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FAA Lagging on Private Aircraft Registration; More on Tax Deal Battle; Another Cruise Ship in Trouble
Aired December 10, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Now, let's get this 10:00 a.m. hour start. 7:00 a.m. on the West Coast. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And here are some of the stories that have us talking.
The federal government says Virginia Tech broke the law during the 2007 shooting rampage because it was too slow to spread the word about a gunman on the loose. The student shooter killed two people at a dorm before killing 30 others in a classroom building. But there was a two-hour gap between the first shootings and the school's first e-mail notice. Virginia Tech says administrators acted appropriately based on what they knew at the time.
The Nobel Peace prize ceremony is under way in Norway but this year's winner isn't there. He's in jail in China serving an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion. Liu Xiaobo was honored with the award for his fight to bring human rights and democracy to China but Chinese leaders call him a common criminal.
And check your Rolaids package before dropping one in your mouth. Thirteen million packages have been pulled after complaints about particles of metal and wood being found inside. Several different types of soft chews are affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration is having trouble keeping up with who owns private and commercial planes in the U.S., and that's stirring up concerns that terrorists or other criminals could take advantage of the problem.
CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has more details on this.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's kind of surprising to hear that there's an issue, given what we go through with our automobiles but a gap in record keeping may have been making it easier for drug traffickers and even terrorists to use aircraft. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there are about 357,000 private aircraft in the U.S. but registration records for about one-third of them, 119,000 appeared to be inaccurate, out of date. Why is this? Because until now owners have only had to register their aircraft once, at the time of purchase, and they have to report changes like an aircraft sale or the scrapping of an aircraft but many simply have not been doing it, and as a result there are a lot of bad records.
Now the FAA is taking corrective action. A new rule will require all civil aircraft to be re-registered over the next three years, and after that, owners will have to renew their registrations every three years. It's comparable to what we do with cars. Owners who don't comply will the new rules will have their registrations cancelled, and the planes will not be able to fly legally, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And it seems to go without saying why these registrations are so important to security but elaborate for me on that.
MESERVE: Well, you know, since 9/11, there has been a huge concern about aircraft and possible threats they could pose, and registration can help law enforcement. For instance, when an aircraft enters the restricted air space here in Washington, one of the first things law enforcement will do is run the tail number that gives them the owner's name and that can help determine what kind of threat they're dealing with.
It's not definitive but it helps. But if the registration is inaccurate, it isn't any help. And a lot of them aren't accurate. Now, this change isn't going to totally correct the problem and eliminate the illegal use of planes and registration numbers. After all, it isn't difficult to change a tail number on an aircraft. Drug traffickers do it. They put legitimate numbers on their planes to throw law enforcement off their track. That's still likely to happen but the hope is that it won't happen quite so often.
Back to you, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeanne Meserve, thanks so much.
To say it's been a rough week for President Obama, understatement. He struck a deal with congressional Republicans to extend tax cuts for all Americans, but the compromise divided the president's own party, and House Democrats say they're not going to vote on the deal as it's written right now. Then there's the big setback in the push to overturn "don't ask, don't tell." Democrats trying to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers couldn't even get enough votes to start debate in the U.S. Senate.
President Barack Obama released a statement that he was extremely disappointed, and how about that Dream Act? It was a top White House priority. One that would clear a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants if they go to college or join the military. The bill passed the House, but then Senate Democrats admitted they just don't have the votes.
So let's get back to the issue that affects almost al of us right now. We're talking about those tax cuts. They're set to expire in just three weeks, and if Congress doesn't get on board with the deal that the president struck with the GOP, your tax bill will get bigger come January 1st.
Democrats are defiant that President Obama hit the air waves this morning saying he's confident Congress will come around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Here's what I'm confident about, that nobody, Democrat or Republican, wants to see people's paychecks smaller on January 1st because Congress didn't act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A big sticking point - a tax cut extension for the rich, and some House Democrats are fighting mad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: We were told yesterday by the vice president this was a take it or leave it deal. We're saying leave it.
REP. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: Our caucus will not submit to hostage-taking, and we will not submit to this deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: CNN contributor John Avlon joining me live from New York. So John, how does the president get his own party to come around on any of this?
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He needs to make the case as he has been making all week. That look, he's a practical progressive. He maybe not in line with the Pelosi Democrats who got repudiated in this last election but he is in a position to not only lead the nation but lead the democrats back to the center. Where the vast majority of the American people are. So even though it's been a tough week for President Obama in some fronts, I think him, it's ultimately been a good week because setting the tone for the direction for the next two years of his presidency and he's moving in the direction that is easier to get re-elected in 2012.
