Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

West Virginia Governor Vows Mining Safety Reforms; Angry Katrina Evacuee Confronts Louisiana Governor Over Her Still Missing Mother; Challenger Explosion 20th Anniversary; Remembering Christa McAuliffe; Ford to Downsize; Evo Morales Bolivia's First Indigenous President; Instant Release of Movies on DVD; Steelers Fan has Heart Attack While Watching Game

Aired January 22, 2006 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: I can only tell you, this has got to stop and it is going to stop. We're going to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: Once again, tragedy for miners in West Virginia. Efforts to save two men trapped below fail and now the governor vows to make changes.

And good morning, everyone, from the CNN Center in Atlanta. Welcome to CNN SUNDAY MORNING on this the 22 day of January. I'm Tony Harris.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: I'm Betty Nguyen. We'll take you live to Melville, West Virginia, in just a moment. But first, here's a look at some of the other stories happening right "Now in the News":

A U.S. interrogator will be sentenced tomorrow for his role in a death of an Iraqi general at a detention camp. A military jury in Colorado convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer of negligent dereliction of duty, and negligent homicide. He was spared a more severe murder conviction, which could have sent him to prison for life.

Now to Iraq: There has been no word on American reporter Jill Carroll since her captors released a videotape last Tuesday. The kidnappers threaten to kill Carroll unless the U.S. released all Iraqi women in their custody. Members of an American Muslim group are in Iraq pleading for her release.

What a difference a few hours make. Yesterday at this time things looked so hopeful for the wayward whale, that swam up the River Thames into the heart of London. Then, a few hours later, the bottlenose whale died despite a rescue operation to take it back to the open sea. Officials say the whale was dehydrated and suffered a series of convulsions.

Lost jobs and shut doors. Look for a major restructuring announcement from Ford tomorrow. The number two automaker is facing a deep financial crises. Ford is expected to outline a plan that will include plant closings and layoffs. There is speculation that the automaker could cut 25,000 jobs in North America and close 10 factories.

HARRIS: Coming up this hour on CNN SUNDAY, the lessons that teacher Christa McAuliffe might have taught her students had it not been for the ill-fated flight of Challenger.

Also, a battle of Jujubes, between -- yes, well between Hollywood producers and theater owners over the new movie "Bubble". OK?

And in the AFC playoffs it was down to the final minutes in the Steelers/Colts game and nearly the final moment for die-hard fan Terry O'Neil. That's for sure. He'll join us live to share his story.

In the meanwhile, tragedy again in West Virginia. The bodies of coal miners have been recovered to days after the men were trapped in a fire-filled mine. Now from West Virginia to Washington, there are urgent calls for new safety measures. CNN's Bob Franken is following the story, he joins us from Melville, West Virginia, this morning.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: Good morning, Tony. Behind me the Bright Star Freewill Baptist Church, normally this time of day on a Sunday the parking lot full of parishioners, but they're not having services today because the church had been used as the gathering place for the families and friends of the two miners, who were missing. Holding out that little threat of hope that perhaps it would be a miracle and the two would be found after it they disappeared on Thursday evening.

But it was not to be. We found out late yesterday afternoon that the two men had been found, their bodies had been found, over 45 hours from the time they had disappeared, leaving a smoke-filled mine with other members of their work crew. They did not make it out.

Now, there are many calls for a reform. Reform that has been a battle for the history of coal mining, particular in this part of the country where it's being renewed now as we heard from the governor of West Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANCHIN: This has got to stop and it's going to stop. We're going to change. And we have, as you know, we have investigations going on at Sago, where we lost 12, 12 of our brave miners. And, now, at Alma we lost two of our brave miners. We have 14 families that have changed forever, 14 families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And as the mine opened up again this morning, there was very little activity up there, just the residue of the frantic and tense search that had occurred. This is new videotape that was just shot at the Aracoma mine, excuse me, just up a half mile from where we're standing.

And in Washington, there are going to be new calls for reforms. New equipment, new ways to maintain safety in this mine, and the mines throughout the coal industry. This has been a historic struggle. It will be renewed after the tragedy that occurred here. Betty -- excuse me, Tony?

HARRIS: Well, Bob I have to tell you, sir, we're going to have investigations and hearings in Washington and we've got ongoing investigations in West Virginia. I suspect there will be calls for all kinds of changes. And I suspect the mining company will say those changes come with a price tag. What are the mining companies saying now? I would guess they would say these costs and these changes, and the cost of those changes have to be shared by everyone involved.

