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Flying for Fun; Insignificant Delays in Holiday Travel So Far; Bomb Factory Found in California Home; Police vs. Student Protestors; Koreas On the Brink of War; Fuel Efficient Jet Mimics Birds

Aired November 24, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello to you all. I am T.J. Holmes; I am in today for my good friend Ali Velshi. I'll be with you for the next couple of hours. Let me tell you what we've got on the rundown. As we know, everybody's hitting the road right now. Hitting the road literally in their vehicles, but a lot of people are flying and a lot of people taking trains as well.

We know this is one of the busiest travel days in the U.S. So what about this plan to revolt we've been hearing so much about against the airlines, security measures? Is it really messing with anybody's flight today? We'll check in.

Also the day after now that deadly exchange; South Korea assessing the damage. Tensions remain high across the Korean peninsula. U.S. gearing up in the meantime for war games. Also, what did authorities find in a quiet, California home that landed a man in jail on $5 million bail?

It was one of the biggest finds of its kind in the U.S. We'll tell you all about it. So, is this or is this not going to be the busiest travel day of the year? We don't know, but it is going to be busy out there for a lot of folks. Millions of folks are clogging up right now, the airports. Take a look here at what's going on out there.

The airports, the highways, everybody en route to wherever you may be going right now. We here at CNN, we are watching all the pressure points all over the country. The tie-ups and the slowdowns and the hotly-debated opt outs as well that you've been hearing so much about. Now supposedly flyers who object to TSA body scan machines will opt for the much more time-consuming pat-downs.

You know the pat-downs you've heard so much about. They're a little intrusive, if you will, and not clear how much of an impact, if any, the opt-outers are actually having. So far no reports of any issues caused by a lot of people opting out. The big picture here, though: 42.2 million people, 42.2 million people are expected to be traveling at least 50 miles away from their own homes this season.

Also, almost everybody is going to be driving, actually. AAA gives us these forecasts every year. Right now they're saying 94 percent of the holiday travelers are going to be driving somewhere. Just 4 percent are planning to fly, but take a look at this though. Look at what's happening in the skies. We always enjoy showing this picture, it's fascinating. You forget sometimes just how big of a sky is out there. But this is FlyTracker it shows you where the planes are in the sky right now. It looks pretty busy, but again, after you see that it looks scary, but still, it's a big sky. Also, this brings us now to the "Two at the Top".

So far today, CNN's Ted Rowlands has made his way from L.A. to San Francisco by air. He joins me now to tell us all about his trip as well. Ted, hello to you once again. Ted, how was the trip? Any issues?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. No issues at all, T.J. As you can see all of the passengers are up in the airplanes here at SIFT. We're in San Francisco. Now there's nobody here. An obvious lull and basically passengers come and go. Right now we're at a lull here.

Security lines though, that's the big question. How are they in L.A.? This morning and no problems at all. The same situation here in San Francisco. This opt-out protest really hasn't taken hold at any airport around the country that we have found as of yet. That may change throughout the day.

There's actually a protest planned here in San Francisco at around noon, pacific time, but at this point, really no evidence that this has taken hold at all.

However, we have talked to a lot of people going through the screenings and the folks getting patted down, and we've heard a lot of different opinions. Some people very upset by the intrusiveness. Others say, come on. It's no big deal. Here's a sampling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't look anything like Osama Bin Laden. I'm not tall enough, I don't have the right color hair, and I don't speak the language. And there about 99 percent of the people in this airport, same situation. This is a joke. We should profile if there's a security risk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE TRAVELER: I think sometimes people have something to be angry about and they've chosen this. And I would rather be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And basically, T.J., we have talked to a lot of people and the theme that we've encountered is that that people have had good attitudes. The lines haven't been bad and this idea that people are just vehemently upset by the pat-downs and the screenings. We haven't seen evidence of it at least here this morning, and I think it's safe to say that the opt out really hasn't taken hold.

