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Opting Out of Body Scans; North Korea: On 'Brink of War'; Latest Travel Info; Kids and TV; NFL Players and Concussion Damage; Some Elections Still Being Decided Three Weeks After Midterms; Thank Your TSA Agent

Aired November 24, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We got to take a look at some "Odds & Ends" here.

All right. The second one you're really going to get a kick out of, I was kind of smiling and you'll see why when I show you the second one.

The first one here, I'm going to show you an album. Take a look at this album here behind me.

It's the last thing John Lennon ever signed, and it was on the day he was murdered. A closer picture of the autograph here now.

Well, who did he sign that to? Mark David Chapman. That's the guy who shot and killed him a little while later.

That album was just sold. The price, $850,000.

Now to the other odds and ends I want to share with you here.

TSA-proof underwear. Take a look at what you're seeing here. And maybe not the most stylish of things, but a Las Vegas man has designed underwear that uses strategically placed radiation-shielding fig leaves to cover your private parts. Now, you've seen TSA privacy controversies all over the news lately, so here is one way for possibly the travelers to fight back.

And with that, let's head on to the top of the hour, shall we?

Hello to you all. I am T.J. Holmes, in today for my good friend Ali Velshi.

Let me tell you what we've got "On the Rundown" this next hour.

Millions of Americans hitting the roads and skies, trying to reach their holiday destination. We're going to see what's going to be messing with your travel plans. It could be the weather. Could it be that planned protest of airport security measures? How is all that going to affect your commute?

We're checking in all over the country.

Also, those flaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula right now after the North and South pretty much came to blows. We're following the developments as the U.S. prepares for planned war games.

Also, toddlers and television. What should they be watching? Should they be watching things that entertain them? Should they be watching things that teach them?

Well, it's not as simple having one way or the other. A little of both is what they actually need.

We're going to be finding out all about it in today's "Chalk Talk"

But let's get back to what is the busiest -- could be the busiest travel day of the year. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't.

No matter what, it is going to be busy. And it's not going to be easy for a lot of folks out there.

Millions of people are starting to clog the roads, starting to clog the airports right now. They're trying to get to that turkey dinner tomorrow.

We here at CNN, we are watching all the pressure points all over the country to see where the tie-ups are, the slowdowns are, see if those opt-outs are actually affecting you. Also keeping a close eye on the weather.

Now, back to this opt-out, supposedly flyers who object to TSA body scan machines will opt for the much more time-consuming pat- downs. The idea here is to show some kind of protest and essentially slow down the airport on one of the busiest days of the year.

But so far what we're seeing, not a lot of people are opting out, and it's not really slowing things down. So maybe not having the desired effect that some of those critics and protesters wanted it to have.

To give you a big picture of what's happening today though, 42.2 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles away from their own homes, heading to dinner somewhere. Almost everybody, though, is going to be driving.

We get these forecasts from AAA. They say 94 percent of that 42- plus million are going to be driving. Just four percent are going to be flying.

Still, that's almost 1.5 million people who will be flying out there. It doesn't sounds like the big chunk of us are going to be flying, of course, just four percent. But take a look at the picture.

This is always an interesting one to show, this Flight Tracker map of planes that are in the sky right now. Pretty crowded out there, but you always have to keep in mind, it's a big sky and there should be plenty of space out there right now.

Two at the top we want to turn to right now. We want to turn to CNN's Ted Rowlands. He is one of our many correspondents who have been traveling today to see what it's like.

And we're looking behind you. It doesn't look too busy. I shouldn't let that fool me though, should I?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. Oh, yes, it doesn't look busy at all. There's nobody behind me. People come and go here. We're at one of the ticket counters.

The security checkpoints have had a pretty steady flow of people. We started our day in Los Angeles. A lot of folks there.

Early this morning, we were going through security at the different terminals at LAX, and what we found, talking to the TSA and talking to passengers, that there was really no evidence at all, T.J., to this opt-out. There were no delays caused by people saying, I don't want the full-body scanner, I want to be frisked, or I want a pat-down, and I want to do that just to make everybody mad so I could prove a point. No evidence of that at all.

We arrived at San Francisco this morning as well, and we spent a lot of time watching people get patted down, if you will. And we talked to a lot of people with different opinions as to what they thought of the pat-downs.

We heard people say, hey, it's all part of it, it's no big deal. We heard some other people that legitimately did say that they were upset by the fact that the TSA was doing this. They felt as though they were violated.

