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American Morning
Obama in Japan; Beast Of A Merger; White Pages Going Away; New Michael Jackson Song; Bernie Madoff's Belongings To Be Auctioned Off; New Mechanical Suits Gives Wearer Enhanced Strength; Saying No to Body Scans; Mysterious Vapor Trail
Aired November 12, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the 8:00 hour here in New York in AMERICAN MORNING. It's Friday, November 12th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. Here's what we're talking about this morning.
The backslash against the body scanner, passengers, pilots, flight attendants, all slamming the new very transparent security at airports. Many are urged to opt out and create a monumental backup on the busiest travel day of them all, day before Thanksgiving. We'll hear from the man who's trying to get them out of airports just ahead.
CHETRY: Markets in Shanghai plunging overnight, Ireland may need a bailout and the Euro is dropping fast. So are we about to feel the pain here in the states as well? Christine Romans is here "MINDING YOUR BUSINESS."
ROBERTS: And it's 3,300 Carnival cruise line passengers back on dry land this morning. A lot of them are steamed. They say they were never told about the engine room fire that crippled their ship and left them stranded at sea for four days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUIS HORACE, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: They told us on the ship was that it was a flameless fire and I don't understand what that means because wherever there's smoke there's fire. They said that the aft motor had caught afire I guess or, they said it was a flameless fire, electrical wires that went out, and eventually that got into the forward engine, which then cut all of the power to the entire ship. That's what they told us with a flameless fire is what they told us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: I wonder what that fellow in the background is yelling about.
Carnival Cruise officials haven't commented about this flameless fire at this point, but it sure has raised a lot of intrigue.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, happening, President Obama on the final leg of his 10-day trip to Asia. He arrived in Japan earlier this morning to attend the Asia Pacific summit.
ROBERTS: The agenda there is going to be much the same as it was at the just concluded G-20 talks in Seoul: global trade and economic growth.
CNN's Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul.
And, so far, things haven't been going exactly well for the president.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, for the whole meeting, really, expectations were pretty low and there was a case to be made that if you don't expect too much, then you can't be that disappointed.
But I think that the U.S. president would be fairly disappointed by what's happened, over the past couple of days. He didn't manage to secure that deal with South Korea that was widely expected. And there has been some criticism of the final communique that came out this Friday.
Now, what Mr. Obama did say is that there was a hard-won consensus he called when it came to global decisions on the economic recovery.
Also, the leaders did agree to not intentionally devalue their own currencies. This is going back to the U.S. criticism of China having such an artificially low currency which helps their exports and hurts other countries.
So, at this point, experts are saying, the principles are good but will they take the actual steps that they need to over the next six months or so, so that this will actually work in practice?
CHETRY: Paula, British Prime Minister David Cameron was also overheard cracking some jokes at the G-20. Tell us about that.
HANCOCKS: That's right, yes. This is my prime minister. In fact, very proud of him. What he said to leaders when he got here was, quote, "everyone else has come to Korea for a summit or business meeting. I've come just for a good night's sleep."
Now, of course, he has a 3-month-old daughter. He was just a second prime minister in Britain to actually have a child during his premiership. And he said that he's just enjoying the fact that he can have a sleep all the way through the day.
Of course, he did talk about more serious issues as well. But this is the one we're talking about. This is the part that made headlines.
CHETRY: And, you know, because everyone's been there, and you kind of get where he's coming from. Paula Hancocks for us this morning -- thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, there are serious headlines coming into us just now. Markets in Shanghai plunged overnight, a lot of jitters this morning. Ireland's economy might need a bailout and the euro dropping like a rock at $1.36 American.
CHETRY: Well, Christine Romans is here minding all of this for us. Dow Futures as well down.
So, what's going on?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Dow Futures aren't down as much as they were earlier. A couple of hours ago, they were looking for a triple-digit decline on the Dow -- but now, maybe down 40 points. We'll keep watching. You know, this -- next hour and a half will be critical for how the Dow will open here.
But what we're talking about is in China, many people are expecting China to raise interest rates, trying to stave off inflation, a bubble there. Many people are feeling lots of different bubbles in the Chinese market. So, they're worried about China putting the brakes on.
China has been the global driver of growth. That means if China puts the brakes on, what does it mean for everyone else?
Also, concerns about Ireland and its ability to pay back its debt.
And lingering concerns this morning still about the U.S. economy and how well QE2, quantitative easing, the Fed's stimulus, will be working to try to get the U.S. economy going again. So, a lot of those same concerns kind of bubbling again this morning even as the president is in the region.
ROBERTS: It's really incredible how much things change over the course of just a couple of days, because earlier this week, Wall Street was all happy about the Fed stimulus.
