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Backlash Against Security Pat-Downs; Computers That Know How We Feel; Preparing for the Next Big Quake; Pro-Democracy Leader Speaks Out; Hooked on Helping the Homeless; Deadly Building Collapse in India; McConnell Backs Earmarks Ban; New E-mail on the Block; Posthumous Jackson Song Released

Aired November 15, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew griffin in for Ali Velshi with you for the next hour. Here's what's on our rundown:

Technology that could turn teaching inside out. It's tracking students' moods and emotions and tailoring lesson plans accordingly. Wait until you see how the results are.

And how do you make a city earthquake-proof? You hang on tight. Dr. Sanjay Gupta sure did, taking us to Japan to find out the hard way.

And is Facebook about to shake up the Web by becoming the next big player in the e-mail world? We're keeping you posted on today's big announcement.

We're going to start, though, by showing you a cell phone video that has gone viral. It was made by a California man who was about to get an enhanced pat down at the airport in San Diego. He's become an instant hero to people who think airport screening is going too far.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on over here.

JOHN TYNER, PASSENGER: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have anything in your pockets?

TYNER: I don't think so. I had to take it all out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No belt, no nothing?

TYNER: Nope, no belt, no nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any external or internal implants that I need to be aware of?

TYNER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be doing the standard pat-down on you today, using my hands, going like this on your body.

TYNER: All right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, we're going to be doing a groin check. That means I'm going to place my hand on your hip, the other hand on your inner thigh, slowly go up and slide down.

TYNER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to do that two times in the front and two times in the back.

TYNER: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if you'd like a private screening, we can make that available for you also.

TYNER: We can do that out here, but if you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, we are going to have a supervisor here because of your statement.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: The Airport Transport Association predicts 24 million Americans are going to be flying over Thanksgiving. For many of them, it's going to be their first exposure to what a lot of us have been seeing already, newly enhanced airport screening.

More than 60 U.S. airports across the country, major airlines and minor airports alike, now have advanced imaging technology machines. The Transportation Security Administration says it's got 385 of the machines in place. It expects to have more than 1,000 of them in operation just by the end of next year.

They are walk-through x-ray machines that conduct full-body scans right through your clothes. Pilots and a growing number of passengers are raising objections based on modesty and also radiation concerns. The TSA says they're unfounded.

Well, if you refuse a full-body scan, you can opt for an enhanced pat- down. Under new rules though, TSA agents use the fronts, not the back of their hands, and the search includes the breasts and genitalia areas. Critics call that a virtual strip search. If you refuse to do that, well, you don't fly.

The man who made the video we saw, John Tyner, ended up going home without getting on the plane. He also says he was threatened with a civil lawsuit.

Well, Todd Curtis, former safety analyst with Boeing and the founder and publisher of AirsSafe.com, joins us live from Seattle.

We've been talking about this all afternoon, and really the past couple of days. Is it really necessary, Todd, to go through all this kind of screening?

TODD CURTIS, FOUNDER & PUBLISHER, AIRSAFE.COM: Well, that's the real question, because, obviously, these screening devices work well. They are designed to do what they do, and they do it very well. And the pat-down searches certainly could find contraband on a person's body.

But unless there's a real danger here, unless there's a threat that's been communicated, or the intelligence services have said, hey, here's a problem here, we should screen people more carefully, because someone is going to do something right now. Without a warning like that, this seems to be excessive for most passengers.

GRIFFIN: And I think -- I mean, we talk about 24 million flying this Thanksgiving. I don't think they really have a clue how invasive this can be.

The body scanner certainly goes right through your clothes. The pat- down that I have seen is downright -- looks like a violation really. And what you're saying is what a lot of safety experts have said, what is the basis for doing this so quickly in the process when there's no information that this particular passenger is a threat?

CURTIS: And again, that's been my point for quite some time. There are a lot of tools for security, and some of them are very invasive, some of them aren't. And they should be used in an appropriate manner. And what I think I'm seeing here is the public is reacting at what they think is an inappropriate use of technology.

GRIFFIN: The TSA said the technology aspect of this is completely safe. Do you buy that?