HOLMES: All right, well that is a very important point to make. It seemed like there was so much talk about it in the buildup to this particular day, and maybe it was just a dud. Thank goodness. Clearly, people have their opinions about what's going on at the airports but nobody wants to hold another passenger up possibly.

Glad you had a good trip, Ted; we will see you again here shortly.

I want to turn now to the story I was mentioning at the top of the show here. A California man being held on $5 million bail accused of turning his home into a bomb factory. His name is George Jackbeck (ph). He is an unemployed computer consultant and a naturalized citizen from Serbia. He had been flying under the radar until a gardener was hurt in an explosion at the home last week.

An investigation then found three types of explosives including PETN, that might sound familiar, that's the same stuff used by the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very sensitive, very powerful, and very dangerous. We have found in excess of nine pounds of this material, and that's significant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's significance? Well, it's actually the biggest find of its kind ever in one location in the U.S. Police also found 13 grenades wrapped in shrapnel and nine detonators. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen explosives charges as well as two counts of bank robbery.

I want to turn now to a family tragedy that's playing out in a Michigan courtroom. Taking the stand in a preliminary hearing the survivor of a brutal stabbing attack two weeks ago. Mara Skinner is her name calmly described on the stand how she and her husband woke to a nightmare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARA SKINNER, HOME INVASION VICTIM: The next thing that I remember is my husband shouting for me. He shouted "hun, hun!" And at that same moment that he was shouting my name I felt a blunt force to the back of my -- to my back and to my neck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the person that was attacking you?

SKINNER: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now her husband, Paul, died from his wounds. Her 17- year-old daughter is accused of setting all of this in motion because her parents disapproved of her boyfriend. Now she, the boyfriend, and another teenager are being held without bond until trial.

Police once again facing off against student protesters in cities across Britain. Take a look.

HOLMES: Some pretty rowdy crowds in London tried to push past police lines in the latest round of demonstrations against college tuition hikes. To help battle its budget deficit the government plans to lift the current cap which is $5,000 a year to as much as $14,500 a year.

Also, you don't mess with the new and proud parents of a newborn child. You don't do that. This couple moving across the country now had stopped for gas the other night. In a matter of seconds, some guy jumped into their running car and takes off. You're seeing this play out here in the surveillance video. Their 6-month-old baby was inside.

The little girl. The mom leaps on to the speeding car and smashes the window. She ends up essentially getting thrown off of it. Her husband then chases the car, jumps through the window and starts wailing on the guy. He fled pretty quickly and I do believe he is now in custody.

Well, much of the world is still in shock after the deadly artillery duel between North and South Korea. Now war ships are heading into the region. We'll be telling you what they're up to after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A day after North Korean artillery bombarded a South Korean-held island, the nearby waters are about to get a lot more crowded. The island itself, not so much. Shell shocked civilians are streaming off the tiny chunk of land in the yellow sea where at least four people were killed in a barrage of the North Korean mainland which is just seven miles away.

The island is home to a South Korean garrison and originally, ordinarily has 1600 civilians on it. It sits in a perilous and disputed border zone. The peril grew when South Korea started war games. Now the North protested those war games, the South went ahead with them, and for that reason Jin Yang claims the South was the one that provoked this attack which left several buildings obliterated, many others damaged.

The two Koreas "on the brink of war". However, it seems like the two Koreas have been on the brink of war ever since 1953 when that armistice was agreed to. We should note, as well, the South responded in kind to yesterday's attack, but the toll to the North may never be known.

We do know the U.S. aircraft carrier "George Washington" leading a strike group that will hold exercises in the Yellow Sea beginning Sunday. U.S. forces Korea say the drill was planned well in advance, but demonstrates the strength of the South Korean-U.S. alliance.

Let me bring in Alec Fraser now, he's head of Turner Properties here right now in Atlanta. But he's also a retired U.S. navy captain and served as operations officer for the seventh fleet and he knows a thing or two of what's happening in South Korean, on the Korean peninsula right now.

