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Secret U.S. Files Leaked; $10,000 Reward in Mosque Arson; Heading Home after the Holiday; North Korea Ramps up War Talk; Parent Volunteers; Examining D.C. Ethics; Black Friday Sales Better; Credit vs. Debit Cards

Aired November 28, 2010 - 19:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOE JOHNS, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Every weekend, we like to bring you interesting news items you may have missed during the week.

Everything has to start somewhere in this humble little circuit board that was a seed that would eventually grow into Apple computers. But back in 1976 it was just a couple of dollars' worth of plastic and wires. The Apple-1 marked the beginning of the personal computer. Only about 200 were built, handmade by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in their garage workshop. They included a typed note from Jobs. And when new, they cost $666.66. On Tuesday, this one sold for $213,000.

Tens of thousands of what were once confidential U.S. government documents are now available to anyone worldwide. The Web site WikiLeaks first released the material to the "New York Times", "The Guardian of London" and several other newspapers. The documents included candid assessments of everything from Iran's nuclear program to instability in Pakistan.

U.S. government officials say the release could compromise relations with allies, even put lives in danger. CNN is not among the news outlets given advance access to the materials. CNN declined to sign a confidentiality agreement with WikiLeaks.

Earlier, David Leigh of "The Guardian" talked about his paper's decision to publish the sensitive material.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LEIGH, "THE GUARDIAN": We didn't do anything illegal. We didn't leak this stuff. We didn't receive this stuff, we didn't incite anybody to leak this stuff. So this was other people who decided to do this, the soldiers charged with leaking it. He had a view about -- he didn't like the things that were going on apparently. WikiLeaks they've got an ideology of their own, that all information ought to be made public.

We're a news organization. People come to us with this kind of material. We didn't urge anybody to break the law. When we've got it we looked at it and we say what's in the public interest to make known. And those are the things which we published.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The U.S. government's reaction to the WikiLeaks document release has been unusually blunt. CNN's foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty is standing by with more. And Jill, I've seen a lot already written about this and one of the newspapers actually referred to this as a crisis in diplomacy for the United States. Do you think that's overstating it a bit or just about right?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I -- I think you'd have to say it is a crisis because it certainly is not what the U.S. government wants to see splashed across Web sites and all over the world. That said, specifically, we have to -- to figure out exactly how this will have an impact on U.S. foreign policy.

After all, those 250,000 documents are over a wide range of subjects and specifically, it will depend on what individual area is impacted. If it's a statement about some leader that's embarrassing, that might be easily overcome eventually, but -- but if it's something more on policy, negotiations, et cetera, it could be very damaging.

You know the officials from the U.S. including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been reaching out to heads of governments and others, trying to explain the potential impact of that. Just this past hour, there was a statement from U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Carl Eikenberry mentioning that both he and Secretary Clinton have reached out to the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai talking with him and making the point that U.S. policy on Afghanistan does not hinge on one cable, one message by one individual diplomat. So that's the message that they have and they are not getting, although condemning, they are not getting into specifics about those cables.

Some have come out already. There are more to come -- Joe.

JOHNS: Now, one of the really interesting things is some of these documents give you an inside look at diplomatic life, a real look, not a Hollywood version. Will you give us sort of deconstruction if you will of the difference between what people see in the movies and what it's really like in documents like these that just came out?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, well, it's not pinstripe suits and cocktail parties, although that sometimes happens, but really, what diplomats are doing, at least out in the field and in embassies, consulates, missions around the world and there are more than 270 of them, they are collecting information. They are kind of like journalists. They collect scuttlebutt, they collect concrete information. They collect some -- in some cases, a type of intelligence information given to them by others and they collect that and send it back on a regular basis to Washington.

And then from the opposite direction, Washington sends directives back to those embassies telling them what U.S. policy is; yelling them sometimes, go talk to so and so. Do this, follow up on that.