CURTIS: Well, when it comes to radiation, there is no safe level of exposure. Zero is the only level that I think everyone can agree with as being safe. Beyond that, there's some health risks that may not be known for years or decades.

GRIFFIN: Have you been aware of any testing that the TSA has done in advance to kind of determine, medically speaking, if this is a large amount of radiation or a little?

CURTIS: No, I haven't seen anything from the TSA. And more importantly, I haven't seen anything from more appropriate government agencies that might be involved with this kind of testing -- the FDA, CDC, et cetera -- the folks who are the medical experts in this.

GRIFFIN: There is a growing backlash among the population, at least that I'm feeling. But the TSA is all powerful at the airport. You either adhere to our procedures or you don't fly. Secretary Napolitano said virtually the same thing today, that it was either TSA screenings or find another method of transportation.

Is there any government entity that can look upon TSA and say, hey, you know what, we think you need to back off here or change your policies?

CURTIS: I don't think it's any one agency that will be responsible for changing policies, because when it comes to airline security, there are a lot of stakeholders. The government is clearly one stakeholder. Passengers are another stakeholder. And I think what we're seeing now is a situation where the passengers who, until now, really haven't had that much of a direct voice in policymaking, are stepping up in a mostly uncoordinated fashion and saying enough is enough, let's talk about this, at least.

GRIFFIN: Todd, are we any safer with these machines than we were a month and a half ago?

CURTIS: We're safer in that there's another tool out there that can discover some bombs and some other contraband that could be put onto airplanes. So, clearly, more tools are good. But the implementation of this tool and the other policies around it may not make us more safe in that it may lead to a backlash of people not flying, for instance, or trying to circumvent the system deliberately, or, I'm afraid, making the bad guys out there smarter about things.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Todd Curtis, thanks for joining us from Seattle. Appreciate it. Take care.

Well, as you may know, George W. Bush making the rounds promoting his memoir, "Decision Points." In numerous interviews he has touched on many of the major issues of his eight years in office -- his decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, the massive federal bailout of several major companies.

And last night Bush and his brother, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, sat down with CNN's Candy Crowley. Bush again responded to questions about both his domestic and foreign policy, but he also shed some light on personal feelings for his dad, former President George H. W. Bush. And it's today's "Sound Effect." He makes reference to Lee Atwater, who ran his father's 1988 campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What she's referring to is the time when dad had us at Camp David and we questioned Lee's loyalty. Jeb issued the great line that said, "If there's a grenade rolling next to dad, Lee, we expect you to be diving on it first."

JEB BUSH, FMR. FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Beating us to it.

G. BUSH: Yes, because we love our dad. And it's hard for people to understand that -- how much we admire him and how much we love him, and how much our admiration for him motivated us to go into public service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Bush dismissed the criticism that he took his eye off the ball in the early stages of the Afghan War. Critics charge that happened when the U.S. invaded Iraq, turning its focus away from Afghanistan and allowing the Taliban to regroup as a strong, determined fighting force there.

Well, Bush, instead, blames some NATO members who had troops on the ground, claiming they were not willing to fight. Well, it's an amazing new way to help kids learn in school, using computers that help teachers teach by tracking kids' moods. It really works. You've got to see this.

But first, the list of the top words for 2010 is out today from Global Language Monitor. We're running through them during the show today, this hour. We're talking phrases.

Number 10 is "Obamamania." We all know that one.

Number 9: "Pass the bill to be able to see what's in it." That was from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talking about that health care reform bill.

Number 9: "Man up," from women running for office.

We'll have number 7 and 6 in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Back to our top phrases of 2010.

Number 7 -- hey, I thought that was a name -- "Lady Gaga."

Number 6: "Ambush marketing." What's that? Basically cashing in at an event by acting like you're the sponsor.

The top five phrases of 2010 coming at 2:30.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: What if we could tell when a student was happy, sad or bored? We could probably help steer those students to focus in the classroom.

