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Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.
Obama-Clinton ticket 'on the table,' Woodward says
(CNN) – Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the "Dream Ticket" in 2008. It didn't happen.
But what about 2012?
"It's on the table," veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA. "Some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012."
The scenario – whereby Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would switch positions – has been bandied about by political observers for months, seen by some as a potentially savvy strategy to gin up excitement among what appears to be a depressed Democratic base.
But it's never been clear if the idea has been actually discussed in the White House, until now.
"President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries and, so they switch jobs, not out of the question, and the other interesting question is, Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president."
Clinton will be 69 years old and three months in January 2017. President Ronald Reagan was just shy of his 70th birthday in January, 1980. FULL STORY
20 oil tankers hauling fuel for NATO set ablaze; 1 dead
(CNN) - The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday on NATO supply vehicles in Quetta, Pakistan, a spokesman for the militant group told CNN by phone.
Quetta police said 20 oil tankers parked near Quetta were set ablaze, and one person died in the attack.
Azam Tariq, the central spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, said a special squad designated to strike NATO supply efforts made the attack.
At least five other attacks have been carried out on vehicles carrying supplies for NATO forces in the past week, killing at least six people.
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for two of earlier attacks. Tariq said this week that those attacks were carried out as revenge for drone strikes and NATO's attacks in Pakistan.
"U.S. and NATO forces are killing innocent Pakistanis, which is unacceptable, and we will teach them a lesson by such attacks," Tariq said. FULL STORY
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Bullying Solutions
by Carol Costello and Bob Ruff
(CNN) – At one time or another most anyone who has ever gone to school either has known a bully, been bullied or bullied others.
Many of us are also all too familiar with bullies thanks to Hollywood films, such as "Butch" of the "Little Rascals" or, more recently, the wicked "Queen Bee" in the 2004 film "Mean Girls."
Dr. Catherine Bradshaw, of the Johns Hopkins School of Health told us that about 10% of all school children have been bullied, another 10% did the bullying, and still another 10% both bullied and were bullied themselves.
Recently we reported that the Federal Government has taken notice, holding the first-ever bullying summit in August. And they've put up a comprehensive web site called "Stop Bullying Now" . But even the Federal Government's man in charge of school safety, Kevin Jennings, told us, "it's taken us a long time to develop a bullying problem. It's going to take some time to solve it."
Until that happens, parents and their children are faced with the question: How do you deal with a bully?
LIVE Blog: Chat with us during the show
Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.
As rescue drill nears, miners in Chile still have long way to go
Copiapo, Chile (CNN) - With 160 meters to go until the Plan B drill reaches 33 trapped miners, a breakthrough to the men may be imminent.
Then what?
At Camp Hope, the makeshift tent city where hundreds of family members are living, widespread celebrations will likely break out as the miners' loved ones receive news they have waited for more than 60 days to hear.
But despite any euphoria, the rescue operation will be entering its most dangerous phase for the men.
Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne made clear to reporters Saturday that the operation can only be called a success if all the men are rescued from the mine safely.
"We haven't rescued anyone here," Golborne said. "We have to be very conservative, nothing is finished."
Officials said they expect to have the men above ground between October 15 and October 30.
If the Plan B drill reaches the 624 meters (2,047 feet) to the trapped men, the miners will be closer than ever to freedom. But they will still have a long way to go before their actual rescue.
FULL STORY
Pakistan: 5 German among 8 foreign nationals killed in drone strike
(CNN) - Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed Tuesday that five German nationals were killed in a drone strike in northwest Pakistan a day earlier.
The Germans were among 11 suspected militants killed Monday. Three others were foreigners whose nationalities were not disclosed, said the officials - who did not want to be named. The rest were Pakistanis.
There were no immediate comments from Germany.
The strike happened in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, the officials said.
Missiles struck a building that held the eight, who are believed to have been members of the group Jihad al Islami, the officials said.
The strike comes a day after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint bulletin warning that terror attacks were being plotted against targets Europe. European intelligence officials said Monday that a group of jihadists from Germany were at the heart of the plots, but it was not immediately clear if the warning and the suspected drone strike were related.
The reported plots prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a Europe-wide security advisory for Americans traveling abroad. FULL STORY
U.S. judge bought drugs for stripper, feds say
Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) - A federal judge in Georgia has been arrested on drug and weapons charges after federal agents say he bought drugs for a stripper with whom he was having an affair.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp Jr. has been charged with possession of cocaine, marijuana and the painkiller roxicodone, according to court documents. He is also charged with possessing a firearm as an unlawful user of controlled substances and with aiding and abetting the possession of drugs by the stripper, who had a prior drug conviction.
Camp was arrested Friday after federal agents said he bought drugs from an undercover agent. He made an initial appearance Monday in a federal court in Atlanta and was released on $50,000 bond.
The charges allege that Camp had been paying the stripper for sex since the past spring and was fronting money to buy drugs for both of them. Before the sting that led to his arrest, he told her, "Let me pay him, because you've already got a record," the affidavit states.
