Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Midwest Blizzard; DREAM Act Passage Unlikely; Steve Harvey on Coping With Failure; Managing Work Overload and Stress; Minneapolis Metrodome Collapses Due To Heavy Snowfall; Giants/Vikings Game Moved To Detroit

Aired December 12, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And weather so cold, it can kill, snow so heavy, it is damaging buildings. Parts of the Midwest are getting slammed by a blizzard. In Minneapolis, the roof of the Metrodome sports arena collapsed. And the storm is not over yet. More brutal cold and snow in parts of the East and the South. In Missouri, a miserable night for more than 600 people. They were stranded on a showboat going nowhere.

And bringing us up to date with very, very latest on the blizzard in the Midwest, Jacqui Jeras. And boy, it's not tapering off just yet.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's not. You know, some of the places are definitely done with the snow, so that's the good news. But the bad news is that the winds are going to continue to howl. That's kind of what we're dealing with right now in the Chicago area.

Let's go ahead and start out with some of our video and show you what's going on in Chicago, where crews have been clearing the snow from Soldier Field today -- yes, before that game. Winds are gusting to 40 miles per hour at this time. There have been delays and flight cancellations at both O'Hare and Midway. At least 1,200 flights have been delayed, and the FAA is reporting airport delays right now for those flights that are actually going to be six hours. Yes, six-hour delays.

All right, from St. Paul, Minnesota, where you guys had an incredible amount of snow yesterday, between about 15 and 20 inches. Our iReporter Jack Parr caught this video, and you can see those cars that are just buried in snow. And people are urged, of course, to still stay off those roads, except for an emergency situation.

And in northern Iowa, you guys were under a blizzard warning yesterday, as well. Snow had been falling there since Friday. Interstate 29 was shut down in the Sioux City area throughout much of the day yesterday. Many of the roads are starting to reopen, but as those winds stay strong, it's blowing some of that snow back over the open roads.

All right, let's show you what's -- oh, last but not least, which one is this guys? Atlanta! Oh, don't forget about Atlanta! Look at that, snow in the South! You know, it does happen pretty much every year. Just a couple of bursts of snow showers in the ATL today. No problems, really, as a result of that, just a nice little winter wonderland. So a few actually happy to see that snow when it doesn't cause trouble.

Now, let's show you where the storm system is. Now, in terms of the blizzard conditions, a very small area, over towards Green Bay and Oshkosh and then on up into northern parts of Michigan, those red areas, is where we still have blizzard warnings ongoing. The pink is where we have winter storm warnings, and then advisories in the purple. And advisories, basically, we're talking about lesser amounts of snow accumulation, as the main brunt of this storm, at least in terms of accumulating snow, is now going to be moving up into Canada. So that's a little bit of good news.

But we're still going to have a lot of oomph with this storm in terms of those winds. The winds are gusting 40-plus miles per hour, and that will continue to be the rule today as that blustery air comes in, and the very cold temperatures. Ahead of it, that's where we're dealing with the rain showers. So the megalopolis has been just dealing with very wet weather for today.

The travel delays are abundant. Take a peek for your city, almost everybody looking at a couple of hours, at least. Make sure you call ahead. And tomorrow, the brunt of this will be out of here, at least in terms of rain and snow, with the exception of the Great Lake-effect snows, but it will continue to be windy, so we expect to have continued travel problems. And out west, Deborah, of course, dealing with very heavy rain in parts of Washington state.

FEYERICK: You know, I thought kids were not going to have a snow day, but chances are, it looks like they're going to digging out well into Monday and Tuesday. Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much.

Well, Congress still has a number of measures on its plate before lawmakers go home for the Christmas recess, including one bill that could mean citizenship for a certain group of illegal immigrants, the so-called Dream Act.

Let's bring in Sandra Endo in Washington. Sandra, the House has passed this, but things are much more uncertain in the Senate. Where does it stand?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it doesn't look likely, Deborah, that things are going to be moving on this front anytime soon, at least for this year, because right now, it seems like it's a dream deferred. After passing in the House this week, the Senate voted not to take up a vote on that Dream Act.

