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American Morning
Super Security at Super Bowl XXXIX; 'Extra Effort'
Aired February 04, 2005 - 09:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 9:30 here in New York City.
As we continue in a moment here, soldiers returning from battle in Iraq face a very tough time, but there is a group that is reaching out to help them. We'll talk about that in a moment.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also in the middle of war-torn Afghanistan one American man made a herculean effort to change the life of a little Afghan boy. That's our "Extra Effort" story of the week.
HEMMER: Nice story, too.
Carol Costello is back with us, looking at the headlines. Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That I am. Good morning to you. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, President Bush is in Nebraska this morning, pushing for Social Security reform. The president set to take the stage at any moment now in Omaha. He's apparently targeting red state Democratic senators who may be willing to support Social Security overhaul. The president heads to Arkansas, and then to Florida later this afternoon.
A horrific case in Florida, where police are searching for a couple accused of torturing five children. John and Linda Dollar, the children's legal guardians, each face a count of aggravated child abuse in Citrus County. The sheriff's spokesman said the children were so malnourished they looked, quote, "like pictures from Auschwitz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We did tell detectives that they had had toenails pulled out. When I asked, you know, how were their toenails pulled out, they said by pliers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's hard to hear, I know. The 16-year-old weighed 59 pounds. Authorities say the children were also tortured by electric shock and struck with hammers.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is reporting for his first full day on the job. Gonzales arrived at the Department of Justice just moments ago. He appeared optimistic, telling reporters, quote, "It's going to be a great day. I'm looking forward to it."
And Pope John Paul II has spent another peaceful night at a Rome hospital. He was hospitalized Tuesday for a respiratory infection, a result of the flu. The Vatican says he's now feeding himself and will hopefully give a Sunday address from the hospital this weekend. They're going to have a special audio hook up for him, and he's going to do it right from his hospital bed.
O'BRIEN: Everyone's going to listening and watching that very closely.
COSTELLO: I'm sure.
O'BRIEN: All right, Carol, thanks a lot.
Well, Super Bowl XXXIX, it's one of the security events of the year. By air, by land, by sea, law enforcement from every level will be working overtime at Alltel Stadium this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida as the Eagles take on the Patriots.
Susan Candiotti's got our CNN Security Watch this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In order to make Super Bowl fans safe all weekend long, a high-tech gameplan is in place. The man calling security shots, Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, says his team is ready.
SHERIFF JOHN RUTHERFORD, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: We've been planning for 18 months; let's get on the field and do it.
CANDIOTTI: Among his tools, cameras trained on key locations around the stadium. Computers can pull in, analyze and catalog shots. The system can zero in on a single seat or an employee in the nosebleed section.
Outside the stadium...
RUTHERFORD: Say a bus had been hijacked and it stops on the bridge, because they want the safety of not having anyone around them. We can still zoom in and get very close and find out exactly what's going on in there.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Over my shoulder, Alltel Stadium, right on the waterfront. Along the river a 14-mile safety zone patrolled by an alphabet-soup collection of federal, state and local agencies.
(voice-over): Including the Coast Guard, monitoring pleasure boats and commercial traffic in the zone.
LT. CMDR. DAN DEPTULA, U.S. COAST GUARD: If they are going too fast or not adhering to the rules that we put out in place here, then we're going to ask them some questions. CANDIOTTI: Before sailing into port, the seven cruise ships that were to be used as floating hotels were inspected, with divers examining each hull, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Once dockside, no water traffic is allowed inside a 400-yard security zone around the cruise ships.
If suspect bombs or explosives are discovered anywhere, ATF response teams are ready with dogs that can sniff out thousands of explosives, using robots, if needed. And, as a last resort, agents wearing protective suits to get a closer look. More than 50 law enforcement agencies trying to make sure this year's Super Bowl has a smooth sail.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Jacksonville, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Super Bowl XXXIX kicks off on Sunday night, 6:30 Eastern. Join us Monday as we show you exclusive footage on how the security operation was carried out. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
(WEATHER REPORT)
In our "Extra Effort" segment on this Friday, a story that begins with a very sick 12-year-old boy. He was living in a remote village in Afghanistan, suffering from a potentially fatal heart defect. Today that boy's here in America. He certainly got some help along the way and now awaiting the surgery that may save his life.
Here's Peter Viles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporter: When you first see Asadullah Kahn, you know right way that something is wrong. He is so weak he almost collapses after a short walk. That's what National Guardsman Layne Pace saw on a special relief mission in Afghanistan, a boy so sick his lips were almost blue.
LAYNE PACE, U.S. ARMY NATL. GUARD: I knew he was in trouble. To us it was also overwhelming. He was cyanotic (ph). He was blue. He would go 15 feet and drop on us. I was just grabbing him and dragging him on the ground, trying to get him up.
