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American Morning

Couple Gatecrashes White House State Dinner; Obama's War Plan: A Thousand Marines to Deploy in December; Charities, Businesses Get Creative During Hard Times for the Holidays

Aired November 26, 2009 - 06:00   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to the program. It's Thursday, November 26th. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm Christine Romans in for Kiran Chetry this morning.

JOE JOHNS, ANCHOR: And I'm Joe Johns in for John Roberts. And do you have your turkey all cooked and ready to go?

ROMANS: It's not cooked. It's thawing as we speak.

JOHNS: Yes. I cooked mine on Sunday, although there's nobody to eat it right now.

ROMANS: I'm waiting until we get home and then I'm starting to cook it.

JOHNS: Excellent. All right.

ROMANS: Welcome to the program, Joe.

JOHNS: So let's get rolling. Here are the top stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.

A breach in security at the White House that is pretty hard to believe. A Virginia couple slipping past the Secret Service. How hard is that? Crashing the Obama's first state dinner Tuesday night then posting photos on Facebook to prove it. We are live at the White House with the developments.

ROMANS: President Obama is set to brief the nation on his plans to send more troops to Afghanistan and this morning, we have new details about exactly how the mission will go down. A thousand troops could be there before Christmas.

JOHNS: Salvation Army kettles now accepting plastic. Just one of the surprising ways charities are hoping to meet the huge demand for help this year. We'll take a closer look at how nonprofits, businesses, and even your government are getting creative to give the help that people need.

ROMANS: All right. We begin this Thanksgiving morning with the latest developments in a stunning breach of security at the White House. The Secret Service now acknowledging a Virginia couple somehow got passed their checkpoint and crashed Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House. Tareq and Michaele Salahi were not on the guest list, but the couple got inside and got up close and personal with everyone from the White House chief of staff to Vice President Biden. Dan Lothian is live at the White House this morning.

Dan, what are we hearing from the Secret Service now on this incident?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

The Secret Service obviously admitting that at least in these early stages of the investigation, that someone did drop the ball. I can tell you, though, the White House is not an easy place to get into. There's a lot of security screening that takes place before you get here and then once you get here. But somehow, this couple did manage to get around the system on one of the biggest nights here at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. and Mrs. Salahi.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): They sure did make a grand entrance. It's not clear if they ever got a seat at the table or got to eat some of the potato and eggplant salad, but they managed to plant themselves next to the most powerful people in Washington.

Tareq and Michaele posted a dozen pictures on Facebook. Here they are with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Michaele even got up close and personal with a few Marines.

But here's the one place the couple didn't show up, on the official guest list. The only person who seems to have sensed something was wrong was the reporter who broke the story.

ROXANNE ROBERTS, "WASHINGTON POST" COLUMNIST: When I saw them come, in I went -- I thought to myself, what on earth are they doing here?

LOTHIAN: So how do you crash a party at the White House? A spokesman for the couple would only say the two had full clearance to attend the dinner. The Secret Service confirmed it was investigating a breach and said initial findings suggest at least one checkpoint did not follow proper procedures. And once inside, the couple apparently just blended in.

ROBERTS: The assumption that everyone had, presumably, the staffers, were that these people were meant to be here. They wouldn't have been able to get in unless someone had said it was OK.

LOTHIAN: The pair is described as polo-playing socialites from northern Virginia and are also reported to be in line for possible roles on the upcoming reality TV show "Real Housewives of D.C."

CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend says they might now have an even harsher reality in their future.

FRAN TOWNSEND, NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: If they lied their way to get in and it seems they would have had to have been done that, that's a federal felony; a false statement to a federal official. And so this is a pretty serious crime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: I was talking to the Secret Service, and they wanted to point out that these couple did go through the metal detectors and other security screenings, so there was no threat there for the president or any of the other high-level officials and guests who were at that event. And the official also told me that they continue their investigation and they plan to interview additional employees as they try to get to the bottom of how this all happened -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Just a couple of days ago, we're saying it was a gaffe-free state dinner, the first for the Obama administration. It looks like -- it looks like time has shown, not exactly gaffe-free.

LOTHIAN: That's right.

ROMANS: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks.

The state dinner breach has a lot of people wondering about the kind of security that's usually in place for White House guests. Here's more in an "AM Extra."

Typically, visitors have to provide the White House with personal information, well ahead of time. Things like your date of birth and social security number. Once you arrive, there are two security checkpoints to clear that require IDs and metal detector screening.

Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta attended Tuesday night's event. We asked him if he thought it was possible for someone to just simply slip past security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems quite possible, you know, that there was really -- that first checkpoint was the time that people were sort of get scrutinized the most. A lot of times, the social secretary was there and sort of recognized people and then scratched names off a clipboard, literally.

But I'll tell you, it was pretty crowded right outside the East gate. That's where everyone entered at that time. Some people were driving up. Some people were walking up and it was just a lot of people all clustered around. And there was really one person sort of scratching names off the clipboard at that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. In the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we'll be joined by Fran Townsend. She's a former Homeland Security adviser to President Bush. We'll talk about the security breach and just how much legal trouble those two White House party crashers might be facing.

JOHNS: Other stories new this morning. Just as President Obama is set to announce his plans for Afghanistan this Tuesday, we're learning U.S. troops surging into the war zone will confront an enemy growing even more dangerous. An official with NATO tells "The Associated Press" the Taliban is actually gaining momentum and he adds, because of the progress by NATO forces, Taliban leaders are now trying to undermine the government.

ROMANS: Boots on the ground are a vital part of the U.S. campaign against the Taliban. And according to "The New York Times," Washington is now pressuring its allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Those forces, in addition to the 34,000 it's believed President Obama will order, give General Stanley McChrystal the 40,000 he requested. The only problem, many allies are reluctant to support an unpopular war and an Afghan government many are now calling corrupt.

JOHNS: And getting the tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan is no easy task. We know that it's not going to happen overnight. Our Elaine Quijano explains why and what their mission is going to be once they get to the war zone.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Joe, as President Obama prepares to announce his Afghanistan decision next week, CNN has learned some new details about the military's plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): The first wave of additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan will start deploying in late December, according to a U.S. military official. CNN has learned soon after President Obama's announcement next week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will get the paperwork to deploy 1,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Those will be the first of the roughly 34,000 troops anticipated to be added to Afghanistan over the next year. But getting any additional military personnel into the country will take time.

For his 2007 Iraq surge, President Bush added 28,000 troops. It took five months to get them into the country. By contrast, when President Obama ordered 21,000 combat troops to Afghanistan, it took eight months to get them there.

FREDERICK KAGAN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: You have to develop the facilities to house them. I mean, that's -- I think people forget that. You just can't drop them over there. And you've also got the winter coming.

QUIJANO: Once official forces arrive, the to-do list is daunting.

LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: The Taliban now currently has the momentum. I think that the Taliban is winning.

QUIJANO: Military analyst Frederick Kagan helped develop the idea of the 2007 Iraq surge. He says one lesson the U.S. learned, you need to convince the local population you can turn the tide against the Taliban.

KORB: And whether we're going to win or not, because they don't want to line up with us and then have us bail on them and then have the enemy come and kill them.

QUIJANO: The immediate focus, protecting population centers and prying loose Taliban strongholds, like the southeastern city of Kandahar.

KAGAN: I think, basically, to secure more of the south and the east, so if you can secure more of that, that will prevent the Taliban from increasing their foothold. And then once you do that, I think you'll be able to start the reconstruction and training the Afghan security forces.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: And officials say training those Afghan security forces has been a main focus in the White House's strategy meetings. The challenge, how to ramp up that training so Afghans themselves will ultimately be able to keep hold of any security gains the U.S. makes -- Christine, Joe.

JOHNS: Of course, CNN will have live coverage of the president's announcement Tuesday night at 8:00 Eastern from West Point.

ROMANS: And new developments now in the federal government's investigation of tainted drywall from China. It's been a story we've been following for months here on a.m. It turns out American-made drywall may be tainted too. An investigation is now expanding, because more than two dozen homeowners have reported problems with U.S.-made gypsum board. The government is already handling more than 2,000 complaints about Chinese gypsum board giving off sickening odors and corroding pipes and electrical wires.

JOHNS: This morning, a Swiss court granting bail to Roman Polanski, clearing the way for that director to move from a Swiss jail to his Swiss resort home. The bail was set at $4.5 million, considered a substantial portion of his fortune. The 76-year-old Oscar winner pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He is fighting extradition to the U.S. to face sentencing.

ROMANS: Now to Thanksgiving in Baghdad. Soldiers from the 32nd Infantry Brigade combat team made up of members of the Wisconsin National Guard celebrated the holiday with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. This Thanksgiving, there are 117,000 American troops stationed in Iraq, 68,000 in Afghanistan.