ROMANS: Well, they were happy because they saw all this money come -- they expect all this money to come rushing into the system and they think it's going to go into the stock market. Today, they're taking a bigger look. This is the way a stock market works, right? I mean, it goes back and forth.
But there are still a lot of concerns and jitters out there watching China. China's the driver today. Shanghai stocks down 5 percent.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see what happens. Christine Romans, thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: You will notice, too, that she's wearing sunny yellow on the outside, but underneath is a black dress. So, two shades of Christine Romans this morning.
CHETRY: Well, the rebellion that could mess up your holiday travel plans, the backlash against the TSA's new full body scanners growing this morning. Pilots' unions are now urging members to avoid full body scanning at airports, calling the screenings both a health risk and intrusive.
ROBERTS: And now, a group of flight attendants is planning a day of protest. It comes at a time when it could have maximum impact -- no mistake -- before Thanksgiving, to create a travel nightmare that the feds cannot ignore. We spoke with the man who's suing the TSA, trying to get the body scanners pulled out of airports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What's your beef with these scanners?
MARC ROTENBERG, EXEC. DIR., ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: Well, John, I think the basic problem is the agency doesn't have the legal authority to put these devices in the airports. We understand the need for airport security, but it was a very big step they took when they decided to make the body scanners the primary screening technique. And that's what we're objecting to.
ROBERTS: There's some question, too, Marc, just how effective these machines are and could they have detected the type of explosive that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to employ on Christmas Day last year. What are your thoughts on that?
ROTENBERG: Well, that's actually a critical question, John. I think it's one of the reasons we feel most strongly about the need to suspend the program. If we thought it was effective that it really would guarantee the safety of travelers, we'd have a very different view.
But, you see, before we filed this lawsuit, we filed another lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, and we actually obtained the technical specifications for the devices. And we looked at the specifications, talked to the experts, and we all reached the same conclusion. These devices are not designed to detect the type of powder explosive PETN that was used by Abdulmutallab and others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, we'll see where it goes. But this day of protest -- if people actually did that, can you imagine the nightmare that the travel at airports will become?
CHETRY: Yes. It will be interesting to see. There's also as a group of business people that want to sit down with the homeland security secretary, as well to talk this out. They're facing a lot of pressure and a lot of pushback on this scanning, which is interesting because a year ago most people seemed for it -- perhaps when it was just an idea, not actually being used at airport.
ROBERTS: Yes, the idea and the practical application sometimes can be two different things.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, it's seven minutes past the hour -- time for us to get a check of the weather, just in time for the weekend. Reynolds Wolf joins us from the extreme weather center.
Hey, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. You know, if you want to deal with the airports, you can always drive.
If you happen to be driving across parts of the Midwest, the western Great Lakes, it is going to be very tough going into this weekend. First real snowfall of the season is coming in anywhere from two to eight inches of snowfall in parts of (INAUDIBLE) Minnesota. But when you get to the west of Minneapolis, then back into Iowa, it's where the snow really begins to pile up.
So, if you got to go get the ice scraper out of your closet or maybe get that snow blower out, get ready for it -- this is maybe the weekend that you are going to use it. But that's coming later on this weekend.
Right now, what we have got are some scattered showers and a little bit of snow mixed in -- the snow not further to the north but rather out towards the west, say, in Amarillo this morning. They'll have rain drops first, even a boom of thunder. And now, it's also switching over to snow. That might last at least through midmorning, maybe by noon and then fizzle out. One to three inches of snow fall possible on the ground before all is said and done.
In terms of you national forecast, well, we've got again a few delays that are expected in Boston due to the wind and New York, same situation. Anywhere from a 30-minute to a possibly full hour wait. Minneapolis, right now, we've got a 15 to 30-minute delay but we might see that really begin to mount up as the rain continues and possibly the snow into the weekend, we could see those delays extend quite a bit.
So, sure enough, people are getting ready and eager to travel and as it always happens, the weather starts to become a little more tumultuous for travelers. So, be patient. Be safe.
Let's send it back to you.
ROBERTS: Wait for the first blizzard.
WOLF: Always a good time. We'll be there for it.
ROBERTS: Yes. Reynolds, thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, remember when you were happy just to get one across the classroom? Check this out. Three British amateur science geeks were able to launch a paper plane into space. The plane was taken up on a balloon 17 miles up, then the balloon burst, releasing a plane and a camera which took some incredible pictures and then the paper plane landed in one piece in Spain.
ROBERTS: Wow. That's pretty amazing.
Well, when you look at this video, you are going to want to laugh or at the very least chuckle. You really are. I mean, you can feel like it's a little mean to laugh at the misfortune of others here. You don't want to be too rude (ph).
But when you look at these young ladies, these high school girls trying to do the hurdles, you can't really help. This is going viral on the Web, of course. As they try to leap over the hurdles.