Today's "Chalk Talk" is about computers that detect how we feel. Researchers from MIT and UM Amherst -- that's the University of Massachusetts -- are using artificial intelligence to help students learn. They have used computers' cameras to detect expressions of students' eyebrows or mouth. If they frown or smile, apparently the computer knows.

They've also developed chair sensors to see if kids are slumping or sitting up straight, which can show their level of interest. They've given kids wristbands that measure how much kids are sweating to detect their stimulation levels. They've even programmed computer mice that measure squeeze level, which can show if a student is angry or stressed.

All these great ideas to help kids learn. The woman behind it all, Dr. Beverly Park Woolf, joins us from D.C.

Man, this sounds like I don't want to be in your chair. You're going to know all my secrets. I mean, does it really work?

DR. BEVERLY PARK WOOLF, RESEARCH PROFESSOR, COMPUTER SERVICE DEPT., UM AMHERST: Yes. We have been able to correlate what the student says about their own emotions. So we asked the student, "Do you feel frustrated? Do you feel angry? Are you interested?" And the sensors detect that at about 80 percent accuracy.

GRIFFIN: And what is the -- I mean, you're not advocating wiring up every classroom in the United States are you?

WOOLF: No.

GRIFFIN: So what are you using this for?

WOOLF: So, first, we use the sensors to make a model. So it's a computational model in the system of when the student looks like they're frustrated. And that can be detected by if they get the last problem wrong, or the three problems wrong, if they race through hints to just see the answer.

So we can make this model that figures out if they're frustrated and then compare that model with the sensors. And we clearly want to wean ourselves from the sensors, because we do not want to wire up every school in the classroom.

And we have taken that model in other classrooms and validated that, in fact, the model used with different students in different classrooms still works. So we're just after this model.

GRIFFIN: Yes. So, I mean, you have a classroom, let's say, of 25 to 30 kids. Not everybody is stimulated or engaged by the same thing. So, if I'm the teacher and you, Doctor, come to me with your evidence, or your research, what am I supposed to do with that?

WOOLF: Well, we're helping you to find out what topic students know and don't know. So, for instance, the student that we're talking about is now working on a system, and they're learning mathematics. They're doing mathematics problems or they're doing physics problems, and you are the teacher, and we're giving you information about how much they're learning and which topics they're learning.

In other words, if we find that there's a topic -- Pythagoras' Theorem -- that nobody is getting right on all of these systems, then we let you know. And so, instantly, the teacher knows which topics students are doing well, enjoying, not enjoying. So it's not apart from a system that also teaches.

GRIFFIN: Yes. I've got to think some old-school teachers probably inherently know all this stuff and just can scan the room and engage what's happening. You're saying no?

WOOLF: No. I say absolutely.

GRIFFIN: Oh, OK.

WOOLF: That is what we are modeling. I would love to take the model teacher, the expert teacher, and put that into our computers.

We've constantly been enamored of beautiful teachers who know what they're doing in the classroom. And that's what we're trying to duplicate.

So, what we can do, every teacher can have one of these assistants who is this ideal teacher that can detect emotion. And every teacher can now use the system to help them, because they have 30 people in front of them.

It's easy enough to do one-on-one. I know you have to do that. But if you've got 30 in front of you, you can't keep track of them.

So this system will keep track of those four or five who really should go ahead because they are doing marvelously, they're ready for college mathematics, these four or five who haven't got the prerequisite. And they should get on easier problems. And these others who really need to slow down completely.

So, the system is trying to give this message to the teacher so the teacher can orchestrate the entire system better. And if I just could -- may go on to larger issues beyond our system, this is one system that we use.

Now, there are several systems in the country that are doing as well as this one. And we see 10 percent, 20 percent increase in grades for the systems that are being used. We see two letter grade improvements.

And what we are looking at is -- I think we call it a classroom of one -- a place where students can go for the technology that will improve what they're doing, and they get the personalization that they need. And also, you understand about how kids are so social now, they are constantly talking with each other and working with each other. But if you look at our classrooms, our classrooms are still training people to sit alone, to do their homework alone.