According to the U.S. Air Force's Web site, the military prepared 63,000 pounds of ham along with 193,000 pounds of turkey for service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you're watching, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

JOHNS: Still ahead, nearly 16 million Americans out of work. More people who need help and fewer people to help them. A closer look at hard times this holiday season.

And it's nine minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. You can see out there, preparations on the dark city streets. There's a shot here of New York City as folks are gearing up for the 83rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You can't see them yet. You can see the cops sort of directing traffic or at least closing the streets, but 31 balloons featured this year with new attractions like the Pillsbury doughboy. We'll keep checking what's happening right outside our door here.

Other stories new this morning, the first family helped dish out Thanksgiving treats to over 130,000 families in need. It was a Wednesday evening meal. The Obamas put canned food, stuffing fresh vegetables in the bags at Martha's Table, a food pantry in downtown Washington. Even the president's mother-in-law got into the act, handing out bags with frozen turkeys.

JOHNS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling it a very big step toward peace. The Israeli government approved a 10- month stop of construction on new homes on the West Bank. Washington welcomed that news, but says it falls short of a full settlement freeze. Palestinians flat-out rejected the move, saying the exclusion of Jerusalem is a very serious problem.

ROMANS: Investors have something to be thankful for today. The Dow hit a 13-month high yesterday after a drop in unemployment claims and a rise in home sales. New claims for unemployment, these are people for the first time filing for that jobless check, fell by 35,000 last week, dropping below a half a million. And new home sales rose 6.2 percent in October. That was a little better than expected.

JOHNS: Not everyone is celebrating Wall Street's good news. October saw America's jobless rate reach 10.2 percent. That's nearly 16 million people out of work and it means more people who need help and fewer with the means to give it.

Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington with a closer look at the hard times this holiday season.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Joe. And Happy Thanksgiving. You know, it's hard to tell, from talking to a lot of charities, they have a lot of anecdotal evidence that the need is up across the country. And as you mentioned, economists seem to say the recession is ending, but too many Americans are not feeling it down on main street this holiday season, so charities, businesses, even government agencies are getting creative to help those in need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): It's a new sign of the nation's hard times during the holidays. Not the ringing of the Salvation Army bell --

Just like that.

But the credit card machine, that now comes with the kettle.

CAPTAIN BILL CRISS, SALVATION ARMY: It's one more tool for us to be able to use to help people, men and women, boys and girls, in our community.

ACOSTA: The Salvation Army has 300 of these cashless kettles stationed across the country, all in an effort to raise more money to meet a growing demand for assistance.

CRISS: Our requests for assistance are up about 50 percent over last year.

ACOSTA: Fifty percent?

CRISS: Our telephones ring off the hook, all day long, for people needing help with rent and utilities, medical care, things like that.

ACOSTA: So you can feel this recession?

CRISS: We have - we - we feel it and we see it every day.

JESSE TAYLOR, FOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY: This line is just like - I haven't seen a line this long, ever. It's just mind blowing.

ACOSTA: Coast to coast, food banks and other nonprofit groups offering turkey giveaways are being flooded with thousands of families, waiting in long lines, many hoping to put a Thanksgiving meal on the table after being laid off.

CASSANDRA WOODS, FOOD BANK PATRON: If I don't come here, I don't have food, and I have to pay my rent and my utilities and try to stay out of being homeless.

TOM VILSACK, U.S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: Frankly, this is not just the - the government's responsibility. I think we all have a responsibility.

ACOSTA: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to expand the use of his department's food stamps program, now known as SNAP. He even made a personal appeal to the warehouse discount chain Costco to get on board.

VILSACK: I actually called officials at Costco, asked them to take a look at - on a pilot project basis, to see how it would work. We were convinced that it would be a good business decision for them.

ACOSTA: A good business decision because shoppers are already hitting the stores. While consumers are expected to cut back this year, Brian Burton found one credit card machine he just couldn't refuse.

Are you going to be cutting back a little bit more this year, would you say, because of the economy and the recession?

BRIAN BURTON, DONOR: For the Salvation Army? No. But for everything else? Probably.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And 49 million Americans are what the Agriculture Department calls food insecure in this country. That's the highest number that agency has counted in the 15 years they've been running that statistic. And those are folks who have to scramble every month to feed themselves, and Secretary Vilsack says part of the problem, surprisingly enough, Joe, is that many states simply do a poor job of administering federal aid to the hungry.