FRANKEN: Well, the mining company's will, first of all, say that over the decades they have upgraded the safety of their mines. They would also say that many of the reforms requested are really burdensome and all they do is make it more difficult and too expensive to mine coal at a time there are such crying energy needs.

On the other side you have people who say traditionally the coal operators have put profits above the safety of the miners. This is a battle that has encompassed much of the history of the United States, certainly the last century, much of that battle has been fought right here in Logan and next door, Mingo Counties, where some of the big, big fights have occurred, right here.

HARRIS: Boy, that is so true. Bob Franken for us in Melville, West Virginia. Bob, thank you.

NGUYEN: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says it's time to move things ahead, but many hurricane evacuees can't forget the tragic past. Blanco visited Atlanta Saturday to take part in one of four Louisiana recovery planning events held in different states, and she got an emotional earful from one desperate evacuee. You have to see this story. CNN's Gary Tuchman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Louisiana's governor came to Georgia to visit some of the Louisiana diaspora.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, (D) LOUISIANA: When do you think you'll be back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was hoping yesterday, but I guess it will be a while.

TUCHMAN: Louisianans have lost their homes, moved to Georgia and got a chance to talk to Governor Kathleen Blanco.

BLANCO: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't wait to get back home. I'm trying really hard now, but, I'm out here by myself. (SOBBING)

TUCHMAN: This was all part of Louisiana's Recovery Planning Day. Hurricane victims showed up here and at 30 other locations, in Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana, to offer suggestions about the rebuilding of their neighborhoods and their lives.

But it was emotion that captured the occasion. I talked with one woman whose 82-year-old mother is still missing. Ethyl Herbert was a stroke victim who could not talk. She was on a hospital bed at the Super Dome when her daughter last saw her leaving with medical personnel.

DENISE HERBERT, MOTHER MISSING FROM KATRINA: They her hospital mattress and put it on this truck, and they took her around to the Super Dome.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How does it make you feel?

HERBERT: I'm very angry. Everybody in America got a mama but where is mine? That's what I want to know today! Where is my mother? I'm angry with the world!

They can parade here and talk about Mardi Gras and what they want to do with New Orleans. What about these 3,000 and some people missing. And why am I missing my momma. I'm sick of these people! I really am sick of these people!

You can save whales. You can save all these animals, but you can't save all these people. And I'm tired. And I want the governor, I want the mayor, and I want the president, I want all three of them to come before her six children and tell us where she is. We didn't her in want (ph). We didn't leave her in the house. We left her in the hands of what they call the world's finest.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Denise Herbert's outrage quickly caught the attention of the governor who took over my seat. They talked about the chaos in the days after Hurricane Katrina, and then Governor Blanco called her secretary of health and hospitals and told him to get on the case.

BLANCO: He will make a few calls and call you back. We'll just pray with you. Try to find something out.

TUCHMAN: Almost five months after Katrina, the nightmare is still fresh. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: There are some grim points of interest worth noting. In all, Louisiana officials put Katrina's death toll at just over 1,100. But, there are more than 3,200 people still unaccounted for. New Orleans officials are trying to locate the missing by back tracking previous addresses. We'll let you know if and when Denise Herbert ever finds her missing mother. HARRIS: Betty, a sad ending to a story we followed for you yesterday. That wayward whale stranded in London's Thames River is dead.

NGUYEN: Yeah, unfortunately.

HARRIS: The whale is dead. Millions watched yesterday as rescuers lifted the bottlenose on to a barge and took it out to sea. Thousands of Londoners gathered on the banks of the Thames, all along the bridges. We watched them as they were running from side to side to take a look at the whale, just to try to watch the rescue attempt.

But the whale died during the trip. It is not clear exactly what killed the whale. But marine experts think dehydration and stress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY DAVIS, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: It's not unusual in strandings, that you have these mortalities. The animals are in a very stressed situation. You look at the natural history for these animals. Where they would live, and what they would do to survive in the wild.

The bottlenose whale is an open ocean whale, it dives very deep, feeds on squid at great depths. To find it stranded or moving up into a shallow water, a fresh water river of all things, would lead you to believe it wasn't feeling well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, the rescue effort was televised -- actually, I thought it was -- across the globe, everywhere.

