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American Morning
Aid Rushes into Southeast Asia After Tsunamis; Dairy Industry Claims Calcium in Milk Helps Weight Loss
Aired December 28, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ford recalled more than 470,000 of that SUV model earlier this month due to an accelerator problem. So call your dealership now.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, definitely. Carol, thanks.
In Thailand, more than 1,000 people are dead following the tsunami disaster, many of them foreign tourists vacationing at beach resorts there. One of the heaviest hit towns was Phuket. But amid the tragedy, there is a story of hope as a 20-month-old little boy is reunited with relatives there. Matthew Chance is in Phuket. He is live now by video phone.
Matthew, this is a good story that we want to hear the details about.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP)
COLLINS: Unfortunately, you can see that we are having trouble with our videophone there and Matthew Chance, who is in Phuket, Thailand to tell us a little bit more about this little boy. We're going to continue to check back with him and get that story for you just as soon as it becomes possible - Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this natural disaster, as we've been describing it to you in Southeast Asia, has already prompted a worldwide recall of aide, which many countries and organizations are doing everything they can to try and answer. One of the groups is Direct Relief International. This is a medical relief agency that sends medical supplies to victims anywhere in the world that could possibly need it.
CNN's Ted Rowland is joining us now. He's in the packing location for this organization. It's in Goleta, California.
Ted, what have you got for us?
TED ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, Direct Relief, as you said, is just north of Santa Barbara, in California. And since word came out of the tsunamis and the need for relief, they have been at it pretty much around the clock, trying to organize a relief effort here. They have the largest standing inventory of medical supplies in the state of California and one of the largest in the United States, and they're trying to coordinate the actual needs there and get this delivered. There is a Federal Express plane that has been donated by the company. They expect it to leave out of Los Angeles as early as today or tomorrow, and they're trying to coordinate that effort to find out what the needs, how to pack that plane, and where to send it, because that is a major problem - or not problem, but a logistical question.
THOMAS TIGHE, PRES. & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF: Right.
ROWLAND: Thomas Tighe is the president of Direct. And tell us exactly what you're doing right now and to what extent is speed a concern and then the other logistical hurdles you have, really, with the shipping you're trying to get out.
TIGHE: It's a complex emergency that has shelter, food, water and sanitation. We're focusing on the health piece of a very complicated puzzle. As you mentioned, we have a large standing inventory, some great material that we think will be quite suitable. But, you know, this medical material is only as good as the hands that it ends up in, so it has to be the right stuff to the right people at the right time. So we're trying to accelerate the assessment of what is needed and how to get it there.
FedEx has been really generous providing that plane, but we want to make sure that we're not sending anything that is going to get in the way of other important things and the shelter, food and water issues as well.
ROWLAND: This warehouse is 36,000 square feet. It has all types of medical supplies in it.
TIGHE: Right.
ROWLAND: Specifically, what are we talking about? I know we were talking about this Lorabid as being one of the items you believe is going to be a major need. What is it, and what are we talking about, in terms of trying to get this to the affected areas?
TIGHE: Yes, Lorabid, this is kind of a straight-down-the-middle antibiotic that is suitable for acute respiratory ailments, which is anticipated to arise with people suffering from water-borne diseases, bacterial infections. There are other surgical instruments, basic sutures and gauze, and a range of pain medication, non-prescription, the Motrins and Tylenols that have been donated by the companies, Johnson & Johnson and some of the other - Becton Dickinson has provided a lot of material, as well as Abbot Labs and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is - they've really stepped forward, as has FedEx, to help us out.
ROWLAND: Communication, has it been a difficult hurdle for you, in terms of finding out where the need is and what the need is? I know Sri Lanka looks like the destination for a lot of this stuff.
TIGHE: Right. Well, as you mentioned, it's hard to assess nine countries at once. Sri Lanka is emerging as one of the centers of gravity because of the number of deaths and the difficulty of the number of displaced people. So we're trying to work with groups that we've already worked with in the past to make sure that we know what they need before we put anything on a plane.
And if things are available in the region, it's better to have them come not from here, but from India, if they can access the resources from there. So we're trying very carefully to make sure we proceed fast, but also to do it right, not just fast.
ROWLAND: All right, Thomas, thank you. He said a lot of these employees came to work when they heard of the tragedy there, here at Direct Relief, one of many organizations around the world going through this same thing, trying to organize relief and get it to the countries that are affected - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Ted Rowland, joining us from Goleta, California. We thank you, Ted.
Heidi, over to you.
COLLINS: We want to take you back now to Matthew Chance who is standing by via videophone in Phuket, Thailand. He had a story for us of a little boy, a 20-month-old boy who was rescued from the Tsunamis and has been reunited with some relatives. You see his picture there, Hannis Bergstrom (ph). Let's get the details now from Matthew.
Matthew, hello.
CHANCE: Hello to you as well, Heidi. We have a few technical glitches here, as you can imagine. The devastation is quite complete in areas of this island where we are. But this story that we were talking about is one that has really captivated the minds and the hearts of everybody who's been watching this region-wide catastrophe unfold.