Now, just a few minutes ago or last hour, P.J. Crowley, the spokesperson for the State Department tweeted about that and he said that this is what diplomats for countries all over the world do. That is their job.

And he also said that they are not spies collecting information. This is all part of diplomacy that's carried out by the U.S. government.

I'll give you a good example of one cable that we looked at that deals with Iran. It's quite interesting. A message coming from Washington to the -- to the people who are covering the Iran situation, saying, please look into information about the fact that the government of Iran had ordered the removal of anti-U.S. art and placards, et cetera in Tehran.

They were asking, what does it mean, who ordered that hype, how far up does it go. Is it President Ahmadinejad himself? So, this is an indication that sometimes of what they want to find out about a government that which we know very little.

JOHNS: Right, just fascinating the kind of detail you get out of these things. And these are the kinds of documents that many books could be written about.

Thank you so much, Jill Dougherty in Washington. And we'll be staying in touch with you.

DOUGHERTY: There you go.

JOHNS: Joining me also now from Washington is Tom Fitton. He's the President of Judicial Watch. This is a group that makes its name working for openness in government. And Tom, your organization is very much about getting sometimes sensitive information, mostly on the domestic side out into the public arena. What's your reaction to this WikiLeaks document release?

TOM FITTON, PRESIDENT, JUDICIAL WATCH: I think it's unbelievably dangerous and it undermines the rule of law and whoever released it really needs to be held to account and sent to jail for a long, long time if not worse.

We have hundreds of requests, pending with the -- with the Obama administration under the Freedom of Information Act and we asked for national security information sometimes. They tell us no. We try to convince them otherwise to release it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

We go to court to fight over issues like that. If the court agrees with us, we win, if they don't, we don't win and the documents are withheld.

But to take it upon yourself to release classified material is dangerous, it can get people killed and undermines our national security.

So this to me is not about transparency. We're second to none in -- for advocating for transparency. But it's got to be transparency under the law. And this to me, is an attack on America, pure and simple, this massive release of information. JOHNS: I think the WikiLeaks argument would be that people need to know the way their government operates and this is a real window on that. But in your view, they shouldn't have done it.

FITTON: Well, I agree, people need to know the way the government operates. And there's a way to do that and it's to follow the law. And you don't steal documents. You don't violate the law by releasing classified information. If -- if this holds true, if this stands, there's not much the government is able to keep secret. And as a result, we're not going to be able to do what we need to do internationally to defend American interests.

JOHNS: Of course, a U.S. military man has been accused of allegedly releasing this information that apparently somehow found its way into the hands of WikiLeaks; that case of course has not been resolved as of yet.

Thanks so much, Tom Fitton.

FITTON: You're welcome.

JOHNS: We will be back with you at the bottom of the hour and then we're going to talk about ethics in Washington which I know is another one of your favorite subjects.

FITTON: Thanks.

JOHNS: The release of these sensitive documents happened on a day when WikiLeaks.org was offline for most of the day. WikiLeaks reports that its servers were under electronic attack. In a Twitter statement, the site reported it was experiencing what's called a distributed denial of service attack, that's an effort to make a Web site unavailable to users, normally by flooding it with request for data.

However, WikiLeaks posted information on their documents late this afternoon on a site with a different Web site address.

New developments in a failed car bomb attack in Oregon. The FBI has put up a $10,000 reward for information about an arson attack early this morning at a mosque in Corvallis. An office inside was heavily damaged. Corvallis is the home of Oregon State University where terror suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud was a student. The 19-year-old Somali American was charged with trying to set off a weapon of mass destruction Friday night at a crowded tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland.

So far, the FBI is not making a connection between the fire and Mohamud's arrest.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez spoke with the leader of the mosque was that Mohamud was an occasional visitor there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was your first reaction when you heard that he had been arrested?

