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Brutal Weather in Much of the Country; Major Tax/Unemployment Vote Expected this Week; Holbrooke Still in Critical Condition; Holiday Drinks Wreaking Havoc on Your Waistline; Steve Harvey on the Key to Success
Aired December 12, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Deborah Feyerick at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta, in for Fredricka Whitfield this Sunday, December 12th.
A huge winter storm. Jacqui Jeras is at our board here, and we understand it is just brutal across much of the country.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So many places dealing with so many things. There you can see this is from Wisconsin where a state of emergency has been declared in parts of the state. Thousands of people are stranded at airports and bus terminals. Real ugly situation. Blizzard-type conditions across southern parts of state, especially yesterday and throughout much of the morning today.
FEYERICK: When are things showing that people will be able to begin digging themselves out?
JERAS: Well, the winds are going to calm down a little bit by tomorrow, and we think the winds may have contributed also, by the way, to the collapse of the Metrodome. We got some pictures of that to show you as well. My hometown and the Vikings not able to play the Giants for today unfortunately. They're going to reschedule that game, and they're going to play it in Detroit tomorrow. And believe it or not, Deborah, tickets are free.
FEYERICK: See, there's an upside to certain things happening. The pictures of the Metrodome collapse, by the way, you see them right here. That is just incredible. Look at all that snow comes down. Boy, they're going to have quite the cleanup job. Jacqui Jeras, we're going to check in with you a little later on. Thank you so much.
JERAS: Yes, 15 to 20 inches. It was a lot.
FEYERICK: That was definitely a lot.
All right. Well, a major vote to impact taxes and unemployment benefits for millions. That's right, millions of Americans is expected on Capitol Hill this week. The president's top adviser was on the Sunday talk shows gazing into his political crystal ball to try to predict the outcome.
Our Sandra Endo is in Washington. She has the details. Sandra. SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Deborah. A major vote on the president's tax deal happening in the Senate tomorrow. And today on the morning political talk shows the players threw out their political punches.
From the administration, the president's top adviser says he doesn't think that the tax deal is going to change much, if at all, with lawmakers up against the clock. The proposal hashed out between the president and Senate Republicans would extends the Bush era tax cuts for all Americans including the wealthiest.
The plan would also extend unemployment benefits and revise the estate tax. On CNN's "State of the Union" this morning, the president's senior adviser said there are real consequences if this deal gets caught up in politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: If we don't act, then we're going to see a major tax increase on people across this country. We have two million people who are on unemployment insurance, will be cut lose and we simply can't afford that. The economy can't afford that.
And obviously, you can't have it both ways. The president took the initiative to try and resolve this so that we don't have that crisis. That is leadership. And you know, we could engage in endless discussions, let this roll over beyond the first of the year, but the result of it would be very devastating for people across this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: But House Democrats vow to continue their fight. Their main sticking point is the estate tax proposal which would lower the rate to 35 percent over anything over $5 million. House Democrats say that's too generous. They want a 45 percent tax on estates over $3.5 million. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: At the end of the day, the House will be able to work its will on this piece of legislation that exactly what form of the bill comes to the floor in is something that's under discussion and debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: Despite the tough talk on areas of disagreement, House Democratic leaders indicated they would not hold up the vote altogether. Keep in mind, all these tax changes would take effect January 1st, so there's not much time left for this political feud, Deborah.
FEYERICK: Well, absolutely. They're going to have some serious thinking to do. We'll see how that plays out. Thanks so much. Sandra Endo in Washington. And as Congress winds down before its Christmas break, there's still unfinished business including possible votes on ratifying S.T.A.R.T., the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also funding bills to keep the federal government running and repealing "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that bars gays from openly serving in the military.
Congress could also take up the Dream Act legislation to create a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. We'll take a closer look at the Dream Act next hour.
The key to success. Ever wonder what it is? Well, Steve Harvey says it's clear-cut. CNN's Fredricka Whitfield finds out what it is when she comes "Face to Face" with the entertainer. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: CNN's Fredricka Whitfield comes "Face to Face" with Steve Harvey and finds out the key to the entertainer's over the top success.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As comedian, TV and radio talk show host, Steve Harvey is truly an open book. What you see is what you get. In fact, that's his approach to talking about everything from relationships to parenting to career building. His latest book "Straight Talk No Chaser" has just hit book stands, and he's already working on the next book.
