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President's Trip to Asia; New York Terror Trial; 10 States in Trouble; GOP Bashes Health Care Bill
Aired November 14, 2009 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: And a very good day to you. It's already Sunday morning in Singapore. The 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will begin in about five hours at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. President Obama is scheduled to meet with Russia's Dmitri Medvedev at 1:00 a.m. Eastern and then at 2:15 Eastern Mr. Obama will attend another meeting of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations.
Saturday, OK, we are covering all that for you on this day, and we're also telling you about not only what's happening in Asia with the president, it's not just California evidently facing financial concern at this moment. A new report says nine other states are at grave risk, too. Is your state one of them?
And now showing the end of the world. Some people think 2012 is more than just a movie. I'm Richard Lui, in for Fredricka Whitfield this hour for you.
President Obama is in Singapore as mentioned where he will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in just a few hours. He started the day in Japan where he talked about growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia and called himself America's first Pacific president. The president's remarks also include a warning for North Korea.
CNN's Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama's trip to Asia, a handshake to key allies and a visit to Japan's emperor and empress, but the tone of his first stop was more serious as he delivered a stern warning to North Korea.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, North Korea has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation including the pursuit of nuclear weapons. We will not be cowed by threats.
LOTHIAN: In a speech that raised from his own personal story to concerns over human rights, Mr. Obama tried to give Americans a reason to care about Asia beyond the toys and clothes and other goods that flow to the U.S.
OBAMA: This is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. LOTHIAN: China is a big player in the region and while there are concerns over that country's increasing dominance, President Obama played up its efforts to help the global economy and fight the spread of nuclear weapons even as he vowed to press for human rights.
OBAMA: We will not agree on every issue, and the United States will never waver in speaking up for the fundamental values that we hold dear and that includes respect for the religion and cultures of all people.
LOTHIAN (on camera): Also on the president's mind, creating more jobs in the U.S. and Singapore aides say he will continue to push for deeper engagement with Asia Pacific leaders, seeing trade as a key component in helping to turn the U.S. and global economy around.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Why does this trip matter so much? Well, Asia for all intents and purposes is the United States' banker. China and Japan are the two biggest holders of treasury securities, $1.5 trillion worth. Asia is also the place where millions of U.S. jobs have gone over the past decade. That said, here is a breakdown.
The president is visiting four nations over eight days. The first stop for him as you know is Japan where he met with the Prime Minister there. Now he's in Singapore and he has stops in China and South Korea ahead as you follow the arrows. Now, the trip's mission is to try to diplomatically prod leaders to get tough on North Korea for its disputed nuclear program. The president will also try to persuade China, an economic powerhouse, to buy more U.S. imports.
Staying on that. It's already Sunday morning in Singapore. The 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, as I was mentioning will begin in about five hours. At 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, President Obama is then scheduled to meet with Russia's President Dmitri Medvedev at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, and at 2:15 Eastern to remind you again, Mr. Obama will attend another meeting of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
All right. Turning now to the aftermath of the Ft. Hood shootings. Funerals are being held today around the country for six of the 13 people killed in the massacre just over a week ago. People who lined the main street of a small Indiana town earlier today fell silent as a white hearse past by on its way to the church.
Attorney General Eric Holder was among those gathering for the funeral of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent killed in Afghanistan. Special agent Forest Lehman was one of three DEA agents who died in a helicopter crash that also killed seven U.S. service members last month.
And then we have another deadly suicide bombing to tell you about this time in northwest Pakistan today. And a new threat from the Taliban of more even deadlier attacks in the future. More on that from CNN's Reza Sayah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The city of Peshawar has been devastated by a wave of militant attacks over the past couple of months. Another one on Saturday, this one a suicide car bombing targeting a police check post at one of the main entry points into the city of Peshawar. Police tell CNN the suicide car bomber tried to go through the check post. It as stopped by police. That's when the suicide bomber blew himself and his car up.
Among the victims, three women and three children. This is the second day in a row we've seen a suicide car bombing in Peshawar. On Friday, suicide truck bomb targeted the headquarters of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in Peshawar. At least 10 people killed in that attack.
On Saturday Taliban commander (INAUDIBLE) told CNN that the Taliban were responsible for that suicide truck bombing. No one has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, but it certainly bears the hallmarks of another Taliban attack. These attacks come as the Army continues its military offensive targeting the Taliban, its leadership in South Waziristan, the Taliban headquarters. The Army says they're making progress with their offensive but it certainly hasn't meant a reduction in suicide attacks.
Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Attorney General Eric Holder sticking by his guns insisting that the case against the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others is on solid ground right now. This after Holder announced yesterday that all four will go on trial in civilian court just yards from the site of the World Trade Center. Now Holder says both the court system and evidence untainted by harsh interrogations are strong enough to secure convictions in this case. This move though drew opposition from some corners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I do not understand why a war criminal should be able to have the same rights as a common criminal. I think the American people will be very unhappy about this decision. They should be and they should reverse this decision, and they should be tried in military tribunals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Well, Holder's decision to hold the trial in New York is also drawing a mixed response from families of those killed in the 9/11 attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEE IELPI, VICTIM'S FATHER: To bring it back here for me, my feelings, it's tasteless, it's insensitive, and those scars which have never been healed are just going to be opened again. So I am not comfortable one iota with this call.
KRISTEN BREITWEISER, VICTIM'S WIFE: I think again it speaks to the very heart of who we are not only as New Yorkers but as American citizens. You know, if a crime is committed on our soil, you are going to be given a trial. You will be given access to an attorney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Holder says he will seek the death penalty for all four suspects. He also announced that five other Gitmo detainees would be prosecuted before a military commission.
California has been leading the nation in budget shortfalls, but other states have the very same problem. Whether your state is one of those and how it might affect your job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Well, California's financial troubles have made a lot of headlines as of late. There are a number of other states in fiscal peril, too. A study released this week by the Pew Center on the states lists nine other states facing serious budget problems. You see them right here in red.
We got Illinois, Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Florida, Rhode Island, Oregon, and Michigan. Now, the study finds their budget gaps leading to higher taxes, layoffs of government employees, and crowded classrooms. Joining us to talk more about this, managing director of the Pew center on the states, we have Susan Urahn. Susan, thanks for joining us this afternoon.
SUSAN URAHN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PEW CENTER ON THE STATES: Happy to.
LUI: We look at these pictures of all the states that are being effected and they seem to be grouped in certain places of the country. You got the Midwest, as well as the Midwest, a smattering throughout the east. Why are these states hurting?
URAHN: Well, we looked at states that had - were facing several or the same challenges California was. So they were affected badly by the housing crisis. They've had sharp jumps in unemployment. They've had significant budget gaps to close. They have lost a lot of revenue. Some of them also have supermajority requirements for passing tax or budget provisions which can make for some political challenges and some of them have had some challenging money management practices in the past.
LUI: We got, of course, the Midwest, that's a rust belt. Is that not necessarily surprising given the difficulty that the big three has had. We got the west as you were mentioning for these other reasons. Along with that, does that mean that the jobs are altogether leaving the state? Disappearing from the state? Or are they just changing to a different industry?
URAHN: Well, it varies from state to state. Michigan has really suffered an extraordinary job loss and that state is trying to diversify its economy, find ways to bring it back, but I think it's got a long ways to go before it can rebuild.
LUI: Yes, and the reason why I ask is because of our friends in those states. So what do they need to do? Do they need to retrain, stay in the state, or should they move to other places?
URAHN: Well, I think folks are going to be making those decisions over the coming years but there's not a state in the country that's not trying to find new ways to find employment, whether it's clean technology or different ways to build their manufacturing sector or find expansions of the service sector.
LUI: So what do they do here, these states? You have governors that are hamstrung in many cases. They don't get the same amount of money from the federal government although they got the stimulus that's supposedly going to help the states as well as the cities. What can they do to get out of this rut, to turn from red to normal color, if you will.
URAHN: Well, it's going to be a while before we see states turning the corner, even though things are looking up on the national level. States tend to be affected by recessions much longer. So they're going to be looking at declining revenue for the next of couple years, significant budget gaps into 2013. Two, three, four, maybe longer than that for some states years before they really climb out of this recession.
LUI: OK. Let's talk about what we see on the screen right now. These are the green states, those that are doing better. Why are they doing better?
URAHN: Well, in many cases they weren't as hard hit by the recession whether it be housing or unemployment. They haven't suffered quite as badly. Some of the states have natural resources. States like Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota. They've been far less affected by this recession.
LUI: Are these farming states, we've seen a jump in ethanol, the demand for corn products. Is that some of the factors that are considered here?
URAHN: That's not one of the ones we've looked at?
