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Deadly Flooding Hits East Coast; Drones Target Militants in Pakistan; Cyber-bullying Tragedy; White House Chief of Staff Resigns; Economy is Voters' Main Worry; Websites Take on Bullying; "One Nation" Rally in D.C.; Overcoming Obstacles; The Vegetable Revolution

Aired October 02, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for the 2nd day of October. I'm glad you could be here, I'm T.J. Homes.

We start, though, with that deadly flooding that has hit much of the East Coast; North Carolina, pretty much getting the worst of it. One town just about all it is under water. We got that for you and Reynolds Wolf standing by for us as well with the forecast.

Also some new questions this morning about that tragic case of cyber-bullying; a Rutgers University student commits suicide apparently after his sexual encounter is posted online. But the question some are asking now, did the university ignore some red flags? A live report on that just minutes away.

Also a home improvement product that could actually not improve the home, could burn the house down. The massive recall ordered for do it yourself books that give out dangerous advice. Those details you need to see. Those are coming up.

But let's go to this desperate situation. Tens of thousands of people, they're all up and down the East Coast, dealing with this now. Flooding from North Carolina to New England killed at least eight people, homes, businesses under water. Roads are closed. You see how some people are having to get out of their homes.

High water starting to recede in some areas -- that's great -- but warnings and watches are still in place. The flooding triggered by remnants of a tropical storm, that tropical storm Nicole and another weather system that interacted over the region. We bring in Reynolds Wolf who can give you a better explanation that might just interact it. But yes, those two systems came together and just sat over North Carolina for a little while.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was a deadly combination of both of those that really brought this on the side of Mother Nature. Just some incredible amounts of rainfall; right now if you look at radar you're going to see a few tell tale showers warming off the coast. It was very heavy, no question about it on many spots along -- not only parts of North Carolina but northward into New York. It was just absolutely brutal the heavy rainfall. Some places near North Carolina came very close to getting up to two feet of rain. Thankfully, though, much of that has gone which is great news. But still the ground absolutely saturated. The cleanup is going to begin today as those waters quickly recede.

As we look at today's forecast, what we can anticipate is more shower activity forming farther back to the west and south of the Great Lakes. This area of low pressure and that trailing cold front are going to pull eastward and as they do it will bring some rain to parts of say, Cincinnati back to Columbus, Ohio, perhaps even Cleveland before the day is out.

And as that front gets very close to the Carolinas you might see more cloud cover, maybe a stray shower but certainly not of the magnitude of the heavy rainfall we've had. Dry conditions across the nation's midsection in south Texas, back out to the West Coast it will be a mix of sun shinny clouds, a few spots San Francisco maybe San Jose. You could have a few stray showers and certainly the case just east of -- of say San Diego, but for the most part a fairly nice day out there.

The temperatures across the nation, 81 in Billings, 71 your high in Denver, Colorado; for the big bowl game today, not a ballgame but it will be in -- in Dallas, the game between the Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners 84 degrees is expected by kickoff; 57 in Chicago; 66 in St. Louis and Atlanta with 78 degrees.

As we wrap things up, one thing to show you very quickly is this tropical system that brought the rough weather to parts of the Carolinas the heavy rainfall is moving out to sea. However, we're keeping an eye on two other areas of concern; one here in the center of the Atlantic, just east of the Leeward Islands, a possible development there.

Also if you look into the Western Caribbean, we're watching a few stray showers there that -- there's really no reason for major concern but some -- some things we're just keeping a very sharp eye on. Again, the season goes all the way through November 30th. You have to watch these tropics especially this time the year -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Reynolds, we appreciate you as always, buddy.

We're talking about the major flooding we had here in the U.S. So look at this pictures, this is in Mexico. They still have some major flooding situations they are dealing with there. Disaster declarations now cover about three dozen cities and towns. Red Cross says up to 100,000 people are affected here. A high water triggered by tropical weather systems that pounded the country late last month.

Also this morning we're getting word of another audio message that is once again purportedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. This would be the second message we've gotten in two days and in this one he's urging Muslims to do more to help flood victims in Pakistan.

CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of that voice. In Pakistan it appears drone attacks have killed at least 18 people and most of them suspected militants. The target area is a tribal region near Afghanistan.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has more from Islamabad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This latest series of drone strikes has left at least a dozen militants dead all of them occurred in the Dadahil (ph) area of North, Waziristan, which is of course a stronghold of both the Taliban as well as al Qaeda.

