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American Morning
Severe Weather Slams East Coast; Bank of America's WikiLeaks Worries; Defeating A Deadly Disease; The Lennon Legacy; Holiday Billboard Battle
Aired December 01, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING on this Wednesday, the first day of December. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot to talk about this morning. First, dangerous storm system on the move today. Spawning what are believed to be several tornadoes across the southeast and there are more tornado watches in effect right now. We are live on the ground with the very latest.
ROBERTS: And talking about twisters -- coming face to face with 100-mile-an-hour winds, flying debris and golf ball-sized hail are just some of the every day dangers of the storm chasers. Coming up: we're going to talk to a veteran storm chaser Reed Timmer and his Discovery Channel service.
CHETRY: And the whistle-blowing service WikiLeaks is now setting sights on Bank of America? But even though the bank's firing back, its stock taking a hit. We are live with details.
ROBERTS: First this morning, nature's wrath is widespread today, reaching from the Florida Panhandle all the way on up into the Northeast. Dangerous winds and rain damaging dozens of homes and businesses in the South, while folks here in the North are bracing for a possible flash flooding.
CHETRY: The weather is ripe for tornadoes. Take a look right now at the live radar picture. Tornado watches in effect from South Carolina to our nation's capital, and you can see the storm system moving right along the East Coast there -- stretching all the way down past Georgia.
Our Jacqui Jeras live in Buford, Georgia, an area that took a big hit last night as well.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Yes, waking up to a lot of damage here in Buford at this hour. About 56 homes received damage and about a dozen of those received major damage.
Take a look at the one over my shoulder here and there you can see that whole side wall has been blown out. The roof has been damaged and blown off. You can see the pictures still hanging on the wall there and the couch actually outside of the home, so not livable.
And temperatures here this morning down in the 30s with wind chills in the 20s. Unfortunately. And these people don't have power obviously in this neighborhood, either. So, most people did decide to go out.
A lot of the people that you are seeing on the other side of me, by the way, are contractors. Of course, the economy is terrible and contractors are lined up down the street waiting to get into this neighborhood and start doing some of this work.
We've got pictures to show you of the damage across the area from yesterday afternoon. This thing hit about 3:30 in the afternoon, so a lot of people weren't home, which was a good thing. There were no reports of injuries -- believe it or not.
It's still yet to be determined whether or not this was a tornado or maybe a microburst or just straight line winds. The National Weather Service will be out to make that determination later on this morning, but there was no warning on this storm and residents here say that they were surprised when this thing blew on through.
Now, in addition to the tornado, possible tornado damage, a lot of flood damage across the area, too. Heavy rainfall, record levels, more than two inches in Atlanta.
Here you can see Interstate 85 that was flooded. There were many cars that were stalled off. And this all went on through the rush hour, unfortunately. So, some major problems because of that yesterday afternoon.
Now, the storm system continues to cause problems and that severe weather threat continues to be out there this morning. We've got tornado watches in effect from the Carolinas, stretching on up through the Delmarva and into Washington, D.C. area. There you can see the high temperature map that was showing you how cold behind the storm.
And there you see those watches, which should be expiring about 10:00. No actual warnings in effect at this time. Again, a warning means it's happening now and you need to take some cover.
Now, into the Northeast, as we head up towards Philadelphia, into New York City, no really severe threat expected here for today, but the winds will be a major issue. Gusts up to 50 miles per hour are possible. And that in and itself can cause some power outages and some spotty damage.
We look at very cold air on the backside of the system across the Great Lakes and some heavy snow will be an issue. The lake-effect snows should dump about eight to 14 inches over the next couple of days.
So, the storm kind of lingering a little bit, guys. We think it will be out of here probably by the middle to latter part of the week before calmer conditions move on through, but it's going to be a long time, of course, before these folks start to see better conditions here. And, of course, the holidays, unfortunately, are right around the corner for them, as well.
CHETRY: Jacqui Jeras for us this morning in Buford, Georgia -- thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, the weather problems actually extended north of the border, as well. An American Airlines jet trying to land on wet weather ended up skidding off the runway last night in Montreal. Part of the Boeing 737's landing gear ended up on the grass at Trudeau International airport.
All 111 passengers and the plane, out of Dallas, were taken by bus to the terminal. No injuries and no word on what caused the plane to skid off the runway in the first place. Maybe got a cross wind or something.