Here's a sample of some of those different opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no problem with that. But once they started -- you know, they had come to the pat-down, and they're feeling all up inside you, and groping it, I just totally didn't like it. I totally -- I feel violated.

ROWLANDS: What's your take on this whole controversy over the pat-down and the body scanners?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have any problem with profiling. I mean, I don't exactly look like a threat, first of all. But I think the body scanner is probably the way to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: It is amazing, actually, T.J. A lot of people have said to us that they wished that the TSA would profile more, make eye contact, and don't give a pat-down to an 87-year-old guy in a wheelchair. That really has been the recurring theme that we've heard.

One of the things we should also point out with this whole opt- out, it really doesn't make much sense, because most airports don't have scanner-only checkpoints. So you have the magnetometers, the regular x-ray machines, then these scanners, and then the pat-downs. If you don't want to go through that scanner, you can just go through the old-fashioned x-ray machines and you don't have to deal with it at all.

So that's what we really have seen at both LAX and San Francisco today and, quite frankly, around the country, no evidence that this opt-out has taken hold.

HOLMES: Well, we're glad it's not disrupting things, at least on this day. I know a lot of other people are -- other ways to protest. And I'm sure we'll be hearing protests down the road.

Ted, good to see you, as always. Glad you didn't have too many issues as you travel today.

Well, a California man is being held on $5 million bail, accused of turning his home into a bomb factory. An investigation found three types of explosives, including PETN.

That may sound familiar. That's the same stuff that was used by the shoe bomber and also the underwear bomber. It's the focus of today's "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN CALDWELL, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: It's very sensitive, very powerful, and very dangerous. We have found in excess of nine pounds of this material, and that's significant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's significant, and it is actually the biggest find of its kind ever in one location in the U.S.

George Jacovac (ph) is an unemployed computer consultant and naturalized citizen from Serbia. He had been flying under the radar until his gardener was actually hurt in an explosion at the home last week. The suspect has now pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen explosive charges, as well as two counts of bank robbery.

Let's turn to some other stories now we're keeping a close eye on.

A family tragedy playing out in a Michigan courtroom. Taking the stand in a preliminary hearing, the survivor of a brutal stabbing attack that was two weeks ago.

Mara Skinner calmly described how she and her husband woke up to a nightmare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) .

MARA SKINNER, SUFFERED 26 STAB WOUNDS: The next thing that I remember is my husband shouting for me. He shouted, "Hon! Hon!" And at that same moment that he was shouting my name, I felt blunt forces to the back of my -- to my back and to my head. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the person that was attacking you?

SKINNER: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, her husband, Paul, he died from his wounds. Their 17-year-old daughter accused of setting this whole thing in motion because her parents disapproved of her boyfriend. Now she, the boyfriend and another teenager being held without bond until trial.

Also, police are again facing off against student protesters in cities across Britain. Some rowdy crowds in London. They tried to push past police lines in the latest round of demonstrations against college tuition hikes. To help battle this budget deficit, the government there plans to lift the current cap on tuition, which is about $5,000 a year, to as much as $14,000 a year.

Also right now, much of the world still in shock over the deadly artillery duel between North and South Korea. Now U.S. warships are heading into those troubled waters, and shell-shocked civilians getting out of there.

You'll see it all when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, a day after North Korean artillery bombarded a South Korean-held island, the nearby waters are about to get a little more crowded. The island itself, much less so.

Shell-shocked civilians are streaming off a tiny chunk of land in the Yellow Sea, where at least four people were killed in a barrage from the North Korean mainland, which is just seven miles away. The island is home to a South Korean garrison and ordinarily some 1,600 civilians. It sits in a perilous and disputed border zone.

The peril grew when South Korea started war games. The North protested those war games. The South went ahead for them anyway. And for that reason, Pyongyang claims the South was the one that provoked this attack which left several buildings obliterated, many others damaged. The two Koreas are once again, as people are starting to say, on the brink of war.

Today, though, the U.S. State Department is calling the attack a one-off event. A spokesman says -- and we're quoting here -- "We don't see that North Korea is preparing for any extended confrontation."

For their part, the U.S. and South Korean navies are preparing for joint exercises in these same waters starting on Sunday. It was all planned well in advance, intended as a deterrent to a belligerent North. But, can the North be deterred from anything?