Now, the legislation would grant legal status to illegal immigrants who came to this country before they were 16 years old, who graduated from high school or attained a GED, completed two years of college or military service, and have been in the country for five years or longer.

But right now, we all know the big political fight in Congress is over taxes, and a major vote on a new tax plan is set to happen in the Senate tomorrow.

But senate Democrats say the president and lawmakers are not losing sight of other issues concerning their base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), MAJORITY WHIP: When it comes to the progressive values of this country, the president hasn't sold those out. I think he is going to fight those battles, and many of those who are critical today will join him. We're a long way away from the next election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: Now, supporters of the Dream Act were hoping the lame duck Congress would act on the measure before the year is over. Now it's not likely to come up for a vote until Congress revisits it next year -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: All right, Sandra Endo in Washington, thank you so much.

Well, the Dream Act could create a new pool of recruits for the Defense Department, but it could also complicate U.S. Customs and Immigration. Julie Myers Woods is the former assistant secretary of ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the Bush administration. She's joining me today from Washington.

And boy, you know, so much going on here. First of all, it's so interesting that the Defense Department wants it because they need more troops. But you, obviously, heading up the department of ICE under President Bush -- it'll complicate things for the agency, no?

JULIE MYERS WOOD, PRES., IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS SOLUTIONS: That's absolutely right. Let me just say there certainly are a number of deserving individuals, and those were really tough cases when I was at ICE, when I saw those kids who'd come here and worked hard and yet were here illegally. And so I know all of ICE will be cheering on those particular cases. But other parts will be tough because the fraud provisions are not very strong in the bill. In fact, there's a lot of incentive to apply and then lie.

FEYERICK: So -- and what's interesting, as well, is that if somebody applies and says, you know, My parents came here when I was just a kid, I've gone to high school, I played on the football team, I was a cheerleader or just did great in school, clearly there's an obligation, no, for ICE to say, OK, well, you're OK, but what about your parents? I mean, we could have sort of a backlash.

WOOD: That's absolutely right. And ICE always looked at those individual cases. It does today. It did five years ago, and looks to see, you know, Should we stay the deportation of particular individuals? What this bill does, though, is it now creates an incentive for folks to come here illegally with their children, hoping that someday, their children will be legalized and then those children can apply for legalization for the parents who broke the law in the first place.

FEYERICK: Although this is really going to apply just to people who are here, whether they would expand it -- but one interesting thing, your company, which is Immigration Customs Solutions -- one of the things that they're doing is they're working with employers because now for employers who hire people without checking their credentials, they're the ones who are being held responsible, not the person who may have, as you say, lied with their documentation.

WOOD: That's absolutely right. The Obama administration has emphasized targeting employers, not illegal aliens. And employers have to be document detectives. What we've done is developed software that helps employers sort out who's who and prevents identity theft while respecting civil liberties.

FEYERICK: Being the head of ICE, was it difficult for you to work with other agencies who perhaps are being given a different mission or a different mandate? How do you balance, obviously, the Defense Department wanting new troops, desperately needed new troops, with immigration enforcement? How do those two sides come together?

WOOD: Well, you come together under the president's leadership. And President Bush pushed hard for immigration reform. ICE was a part of that. President Obama is doing the same thing. And so I'm sure the career civil servants at ICE are doing that.

What's tough about the Dream Act is that it says if you lie in your application, if you commit fraud and your application is denied, that information can't be shared to ICE. And that's the kind of provision in the bill that I think is extremely problematic and does make it hard for ICE when CIS can't share with ICE.

FEYERICK: So essentially, it's protecting people, basically saying that, We encourage you to step forward. If for some reason you don't get -- or you're not put on the path to provisional citizenship, then we're not necessarily going to turn that information over. Basically, you sort of go back into, you know, the waves (ph). And I mean that, that I -- I can't think of a better sort of description. Sort of you can kind of disappear back into the environment where you were living before.

WOOD: Well, it's a free pass to apply even if you know you're not eligible. Once you apply, your deportation is stayed. And then if your application is denied, that information can't be shared with ICE. You can imagine the scenario where ICE comes upon you with independent information but spends year litigating in immigration court about how they determined that you were not legally here in this country. So it creates a ton of problems for the immigration agency. I hope Congress will look broadly at how they can fix the immigration laws.