"Face to Face" Harvey answers my question, will it be a third tell it like it is advice book on the dynamics of men and women?
STEVE HARVEY, COMEDIAN: It's all about her family.
WHITFIELD: About her family?
HARVEY: About our family.
WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. Your family together.
HARVEY: See because I dated my wife 20 years ago. She went off and got married. I went off and got married. Then we found each other again. So we had this family now that has different dads, different moms, all these kids, and we put them together. That's happening a lot these days.
WHITFIELD: That's America.
HARVEY: Yes.
WHITFIELD: In a very big way.
HARVEY: So me and my wife were talking about - we've already started. We sat down and started the process.
WHITFIELD: The modern day Brady bunch. HARVEY: Yes, in brown.
WHITFIELD: In brown. The brown Brady bunch.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: So when you look at your career, and I know it's still ongoing, but it's just extraordinary how much you've done in the past couple of decades. Real resonating moments that people remember you kings of comedy, remember you at the Apollo Theater. Are there moments in those very different journeys that are most outstanding to you that say, this really shaped me as a person or shaped me as a professional or taught me some valuable lessons?
HARVEY: All of it has been the sum total of this person I've become today. You know, but it all started from a basic core of being a standup comedian. So now as I speak in front of large groups of women in seminars and even asked to speak at a praise temple in D.C., I'm very accustomed now to working in front of large crowds. The "Kings of Comedy" taught me that.
Doing small comedy clubs at first and then theaters of 1,000 seats, 1,500 seats and 5,000 seats, when the kings were touring during basketball arenas three nights in a row. That has all come together, the hosting the Apollo, the failed marriages. I do shows like this talking about relationships. I have two sons in college. You know, I have three daughters that have graduated from college. I mean, wow, I'm sitting up here going, wow, man, this is like crazy. When you peel the banana back, I tell jokes. I tell jokes.
WHITFIELD: You reinvented yourself a few times. Did you, or is that just evolution of a career?
HARVEY: I had to. I've been very blessed though. It is a blessing to me. I've been very blessed in that god has enabled me to understand something. Change is coming inevitably for all of us. You can do one of two things. You can participate in the change, or you can react to the change. I've just chosen to participate in the change. To just say, OK, let's do something else.
WHITFIELD: Isn't it hard to identify when you're at that juncture?
HARVEY: Yes, it is, and there's some fearful moments in there. You know what I'm saying. Please don't get me wrong. I didn't go through this life saying I will do that and then I'll do that. I wish it was that simple. A lot of stuff that I had to make a choice to go do has been difficult choices and there has been some fear involved. But the number one cause of failure in this country is the fear of failure.
See fear freezes you. I've just learned over the years to take a deep breath, man, and go. You know, take god with you and go. That's the deal. So that's how I've lived my life. And so when it's time to change, I "don't get stuck on Chuck," as my father used to say. "Don't get stuck on chuck. Don't sit there and ride this until the end." Because it's going to end. You know, if I just said, "hey, all I'm doing is stand-up, that would not be good." Standup - if I don't go do TV, I'm not as famous unless people come to see me. OK? If I don't do TV, nobody picks me in a movie. If I don't do the movies, I don't get to understand feelings from other people. If I don't get that, I don't get to meet the people I've met to get the information to write the book.
It all ties together for the good, if you are a believer. If you just believe that it all comes together for the good. All your failures can be turned into successes. And I just hang on that hope, man. I just keep hanging around. I blew it, but I'll get it right next time. I just kept hanging on that hope, you know.
WHITFIELD: Do you think opportunities found you, or did you create some of these opportunities?
HARVEY: It's been a combination of two things. You know, a lot of people say I've been lucky. You know but luck -
WHITFIELD: Do you like to hear that?
HARVEY: No, no. I'm blessed. I'm not lucky. Luck is actually when hard work bumps up into opportunity. If you've been putting the work in and the opportunity is going by, sometimes those two just collide. I will tell you I have not planned all of this. I just didn't. But I'm always working hard.