VILES: Pace is a Army helicopter pilot. He bought Army doctors to see Asadullah, put him in a chopper at one point, flew him to see more doctors, only to learn the boy has a birth defect, a small hole in his heart. He needs life-saving surgery, and the Army cannot do it.
PACE: We had no resources. They gave us no direction. They said we cannot help you, all we can tell you is he has to get the surgery done.
VILES: So on his own time, in a war zone, Pace launched an e- mail campaign to save a boy's life.
PACE: I fully understood that there might be a brick wall that says you cannot go any further, you cannot get him out of Afghanistan. I knew that was there, but I chose not to think about it. I just continued forward.
VILES: Somehow he connected with Loma Linda Hospital (ph) in California, which agreed to do the heart surgery for free. He found a U.S. Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, who helped get visas in a hurry. He found an airline, Jetblue, that agreed to fly the boy and his father to America for free.
PACE: The word I use for myself is I was driven to do this. Whether within or without, I don't know why. I just had to do it.
VILES: After a journey of 10,000 miles, Asadullah and his father now in California.
ASADULLAH KAHN (through translator): I'm so Happy Layne pace brought me here to help me.
VILES: He'll have that heart surgery any day now. Layne Pace, meantime, who's been home on leave, is returning to the Afghan war zone this weekend.
Peter Viles, CNN, Loma Linda, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That's why we call it extra effort. Great story.
A team of doctors headed by world renowned heart surgeon Leonard Bailey will perform that operation. Bailey's best known for transplanting a baboon's heart into an infant, known as Baby Faye. That happened 21 years ago, in 1984. Best to all.
O'BRIEN: Ye, that's a remarkable story. Good for them. Good for everybody who pitched in, huh?
Well, an Oscar darling proves to be a godsend for an industry that has nothing to do with Hollywood. Andy's "Minding Your Business" ahead.
HEMMER: Also ahead here, last year it was Janet Jackson. This time around looks like "The Simpson's" will provide a bit of controversy this weekend. We'll see. We'll check it out in a moment here on "90-Second Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: When I can educate Toure on something. Do you remember that song? You don't know that song?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: I do remember now. O'BRIEN: It hearkens us back to the wardrobe malfunction. That's Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake doing their thing Super Bowl Sunday last year.
TOURE: We'll never let it go.
O'BRIEN: And we certainly won't today. Here we go again revisiting it. It's "90-Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning, Toure is CNN's pop culture correspondent. Jessica Shaw joins us from "Entertainment Weekly." B.J. Sigesmund is staff editor for "Us Weekly."
Good morning. Nice to see you, guys.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: After the game, "The Simpsons" is going to have -- is going to be on, on Fox, with a controversial episode. Is it really truly controversial?
SIGESMUND: I think it is controversial, Soledad. I saw it last night. And it really goes very far. It's not particularly funny, but it has a very ironic point of view.
O'BRIEN: What's going far about it?
SIGESMUND: It satirizes not just the nipple-gate incident, but really the country's reaction to it last year, as well as all of the fervor around "The Passion of the Christ." A couple things happen in the episode.
First, Ned Flanders, who is their deeply religious neighbor, gets so disgusted by entertainment on television that he decides to make his own movie about the Cain and Abel story. And he casts his own sons in a very violent story. And this is maybe the most violent image you will ever see animated in prime time. I was stunned by it in the way that you were stunned by "The Passion of the Christ."
SHAW: Oh, no. I thought it was pretty funny. I thought Homer...
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: Homer gets tapped to do the halftime show. It's brilliant. He wants to send a crocodile up to space, but it gets messed up. I think it's great. You know, I think Fox is also debuting "American Dad" right after "The Simpsons," which I think they might be hoping that their viewers are a tad drunk, because "American Dad" is also quite controversial. And there's a Karl Rove-esque character. There's a CIA agent, you know, tracking terrorist activity.
SIGESMUND: Well, I just...
O'BRIEN: Let's move on to our next topic, because we've got to run though stuff today.
SIGESMUND: All right.
O'BRIEN: OK. For those of us who are not necessarily going to be watching the Super Bowl...
SHAW: A.K. the two of us.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And some other girls I know and some other folks, too, actually. Not everybody watches the Super Bowl. What else is there to watch?
SHAW: You know, there's not much. Counter-programming a/k/a television for women. It's not such a great selection. There's, like, a "Charmed" marathon." Agent Cody Banks" is showing. You know, these...
TOURE: A repeat of "Desperate Housewives."
SHAW: That's the thing. ESPN has ice skating and jump rope.
TOURE: Jump rope! How insulting!
SIGESMUND: Every network seemed to throw in the towel this year. I mean, there is not really one good option outside of Fox.
TOURE: It's a great game for once, my god! You get up there, root for the black quarterback or the most humble dynasty we've ever seen. There's so much to watch.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
You guys. We're out of time. Thank you very much -- Bill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, as you guys were talking, watching the president now on stage there in Omaha, Nebraska, again, on his tour across the country, five different states over two days and pushing his reform plan for Social Security. We will keep an eye on that.