Thousands of people killed around the region, of course, but it's this one boy, Hannis Bergstrom (ph), who's really sort of motivated the local media, the international media as well, as a sort of icon of the things that have had happened, the trauma that people here, tourists particularly, in Phuket and elsewhere have endured in the aftermath of this tsunami that hit the region.
Hannis Bergstrom (ph), as he's now known to be, is a year and eight months old. He's a Swedish national, but, for several days, he was found facedown in mud, half drowned by locals in this area of Thailand, taken to a hospital. He's made a some what full recovery. He's, today, been reunited with his grandparents, or at least with his grandmother and his uncle as well.
He's been told - his grandmother told us that his father has also been located in a hospital some distance from here, but he's not well enough to actually make the journey to come to his son. There is some joy that's been celebrated in that family, though, but also some despair as well, because it's also emerged that Hannis' mother is still not accounted for. She's still missing, just like about 1,000 other people in Thailand alone.
So a very heart-wrenching story. It seems that Hannis (ph) was swept from his grandfather's arms on the 26th of December when the tsunami hit. They all lost contact with each other. They were all picked up in some form or the other, with the exception of the mother, by the Thai emergency rescue team to the area and taken to different areas of the country, which is why they were separated. It was only after that intensive media campaign burst in the local "Phuket Gazette," which is the local paper here, then by the Thai media, then by the international media as well that they've actually been brought at least partially back together again, Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance with the story of Hannis Bergstrom (ph), who we would call a svenska putka (ph), a little Swedish boy, and great story that it is.
Through the disaster, though, that has killed countless people, there have been some amazing stories of survival. CNN spoke with Sam Nichols, a tourist who was at a Thai beach when the tsunami hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM NICHOLS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (voice-over): I'm used to seeing large waves coming from California, and when I stopped and looked out there, they didn't really look that big, and the water had drawn out so far that they seemed just so far away. I couldn't imagine that they were going to get here that - as quickly as they did at the end. I've never been in a situation like that. I think nobody knew what to expect, and I'm just - I just consider myself extremely lucky that I didn't get injured more than I did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I bet he does. Nichols also estimated that 90 percent of tourists have evacuated, but said some have stayed behind to help clean up the area.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We're going to bring you the very latest on what's going on in Iraq and the political future for the Sunnis in particular, minority to majority, majority to minority, what's going on. We're going to break it down with somebody from the left and somebody from the right.
COLLINS: Plus, if you drink milk, you lose weight, right? Well, at least according to an ad. We're going to talk about those claims and figure out if they're really all they're cracked up to be. It's coming your way, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, normally at this time, we get a report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, but today, he is on his way to Southern Asia to cover medical problems resulting from the tsunami disaster. We're going to have Dr. Gupta's reports beginning tomorrow right here on AMERICAN MORNING, so look out for that.
And as the results from this disaster continue to unfold, you can always log on to CNN.com for the latest information and find out what you can do to help. You'll also find first-hand accounts from survivors of the tsunamis - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk politics, shall we? "The New York Times" reports that the U.S. government is trying to name some Sunni Muslims to position in Iraq's new national assembly. Anyway to run a democracy? Joining us now to talk about that, among other things, is Republican strategist Joe Watkins. There he is with that just-ate-a- canary look that he's has had since the election ended. And Democratic strategist Karen Finney is joining us as well.
Good to have you both here.
KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nice to be here.
JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: This is interesting. You have the Sunnis, who were in power in a country where they were a minority.
FINNEY: That's right. That's right.
WATKINS: That's correct.
SANCHEZ: Ba'athists ruled somewhat ruthless, we might say.
FINNEY: Right.
SANCHEZ: And now the U.S. is trying to empower them.
FINNEY: And you've got...
WATKINS: And there are some folks who want to punish them, of course, because of the fact that they were affiliated with Saddam Hussein. They make up about 20 percent of the Iraqi population. Shiites, of course, make up about 60 percent of the population. The Kurds make up about another 20 percent of the population.
The concern is that they make get punished at the polls...
SANCHEZ: Like they did to the Shiites?
WATKINS: Well some people are thinking that, but the whole idea is for this thing to work is for this fragile democracy to work. We want it to work for the people. We want the people to really taste the freedom that we have in this country.
And so the thought is that even though we want - first, we want the Sunnis - I think people of good reason want the Sunnis to show up and to vote, of course, on election day. And at the same time, in the event that they aren't elected, we want to find a way to make sure they're incorporated as a government.
SANCHEZ: So they're represented, correct? Karen?
FINNEY: No. Well fragile is the operative term here. I mean here you have the Republicans essentially backing a quota system in this new government. WATKINS: (INAUDIBLE) just levels the playing field. That's all it is.
FINNEY: It isn't - no, it's just...
SANCHEZ: So what you're saying is let's just have an election, let the chips fall where they may.
FINNEY: Absolutely. Can you imagine if we tried to have some kind of a quota system here in our own government? That would never work.