We appreciate you being here. What are these games supposed to do? We hear about this so often the joint war games for lack of a better war here. What are they supposed to do?

CAPT. ALEC FRASER, U.S. NAVY (RET.):: These games like what you were talking about since 1953 when the armistice was concluded, have been going on every year, two or three times a year, in order to be able to train enough the military people to coordinate very serious and complex command and control communications and control of the military portions themselves in order to be able to work together.

As you were describing earlier, too, the Republic of Korea and the U.S. military alliance is one of the strongest ones in the world. And it works together well because they train together a lot and because of that they're a lot and because of that they are more able to prevent anything.

HOLMES: Now the point has been made, hey, these that are going to be taking place were already planned. They were already on the calendar, but quite frankly, are we lucky, would the U.S./Korea think that they were lucky that the timing is as such now, just a few days after this attack?

FRASER: Well, I think it's fortuitous that we were able to do this without upsetting a lot of the original schedules. But the great thing about the navy is -- a lot of what the military can do in these exercises to demonstrate. I guess you can go back when Teddy Roosevelt did the Great White Fleet, it's the speak softly but carry a big stick.

But you can do that in a planned exercise, but you could also do it in an exercise that you just developed a few days earlier. It can be a different size exercise, it can be controlled by anti-submarine specifics or anti-air specifics, but the navy can do this, in any location almost any time well.

HOLMES: Has North Korea demonstrated at any point and showed any indications that they respect how big of a stick the U.S. and South Korea are carrying around?

FRASER: Well I would think since 1953 when the armistice was signed as we were saying, because of that alliance, there hasn't been anything else. There have been some small incidents with the torpedoing of a ship and with this particular instance with artillery incident in crisis, but there has never been another Korean conflict, Korean war going on. So that's a symbol of the fact that these exercises are so important, not only here but around the world, to be able to maintain some stability and you can speak softly and carry a big stick.

HOLMES: OK, do you just see this as North Korea just being and doing what North Korea does? They provoke and then possibly get something out of it down the road. Are we just going through what we have always been going through in history with North Korea? FRASER: Well, maybe we're going through the same thing, but going through it has always worked in being able to calm things down. So being able to just be able to respond in an appropriate manner, take the appropriate steps, which the president is doing right now, I think works really well. And so that's worked here, it's worked in other parts of the globe. Keep doing it.

HOLMES: All right, Alec Fraser, we're glad we have you nearby always that we can call you in and use your expertise.

FRASER: Glad to be here (ph).

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

FRASER: Glad too.

HOLMES: So, coming up, we're going to be talking about your paycheck. It's about to shrink if you're part of the middle class at least. We'll tell you just how much you are slated to lose. That's coming up in just one minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: So 90 percent f all Americans are about to get a smaller paycheck. I'll tell you about that in a second.

First, we've got some big news on jobs. Every week the government tells us how many people are filing for their first week of unemployment benefits. That number of people is the lowest level since 2008. Now this was better than what economists expected. We've got a chart here that kind of tells the story about how jobs are in this country. July 2008, 405,000 initial jobless claims mostly goes up and hits a peak in 2009 and then hits a dismal 651,000 claims. You can see it's been kind of going down slowly. A few bumps in the road.

That brings us to this day, 407,000 filings. Now, economists say that the number needs to drop below 400,000 before the unemployment rate can actually drop significantly. The unemployment rate right now has been 9.6 percent. That's where it stands.

Now, let's get back to your paycheck.

Last year, when all that stimulus stuff was going on and people were struggling, even more as we saw from that chart a second ago, a tax credit for the middle class was enacted to put cash in people's pockets once again. It was called the Making Work Pay tax credit. It's helped some 90 percent of Americans. But when it expires on New Years, you're set to get less money. How much less are we talking about? It depends on how much you make.

