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American Morning
Stuck In Denver; Blinding Blizzard; Call For More Troops; London Fogged In; Big Bonuses; Minding Your Business
Aired December 21, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a whiteout. A huge storm shut down Denver. Roads closed. Airports closed. Thousands of people stranded.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A call for help. U.S. troops tell the new defense secretary, send in the reenforcements.
O'BRIEN: Foul play. A man steals the identity of 90 pro baseball players and he does it with a simple method.
ROBERTS: And war of words. Rosie O'Donnell versus Donald Trump. She says he's a snake oil salesman. He says she's a slob and a disaster. Thems fighting words.
Those stories and more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: That's just the beginning of their back and forth. I'm sure there's more to come.
ROBERTS: He's pretty good at that.
O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Thursday, December 21st. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien. I'm very efficient now at being able to use online reservation systems.
O'BRIEN: I bet you are.
ROBERTS: I spent about three hours yesterday trying to get my son out of Denver. Very frustrating.
O'BRIEN: Well, this is the storm that everybody's talking about. In fact, that's where we begin this morning.
That winter storm is paralyzing Denver, Colorado, at this hour. And right now blizzard warnings are in effect for most of eastern Colorado, also for Kansas and Nebraska too. Major highways are closed across six states and folks in Denver can't get in and they can't get out. Thousands of passengers, of course, to spend the night at Denver International Airport, including John's son. Let's get right to Patti Logan this morning. She's live for us in Denver. Also our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, is at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. We're going to start, though, with Patty.
Good morning, Patty. How's it look? PATTI LOGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
It looks white. Very white. We're still getting blizzard conditions here. The winds are still pretty strong. And it keeps coming down. It's been coming down for almost 24 hours straight now. And I'm here in front of Union Station in downtown Denver where we've got a pretty good pile of snow here. About 18 inches right here on the ground. The drifts are much higher. Two to three feet.
At my house down south of here, about 20 minutes south of here, I woke up to about two feet of snow and had a very rough drive coming out here. We saw people spinning out and, still, actually people were on the roads, I was quite surprised this morning, at about 2:00 a.m. We saw a couple of people stuck, tires spinning. We even saw a gravel truck with a plow on the front of it stuck. So it's really capturing a lot of people by surprise in all sorts of vehicles.
The roads are shut here. All the major highways north and south of Denver. I-25, both directions, closed. East of the Kansas border I-70, up to Boulder. Highway 36 is also closed down. People were stranded there yesterday. The governor called out the National Guard to get some help for those stranded folks and took them into some shelters. So it's been pretty dicey around here.
Of course, the worse of it, as you've been mentioning, is at Denver International Airport where about 1,000 flights have been canceled and a lot of Christmas plans and holiday plans have been affected very severely. There's about 3,000 people out there and they're at the airport trying to make the best of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no luggage. They have no idea where it is. But I have a cot. So I'm pretty well off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pretty much just found some boxes and just put them on the ground and put them -- kind of made a fort area and put -- found blankets and just used our clothes to make it a little more comfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOGAN: And the mail is not going out today either. So that's the topper in terms of all the holiday effect of this blizzard.
Back to you guys.
O'BRIEN: All right. I'm not surprised at all, Patti. Mail's not going to go out in snow like that. Patti Logan for us this morning right in the heart of things in Denver.
Thanks, Patti.
The big question, of course, where is it going next and how's it going to affect your holiday travel plans? Let's get right to Chad at the CNN Weather Center with the big picture. I was surprised, it didn't look like that much snow until Patti put that measuring tape in there and it kind of kept going and going and going.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. It looked like they had plowed about 10 times because, I'll tell you what, some of the numbers we're getting this morning, Soledad, amazing now. The biggest one that I can find, and I have pages and pages of these things, 33.3 inches at Coal Creak Canyon. Jamestown at 30. Littleton at 24. Two feet of snow on the ground measured. Not drifts. That's actual measured snowfall. Even Golden, where they make Coors beer, at 24 inches of snow.
Now to some of those road closures she was talking about. I-70 Denver to Kansas, done. Denver all the way down to New Mexico on the I-25 shut down. And I-76, which connects I-80 to Denver up by Ogallala, Nebraska, that's shut down as well. Blizzard conditions still going on this morning. No chance of getting those roads open.
