Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Road Ahead for Health Reform; Burned Boy Released From Hospital; Major New Jersey Transit Problems

Aired December 23, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Many Chicago students face a threat of violence simply walking to and from school. So, T.J. will take that trip with two of those students tomorrow.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, appreciate it. Thank you.

It is Wednesday, December 23rd, and here are the faces of the stories driving the headlines today for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Michael Brewer, a Florida teen set on fire in a horrific attack, is out of the hospital. An update this hour, at any moment now, on how he is doing.

Kalle Widelius, he survived the Indian Ocean tsunami. Five years later, he tells how the near-death experience changed his life.

And Trakr, the hero dog discovered, the last survivor at Ground Zero. Now his legacy lives on.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Senate Democrats counting down and feeling confident about health care reform. The last procedural vote on the Senate bill expected to begin in just a few hours. That will set the stage for final passage tomorrow morning.

You're weighing in by way of your iReports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID DAMBRE, IREPORTER: It is time now, not any other time, now. Keep on debating, keep on working, keep on amending it, keep on changing, keep whatever you want to do. We expect you, the Congress, the hundred heads in the Congress or in the Senate, to pass this bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW SCHORR, IREPORTER: I am very, very happy that the Democrats seem to be moving forward in the Senate with approval of health care reform legislation. The Republicans have been standing in the way of this progress, they have no viable solution. And we need insurance for millions of people who don't have it, as well as trying to fix a broken health care system.

Let's get on with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. iReporters weighing in.

Let's get more details on the vote today and the road ahead for health care reform.

National political correspondent Jessica Yellin joining us live from Capitol Hill.

And Jess, what happens this afternoon?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they will, in the words of that iReporter, start to get on with it. It is, as you said, Tony, a procedural vote. So, this afternoon, around 2:15, the Senate has to vote to continue forward to tomorrow morning's final vote on the health care bill.

It will be the third time they need 60 votes to clear a hurdle and get them to that finish line tomorrow morning, this interim finish line when the Senate will actually have a bill. So it's all procedural stuff today.

There's also an effort to overturn an amendment by Republicans suggesting that the health care bill is unconstitutional. All this stuff sort of around the fringes. But the main vote today is getting us forward to that 8:00 a.m. vote tomorrow morning.

And the big question, Tony, is what comes next? What will happen next is folks go on Christmas break, but then Reid, Pelosi, the Democratic leaders here will start talks with the White House almost right away after Christmas to try to hammer out a deal to bring these two very different bills, the House version and the Senate version, into a merged bill that can pass this body next year.

HARRIS: Yes. Hey, Jessica, I don't think we can do this enough. If you would, share with us what's in the bill.

YELLIN: OK. So I think we have some graphics for this.

First of all, the big discussion, this bill does not include a public option. This is the Senate version of the bill we're talking about.

The bill puts additional regulations on the insurance industry and it includes $10 billion -- that's with a "B" -- for new community health centers. Now, nearly all Americans under this would be required to get insurance or face fines. The government would subsidize coverage for families making about $88,000 or less. Now, that's over time that would eventually come into play. Medicaid would also cover families making just over $29,000.

So that's the Senate version, Tony, but again, a very different version in the House. We don't know what it will look like when the two are merged.

HARRIS: Very good.

Jessica Yellin on Capitol Hill for us.

Jess, appreciate it. Thank you.

And later in this hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta answers your questions about the Senate's health care bill.

Quickly now, we want to get you to Miami, Florida. Valerie and Michael Brewer, the parents of 15-year-old Michael Brewer, severely burned a few months ago, holding a press conference right now.

Let's listen to mom, Valerie.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

VALERIE BREWER, MICHAEL BREWER'S MOTHER: ... everybody's prayers, and the media for covering the story, getting the word out. I want to thank all of you guys. And just, everybody, thank you. And we hope everybody has as wonderful a Christmas as we're going to have.