NGUYEN: We had a whale cam up. I mean, we were all following it, hoping for the best.

HARRIS: Well, it didn't make it. This kind of whale wasn't spotted we understand, in the Thames, in nearly a century. So there you go, whale's dead.

NGUYEN: She was supposed to be the first teacher in outer space, that was 20 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE, TEACHER, ASTRONAUT: It is hard for kids to realize that you can build something that is not attached to anything, but in zero gravity you can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: We all know what happened next to Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew, but do we really know this teacher, who made history? Her story, next.

HARRIS: Plus, a fan who almost gave his life for his favorite football team. What are we talking about here? Terry O'Neil lives, and he'll join us live right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Could it be a sign of the times? Movies on a menu? You can go see it at the theater or rent it at the video store, all on opening day. Yeah, battle over the premier of "Bubble", coming up on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

HARRIS: For those of you just tuning in, good morning to you.

Our top stories this morning, A West Virginia community is mourning again after the deaths of two coal miners. Rescuers recovered their bodies yesterday, 40 hours after a fire broke out underground in Melville. West Virginia's governor says he plans to introduce three bills to make mines safer.

Two weeks after American journalist Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad, still no word on her fate. The U.S. is refusing to negotiate with her captors. The abdicators are demanding that the U.S. frees all female Iraqi detainees.

And it is 5 o'clock in Moscow where a criminal investigation has begun after explosions cut off electricity and natural gas service in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Russia's InterFax (ph) news agency reports the blast struck a gas pipeline and a high voltage electric power line.

More than 70 people have died during a severe winter in that country.

NGUYEN: It's been 20 years ago this week since the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up after liftoff. That explosion killed all seven crew members and sent NASA and the nation into grief and uncertainty. One of the crew members, Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher ever to go into space. CNN's Paula Zahn looks at the educator's contributions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE BREKKE, NASA FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Her payload was education. She, herself, was the payload. And she was carrying experiments that were typical kind of experiments that a teacher would conduct in a classroom. And the shuttle was going to be her classroom in space.

CHRISTA McAULIFFE, DIED IN CHALLENGER EXPLOSION: It's hard for kids to realize that you can build something that's not attached to anything, but in zero gravity you can do that, or in space you can do that. So at that point I wanted to be able to let it go.

BREKKE: It was very important to her, to write her own lesson plan. And I don't remember all the details, but there was some headquarters involvement. And, you know, they had their ideas on what Christa should do, but she made it clear that she had her ideas on what she should be doing as the teacher in space, in this classroom in space.

BARBARA MORGAN, TEACHER IN SPACE FINALIST: You just would never script out what you're going to say, and we would laugh and say, you know we're not -- Christa would say, well, I'm not an actress. I'm not pretending I'm a teacher, I am a teacher and don't do this.

MCAULIFFE: I'm much more comfortable, when I'm teaching in front of a classroom. I'm much more comfortable talking about something and doing something at the same time. If that's not distracting for kids, if you're talking about the thing that you're doing, it's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First leap frog in zero gravity one leap frog, two leap frogs, three leap frogs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time I'd like to introduce you -- or to perhaps a person you came to see and that's Christa McAuliffe, our payload specialist, teacher in space.

(APPLAUSE)

McAULIFFE: Well, I am so excited to be here. We watched Columbia go over the Houston area this morning, and that was a thrill. I think any teacher has ever been more ready to have two lessons in my life. I've been preparing these since September and I just hope everybody tunes in on day four now, to watch the teacher teaching from space.

ANNE DONOVAN MALAVICH, CHRISTA'S BEST FRIEND: That is when it really struck me, oh, my god, she's actually going into space. And then I asked her if she was afraid. I said, are you a little bit afraid? She said, no. She had complete faith in NASA, that they wouldn't let anything happen to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: "CNN Presents: Christa McAuliffe Reach For The Stars." That airs tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: Miss America, take a look at the picture of her here.

NGUYEN: Yeah.

HARRIS: Fetching young woman. Where? There she is.

NGUYEN: Don't cover her up. Yeah, leave it up big.

HARRIS: Her crowing moment. You might not believe the first thing she wanted to do after she was crowned last night.

NGUYEN: That's a good one.

HARRIS: It is.