Now the roads around Denver are still open because the plows have been out and trying to get this thing cleared off. But the snow is still coming down, although you notice the colors are losing their brightness. That means that the snow is losing it intensity. It's going to be moving on up. Maybe a couple of more inches for Denver. Up to about four inches still down to about Aurora. And then some of the higher elevations across the divide could see maybe another four to eight, but that's it.
The story for Friday. The rain moves to the east. The snow moves a little bit farther to the north, but it just doesn't continue there. It doesn't make itself a major snow storm anywhere else. It's just an up-slope snow. The air goes up the mountain and it just rips all the snow out of it. That's what happens all the time there.
John and Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question, Chad, before I let you go.
MYERS: Yes, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: So how long do you think it's going to be that they're going to keep this airport closed?
MYERS: They anticipate opening up this evening. They have a lot of snow in all of the gate areas. This is the problem now. In fact, there were actually planes stuck on the tarmac between five and eight hours waiting for a gate. They couldn't get to the gate. They were sitting on the airplanes with the engines running and the pilots could do nothing, the airport could do nothing. Not a lot of planes, but enough mad people on those planes that had to sit there for that long.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, eight hours on the tarmac, no kidding.
All right, Chad, thank you for the update. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning.
John.
ROBERTS: Now to Iraq this morning where there was no letup in the violence. In the latest attack, a suicide bomber targeted a group of men who were waiting to sign up for the national police force in Baghdad. At least 10 people were killed, 15 others injured.
Elsewhere in Iraq this morning, the new secretary of defense is getting an earful from U.S. troops in Iraq. He's now meeting with Iraqi leaders. What they tell him may influence whether he eventually orders more troops to the region. Some U.S. military commanders say a larger troop presence might do more harm than good. But at breakfast this morning, Gates heard a different take from some of the troops on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPEC. JASON GLENN, DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: I really think we need more troops here. I really think we need more troops in Iraq. I'm just thinking that maybe more presence on the ground, more troops, might be able to hold them off long enough to where we can actually get some of the Iraqis trained up strong so they can hold it themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So that eliminates that disconnect here that the enlisted man and the soldiers who are fighting on the front lines every day are saying we need more help. Yet the senior commanders have been resistant to ask for it. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is the only network correspondent traveling with Secretary Gates. He joins us on the phone.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, really interesting session today. You know, Robert Gates invited a small, but representative group of relatively low-ranking soldiers, privates, specialists, sergeants to find out what they thought. And when he asked them point blank, should we send more U.S. troops to Iraq, there were nods all around the world. The general consensus is they believe that that was the case.
Another soldier, Private First Class Kresendra (ph) Wallace said, she thought we do need more troops over here. She said, more troops would help us integrate the army and to patrol more. Gates was curious on how the Iraqis were doing. The answer he got from the troops were, they're doing OK, but they need more time to get better.
But the message he got from those troops was essentially that they believe that with more support and more manpower over here they can get the job done. And it's going to be interesting to see how that factors in to his thinking. Now, obviously, this was a very small group, not necessarily representing everybody in the U.S. military, but it is the group that met with Gates and it's the impression he's going to take back with him as he factors in those recommendations for President Bush.
John.
ROBERTS: Jamie McIntyre reporting for us from Iraq this morning.
The Pentagon wants more money to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Associated Press is reporting that they're asking for $99.7 billion. That would boost the coming year's war budget to about $170 billion. So far, the war in Iraq has cost $350 billion. And if you add up the cost of Afghanistan and other terror operations, that total bill reaches $500 billion. A half a trillion. The White House won't decide how much to ask for until their budget is submitted in February.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd are in Damascus, against the wishes of the Bush administration. The two Democrats discussed Iraq with the Syrian president, Bashar Assad. According to Syrian news sources, they also talked about ways to stop the violence in the Palestinian territories.
Congressman Virgil Goode says he's not going to apologize to a letter that he sent to his constituents. The Virginia Republican wrote that without immigration reform "there are going to likely be more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." Goode's letter was in response to some constituents' complaints about the incoming Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison's request to be sworn in using a Koran. Ellisons a Democrat. He's the first Muslim elected to Congress. But, of course, he's from Detroit. He was born in this country.
In Washington, D.C., new details from a national archives watchdog group on how Sandy Berger stole classified documents back in 2003. He was supposed to get a report about U.S. terror threats during the Clinton administration to the 9/11 Commission. Instead, they say, he stuffed copies in his suit pockets and hit him at a construction site and then went back for more. Sandy Berger's already paid a fine and served public service for the theft.