YOSOF WANLY, IMAM: I was shocked and the greatest thing you know, that affects me most is I wish I could have intervened in a way to consult him. I wish he could have spoken to me in a way. And that's the -- that's the thing that I --

GUTIERREZ: It seems as though you're very saddened by this. It's a very emotional time. Why?

WANLY: Because -- it destroyed his future, you know.

GUTIERREZ: And hurt the Muslim community as well.

WANLY: And he put you know, civilians in threat and the U.S. population as a whole. So it's just a difficult situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Mohamud is due to appear in federal court tomorrow. CNN of course will bring you the latest information on this case as it develops.

The holiday is winding down. We'll see how smoothly things are flowing for the travelers heading home. And Michigan police continue their search for three missing brothers who disappeared in a bizarre case as their father tried to hang himself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Millions of Americans are heading home right now after the long Thanksgiving weekend with friends and relatives. CNN is committed to keeping you informed on travel issues you need to be aware of.

Our Sandra Endo has been monitoring the comings and goings of Reagan National Airport in Washington -- Sandra.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, pretty easy day for travelers here at Reagan National Airport. Take a look at all these lanes. We have not seen them filled up the entire day.

And the short lines that we have seen, we've noticed that travelers have been easily getting through the security lines. What they will see is increased signage and travel advisories indicating what they can bring on board, what they're not allowed to.

And one of the new requirements by TSA is that travelers cannot bring in, carry on or check in toner and printer cartridges. And as you know, that's a result of last month's terror bomb plot that targeted the United States.

Now earlier we talked to travelers who had just arrived here in the nation's capital and this is what they had to say about their travel experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was good, not bad. A little bit increases security where I traveled from, Knoxville, Tennessee. But pretty smooth over all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was fine honestly. I just walked right through. I had no problem moving up and back and I didn't -- I saw one person getting patted down, but it really -- it's actually faster than usual it seems like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: And here at Reagan National, they have one of those controversial body scanning machines in effect right here. And actually there are only 400 used nationwide out of 70 airports. So when you do the math, there's really a small percentage of passengers who actually have to go through those screening machines and virtually, the consensus here so far is that so far so good in terms of air travel this very busy holiday weekend -- Joe.

JOHNS: All right. You got that right. Sandra Endo at Reagan National Airport this Sunday, thank you so much.

And, J.J. --

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, J.J.?

JOHNS: That's right. This is one of those places where you say J.J. and everybody and everybody looks up and says, what.

JERAS: What, me?

JOHNS: So, what have we got going on?

JERAS: Well, you know, like Sandra said, things have been going really well overall you know. The airports in particular, the delays have been relatively minor and it's only been a few airports that we've been talking about.

Teterboro right now looking at a ground stop though; we've had some significant problems here all day today. And this is just due to volume; it's not even weather-related.

Reagan National in D.C., departure delays, 30 minutes; it's been on the increase.

And White Plains looking at two hour and 20-minute delays; that's getting into White Plains. Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world, has been reporting no delays all day and security wait times of only ten minutes. Look at this -- it's a beautiful day in Atlanta albeit a little bit on the chilly side.

Now, where have we been having some of these troubles? Primarily out west in terms of the interstates because we've had a lot of snow and a lot of wind to deal with; we've been focusing in particularly along Interstates 80 and 70. Across parts of Utah and into Colorado is where we've been seeing the snow.

And of course Salt Lake City had a blizzard on Wednesday; yes, you're dealing with a (INAUDIBLE) four to eight by the time you wake up tomorrow morning. So keep that in mind if you're trying wait until all of this is gone.

The east-west travel roads have been tough for the nation's midsection with some very gusty winds; those winds starting to die down now a little. But keep in mind this whole system, that's going to be moving eastward as we head into tomorrow. So we'll still see windy conditions here particularly ahead of the front and expecting delays tomorrow. Minneapolis, maybe Chicago, into St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis could see some heavy rain and even a risk of severe thunderstorms across the Gulf Coast including you in New Orleans. So be aware of that threat if you're going to be traveling tomorrow or maybe if you're just heading back to work.

