Textbooks Failing Oklahoma City Students?; Palin Campaigning in Minneapolis
LEMON: OK. All right, so, listen. You know who that is? Sarah Palin. She's in Minneapolis for Michele Bachmann. Let's listen in and then we will talk about it a little bit.</s>SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: She said no to that. We want a system that expands choices and freedom and competition. We want a system that we can afford, not another new entitlement program that breaks the bank and really violates much of our Constitution. Now, Michele told the Democrats to stop, start over. She told them to kill the bill. And now it is Michele who is leading the charge to replace this thing.</s>PALIN: Thankfully, Michele is part of that loyal opposition in Washington. She's standing up. She's speaking out. She's offering commonsense conservative solutions to the challenges our country faces. And when the left tries to push through policies that violate our conscience and our values and our Constitution, it's Michele who is trying to get them to halt. Michele doesn't just tell them no. She tells them H-E-L-L no.</s>PALIN: You know --</s>PALIN: -- here, the Republicans have been getting criticized lately with this -- with this mistaken concept, I guess, sort of surrounding Republicans right now, that they are the party of no, that we are the party of no. And we are saying, what's wrong with being the party of no, when you consider what it is that Obama --</s>PALIN: -- Pelosi, and Reid are trying to do to our country?</s>PALIN: So be it -- not when it violates our Constitution. Michele knows that we can't spend our way out of problems. And, this fireball, she is not afraid to stand up with that stiff spine. And I think she notices, too, that, as her spine has stiffened, it sure makes the rest of us be inspired and stand up even stronger and do what is right.</s>LEMON: Listen. As we told you, we would bring you some of the moments there in Minneapolis. And that is none other than Sarah Palin. And she's campaigning on behalf -- it's really a fund-raiser Representative Michele Bachmann. Republicans there are trying to, you know, go against the Democrats come 2010 in the midterms coming November of this year. So, they are trying to shore up support. They're bringing in Sarah Palin. Tim Pawlenty, who is a possible presidential hopeful on the GOP side, will also be at this fund-raiser for Representative Michele Bachmann. So, we shall see how it turns out. But there's Sarah Palin, who is believed to be, obviously, the main draw, the most famous of the group here, speaking out on behalf of Michele Bachmann, talking about the health care bill -- she disagreed with it -- and if people in that state, in Minnesota, wanted do get anything done, then they would send Michele Bachmann back to the House of Representatives. So, again, Sarah Palin, again, Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Convention Center. We will continue to update that. If any news comes out of it, we will bring it to you, of course, here on CNN. It is an indelible part of our history. Nearly 15 years ago, when the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City was bombed, killing 168 people. But Oklahoma residents worried that students too young to remember the attack weren't being taught about what happened on April 19, 1995. Where were you? Remember that day? I do. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed a law yesterday. Textbooks used by students in the state now must include information on the attack. And officials are now making sure that day becomes part of the required curriculum. Reporter Alex Cameron of affiliate KWTV shows us what led to those changes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy cow. About a third of the building has been blown away.</s>ALEX CAMERON, KWTV REPORTER (voice-over): We may remember this like it was yesterday, but it was almost 15 years ago. And students today don't remember it at all, not because the Survivor Tree has stopped teaching about resilience, the chairs have stopped teaching about the cost of violence, or because the fence no longer teaches the importance of community. It's because, basically, no one else is helping to spread the word.</s>ANN-CLORE DUNCAN, TRUSTEE, OKLAHOMA CITY NATIONAL MEMORIAL & MUSEUM: I was very disappointed.</s>CAMERON: Ann-Clore Duncan, a trustee of the Memorial Museum, found out her two high school kids haven't been taught anything about what happened here.</s>DUNCAN: The bombing hasn't been covered in their history classes at all. It is not currently part of their required curriculum.</s>CAMERON: Believe it or not, that's true, as the memorial director herself discovered firsthand while speaking at an assembly last year.</s>KARI WATKINS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OKLAHOMA CITY NATIONAL MEMORIAL & MUSEUM: And, as I looked up to 250 or so high school students, I could just see this blank stare, like I was almost speaking in a foreign language. I mean, they had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the Oklahoma City bombing.</s>BOBBY TANNER, TEACHER, CUSHING HIGH SCHOOL: Most of these kids right now that I have got in class were, you know, 1 or 2 years old when this happened.</s>CAMERON: Bobby Tanner teaches Oklahoma history at Cushing High School. He says he tries to cover the bombing, but there's not much on it in their textbook. (on camera): That's about it right there?</s>TANNER: That's pretty much it. So, it's -- it's -- for such a big deal, it is -- we have got basically two pages.</s>CAMERON (voice-over): In the other Oklahoma history textbooks used in the state, same story, two or three pages at most. But the real problem is that the bombing is not what's known as a PASS standard, a topic or event that the state requires teachers to cover in-depth, like the Trail of Tears is a PASS standard, the land runs, statehood, the Dust Bowl.</s>TANNER: It is hard to get through all of it.</s>CAMERON: Tanner says, with just one semester to cover all those and more, teaching the bombing just can't be a priority.</s>TANNER: As it is right now, no, it is not. But -- and I think that's why we need to make it a priority.</s>CAMERON: That's exactly what state superintendent Sandy Garrett and the Board of Education are doing. At the urging of the memorial staff, they are amending the PASS standards to include the bombing starting next school year.</s>SANDY GARRETT, OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF  PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: I would have liked to have done it sooner, but the social studies cycle for changing the standards was not really there yet. But we think that it is high time.</s>LEMON: All right. Thanks to our affiliate for that report. Listen, this is just in. We reported just a short time ago about the man arrested for allegedly threatening Nancy Pelosi. Well, CNN has confirmed that now. And this is from Joseph Schadler with the FBI in San Francisco. He is saying that a man was arrested just a short time ago in San Francisco for allegedly threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The FBI identified the suspect. Here's his name: Gregory Guisti, G-U-I-S-T-I. So, anyway, they are not saying exactly how old he is, but they do confirm arrested in San Francisco just a short time ago for alleged threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It is believed that he made some phone calls to her offices in both Washington and in California, and also made some phone calls to her husband's place of business as well. We'll continue to update you on that story as we get more information here on CNN. Meantime, listen to this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see your element got about four Humvees.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're clear.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Firing.</s>LEMON: Two Reuters journalists in Baghdad mistaken for insurgents are shot dead by U.S. forces. This tape recently surfaced, and it's really painful for the families. And painful as it is to see at least one person here, one of the journalists here, their families talk to us about it. And we're going to let you hear what they have to say straight ahead. THE LIST just scrolls on here.