CHETRY: Yes. I was flying from Toronto to LaGuardia yesterday and it was rough. We had one flight cancelled.
ROBERTS: Bumpy, right?
CHETRY: Yes. Bumpy and bad weather on both sides -- both ends of the flight.
Well, travel in the U.K. today probably troublesome, as well. Britain's deepest November snow in more than three decades. That's what they're dealing with. Drivers are being told to stay off the roads in some places. Flights are now grounded at Gatwick Airport, south of London. As well as Scotland's Edinburgh Airport closed right now.
And there is more snow in the forecast. It's been a rough winter, an early one already.
ROBERTS: You don't see that very often in the U.K.
Well, back to class today at the Wisconsin high school where a 15-year-old sophomore took classmates and a teacher hostage before turning the gun on himself on Monday. The gunman has died of his wounds.
Students reveal they tried to calm him down with small talk about hunting and fishing during their five and a half hour long ordeal. Investigators talked to the gunman's parents about a motive, but they admit they may never know why he did it.
CHETRY: A brand new fallout over the document dump by the Web site WikiLeaks. Its founder, Julian Assange, has landed on Interpol's most wanted list. This not for the document leaks but for alleged sex crimes and that is clearly not the only trouble he's in.
ROBERTS: Clearly. The Justice Department and the Pentagon have launched criminal investigations. Assange has been lying low since his site started releasing hundreds of thousands of U.S. embassy documents. Some that allegedly show the U.S. turning a blind eye to corruption in Afghanistan and forcing diplomats to be spies.
But from the undisclosed location, he is still talking, still stirring the pot. In an exclusive interview with "TIME" managing editor, Richard Stengel via Skype, Assange said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be held accountable.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: I don't think it would much of a difference either way. But she should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage activities at the United Nations in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up. Yes, she should resign.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, earlier, we had a chance to talk to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the diplomatic fallout and Secretary Clinton's job security.
Here's what he said:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: What is your reaction to what Julian Assange said about Secretary of State Clinton this morning?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, my reaction is, I think that statement is ridiculous and absurd. The president has great confidence in and admires the work that Secretary Clinton has done to further our interests in the world and to keep this country and our region a safer place to live in. I think that -- I'm not entirely sure why we care about the opinion of one guy with one Web site.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bank of America this morning hitting back at rumors that it is the next target of WikiLeaks, a WikiLeaks data dump. Our Christine Romans joins us now.
Regardless of whether it's true, stocks certainly reacted to it.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It was down about 3 percent yesterday. It's up in the premarket.
We're watching it this morning to see how the bank fare because Jack Assange has teased the next dump of documents will be mega-bank kind of scandal and, actually, "Huffington Post," (INAUDIBLE) he said to computer world in 2009, where he said, "We are sitting on a five gigabytes from Bank of America, one of the executive's hard drive." That's what got all the speculation rolling.
Yesterday, Bank of America tersely responding -- no, no, no. We have no evidence that supports this assertion. We are unaware of any new claims by WikiLeaks that pertains specifically to Bank of America. A lot of folks on Wall Street frankly telling me, look, we know already of all the scandals on Wall Street. They have been on the front pages for several years here.
Some doubts among people who actually work that Jack Assange really could have anything even new on how people think on Wall Street and the motivations and priorities there. So, we'll watch how this plays out. But that's --
ROBERTS: No big surprise.
ROMANS: Yes, this is true. This is true.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: All right. Well, with former President George W. Bush and Sarah Palin competing for book sales, a little bit of a war of words flaring between the two sides, former First Lady Barbara Bush you may remember recently said that Sarah Palin, she said she was beautiful, but she also said she should stay in Alaska. Palin returned fire, calling her husband George H.W. Bush a blue blood president.
ROBERTS: Yes.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we tried to pull Jeb Bush into the fray, asking what he thought about a potential Palin candidacy in 2012.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: If she runs, she will be tested just as the other candidates will be.
Look, my mother has a history of plain-spokenness. That's why she's incredibly popular. I love her for all sorts of other reasons, as well. I'm not going to get into a fight where I'm actually criticizing my mother, I promise you that. I know what happens when that happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bush did say that if Palin wins the Republican nomination in 2012, he will support the party's choice. His mother? Another question.
CHETRY: I hope some day my son loves me as much as they love their mommy, after all these years.