Additionally, there are real concerns on the part of - you know, folks are concerned about their - there are real security concerns. Also, there have been logistical concerns. Apparently, information hasn't gotten out to the voters. So there are real concerns about how legitimate this election is going to be.
And, by backing such a quota system, it's basically an acknowledgement that we can expect real problems when these elections come down.
SANCHEZ: To a certain extent, though, doesn't this kind of remind us of the problems that were posed before we went into this war?
FINNEY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Like people like Brent Scowcroft who says, you know, you've got a situation in Iraq where you have the Sunnis over here, the Shiites over here...
FINNEY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: We don't want to destabilize that, because then we're going to have to mess up the apple cart too much.
FINNEY: Absolutely. It's absolutely...
SANCHEZ: Is that what's going on right now, Joe?
WATKINS: No, I think what it is - it's really - it's a sincere effort to make sure that the democracy works. I mean we're heading towards elections. The elections are not going to be postponed. They're going to happen at the end of January. That's not very far away.
The good thing about it is that if we can get everybody to vote, if we can get Sunnis to come out to vote - to come out to vote, just like we're getting the Shiites to come out to vote, then everybody has a chance to be represented.
FINNEY: It's yet another sign that the Bush administration policies are failing. If we're having to go to these kinds of measures this far in advance of the elections, that's saying - that's sending a very dangerous signal that we don't have confidence... (CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: ... that we don't have confidence that these elections are going to be able to be a true democrative (ph) representation...
SANCHEZ: Let's...
FINNEY: ... of the will of the people.
SANCHEZ: Let's leave that, because we've got to move on to the next topic, and this is about gay marriage. And apparently, Karl Rove met recently with some leading Republicans, and the issue of gay marriage didn't come up. Has it evaporated? What's happened to it?
WATKINS: Well clearly not. Clearly, it's something that this administration cares deeply about. There are so many things, so many irons in the fire, so many legislative things that have to be done and so short a period of time to get it done. The idea is to when. This president has a chance to leave a wonderful legacy, and he's going to do that, by reforming Social Security...
SANCHEZ: But has it lost its political usefulness?
FINNEY: Oh, of course it has.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask the question a little more directly.
WATKINS: No, it has nothing to do with political uselessness. It has everything to do with the ability, of course, to win. It doesn't make sense to bring it up for a vote just to have it fail as it did before.
FINNEY: It was absolutely an election-year wedge issue. Even at the time the president proposed it last year, those within his own party saw it as a non-starter, and many who even opposed gay marriage said they did not support it and could not support going in and changing the Constitution. But now...
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: ... mysteriously - mysteriously, all of a sudden, in all of the conversations that we've had about the second-term agenda, we have not heard a single thing about gay marriage.
SANCHEZ: Let me pose the question this way because I think this is interesting. For two or three weeks, America saw pictures of gay men and women kissing each other on the steps of the courthouse in San Francisco. Which party did that help?
FINNEY: Well, it certainly helped the Republican Party. It was a Republican mayor, in fact, who started it.
WATKINS: The beauty about what we have here is democracy, and the voters spoke on November 2nd. In 11 states, remember, it was on the ballot, and they voted. They voted. The voters voted. It wasn't the president voting. It was the voters. SANCHEZ: But it was a political issue. You'll give - you'll grant us that.
FINNEY: And Karl Rove...
WATKINS: Well clearly it's an issue, and it's not just an issue; it's something that a lot of people care deeply about, including this president and the people of this administration.
SANCHEZ: Right.
FINNEY: Just as a lot of people care deeply that we should go in an change the Constitution on something like this.
SANCHEZ: We'll leave it at that. You get the last word, Karen. Interesting discussion - you guys were wonderful.
WATKINS: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Heidi, back over to you.
COLLINS: We continue with our series, "The 12 Days of Christmas." Today, we look at the maids a'milking, who have been replaced to meet a growing public demand.
CNN's Dan Lothian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Machines, not maids, do most of the milking these days in America's multi-billion dollar dairy industry, trying to keep pace with the public's appetite for cheese, yogurt and milk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've seen consistent sales growth in our dairy departments and in milk sales.
LOTHIAN: A high-profile campaign using celebrities has helped and, in recent months, a new effort. A clinical study sponsored by the dairy industry said the calcium in milk can help with weight loss.
LIZ WARD, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: I have all these different things right here.
LOTHIAN: Liz Ward is a registered dietician in Massachusetts.
WARD: Three servings a day of milk, cheese or yogurt provide this nutritional package that actually causes your body to burn more fat and more calories.
LOTHIAN (ON CAMERA): As Americans search for new ways to shed extra pounds, some are buying the message that milk may be the answer.
(voice-over): But there are doubters and experts who say more clinical evidence is needed. Ward is convinced, but says the dairy diet should be just one piece of the puzzle. WARD: But no matter what diet you're on, you do need to make sure that it's balanced and that you get regular physical activity.
