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Message to Auto Makers; Teenage Suicide; Bad Economy Changes Vacation Plans

Aired November 23, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Up next in the NEWSROOM, a strong message to the auto industry from a top aid to President-elect Barack Obama. Just like Congress's message, if you want help, you'd better have a plan for getting the wheels rolling again. Plus shots allegedly fired at a motorcade carrying the president of Poland and Georgia. And a troubling act that played out live on the web. The suicide of a teenager. Did users encourage it?
Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. A beast of an economy to inherit and battle. Barack Obama has fewer than 60 days until he takes over the presidency. There are new developments today in his transition indicating that how, rather, he would handle America's biggest problem. Let's get right to CNN's Ed Henry in Chicago where the president elect is working on that battle plan. Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. The president- elect, as you know, is promising that during his first two years in office, he'll create 2.5 million new jobs through infrastructure projects and so-called green job initiatives. That's going to cost a massive amount of money and it's already sparking public concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): With a financial crisis deepening, aides to President-elect Barack Obama are now signaling his economic stimulus plan will be much larger than the $175 billion package he campaigned on.

DAVID AXELROD, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: Economic recovery plan we're going to bring in January has to be big enough to deal with the huge problem we face.

HENRY: How big is the question facing Mr. Obama. As he unveils his economic team Monday with New York Fed chief Timothy Geithner, the pick for Treasury Secretary. The chief of the national economic council at the White House will be Lawrence Summers who's pushed for an enormous stimulus package of $500 to $700 billion. While Obama advisers will not be pinned down on a specific number yet, they're suggesting drastic action is needed to prevent millions more jobs from being lost.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER: It's going to be a number big enough that when they spell it out, it looks like ooh, you know, with that many zeros on it. HENRY: But republicans are already warning the price tag may be too high in terms of public debt on the heels of the string of taxpayer bailout.

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to be facing a trillion dollar deficit in his first year and I know he's going to want to stimulate the economy at the same time, but you know we're going to cut back on some of the excesses of the government or the massive borrowing could cost some secondary effects that would hurt us long term.

HENRY: While Team Obama is still open to an idea of an auto bailout, they're echoing congressional leaders by warning the big three will not get an infusion of cash without dramatic changes.

AXELROD: What we can't give is a blank check for an industry that isn't prepared to reform itself, to rationalize itself, and to retool for the markets of today and tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, the Obama economic plan is also expected to have tax cuts for lower and middle-class taxpayers. That was supposed to be paid for by tax pay increases on the wealthy. But Team Obama right now signaling they probably don't have any tax hikes until at least 2011, raising questions about how they'll actually pay for this stimulus plan. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ed Henry in Chicago. Thanks so much, appreciate it.

And of course, next hour we're actually focusing on jobs, job, jobs. Where are they, how to get one, and what to do if you've actually lost yours. A CNN special report beginning at 5:00 Eastern, 2:00 Pacific.

So across the country we're losing U.S. jobs in just about every sector. The Labor Department says 1.2 million jobs were lost this year through October. Well, hopefully yours was not one of them, but perhaps you're out of work. We want to hear from you because we may be able to help you next hour. Josh Levs joins us now to give us an idea or everybody an idea, just how we're going to try to help in the next hour.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. In fact, we have a resume expert that you'll hear me talking to in the next hour and just as you're talking about. That's one of the cool things we're doing. We're so interactive right now. I want to show everybody what we got going on. We are giving you the opportunity to weigh in on a whole bunch of different things. We'll zoom in on my screen here. The first thing we want you to do is send your questions, your questions about a resume. What do you want to know about putting it together? What it takes these days? And how to make yourself stand out. We're going to share your questions with our expert next hour.

Also, what would you like to know in general about finding a job? That's the other piece of that puzzle. And finally if you're one of the lucky few people who in this economy has managed to find one, please tell us how, what sector, what it was, how you managed to pull that off because that can turn help other people and that's what we want to do through this information. So, Fred, I'm going to be monitoring the e-mail for the upcoming hour. We'll be back at the 5:00 hour with all sorts of questions like that.