WHITFIELD: Let's take a listen to a little bit more of what the president said on NPR, this morning, talking about the future of the tax cut deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF STEVE INSKEEP, HOST OF NPR'S MORNING EDITION: Can you accept some changes to this plan or is it a deal you cannot change?
VOICE OF BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My sense is there's going to be discussions between both House and Senate leadership about all of the final elements of the package. Keep in mind, we didn't actually write a bill. We put forward a framework. I'm confident that the framework is going to look like the one we put forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So, John, will the framework survive in Congress?
AVLON: Well, that's going to be the negotiations over the next several days but, again, as he said, it's not a bill, it's a framework for negotiation that he established with Republicans who are coming in. What democrats need to appreciate, of course, is that Republicans are coming in to control the House come January, and it's in nobody's interest economically or otherwise as the president said to have taxes go up in the new year. It would be very destabilizing, not only for the economic recovery but for certainty in terms of the markets.
So the president is trying to say, look, we've set a goal. We've come up with a broad agreement. There is always room to tinker and make it better but scuttling the whole thing, whether from folks on the far left who are (INAUDIBLE) or folks on the far right. Those folks aren't necessarily negotiating in the interest of moving the ball forward. And that's where the president is.
In his press conference this week, he was trying to take the tone of look, "I'm trying to be the adult in the room. I'm trying to keep the national interests and we'll let the extremes in both parties play for this part, special interests but they cannot drive the debate anymore.
WHITFIELD: So, of course, you and everybody else would love to be the fly on the wall today when President Barack Obama meets with former President Bill Clinton, and there is likely to be advice that Clinton will give to President Obama, when things get tough, this is what you might consider. What do you think the conversation is going to be like?
AVLON: I think it's going to be fascinating. And there's such a great historical dimension here because the best parallel to the position of President Obama today is President Bill Clinton after the 1994 repudiation with the Republican revolution and Newt Gingrich riding into town and control the House. There is such a great deal that President Obama can learn from President Clinton who has been in the most complementary position here and vice versa.
This is a meeting of history, politics is always history in the present tense but I think it's going to be a very productive meeting not only for President Obama but for unifying the Democratic Party a round of agenda moving forward.
WHITFIELD: Fascinating stuff. John Avlon, thanks so much. Always good to see you.
AVLON: Thank you, you, too.
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about a whole lot of nasty weather out there.
Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: It looked like the middle of winter in parts of the northeast this weekend, but even though the season doesn't officially begin for another week and a half, wind lake effect snows which dumped up to four feet in some places and now a major systems is moving east to spread snow and who knows what else.
Reynolds Wolf knows what else, snow, misery, wind, cold?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It looks like winter is coming down like an avalanche. You know the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about the issues we've seen in places specifically like South Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, and even spots like Cleveland, where in that part of the world, having a snow blower is a requirement. It's not just a (INAUDIBLE), you're going to have issues where people might need snow blowers in other parts of the country.
Let's put this into motion and give you a snapshot of what we can expect this weekend. Got a storm system that's rolling out of parts of the Central Plains and the Rockies. As we put this into motion and you're going to see the snow really intensify. It's going to do a couple of things. First and foremost, it's going to bring some moisture off the Great Lakes and off the Atlantic. It's going to bring it right back into parts of the Great Lakes and into portions of the mid-Atlantic states and of course, the Ohio Valley. That's one component.
The second thing, the cold air that it's going to bring in. How cold is it going to be? Well, take a look. We're going to see temperatures beginning this Sunday and Monday, single digits in some places and other spots well below zero. In fact, Fargo by Monday morning, temperatures of 14 degrees below zero. You bring in the wind, it's going to feel like 22 below nine degrees, the temperature possibly in Chicago, and 20 below along Michigan Avenue with the wind really kicking up and 12 below in spots like say Cleveland. That's only one component.
What we're going to be seeing realistically, some heavy snowfall in places like the Great Lakes back in the Ohio Valley. Right now, a light dusting of snowfall in parts of 80 north of Pittsburgh, south of Buffalo, Philadelphia, not a whole of action for you yet. That may come later on this weekend, and also very dry conditions in parts of the southeast but cold air is going to be tumbling down to spots like Atlanta, Georgia in the 20s as we get into Monday. This a huge weather story. We have a lot more coming up ahead, not just over the next hour or so but throughout the afternoon and of course, through weekend.