Also in one Oscar favorite, one of the biggest characters is actually a drink, and it looks like the PR is paying off. Andy explains that in a moment here. "Minding Your Business" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. A case of life imitating art. Also an early check of Wall Street action.
Back to Andy "Minding Your Business." How goes it?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Fine. A case -- I get it. We'll talk about that in a moment. A case. OK, good tease.
Let's check in on the action on Wall Street. Stocks trading up a little bit this morning. You can see the Dow is up 18 points, a little bit of a surprise with the jobs report coming in weaker than expected. We were looking at 200,000 jobs to be created in the month of January, only got 146,000. But the good news is the unemployment dropped from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent. Perhaps that's what Wall Street's focusing on.
A couple food stories of note this morning. Interesting one here. The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is now going to be owned by a fish restaurant. That's right, Landry's Restaurants have bought the venerable Nugget. I love this old Vegas footage. And look at, Jack, loves that stuff, too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: My uncle used to run that joint.
SERWER: He did.
CAFFERTY: That's a true story. My dad's brother retired as the general manager of the Golden Nugget a lot of years ago.
SERWER: Now a seafood restaurant.
CAFFERTY: That's disgusting. I'm outraged.
SERWER: That's a little weird. Landry's Restaurants one of the largest seafood chains in the country. They own Landry's, they own Joe's Crab Shack, they also own the Chart House. So what do you do? You pull the slot, what do you win? A fishwich, some crab legs, two boiled lobsters? A little weird. I don't know, whatever works.
HEMMER: Chicken nuggets is what you win.
SERWER: All right, nuggets, very good. You're good today.
OK, let's talk about this is the case of life imitating art. The movie "Sideways," you may remember if you've seen it Paul Giamatti's character "Miles," he's singing the virtues of Pinot Noir, trying to win this woman's heart. Pinot Noir, it's fabulous. Pinot Noir.
Well, guess what? People going all around the country to liquor stores asking for Pinot Noir. Do you have any Pinot Noir? And people in liquor stores, you didn't happen to see that movie, did you? And they're like, yes. Listen to this, sales in January up 32 percent, certain vintages up 100 percent. People going crazy for Pinot Noir.
HEMMER: You know Jean Weinberg (ph) on our staff, she just got back from Santa Barbara County. She went to some of the places that are highlighted in this film. Business is up five times since the movie came out.
SERWER: Pinot Noir. CAFFERTY: Well, the other part of that story is that domestic California wines are, for the most part, better than that stuff they grow in Europe.
HEMMER: And because of the dollar...
CAFFERTY: And cheaper now because of the dollar.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
CAFFERTY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fish joint. My uncle will be turning over in his grave.
SERWER: You can, of course, but it's just owned by a fish...
CAFFERTY: When I was a teenage boy, there's -- well, I'll screw up all the timing.
O'BRIEN: But go ahead.
CAFFERTY: Because he ran the joint, I used to go down there to spend Easter vacation with him. And because he ran the joint, you weren't allowed in the casinos until you were 21. I was like 16. I had my run of the place. I could sit in the bar and watch Wanda Jackson, who was in the lounge. I'd wander through the casino and watch them play cards. None of the security guys would bother me because I was Duffy's nephew.
SERWER: That's the greatest.
CAFFERTY: It was a great place.
HEMMER: And put another fire -- put another log on the fire. We have stories by Jack this morning.
SERWER: Do you have any footage of that? That's what I want to see. Do we have any tape of Jack wandering around back then? That would be cool.
CAFFERTY: Nevermind. The "Question of the Day" is this. Has celebrity worship gone too far? That really bugs me, a fish place.
Ken in Kingston, Nova Scotia writes: "Of course celebrity worship's gone too far, but it's not going to stop. If I could get a job as a celebrity housekeeper, the tools of my trade would be an eBay seller's account and truckload of plastic bags. Garbage collection could be canceled from my employer's address."
Randy in Pulaski, Wisconsin: "P.T. Barnum said it best. There's a sucker born every minute. People believe what they want and will buy anything they believe is genuine."
And Bill in St. Petersburg, Florida, writes: "I'll give my first born for Jack Cafferty's comb."
O'BRIEN: If I were in the market for another kid, I could hook him up.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: You're bad, you're bad.
CAFFERTY: The Golden Nugget, a fish restaurant.
SERWER: You're still pondering that.
O'BRIEN: It's a nice fish restaurant.
SERWER: Yes, it is.
O'BRIEN: It's not bad.
CAFFERTY: I'm depressed. Bummed out now.
SERWER: It's OK.