QUESTION: Valerie, you look like a really proud mother today.

BREWER: I am.

QUESTION: Talk about that. Tell me about how you're feeling at this point.

BREWER: I don't have the words. I'm just ecstatic.

He's just so incredible -- his strength, his determination, his will to survive. You're going to make me cry.

He's just incredible. He is incredible. He gives me the will to get up, and get up and go every day.

QUESTION: What was it like to be able to bring him home yesterday? Can you give us some insight into the emotions when he first came home?

BREWER: There was a whirlwind of emotions. It was a whirlwind. It was happy, scared.

He didn't know what to expect when he got there. We did not go home. We're at a safe place. And I'm not going to disclose that so we can have some privacy and he feels safe.

But it was just incredible. Incredible. And the look of relief on his face when he got there and, wow, it was just, you know, almost over.

And we still have a long way to go with the physical therapy, and he's working hard. And even when we are not here doing physical therapy, he has stuff he has to do at home. He uses a broomstick and he does his therapy with his arms and his legs and the walking. He has to walk up and down stairs and stuff where we are. So it's incredible.

QUESTION: Do you know what's going on with the other boys?

BREWER: No, I don't. I don't stay up on that. When they call me and I have to go, then I'll just go. But I don't pay attention to any of that.

QUESTION: What about safety?

QUESTION: What did he eat for dinner and what did he watch on TV? What does he want to eat? What does he want to watch?

BREWER: That's funny. He wanted a Lunchable. A pizza Lunchable, that's what he wanted for dinner last night.

And we watched -- I don't remember, it was a cartoon movie. I was just so happy that he was there. We talked and we really didn't watch the movie. We just sat and talked, and talked to other people that were around.

QUESTION: You said you're not going home.

BREWER: No.

QUESTION: Talk about -- do you all feel safe? I mean, talk about that.

BREWER: No, he doesn't feel safe going back to the neighborhood. The families of the boys live within five blocks of us, so he does fear for his life going back there.

QUESTION: Do you?

BREWER: No, I don't. I don't. But I fear for him and, you know, if he's fearful, I am too. I am supportive of him. He doesn't want to go back, and I don't blame him. We're looking forward to moving on and having some peace, and moving on with his life.

QUESTION: What does he say? What are his thoughts about these boys that did this to him, particularly the one that he apparently grew up with?

BREWER: He really doesn't talk about it with me or with his father. He talks to the therapists about it because he doesn't want to upset us. That's just -- he's just sensitive.

He's a very sensitive boy. He knows what he can talk about and what he can't talk about, because he knows it will upset me or his father. And he feels more comfortable talking to his therapists about it.

QUESTION: When you say therapists, you mean physical therapists or...

BREWER: The psychiatrists and the psychotherapist.

QUESTION: So he's seeing those kind of people too?

BREWER: Oh, absolutely. He's going to have to deal with this for the rest of his life. He still wakes up with nightmares at night.

It's just like when you come home from war, the veterans. They deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and that's what Michael deals with. He wakes up having night terrors every night. And I'm sure that he'll have to deal with this for the rest of his life.

QUESTION: Do you think that this will inspire him to set his goals higher, to do better in school perhaps, down the line, as he recovers?

BREWER: I think so, yes, because once you've overcome something like this, there's really nothing that can stand in your way.

QUESTION: Valerie, how have you been able to keep your composure? There's a lot of parents who watch this and say, if I was the parent in that situation, I'd be so angry at those boys. How have you been able to keep your composure?

BREWER: God. God. I pray a lot, and the prayers of everybody that are praying for us and all of the support that we get, the 7,000- plus family that we have now on Facebook and around the world, all the cards and letters, they help to keep me focused and keep me positive.

QUESTION: It's the holiday season, a couple days from Christmas. Anything about his Christmas wish, and as a mother, are you getting your Christmas wish despite the tragedy?

BREWER: We got our Christmas wish the day that he was let go from the hospital. That's the only thing that he wanted for Christmas.

