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American Morning

Mourning Mixed With Outrage At Funeral Of Pierre Gemayel; Weather May Be Problematic For Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; Turkey Tips; Fisher House Helps Injured Soldiers

Aired November 23, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Mourning and anger. Tens of thousands of Lebanese take to the streets to remember a popular politician and protest his assassination.
The Los Angeles Police under fire again. Another tape leads to questions about the use of pepper spray.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's the holiday party where everybody's full of hot air. We're live at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Plus, turkey university. We'll tell you how to cook the perfect Thanksgiving meal, not a moment to soon, I hear, on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome everybody. It is Thursday, November 23rd. Thanksgiving Day. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Happy Thanksgiving to you. I'm Miles O'Brien. We appreciate you being with us on this morning.

We begin this morning in Lebanon. A nation in crisis. Mourning mixed with outrage at the funeral of a rising politician who dared to speak out against Syrian influence in his country. Thousands gathered for the funeral of Pierre Gemayel, cornered and gunned down on Tuesday as he left church. He is the sixth anti-Syrian leader killed in Lebanon in the last two years. CNN's Brent Sadler is in Beirut with more -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

You join me live in Martyr's Square, where there is a mass gathering for the funeral of the murdered industry minister Pierre Gemayel. Let me give you some idea of the scale of this crowd. If we can move the camera deep into the throngs behind me, you'll see a picture in the background there. One of many of what they're calling here so-called martyrs that are being killed over the past two years. T

he pictures there on a new that he published, Juplan Twani (ph), an MP, a popular politician, a Christian. He was blown up almost two years ago. And as the camera pans along Martyr's Square, this is also where former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is buried. He was blown up in a massive car bomb.

And not far from here, again almost two years ago, the mark (ph) next to the burial, that was built by Hariri, the Mohamed Alinmean Mosque (ph) that dominates the scene here in Martyr's Square. As I say, Miles, reminiscent of what we saw at the peak of Lebanon's so- called Cedar Revolution that gathered essentially to react to the Hariri murder and to help call Syrian troops to with draw from Lebanon.

Pulling down from the dome there, you can see a giant portrait of the 34-year-old industry minister, Pierre Gemayel. He was a Maronite Christian. You can here the bells now sounding here around St. George's Square Church Cathedral where the funeral service is taking place and many of Lebanon's top leading anti-Syrian politicians are here, including Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated prime minister.

Also, I'm told, the speaker of the parliament, the pro-Syrian Nabi Jerri (ph), has also just arrived in the situation here, which is getting very tense because of a compensation between anti-Syrians political forces and those that purport neighboring Syria -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Brent, you say its tense. Has it been largely peaceful or has there been violence?

SADLER: N, this situation here is very much under security containment. Just one report of some isolated incidents as mourners were gathering a few hours ago. Nothing serious. However, you can hear the choppers overhead. There is a very heavy security clampdown here in the center of Beirut. Not least because this was a time when Hezbollah was planning street protests. Now it is the anti-Syrians that for now, at least, have seized the opportunity to turn this funeral of a leading anti-Syrian into also a political rally -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Brent Sadler in Beirut, thank you.

Happening this morning also. Last month was the deadliest month in Iraq since the U.S. invasion three and a half years ago. The United Nations counts 3,700 civilian deaths in Iraq in October. The Iraqi government is disputing that number, saying it is not based on official reports. But the U.N. says it got the number from the Iraqi health ministry and the Baghdad morgue.

The U.S. loosening up some copyright rules, making life a little easier for cell phone users who would like to bolt to a new company. The copyright office allowing phone users to break the software locks that restrict them from changing carriers. Left in place, however, strict rules that make it illegal for people to copy DVDs for use on their iPods.

Comedian Michael Richards now in full damage control after that racist tirade in L.A. last week. He's now apologizing to both Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. He did it on advice from a crisis management expert helping him deal with the public backlash. Jackson called Richards embarrassed, remorseful and confused.

S. O'BRIEN: And if you're hitting the road this morning, you might want to get an early start. Like right now. The roads and airports are already backed up in the south and in the northeast too because of the weather. It's rain there. Other airports are reporting minor delays right now. And AAA says about 38 million people are going to drive at least 50 miles this Thanksgiving holiday and nearly 5 million people will fly.