Now, this comes after a month of increased drone strikes by the U.S., way more than we've seen in almost any month in the past. Some of these strikes of course, causing a lot of controversy as well, especially helicopter incursions that have happened by U.S. military helicopters into Pakistani territory, one of those incursions caused the death of three Pakistani border soldiers.

And since then Pakistan has shut down the main supply route for NATO goods headed through Pakistan into Afghanistan. That route remains shut down and only yesterday one of these convoys was attacked by militants, set on fire of 27 trucks in that convoy, 25 burned out.

What's happened since then is that a lot of these convoys which were stationary at the side of the road in many places have been moved into depots to get them away from the road and help improve security, so that there are no further incidents.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, a deadly rail collision in central Indonesia to tell you about. The Transportation Ministry says 34 people were killed when one train rammed into another. At least 36 people were hurt as well. Both trains were headed for Jakarta.

Well, Rutgers University is planning a moment of silence before today's football game to honor Tyler Clementi. The 18-year-old student jumped off a bridge after a video of a sexual encounter with another male was streamed online. The shocking cyber bullying case has triggered nationwide outrage.

Our Stephanie Elam is with us this morning from New York in the bureau with the latest. Stephanie, good morning to you. What do we know now? We're trying to figure out timelines here of how this all went down and trying to really piece together exactly what happened.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know, it's so tragic, T.J., to think about at 18 feeling like there's no other way out other than to just take your own life. And that's what everyone is trying to figure out now. What exactly did Tyler feel, what did he think he had to do to get around this? And that's the mystery here. So we found some posts on the Internet that appear to be from Tyler. They trace back to Rutgers but we don't know for sure that they're him -- we have to say that. But in those posts the person posting is upset that his roommate taped him. He says he contacted his R.A. in his dorm and two university officials above him. We've asked the university about this and they said they can't comment on it because of federal privacy laws that protect college students.

So we don't know exactly what transpired. We asked the university if they could characterize how they handled the situation and did they handle it well in fact. Well, here's what the university spokesperson told us. I've got a quote here, "I have spoken to virtually every principle involved in this matter and they have attempted to handle this matter to the best of their ability," end quote.

That obviously still leaves us with a lot of questions. The university president says he plans to reach out to the leaders of the LBGT Community to see if there is a way that they can work together so that students don't feel like they're isolated in situations like this -- T.J.

HOLMES: Ok, a lot of questions we all have but I assume -- I guess one of the questions that the investigators, everybody is looking into this, we all have questions.

ELAM: Oh, yes everyone is asking so many things about this. Of course, they are in the middle of an investigation now. So they are not telling us what exactly they are or are not finding. They do say that they are considering bias charges against the two students they have charged in the case but they haven't made a determination on that yet.

And you know this is here you got Dharun Ravi 18-year-olds, Molly Wei that you're seeing there as well also 18 years old. These two students actually knew each other from high school and just randomly ended up living on the same floor in college is what we're understanding. But that's -- these are two who are dealing with this now.

HOLMES: We're hearing anything else yet Stephanie from Tyler's family?

ELAM: Yes, we've gotten a couple of statements out from them. There was another one that came out yesterday. Obviously, they are still very much in the grieving process and they haven't spoken to the media.

But they have put out messages through their lawyer. And it says, here's the part of one that we saw yesterday. Quote, "We understand that our family's personal tragedies present important legal issues for the country as well as for us. Regardless of our legal outcomes our hope is that our family's personal tragedy will serve as a call for compassion, empathy and human dignity," end quote.

Meanwhile, at Rutgers it's obviously a very somber campus. Many of the students wore all-black yesterday. And as you mentioned there is that moment of silence that's planned for today's football game and a vigil that is in the works for tomorrow night.

But obviously, T.J., it brings up that whole question again, how do you police what people put on the Internet. And we need new laws because there's this whole social networking outlet that so many people are involved in.

HOLMES: Yes it's too bad we need a law for that it's just kind of a common sense and civility issue. And this case is just so egregious in so many ways.

ELAM: And it's so easy to do.

HOLMES: Yes.

ELAM: That's the thing. That is so easy to put something out there without it even thinking about what you could be really doing.

HOLMES: And you can't take it back once it gets out there.

Stephanie, we appreciate you as always. Thank you, good to see you this morning.