CAFFERTY: It's not OK.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what, this will cheer your little heart. Pictures of little babies. This is Brooke Sidney Surat (ph). She was born Tuesday morning. And she weighs eight pounds, one ounces. A big old baby. 20 and one half inches. That's our boss' little girl. And that's the big sister Katie.
SERWER: Cute.
O'BRIEN: Mommy's doing fine. Little sister's doing fine. Little baby's doing fine. Dad is a mess. Completely stressed.
SERWER: So what else is new?
CAFFERTY: He was a mess before that kid was born.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Here's to their beautiful and expanding family.
SERWER: Yes, cheers.
HEMMER: Congratulations.
CAFFERTY: As we collectively try to suck up to the boss.
SERWER: And we're doing a good job of it, too.
HEMMER: Send us more photos, Will.
O'BRIEN: Well, as we all know, the president wants you to support Social Security reform. The big question, though, how will his plan affect you? CNN LIVE TODAY has the answer and the question and five top tips. You're looking at pictures, in fact, of president live in Omaha, Nebraska, this morning, where he's doing that sell job. That's coming up in the next hour with Rick and Daryn. AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: One of the images that we saw that came out of the elections last Sunday was the purple ink stain on the end of the fingers of those who voted throughout Iraq. Apparently this is the latest patriotic trend. Here's Jeanne Moos this morning looking at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they hailing a cab? Testing the wind? Are they testing their peripheral vision? You can sum up the latest patriotic trend in two words: Got ink?
(on camera): Move over middle finger, the index finger is the new finger of choice.
(voice-over): It's a gesture of homage to Iraqis who were brave enough to vote, purple ink used to prevent people from voting more than once, became a badge of honor. For Iraqis who voted in U.S., a finger was worth a thousand words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the purple finger to prove it.
MOOS: Now Congressman are flaunting it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I marked my finger.
MOOS: Folks made a point of pointing their fingers at the State of the Union. Web sites are posting photos people send in of their upraised index fingers in shades ranging from blue to purple to turquoise, poised on a trigger by the soldier in Iraq.
Some display a single digit, some prefer the victory or peace sign. This Iraqi woman at the State of the Union combined the two.
This GOP blogger's Web site credits a 10-year-old Montana girl for inspiring others to dye their fingers. For her efforts, Shelby Dangerfield got to meet the president he visited Montana Thursday.
Comedy shows may joke about it.
JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW: Is that ink?
ROB CORDORY, DAILY SHOW: Yeah. Funny story, that's from Hassan, my translator, he voted before earlier before we...
MOOS: One political Web site offered a recipe for a cocktail drink called the purple finger made from grenadine, cassis made from black currants and vodka.
But from us, the purple finger got the -- thumbs down.
Another Web site set up by this University Michigan law student calls itself, give terror the finger. OK, not everybody is using their index finger to make a political point. But not since E.T. cast this shadow across movie screens...
E.T., EXTRATERRESTRIAL: E.T.
MOOS: ...has a finger been so poignant.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That bandwagon's getting heavy, isn't it? Well, when a trend starts it really starts and catches fire and runs.
CAFFERTY: It's a great idea.
O'BRIEN: It was.
HEMMER: It was the -- on every Web site across the country on Sunday and Monday, they had a picture of someone with a stained finger.
O'BRIEN: Well, we talked about this right after the election. I was so worried that people would be walking around with a blue ink stain and of course, they'd be essentially sitting ducks or just targets for the insurgents, who are hunting out -- you know, trying to find people and kill them, who had voted. And instead it sort of turned into this amazing symbol. It was such a nice thing.
HEMMER: There was that one story where those four people were killed because they were identified...
SERWER: That was the exception that proved the rule, though.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: You know what, though? They keep doing stuff like that and they're going to be out of favor over there in real short order.
O'BRIEN: The insurgents?
CAFFERTY: Yes. That election was a -- what do they call it, an epiphany of sorts. Nobody expected what happened over there in that election.
O'BRIEN: What do they say? Freedom is contagious. Some people just got their first whiff of it.
CAFFERTY: And there's some folks in Iran that are champing at the bit to maybe make some of their own decisions, too.
SERWER: Maybe they'll get some ink over there.
CAFFERTY: Tired of those mullahs telling them what to.
HEMMER: We've got to run. It's three to two, by the way, the panel here.
CAFFERTY: What's that?
HEMMER: Three are in favor of Philadelphia, two are in favor of New England.
CAFFERTY: Am I in favor of Philadelphia?
HEMMER: You're the underdog guy.
COSTELLO: I think it's going to go into overtime, don't you, Andy?
SERWER: No, I think the Eagles are just going to win it straight out.
O'BRIEN: I guess we're going to know on Sunday, won't we?
SERWER: And we'll talk about it on Monday.
CAFFERTY: And talk about it and talk about it.
O'BRIEN: Let's head right down South. Daryn Kagan, Rick Sanchez at the CNN Center, going to take you through the next couple of hours. Hey, guys.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 4, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 9:30 here in New York City.