Take a look at this. Let's see. Pictures of the wild turkeys. Yes, that's them right there on the New Jersey train platform trying to get on a train to get out of town. Like everyone else, even the turkeys are trying to get out of town. Witnesses said that a dozen or so of these birds seem to be traveling together. It wasn't clear where they were trying to go and it wasn't clear if they ever got on the train either. My guess is no.

M. O'BRIEN: Avoiding the axe. That's what they're doing.

S. O'BRIEN: Another turkey is traveling. This one's going to Disneyland. Flyer -- I guess the name's Flyer and Fryer won.

M. O'BRIEN: I happened to favor that one. You didn't like that.

S. O'BRIEN: I hated that. But it won. He got pardoned, as you can see right there in the pictures. Pardoned in the Rose Garden yesterday. Now he serves as grand marshal in Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And then afterwards he heads to the big theme park's big Thunder Ranch, where he'll live out his days as a tourist attraction. Wow! From the carving knife to celebrity stardom for that turkey.

M. O'BRIEN: That's one lucky turkey.

S. O'BRIEN: That is one lucky turkey this morning.

Let's get a check of the weather forecast for you today. Rob Marciano's in for Chad.

Rob, yes or no on this parade because high winds mean no balloons.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: And in spite of your dire forecast there, Rob, we're all crossing our fingers, of course, that the weather is not going to rain on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade today. As Rob just mentioned, it's set to begin in a few hours and wind is a big, big concern, as the rain is too. Let's get right to Jason Carroll, who is along the parade patrol this morning at the very start of the route.

Jason, good morning. How's it look from where you are?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Soledad, it looks rainy and cold from where I am. You know, a lot of people out here keeping their fingers crossed. If you see behind me, you can see some of the giant balloons that are poised and ready to go. They're tied down. Waiting to see if they're going to be able to fly down the parade route, which is scheduled to begin just a few hours from now.

Parade officials are simply going to take it moment by moment, Soledad. That's what they have to do out here. There are some guidelines that they're going to be checking throughout the morning. Sustained winds, if they reach 23 miles per hour or if the wind gusts reach 34 miles per hour, those balloons that you see out there will not fly. But what they've done is they've put wind-measuring devices all along the parade route. Just in case, they're going to be measuring wind throughout the morning.

Also throughout the morning, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be gathering along the parade route despite the fact that it's rainy and cold and possibly the balloons will not fly. But that does not keep the folks from Georgia sitting at home. I've got three of them here. This is Georgia, actually. Excuse me, you're Georgia, but you're from North Carolina.

GEORGIA STAPH, PARADE WATCHER: Right.

CARROLL: Georgia, Roberta and Marissa. Three generations. Grandmother, mother and daughter. And you're here to see your son. He's in the Macy's parade. What will he be doing?

STAPH: My grandson. He's playing the euphonium in the All American Band.

CARROLL: And tell us what that is. That's sort of like a ...

R. SCHWARTZ, PARADE WATCHER: Well, it's very similar to a baritone in the low brass section, just before the tubas.

CARROLL: And the good thing about your son is that he's at the beginning of the parade.

R. SCHWARTZ: Yes, he's fist. The band is first.

CARROLL: So you can see him ...

R. SCHWARTZ: And move on.

CARROLL: And move on and get where it's warm.

Any good wishes for your brother today?

MARISSA SCHWARTZ, PARADE WATCHER: I just wish he had good luck and don't mess up.

CARROLL: What do you guys think about the balloons though?

R. SCHWARTZ: Well, we hope that they make it.

CARROLL: Yes.

R. SCHWARTZ: I mean right now it seems OK.

CARROLL: Yes. Well, we're going to be out here with them all morning, Soledad, checking things out.

Good luck to you. Hope you get to see your son and then get really warm. R. SCHWARTZ: Thank you. Thank you.

CARROLL: Hope we can to a little bit later on. But we've got a little device out here that we're going to be using thanks to my producer Sammy Hara (ph), just off camera. We've got our own little wind measuring device. So I'm going to be checking this throughout the morning as well just to see how things are going. Things look really good right now. Not very much wind. A lot of rain. It's chilly. Keeping our fingers crossed for later on -- Soledad..

S. O'BRIEN: All right. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you too.

Thanks, Jason -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So he could be a weather guy, that Jason. He's good. He's versatile.

S. O'BRIEN: With the anemometer. Holding it up.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.

Outside Charlotte, North Carolina, in Monroe, two people inside a car finding a puddle a little deeper than they thought. They stood on a roof until rescuers were able to reach them by boat.

