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American Morning

Suspected Pedophile Arrested Overnight; Brand vs. Generic Drugs; Values Voters Selecting Their Candidate

Aired October 19, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Breaking news. A suspected pedophile arrested overnight. The computer tricks and international manhunt that brought him down.

And extreme weather.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK. It's OK.

ROBERTS: Stuck in the path of a deadly line of storms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And all of this stuff, it just started flying around me.

ROBERTS: The latest video, I-Reports and forecast on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Friday, the 19th of October.

I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

And we begin with breaking news out of Thailand. An overnight arrest and some new details now on exactly how it went down, what this suspect, this pedophile suspect, was doing at the time he was actually captured.

It's the end of an international manhunt for a suspected pedophile. Interpol described this search as looking for a needle in a haystack.

Thirty-two-year-old Christopher Paul Neil, he's seen there with some sort of covering over his face. He's a school teacher from Canada. Well, police say that he sexually abused at least a dozen young boys, took hundreds of photos that circulated on the Internet for years.

Now, his face on those photos was disguised. There was a swirl effect in place. Last week, investigators figured out how to unswirl that image, revealing his face and tracking Neil down after hundreds and hundreds of tips came in to Thailand. And that is where CNN's Matthew Chance is right now, in Bangkok.

Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kiran.

Christopher Paul Neil, the suspected pedophile, now in the custody of Thai police. The authorities here are calling this a triumph of cooperation between law enforcement agencies because there's been a worldwide manhunt for this individual since his identifiable pictures, when they were unscrambled by those German computer experts, were eventually posted on the Interpol Web site.

Hundreds of people responded to that. It led to him fleeing his teaching job in South Korea, where he was teaching young people the English language, fleeing to Thailand.

He was recognized at the airport. There was a photograph broadcast of him coming through Thai immigration eight days ago. It finally led to his arrest here in northeastern Thailand.

The Thai authorities are so pleased with their work, they paraded Christopher Paul Neil in front of the cameras today. Journalists trying to ask him questions, but he remained silent throughout, wearing a blue T-shirt, covering his head at first, and then a pair of dark sunglasses. He wouldn't speak at all, despite being asked questions.

Police officials later told us that he has confirmed only his name and he has not at this stage admitted any guilt to of any of the abuses that he has accused of carrying out against young boys, not just here in Thailand, but in Cambodia and in Vietnam, as well, across Asia. So they are expecting to carry out their investigation to see what details they can find, to see if they can actually get enough evidence to charge this person in a Thai court.

CHETRY: Matthew Chance for us in Bangkok.

Thank you.

You know, they say -- investigators said that even as they were closing in on that arrest, he was trolling for young boys on the Internet -- John.

ROBERTS: Extraordinary.

Now to extreme weather.

A major tornado outbreak from the Great Lakes, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. At least three people killed in two states.

This is video from Pensacola, Florida, captured by a police car's dash cam. The storm also damaged a shopping mall and a daycare center in Pensacola. Teachers in that daycare center say they heard the warnings, they had a few minutes, they grabbed the kids, they followed the drill, and because of that no one was hurt. A state of emergency is in effect this morning in Nappanee, Indiana. That's near South Bend. The entire city of nearly 7,000 without power, basically shut down after a tornado hit last night. It was part of a series of storms that blew through portions of western Kentucky and southern Indiana.

And two people killed in Monroe County, Missouri, when their mobile home was lifted off its frame with them inside. Police say 135-mile-an-hour winds picked up that mobile home, tossed it some three-quarters of a mile.

All that nasty weather now heading east. Our Rob Marciano at our Weather Update Desk, tracking the extreme weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, also new this morning, one less person in the presidential race. Senator Sam Brownback expected to withdraw later today. He is a conservative Republican from Kansas who's been struggling to raise money and raise his poll numbers. Brownback may instead run for governor of Kansas in 2010.