FEYERICK: Well, certainly not an easy situation, and we're going to be hearing a lot more of it in the coming days. Julie Myers Wood, thank you so much for joining us today.

WOOD: Thanks a lot.

Well, comedian Steve Harvey has experienced the good times and the bad. He tells CNN's Fredricka Whitfield the key to surviving the very difficult times is momentum. That "Face to Face" conversation coming up on the other side of the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: One of the keys to happiness is taking a whole different look at your failures. That's according to entertainer Steve Harvey. He's out with a new book on relationships. Here's CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: When you look at comedian Steve Harvey's ascent, one would think it was a straight shot from kings (ph) of comedy, stand-up to host of the Apollo to radio syndication and best-selling author. Not quite. Harvey tells me "Face to Face" there were lots of valleys in between the peaks. Steve Harvey "Face to Face" with this advice for everyone, no matter what your calling, profession or dream.

STEVE HARVEY, ENTERTAINER AND AUTHOR: First of all, stop looking at your mistakes and failures as failures. Count those as valuable learned experiences because they're not failures. You just didn't do well at that. But it becomes experience. You know, becoming successful is knowing a series of things not to do. See, if you learn the "not to do's," the "don't do's" in life, you can go and do and become anything. But you just got to know what not to do.

So when you fail and you mess up, don't lay there and wallow in it. Get up and go, OK. I'm OK. This has happened to every successful person along the way. They stumble. They've had some mishaps. They've blown it. They've lost their money before. They've had to change careers. They had to start over. They had to come out of the dirt. Everyone does that.

If you can just take the mistakes and not look at them as mistakes but count those as valuable learned experiences, learn and grow from them and build on them -- and don't ever, ever give up because there ain't no need to stop and inhale. If you're going through hell, that's not where you want to park. If you're going through hell, you probably need to keep going.

(LAUGHTER)

HARVEY: You don't want to pump the brakes in the middle of the hell. So if you're going through hell, just keep going. That's -- most people, man, get buried by failures and mishaps. Well, I guess it wasn't meant to be. It might not have been meant to be for that, or it might have been for you to just get over that hump and let's go again. The hurdles and traps is coming all through life. You know, everybody gets dealt the grief card in life. Everybody gets the disparity card. Everybody gets the unfair talking behind your back. Everybody gets the passed over for promotion card. Everybody gets the "We don't like you" card. Everybody gets the cards. It's how you play your card.

WHITFIELD: Bluff, and you keep going.

HARVEY: Bluff and keep going. Pow! You shot me in the leg! That ain't hurt. And just limp out the room.

(LAUGHTER)

HARVEY: You can fall when you get out the room, but don't let them see you.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: So is this something you share with the young men in your male mentoring group? And where did that come from, and why was it so important for you to start that?

HARVEY: Because if I didn't have the view of manhood from my father, I can't tell -- I can tell you for sure we're not having this interview. I'm not on CNN or nobody else's TV show. But my father instilled in me the work ethic, the principles of manhood. My mother and father were married for 64 years. That's why I've been married three times because I don't know nothing else. I was shown the viewpoint.

That was my shot. My snapshot was marriage. So I thought if you weren't married, man, according to my dad, you weren't really doing what a man was supposed to do.

I got it wrong. I messed it up. But that's all I thought you were supposed to do. I never thought the guy was supposed to be an international playboy. I did it, but wasn't supposed to. But his shot for me was marriage. And so if it wasn't for that, man, where would I be? So it's important to has this mentoring camp to give these boys a view of manhood that's correct. And I bring in all male counselors, all male workers for four days at my ranch in Texas.

WHITFIELD: So it's working. So that feels -- I mean, you are giving back in a big way, you know, helping families stay together, helping young men have a whole new lease on life. You don't think of it that way?

HARVEY: No. But I just look at it like this, that God (INAUDIBLE) you to become a blessing. He didn't give me this life I got for me to just go take it, buy a house and some cars and sit on the hill. If you don't show nobody how to get on the hill, man, who are you? Maybe I won't be up on the hill too long. I'm scared of that, too.