And sometimes opportunity is just going along, and then we just crash. Then, bam, a book. Please know, I've never had any aspirations of being an author, none, none. I never had any aspirations of being in any movie. I never had any aspirations of being a TV star. I wanted to be on TV, but I wanted to be on TV. I just wanted to be Jackie Gleason. I just wanted to be Red (INAUDIBLE), Red Skelton. I just wanted to be Jonathan Winters and then when I saw Richard Pryor, I just want to be Richard Pryor on TV. But I didn't know it was a sit- com. I didn't know it was going to be a variety show. I didn't know I was going to be hosting the celebration of gospel. I didn't know none of that.
WHITFIELD: Is there a singular ingredient, you think?
HARVEY: It's two things. Faith and hard work. There's a scripture that says faith without work is dead. You got to have the two things. No faith? I can't explain my existence without faith.
WHITFIELD: Explain what you mean by hard work.
HARVEY: Hard work. You got to be willing to do the things that are necessary. See people miss one of the key components of being successful. You got to be willing to do a series of things you're uncomfortable doing. I have young people I hire right now. They don't want to do anything uncomfortable. I keep explaining to them, you got to get uncomfortable, really, really uncomfortable to get successful. You got to do some stuff you don't feel like doing.
I tell my sons all the time, you think I like waking up at 3:30 and going down to the gym. If I don't stay in shape, I'm going to die. I just got this money summer before last. I would like to stick around and enjoy it. I'm not leaving it to you. My children all know at the funeral everybody is going to be crying. American Express, Visa, Sears, MasterCard. They're going to have representatives from everywhere crying because I'm not paying nobody completely off.
Oh, no. I'm going to owe. So hard work and faith, man, that combination has been beautiful for me. I think that's the key.
WHITFIELD: In the final installment of "Face to Face with Fredricka" and Steve Harvey, why he says a little time spent in hell can build character.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Find out which holiday drinks can wreak havoc on your waistline. That's coming up in the "Chat Room."
But first a look at today's top stories. Swedish police are calling two explosions in Stockholm acts of terrorism. Officials say the blast occurred within minutes of each other in an area packed with Christmas shoppers. The first blast was a car bomb. The second explosion may have been set off by a suicide bomber. One person was killed and two others were injured.
U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke remains in critical condition at a Washington hospital after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. Today White House advisor David Axelrod called Holbrooke a very tough person who is fighting a heart problem that many people could not have survived.
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton has joined a prestigious line-up of college football's best players. He is the 2010 Heisman trophy winner. An NCAA investigation determined Newton's father violated play for pay rules but it found no evidence that Cam Newton did anything wrong.
Well, holiday drinks with a good and bad side tops today's "Chat Room." CNN's Jacqui Jeras joins me in the "Chat Room." Jacqui, and boy, "The Daily Beast" is out. They have got a whole list of the most unhealthy holiday drinks.
JERAS: I know. We think it's all the cookies and the cakes and the creams but if you take a look at some of these drinks, it might be one drink that puts you over the edge, right?
FEYERICK: We're talking ones that you buy at Starbucks and A&W, all these different places.
JERAS: Most are coffee drinks or smoothie drinks or whatever.
FEYERICK: Right.
JERAS: And a lot of them are loaded with a crazy amount of calories as well as fat grams as well.
FEYERICK: Right. We're going to go through this list. Number ten on the list. I thought this was a lot until I started reading the others. So the first one is a peppermint hot chocolate that Panera serves. It's an ice blended drink from a coffee bean. It has 610 calories. 610 calories. Look at that. The next drink is the peppermint dark chocolate ice blended drink. So there, that also has 690 calories. Did I get the first one wrong? I did. It was 610. This one is 690. So number eight. You take number eight.
JERAS: This is from Starbucks. People love this. Have you had this? I've had it. It's so good. If you use skim milk, I guess the fat and everything else is less. I'm just saying. OK.
FEYERICK: That's like a Diet Coke with your doughnut. Go ahead.
JERAS: Peppermint white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, 700 calories and 95 grams of sugar.
FEYERICK: Oh, look at that.
JERAS: Wow.
FEYERICK: That's a lot. Number seven is gingerbread cookie ice blended drink. That one has 710 calories. Carbohydrates, take a look at that, 136. I mean, there's no point in having dinner if you're going to have this.
JERAS: There's really not. Number six ho ho mint white chocolate from Caribou. 790 calories and 27 grams of saturated fat. That's not even a good kind of fat.