This morning, unimaginable joy and relief for one family of a teenager who has autism and was lost in the wilderness since Sunday. Jacob Allen found yesterday and now resting in a West Virginia hospital this morning. We talked to the volunteer searcher who found him earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY RENEAU, FOUND MISSING AUTISTIC TEEN: He was sleeping or resting, I'm not sure which. But when I got to him, I called his name and he responded to me, and then I knew he was OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: They say he was very hungry at the time and accepted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as chocolate from the rescuers. Jacob Allen has severe autism. He was separated from his parents during a hike Sunday. He had no food or water. There were frigid temperatures, yet he managed to survive -- John.

ROBERTS: His family said they promised him ice cream to get him out of the woods. Now they've got to pay off on that because they didn't have any with them.

Overseas, British singer Amy Winehouse was arrested in Norway overnight. Winehouse has openly battled drug addiction. She was arrested for marijuana possession in her hotel room in Bergen, Norway. Police say her husband and another person were also arrested.

A mystery this morning surrounding magician David Copperfield. FBI agents in Las Vegas raided this warehouse, taking -- or his warehouse, rather, taking a computer hard drive, a digital camera and nearly $2 million in cash. Copperfield's attorney confirmed that the raid occurred but would not comment on the police investigation. And Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. back in an Atlanta courtroom this morning. A judge will decide if he'll be released on bond until his trial. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested on Saturday when he allegedly tried to buy three machine guns and two silencers. An illegal purchase since Harris is already a convicted felon -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, for a brief time, oil topped out $90 a barrel for the first time ever.

Ali Velshi is at the Business Update Desk now to talk more about the impact.

And it's still creeping up, almost at $90 right now.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, I've seen a trade go by, an electronic trading for $90.07. Right now we're looking at $89.80. So we're just about there.

That's where it settled yesterday, $89.47. And most of the people we're talking to now are saying there is probably some chance oil goes higher before it goes lower.

Up $2.07 to $89.47 yesterday. Just for reference, by the way, we've been talking about how this is the 20th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987. And as that chart was showing you, back in 1987 a barrel of crude oil was trading for under $20 a barrel.

We have had quite an increase in oil prices. Now the concern is how this affects people who are buying heating oil for their home, or, of course, how this trickles into the price of gasoline.

We are going to be keeping a very close eye on that. It has not trickled over to gasoline so far. There are mixed opinions about that, but most people do believe that as oil prices go up, gasoline prices will as well.

We'll keep on that -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Ali, great. We'll check in with you in a few. Thank you -- John.

ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hour now.

Think that generic drug that you're taking is the same as the brand name? A new study might make you think twice about that.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, at our Medical Update Desk in Atlanta.

And Sanjay, we keep getting told by doctors and drug companies alike, no difference between the generic and the brand name. This would seem to go against that.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At least with regards to this one particular medication. It is a common question -- just how effective is my generic drug as compared to the brand name drug?

Well, this company named Consumer Lab decided to put one medication to the test. The brand name is called Wellbutrin. It's an antidepressant. The generic one is Budeprion. That is the generic brand.

The question was, just how effective is this as compared to the brand name medication? What they found was that Budeprion doesn't work the same way, doesn't dissolve at the same rate.

Take a look. That's a lot of numbers to look at, but let me just break that down for you. It's all a question of how fast these medication dissolves.

What they found was that the generic dissolved much faster, so it got in your system much faster, but was gone much more quickly as well, as well compared to the brand name drug. After two hours, about eight percent of the Wellbutrin had dissolved, as compared to 34 percent of this generic drug.

Now, why did Consumer Lab even decide to do this study? Well, they had received hundreds of complaints specifically about this generic drug, saying it didn't seem to be as effective as the brand name antidepressant.

So, again, this is just one medication they studied specifically, but it's sort of a good idea of how the differences may play out between the generic and a brand name.

ROBERTS: So the drug itself is identical, I would assume. It's the transport method that's different here? I mean, why would the generic release more quickly than the brand name?

GUPTA: You know, this is interesting. When you talk about generic drugs, oftentimes you sort of think about active ingredients and inactive ingredients.

The active ingredients, for the most part, are the same, as you mentioned. So the actual medication that controls depression is probably the same in the generic drug.