ROBERTS: They just want to make sure that they don't poke the bear.
CHETRY: Right. Love or fear. But either way --
ROBERTS: That's the same thing, right?
CHETRY: Love and fear. Revere.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, the NBA is encouraging its fans to unite in fight today for World AIDS Day. Front and center, L.A. star -- it's Pau Gasol. Sorry about that. This isn't just a celeb photo-op. We're going to have more on his personal story -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: You notice something a little different at the White House front door this morning. It is a giant, two-story red ribbon hanging on the north portico of the White House. Today is World AIDS Day, and the ribbon is intended to symbolize solidarity with people infected with the virus.
ROBERTS: Well, when it comes to testing for HIV, the government says a record number of adults got screened for the first time last year, almost 83 million Americans, between the ages of 18 and 64, report being tested in 2009. That's an increase of 11 million people from 2006.
Still, though, the Centers for Disease Control says 55 percent of adults have never been tested and 28 percent of the population at high risk for HIV has not been screened either.
CHETRY: Well, it's hard to believe but it's been nearly two decades since Magic Johnson stunned the world and retired from the NBA after disclosing that he was infected with the HIV.
ROBERTS: Yes. And he's still doing very well these days, too. Nineteen years later, on World AIDS Day, a current member of the Los Angeles Lakers has turned the fight against the disease into his own personal crusade.
Ted Rowlands has his story this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, Pau Gasol was a young boy living in Spain when Magic Johnson announced to the world that he was HIV positive. Gasol says it changed his life forever.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): As fate would have it, Pau Gasol ended up playing professional basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. The same team Magic Johnson played for before he shocked the world with this announcement in 1991. EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, FORMER LOS ANGELES LAKERS STAR: Because of the HIV virus that I have attained, I will have to retire from the Lakers.
ROWLANDS: Across the globe at Barcelona, Spain, Pau Gasol was 11 years old when Johnson made the announcement. Gasol's mother is a doctor, and his father is a nurse. He says they helped him understand what happened to Johnson.
PAU GASOL, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: They could explain to me certain things that maybe other parents couldn't.
ROWLANDS: Although, Pau loved playing basketball, he had a goal to go to medical school and find a cure for AIDS. But basketball got in the way. Gasol is now in his ninth year playing in the NBA helping the Lakers win back to back championships the last two seasons. Despite his success on the court, he hasn't forgotten about the fight against AIDS. He's featured in this NBA public service announcement.
GASOL: Being safe is greater than being sorry.
ROWLANDS: For the last three years in the off season, Gasol has traveled to Africa as a UNICEF ambassador promoting HIV prevention.
GASOL: We're bigger and we're greater than AIDS, and there's some thing that we need to know about, that we need to talk about. And that we can't ignore.
ROWLANDS: Gasol is still fascinated by medicine. That's him watching a surgical procedure this summer at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. He may never find a cure for AIDS, but Pau Gasol hopes his basketball fame will help him make a difference.
GASOL: It's incredible the affect that we can have to the kids and people, in general.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (on-camera): Magic Johnson, of course, has done incredibly well over the past 20 years. One thing Gasol and others hope people keep in mind is that despite the successful treatments out there, HIV is still an incredibly dangerous disease -- John and Kiran.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Ted Rowlands for us this morning. Ted, thanks.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: By the way, if you happen to be attending an NBA game tonight, you'll be seeing red, a lot of red. These are what the players are going to be wearing tonight in honor of World AIDS Day. The wristbands.
ROBERTS: Yes. We've got a jersey here, as well, to show you.
CHETRY: And the red headbands, as well.
ROBERTS: Yes. That's at the back of the jersey. CHETRY: So, though, we're wearing them during the practice, the guys that are on the bench will have them on. The player have to wear their colors, but all of it, again, a show of solidarity on this World AIDS Day.
ROBERTS: Fabulous that they're doing it. Do not expect me to get that anywhere near my head.
CHETRY: I'm saving it for Richard Simmons.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: There you go.
Who is fascinating? You or (ph) the most this year. Barbara Walters has made up here mind. Her top ten list is out. We'll tell you about it coming up.
CHETRY: Plus, he is the dreamy New England Patriots' quarterback, a heartthrob, married to beautiful super model, Gisele Bundchen, but Tom Brady may not be perfect after all.
ROBERTS: No?
CHETRY: Really?
ROBERTS: Don't say it.