But take a look here. If you're single and you make less than $75,000 a year, you'll get about $400 less next year. Let's say you're married, you have two kids, you'll probably lose about $800. That number is smaller if you're making $10,000 or less. The lame duck Congress can extend the tax credit with just a few weeks, as you know, left in the year and most of that, folks, is going to be on the Bush- era tax cuts you've been hearing so much about. They're also set to expire by the end of the year. We'll see if they can get it all done.

Now, to catch more conversations that affect your wallet, tune in to "Your Money" Saturdays at 1:00 Eastern, Sundays at 3:00.

Let's take a look now at some of the stories that are making headlines.

Airport security so far today is going fairly smoothly despite critics' declaration of a national opt-out day urging travelers to refuse full-body scans. Travel experts say, get to the airport early if you're flying, duh, but lines could be long because of this increased security. But, so far, from what we're seeing today, no big issues. All travelers, they've got some nasty weather going on out there as well that could slow things down.

Also, the Senate Armed Services Committee announced today they'll go through two days of hearings on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which, of course, bars openly gay members from serving in the U.S. military. This comes two days after the Pentagon's report on what effect a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" would have on the military.

Also, the feds are moving to put an emergency ban on fake pot. This is for products that give a marijuana-like high but they could be illegal within a month. That's so the Drug Enforcement Administration can study the safety of the chemicals used in fake pot. The DEA says reports of illnesses from smoking synthetic marijuana are starting to go up.

Well, it is that time of year again. The president is handing out pardons. Our Ed Henry is at the White House. He's going to tell us all about it. A quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back.

We're giving you a live picture here. That is Queen Elizabeth you're seeing there. She is taking a tour. She's in Abu Dhabi right now and taking a tour of the grand mosque there. She's also meeting with the crowned prince while she's in town. But she is taking a visit there, looking just the part, quite frankly. She has the -- her head covered and also she's barefoot, which is traditionally what so many women do as they enter a mosque. What everyone does, where they take off their shoes as they enter a mosque. But there she is, with a smile on her face, on a trip right now, again, to Abu Dhabi, meeting with the crowned prince and taking a visit inside.

Also, we have been talking so much today about travel and what's happening in this country. We will never be too far away from that story. A lot of people hearing a whole bunch about what's happening with this national opt-out day that's happening today, trying to get people maybe to slow things up at the airports. So we'll let you know exactly how that's going. We're keeping a close eye on it. Also a close eye on the weather that's going to cause some problems for people around the country as they try to travel today as well. But, as always, as we do on this show, we're going to check in with our Ed Henry for the stakeout. He's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, coming up on the bottom of the hour now. Here are your headlines. It is, of course, one of the busiest travel days of the year. It's well underway. And what we're getting is so far so good right now. No huge security protests or delays reported across the country. As we know, this was billed by some critics as national opt-out day, trying to get people to opt-out of taking those body image scanners and then opting for the pat-downs, which would take much longer. Trying to kind of delay things, the protest. But, so far, we haven't seen any major issues related to that.

Also, travelers in the middle of the country and the Midwest might see some slowdown and some issues, but that would be related to some weather. Everything from lake-effect snow in Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. Got a bad storm system creeping across Arkansas and Oklahoma as well.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korea militaries will begin joint military exercises this weekend. They were already scheduled before North Korea's attack yesterday on a South Korean island, but the Pentagon says the exercises show the strength of Washington and Seoul's alliance. Let me bring in now our Ed Henry, who is joining me now for the stakeout.

Ed, good to see you, as always, buddy.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, T.J.

HOLMES: Let's start with North Korea. I mean, what do you do? As -- I think as one analyst keeps saying, you've just got a bunch of bad options any time it comes to North Korea.

HENRY: That's right. And that's why it's such a big test for this commander in chief. Really one of the first major national security crises he's had to face and it's still developing. We really don't know where it's headed.

I think the president has tried, and yesterday it was all about, you know, getting briefed on the situation, being on top of it and then placing a call to the president of South Korea, President Lee.