In Alabama, three college students are pleading guilty for setting nine Baptist churches on fire last year. They're facing at least seven years in federal prison, as well as time in the state prison. A defense lawyer said that the men started five of the fires after a night of drinking and deer hunting and set the other fires four nights later.
In Seattle, prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty for last summer's fatal shooting at a Jewish center. The accused shooter is a Muslim and the victim is a Jewish woman. Five other people were wounded. Prosecutors said the man has a history of mental illness and he faces life in prison if he is convicted.
An Illinois man named David Dright is charged with stealing the identities of Major League Baseball players. Chicago police say Dright stole the identities of up to 90 ball players. Dright allegedly went through the trash bins outside of Sports Agency. It represents the players. Among the evidence found in Dright's home, they say, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and canceled pay checks.
John.
ROBERTS: That's how simple it is.
More to come and the stories that we're following this morning.
A blinding blizzard out west. Chad Myers tells us where it's headed and how it's going to affect your holiday travel.
Also, you know, Denver International is not the only one affected by weather this morning. We'll tell you where else.
Plus, how much did you get from your boss for a holiday bonus this year? We'll take a look at some people who are raking in millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars in bonuses.
And it's Rosie versus Donald. Find out why these two are duking it out over Miss USA. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
A blizzard in the high plains. Thousands of people stranded in Denver. Roads and airports shut down by snow.
And some troops in Iraq tell their new defense secretary they need more reinforcements.
ROBERTS: Problems not just in Denver. Across the Atlantic in London this morning, thousands of travelers are also stranded, but it's thick fog, not snow, that's the culprit. So far hundreds of flights at Heathrow Airport have been grounded. Our Paula Newton is live at Heathrow with the last. And, Paula, London living up to its reputation as foggy old London town.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John.
This isn't the kind of fog that really burns off at all. We are socked in here. If you can see behind me, there is a complete wall of fog. Just over that fence, John, normally we can see the planes land and take off. Not this morning. Not only can we not see them, but, obviously, there aren't as many taking off this morning.
Flight reductions are about 40 percent to 50 percent. What that means, John, is that there are plenty of people who have already been stranded here at Heathrow for one night and wondering even though it's really early in the game here, wondering if they're going to make it home for Christmas.
We were talking to some passengers also stranded from the states, John. What they're telling us is that they came into Heathrow expecting to connect in through Europe. They cannot. And what's worse, John, is they just don't have any information about what to do next. You go on to the website, a couple of the websites have crashed. You're looking at staying on the phone for between two to three hours.
The other effect here, John, is that all they're telling passengers coming to and from the United States that they're just delays and that they're not canceled, is that we're still expecting two to three more days of fog here and that will really start to have a domino effect. So the bottom line is check with your airline and be prepared with some food and reading material. It could be a long wait.
ROBERTS: Paula, what's going on with the weather? Is this fog rolling in off the sea? Is it a temperature inversion? What's causing it?
NEWTON: Well it is, I guess, going into my meteorological terms -- Chad will be able to help us with this -- but what's going on is that the ground has been so warm. We've have had an unseasonably warm autumn. The temperatures plummeted to below zero the last few nights. And this is what you get. You get this dense, dense fog. And as I say, John, it's not burning off. We're socked in and we will be for days.
They're expecting to maybe get a two or three hour window later today where we'll be able to have more planes take off and hand. But, for now, they're saying, expect more delays and more fog for the next two or three days.
ROBERTS: All right, Paula Newton at Heathrow Airport. Thanks very much. Good job with the meteorological aspect of this.
It's coming up to 16 minutes after the hour now. Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center with the traveler's forecast.
And all I've got to say to you this morning is, darn you, Chad. Darn you.
MYERS: I tried. I said get him on the first plane and you said, he's got finals. So what you got? I mean grade or Christmas?
ROBERTS: Yes, well he's got a Friday night flight out.
MYERS: Oh, good.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, it was just a nightmare.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: You know this year santa is stuffing, and we really mean stuffing, the stockings of the very wealthy on Wall Street. The holiday bonuses are bigger than ever. And so big, in fact, that they equal the gross domestic profits of countries like Qatar and Panama. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho reports on how all that extra cash might be spent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Their stockings are stuffed with holiday green. Investment banks are handing out a whopping $23.9 billion in holiday bonuses.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD, SENIOR EDITOR, FORBES: M&A activity is up. The Dow has taken off. The S&P 500 has taken off. Wall Street is continuing to churn out record profits.