Our iReporters sending in some nice pictures for the holidays as well. This is from Gerald Tugsworth (ph) and he lives near Eureka, Montana. Take a look at these lovely pictures. He sent us two pictures of the snow. He said this is the most snow he's ever seen this early in the season. He said there's at least eight inches on the ground and you can see how the heavy snow bending over the trees. So, thanks to Gerald for sending us our iReport.

I love those iReports, you know.

JOHNS: Yes, for sure. But I have to tell you. You know, I'm one of those people, normally this time of year, I want to see some snow, but I come from the Washington area, where we had three blizzards.

JERAS: Yes. Snow-mageddon on that last year.

JOHNS: You know, I can probably do without it this season but --

JERAS: Well, then it's the West Coast's turn and --

JOHNS: Right, yes. Let them have it, yes, and all of it. Enjoy.

All right. Thanks Jacqui.

Coming up pretty soon, education contributor Steve Perry shows us a California school where parents participate in almost every facet of their children's education and it's getting great results.

And is it better to use a credit card or debit card when shopping? An expert weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: The U.S. and South Korea are holding joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea and that is sparking a wave of anger from North Korea. CNN's Stan Grant is following developments for us and joins us now from South Korea's capital, Seoul.

Stan, I guess the first question is over the last 24 hours, we've seen a lot of tension coming out of the Koreas, is it leveling off? Is it continuing about where it was? Is it going down?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, at the moment, the rhetoric continues and as you've been following over the past week ever since this incident at Yeonpyeong Island that North Korea has been talking up the prospect of wider conflict and warning that any infringement on its territory would see a response from them.

But at the same time, it seems now that diplomacy is talking this down a little bit, bringing it back from the brink, particularly, China's involvement. Now, China sent an envoy to Seoul yesterday for discussions with the president here and (INAUDIBLE) China is now calling for an official, a high-ranking official from North Korea to visit Beijing this week for more talks there.

China also calling for the heads of the delegations to the six-party talks -- they're the talks that revolve around the nuclear issue in North Korea involving China, the United States, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas -- want to reconvene that for discussion about this crisis with a view to getting back to full negotiations.

Now China's involvement here is crucial. It provides the bulk of aid to North Korea; it is its biggest ally in the region. And there is hope that its involvement will help to bring this back from the brink -- Joe.

JOHNS: So, what is the thing North Korea actually gets out of this at the end of the day? What is it they want to get out of it realistically and what is it they are likely to get out of it if we know?

GRANT: Now, there's a history to this. North Korea in the past has used these types of provocations to up the ante and then to return to negotiations, but then often to twist those negotiations to its own advantage, often walking away again. This has been a fairly common practice.

Now, what does North Korea want? Well, a couple of things have been constant. One, it wants full blown peace treaty rather than the armistice that has existed for almost 60 years now after the end of the Korean war. It wants full diplomatic recognition. It wants an end to the sanctions which had had a devastating effect on the economy there.

China of course is walking a very fine line here because it leads as a member of the U.N. Security council, it's a close ally of North Korea. It needs to be able to bring North Korea into the negotiations but also maintain faith with those other parties.

And that's the big question. Are the other parties ready for North Korea to come back to the negotiating table or will it be seen as a reward for bad behavior, if you like. Now, we can certainly take South Korea, for instance, their position has been that it's too soon yet to return to full negotiations because of this current crisis, but certainly, there's hope that China's intervention would be able to at least create some wiggle room here that the parties can start talking to each other -- Joe.

JOHNS: Stan Grant, great reporting all throughout this crisis and we'll be checking back in with you.

Checking some of our top stories now, a prayer vigil is planned tonight for these three missing brothers in Michigan. The boys are age 5, 7 and 9. Their father John Skelton claims he dropped the boys off with a woman he knew on the Internet before attempting to hang himself last Friday. He survived that attempt and now in a mental health facility. Police say they are not sure the woman exists and have launched a search for the boys.