Well, coming up, they are armed with cameras and a right-wing agenda and CNN now giving you an unprecedented look into the new breed of America's conservative activists. "RIGHT ON THE EDGE", that's just ahead.

It's ten past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to some politics now. Let's turn to Washington, D.C.

Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is there. But, Paul, it appears nobody wants to be there with you. I'm not talking about the empty room, I'm talking about Congress high tailing it out of there and also the president's chief of staff he's getting out of there too.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I'm not going to take it personally, T.J. But you're right, lawmakers gone now for the -- until through Election Day of course.

And yes, big news yesterday, of course, at the White House, the president announcing that Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff since he took office back early last year -- Emanuel's leaving. And where is he going? Heading back to Chicago. He's going to be doing a listening tour this weekend. You know, the idea here, is we think he's going to announce for Mayor there.

Of course the long time Mayor, Mayor Daly announcing earlier this fall that he would not run for re-election. Emanuel's got some deadlines ahead of him: November 22nd he's got to get those signatures out to get on the ballot, and then of course next February is the Democratic primary. It'll be a crowded field there.

So who takes over for Emanuel in the White House as Chief of Staff? Well, the Deputy Chief of Staff, a guy called Pete Rouse will be taking over as Acting Chief of Staff. This is somebody who knows Barack Obama very well. He was Barack Obama's Chief of Staff when Barack Obama came to the Senate back in early 2005 -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We are just about a month away now from the mid-terms. Everyone predicting Republicans would take back the House; a little tighter in the Senate. A lot of people including the president been blaming Republicans for putting the country in the mess he says we're in now. But Americans, who do they think can actually fix the mess now?

STEINHAUSER: I got some answer. You got the questions I got the answers. Seriously the economy the number one issue has been for a long time. Brand CNN Opinion Research Corporation National Poll put out earlier this week: we asked who do you blame for getting us in this economic mess? Who is more responsible for the economic problems in the country?

You can see more people, 41 percent say Republicans in congress more responsible, 35 percent Democrats.

But check the next board out because it's interesting. Ok, that's who got us into it but which party will do a -- more likely do a better job getting us out of that; getting -- increasing or fixing the economic problems. And well, even though more people think the Republicans got us into the mess, more people say the Republicans in Congress are going to do a better job fixing the economic conditions. And of course, that is crucial because the economy will be a top issue -- the top issue in the mid-term elections -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, the top issue -- it's always the top issue it seems, out in California where they seem to always be reeling from economic troubles. So now they are trying to pick their next governor. You think economy is the number one issue people are talking about out there? Not really. It's a scandal as always.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. It should be the economy, it should be state's budget, of course, but you're absolutely right. And there's a big showdown today, a big gubernatorial debate out there between the former governor, Jerry Brown who's the Democratic nominee and Meg Whitman, the billionaire and former eBay CEO. And as you said, the controversy out there surrounds her and there's been a big story the last couple of days whether she knew that her former housekeeper was an illegal alien. Top story -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. My man, always good to see you there; you're still doing your duty there in D.C. even if nobody else is. Thank you so much buddy.

Coming up tonight, CNN shining the spotlight on America's young conservative activists who are taking on the mainstream media with old school guerilla journalism coupled with a right wing agenda.

Here now, CNN's Abbie Boudreau, with a preview of her special documentary titled "RIGHT ON THE EDGE" profiling two activists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For months, we documented Christian Hartsock, a young conservative trying to make it big in Hollywood.

CHRISTIAN HARTSOCK, YOUNG CONSERVATIVE: Zooming in, zooming out, boom.

BOUDREAU: Today, he's prepping for a movie video he's directing.

HARTSOCK: I don't necessarily want to change people's minds. I would rather turn heads and get people talking. My job is to make provocative content.

You say, get against the car.

RYAN SORBA, YOUNG CONSERVATIVE: All right.

BOUDREAU: And he does that with controversial people. Ryan Sorba is rehearsing the part of an FBI agent in the music video.

HARTSOCK: First of all, there is a scene where Mary Landrieu is going to be here.

SORBA: She's going to be freaking out on us.

HARTSOCK: She's going to be freaking out like --

SORBA: OK, cool.

BOUDREAU: We first met Ryan at a meeting for young conservatives in California, Christian introduced us.

(on camera): I've heard you guys all kind of like moan and groan about liberal media. What's so wrong -- first of all, do you view CNN as liberal media?

SORBA: Yes.

BOUDREAU: OK. So what's it like to have me sitting right here? What are you thinking?