CHO: Profits soared 93 percent at Goldman Sachs this year, which means more than $16 billion in holiday pay checks. Outside Goldman headquarters, no one wanted to brag. Except one guy, who wouldn't give his name, but couldn't contain himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joyous.
CHO: He and fellow bankers celebrated in style with 1,000 white castle hamburgers. Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein will take home $53 million, while Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack will pocket an estimated $40 million. A few of their hotshot traders and bankers can expect to take home $10 million, $25 million and, in some cases, $50 million. A select few are getting $100 million. And they're looking to spend. Real Estate executive Pamela Liebman says her phones are ringing off the hook.
PAMELA LIEBMAN, PRESIDENT, CORCORAN REAL ESTATE: We know it's in their pocket and we know that they want to spend it. And they're not shy about saying, hey, I worked so hard all year, I just got this big bonus and I want to live really well.
CHO: Liebman says this year the buyers aren't just setting their sights on Park and Fifth Avenue penthouses, they're thinking ocean front. Fancy restaurants will also benefit. So will auction houses and luxury car dealers. Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Lamborghinis. Some lucky bankers are paying $200,000 and more on the spot with no sticker shock.
WALTER D'URSO, MANHATTAN MOTORCARS: They just want to show everyone that they can afford the beautiful car.
CHO: Experts say what's good for Wall Street is good for main street and an economy, that for now, is roaring.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: If you work for a small business, though, you're probably not going to get -- well, you're definitely not going to get a big bonus like that. You're probably going to get time off instead. According to an American Express survey which is in "USA Today," only 47 percent of small businesses are going to give out bonuses. And that's down 7 percent from last year. Fifty-five percent of small businesses say they're giving time off instead.
ROBERTS: Ah, yes, but taking that time off, having the ability to be able to take the time off, that's the difficult part.
O'BRIEN: Time off or the Lamborghini.
ROBERTS: I'll take the time off. I don't need one. Who would want to (INAUDIBLE)? I guess somebody might.
O'BRIEN: I might take the Lamborghini.
ROBERTS: That's the difference between you and I.
Up next, we're tracking that major winter storm out west.
Also, Rosie O'Donnell just made a new enemy -- The Donald. Details behind their feud ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Our big story happening this morning.
Denver is paralyzed by nearly two feet of snow. Thousands of travelers are stuck in Denver. Major highways are closed in six states and there's a blizzard warning from eastern Colorado into Nebraska and Kansas.
O'BRIEN: This time around it's Rosie O'Donnell vs The Donald. Rosie used her spot as the co-host of "The View" to take Donald Trump to task.
Did you see this yesterday? It was actually . . .
ROBERTS: It was fabulous (ph).
O'BRIEN: It was good TV, I've got to tell you. You know he's the co-owner of the USA pageant. He held a news conference after Tara Conner, Miss USA, admitted she was out drinking underage. You know, we did that whole story. Anyway, so Rosie goes a little bit crazy on her show. Does the whole hair flip thing. Let's show you what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL, "THE VIEW": Apparently this young girl, Tara Conner -- how old is she? Twenty-one. She went out and she was partying. She's from Kentucky. She went to New York and she was hanging out at all the parties, doing what Paris and Lindsay do, you know, dancing and whatever. And so he held a press conference to announce whether or not she was going to redeem (ph) her crown. And then she started to cry. So I just want to thank Donald, who's giving me a second chance. And there he is, hair loop and going, everyone deserves a second chance and I'm going to give her a second chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your hair is perfect for that. Your hair is perfect for that.
O'DONNELL: Listen, he annoys me on a multitude of levels. He's the moral authority. Left the first wife, had an affair. Left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times. But he's the moral compass for 20 year olds in America. Donald, sit and spin, my friend. I don't enjoy him. No.
He inherited a lot of money -- wait a minute -- and he's been bankrupt so many times where he didn't have to pay. He didn't pay off the people he owed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't pay them all (ph). Well, you know, sometimes they put you on a payment plan.
O'DONNELL: Here comes a lawsuit. Get ready. This is going to be good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) payment plan.
O'DONNELL: He sues, you know. I can imagine he's going to sue me, but he'll be bankrupt by that time, so I won't have to worry. But, I don't know, I just think that this man is like sort of one of those, you know, snake oil salesman in "Little House on the Prairie."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP: Rosie O'Donnell's disgusting. I mean, both inside and out. You take a look at her. She's a slob. She talks like a truck driver. She doesn't have her facts. She'll say anything that comes to her mind. And, you know, her show failed when it was a talk show. She failed on that. The ratings went very, very low and very bad and she got essentially thrown off television. Her magazine was a totally catastrophe. She got sued. And I mean she's basically a disaster.