LUI: That is not one of those. Tell us what are some of the factors that you looked at, how you came up with the list.
URAHN: Well, again we took a kind of California centric look at it, given that California had such challenges. And we looked at unemployment. We looked at the housing crisis. We looked at budget gaps, drops in revenue.
LUI: OK. Tough for a lot of states as well as cities. Susan Urahn from the Pew Center on the States, thank you for filling us in on what some of our viewers need to look out for if they're in any one of those red states or if they're in one of those green states when it comes to the economic conditions. Thank you so much, Susan.
We will continue our look at states in financial trouble with a focus on Nevada. What are cash-strapped schools to do when a lot more of their students are homeless?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: OK. We're talking more about states in serious financial trouble. Nevada is one of those, and in Las Vegas schools are coping with a sharp rise in homeless students. More now from CNN's Dan Simon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the kitchen.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She has moved seven times in just the past few months since leaving her sales clerk job to take care of a sick mother. That would be tough for anyone, but Sara Barks also has five young children to worry about.
SARAH BARKS, JOBLESS: But for me just to get something like a backpack, tennis shoes, shoelaces. I can't provide those things. I can't. I cannot. I can't go to the store and buy them what they want.
SIMON: She wants her old job back, but it's filled, and she says the Las Vegas job market is so dry that she competes with hundreds of others for the same positions. Her kids, who range in age from three to nine years old, try to adapt to their nomadic lives.
JOCELYN BARKS, NINE YEARS OLD: Sometimes mama struggles to find us a place to live, but as long as I'm with my mama, I'm fine.
SIMON (on camera): Do you get sad sometimes?
JOCELYN BARKS: Yes.
SIMON: What's the hardest thing for you?
JOCELYN BARKS: Having to say good-bye to my friends.
SIMON (voice-over): Jocelyn has a lot of company. According to a study conducted by the Pew Center on States, year-over-year, Las Vegas public schools saw a 42 percent increase in homeless children, more than 5,000 kids today in all.
URAHN: Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the country so the housing problems that that state is experiencing are severe, and I think that what that statistic points to, that has real human consequences, and that's what we're seeing in Nevada.
SIMON: The consequences are seen every day at Whitney Elementary School where the principal says a majority of her students come from homeless families.
SHERRIE GAHN, PRINCIPAL, WHITNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Well, we went from a lot of low income families to no income families, and - which really paid a toll on our families and in addition to that comes the stress of just basically trying to survive from day in and day out.
SIMON (on camera): Most school supply closets are filled with things like pens or paper or crayons but this one is different. It's one you've probably never seen before at a school. It is filled with food and clothing. This school has so many homeless people that it felt it had to take the initiative to make sure that its students are fed and have clothes on their back. You can see all the food here.
BARKS: I don't have enough room for their things. There's only one tiny closet.
SIMON (voice-over): As for Sara Barks, a friend is letting her and her kids live in this tiny two-bedroom house until December. Then it's on to another place unless she can scrape up the $400 a month for rent. With no job and no prospects in sight, Sara isn't sensing an economic recovery. Not yet.
Dan Simon, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: If you've never used witch hazel because you thought it was a little old fashion, wait until you see how its makers are now healing their bottom line with some fresh marketing ideas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Checking the top stories for you now. There's been a sixth arrest in a Missouri child sex investigation. A 72-year-old man who lives in Florida. Now, the latest suspect you see here is Darrel Wayne Mohler. He is the brother of one of the earlier suspects and the uncle of the other four suspects.
A dozen students had to be treated at the hospital after this. A concrete wall in these pictures here, collapsed at a high school football game in South Carolina. Several students were leaning against that wall when it gave way. They fell about six feet to the ground. You can see the panic there. School officials say the injuries were relatively minor and the game resumed after a delay.
Still having trouble getting the swine flu vaccine? You're not alone. The government says about 42 million doses are currently available, a few million less than predicted. An "Associated Press" poll shows one in six parents have gotten at least one of their children vaccinated, but about 14 percent of the parents who tried to get the vaccine, they were just unsuccessful.
Early season snowstorms have killed more than 40 people in northern and central China. More than 9,000 homes and buildings have collapsed. And nearly 160,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Now these storms also have had a huge economic impact destroying almost 500,000 acres of winter crops there.