What we'd like is people to collaborate, to be social. And these systems allow students to work together, of course to chat together, and to see each other's homework, actually. Kids think they're cheating, but we're trying to get them to learn to collaborate, because the 21st century workplace needs people who know how to collaborate, who know how to lead, who know how to work together.

GRIFFIN: All right. Well, there you go. Thank you so much for joining us.

WOOLF: You're very welcome.

GRIFFIN: Wired classroom. I wonder if you could make it interactive and give the kids a little jolt if they're not paying attention?

WOOLF: Well, I want to give them games. No, jolts is not -- but I think we can do games, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: I'm just kidding. OK, Doctor. Than you so much for joining us.

WOOLF: You're very welcome.

GRIFFIN: Well, can you guess why CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is rocking and rolling in that tiny room?

What are you doing, Sanjay?

The good doctor is going to explain right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: How many times have we reported on deadly earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes? They happen all the time, often without warning. And in the aftermath of natural disasters, can we do anything to prepare for the next time?

That's been the focus of the World Health Organization's Global Forum taking place in the Japanese city of Kobe. Kobe rebuilt from a devastating earthquake several years ago, and city officials there say their city is about as close now to being earthquake-proof as you can get.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Drew, there's something known as urbanization. It's this concept that more than half the world's population now lives in cities, and that number is expected to go dramatically up over the next several decades.

The problem is, people living in cities are often the most vulnerable to all sorts of health problems and natural disasters. There are lessons to be learned, which is exactly what the WHO Global Forum is all about here in Kobe.

We're looking at some of those lessons. Here's what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So would you even know what to do if you found yourself in the middle of that?

What we're experiencing here is a 6.9 magnitude earthquake. What they'll tell you to do is go into the corner of a room, structure the most sound, stay away from glass as much as possible. Also cover your hands, cover your face, get underneath the table if you have to, just something to protect yourself.

Of course, all of this is just a simulation. And that's what you need to do as an individual. But given that so many people live in urban centers all across the world, how do you recover and rebuild after something like that?

That's exactly the question they were asking themselves in Kobe, Japan, in 1995. A 6.9 magnitude earthquake just like that one, 20 seconds in length; 200,000 buildings gone, 5,000 lives lost. There's a lot of work to do to try and rebuild this place. Well, Kobe did it in less than 10 years, and now they serve as a model for the rest of the world. A lot of lessons have been learned. For example, don't put all your disaster resources in one particular area. Also, try and engage the survivors of an earthquake as much as possible in the rebuilding process.

And finally, hospitals. They have to be able to stay open and functioning even after an earthquake.

Of course, there are the buildings, the awful images like this one. Remember, 200,000 went down. This was one of them. Well, take a look at what it looks like now. This is the same building, rebuilt just quickly after the earthquake.

What did they do specifically? They used materials here to try and isolate the building from the ground and the shaking that accompanies an earthquake. They also used metal plates to allow the building to move, as well as materials that sort of allow this building to sway if the ground is shaking

It is by no means perfect. And if you ask Kobe officials, they'll say about 80 percent of the city is now rebuilt.

There are some problems still. Narrow thoroughfares like this would be tough to navigate in the middle of an earthquake. And these buildings could come down into the streets, making rescues that much more difficult.

But the balance, it's always there, trying to maintain what Japan has been for hundreds of years in the middle of all this reconstruction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And, Drew, I can tell you it is sort of human nature to wait for a tragedy to occur before anybody does anything about it. Preplanning, that's really the name of the game. That's what we're learning so far. We're going to have much more from Kobe all week long.

Back to you.

GRIFFIN: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Checking some other top stories now.

A new week and new headache for Australian airliner Qantas. One of their planes had to make an emergency landing in Sydney today, smoke in the cockpit. The airline is blaming an electrical fault. It was a 747 from Boeing, not one of the Airbus A-380s that they've experienced engine issues with.

Well, cholera's rapid spread alarming health workers in Haiti. They're seeing upwards of seven or eight times the cases they were seeing just days ago. The death toll there from cholera at 950 people.

And police in southern California hunting for the driver of a car that caused a deadly crash. Five people killed in Saturday's accident.