SORBA: The Communist News Network. I feel like I'm under fire right now. I feel afraid a little bit.

BOUDREAU: When you're watching --

SORBA: Well, I don't watch CNN or MSNBC --

BOUDREAU: But then how do you --

SORBA: -- except for once in a blue moon.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): At age 28, Ryan Sorba is the oldest young conservative we've met.

SORBA: I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you.

BOUDREAU: He invited us to a Chicago suburb for an anti-gay event called Americans for Truth Academy.

SORBA: It's like you mean soul. It's disorder of the soul, the nature of man.

BOUDREAU: After the speech outside Chicago, a group of gay rights protesters is ready to take Ryan on and Ryan is ready.

SORBA: Do you guys hate Christians?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: No.

SORBA: No. Then why are you protesting a Christian church for promoting their most fundamentally held beliefs?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: You want to put us in gas chambers, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

SORBA: No, we don't.

Hey, dude, do you hate Christians? Then why are you yelling at me like that?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS (chanting): Racist, sexist, anti-gay, right-wing bigots go away.

SORBA: This is the definition of tolerance right here. Ideological diversity in action.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS (chanting): Racist, sexist, anti-gay, right-wing bigots go away.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR: You're smiling all the way to hell, pretty boy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Watch "RIGHT ON THE EDGE" tonight 8:00 eastern time. An encore presentation airs same time tomorrow again, that's right here on CNN. Certainly hope you can check that out.

Coming up, we'll tell you why the Central American nation of Guatemala accusing the United States of crimes against humanity carried out by the guys of science.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Taking a look now at the stories that are making headlines: President Obama calling to apologize to his counterpart in Guatemala after recently unearthed evidence suggests the United States carried out illicit venereal disease studies on unknowing Guatemalans nearly 65 years ago. The premise was to test penicillin as a treatment and possible preventative for syphilis. Guatemala's president says he's stunned by the admission.

We turn to Indonesia now where 34 people are dead, another 36 hurt after two trains collided early today. Witness say one train was stationary as the second slammed it from behind. Both trains were bound for the Indonesia capital of Jakarta. Cause of the crash is being looked at now.

New Jersey now where the president of Rutgers University says he'll reach out to the school's gay community as it deals with a high- profile suicide. Freshman Tyler Clementi jumped off a bridge after his sexual encounter with a man was secretly video-taped and posted online allegedly by Clementi's roommate. Rutgers plans a moment of silence to honor Clementi prior to today's football game.

There's been a series of suicides by teenage boys after being taunted or bullied that has parents -- a lot of parents concerned. So how can you protect your child or even find out if your child might be bullied?

Josh is here with some resources, important information here Josh, because sometimes kids are afraid to come forward. They don't want to come forward and say, "Hey, I'm being picked on", necessarily. They deal with it on their own.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And in addition, there are a lot of parents out there who don't realize their kids are actually bullying other kids. So what I'm going to do now is show you some resources online that can help you find out if your child might be bullied, look for some cues out there. One of them is a very popular one. It's from Pacer Center; Pacer Center is teens against bullying. It has places for teens to go here, to talk about your experiences if you are a teen. And parents can reach out as well. Try to get some advice.

There's also something here called "Stop Bullying Now" -- that's from the government. And they have all sorts of information about it. What they also have here are some cartoons that teach you about bullying. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Check this out. I'm going to put this pudding down weenie-weenie's shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok if I join you Milton?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right. It also has stuff like that. Just keep watching it a bit. What it does is it visually introduces you to some characters. And this is for kids and it's also for adults. And it helps kids learn that it's ok to talk if you are being bullied. And it helps other kids know what to watch for if a kid is being bullied. That website you're seeing on your screen has lots of resources for parents as well.

Another thing I'll tell you that's going online right now in this battle against bullying is that more and more celebrities are now creating messages and posting them online.

One of the latest is Ellen DeGeneres. She put out a message just the other day talking about it in the wake of what happened with Tyler Clementi and also three other young teenage boys -- two were 13 years old, one was 15 years old -- committed suicide all in the past month, all after apparently facing bullying or taunting after being gay.

Here's a piece of what Ellen said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: These kids needed us. And we have an obligation to change this. There are messages everywhere that validate this bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop. We can't let intolerance and ignorance take another kids' life.