WHITFIELD: Perfect. We look forward to that because while it's heart-wrenching enough to lose your job, what's really unsettling for a lot of people is, you know, when you're kind of out of practice on how to land a job, you need some help on how do I make my resume look like these days and how do I stay in keeping with all the technological changes too.

LEVS: Right.

A lot of people are getting back in the work sector, now looking for a job, sometimes for the first time in 20, 30 years -

WHITFIELD: Right.

LEVS: And they don't know anything about making a youtube video, any of these kind of things.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Your resume is no longer like on that one sheet of paper anymore.

LEVS: You're resume is who you are online. That's right.

WHITFIELD: It's all changing. We're going to delve on all that at 5:00 hour. We know we're going to help a lot of people. All right. Thanks a lot, Josh. And we look forward to all those e-mails that Josh is going to be going through.

All right. Well, let's talk politics now and look at our political ticker and then of course we'll get back to the economy. Yes, election day was three weeks ago a, but a few races still undecided or heading toward run-offs. The campaign for Georgia senate seat heated up this weekend. Democrat Jim Martin is in a run-off with republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. Former Vice President Al Gore is appearing with Martin at a rally today. And Mitt Romney joins Chambliss in Atlanta on Friday. The run-off election is set for December 2nd.

And in a Minnesota senate recount as of right now, Minnesota's Secretary of State says republican Norm Coleman has a 167-vote lead over democrat Al Franken. Both campaigns continue to challenge votes. The recount could be finished by December 5th. The upwards of four million people planning to attend Barack Obama's inauguration, well, they should be prepared for some extreme security measures. So along with undercover officers, bomb-sniffing dogs and air patrol, there will also be thousands of video surveillance cameras, and, of course, sharp shooters standing by.

We'll check out the political ticker for all of the latest campaign news. Just logon to cnnpolitics.com. Your source for all things political. Well, he is the king of pop, that goes without saying, and he's back in the news. Michael Jackson on the way to court again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A suspected gunman on the loose in New Jersey. Police say a man opened fire inside a church in the town of Clifton today. Three people were shot and injured, at least one critically. A law enforcement official says the shooting may have been due to a domestic dispute. The suspected shooter is believed to be the husband or boyfriend of one of the victims.

The prince of pop is due in a court in London tomorrow. Michael Jackson will testify regarding allegations that he reneged on an album contract but never returned the money. It's part of a seven million dollar lawsuit against Jackson from a prince in Bahrain who provided the money for the album. On Friday, Jackson's former personal assistant told the court the prince was a friend and the money a gift.

A father takes his two sons to work but it's not to learn a trade. The three of them spend the day begging for money on the streets of Phoenix. It's another sign of tough economic times. Peter Bush of phoenix affiliate KPHO has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER BUSH, REPORTER KPHO (voice-over): If you pulled up next to Robert Bosson today, the first thing you notice probably wasn't the 47-year-old man with a cardboard sign.

ROBERT BOSSON, UNEMPLOYED FATHER: When people see you by yourself, people think that you're just going to buy drugs or liquor.

BUSH: So to put food on the table, Robert swallowed his pride and brought his two sons to the street corner with him.

BOSSON: Thank you very much.

BUSH: James is 12. Matthew is only 8. Instead of learning in school --

BOSSON: God bless you guys. Thank you.

BUSH: They're begging for money in the middle of Phoenix.

It must be difficult asking your boys to come out here with you.

BOSSON: Yes, yes, it is. Yes, it is very hard. I hate to see my kids suffer.

BUSH: Robert lost his truck driving job two weeks ago. Next week he could lose his apartment. At the Phoenix Rescue Mission, the dining hall is bursting at the seams filled with new faces.

NCOLE PENA, PHOENIX RESCUE MISSION: We're dealing with people who have never come to a shelter, to a congregate feeding site. They've never needed a food box before.

BUSH: Speaking of food the boys were treated to McDonald's for dinner. It was the first thing they'd eaten since yesterday. Dad mostly sat and cried because he knows they'll probably be back tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That is so heart breaking. We want to focus the next hour on jobs, looking for one, preparing yourself, just in case you have to get back into the job market. And we're also taking in a lot of your e-mails that we're going to be getting on the air. We're going to have a host of experts here in the next hour. 5:00 Eastern time to help you craft a new resume to figure out how to best sell yourself, but here's some of the questions that we want you to either address or perhaps encourage you to send to us. We want to hear from you about whether you feel like you know enough about how to craft your own resume. Do you have any specific questions you want to know about how do you find that job and perhaps you have recently located a job. We want to hear about your experience. How did you sell yourself? How did you land it? Weekends@cnn.com is the place for you to send those e-mails. We'll get them on the air.