So get down off the hill and go help. Push some people up the hill. Put some reinforcement around your house. I'm just trying to bank, you know, in the event that the end comes and I kind of -- if there's a heaven, I'd like to see it.

WHITFIELD: As much as Steve Harvey makes us laugh, he says it's even more important to give back. His mentoring camp in Dallas helps inspire about 100 young men each summer. And next spring, Harvey's Disney (ph) Dreamers Academy for boys and girls ages 13 to 19 will celebrate four years. And of course, his book on relationships, "Straight Talk, No Chaser," is in stores now.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FEYERICK: Failure as a path to growth. I like that.

Well, too much work and not enough time? Five ways to help you handle your overloaded work schedule.

And if you're in business for yourself, you know all about taking chances. In this week's "Turnaround," Stephanie Elam looks at one woman's brewing passion for her business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I met budding barista Lucy Valena in July 2009. She was determined to take her mobile espresso catering company from the cart to her very own corner coffee shop.

LUCY VALENA, VOLTAGE COFFEE AND ART: I'm just going to keep working at it. I'm not letting up. I'm not letting up, Boston! I don't care!

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: And now, welcome to Voltage Coffee and Art in Cambridge's Kendall Square section. To make her dream a reality, she used her catering funds and worked at a second job at another coffee shop. Then Valena found a venture capital firm, Launch Capital, which gave her a $150,000 loan. By networking with her biz-savvy clients, Valena got help writing a business plan, finding a contractor and building her clientele.

VALENA: What's so cool about this place and how it became a brick- and-mortar location from a catering service is that I already had a name for myself before I even opened the door. Voltage coffee already meant something to people before we even opened.

JIM KOCH, FOUNDER SAMUEL ADAMS BREWERY: It's the first time I've been here.

VALENA: I know!

KOCH: Congratulations!

ELAM: Sam Adams founder Jim Koch is seeing how his help paid off.

KOCH: Wow. Welcome to small business! It's only an 84-hour week!

ELAM: Koch awarded Valena $4,000 to start her catering cart through the Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream program, which helps small food and beverage businesses get funding. He says he understands Valena's brewing passion.

KOCH: Lucy is the quintessential turnaround. When I first met her, she was pushing a little cart around, catering, making little cups of coffee with a beautiful little flourish. She had a great idea. She had passion. And with just a little bit of a loan, she was able to make that dream this beautiful coffee shop. ELAM: Now with one successful shop, she's hoping this is just the beginning.

(on camera): So basically, you still are not done with Boston?

VALENA: Absolutely not!

ELAM: Even though you know have your storefront.

VALENA: No, no, no, no, no. This is just the beginning, OK?

ELAM (voice-over): Stephanie Elam, CNN, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, if you feel like you've got too much work but not enough time, we have tips to lighten your overloaded schedule. But first we're going to check our top stories.

U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke remains in critical condition at a Washington hospital after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. Today, White House adviser David Axelrod called Holbrooke, quote, "a very tough person," unquote, who's fighting a heart problem many people could not have survived.

Swedish police are calling two explosions in Stockholm acts of terrorism. Officials say the blasts occurred within minutes of each other in an area packed with Christmas shoppers. The first blast was a car bomb, the second may have been set off by a suicide bomber. One person was killed, two others were injured.

Here's a reminder. Tomorrow -- busiest shipping day the year. So if you're planning on making a trip to the post office because you love long lines, or to your FedEx or UPS office, well, yes, be prepared to wait, wait, wait. FedEx expects to move nearly 16 million packages tomorrow, mostly for consumers who are ordering from on-line retailers.

We've seen it all over the country, maybe in your own office. Companies are downsizing. Employees are being asked to do the work of one or two of their colleagues who, well, have been let go, sadly. So how do you avoid burnout?

Valorie Burton is a life and career coach. She's joining us now with some really important tips. And it's true, the first thing you should do, really, is accept the reality that it's on your shoulders.