And I want anyone out there who feels different and alone to know that I know how you feel. And there is help out there. And you can find support in your community. If you need somebody to talk to or if you want to get involved there's some really great organizations listed on our Web site.

Things will get easier. People's minds will change. And you should -- you should be alive to see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Powerful words there, "You should be alive to see it." By the way, Ellen's video is one of the top videos on cnn.com right now.

Everything I just showed you I have posted for you online. It's up at Facebook and Twitter at JoshLevsCNN. And what I'm also doing is asking you to post sites that have helped you, that have worked for you because there are hundreds out there. We would love to hear from you; get that conversation going online.

If you're looking for a resource, head to my Facebook page and you will hear from other parents what has helped them. T.J., people looking for resources -- hopefully that will be some help.

HOLMES: You know, we need to keep this stuff in mind even before we have some high profile suicides like we've just seen. But yes, this is important information always. So many stories like this that have been out the past couple of years.

LEVS: Awful.

HOLMES: Josh, we appreciate you. Thanks so much.

Also coming up here some frightening moments aboard a private plane; the aircraft ended up in the water after skidding off the runway and you bet, they are looking for some answers to what happened here.

Bottom of the hour here; stay with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. The floodwaters starting to recede along the East Coast. The situation is still pretty dire in a lot of places though.

North Carolina to New England, flooding has killed at least eight people. Homes, businesses under water. Roads are closed. As you see from the pictures here, people had to be rescued from their homes by boat.

Those are supposed to be streets we're seeing, folks. And the only way you can get down them is by boat.

This was all triggered by remnants of a tropical storm, Nicole. You remember her? And it was also triggered by another weather system. Those two things got together and just dumped water on top of North Carolina and other parts of the East Coast.

Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on this thing for us today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: We'll turn to Virginia now, where five people on a charter plane were injured when the plane they were in went off the runway and ended up in some water. It happened yesterday morning. This is in Dare County.

This was during a rainstorm. Visibility was pretty limited. Five people were taken to a hospital and had to be treated for some minor injuries. But you don't see that every day, a plane sitting in the water.

They did have to lift that sucker out of there. They were able to finally get it out. They still are investigating exactly what happened here.

Well, a lot of people on the weekends, they like to spend time around the house, some of you do-it-yourself folks out there. You need to keep something in mind this weekend though. Half a million of those home improvement books being recalled because they are giving you some bad instructions that could cause some major damage to your house.

Thirty-three past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Thirty-six minutes past the hour.

A live picture here from D.C. They are just getting going for another rally. It seems like we've seen a few rallies and a lot of coverage of some rallies in D.C. here lately, but this one billed as the One Nation rally kicking off today, kicking off this afternoon.

It is billed as "The Antidote to the Tea Party." Those words coming to us from the NAACP president, who was talking about this, and one of the many groups helping to organize this.

The demonstration is officially called One Nation, but the organizers say it's promoting better education, more economic opportunities ahead of the midterm elections. The speakers will include, as I mentioned, Ben Jealous, the NAACP president; also Reverend Al Sharpton. And again, several hundred groups that are helping to sponsor this event.

One person who is there, Haroon "Boon "Saleem. He's there, a blogger. He's been on a cross-country trip blogging across America about some of the hot-button political issues. I asked him why exactly he thought it was important for him to be at the rally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAROON "BOON" SALEEM, BLOGGER: I'm part of 400 other groups that are here. I think we're all here to bring people together, talk about the issues that are of concern right now in the country.

I think when you look at what's been going on not just in the past eight years, but the last couple years, there's a little bit of frustration. I think there's a need to move beyond divisive politics. And that sort of brought all these organizations together.

I see a ton of people from the NAACP right around the corner right now. They're one of 400 groups here. And the hope is that people on the Hill, our representatives, will notice that we have concerns and we have something to say, and that we want them to refocus what's going on in the country.

HOLMES: Now, Haroon, you said upset about what happened in the eight years of the previous administration, but you also mentioned what's been happening the past couple of years.

Is this rally meant to send a message directly to President Obama that some of you all, you may be in particular, are not happy with what you've been seeing the past couple of years?

SALEEM: I'm not going to say me in particular. I do think there are people that are just concerned, would probably be the right word. I think other people would say frustrated.

For me, I think it's just an opportunity to say hey, we still -- there's still things that need to be done. I think two years is a short amount of time. I'm going to give the administration a little bit of credit.

I think they've done a lot of great things. But I think the administration knows themselves, there's still work to be done.