LOTHIAN: Sound advice for dieters milking their way through the holiday season - Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Yes, what if you're lactose intolerant? Well, for more information on the dairy diet, you can visit the Web site at www.threeaday.com.
SANCHEZ: And speaking of dieting, did you know that eating fast food could help you get in shape? Andy tells us how. Can't wait to hear - ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, it seems like a strange union. Some fast-food restaurants and A national fitness center chain are joining forces. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," but first, we're going to do a market recap.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, "FORTUNE": Yes, we look for stories like this, these strange bedfellow stories, and we found one here. We really did.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE)
SERWER: Let's talk about the markets first of all. We'll get to it in one second. Yesterday, a little bit of a downer on Wall Street. You can see the Dow was down 50 points. The retail season basically OK, oil prices down, but the dollar continued to fall, and there was a little profit taking. Futures were up this morning, though, so maybe a bit of a turnaround, at least at the open.
Yes, from the department of strange bedfellows, Bali's Fitness Centers is teaming up with YUM! Brands for a special offer in January. YUM! Brands owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silver's, Taco Bell, KFC - in other words fast food.
COLLINS: Come on!
SERWER: If you bring a receipt in from one of these eateries, you get a month's free membership at Bali's.
COLLINS: Because that's how long it will take to work off one of those things.
SERWER: Yes, so it's - you know, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.
Anyway, so I thought you really want to make it worth your while. I went to some of these menus on line, and here's what I think you should order before you do this. At Long John Silvers, I can have the treasure chest family meal, eight battered fish, 10 shrimp, hush puppy sides, cheese sticks, pineapple cream cheese...
COLLINS: Yum.
SERWER: ... pie for dessert. Moving over to Taco Bell, I want to get a half-pound beef and potato burrito, cheesy fiesta potatoes as a side, and a caramel apple enchilada for dessert.
Finally, I'm going to go over to Pizza Hut and get a meat lovers p'zone, 680 cals, and then have some cinnamon sticks and some white icing cup, washed down with a large mountain dev. And that would really sort of put it on so you can then take it off. I mean - I'm sorry, but what were they thinking?
COLLINS: I don't get it.
SERWER: What were thinking?
COLLINS: Oh, who knows!
SERWER: But anyway, it sort of works.
TOURE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm so hungry now.
SANCHEZ: It's all about the give and the get.
TOURE: I'm so hungry now thinking of all this food.
SERWER: Well, this guy is Mr. meat lover p'zone himself over there.
TOURE: Oh heck yes.
SERWER: Yes, he is.
SANCHEZ: First, you have to be self-critical of us, though, right?
TOURE: A little bit, a little bit.
SANCHEZ: Go on.
TOURE: In "Annie Hall," Wood Allen's Oscar-winning masterpiece, (INAUDIBLE) singer says intellectuals prove you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what's going on. Sometimes you can say the same thing about us, the media. We try to know everything that's going on and yet sometimes the audience screams you guys aren't seeing the forest for the trees, and sometimes you're right.
Today is your day to fire back. In 2004, what did we get into an unnecessary tizzy about? Our question: What was the most over-hyped story of the year?
George from Chicago says needlessly over-hyped was John Kerry's comments regarding Mary Cheney's being a lesbian. Although Kerry's comments were perhaps unnecessary - perhaps unnecessary - Mary Cheney's homosexuality was certainly not a secret while being shamelessly exploited during the 2000 presidential election.
Daniel from Vegas: Was it really necessary to follow "Whacko Jacko" every single second up until he turned himself into police? I say yes. They followed him around Vegas for hours the day before his arrest like they did with O.J. Who cares? Wait until the trial.
And Forest from Washington, D.C.: the most over-hyped story of the year, the swift boat ads against John Kerry. Without all the media exposure, the ads would have been shown in a few markets a few times and would have died a quiet death. Instead, the media talked about them weeks on end and destroyed Kerry's chances to win.
Well, (INAUDIBLE)...
COLLINS: Do you think Forest can see the forest for the trees?
SERWER: I'm sorry, I've got to go back to the old chestnut, Scott Peterson. I mean we have here the actual bag of cement, possibly, from the hardware store where the homeless people - I just lost interest. I tuned out. I don't know why people were so obsessed with that.
SANCHEZ: Maybe that's why you turned down that gig doing business updates during the trial?
SERWER: Yes, I did. And the - I actually talked about the impact of the Scott Peterson trial on the markets one day, which doesn't exist. People didn't - it was a joke.
SANCHEZ: All right. Well, today's top stories are coming to you straight ahead. The U.S. is pledging $15 million in tsunami relief. How would you react to somebody calling that sting - pardon me, stingy? And we're going to hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell on that very issue, as a matter of fact. His response, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The next wave, perhaps the greatest relief effort ever is underway at this hour. The U.S. joins aide agencies mobilizing to head off an epidemic.
Piles of bodies destined for mass graves, the newest estimate 33,000 people dead, thousands more still missing. But for some, prayers are answered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank God that my family (INAUDIBLE).