Back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bring out the serious reinforcements in outer wear. The good stuff. All right. Thanks so much, Reynolds.
All right. A luxury liner smacked by rough weather and crashing cold waves is finally docked in Argentina. Well, this was one rough ride here. Quite the relief that they are docked now for the families of 88 Americans on board this Antarctic cruise and 77 crew members. The ship was slowed by electrical malfunctions after a large wave crashed over the 290-foot ship. Oh, my gosh. Look at that.
Diana Guthrie's husband was actually on board that ship and she's joining us by phone from Wichita. So Diana, give me an idea, you have just recently spoken with your husband. How is he doing? How did he endure this rough ride?
VOICE OF DIANA GUTHRIE, WIFE OF STRANDED PASSENGER: Oh, he called this morning to let me know that he was all right. And apparently he did much better than I thought he did. I had him loaded with anti-nausea medicine.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. So it worked?
GUTHRIE: It did work, but he said it's a good thing I wasn't with him.
WHITFIELD: Because you do get sea sick and that's why you weren't with him?
GUTHRIE: That's the main reason I wasn't with him.
WHITFIELD: Oh, you would you have been so, so miserable. So, did he describe how this all happened, if they kind of felt some warnings, if the waves were kind of small and docile at first and then it got rougher? What's the story that he's been able to share with you?
GUTHRIE: The story is that the captain said these are the roughest waters he had gone through at that particular time, and what was so amazing about it is that actually the waters broke one of the railings, and the railing went through the glass and broke the glass on the bridge that let the water into the bridge and short-circuited things.
WHITFIELD: And did your husband say there was panic on board or people remained calm? What did all of the passengers do? How did they react?
GUTHRIE: Well, Overseas Travel just really looks after their passengers, so they kept them well-informed, and they were really supportive both to the families that were here back in the States as well as to the passengers. So there was more calm than expected.
WHITFIELD: So when does hubby come home? I know you can't wait?
GUTHRIE: I'm just finding out right now. He'll be home Sunday or Monday, depending on what flights they can get.
WHITFIELD: Did he go on this trip solo or was he with other friends? I know why you didn't go because you get sea sick. But was he alone?
GUTHRIE: This is a company that goes with small groups. We had been on six other continents and he wanted to go to the last continent and this was the last continent he wanted to be on.
WHITFIELD: And so this will be the most memorable trip ever, won't it?
GUTHRIE: Most memorable trip. WHITFIELD: For both of you, even though you're not there, you are kind of living it vicariously. Diana Guthrie, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. And Hopefully the next trip that you all take will be smooth-sailing.
GUTHRIE: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: All right. Lady Gaga, while she's known for being a hit-making machine and she is known for her fashion sense as well. And now she can be known as the first female artist in 25 years to win back-to-back music awards from one of the biggest institutions out there.
CNN's A.J. Hammer will be along, next.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Garth Brooks could be tearing it up and burning it down again soon. He's been retired for about 10 years to spend more time with his family but he got an offer from a Las Vegas mogul that changed everything. Larry King talked to him about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE" HOST: How does Steve Wynn get you to come out of the dark?
GARTH BROOKS, COUNTRY SINGER: Well, Steve - you know, Steve, he's very intelligent, probably one of the sharpest men I've ever been around. Steve took about five minutes to hear my story because he asked me, you know, what do you do and all of that stuff. He says, "I know how to do this." He says "we can't screw up your family life."
So first thing out of his mouth was not money. He says we can't screw up your family life. The first thing we have to do is get you a plane. All of a sudden I was like, OK, you got my attention now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Garth also talks about Las Vegas, his wife, Trisha, and why he's not on iTunes. See the whole interview tonight on "Larry King Live" at 9:00 Eastern.
Ed O'Neill made headlines recently over a quote that slams a former actress from the television show "Glee," before hordes of singing and dancing, protestors could bang down his door, he sets the record straight. "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer joins me from New York with the low down on this.
A.J. what's with the mix up?
A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" HOST: Well, Fred, a reporter made a big mistake, a pretty big mistake, if you ask me. "TV Guide Canada" has issued a full apology to "Modern Family" star Ed O'Neill. They admitted to misquoting the actor. Let me run down the whole story for you now.
Now, earlier this week, the northern version of "TV Guide" reported a conversation with O'Neill and that conversation portrayed him as slamming "Glee" star Jane Lynch. They reported that he said she didn't deserve the Emmy Award that she got for her work on "Glee." Well, O'Neill called them out on it. I'm glad he did that. Here's what he said. "last week, I spoke to a group of journalists and one quoted me, supposedly saying of Jane Lynch. I don't think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. I never said those words and transcripts of the press conference attest to that fact. They do.