I think this is geared a little bit more towards the Hill, though, not necessarily the administration. That's my personal feeling.

HOLMES: That's your personal feeling. Haroon, is there a feeling as well that this rally needs to in some way compete with, at least match, or maybe outdo what we saw several weeks ago when Glenn Beck had a huge rally there, or with some of the huge Tea Party rallies.

SALEEM: I should have seen that question coming.

HOLMES: Is there a feeling that you have to compete in some way?

SALEEM: I wouldn't necessarily say compete. I think it's just the -- for everyone here, it's an opportunity for us to just -- we want our voices heard. I wouldn't -- to me, competition, et cetera, you know, look, Tea Partiers have a right to speak as well. That is the -- that's what's written in the Constitution.

So I wouldn't necessarily say compete at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And CNN's Kate Bolduan also at the "One Nation" rally. She'll be joining us live in the next hour with Fredricka Whitfield. Live reports from the rally. They are just getting started with the official program, and then things really kick off in a big way at noon Eastern Time.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. You're out of work, facing possible layoff, early retirement. You're worried about money and about your future.

Chris Gardner has been there. You may remember his rags to riches story from the book and the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness." He is out with another new book now, "Start Where You Are," sharing his life lessons and free seminars throughout the country earlier this week with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you were on a roll. You couldn't stop at "The Pursuit of Happyness."

CHRIS GARDNER, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: No.

WHITFIELD: Now, it's "Start Where You Are." But then there's more. You are helping people on this journey of getting their finances together by really crisscrossing the country.

What's the focus?

GARDNER: I think this is just a fabulous time for a lot of us to be learning a lot more about all the tools in the financial toolbox and being comfortable using the tools that are going to work for us. That's why when MasterCard came to me and said, "Let's do this," I couldn't say no. I think that this is just going to be -- could be -- a very, very special time in all of our lives if we ask ourselves some very big questions.

WHITFIELD: Questions like?

GARDNER: How did I get here? When I was where I was, at my lowest, living in a public transit bathroom station with a baby tied on my back, a major difference between reality and the film. In the film, Jaden Smith plays my son as a 5 year old. Reality, my son was 14 months old.

That changes everything. You know, one of the things that I had to ask myself looking into that mirror in that bathroom every day, how did I get here?

WHITFIELD: And what was the answer you came up with?

GARDNER: I drove here. I had something to do.

WHITFIELD: No one's responsible but you?

GARDNER: I had something to do with the circumstances and conditions that were now my life. But there's also, Fredricka, something very, very empowering about that, because when you can say I drove here, the other side of it is, I can drive out of here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Wait, wait, wait. Why did we cut it off?

Fredricka, I want to hear more.

WHITFIELD: Yes, because there's more.

HOLMES: I want to hear more.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Chris Gardner, he's a pretty fascinating person. Everyone agrees with that.

So he is touring the country right now. He's in Atlanta. He is leading this seminar, along with MasterCard: "Attain Financial Control at Every Stage of Your Life."

You heard him say he drove himself there, and he says you can drive yourself out. So, bottom line, you're in the driver's seat no matter what the circumstances that have befallen you. He says it's up to you to get yourself out, pick yourself up, not pity yourself.

Yes, of course, you reflect on how I got here, what put me in this position. But now I've got to learn from this and find a way out. And it's up to me.

That really is his resonating message, and that's what he's saying, that is the key to your financial freedom as well. And, of course, his new book, you know, you've got to start where you are. This is the bottom line.

"Start Where You Are." And so in two weeks -- yes, that was just little taste -- two weeks, yes, "Face to Face With Fredricka," our focus with Chris Gardner, because today we've got "Face to Face" with author Terry McMillan.

HOLMES: Look at you.

WHITFIELD: You know, about her, "When Stella Got Her Groove Back," and, of course, "Waiting to Exhale." And now the focus is "Getting to Happy."

We sit down face to face --

HOLMES: "Getting to Happy."

WHITFIELD: "Getting to Happy," yes. So she still revisits the protagonist in her book, "Waiting to Exhale." And of course you know about her own personal journey, learning that her husband -- he reveals that he is gay.

Of course she was very angry. You remember seeing her on everybody's network, on everybody's air, professing how angry indeed she was.

And then finally, she said, you know what? She just got tired of being angry. It was exhausting being angry.

And so she began to reflect on her life -- I just want to be happy again, I deserve to be happy. And that's what precipitated "Getting to Happy."