As we continue in a moment here, soldiers returning from battle in Iraq face a very tough time, but there is a group that is reaching out to help them. We'll talk about that in a moment.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also in the middle of war-torn Afghanistan one American man made a herculean effort to change the life of a little Afghan boy. That's our "Extra Effort" story of the week.
HEMMER: Nice story, too.
Carol Costello is back with us, looking at the headlines. Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That I am. Good morning to you. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, President Bush is in Nebraska this morning, pushing for Social Security reform. The president set to take the stage at any moment now in Omaha. He's apparently targeting red state Democratic senators who may be willing to support Social Security overhaul. The president heads to Arkansas, and then to Florida later this afternoon.
A horrific case in Florida, where police are searching for a couple accused of torturing five children. John and Linda Dollar, the children's legal guardians, each face a count of aggravated child abuse in Citrus County. The sheriff's spokesman said the children were so malnourished they looked, quote, "like pictures from Auschwitz."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We did tell detectives that they had had toenails pulled out. When I asked, you know, how were their toenails pulled out, they said by pliers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's hard to hear, I know. The 16-year-old weighed 59 pounds. Authorities say the children were also tortured by electric shock and struck with hammers.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is reporting for his first full day on the job. Gonzales arrived at the Department of Justice just moments ago. He appeared optimistic, telling reporters, quote, "It's going to be a great day. I'm looking forward to it."
And Pope John Paul II has spent another peaceful night at a Rome hospital. He was hospitalized Tuesday for a respiratory infection, a result of the flu. The Vatican says he's now feeding himself and will hopefully give a Sunday address from the hospital this weekend. They're going to have a special audio hook up for him, and he's going to do it right from his hospital bed.
O'BRIEN: Everyone's going to listening and watching that very closely.
COSTELLO: I'm sure.
O'BRIEN: All right, Carol, thanks a lot.
Well, Super Bowl XXXIX, it's one of the security events of the year. By air, by land, by sea, law enforcement from every level will be working overtime at Alltel Stadium this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida as the Eagles take on the Patriots.
Susan Candiotti's got our CNN Security Watch this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In order to make Super Bowl fans safe all weekend long, a high-tech gameplan is in place. The man calling security shots, Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, says his team is ready.
SHERIFF JOHN RUTHERFORD, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: We've been planning for 18 months; let's get on the field and do it.
CANDIOTTI: Among his tools, cameras trained on key locations around the stadium. Computers can pull in, analyze and catalog shots. The system can zero in on a single seat or an employee in the nosebleed section.
Outside the stadium...
RUTHERFORD: Say a bus had been hijacked and it stops on the bridge, because they want the safety of not having anyone around them. We can still zoom in and get very close and find out exactly what's going on in there.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Over my shoulder, Alltel Stadium, right on the waterfront. Along the river a 14-mile safety zone patrolled by an alphabet-soup collection of federal, state and local agencies.
(voice-over): Including the Coast Guard, monitoring pleasure boats and commercial traffic in the zone.
LT. CMDR. DAN DEPTULA, U.S. COAST GUARD: If they are going too fast or not adhering to the rules that we put out in place here, then we're going to ask them some questions. CANDIOTTI: Before sailing into port, the seven cruise ships that were to be used as floating hotels were inspected, with divers examining each hull, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Once dockside, no water traffic is allowed inside a 400-yard security zone around the cruise ships.
If suspect bombs or explosives are discovered anywhere, ATF response teams are ready with dogs that can sniff out thousands of explosives, using robots, if needed. And, as a last resort, agents wearing protective suits to get a closer look. More than 50 law enforcement agencies trying to make sure this year's Super Bowl has a smooth sail.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Jacksonville, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Super Bowl XXXIX kicks off on Sunday night, 6:30 Eastern. Join us Monday as we show you exclusive footage on how the security operation was carried out. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
(WEATHER REPORT)
In our "Extra Effort" segment on this Friday, a story that begins with a very sick 12-year-old boy. He was living in a remote village in Afghanistan, suffering from a potentially fatal heart defect. Today that boy's here in America. He certainly got some help along the way and now awaiting the surgery that may save his life.
Here's Peter Viles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporter: When you first see Asadullah Kahn, you know right way that something is wrong. He is so weak he almost collapses after a short walk. That's what National Guardsman Layne Pace saw on a special relief mission in Afghanistan, a boy so sick his lips were almost blue.
LAYNE PACE, U.S. ARMY NATL. GUARD: I knew he was in trouble. To us it was also overwhelming. He was cyanotic (ph). He was blue. He would go 15 feet and drop on us. I was just grabbing him and dragging him on the ground, trying to get him up.