One observer says maybe. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR CHA, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The policy problem is you want to come up with a response that is strong enough to deter the North Koreans from doing this again, but, again, you don't want to do something that's so strong, that you start a war. And I think the Obama administration is doing the right thing. But in terms of policy, it's a very difficult needle to thread.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, North and South Korea have come to blows several times since the armistice of 1953, but to many this week's attack to civilians kind of crosses the line.

CNN's Stan Grant was in the South Korean port of Incheon when residents of a smoldering island reached the mainland, many of them still in shock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are the people who have been evacuated from the island, and they've been brought in here from the ship that we've just seen docked.

Have a look over here, Brad (ph).

You can see that some of them are just children. There are elderly people. Some people have been brought through here in stretchers.

They have been through an extraordinary ordeal, a full-on gun battle between North and South Korea that left much of their island in ruins. We know that there is no power now, that ration supplies are being sent through to the people. And now they're looking for some sort of response.

Exactly what will South Korea do? Looking to their leadership to respond to this act from North Korea.

Now, North Korea is talking about a merciless military confrontation if the provocation continues. South Korea also talking about severe retaliation.

Right now, this country is really on a knife edge. It is always very tense, but right now the tension has been ratcheted up much further.

If you can look back through here, just back through here, you can see the media who are crowding around the boat there trying to speak to these people as they come off. Now, so many of them are still in a state of shock.

From having spoken to them, they tell us that they were terrified when the attack was actually happening. Some of their homes were destroyed. Some of these people have had to leave behind family members, have had to leave behind all of their possessions.

This is different to past provocations. This is different to past flash points on the Korean Peninsula. Now we are seeing an attack on South Korean soil, and these people, civilians, caught in the crossfire.

Stan Grant, CNN, Incheon, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, we are just now about to get past at least one holiday, the Thanksgiving holiday. But a lot of people are then going to start shifting their focus to Christmas. A lot of toys out there on your child's favorites list. There are some dangerous ones out there as well.

What dangerous toys should shoppers avoid? We're going to tell you that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Also, this weekend, CNN hosted its annual "All-Star Tribute" to heroes at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. It airs on Thanksgiving night, and you can see that at 8:00 Eastern.

The event included an appearance by the 33 miners who were trapped in that mine in Chile. Also, a lot of celebrities were on hand as well.

Something that's never been done before as well was featured. CNN's Josh Levs here to tell us about it -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, T.J., we made Heroes this year interactive in a whole new way. We set up something called a social suite which was basically social media interactivity at the event itself with celebrities and heroes getting involved, sending out tweets, bringing attention to the causes of these really amazing, inspirational people.

The host in that suite was actress Holly Robinson Peete. She put this together for me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE, ACTRESS: Hey, thanks, Josh.

I am here at the social suite at CNN Heroes. This is my favorite awards show of the year. I absolutely love it. I call it the Mother Teresa of award shows.

Let me tell you, this is such a great place for me. I feel right at home because I'm a tweeter, I'm a Facebooker. We're going to be tweeting and Facebooking and doing all sorts of great social media about this event tonight. I'm going to be the one encouraging the celebrities when they come in to get on their Facebooks, get on their Twitter, and talk about CNN Heroes, because, like I said, the best awards show ever.

Thanks a lot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: Yes, it is. There you go. And we actually have some video from later on that night, her hanging there with LL Cool J and some other celebrities who worked their way in.

And, you know, the pragmatic effect here really is that all of these people have a lot of followers, and it helps bring attention to these people, which is who the night is all about. And I want you all to know, you can learn about the CNN Heroes at CNNHeroes.com.

They are inspirational. A lot of them have put their lives on the line to help those in need, really committed their lives, not for fame or glory, or for ever standing on a stage in L.A. But that just happened to happen for them.

Look at this. These are amazing people. And I want to remind you all how this happened.

We had nominations from more than 100 countries. More than 10,000 people were nominated to be CNN Hero. And we had a blue ribbon panel that broke it down, basically, narrowed it down to only 10 Heroes of the Year.

And finally, you all made the choice of who the Hero of the Year was going to be. We got two million votes to help determine who the Hero of the Year was going to be. And you'll be learning all about her at the event.

Another thing that's happening that is pretty amazing, they get some money. All the top 10 get $25,000. The Hero of the Year gets another $100,000.

And now so many people are talking about it, we have set something up for you. At the Facebook page for CNN Heroes, there's a donation tab now where, if you're interested, you can give money to any of the causes, get involved, find out more about them, watch videos, learn all about them.