QUESTION: A family?

BREWER: A family, yes.

QUESTION: How is he going to spend Christmas?

BREWER: We're going to have some family together and open presents and have dinner, and just sit and talk.

QUESTION: Will he have to come for therapy on Christmas Day?

BREWER: No. We'll have to do therapy where we are, but...

QUESTION: At home.

BREWER: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: Is physical therapy -- I guess it's -- physical therapy is painful. What about a shower?

DR. LOUIS PIZANO, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI/JACKSON MEMORIAL BURN CENTER: It's also very painful. We pre-medicate him before the showers. He has a regimen of pain medications that he takes.

They differ slightly from the wound care that he gets in the shower to what he gets for physical therapy, but the entire process is pain. Even, sometimes, the wind just blowing across the wounds can be painful. So, he will also have a background pain medication that will just continue throughout the day to take away the general pain, with additional pain medications given for showering and for wound care and that kind of thing.

QUEST: How much of his body is covered with wounds?

PIZANO: Well, he was 65 percent burned, so he still has 65 percent wounds. It's a matter of what we call open and what are closed wounds. The open wounds are still what you could imagine would be a raw surface area versus...

HARRIS: OK. We've been getting an update on Michael Brewer's condition. You heard from Valerie Brewer.

Can you think back on this with me? Just a couple of months, in the middle of October, when we first heard about this story, and we were all appalled by what we were hearing and reporting at that time, that Michael Brewer had been attacked, allegedly, by friends, in most cases here, certainly young people that in many cases he went to school with. Had been attacked over a video game, the price tag on it about $40. Just some crazy retaliation attack.

You remember the early days when Dr. Namias (ph) joined us and was telling us about his condition, and couldn't guarantee that Michael would recover in those early days. His condition very much up in the air whether he would make it in limbo. The doctor giving us a lot of information on his condition, very frank about how he was doing and the real trouble that he was still in, recovering from burns over 65 percent of his body.

And now the update today, just a couple of months later. Michael Brewer is out of the hospital, he's in a safe place. He's not back home in his neighborhood because there is still some real concerns there.

You heard Valerie mention it, concerns that Michael has, because so many of the young people allegedly who committed this attack live in close proximity to the family home. So, Michael Brewer has been transferred to a safe place. And I would imagine part of that is to keep the media away. We've all been very interested in his progress and his story overall.

But you also heard that physical therapy will be an ongoing part of Michael Brewer's life, five days a week, that he wakes at night with night terrors. So this is still very much a situation that Michael has to deal with emotionally and mentally.

But another bit of good news here, no more skin grafts for Michael Brewer. It's astonishing how far he has come in such a short period of time.

The latest update on Michael Brewer. He will be not home, but out of the hospital for Christmas.

Before we get to break here, very quickly here want to get you caught up on the numbers on the Big Board, New York Stock Exchange.

We're in negative territory. I want to call it flat, but it's a little more than flat. We're down eight points.

Following these numbers throughout the day with Susan Lisovicz, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's take a quick break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, I've got to tell you, major problems along the Northeast Corridor train line. No trains moving between New Jersey and New York City.

CNN producer Ross Levitt is at Penn Station, and he joins us on the phone.

Ross, what's the situation there? What's going on?

ROSS LEVITT, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Tony, I'm in the Amtrak waiting area of Penn Station, and I'm just looking at hundreds and hundreds of people who are literally stranded here while there's a power outage on the lines between New York and Newark, New Jersey. And that has basically snarled all train traffic in and out of this station, including both on New Jersey Transit and on Amtrak.

But, of course, New Jersey Transit handles tens of thousands of commuters every morning. This happened at the very end of the rush hour traffic.

And then, of course, it's affecting tons of people on Amtrak who are trying to get to their families for Christmas. And so, that, of course, is causing major problems.