The problem seems to be in these inactive ingredients, the things that sort of control the rate of absorption, the way that your body actually metabolizes the medication. So it might be different.

We did talk to Teva Pharmaceuticals, who released this statement about their generic drug, and they say specifically that they determined that "Budeprion XL 300 was released into the bloodstream at the same rate and extent as the branded drug."

Now, you know, what may be in the laboratory, as Consumer Lab found, may be different than in real-life setting, which is what Teva is charging here. But it did seem to be different, at least in the Consumer Lab testing.

ROBERTS: All right. Interesting information this morning. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for that.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Also this morning, Republicans lashing out at Democratic Congressman Pete Stark of California for his stinging comments on the House floor yesterday. He criticized Republicans for funding the Iraq war but not an expanded children's health care bill.

Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETE STARK (D), CALIFORNIA: You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we could get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Fellow Republicans are now demanding a retraction and apology. He has said he is not going to apologize.

So we want to know what you think. Should Congressman Stark apologize for what he said?

Cast your vote, cnn.com/am. Right now, 12 percent say yes, he should, 88 percent say no. We're going to continue to tally the votes throughout the morning.

Well, this could be the weekend that one of the Republican candidates breaks out of the pack. We're going to be talking to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council about the impact of values voters. What are they looking for and who may they back all the way to the White House?

Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes after the hour now.

Values voters, they take credit for sending President Bush to the White House twice. This weekend, values voters are gathering at a summit in Washington, D.C., where they will be courted by the new candidates. Who will they choose, if anyone?

Joining me now is Tony Perkins. He's the president of the Family Research Council, which is the group sponsoring the event.

Tony, good to see you.

This conference, is it going to go any distance toward finding a candidate that you can coalesce around? Chuck Paulson (ph) is quoted in today's "Washington Post" as saying, "There is nothing but confusion everywhere I go when it comes to the candidates."

TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: I think that's a true assessment. And a year ago, when we were planning this, we didn't think it would come down to this point, this late in the process for people to coalesce around a particular candidate, but I do think that this will be a part of the process. I think you'll have two, maybe three candidates emerge from this that will begin to see support gravitate toward them.

ROBERTS: In the last two elections, as we pointed out, value voters have been extraordinarily important, representing perhaps even more than a quarter of the Republican electorate.

Let's talk specifically about some of the candidates.

Rudy Giuliani, what kind of an audience is he going to find there? And can he become the consensus candidate with his views on abortion?

PERKINS: Well, I'll take the last question first. It will be easy. I doubt very seriously. But I will say that he will get a very warm reception.

A lot of folks respect him for his leadership that he provided in the wake of 9/11, and there's many attributes about Rudy Giuliani that people like. But when you talk about value voters -- and often they are portrayed as single issue -- they are not single issue. They're concerned about national security, they're concerned about the threat of radical Islam. But they put a priority on issues, and life is a very important priority in protecting human life.

ROBERTS: Right. And life, is that just a red line with these candidates?

PERKINS: Well, I do believe it is, John. I mean, a number of us have said, look, we are willing to work to give and take, but there's a certain point that we will not go. We've drawn a line and said we cannot support a candidate who is pro-abortion rights.

ROBERTS: Right.

PERKINS: We just can't go there.

ROBERTS: Let me move on to Fred Thompson.

A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll found that he has dropped eight points since September. He's put out there as the Christian conservative candidate, but people like James Dobson say, I don't think he's a Christian.

Where does he sit with you folks?

PERKINS: Well, I think -- first off, I think to be fair to Senator Thompson, the bar was pretty high for him when he entered the race. A lot of expectations because people had not found a candidate and they were saying, well, maybe he is the one. So there was this great anticipation of him entering the race, and so the bar was high for him.

I think he has now found his pace. He has caught up with the pact. He did well in the last debate.

I think he'll do well here this weekend. I think people truly -- as I've talked to people that have been here already, they come here undecided and they are looking for a candidate that best represents their values, that will defend marriage, that will protect life, and that will advance the freedoms and liberties that have made this nation strong.