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: Number five we got spicy milk chocolate mocha from Caribou as well, 880 calories, 26 grams of saturated fat.
FEYERICK: And now peppermint chocolate milk shake from Chick-Fil-A.
JERAS: Does that count as a drink?
FEYERICK: Well, no.
JERAS: That's peppermint chocolate milk shake.
FEYERICK: That's right. It has 930, sugar, 129 grams.
JERAS: The next one is ice cream. Dairy Queen, the pumpkin pie Blizzard. Over 1,000 calories.
FEYERICK: That's amazing. I would eat that actually. That sounds unbelievably delicious. And then chocolate fudge blender from A&W Restaurant, that one has 1,010 calories. Like how do they determine there were 10 at the end there.
JERAS: And the number one holiday spiced sugar cookie blast from Sonic. More than your daily average intake of calories, 1,256.
FEYERICK: Right. Exactly. When you think about it, an apple is like 70 calories. OK.
JERAS: I think I gained five pounds just reading those off, you know. Anyway.
FEYERICK: OK. So our next topic - I just love this one because they're just so many things you could say. So many directions to take this.
So an Oregon man is awesome, literally. Douglas Allen Smith Jr. legally changed his name to Captain Awesome. He says he was inspired by the nickname of the character on the NBC TV show "Chuck," Dr. Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodco, Smith was granted permission to sign his name really unusually. It has nothing to do with his new names. He's going to sign it with two arrows pointed at each other with a smiley face in the middle. Captain Awesome, like that's not going to raise questions?
JERAS: Right. Well, the judge made him promise, by the way, that he wasn't doing this for fraudulent reasons and his bank said yes, go ahead and make that signature, but we're not going to accept it.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: What is his nickname? What do you call him? Hi, my name is Captain Awesome. What do your friends call you?
JERAS: I just think that if you know, it's (INAUDIBLE) title, Captain Awesome, right.
FEYERICK: I know. At least he didn't hyphenate it.
So last one. A $10 bill that's worth $50,000. That is the asking price on Ebay, and it's not just an ordinary $10 bill. The owner claims that it is more than 100 years old and was issue by the Mesa County National Bank of Grand Junction, Colorado. The owner, a New Jersey collector who bought it eight years ago. And that's remarkable. $10 now worth 50,000.
JERAS: That's a lot.
FEYERICK: That had to be on antique road show or something. Can you imagine, I found this little thing, but look at that. Boy, that really is authentic. A piece of history.
JERAS: He was a collector though. He says ever since he was a kid, he was interested in unique coins and dollars as well as geography. So he kind of put the two together, he says.
FEYERICK: Good for him. It paid off.
JERAS: Right.
FEYERICK: All right. So Captain Awesome, we wish you luck. All right.
JERAS: That's going to be a hard one to handle.
Does he have a special outfit or something?
FEYERICK: Yes, I think it involves tights and a cape but anyway.
So brutally cold temperatures and recorded breaking snowfall, the Midwest is getting pounded by a blizzard. As Jacqui knows, the storm is not finished yet. We'll find out where it's heading. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENDO (voice-over): For Suzy Wells, farming runs deep in her roots.
SUSIE WELLS, FARM OWNER: This was my family farm, and my dad had no boys. So I took over the farm when I came home from college.
ENDO: She's the eighth generation to own this scenic 320-acre waterfront farmland. But perception may be deceiving.
WELLS: We're land rich and cash poor. All our value is tied up in our land, and our land is what our your business is based on.
ENDO: Well, she's planning on passing the farm on to her 22-year-old son, and that's where most of her worries begin. Under the current estate tax law, next year estates worth more than $1 million would be taxed at 55 percent.
WELLS: We would not have the cash money to pay the tax. We either have to mortgage the property or we'd have to take a bank loan, which would work against us in borrowing money for production on the farm.
ENDO: But under the new tax plan the president hashed out with congressional Republicans, individuals would be able to pass on $5 million in assets tax-free. Anything over that would be taxed at 35 percent. House Democrats say that's too generous and favor a 45 percent tax rate for estates worth more than $3.5 million. The difference in revenue between the two plans is only roughly $7 billion.
BENJAMIN HARRIS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: Yes, I think that the fight is largely symbolic. Even in revenue terms, it's pretty small as a proportion of the overall bill, the estate tax falls mostly on wealthy people. That means that estate tax cuts benefit the richest Americans.