Police in New York have arrested a former boyfriend in the death of a missing Pennsylvania college student. Twenty-one-year-old Steven Piper was taken into custody last night charged with murder. Police found remains they believe is Jenny Lynn Watson early yesterday in a park near her home in suburban Syracuse, New York. An autopsy was conducted today but the results have not yet been released.

A record number of shoppers are expected to pound the keyboards tomorrow to take advantage of Cyber Monday. The day dedicated to online deals and free shipping is expected to draw 106 million people according to a survey by shop.org. Another survey found that 90 percent of online merchants are offering Cyber Monday special discounts.

A school in Los Angeles is setting new standards for parent volunteers. CNN education contributor Steve Perry shows us how their involvement is attracting a lot of attention in this edition of "Perry's Principles".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: The students at Overland Elementary begin every morning on the right foot and their parents wouldn't have it any other way. After all, this was their idea.

APRYL KRAKOVSKY, PARENT VOLUNTEER: Their brains are actually ready to learn when they go in the classroom because they've been exercising so they're able to take in information.

PERRY: And now, this innovative program has gotten the attention of some powerful people.

LAILA ALI, CALIFORNIA COUNCIL ON PHYSICAL FITNESS AND SPORT: We want to commend all the parents and also Overland Elementary Parent's Association for setting the example of an active lifestyle, for their children --

PERRY: As I saw firsthand, parents involved in almost every facet of running the school.

EVE GELB, CO-PRESIDENT, OVERLAND PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION: It starts with an administration that's open to having parents on campus and lets parents contribute where they can contribute instead of setting really strict boundaries about what we're allowed to do and not allowed to do.

We have an arts committee. We have a library committee. We have a safety committee that works hand in hand with our staff to make sure that earthquake supplies are ready.

STEVE HERMAN, CHAIRMAN, FRIENDS OF OVERLAND: The parents fund-raise annually to support construction throughout the school. We fund a science lab coordinator, which is a new program that came on campus.

TEO HUNTER, PARENT VOLUNTEER: I wanted to be a part of the thing that protected by biggest investment, which is my children. Why would I not want to contribute to an organization or a group that was molding my biggest investment?

KRAKOVSKY: The school, the teachers, they can't do everything. They'd like to, but there's just not enough time, money, energy to do it, so when you have parents who could step in --

PERRY: Steve Perry, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Coming up, more than ever, congressional leaders seem to be under the scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee. How things have changed on Capitol Hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Long time Washington stalwarts have been leading the headlines in recent days for all the wrong reasons. House members like Democrats Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters and even former GOP power broker Tom Delay all with ethics trouble, some before the Congress and in Delay's case, one before the courts. It's a good time to assess the ethical climate in the nation's capital.

Craig Hollman is government affairs lobbyist for the watchdog group, Public Citizen, and Tom Fitton who joined me at the top of the hour is the president of judicial watch, which investigates public corruption. Tom Fitton would like to start with you. Congressman Charlie Rangel, his upcoming reprimand. Does the punishment, if you will, fit the offense he says he'd like to see a censure, which is a bit less harsh treatment there in the House of Representatives.

TOM FITTON, PRES., JUDICIAL WATCH: Well, I think you have it reversed. He's up for a censure.

JOHNS: Oh, that's right. I do have it in reverse.

FITTON: You know, this is just silliness. A censure is not a serious punishment given what he was convicted of by his colleagues in the House, which is abusing his office, not paying his taxes and this is head of the tax writing committee for a time who wasn't paying his taxes and contrary to the law and it seems a censure is essentially would bring him down to the well of the house and have Nancy Pelosi read a statement admonishing him and that's not serious punishment. He ought to be expelled from Congress. So, you know, it's more of the same, unfortunately. It's good that he was held to public account to the extent he's been held. But the idea that censure is a serious punishment is an idea that I think only flies in Washington.