Let's remember, just a week or so ago, we were in South Korea with President Obama, he had some meetings with President Lee one-on- one, and that was the second time he's been to South Korea just in the last year, and they were talking tough about North Korea in a joint news conference.

But that was all in the abstract, this is for real now and that phone call, I think, last night was all about trying to tamp the situation down, turn the temperature down while these bad options, as you say, are studied and looked at closely, because the fact of the matter is the South Korean president has -- he needs to stand up and he's playing to his home audience. A lot of South Koreans upset about this, obviously, this attack. And so, he has said, look, if there's more escalation here, there's going to be dramatic retaliation.

That's the last thing the White House wants to see, though, and so that's why, in part, I think you saw President Obama reach out to his counterpart in South Korea and try to keep this calm.

HOLMES: OK, and I've got time here for one more question to you and pretty tricky transition to go from that to talking about turkeys, but you try it.

HENRY: Well, you know, the president went through this annual tradition today of pardoning a turkey, he pardoned a couple of turkeys. He had a little humor. He said he thought it would be good to prevent at least one shellacking this November, referring back, of course, to that midterm election. And then he said look, look, they'll be going off to retirement.

I find it interesting that Bill Maher has actually gotten involved. He put out a statement yesterday through PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals, who are saying that, you know, these turkeys, when they're pardoned, they often go to Disneyland or Disney World and they get paraded around and Bill Maher saying it's not really a fair treatment of animals, they're -- you know, that's not a happy retirement for them.

Well, the president today said that these turkeys are going to Mount Vernon where hopefully they will get a peaceful retirement. And while it's good that Bill Maher are standing up for the turkeys, but did you realize that last night they go to stay they got to stay at the W Hotel here in Washington, they got some corn feed.

HOLMES: The turkeys?

HENRY: The turkeys stayed at the W Hotel. So I mean, I understand Bill Maher is crying for the turkeys, but they are treated pretty well. They got pretty good digs, they were hanging around at the W Hotel there around the corner from the White House. We don't always get to stay there.

HOLMES: Do taxpayers pay for the turkeys to stay at the W?

HENRY: You know, we're going to have to do some digging , but I don't know. I'm also wondering do the turkeys have to wear all black? Because every time I go to the W and I check in, they're always wearing all black. It's really cool and hip, so I wonder if they make the turkeys play the part.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right, Ed, buddy, It's always good to see you, my man. If I don't get to talk to you, happy Thanksgiving, you and your family.

HENRY: You as well. Take care. HOLMES We're going to turn from turkeys to Fido now. Fido going robo. A British vet giving some pets prosthetic limbs with technology that rivals what humans use.

Our Rob Marciano explains in today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mitzey Davis (ph) is walking again. After being trampled by a horse in June, her owner was left with a tough decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The options were three legs, euthanasia or give her the chance to walk, and we had to give her a chance to walk.

MARCIANO: Mitzey is one of just a few dogs in the world that can be labeled bionic. On this day, Dr. Noah Fitzpatrick (ph) is taking off Mitzey's bulky leg brace and replacing it with a sleek, permanent prosthetic foot. He did this using a revolution called an ITAP, a custom built metal rod placed inside Mitzey's leg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a permanent fixture. It is part of the dog's body, dog just gets on with life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before ITAP came into being, there was no way to give an animal a prosthesis.

MARCIANO: ITAP technology has also been tested on humans. Fitzpatrick says traditional prosthetic devices for humans can sometimes be painful and difficult to use. He says ITAP could be a remarkable alternative for people and their pets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If what I do by helping my patients in their needs help other patients that are animal or human, excellent. I think it is the future, yes.