His real statement was a little milder where he called Lynch's character on "Glee" one dimensional and he admitted that he was understandably rooting for his co-star, Sofia Vergara. O'Neill says he didn't reach out to Lynch to explain the situation. For her part, she has pretty much taken on the high road through the whole thing by not responding to the story but Fred, I got to tell you, I think Ed O'Neill has every right to be really ticked off with what happened and I hope "TV Guide" quite frankly send him a huge fruit basket or something along with the apology.
WHITFIELD: Yes, no one wants to be misrepresented and then you know, started a fire storm. So speaking of "Glee" then let's talk about it featuring an artist that was just named Billboard artist of the year. Who would that be?
HAMMER: Yes. Well this is pretty big. It's Lady Gaga. She's been named artist of the year by billboard.com. A well deserved honor in her case. Now Billboard bases her award on music sales over the last 12 months. In that time, two of Gaga's albums were among the top 15 bestsellers and she has four singles on the list of top 100 songs. Lady Gaga is now the eighth woman since 1981 to be named the top artist. Past winners include Madonna, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey - pretty good list right there -
WHITFIELD: Yes, sure.
HAMMER: And the woman who finished in second place this year, Taylor Swift, named artist of the year last year, she finished with two top 10 albums this year. She was almost a repeat winner but Fred, this has been a good week for Lady Gaga, not only the billboard artist of the year but perhaps in my mind more importantly, she was named "Showbiz Tonight's" most provocative celebrity of the year.
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, that she is, indeed. I concur.
All right. A.J. Hammer, thanks so much. Appreciate that.
Perhaps you want more information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J. has it this evening on "Showbiz Tonight" at 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on HLN.
Deprogramming bullies using babies. See how one organization is getting tough kids to smile and disruptive kids to focus by bringing infants into the classroom.
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WHITFIELD: Hey, listen, Parents and educators are always on the look out for new ways to address bullying. Well, what if there is a way to keep kids form becoming bullies in the first place. Well, for more than 10 years of programming in Canada has been doing just that. And the way they're doing it just might surprise you.
Kiran Chetry went to Toronto, Ontario to find the roots of empathy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: (voice-over): It's an exciting day in (INAUDIBLE) third grade class. OK. So having a CNN crew here is cool but that's not the main event in this Toronto Ontario classroom.
(on camera): They're getting ready to sit around the green circle and for baby indigo to arrive but first some hand sanitizer, and then the star of today's lesson makes her entrance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Here is Indigo.
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CHETRY: She is just four months old but for the next 30 minutes Baby Indigo is the teacher, helping these students learn about emotion, reading other's feelings. In this case, indigo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is she telling us right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She doesn't like -
CHETRY: The baby's visit is the heart of a program called "Roots of Empathy," a course that's proven to be an effective tool to combat bullying. Indigo and her parents will visit the class nine times during the year. A facilitator will make 27 visits to reinforce the lessons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up, up, up, up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you feeling when she got sitting up? When she stand up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd be happy for her to do something new..
MARY GORDON, FOUNDER, ROOTS OF EMPATHY: The real importance of understanding how you feel and others feel really helps children navigate every social relationship in their lives.
CHETRY: Mary Gordon is the founder of "Roots of Empathy."
How did you know bringing a baby and the baby's mother into the classroom would somehow strike a chord with the kids?
GORDON: There is something so engaging about watching the love between a parent and a baby and since that relationship of attachment and attunement is how we all develop our empathy, I thought, why not bring the teachers in, our little, tiny teachers, and I just knew in my gut. It was a by golly approach but now we have a scientific evidence of the impact.
CHETRY (voice-over): Independent studies have found decreased aggression and an increased emotional understanding among kids who have been through the program. Translation, fewer bullies, more kids helping each other out.
Teacher Denise Stewart says she has seen a difference in how her students relate to one another.
STEWART: It's a place for them to practice being open and when they move outside the classroom, they know what it feels like to be open and empathize.
CHETRY: The irony is that Gordon did not start out to create an anti-bullying program.
I was just looking at build do we build more caring, peaceful and civil societies through our children.
CHETRY: Hard to imagine a more beautiful way to teach a lesson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, baby indigo, see you soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Now, there are now roots of empathy programs all across Canada. They have also spread to New Zealand, Ireland and Seattle, Washington. Since its inception, Mary Gordon says the program has reached 325,000 kids.