ROBERTS: Now, Mitt Romney is going to make a strong appeal to your audience. According to politico.com, who got an advanced copy of his remarks, he's going to say, "I will oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, oppose partial birth abortion, oppose abortion in military clinics, oppose funding abortion in international aid programs. And I will work to ban embryonic cloning."

Does he truly represent your values? And o you have confidence in his conversion on abortion?

PERKINS: Well, thanks for that preview of his speech. Actually, I do. I believe that his position on these issues are, in fact, genuine.

Now, is it for political convenience? I don't know. I can't judge it. Who can judge a man's heart?

But this I do know: he has been out front on these issues more than any other candidate, and he would lose all credibility if he were to go back on them once he is elected. So I am comfortable with the positions that he has staked out.

ROBERTS: And Tony, just really quickly here, if a candidate who doesn't represent your values becomes the nominee, will you, in fact, go for a third-party candidate?

PERKINS: I think that issue has been kind of overblown. There's no desire to create a third party, there's no effort under foot -- under way to create a third party. But what we said was more of a declaration of principle, that we simply cannot cross the line in supporting a pro-abortion candidate.

It wasn't a statement of intent to go out and create a party. And so there are many options between now and where we would be in that position, and I'm hoping that one of those options emerges this weekend.

ROBERTS: Well, good luck at the conference this weekend. I hope you do find somebody you can rally around.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

It's always good to see you.

PERKINS: Thanks, John. ROBERTS: Thanks for coming on -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, we have some breaking news right now we want to get you up to speed on.

We're just finding out a little bit more about a house explosion that took place in Irvington, New Jersey. That's in Essex County, not far west of New York City.

One of the fire officials telling CNN that several people may be trapped in a debris pile that was caused by a massive explosion of a house. They're saying that one person seemed to be badly burned, is heading now to a nearby hospital for treatment. And also, firefighters on the scene reported hearing -- smelling very strong gas odor on site.

Again, this happened at house in Irvington, New Jersey. They say the incident really just rocked the neighborhood. It happened near the intersection of 22nd Street and 20th Avenue under an hour ago. And again, they say the house, which was three stories, just completely collapsed and that a strong smell of gas was detected by the firefighters when they went there.

We do know of one pretty serious injury. There are other injuries reported. And again, we're getting new details, and as soon as we find out more about this apparent gas explosion at a home in Irvington, New Jersey, we will bring it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. A pretty foggy shot this morning from WCNC, our affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. 70 degrees down there right now, shaping up to be 76 degrees but they're looking at thunderstorms on this Friday. Welcome once again, October 19th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That could put a dent on air travel this morning. I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you.

Breaking news. Out of Thailand and a major arrest overnight. The world's most wanted suspected pedophile was in police custody after an international manhunt. Police believe Christopher Paul Neil sexually abused at least a dozen young boys. He was nabbed about 130 miles northeast of Bangkok. Get this, where Thai police say he was trying to contact underaged boys. The world's looking for him and he's trying to contact underaged boys. This most recent breakthrough in Interpol's three-year-long investigation came when the International Police agency released a photo of a face descrambled from about 200 child porn photos that had been circulating on the internet.

This just in to CNN. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto near death on a suicide terror attack that targeted her yesterday. There she is live talking about it. The death toll continues to rise and is now at 136 after the attacker threw a grenade and blew himself up right in front of her convoy. It happened on her first day back from eight years in exile in the middle of a crowd of thousands.

Outspoken comedian Bill Cosby with a message to black Americans. He says they should stop blaming racism for their problems and engage in more personal responsibility. Cosby was promoting his new book "Come On People" on "Larry King" last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: The whole pileup of negative stuff that needs to be brought to the people so that they can begin to feel power and they can begin to make their move. Known fact, man, when the participation starts, things start to lift up and this is what we need them to believe in and realize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Cosby's book is being praised by activists and scholars. He is not receiving the same backlash he did when he first spoke publicly about all this, back in 2004.