Nobody was hurt here we should say, except maybe their pride a little bit. Of course, the whole thing put to music and --
CHETRY: Well, that looks like it hurt. That looks like it hurt.
ROBERTS: Well, nobody was seriously hurt. Inevitably to all of the -- whoops! YouTube remixes are coming up on this, as well.
CHETRY: Once you trip over the first couple, it is just -- you can't really -
ROBERTS: You just -- you lose your rhythm and then you're just done.
CHETRY: Yes, wow.
Well, mayo sandwiches, cold showers in the dark -- finally, the passengers off of that stranded cruise ship, but they're telling their stories. Up next: one couple whose luggage ended up in the water, soaking their medications, ruining their clothes, and that's even before the engine fire.
Ten minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes after the hour.
Passengers on that Carnival cruise ship that was stranded at sea for four days say they were kept in the dark by the crew. And now that everyone's back on terra firma, we're finding out that passengers were never told about the engine room fire that left them stranded for four days.
Listen to this. It's the cruise's public address announcement on home video that was shot moments after the fire broke out on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We have a smoke situation. Lots of smoke in the engine control areas. You are all smelling that smoke if you're on deck one, two possibly near six, as well and if you're on the back of the ship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the smoke situation, that's all passengers were told. They did say that they didn't find out just how serious the fire was until they actually got off the ship yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just now they actually told us there was a fire on the boat.
REPORTER: You did not know there was a fire on the boat until now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
REPORTER: So, what did they tell you why that the boat suddenly stopped, you know, on your excursion?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never told us what the issue was but there was smoke. There's lots of smoke.
MARQUIS HORACE, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: They told us on the ship was that it was a flameless fire and I don't understand what that means because wherever there's smoke there's fire. They said that the aft motor had caught afire I guess or, they said it was a flameless fire, electrical wires that went out, and eventually that got into the forward engine, which then cut all of the power to the entire ship. That's what they told us with a flameless fire is what they told us.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
CHETRY: Well, so, this certainly wasn't exactly the luxury cruise that they signed up for.
While transportation officials investigate the fire that crippled the Carnival cruise ship Splendor, we're going to find out what it was like to be onboard.
And our next guests were passengers Cynthia and Maurice Harold who join us live from San Diego this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
CYNTHIA HAROLD, PASSENGER ON CARNIVAL SPLENDOR: Thank you for having us.
MAURICE HAROLD, PASSENGER ON CARNIVAL SPLENDOR: You're welcome. Thank you.
CHETRY: Before this even started, Maurice, and you guys were planning this for over a year, Cynthia's 60th birthday, your 35th wedding anniversary. You were excited. But you guys had it rough from the very beginning. They somehow dropped your luggage in the water? What happened at the beginning?
M. HAROLD: Yes. We really didn't realize that it was our luggage until late evening.
C. HAROLD: Yes. Some of our friends, some of the people that we were traveling with, they told us that they had seen luggage overboard, and one of the ladies that was with us, I said, all of a sudden I felt like I had lost something. And I did. I lost all of my clothes. And by the time we did get the rest -- the three packages -- I mean, the three suitcases that we did get, they were soaked. I mean, they were literally soaked.
CHETRY: That's unbelievable.
C. HAROLD: Yes, it was very traumatic, yes, yes.
CHETRY: And worse for you, too, Cynthia. You had medication. You had to take medication for your heart and for blood pressure issues. And you also need an oxygen machine for sleep apnea and there was no electricity. So, this for you was became a health scare, as well. How did you manage?
C. HAROLD: It really did because I haven't really slept since I left Virginia Beach. That has been the biggest issue because that anxiety of not being able to sleep because I stop breathing. It was pretty scary, pretty traumatic for me to not be able to sleep and not be able to use my machine. So, as soon as I got to San Diego, oh, like, OK, I'm going to have some good sleep. So, that was pretty scary for me.
CHETRY: Yes, and what about the medication issue?
C. HAROLD: Well, I know that I should not be taken the medication after it's gone in the sea. But it's for, as I was concerned, it was much better for me to have some type of medication with the danger of it being polluted or contaminated after being in the ocean. But, for me, it was better to have my medication than not have my medication. So, I've taken what I could, retrieve some of it, I couldn't. But the most important ones like, you know, for my heart and for my blood pressure.
Those were the ones that I actually kept. Because they were most important to me to keep, you know, that -- keep my anxiety down, to keep any kind of rhythm problem. You know, I wanted to keep all of that at bay as much as I could. So, I was taken the risk of taking the medication.
CHETRY: And Maurice --
C. HAROLD: I know next time not to pack it.
CHETRY: I know. Carry it with you, right, if you can. Maurice --
C. HAROLD: Exactly, exactly.
CHETRY: Did they help you, guys, get clothes? Did they try to help you, guys, out with your situation?