And already Josh Levs said in the past 13 minutes of letting you know what we're going in the next hour, we've been flooded with e-mails. So we know that the jobs, the lack thereof, search for them is topic number one for many of you. And we're going to delve right into it in the next hour.

So it may not the 1930s, but one thing is for sure. Spam is back in vogue. We'll tell you why.

And Jacqui Jeras in the weather center, do you like Spam?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.

WHITFIELD: Did you ever like Spam?

JERAS: Never.

WHITFIELD: Oh, come on. Everyone likes Spam at one point, a few. You didn't.

JERAS: You're lying.

WHITFIELD: I did. I liked it fried.

JERAS: All right. Well, whether you like it or not, for the most part, you liked the weather today. the temperature is a little warmer and things are pretty calm but will it hold that way? We'll talk about travel weather coming up in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, all is not lost for everyone. While most of us are pinching pennies. There's at least one company where employees are raking in the dough. As Melissa Long tells us it's all because of what's for dinner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ingredients, pork with ham, salt, water, modified potato, starch, sugar, sodium, and -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spam.

MELISSA LONG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We called it mystery meat in a gelatinous cube. And who could forget the classic Monty Ppython diner skit that made fun of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spam! Spam! Spam!

LONG: Invented around the time of the Great Depression, it was a staple for those who wanted the taste of meat but couldn't afford it. Then as time got better, we got snooty and eating the canned lunch meat became a major faux pas.

Fast forward today. At the cost of $2 and change per can, Spam is making a huge comeback partly because of our withering economy. In fact, employees at this California supermarket say it's flying off the shelves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to tell you, recently, we've had a little shortage on Spam. In fact, we just got it back in stock a few days ago, luckily. There was apparently quite a demand. And the supplier just couldn't keep up.

LONG: While most companies are laying off workers and cutting back, the Hormel Foods Company in Austin, Minnesota, the nerve center of the Spam dynasty, is overloading it's employees with overtime. Two shifts of workers canning Spam seven days a week and indefinitely. And more and more people are now actually admitting, they're putting it back on their shopping list.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.

LONG: Really.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slice it up and use it in a breakfast way. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually I like it when it's not cooked. I just like it right out of the can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well hey I'll have to put it back into my menu items.

LONG: Back in the rotation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LONG: That shopper says that he plans to jazz up his Spam dinner with a nice (Serab). And if you need more proof of this resurgence of Spam? Check out the imitation version of the infamous canned meat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well you got to go with the original. You can't go with the imitation Spam. That doesn't sound right. Well some consumers are getting pretty creative with that Spam. Look at that, Spam pizza, yum, yum. And Spam "musubi." That's a popular Hawaiian snack. Oh, we don't have a picture of it. Well, envision it, it kinds of looks like sushi. And then there is the Spam burger, of course. Jacqui, surely you've tried some of that.

JERAS: I've tried it. Yes.

WHITFIELD: And you didn't like it.

JERAS: You know, with lots of ketchup, you can eat anything.

Anyway.

WHITFIELD: Oh well. Tried it at least once.

JERAS: That's right. Just go to the grocery store on meat sale day instead. Weather looking great, Fredricka. You know it's still really chilly out there. Unseasonably cool for about the eastern third of the country but the temperatures are better today than they were yesterday. There's very little in the way of precip. The lake- effect snow are starting to die down. But we've got a weather system coming into the nation's mid section that's going to tap into the Gulf of Mexico. Some scattered showers today, and they're going to be really light across parts of Texas, into Louisiana.