ENDO: Wells says her mid-sized farm would be exempt under the president's plan but will be hit under the democrats' proposal and she says don't call her wealthy.
(on camera): So what kind of figures are we talking about. WELLS: Well, we can make as much as $300,000 gross here but we'll probably take home closer to between 80,000 and 100,000, and that's my husband and I both working together.
ENDO: But she says keeping this is worth all the headaches.
WELLS: It's just such a stress reliever to be able to look out on everything and enjoy nature. You know, it is hard to make a living, but the tradeoffs are there. Come, come.
ENDO: If this new tax deal passes, it would give farms like this one clarity for the next two years. But the big unknown is if the tax rate will change once again after that.
Sandra Endo, CNN, Prince Frederic, Maryland.
FEYERICK: Well a special edition of "Viral Video Rewind" today. Josh will have the top videos of the year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: A rap video from insane clown posse that went viral. But first a look at today's top stories.
Alabama police say they've uncovered human remains that are likely those of the missing 4-year-old girl. Police believe the remains belong to Natalie Deblaze whose father is accused of killing her and her 3-year-old brother. Police say the father gave them information that leads to the discovery.
The Florida pastor who threatened to burn the Koran has been invited to England by the far right English defense league. Terri Jones says he has been invited to appear at a rally in February. British authorities say they're considering barring Jones from entering the country.
The official engagement photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton has been released. They were taken by famous photographer Mario Testino last month. He said the pair were, quote, grinning with the happiness. The couple's wedding is set for April 29th next year.
Time.com is out with its top viral videos of 2010. We know you have been waiting. Here are their picks and CNN's Josh Levs.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Deb let's do this. It's always interesting to see what our partner is. At Time.com pick for the top ten viral videos of the years. Let's go to number ten. I think people will be surprised by this. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will hit the ground running, come out swinging in both the primaries.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEVS: Some people called him the angriest politician ever, Phil Davidson who was accused of freaking out on a speech he gave at the Republican nomination for Star County treasurer. Everyone started watching this afterwards. He's impassioned.
FEYERICK: Absolutely. He believes in his cause.
LEVS: He does. You know what? There's something to say about that. All right. Next in number nine the Trololo guy. Take a look at this guy. Someone unearthed this video from the '70s. A Russian song. Listen in.
His Russian vocalist Edward Kyle, he thought he had retired from singing but unexpectedly the Internet revived his career. In a matter of days after someone posted this online this basically wordless Soviet song was listened to across the web. Everyone listened to the Trololo part.
FEYERICK: Look at his hair. Look how natural he looks swinging his arms.
LEVS: Now it revived his career. It's incredible. At number eight something that taking on us in its own unique way. Take a look at this. This is a group of Taiwanese animators who became huge this year. They take news stories and they animate them. This is when he walked out famously after getting fed up. People love this. This is the new media animation.
FEYERICK: They are the same ones who did the Tiger Wood video, too. It was like Claymation but more sophisticated.
LEVS: Yes, exactly. They're famous now. Everyone can't wait to see their take on the major stories. You mentioned insane clown posse. No one would expect them to be in here, but here they are. Here's the music video. Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easy to miss what really goes on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: For folks who don't know it, it's basically these two rappers. Usually they have a lot of harsh songs. But this song, "Miracles" was a lot lighter and dealt with lighter topics. They're talking about life's little miracles.
FEYERICK: I don't think they went too heavy on the makeup.
LEVS: I'll leave that for you to decide. You know more about it than I do. Oh, man. All right. Number six, a classic. You couldn't have had 2010 without pants on the ground. From "American Idol," as you probably remember, this guy -- one of your favorites. He became famous. This is not the original. When they invited him back at the end. General Larry Platt, "American Idol" invited him back to (INAUDIBLE) it in their finale. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Pants on the ground, pants on the ground. Love that guy.
FEYERICK: It's amazing what some good dancers behind you can do to a mediocre song.
LEVS: Suddenly anyone is a pop star. You know who else became a star this year? Guy number five. Take a look at this guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down, back up.
Where are you?
You're on the boat with a man can smell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Old spice man. They created this as an ad basically and probably expecting it would get some viral -- it would go a little viral. They didn't know it would get tens of millions of hits and that it would trigger basically an online revelation where he started tweeting with people and made all these new videos. Incredible viral marketing campaign there.