NGUYEN: And later, I'm going to talk live with this man. You see him there in a hospital bed, that's because he had a heart attack watching a football playoff game last week, but he promises to be watching today. Stay tuned, no heart attacks today, OK, Terry O'Neil? We'll be talking with him shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Oklahoma, Jennifer Berry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Oh, there she is. What happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas. At least not for long. Under the glow of the glitzy lights, Jennifer Berry is crowned the new Miss America. Take a good look. Let's put her back up, there she is.

An aspiring teacher, Berry also earned a $30,000 college scholarship and a year-long speaking tour. First thing for the 2006 beauty queen, oh look at that. Yes, she wanted to snack on some French fries. Not just regular French fries she had to dip that in Ranch dressing. That is the only way to eat fries, Tony.

She said in a news conference that she couldn't wait to eat once the pageant was over. The 22-year-old Berry held her own, but, unfortunately, she didn't win the swimsuit competition, I don't see why not. Look, she's beautiful.

The new Miss America talent routine was ballet, suitable for the statuesque 5'8" beauty. Do have to note, though, that Miss Georgia, Monica Payne (ph) was runner up.

HARRIS: She ran to the fries? Is that it?

NGUYEN: She went right to -- that's what I would have done, too. Give me some food, especially after you won. You have to celebrate somehow, right?

BONNIE SCHNIEDER: That's true. Hopefully she's still celebrating.

NGUYEN: She is just in la-la land today. You know she's happy.

HARRIS: Really?

Good morning, lady.

SCHNIEDER: Good morning. How you guys doing?

(WEATHER FORECAST)

NGUYEN: Big football games today, Tony. I know you're going to be watching.

HARRIS: Can you see the flag there, on the top of the Space Needle?

NGUYEN: You can barely see the flag. It's the 12th man flag, which represents the fans, because you know there are only 11 players on the field at any given time.

HARRIS: All right. I get a kick out of you?

NGUYEN: We're so witty here at CNN.

HARRIS: All right, four football teams playing today, all still in the running for the Super Bowl. You have your Steelers. There's the bus (ph). Carolina, it's all about Steve Smith and Seattle, the Seahawks. So, which team do you think will take it all, win everything? Not too late to e-mail us your thoughts, weekends@cnn.com and we'll read some of your replies after the break.

NGUYEN: Tony doesn't want to commit just yet. I say Seattle, but you don't want to commit.

We'll have to wait, we'll have to see how this plays out today.

HARRIS: Yeah.

NGUYEN: All right. We have other news to tell you about. He is a former soldier who is mad, and will not take it any more. When we come back, a former Army sergeant lets it all out when he confronts U.S. congressmen complaining about the military's morale.

HARRIS: Plus, a man who is now out of the hospital and counting his blessings this morning. He is also going to keep a close eye on today's football scores. He talks about his football fever later on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: For the first time in more than 500 years a descendant of the original inhabitants of Bolivia will be sworn in as president today. Celebration is already under way as it is 10:30 in La Paz.

Welcome back everyone to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. That story coming up, but, first, here's what is happening right "Now in the News":

A U.S. Army interrogator will be sentenced tomorrow for his role in the death of a detained Iraqi general. A military jury in Colorado found Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer guilty of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty. He was accused of putting a sleeping bag over the head of the Iraq general and sitting on his chest during the 2003 interrogation.

Another tragic ending in West Virginia. Family and friends are grieving the deaths of two coal miners killed in the Aracoma coal mine. Rescuer teams recovered their bodies yesterday, it comes two days after a conveyer belt caught fire spewing thick smoke throughout the mine. West Virginia's governor says tomorrow he will introduce new safety legislation for underground mines.

It was a valiant effort, but it just did not work. The wayward whale that swam up the River Themes into the heart of London has, unfortunately, died. Rescuers put the bottlenose whale on a barge yesterday and they were taking it back out to open sea. We all heard that the whale was fine, but unfortunately somewhere in that travel, the whale did die along the way. Officials think injuries and stress killed it.

The Ford Motor Company is trying to drive itself out of a financial crisis. Tomorrow the No. 1 American automaker is expected to announce a restructuring plan that will include layoffs and plant closures. Various reports suggest Ford could cut about 25,000 jobs in North America and close 10 factories.