A potentially dangerous snowstorm is headed for parts of Colorado right now. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is tracking the system in the CNN weather center. We're looking at the space, it's in the four corners of that space.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Colorado especially is going to see a lot of this snow here, Richard, and into northern parts of New Mexico. You know, as we take a look at our radar picture here, it doesn't look like a whole lot, but our low pressure area is intensifying and we think it's going to be moving over here into southeastern Colorado.
When it does that, we get what we call an upslope event. So all of this cold air will get pushed up the mountain and when it pushes up the mountain it enhances the lift and you tend to get heavier amounts of snowfall. So we got winter storm warnings which are already put into place, which includes you, in the Denver area.
Here we have a live picture from KUSA TV. It's just overcast right now. Temperature about 39 degrees, but watch those temperatures to slowly fall in the upcoming hours and we could see those six to 12 inches by the end of the day for tomorrow.
Now, we're also, of course, still watching what's been going on into the east with the remnants of what was tropical storm Ida combined with that area of low pressure which is well offshore right now but still bringing in this easterly flow, and that's why we're getting the heavy rain across northern parts of New England. Still some rough surf and some coastal erosion can be expected.
Take a look at these pictures that we have from Maryland into that area as well as into Virginia. We've got some video to show you of some of those rough waves which are breaking in. There's been a tremendous amount of coastal erosion going on in this area, and parts of Hampton, Virginia, under about a foot of water. Numerous beach homes have been threatened in this area, and dozens of roads still remain closed. So use a lot of caution if you have to travel in this area the next couple of days.
Speaking of travel, take a look here at the airport delays in the northeast. An hour and 40 minutes for Newark because of that. JFK only about 25 so that's not too bad, and we have some delays out west in Vegas, 30 minutes. Probably due to the wind. Very blustery conditions expected out west for tomorrow and that's because as our storm system in the Rockies make its way eastward, high pressure settles in. We'll have a tight gradient, as we call it, between the two pressure centers and that brings in those strong offshore winds so the fire danger will be high out west in southern California. Richard.
LUI: So, Jacqui, is winter here?
JERAS: Not yet. December 21st I think it is officially.
LUI: All right. We're moving up to it. Closely. All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
While Congress debates health care reform, many Americans are struggling with the reality of the current system. We'll introduce you to a woman who worked for 29 years only to lose her insurance just when she need it the most. But first for you, what a difference a marketing can make. An old-fashioned product that's probably in your grandmother's medicine cabinet, if you peek into it, becomes fresh and relevant now to a younger crowd.
Christine Romans has this turnaround report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's flowing through this tube? Witch hazel, produced by the American Distilling Company since 1866. In the early says, wood from witch hazel shrubs was harvested with horses and distilled the old- fashioned way. Today, it's still harvested near East Hampton, Connecticut, where witch hazel grows wild. But its distilled in this high-tech facility. The mission of the owner, Ed Jackowitz. His son credits him with the first important renaissance of this family company.
BRYAN JACKOWITZ, V.P., AMERICAN DISTILLING & MFG.: His vision was to be the best in the way at manufacturing witch hazel.
ROMANS: American Distilling was doing well, selling its witch hazel in bulk for other brands, everything from facial cleansers to hemorrhoid creams. Then son Brian joined the company eight years ago. He set out to transform the company's own old old-fashioned witch hazel brand into something fresh and modern. Same product, updated image.
BRYAN JACKOWITZ: We are the best in the world at producing this product and now our goal is to be the best in the world at marketing this product.
ROMANS: First stop running the old image past today's consumer.
BRYAN JACKOWITZ: When we showed them the package they said, oh, my god, I don't want to put that on my face. That doesn't look like a skin care product.
ROMANS: The look changed, so did the language. It's no longer an astringent. It's now a pore-perfecting toner, to position it as a gentle product. And a new ad campaign reflects the new branding.
ANNOUNCER: Removes what cleansers don't.
BRYAN JACKOWITZ: We've realized double digit growth for almost every year since I have been here. The future that I envision for this company is really expanding the team of people that we have for marketing and sales, bringing more professionals in and really adding more fuel to the fire.