MARCIANO: Rob Marciano, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Families losing hope now for another storybook ending of a mine disaster. There was another blast now that rocked a coal mine in New Zealand. We're going "Globe Trekking" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, take a listen to this story that is truly shocking. A catholic priest in Dallas accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy. He is facing criminal charges as well as a lawsuit. Well, the priest is let out of jail on bail and police say he tried to hire a hit man to kill his accuser. The hit man, turns out, was an undercover law enforcement agent.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is following this story and, Ed, this is a disturbing story to try to follow. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it absolutely is, T.J. This priest that goes by the name of John Fialla is in jail right now in the Dallas County Jail being held on $700,000 bond. I want to make clear that he has been removed from church ministry, he is no longer in charge of a church.

But a couple of years ago, according to a victim's attorney, that this priest had met a young man who is now 18 years old in the town of Rock Springs, Texas, northwest of San Antonio and that's when the abuse started, according to this attorney. The priest had been arrested on aggravated sexual assault charges, facing those criminal charges, the boy's family had also filed suit against this priest as well as the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the Archdiocese of Nebraska saying as well, saying they should have known about this and they had been covering this priest's tracks up.

Anyway, the priest is then arrested. He posts bond, but he is found by a fugitive task force in Kansas and that's when he came back and posted bond. He then moved up to Dallas which is why this story has Dallas connections at this point.

He moves into an apartment, we understand, according to a DPS State Police officials in Texas, and starts talking to a neighbor about wanting to murder the young man that had accused him of these -- of sexual misconduct.

This person then contacts authorities and the boy's attorney and starts telling him about this, that's when DPS sends in the undercover agent. That's when he says the priest had offered the undercover agent $5,000 to kill the young man who made accusations against him.

As you might imagine the attorney of the young man says he's been terrified by this entire ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My client has been saying for literally years this man is going to do something to me, and it bore out to be true.

He is relieved, but he's also cautious. He's been through a lot. He's a courageous young man and he intends to carry this fight forward to stop this from happening to other children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: T.J., John Fialla is still, as we understand it, in the Dallas County Jail. We tried to reach an attorney who might be representing him, at this point we have not had any luck so far getting in touch with an attorney. He is being held right now on $700,000 bond -- T.J.

HOLMES: Our Ed Lavandera for us. Ed, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.

We want to go "Globe Trekking" now. And so many people, after we just saw the miracle in Chile with the mine disaster, all 33 of them getting out alive after 69 days, well the mine disaster happening in New Zealand, a lot of people were holding out hope for a similar result after 29 miners got trapped after an explosion that was last Friday. Well, it doesn't look like it will have the same type of ending there in New Zealand, because there has now been another explosion and the 29 miners who were trapped are now presumed dead.

Now families have been holding vigils for several days again, hoping, hoping for a similar result to what we saw in Chile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER WHITTAL, CEO, PIKE RIVER COAL: They've all held out hope that it was their son or their husband or their brother that would be the lucky one. They've all held that hope out, but I have to say they're probably all feeling that that hope's now gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: This is now being called by the government a recovery mission. The prime minister also has ordered an investigation.

I do want to caution you before I show you the video of this next story. This is coming out of Cambodia, a disaster there this week where hundreds were killed because of a stampede. Again, I want to warn you, this video is awfully disturbing. We're going show it to you now. You might want to have young ones turn away, but we're going to show it to you. You can see people in these pictures piled up on top of each other.

Now this happens when thousands of people started stampeding. They were afraid -- there was fear that a suspension bridge was about to collapse, so people just took off trying to save themselves. What the government is saying, the official line is that, in fact, that is what happened. The cause is essentially panic.

Again, 456 people are dead. People started to panic as well when police started firing water cannons at the crowd to keep them moving, but we continue to get details and we continue to get new and different pictures of just how horrible a situation it was for so many there.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, well the new TSA pat downs and body scans have been a point of debate in the United States, but how do other airports overseas handle security? Do they do it any better? Is it any worse?

We want you to take a look now at what travelers experience when they travel in Israel , then we want you to log on to our blog, CNN.com/TJ, tell us about what you think about these different security measures.

But first, take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem.