CHETRY: Well, city health officials in San Francisco may be on hand to make sure heroin addicts shoot up, "the right way." The city is taking steps to open the nation's first legal safe injection site. Users would be able to bring their own drugs and inject themselves. Nurses would give them a clean needle, water, a table and a chair. The idea is to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses and diseases like HIV. The model is based on the other injection house in North America, which is located in Vancouver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH EVANS, COORDINATOR INSITE: Overdoses in the site, our staff are able to provide emergency care and we've had over 800 overdoses so far and not one fatality to date.

THOMAS KERR, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: I think, in our experience, what people would tell you in the community is that it's a win-win solution for the community and for the drug users. Drug users get the health care they need and the community is safer as a result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, not everyone agrees. The White House office of national drug policy said it was poor public policy to accept drug addiction and just give up. Also, one law professor is saying that this would seem to run afoul the federal drug possession laws and even a state statute that makes it illegal to operate anyplace where drugs are used but it would be up to federal agents whether or not they choose to enforce it.

ROBERTS: Coming up on 36 minutes after the hour. It's time for the Friday version of our ballot jackpot. The segment where we stuff political hot topics in the box and pull them out of random and letting our guests weigh in.

CHETRY: And we're happy to welcome today with us is Democratic strategist, Jamal Simmons. Good to see you, Jamal.

Oh, I like to see you but I hope I can hear you too. Oh, I got you now.

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Can you hear me?

CHETRY: I got you now.

That would have been unfair start for Leslie Sanchez who (inaudible) if we have not had Jamal's mic working.

LESLIE: Let's go!

CHETRY: Great to see both of you. Let's go ahead and grab one.

ROBERTS: Absolutely. Go ahead.

CHETRY: ...this morning. Who is next? Here is a good one. Senator Sam Brownback announcing he is probably bowing out. I think it was a month or so back that Tommy Thompson announced the same exact thing. So, Leslie as the GOP pool starts to shrink a little bit, who benefits from this, and who may we see opt out of the race in the near future?

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I'd tell you one thing who you're not going to see are the top-tier Republican candidates being Giuliani, Romney, McCain and Thompson. It's definitely getting close to the first caucuses. If you're looking at the fact that they're going to start in early January, the pool is really shrinking, the window is closing and it's time for voters to get serious. In terms of conservatives, social conservative voters they're really going to be looking at a Thompson and a Mitt Romney. That's basically where those Brownback voters are going to go.

ROBERTS: And Jamal, to your side of things, we still have all of the democrats still in, when do you think they'll start dropping out?

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: We know the democratic size is a little bit different because we apportion our delegates at the convention based on, it's a proportional strategy so there's some reason to stay in the race if you really want. If the convention is close between two candidates you've got 5% of the vote, you're one of the minor candidates. You can actually make a difference about who gets to be president. So, there's no real reason to get out of the race if you can raise the money to stay alive.

ROBERTS: All right. Jamal, why don't we start you off on this one? Should Representative Pete Stark from California apologize for what he said yesterday on the house floor? Let's take a quick listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETE STARK (D), CALIFORNIA: You don't have money to fund a war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Jamal, was that out of line or was it justified?

SIMMONS: How do I know that this one is going to make it out of the box? I think when it comes, I wouldn't use the words that Pete Stark used in this thing, but it's very clear that George Bush does have us in a war with 3,000 Americans have died and we really don't understand the reason why we're there and he vetoed health care for millions of American children. So, these two things are (indispensable) and the president really got, the republicans will have to decide, are they going to stand with this unpopular president who do unpopular thing or do something that the American people want?

SANCHEZ: All right, Jamal. Jamal, you cannot defend what this man said. Not only were his commends incendiary but they were really rude and a slap to the face of the men and women in uniform. It's atrocious and if anything Nancy Pelosi needs to get her folks in line. This is another example of her having no control of the democratic congress.

ROBERTS: By the way, this has been a "Quick Vote" topic all morning. We'll have those final results coming out for you in a just a few minutes.

We got one more question.

CHETRY: Let's grab another one here. Oh, this will be an interesting one for you, Leslie.