A train wreck in Memphis, Tennessee, sent railroad crews to the hospital. Fortunately only with some cuts and bruises. The two trains collided at slow speed. Four freight cars derailed and the line was blocked for a while. Unclear how they got their signals crossed.

In Miami, a deadly ending to a brief police chase. It began with a domestic abuse call at a business near the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. It ended with this accident and rollover. There you have it. Police say the suspect took off after beating his ex-wife with a gun. They say he fired shots a them during the chase. He was unconscious when they finally reached the jeep. He died later at the hospital.

And in California, a setback for environmental crusader Erin Brockovich. A dozen suits thrown out. They claim emissions from oil rigs at Beverly Hills High School caused as many as 300 cancer cases. The judge did not offer an explanation, but the defendants accused Brockovich of using junk science. An appeal is in the works.

And in Atlantic City, fears a serial killer is on the loose. This after four women killed, their bodies dumped behind a motel known for prostitution and drugs. An autopsy shows two of the women were strangled. The others to badly decomposed to determine a cause of death. Prostitutes in the gambling Mecca arming themselves with pepper spray and avoiding the area where those bodies were found.

And in southern California, firefighters battling tough terrain as well as a stubborn fire. It's happening near Yucaipa in the San Bernardino National Forest. So far the nearly inaccessible fire has burned 125 acres. It's about 40 percent encircled. S. O'BRIEN: Ahead on this Thanksgiving Day, we've got some tips to cook your turkey to perfection. The dean of Butterball University will join us live to answer some of your questions. That's straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Here's some live pictures of some of the top stories we're following this morning. It's a somber ceremony in Lebanon right now. That's the funeral procession for the popular leader Pierre Gemayel. He was shot to death on Tuesday.

And here in New York City, it is a wet morning. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will definitely go on, but the big question, of course, is will the balloons be part of that parade. They are gearing up for the parade this morning. We'll bring you the latest update on the weather.

Let's get right to our forecast for the nation. Rob Marciano's in for Chad.

Good morning, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Twenty-three, of course, is that magic number that they watch because at 23 ...

M. O'BRIEN: They will pick up as the sun starts to rise.

S. O'BRIEN: And we'll be watching it for you this morning. So if you're up early, it means you're probably going cooking today. It means you're probably getting your turkey ready to go. If you have any last minute questions, there are operators at the annual Butterball Hotline that are standing by all day to answer your cooking concerns.

M. O'BRIEN: I often wonder what they do the rest of the year. As a matter of fact, let's ask our next guest what they do. You know, they can field just about any turkey related question there is. A few verbal garnishes of their own as well. Sherleen Clausen is the dean of Butterball University. She's at the talk line. The headquarters in Naperville, Illinois.

Sherleen, what do you do the rest of the year?

SHERLEEN CLAUSEN, DEAN OF BUTTERBALL UNIVERSITY: I'm sorry.

M. O'BRIEN: What do you do the rest of the year when the Butterball line isn't operating? What do you guys do?

CLAUSEN: Well, I work on many other food products during the rest of the year that we have in our company. And it actually takes me two, three, four months to get ready for the talk line because I do the training program. S. O'BRIEN: Wow, I can believe it. All right. Well, you know, I thought we would start where everybody starts. Which is, you woke up, you go to get your turkey out of the fridge and you realize, uh- oh, I nerve moved it from my freezer to the fridge and now I have a frozen 12 pound turkey. It's a question from actually Rick in Maryland this morning. A 12-pound turkey that I now need to thaw out. Will I have enough time to serve it today?

M. O'BRIEN: Turkey so-cold (ph) today. How about that.

S. O'BRIEN: What should he do? What do you thin, Sherleen?

CLAUSEN: Well, I guess the good thing is that you have a 12- pound turkey as opposed to a 25-pound turkey. And let's hope that you're having dinner at 2:00 instead of earlier in the day. So let's just say that you are having dinner later in the day. You know, a 12- pound turkey, you'd want to do it without stuffing because it would cook the fastest.

And it's going to take around three to three and a half hours in a 325 oven. So if you're up right now and discovered it, I'd take the turkey in the bag, get it in cold water and change the water every 30 minutes. And then you're going to probably luck out pretty well and have it getting thawed pretty well by the time you need to cook it.