VALORIE BURTON, LIFE COACH: Yes. Yes, that it is what it is. And it really is a new reality. Some people have been dealing with for two years. For others, it's been a little bit delayed. But it's important to see the opportunity in what's happening. And so that means, for example, you may say, You know, this is an opportunity to expand my knowledge base, or perhaps I can learn some new skills, because in this economy, it's really important to pick up as many skill sets as you can. So don't just look at it as, Oh, I'm doing more work, but, What can I learn out of this?

FEYERICK: And when you are doing more work, obviously, it's critical to prioritize...

BURTON: Yes.

FEYERICK: ... to figure out what is -- or in my word, my life, I say "Mission critical." If it's not mission critical, it's not getting done.

BURTON: Yes. Yes, mission critical is a really good word for that!

(LAUGHTER)

BURTON: And sometimes, when life is moving so fast, we don't stop to say, OK, what's most important here? And that's really, really important. So before you start your day or even in the middle of the day, when it feels like things are kind of getting away from you, to be able to stop and say, What's important?

Now, this is really hard for people, especially when you've got a boss that might be breathing down your neck and saying, you know, Are you done yet, to able to come back to them sometimes and say, OK, I've got these three projects. Which one takes priority? So it doesn't always have to fall on you. Sometimes you need to go have a quick meeting with your boss.

FEYERICK: Sometimes, I find myself saying, you know, If I only had a secretary, my expenses would be done, my files would be filed.

BURTON: Yes.

FEYERICK: But really, it's not about having somebody else, it's about managing yourself, or self-managing.

BURTON: Self-management is so critical. And we live in an age where there's so much technology coming at us. We're constantly dealing with distractions. So you want to make sure that you're asking, You know what? Is there a smarter way to do this? Is there a faster way to do this? Am I just procrastinating? Because sometimes we're just looking for that instant gratification, and the thing we really need to be working on is going to take a little longer than perhaps sending off that e-mail. So it takes a little discipline.

FEYERICK: Is it fair, given -- when a boss (INAUDIBLE) expects you to do more, is it fair to ask for some perks, a little bit of a benefit, you know, I don't know, not coming in on Saturday morning, for example? What?

BURTON: Yes. I think when especially you have a company that's laid people off, you know, asking for a raise might not be the best time. But asking for some other things -- maybe it's a better title because as you try to move up maybe in your next career move, that's going to help you. You want to make sure that you perhaps ask for more flexible work hours. If you're proving that you're getting the work done, that might not be a big deal. But not everybody has a problem with raises, so in some situations, people really can ask for a raise, depending on how the company's doing.

FEYERICK: Right. Even asking for a half-day off...

BURTON: That's right.

FEYERICK: ... or not feeling guilty when you say, I -- you know, I've got to take care of a little bit of family business...

BURTON: That's right.

FEYERICK: ... because that dance recital will not wait. So now, there's also that issue, though -- certainly, everybody is feeling overworked, a little bit over stressed. And if you don't get enough sleep, if you don't take care of yourself, it's going to get you in the end.

BURTON: It absolutely does. When I wrote "How Did I Get so Busy?" I was amazed at the number of people that said, I don't enough quality time with my spouse -- 80 percent. I don't spend enough time with my kids -- 70 percent. We have to make sure that we understand how important it is to take care of ourselves and those relationships because, in turn, that helps us to be able to be more productive.

FEYERICK: Right. Exactly. And clearly, you don't want to sacrifice...

BURTON: No.

FEYERICK: ... the things that, in the end, mean the most to you. A job, you know, may come and go. Hopefully, the things that are most important in your life won't.

BURTON: Yes. And sometimes, it's those simple things. Eat your three meals a day. You know, take some breaks. Take a 10-minute break, get up from your desk and actually maybe walk down the hall or go outside.

FEYERICK: Right.

BURTON: Take those periods of rest that are so, so important.

FEYERICK: OK. Well, Valorie Burton, thank you so much. Always a pleasure to hear what you have to say.

BURTON: Thank you.

FEYERICK: It's just great advice. Thank you so, so much.

Well, bone-chilling cold. We simply cannot get away from it this weekend. Fierce winds, heavy snow. The Midwest gets slammed by a blizzard. We're going to find out whether your town is next. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Take a look. This scene in Iowa which also took a beating from the blizzard. Across the region the heavy snow has disrupted travel and knocked out power for thousands of homes and businesses. Parts of the Eastern U.S. and south are now in the line of fire.