FEYERICK: Absolutely, it was so done well also. Because the premise is that every time he is moving and his outfits are changing he seems to be blocked strategically.
LEVS: They did videos about the making of it. It's so impressive. Speaking of videos of the making of, let's get to number four. This viral video here is a music video. From OK go. They had this machine in it, and this whole video is one take.
FEYERICK: That's remarkable.
LEVS: All this crazy stuff happens.
FEYERICK: We always do things in one take here.
LEVS: Do we pull off that? That would be nice.
FEYERICK: I did the chair thing, you know. Did you miss me yesterday?
LEVS: Yes, I did. You had to do some acrobatics the last hour with technical issues up here. You nailed them. At number three I'm going to set this one up for us. We remember the name Antoine Dodson. He was the guy who was seen in a local news report about a serious topic, but what he said was being viral comedy. Basically you have to lock everybody up. Then the Gregory Brothers who do auto tune the news they turned him into a song. Sold that on iTunes. It was a hit. He performed his own words at the BET Awards. Take a look here. Just a reminder of what happens with a viral video. It got tens of millions of hits that people actually started singing a song about it. He actually performed at the BET. Awards.
FEYERICK: Hide the wife, hide the kids. I love that.
LEVS: Now we are working our way up to number two. Number two is going to surprise a lot of people. This year a lot of people talked about chat roulette. It's a website where you turn on the webcam and suddenly you're on with anyone else. This guy just turned on his webcam and started serenading random people. He played that video online. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you're laughing hilariously
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: He started to do that and people loved it. This guy who is number two actually spoke with CNN in the spring; spoke with our Lori Segal of CNN.com. She interviewed him and he made a little video just for us. Take a look at that.
FEYERICK: Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lori is writing about me is her techy blog because Josh Levs is still recuperating from his pass over fog. CNN what does it stand for I don't know Canadian Nighty Night carburetor neither nor, creamy nougat niceness or cable news network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Beautiful song.
FEYERICK: We should maybe think about the second to the last name there. It had a little pizzazz.
LEVS: We might actually be able to use that. We end with the number one according to Time.com of the whole year. I agree it is this one. The guy who saw the two rainbows in the sky and was so happy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Double-rainbow all the way across the sky. Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Paul Vasquez saw two rainbows in the sky over Yosemite, California. He loved it so much, he kept talking about it. Then the news guys turned that into a song. It's beautiful. You can see the entire list up at Time.com. Check it out and see what you think. As always, weigh in on my pages and tell me what you think.
FEYERICK: All right. Josh Levs always with the best videos. It's so much fun.
We're going to check in with Jacqui Jeras. Because my plane is a couple of hours away. We need to know whether I'm going to be getting back home tonight. Jacqui Jeras is coming up.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, there, Deborah. Where is your flight from? New York? If you're going there, we're talking about some major delays. In fact I'll show you the weather map in a second. We will start with those delays since you asked. We got LaGuardia ground delays about an hour and 45 minutes and Atlanta ground delays two hours and 25 minutes. Boston over two hours, Chicago O'Hare they are over six hours and three minutes. I'm not sure where you get those strange three minutes from, but at that point you want to give up. They had 1200 flights canceled by the way Chicago O'Hare because of the storm. Over an hour JFK, over two hours at Newark, Two and a half almost at Reagan National, San Francisco 55 minutes and 25 in Philadelphia.
So here's your big cold front. This big storm system, this is the thing that caused the blizzard conditions across the Midwest. We're now blowing through the Great Lakes where we have our greatest concerns in terms of our wintry type of weather. We will zoom in, Chicago up towards Grand Rapids into Detroit where we are getting some heavy snow coming down now. Most of the worst of the winds are just off to the west of here where we see gusts around 30 to 40 miles per hour. The wind speeds that you see here are the average sustained winds. So look at those 30s up there for you in Milwaukee.
You know visibility is extremely low, and even in those places where the snow has actually stopped coming down, it's blowing back over some of the roadways and that's why they're having so many problems trying to keep things cleared off here. Now ahead of the front we've got the warmer air, so that's why we're just dealing with the rain showers here. A couple of rumbles of thunder too from time to time into the northeast. We're expecting very little snow for you in the big cities. You are just going to get a little bit on the backside of this storm system, but the heavy rain, the low clouds, and the poor visibility is what's causing all of those delays for you at the airport.