When she called me a snake oil salesman, you know, coming from Rosie, that's pretty low. Because when you look at her and when you see the mind, the mind is weak. I don't see it. I don't get it. I never understood, how does she even get on television?
I'll probably sue Rosie because she doesn't tell the facts. As an example, I'm worth many billions of dollars. Now, it's not to brag about. I'm worth many billions of dollars. It's very simple. She said I was bankrupt. Now I never went bankrupt. She said I filed bankruptcy three times. I never filed bankruptcy. I never went bankrupt, but she said I went bankrupt. So probably I'll sue her because it would be fun. I'd like to take some money out of her fat ass pockets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, that was such entertaining TV. He covered a lot of ground there.
ROBERTS: As did she.
O'BRIEN: I'll a billion. It's not to brag. I'm a billionaire many times over.
ROBERTS: You know what I think it was, I think she hit him on the hair thing.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's sensitive for him, isn't it? I know, for his start (ph). You know, this is so not the last word on this and it's so entertaining. I'm just going to watch from the sidelines.
ROBERTS: The best place to be in this fight.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Twenty-six after the hour now. President Bush signs a major tax bill. It's Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
President Bush want to make sure nobody takes any money out of your fat wallets. So yesterday he signed a massive tax and trade bill. It was a patchwork of things that kind of need to be done before this Congress ended. It renews a $4,000 deduction for higher education costs, gives tax breaks to teachers who buy supplies out of their own pocket. It also had some trade implications that established normal trade relations with Vietnam, with some other countries -- Bolivia, Peru, Equador, Columbia, Haiti, some African countries.
And in an earlier, remarkably long speech, President Bush endorsed the Democrat's proposal to rise the minimum wage, which hasn't been raised in 10 years, from $5.15 by $2.10 an hour. Now that was a Democratic proposal. The Democrats had proposed doing that over three years. President Bush said, no, we'll do it over two years as long as we tie it to some relief for small businesses. Small businesses are the ones that say they're going to get pinched by an increase in minimum wage.
This effort to raise minimum wage failed last year because the Republicans that time tied it to tax breaks for the wealthy, which is sort of a sign of how tone deaf Washington can often be. That, obviously, failed. This one might actually work.
And another quick piece of news. IBM is ending its stock options to directors. It used to pay them stock options. About 4,000 stocks and $100,000 in cash. Now it will be $200,000 in cash but they've got to buy stocks with a lot of it.
The Dow was down about 7 point after reaching a new high in the trading session yesterday. We'll keep a tight eye on what's going on. I'll see you in half an hour.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you then. Thank you, Ali.
Ahead this morning, that winter blizzard virtually shutting down Denver. It's forcing thousands of people to sleep on the floors of the Denver Airport. We're going to tell you where that storm is heading next.
And the next time your kid tries to phone santa, well he might not get santa but get a businessman on the line. We'll tell you what happens when some kids miss dial and reach this guy instead. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It's a whiteout. A huge storm shuts down Denver, roads closed, airport closed, thousands of people stranded.
ROBERTS: Call for help. U.S. troops tell their new defense secretary, send in reinforcements.
O'BRIEN: Religious intolerance under the capitol dome. One congressman warns against electing more Muslims. Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome back everybody, it is Thursday, December 21st. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien with plenty of sympathy for all those thousands of people who are stranded in Denver today, trying to get home for Christmas.
O'BRIEN: What an absolute mess. Can't get in, can't get out. In fact, that's where we begin this morning with that paralyzing winter storm that's hitting Denver, Colorado. Blizzard warnings in effect for most of eastern Colorado and Kansas and Nebraska. Major highways closed across six states and, as we said, can't get in, can't get out and thousands of people are forced to spend the night at Denver International Airport. You know, as airports go, that's not a horrible place to sleep on a floor, I guess. Let's get right to Patti Logan, she's live for us in Denver this morning. Also we have Chad Myers standing by too, he's at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. We're going to start with Patti though. Hey Patti, good morning, how is it looking?