Blinding snow, ferocious winds and bitter cold, they are all part of the mix today in parts of the Upper Midwest. A blizzard making life miserable there; the snow is heavy. In Minnesota, if you haven't seen this, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed. Sports arena, it just caved in. You see one of the workers trying to shovel the snow off to give it relief. CNN all-platform journalist Chris Welch is in Minneapolis.

And, Chris, boy, you took a look at it before and take a look at it now, and it's just sad.

CHRIS WELCH, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: It is. It really is. All this after a brutal, brutal Saturday of weather in Minneapolis. The game that was supposed to happen here between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings here, has been plagued with problems really since yesterday when the New York Giants got stuck in Kansas City on their way here because the Minneapolis airport was closed, they shut down. So they couldn't even get in then, so there was talk then of postponing the game, obviously.

Then the concern came up about the Metrodome possibly coming under- well, coming under some disastrous situations if the snow continues to fall, which obviously it did. The Metrodome roof collapsed. They have rescheduled this game between the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings, to tomorrow night in Detroit. They've told ticket holders if you make your way to Detroit, we will give you prime seating on the 50 yard line. That's one perk from all of this. But it's probably not much consolation for people who are stuck in Minneapolis and don't want to travel to Detroit.

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. It's not like hey, vacation. Let's road trip to Detroit. It's just not warmer there either.

What you see also just sort of where you are, getting there, is there less traffic? Are your neighbors basically just hungering down? Do you hear the televisions going? What are you seeing there?

WELCH: Oh, boy. If you were here yesterday, it was kind a sorry scene. Nobody wanted to go outside. I couldn't even see outside my window past probably 30 or 40 feet. It was just blowing snow. It was extremely windy, extremely cold. Snowdrifts were piling up on the street. A few ploughs were out. I think the city said five snowplows were running. Everyone else they sent home. It has been basically a ghost town, in other words, for lack of better terms. Grocery stores even closed. Yesterday nothing opened.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. Nobody can get out. And I don't know if you can see this, but we have your before and after pictures. These are pictures that you, yourself, took from your balcony roof. Just how at the different times of year, when the Metrodome was full, when was that taken?

WELCH: The one was taken in the summer. I was just taking a picture of the skyline because it was a pretty sunset and I felt like taking a picture. We have a beautiful skyline here so I took a picture. I went back to my computer to find that one. Compared it to one from today, you can-obviously, you can see there's no dome on the Metrodome.

FEYERICK: Exactly. It's de-domed. The Metrodome has been de-domed. Wow. OK. Chris Welch, thank you so much. I have to tell you, I'm looking at you out there, and all I can say is there are simply not enough layers in any sports or hunting store to keep you warm in that weather. Good luck out there.

WELCH: That's true.

FEYERICK: Chris Welch, thank you so much for joining us today.

Well, time for a CNN=Politics update. We're keeping an eye on the headlines on the CNNPolitics.com desk. Here's what's crossing right now.

A top senate Democrat is making a big push for a vote on President Obama's controversial tax deal. Majority Whip Dick Durbin says Democratic leaders have been making calls through the weekend to drum up support for the plan. Many Democrats are furious because the deal extends tax cuts for all income brackets including the wealthy. That's not something they wanted.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is holding a private conference call for his inner circle tomorrow night. He may announce whether he'll seek another term as head of the RNC, the Republican National Committee.

And President Obama is making another move to boost jobs creation. Good news there. This week he holds a strategy session with business leaders in Washington.

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was on a goodwill mission to Haiti this weekend. She's traveling with evangelist Franklin Graham and his relief organization Samaritan's Purse. Their visit comes nearly a year after a powerful earthquake devastated part of that country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If some of the politicians would come here and see the conditions perhaps they would see a need for military air lift to bring supplies that are so needed here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Palin's visit comes as the island country battles a cholera epidemic.