COLLINS: And among the missing, a single baby boy, a needle in a haystack lost and then found, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired December 28, 2004 - 08:30 Eastern Time ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ford recalled more than 470,000 of that SUV model earlier this month due to an accelerator problem. So call your dealership now.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, definitely. Carol, thanks.
In Thailand, more than 1,000 people are dead following the tsunami disaster, many of them foreign tourists vacationing at beach resorts there. One of the heaviest hit towns was Phuket. But amid the tragedy, there is a story of hope as a 20-month-old little boy is reunited with relatives there. Matthew Chance is in Phuket. He is live now by video phone.
Matthew, this is a good story that we want to hear the details about.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP)
COLLINS: Unfortunately, you can see that we are having trouble with our videophone there and Matthew Chance, who is in Phuket, Thailand to tell us a little bit more about this little boy. We're going to continue to check back with him and get that story for you just as soon as it becomes possible - Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this natural disaster, as we've been describing it to you in Southeast Asia, has already prompted a worldwide recall of aide, which many countries and organizations are doing everything they can to try and answer. One of the groups is Direct Relief International. This is a medical relief agency that sends medical supplies to victims anywhere in the world that could possibly need it.
CNN's Ted Rowland is joining us now. He's in the packing location for this organization. It's in Goleta, California.
Ted, what have you got for us?
TED ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, Direct Relief, as you said, is just north of Santa Barbara, in California. And since word came out of the tsunamis and the need for relief, they have been at it pretty much around the clock, trying to organize a relief effort here. They have the largest standing inventory of medical supplies in the state of California and one of the largest in the United States, and they're trying to coordinate the actual needs there and get this delivered. There is a Federal Express plane that has been donated by the company. They expect it to leave out of Los Angeles as early as today or tomorrow, and they're trying to coordinate that effort to find out what the needs, how to pack that plane, and where to send it, because that is a major problem - or not problem, but a logistical question.
THOMAS TIGHE, PRES. & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF: Right.
ROWLAND: Thomas Tighe is the president of Direct. And tell us exactly what you're doing right now and to what extent is speed a concern and then the other logistical hurdles you have, really, with the shipping you're trying to get out.
TIGHE: It's a complex emergency that has shelter, food, water and sanitation. We're focusing on the health piece of a very complicated puzzle. As you mentioned, we have a large standing inventory, some great material that we think will be quite suitable. But, you know, this medical material is only as good as the hands that it ends up in, so it has to be the right stuff to the right people at the right time. So we're trying to accelerate the assessment of what is needed and how to get it there.
FedEx has been really generous providing that plane, but we want to make sure that we're not sending anything that is going to get in the way of other important things and the shelter, food and water issues as well.
ROWLAND: This warehouse is 36,000 square feet. It has all types of medical supplies in it.
TIGHE: Right.
ROWLAND: Specifically, what are we talking about? I know we were talking about this Lorabid as being one of the items you believe is going to be a major need. What is it, and what are we talking about, in terms of trying to get this to the affected areas?
TIGHE: Yes, Lorabid, this is kind of a straight-down-the-middle antibiotic that is suitable for acute respiratory ailments, which is anticipated to arise with people suffering from water-borne diseases, bacterial infections. There are other surgical instruments, basic sutures and gauze, and a range of pain medication, non-prescription, the Motrins and Tylenols that have been donated by the companies, Johnson & Johnson and some of the other - Becton Dickinson has provided a lot of material, as well as Abbot Labs and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is - they've really stepped forward, as has FedEx, to help us out.
ROWLAND: Communication, has it been a difficult hurdle for you, in terms of finding out where the need is and what the need is? I know Sri Lanka looks like the destination for a lot of this stuff.
TIGHE: Right. Well, as you mentioned, it's hard to assess nine countries at once. Sri Lanka is emerging as one of the centers of gravity because of the number of deaths and the difficulty of the number of displaced people. So we're trying to work with groups that we've already worked with in the past to make sure that we know what they need before we put anything on a plane.
And if things are available in the region, it's better to have them come not from here, but from India, if they can access the resources from there. So we're trying very carefully to make sure we proceed fast, but also to do it right, not just fast.
ROWLAND: All right, Thomas, thank you. He said a lot of these employees came to work when they heard of the tragedy there, here at Direct Relief, one of many organizations around the world going through this same thing, trying to organize relief and get it to the countries that are affected - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Ted Rowland, joining us from Goleta, California. We thank you, Ted.
Heidi, over to you.
COLLINS: We want to take you back now to Matthew Chance who is standing by via videophone in Phuket, Thailand. He had a story for us of a little boy, a 20-month-old boy who was rescued from the Tsunamis and has been reunited with some relatives. You see his picture there, Hannis Bergstrom (ph). Let's get the details now from Matthew.
Matthew, hello.
CHANCE: Hello to you as well, Heidi. We have a few technical glitches here, as you can imagine. The devastation is quite complete in areas of this island where we are. But this story that we were talking about is one that has really captivated the minds and the hearts of everybody who's been watching this region-wide catastrophe unfold.