The wanted driver had moved into the oncoming lane to pass a group of motorcyclists. Well, that put him on a collision course with a car coming from the opposite direction. The second car swerved to avoid a head-on crash and plowed into those motorcycles instead.

Giant bubbles that pierce through the galaxy, they are 25,000 light years tall. You've got to see this one.

We are going way "Off the Radar" right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRIFFIN: Well, what's the weather like in the way-out atmosphere of "Off the Radar," baby?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Roll it out there, "Off the Radar."

GRIFFIN: You've got something wacky today. Get your electronic desk ready, because you're going to need to pay attention to this one.

MYERS: Get your gamma-rays right here.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: What are we talking about?

MYERS: This is what we can see, this little bit of the spectrum that we can see. The Spectrum in Philadelphia, didn't they used to play hockey there, at the Spectrum?

We can see red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, ROYGBV if you go up and down.

But then if you go down here, you can cook things with longer waves called microwaves. Down here you can send transmissions on radio waves.

But up here, gamma-rays are very, very small, but very, very high in energy. And gamma-rays are what NASA found in the middle of our galaxy. Here is NASA TV.

If you want to go look at this, at 2:30 they're going to have another press conference about this. Go to NASA.gov, and then go to "TV," and you'll see "Public Channel." But you can also go to "Media Channel." If you click on that media channel, you'll be able to see, literally, the live media conference going on there.

But here's what I'll explain to you, what they're going to explain to you. And I'll try to do it in smaller terms where maybe fifth and sixth graders can understand it.

We think about our Milky Way Galaxy. When I think about Milky Way, I think about a candy bar. But our Milky Way Galaxy kind of doing that way, this way, something like a hurricane. It's kind of spinning out there, but it's flat. Right? We think about our Milky Way Galaxy kind of being flat.

There's some topography. Here it is right here. It doesn't go up and down very much.

What scientists have just found are lobes of giant gamma-rays right here that stick out 25,000 light years. You can turn the lights on in your house, and immediately they come on. Light goes so very fast. But from this side here to this side here, 50,000 light years across. Not quite -- look at that.

GRIFFIN: Cool. Is that energy? I mean, what is that?

MYERS: Well, those are electrons banging into other things with x-ray emissions and gamma-ray emissions never seen before. This was all kind of in the clutter. Couldn't see it from our -- but now the Fermi telescope people, the Fermi Observatory people, have been able to find this. They've been able to filter out all the other things in the galaxy.

Here's the Milky Way. We're flattening it out.

GRIFFIN: And what they're saying is that this is light somehow hitting electrons, right?

MYERS: We don't know where the electrons are coming from.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

MYERS: But when they come in, they bounce, and then they come back out and they bounce out as gamma-rays. It's an amazing -- you want to talk about force field? Remember the "Star Trek," "Star Wars" force field? This is an amazing force field, right straight down through the middle of our galaxy that we just found.

GRIFFIN: So you wouldn't want to go walking through there, I wouldn't think.

MYERS: It's a long walk.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: All right. You got me.

Well, we're learning everything today. Hey, here's what we've got for you next. You know that lady in Myanmar, she's been held 15 years in her house, Aung San Suu Kyi?

Well, she is now reaching out to her captors. You want to listen to this coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Time for "Globe Trekking." First stop, New Delhi, India. Officials reporting at least 32 people killed. A building has collapsed there today.

More people are feared dead. Dozens have been injured. They're digging for survivors right now. The five-story building apparently collapsed perhaps because the foundation weakened from rainwater from this year's heavy monsoons.

We're going to follow that story and bring you updates when we get more information available to us.

Now to Myanmar. She was held in detention for 15 of the past 21 years. She's a Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. She is offering a sand of reconciliation to the country's military leaders.

Those are the guys who held her. It comes on the third day of freedom from house arrest. Yesterday she spoke to thousands of jubilant supporters and in an interview with CNN, Suu Kyi said the key is working with the military government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUNG SAN SUU KYI (via telephone): We have to work together. That is the main message. Those inside the country have to work together and also those forces outside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you plan to do next? Will you revive your party, the NLD?