TONY HARRIS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: In Bolivia today, Evo Morales is being sworn in as the country's first indigenous president. By the thousands Anviat (ph) Indians are streaming to the ceremony to celebrate the long-awaited rise to power of one of their own. You may ask, why should you care? Well, on the campaign trail, Morales promised he would be the United States' worst nightmare. CNN's Lucia Newman has more from Bolivia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR (voice-over): They came from all over Bolivia for a celebration they say they've been waiting for more than 500 years. They call themselves the original indigenous people. Those who ruled the region before it was conquered by the white man. It was here at the Temple of the Sun God, of the ancient Andean city of Tiwanaku that Bolivia's newly elected president appeared, barefoot and a replica of a ceremonial robe worn here 800 years ago to be sworn in symbolically by his people.

"Today is the beginning of a new year for the original inhabitants of our land, a new life that we're seeking with justice and equality. A new era." Said Avo Morales.

Morales is an Aymara Indian, so his commitment to the ceremony at Tiwanku to end discrimination against Bolivia's indigenous majority had tremendous significance.

(on camera): Tiwanaku was and is considered a center of wisdom by the Andean civilizations, another symbolic reason Avo Morales decided to come here to ask for the wisdom he'll need to change the lives of people of Bolivia's, South America's poorest country.

(voice-over): Tens of thousands of these people, Aymara, Quechua, and Guarani Indians came, chewing cocoa leaves from pouches as they've done for centuries to fight off hunger and exhaustion.

"Our time has finally comes," adds this community leader, "we are the leaders of our own land again." Morales, a socialist and self- proclaim enemy of U.S. imperialism and free market economics knows that expectations are high. "If I don't move forward, push me," he said, "if I make mistakes, correct me. I may stumble, but I will never betray the struggle of my people" he said, visibly moved.

Sunday afternoon, the former leader of cocoa leaf farmers will be officially sworn in, but for Morales, this was the real beginning of his presidency.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Tiwanaku, Bolivia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK SEAVEY, FMR. ARMY SERGEANT: I keep hearing you say how you talked to the troops and the troops are demoralized and I really resent that characterization. The morale of the troops I talked to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Scolding words for two U.S. Congressmen from a former Army sergeant just back from Afghanistan. Mark Seavey didn't intend to start a firestorm but the reaction to his comments has lit up the internet and blogphere. We are going to hear more from Mark this morning in our "Soldier Story," he joins us now from Washington.

Good morning to you.

SEAVEY: Thanks for having me on.

NGUYEN: Sure. I wanted to ask you, did you go to this event with the intention to speak out? What made you want to go to it?

SEAVEY: Well, when I first got the news in the morning that it was going to be held in Arlington, I wanted to go just to see basically what was going on and what Congressman Murtha and Moran had to say. At the time I, you know, I didn't intend to set myself up as an anti-Cindy Sheehan or something of that nature, but what I heard at the town hall meeting had me so upset had me so upset that I simply couldn't sit still anymore. They kept taking about how the moral of the Army was broken, and how the troops are demoralized and that's exactly the opposite message that I'm getting both from the troops overseas and from the troops I served with.

NGUYEN: And that's something you definitely talked about. I want you to take a listen to another piece of what you said during that meeting about morale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAVEY: Well, I don't know who you two are talking to, but the morale of the troops is very high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So I got to ask you about that. You served in Afghanistan, some of your troops went on to Iraq, but when you talk about morale being high, there are some questions coming from troops dealing with the conditions on the ground, questions that deal with body armor and an exit strategy. How is that affecting morale?

SEAVEY: Well, let me address each of those actually. The issue with, you know, with an exit strategy. Everyone keeps talking about the exit strategy, particularly Congressman Moran, or Congressman Murtha, rather. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam in 1966 and I'm unaware that we had an exit strategy then. One has to wonder if the politicians had had an exit strategy for the Battle of the Bulge or Valley Forge what those two conflicts would have looked like.

Secondly, the armor issue is really a tempest in a teapot. I talk to soldiers overseas all the time, I got e-mails yesterday from two of my former troops, Staff Sergeant Eric Carlson and Lieutenant Trent Weston, and both of them said the same thing that I've been saying all along that we hear this issue about the body armor as if it's the front and back plates, the interceptor body armer, and the reality is what we're talking about in this case the shoulder plates, the leg grieves and side plates. Now, with all of those combined you're talking about 10 pound worth of weight, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're carrying 70 pounds of gear, whether it's communications equipment or extra ammo, that 10 pound can be a difference between being able to get to cover quickly, if you come under fire, and not being able to. So, most of the troops I talked to don't want the body armor, the additional plates. As a matter of fact, mine never came out of the shrink wrap, it was right in the bottom of the duffel bag right next to my protective masks, which also I never used.