And as we head into tonight, this is going to continue to spread northward. A little bit of rain/snow mix here across the parts of the upper midwest, but it's not enough to cause you too many problems. There are no weather-related delays out there right now in terms of the airports, but we do have a ground stop in effect until 5:30. That's been extended by half an hour now, and this is due to high volume at Newark. So with a lot of travelers out there, volume delays are going to be possible, particularly across that northeastern quarter. Now travel tomorrow is going to be a little bit more difficult especially across the Great Lakes. Moisture starts to spread to the east in even places like Boston, New York City, we'll start to see some of this rain, we think, late on Monday night. Chicago looking for some snow. Some rain-snow mix into Detroit as well as Indianapolis and over towards Cleveland and then we'll see scattered showers progress towards the south and east during the day.

The west is looking pretty good overall. Your temperatures have been moderate. Your weather has been dry and sunny. You've about got the fog to contend with over the next couple of days in the morning. But as we head into Tuesday morning and into Wednesday, we're going to see a weather system on the Pacific make its yeah way onshore and bring in some heavy rain. And we're going to have to watch those burn areas. Maybe for some flooding and debris flows and watch for some heavy snow in some of the higher elevations across the Sierras and on up into the Wasatch. So things are going to get kicking a little bit more active, Fredricka, as we head towards that big holiday travel. Today, my family got on the airplane today an their way to Iowa.

WHITFIELD: Really, without you?

JERAS: Somebody's got to work, right? I get Christmas.

WHITFIELD: It's tough. Well, that's good. Hey, there's the bright side. Jacqui, appreciate it. Thanks so much. Check back with you. All right, jobs, jobs, jobs. It's something we're going to be focusing on very heavily in the next hour. I want you to stick around for that. Jobs, creation, and assembling the next economic team, front and center for President-elect Barack Obama as well. Well, joining us now to talk about Obama's lengthy to-do list, CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider. Good to see you. We've already heard names for Treasury Secretary, chief of economic council. You know we know that Obama has been, I guess, labeled as being very careful about this transition process. At the same time are we seeing that he's making a selection of people who just might ensure pretty easy confirmation.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, a lot of them do have experience. A lot of them are well known in Washington, starting with his likely choice for Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton. Tom Daschle who is the majority leader in the Senate. Bill Richardson, who's had a lot of top jobs, was in Congress. These are all familiar figures. It's made some people a little uneasy. Didn't he come in promising big change, bold change, not just incremental change. Well, he's got people in there who do know how to make change happen. The change has to come from Obama. It's got to come from the top. And they've got to be loyal soldiers in his army. There are indications right now that they will be, but it's very important for him and them to recognize that what he ran on was a program of big bold change.

WHITFIELD: And there are changes that are expected almost right away when he takes office. You know, we talked about jobs creation. He's talking about helping to create 2.5 million jobs. That might be over a year or two. But one thing that Congress is delving into right now, we're talking about the possible bailout of the auto industry, a reflection of the economy as a whole. So you have to wonder is it good or bad for Obama that this Congress just might make this decision come December as opposed to waiting for the new Congress that would be sworn in January.

SCHNEIDER: Well, you know, it's very hard to answer that, because no one knows exactly what's going to happen if a bailout passes. Will the auto industry use it to retool or will they just swallow the money and end up in the end just delaying their bankruptcy or their big problems for another year or so. We just don't know. The Congress is demanding that they come up with a plan for how they're going to use the money. That's a good first step. In the short run, it could be good for Obama because it could give a boost to some of the areas of the country, Ohio and Michigan that are suffering greatly, but, really, we really won't know for about a year or two whether the auto industry is indeed using this money the way it should.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And quickly before I let you go, is there any real importance to the tone set by having a President-elect Obama meet face to face with President Bush again not because of a White House tour but because of something a little bit more substantive?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there is some importance to trying to get things going quickly. And if there's anything President Bush can do, obviously he's not going to implement the Obama plan and Obama is not going to implement Bush policies. That's exactly what the election was not about. But if there are indications that they can smooth the transition over, I think that would be useful. The big danger here is with so many Clinton people and so many people from the past, you know, President Bush got elected to be uniter, not a divider. He did not deliver that. President Clinton got elected and said that he would be a new kind of democrat but a lot of people remember the Clinton wars. You've got to be careful that with all these people who have been around for so long the don't get weighed down by those same political battles that have been a problem for this country and for Washington for the last 20 years.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tough battle on so many levels. Bill Schneider, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: Good.

