steps.

As you said, he's come under criticism. He came off the campaign trail for two weeks. It was back in New Hampshire yesterday for an appearance. However, he is down today. So, we're following this story in Washington -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Mark Preston, let us know if you learn anything else there about Newt Gingrich and his staff, senior staff, at that.

Thank you, Mark.

Before the break, gave you a little quiz, asked you would if you knew how much the U.S. debt ceiling was when it was first set back in 1917. So, again, your three options. You thought about it. You mulled this over. What was the answer? Number two, the answer, $11.5 billion.

Now, the debt ceiling in this year, 2011, has led to quite a fight on Capitol Hill. And Vice President Joe Biden now kind of jumping in to play referee. He is again getting Democrats and Republicans back together to try to break this gridlock over raising our country's debt limit.

Right now, the country's credit is maxed out. And we have until August 2. That's the deadline from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to raise this. But you have to throw in a sluggish jobs report from last month and what has been a plunging stock market and that is simply adding to even more urgency.

I want to go to Jeanne Sahadi. She's a senior writer for CNNMoney.com.

And, Jeanne, I read your piece. And I know it seemed like the crux of it is, the Republicans are saying, look, you have got to cut spending, cut spending in the trillions. In exchange, then they will vote to raise the debt ceiling.

But what about this whole concern about cutting spending? What are you hearing from some of these deficit hawks you speak of? How might that hurt the economy?

JEANNE SAHADI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

Yes, I talked to some career deficit hawks, people like David Walker, who used to be basically the country's auditor. He used to be the U.S. comptroller general. And he said the short-term deficit really isn't the country's problem, because it's the result of short- term problems, like high unemployment, slow growth.

So his attitude is, sure, we can do some cuts, but let's not do too many initially because it will hurt the economy. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, said the same thing on Tuesday in a speech to international bankers.

The concern is if you take too much money out of the economy, that is going to hurt unemployment. It's going to make it much harder for people to find work, and it's going to cut down on people's spending. So, the concern is that you want to put in place a long- term plan, because that will help bolster confidence among investors and businesses, because that's the whole point. And yet you don't want to undermine the recovery. So, that's -- that's their concern.

BALDWIN: It's tricky, sort of balancing both.

SAHADI: Yes, it is.

BALDWIN: Then you have the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Chris Van Hollen. I want to quote him.

He says, using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip is like -- quote -- "playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded revolver."

But, Jeanne, what happens if we -- if they don't vote to raise it and we end up defaulting? What then?

SAHADI: Well, here's the thing.

So, let's say August 3 comes and we haven't raised the ceiling.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SAHADI: The truth is, nobody can say exactly what will happen because the bond market is inherently and the stock market is inherently unpredictable.

But here's what I'm hearing from bond investors. They think it would be really ridiculous for lawmakers not to raise it because it just opens the door to investors starting to worry that they will not get paid.

Now, they may get paid in the near-term, because Tim Geithner may decide and may be able to prioritize payments to them, but it opens a whole door of doubt for them.

BALDWIN: So, and I have had this conversation with a couple of members of Congress, you know, about how Americans, you know, we're taught not to default, right, on our mortgage, et cetera.

(CROSSTALK)

SAHADI: Yes.

BALDWIN: So what kind of message would this send to the country if the federal government does?

SAHADI: Well, again, another bond investor I talked to said, he thinks that if we pay principal and interest on our debt, maybe we won't technically be in default, but we will look like a banana republic, because basically what we're saying is we will pay some people, but we will have to stiff others temporarily, and we will have to pay them once lawmakers eventually raise the debt ceiling, which they eventually will have to do, because even if we never pass another spending increase, never pass another spending tax cut, we are going to have to continually raise the debt ceiling.

So, it's not a license to spend more. It's a license to pay our bills that we have already incurred.

BALDWIN: As we said, deadline August 2, though I remember reading, you know, we have this stellar AAA rating from Moody's. And they're going to reevaluating that next month. So the clock is definitely ticking.

SAHADI: All three rating agencies.

BALDWIN: Yes. Jeanne Sahadi --

SAHADI: All of them are saying, hey, guys, don't mess this up.

BALDWIN: You have got to do this and do this quickly.

Thank you so much.

SAHADI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Just a reminder, you can read her piece. Go to CNNMoney.com.

Coming up next: Alabama's tough new immigration law, the governor of that state just signed it. This is official. It could land you in jail for simply driving an illegal immigrant anywhere.