Now, they have also tricked out my Facebook page with the same thing here. I'm at JoshLevsCNN. They hooked us up, the fine folks at Facebook.

So, if you want to take a look at that right now, you can learn all about them. And in addition to all this and the amazing work they do, it's also just a great show.

I get to show you a little clip of this. Take a look, folks -- Sugarland.

(MUSIC)

LEVS: Just one of the amazing performances you are going to see in that show tomorrow night. I know so many of you will be watching.

Jon Bon Jovi was there, John Legend. Lots of major artists contributing their voices, ultimately to help the world learn about the amazing work that some individuals are doing out there to help those who are desperately in need.

So, T.J., every year Heroes does some amazing things. This year really outdid themselves. I'm very psyched for tomorrow night.

HOLMES: All right. And, yes, thank you, Josh.

You can watch "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," Thanksgiving night, 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

Well, to more than 40 million of you out there who are traveling today, we've got all the info you need to help you on that trip. We've got weather. We've got airport security to tell you about.

We're going to head to the Travel Desk in just a minute. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Let me get right over to Jacqui Jeras right now at the Travel Desk.

You have a lot going on over there and a lot --

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Woo!

HOLMES: -- and a lot -- well, we can just go with that. All right.

JERAS: Things are heating up, T.J.

You know, it was kind of spotty this morning with delays and problems on the roadways, but now we're really seeing a huge increase in the activity.

We're going to start out right away by showing you some tower cams. There you can see it on the left. That would be Chicago. And on the right, that would be Cincinnati, some of the worst cities in the country right now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: All right. Let's say you're traveling today, and you're taking off, and you want a little bit of help to get you through your trip. Well, we've got some great tips now.

This is Marnie Hunter, and she's with CNN.com.

You've had your finger on the pulse of all things travel going on.

MARNIE HUNTER, CNN.COM TRAVEL EDITOR: Absolutely.

JERAS: What are these apps that you have? And how can they help both flyers and drivers?

HUNTER: All right. Well, we've got a Flight Board app. And this is an app where you can choose a flight.

You can see it looks like the airport flight board, and it will load up a map and show you where your flight is and what you can expect. So if you have click on that information, it will show you how often it's on time. You can see --

JERAS: All right. So this is Nashville to New York. It's showing us -- you can pick any flight that you want?

HUNTER: Yes.

JERAS: And it will tell you the gates. And what else?

HUNTER: It will tell you the gate, it will tell you what time. This one is arriving 20 minutes early, so that's good news.

JERAS: All right. So if I'm picking up grandma from the airport perhaps --

HUNTER: Exactly.

JERAS: -- this will let me know if it's going to be on time or not.

HUNTER: Exactly. Yes.

So this one is really useful.

And you can also check out some of the SeatGuru maps to see -- oh, well, no seat map for this flight, but you can see that on some of the flights, terminal maps of the airport to see where you might need to be.

JERAS: Oh, great stuff. What about on the roadways?

HUNTER: Yes. On the roadways, we've got GasBuddy here which will tell you where all of the cheapest gas stations are, the cheapest gas prices.

JERAS: From your location?

HUNTER: Yes.

JERAS: So, I could be traveling anywhere in the country and I get on this and it tells me, what, the closest one?

HUNTER: Yes. Well, it will tell you -- well, it will you the closest one if you're running out of gas. It will tell you the cheapest ones. Oops -- we're having a little -- a little technical difficulty.

JERAS: You know, a lot of people trying to save a little money this holiday season. So, that's some great information. Now, everybody doesn't have an iPhone. I'm one of them. Can I get some of this on the Web?

HUNTER: Absolutely. Yes. It's online. Most of this information is online in some form. It doesn't always work quite like this, but you can still find it, right.

(CROSSTALK)

HUNTER: Exactly.

JERAS: Great information. Marnie Hunter with CNN.com. Thanks so much.

And we're going to continue to monitor things, if there's anything we need to break in on anything, T.J., we'll let you know that as well.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You just yell across the room here. You can break in here any time.

All right. Jacqui, we appreciate you. Thanks so much.

Well, coming up: we're going to give you an update on what we've been keeping an eye on in New Zealand -- that other mine disaster taking place. A lot of people are hoping for another miracle. It doesn't look like that's going to be the case. We'll explain in our "Globe Trekking" -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour here now.