Israel has a very different approach when it comes to airport security than other countries. It has all of the latest technology and the sophisticated machinery, but here, the human element is key. Pretty much every passenger will be questioned, sometimes by more than one security officer and some are strip searched. And no matter how distasteful it may be to civil liberties groups, Israel actively profiles passengers and makes no apology for it.

NERI YARKONI, FMR. HEAD OF ISRAELI CIVIL AVIATION ADMIN.: You should profile. If you don't profile, you waste time, you waste money, and you might miss what you're looking for because you're searching it on the wrong people.

HANCOCKS: Yarkoni says that behavior, intelligence gathering and statistics have to be taken into account, as well as race. But there have been plenty of accusations of racism from Arabs and Muslims who say they find themselves on the wrong side of profiling.

Another difference here: You won't have to take your shoes off as standard and you won't have to give up your bottle of water at security.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We turn to today's big idea.

And my next guest has it his way it may be easy to confuse planes in the sky with birds. Take a look at now at what we're talking about. Are you seeing this? You can't really tell if that's a bird or a plane, sure it ain't Superman.

USC's Geoffrey Spedding and a team of scientists from California and South Africa rethought today's tube and wings aircraft -- you know, the traditional ones you see -- trying to create a more fuel- efficient jet. And they came up with this -- unintentionally, I believe -- they have created what looks like a really big bird.

So, let's turn now to the man himself, Mr. Geoffrey Spedding. He joins us me now to talk about his work.

And, sir, do I have this right? You were just trying to come up with a better design and a more efficient plane and it ended up looking just like a bird?

GEOFFREY SPEDDING, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: It just so happened to look like a bird. That's right. So, we've independently designed a bird.

HOLMES: You've independently designed a bird. So, what is it about this design that makes it more fuel efficient?

SPEDDING: Well, there are two big differences from the standard tube and wing configuration. One is we've got rid of that long tail that's at the back of the end of the long fuselage. And so, we've chopped the fuselage also and we've made the wing so that they're the main control surfaces. That means you can have a fat, stubby body and we found that it can be air dynamically much more efficient with that little, stubby tail at the back.

HOLMES: Now, how much more efficient are we talking about?

SPEDDING: We're looking for savings from 10 percent to 20 percent.

HOLMES: Sounds good. Now, what about -- that's after you get in the air and you're flying and you're talking about the savings there -- but can we put this into place? And what will it cost us to start designing and building planes that look like this and behave like this?

SPEDDING: It would cost a lot of money and I don't know if anybody is willing to do it or even if it's worth doing. I have no idea about that. But I think the argument goes: if it makes aerodynamic sense, then it's worth taking a second look.

HOLMES: Now, you say a lot of money they would cost. How much money are we talking about here? Give me an idea compared to the planes that are being built today.

SPEDDING: I don't know how much extra money it would cost to do the extra design and reconfigure the factories and so on. But the savings could be considerable. If we save 10 percent off the annual cost of fuel, then we're talking about many billions of dollars.

HOLMES: And potentially, and I know this is very early and like you said, you haven't gotten anybody to sign off and so much design and work still has to go into it -- but could you see this and your design as something that could eventually lead to saving the airlines money and then saving all of us, the passengers money?

SPEDDING: That's the whole idea. I want to save us money and I would like to put less carbon into the atmosphere, too. In these days of uncertain and expensive oil and increasing carbon going into the atmosphere, I think it's maybe a moral imperative to look for solutions like this.

HOLMES: Last thing here: what now? What are you going to do? What are you going to do with your design moving forward so we don't have just a brilliant guy with a brilliant design that never goes anywhere?

SPEDDING: I'm going to fiddle around in the lab some more.

(LAUGHTER)

SPEDDING: And I'm also going to -- I'm also going to collaborate with some people in architecture to redesign the aircraft cabin, and I'm going to see if I can get the airlines interested.

HOLMES: Well, sir, we hope to continue to follow up with you. And as you continue to fiddle around in that lab, and maybe it will lead to something. But interesting picture there. Everybody is fascinated to see that plane that looks exactly like a bird.