M. O'BRIEN: Sharleen, why cold water?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's what I was going to say. Why not hot water?

CLAUSEN: Well, you always want to keep the turkey in a cold condition. For food safety we say keep it cold or keep it hot. And so the cold water is going to keep the surface of the turkey cold as it thaws and pulls out the cold. By changing the water often, that actually helps to speed it up. So you want to keep that surface cold as you thaw it and that's why it's cold. Cold tap water.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, Sherleen, so how long do you think it's going to take Rick from Maryland to thaw out his frozen, 12 pound turkey using the cold water, changing it every 30 minutes process? CLAUSEN: Well, we say that it's probably going to take a couple of hours. So, you know, he needs to get it in the water right away. And at least for four hours. Three, four hours.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, Thanksgiving dinner on Friday is good. You know, you can always go that route.

CLAUSEN: Well, you know, he can join me. That's when I'm having my Thanksgiving dinner.

M. O'BRIEN: I bet you are. This is a busy day for you. I want to ask you to share with us some of the calls you're getting in this morning. Any odd ones that come to mind?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. What's the weirdest question you've ever had about turkey cooking? CLAUSEN: Well, I think the weirdest question I ever had was how long was it going to take to cook it in heated rocks that they had embedded in a hole on a beach out in California. And, of course, you know, I try to prepare the staff for many different ways to cook turkey, but that was one that, you know, was just beyond us. So in those cases ...

S. O'BRIEN: Even -- go ahead.

CLAUSEN: Yes, you even stumped me. So in those cases we have to rely on the meat thermometer as being the best way of determining turkey doneness.

M. O'BRIEN: But if you're using rocks in California, you don't have one of those, that's for sure. We've got some other apparatus, but we're not going to talk about that right now.

S. O'BRIEN: Even the dean of Butterball University was stumped by that one.

M. O'BRIEN: Stumped.

S. O'BRIEN: Sherleen, thanks. We're going to continue to check in with you throughout the morning to get an update and answer more questions. So many of our viewer want to e-mail us at turkey@cnn.com. Or you can just call the Butterball hotline too. It's 1-800- Butterball.

M. O'BRIEN: Three months of prep just for this.

S. O'BRIEN: Can you believe that?

M. O'BRIEN: That's amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: And, of course, they have those questions -- Miles and I -- well, maybe you're probably a good cook. Can you cook?

M. O'BRIEN: Turkey?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: Not at all. Me neither.

M. O'BRIEN: I can eat. I can eat it.

S. O'BRIEN: But we'll, of course, send you right to the Butterball hotline, folks, and we'll get that answered for you all morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And we'll be back in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: In the late 90s, it seemed like every Internet company put its name on a baseball stadium. But like those Internet companies, the trend died down, but now it's making a comeback. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning with more on the naming rights.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Informally, I think its banks and financial institutions that are now bigger into the game or getting bigger into the game. Our friend Floyd Norris at "the New York Times" wrote a column where he said that, you know, he did a little analysis and he said that banks that own stadiums don't perform as well as banks that don't own stadiums. And stadiums that are named for banks, those teams don't perform as well.

Now that's not really science to this whole thing, but the issue is that the stadium-naming game is back. Here in New York, the new Mets field that will open up in 2009 will be Citi Field.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of people upset about that. They'd like it to be named after Jackie Robinson.

VELSHI: Right. That's right. And, I mean, certainly with the ...

S. O'BRIEN: Why name it after Jackie Robinson when you could name it Citi Field.

M. O'BRIEN: Exactly.

VELSHI: And get lots of money for it.

S. O'BRIEN: Jackie Robinson, baseball, come on. What's that about?

VELSHI: The Oklahoma A's, they bought a big piece of land from Cisco. It's going to be Cisco Field. In Salt Lake City they ...

M. O'BRIEN: That's not so bad because it's San Francisco. That's not to bad. That's not to bad.

VELSHI: I didn't even register that one. That was good.

S. O'BRIEN: No one calls it that there, but OK.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm working with them.

VELSHI: In Utah, where the Jazz play, get this one, a company called Energy Solutions has bought the rights ...

M. O'BRIEN: Rolls off the tongue. Energy Solutions ...

VELSHI: It's a nuclear waste disposal company.

S. O'BRIEN: Ooh, what's the name of the field going to be?

VELSHI: It's going to be Energy Solutions Place, Energy Solutions Center.