She talks about that. She breaks down the characters. She talks about what's similar in her life to what you'll read in "Getting to Happy." And she's got some wonderful advice for anybody and everyone who gets to a point in their life no matter what your age bracket where you just suddenly start to forget who you are, what makes you tick, what makes you happy, and how do you grab hold of that and get to happy.

HOLMES: Fredricka, we need to switch seats. I feel like I should be on the couch. This is a therapy session right now.

WHITFIELD: This is the therapy sofa we like to call in our newsroom.

HOLMES: My goodness. This is heavy. This is heavy.

WHITFIELD: But they're really the heavy ones.

HOLMES: OK.

WHITFIELD: So they're going to have all the great information.

HOLMES: OK. But two weeks for Chris Gardner.

WHITFIELD: Yes, of course.

HOLMES: All right.

WHITFIELD: And then today --

HOLMES: So are you going to do your show today? It sound like you've been busy.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We've been busy, but we've got other good stuff circulating too.

Our legal guys are going to be along with us. Of course they're going to talk about the Rutgers University case, very sad situation of these students -- this young man right here -- and, of course, what will take place with these two young students in terms of, we know that there's some privacy violations that are being investigated, but now how about wiretapping? Might that end up being a charge? What about federal or maybe even state level hate charges that could be imposed on them?

Our legal guys are going to talk about that.

HOLMES: And I'm sure you'll ask, because one question someone brought up to me, an attorney, you know what? This was his room. Maybe he had a right, and maybe it's not an invasion of privacy because that was his area as well.

So I'm fascinated by the legal --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Right, the accused.

HOLMES: Yes, the accused.

WHITFIELD: True, but now are we talking about two-party, one- party consent state? You have to give consent about being videotaped, and in this case live videotaped streaming. So there are lots of legal implications here.

HOLMES: A sad story.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And then in our legal segment we're also going to talk about Anna Nicole Smith. Yes, she's been dead a couple years now, but the case that she was wrangling with, the estate case, $1.6 billion that was left to her by her husband -- and, of course, it was litigated by his son -- he passed away as well.

So now this case is going to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our legal guy is going to talk about this. And also, helping to keep this case alive is now the wife of the late son --

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

WHITFIELD: Yes, up against some other familiar names, Howard K. Stern. Yes. HOLMES: The boyfriend.

WHITFIELD: Well, they are fighting their way in the U.S. Supreme Court. So we've got a lot going on.

HOLMES: A lot of time for those guys.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HOLMES: That is a huge, complicated case.

WHITFIELD: I've got more to tell you about, but we're out of time now.

HOLMES: We're out of time?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HOLMES: OK.

WHITFIELD: Going to the movies? The social network?

HOLMES: We will see you in just a second, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right.

HOLMES: Thank you so much.

Well, coming up, though, talk about a memorable sailing trip. A newborn joins the family on the high seas. A premature adventure coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES:

HOLMES: Well, all this week CNN has crisscrossed the country seeing how food influences our daily lives. For many of us, it's meat and potatoes, but others are calling for a vegetable revolution. You might have to convince me on this one.

Jessica Yellin has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER RUBELL, VEGETABLE BUTCHER: If she cuts off her finger, she has insurance, right?

OK. I'll hold this.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, really?

RUBELL: Yes. And you just go really quickly. Watch your fingers. There, you got it.

YELLIN: No.

RUBELL: Yes, you're doing it, Jess.

YELLIN: It's not working.

RUBELL: Yes, it's working. You're making a celery root salad.

YELLIN: Yeah!

(LAUGHTER)

(voice-over): Meet Jennifer Rubell, vegetable butcher.

RUBELL: OK. You grab your vegetables, you bring them to me, and I cut them however you want. And then you take them home, and instead of it taking you a half hour to cook, it takes you five minutes to throw together a homemade meal.

That's celery root salad with parmesan and olive oil.

YELLIN: OK, true confession: I went to college with Jennifer. Now she's a performance artist who works in food.

She developed the veggie butcher idea with celebrity chef Mario Batali, and she slices and dices at his New York City food emporium, Eataly.

(on camera): Do you think we're a little intimidated by vegetables because we don't always know how to cook them?

MARIO BATALI, CHEF: Exactly. And having a vegetable butcher here, the whole stand is more or less to give you the information, to disarm the vegetable, to make it easier to cook. Like, anything can be sauteed or even, in that matter, eaten raw. What we want to do is really in support of people cooking at home, which is where Italians know the best meals happen.