WHITFIELD: Well this is something very unusual but we're going to address it coming up. Cyber suicide. What is that? In this case, a teenager overdoses on drugs before a live web audience. Who should take responsibility? An internet safety expert and legal mind joins us to talk about this pretty shocking tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now. President Bush is wrapping up an international economic summit in Peru. Mr. Bush and other leaders make a pretty bold prediction. The global financial crisis can be resolved within 18 months. You're seeing them there in Peru wearing the traditional dress. And more U.S. aid for Afghanistan. That's the word from the office of Afghan president Hamid Karzai after a phone call from President-elect Barack Obama. Obama aides won't confirm specific promises were made.

A top Obama advisor is giving the big three automakers a heads up. David Axelrod says they need to retool and rationalize business future plans before expecting any aid. GM, Chrysler and Ford are seeking a $25 billion bailout.

New tensions to report to you now between Russia and Georgia. Georgia officials say shots were fired at a motorcade carrying the presidents of Poland and Georgia today at a check point near Georgia's break-away region. Well, no one was hurt. That's the good news. But we get more information from our Matthew Chance in Moscow.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Fredricka. Well, circumstances are still pretty unclear about what exactly happened with this presidential convoy including the cars of President Saakashvili of Georgia and his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski. That they were in Georgia approaching areas of south Ossetia, who you remember in August there was that very awful conflict with Russia. They were approaching those areas to visit internally displaced people and to see the location of Russian forces when there were gunshots fired. Their security forces brought them to the ground. Their convoys turned around, and they made their way back to the Georgian capitol. Both presidents blamed the Russians for firing at their presidential convoy. Here's what Mikheil Saakashvili really had to say in a Jordan press conference later that day in the Georgian capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, GEORGIAN PRESIDENT: Clearly it was intended as a provocation. Certainly I would never intend to put the life of the president of Poland in danger. That was none of my intentions. But the reality is you're living with these people. In the summer when the president came here together with other leaders, Russia forbids them to enter the air space, and I know that he, your president, insisted very strongly that they were surprised this plane should have landed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Well reaction from the Russians has been indignant. Their forces on the ground, they now recognize it as an independent country saying they had nothing whatsoever to do with this incident. There's also been a separate denial of the responsibility from the south settian militias themselves for being anything to do with this instant. What's being circulated in the Russia media at the moment is this was some kind of a push-up job by the Georgians to make the Russians look bad. What the president Saakashvili really of Georgia says though is that this is another reminder of how Russia is what he calls brazenly breaking the cease-fire agreement that brought the war in August to Georgia to an end.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Chance thanks so much from Moscow. Appreciate it.

Here in the states a very unsettling story now caught our attention, so now we want to talk today about web users and what their responsibilities are when something bad happens on line for all to see. So here's the story. A webcam shows police arriving at this apartment in Temper Pines, Florida after a college student apparently killed himself with a drug overdose. The website wouldn't say how many people were actually watching this happening but about 12 hours earlier the 19-year-old had posted a suicide note and set up a streaming video. Police say some thought it was a joke. Others are accused of actually egging him on. Someone finally contacted the site moderator who then called police. The boy's father says that he is appalled that so many watched his son die in what was clearly a cry for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABRAHAM BIGGS SR., FATHER: Just sickening to think of. I wouldn't wish that on somebody's child. He was a nice boy. Very good kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's terribly sad. The young man's death begs the question. Should there be more control over what people are actually putting out over the Internet, what they're saying, what kinds of behaviors are being played out? What's the responsibility of moderators and people who actually use such social networking sites? Joining us is Parry Aftab an internet private security Internet lawyer. Good to see you.

PARRY AFTAB, ATTORNEY, INTERNET PRIVACY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: This is really saddening. It's unsettling, especially since a lot of the details are a bit sorted. If it is indeed the case that this young person threatened to take his own life and that other users were able to watch it and encourage it, who is held culpable for this or is it strictly an issue of these people were eye witness or are they participants in someone's death as well?

AFTAB: Legally no one's culpable here, morally many. There is a law that gives social networks and service provider's immunity from lawsuits for what people do on their networks. In the United States we have no duty of care unless it's for our children or close relationship. We could see somebody getting ready to jump off a bridge and we have no obligation to stop and try to prevent it.