ROMANS: The company plans to build a new warehouse bringing this 19th century health and beauty staple to a 21st century beauty regimen.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: The Republicans are bashing the health care reform bill passed by the house. In the party's weekly media address Illinois Representative Mark Kirk said the house rejected common sense reforms in favor of massive government spending.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARK KIRK (R), ILLINOIS: The Pelosi health care bill has no significant lawsuit reforms and does not guarantee your medical rights from government waiting lines or restrictions. In the teeth of the great recession, the Pelosi bill would impose ten new taxes on the American economy. The top combined tax rate for my state of Illinois would be four percentage points higher than for France. The democrat bill levies new taxes on health insurance, income, and even pacemakers. The bill also cuts health care for seniors. My parents and many of yours. With $500 billion in cuts for Medicare doctors, hospitals, and advantage patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Republicans put forth their own health care reform bill which was voted down by the house. According to the congressional budget office: it would have reduced premiums for privately insured people but reduced the number of uninsured by just 3 million people and first part President Obama, by the way, did not talk about health care in his weekly media address today. So with lawmakers tackling health care, we wanted to get some personal perspective.
CNN's Elaine Quijano met two people resting or wrestling rather with health care issues in different ways.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're thinking about eight by ten.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty eight- year-old Carrie Caldwell never imagined struggling like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm working all the time, not making a whole lot of money, and don't have any health insurance.
Quijano: For 39-years she worked and paid into an employer sponsored health insurance plan. But the economic downturn suddenly left Caldwell without a job and without health insurance. At first she tried paying for health care herself, but without her employer picking up half the cost, she found insurance out of reach.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a lot to me. Three hundred and forty three dollars a month when you don't have a steady income, it's like saying $3,000 a month. I just plan didn't have that kind of money.
QUIJANO: So Caldwell, who suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol is doing without three of the four medications she needs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what my blood pressure is and I don't want to know.
QUIJANO: She works four part-time jobs but doesn't have health insurance from any of them. One of her bosses, John Winethrob (ph), a co-owner of Fregors (ph) hardware store, wants to change that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know if we can afford to put her on the plan.
QUIJANO: As a small business owner, Winethrob says politicians haven't done a good job explaining how health care legislation might benefit him and in turn his staff of 50 employees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't understand it is the big thing. Don't understand what is truly going on.
QUIJANO: Winethrob says the health care plan he offers employees went up this year, costing 30 percent more than last year. That's affected his bottom line and his ability to help his staff, including Carrie Caldwell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm doing everything I can do. How can the system help me live like a normal person? And have the health care I need.
QUIJANO: For now she's taking a major gamble, foregoing that expensive medicine for her diabetes, a disease she knows full well can lead to blindness, kidney disease, amputation, or stroke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm living on borrowed time now and this situation isn't helping that, you know. I feel good, but I don't know what the future holds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: All right. Elaine joins us right now live from Washington, our studio is there. I was looking at Carrie in that story and what a great profile of her. She didn't seem to be too sad but what a difficult situation it must have been for her.
QUIJANO: You know, it really was difficult and it continues to be so. And she keeps asking when is something going to get done. These are the kinds of stories that President Obama and democrats who will really propel lawmakers into action. The president has said, he wants to get a health care bill on his desk Richard by the end of the year, but you know, with that deadline looming in less than seven weeks and lawmakers very deeply divided over cost on the public option, it's not just all clear Richard, whether the president is going to get his wish.
LUI: It's going to be a tough deadline to meet is what you're saying. Elaine Quijano. Thank you so much.
QUIJANO: Sure.
LUI: So far it's a go for the Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA gave the go ahead from Monday's blast off as forecasters put the odds of good launch whether at 90 percent, about as good as it ever gets there, you better watch one of those. The crew plans to deliver spare parts to the international space station.
And NASA still talking about finding water on the moon. Remember when the space agency spent a bundle of money intentionally crashing a satellite into the moon last month in hopes of finding H20. Well, now NASA confirms finding what may sound like a little bit of water to most of us, but scientists are positively moon struck.
DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: The crater put out a plume and in the plume about 26 gallons of water. I did a little bit of calculation. That's about a sixth of a tablespoon per cubic foot. If you can imagine a cubic full of water -- or excuse me of soil -- full of soil with a sixth of a tablespoon. That's not a lot but it's not a little either by standards of planetary science.
LUI: So, Denton why should we care? Well, that's not very much.
EBEL: Well, one of the things that it confirms something we already knew, so that's always nice. We thought there might be water there. We've now done an experiment. We've determined that there is some, and we've determined how much. We care because we want to go to the moon. This is the previous administration set this as a goal, and I think it's a worthy goal to go back to the moon. I personally would think that we should -- this gives us impetus to send more robots to see, where is the water? How much water is there exactly and what form is it in?