A Utah jury has a big decision to make today. They have to decide if a man accused of kidnapping and raping a teen girl who is mentally ill or if he's a predatory chameleon as the prosecutive says.
We're going live to Salt Lake City in a moment.
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WHITFIELD: OK, it's 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, 8:30 in Salt Lake City. Time for a jury to start deliberating the case of Brian David Mitchell, the man accused of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart back in 2002 when she was just 14.
CNN's Ted Rowlands is covering the story for us. So, give me an idea of what's taking place. The jurors just getting assembled?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredericka. They are just coming back to the courthouse here. They deliberated for about three hours last night before calling it a night. They went into the evening hours here in Salt Lake City.
And this is the end of a six-week trial that these jurors have had to sit through. And throughout the entire trial, Elizabeth Smart has been in the courtroom sitting in the front row. For three days of the trial, she took the witness stand, and the jurors were riveting by her testimony as she recounted what happened to her as a 14-year-old girl. She was basically ripped out of her home, woken up by Brian David Mitchell with a knife to her throat. She was taken to a hillside camp above her home and literally chained to a tree for six weeks. She was raped, she said, repeatedly, every day, sometimes four times a day by Brian Mitchell.
The case, however, really doesn't revolve around whether or not the jurors believe Brian David Mitchell was responsible for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart. That is pretty much agreed to by the defense. In fact, in the closing, they said, hey, he did all of these horrible things.
What this jury has to decide is whether or not Brian David Mitchell is mentally competent and if he is legally insane. The questions they have to answer for themselves are, did he know what he was doing? Did he know it was wrong? Another question: does he suffer from a major mental illness?
Of course, as you can imagine, this case has been dueling experts. The defense has people saying he is mentally ill; the prosecution saying indeed he isn't legally mentally ill. He has some problems but knew what he was doing was wrong.
The jury, again, will start deliberating again for their second day. Right at this hour, we just saw Brian Mitchell being brought into the courthouse here at the federal courthouse, and they are expected to go for the entire day. In fact, the judge in this case, the federal judge, has kept jurors up until midnight, and he has opened up that window for deliberating. So, they have a long day ahead of them.
Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Ted Rowlands, thanks so much from Salt Lake. Appreciate that.
All right. Half past the hour now. A look at some of the other headlines for the hour.
A British man accused of having his wife killed during her honeymoon in South Africa has been granted bail in London. His wife was shot and killed during a carjacking as the couple took a taxi ride in Capetown. South Africa wants him extradited.
A ruling is expected today in the Alaska Senate race five weeks after election day. Republican senator Lisa Murkowski leads Joe Miller by more than 10,000 votes. Murkowski ran as a write-in candidate, and Miller challenged some of those ballots.
And this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner was honored in absentia today. He is jailed in - in China, and this dissident is Liu Xiaobo. And he is serving an 11-year sentence for what China calls "inciting subversion." He was honored for his fight to bring human rights and democracy to China, but Chinese leaders call him a common criminal. So, we're also learning that the royal family got a taste of Thursday's huge street protests in London, England. Thousands of demonstrators showed their fury over a government plan to triple university tuition. Students will pay about $10,000 per year more. One house in Parliament approved the plan. It now goes to the second house.
Some of the protesters, by the way, attacking a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. You can see the busted window there. British prime minister David Cameron is furious and says violent protesters will feel the full force of the law.
Let's talk right now to CNN's senior international correspondent John Vause about this. Furious it happened. Furious it was a vintage vehicle, and furious that the royal couple would find themselves in a place where there was plenty of publicity about what was going on in the streets.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's kind of the biggest question in all of this. Why were they there? Why did they drive that 1977 Rolls Royce, which had security measures but reportedly wasn't bulletproof? It had toughened windows, which is why one window was smashed but didn't shatter.
Now, let's go back to what happened here. At 7:10 p.m. last night, London time, Charles and Camilla were hosting a tea party at Clarence House and about to set off to the theater. Apparently in that tea party, Charles jokes that they would just have to brave their way through the protesters.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.
VAUSE: Five minutes later when they hit Regent Street, that's when the car was attacked. And these are the questions that are being asked.
Why wasn't there another route that the royal couple could have taken? Uusally there are two or three other ways they could have gone. Another question -- was there a lack of communication and coordination between the security detail, the royal security detail, and the police who were looking after the students who are rioting and demonstrating against the tuition fees? And finally they're asking, why was Camilla's window open? Because apparently, the duchess of Cornwall --
WHITFIELD: Nontinted windows?
