American Morning
Welcome to the Tea Party: Infighting plagues conservative group
Editor's Note: CNN's Jim Acosta takes you inside the Tea Party movement and sits down with those who started it to talk about the factions within the movement and the first ever 'Tea Party Convention.' Tomorrow on American Morning, they were behind Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts and now they have their sights set on the Senate race between Florida Governor Charlie Crist and tea party darling Marco Rubio in the Republican primary.
By Jim Acosta, CNN
Take recession-raging conservatives and independents, add a Democrat to the White House, and you get the tea party.
And there's more brewing in this rebellion against bailouts and big government than just Scott Brown's Tea Party-infused upset in the Massachusetts Senate race.
"This was a major victory in what I would call the 2nd American Revolution," says Mark Meckler.
Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, founders of the “Tea Party Patriots,” want this movement to blow the lid off Capitol Hill in this year's elections.
They plan to back candidates who stand for tea party principles. It doesn't matter if it's a Republican or Democrat standing in the way.
“I think that if it had been John McCain the same thing would have happened. I truly believe it,” says Martin.
In one year, the Tea Party has gone viral – from dozens to now hundreds of loosely linked groups around the country. But Meckler and Martin don't tell them what to do. That's not the Tea Party way.
Medical journal: Autism-vaccine study flawed
It was a landmark study that helped fuel the highly-charged debate over whether the MMR vaccine was linked to autism in children.
Now, more than a decade later, the medical journal The Lancet, which published the study, is retracting it. Our Alina Cho has the report.
CNNHealth: Controversial autism study retracted
Jackson's doctor could face manslaughter charges today
Dr. Conrad Murray expects to surrender to Los Angeles authorities this week on charges relating to the death of Michael Jackson, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Murray has been the sole focus for months since Jackson's death was ruled a homicide from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic drug propofol. Our Ted Rowlands has the report.
Pension gaps plague cities and states
By Carol Costello and Bob Ruff
We caught up with New York City Sanitation worker Chris Becker along his route in downtown Manhattan. It was 10 a.m. and Becker had been hard at work hauling the city’s garbage into his truck for four hours already.
Why did he take a job that defines backbreaking work?
“I didn’t come on the job straight out of school,” he told us. “I came on the job when I was 26-years-old. I saw all the big corporate mergers and people buying up companies and, you know, I got a little nervous, so I went for security. I took a couple of tests and sanitation was the first one that called me. I took it.”
A big part of that security for Becker is the Sanitation Worker’s Pension Plan. It allows him to retire after 20 years on the job, with full benefits, so long as he keeps contributing almost 10% of his salary to the plan. Now 37, Becker can retire at 46 and immediately start receiving his pension roughly equal to half his salary every year for the rest of his life.
Welcome to the Tea Party: Whose party is it?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://blogs.cnn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2010/02/teaparty-gi-art.jpg caption="Protesters gather on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally on September 12, 2009 in Washington, DC."]
By Jim Acosta, CNN
Once written off by Democrats as "astroturf" (Washington-speak for faux grassroots) and a word that rhymes with "fleabaggers," tea party activists across the country are proving the skeptics wrong.
Scott Brown's tea party-infused upset in the Massachusetts Senate race stopped health care reform in its tracks. A tea party two-fer.
Still, ask around and many Americans are wondering, "who are these tea party guys?"
So that's what we did. In part one of our series, "Welcome to the Tea Party," we went to some rallies, talked to two of the major tea party outfits and zeroed in on one activist in the movement who's worried it's being co-opted by the Republican Party.
Here's what we've found. The tea party is not astroturf. It's a booming movement of conservatives and independents.
Many of the activists don't like President Obama. But some are just as mad at the GOP. Much of the anger is fueled by the bailouts and runaway deficits. And one thing is clear, the activists are not going away.
As for that activist who is worried Republican Party operatives are circling his movement – that part is true.
On Wednesday's American Morning, we've got a behind-the-scenes look at the Tea Party Express, the popular conservative bus tour that swept the nation. We're not riding the bus. Instead, we visit the group's offices, located – get this – inside a Republican political consulting firm.
Tell us what you think about the Tea Party movement. And don't forget to watch parts two and three on American Morning. Here's a two word preview: Marco Rubio.
We Listen – Your comments 2/2/2010
Editor's Note: Tuesday’s American Morning audience expressed deep concern for Haiti’s orphans. Some who were already in the process of adopting children from the country shared the very thorough vetting process that takes place in order to adopt. Others suggested alternative options to adopting, such as sponsoring children in-country who can stay with loved ones but benefit from assistance.
- Jennifer: I am a 44 year old single woman who has chosen adoption to start a family. I began this long and complex adoption process in August of 2009. The country I have chosen to adopt from is Haiti; I made that decision over 5 months ago and have followed all of the guidelines and met all of the government requirements to the fullest. I am one of the 900 or so people estimated to be "already in the process" of adopting from Haiti. My paperwork had been scheduled to be sent to the Haitian embassy the week of the earthquake. Adoption is not a quick process; there is a home study process that takes a minimum of 6 weeks; government approval that can take 6-8 weeks; dossier preparation that can take months. There are legitimate people like myself in this world whose lives have been scrutinized, back-ground checked, interviewed, etc. and approved to adopt. It's unfortunate that this small group of people to which I belong are now being lumped in with others "rushing to adopt from Haiti". I have been praying that people like myself who started this process long before the earthquake will not be categorized as people trying to wrest non-legitimate orphans from the streets of Haiti. Before the earthquake there were over 400,000 orphans in Haiti and a great need for international adoption; the country welcomed adoption from the U.S. and other countries. Now it seems that out of valid fears of child trafficking and exacerbated by the naive acts of the church missionaries, all of us trying to adopt from Haiti get a bad name. I'm a single woman who tried for years unsuccessfully to get pregnant through artificial insemination; adoption was the route I chose to have a family and gave me hope for a joyous future. Please remember that there are many of us out there with legitimate hopes and plans to adopt from Haiti. I pray every day that when the country is ready, the Haitian government will again open its doors to legitimate adoptive parents. My choice t o adopt is not out of some sudden humanitarian urge because of the scenes of the earthquake we have all seen on TV. This is my only hope for a family.
- Susan: Haiti children are beautiful, but here is some food for thought – I have an idea wouldn't it be better to send money to Haiti so families wouldn't have to be broken up. We have these organizations who sponsor children. Let's start sponsoring children over there and send food, clothing and money providing shelter, education etc., instead of having the families broken up. Now, if they have no families I can see adopting them. Those parents over there who gave their children over to these organization wanted them to have a better life and was doing this out of love for their children. Lets help families stay with their own blood families if we can first. Also, we have so many children as well, in the United States who are going hungry let's also help our own. These church organizations or any organization should do more in regards to helping the needy here in the USA and also adopting here in the USA. It they want black kids there are a lot of them here who can be adopted out. It's kind of shameful to see people sleeping on the streets and adults and children going hungry here in America. Let's clean up the homeland first. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves the question why there are so many African Americans and other children not being adopted out.
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