JOHNS: Now for the record, even the individual who was sort of bringing the charges against him before the ethics committee has said that he didn't think that Charlie Rangle was corrupt, but certainly that he was very sloppy in his affairs. But Craig Hollman, I do want to move to you now and talk a little bit about Tom Delay.

This is man who was a Republican leader in the House of Representatives, for so long, called the hammer. Now, he has been convicted on a variety of charges relating to the issue of campaign finance. In his case, do you think he got what he should have gotten or was the judge or the prosecutor or anybody else in this case overstepped?

CRAIG HOLLMAN, LEGISLATIVE REP., PUBLIC CITIZEN: Well, it took much too long to finally come up with the decision in Tom Delay's case. You know, all this stems back to violations that he committed back in 2006, 2005, 2004 and we didn't finally get a final decision until this year. It just went too slow. But having said that, I want to point out the reason why we did get a decision is because of the persistence of Ronny Earl, who is the DA out in Travis County.

JOHNS: The retired, I think. He's retired, is he not, district attorney.

HOLLMAN: That's right, but he also hung on to the job in order to carry through with these prosecutions. And that's the only reason we finally got a case now. You know having said that, I also want to add that Tom Delay's corrupt activities in Congress back in 2006 is what created a whole new enforcement mechanism following his departure.

We created what's called the Office of Congressional Ethics to try to help out the House Ethics Committee in dealing with these corruption cases. The Office of Congressional Ethics is a semi-independent body of outsiders that are weighing in on doing these investigations, these scandals.

Traditionally, we've had just the House Ethics Committee handling this and they are just members of Congress themselves, taking a look at how they behave. They have a notorious record of not doing anything when it comes to investigations and scandals. As a matter of fact, they had only seven cases in a decade from 1997 to 2006.

JOHNS: Well, let me jump in right there and ask you about this office because there's been a lot of controversy in question as to whether House Republicans now in control might actually get rid of this new office because they say it's duplicative and it's not very productive. Democrats don't like it. Republicans don't like it. Should this new office be gotten and away with?

HOLLMAN: That is my biggest fear that come January 5th, when John Boehner takes over as speaker of the House, that he is going to eliminate the office of Congressional Ethics.

JOHNS: Now, Tom, jump in here too. You weigh in on this.

FITTON: Yes, I don't think it should be eliminated. I think it should be strengthened and I think Democrats and Republicans, both leaders of both parties, don't like any independent ethics investigations going on in the House. This process is still weak in my view. Rangel and Maxine Waters are just two of I think dozens of congressmen who ought to be under strict scrutiny through the ethics process.

And I think Tom Delay's conviction is going to make it tougher for the Republicans to go back in and tear down this office and weaken ethics enforcement on at least on the House side.

JOHNS: Maxine Waters, of course, another issue we didn't quite get to, that's the congresswoman from California who has her own ethics trial coming up at some point in the future. We thought it was going to begin just this coming week, but we don't know exactly when that's going to get started. So I want to thank you both very much. Craig Hollman, Tom Fitton for coming in on a Sunday and talking to us.

FITTON: Pleasure being here.

HOLLMAN: Thank you.

JOHNS: So, how did retailers fare during black Friday weekend? We'll tell you just how much of your money they raked in. Plus, the pros and cons of using credit and debit cards, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: It's certainly an early Christmas gift for retailers. The Black Friday holiday period was better than last year. 212 million people shopped Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, up from 195 million last year. They rang up 45 billion in sales, four billion more than expected.

And each shopper spent about 20 bucks, more than $365 and change compared to 343 in 2009. You know those crazy early opening hours, well, they worked. The National Retail Federation also found that nearly 10 percent of shoppers began buying at midnight. It makes sense in more ways than one. This tough economy is forcing people to rethink how often they use their credit cards so they can avoid debt.