VAUSE: Nontinted windows, which were left down, and the Duchess of Cornwall got poked by a stick. I mean, that's how close these people got. Sounds kind of funny, but Charles is the heir to the British throne and they got that close to where they could actually poke Camilla with a stick. So, the British prime minister is very furious about all of this and he's promising an inquiry into what went wrong.
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DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Of course, I'm very concerned about it. I immediately rang the Prince of Wales' private secretary and discussed it with him. And I spoke last night to Sir Paul Stevenson, the metropolitan police commissioner.
The metropolitan police commissioner will be looking into what happened on the streets of London and he will also be looking into specifically what happened with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. We do need to learn the lessons of this. It was a very regrettable incident but in the end, let's remember this was not the fault of the police. This was the fault of the people that tried to smash up that car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This all happened very, very quickly. I mean, it was over in a flash. Five minutes after though, outside the London Palladium Theater for the Royal Variety Concert, Camilla had a stiff drink and joked, well, there's a first time for everything.
WHITFIELD: Oh, I guess -
VAUSE: Stiff upper lip.
WHITFIELD: Yes. That's right.
I wonder if what took place there involving the vehicle and involving the royal couple, if, in any way, this may become a new road block for the students in what it is that they want ultimately, which is some sort of break on their tuition.
VAUSE: This is precisely what the students did not want to happen because if you look at all of the coverage now, after all of the protests, every front page report in Britain and the morning TV and the radio, they're all talking about the attack on the royals. No one's talking about the increase to the tuition fees. This is the worst outcome that they could have ever have hoped for after such a day of rage.
WHITFIELD: All right. John Vause, thank you so for bringing us that and those details.
All right. Meantime, let's talk about a milestone for CNN iReports. Our reporters met the iReport Challenge and sent us pictures from every country in the world. We'll take a look at the pictures and talk to the man who sent photos from the very last country.
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WHITFIELD: The world is so big. A big mission accomplished for CNN iReports today. Since iReports started four years ago, our viewers have sent us lots of great pictures. Everything from major news events to picture-perfect weather shots.
Well, this year we started the iReport Global Challenge, trying to get a picture from every country in the world. This week, we actually reached the goal! Here to tell me about it, and you, too, Daphne Sashin from CNN.com. So, we met the goal.
DAPHNE SASHIN, CNN.COM: Yes. It was a great accomplishment.
WHITIFIELD: Was it an ambitious goal? Like, we're not really sure if we can do this but let's try it.
SASHIN: Well, we were determined to get this. Actually, we were pretty far along toward our goal when the year started. We only had about 50 countries we were missing iReports from. So in September we made a really big push and we scoured the Internet for bloggers and photographers and put the call out on iReport. And with our help from our TV colleagues and -- we met the goal.
WHITIFIELD: Yes! And so people were very anxious to be participants in all of this. Even though it took you about a half a year to get all of this done -- did people send things, quite feverishly? Were you getting many entries in a single day or per week or, how often do we have to remind people to participate?
SASHIN: Yes, not exactly. We reached out to a lot of people in a lot of countries, and people were really excited to participate in a lot of cases, but because some of these places are very small or remote, it wasn't -- they weren't flooding in, exactly.
WHITIFIELD: Okay, some of the highlights. Some of the places, favorite places, most spectacular, most indelible images?
SASHIN: So, one of the more unusual images or videos came from somebody who lives in Russia and went to Turkmenistan in central Asia. He went there to give a talk about the oil industry. And he went to all kinds of tourist attractions, but the highlight was this enormous, flaming gas crater in the middle of the dessert.
He said it was just amazing. Yes. It was a result of a gas exploration accident 40 years ago and been -
WHITFIELD: Still burning?
SASHIN: on fire ever since -
WHITFIELD: No!
SASHIN: -- and very few people go there. And it's --
WHITIFIELD: Maybe because of safety?
(LAUGHTER)
SASHIN: Right, yes. I think that's what was thrilling about it for him, that no one was around, and it was really, you go at your own risk. And he said the smell of sulfur nearly made him pass out, but he said it was awesome and just amazing.
WHITIFIELD: Oh, my goodness. OK! I would be a little worried about those fumes. I don't know.
SASHIN: Yes, yes.
WHITIFIELD: OK. And then the last place -- I guess the last submission was from where?
SASHIN: Nauru. The world was waiting on Nauru. We had all of the countries, and then by Monday, we were waiting for this tiniest republic in the world in the Pacific Ocean, and we heard from Lee Miller who lives in California and went there in 2008. He was looking for a place where he wouldn't see any tourists, and he definitely found it. It took him several days to get there.