A Vermont woman is collecting letters from Americans who have exhausted their unemployment benefits, the so-called 99ers, who have no more money left. She's sending those letters to her senator. Listen as she reads a few of those letters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA JARRIN, LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED, HOMELESS: Dear Bernie Sanders: I feel as if I'm living in a nightmare from which I will never awaken. I'm a 53-year-old divorced female 99er.

The term does not necessarily mean that you have gotten 99 weeks. The term came to describe people who have exhausted their benefits.

Eighteen more to print.

"Why have we been forgotten, forsaken and left for dead? And have applied to well over 1,000 places.

I heard about, you know, what the Republicans and the president came up with basically, and I was just disgusted. I will make sure that anybody who sends their letter to this e-mail address gets printed out and gets delivered to the office. The more stories we get, the bigger the impact.

"I have exactly $5 in my wallet and $46.77 in my checking account. How are we supposed to get out of this recession when there are no jobs?

Low on ink.

They are coming from everywhere. From Nevada, California, New Jersey, New York, a lot from New York.

We are the American people, and we're telling you that we're starving. That there's too many people freezing. That people are dying. That people are committing suicide.

I campaigned for Obama in 2008. I believe in President Obama.

This is what I have printed off so far. I'm going to keep collecting them and I'm going to keep bringing them to you. Send them to him quick. We want him to know it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will be gone today.

JARRIN: I have work to do now, because I have to go start printing more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Wow, just heartbreaking. Friday afternoon Jarrin delivered more than 200 letters to Senator Sanders' Brattleboro, Vermont office. We'll see if they make a difference.

There's news, and there's news interpreted by comedian George Wallace. There he is. He's up next. That's the way I see it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Christmas is fast approaching. We'll help relieve your holiday stress after a look at our top stories.

Swedish police are calling two explosions in Stockholm, quote, "acts of terrorism", unquote. Officials say the blasts occurred within minutes of each other in an area packed with Christmas shoppers. The first was a car bomb. The second may have been set off by a suicide bomber. One person was killed, two others were injured.

Former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke remains in critical condition at a Washington hospital. He underwent emergency surgery yesterday to repair a torn aorta. Holbrook is President Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton has joined a prestigious line-up of college football's best players. He's the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner. An NCAA investigation determined Newton's dad violated pay for play rules, but found no evidence Cam Newton did anything wrong.

Feeling the pressures of the holidays yet? There's a blizzard messing with our travel plans, and what's this about tipping everyone in our lives from our hairstylist to the people that pick up our garbage? Need a laugh? You're going to get one. Comedian George Wallace joins us from New York give us his take on the news.

George, you're in New York. It's cold here in Atlanta. We see a little snow flurries. What's it like out there? Are we complaining over nothing?

GEORGE WALLACE, COMEDIAN: Debbie, I came to New York to meet you. I even stopped downstairs and bought you Godiva chocolates. You're in Atlanta, but I'll eat them for you. Is that OK?

FEYERICK: Absolutely.

WALLACE: Let me tell you, Deb, Christmas season in New York, if you have ever been to any or all the cities in America, you need to come to New York City. There's no city like this. It's Christmas like it should be. It's cold, it's different than Los Angeles. I live out there, too. We stand around the Christmas tree here. They stand around a swimming pool in Los Angeles. They do things like that. We have a sleigh here. Out there they have a surfboard on the ocean. It is just different. They have artificial snow. It's not right, OK? It's melting in the windows out there.

You have to come to New York. Come back East and enjoy the coldness. You're down in Atlanta, you say it's cold there, too. It's supposed to be cold. I'm tired of people complaining, it's cold. I have a sister in Atlanta, Antoinette. It's cold. It's December. It's winter. They why they call it-it's cold.

(LAUGHTER)

FEYERICK: That's why they call it winter.

WALLACE: C-O-L-how do you spell cold?

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. It all depends. Listen, actually you could wait there for me. Depending on the flights I should be there by 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. That's a tricky one.

What about tipping, though? Boy, people are having it rough as it is, and now we have to start paying everyone.

WALLACE: Well, if you have any little money left over, you need to take care of your service people, the people that take care of you throughout the year. My brother, Ethan, in Memphis, Tennessee, he didn't even know you had to tip, you are supposed to tip a maid at the hotel. I'm sure you knew that, Deb.