WHITFIELD: But in the case of the Internet, yes, its public domain, but a lot of activity can take place, whether it be morally or legally right. At what point do we as a society need to start looking at a way in which to police behavior over the Internet so that for the most part this public domain is safe domain?

AFTAB: Well, I don't know that we need more laws in this area. I'm actually on the My Space Attorney General task force that's looking at safety of young people, but I think what we need to do is start training users to know when to report things and how to report them and training the sites on about what to do when they get suicide threats.

WHITFIELD: But isn't some stuff just blatantly clear over whether activity is right and wrong?

AFTAB: Right and wrong, absolutely. Legal and illegal is something else all together. So what we need to do is make sure that the users are more responsible so that we're not standing there on the street when somebody is getting ready to jump, saying jump, and jump. That's what's happened here. This isn't the first suicide that was viewed publicly on the internet. The first case I worked on was in 2003. There someone told him to take more. Someone actually sold the pictures and made money afterward.

WHITFIELD: And is there any obligation for those who are managing the website, a place where users can go and have their interaction?

AFTAB: No legal obligation, but its best practices.

WHITFIELD: Should there be? AFTAB: There's no legal obligation that they make sure that the people who are threatening suicide don't take their own lives but its best practices. And now sites like face book and my space and the others are coming to us to know how to handle these cases and everyone knows that they're doing it right. Hopefully the markets will find those who are doing it right and reward them and make sure that those who aren't are held culpable.

WHITFIELD: So if the case that you dealt was was 2003 is it your worry or concern that the internet, this being a place where people meet, chat, et cetera, is still relatively new, is it your concern that such activities, whether they be morally wrong or legally wrong, are likely to continue to take place or maybe even balloon, since there is no way of regulating it?

AFTAB: Without question this is getting worse. We can post videos from our cell phones automatically to myspace if we want to, live feeds. It's becoming more and more prevalent. People are acting out, looking for attention, and getting into trouble on line. That's why we have to professionalize risk management in the industry and teach the sites how to handle it right.

WHITFIELD: Parry Aftab thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Such a sad story and hate that we have to talk about it but it's important to talk about it too because perhaps something like this just won't happen again.

All right. Well, have you heard about baby a Nazia? A reporter Barbara Starr was in Afghanistan recently, and she has this dramatic story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hard economic times call for hard vacation decisions. A lot of people are looking for great travel deals, especially with the upcoming holidays. So joining us now with some tips, travel expert Barbara Peterson. Good to see you.

BARBARA PETERSON, "CONDE NAST TRAVELER:" Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: She's a special senior travel correspondent for "Conde Nast Traveler." And December's issue is full of information on vacation bargains. Really? Can you find bargains for the holiday season?

PETERSON: Well, absolutely. And a in part the reason you can find them is that there are fewer people traveling. Of course, we all know the reasons why that is. You know the economy and a few months, ago, the high fuel prices. And so airlines, even though they've been cutting flights as fast as they can, you know, to get supply in sync with demand, there are still empty seats on that flight. So yes, there are definitely some bargains.

WHITFIELD: So you might be able to find a bargain. Do you need to call the airline directly or do you need to go to an internet travel site or something else? PETERSON: Yes. You need to do all of that. You really need to explore all of the airfare sites out there. They can be run by a travel agency or just an independent organization. Go to the airline directly too. Airlines like you to book flights directly with them. They save money on the middle man. They can find some of the best prices on the airline. But those fare sales have a habit of disappearing almost instantaneously. So you really have to be prepared to jump.

WHITFIELD: And we're really talking about December and maybe New Year's and a January traveling, right? We're not talking about Thanksgiving right?

PETERSON: I would say there still may be some empty seats out there. There's an old joke about how an empty seat on a plane is like rotting fruit. When the plane takes off, the airline has lost any chance to sell it at any price. So I wouldn't give up if you still have thoughts of travel.

WHITFIELD: I know family traveling; especially air travel is so stressful so a lot of folks say they're not going to do it. But if they can find a good deal and get the family on board, great. I understand now you can tell me about some features like family line so it's easier for families to get through security. Is this all airports or where might I find this?