LUI: All right. Water on the moon. Denton Ebel there.
December 21st, 2012, does the date mean anything to you? Well, on a new Doomsday movie, it is the end of the world. A premise that's apparently scaring enough people that NASA felt it needs to set things straight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: A new Doomsday movie is creating a lot of buzz on the internet but not your typical Hollywood chatter. The film 2012 is apparently scaring people who actually think the world may end soon. NASA is now getting into the act by posting a most unusual response to this frightful flick.
CNN Jeanne Moos reports.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Save the date, could be the last one you save.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: December 21st, 2012. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: December, 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: December 21st, 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, are you high again?
MOOS: We're going to be high, blown sky high. Bye-bye Sistine chapel, bye-bye U.S. Capitol, bye-bye White House, about to be squished by an aircraft carrier? The Doomsday movie "2012" is coming out but don't stop paying your mortgage because NASA assures us nothing bad is will happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not threat to earth in 2012.
MOOS: Seriously folks, there's been so much chatter about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world.
MOOS: That NASA is reassuring people on its website.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the talk about a Doomsday is a big hoax.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they tell you not to panic, that's when you run!
MOOS: NASA is having to tell people that another planet isn't going to smash into ours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nibiru does not exist.
MOOS: It strikes most as Ludicrous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to stop with this idiocy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many web pages created by nerds who actually believe this.
MOOS: And mockery is rampant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gone, gone, gone, still here, just a lot bigger.
MOOS: But there are true believers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get yourself as far away from the ocean as you can. Because they're going to come ripping at you. Get out your voice stress analyzers and find out if I'm telling you the truth.
MOOS: Analyze this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy shit.
MOOS: Talk of the end of the world was just the beginning of a flood of questions. Real scientists like the one who is answer questions at ask an astronomer are getting messages like this.
ANN MARTINI, CORNELL UNIV. GRADUATE STUDENT: There was a fourth grade boy who wrote in and said that he was too young to die but had heard about 2012 and was scared.
MOOS: Let's say December 21st,2012 like this is about 1130 some days to live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look to Jesus.
MOOS: But if you look to NASA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't worry about 2012 and enjoy 2013 when it comes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2012 I'm voting for Sarah Palin because the world is ending anyway.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
LUI: So who do you call when you think the world is ending in three years? Evidently you call NASA. Joining us to discuss end of the world myths, James Garvin, he's the Chief Scientist at NASA's Godard Space Flight Center. James, thanks for joining us today.
I want to start with you have two perspectives. One is you have to believe these people, it's possible. There's the other side that says, I can't believe people actually believing this. So are there any real threats in 2012 like maybe a large meteorite that you know of?
JAMES GARVIN, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER: Not at all. In fact, we believe that 2012 will be like 2013, like 2009. We have a really tough planet and we have watched it now for the past 4.5 billion years. And I think we know enough to see the kind of disasters that the movie depicts. So, let me just say, rest assured, our planet has a long way to go.
LUI: What about this Nibiru, the brown dwarf? What is this?
GARVIN: That is, what should I say, an observation from ancient civilizations, the Sumerians that there could be other planets like that. Astronomers, scientists have seen no evidence. We have discovered our new dwarf planets, Eris and others. We're looking for planets around other stars and finding them but there is no risk of a renegade planet hitting our planet in 2012.
LUI: So, we look in to the future, when might something like that happen that is depicted in 2012, that movie?
GARVIN: Well, we don't know, but the last big whack the earth felt was around 65 million years ago and that was only an object the size of a small city. So we know there's a lot of stuff in space and we're cataloging it. Its part of our job at NASA is to understand. So, we don't see anything big coming in.
LUI: All right. Well, that's good. I mean, I like that. That's good news. The Mayan calendar is also factored into this discussion. What can you say on that?
GARVIN: Well, the Mayans were really good observers and good calendar makers, one of the best, and they had ends of blocks of time like we have December 31st. And in late 2012 they had an end of one of their periods. So there's no worry about what the Mayans might have predicted because their calendar was not a predictor.
LUI: This is some -- I'm following your website fairly carefully because of the shuttles but when you see a response from NASA about the world ending in 2012, I sort of go -- will you guys -- did you kind of chuckle or were you getting lots of calls because you said we really have to answer this because so many people are concerned.