SUU KYI: We would like to -- we would like to form a network of people working for democracy, not just the NLD, but others who are interested in bringing about necessary change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you plan to challenge the legitimacy of the elections recently held in Myanmar?

SUU KYI: We didn't contest the elections, so we have nothing to do with the elections. But the NLD have formed a committee to look into allegations of fraud and all kinds of vote-rigging, which you probably have heard of. And we're doing it in the name of the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I think she's still speaking out. Suu Kyi says she isn't thinking about the possibility she'll be detained again. She says, I just do what I can do at the moment.

Turning now to the war in Afghanistan, there are more signs of trouble between the U.S. and the Afghan alliance. The commander of U.S. forces there, you know, General David Petraeus, he's saying the relationship could be untenable if Afghan's President Hamid Karzai insists American military operations be sharply reduced.

Petraeus responding to Karzai's comments published in the "Washington Post" yesterday. Karzai told a newspaper that the time has come to reduce military operations to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life.

Officials told "The Post" that Petraeus expressed astonishment and disappointment with Karzai's call.

Well, she is just a lady with a crochet hook and big old giant heart on her. Today's "Mission Possible." Hats for the homeless straight ahead.

But first we are giving you the top words of 2010 from Global Language Monitor. Right now we're talking phrases. Number five, Tea Party. Number four, a teachable moment, turning a bad moment into an opportunity to learn from it and number three, the great recession. The top two phrases of 2010. We're going to tell you those in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: After long last, the top two phrases of 2010, number two, climate change. What they used to call global warming. Number one phrase from 2010, anger and rage.

According to Global Language Monitor it's characterization of the U.S. electorate by pundits. They say after closer look it probably should be frustration and disappointment.

Here's our top stories. A British couple have arrived in Kenya after the release from more than a year in captivity. Paul and Rachel Chandler were kidnapped from their yacht by Somali pirates. Somali elders say $750,000 in ransom was paid. The family won't comment.

The final vote count confirms that Arizona voters have approved legalizing medical marijuana. According to election officials the November 2nd vote was 51.7 percent in favor of legalization and 49.8 percent opposed.

An auction over the weekend raised $2 million for victims of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff. The U.S. Marshall Service sold nearly 500 pieces of Madoff's property. Madoff is in prison serving a 150-year sentence for running a multibillion dollars Ponzi scheme.

Well, it's time for "Mission Possible." When we try to put some spotlight on somebody making a difference in their community, even beyond, today we want to take our hats off to Jan Jurchen.

The Oregon woman has spent most of the year on a simple, but heartfelt project. She's crocheted more than 300 winter hats for homeless people in the area. With thermometers starting to dip Jan's determined to get them handed out ASAP and to keep on crocheting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN JURCHEN, CROCHETS HATS FOR HOMELESS: I don't have a whole lot of money. I just have a lot of yarn and a lot of time. And I can -- I can do this and if they can use it, that's where it's at. It keeps me out of trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I bet those are warm hats, too. Jan says the local mission told her they'd find a head for every hat she and her crochet hook could make.

Well, the top Republican in the Senate says he is going to shift course and say good-bye to earmarks. We're going to explain that in our political update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We continue to follow breaking news out of New Delhi where a building has collapsed, the death toll climbing there, rescuers digging right now in the rubble searching for possible survivors.

CNN's Sara Sidner joining us live from New Delhi. Sara, what can you tell us about -- not only the latest unfortunate death count but if there are any other potential buildings that might be in danger there.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were able to speak with New Delhi's fire service and they told us that now the death toll is at 32. Forty people have been injured and taken to the hospital.

And we're hearing from Delhi's Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who saying this is an unprecedented tragedy she cannot remember ever happening in the recent past. What we have here is the five-story building that collapsed around 8:15 in the evening.

It's now been five hours and authorities say there are still about two dozen people that they believe are still trapped underneath that rubble and there is a massive effort to try and lift some of these huge concrete slabs, the floors and the ceiling of this building up so they can try to get to those who they believe are underneath.