Here are some of the stories that are making headlines:

The busiest travel day of the year is well under way now. So far, so good. No huge security protest or delays reported across the country.

Also, travelers in the midsection of the country, Midwest as well, might see some issues related to weather, everything from lake- effect snow in Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, to bad storm systems that are creeping across Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Also, the U.S. and South Korea, the two militaries will begin joint military exercises this weekend. They were already scheduled before North Korea's attack yesterday on a South Korean island. But the Pentagon says the exercises show the strength of Washington and Seoul's alliance.

We're going to take you "Globe Trekking" now.

There's been another explosion, a new explosion at the Pike River Mine in New Zealand. This is where there had already been one explosion last Friday that trapped 29 miners. While people were holding out hope that maybe we were going to see another miracle mine rescue, but now, authorities say that's likely not going to be the case. They presume that all 29 miners are now dead after this second explosion. The families had been holding hope and holding vigil for several days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER WHITTALL, CEO, PIKE RIVER COAL: They've all held out hope that it was their son or their husband or their brother that would be the lucky one. They've all held that hope out. But I'd have to say, they probably all are feeling that that hope is now gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, it's no longer being called a rescue mission, now being called a recovery mission. Also, the prime minister has ordered an investigation.

We want to turn now and we warn you before we show you these pictures of new images that we're getting out of Cambodia, where we saw that disaster this week. Some of this is graphic but we have hundreds of people dead. Let's go ahead and show it to you now. People piled on top of each other.

Now, this came about when thousands of people started stampeding out of fear that a suspension bridge was about to collapse. Officially now, the government is saying panic is the official cause of all of this. Four hundred and fifty-six people dead. People really started to panic as well when police started firing water cannons at the crowd trying to keep them moving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Is that "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"? Can we get to Thanksgiving first, please? It's tomorrow. Just giving you a live picture here. This happens every single year, they start to blow up the balloons that we're going to see going down the road for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They do this at Central Park every year. You see this well under way and one of the appearances clearly will be made by Kung Fu Panda. But then, you already knew that.

Quick break. Coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We turn to "Chalk Talk" now. And I want you to take a look at, take a few minutes here to talk about kids and television. Do you know how much television kids are watching out there? Specifically we're talking about kids between the ages of 2 and 5.

Got some numbers here I want to show you. According to Nielsen, the average American watches just over 35 hours of television a week. It certainly sounds like a lot.

Well, take this by comparison. The average toddler is watching some 32 hours a week. That's just about as much as the parents.

So, how much should kids actually be watching? The American Academy of Pediatrics -- check this out -- says only about two hours of TV a week. So, we are clearly off somewhere.

I want to bring in now from New York Ellen Galinsky. She's president and cofounder of Families and Work Institute.

Ma'am, thank you so much for being here. How are we going to get kids down from 32 hours to two hours?

ELLEN GALINSKY, PRESIDENT, FAMILIES AND WORK INSTITUTE: Well, I think turning off the television is a good start.

HOLMES: As simple as that, huh?

GALINSKY: Making sure there are other things for children to do that engage them. We often use the television as -- we think of it as background noise. But studies have shown that kids don't really play as well. They're not as focused if the television is on as background noise.

HOLMES: OK. So, some TV, I assume, then, is OK. What kind of TV, if they are watching TV, is OK?

GALINSKY: Well, again, Dan Anderson from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has done studies to look at what children pay attention to. And he took "Sesame Street" and he did four -- put it together in four different ways. I talk about this in the book that I wrote called "Mind in the Making." And what he found is he took "Sesame Street" in a regular way. Then he cut the scenes in different ways. He also played the sound backwards and then dubbed it in Greek.

So, he was paying attention to whether kids were watching the fast moving stuff, whether they were attuned to the content or what. And he found that kids really like meaningful stories.

We tend to separate out the notion that kids -- TV is either to entertain kids or to teach them. But that's the false dichotomy that we have between thinking that their social and emotional development and cognitive development. Kids are learning no matter what they're looking at and they're paying attention to good stories.

So, I would say for families to pay attention to the story and what are the values and what are children learning from it.

HOLMES: OK. Would you say there is someone -- I won't say someone, some network out there or some particular show that's doing a good job of mixing a little bit of those good stories and maybe a little bit of education in such a way that keeps the kids' attention?