NGUYEN: You know, those watching and saw what you had to say at that event, some are asking questions about your service because you spent time in Afghanistan, not on the ground in Iraq, and as you talk about morale in Iraq do you think your (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of morale may be different since you did spent your time in Afghanistan?

SEAVEY: I don't think it is and the reason I don't think it is is because after this all started I've been getting e-mails, about 50 to 100 a day, from troops in Iraq who are saying the same thing I am. But, you know, don't take my word for it, go out there and find guys who have come back from Iraq because when you go it these dinners that they have at Fran O'Brien Steak HouseSteak House with the wounded troops, every one of them says the same thing. Get me patched up and back into the fight. It's not just me that is saying this, it's all the troops who are serving and all of them feel the same way I do, that the morale is very high.

Certainly you're going to have people who complain, that's the nature of the beast. When you have a battalion of 470 men, you're going to have people who complain. But the reality is that the vast majority of them are very much in favor of this war and very much in favor of the way that we're doing it on the ground. They just wish that the -- that the politicians would leave us alone so we can kill people and break things, which is what we're paid to do.

NGUYEN: Speak out still. Mark Seavey, thanks for joining us this morning.

SEAVEY: Thank you, ma'am.

NGUYEN: We appreciate your time -- Tony. HARRIS: Well, imagine if movies like "King Kong" or "Chronicles of Narnia" were available on DVD right now. We're not talking about privacy (SIC), we're talking about studios releasing the films for home viewing at the same time they're shown at theaters. Well, that's what one director hopes to do with his movie "Bubble." As Dan Simon reports, movies theater owners aren't too thrilled about instant release.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's called "Bubble." a low budget murder mystery directed by Academy Award Winner, Steven Soderbergh. It's generating all kinds of buzz, not for its content, but for the way it's being released to audiences.

TODD WAGNER, FILM PRODUCER: It's releasing something across different platforms so that consumers can decide how they want to consume it and it's really that simple.

SIMON: Consumers will have the option of seeing the movie at the theater, on DVD or on Pay Per View. The film released on all formats at the same time. Soderbergh plans to release five more movies the same way. The idea to give folks broader choices and also reduce costs for studios, like having to market films twice, first for the theater, then later for home video.

WAGNER: Time will tell how people respond to this. My instinct is that people will think this is a good thing.

SIMON (on camera): But movie theater owners say it's not a good thing. With revenues already flat they're fearful such a concept will significantly shrink their business. Many, they say, will just stay at home to watch the latest flicks.

JOHN FITHIAN, Simultaneous release is the new Coke of the movie industry.

SIMON (voice-over): John Fithian who heads the National Association of Theater Owners says it's a misconceived fact, one that will actually reduce choice.

FITHIAN: If the windows were to be collapsed and all product was released everywhere at the same time, we believe that entertainment products would become homogenized and just be doing movie of the week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like you guys needed is some help and so here she is. Her name is Rose.

SIMON: Simultaneous release is still an experiment, an experiment that won't be tried in states like New Jersey, Virginia, or Nevada. Theater chains of those states are refusing to show "Bubble" when it comes out this week. According to one analyst, theaters do have reason to worry.

PAUL DERGARBEDIAN, HOLLYWOOD ANALYST: Suddenly every movie were to be distributed this way, day in data, as we call it, in every format, that would be a huge threat to the theater industry.

WAGNER: People want what they want when they want it and we're trying to deliver to that.

SIMON: Regardless of the delivery method, it is hard to argue there's just no substitute for watching some films on the big sdreen screen. The question, should consumers be able to make that choice the very moment a film is released?

Dan Simon, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: One survey shows 40, what is it? About 43 percent of Americans are loyal football fans.

NGUYEN: Oh, yeah.

HARRIS: I'll tell you why, I think what happened to this man is not what they had in mind. Terry O'Neil...

NGUYEN: A little too loyal.

HARRIS: Still in a hospital bed, this after suffering a heart attack during last weekend's playoff game.