Tomorrow can you expect better conditions? Well, you really are stuck with the bitter cold across the nation's mid-section. Wind chill indices here still about 20 below zero at times, and there you can see those winds kicking into the northeast. The main system finally turning to head out. New England still being impacted by the morning, but on the backside you will get those lake-effect snow showers and you talk about one to three feet. I also want to mention last but not least in the west you have dealt with your own weather system here as well.
It's kind of blocked up because of the weather pattern. So we've had onshore flow and heavy rain showers. Seattle is dealing with some significant flooding situations and we have also had a number of mudslides and landslides as a result of that. We're tracking that situation as well. A nasty storm on both coasts of the country.
FEYERICK: By my count, it will take about four hours of wait time till I get home. Thanks so much Jacqui Jeras.
JERAS: It's not easy.
FEYERICK: Well Sarah Palin is in Haiti. We will tell you what she's doing there. And talk with another women who is focused on stopping violence against Haitian women.
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FEYERICK: Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is on a goodwill mission to Haiti. She's traveling with evangelist Franklin Graham and his relief organization Samaritan's Purse. The first visit comes nearly a year after a powerful earthquake devastated part of that country killing more than 2,000 people leaving more than a million more homeless.
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SARAH PALIN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We don't want Americans to forget the need that is here and more importantly for Americans and people across the world to know what an individual can do to make a difference to contribute, to kind of get out of your comfort zone and volunteer to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Haiti is also fighting a massive cholera outbreak and protests over the recent presidential election. Jayne Fleming has been helping some of Haiti's most vulnerable victims get to the United States. She's a lawyer with the Global Law Firm Reed Smith. She joins us now from New York. Miss Fleming thank you so much for being here with us. The situation right now is really devastating, especially to women in Haiti who have fallen prey to the situation there.
JAYNE FLEMING, PRO BONO COUNSEL, REED SMITH: That's right, Deborah. I've been to Haiti four times since March, and I think it's fair to say that conditions for women and girls in Haiti have gotten dramatically worse since the earthquake, and conditions there have deteriorated rather than improved. I work with two grassroots women's organizations in Haiti in Port-au-Prince and both of them represent women who are really living in the most dangerous conditions in Haiti, in the worst camps in Haiti. For them nothing has gotten better. It's gotten much, much worse.
FEYERICK: You've met a number of these women and you have spoken to them. What are some of the most tragic stories that you've heard?
FLEMING: Well, I think one of the problems with the situation in Haiti is that the earthquake is merely one in a continuing series of human tragedies that Haiti has experienced and women have really experienced the worst tragedies of all. Some of our clients, the clients that my law firm Reed Smith representing have some of those histories of violence against them. And I think probably the worst, worst case that I have right now is a woman who experienced violence during the political coup in 1991. She was raped, her husband was disappeared, and her house was burned down. She was then raped again in 2004 during another period of political violence and she then lost family members during the earthquake. And then when she was trying to come to the rescue of a girl who was being attacked after the earthquake she herself was raped and now a few weeks ago her daughter was raped.
So I think it's an ongoing tragedy, one tragedy after another of violence against women. That's one case. We have since the earthquake I have interviewed more than 50 women who have been raped. It's a complete humanitarian disaster.
FEYERICK: I want to talk about the work you're doing in just a moment, but what is the Haitian government doing in all of this? What are they doing to help these women?
FLEMING: Well, I think that's one of the fundamental problems and one of the reasons there is so much violence against women, is the answer is almost nothing. I mean, the problem is that a woman who is attacked and raped really has no remedy, no law enforcement remedy, no help from the police and no judicial remedy and it's not taken seriously in the country.
When you don't have rule of law and you don't offer legal protection to women who are victimized, it creates an atmosphere of impunity that just encourages more violence against women. I have had cases where women have gone to the police and they have been blamed for the crime. I've had cases where women have gone to the police and they were told to go find the perpetrator and bring him back. Have cases where women have gone and they have been told they have to pay cash in order to have a police officer go find the perpetrator. Really, this is one of the most basic fundamental problems that's creating an increase in violence against women.