PATTI LOGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well it's looking about the same as it looked yesterday at this time, yesterday I should say, not at this time. It started about 6:00 a.m., a little bit earlier yesterday. And it's very, very white. It's still coming down. We expect it to be coming down for a little while yet. I'm not directly in the snow, I'm under an overhang at Union Station here and that's about the only thing that is moving here. I'm hearing a train whistle. We've got some trains that are expected to come in later this morning. There are a few people inside who did a very smart thing. Yesterday morning they got in and recognized immediately they would be stuck out there, got one of the few buses out early yesterday morning, got here and they're going to be getting on trains to California and to Salt Lake City this morning. Not very many people were able to do that because they shut the roads in and out of the airport.
So, what we've got here, is we've got mail boxes that are looking rather desolate and quiet. The mail is not going in, it's not being delivered here today, so, anybody that has been sending packages to Colorado, they're hoping to get them delivered by Christmas, but that's going to be working double time. They're not having any shifts coming in today and they sent folks home yesterday at about 2:00 in the afternoon. So, we have Red Cross shelters up all over the metro area because our highways are closed. To the north, I-25 is closed. To the south, I-25 is closed. To the east, I-70 is closed heading to the Kansas border. So, we're pretty much socked in here in Denver.
O'BRIEN: Well, if there's any consolation, it looks pretty. Thank you very much Patti, appreciate the update. We're going to check in with Patti all morning, where it is quite a mess.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Now to Iraq where there's no let up in the violence this morning. In the latest attack, a suicide bomber targeted a group of men who were waiting to sign up for the national police force in Baghdad. At least 10 people were killed and 15 injured.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a surprising exchange between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and some U.S. troops this morning. Top commanders say a larger U.S. troop presence might do more harm than good, but Gates heard a very different story, when he had breakfast with a group of soldiers. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SPEC. JASON GLENN, DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: I really think we need more troops here. I really think we need more troops in Iraq. I'm just thinking that maybe more presence on the ground, more troops, might be able to hold them off long enough to where we can actually be able to get some of the Iraqis trained up strong so they can hold it themselves.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: One plan being floated would add five or more combat brigades, roughly 20,000 troops to the 140,000 troops already in Iraq.
The Pentagon is asking for more money to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The "Associated Press" reports that they want $99.7 billion more. That would boost the coming year's war budget to about $170 billion, and so far, the war in Iraq has cost $350 billion. If you add in the cost of Afghanistan and other terror operations, the total bill reaches $500 billion. The White House won't decide how much to ask for until their budget is submitted in February.
O'BRIEN: That search on Mt. Hood in Oregon is no longer a rescue effort, it's a recovery mission. That means that rescuers do not think there is much of a chance of finding two missing climbers alive. And now they've suspended the search until the weather improves. Dan Simon has the very latest for us in Oregon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The autopsy of Kelly James showed that he did die of hypothermia and that he had also been dead for several days by the time rescuers got to him. It also showed that he did not have a debilitating injury. Remember it had been widely believed that he was injured and that's why those other two guys went for help. Well, the fact that he was alone in that snow cave and the other two went away only adds to the mystery as to why he was in that snow cave by himself. Meanwhile, what had been called a search and rescue is now called a recovery and the sheriff had a hard time acknowledging that hopes for finding those two climbers alive has faded.
SHERIFF JOE WAMPLER, HOOD RIVER COUNTY, OREGON: Yeah. I think we're at that point. You know, I didn't want to be the one to say that, but, you know, I wanted my team to be there, but we're there.
SIMON: With many more weeks of winter ahead, there is a sad realization that the bodies of Jerry "Nikko" Cooke and Brian Hall may not be discovered until spring time when the snow here begins to melt. Dan Simon, CNN, Hood River, Oregon.
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ROBERTS: Congressman Virgil Goode is defending his recent letter to constituents. The Virginia Republican is concerned about Keith Ellison, he's the first Muslim member of Congress who will be sworn in next month and wants to use a Koran instead of a bible. Congressman Goode wrote that without immigration reform, "There will likely be more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." We should point out that according to supporters, Ellison traces his roots in the United States back to 1742.
O'BRIEN: The guy was born in Detroit.
Anyway, moving on, we continue to follow our major story this morning, the blizzard out west.
Also, strikeout for identity theft. We'll tell you just how police say one man stole dozens of major league players' identities.
And this guy gets about 100 misdialed calls a day from kids who are looking for Santa. We'll tell you what he does when he gets these calls, straight ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR, "THE EXTREME FUTURE": Ten years from today, how we'll get to work, first of all maybe more virtual and physical any way. You may be sitting in meetings as a holographic image.