GARVIN: I think it's really the fact we recognize -- we all recognize Hollywood is fun, they entertain, but so is the real science of the universe, of our planet and we've busy at NASA and other places trying to understand this big universe we live in. So, it would be better if people weren't so afraid of it because we live there, and the movie is for fun. Science is fun, too.
LUI: So did you chuckle?
GARVIN: Did I?
LUI: When you got some of those responses?
GARVIN: No, I chuckle at a lot of things. People have a right to ask.
LUI: All right. James Garvin, the Chuckler, also Chief Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. You know I'm joking. I appreciate you giving us the background. I want peace somebody's concern -- that people have.
GARVIN: Thank you.
LUI: Thank you.
Traveling for the holidays then you better get a move on. Waiting to book your airline ticket could cost you big bucks.
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LUI: OK. Let's get you up to date with some of our top stories. A speeding train derailed in northwestern India near Jaipur today killing at least six people. At least 20 other passengers were injured. A railway spokesman says more than a dozen cars throw off the tracks and rolled on to their sides. President Obama is in Singapore where he's about to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Earlier in Tokyo, the president pledge to strengthen U.S. ties with Asia. It's his first trip to the region since taking the office.
And Bernie Madoff's personal belongings are raking in big money at an auction in New York. We're following that this afternoon. There's about 500,000 about two hours ago. We're looking at about over 750,000 so far right now. They included the disgrace finance personalized New York meds jacket. This you see here sold for $14,500. Far more than expected there. Proceeds will be divided among Madoff's victims of course. Some estimate he bilked some $50 billion out of investors. So, this is not necessary a lot of money.
Let's talk about Sarah Palin. She's back in the spotlight. The former Alaska governor, republican vice presidential nominee is out with a new book next week. She has already launched a media blitz and our Candy Crowley reports on that.
Candy Crowley, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sarah Palin sat down with Oprah Winfrey.
Sarah is a pro. That's a pro and so is Oprah.
Crowley: A pro Oprah the buss tour. Newly published book in hand, Palin hits the road, kind of like a campaign.
SARAH PALIN, REPUBLICAN: I think I'm going to have to cast my vote for the Maverick.
Crowley: She will visit mostly small and midsized towns in politically pivotal states, Iowa, Florida, Virginia, Michigan. Is this a book tour fueled by politics or a political tour fueled by a book? Probably, yes, Sarah Palin is a twofer.
Sarah Palin generates a lot of news and she's one of those people who manages to straddle that line between politics and soap opera in a way Bill Clinton did.
Crowley: It's a lucrative combo. The republican ticket's number two is Amazon's number one in nonfiction presales.
The danger for her is she may have moved out of the political leader box into the celebrity box.
Crowley: She's as famous for her loyal following in the Republican Party as for the unsubstantiated and forcibly denied, say everything tails from this soon to be Pena (ph) for playgirl magazine. The former boyfriend of Palin's daughter on CBS.
LEVI JOHNSTON, PALIN'S DAUGHTER FORMER BOYFRIEND: Coming home from work and she'd be like where is my retarded baby.
Crowley: Even as she offended off Levi Johnston and wrote her book, Palin has remained attentive to the core of her support, the conservatives who fell in love on the campaign trail.
PALIN: You bet you, its drill, baby, drill. Crowley: In recent weeks, Palin has railed against health care reform to thousands of anti-abortion activists, kept up an unusually active face book page, lent her endorsement to a conservative party candidate over a republican one in upstate New York, and made robocalls on behalf of the conservative group in the Virginia governor's race.
"Virginia, Hello. This is Sarah Palin calling to urge you to go to the polls Tuesday and vote to share our principles." A recent CNN opinion research corporation poll found 85 percent of republicans say Palin agrees with them on their most important issues. Only 49 percent of independents felt that way, and it's hard to win national election with those kinds of numbers. But if Palin is eyeing 2012, her biggest liability is not independent voters, the side shows, or her paint outside the lines style. The poll found that 71 percent of Americans do not think Palin is qualified to be president exacerbated by the decision to quit as governor of Alaska.
PALIN: Only dead fish go with the flow.
Crowley: It is the kind of roughness that made her a household name, but in the end it may also make Sarah Palin a player who helps shape the party, not a player who leads it. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
LUI: It is time to start searching for those holiday deals as we're in November. A guy who is an expert at getting the most for your holiday travel dollar joins us with some tips just for you.