M. HAROLD: Well, to be honest with you, they wanted to, but the little store that they have on the ship just -- they're for little people.
(LAUGHTER)
C. HAROLD: For little people an it's beach wear.
Yes. They tried to. They just didn't have, you know, anything to really pick me up, say.
C. HAROLD: Yes.
M. HAROLD: They gave me a few little things to wear around for a day or so, but I wasn't pleased with it, but that's all I had.
CHETRY: I understand. I mean, you guys -- I feel bad. I mean, you're celebrating a birthday. You're celebrating this big anniversary. You think you're going to get to do something fun, and it does not seem like it was pleasant at all for you guys. Now, of course, we know Carnival's claimed that they're going to reimburse -- well, they say they're going to reimburse all the passengers for the cost of this one plus offer a free replacement trip. Would you, guys, ever do that again? Would you ever get back on a cruise ship?
C. HAROLD: I would hope so. But right now, I would say no. But I would hope so. I hope that I will feel OK about going out again. It really was -- it was very traumatic. I mean, it was scary. Not having your own stuff. And it was scary not knowing exactly what was going on --
CHETRY: Right.
C. HAROLD: For those days. And being, you know, so -- as Americans being so addicted to power that not having that electricity. So, it was pretty traumatic. It was a scary situation.
CHETRY: Understandable.
C. HAROLD: And then not knowing, you know, the severity of all of that.
CHETRY: And Maurice, your daughter --
C. HAROLD: So, hopefully, I will go.
CHETRY: I was just going to -- Maurice, she says you guys are not going to be taking a cruise. She doesn't want you on another cruise, but she also said that she's possibly thinking about suing Carnival. Would you guys take legal action?
C. HAROLD: I don't know. I have a daughter that really -- does her best to take care of us and protect us. So, I'm sure that is her way of protecting us. And I'm not sure, you know, how we will handle this. It has a lot to do with how Carnival attempts to compensate us for the trauma that we experienced.
CHETRY: Right.
C. HAROLD: Because it really was traumatic, yes. It really was.
CHETRY: Well, you guys, seem to have a --
M. HAROLD: And I would like to say --
CHETRY: Go ahead.
M. HAROLD: Yes. I would like to say, you know, thinking about this, the people on the "Titanic" would have loved for this to be the only problem.
C. HAROLD: True, true.
M. HAROLD: So --
CHETRY: So, you have a good attitude about it.
C. HAROLD: Just look at it, you know -- yes, yes. We're trying. You know? And trying to enjoy ourselves at the same time. We've really planned this. We have a lot to celebrate. So, we think we'll stay out in San Diego for a couple of days so that we can still celebrate whatever, you know, time we have left.
CHETRY: Well, you guys --
C. HAROLD: We just have to smile about it. God's been good.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, you, guys, are a really great couple. Congratulations on making it 35 years and happy birthday to you. And I hope you, guys, get to have some fun out of this. Cynthia Harold and Maurice Harold, thanks so much.
C. HAROLD: Thank you.
M. HAROLD: Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: And if they're interested, I know a fabulous restaurant in downtown San Diego that serves an amazing Spam sandwich.
Betty White has finally achieved her lifelong dream, and it's nothing to do with winning another acting awards. Yes, the acting legend is now is a forest ranger. Details coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Here's some of the stories they got us talking in the newsroom this morning.
The merger of the "Beast" and "Newsweek." "Newsweek" joining forces with the Daily Beast, it's the online media site, to form the "Newsweek" "Daily Beast" company. The "Daily Beast" announced it by saying we're getting hitched. And also the current editor in chief of "The Beast," Tina Brown, will be in charge of both staffs.
ROBERTS: It's interesting. Tina Brown back in the magazine business again.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Throw them away with the phone booths. Phone companies are now fighting to stop mass producing the white pages. They say most people just go to Google now anyways, and it'll help the environment. All these trees they got cut down to produce the books, and bottom lines, by saving on all that paper and ink. The pass month alone, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida told Verizon it's OK to stop delivering the white pages to residential areas.
CHETRY: And the first official single for Michael Jackson since his death will be released Monday morning. The name of the song "Hold My Hand" is a duet with Akon. It was leaked on the web back in 2008. Epic Records says that Akon went back into the studio to finish it. The entire new album named "Michael" will be released on December 14th.
ROBERTS: She dresses the turkey for dinner, and she sauces them up before she offs them? Martha Stewart told Stephen Colbert that she treats her birds to one last drink before they become the feast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST: How many turkeys are you responsible for killing?
MARTHA STEWART, HOST: This year, six.
COLBERT: Six. Have you ever killed one with your bare hands?