Hillary Clinton's emotional appeal. Her chief strategist is saying that she will take 24% of GOP female voters. How accurate do you think that is?

SANCHEZ: I think she is hallucinating and he is as well. I mean, if you look at the fact, the core of republican voters are married, they're independent conservatives, they're highly religious and these are folks that are not going to be duped easily. She could think the people are going to vote their gender but they're going to vote their self interest. They do not want higher taxes, they're going to look at pocketbook issues and most importantly, swing women, you know, these independent voters tend to be looking at national security issues again as they were in 2004 and 2006.

CHETRY: All right. Quick last word, Jamal?

SIMMONS: Well, Hillary Clinton is nominated. She is clearly the toughest person that's running in this race when it comes time for national security questions. But what's really going on here is women have to look their daughters in the face one day and say what did I do? We had the chance to make the first woman president and I stand with the woman who helped her get there or did I not. I think that will have some sway.

SANCHEZ: Interesting.

So, she's going to take all your taxes, raise your taxes and make it harder on your family. It's really not what women are looking for.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: We'll see what they are looking for. A lot of people think Hillary is a shoo-in so maybe next November we'll take a look at that. Jamal Simmons, Leslie Sanchez, thanks for playing. Will probably see you folks again next week.

CHETRY: Great to see both of you.

ROBERTS: Coming up, 40 minutes after the hour. Must see TV. We'll show you some of the best viral videos in the internet. Clips that you just can't miss.

And heating costs going up this winter, perhaps way up. Some important tips that can keep your bill down while helping the environment at the same time. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. Ellen Degeneres after an emotional week cancels tapings. Reruns today and Monday of her popular day time talk show. Degeneres broke down, crying on her show the other day after a long back and forth over an adopted dog and producers decided that she needed a long weekend to pull it all together. She is upset after adopting a Brussels griffin terrier mix Iggy from an animal rescue agency and when it didn't get along with her cats, she had to give it away and she gave it to her hairdresser's family. Well, the agency said that broke their agreement. They took the dog back. Since then, she has gone on TV and made an emotional plea and now the agency head is saying that they're receiving death threats so it's turning into quite a mess.

Well, Britney Spears, speaking of quite a mess, Britney Spears cannot visit her kids. Her ex-husband Kevin Federline has custody of the two children and the court is now blocking her visits. All they would say is that she violated a court order. No word on what she did to violate it. There will be a hearing on the matter next Friday.

Overseas, British singer Amy Winehouse who made the song "Try to make me go to rehab, I say no no no" popular was arrested in Norway overnight. She has openly battled drug addiction. She was arrested for marijuana possession in her hotel room in Bergen, Norway. Police say that her husband and another person were also arrested.

Well, we've been talking a lot about how you can help the environment. We found out about our carbon footprints a little bit earlier in the show.

ROBERTS: Big foot here apparently because I fly a lot.

CHETRY: The only time we'll have a small foot is that, not my regular size 9.

ROBERTS: Exactly. And now we got ways that you can help the environment and also keep some extra cash in your pocket too, which is always important. CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis is on Long Island for us this morning, in Oceanside. Hey, Gerri, what do you got for us this morning?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey John. Hey Kiran. Good to see you guys. You know, we've got some great advice for you because bills are going up 33 percent. Good thing there is a new technology to help you save money on your heating bill. First thing, I want to show you, this is really cool. The water heater. Now, look at this water heater. It's probably not what you're used to seeing. You're used to those big stainless steel tubes that are full of hot water. Hot water all the time that you have to pay to heat. But this is new technology on demand. It only heats water as you need it. As a result the 13 percent of your energy bill for the water heater, it goes down. This unit costs about a thousand dollars and pays for itself in four years so big deal there. Guys?

CHETRY: The thing that people lose a lot of energy with just trying to heat their house where their windows are draftier and not offering the best protection.