We are hearing now they have about 200 to 300 rescue crews that are out there doing this work. This has been a very, very difficult monsoon. It's been a very heavy monsoon here this year, a lot of buildings sustaining water damage.

And there is concern that this may be part of the cause of this collapse. Also concern this may be an unauthorized building not built properly and that investigation of course will start to happen first. But first they're just concentrating and trying to get those who were trapped out.

GRIFFIN: Sara, at this point, any warning that this was about to happen or something was happening to this building?

SIDNER: That's what authorities are trying to figure out. What we've been hearing from the chief minister is that there was water that was in the basement for days. And she said that should never have been left there for days and that's information we're getting from her.

She's saying this could be a very dangerous situation. This building is located near the Yummina River, which flows through Delhi. So there had been floods there in October. She talked a lot about the fact that there may have been water in this basement that may have caused this building to collapse, but no one is sure how this happened. But certainly a tragedy here in New Delhi. GRIFFIN: All right, Sarah Sidner joining us from New Delhi. Thanks for bringing us up to date on that breaking news.

Let's go to Washington, D.C. John King is there with our political update. John, Mitch McConnell in the Senate wearing off earmarks? This seems new to me. He wasn't part of the whole earmark reform before, was he?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, Drew. As of sun up this morning, he was part of the let's keep earmarks movement. So this is dramatic change from the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and proof to cynical voters out there that every now and then the politicians do listen.

Mitch McConnell as you noted just went to the floor for the United States Senate, went through his long history of support for earmarks, talked about how he thinks most of the projects are actually pretty good spending decisions by the Congress on behalf of the taxpayers.

But then he said he's listening, he says the voters clearly sending a message in this election especially conservative voters who elected a Republican House of Representatives. They don't want that practice anymore.

So Mitch McConnell will join the House Republican leadership. Now the Senate and House Republicans hand in hand in supporting a moratorium on earmarks. Those are projects the congressmen specifically write, maybe it's the bridge to nowhere or maybe it's a courthouse where congressmen specifically write in.

So McConnell a converted today on the earmark issue. He's on the floor because Congress is back for what we call the lame duck session. Obviously, we had the election and obviously the Republicans will run the House come January, but for now Nancy Pelosi is still the speaker.

The Democrats run the House. The Democrats still have the majority in the Senate and they're back for a couple of weeks trying to debate what to do. Here are some of the items on the potential agenda. They still haven't settled on exactly what they're going to do. But they might have a debate whether to extend all or just some of the Bush tax cuts. That will be a big subject when they have a meeting with the president this week. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the military's policy on gays serving openly.

Some Democrats want to bring a repeal up for a vote. There's also a food safety bill coming to the floors, some pending bill and the START Treaty that the president negotiated with Russia. He would like to pass that but some conservatives say no.

And we're almost to the end of 2010, Drew and a lot of people coming up with their top ten lists for the year. Here's one top ten word list from the Language Monitor. Spill cam is on there from the BP oil spill, Vuzela from the World Cup. Number four, thank you, Sarah Palin for refeudiate.

One other, number nine, shellacking and of course, term we used on election night and the president used at his post election news conference to describe what it felt like to be a Democrat this election season.

GRIFFIN: Yes, John, you talked about the lame duck session. There are a lot of things to do. But can they do even one or two of those things? Based on your observations, what the most important thing they need to do?

KING: The biggest question is whether they can cut a compromise on the bush tax cuts. Obviously they need to pass the spending bills to keep the government up and running. That will get done then there's the bigger questions.

Harry Reid promised a vote on the Dream Act that would give young children who came to this country illegally if they go to college they could get a path to citizenship.

Very controversial Harry Reid wants to do that. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" very controversial, but one thing we know they will negotiate at the White House will be the Bush tax cuts and whether to extend them all or cut some sort of a temporary deal. Drew --

GRIFFIN: All right, John King in Washington. Thanks, John. Appreciate it.

Most of our lives are pretty much ruled by e-mail these days. So who do you think is the most popular service in the world for e-mail? I'm going to tell you when we come back and also who the newest kid on the block is.