S. O'BRIEN: It has such a ring to it.

VELSHI: Yes, no, that doesn't just roll off your tongue.

M. O'BRIEN: I hear it's a real dump.

S. O'BRIEN: That was funny, actually.

VELSHI: And over at Princeton, for those of you who like to watch football games at Princeton, a guy named William Powers, whose was a punter on the team some time ago, decided to donate $10 million. Which is the most money Princeton's ever gotten for its football program. Sometimes that shows. But it's going to be called Powers Field over at Princeton. That's what you get. You know, $10 million, you get your name on a stadium. That would be all right.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Obviously, he quit the kicking thing and went into something else.

VELSHI: Went into something else. He's in the investment business. He's not a banker, but he's investment business. You know, there's no real sense of what this does for the companies, except that you get nice boxes and things like that. You get to say the name a lot, so you get familiar with the name. Obviously with Enron Field, that was a bit of a problem.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that kind of left a bitter taste.

VELSHI: Yes. But, in most cases, these companies, they're around to be there for a long time and it shows a good sense of citizenship and, you know, being a good ...

S. O'BRIEN: Member of the community.

M. O'BRIEN: It proves everything is for sale.

VELSHI: Yes, a good member of the community. We'll see how it goes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right. Ali, thanks.

VELSHI: Again, I don't know how the performance will be, but we'll keep an eye on it.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the big balloons are ready for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but will the weather cooperate? A live update straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Nation in crisis. Lebanon mourns the heir to a political dynasty who dared to speak out against the Syrians. A funeral on the political fault lines. S. O'BRIEN: And Michael Richards turns to anger management following his racist rant. Can he make amends to the black community?

M. O'BRIEN: And do you still need to get somewhere today? Well, the weather may be knocking the stuffing out of your timetable.

We'll have the latest on the Thanksgiving travel log ahead.

Those stories and more on this AMERICAN THANKSGIVING MORNING.

Good morning to you, Thursday, November 23rd. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Sad to say it is windy and rainy here in New York City. And of course that is not the very best news if you want to be in or watch a parade. We're waiting to find out, in fact, if the balloons will fly for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Jason Carroll is right there on parade patrol for us this morning at the very start of the route.

Jason, good morning. How's it looking?

Well, you're laughing. It can't be so bad.

CARROLL: You know, you've got to have a positive attitude, despite the fact that it's pouring right now. Poor Frankie (ph) just had to wipe the lens just so he could see me.

We moved just a little bit down the parade route here. Balloons -- once again, 13 giant balloons scheduled to fly. I say "scheduled to fly" in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We're still holding out hope that the wind does not kick up.

Parade officials are going to be watching the wind very, very closely this year, given what happened this year. You remember, Soledad, when you had the giant M&M helium balloon, it ran into a light pole and caused two sisters to sustain minor injuries. So this year they're being especially cautious.

They've got extra wind-monitoring devices. In fact, they've got seven of them along the parade route that are going to be giving them moment-by-moment measurements of how the wind is doing.

Twenty-three-mile-per-hour sustained winds, that's a steady wind. Thirty-four-mile-per-hour gusts. That is the threshold. If the wind gets to that point the balloons come down.

In terms of who's come out, you can see there -- some people are already here despite the weather. They're sort of huddling underneath awnings over there.

And I want to very quickly get to my two new best friends here, one from New York, one from Los Angeles. They've been huddled underneath here for quite some time. How are you guys holding up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're OK. We're getting a little bit wet. Yes.

CARROLL: Yes, me too. Me too. Me too.

But, you know, you're troopers. You're out here.

What do you think? Do you think the balloons will fly?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I think so. Hopefully people will show up.

CARROLL: I think more will show up.

Who are you looking forward to seeing, anything in particular?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like the Little Princess ones that we saw down there. Those were cute.

CARROLL: Aren't you a little old to be looking at...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit. I'm young at heart.

CARROLL: Oh, there you go. There you go. That's the spirit.

All right, you two. You know, try and stay dry. If you need any help, you know, a little warmth, you know, come to us. We'll try to hook you up if we can.

So we're going to be out here all morning long, Soledad. Parade officials tell us that they're going to wait until the very last moment before they make the decision. That's going to be at about 9:00. So we're going to stand by, and we'll keep you posted.

S. O'BRIEN: Maybe you can get a little tarp for your new friends. I feel so sorry for them. It's cold, it's rainy. That looks so miserable.