FEYERICK: It almost sounds as if there's a war against women going on in that country. You're a humanitarian parole lawyer. Basically you are trying to get the most needy, if there's a possible way to determine who is more needy than the next. Who are those you're trying to help? Are you getting the help you need to do it?
FLEMING: That's right. It's -- there's a process in the United States called Humanitarian Parole, which was the process that was used immediately after the earthquake to help children in the adoption pipeline to come to the United States and for people with extreme medical needs. So we have piggybacked on that concept of humanitarian parole and we have gone to Haiti. I led delegations of medical doctors and lawyers and we have identified about 100 cases where we are trying to get women evacuated from Haiti and they are the worst, worst cases we have identified.
We're not trying to get Humanitarian Parole for everyone in Haiti but just for people who are so severely psychologically damaged and reeling from violence that we're trying to get them to the United States. My law firm, Reed Smith, has about 40 lawyers working on this project where we are representing individual women and trying to get them parole.
FEYERICK: Do you have enough sponsors? One of the things that you're trying to get them is sponsors. They have to have somebody in the U.S. to help them. Are those people here?
FLEMING: Right. That's the biggest hurdle. The biggest roadblock to this representation. Typically a lawyer takes the case does legal work and the case is finished. With this project what we have to do is get not only fiscal sponsors, somebody who is willing to provide financial support to the women to come to the United States. But we also need to make sure that the medical services and psychological services and social welfare services are in place so that when they get here they're not just lost in another community. Yes, we have about 20 percent of our faces have financial sponsors and about 80 percent do not.
FEYERICK: OK. Well Jayne Fleming, certainly important work but by no stretch of the imagination easy work. We wish you good luck on your trip to Haiti which is coming up soon. Thank you so much for joining us here today.
FLEMING: Thank you.
FEYERICK: Well President Obama's compromised tax deal with Republicans is fueling heated debate in Washington, and lawmakers voiced their frustration today. Details coming up after the break.
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FEYERICK: President Obama's controversial tax deal dominated the Sunday morning talk shows. Here are a few of highlights.
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CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you at this point are you selling it to these reluctant Democrats or are you willing to change it in a major form? In particular the real estate tax, which -- the estate tax that has really sticking in the craw of Democrats on the House side.
DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: Look, this framework represents a compromise that both sides can accept. And we can't change it in major ways and expect that this thing is going to pass. Obviously people have discussions.
CROWLEY: You wouldn't do a big change in estate tax?
AXELROD: I expect the framework that was agreed to will be largely what is voted on.
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Well the fact of the matter is it was not central to the deal, and there's a simple question. We're not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day, but we do think that simple question should be put to the test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying if this deal falls apart, Congressman Ryan, then the first order of business when Republicans take control of the new Congress after the first of the year is you will pass an extension of all the Bush tax cuts that would have gone down to defeat?
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) WISCONSIN: Yes. So if the Democrats in the House scuttle this deal, we will be the first thing we do, is prevent these job-killing tax increases and we will do it retroactively after the first of the year.
HOWARD DEAN, FMR. DNC CHAIRMAN: This is a short-term Washington fix, and it does nothing about the long threat to America which is the deficit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can you now say no, sorry, no freeze, no temporary freeze, we're not going to have direct talks?
SALAM FAYYAD, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRIME MINISTER: Whether you experience the kind of difficulties that this particular process has experienced in the form of failure to get them to comply, something as basic as to stop committing further violations, the question how can one rely on this process to deliver?
TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAELI OPPOSITION LEADER: So basically the choice in the Middle East is sometimes between, so in choosing between buildings or making peace, I prefer to make peace, but it is also a matter of trust. The parties need to regain the trust.
CROWLEY: What does that mean, exactly? When South Korea does lose patience? What does that mean?
DENNIS BLAIR FMR. NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE: It means that they will be taking military action against North Korea.
CROWLEY: Do you see that happening?
BLAIR: Yes, I do see that happening. Now, North Korea knows that if it starts a big war with South Korea by artillery rises against Seoul or major (INAUDIBLE), it will lose that war. It will be the end of the regime. So I don't think a war is going to start. But I think there is going to be a military confrontation at lower levels, rather than simply accepting these -- this North Korea aggression and then going -- bargaining.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: For the latest political news, log on to CNNPolitics.com.