And did you see this, the mom accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter breaking down? We're going to tell you why Casey Anthony cried in court today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Checking your top stories, well, if you thought Arizona's controversial immigration law was tough, take a look at this.

This is Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signing what is now touted as the nation's toughest law against immigration. It requires, among other things, police to run immigration status checks on anyone stopped for any reason if they cannot immediately prove they're here in the country legally. Also, schools will have to check students' citizenships and report costs of educating undocumented immigrants. Also a crime in the state of Alabama, knowingly renting a house to illegal immigrants. The law set to go into effect the 1st of September.

And Casey Anthony getting emotional today in the courtroom. Take a look at this, wiping her tears with a Kleenex there, looking at graphic pictures of her dead daughter shown to jurors there in her murder trial under way again today in Orlando. The judge warned spectators to control their emotions, or get out, as witnesses described the discovery of little 2-year-old Caylee Anthony's duct- taped skull in a wooded area.

Earlier, Casey Anthony's brother, Lee, was back on the stand. He testified that his sister told him a nanny snitched little Caylee from her because the nanny didn't believe Casey Anthony was a good mother. Here she is, pictures of Casey Anthony moments ago, apparently falling ill, being escorted out of the courtroom. Court just recessed for the day.

It is the first hurricane of the season in the Eastern Pacific. Adrian has formed in the Pacific Ocean just off Mexico. It is already a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds about 115 miles per hour. For now, the biggest risk from Adrian, possible dangerous rip currents.

Some call her Bill and Hillary Clinton's second daughter. When we come back, more on the wife of Congressman Anthony Weiner, what we're learning about her today.

And then, have you seen this? It might be happening on the sun. But guess what? It could cause quite a bit of damage right here on Earth. We're going to tell you what we're talking about, tell you how this happening, and we will tell you exactly what you're looking at.

What is this? Do you know? Tweet me. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A growing number of Democrats are publicly wishing Congressman Anthony Weiner would just up and go away. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont is the latest high profile Dem to suggest Weiner should resign in the wake of his sexting scandal.

Here's the latest today, an X-rated picture Weiner allegedly took of himself has surfaced online. And adding to the drama, Weiner's wife of almost one year is pregnant. We wanted to know a little bit more about this woman who, by far, is standing by her man. So we sent Mary Snow to find it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Congressman Anthony Weiner fights for his political life in New York, his wife, Huma Abedin, continues working thousands of miles away, seen here in Abu Dhabi with her boss, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The 35-year-old Abedin, one of Clinton's top aides, noticeably absent from her husband's side when he admitted having sexually explicit communications with several women and lying about it.

But "The Washington Post" reporter quotes friends of Abedin as saying don't read too much into her absence.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Her friends say that this is obviously a bump in the road for her marriage, she's very much committed to her husband, she loves her husband, and she wants to work it out.

SNOW: Abedin is a Muslim who grew up in Saudi Arabia. Weiner is Jewish and raised in Brooklyn. He has a reputation for being brash and relishes the spotlight. Abedin shies from it and is described as very private. A rare exception was in 2007 when "Vogue" magazine profiled her.

She's most often the person in the background, constantly at the side of Hillary Clinton and the person who has her ear. Abedin started as a White House intern in 199 6 and worked in several capacities since then. She was on the campaign trail in 2008 presidential election and serves as deputy chief of staff to Clinton.

And she's more than a trusted aide, Clintons describes her as a second daughter to the Clintons and sister to Chelsea. The former president even officiated at ceremony when Weiner married Abedin last July. While Abedin hasn't sought the spotlight she hags mas made a name in Washington.

HENDERSON: She comes across as alluring and glamorous in a tau town like Washington she brings Hollywood glamorous good looks in a rolodex filled with celebrities and political titans across the road.

SNOW (on camera): A friend of Abedin who asked not to be identified to respect her privacy, said her friends will do everything they can to protect her. Earlier this week, democratic strategist James Carville said she's very popular in democratic circles and Democrats were livid at Weiner for putting his wife through this.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Mary, thank you.

Now to the next story which, by the way, thanks for tweets, many who guessed what this thing is. I don't think I've ever said the words "geomagnetic current" on television before, but there's a first for everything. And we'll explain what wild picture of the sun could be doing perhaps to your internet connection today.