NGUYEN: Yeah, that's no joke. But don't worry, he is live...

HARRIS: What is he holding up there?

NGUYEN: He's sill a diehard fan. Look at this...

HARRIS: Heart stopping -- raise it up a little more.

NGUYEN: Raise it up a little bit more

HARRIS: Raise it up.

NGUYEN: Home of the heart stopping action. Oh, no, Terry O' Neil, we're going to be talking with you live right after this break.

HARRIS: You know, he's got a website now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning everyone. The temperature in Denver, Colorado, is 17 degrees and in Seattle a little milder at 43 degrees. Both cities will sport great weather for today's football games. I'll have your complete football forecast, as well as the rest of the country's weather coming up next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, with less than a minute to go in last Sunday's Steelers/Colt game, Colt's linebacker, Gary Bracket hit Steeler's running back Jerome Bettis on the Indianapolis goal line...

HARRIS: Real hard.

NGUYEN: Forcing a fumble. We're going to show it to you. Oh, right there, right there. The play gave the Colts a new chance to win and gave super fan Terry O'Neill a heart attack, literally. But for O'Neill the game ended on two positive notes, the Steelers won and he survived. There he is live joining us from Pittsburgh this morning.

Thanks for being with us, Terry. So glad you're here, period.

TERRY O'NEILL, STEELERS FAN: Good to be here.

NGUYEN: Yes, OK, so, take us back to this time well, well, a little bit later this time last week when you were watching the game. What happened?

O'NEILL: Well, I was watching the game and I was getting a little upset with some of the officiating and there was a bad call...

NGUYEN: Those refs can do that to you can't they?

O'NEILL: Yes, they can. There was a bad call on Randall el and then the one on Polamalu got me a little bit more excited and I felt a little flush, but I dismissed it and the next thing you know Jerome popped the ball up, which is way out of character for him and...

NGUYEN: And he's one of your biggest players. I mean, he's the guy that you watch, right?

O'NEILL: That's my man. Yeah, well, there are so many heroes on the team, but I just think so much of Jerome. He's like the elder statesman on the team and you just got to love him.

NGUYEN: All right, so this was happening and you were starting to get flush, you started feeling different. What were you saying when this heart attack was coming on?

O'NEILL: Well, I was just glued to the TV and among friends and I wasn't saying much of anything. I was kind of in shock at what I had seen and it all happened so quickly and I saw the -- whoever picked the ball up running down that field and Big Ben tackled him and I'm told I turned to my friend and said, "Jerome's a pro, he can't do that" and that was the last thing I said and I just fell backwards onto the floor and I don't believe I'm the first one who fell to the floor down there. They thought I was kidding around and one of the firemen that were there said Terry's turning blue and...

NGUYEN: That's never a good sign, Terry. Never a good sign. So do you know these firemen? Do you know the two that helped save you?

O'NEILL: I grew up with them, they're my best friend and if you're going to have an incident like this, I couldn't have been in a better place at a better time.

NGUYEN: That's true. All right, so, when you get to the hospital this is what floors me. You get to the hospital and they're working on you and finally start to come back and what do you ask the doctor?

O'NEILL: Who won?

NGUYEN: That was the first thing you were concerned about, come on.

O'NEILL: That was the first question I asked and I think he said something like, you have bigger fish to fry.

NGUYEN: All right, so, here's what I want to know. Are you going back to the bar today?

O'NEILL: Yeah, I'll be drinking this water here and my wife's going to be with me, but I've got to be there to support the guys. I don't think I'll be there for the whole game, but I want to get out and have some fun and they got my body straightened out pretty well. UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center did a wonderful job on me and as long as I behave myself and try not to get too excited I'm sure I'll be OK, because...

NGUYEN: Yeah, we know you're a die-hard fan but just, you know, don't take that to heart, all right Terry. Don't take that to heart. So, when you go back today and, of course, bless your wife, she's going to be by your side. Are you going to do anything different? You going to kind of sit back or, I mean, this is the playoffs, they could go to the Super Bowl. This is a big game for you.

O'NEILL: I can't see me -- I don't think I'll yell as loud because my chest still hurts. Not my heart, but they did chest compressions, they maybe cracked some cartilage, so, I won't be doing the typical screaming and yelling, which is a good thing and -- but other than that, I'll be in it heart and soul. You know, I'll be watching the game and having the same excitements and, but I think it will be a blowout anyway, so...