Camp, 67, is the former chief judge for the northern district of Georgia. He was appointed to the bench by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and took senior status in 2008. His lead attorney, Bill Morrison, would not discuss the facts of the case but played down his client's public office. FULL STORY
Times Square bomb plotter to be sentenced
New York (CNN) - Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American suspect in the Times Square bombing plot, is expected to be sentenced Tuesday.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life in prison for Shahzad.
On Wednesday, prosecutors say Shahzad carefully selected his location as a highly populated target and intended to strike again if he wasn't caught the first time.
Shahzad is accused of attempting to set off a vehicle bomb in Times Square on May 1, according to documents filed in federal court Wednesday.
The bomb failed to detonate and he was arrested two days later while trying to leave the country on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Pakistan.
In a sentencing memo submitted to a federal court Wednesday, prosecutors paint a picture of a young man determined to target Americans on a large scale.
According to the memo, Shahzad used webcams accessible on the internet "as part of his effort to maximize the deadly effect of his bomb." FULL STORY
Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.
The Teaser for Tuesday, October 5, 2010
"The Teaser” is a preview of the guests we have lined up for the next day – so you know when to tune in (and when to set your alarm!). Guests and times are always subject to change.
6:40AM Tom Bevan, co-founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com, on the nitty gritty of the mid-term elections, breakdown of the numbers of seats in the House and the Senate. Find out what he thinks are the four toss-up states.
7:40AM Tom Davis, Former Republican Congressman from Virginia and Martin Frost, Former Democratic Congressman from Texas, weigh in on candidates up for re-election. What are the hurdles facing both parties with just four weeks left until the vote?
8:10AM Scott Ashjian, Nevada Tea Party Candidate running for U.S. Senate, on his recorded conversation with GOP candidate Sharron Angle. Why tape the meeting and did she ask him to quit the race? Could he be the spoiler?
Have questions for any of our guests?
Tweet 'em at Twitter.com/amFIX or post them below and we'll try to use 'em!
Have an idea for a story? Or more questions about something you saw or read on our amFIX blog, Facebook or Twitter?
E-mail your story ideas and questions to am@CNN.com.
The Bully Pulpit
By Carol Costello and Bob Ruff
Sometimes all it takes is one person.
In the minds of many, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat in the white section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama sparked the civil rights movement in the 1950s.
Candy Lightner lost her 13-year-old daughter to a hit-and-run drunk driver in 1980. Her decision to co-found MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, led to a nationwide movement which has been instrumental in strengthening state and federal drunk driving laws.
Kirk Smalley wants to ignite another kind of movement, one that might have saved his 11-year old boy, Ty. He wants parents, kids, educators and “all those smart people out there” to come up with a plan to end bullying in our schools.
We caught up with Smalley at a rally at Western Heights High School at Oklahoma City. He was invited to speak at the invitation Upward Bound, whose Stand for the Silent campaign was inspired by Smalley’s one-man mission to end bullying in schools.
“I have to make a difference,” Smalley told the students. “I promised my son on Father’s Day this year I’d stop this from happening to another child.”
Smalley says that for years his son, Ty, struggled with a bully at school.
“He was always getting called names. You know, Ty was always pretty small for his age, and he’d get shoved, pushed here and there.”
Smalley says Ty was a typical kid with typical grades who took the abuse for two years. On the day Ty finally decided to push back—physically—he got into trouble for doing it. He was suspended from school. For Ty, that was too much to bear. On that day, last May, he killed himself. He was 11 years old.
Ty’s funeral was captured by independent filmmaker Lee Hirsch, in the upcoming documentary “The Bully Project” which documents the pain suffered by the bullied and their families across the nation.
The pain that Smalley feels is still palpable. “Ultimately,” he said, “my son’s safety rested in my hands. I was responsible for my son’s safety–I’m his Dad! It’s my job to protect him! No matter what.”
Assistant Deputy Education Secretary Kevin Jennings was appointed by President Obama to keep kids safe at school. Ty’s story could easily have been his own.
“I was bulled very severely when I was in junior high and high school,” he says. “And the first day of 10th grade I actually refused to go back to school because I simply wasn’t going to go back to a place where I was bullied every day.”
Jennings organized the nation’s first-ever bullying summit over the summer. But, even he admits it’s a baby step. Experts can’t even agree on how to define bullying. Is it physical? Electronic? Psychological? Non-verbal? All of the above?
“It’s taken us a long time to develop a bullying problem,” says Jennings. “It’s going to take us some time to solve it.”
There are no Federal guidelines that schools must follow to deal with bullying. They’re on their own. In Smalley’s home state of Oklahoma, each school district deals with bullying in different ways. It’s something else that infuriates Smalley.
“A lot of schools around the country, their answer to bullying is they let the victim leave a little bit early. They let them go home early to get a head start on the bully…You’re singling this child out! This child that’s been picked on, you’re singling him out now!”
Real solutions will come too late for Ty. But, Kirk Smalley is on that mission. He has spoken to scores of schools about the dangers of bullying and worked with Outward Bound to hold “Stand for the Silent” rallies around the nation.
“I’m not going to stop,” he told us. “I’ll fight bullying wherever it’s found. Schools. Work place. I’m not going to quit until bullying does….”
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