VILES: Pace is a Army helicopter pilot. He bought Army doctors to see Asadullah, put him in a chopper at one point, flew him to see more doctors, only to learn the boy has a birth defect, a small hole in his heart. He needs life-saving surgery, and the Army cannot do it.
PACE: We had no resources. They gave us no direction. They said we cannot help you, all we can tell you is he has to get the surgery done.
VILES: So on his own time, in a war zone, Pace launched an e- mail campaign to save a boy's life.
PACE: I fully understood that there might be a brick wall that says you cannot go any further, you cannot get him out of Afghanistan. I knew that was there, but I chose not to think about it. I just continued forward.
VILES: Somehow he connected with Loma Linda Hospital (ph) in California, which agreed to do the heart surgery for free. He found a U.S. Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, who helped get visas in a hurry. He found an airline, Jetblue, that agreed to fly the boy and his father to America for free.
PACE: The word I use for myself is I was driven to do this. Whether within or without, I don't know why. I just had to do it.
VILES: After a journey of 10,000 miles, Asadullah and his father now in California.
ASADULLAH KAHN (through translator): I'm so Happy Layne pace brought me here to help me.
VILES: He'll have that heart surgery any day now. Layne Pace, meantime, who's been home on leave, is returning to the Afghan war zone this weekend.
Peter Viles, CNN, Loma Linda, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That's why we call it extra effort. Great story.
A team of doctors headed by world renowned heart surgeon Leonard Bailey will perform that operation. Bailey's best known for transplanting a baboon's heart into an infant, known as Baby Faye. That happened 21 years ago, in 1984. Best to all.
O'BRIEN: Ye, that's a remarkable story. Good for them. Good for everybody who pitched in, huh?
Well, an Oscar darling proves to be a godsend for an industry that has nothing to do with Hollywood. Andy's "Minding Your Business" ahead.
HEMMER: Also ahead here, last year it was Janet Jackson. This time around looks like "The Simpson's" will provide a bit of controversy this weekend. We'll see. We'll check it out in a moment here on "90-Second Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: When I can educate Toure on something. Do you remember that song? You don't know that song?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: I do remember now. O'BRIEN: It hearkens us back to the wardrobe malfunction. That's Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake doing their thing Super Bowl Sunday last year.
TOURE: We'll never let it go.
O'BRIEN: And we certainly won't today. Here we go again revisiting it. It's "90-Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning, Toure is CNN's pop culture correspondent. Jessica Shaw joins us from "Entertainment Weekly." B.J. Sigesmund is staff editor for "Us Weekly."
Good morning. Nice to see you, guys.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: After the game, "The Simpsons" is going to have -- is going to be on, on Fox, with a controversial episode. Is it really truly controversial?
SIGESMUND: I think it is controversial, Soledad. I saw it last night. And it really goes very far. It's not particularly funny, but it has a very ironic point of view.
O'BRIEN: What's going far about it?
SIGESMUND: It satirizes not just the nipple-gate incident, but really the country's reaction to it last year, as well as all of the fervor around "The Passion of the Christ." A couple things happen in the episode.
First, Ned Flanders, who is their deeply religious neighbor, gets so disgusted by entertainment on television that he decides to make his own movie about the Cain and Abel story. And he casts his own sons in a very violent story. And this is maybe the most violent image you will ever see animated in prime time. I was stunned by it in the way that you were stunned by "The Passion of the Christ."
SHAW: Oh, no. I thought it was pretty funny. I thought Homer...
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: Homer gets tapped to do the halftime show. It's brilliant. He wants to send a crocodile up to space, but it gets messed up. I think it's great. You know, I think Fox is also debuting "American Dad" right after "The Simpsons," which I think they might be hoping that their viewers are a tad drunk, because "American Dad" is also quite controversial. And there's a Karl Rove-esque character. There's a CIA agent, you know, tracking terrorist activity.
SIGESMUND: Well, I just...
O'BRIEN: Let's move on to our next topic, because we've got to run though stuff today.
SIGESMUND: All right.
O'BRIEN: OK. For those of us who are not necessarily going to be watching the Super Bowl...
SHAW: A.K. the two of us.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And some other girls I know and some other folks, too, actually. Not everybody watches the Super Bowl. What else is there to watch?
SHAW: You know, there's not much. Counter-programming a/k/a television for women. It's not such a great selection. There's, like, a "Charmed" marathon." Agent Cody Banks" is showing. You know, these...
TOURE: A repeat of "Desperate Housewives."
SHAW: That's the thing. ESPN has ice skating and jump rope.
TOURE: Jump rope! How insulting!
SIGESMUND: Every network seemed to throw in the towel this year. I mean, there is not really one good option outside of Fox.
TOURE: It's a great game for once, my god! You get up there, root for the black quarterback or the most humble dynasty we've ever seen. There's so much to watch.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
You guys. We're out of time. Thank you very much -- Bill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, as you guys were talking, watching the president now on stage there in Omaha, Nebraska, again, on his tour across the country, five different states over two days and pushing his reform plan for Social Security. We will keep an eye on that.