Thousands of people killed around the region, of course, but it's this one boy, Hannis Bergstrom (ph), who's really sort of motivated the local media, the international media as well, as a sort of icon of the things that have had happened, the trauma that people here, tourists particularly, in Phuket and elsewhere have endured in the aftermath of this tsunami that hit the region.
Hannis Bergstrom (ph), as he's now known to be, is a year and eight months old. He's a Swedish national, but, for several days, he was found facedown in mud, half drowned by locals in this area of Thailand, taken to a hospital. He's made a some what full recovery. He's, today, been reunited with his grandparents, or at least with his grandmother and his uncle as well.
He's been told - his grandmother told us that his father has also been located in a hospital some distance from here, but he's not well enough to actually make the journey to come to his son. There is some joy that's been celebrated in that family, though, but also some despair as well, because it's also emerged that Hannis' mother is still not accounted for. She's still missing, just like about 1,000 other people in Thailand alone.
So a very heart-wrenching story. It seems that Hannis (ph) was swept from his grandfather's arms on the 26th of December when the tsunami hit. They all lost contact with each other. They were all picked up in some form or the other, with the exception of the mother, by the Thai emergency rescue team to the area and taken to different areas of the country, which is why they were separated. It was only after that intensive media campaign burst in the local "Phuket Gazette," which is the local paper here, then by the Thai media, then by the international media as well that they've actually been brought at least partially back together again, Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance with the story of Hannis Bergstrom (ph), who we would call a svenska putka (ph), a little Swedish boy, and great story that it is.
Through the disaster, though, that has killed countless people, there have been some amazing stories of survival. CNN spoke with Sam Nichols, a tourist who was at a Thai beach when the tsunami hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM NICHOLS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (voice-over): I'm used to seeing large waves coming from California, and when I stopped and looked out there, they didn't really look that big, and the water had drawn out so far that they seemed just so far away. I couldn't imagine that they were going to get here that - as quickly as they did at the end. I've never been in a situation like that. I think nobody knew what to expect, and I'm just - I just consider myself extremely lucky that I didn't get injured more than I did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I bet he does. Nichols also estimated that 90 percent of tourists have evacuated, but said some have stayed behind to help clean up the area.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We're going to bring you the very latest on what's going on in Iraq and the political future for the Sunnis in particular, minority to majority, majority to minority, what's going on. We're going to break it down with somebody from the left and somebody from the right.
COLLINS: Plus, if you drink milk, you lose weight, right? Well, at least according to an ad. We're going to talk about those claims and figure out if they're really all they're cracked up to be. It's coming your way, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, normally at this time, we get a report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, but today, he is on his way to Southern Asia to cover medical problems resulting from the tsunami disaster. We're going to have Dr. Gupta's reports beginning tomorrow right here on AMERICAN MORNING, so look out for that.
And as the results from this disaster continue to unfold, you can always log on to CNN.com for the latest information and find out what you can do to help. You'll also find first-hand accounts from survivors of the tsunamis - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk politics, shall we? "The New York Times" reports that the U.S. government is trying to name some Sunni Muslims to position in Iraq's new national assembly. Anyway to run a democracy? Joining us now to talk about that, among other things, is Republican strategist Joe Watkins. There he is with that just-ate-a- canary look that he's has had since the election ended. And Democratic strategist Karen Finney is joining us as well.
Good to have you both here.
KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nice to be here.
JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: This is interesting. You have the Sunnis, who were in power in a country where they were a minority.
FINNEY: That's right. That's right.
WATKINS: That's correct.
SANCHEZ: Ba'athists ruled somewhat ruthless, we might say.
FINNEY: Right.
SANCHEZ: And now the U.S. is trying to empower them.
FINNEY: And you've got...
WATKINS: And there are some folks who want to punish them, of course, because of the fact that they were affiliated with Saddam Hussein. They make up about 20 percent of the Iraqi population. Shiites, of course, make up about 60 percent of the population. The Kurds make up about another 20 percent of the population.
The concern is that they make get punished at the polls...
SANCHEZ: Like they did to the Shiites?
WATKINS: Well some people are thinking that, but the whole idea is for this thing to work is for this fragile democracy to work. We want it to work for the people. We want the people to really taste the freedom that we have in this country.
And so the thought is that even though we want - first, we want the Sunnis - I think people of good reason want the Sunnis to show up and to vote, of course, on election day. And at the same time, in the event that they aren't elected, we want to find a way to make sure they're incorporated as a government.
SANCHEZ: So they're represented, correct? Karen?
FINNEY: No. Well fragile is the operative term here. I mean here you have the Republicans essentially backing a quota system in this new government. WATKINS: (INAUDIBLE) just levels the playing field. That's all it is.
FINNEY: It isn't - no, it's just...
SANCHEZ: So what you're saying is let's just have an election, let the chips fall where they may.
FINNEY: Absolutely. Can you imagine if we tried to have some kind of a quota system here in our own government? That would never work.