STEWART: Oh, yes.
COLBERT: Really? Have you watched -- literally the light drain out of its eyes?
STEWART: I give them -- you know, these little bottles of like cognac and bourbon that are on the airplanes?
COLBERT: Mini bottles we call them.
STEWART: Yes. Mini bottles. Well, before the bird is slaughtered --
COLBERT: You get the bird drunk? Do you have your way with the bird?
STEWART: No.
COLBERT: No?
STEWART: No.
COLBERT: Just a way to stuff it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, I guess, they were saying to be humane. To let them have one last drink and -- be a little drunk before they --
ROBERTS: It's only fair that you allow the turkey one last drink.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: It's probably the first drink that turkey's ever had.
CHETRY: Probably.
ROBERTS: First and last.
CHETRY: Unless, they're Martha's turkeys. I mean, you get sauced up every night.
Well, America's favorite golden girl living the dream. Betty White is now an honorary U.S. forest ranger. The 88-year-old actress says she's wanted to be a ranger since she was a little girl. Back then, no girls allowed.
ROBERTS: Oh. She's going to do it all, and she's going to live to be 120, as well.
Well, you want to feel like a tycoon? If (INAUDIBLE) skimmer, Bernie Madoff's boxers or its intimate treasures, boxer shorts, bling, all for sale. Christine Romans joins us coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And we're crossing the half hour right now. It's time to take a look at our top stories.
President Obama arriving in Japan this morning. It's the final leg of the ten-day Asia trip. Earlier in Seoul, he wrapped up the G- 20 talks. The president said that his top priority, preserving middle class tax cuts. He denied that comments by senior adviser, David Axelrod, suggest he's caving in to Republicans who also want tax cuts extended for the wealthy.
ROBERTS: Yahoo! Is dismissing a report that says it plans to cut 20 percent of its work force. The company calls the report on the blog, TechCrunch, quote, "misleading and inaccurate. They're not ruling lay outs, though. Yahoo! statement says it's always evaluating expenses to align with company's financial goals.
CHETRY: And the 3,300 Carnival cruise passengers back on land this morning. Some of them are angry, some of them taking it in stride. But a few of them say they were never told about the engine room fire that crippled their ship and left them stranded at sea for four days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN KING, CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: Just now they told us there was a fire on the boat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did not know there was a fire on the boat until now?
KING: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did they tell you why that the boat suddenly stopped, you know, on your excursion?
KING: They never told us what the issue was. All they told us was there was smoke. There's lots of smoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Carnival cruise officials have not yet commented about how forthcoming the crew was with the passengers.
ROBERTS: To the highest bidder goes the spoils of Bernie Madoff's lavish lifestyle. Some of the notorious Ponzi schemer's personal items going on the auction block tomorrow.
CHETRY: Christine Romans is here. She's minding your business with a preview.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning you guys. It was two years ago next month that we all learned who Bernie Madoff was. He became a household name, the biggest Ponzi schemer in history.
And now two years later auctioning off all of his stuff so that you can have a piece of the Madoff fraud if you like. Let's take a look at the auction block in New York this weekend. It's the biggest fraud in history.
He's serving 150 years in prison for ripping off people to the tune of some $5.5 billion. If you would like a piece of his rock, it is a humongous 10.5-carat diamond ring. It is the big ticket item -- F in color, extremely fine proportions we're told, and $350,000 is what they're expecting to get from this.
"Play it again, Bernie," on a Steinway and Sons piano. This includes the piano bench, some $16,000 they're expecting to fetch from this one. Each of these is handcrafted, takes up to a year to make. This one is from 1917. I don't know if Bernie personally played it, or if he could play piano, but we know that he surrounded himself by very fine things that other people paid for.
Here's something I think goes in the priceless category. This is Bernie Madoff's shoes, 18 pairs of men's Belgian shoes. Mr. Casual is the style size 9 wide. And after a long day of stealing billions, you want to sit back, kick off the Belgian shoes and put on a nice pair of velvet slippers that says BLM in red velvet on the inside, size eight- and-a-half.
We're not told how much to get for the slippers, you guys. But Slippers, I mean, somebody to buy the slippers, his boxer shorts, maybe a pair of the shoes he's walked in that may or may not have his sweat in them --
CHETRY: Thank you for that visual.
ROMANS: Just saying, you know, you clearly want a piece of history. And I don't know if you're willing to pay up for something like that but there you go.
ROBERTS: The piano, the ring, maybe something like this.
ROMANS: That ring is really huge. They got about $900,000 from the first auction of his stuff. But we also know they sold his penthouse and they sold his house at Montauk and his boats. He liked the bull motif and a lot of things of a bull. Bull for the markets or for what he was full of.