WHITIFIELD: Right. People who are inhabitants - people who were, you know, native blood there. No tourists. Only one.
SASHIN: Right. There are few foreign workers, but there's, I think, one hotel, one taxi. It's a tiny place. It's had a lot of struggles recently, but he said it was an amazing adventure and felt like he was on the edge of the world and kind of like being on a deserted island.
WHITIFIELD: Oh, that's wonderful. A deserted island with people who live there. OK.
So, if folks want to check out any of these iReports, they can simply go to our CNN.com iReport.com site and take a tour of the world?
SASHIN: Yes, if they go to CNN.com/globalchallenge, they can see a lot of the highlights there.
WHITIFIELD: Fantastic. Very great. And a cheap way to travel the world, just going to that Web site. All right, Daphne, thank so much. Appreciate it. Great job.
SASHIN: Thanks.
WHITIFIELD: All right. We're going to look at the key points in the tax deal worked out by the White House and the Republicans and talk about whether a House Democratic rebellion could scuttle the deal.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You know, President Obama is into regifting? Did you know that? In fact, he just gave the Republicans the tax cuts he inherited from President Bush just a couple of years ago. Yes. (APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD; President Barack Obama says he's confident the tax cut deal he worked out with Republicans will pass, even though House Democrats say they're united against it. Here's a look at the plan. It would extend expiring tax rates for all income levels and renew long-term jobless benefits. It would also trim employees' Social Security taxes for one year.
Let's bring in our chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. And so, Candy, we were warned this week by Larry Summers that failure to pass the bill could lead to another recession. Is that just a scare tactic or does he and others really believe that?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Listen, here's what's interesting about the plan that the president and the Republicans came up with. And that is, in fact, there are a lot of items in it which are from the stimulus plan. So, now the sort of talk in Washington is the stimulus plan that the president couldn't get on his own, saying, OK, I need a stimulus plan here, he is getting it now packaged around these tax cut extensions that the Republicans wanted. That this is, in fact, a stimulus plan. That's what his folks are talking up. Larry Summers being one of them, saying all of the economists say this really will help the economy.
So, in fact, there is some truth to it. We have economists saying this will not harm the economy, this could well help the economy. It could well help create jobs. So, they do have the economists on their side. But it never helps to say, and, oh, and by the way, it might hurt if it doesn't get passed and we really don't want to hurt the economy. So, it is a talking point but also has the benefit of being, at least according to most economists, the truth.
WHITFIELD: All right. So, meantime, a lot of Democrats are feeling like the president caved. I wonder how hard the president might be working on the phones this afternoon to try to get some of the Democrats not on board, who expressly said, we don't like this, to maybe change their vantage point.
CROWLEY: Well, certainly, there's some -- how should we say it? Some cleanup involved here. There are a lot of hurt feelings, I think, on the side of the Democrats who were saying we were completely cut out of the process. This is particularly from Democratic caucus on the House side, which is about to go out of power. They're the ones that even coming back after the midterm elections said they weren't so much afraid of what John Boehner, the Republican will do, as speaker of the House but what the president will do as a man who is running for re-election in two years. They really felt that he might tack center and kind of cut off the limb that they were out on.
So, I think this is the beginning of that. I think the president does have to do a certain amount of sales job but they are very confident both at the White House, both that they -- this is the right plan and that they have the votes. Because remember, they don't need all of the Democrats. They need some of them. So, you just need enough Democrats to get this thing through and to get it on the floor. Which is no small feat.
WHITFIELD: All right. Candy Crowley, we know you will be talking about this this weekend on Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION." anything else were we should know about?
CROWLEY: That's true. Well, one of the things I did want to bring up is on the Ticker, folks can read about a really interesting meeting. Speaking of tacking to the center, former president Bill Clinton and President Obama are meeting at the White House this afternoon. Which has drawn, as you might imagine, a lot of interest simply because former president Clinton had a very bad midterm election and had to kind of rechart his course. So, it will be interesting to see what comes out of that if they will tell us anything.
WHITFIELD: Right. Everybody wants to be the fly on the wall on that one.
CROWLEY: That's right.
WHITFIELD: All right, Candy Crowley, thanks so much. We appreciate that.
All right. We'll have our next political update in one hour. And a reminder, for all of the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.
A 12-year-old Arizona boy is part of a health care battle to help a man who needs a liver transplant. Meet the young man who is making his mark, next.