CHETRY: We'll explain next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Hey, Starbucks is reportedly making plans to begin selling beer and wine at their coffee shops.
(CLAPPING)
O'BRIEN Yes. Yes, apparently, Starbucks is having trouble finding sober people willing to pay nine bucks for a cup of coffee.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It's true. Although, you know, you can get (ph) the drip for $2. So --
ROBERTS: I like the heavier stuff, though, but it is. It's pretty dear (ph) these days.
CHETRY: Well, sometimes you get a frog in your throat. It's happened to you. It's happed to me. It's happened to the best of us, but you know, it also happened to British singing sensation, Susan Boyle, at one of the most inopportune times during a live television performance of "O Holy Night". It happened on "The View" yesterday. She tried to recover from the vocal malfunction but could not. She was on the show to promote her new album "The Gift" which is a huge hit. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN BOYLE, SINGER: Excuse me. Excuse me. Let's try it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Oh, my God.
ROBERTS: Poor thing. She didn't want to keep going because she had a lot of singing to do later on in the day (INAUDIBLE).
Barbara Walters, by the way, unveils her ten most fascinating people of 2010 tomorrow night. Among those people making the cut, the cast of the "The Jersey Shore."
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Teen idol, Justin Bieber. No, yes?
CHETRY: Come on now.
ROBERTS: NBA star, LeBron James and the recently engaged Kate Middleton. Of course, the top ten wouldn't be complete without our favorite Betty White. The 88-year-old star had quite a year.
CHETRY: It's hard to keep up with her. She's done so much.
ROBERTS: She's amazing. Just incredible.
CHETRY: Well, Tom Brady, he's got it all, right? The scruffy good looks, the super bowl ring, super model wife and babies, well, maybe not. The "National Inquirer" says Brady's car was spotted outside of Leonard Hair Transplant Associates in Rhode Island earlier this month. What's wrong with that, anyway?
Well, they say it's known as the foremost authority on hair restoration in New England. Would it be kind of weird, though, to happen during the middle of the season? The doctor's office, of course, would not confirm that Brady was a patient. His agent also didn't return the Inquirer's phone calls.
ROBERTS: Billie Joe Anderson back on Broadway. Greenday's frontman coming back to play St. Jimmy in a play inspired by his music for 50 shows, 50 whole shows, beginning on New Year's Day. He did one-week engagement earlier this fall. The box office skyrocketing, so he decided he's going to come back and (INAUDIBLE). Fifty days, that's whole lot.
CHETRY: I know. That's a rigorous schedule. That's how Broadway works.
Well, the power of reggae, and it seems one thing, and one thing only can calm this cranky baby down. It is the music of the late great Bob Marley. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. The power of reggae.
CHETRY (voice-over): That is hilarious. From mid tantrum to head bop. Immediately.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Instantaneous.
CHETRY: So cute. All right. well -- oh, man, I could watch that all day.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS (on-camera): I was in Jamaica back in July and all you hear on the radio still is Bob Marley.
CHETRY (on-camera): I know.
ROBERTS: He died 30 years ago.
CHETRY: His legend lives on, as well.
ROBERTS: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Well, join us to chase the storms coming up next. Discovery Channel storm chaser, Reed Timmber, joins us live. He's got exclusive footage like what you're looking at there of tornado hunting all in the name of science, certainly, not for the faint of heart.
ROBERTS: And he inspired the world before his early and tragic death. This morning, remembering John Lennon and his lasting legacy. The lead singer for the group OAR talks about the legendary Beatles influence on his music and how he came to write his own tribute song titled "Dakota."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Burning the Yule log already.
CHETRY: We love it. Christine romans is "Minding Your Business" now with her do's and don'ts of what to do and not do at a holiday party. Just kidding.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: You're doing the etiquette now in addition to business?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you right now, don't drink too much, because it's a very tight job market and you don't want to be the one who's embarrassing your boss. Jamie, I won't drink too much, I promise. Look, good tidings for you if you are hoping for the holiday party, because according to Challenger Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm, more companies will be adding the holiday party back to the roster this year after a couple of really ugly years. Sixty-eight percent of companies are planning holiday parties. That compares with 62 percent last year. OK. So, they're going to, you know, they're going to put on a little fete for their overworked and underpaid employees. What would that fete look like?
ROBERTS: Cash bar?