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LUI: If you haven't booked your holiday travel yet, you may want to get in on this because this year waiting may not help you find that last minute deal. Joining us now to talk more about that is publisher Tom Parsons. In a time, we were hearing about how the airlines were having trouble filling seats but why no last minute deals this year?
TOM PARSONS, CEO, BESTFARES.COM: Well, I think because they've cut back with the number of flights across America. As the matter of fact, if you have bought ticket, you might want to go back and recheck your flights and see if they haven't canceled. You know, right now my wife is going down to the Caribbean over thanksgiving and her flight has been changed three times now so you might want to go back and double-check because the airlines are adjusting their flights, they're cutting back, and as they go into the winter months they'll going to have less planes up in the sky and that means less seats for thanksgiving, Christmas, and new year's.
LUI: is it too late?
PARSONS: No, I think right now, well yes, I think if you want to leave on November 25th, the day before thanksgiving, and come back the Sunday after thanksgiving, you might have to find a bank to refinance your home. It's that high. I was doing -- if you look at like coast to coast right now, if you go the Sunday, Monday, maybe travel the Thursday, Friday, or the following Tuesday and Wednesday, we're still seeing coast to coast fares like San Francisco to Boston, $269 round trip with all taxes. You want to fly on those peak days they will going to ask you for about $649 or two or three times the money.
We're seeing that almost everywhere around the country. If you fly on those peak days around thanksgiving, you're going to pay a premium of $150 to $300 more versus playing on the off-peak. So I'd get in here today, go up there and start beating those computers and still fly on the flexible days. And I think, you can get from Christmas is a different story.
If you want to go the week before Christmas, stay over Christmas, and come back the following week, you're probably going to save $100 to $200 round trip versus leaving after December 25th and trying to come back January 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, but that's happening all over the country. We're seeing it from New York or Dallas or Chicago.
The idea if you can be flexible, you can probably get there cheap unless you're thinking Hawaii, the Caribbean, or Mexico, and there we're seeing packages out of New York, Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta for about $4,000 for seven nights down in Cancun leaving the day after Christmas and coming back right after New Year's or you can go before New Year's and you will save about half price but the best deal, why do you just go the first two or three weeks of January when everybody else is freezing up there in the northeast and do it for about $599 and you can take -- you can probably take three or four couples with you and you will have money left over for margaritas, cervezas, and pina coladas.
LIU: Now you are talking me amigo, hey as the 14 and 21 day. We will still apply during this holiday parts of the year?
PARSONS: Well, we're trying to see any comeback because as we get closer to thanksgiving, they're starting to take the advance purchase from 14, they're taking it down to10. I think as we go into the next Tuesday, Wednesday, we will see it close to seven days to three days. And now, some routes we're seeing no advance purchase right now.
So, I would say don't give up on the holidays. Be flexible but if the price points are too high for you, I think we will see all kinds of bargains for 2010 and if also, if you want to travel between now and the end of the year, think the two weeks between thanksgiving and Christmas. There you will walk away probably with every bargain you can think about. Maybe wait until next Tuesday, maybe Tuesday afternoon 80 percent of the new airfare sales start on a Tuesday.
So, if you don't like what you see this weekend, wait until Tuesday 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon and all the other airlines match. You might still walk away with a great deal. Not for now and also for thanksgiving, but also probably in the first two months of 2010.
LIU: So Tuesday is a hot spot. What about hidden fees? What should we concern about that? PARSONS: I think you should be. I mean, the airlines right now, let's say you're flying between Chicago and Detroit, you can get airfares today for as little as $98, maybe 118 taxes. If you send a child solo with two bags and her little puppy, they will going to charge you $200 to escort the little girl. Also charge you $200 so the doggy can sit on her lap and they're going to charge you about $128 for the bags. If you like to pay about 500 bucks extra, that adds up very quickly, yes.
LUI: All right. Tom Parsons Bestfares.com. A lot of traffic on your site, no doubt. You're speaking from expertise there. And folks know what to do now if you're planning and try to get away during these holidays. You have a good holiday, my friend.
PARSONS: All right. Thank you.
LUI: You bet.
I'm Richard Lui in for Fredricka Whitfield. Don Lemon is at the anchor desk next. He will introduce you to a woman who thinks the first step out of poverty involves a pair of shoes.
He'll also share a completely new way to look at the Federal deficit. Wait until you see what you can learn from these pennies.
That's just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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