ROBERTS: What they're selling.
ROMANS: I'm not sure. But yes. A lot of bulls sold. A lot of bull tied to Bernie Madoff. There you go. Can you believe it's two years? December 11th, 2008, the middle of a financial crisis, a good old American scam comes up. There you go.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
CHETRY: Half man, half robot -- future soldiers wearing a metal iron man suit designed to give them super strength. They can lift 200-pounds weights lover and over again and not break a sweat, punch through three-inch wood planks. How does it work? We'll show you coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: That song will haunt my dreams.
ROBERTS: She was getting into the music, don't you think?
CHETRY: Lexi? She usually wears the Black Sabbath T-shirt under her pink sweaters.
ROBERTS: Give us one of these.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Outfitting soldiers like super heroes. Thank you, she's very sweet and a little shy. Now she's -- now the world's seen her.
ROBERTS: Now she's embarrassed on national television.
CHETRY: I hear the giggling. We told you about this yesterday. It's one of "TIME" magazine's 50 best innovations of 2010. It is an iron man suit -- pretty cool.
ROBERTS: If you've seen the movie "Aliens" or "Avatar," where else? They were used somewhere else, too.
CHETRY: Transformers?
ROMANS: No, they were machines. Iron man suit, it's like a skeleton you put on that's super strong. It's a suit that could revolutionize the field of battle or the very least the loading dock. CNN's Chris Lawrence got a chance to test out this high-tech armor. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Rick Jameson, -- it's got a Tony Stark is Iron Man sort of ring to it. It's a contracting company, Jameson works for one. Raytheon's test engineer is no playboy billionaire. Married, three kids, just maybe wearing the prototype for future soldiers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't fly. That seems to be the big thing that iron man's does.
LAWRENCE (on camera): If you're Tony Stark, I mean, where's the sports cars, the scantily-clad women, the penthouse, all that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I roll in a minivan, man. It reacts to the force of the feet. It reacts immediately.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Granted, the XOS-2 is dead weight until it's juiced by outside power. Then the hydraulic fluid starts pumping. Steel and aluminum arms make everything lighter.
LAWRENCE (on camera): So this 200 pounds feels like --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than 20 pounds. The weight of my arms does most of the work. You don't have an immense feeling of strength. It's when you go to do something you couldn't do it without it, and then that's when you notice it.
LAWRENCE: This is probably three inches of pine thick enough to hold up a second story of a house. I'm not even going to tell you how much that hurt.
(LAUGHTER)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): But here's where fictional meets functional. Iron Man can fly and shoot repulser rays out of his hands. This suit is still tethered to its power source. Mobile batteries either don't last long enough or can't be strapped to a soldier's body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They get breached, they aren't gentle in the way they explode. LAWRENCE (on camera): So for safety, liability reasons, they can't power up the suit with me in it. But I've got to feel what it's like inside. Without the hydraulics, the first thing you notice is how heavy this is. I mean, it's tough to take a step forward. But I still feel like I've got my dexterity, the range of motion.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): That's important to supply units where being tethered to a power source wouldn't matter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The logistic personnel move 16,000 pounds a day which is an awful lot of load.
LAWRENCE: And the suit can keep lifting for hours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things that would just destroy your back, this thing picks it up so problem.
LAWRENCE: Today's troops carry up to 150 pounds in Afghanistan. But the suit can make armor and equipment feel 17 times lighter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That means that you exert one pound and it exerts 17. That's a major amplification of strength. And that's all load that the person doesn't have to carry themselves.
LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: The coolest part is when you put it on, that music automatically plays. "Iron Man" plays the entire time.
ROBERTS: It is nothing short of incredible. If they could find a way to get it un-tethered from the umbilical cord, wow, the possibilities are endless.
CHETRY: Yes, those batteries.
ROBERTS: Put a mini gun on that thing.
CHETRY: It could fly.
ROBERTS: "Matrix," that was the other movie I was thinking of, "Matrix Revolutions" when they put on the weapon suits.
CHETRY: I didn't see that one.
ROBERTS: Going out there to fight the sentinels.
(LAUGHTER)
That's a little too much information, right?
CHETRY: All right, if you like that kind of stuff, you love it.
Warm temps in the east plus we're tracking a storm in the Midwest that could bring some flash flooding. Reynolds Wolf has your weekend forecast coming up. It's 41 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Waking up the president with the kid this morning in Washington, where right now it's fair and 42 degrees. Later on today it will be a little bit warmer than it has been for most of the week, sunny and 62.
CHETRY: Nice weather out there except it's in the country's mid section dealing with a line of storms. Reynolds Wolf is breaking it all down for us this morning.
(WEATHER BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Waking up the president with "The Kid" this morning in Washington where right now it's fair and 42 degrees. Later on today, it'll be a little bit warmer than it has been for most of the week, sunny and 62 degrees.