(LAUGHTER)
Seventy-six percent plan to party like it was 2010, which actually was a year that was cut -- or 2009, rather a. A year cut that was cut pretty dramatically. Eighteen percent, actually, are spending less this year. Somebody out there has got to be spending more, though, because I'm telling you, corporate profits are starting to come back. They haven't replaced all those workers that they have fired.
So, we're all working harder. Productivity is up. A lot of bosses are realizing you guys that, you know, they got to put up the punch a little bit at the end of the year because the recession is over. Profits are coming back.
ROBERTS: Our invitation for -- our holiday part was interesting. It said, bring everybody down for a festivity and pot luck dinner.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: And check off appetizer, hot dish or dessert.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: I'm taking the whole day off, by the way.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: What are you bringing?
ROMANS: I'm bringing myself.
CHETRY: She's bringing her empty stomach and a thirst. We'll take pictures.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
Half past the hour right now. Time for a look at this morning's top stories. All the airline passengers in the U.S. are being screened against government terror watch lists before getting on board, before getting boarding passes. Getting all air carriers to provide the names, birth dates and genders was a key recommendation of the 9/11 commission. ROBERTS: The man behind WikiLeaks Julian Assange hiding out in an undisclosed location this morning. He is now on Interpol's most wanted list of a rape charge out of Sweden and feeling the heat of releasing thousands of classified State Department documents leaked. The Justice Department and Pentagon have launched criminal investigations into the latest document dump.
CHETRY: A long line of violent storms bearing down on the east coast leaving a path of destruction in many areas. Possible tornadoes damaging at least 56 homes in Georgia. Fortunately, no reports of injuries there, but when you take a look at the radar you see the precipitation moving all the way up and down the east coast. Tornado watches are up from the Carolinas to Washington, D.C. this morning.
ROBERTS: Our Jacqui Jeras is in Buford, Georgia, where something hit yesterday. Looks like a tornado, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I haven't been able to see the worst damage to really, you know, get a handle on that or not, John. You can see the side of this house gone down and that was incredible winds.
Behind it is a tree that does have some branches down in different directions so that might be one of those indicators or signs that the national weather service will be looking at to determine if maybe this was a tornado. There was a tornado watch in effect at the time but no warning and residents say they were a little caught off guard but people weren't home late in the afternoon. None of those injuries.
Now, in the wake of this storm, we are dealing with some very cold and blustery conditions here in Georgia. Temperatures down in the 30s with the wind0chills only in the 20s so a cold day, not have power and for that cleanup.
Now, the storm system is causing some problems across the mid- Atlantic states and into the northeast yet today. Still a lot of energy with this system. You can see it stretches from Canada all the way down into parts of Florida. Watch is in effect from Maryland stretching down to North Carolina. There are no warnings right now but, still, a tornado threat for the next about hour and a half. The winds very strong in the northeast. You can see sustained 28 miles per hour there, almost 30 in New York. Gusts could reach 50 and there could be some airport delays as a result of that.
LaGuardia, two and a half hours, Philadelphia looking at delays lesser than that. So a rough day of travel because of the storm, as well. John and Kiran, back to you. We'll get you some pictures we have as we get into the neighborhood. We should be able to do that I think in the next hour.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thank you.
CHETRY: We have some pictures and tornadoes, so unpredictable. When one strikes, most people out of the way in they're able to in time. Not Discovery Channel star Reed Timmer. He and his team drive straight into the storm. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It might be a good time. Just wait. We are closer. Don't waste it. You have two left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horse! The horse!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at the debris everywhere!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We are going to drop. We need to drop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slow down! It's right on top of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is bad. Really bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Just a little bit of drama. You have to watch the season finale of "Storm Chasers" tonight on Discovery Channel to find out what happened to Reed and his crew.
CHETRY: Pretty cool, though. Reid joins us right now with more on what exactly was going on then. This was really deadly. Three people were killed in Minnesota, actually, back in June, with 170- mile-a-hour winds. You guys were right in the thick of it. What did it feel like?
REED TIMMER, DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S "STORM CHASERS": It was a mile- wide tornado. You are in there for two or three or minutes.
ROBERTS: You sit this out in a specially design Chevy Tornado, you call it the dominator. How does your truck manage to stay -- look at this. Looks like something out of "Mad Max." How does it stay on the ground?