WILLIS: That's right. These folks, very intelligently, have installed double pane glass windows. See, these are two panes here and separated by argon gas so that's an insulator that you can actually see through. You can lose as much as 40 percent of your energy through these windows. A big loser. You saw the double pane will say 30 percent. Now, another important thing here that you guys should know about is air sealing. You know, it's not just the windows, it's the leaks around the doors, it's leaks around the recessed lighting. You can lose a ton of money that way. As a matter of fact, if you don't do air sealing, it's as if you left a window open all winter long in your house.

ROBERTS: But you know Gerri, some of those things, sealing up, they're very easy and inexpensive to do but other big ticket items like the water heater, like your energy-efficient furnace and particularly those energy-efficient appliances, those are a lot of money. I mean, where does the rubber meet the road here in terms of costs versus cost savings?

WILLIS: Well, that's a great question. Let's take a look at some of these. You know, they've loaded this house down with some energy star appliances. You've probably heard about energy star, it's a government label. Your appliance in this case, a dishwasher has to at least, has to be more efficient than conventional appliances and you have to be able to get that money back in terms of energy savings over five years to carry the label. But these things, they pay for themselves. They are a little bit more expensive at the top end but in three to five years, like this refrigerator which is a total energy hog, by the way, pays for that additional cost that you would have. Now, if you would like to know more about what this would mean in your area, you should go to the energy star website. They have a great calculator there that will help you understand how much you're paying for your special refrigerator or dishwasher and how soon you will get that money back. John.

ROBERTS: Excellent. Great tips.

CHETRY: It's interesting. The efficiency, they break it down for you. My in-laws just did that with the washer and dryer for their clothing and they break it down for you in the store as to how long it's going to take until you actually start seeing an energy saving.

WILLIS: Yes. You know, it's a good long-term investment and increasingly people are able to up their re-sale values with this kind of investment. People are opting for this. I got to tell you, it's a big sales plug if you have to sale that house, if you've got energy star appliances or other things that save you money on energy, buyers like to see that.

ROBERTS: Gerri, good stuff this morning. Thanks very much. And of course, Gerri's going to have more on "Going Green" and on "Open House" this weekend, Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and don't forget CNN's worldwide investigation of the earth's environmental issues "Plant in Peril" debuts next Tuesday and Wednesday. You can catch it at 9:00 p.m. Eastern each night, right here on CNN.

CHETRY: 47 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano at the weather update desk tracking extreme weather for us. And you were showing just how huge that storm system is going all the way from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's a big one Kiran. As you mentioned, from border to border, we've got everybody covered here from tornadoes as far north of Michigan all the way down to the border of the Gulf of Mexico. This is going to create some travel problems today. Chicago already some ground delays. Buffalo, Philly ground delays and there are increasing departure delays in D.C. and the front hasn't even gotten to that area.

Will take you down to the Florida panhandle got hammered yesterday with not only tornadoes but over nine inches of rain and more rain continues to pile into Pensacola. They've had flooding there already this morning and looks like it want to keep on coming here across the I-10 corridor. So, for that, they're getting all of the rain. North Atlanta, Southeast Tennessee where we desperately need the rain, a big hole here. Really dry ground, really dry air. Sometimes makes it tough to penetrate that dry air with any sort of moisture. Still have a lot with this system to go, Kiran, so the threat for severe weather across the Appalachians and into the highly populated areas of the I-95 corridor -D.C., New York and Boston later on today. Be careful out there.

CHETRY: We will. He is taking the train. We're not letting him in the air today. Thanks. ROBERTS: Well, the CNN NEWSROOM minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: Hey John. Good morning to you.

International manhunt on the Friday NEWSROOM rundown. Police track down a suspected pedophile in Thailand. The man allegedly put pictures on the internet showing assaults on boys.

Who tried to kill Benazir Bhutto on her first day back home. Pakistan investigating the suicide attack aimed at the former prime minister.

Severe weather watch today all along the eastern seaboard. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf will track the storms all morning. Breaking news as it happens. You're in the NEWSROOM just minutes away at the top of the hour on CNN. Good weekend to you, John.

ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Tony. You too. We will see you soon.

