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CNN Saturday Morning News
Operation American Soldier
Aired December 25, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everybody. Top of the hour now. Thank you for sharing parts of your Christmas morning with us. You're seeing pictures here. Pope Benedict is delivering his traditional Christmas message to the masses. In particular, this was at St. Peters of Basilica. It got underway about an hour ago.
People gathered out there at the square, had a little rain coming down on them, but they stuck around to hear his Christmas Day message. We'll let you hear part of his message to the world today.
Also a lot of folks often hope for a White Christmas. Some of you are going to get it. Some of you wish you weren't going to get it. It will cause problems for travelers and especially some travelers were trying to get back home maybe on Sunday or Monday.
Also a lot of flight cancellations to tell you about today as well beginning into all that. The news you need to know on this Christmas morning from the CNN Center. This is your Christmas version of CNN SATURDAY MORNING wherever you may be on this December 25th. Glad you could be right here.
I'm T.J. Holmes. Wondering if you folks get the little kids up yet? Maybe the pitter patter with little feet around the house, maybe the scratching at the door trying to wake up. Hope you are having a good morning so far. We are going to show you how a lot of people are celebrating Christmas not only in the U.S., but around the world.
But we will start here in the U.S. in the nation's capital last night. This is in Washington, D.C. This is actually the largest Roman Catholic church in the U.S., Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This was one of the many masses we saw take place last night.
But again, we mentioned a moment ago, Pope Benedict, the traditional blessing, Pope Benedict XVI. This got under way about hour ago with the Pope delivering the annual, the traditional message on Christmas that he delivers to the city and to the world. You are seeing the kind of crowd out there. You can't see it that much there. But as always, the St. Peter's Square, the people gather to hear him.
It's so impressive, this goes out. It's translated in so many different languages. But the Pope actually in his message, he reads this message and he actually does it in 64 different languages, just a couple lines in each language. So, certainly impressive there.
Take a quick listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE BENEDICT XVI, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Prince of Peace reminds the world where true happiness lies; and may your hearts be filled with hope and joy for the savior has been born for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Just part of his message, certainly hearing and understanding that part in English. Excuse for my cough here. But the Pope, that was -- again, it's just about an hour ago, this got started. He's also had his traditional mass last night. The midnight mass they are called, but they are starting to move this more and more.
So, 10:00 at night for a lot of parishioners who don't want to be up that late and have a long day ahead. And also for the Pope, himself, who's 83 years old. They moved the mass to 10:00 last year, did it again this year at 10:00. Give him a little more rest, a lot of responsibilities on this Christmas.
Let me turn to Iraq, celebrating Christmas there as well, but they have to do it quite carefully in some places. More masses being held there in a relatively safe Kurdish area of northern Iraq. Those services happened amid the latest round of violence in the south. Seven people killed in a 24-hour span. Many churches in and around Baghdad canceled Christmas services altogether in light of recent attacks that targeted Christians.
Well, you have been seeing and we've been happy to show, a lot of these holiday homecomings, look at that -- holiday homecomings for a lot of troops, battle wary troops, thousands of men and women in uniform. They are getting a break from the duty to be with their families on this holiday. Many others, of course, are not so lucky with that. They are far from home on this Christmas Day.
But a Massachusetts couple making sure they are not forgotten -- our Allan Chernoff with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WENDY ROCCA, CO-FOUNDER, OPERATION AMERICAN SOLDIER: Dear John and Wendy, thank you.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For John and Wendy Rocca, every season is the season for giving.
W. ROCCA: This is our filing system: blue for boy, pink for girl.
CHERNOFF: Each one represents an active duty soldier in need. It also began in 2003 when daughter Tracy was serving in Iraq and asked dad for help.
JOHN ROCCA, CO-FOUNDER, OPERATION AMERICAN SOLDIER: I said, what do you need? She goes, "Everything." CHERNOFF: They sent Tracy a huge care package. Then she told her parents some soldiers in her unit never get even a letter from home.