TIMMER: It has a downward force on the vehicle so stronger the wind, the more downward force, and we have hydraulics to drop it flush to the ground. Without the wind under the vehicle, it's not like an airplane wing.
ROBERTS: You're using aerodynamics to keep it stuck to the ground?
TIMMER: Yes.
ROBERTS: Like downdraft in NASCAR.
TIMMER: Exactly.
CHETRY: It's amazing because it has to protect you from flying projectiles and everything else. We have video of another storm in South Dakota you were in. Tell us what we're seeing here and what it was like to be in this one.
TIMMER: Yes. That's a massive tornado. That was an EF-4, a half mile wide and almost stationary and digging a hole in the ground. We were behind the vehicle and saw a combine blowing through the air. That might be a tornado too strong for us to intercept.
ROBERTS: So Hollywood's not lying saying there's --
TIMMER: I've seen radio towers flying through the air. The power isn't underestimated. That could be an EF-5 in the middle of nowhere.
CHETRY: That's why. It's so unpredictable, as well. How do you know if you're safe enough or risking your life every time you're out there?
TIMMER: Our vehicle's especially designed to be inside those types of winds. But we have done it for 12 years, and that one was stationary but earlier tornadoes this season moving at 70 miles per hour and you don't have time to get out of the vehicle to watch them.
ROBERTS: How close was it of the vehicle?
TIMMER: Probably 50 meters or so.
ROBERTS: 150 feet?
TIMMER: Yes.
ROBERTS: What's the wind like in that proximity?
TIMMER: It is calm. Once you get up the tornadoes, the winds ramp up dramatically and then 200 miles per hour.
CHETRY: Besides getting amazing pictures which obviously these are, what do we learn? What do you learn in terms of the science of predicting tornadoes being out there chasing?
TIMMER: We're trying to better understand the dynamics of tornadoes and the wind at the ground, because that causes loss of life and property. How strong the winds can get, so we're trying to measure those directly and compare them to computer simulations to see how strong the winds get inside there.
CHETRY: Look at this.
ROBERTS: You have storm cannons on the back of the vehicle there and load them up with sensors. You fire them up when you get close to a tornado. There you go. It makes the goofy noise.
What do the -- pretty good. What do the sensors measure when they're up there?
TIMMER: Temperature, moisture and pressure inside the funnel at a rate of five times a second and that big red button launches them. It's hard to resist hitting that sometimes. But basically the goal to get a 3d MRI of the tornado.
ROBERTS: And what benefit is that? TIMMER: To better understand the dynamics to learn the difference between tornadoes on a ground for a long time and those that lift really shortly and in turn advance warning lead times to keep people safe in the path of the storms.
CHETRY: You're also a meteorologist and a storm chaser. What do you love about -- there's an art to forecasting and being out in the thick of it. What do you love about that?
TIMMER: I love the challenge, because even if you make an accurate forecast, sometimes things don't happen, and that mystery is amazing to me. And the science and the ingredients to create the tornado is incredible. Trying to better understand these things and keep people safe in the path of the storm.
ROBERTS: Are you also just an adrenaline junkie?
TIMMER: Little bit. I can't lie to you there.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: There we go.
CHETRY: My husband is a meteorologist and says two plus two equals four but it's unpredictable. We're seeing unpredictable weather where we haven't seen it.
TIMMER: There are tornadoes in Louisiana and Yazoo City, unfortunately, hit again. They can't catch a break down there. There's a huge part, that storm chasers play, the eyes in the field. The network of chasers reporting what's happening under the storm helps.
ROBERTS: Reed Timmer, great to see you this morning. Congratulations on the series and watching to see how you come out of that one.
TIMMER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: I hope the horse is OK, as well.
TIMMER: Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: We gave away the horse, nice. Now we don't need to watch.
TIMMER: The horse is fine.
CHETRY: OK, we'll find out whether you make it tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
Thanks so much, Reid timer for us and catch the --
ROBERTS: I think he made it.
CHETRY: Don't give it away. 10:00 p.m. tonight on the Discovery Channel.
ROBERTS: What is John Lennon's legacy 30 years of his death? Lead singer of O.A.R. talks about Lennon's influence on his music coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 43 minutes past the hour. December 8th, 1980, a day that lives in infamy for legions of John Lennon fans. As part of the CNN documentary "Losing Lennon" John had a chance to talk to people with a personal connection to the tragic events of that day when Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman.