GALINSKY: I think that the best shows versus the best networks -- the best shows have a good story, they're meaningful. The kids are learning things that are not just the content, not just letters or numbers, but the skills that they need for life, like how to understand other people's perspectives. I found again in "Mind in the Making" that understanding perspectives is critical and it's participatory.

With little children, they shouldn't just be sitting there passively. So, you want television that's participatory, where kids can sing along or repeat the refrain, or guess what's going to happen next, or some way of really involving the children.

HOLMES: Well, I hope parents are paying attention to that. And I think one of the best things you said today, how to get it down -- simply turn off the TV if we want to reduce of hours the kids are watching.

Ms. Galinsky, we appreciate your time. Interesting perspective, always some helpful stuff in there for parents. You enjoy your Thanksgiving. Thanks for being here.

GALINSKY: You, too.

HOLMES: All right. We want to take a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.

Many of you are packing up, heading out for the holidays. Here at CNN, we're keeping an eye on conditions for you, both on the roads, at the airports as well. You, of course, can stay tuned in to CNN -- your holiday travel headquarters for all the latest travel and weather news.

Also, military maneuvers scheduled to take place off the South Korean coast will go on as planned in the wake of the attack by North Korea. Four people died in the shelling of a small South Korean island. War games set to start Sunday. North Korea says they were provoked into the attack by another -- a separate South Korean military exercise.

Also, the FBI is now investigating a group that sent supposedly AIDS-tainted razorblades to a researcher at UCLA. On their Web site, this group called the Animal Liberation Front says the researcher was targeted for using primates for government research on drug addiction. The university says the researcher is studying methamphetamine addiction and tobacco dependence among teenagers.

Quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: In the final part of his special series "Head Games", Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked to a former NFL player who has paid a price for years of hard hits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What they think the long-term impact could be is a dementia-like illness, almost Alzheimer's-like in nature.

There's about one concussion per game and researchers have asked for some time what does that do to the brain long run. That's a question they've been trying to answer, and they find a lot of these players will develop sort of this constellation of symptoms -- depression, rage, memory problems and eventually sort of progressing into this sort of dementia.

We learned about this through one particular player.

(voice-over): They are thrilling and terrifying. Watch a football game and you can't miss them, the hits.

But what is the real impact? What is happening to the players' brains?

(on camera): How many times did you take a hard hit playing football?

FRED MCNEILL, FORMER MINNESOTA VIKING LINEBACKER: There was one time where I had a real serious concussion, and it was so serious that I was dizzy for like -- for like two or three weeks.

GUPTA (voice-over): Thirty years ago Fred McNeill was a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings. He played for 12 seasons and in two Super Bowls, relentlessly hitting opponents was his job.

MCNEILL: You have to be able to move, right?

GUPTA: No question, he is robust physically.

MCNEILL: Then you can control it.

GUPTA: But you can tell his brain has paid a price.

(on camera): What has it done to you?

MCNEILL: Well, impact is on memory. I meet people and they talk about the conversation that we had two weeks ago or three weeks ago or a month ago or whatever, and I don't remember.

GUPTA: If we saw each other again, would you remember me?

MCNEILL: Sanjay, I don't know.

GUPTA (voice-over): The not knowing, it happens often. There was also rage --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got to where I would say things that really shouldn't upset him and he would get angry really quick. His temper was very short.

GUPTA: -- followed by remorse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that was the biggest thing for my dad. He felt like it was all his fault.

GUPTA: It wasn't. But there was no doubt he was different.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a moment where I realized I wasn't living with the person that I knew and married.

GUPTA: No one seemed to know what was happening to Fred McNeill until reports about other former NFL players who had been through similar issues. Like McNeill, they had memory problems, rage issues and depression. Most disturbing, all died young. Could concussions, the common denominator, be to blame?

Researchers at Boston University Medical School are looking deep into the brain and spinal cord of former athletes to find out. What they are seeing is startling.

This is a normal brain. This one, a 45-year-old former NFL player. See the brown tangles? That's brain damage. It looks a lot like this 70-year-old brain with dementia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To see the kind of changes we're seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of.

GUPTA: It's called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. And here's the kicker, those changes are directly associated with rage, memory problems and depression.

MCNEILL: I was actually considering not living. I was actually considering that.

GUPTA (on camera): You wanted to ends your life?

MCNEILL: Yes. I was just thinking it would be so much easier.

GUPTA (voice-over): Today is better --

MCNEILL: I feel really good. I can run around this park right now.

GUPTA: -- but McNeill is still worried about himself and other players.