That's when the Roccas decide to send packages to total strangers.
J. ROCCA: We walk down the mail hall. The sign behind the desk says, sorry, son, there's no meal for you today. What do you -- how do you feel? Then, all of a sudden -- sorry -- he reaches down and says, oh, by the way, here, I forgot here's a package for you from a total stranger.
We got plenty of stuff to put in them.
W. ROCCA: How can you say no to any soldier out there? They need support.
J. ROCCA: Wipes. Lip balm.
CHERNOFF: Soldier began to refer soldiers. And from the Roccas' Massachusetts home, Operation American Soldier was born.
SPC. NICK ROCCA, JOHN AND WENDY'S SON: I knew, as soon as they started sending to the first one and then started going to five, 10 people, I know we were in for the long haul.
CHERNOFF: It's been seven years now.
J. ROCCA: I want the boxes hand addressed.
CHERNOFF: The Roccas and their volunteers have mailed packages to more than 2,000 servicemen and women.
KIM DANSBY, DONATED TO OPERATION AMERICAN SOLDIER: It brings a smile to their faces, lets me know that, you know, we are -- there's a lot of people, I think, that support them.
W. ROCCA: And we got this one letter --
CHERNOFF: Every package comes with a note of thanks.
W. ROCCA: Look at the artwork.
CHERNOFF: Some from second graders.
W. ROCCA: Dear soldier, I hope you are not hurt and sad --
CHERNOFF: Imagine being on the receiving end of that.
We spoke to Rocca's son, Sgt. Tony Rocca, via Skype from Iraq.
SGT. TONY ROCCA, JOHN AND WENDY'S SON: Even if it only lasts 30 seconds, you know, to be somewhere else for that 30 seconds.
The best right here. Some peanut butter because chow hall food is not always that great.
CHERNOFF: A taste from home, something the Roccas want every soldier to have.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. At five past the hour here on this Christmas morning, weather is going to be a big deal today. Yes, some of you will get a white Christmas and a lot of people appreciate that. But a lot of the weather caused some issues with people trying to get to their Christmas celebrations going to have some problems trying to get from their Christmas celebrations as well.
Our Bonnie Schneider is along with all of that, with the flight delays and also the weather situation.
Also, you have been hearing a lot of Christmas songs here lately. This should be the last day you hear Christmas songs until next year at least. I'm going to leave you now going into the break, into the quick break here. But as we go into this break, I'm going to leave you with the best caroling you are going to hear this year. Check it out.
(VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's seven minutes past the hour.
What a beautiful shot of downtown Atlanta on this Christmas morning. It's going to look a little different here throughout the day, especially in the afternoon with some weather coming this way. That weather causing some complications for people who took the risk of trying to fly today. A lot of people do that because some of the fees are a little less for the tickets and also, you know, most people not flying today. So, maybe cutback on the headache at the airport.
But the gamble is not going to pay off this year for some because Delta has already canceled some 500 flights, 300 of them that are leaving Atlanta because of anticipated weather that is going to be coming throughout the day here.
Now, this airline, they canceled 300 here, another 200 around the country. And several other airlines have done the same with this weather. But if you are on Delta, AirTran, United, a lot of these airlines are offering you at least the option of changing your flight schedule without any change fee.
So, they are trying to help out the best they can. But you need to check with your particular airline. I mentioned that weather.
So, let me in Bonnie Schneider now. Atlanta, a white Christmas here? BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think so today. You're going to see that rain change to snow, which is so pretty. It won't be too much. It will be just maybe an inch.
North Georgia, you could see maybe two to three inches. So, that's not so bad, right? Well, wait until you see what's coming. The more we look towards the future, to Sunday and Monday, we could be looking at a substantial nor'easter that could bring heavy snow to parts of the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast for Sunday and to Monday, which, you know, may be the day after Christmas. So, that's when everyone is traveling.
Let's take a look what's happening right now. Manageable snow, that's how I describe it, all the way across West Virginia -- parts of Pennsylvania getting some heavier snow, particularly in the Pittsburgh area. D.C., you're seeing some light snow showers.