ROBERTS: We talked to people like a radio writer Laura Kaye, part of the interview with Lennon the day he died. And hearing about the shootings, she ran over to Roosevelt hospital where Lennon was taken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE KAYE, RADIO WRITER: When I got to the hospital, there was a lot of press out in front. I got out of the cab and glass doors and through those glass doors less than 20 feet away I saw Yoko Ono surrounded by a knot of people.
And at one point they were talking to her and she collapsed. I mean, I can't do it obviously as she did but it was like in grief. I just read pure grief from that visual. And I -- I knew that he had died. I knew that that was the news that she was hearing at the time. And it felt profoundly sad, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Raw emotions even today, and that is the very first time that Laurie's talked publicly about that night.
John Lennon's music and life have been an inspiration to many people, especially to his fellow musicians. I sat down with Marc Roberge, the front man for O.A.R. He wrote the recent "Dakota" about Lennon's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
MARC ROBERGE, O.A.R. LEAD SINGER: We walked up to the Dakota, my wife and I. It immediately just took me to another place. For some reason I kind of felt like, you know, I wanted to imagine what it was like that day.
ROBERTS: Set the scene for me, Mark, and how did this come together in your head?
ROBERGE: I stood across the street and I watched and I tried to imagine this going down. And then I tried to imagine what if it never happened? And that's really the question of the song is, if you just kept walking on your way, I mean, would the world be different? And I think the world would be better.
ROBERTS: How do you think he affected the world?
ROBERGE: I think John Lennon affected the world through not being afraid to say what he wanted to say and seeing music as his way of saying it. And I don't even care if you don't like the Beatles or you don't like Lennon's music, you can't deny that he's affected the world. He would take, like, his experience, his personal experience and then make it universal. So as I came up in music I saw that as something I could identify with.
ROBERTS: What was the first Beatles' song you ever listened to?
ROBERGE: When I got Sergeant Pepper's, that was the first album I'd ever listened to, listened to. Ok? Listened to an album from beginning to end.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Songs, like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
(on camera): Is it just you or is it other -- other bands of your generation who are also looking to his music like him, who, you know, would hold him in reverential status?
ROBERGE: Nearly every band I've come across in the last 10, 15 years whether they know it or not in some way we're all inspired by the Beatles and inspired by a guy like Lennon.
ROBERTS: That's kind of remarkable.
ROBERGE: It is. I mean, only a few times someone comes along in 40 years who does enough of a lifetime that inspires generations to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And it really is remarkable as Marc said, that the depth of talent that the Beatles and just the magnitude of the impact that they had and the amount, the sheer volume of music that they made, I don't know that anybody could ever do that again.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It's amazing. And it's also great that you have people who haven't spoken up about their firsthand accounts because this is -- I mean, this living history. This is an oral history that you know, is -- is really priceless to be able to get on tape.
ROBERTS: Yes and you know some of the people are beginning to get on in years a little bit and want to make sure that we try to preserve that.
So we've got that all for you this weekend. The documentary, "LOSING LENNON: COUNTDOWN TO MURDER" premiers Saturday and Sunday night 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
We've got almost 48 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: I'm just trying to figure out what that was a picture of. I think it was our wall. One of the many --
ROBERTS: Not quite sure what it was.
CHETRY: The studio said that they don't even know where the cameras are.
ROBERTS: Oh what it was, it was a picture of a mistake.
All right, time for this morning's edition of "Another Good Reason to Watch What You Eat". This time if you're pregnant, listen up because researchers in Colorado just finished a two-year-long study of expectant moms and their diets. They discovered that whatever the mother eats and drinks directly impacts what their kids will eat and drink after they're born. That's after they get through the baby food stage.
The study concludes that the smell and taste of the mother's food physically makes changes to the fetus's brain effectively shaping the baby's tastes, which is why your kids have a ravenous appetite for (INAUDIBLE) --
CHETRY: Yes and slaffle (ph) and cheese fries and -- I mean, I don't know what it is but when you're in that -- when you hit that second trimesters, you're hungry for things you never thought. I always say it's -- your body wants certain minerals and certain things.
ROBERTS: And you eat literally everything in sight.
CHETRY: Yes, I sure do. What are you going to do?
Well, have you ever been baffled by the directions on your child's over-the-counter medication? It's not you it's the label. Researchers are examined who -- 200 of the top selling medications everything from Tylenol to Night Time Cough and Cold to --
ROBERTS: Don't say it.