There are some states that do a great job, almost 100 percent of the aid that they get goes out to people in need. But there are some states, according to Secretary Vilsack, who only dole out about half of the aid that is eligible to those folks, and he's - he thinks that's just a travesty, especially this time of year.

JOHNS: I think you would call that a sobering message this Thanksgiving. Thanks so much, Jim Acosta in Washington.

ACOSTA: You bet.

ROMANS: OK, so wouldn't it be nice to enjoy a holiday season for once without all of the spending - spending money you don't have? You know, more than half of people spend money they don't have. They finance their purchases for the holidays.

JOHNS: Well, if you're using a credit card, that is spending money you don't...

ROMANS: That's spending - Yes, Joe. A credit card is money you don't have. Unless you pay it off, that - you know, that minute.

JOHNS: Right.

ROMANS: OK, anyway, a man on a crusade to get all of us to stop shopping. Will it work?

It's 17 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. JOHN MOSTELLAR, US ARMY: Hi. I'm Major John Mostellar at (INAUDIBLE) in Iraq. I want to send a special holiday greeting, happy Thanksgiving to my parents and all my family and friends living in St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.

I love you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Happy Thanksgiving. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" this Thanksgiving Day and she has a - our guide to the hottest Black Friday deals, how to score them. So today we eat, tomorrow, America shops for some very big, big...

GERRI WILLIS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You are so reluctant about this.

ROMANS: I'm - I think if you have money - if you have money, tomorrow you're going to get some great deals. If you don't have money, be careful, because you don't want to rack up a bunch of debt.

WILLIS: Absolutely. Perfect personal finance advice right here from Christine Romans.

ROMANS: I've listened to Gerri.

WILLIS: Yes. And we just want to tell you some of the great deals out there. You know about all the door-busters, the $3 appliances at Target, the washer and drier for $580 at Sears, the HDTV for $600 at Wal-Mart. Now, many of these door-busters have limited quantities, as we - as we've been saying on the show all week, but we wanted to find deals that would stick around this Black Friday.

So here's what will be on sale and will make sense (ph), OK? And you'll be able to find the product in stores. You're going to save about $100 on 32 inch LCD flat screen TVs. You'll save $40 on average GPS devices. Digital photo frames are discounted, about $50. Cameras are going for about $100, so that's a saving of - savings of about $30 on average.

Now, of course this year more retailers are luring consumers in by concentrating on the dollar price point, like they're going to say that this item is on sale for $3, $50, whatever instead of saying it's 85 percent off or it's 20 percent off. That's their gimmick this year, so you sort of need to know what they've been charging for it to get a sense of what the deal is and how good it is.

JOHNS: Well, it seems a little overwhelming. How are you supposed to keep up with all this stuff? I mean...

WILLIS: We have some great ideas for this.

OK, social networking sites. It's the new way that you want to actually make sure you're getting the best deal. Now, Twitter, they are tweeting sales, ads are leaked. You can get them right on your cell phone. Type in twitter.com/blackfriday or type "Black Friday" into the search field so you can follow the deals.

You can follow it on Facebook. They're talking about this on Facebook, iPhone - there is a barcode scanner app. Believe or not, this way, when you're in the store you can scan the barcode and you can see if you can get the item anywhere else for less money. There's an app for that.

JOHNS: But what's to stop from just going online? I mean... WILLIS: Yes, but you can't carry your laptop into the store, but you can carry your cell phone.

ROMANS: That is so - that is so cool. And it also puts so much pressure on the retailers because now they can't just like lure you and make you think that because they've got a $3 appliance that all their - all of their deals are - are better than the competitors.

WILLIS: We've got the upper hand here. We consumers - we're in charge. And speaking of which, I have brought you the year's hottest toy. OK?

ROMANS: You found it!

WILLIS: This is Mr. Squiggles right here.

ROMANS: This is the Zhu Zhu Pet, right?

WILLIS: It is, indeed.

JOHNS: I think that would scare my daughter.

WILLIS: Oh, honey, let me tell you, this is the best thing ever. First of all - I'm going to try to make this thing go. You can hear it talk.

JOHNS: Whoa!

ROMANS: Wow!

WILLIS: And there it goes...

JOHNS: ... off the desk. Goodbye! Is there a remote control or something?

WILLIS: No. (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: And Mr. Squiggles is gone.

WILLIS: This is the hottest thing ever.