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GRIFFIN: Today, just when you thought Facebook couldn't get any bigger, it is cooking up an e-mail service. There was a big announcement last hour. Basically you can have@facebook.com for your e-mail address like drew@facebook.com and use it to send Facebookers and non-Facebookers alive. Josh Levs one of the big Facebookers --

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll have to make some calls. If you want that drew@facebook.com may be taken. This could be huge. Given my Facebook have 500 million users and major e-mail providers out there in the world. What Facebook is announcing today is that they're going to start having e-mail inside their messaging system.

This is part of the announcement right here and you read about it cnn.com right now. What they're talking about is creating a system in which when you're on Facebook whether it's mobile or computer, you can write to people who are not on Facebook.

Right now, Facebook only lets you communicate with others on Facebook, but what they're doing is they turning it into e-mail system as well so you can write an e-mail to anyone at all. So the thinking is why would you use other providers when you're inside your Facebook already, you can write to other people.

There's a few other things they're saying are going to be part of their messaging system. One of them they're saying they'll set it up so you don't have to think about how your friends like to be in touch with you.

If they prefer instant message, if they preferred chat, if they preferred Facebook, e-mail whatever it is -- the system will automatically know. All you do is type the message to them. It gets to them.

Also they say they'll keep a full conversation history so you can look back. They're talking about how they're jealous of the next generation who will have in some cases an entire history of every piece of communication they had with anyone.

GRIFFIN: Look at that information you want to say. Awesome, see you, all right. People will study this and translate it into English later.

LEVS: They say the messages you want in this system so they'll set up basically whether he a message comes in all of your friends' messages will be in one place and everybody else in another place. They're trying to do is take e-mail and capitalize it by turning it into something better than the e-mail systems you have.

GRIFFIN: This is about domination. They just want you no to leave Facebook ever.

LEVS: Why would you? When you have everything in one place, right? Look at these figures right. Worldwide Hotmail is the leader, Worldwide right now, 362 million unique visitors in the month of September, Yahoo! 273 million and Gmail 193 million.

So all these places - by the way since I have it I'm going to show you what it's like just in our country. In our country Yahoo! is the leader in e-mail right now with 44 percent of the traffic, Hotmail 30 percent, Google 15 percent. These are the companies keeping a close eye on this that have something to lose as this takes off.

Read all about it on our web site and also Facebook and Twitter pages. They say they'll roll it out in the next few weeks. You can start to sign up for your e-mail address and your address will be your vanity profile. Mine would be joshlevscnn@facebook.com. If you're already on Facebook, basically no one can take that from you that's your address.

GRIFFIN: Some aviation theme "Odds & Ends" arriving shortly.

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GRIFFIN: You know this was only a manner of time. Michael Jackson's first release since his death. It's called "Hold My Hand," a duet with Akon. Recorded back in 2007, Jackson reportedly wanted it to be the first single off his next album "Michael." That album drops as they now say next month.

Time for some "Odds and Ends" and one traveler's treatment certainly was odd. It happened over the weekend. A Delta flight out of Los Angeles. The guy's name is Adam Pearson. He just found his seat. Sits down. A flight attendant taps him on the shoulder and he thought he was getting upgraded.

Instead they ushered him off the plane, interrogated him, the captain and crew saying that another passenger reported him for suspicious behavior. Specifically it was the tattoo across eight of his fingers spelling out atom bomb.

Well, Adam patiently explained it refers to a childhood nickname. Not an obsession with explosives. Eventually they did let Adam return to his seat.

A guy in England getting much harsher treatment over a tweet. Paul Chambers who's trying to catch a flight, but a huge snowstorm shut him and his airport down. So he jokingly tweets, Robin Hood Airport is closed, you've got a week to get your bleep together.

Otherwise, I'm blowing the airport sky high. That was dumb. An airport official happened to see it, sounding the alarm. Paul was arrested and convicted of causing a menace and he just lost a big appeal.

Well, folks on Twitter have since jumped to his defense retweeting that original message going even a step further sending out their own mock threats to blow stuff up. Probably not a good idea, Brooke. What do you think?