CARROLL: I know. We're going to help them out. We're going to help them out.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. Good. All right. In the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Jason.

CARROLL: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's have Jason break out into a little bit of "Singing in the Rain" out there.

S. O'BRIEN: They just want to be warm.

M. O'BRIEN: Can you do that? Can you do a little "Singing in the Rain" for us, Jason?

Come on.

(SINGING): I'm singing in the...

S. O'BRIEN: Moving on.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get to Rob Marciano in the weather center. Maybe he can sing for us.

Good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You're really looking to kill the poor guy's career there. You can't ask him to sing in the rain.

M. O'BRIEN: I know.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning in Lebanon, a nation in crisis. Mourning mixed with outrage at the funeral of a rising politician who dared to speak out against the Syrian influence in his country. Thousands gathering for the funeral of Pierre Gemayel, cornered and gunned down on Tuesday as he left church. He is the sixth anti-Syrian leader killed in Lebanon in just the last two years.

CNN's Brent Sadler watching the remarkable scene unfold there in Beirut -- Brent.

SADLER: Good morning, Miles.

Very heavy security around Martyr Square in downtown Beirut as a church service continues to mark the burial of the slain former industry minister, 34-year-old Pierre Gemayel. Let's just take a quick look around this area which is adjacent to St. George's Church and you'll see some giant pictures of men.

These are politicians or journalists that have been slain in the past two years, starting with the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, who is also buried in Martyr's Square just a few hundred yards from where this services is taking place.

Let me set the scene for you inside the church it itself.

There was a moment of high tension not long ago. Fouad Siniora, the U.S.-backed prime minister, entered the church and he was congratulated. But the pro-Syrian speak of parliament, who supports Syria, is close to Syria, he was booed, and those behind him were also booed inside the church itself.

Amin Gemayel, the father of the murdered minister, refused to acknowledge, refused to shake the hand of the pro-Syrian parliamentary speaker. That was a moment of high tension inside the church, which gives you an idea of the very deep fault line that exists between these two rival political forces battling for control of this country -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Brent, it seems to be a peaceful scene there. Is that holding up?

SADLER: Yes, peaceful. There was an isolated incident of stone- throwing between rival political camps. But this event will continue for the next couple of hours.

It's the aftermath of this funeral service and its political connotations that will determine, I think, what happens next, pivotal on whether or not Hezbollah and its supporters answer this mass turnout today with demonstrations of their own against the western- backed government -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Brent Sadler in Beirut.

Thank you.

Also happening this morning, last month the deadliest month in Iraq since the U.S. invasion three and a half years ago. The United Nations counting 3,700 civilian deaths in Iraq in October. The Iraqi government disputing that number, saying it is not based on official reports. But the U.N. says it got the number from the Iraqi Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue.

The U.S. loosening up some copyright rules, making life a little easier for cell phone users to bolt to a new company. The Copyright Office allowing phone owners to break the software locks that restrict them from changing carriers. Left in place, however, strict rules that make it illegal for people to copy DVDs for use on their iPods.

S. O'BRIEN: Comedian Michael Richards is now in full damage control mode after that racist tirade that took place in L.A. last week. Now apologizing to both Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Did it on advice from a crisis management expert who's helping him heal with the public backlash.

Jackson said that Richards is embarrassed and remorseful and confused.

And if you're hitting the road this morning, you want to get an early start. Like, quick, run to your car now and go. Roads and airports are already backed up in the South and the Northeast because of the weather. Other airports are reporting minor delays right now, and AAA is expecting about 38 million people are going to drive at least 50 miles this Thanksgiving holiday . About five million people are going to fly.

And speaking about getting away, take a look at these -- this must be a web cam, I guess, of wild turkeys. They're sitting on a train platform in New Jersey. Anybody know what station this is?

Oh my goodness. Those poor guys.

Anyway, they were waiting to get out of town, I guess. Unclear at this point if they actually ever boarded a train, but witnesses said the dozen or so birds seem to be traveling together and it wasn't really clear where they were headed.

M. O'BRIEN: You don't think they were set up by somebody to put on YouTube, do you?

S. O'BRIEN: No, I think it's just wild turkeys.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, they're just there. They just happen to be there on the train platform. I'm a little skeptical.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, the turkey flying first class you're fine with, but turkeys, wild turkeys in rural New Jersey you have a problem with.