Let's go live now to Washington D.C. You were under a winter weather advisory for tomorrow. We'll be looking at snow in the capital, the White House all looking pretty and festive this morning. But changes are coming.
Let's go to Central Park where New York City is under a weather watch for tomorrow. That snow will begin Sunday and stick around to Monday. And some of our computer models are showing shovelable, is that a word, snow as we go into the evening hours for Sunday and Monday. And the strong winds, this will impact those of you that are travelling, no doubt about it, because we're likely to see a lot of airport delays. My best advice is leave early, if you can, on Sunday.
New Orleans is getting hammered with heavy thunderstorms. And as this rain works its way to the east, it's already changing over to snow in part of northern Alabama. It's kind of a one-two punch for the storm. First, we get the rain from the south, and then we're going to see these two systems merge offshore.
But here's a look at where you have winter weather advisories as far south as South Carolina, even as far south as central Alabama. So, we'd be watching for that.
And I mentioned the snow possibly for the Northeast, once the system gets cranking offshore, depending on how close it gets to the shoreline, that's where we could really start to see some measurable snow, all the way up to the Boston -- I think Boston is going to get hard hit, particularly Eastern Massachusetts. We'll see very fierce wind and we could be looking at very low visibility as we go into the evening hours of Sunday into Monday.
So, overall, as the storm takes shape, T.J., it's going to impact so many people from the South to the Northeast on Sunday. And some of our computer models, once again, look at how the snowfall totals are going up for areas of interior New England. It's something to monitor. But this could change hour-by-hour. We'll keep you up to date on CNN as we go through the afternoon, today, too, and certainly for tomorrow. That's when it's going to get really messy out there. HOLMES: OK. And no offense to the West Coast, it seems like we're not giving them any low. But they should appreciate we're not talking about them today. That means they're not having any problems, hopefully, right?
SCHNEIDER: That's true. So far, so good.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie, thank you so much. We'll continue to check in with her throughout the morning.
You remember back in the day, it was the old -- the Chicago Bears, they started the singing teams, you know, with the Super Bowl shuffle. But a lot of teams are starting a new tradition. They do it around the holidays singing Christmas carols. Is it a good idea?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TWO UNIDENTIFIED MALES (singing): Grandma got run over bay reindeer, ho, ho, ho --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- from our house, Christmas Eve, I don't know the rest of the song.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can say there's no such thing as Santa
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But as for me and grandpa we believe
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'd been drinking too much eggnog --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We begged her not to go, but she forgot her medication --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her medication.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It's good to see that they can have a good time with this and have a good time and have fun with it. Clearly, they didn't know the words to the song. But it's supposed to be "Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer," clearly, a Christmas classic.
The Chicago Bulls, they gave it a shot at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Pick up and rolls, three blocked shots --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two alley-oops --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The greatest fans in the country. I love all you guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the 12th day of Christmas, Chicago gave to me, 12 ball boys sweeping --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eleven dancers dancing --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I didn't think they could get worse than the Dallas Mavericks, but congratulations, Chicago.
I got one more for you here, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's see how they do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD (singing): Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer only on the race, bells are ringing children singing, all is merry and bright, hang your stockings, say your prayers
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All these guys play better than they sing. Twelve minutes past the hour. Quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what this is? This is a lamp.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was indeed a lamp.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that. What a great lamp.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That is terrible. Y'all remember that scene, don't you? This is from "A Christmas Story." That infamous leg lamp. But a lot of people themselves will remember the Red Ryder Carbon Action 200 shot range model air rifle. Oh, he wanted that bad, didn't he?
Well, if you remember this scene and you want to see it, you only have about, I don't know, 40 more chances to see it because at our sister station, TBS, we've got a 24-hour marathon of this thing already underway. (INAUDIBLE) at 2:00 a.m. this morning, looked up at the TV, this movie was already on. It, of course, is part of the Christmas, the holiday tradition.