JOHNS: Poor Mr. Squiggles.

WILLIS: Did he survive?

ROMANS: It is hot. And we should put it on eBay right now and see how long it takes for an AM viewer to actually bid it up.

WILLIS: There are a lot of kids running around this set today. I bet we can find one of them who will take Mr. Squiggles.

ROMANS: This is recession friendly, I think, right? It's supposed to retail for $7.99. If you can get it, you can get it for $9.99, $12.99...

WILLIS: Ten to $15, maybe $45 if you can find it. It's very tough to find right now. Apparently they're going to put black ones out tomorrow for Black Friday.

JOHNS: Wow. Wow. Well, thank you so much, Gerri.

ROMANS: All right. Gerri Willis, "Minding Your Business" and bringing us a little pet - mascot.

WILLIS: I don't know how to turn it off.

ROMANS: I know. Somebody find a 12-year-old.

JOHNS: It's so funny. There's...

ROMANS: Thanks, Gerri.

JOHNS: It's such a contrast from what we were doing out here just a year ago with the Mumbai terrorist attacks and all. Sixty months - what was it? Sixty hours of terrorism altogether, Mumbai under fire one year ago this weekend. We watched it unfold live right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Meet the family of the hero who took down one of the terrorists, but with nothing but a stick.

It's 24 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They might need to keep themselves able to sustain long hours and - OK. All right.

We're - another loud bang you heard there. Now, if you listen...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: A crazy day. Our Sara Sidner covering the terror attacks in Mumbai before our eyes right here on AMERICAN MORNING one year ago. No one covered the attacks from a closer vantage point.

For three days and nights, we witnessed a city held hostage by killers.

ROMANS: The only surviving gunman is on trial right now in India and Sara is live in Mumbai for us again this morning. Sara, you spoke to the family of the hero credited with capturing the terror suspect?

SIDNER: That's right, Christine.

You know, the family is extremely distraught, but they are proud about the fact that their father put his duty above everything else.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): These are the machines, men, and weapons Mumbai now has the next time terror descends on the city. But on November 26th, 2008, Mumbai police were outgunned by 10 men with one plan - to bring the city to its knees.

The gunmen spread out. Some stole a police vehicle, spraying bullets from the windows as they headed for their final destinations. That night, Sub-inspector Tukaram Omble was on duty.

After watching the unnerving scenes on television, his daughter had given him this advice...

VISHALI OMBLE, DAUGHTER OF MUMBAI HERO: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

SIDNER: "When I spoke to him last, I told him not to charge ahead and not to be brave," she says. "He said, OK," but he did just the opposite.

(on camera): Right here, under this Mumbai underpass, Assistant Sub-inspector Omble, armed with only a stick, charged terror suspect Ajmal Kasab who was inside of a car armed with an AK-47.

"He had only a stick," says his colleague who was with him the night it all went down. In India, only police above a certain rank carry arms. "He and our team had one goal, which was to keep the terrorists from getting past our barricades, to stop them. He jumped on the terrorists with only a stick, and because of his actions, we were all saved and Kasab was captured alive."

Kasab turned out to be the only suspect captured alive.

This grainy close circuit TV video shows pictures of the day Assistant Sub-Inspector Omble did his duty and died for it. Police say he managed to grab Kasab, but eventually the suspect emptied all the bullets left in his AK-47 into Ombale. That made it possible for the other officers on the scene to capture Kasab. And hail Ombale a hero.

VISHALI OMBLE, DAUGHTER OF MUMBAI HERO (through translator): My youngest sister says God should send him back because he did such a brave thing. When she realizes that this cannot happen, she just keeps crying. So instead the family claims to what they have left -- his badge, the awards for his actions and all the memories, but none of that can fill the emptiness of his absence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Sub-inspector Ombale family, though, is still angry that not enough officers have the tools they need to protect the public and themselves -- Christine.

ROMANS: Sara Sidner with an incredible story one year later.

Thank you so much, Sara.

An American woman wounded in the Mumbai attack lost her husband and 13-year-old daughter, but instead of anger, she's focusing on forgiveness. And you can read her remarkable story on our blog, CNN.com/AmFix. Crossing the half hour now, here are your top stories this morning. A serious security breach at the White House. The Secret Service says it's investigating how a Virginia couple managed to crash a state dinner Tuesday night. The pair somehow got past a security checkpoint and got to pose for photos with the White House chief of staff and the vice president.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wraps up his tour of Latin America, visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He received a warm welcome with full military honors. Both leaders spoke against U.S., quote, "imperialism" and they signed 12 cooperation agreements between their countries. Ahmadinejad has used this trip as a platform to defend Iran's nuclear program.