In fact, I am standing here with a family of three, the Elstein (ph) family, which includes the youngest member of the family, 19 months old, asleep on his mom here. And so, obviously, a tough situation for a lot of people.

And, in fact, I'm going to ask Aaron (ph) -- Aaron (ph), what do you think of this situation so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amtrak always makes it interesting.

LEVITT: Yes, very tough. When do you think you're getting out of here? You're heading to Boston.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're heading to Boston. If we can get there by dark, I'd be thrilled.

LEVITT: So that's -- Tony, there you have it. I mean, really tough. They'd just be happy to get there by dark at this point.

HARRIS: Well, Ross, a quick question. Do the folks there have any idea what caused this and how long before they get the problem fixed?

LEVITT: We don't know exactly what caused it. We do know that it's a power outage, and so far we haven't gotten any guidance from Amtrak on how long it's going to be. They do say that they are working on the problem, as does New Jersey Transit, so it's a wait and see for everybody.

HARRIS: OK. Ross, if you learn anything, just give us a heads up.

CNN producer Ross Levitt for us.

Some credit card customers are seeing their interest rates literally go through the roof, a lot of times without any warning or explanation. But new rules should put an end to the secrecy, at least, if not the increases.

Christine Romans is joining us live now from New York.

And tell us more about this, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is much broader than just credit cards. This is auto loans, mortgages. Any time you go to borrow money, there are some people who may not have a perfect credit history who will face higher interest rates.

And they might not necessarily know why, and they might not necessarily even know it's happening, but these new rules from the Fed and the FTC mean that you're going to have more information and more transparency, really, in why you could be paying higher interest rates. A notification from the lender that, look, this is why you're paying a higher rate, a materially higher rate than other people, and here's why. And here, actually, is a free credit report to show you where in your history there might be something spotty that is the reason why we've decided you're a little bit risky.

This is called risk-based pricing, Tony. You're going to hear a lot about this as credit card companies and lenders look back, reach back into your financial history, and find things that they think might be a reason why they're going to charge you higher interest rates.

Now, something interesting about this, though, it doesn't go into effect until January, 2011. It's actually based on a law that was based in 2003. So it just shows you kind of again, Tony, how long it can take for some of these consumer-friendly rules to actually take effect.

Lenders have a lot of time to prepare, to get ready for this. It's meant to make it easier for you if you're buying a car, if you're getting a mortgage, if you're taking out any kind of loan. It's meant to make it easier for you to get a copy of your credit report.

It puts the onus on the lender to make sure that they're telling you why you're paying higher interest rates. And again, this could benefit millions of people who have been battered by a recession, frankly, and have less than perfect credit -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Yes, we'll be the judge of whether it makes it easier or not.

Christine Romans for us in New York.

Christine, good to see you. Thank you.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

HARRIS: Let's do this very quickly. Got to get to our top stories now.

Parts of the West and Midwest is bracing for a winter storm. It's expected to dump more than a foot of snow on sections of Colorado and Utah today, then move east into the plains states through Christmas.

BlackBerry is back on after a severe service outage that lasted more than eight hours. The company estimates 100 percent of its customers in the United States and Canada lost e-mail and Internet service yesterday. No word on why.

Santa packing heat. Nashville police say a man wearing a Santa suit and dark sunglasses robbed a SunTrust bank demanding money from the teller at gunpoint. Now, according to a witness, the Santa explained he had to rob the bank to pay his elves.

Trying to find that last-minute gift, or are you just getting started? The time to buy is now!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Less than two days until Christmas, and you can imagine the chaos at the malls -- shoppers scrambling for last-minute buys.

And in the middle of it all, our Morgan Neill. He is actually in London.

Morgan, first of all, you're in London. Where are you exactly? And I'm expecting you're going to share with us a story of long lines and people taking advantage of deep discount pricing.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, you sound like you've done this before. I'm actually in Selfridges department store here in central London, one of the city's busiest shopping districts, and really one of the busiest department stores you'll find in the city. Very well- known here.