RAY KURZWEIL, CEO, KURZWEIL TECHNOLOGIES: We'll have eyeglasses that beam images directly to our retina creating a virtual screen in the air or a full emerging visual environment and we'll feel like we're in that environment. Meeting in virtual reality will be just as good as a meeting in real reality.
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, CULTURAL THEORIST: Even if you have holographic pictures of people around a table, still, real people in a real place matters. I think in the future the idea of going to work and tackling problems shoulder to shoulder with your colleagues will be seen as a luxury rather than looking at work as this thing, where, oh, now I have to go to work. I think people will relish the opportunity to actually have that face-to-face contact. JOEY REIMAN, THINKER & CEO, BRIGHTHOUSE: Today, thinking outside the box means being creative. Tomorrow thinking outside the box means leaving the cubicle. And the workplace will look more like a work park. They'll be much more daylight. We'll be working in thinking villages. We will shift our notion from being a millionaire or a billionaire to becoming a familiarnaire, which is someone who puts their focus on family, the family of human kind. It's a radical concept but a heartful one, and I think that's where the world is going right now.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
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O'BRIEN: Happening this morning a major blizzard is shutting down parts of Colorado. Nearly two feet of snow closing roads in major cities. Thousands of people have camped out at Denver's airport, which is now closed.
ROBERTS: Also in America this morning, an Illinois man, David Dright is charged with stealing the identities of major league baseball players. Chicago police say Dright stole the identities of up to 90 ballplayers, including White Sox slugger Jim Thome and Mets outfielder Moises Alou. Dright allegedly went through the trash bins outside a sports agency that represents the players. Among the evidence that police say they found in Dright's home, social security numbers, dates of birth and canceled paychecks.
In Miami, Florida, a 55-year-old woman is in stable condition after riding her daughter's motor bike into an uncovered manhole. Rescue workers used a rope to haul her up six feet from the spot where she and the scooter got stuck. It seems that she lost control of the bike, crashed through a construction barrier and then landed in the manhole.
In Buffalo, New York, a statue of Jesus is back where it is supposed to be in the front yard of a couple's home. The statue was stolen by a prankster last Christmas and a note was left behind saying that it would be returned in three days. But the statue actually took a long journey. It was returned a few months ago along with a photo album showing pictures of it posed in various places around the world. Very much like some kids do with those flat (INAUDIBLE).
The next time that you dial for Santa, make sure that you keep a closer eye on the digits. This businessman in Goleta, California is receiving about 100 calls a day from kids who think that they're calling Santa at 1-800-Santa Claus. Here is one of those calls.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Santa. I have been the best girl in the world. Can you please come to my house? I'll give you some cookies, and some chocolates and milk.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP) ROBERTS: The problem is though, that the kids are off by one digit. Instead they're reaching John Dickinson who answers a toll free number for Santa Barbara's online visitor guide.
O'BRIEN: So close.
ROBERTS: He has, though, decided instead of saying, no, kid, you don't deserve anything for Christmas, he's decided to play the role of Santa and is answering the calls.
O'BRIEN: What a great guy. That's a cute story.
ROBERTS: Telling the kids, yeah, you've been a good girl.
O'BRIEN: Good for him, because he's had like 100 of these phone calls. Poor guy.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine?
O'BRIEN: That's got to be fun.
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O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, news about your health. Can you diagnose Alzheimer's years before patients even begin to show the signs? We've got an update for you on a new medical test.
And is obesity caused by bacteria? There's a new study that might change the way obesity is treated. Those stories and much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: We're back on AMERICAN MORNING and happening this morning, a major blizzard in the high plains. Thousands stranded in Denver, roads and the airport shut down by snow. Airport probably won't reopen until this evening.
Thousands stranded in London as well, but there its fog that's grounding flights for holiday travelers.
O'BRIEN: In health news this morning, researchers are hoping a new kind of brain scan might lead to better treatment for Alzheimer's patients. What they found were these so-called tangles in the brains of people who have early signs of the disease. With early detection are hoping they can at least get some treatments that will slow the onset of the disease. The new brain scan still needs FDA approval. A little brain exercise could keep your mind sharp for years to come. Researchers found that seniors stayed 75 percent sharper when they used their brain to do things like reading or crossword puzzles. Studied by the National Institute of Aging, 2,800 people between 65 and 90 performed tests that required thinking and reasoning. And those who exercised their brain found it easier to do everyday tasks like making grocery lists and remembering to take their medicines.