And the official White House Christmas tree is ready for its road trip. Take a look at the 14-year-old, 18-1/2 foot Douglas fir that was cut down and carefully wrapped yesterday at a farm in West Virginia. It will be delivered to the First Lady Friday morning on a horse-drawn wagon -- Joe?

JOHNS: So you sort of know all the -- what is it -- the drill, I guess you would call it, Turkey and all the trimmings tonight. Wear out the credit card, bright and early tomorrow. That's the routine, of course, for millions of Americans. We do it every year. Black Friday officially kicking off the holiday shopping season now. But our next guest is on a quest, if you will, to get everyone to stop shopping, now! We spoke with him last year. He's back.

Billy Talen of the "Church of Life After Shopping," here again with us this morning.

So tell us why once again you're basically on a stop shopping day routine?

REV. BILLY TALEN, "THE CHURCH OF LIFE AFTER SHOPPING": Well, we celebrate buying nothing day. Black Friday changes. It's a miracle to buy nothing day. We urge people to slow down their shopping.

JOHNS: A lot of people are going to buy nothing this year, given the economy and all.

TALEN: Well, sadly, there's a lot of pain and suffering out there. But some of those people that are jobless and broke and so many of us are finding new ways to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza this year.

JOHNS: And, you know, there are people out there who would say the responsible thing to do would be to tell people to go shopping, go ahead, spend your money. I think the president sort of has suggested that before. Why not tell people in a bad economy, spend your money, get the economy revved up and going again.

TALEN: I agree with what you just said. It is a bad economy. It can't be a shopping economy. Not 70 percent. And that's what it's been for the last several years. And that's just not working. We're trying to shop our way out of this economy to a new level of shopping. That's not working. We can't just be a deader nation anymore. We can't just be full of cheap stuff everywhere made in sweat shops thousands of miles away with fossil fuel everywhere, plastics everywhere, and credit cards and everybody in debt. We can't continue that. So we're looking for an alternative.

JOHNS: So what's the relevance, though, really? If you're telling people stop shopping, and they've already stopped, what's your point, I guess?

TALEN: You stop shopping, but start giving. That's what the holidays are for. The good way to do that is to find your gift locally. Walk to your gift this year and buy it there. Buy it from an independent shop on your main street, in your neighborhood, in your community.

It's been proven time and time again that we have more prosperity coming back to us with that $5 that we give to a local company.

JOHNS: So you're basically saying, we should downsize our shopping, make it smaller and make it locally. What's the difference, though, if you're still spending money and you're still buying things to give?

TALEN: So much of the shopping hype for Black Friday drives us to the big box companies, the chain stores. The big famous logos with their heavy advertising. Local shopping is a much different kettle of fish. That's a sustainable economy. And that's friendlier, not only to our own neighborhoods, our working families, but it's also better for the earth. That's what I mean by sustainable. And this year, we should give to the earth. It's a good gift to promise -- a father just e-mailed me and said, I'm promising to change this year. I'm promising my family and that's my gift. I'm going to weatherize our house.

JOHNS: Before we go, I do want to get in something we're just talking about a minute ago. You told me that people may not be shopping this year, but they're planning on going back to their old habits.

Talk to me a little bit about that. Do you think that people's habits haven't been changed for good by this recession?

TALEN: Some Americans -- it seems like we're splitting. Some Americans are finding a way to make gifts, to spend time with their family. They're shifting the idea of a gift to having an experience with your loved ones. So they're getting away from the shopping addiction. But many Americans are just receiving the avalanche of advertising and the discounts and all the opportunities of Black Friday, and they're ready to go into debt again. So we're kind of going in two directions at once.

JOHNS: Reverend Billy Talen, thanks so much for coming in. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

TALEN: Thank you.

Stop shopping, children. There's life after shopping. Amen.

JOHNS: Christine?

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Joe.

Just ahead, what do the students at this school have in common? Most of them are homeless, but one principal is making them forget about that particular condition. That's next.

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ROMANS: Welcome back.

Today is a day when many of us will eat more than we need to. Our biggest concern, whether or not to have that second or third piece of pie. But at a Las Vegas elementary school, a principal is struggling to put food on the table for her students. She says more than three quarters of the student body are homeless.