In fact, the National Retail Federation found that not since 2002 have so few shoppers planned to use credit for the holidays. Many gift buyers, 43 percent, say they'll use their debit cards this year, but some don't know when it comes to protection from fraud. Debit cards are not always the best way to pay.

To sort out this whole credit versus debit debate, Ann Dowd joins us. She's the life and money editor for the "Fiscal Times" web site. For holiday shoppers, is the credit card better or is it sometimes better to use the debit card or does it just depend? ANN REILLY DOWD, LIFE & MONEY EDITOR, "FISCAL TIMES": Well, you know, it really just depends. And it depends on the kind of consumer you are. If you have trouble controlling your spending, the debit card is really a good way to go because you can't take anything more out of the account than that's in it. It helps you not to overspend. On the other hand, there are downsides of a debit card. There are fewer protections.

If you have a card that's lost or stolen or you have a disputed transaction. So if you're buying things that are really high priced or that you may be sending to relatives around the country, it's really a good idea to use the credit card.

Of course with credit card, you have to be in control. You don't want to card to be in control of you.

JOHNS: But it's federal law, right? That's the big thing. Federal law protects you better on the credit card than the debit card or vice versa?

DOWD: Absolutely, on the credit card, you have much better protection. If you have a card lost or stolen with the credit card, you are limited to $50 in costs. And if it's used after you've report it, you don't have to pay a nickel. That's even if some fraudster runs up thousands on the card. That's not the case with a debit card. Depending on the kind of card you have, you could have potentially unlimited liability with a debit card.

JOHNS: But then again, there are some debit cards that offer zero liability, but only in certain circumstances? Is that the way it works?

DOWD: Yes, and you know, they vary from bank to bank and they also vary depending on how you use them. When you use a debit card, you can either use it with your PIN number or you can use it by signing it. When you sign it, it goes through one process, which is called the credit option.

When you use the PIN, it goes through another, which is called the debit option. With the credit option, you really have a bit more protection because that goes through the Visa MasterCard system where they do have a zero liability protection. With the other, the debit option, it depends on your bank and there are a lot of loopholes and you really need to know the terms and conditions, so if you want to be safer with the debit card, you're probably better taking that signature option when you're asked at the checkout counter.

JOHNS: OK. Sign post on that. Say you want the credit option as opposed to the debit option, good. The other thing I think people need to know is that timing is very important. If you have some type of a problematic charge, it's very important that you get to the bank quick, right? Tell me about the timing issues.

DOWD: Absolutely. Well, if you have a debit card transaction that's in dispute or you have a lost or stolen card, if you report that problem within two days of learning about that transaction, you will be limited to $50 in liability. If you wait between two days and 60 days, the liability goes up to $500 and if for some reason, you wait beyond 60 days, say you're traveling or distracted with something else, you have potentially unlimited liability.

It's even worse than that because if your debit account is connected to another account because perhaps you wanted you know, overdraft protection, that both of those accounts could potentially be cleaned out, so you really, really have to keep an eye on those debit, those debit card accounts and you really should be checking them every couple of days to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions there because remember, that's your money and when somebody gets that card or that PIN number, they have the key to your kingdom.

JOHNS: Wow, and thank you so much. Great tip there. If there's a funny charge, walk, don't run to your bank. We really do appreciate you coming in tonight.

DOWD: My pleasure.

JOHNS: They call her the terminator. Coming up, the amazing story of CNN's hero of the year who battled sex traffickers to save the lives of many.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: A fearless woman who takes on sex traffickers and corrupt officials almost every day is this year's CNN Hero of the Year. Anuradha Koirala was a victim of domestic violence herself. She's a hero to women and girls in Nepal. Anderson Cooper sat down with this remarkable woman moments after she won her award.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You've been named 2010 CNN Hero of the Year. How are you feeling?