Can germs be the reason some people are overweight? Researchers say a certain stomach bacteria could be behind obesity. They hope research is going to lead to ways to treat obesity beyond diet and exercise. They think this research might even help find ways to fight malnutrition in developing nations. Basically, people who are obese are more efficient in how they process food. They get every calorie out of the food, which means they keep some of those calories on their waistline.
ROBERTS: A little bacteria in there that's saying, feed me, feed me. Up next, we continue to track the major winter storm out west, plus, just in time for the holidays, you were waiting for this one. Anheuser-Busch is introducing a beer especially for people with wheat allergies. Ali Velshi is minding your business.
And take a look at this kimono(ph) dragon. Zoo officials in England say she may have something in common with the Virgin Mary. We'll explain and you'll want to hear the explanation. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Hey, the heck with eggnog, we've got beer and peanuts here. The government may have to pay millions to farmers and that's not peanuts. It's coming up to 56 minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi minding your business this morning.
ALI VELSHI: A fortuitous combination of topics to discuss, beer and peanuts. Let's start with peanuts. In North Carolina in 2002 it was a very, very rough year for peanut farmers. They had a drought during the growing season and then they had massive rains during the harvest, so, they lost a lot of peanuts and, as a result of that, the odd thing about this is 2002 is also the year that the Federal Crop Insurance Program for peanuts changed. These farmers were insured for 31 cents a pound if they lost their peanuts, but the insurance changed to about 18 cents a pound and they were really, like this is a big, big problem. So 3,870 farmers sued the government and yesterday were awarded $30 million. Going forward the crop insurance will still be at the lower rate. Many of them have changed what they're planting. But for the moment, they're getting that money.
Now, over to beer, Anheuser-Busch is launching what they're calling the first nationally available beer that's made entirely of sorgam(ph). Not entirely, but they're not using wheat and barley in this beer.
ROBERTS: There are some microbrewers --
VELSHI: There are microbreweries who offer this kind of beer. This will be around in organic stores and restaurants. It's a good alternative for people who are on a wheat free or gluten free diet and they did this in conjunction with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. People with celiac disease have bad responses to gluten.
ROBERTS: Right, and we were talking this morning about how big can the market be, and we found out that as many as 1 in 250 people suffer from celiac.
VELSHI: I'll give you full credit for that, you found that out.
O'BRIEN: That's a lot more people than I thought.
ROBERTS: Guess what I did, guess where I found it.
VELSHI: That's significant. And then there's this whole other group of people who as you were saying don't eat, you know try and stay away from carbs or reduce their intake of carbs and beer is a loaf of bread in a glass. So, this -- interesting. I'm not sure how big the market is, but the beer industry is shrinking, the beer companies have to do more to get more people to drink it.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much. See you in a while. Appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we're following for you this morning, this one from "The New York Times," it says U.S. to declassify secrets at age 25. They're talking about hundreds of millions of pages of secret documents that will be declassified at midnight. Those documents that are 25 years or older will be instantly declassified.
ROBERTS: And they'll keep doing that every year. So we could get an interesting data dump every year.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: From "USA Today," many cities are changing one-way streets back to two-ways. Hundreds of cities, including Danville, Illinois, Berkeley, California, Charleston, South Carolina, now switching one-way streets to two-way to improve commerce in their downtown districts. You see, it seems that people are driving by shops too quickly on these one-way streets. Which are actually a product of the cold war back in the 1950's when cities planned quick routes out of town in case of nuclear attacks.
O'BRIEN: Anybody who has driven through Berkeley knows that is not a quick route out of town for sure. London Telegraph to show you, no sex please, we're lizards. A komodo(ph) dragon at the Chester Zoo in England is pregnant with eight babies. Here's the thing though, she's never mated, she's never even mixed with a male dragon. And scientists say that the lizard, this one's name Flora, fertilized the eggs herself. And of course this process is called parthenogenesis(ph). Didn't you learn that when you were in school?
ROBERTS: Yeah, a sexual reproduction, parthenogenesis.
O'BRIEN: Exactly. Zoo officials say it could be a Christmas virgin birth for little Flora here, the komodo(ph) dragon.
ROBERTS: I will tell you though, you all ever perfect that, we're out of business. Completely.
O'BRIEN: Oh, please, don't even get me into the men should be carrying and delivering children line. We'll be going on forever.
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