Also in one Oscar favorite, one of the biggest characters is actually a drink, and it looks like the PR is paying off. Andy explains that in a moment here. "Minding Your Business" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. A case of life imitating art. Also an early check of Wall Street action.
Back to Andy "Minding Your Business." How goes it?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Fine. A case -- I get it. We'll talk about that in a moment. A case. OK, good tease.
Let's check in on the action on Wall Street. Stocks trading up a little bit this morning. You can see the Dow is up 18 points, a little bit of a surprise with the jobs report coming in weaker than expected. We were looking at 200,000 jobs to be created in the month of January, only got 146,000. But the good news is the unemployment dropped from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent. Perhaps that's what Wall Street's focusing on.
A couple food stories of note this morning. Interesting one here. The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is now going to be owned by a fish restaurant. That's right, Landry's Restaurants have bought the venerable Nugget. I love this old Vegas footage. And look at, Jack, loves that stuff, too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: My uncle used to run that joint.
SERWER: He did.
CAFFERTY: That's a true story. My dad's brother retired as the general manager of the Golden Nugget a lot of years ago.
SERWER: Now a seafood restaurant.
CAFFERTY: That's disgusting. I'm outraged.
SERWER: That's a little weird. Landry's Restaurants one of the largest seafood chains in the country. They own Landry's, they own Joe's Crab Shack, they also own the Chart House. So what do you do? You pull the slot, what do you win? A fishwich, some crab legs, two boiled lobsters? A little weird. I don't know, whatever works.
HEMMER: Chicken nuggets is what you win.
SERWER: All right, nuggets, very good. You're good today.
OK, let's talk about this is the case of life imitating art. The movie "Sideways," you may remember if you've seen it Paul Giamatti's character "Miles," he's singing the virtues of Pinot Noir, trying to win this woman's heart. Pinot Noir, it's fabulous. Pinot Noir.
Well, guess what? People going all around the country to liquor stores asking for Pinot Noir. Do you have any Pinot Noir? And people in liquor stores, you didn't happen to see that movie, did you? And they're like, yes. Listen to this, sales in January up 32 percent, certain vintages up 100 percent. People going crazy for Pinot Noir.
HEMMER: You know Jean Weinberg (ph) on our staff, she just got back from Santa Barbara County. She went to some of the places that are highlighted in this film. Business is up five times since the movie came out.
SERWER: Pinot Noir. CAFFERTY: Well, the other part of that story is that domestic California wines are, for the most part, better than that stuff they grow in Europe.
HEMMER: And because of the dollar...
CAFFERTY: And cheaper now because of the dollar.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
CAFFERTY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fish joint. My uncle will be turning over in his grave.
SERWER: You can, of course, but it's just owned by a fish...
CAFFERTY: When I was a teenage boy, there's -- well, I'll screw up all the timing.
O'BRIEN: But go ahead.
CAFFERTY: Because he ran the joint, I used to go down there to spend Easter vacation with him. And because he ran the joint, you weren't allowed in the casinos until you were 21. I was like 16. I had my run of the place. I could sit in the bar and watch Wanda Jackson, who was in the lounge. I'd wander through the casino and watch them play cards. None of the security guys would bother me because I was Duffy's nephew.
SERWER: That's the greatest.
CAFFERTY: It was a great place.
HEMMER: And put another fire -- put another log on the fire. We have stories by Jack this morning.
SERWER: Do you have any footage of that? That's what I want to see. Do we have any tape of Jack wandering around back then? That would be cool.
CAFFERTY: Nevermind. The "Question of the Day" is this. Has celebrity worship gone too far? That really bugs me, a fish place.
Ken in Kingston, Nova Scotia writes: "Of course celebrity worship's gone too far, but it's not going to stop. If I could get a job as a celebrity housekeeper, the tools of my trade would be an eBay seller's account and truckload of plastic bags. Garbage collection could be canceled from my employer's address."
Randy in Pulaski, Wisconsin: "P.T. Barnum said it best. There's a sucker born every minute. People believe what they want and will buy anything they believe is genuine."
And Bill in St. Petersburg, Florida, writes: "I'll give my first born for Jack Cafferty's comb."
O'BRIEN: If I were in the market for another kid, I could hook him up.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: You're bad, you're bad.
CAFFERTY: The Golden Nugget, a fish restaurant.
SERWER: You're still pondering that.
O'BRIEN: It's a nice fish restaurant.
SERWER: Yes, it is.
O'BRIEN: It's not bad.
CAFFERTY: I'm depressed. Bummed out now.
SERWER: It's OK.
CAFFERTY: It's not OK.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what, this will cheer your little heart. Pictures of little babies. This is Brooke Sidney Surat (ph). She was born Tuesday morning. And she weighs eight pounds, one ounces. A big old baby. 20 and one half inches. That's our boss' little girl. And that's the big sister Katie.