MCNEILL: This happened to me and this happened to other players and it's coming from the concussions and the impact that players have had playing football.

GUPTA: An impact that may be lasting.

(on camera): It is sad to see Fred McNeill speaking like that.

I can tell you that we have been checking in on him. He is doing better today, but he does have these problems from time to time and he does think that they are due to concussions.

We went to the NFL and asked them about Fred McNeill and other players like him. They released a statement to us saying this, "What we're trying to prevent is multiple concussions without recovery. We know there are long-term effects of concussion, but they have not been fully characterized. The whole goal of the NFL is when in doubt sit them out and let them recover so there are no long-term effects." Look, we're talking about some relatively new science here. So far, of the 16 brains examined at this particular lab, 15 of them have shown some of the problems that you just saw; one in someone as young as 18 years old.

So this is ongoing science, but again, something researchers are paying a lot of attention to.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Sanjay Gupta.

Election results are still coming in and we're still more than three weeks after the midterm elections? Your CNN Political Update is coming up next.

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HOLMES: Turning to our CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.

Paul, three weeks after the midterms and Republicans still picking up seats?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Still picking up seats. You know what, T.J., let's go back a couple of hours to yesterday.

Up in New York state, the 25th Congressional district there, the Democratic Congressman there, Dan Maffei, conceded in that race. Now you've got three remains contests in the battle for the House, another in New York and two in California, but as of right now, that's a net gain of 63 seats for the Republicans with those three contests left.

And, T.J., let's talk about history here. That is the largest gain, the largest swap, whatever you want to call it. You have to go back to the 1940s. So we're talking big gains for the Republicans. And those final three races, it's Democrats leading in those three contests.

Let's talk about Minnesota as well because they have a gubernatorial contest there that is still not over. We're talking about the contest between former Senator Mark Dayton, the Democratic candidate and Tom Emmer, he's the state lawmaker and he's the Republican. T.J., it's been three weeks now and you have Dayton leading by almost 9,000 votes. But guess what, on Monday, it goes to a recount. Now we remember last time around 2008, the Senate battle there went well into the following year, so it could be a while.

And, T.J., one other thing on the CNN Political Ticker. I want to show you this. I'm going to ask Jeremy Harlan (ph), our cameraman, to zoom right in here to the Political Ticker.

Barack Obama, what does he think about Sarah Palin? In an interview that will air tomorrow with ABC's Barbara Walters, the president says, I don't think about Sarah Palin. He said, obviously, Palin has a strong base of support in the Republican Party and I respect those skills, but says he spends most of his time dealing with the problems you have when you're the president of the United States. And that's a lot of problems, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, he has a lot on his plate.

Paul Steinhauser, good to see you as always. Buddy, happy Thanksgiving to you.

Of course, we know there has been outrage out there over the enhanced pat downs at the airport, but how would you like to be the one who has to give a pat down?

Stick around for the "XYZ."

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HOLMES: Time now for "The XYZ."

Clearly, I look a little suspicious because I've been on three trips since the TSA put in place the new enhanced pat downs and in two out of those three trips, I have had to endure the new enhanced pat- down procedure.

Now, when I'm randomly selected, I don't want to go through the body image scanner, so I opt out of that. So if you opt out, your option, of course, is only the pat down, so that's why I've gone through it.

Well, I don't like it. It's not pleasant. Wish I didn't have to do it. But what about the poor TSA screener who has to perform the pat downs?

After my last pat down, which was on Monday, a TSA supervisor came over. He just wanted to talk to me. He knew I had been covering the story a lot and wanted to start up a chat. He reeled off some of the insults he had been called in just that day from passengers upset about the pat-downs. Amongst some of those insults, molester.

So while I can certainly empathize with a lot of people who are frustrated and don't appreciate the new pat downs, maybe we shouldn't direct our anger at the person who didn't have anything to do with putting the new policies in place in the first place. They just went to work one day and were told that touching a stranger's junk would be added to their job description.

So, please, take it easy on the TSA screener. Next time maybe even thank them, thank them for being one of the ones willing to do that job.

Want to turn now to Brooke Baldwin. Brooke, take it easy on the TSA screeners, OK?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm hitting the airport tomorrow morning, I'll let you know how it goes, sir.

HOLMES: Oh, so you're leaving open the option, you might go off.

BALDWIN: We'll see how it goes.

T.J. Holmes, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Thank you, sir.