Additionally, there are real concerns on the part of - you know, folks are concerned about their - there are real security concerns. Also, there have been logistical concerns. Apparently, information hasn't gotten out to the voters. So there are real concerns about how legitimate this election is going to be.
And, by backing such a quota system, it's basically an acknowledgement that we can expect real problems when these elections come down.
SANCHEZ: To a certain extent, though, doesn't this kind of remind us of the problems that were posed before we went into this war?
FINNEY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Like people like Brent Scowcroft who says, you know, you've got a situation in Iraq where you have the Sunnis over here, the Shiites over here...
FINNEY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: We don't want to destabilize that, because then we're going to have to mess up the apple cart too much.
FINNEY: Absolutely. It's absolutely...
SANCHEZ: Is that what's going on right now, Joe?
WATKINS: No, I think what it is - it's really - it's a sincere effort to make sure that the democracy works. I mean we're heading towards elections. The elections are not going to be postponed. They're going to happen at the end of January. That's not very far away.
The good thing about it is that if we can get everybody to vote, if we can get Sunnis to come out to vote - to come out to vote, just like we're getting the Shiites to come out to vote, then everybody has a chance to be represented.
FINNEY: It's yet another sign that the Bush administration policies are failing. If we're having to go to these kinds of measures this far in advance of the elections, that's saying - that's sending a very dangerous signal that we don't have confidence... (CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: ... that we don't have confidence that these elections are going to be able to be a true democrative (ph) representation...
SANCHEZ: Let's...
FINNEY: ... of the will of the people.
SANCHEZ: Let's leave that, because we've got to move on to the next topic, and this is about gay marriage. And apparently, Karl Rove met recently with some leading Republicans, and the issue of gay marriage didn't come up. Has it evaporated? What's happened to it?
WATKINS: Well clearly not. Clearly, it's something that this administration cares deeply about. There are so many things, so many irons in the fire, so many legislative things that have to be done and so short a period of time to get it done. The idea is to when. This president has a chance to leave a wonderful legacy, and he's going to do that, by reforming Social Security...
SANCHEZ: But has it lost its political usefulness?
FINNEY: Oh, of course it has.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask the question a little more directly.
WATKINS: No, it has nothing to do with political uselessness. It has everything to do with the ability, of course, to win. It doesn't make sense to bring it up for a vote just to have it fail as it did before.
FINNEY: It was absolutely an election-year wedge issue. Even at the time the president proposed it last year, those within his own party saw it as a non-starter, and many who even opposed gay marriage said they did not support it and could not support going in and changing the Constitution. But now...
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: ... mysteriously - mysteriously, all of a sudden, in all of the conversations that we've had about the second-term agenda, we have not heard a single thing about gay marriage.
SANCHEZ: Let me pose the question this way because I think this is interesting. For two or three weeks, America saw pictures of gay men and women kissing each other on the steps of the courthouse in San Francisco. Which party did that help?
FINNEY: Well, it certainly helped the Republican Party. It was a Republican mayor, in fact, who started it.
WATKINS: The beauty about what we have here is democracy, and the voters spoke on November 2nd. In 11 states, remember, it was on the ballot, and they voted. They voted. The voters voted. It wasn't the president voting. It was the voters. SANCHEZ: But it was a political issue. You'll give - you'll grant us that.
FINNEY: And Karl Rove...
WATKINS: Well clearly it's an issue, and it's not just an issue; it's something that a lot of people care deeply about, including this president and the people of this administration.
SANCHEZ: Right.
FINNEY: Just as a lot of people care deeply that we should go in an change the Constitution on something like this.
SANCHEZ: We'll leave it at that. You get the last word, Karen. Interesting discussion - you guys were wonderful.
WATKINS: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Heidi, back over to you.
COLLINS: We continue with our series, "The 12 Days of Christmas." Today, we look at the maids a'milking, who have been replaced to meet a growing public demand.
CNN's Dan Lothian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Machines, not maids, do most of the milking these days in America's multi-billion dollar dairy industry, trying to keep pace with the public's appetite for cheese, yogurt and milk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've seen consistent sales growth in our dairy departments and in milk sales.
LOTHIAN: A high-profile campaign using celebrities has helped and, in recent months, a new effort. A clinical study sponsored by the dairy industry said the calcium in milk can help with weight loss.
LIZ WARD, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: I have all these different things right here.
LOTHIAN: Liz Ward is a registered dietician in Massachusetts.
WARD: Three servings a day of milk, cheese or yogurt provide this nutritional package that actually causes your body to burn more fat and more calories.
LOTHIAN (ON CAMERA): As Americans search for new ways to shed extra pounds, some are buying the message that milk may be the answer.
(voice-over): But there are doubters and experts who say more clinical evidence is needed. Ward is convinced, but says the dairy diet should be just one piece of the puzzle. WARD: But no matter what diet you're on, you do need to make sure that it's balanced and that you get regular physical activity.
LOTHIAN: Sound advice for dieters milking their way through the holiday season - Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Yes, what if you're lactose intolerant? Well, for more information on the dairy diet, you can visit the Web site at www.threeaday.com.