And this has been expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year. I can tell you, on a normal day here, the store says they get about 30,000, 40,000 people. Well, yesterday, they had 100,000. Today, they say they may beat even that number.

And as you were pointing out, in the states, the day just after Thanksgiving is your biggest shopping day. Here, usually, it's the day after Christmas. That's when you see a lot of discounts, Boxing Day.

But last year we started to see that before Christmas, and around the country we're seeing a lot of that again this year as well. Retailers really hoping to take advantage this year and trying to boost this economy out of recession. The U.K., one of the world's last big economies yet to emerge.

Now to the nitty-gritty. The people who are out there in the streets today, there are lots of people crowding, and you can see certainly a lot of people here. And we talked to a few of them about what their experience has been like today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are sales already early this year. They may be because of the recession.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of my stuff is from sales.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeans for my brother and a camera lens in my bag.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Books, clothes, jewelry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to get a camcorder. We got everything else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clothes, shoes, perfume, DVDs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to find some more gifts before I go out tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEILL: Now, in the country, on the whole, some of the big sellers have been clothing stores have done well, bookstores have done well, as well as supermarkets. Now, here in particular, what we've heard are handbags, which you can see I'm in the handbag section here, scented candles, and some interesting novelty items, Tony -- Easy Snow (ph) and little helicopters that the kids really seem to love.

HARRIS: All right, Morgan. Do the right thing by your man in Atlanta here, all right? Those scented candles sound lovely.

NEILL: OK. I'll remember you, Tony.

HARRIS: Morgan, appreciate it. Thank you.

Is the anticipation eating away at you, or are you just dying to know what's in that box? On my blog, we are asking, "What's your all- time favorite holiday gift?"

Carol writes, "All-time favorite gift, a little red leather rocking chair when I was 6 in which I could rock my new baby sister. She is now Medicare eligible."

Chasterling (ph) says, "When I was 12 years old, I can remember wanting only one thing for Christmas, a stuffed Simpsons Maggie doll that you could only get from Burger King. I pulled the paper off and immediately started yelling, 'I got it! I finally got a Maggie doll!' Every now and then I'll pop in the old home movies from that Christmas and giggle at how excited I was."

Is that me with the hat and the -- you guys are just fools, man.

Jennifer says, "My favorite gift is not a material one. This year, my husband and I were given the greatest gift. After 10 years of trying to conceive, we are now expecting our first child through the miracles of IVF. Our hearts are filled with joy and love."

Terrific stuff.

We still want to hear from you. Just go to CNN.com/Tony. We will share more of your replies throughout the show.

Still to come, so, more of you are looking for adventure, and you're finding the Wild Wet so attractive, you're packing up and you're moving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The recession is having a big effect on states across the country. Population growth is stagnant as many Americans no longer have the flexibility to move. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on a new census survey.

Good morning, Susan. What do you have for us?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, since this is certainly a survey of big numbers, let's start with the biggest of all, Tony. There are now 307 million Americans. That, however, is up less than 1 percent from last year. It's the slowest growth rate this decade.

One thing of note is the growth in states that had been particularly booming have been hard hit. States like Arizona, California, Nevada, Florida, all of them are warm weather states, all of them are also at the centers for the housing crisis. So you're really seeing the migration of Americans affected from this census. People are stuck. They can't sell their homes and so they can't move. Three states actually showed a net loss of residents -- Michigan, Rhode Island and Maine. And Michigan and Rhode Island, as we've pointed out many times, have an unemployment rate higher than the national average, Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. So for those people who were able to move this past year, Susan, where did they go?

LISOVICZ: Well, they went west, young man.

States with the fastest growth rate, which is only around 2 percent, Wyoming, Utah, Texas, Colorado. These states all have an unemployment rate below the national average. Many western states like Texas didn't have a major housing bust, so that's another common denominator. In real numbers, Texas added the most, about 500,000.