Now, a lot of Christmas movies out there. The debate is up in the air. But Josh Levs has the list of the favorites of all time, Christmas movies.
Good morning, again, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning again to you. That's right, the top Christmas movies of all time.
Let's zoom in here. MovieFone.com put together the list of what they believe the top 10.
I'm going to go through 10 through six. At 10, they put "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." That's a good one. And number nine, "Babes in Toyland." Number eight, "Home Alone." Remember from 1990, that was all about Christmas as well. Number seven, "Christmas in Connecticut," a classic from back in 1945. And at number six, they are saying "Elf" from 2003.
All right. Let's get to number five, here is a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WHITE CHRISTMAS")
BING CROSBY, SINGER (singing): I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: "White Christmas" starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, a classic from 1954.
Let's look at what movie from number four Christmas movie of all time is. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SCROOGED")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a good one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you are going to be visited by three ghosts tomorrow at noon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow's bad for me, Lew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: "Scrooged," Bill Murray, from 1988. Great movie. A guy who really needed to learn the lessons, but Scrooge did for Christmas.
Number three, an all time classic, "Miracle on 34th Street."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET")
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please tell her that you're not really Santa Claus, that they're actually is no such person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I'm sorry to disagree with you, Mrs. Walker, but not only is Santa a person, but here I am to prove it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no. You misunderstand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Great movie, 1947, good reason it's a classic.
And talk about classics, one of the best movies of all time for -- Christmas aside, one of the best movies ever made is number two, "It's a Wonderful Life."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE")
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would get a hug. Merry Christmas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: The whole town coming together, helping out the family. I can't believe this was a box office flop when it first came out. Now, it's one of the most successful movies ever.
And, of course, you will not be surprised by the number one Christmas movie of all time, according to MovieFone.com --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "A CHRISTMAS STORY")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preparing to go to school was like getting ready for extended deep sea diving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: "A Christmas Story." Every scene in that movie is basically become iconic. And as T.J. mentioned, you can see it all day long at our sister station, TBS.
We want to know what you think. Here's my screen. What do you think the best Christmas movies are of all time? What's not on the list? What should be on the list?
Join me. We're talking at Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN.
T.J., what do you think? They did a pretty good job on that list.
HOLMES: Those are the classics. They're on. You can find them on any one of those movies on any time of the day on some channels right about now.
LEVS: Yes, right. But stick with us.
HOLMES: Oh, yes. Josh, thank you as always.
LEVS: You got it.
HOLMES: All right. Eighteen minutes past the hour.
A lot of people looking back at the end of the year, a lot of lists and whatnot. But we want to look back as well. I want to look back at some of the favorites I put together this year -- stories I got to tell this year, and including what I learned in Chicago from some high school kids.
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A couple stories now that are making headlines.
A suicide bomber targeting the disadvantaged in Pakistan. The bomber struck near a World Food Program distribution center, killed at least 43 people. Ninety others hurt. Officials say about 300 people were there to pick up food and supplies for the month.
Also, we know around the holiday season, a lot of people enjoy their sweets. You need to watch, though, at one pastry shop in the Chicago area. They're dealing with a Christmas Eve recall. Pastries and other baked goods from Rolf's Patisserie may contain a bacteria that produces toxins in the food. FDA says Rolf's Patisserie sickened 100 people in Illinois and Wisconsin and any Rolf's products dated after November 1st may be contaminated.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour on this Christmas morning. Thank you for being with us.
A lot of people, of course, are getting together today to celebrate with friends and families on this day. We're also looking back on the year that was. And it was a tough year for a lot of people. And we here at CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING were able to highlight some of those stories for people throughout the year.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
SUBTITLE: January 12, 2010, 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti, killing 230,000.
HOLMES: So many of these are case by case situations, but just interested to get your thoughts. It seems like there's an idea in the United States and other places that, you know what? That's a poor country. That's a poor child. All we have to do is somebody from the U.S. go grab that child and bring them here and automatically their life is better.