M. O'BRIEN: Selective skepticism, you might call it. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I see that. Huh. Interesting.

Ahead on this Thanksgiving morning, we're going to take you to a place that is helping wounded veterans on their path to recovery by supporting the people they love.

And if you don't want to go to a crowded movie theater this weekend, how about grabbing a new DVD, like "The Da Vinci Code" and other big winners?

Our holiday DVD guide is straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures, New York City. The picture tells it all.

Look at the scaffolding there. That -- those will be the prime seats today for parade watchers. That is at the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

There will be a parade, despite all the liquid sunshine here today. The question is, will the balloons fly or not? Riding out winds at 14 miles an hour, gusting 23. That's about 10 miles on the good side of where they need to be, but as the morning progresses those winds expected to increase -- 23 sustained, 34 gusting are the magic numbers which would put those balloons on the ground, so we'll be watching it for you.

S. O'BRIEN: And the people who handle the balloons have been told that if, in fact, the balloons don't fly, they're still going to march the parade route. They'll just wave...

M. O'BRIEN: Just wave, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... to the spectators, which -- they sounded so disappointed, those who were saying that to reporters. And then of course the spectators will be disappointed, too.

M. O'BRIEN: I wonder if they bulk up on turkey so they're a little heavier, you know, with the wind and just keeping the balloons on the ground that way. S. O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess no.

M. O'BRIEN: Probably not. Weight belts? I don't know.

S. O'BRIEN: But that would be a guess -- I'm going to guess no, but that would be a guess.

M. O'BRIEN: Probably not, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: To be injured in war, of course, is terribly difficult. But then to have to recover alone in a military hospital or a hotel far away from your family must be even harder. One organization, though, is making it much easier for injured servicemen and women.

Here's their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): When an IED, an improvised explosive device, blew up under Sergeant Brian Fountaine's Humvee back in June, his injuries were devastating. He had to fight to stay alive.

SGT. BRIAN FOUNTAINE, WOUNDED IN IRAQ WAR: You can see my driver screaming, my gunner just, you know, freaking out. And you see me laying there with pools of blood forming on the bottom side of my legs.

You just kind of sit there and you're, like, "All right. I've got a choice. I can either sit here, lay back and die, or I can save myself." Well, I chose the latter.

S. O'BRIEN: Today he is still fighting to recover. Just 24 years old, Brian lost both legs. They've been amputated below the knee.

FOUNTAINE: They might have took from me, you know, a physical part of my body, but they'll never take from me the fighting spirit.

S. O'BRIEN: Now it is an excruciating battle to get better. It was made worse for Brian, who was separated from his family and his girlfriend while being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

FOUNTAINE: Everything hurts my back.

S. O'BRIEN: Now Fountaine is being helped by the Fisher House, a non-profit organization in D.C.

Ken Fisher is the chairman of the foundation which provides homes for families and loved ones of hospitalized military personnel and veterans.

KEN FISHER, CHAIRMAN, FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION: Our troops today don't make policy. They're out there to do a job, and that is to defend this nation. And Fisher House Foundation is there to support them and their families because, quite frankly, the need is there.

S. O'BRIEN: More than 21,000 American soldiers have been wounded in combat in Iraq. Ken Fisher says these homes away from home are crucial to a soldier's recovery.

FISHER: It's not just having a place to sleep, but it's also having people to help you. So it's the support network that forms in the houses, which is a byproduct of the foundation.

S. O'BRIEN: Brian lives free of charge at the Fisher House with his girlfriend, Mary Long.

MARY LONG, BRIAN FOUNTAINE'S GIRLFRIEND: Just not having to worry, being able just to be here and see for my own eyes that he's walking, see for my own eyes that he's getting better, that this problem is going away. I'm so grateful for it.

FOUNTAINE: When I first started walking, one of the first things that I did was I took her up and I held her hand. And for the first time since we started dating, I was able to just walk down the hall and hold her hand at the same time.

You know, other people might take that for granted. That was huge. That was huge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: According to Ken Fisher, by the year's end, there'll be 38 Fisher Houses with more than 20 more coming, rather, over the next four years. And in addition to providing a hero (ph), Miles, families can fly free of charge to get to their loved ones.

If you want to donate or just find out more about the Fisher Houses, go to fisherhouse.org.

M. O'BRIEN: It's such a great, worthy cause.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, a fantastic cause. A fantastic cause.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, listen up women who miss their men today as they're watching football. We have some alternative viewing ideas for you.