CHETRY: Nice weather out there except in the country's mid- section where they are dealing with a line of storms.
Reynolds Wolf is breaking it all down for us this morning. Hey, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys.
Let's start about what's going to happen right now, then we're going to tell you (ph) what's going to happen later on today and then we're going to fast-forward into the weekend. But first and foremost, it's all rain and even a touch of snow right now. As we zoom in on a couple of spots, especially back to the western Great Lakes in Madison, Wisconsin clear down to Kansas City. Mainly rain for the time being but over at Amarillo, Texas, you had showers first but then now some snow developing as that cold air mixes in and also possibly one to three inches of snowfall on that part of the world as we make way through the midday hours.
In terms of your temperatures, 57 degrees the high expected for New England and Orlando but we have lots of mid-70s; Portland and Phoenix also very nice, the temperatures mainly ranging from the 50s all the way to the 70s. San Francisco mainly into the low 60s; 51 for Wichita; same story as you head down to, say, Oklahoma City, a lot of rain expected there for today.
Now, if you have an idea of what is happening, what may happen later on today and what may happen into the weekend is this. This area of low pressure is going to tap into a couple of things. Plenty of moisture coming in from the Great Lakes and from the Gulf of Mexico and on the backside of that, we've got cold air. That combination of the cold air at the surface, the overrunning moisture is going to give you a couple of things. That big thing is going to give you some possibly heavy snowfall, up to a foot possible for the Twin Cities, farther up to the north, near say, Thunder Bay, possibly two to eight inches of snow.
Now, in terms of what that going to means for you today, right now not much; we don't even have many delays. However, as we make our way into the midday hours, we may see some wind kick up especially in the Northeast. Boston, New York metros may have some delays possibly up to 30 minutes, maybe even an hour.
In Minneapolis, the rain is going to keep you grounded from 15 to 30 minutes. However, tomorrow, it's going to be a different story in Minneapolis. With the potential of snowfall, you may see maybe an hour, maybe even two-hour delays expected by tomorrow afternoon.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: And so it begins. Reynolds thanks.
WOLF: Yes, it does.
CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: Take care.
CHETRY: Well, conspiracy theorists have maybe argued in the past that cats are aliens, well, now they may have more proof. There is a new study in the "Journal of Science" that set to find out how cats drink because they don't make a big mess of themselves, they don't lap up water like dogs do.
There is a dog. I mean, look at that, poor, messy dog. He's cute but not exactly great and graceful with the water drinking.
So this four-member team spent hours on this and they found that unlike dogs that make a huge mess, cats actually don't slurp. What happens is that the tip of their tongue curls back ward. They -- they basically are able to suck up the water faster than gravity and swallow it before it falls back down. It takes four -- as many as four laps per second and their whiskers and chin remain untouched.
So it moves so quickly gravity hasn't even have time to pull the water back down. And they say that it's a mastery of physical forces, balancing, gravity and inertia just to drink.
ROBERTS: And -- and the cat will still go -- to you --
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: -- after it leaves the drinking bowl.
CHETRY: So you just thought their tongue was interesting because they can -- they tongue is rough. They can clean their fur with it.
ROBERTS: I -- I thought that was the most interesting thing about a cat. Little did I know, little did I know.
CHETRY: That they don't slurp.
ROBERTS: I like dogs when it all comes out of their mouth like that.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Then they walk across the floor --
CHETRY: Or they shake their head and it gets all over you.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
CHETRY: So precious.
ROBERTS: Well, first you had to take off your shoes at the airport. Then you couldn't bring in bottles of water through security. But are full body scanners the last straw for travelers? The growing rebellion against the virtual strip search coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Did you see the way Phil drinks water? You know, some days you come in here and you know that you're going to learn about -- or you're going to learn a lot about something and today I learned a lot about how dogs and cats drink water because we just watched it in slow motion. And dogs do indeed curl their tongues backwards, as well.
ROBERTS: Would you like to -- you are trying to demonstrate there --
CHETRY: Yes I didn't -- it really, the desk is all wet but the bottom line is --
ROBERTS: See that's the difference between Kiran and the cat. She, like a dog, gets the whole place messy when she drinks.
CHETRY: Go, cats.
All right, well this morning we've been talking a lot about the backlash over the TSA body scanners. And if you're flying on Thanksgiving eve, you actually may get caught up in a very annoying, long, drawn-out wait because it'll be part of a fight.
Pilots' unions at two of the nation's largest airports are urging members to avoid full body scanning at airports. They are calling the screenings both a health risk and invasive.