ANURADHA KOIRALA, 2010 CNN HERO OF THE YEAR: Well, I feel that there are many responsibilities now on me.

COOPER: You feel more people are now looking at you. More people know of you?

KOIRALA: Yes, of course, now I feel that there will be not only looking at me, but they will know the issue, more issue, the issue which we have taken up, sex trafficking.

COOPER: You seem like such a quiet lady, but I know your nickname is the terminator. Why do they call you "the terminator"?

KOIRALA: If your daughter or my daughter, it doesn't matter whose daughter, everybody's daughter, was trafficked, and you catch hold of a trafficker, do you think, "oh, how sweet you are, you did such a nice job, you took my daughter or will you start giving him blows." If I have to confront a trafficker, then I can really hit hard.

COOPER: When your children see you winning this award tonight, what do you think they will think?

KOIRALA: I will send a message, they are all crying and I know they would be very happy about it. And I know they will be very happy.

COOPER: This award comes with $100,000, in total $125,000. What will that money mean to your work, to your mission?

KOIRALA: There is only one woman's hospital in the whole of Nepal. That's in the capital. But what about the other parts of the country, where there is poverty, poverty, poverty, so I'm thinking I will develop a woman and children's hospital with this.

COOPER: Have you h ever thought about giving up? Have you ever - there have been days where you thought, I'm going to stop this?

KOIRALA: Never.

COOPER: Well, congratulations. It's such an honor to meet you.

KOIRALA: Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: You can watch the moment Anuradha won and the entire "CNN Heroes: An All-star Tribute" program coming up in 10 minutes right here on CNN.

Coming up, some memorable quotes and strong opinions from the Sunday political talk shows.

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JOHNS: And why are these football players dancing to Beyonce? We will have to explain, won't we?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: A lot of politics for this time of year. Several hot-button issues dominating the Sunday talk shows. From the crisis in Korea to repeal of don't ask, don't tell, and our nation's leaders occasionally voicing strong opinions on issues likely to dominate the headlines in the coming week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think it's time we talked about regime change in North Korea. And I do not mean military action. But I do believe that this is a very unstable regime.

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: We need to continue the exercises. We need to take a very strong stand. This is brazen and it's belligerent.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: China has a chance to change the future of the Korean peninsula. I'm looking at China to step up their game against North Korea and try to bring them in the fold of peaceful nations.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: The failure of the United States senate to ratify the S.T.A.R.T. treaty immediately is going to pose a danger to the United States and its security.

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: There not a time pressure to do this now as opposed to two months from now.

MCCASKILL: There's some game playing going on with the S.T.A.R.T. treaty and it's all about politics and it's all about trying to damage the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really say, hey, come meet the Marines.

GRAHAM: I don't believe there's anywhere near the votes to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." On the Republican side, I think we'll be united in the lame duck.

MCCAIN: The fact is, this was a political promise made by an inexperienced president or candidate for presidency of the United States.

MCCASKILL: We should move forward to make sure that any person who stands up and says, I'm willing to die for our country, can do so with honor.

SARAH PALIN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is our first stop on the tour.

MCCAIN: I think that anybody who has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness. I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: So she's sort of on a - do you see her as a parallel -

MCCAIN: I think she's doing a great job. I think she's doing a great job. I think she's motivated our base. I think she had a positive impact on the last election and I'm proud of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: Every weekend, we like to bring you interesting news items you may have missed during the week. Here's one story that caught our attention.

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JOHNS: It's the famous Beyonce play, as made popular in the TV show, "Glee." For Decatur Central High School in Indiana, having the guts to do it out on the grid iron was totally worth the momentary humiliation. It won their school $300 in a local contest, not only that now. It broke the team's losing streak. After making that video, the team racked up three straight wins and they are now working on a Doritos commercial for the Super Bowl. I'm surprised they didn't go to Disney World.

I'm Joe Johns at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. "CNN Heroes: An All-Star tribute" begins right now.