And the man on this billboard claims he would have been a father by now had his ex-girlfriend made a different choice about her pregnancy. Now he's standing up for quote/unquote "father's rights," why he decided to public humiliate a woman he once loved. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One of the biggest eruptions seen on the sun is what's trending today. Take a look at this amazing piece of video, thank you to NASA for providing this. This is a giant solar flare. This flare sent plasma particles hurdling through space and created beautiful pictures, all of this is being carried along solar winds topping some three million miles an hour.

Here's one worry, Chad Myers will talk about this, could the geomagnetic current cause major problems with the earth's satellite, maybe our power grids, maybe affect transformers? I was reading possibly flights affected. In your best Chad Myers-esque way, please explain what this is and how I mean it's beautiful pictures, should we be worried.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Someone poked the sun and the sun went and let out this coronal mass ejection. It's particles flying toward the United States, the world.

BALDWIN: Quickly.

MYERS: But not flying toward us directly, good news. Did you see how to came out the side and the bottom? Think about the globe and then think about the sun being three dimensional. If it -- if this coronal mass ejection was in the middle of the picture and went -- that's what we saw -- then this wind, we would know there's a lot coming our way. This will be a glancing blow to the earth.

Yes, there will be some probably geomagnetic storms. It's aurora borealis. So this happens a lot. But we are now about to come into a solar maximum of what all of these sun spot cycles -- if you heard about that -- and how this may start to come up.

Here's a graphic that we've made here. The last real maximum was back in '99, 2000, 2001. We've been in a minimum for a very long time. In the minimum you get one of these CMEs every week. Half we don't see because they may go out the other side of the sun. You can't see those. But near the solar maximum you can get two to three every day. And so that could be the significant part of that.

Now we're going it start to see more and more and more up until about the year 2013. There it is. There's the explosion. See that kind of almost -- this is going to stop and run again -- I want you notice it explodes and then some of the stuff is sucked back into the sun. And see where it splashes down?

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: Splashes are the size of the earth. That's just -- that poof. I know this looks like a disk the size of your TV set but it's the sun and the splashdowns are the size of the earth.

BALDWIN: Given the size of the splashdowns and on these concerns potentially with the issues with power outages or issues with my internet today, could this be part of the problem? MYERS: It certainly could cause a problem. And there will be many more problems in the coming future. Last time we had this big maximum we didn't have as many satellites. We didn't re lie on the internet quite as much. All of a sudden --

BALDWIN: We're of a digital age, friend.

MYERS: How long could you live without your blackberry? Sometimes when the CMEs come in and the satellite owners see them coming, they may have to shut satellites off to protect them for a while.

BALDWIN: How much of a heads up do you get?

MYERS: Between 48 and 72 hours from when that thing pops to when it would get here.

BALDWIN: The smart folks at NASA can predict this?

MYERS: Yes. This isn't going to happen and six minutes later it's going to get here. This takes days and days. This wind, this flare, energy, does not come at the speed of light.

BALDWIN: It's an amazing perspective of the sun that we rarely get and here we are, Chad.

MYERS: We have better telescopes.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much, Chad Myers. Appreciate it.

All of this week here CNN has been going in depth on our listening tour. We want to hear from you about what issues will be front and center when you're heading into next year's election. We went to Philadelphia and the issues are not that different for most cities struggling with budget cuts, lay-offs, and crime. Here is Sarah Hoy. She spoke with some folks in Philadelphia about what they say must change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REV. LEROI SIMMONS, ENON TABERNACLE BAPTIST CHURCH: What would satisfy me would be folks who are who they say they are.

AINE ARDRON-DOLEY, MARKETING MANAGER: But with government it's like you keep moving up and you say and stay with old ideas that don't make sense and don't work.

ARDRON-DOLEY: I want a change. I want something different.

DOLEY: It's the politicians' job work for us but also the citizens' job to work for ourselves and with government.

SIMMONGS: I'm Leroi Simmons. I'm associate minister at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, born and raised in Philadelphia. I think that Philly is in a flux. We have a lot of folks who are poor folks, who really need help. Who really could use the political strength that we worked hard 20, 30 years ago to build.

EMALEIGH DOLEY, PR AND MARKETING MANAGER: My name's Emily Dole. I'm 27, I live in Philadelphia. We have a big issue with joblessness. And that does have an impact on neighborhoods and quality of life and individual families, but the larger infrastructure of a city as well. You can't just ask. You have to participate. You have to be an active citizen. And that's how we're able to get things done.