Sir, thank you for taking the time with us. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

SPEDDING: Thank you. You're very welcome. Happy Thanksgiving.

HOLMES: We want to take a look now at some of the stories that are making headlines.

Military maneuvers scheduled to take place off of the South Korean coast will go on as planned in the wake of that attack by North Korea. In that attack, four people died in the shelling of a small South Korean island. War games were set to start on Monday. North Korea says they were provoked into the attack by another South Korean military exercise.

Well, a New York actor who played a bit part in the show "Ugly Betty," he is now in jail for allegedly killing his own mother with a three-foot sword. Michael Brea is his name. He's facing murder charges and police say he is also undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. One neighbor says he heard Brea yelling, "Repent, sinner," before the killing.

Also, listen to this, the FBI now investigating a group that sent supposedly AIDS-tainted razor blades to a researcher at UCLA. On their Web site, the Animal Liberation Front -- as they call themselves -- it says the researcher was targeted for using primates for government research on drug addiction. The university says the researcher is studying meth addiction and tobacco dependence among teenagers.

Also, a jury in Virginia has handed down guilty verdicts for five suspected Somali pirates who attacked a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa. They face mandatory life terms when they're sentenced next year. Prosecutors say the men attacked the USS Nicholas guided missile frigate earlier this year when they mistook it for a merchant ship.

Well, Congress is getting a better look at enhanced airport security. Your CNN political update is next.

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HOLMES: Well, pat downs for the holidays. That's the top of our CNN political update this hour.

And CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash has it for us live in Washington.

Hello there, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, T.J. Good to see you.

Well, that's right. Staffers on Capitol Hill this week got a firsthand behind closed doors look at what a TSA pat down is really like. What happened was TSA officials came up for two briefings to Capitol Hill to talk to House and Senate aides and they demonstrated that invasive pat down.

Now, why the demo? Well, very interesting. We're told that the TSA set these briefings up after the agency was deluged by calls for more information from congressional offices which themselves were getting questions from angry and confused constituents.

Now, the second item on the Ticker a real soap opera at the Republican National Committee. A guy by the name of Gentry Collins, he was the political director at the RNC until last week when he not only quit, T.J., he issued a blistering statement about all the ways he believes the RNC chairman, Michael Steele, messed things up.

Well, guess what? Collins now is exploring a run against his former boss. He wants to be the RNC chair. Drama at the RNC, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, some people can't just go quietly into the good night, Dana. They have to leave with a bang.

Now, I was a little confused about the Political Ticker here. I didn't know if this was the showbiz update or what it was, because you got a little entertainment news for me here kind of sort of, and it's kind of political. So, please tell me.

BASH: Any time I can get pop culture into anything I report I'm going to do it.

HOLMES: OK.

BASH: Let's just get that straight.

But in this one, it is legitimate, because we're talking, of course, about Bristol Palin. Did you watch "Dancing with the Stars" last night, T.J.?

HOLMES: I have never in life seen a single episode of that show.

BASH: All right. I won't hold it against you.

HOLMES: All right.

BASH: People may know now that Jennifer Grey, the "Dirty Dancing" star, she is the one who took home the trophy and Bristol Palin actually came in third, which actually is pretty good considering that as the concert started with 12 contestants. But I got to tell you, at the beginning of the show, she said something rather colorful. She said, I would -- if she won -- I would feel a big -- it would be a big middle finger to all the people out there that hate my mom and hate me.

HOLMES: Wow. BASH: She said it on network television.

HOLMES: OK then. Oh, well, if I had known there was that kind of stuff going on, I'd have watched the show.

All right. Dana, good to see you as always. Thanks so much. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

BASH: You too.

HOLMES: Talk to you soon.

Well, coming up, John Lennon's last autograph ever given to the man that killed him. Well, it was just sold. We've got the pictures and the price.

Stay with us.

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