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WHITFIELD: Imagine this. You need a liver transplant, but the state tells you it can't afford to help. An Arizona man is in that position right now, but he's getting help from an unlikely source. A12-year-old boy. Frank Camacho from CNN affiliate KTVK has their story in today's "Making Your Mark."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK CAMACHO, KTVK-TV CORRESPONDENT: For Carlos Olivas, the transplant issue is personal.
CARLOS OLIVAS, RAISING MONEY FOR LIVER TRANSPLANT: My dad has scorosis of the liver. And what if my dad ever needs a liver transplant? Somebody my age could probably step up.
CAMACHO: Carlos says he cried last month when he saw Francisco Felix's story. Felix is the Levine (ph) man being who's been denied a liver transplant because of cuts to the state's Medicaid program. Since then, he has been raising money to help his the Felix family raise money for the transplant. OLIVAS: They are shocked because I'm only 12 years old trying to help some guy with a liver transplant, trying to help live another day.
CAMACHO: Carlos was among those attending a news conference called today by lawmakers demanding that Governor Brewer reinstate those funds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Brewer-care has set up real death panels in Arizona. And it is outrageous and disgusting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think as a nation and as a state, we need to come together and reverse this so that we can have our second chance at life.
CAMACHO: House minority leader-elect Chad Campbell says the government could use federal stimulus dollars to reinstate the funding.
CHAD CAMPBELL, ARIZONA STATE HOUSE: She spent -- we already know she spent $1.7 million on repairing the roof of the Coliseum, which for anyone who's lived here for quite awhile knows how useful that venue is these days. She spent $2.5 million on algae research.
CAMACHO: The rhetoric was fiery, but not nearly as emotional as when Carlos was finally able to meet Francisco Felix and invite him to his school, where he will hand over a check.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I give you a hug?
OLIVIDAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: How sweet! Arizona state lawmakers are asking Governor Jan Brewer to use leftover stimulus money to help people like Francisco Felix, but Brewer says the money has already been allocated. There will be another meeting on this issue next week.
Happy holidays versus Merry Christmas. One Texas pastor says get specific with your seasons' greetings or your business could get a Grinch alert.
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WHITFIELD: Making a list, checking it twice. If you think I'm talking about Santa, think again. A Texas pastor has set up a naughty and nice list for businesses. It's called GrinchAlert.com.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: But you don't have to steal Christmas to land on that naughty list. You might get there just by posting a happy holidays sign. The Web site lets users call out businesses that use a generic holiday greeting instead of going with Merry Christmas.
It was set up by Reverend Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. He says too many businesses have bowed to political correctness. But critics complain that the Web site defeats the spirit of the season.
One rabbi says "Rather than honoring Christmas, this kind of campaign feels meant to remind me and people like me, we are second- best members of this society. I realize every movement needs an issue to rally around. How about love your neighbor as yourself?" Here's how Reverend Jeffress responded to that.
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REV. ROBERT JEFFRESS, SENIOR PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHRUCH OF DALLAS: I would say we are not trying to make anybody feel like a second-class citizen. In fact, if I went into a business that was owned by a person of the Jewish faith and if that person said to me Happy Hannukah, I wouldn't be offended at all. In fact, I would respect that person for not going to the generic, PC-correct "Happy Holiday" but embracing their faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, the reverend says grinchalert.com is meant to prompt any business - it's not, rather - we keep forgetting that word. It's not meant to prompt any business boycotts. He says it's just meant to be a fun holiday campaign.
OK. Well, is anyone laughing? T.J.? How about you? Happy holidays. Merry Christmas.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And all that good stuff.
WHITFIELD: Have a good, jolly old time. All of the above.
HOLMES: I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet.
WHITFIELD: You're not? You're not in the spirit yet?
HOLMES: I'm not there yet on the holiday spirit.
WHITFIELD: Oh, come on.
HOLMES: We've got some days to deal with this. I'll get there. I'll get there.
WHITFIELD: You know, the clock is ticking. It's like 15 days or something like that.
HOLMES: No, plenty of time. We can get a lot done in two weeks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right. I'm going to check back with you.
HOLMES: Thank you, dear lady. Good to see you, Fred.
I'll see you tomorrow, right?
WHITFIELD: Yes, yes, yes. No. I'm sorry -- no, no, no.
HOLMES: You're off this weekend?
WHITFIELD: I'm here in spirit.
HOLMES: Oh, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: You know, that holiday spirit.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: All right. Thank you so much, Fredricka.