This is, I guess, a preliminary report. The full survey is due out next year.

One thing that we did get today, a new report on housing. New home sales plunged more than 11 percent in November to a seven-month low. And just yesterday, Tony, you and I were talking about existing home sales which surged 7.5 percent.

I just want to point out one thing, in existing home sales, the biggest part of the housing market came in distressed sales, foreclosures. So you have a lot more of them with existing home sales. And you also have -- we're going into the slowest part of the year for housing market and a lot of folks know that that first-time homebuyer credit was extended, so we might see another wave of buying close to the expiration as we've seen so many times.

In the meantime, what you're seeing is -- well, the modest gains for the Dow have evaporated, slightly underwater. The Nasdaq is hanging on, up about half a percent, Tony. And I'll be back in the next hour.

HARRIS: Well, with that existing home sales number from yesterday, at least it looks like we're getting rid of some of that excess inventory, huh?

LISOVICZ: Very good point, because it is supply and demand, so you're seeing a lot of action on the low end, but the fact is, it is moving the inventory. We still have a lot of homes unsold, but we have fewer than we have had just this past -- just in this year, Tony.

HARRIS: That's right. OK, Susan, see you next hour. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

HARRIS: Doctors tired of dealing with insurance companies decide they're better off treating, yes, inmates. Health care behind bars at CNNMoney.com.

Five years after the tsunami in Thailand, one man counting his blessings. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Here's a little Christmas cheer for you from a CNN iReporter. iReporter Tom Murphine of Orange County, California, says there's nothing quite like a burst of youthful exuberance to warm up your holidays. Look out Rockettes, these pint-sized synchronized figure skaters getting it done.

Rob Marciano now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: All right, Rob, thank you, sir.

As the Senate moves closer to passing its health care bill, you still have plenty of questions and our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on our top stories now.

U.S. Investigators are headed to Jamaica to find out why this American Airlines 737 skidded off the runway after landing yesterday. Dozens of people were injured when the plane crashed through a fence and ended up on the beach front.

The parents at the center of the balloon boy hoax are in court this hour for a sentencing hearing. They could face two to three months in jail and more than $40,000 in restitution. They pled guilty last month to planning the stunt for a reality TV show.

Senator John Kerry's wife is being treated for breast cancer. Seventy-one-year-old Teresa Heinz says she was diagnosed after a mammogram in September. She is encouraging younger women to get annual exams despite new recommendations for less frequent checks.

The people on your list may be asking for Zhu-Zhu hamsters and Flip videos this holiday season, but if you want something a little less predictable, look to the Japanese. Kyung Lah has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Can't find anything for that impossible to buy for person this holiday? How about a $60 gift that brings you back to the womb. Well, a little higher.

(on camera): What is this?

SVEN KILIAN-NAKAMURA, JAPANTRENDS.COM: It's a breast pillow.

LAH: A breast pillow?

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Yes, for a man or also for women to rest comfortably between the two breasts.

LAH (voice-over): Only in Japan can you find a Samurai umbrella and Samurai underwear, a device records what you say backwards, or this dog bank. For just $50 it eats even more of your hard-earned cash.

(on camera): So the point of this is to encourage you to save this holiday.

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Right, right, right, right.

LAH (voice-over): Sven Kilian-Nakamura from Japantrends.com tracks Japan's whacky inventions and sells his favorites to customers around the world primarily to the U.S. and Europe. From sort of high tech like this home fireworks projector, to toilet tech, one for the girls...

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Replicates the sound of water flushing.

LAH: ... and this $78 stool for the guys.

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: You can still be a man and don't have to sit down on the toilet so you can still kind of stand, but you can mask your noise again by being very close to the toilet.

LAH: Japan may be a buttoned-up society, but when it comes to the gadgets, it's a free-for-all.

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: People easily in the States or in Europe, they say like oh, that's stupid, that's completely useless and they of kind of like push it down in value. But in Japan you don't this hear these kid of talks, people are very open.

