American Morning
Treasury Secretary Geithner defends bailout
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is defending the bailout and trying to set the record straight about the stimulus. He sat down for an exclusive interview with our Christine Romans.
Spitzer talks stimulus
It's been a bruising week for the president's financial team. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was grilled by Congress over the bailout of AIG. And Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, was confirmed for a second term, but only after a grueling confirmation hearing.
All this comes as the president pushes for regulation to rein-in Wall Street. For his take, we were joined Friday on American Morning by the man they used to call the "sheriff of Wall Street," former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer.
Scale of Haiti crisis making relief efforts difficult
Because of the immense size of the disaster and the huge number of people still in need in Haiti, the relief efforts we've seen so far can seem like a drop in the bucket.
But as our as Gary Tuchman shows us, work is getting done and aid is slowly getting to some who desperately need it.
Caring for new lives in Haiti's disaster zone
17 days after the earthquake, there's at least one small sign of joy in Haiti – the new lives that have come into this world since the disaster.
Doctors in Port-au-Prince have set up a makeshift maternity ward to care for the newborns and their mothers. They're doing what they can with the supplies they have.
But as our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, even with all the challenges these doctors are facing, they haven't given up hope.
Note to a project we first reported on earlier this week
We told you about a research project that used a half million dollars in stimulus money to study binge-drinking patterns that lead to risky decision-making. The project is being funded by the National Institutes of Health and involves research at nightclubs in the Bay Area of Northern California.
In our report we said that the workers – old enough to go to a nightclub but young enough to blend in – were paid to go into the clubs and observe the people drinking there. Soon after that report aired, the principal investigator of the study wrote to CNN telling us we got some of it wrong. She says that the researchers will not be going into the clubs themselves... rather they will be interviewing patrons outside the clubs as they enter or leave. She says the researchers, who should have researching or interviewing experience, are likely to be young people, because the job will involve working late at night.
She and the National Institutes of Health strongly defend the study, saying it will save lives by reducing the number of accidents among young people, the leading cause of death for those aged between the ages of 15 and 34. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Gay soldier: Obama's 'don't ask' pledge a reprinted IOU
Editor’s note: Lt. Daniel Choi is an Iraq veteran and a West Point alumnus. He is facing discharge under "don't ask, don't tell," the 1993 law that bars openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military. An estimated 65,000 LGBT Americans serve in the armed forces, according to the Urban Institute.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/11/art.dan.choi.jpg caption= "Lt. Daniel Choi is an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic."]
By Lt. Daniel Choi, Special to CNN
As we watched our president speak so eloquently and thoughtfully about our country, many heard the resounding theme: "Jobs, jobs, jobs."
He spoke about the economy, then our national security, and then started speaking about our values. I wondered: "Is he going to address 'don't ask, don't tell'?"
We heard the buzz in the past days that he was going to mention it. I felt the speech was nearing the end and I was becoming a bit uncertain. And throughout this past year of coming out, standing trial for telling the truth, and fighting my discharge, I have become accustomed to this feeling of uncertainty.
This past year's journey has been a roller coaster for me. After returning home from Iraq and beginning my first love relationship, I realized that I could not lie anymore. Falling in love made me finally see why relationships make us more complete and more secure; I also began to understand my soldiers and their families.
As a leader, I always accepted the fact that my subordinates needed a support system at home, but now it became more than theory. The support and strength I got from my love relationship proved what I learned all along. It made me a better leader and soldier to finally understand true love.
So why should I lie about that?
When I came out publicly in March there was a great deal of uncertainty. Since I knew the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy would only require a statement as evidence to fire me, I was forced to choose: morals and honesty or career and rank?
But since my soldiers, peers and superiors knew about me being gay and there was no evidence of discomfort or chaos in my unit, I figured the military may indeed keep this Arabic linguist and West Point educated infantry officer.
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