ARDRON-DOLEY: My name is Aine, I'm 34. I live in Philadelphia in the Germantown section of the city. We need to increase our efficiency. We've got government here running in Philadelphia like it was 1902 sometimes. We can't operate like that. That is not only a time stop but draining resources, taking away from our money. Maybe that's why we're broke.

EBONY BAYLIS, YOUTH UNITED FOR CHANGE: Hi, I'm Ebony Baylis, I'm 21. Instead of cutting education and putting month into police force and military, they need to take money from there and tut put it into school. Knowledge is power. We need knowledge. Without it, what are we going to do?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Sarah Hoy, great piece. Thank you so much.

Buy, sell, or hold, if you want to hear Republican candidates for president debate the economy and many other issues, join us next Monday evening for the New Hampshire presidential debate at 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on CNN.

You know the saying, a picture is worth 1,000 words. And in this case, 21 words helps this man get the point. Take a look. Meet the guilted ex-boyfriend behind the billboard's shocking claim. That's next.

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BALDWIN: OK, now to an unusual breakup story from a small town in New Mexico, population, 35,000. You get to know your neighbors in a place that size. So when this billboard went up, some folks recognized man seen in the billboard, arms cradling around this blank space, just right size for an infant.

Now that man's name is Greg Fultz. The message he paid for is this, and I'm quoting, "This would have been a picture of my two- month-old baby if the mother had decided to not kill our child." So, Fultz alleges his ex-girlfriend had an abortion.

Now her friends have said publicly, however, she had a miscarriage. Her attorney has said either way that billboard is a violation of the privacy. We asked for Fultz' ex-girlfriend or attorney to join us, but they have not responded to our question.

I want to go to Greg Fultz and his attorney, both live. Greg, OK, I have to, first, begin with this. You know, pregnancy can be an immensely emotional experience for any couple, especially, if let's say unplanned. So why, why handle your reaction in a public way?

GREG FULTZ, CLAIMS IN A BILLBOARD GIRLFRIEND HAD AN ABORTION: Well, it was -- it was handled in a way that tried to give me a sense of healing over it because it's been a pretty traumatic time for me as well. And I wanted to do something to help her close this tragic event in my life.

BALDWIN: I'm going out on a limb. I haven't spoken with her, but I'm going to guess it was traumatic for your ex-girlfriend too. When you say this whole experience, I've read, woke you up to the issue of father's rights and that's what inspired you to pay $1200 for the billboard, has this been the first time you've gone through this, losing a pregnancy with a girlfriend? What was your stance on abortion prior to this?

FULTZ: Yes. This is the first time I ever conceived a child. I'm 35 now and I've always believed that I was never able to conceive. And I've always had a pro-life stance. I strongly believe that abortion should not be used as birth control, and that's just my stance and it always has been.

BALDWIN: Greg, here's the thing. You're an adult and you felt jilted by your ex-girlfriend. Why not be an adult? Why not approach her, talk about it in person? Why pay $1,200 and humiliate this woman?

FULTZ: Well, first thing, this is the about her. OK?

BALDWIN: In part, it is. I just have to jump in. In part it is, because she was with you and this is about her.

FULTZ: Well, this -- the relationship that I had ended almost a year ago, OK? I'm past her. This is about me healing from a tragic investment that I was affected by. And it moved me so profoundly that, you know, I had to do something, to give myself closure.

BALDWIN: So why --

FULTZ: And this was never about her.

BALDWIN: So, why not then, if you wanted to heal, if you wanted to heal why not spend the $1,200 that you used on the billboard and educate young men about father's rights, if you feel that strongly about the issue?

FULTZ: Well, what it was is I need -- when I was going through this pregnancy, I came to find out quickly that fathers have no rights when it comes to an unborn child and I was completely powerless to do anything. And I found that quite shocking and unbelievable.

And I developed this billboard at the time when my child would have been born, if the child would have survived. But I thought that this would make a very good message, and it's profound, and it's just enough to, you know -- powerful enough message to really start a discussion on father's rights and -- BALDWIN: Greg Fultz, do you feel like this public humiliation for your ex-girlfriend and this healing for you, has it been successful? Do you feel through this? Do you feel healed?