LAH: To all sorts of head-scratching ideas.

(on camera): Oh, so it's like scratching the head.

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Yes.

Right now it looks like a normal pillow, but if I go on this one and I snore, it starts vibrating. It disturbs your sleep, but it lets the next to you person maybe sleep eventually.

LAH: So this is a gift you buy for somebody else.

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Yes, definitely.

LAH (voice-over): As the world's most annoying clock says...

KILIAN-NAKAMURA: Last thing, why do you do this?

(LAUGHTER)

LAH: ... this holiday, from Japan, sometimes it is better to give than receive.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Good stuff.

So what's the best gift you've ever received? That's what we're asking at my blog.

Holly writes, "When I was five years old my mom and brother built me a beautiful dollhouse by hand, complete with roof shingles, even thinking of it now makes me all giddy. Still my favorite gift 25 years later."

John says, "I just received it on Friday. We paid off our mortgage! Whoo-hoo!"

And Mike says, "A Daisy Red Rider BB gun. And, yes, I almost shot my eye out several times." Of course, Mike is referring to the classic movie "A Christmas Story."

(VIDEO CLIP, "A CHRISTMAS STORY")

HARRIS: Good stuff. We hope you get everything you want just like Ralphy did, even though he shot his eye out. Still want to hear from you, just go to CNN.com/Tony and we will share some of your responses, your faves next hour.

Here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

Mexico kills one of its most wanted drug loaders. A week later, family members of a marine involved in the operation are gunned down. Is it retaliation by the cartel? We will have a live report.

Plus, al Qaeda's new safe haven. Find out where the terrorist organization is expanding and how the world is reacting. Is it the site of the next big war?

That and more coming up next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you even republicans say the Senate health care bill is headed for final approval tomorrow, but they're not backing off their criticism of the legislation.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is also a physician, he outlined his problems with the bill on CNN's "CAMPBELL BROWN" with Ali Velshi filling in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: The bill is going to pass the Senate this week before Christmas, there's no question about that. Does that mean this bill will become law? No, it doesn't.

And everything we've done has been able to teach the American people what is in here. We still don't know everything. My staff has been going over this thing for four days, the new amendment, and we're finding new things every day. And yet, we voted the first vote 30 hours after it was introduced. So 2,700 pages of legislation, you have to make a decision on with a 400-page amendment that affects the whole -- the first 2,100, you have to make a decision. That's the worst way in the world I can think to pass legislation.

So, what is the reason we're doing it this fast? We're doing it for a political reason. We want to pass a bill to say we passed a bill, not because it's in the best long-term interests and doing the best, right thing for America.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Senator...

COBURN: And as a physician -- Ali, let me just say this.

VELSHI: Sure.

COBURN: As a physician, I despise half the insurance companies that my patients have. I want to fix what's wrong with the insurance industry, but the government isn't the answer to replacing the insurance agencies with the government. I want to tell you, have a whole lot more problems with Medicaid and Medicare in my practice than do with the insurances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK, the final vote is set for tomorrow 8:00 a.m., Christmas Eve. We know a lot of you are wondering how this bill might change the quality of care you'll receive if it passes. So, we're asking our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, to answer your questions.

Becky writes, "My daughter just turned 25 and she is a student. She is getting kicked off of her father's health insurance plan. We will have to pay $415 a month in COBRA. I heard this new plan will cover her until the age of 26."

Sanjay, is that true?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, thanks a lot for that question. It's really the case of good news/bad news here when it comes to people precisely in your position.

First of all, the good news is, and I've talked about this quite a bit, is the idea that people will be able to stay on their parents' insurance programs a little bit longer, really up to the age of 26. You are 25, soon to be 26, so you may benefit from that depending on when your birthday is.