CHETRY: All right, well anyway, they found that instructions can sometimes be confusing from the teaspoon measurements to the dosing cup marking millimeters. Remembering the conversions, another common mixed up there's a lot of us reaching into the kitchen drawer for teaspoons and it is bad because all spoons are obviously don't carry the same amount of liquid on themselves. So some are twice as big as others, in fact.
ROBERTS: The bottom line is the whole thing is confusing.
And all you guys out there, take a look at your hand because we're going to be measuring fingers again here. All right, you ready?
CHETRY: Well, I'm not a guy. Go ahead.
ROBERTS: You can't do this. You're a woman. Guys -- guys only. Is your index finger longer than your ring finger? There we go.
CHETRY: No yours is not.
ROBERTS: Mine is not. Ok, if it is, listen up here because a study just published in the British Journal of Cancer says you are one-third less likely to get prostate cancer if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger. Scientists believe the finding maybe related to levels of the male hormone testosterone. They had to say that, right? Because the inference is if your index finger is shorter than your ring, you've got less testosterone.
CHETRY: Thanks, John. You really made everybody's day.
ROBERTS: Well, it just made my day, too. Excuse me.
CHETRY: Why? Is yours -- smaller?
ROBERTS: Well, yes.
CHETRY: So you have more testosterone.
ROBERTS: No, less. And the length of a man's fingers may soon be used as an indicator for cancer risk is the bottom line of all of this.
CHETRY: Ok, I love it.
Well, it's the battle of the Christmas billboards in New York right now. There's an atheist billboard that calls Christmas a myth. It sparked a furor of course and a holiday war of words. Catholics firing back and Jeanne Moos is on the case up next.
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CHETRY: Love it. Well, it's the season to take on Christmas, I guess. An atheist group launched a billboard attack on the holiday.
ROBERTS: And New York's Catholic League responded in kind. Jeanne Moos takes a look at the battle that has drivers doing a double take.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's not just light at the end of this tunnel, there's a battle of the billboards on the Jersey side. The atheist holiday billboard -- "You know it's a myth. This season, celebrate reason."
DAVID SILVERMAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ATHEISTS: Well, we do know it's a myth. We do know that the invisible magic man in the sky is a myth. We do know this. BILL DONOHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: They must be reading too much Wikipedia or something. I don't know where they get these ideas.
MOOS: When the Catholic League saw the atheist billboard --
DONOHUE: Is there anybody to respond. Are we just pinata's that we're just going to accept this kind of thing as a doormat?
MOOS: The Catholic League put up its own billboard on the Manhattan side of the tunnel. "You know it's real. This season, celebrate Jesus."
SILVERMAN: We know God is fake and we know Christianity stole Christmas. We know this.
DONOHUE: So they believe that we came from nothing, the big bang theory. Or is it the King Kong theory. We're all a bunch of apes, we fell down kerplunk one day. I don't know.
If he wants to believe in that fairytale, he has every right to do so.
MOOS: The roads into and out of the Lincoln Tunnel are considered prime billboard space. The atheists say they spent over $20,000 to put up their billboard for a month.
Polls show 15 percent of Americans claim no religion and atheists think a lot more of the folks are what they closet atheists.
SILVERMAN: We need those people to come out of the closet.
MOOS: Forget atheists coming out of the closet. They'll be coming out of the tunnel.
SILVERMAN: God and Santa Claus are the same thing. He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake.
DONOHUE: They believe in nothing. They stand for nothing. They think they came from nothing.
MOOS: As for an atheist view of the nativity on the Catholic billboard -- who are these people?
SILVERMAN: I don't know. This guy looks a little like me, actually.
MOOS: This season, instead of just ads for watches and electronics, they're selling religion or the lack thereof.
SILVERMAN: Happy holidays Bill.
DONOHUE: Merry Christmas to the American Atheists.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well finally this morning, today's best video. It's -- you just got to see it one more time showing the power of reggae music. It seems one thing and one thing only calms down a cranky baby, the musical stylings of the late, great Bob Marley. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The power of reggae.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: He's so cute. He's got the head bobbing there and everything. Wow from kicking his feet and crying to --
ROBERTS: Instantly good. Only Bob can do that.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. We'll see you back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.
CHETRY: The news continues. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Hi, Kyra.