In some ways, there are advantages there. But what do you all stands on this idea that people just think, you know what, just take him out of there, bring them here and everything is fine?
ANN VENEMAN, EXEC. DIR., UNICEF: Well, again, one of the issues is that many of these children have parents. And so, you don't want to take a child away from their parent. You know, they may have more money, but you don't take a child away from their parent. And that's the thing that we want to protect against. I mean, the risk in times of disaster and the risk when there is poverty is child trafficking.
HOMES: How important are trips like this that just has you here and keep it fresh in people's mind what's happening in Haiti?
MAYOR JEAN YVES JASON, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (through translator): Yes, it's very important because the campaign I'm running right now is precisely for that reason, to keep Haiti and Port-au-Prince in the forefront of everyone's minds.
I'm hoping we do get to talk about that because there's a lot of aid promised for what's happening in Haiti. And none of it has actually made it.
SUBTITLE: April 20, 2010, an explosion on board a BP-contracted oil rig spills about 205 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Now, where exactly are we headed, specifically?
MIKE BRAINARD, STATE BIOLOGIST: We are going into (INAUDIBLE) station three, which is in the Biloxi Channel.
WOLF: I see.
(voice-over): Dolphins often follow Brainard's shrimp trawlers as we saw firsthand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the other day, we were out, we had dolphins following the trawl. And there was like four of them, with one of them is a little baby. Then it made me think, man, I hope that oil doesn't get here.
JENNIFER LE, JENNIFER LE SEAFOOD: And you see during the summer, imagine the crabs stacked high up on the ceiling.
HOLMES: How long has it been like this?
LE: Ever since the oil spill.
HOLMES: Ever since the oil spill. So, is this the last of it? This is the last of the Jennifer Le crab?
LE: The last of it.
HOLMES (voice-over): After a decade, the Jennifer Le seafood company in Biloxi is down to this, a few baskets of fresh crab. And the owner (INAUDIBLE) has no hope that more crab is on the way anytime soon.
SUBTITLE: For the second year in a row, Chicago's murder rate surpasses 400 deaths.
HOLMES: He's a 16-year-old high school sophomore. He says, in his world, the illegal gun culture is everywhere.
(on camera): How prevalent are guns in your neighborhood? We are only a block from your house. How easy just to get a gun?
KENDALL: To get a gun?
HOLMES: Yes. KENDALL: Like for a baby to get a pacifier. That easy.
HOLMES: That easy?
KENDALL: I mean, you know somebody that know somebody that somebody that got a gun. You go this way.
HOLMES (voice-over): Kendall shared his impressions on his two- mile walk to school one morning through one of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, Englewood.
You describe it as what?
KENDALL: I mean, war zone. Kill zone.
GLORIA HATCHETT, FORMER HOST, "JUDGE HATCHETT": What happened was that when, you know, I was a kid, my hair might get pulled, or I might get teased.
But now, the texting is not just me, 50 kids, 100 kids or 1,000 kids know that I'm being bullied. And it just kind of takes on a life of its own. And when this becomes viral, it becomes far more intense.
And so, we're not only seeing the emotional bullying and the physical bullying, we're seeing what we're now referring to as cyber bullying. And that's the whole another dimension that's very new for us.
SUBTITLE: During the 2010 midterm election, Democrats lost control of the House, but maintained an edge in the Senate.
HOLMES: What day is this? This is Wednesday, right? It is Wednesday, 11:15 Eastern time. That's Oliver.
Zoom in on the camera. We have been to Pennsylvania already. We have been to Ohio. The third day here, we are in Kentucky, going to Indiana when we get done. To hear all the reports about people being angry and people in D.C. talking about yes, America is angry.
I don't think these folks are angry. These folks are disappointed and hurt about what they see coming out of Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, we are going to have more of your top stories, more coverage, excuse me, with this cough, on Christmas Day. We are going to have more at the top of the hour when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
"SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." is coming your way next. We're going to leave you, though, with some of the holiday decorations that caught our eye this Christmas