Dan Simon is in Las Vegas with this "AM Original," giving her students a taste of a normal life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They are chefs from some of the fanciest hotels in Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go, kiddo.

SIMON: But today they are serving breakfast at Whitney Elementary, part of a non-profit initiative to eliminate malnutrition and hunger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what do we say when we're very grateful and very fortunate?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Thank you!

SIMON: School principal Sherrie Gahn says it's a healthy and memorable meal for students who don't have much. That's because the school estimates that as many as 85 percent of the 600 or so students are homeless, living in cheap motels, with friends or in shelters.

SHERRIE GAHN, PRINCIPAL, WHITNEY ELEMENTARY: Literally, my every waking moment, I think about what else do I need to do?

SIMON: When Gahn arrived here seven years ago, she said children were devouring ketchup packets to fill empty stomachs. Clearly, they weren't getting enough food. So she set out to do something about it, a mission that came from personal pain.

GAHN: And I was raised in poverty. My mother went to a local organization at one point. My mother actually asked for food and clothes and they turned us down. And I saw how devastated she was.

Get your food, honey. SIMON: Gahn vowed her families at Whitney would never be turned down. She twisted arms and begged for donations, opening a one of a kind school supply closet, part food bank, part clothing supply.

JAMES ICENOGLE, 4TH GRADE STUDENT: I got some pants, some shirts, some new shoes and some new socks.

SIMON (on camera): A lot of these kids come from such challenging circumstances that there's no money at home to even celebrate birthdays. So once a month, the school throws a giant birthday party for all the kids who had birthdays that month. There's pizza, there's cake and even some presents to take home.

(voice over): Hairstylists donate haircuts and dentists donate dental care. When a family comes up short for something like a utility bill, the school, through donations, can help with that, too.

SHIRLEY HERNANDEZ, GRANDMOTHER: Last year, we didn't have Christmas, they gave us Christmas. This year, we're hardly going to have Christmas, but they're going to give us Christmas. They've helped us a lot. So, I've got to donate my time here to, you know, show how much I appreciate the people here.

SIMON: And that's what Gahn expects -- that parents give something back by volunteering.

(on camera): At the end of the day, what is it that you wish for these children?

GAHN: I want them to have that sense of norm that a lot of families grow up in America having, that they don't get.

SIMON (voice over): On this morning, they do get attention from the city's best chefs. For many, it will be the best meal they've had in a while. For Sherrie Gahn, it's another small victory for her students.

Dan Simon, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: You know, Joe, what's happening in America's schools right now is nothing short of miraculous. I mean, they're faced with these huge budget cuts, they are trying to use stimulus money to keep teachers on staff. At the same time, when I was doing a lot of my stimulus reporting, the superintendents were telling me that their biggest challenge were students three years ago who were on the swim team and now are living in a car.

JOHNS: It's the difference between like the chronic homeless and the newly homeless.

ROMANS: The newly homeless, these kids who, because of the foreclosure, because of two job losses, now are just entering the system. One social worker said she noticed a student wearing his jacket around his, you know, waist for a long time and she finally realized that he was living in a car. The school stays open a little bit earlier, a little bit later than normal so that these kids can go and they can shower, they can wash their clothes, they can use.

I mean, when you think about what the schools are doing right now, because of the recession and the responsibilities they have, in the midst of millions and millions of dollars of budget cuts, those social workers and teachers and school counselors are really heroes and heroines.

JOHNS: Coming in on furlough days to let kids into the school...

ROMANS: That's right. Not getting paid for it, not getting funding for it, but having to really take care of America's kids. It's really remarkable it's happening. I think it's an example on Thanksgiving of how people are giving back. It's pretty remarkable.

JOHNS: And lots more on this Thanksgiving Day. Folks hitting the road, headed to the parade this morning. And the big question, of course, is whether the weather will cooperate and where it's going to cooperate. We'll check in with Reynolds Wolf.

It's 44 after the hour.

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ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

A live look at New York City this Thanksgiving morning. Looking down over the Macy's parade route. It's 51 in Manhattan, going up to 57. What a beautiful day to watch a parade here. It will be a little bit cloudy.

Time to fast forward now through the stories we're tracking on CNN today. The crew on board Space Shuttle Atlantis is having Thanksgiving in space; although, their commander decided to forego the turkey. They'll spend the day orbiting planet earth prepping the ship for tomorrow's landing at Kennedy Space Center. Seven prior missions dating back in 1985 have spent turkey day in orbit. Some with all the thermostabilized trimmings, even cranberry sauce packets.

Tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, join CNN for our "CNN HEROES ALL- STAR TRIBUTE. You'll be well fed, so settle in to watch Anderson Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Kate Hudson and many others honor the top 10 people who inspired us in 2009.

Over on the West Coast, the two turkeys pardon by President Obama have some official business today; courage and his understudy. Caroline will lead the Thanksgiving Day parade at Disneyland where they'll live out the rest of their natural lives. Gosh, you know, that tradition is so kind of weird.

JOHNS: I was just going to say that there are some presidents who have pardoned a lot more than two turkeys. ROMANS: Oh, yeah, that comes at the end of a term. When you pardon lots of turkeys.

JOHNS: All right. So, let's get a check of a holiday forecast. I know for a fact that there are some planes that have a lot of people on them headed South from New York City. Reynolds Wolf is at the Weather Center in Atlanta.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Reynolds.

Macy's balloon handlers getting into position. They have a tough new route ahead of them this year. We're live underneath Garfield and Kermit the Frog. That's straight ahead.

Also, the couple that crashed Tuesday night state dinner at the White House. The latest on the security breach that has everyone shaking their heads.

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JOHNS: Yes, we pardoned our animation, Christine says. Happy Thanksgiving and welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Workers are making last-minute preparations for, you know, what, the Macy's Day Parade right here, and spectators are already lined up.

ROMANS: There are four new balloons making their debut today, including Spider-Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy. The parade is taking also a slightly different route this year, and it could be a challenge for balloon handlers. Deb Feyerick out there right now to tell us all about it. Hi Deb. It's a nice weather for you out there today, too. I'm so glad.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh my God. It's beautiful weather. I've never understood how all the bands can walk down the avenue when it's freezing cold, but right now, really, it's very mild out here. We just want to set season a little bit. You can see a lot of people behind me here. These are all Macy's employees. They are the ones who were dressed in costume. The other ones are going to be setting the tone of the parade. A lot of spectators have already comment. It's not easy to walk along the parade route. You need a lot of training. Lynn, Brooke, and Eric are with Macy's to tell us -- first of all, what time did you get up this morning.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: 2:30.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: 2:30 this morning.

UNKNOWN MALE: I didn't sleep, so...

FEYERICK: Yes, I know, exactly, and you keep dropping things. The confetti right here on the ground is one example. What is the hardest thing about being a clown, being a part of the parade?

UNKNOWN MALE: The school.

FEYERICK: OK, and what does it involve?

UNKNOWN MALE: Jumping jacks and all sorts of stretches that really --

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Practicing fitting in the clown car.

UNKNOWN MALE: Fitting in the clown car and the pies.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: It's rough, yes.

FEYERICK: How many people do get in that clown car?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: A lot.

UNKNOWN MALE: 7,000.

FEYERICK: 7,000 in the one clown car, excellent. You guys set the tone. You, guys, are the ones who basically keep the crowd going. What's the most fun thing for you?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Seeing the kids' faces and seeing the people and just getting them so involved. They just have a great time, and we love that. It just keeps you going.

FEYERICK: You've been doing this for about three years, so why keep coming back?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: I love it. It gets you ready for the holiday season, you see the kids, it just starts the season off right. It's great.

FEYERICK: All right. We're going to be watching you, you especially with the confetti over there. He's like crazy with the confetti. This is just one of the sort of the bright colors that you see, Christine and Joe, all around. If you can make out just above this little caterpillar there, you can see some of the balloons. Spider-Man there is looking very buff. He was totally redone, remodeled, but it looks like it's going to be a really, really fun time, and we're going to keep you posted from the parade route, and Christine, Joe, just a little celebration.

ROMANS: All right.

JOHNS: I am so looking forward to seeing Spider-Man. That's like my son and daughter's favorite.

ROMANS: That's cool, and Deb, I was coming into the office...

FEYERICK: It's huge, absolutely huge.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: And there were these big coach buses dropping off the marching bands in the middle of the night in New York City, all of these kids, so everyone's had a very long night. I'm sure they're so excited for this thing to get started in another couple of hours. Thanks, Deb.

All right. They rubbed elbow to the Vice President and the White House Chief of Staff, but they weren't even on the guest list. Who were they? New developments on a stunning breach of security at the White House. That and all the top stories in 90 seconds.

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