ROBERTS: And now a group of flight attendants is planning a quote, "Day of Protest" the day before Thanksgiving; what is typically the busiest travel day of the year, to create a travel nightmare that the Feds cannot ignore. What they want is people to not go through the body scans and instead opt for the pat downs which are lot more labor intensive.
We spoke to the man who's suing the TSA trying to get body scanners pulled out of all airports across the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What's your beef with these scanners?
MARC ROTENBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: Well, John, I think the basic problem is that the agency doesn't have the legal authority to put these devices in the airports. We understand the need for airport security, but it was a very big step they took when they decided to make the body scanners the primary screening technique and that's what we're objecting to.
ROBERTS: Court of public opinion, I don't know, that's not really one that matters to you, the actually courts are the ones that matter to you, but in the court of public opinion, I'm wondering if you're swimming upstream a little bit here because regular air travelers when asked in the USA Today Gallup Poll, 78 percent of them approved of the use of these body scanners. Only 20 percent disapproved.
ROTENBERG: Right. Well, I -- I saw that poll that came out some time ago and it was a poll that, you know, I think that the TSA in fact, might have helped put together because when we went back to the agency and asked for the traveler complaints, you know, we found hundreds of complaints. We have now received thousands and if you ask the question today, not back when that poll was taken of the American traveling public I think you'll get a very different response.
I think you see this increasingly now in the growing opposition to the use of the body scanners in U.S. airports.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll keep watching this and see where it goes. Because certainly, there's a lot --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. So we'll see what happens now. You have the pilots' unions. You've got the group of flight attendants calling for that protest. You have the business leaders wanting to talk to Homeland Security Secretary about how it's perhaps impeding commerce so --
ROBERTS: Yes, my beef with the -- the body scan is that you have to take off everything, your belt and everything off of you and still probably five times out of ten when you go through they want to pat you down anyways. So why not just do the pat down and avoid the whole thing?
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of food for thought. We'll see what happens. There are 65 different airports across the country now, so people are going to be dealing with this more and more.
ROBERTS: Increasingly. You'll notice them showing up in an airport and all the security lines will have them soon.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: You made a real mess here. CHETRY: I know. There's still water. Cats, cats do it better.
Well, was it missile, a plane or just Jay Leno solving the mystery of that vapor trail over California? The odd sight that's now become the butt of late-night jokes and an East Coast sighting in the mix as well. Jeanne Moos coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, was it a bird, a plane, a missile? Mysterious vapor trail first in the skies of Los Angeles and then over New York City had everyone talking this week.
CHETRY: Some say the biggest mystery was just how long it took the Pentagon to reach its conclusion that it was just contrails from a jet. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three, two, one. We have liftoff of a story Jon Stewart dubbed "Missile Impossible".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like it could be a launch from a submarine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missile from a navy ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could it be a secret test?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Russian sub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe even a U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile.
MOOS: We're surprised someone didn't guess the wicked witch of the west.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorothy.
MOOS: But now the missile theory has surrendered from the Pentagon to the Web site contrailscience.com. Experts agree, the plume off the California coast was just a jet contrail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Contrail is a condensation trail.
MOOS: Water coming out of a jet seen here from the cockpit of another plane. Sort of like your breath on a cold day. The West Coast contrail got an unintentionally phallic makeover.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What else could do that?
MOOS: Some say they know exactly what did that.
LIEM BAHNEMAN, AVIATION PHOTOGRAPHER: It was U.S. Airways flight 808. MOOS: Are you sort of a contrail connoisseur? Actually, Liem Bahneman is an aviation photography buff who focused on airline flight paths and schedules. Then found a web cam that captured a similar contrail in the same place 24 hours after the now famous one.
BAHNEMAN: Same daily flight from Honolulu to Phoenix was in the same position, as well. So that was kind of the smoking gun for me.
MOOS: Smoking contrail.
Two days (ph) after the West Coast missile, there was another strange sighting here in the East Coast. WCBS in New York had the video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bizarre going red hot streak in the sky right at sunset moving briskly behind the Manhattan Skyline.
MOOS: Contrail enthusiasts think this one is also from a jet similar in situation to one in which the plane is visible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The trail has been lit by the setting sun.
MOOS: One joker suggested the West Coast contrail was Iron Man. Jay Leno suggested we follow the trail of the mystery contrail.
JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: Let's play it backwards and trace where the contrail came from. You go back to that to look at it. Oh, there it is. There it is right there.
MOOS: Contrail controversies have happened before and now happened again. So --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And our Chad Myers is getting some lessons on the do's and don'ts of the telestrator this morning.
CHETRY: Yes, you know. It's tough sometimes. People's imaginations can run wild.
ROBERTS: Left not much to the imagination.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you back here again on Monday.
CHETRY: Bright and early. Meanwhile, the news continues. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Hey, Kyra.