SANCHEZ: And speaking of dieting, did you know that eating fast food could help you get in shape? Andy tells us how. Can't wait to hear - ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, it seems like a strange union. Some fast-food restaurants and A national fitness center chain are joining forces. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," but first, we're going to do a market recap.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, "FORTUNE": Yes, we look for stories like this, these strange bedfellow stories, and we found one here. We really did.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE)
SERWER: Let's talk about the markets first of all. We'll get to it in one second. Yesterday, a little bit of a downer on Wall Street. You can see the Dow was down 50 points. The retail season basically OK, oil prices down, but the dollar continued to fall, and there was a little profit taking. Futures were up this morning, though, so maybe a bit of a turnaround, at least at the open.
Yes, from the department of strange bedfellows, Bali's Fitness Centers is teaming up with YUM! Brands for a special offer in January. YUM! Brands owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silver's, Taco Bell, KFC - in other words fast food.
COLLINS: Come on!
SERWER: If you bring a receipt in from one of these eateries, you get a month's free membership at Bali's.
COLLINS: Because that's how long it will take to work off one of those things.
SERWER: Yes, so it's - you know, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.
Anyway, so I thought you really want to make it worth your while. I went to some of these menus on line, and here's what I think you should order before you do this. At Long John Silvers, I can have the treasure chest family meal, eight battered fish, 10 shrimp, hush puppy sides, cheese sticks, pineapple cream cheese...
COLLINS: Yum.
SERWER: ... pie for dessert. Moving over to Taco Bell, I want to get a half-pound beef and potato burrito, cheesy fiesta potatoes as a side, and a caramel apple enchilada for dessert.
Finally, I'm going to go over to Pizza Hut and get a meat lovers p'zone, 680 cals, and then have some cinnamon sticks and some white icing cup, washed down with a large mountain dev. And that would really sort of put it on so you can then take it off. I mean - I'm sorry, but what were they thinking?
COLLINS: I don't get it.
SERWER: What were thinking?
COLLINS: Oh, who knows!
SERWER: But anyway, it sort of works.
TOURE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm so hungry now.
SANCHEZ: It's all about the give and the get.
TOURE: I'm so hungry now thinking of all this food.
SERWER: Well, this guy is Mr. meat lover p'zone himself over there.
TOURE: Oh heck yes.
SERWER: Yes, he is.
SANCHEZ: First, you have to be self-critical of us, though, right?
TOURE: A little bit, a little bit.
SANCHEZ: Go on.
TOURE: In "Annie Hall," Wood Allen's Oscar-winning masterpiece, (INAUDIBLE) singer says intellectuals prove you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what's going on. Sometimes you can say the same thing about us, the media. We try to know everything that's going on and yet sometimes the audience screams you guys aren't seeing the forest for the trees, and sometimes you're right.
Today is your day to fire back. In 2004, what did we get into an unnecessary tizzy about? Our question: What was the most over-hyped story of the year?
George from Chicago says needlessly over-hyped was John Kerry's comments regarding Mary Cheney's being a lesbian. Although Kerry's comments were perhaps unnecessary - perhaps unnecessary - Mary Cheney's homosexuality was certainly not a secret while being shamelessly exploited during the 2000 presidential election.
Daniel from Vegas: Was it really necessary to follow "Whacko Jacko" every single second up until he turned himself into police? I say yes. They followed him around Vegas for hours the day before his arrest like they did with O.J. Who cares? Wait until the trial.
And Forest from Washington, D.C.: the most over-hyped story of the year, the swift boat ads against John Kerry. Without all the media exposure, the ads would have been shown in a few markets a few times and would have died a quiet death. Instead, the media talked about them weeks on end and destroyed Kerry's chances to win.
Well, (INAUDIBLE)...
COLLINS: Do you think Forest can see the forest for the trees?
SERWER: I'm sorry, I've got to go back to the old chestnut, Scott Peterson. I mean we have here the actual bag of cement, possibly, from the hardware store where the homeless people - I just lost interest. I tuned out. I don't know why people were so obsessed with that.
SANCHEZ: Maybe that's why you turned down that gig doing business updates during the trial?
SERWER: Yes, I did. And the - I actually talked about the impact of the Scott Peterson trial on the markets one day, which doesn't exist. People didn't - it was a joke.
SANCHEZ: All right. Well, today's top stories are coming to you straight ahead. The U.S. is pledging $15 million in tsunami relief. How would you react to somebody calling that sting - pardon me, stingy? And we're going to hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell on that very issue, as a matter of fact. His response, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The next wave, perhaps the greatest relief effort ever is underway at this hour. The U.S. joins aide agencies mobilizing to head off an epidemic.
Piles of bodies destined for mass graves, the newest estimate 33,000 people dead, thousands more still missing. But for some, prayers are answered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank God that my family (INAUDIBLE).
COLLINS: And among the missing, a single baby boy, a needle in a haystack lost and then found, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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