SERWER: Cute.
O'BRIEN: Mommy's doing fine. Little sister's doing fine. Little baby's doing fine. Dad is a mess. Completely stressed.
SERWER: So what else is new?
CAFFERTY: He was a mess before that kid was born.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Here's to their beautiful and expanding family.
SERWER: Yes, cheers.
HEMMER: Congratulations.
CAFFERTY: As we collectively try to suck up to the boss.
SERWER: And we're doing a good job of it, too.
HEMMER: Send us more photos, Will.
O'BRIEN: Well, as we all know, the president wants you to support Social Security reform. The big question, though, how will his plan affect you? CNN LIVE TODAY has the answer and the question and five top tips. You're looking at pictures, in fact, of president live in Omaha, Nebraska, this morning, where he's doing that sell job. That's coming up in the next hour with Rick and Daryn. AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: One of the images that we saw that came out of the elections last Sunday was the purple ink stain on the end of the fingers of those who voted throughout Iraq. Apparently this is the latest patriotic trend. Here's Jeanne Moos this morning looking at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they hailing a cab? Testing the wind? Are they testing their peripheral vision? You can sum up the latest patriotic trend in two words: Got ink?
(on camera): Move over middle finger, the index finger is the new finger of choice.
(voice-over): It's a gesture of homage to Iraqis who were brave enough to vote, purple ink used to prevent people from voting more than once, became a badge of honor. For Iraqis who voted in U.S., a finger was worth a thousand words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the purple finger to prove it.
MOOS: Now Congressman are flaunting it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I marked my finger.
MOOS: Folks made a point of pointing their fingers at the State of the Union. Web sites are posting photos people send in of their upraised index fingers in shades ranging from blue to purple to turquoise, poised on a trigger by the soldier in Iraq.
Some display a single digit, some prefer the victory or peace sign. This Iraqi woman at the State of the Union combined the two.
This GOP blogger's Web site credits a 10-year-old Montana girl for inspiring others to dye their fingers. For her efforts, Shelby Dangerfield got to meet the president he visited Montana Thursday.
Comedy shows may joke about it.
JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW: Is that ink?
ROB CORDORY, DAILY SHOW: Yeah. Funny story, that's from Hassan, my translator, he voted before earlier before we...
MOOS: One political Web site offered a recipe for a cocktail drink called the purple finger made from grenadine, cassis made from black currants and vodka.
But from us, the purple finger got the -- thumbs down.
Another Web site set up by this University Michigan law student calls itself, give terror the finger. OK, not everybody is using their index finger to make a political point. But not since E.T. cast this shadow across movie screens...
E.T., EXTRATERRESTRIAL: E.T.
MOOS: ...has a finger been so poignant.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That bandwagon's getting heavy, isn't it? Well, when a trend starts it really starts and catches fire and runs.
CAFFERTY: It's a great idea.
O'BRIEN: It was.
HEMMER: It was the -- on every Web site across the country on Sunday and Monday, they had a picture of someone with a stained finger.
O'BRIEN: Well, we talked about this right after the election. I was so worried that people would be walking around with a blue ink stain and of course, they'd be essentially sitting ducks or just targets for the insurgents, who are hunting out -- you know, trying to find people and kill them, who had voted. And instead it sort of turned into this amazing symbol. It was such a nice thing.
HEMMER: There was that one story where those four people were killed because they were identified...
SERWER: That was the exception that proved the rule, though.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: You know what, though? They keep doing stuff like that and they're going to be out of favor over there in real short order.
O'BRIEN: The insurgents?
CAFFERTY: Yes. That election was a -- what do they call it, an epiphany of sorts. Nobody expected what happened over there in that election.
O'BRIEN: What do they say? Freedom is contagious. Some people just got their first whiff of it.
CAFFERTY: And there's some folks in Iran that are champing at the bit to maybe make some of their own decisions, too.
SERWER: Maybe they'll get some ink over there.
CAFFERTY: Tired of those mullahs telling them what to.
HEMMER: We've got to run. It's three to two, by the way, the panel here.
CAFFERTY: What's that?
HEMMER: Three are in favor of Philadelphia, two are in favor of New England.
CAFFERTY: Am I in favor of Philadelphia?
HEMMER: You're the underdog guy.
COSTELLO: I think it's going to go into overtime, don't you, Andy?
SERWER: No, I think the Eagles are just going to win it straight out.
O'BRIEN: I guess we're going to know on Sunday, won't we?
SERWER: And we'll talk about it on Monday.
CAFFERTY: And talk about it and talk about it.
O'BRIEN: Let's head right down South. Daryn Kagan, Rick Sanchez at the CNN Center, going to take you through the next couple of hours. Hey, guys.
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