PETERSON: Yes. Actually it is, up until a few weeks ago it was 40 or 50 airports. Now it's going to be rolled out at every checkpoint. That's something that transportation security is trying to do to help families and people who need special help in getting through security to have their own line so they don't feel the stress of needing to rush through when there's a an impatient businessman.

WHITFIELD: That's so great because that is the big turnoff for a lot of families, who say you know what, forget it. We're not flying we are going to go ahead and drive because who wants to deal with the security check point. Barbara Peterson, "Conde Naft Traveler." Thank you so much. And of course folks are suppose to pick up the December issue to get some more ideas of great deals whether it's domestic or even abroad. Thanks so much, Barbara.

PETERSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well many of us here in the U.S. take life-saving emergency measures for granted. In countries like Afghanistan, many including children just aren't able to get the critical care that they need. Barbara Starr tells us about a little girl named Nazia in desperate need of surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Nazia cannot speak for herself. She has no voice. But her eyes tell the struggle of sick and injured children here in Afghanistan. We first met 3-year-old Nazia at this Egyptian hospital at Bagram Airbase. Her 16-year-old brother cares for her after an accident in April puts her tiny life in jeopardy. (UNIDENTIFIED MALE): She gave her AA battery to her to play with, and she ate it.

STARR: Nazia's life might have ended there. There's no emergency care in much of Afghanistan. By the time she was brought to American military doctors her esophagus and airway were so damaged she needed several surgeries.

COL. SCOTT JONES, U.S. AIR FORCE DOCTOR: We sent is her home twice now. She's returned within a week to ten days with severe pneumonia and very significant breathing problems.

STARR: She has a breathing tube. Scarred vocal cords leave her unable to speak. The military doctors who treated her say her life is still very much at risk.

JONES: Her airway has narrowed so much. If you think about a dull pencil and look at the lead at the tip of a dull pencil, that's how small the opening is to her lungs. So you can imagine, you cannot breathe through that.

STARR: The massive scar tissue inside her airway can only be fixed with complicated corrective surgery. Cincinnati Children's Hospital has offered to help and is trying to raise funds on her behalf. But Nazia cannot survive the dust and dirt that is everyday life in poverty-stricken Afghanistan unless she gets surgery. Afghanistan does not have the medical care she needs. Charities here struggle every day to help sick and injured children. As for Nazia, she's feeling better for now.

JONES: Nazia, as I mentioned before, is the princess of the hospital. She loves to blow kisses. She will be picked up by most anybody in the hospital, brings laugh and joy to everybody.

STARR: But this little girl like so many needs urgent and expensive medical care simply not available for children in this war zone.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Bog ram, Afghanistan.

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WHITFIELD: You probably want to help little Nazia and other Afghan children facing medical needs in a country torn by war. You can visit our Impact World web page where you'll find details on organizations making a huge difference. That's at CNN.com/impact.

OK. So guess what the buzz is today in the chat room? The divorce battle between Madonna and guy Ritchie. They're just one step closer to cutting that knot.

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WHITFIELD: It's been a while since we've invited you into the chat room and we're so glad to open the doors. Jacqui Jeras is up here. You for got didn't you? Madonna, guy Ritchie, splitsville. We're not celebrating that but pretty shocking, right, that guy Ritchie would not want any of her $5 million and say we're done with it.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that's very respectable? Would you? Say you're married to Madonna?

WHITFIELD: Oh, yeah. I think if the relationship is done, why would you want to hold on to something that representative's part of the relationship. Why can't you just, you know, make it clean, just walk on?

JERAS: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: I think in his case too he has his millions and he was able to see clearly. It's not about money.

JERAS: She's got 20. He's got 200. You know what do you need more than 20 for, right?

WHITFIELD: He probably can't --

JERAS: She probably made the money before they got married. He kind of respects that. You came in with this.

WHITFIELD: I know. It's interesting. It's not like we've got something really deep and delving psychologically what went on with these two and we thought it was interesting.

JERAS: There's been a lot going on with her in the last eight years.

WHITFIELD: Eight-year marriage, that's right.

All right. Let's talk about a big top-grossing movie this weekend. It's got girls talking and excited.

"Twilight."

JERAS: Have you seen this?

WHITFIELD: No. I'm not into vampire stuff.