NGUYEN: You think so? What do you think the score is going to be?

O'NEILL: Oh, about 31-17, something like that.

NGUYEN: All right, 31-17. So, let me tell you this, if the Steelers win, they go to the Super Bowl, you coming back to talk to us?

O'NEILL: Absolutely.

NGUYEN: All right, you can depend on it. So, we hope they go all the way and we hope you survive today's game. You take it easy, OK?

O'NEILL: Thank you very much.

NGUYEN: We'll talk to you later. Thanks for talking to us, Terry. O'NEILL: And thank you. Bye-bye.

HARRIS: You think Terry's a die-hard fan, check this out, Ron Vagaro (ph) is the illustrated man of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As you can see here his entire back covered with tattoos, all Steeler related.

NGUYEN: That had to hurt.

HARRIS: Yeah, yeah. And his single-minded devotion doesn't stop there. Vagaro (ph) is a bus driver, he is known to take off from work for the NFL draft, traing camp, and the first day of the season.

NGUYEN: All of that?

HARRIS: Yeah, yeah. He considers those sacred days.

NGUYEN: Oh, my.

HARRIS: He is also thinking of painting the trim of his house in the team colors, black and gold. That should make his neighbors pretty happy.

NGUYEN: Yeah, the home owner's association may not be too happy with that idea.

HARRIS: New ordinance. Are you ready for some football? Here's your chance to root for your favorite team.

NGUYEN: OK.

HARRIS: Still in the running for the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh, Denver, Carolina, Seattle. Who will win it all and why? Not too late to e-mail your thoughts. Weekends@cnn.com we'll read them right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. At least one person has been killed, two wounded when a car exploded in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian witnesses are saying that they believe that the car had been hit by an Israeli missile. The Israeli army is saying that it was not targeted, certainly not a targeted killing. And the Israeli army is checking into that report. Once again, at least one person killed, two wounded when a car exploded in the Gaza Strip. We are waiting for pictures from the scene. As soon as we get that first video, we will, of course, bring it to you.

NGUYEN: Back here at home, we want to check the weather in the meantime as we wait on the latest on this information, there. Bonnie Schneider joins us here with that. Bonnie, what have you learned?

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: We will take it, Bonnie, yeah. HARRIS: Well, we were able managing to sort of sort though all of the marriage proposals for you today to get to -- yeah, to get to some responses.

NGUYEN: We're talking football, people, football.

HARRIS: All -- yeah, on point to our question today, four teams left in the playoffs. Which team will win it all and why? Who do you want to start with? Do you want to start with Matt?

NGUYEN: I'll start with Matt. He says, "Historically the AFC has the edge but I'm going to go with Seattle because they are hungry!" as he says.

HARRIS: And this from Dan. "The Denver broncos will win. Why? The sun sets here in Colorado have been speck spectacular, orange, and blue for weeks. This is a sure win for victory on the horizon!" Thank you Dan.

NGUYEN: I'll take note of that. Now, we've got some -- oh, and Dan says "Hi, Betty."

HARRIS: See.

NGUYEN: Thanks for watching, Dan. All right, can we got a number, quickly.

HARRIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, please.

NGUYEN: We got of number of who voted for who and how many? Do you have that?

HARRIS: I don't have it. Let's put it up. If we've got it, just throw it up at a full screen here.

NGUYEN: Can we put it up? All right, so the Steelers have 22 votes, Panthers got 10, Denver got eight and then Seattle got seven. Oh, I was looking for Seattle. All right, but something that we're not going to see on that list. Dallas, my Dallas Cowboys they got two votes. They're not even in the playoffs and this is what's funny, Houston Oilers, they don't even exist anymore, Houston Texas...

HARRIS: This is all to get in good with you.

NGUYEN: They got one vote to go to the Super Bowl.

HARRIS: That's all it is about.

NGUYEN: I don't know what that is about.

HARRIS: I'm impressed that you were able to identify the teams just by the helmets. That was good.

NGUYEN: Did you see that. I was hoping I was getting them right.

All right, "Reliable Sources" is next followed by "Late Edition" and "On the Story," so you don't want to go away.

HARRIS: Fredricka Whitfield will be with you throughout the morning with live news updates.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com