FULTZ: Well, I must disagree with you on that. Like I said, this is nothing to do with her. The billboard is a general statement that can apply to anybody. And

BALDWIN: She took this to court so she would argue, sir this very much has to do with her. She's suing you for violating her privacy and also for harassment. She, in addition, has accused you of domestic violence. Is there any reason for her to be afraid of you physically, Greg?

FULTZ: No. Like I said, the relationship's been over for a year.

BALDWIN: I understand, but she still took you to court.

FULTZ: There's no -- there's violence there's been no threats. We even work in the same building together. And the only time a threat came up was when she took me to court.

BALDWIN: Mr. Holmes -- forgive me, I just want to have your attorney jump in just briefly. Essentially, she is arguing that is invasion of privacy. You-all are arguing that is freedom of speech, is that correct?

TODD HOLMES, ATTORNEY FOR GREG FULTZ: Well, first of all, good afternoon, Brooke, and thanks for having us on and hello from New Mexico. What an interesting issue in this wildfire of debate over this vibrant discussion nationally, internationally even on these issues is really what freedom of speech is all about.

Offensive speech touches on personal lives. Offensive speech touches on issues regarding someone's life. But there is no abuse of privacy here in his exercise of his statement he wants to get out and that is, hey, you know what, dads should have rights in these decisions. Not just --

BALDWIN: I understand this is your quilt essential battle over father's rights. My final question to you, Greg, and then we are going to go the court has ordered take this billboard down by the end of next week or you could be thrown into jail, so, Greg, what are you going to do?

FULTZ: Well, the only way this billboard's coming down is if it's forced down, because I won't have --

BALDWIN: Well, the judge says it has to come down, so are you taking it down yourself?

FULTZ: It will come down when it's forced down by someone other than me. I will -- I will go to jail while it's in its contracted time. BALDWIN: So, you're willing to go to jail -- let me just ask you this you're willing to go to jail rather than take this billboard down?

FULTZ: If that is the last resort option, yes. I'm passionate enough to stand up for what I believe in and people can associate themselves with anything. It doesn't make it true.

BALDWIN: Greg Fultz, Todd Holmes, gentlemen, thank you. Interesting discussion, and I have a lot of tweets, I already can tell. Again, Greg's ex-girlfriend and her attorney did not respond to an interview for today. We most definitely reached out multiple times.

We are learning more details about those resignations from Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. Wolf Blitzer has the latest news and he's going to join me live with that.

And then everything about you, your bank statement, mortgage payments, records, it is all stored somewhere electronically. And if hackers can crack into Citibank, imagine what they can do to you. We are going to talk to a pretty big name in the hacking world, a convicted hacker who has switched teams, works for the good guys. He will talk about how you and I can protect ourselves. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's go live to Wolf Blitzer with the latest news hot of the Political Ticker. And Wolf, I just have to ask about Newt Gingrich. We're learning his campaign manager is out, staffers are out. Is this a pretty crucial blow?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It looks like a huge development. And some are already suggesting, Brooke, as you know, his huge presidential campaign which just started only a few weeks ago could imploding even as we speak right now.

He insists he is going forward, going to be out in Los Angeles speaking before a Republican Jewish coalition group. He says he will be at the CNN New Hampshire debate Monday night. But when most of your senior staff, not amount national senior staff but those staff working in key states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, they quit en masse, that is obviously very, very significant step.

And it comes on the heels of some major blunders he has obviously made. I think a lot of those staff members were not happy with the criticism he had on "Meet the Press" as far as Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan. They were certainly not happy that word surfaced that they had as $500,000 credit limit at Tiffany's in New York.

And what may have pushed some of them over the top is just two weeks ago, he and his wife, Calista, decided to go on vacation, previously scheduled vacation in a cruise line to the Mediterranean, the Greek isles and turkey, the Seaborne Odessa, luxurious cruise ship. You know, you start a presidential campaign you don't go on vacation and you especially don't go on vacation to the Mediterranean as opposed to some place in the United States, California, Florida, the Grand Canyon.

You go on a luxurious European cruise right after you announce you are running for president of the United States? I think that irritated a lot of his staffers. And they had other differences, I'm sure, as well. But it does not bode well for Newt Gingrich and his entire presidential ambition right now, although he says he is going forward and will continue the campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes. As you mentioned, he was one of the folks invited to CNN presidential debate Monday. And like you said, he still plans on being there.

Wolf Blitzer, I appreciate it. Thank you so much here.

We are going to have more of the developing story in just a few moments.