S. O'BRIEN: Ooh, I've got to listen up.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. DVD holiday guide is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It's that time of year when the biggest movies and hit TV shows are all packaged as, huh, the perfect holiday gift items in the form of a DVD.

"US Weekly's" Bradley Jacobs is here to tell us what's hot. And we'll take a look at what's not this morning. Nice to see you, Bradley, as always.

BRADLEY JACOBS, "US WEEKLY": Nice to see you, too, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with one of the biggest movies of the year, "The Da Vinci Code". It just came out on DVD. Do you recommend it or not?

JACOBS: Right. Is there anyone left who didn't read the book or see the movie by now?

S. O'BRIEN: Three people.

JACOBS: But, yes -- but as a refresher, of course, Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou run around Paris looking for clues to a murder that are in Leonardo da Vinci's paintings, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

Of course this movie made well over $200 million this summer, and I'm expecting it to be -- do huge business as a DVD for purchase this holiday.

S. O'BRIEN: "An Inconvenient Truth," that's a documentary about global warming with Al Gore. That just came out on store shelves too.

JACOBS: Exactly. This is very highly, highly acclaimed film with Al Gore talking college lecture style about warming trends, but it really works. You know, mostly because of all the alarming facts and statistics that he tells us.

He talks about these -- how the world will shift if we don't do something now, and everyone loves this DVD. This is a good one.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I was trying to find this, and it just came out. So I ran out and got this. So I was looking forward to that.

"Scoop" was Woody Allen's movie. How did that do in the theaters.

JACOBS: "Scoop" just did OK in the theaters. I mean, fans...

S. O'BRIEN: Why do you think that did...

JACOBS: Well, fans of Woody Allen will love this movie, certainly. It's Woody Allen being wacky again.

You know, last year he did "Match Point," which was a very coldhearted thriller with Scarlett Johansson. Now he retains the Scarlett to do sort of a vintage Woody.

Scarlett plays a U.S. journalism student who's in London, who falls for an aristocrat, Hugh Jackman, while she's trying to solve a murder. And, you know, it's -- some of the lines are terrific. It's not maybe Woody's best, but it is his most current. Good for fans.

S. O'BRIEN: Good for anybody who loves Woody Allen.

"You, Me and Dupree" was Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson.

JACOBS: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: This was very popular.

JACOBS: Very popular. This is a romantic comedy that of course has Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon as newlyweds who have their lives turned upside-down when his slacker friend, Owen Wilson, who's Dupree, loses his job and moves in with him.

But of course Dupree...

S. O'BRIEN: Hijinks ensue.

JACOBS: Hijinks ensue. Dupree and, you know, Kate Hudson's character do a lot of flirting. And, you know, this was the movie that sources tell "US Weekly" led to the off-set romance between Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson.

S. O'BRIEN: "So Notorious," this is a TV show that's now a DVD, and it stars Tori Spelling.

JACOBS: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: How do you think this is going to do?

JACOBS: This is a very underrated show, but laugh-out-loud funny, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

JACOBS: This is Tori Spelling, basically satirizing herself with a very exaggerated version of herself, and she gets at all the rumors about herself, the rumors about surgery, the rumors about her privileged upbringing. And interestingly enough, this show debuted in the last months of Aaron Spelling's life and created a lot of tension within the family, and it may have actually inadvertently led to Tori Spelling being left just a relatively small portion of money in the estate.

So there's -- there's a real back story to this show as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. That's the second one with a good back story.

Lastly, "The Golden Girls, Season 6." Why...

JACOBS: Why?

S. O'BRIEN: "The Golden Girls"? What now? Great show, but why?

JACOBS: There's this crazy thing -- we all loved it. There's this crazy thing going on.

"The Golden Girls," of course, has this new following with young people. And, you know, with DVDs, they release one season at a time to see if people really are interested in them. Well, "The Golden Girls," this -- they're now releasing the sixth season on DVD. So clearly, the first five did well enough with young people and older fans that they want to release the sixth one now.

S. O'BRIEN: I'd buy that. Let me tell you, I love "The Golden Girls".

Bradley Jacobs from "US Weekly".

Always nice to see you. Thanks, Bradley.

JACOBS: Thank you, Soledad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Coming up, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off in a just a couple of hours. But bad weather could deflate some of the fun and keep the balloons grounded.

A live update ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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