The harder news and I think what will change probably most for someone like you is that by the year 2014, you're going to need to have health care insurance. You can't be one of the young invincibles who has sort of has not gotten it over time. What we know now, at least initially, there's going to be a penalty associated with not having health insurance, about $95. That's in the year 2014, by the year 2016 it will go up to $715. That's important to keep in mind. Some people are going to be able to get what is known as hardship exemptions. You may fall into that category depending on your work situation. If your insurance policy costs 8 percent or more of your total annual income, you can get one of those hardship exemptions. So that's something to keep in mind, but again, 2014, you're going to need to have insurance or you'll pay a penalty.

See if I can get to one more question here. "If I have a current health plan that is too expensive, will I be able to find a more affordable but equal plan?"

What your question is really driving at is, where will health care costs be a few years from now. Some people believe as a result of this entire bill and the reforms that will take place that there is going to be a bending of the cost curve downward. Some people believe it will happen soon, some people believe it will happen later and there's a whole lot of people think it's not going to happen, health care costs would go up and that could directly affect you.

Now as far as the public exchange, something that, you know, private companies compete with nonprofit companies to try and drive down premiums, you may not be a candidate for that, and that's part of the issue here. People who are going to be qualifying for this public exchange are people who are self-employed, small business owners, and people who are not getting insurance through their employer and only make a certain income, below 400 percent of the poverty level.

So that's really important to keep in mind. And also keep in mind, you know, we're talking about the Senate bill overall, many of the reforms aren't really going to take effect until 2014. So a little bit of help there, a little bit of a better understanding as well. We're going to keep on this certainly over the next several days.

Back to you for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right, appreciate it. Sanjay, thank you.

A beautiful memory from a tragic story. Remembering the Thailand tsunami five years later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Remembering the tsunami of 2004, its monster waves killing more than 200,000 people just after Christmas. Among those lucky enough to survive is Kalle Widelius, one of our "Faces of the Story" today. He talked to CNN's Dan Rivers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sara Touray (ph) and her boyfriend, Kalle Widelius, were enjoying the holiday of a lifetime on Piki (ph) Island in December of 2004. KALLE WIDELIUS, THAILAND TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: I mean, it was a pure paradise, and when I met Sara, I decided I had to bring her there to show her the most wonderful -- one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

RIVERS: The day after Christmas, Kalle decided to shoot a video of Sara as the sea mysteriously retreated.

WIDELIUS: The water just grabbed my ankles, and there was this huge pressure. I'd never felt anything like it. It was as if someone was trying to pull me out in the ocean.

So I'm more or less telling Sara, come up, get out of the water, and let's go to the other side of the island, because something's weird here.

We started walking towards the other side of the island, and the faster we walked, the more water comes after us. And then we started to, you know, run slowly, and the water just chased us. And then we, you know -- seconds later we ran for our lives.

At one point when I'm -- I'm telling Sara to run straight towards the other side. And thank God she told me, run towards the hotel instead.

And when we came in there, I remember seeing luggage just floating around, and more and more water was just coming from everywhere. And this was the point where everything started to be real scary.

Sara told me, let's just go upstairs. Just when we reached the top floor there, the whole ground just -- everything came with a bang. And there was, like -- it felt like an earthquake because everything shook, and it was a tremendous sound.

You couldn't see anything of the island. Small -- small houses just collapsed.

And a boat is coming from the -- from one side to the other. It just passing the island. And -- and I remember just, oh, hell.

RIVERS: The tsunami brought Kalle and Sara close to death, but it was also a life-changing experience.

WIDELIUS: Well, I -- I said to Sara, I whispered in her ear, that if we would make it, make it down alive, let's get married when we get back home. Today, we have two beautiful kids as well, Lydia and Sexton (ph) and two and a half years old and one years old today, and life is quite strange. This is a really -- a really tragic story, but we have some kind of beautiful memory from it as well.

RIVERS: Today, there is little trace of the disaster on Thailand's holiday islands, but those awful images and memories will live forever in the minds of people like Kalle who fought to survive the tsunami.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Kopipi, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)