JERAS: Did you?

WHITFIELD: I did. I didn't want to, but I did.

JERAS: This beat out the big James Bond thing last weekend. This beat out James Bond this weekend by a large margin. Apparently really big with the teenage girls.

WHITFIELD: I know. It's romance. It's vampire stuff. I mean --

JERAS: A little sexy, though.

WHITFIELD: And it's interesting. A book series and now this in movie form. These little girls were lining up all over the place for the most part girls and they're interested. They find these guys, I don't know. Appealing?

JERAS: Perhaps. It's a little taboo. It's one of those things when you're a teenager.

WHITFIELD: I don't know.

JERAS: "High School Musical 3?" I don't know.

WHITFIELD: You've got to support the girls.

JERAS: Girl power is what we're talk about.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui, thank you so much. We'll be talking to you again about weather.

JERAS: And travel.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

All right. Saving the whales. We're going to talk about that too in the chat room. Beached in Australia. A huge effort, getting them back out to sea.

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WHITFIELD: Tracking CNN's 2008 hero of the year. It was Liz McCartney. She was selected among the top ten CNN heroes after six weeks of online voting at CNN.com. McCartney has been helping survivors of hurricane Katrina pick up the pieces and rebuild homes. She received her award last night at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. The gala event was hosted by our Anderson Cooper. And someone else who was honored last night at CNN's hero of the year awards. A very familiar face.

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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's so wonderful because they're just ordinary people just like you and me, but what they've done is found a niche, they found something that's really wrong with the world, and they've decided to go out there and do something about it. They haven't been scared by the fact that it's either far away or taken a lot of time and effort. They know that in order to make positive changes in the world they have to invest in themselves. That's what they've done. In doing so, they've done so much good work in the world.

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WHITFIELD: Betty describing those heroes. You know what? She and her mom are heroes too. Betty Nguyen is a winner of the internal CNN initiative called "My Hero." She was chosen for her input in the "Help the Hungry" program which helps provide humanitarian aid for families in Vietnam. Congratulations to all of them. You can see the special moment when these heroes of the year and you can see the special moment when these honorees took to the stage during the all-star tribute hosted by Anderson Cooper. That's on Thanksgiving night and that's this coming Thursday at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN. The ceremony took place a last night and you're going to be able to watch an every bit of it Thanksgiving evening. You don't want to miss you it. A good deed. In Australia a group of volunteers and tourists banded together today to save a pod of beached whales. The rescue happened in Australia. Here now is David Riley of the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.

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DAVID RILEY, AUSTRALIA BROADCASTING CORPORATION: It was a fight against time and tide for these wildlife rescuers. Sixty five long- finned whales came ashore yesterday at Anthony's Beach near Stanley, the site of countless previous stranding. Only 13 were still alive when they were discovered, badly sun burned, clinging to life. They spent last night trying to stabilize the animals but by day break one more had died. The 12 remaining were transferred into nearby Godfrey Beach where rescuers believed that they would be less likely to swim back to shore. Then heartbreak, another died.

CHRIS ARTHUR, TASMANIAN PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: We gave them the best chance we thought.

RILEY: There was more frustration as some confused whales would turn to shore only to be carried out again by rescuers but by mid morning things were looking up. They headed back to the open waters. The army of locals and tourists, crucial to the rescue effort.

ARTHUR: Well, the volunteers have been exceptional. The volunteer effort yesterday and the effort that happened this morning. I mean we've moved 12 animals 12 kilometers.

RILEY: The surviving ones were part of eternal pub mostly made up of mothers and their calves. Rescuers hope that once out to sea they'll be able to rejoin another migrately pod.

DREW LEE: Scientists have attached Grantville satellite tracking technology to a survivor. They're putting these trackers on to really assess their survivability at sea once they're released.

RILEY: It's hoped the technology will help with future wildlife rescues.

David Riley, ABC News, Stanley.

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WHITFIELD: Jobs, whether you've lost one, you're looking for one, or worried about the one that you have. There's a lot of anxiety out there, and this hour we're focusing on American jobs from the troubled auto industry and how cuts there could hurt you to helping you find a new job, write a resume, or perhaps to sell yourself in an interview to the best cities to actually look for to find work.