Viral video flooding your inbox. We'll show you some of the best videos on the internet, clips that you can't help to pass along ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Seven minutes now to the top of the hour. You're going to love this story. Want to lift workplace morale? How do you do it? Go on a profanity-laced tirade at precisely the right moment. That's the recommendation in a new study out of Great Britain that says regular swearing can actually boost team spirit and help develop relationships. Researchers did say that the key, though, is knowing when swearing is appropriate. Like usually not when the boss says where is that report, Smith?

CHETRY: John, I dare you. Seriously the NEWSROOM meeting today, I dare you. A tirade.

ROBERTS: We'll see. We'll see.

CHETRY: OK. I'm placing a bet.

ROBERTS: Maybe I'm just been early.

We told you last hour about viral e-mail and now we want to show you some viral video. Those clips that bing, bam, boom, ricocheting around the globe in minutes flat and of course, they all end up mostly on youtube. What are some of the latest viral video sensations? Our internet correspondent, Veronica De la Cruz, here for the look.

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, speaking of youtube, I'm letting you off the hook.

ROBERTS: Thank you. DE LA CRUZ: Just this time, though. Just this time. Let's get you to the most viral videos that we've received in our inboxes this week. We're going to start with this one. Have you ever wanted to fly? Take a look at this, John. This group of extreme base jumpers turning that fantasy into a reality. Watch as they jump off the side of the mountain, they fly as close as they can to it.

It's an absolutely remarkable video.

ROBERTS: Yes, to try to almost touch the mountain.

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, it's break.com. It's pretty amazing to see these guys as they free-fall and flip. I mean, free falling thousands of free. Is this something you would do?

ROBERTS: No.

DE LA CRUZ: No? But the NEWSROOM tirade. I'm watching about five minutes till that. This next video really made me laugh. Take a look at this, John. This is a cockatoo who not only can shake a lot but that can sing a little, too!

ROBERTS: You got to love that. This is really in keeping with the whole spirit of youtube, which was designed for the owner to upload pictures of his cat.

DELAR CRUZ: It's beautiful.

ROBERTS: And we go from cats to cockatoo.

DE LA CRUZ: This is a cockatoo who head bangs and squawks to the beat. Her name is Snowball and she is now world famous. After her owner posted this video to you tube. The bird who loves to dance to the Backstreet boys, has made appearances on a bunch of television shows. Priceless. Got to love it. And finally, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? That is the question. This wasn't viral video John but this is a viral e-mail story that has been circulating from the UK. This performance artist had a third ear grown ina petri dish and attached to his arm.

ROBERTS: Oh my goodness.

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, it took him years to find a doctor who would perform the surgery and the ear doesn't function right now but the man is hoping to implant a microphone in the ear so people can hear what his third ear is picking up. This is all in the name of art.

ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. You know, it's very similar to what a legitimate researcher. Dr. Chuck (inaudible) did up at Mass. General Hospital who grew the ear in the back of a mouse.

DE LA CRUZ: Exactly. And this is all in the name of art. And I do want to remind people if you've got some great viral video to share send us your picks to am@CNN.com.

ROBERTS: That last one is a little bit bizarre. Veronica, thanks very much. We'll see you again on Monday.

CHETRY: Well, here's a quick look at what the CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.

HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.

East coast states on guard today for strong thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes.

A Pakistani security officer pointing to Al Qaeda. An assassin targeting the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

International manhunt over, police capture an accused pedophile. They say he posted pictures of himself with boys on the internet.

David Copperfield mystery. The FBI raids his Las Vegas warehouse. NEWSROOM, just minutes away, at top of the hour, on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Final check on the "Quick Vote" this morning. We wanted to know your reaction to Congressman Pete Stark's comments. He said innocent Americans are getting their heads blown off in Iraq for President Bush's amusement. We asked should Congressman Stark apologize for his remarks as republicans are demanding. Final check, 11 percent say yes and 89 percent said no for the almost 4,000, more than 4,000 people who voted. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

CHETRY: And we want to say thanks for being with us all week. We'll see you back here on Monday on AMERICAN MORNING.

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