YELLIN (voice-over): The food industry spends millions marketing things like cereal and meat. Rubell wants to speak for the vegetables.

(on camera): Americans are famously -- hate vegetables. Right?

RUBELL: Yes. I mean, I'd hate vegetables, too, if I ate frozen vegetables. I'd hate vegetables if I ate vegetables that are out of season.

You feel where it starts to get tender.

YELLIN (voice-over): Her advice? Eat only fresh vegetables.

RUBELL: Just buy what's cheapest, most abundant and most seasonal.

YELLIN: And encourage your market to follow her lead. Call it vegetable stimulus. RUBELL: I have a fantasy that people will go into their supermarkets all over America and say, "Let me be a vegetable butcher for a week and see if you sell more vegetables."

YELLIN: Rubell is convinced the vegetables' moment has arrived.

RUBELL: And when Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden at the White House, that was the official beginning of the vegetable moment.

YELLIN (on camera): And we're all going to get on board soon.

RUBELL: We're all on board. Come on. You made a celery root salad today, Jessica.

YELLIN: Doing good.

RUBELL: Yes.

YELLIN (voice-over): Jessica Yellin, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, Reynolds, sign us up for the vegetable revolution.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Well, it sure was a memorable -- well, let me tell you about this journey for one couple. They were on a sailing trip to the Florida Keys. The newest member of their family decided he actually wanted to be part of this trip as well.

Alexis Riviera (ph) with our story now from our affiliate WPBF.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERRY LINVILLE, FATHER: He's beautiful. Got all his fingers and toes. Can't go wrong with all that.

Say, "That's Bearing."

ALEXIS RIVIERA (ph), REPORTER, WPBF (voice-over): Bearing Linville was born a healthy 7 pounds on September 13th, but his parents weren't exactly ready. He wasn't due for another four weeks.

LINVILLE: It actually went really well. I'm very blessed. And I thank God for that every day, because it could have been a complicated situation.

RIVIERA: Jerry Linville and his wife Patricia were out at sea, sailing from their home in Jacksonville down to Key West, when the 38- year-old went into labor.

LINVILLE: I was trying to drive the boat and get us out of a storm. I heard, "I need your help." And I looked in and it was time to help. PATRICIA CARDEN, MOTHER: The storm kicked up bumpy waves, and I guess that started my labor.

RIVIERA: The couple was out in the Atlantic about 28 miles off the shores of Stuart when Patricia pushed out her little boy. It's all documented on the birth certificate.

LINVILLE: I got it yesterday. I was so happy.

RIVIERA: Location of birth: Sea Occurrence. And that's how the little boy's name came to be.

LINVILLE: All we had was the location for our GPS of where he was born, so we named him Bearing.

RIVIERA: After the delivery, Linville got them to the Jupiter Inlet so that mom and her little baby boy could get to the hospital.

LINVILLE: Of course, my wife, she's had children before. So kind of coached me along. She handled it like a champ. I was about to have a heart attack.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, the couple now plans to continue their trip as soon as they get the baby's Social Security card. Well, congratulations.

WHITFIELD: Yes, they are wasting no time.

HOLMES: And on this other thing --

WHITFIELD: What other thing, vegetables?

HOLMES: -- the vegetable revolution --

WHITFIELD: Yes. Love vegetables.

HOLMES: Oh, I love them, but a revolution? Really?

WHITFIELD: Yes, because I guess people are, I don't know, feeling nudged that they need to incorporate vegetables into their food repertoire. I mean, people are so used to fast food, getting things quickly. And seldom does it involve vegetables.

HOLMES: How does that sound to you Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's trying hard.

HOLMES: She's trying to sell me on it.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm all about the veggie.

HOLMES: Sell it. Trying to sell, sell, sell.

WHITFIELD: But we know what T.J.'s diet is like. You've seen the Twizzlers for breakfast, right? WOLF: Absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Yes, ,Lemon Heads (ph), all that stuff. Oh, I've seen it.

HOLMES: OK, a candy revolution.

WHITFIELD: A big old Coca-Cola. Yes, candy revolution right here.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: You do your thing, I'll do mine.

OK, Fredricka. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: Work some vegetables into your day.

HOLMES: I will. I will.

WHITFIELD: OK? All right. Thanks so much.