FEYERICK: I do. I always, absolutely. These people work so hard, that honestly you have to treat them right. You have to do the right thing.

WALLACE: I live in a hotel every day. If you tip the maids well in the hotels, they will actually clean the bathroom with your toothbrush. You don't know this, but somebody told me that, OK? You need to tip your nanny, if you have a nanny. How about your doorman. You need to tip your doorman. There's so many you need to tip in life. You just have to take-the garbage man and the mailman. You're not supposed to give the mailman cash. You know that, right?

FEYERICK: That's right.

WALLACE: Don't give them cash. That's against the law.

FEYERICK: You can bake something. I don't know. That might not go over if I bake something.

WALLACE: I was at the post office yesterday, and a lady brought the people at the post office some cookies. I told them, you guys going to eat those cookies, if you want to? You don't know who these people are. Are you going to eat their cookies?

(LAUGHTER)

FEYERICK: That's right, random food products.

WALLACE: If you are going to enjoy this holiday season, this is such a great holiday season. I love it. I'm just so happy to be here in New York. It's just beautiful. You have to come here and enjoy this city. Tip everybody. Tip your taxi driver. People in New York won't do anything for you if you don't tip.

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. A lesson learned the hard way. You have to go to Time Warner Center, by the way. Have you seen the lights? The sort of magical snowflakes? Isn't that the best with the music?

WALLACE: Deb, there's a million people downstairs right now. And that is why it is so lovely. I live right up the street and I come down here every day just to see the lights turn on. It's just so beautiful. Minneapolis, Minnesota, oh, it's so cold there. Did you see the dome just fell in?

FEYERICK: Oh, my god. Can you imagine if you were just standing there watching that collapse in on itself? What are you thinking when that is happens?

WALLACE: It's only snow, Deb. It's only snow. They should play. Aren't they supposed to-it's football. They're supposed to play in the snow. But the NFL, they are so nice, they have awarded Detroit with the game. So the Detroit people can see what real professional football is supposed to be about.

(LAUGHTER)

WALLACE: The New York Giants.

(LAUGHTER)

The Giants are so bad they want to call up Dorothy to take them to the Emerald City to get a real heart. They need some courage there. It's really bad. We need some real football here.

FEYERICK: Watching them sitting in that waiting room in the Kansas City Airport. That was a tricky one. There was the whole hang dog look. Don't they have a VIP lounge or something?

WALLACE: They have good barbecue ribs. They can get some good food while they're in Kansas City. New York Giants do that, OK?

Speaking of football, this new kid yesterday, in New York City, Cam Newton. I'm so proud of this young man. I don't know what his daddy did. But first of all they should be paying these kids in the first place.

Cam, you keep playing football like do you are doing and I promise your name will be more famous than Isaac Newton and Fig Newton.

FEYERICK: That's right, exactly. He looks so happy. The ability to win that prestigious of an award is just really remarkable. And somebody so young to be in that position, you have to handle that. And you have to handle it well.

WALLACE: I think he's doing a great job. I don't know where he's from. I just look at his speech patterns. And that is what I like about him. These young kids that can speak and go on after football and be a commentator and be like-and just enjoy life and have the best things in life for them. That's what he's going to do. Keep playing ball, Cam Newton.

FEYERICK: That's right. And, George, last week when you were here, and I was in New York, we just seem to be crossing paths. You lost your iPad. So did you get it back?

WALLACE: No, I didn't. But I thought about it, I do have insurance with American Express. And now I have a new iPad. So I'm going to use that. I'm using it. I'm walking down the street with it today and people are watching me. I guess everybody is watching CNN. They said, oh, you got your iPad back. No, it's a new one. It's a new one, OK? And it's so cold outside. I hear it's so cold down in Atlanta that Chick-Fil-A is actually going to close on Monday.

FEYERICK: It's frozen Chick-Fil-A now.

WALLACE: Right. I hear Ben and Jerry's they are now selling soup. It's really cold. If go down to Starbucks if you buy a cup of coffee, they give you a free microwave. I told the man I think it would be cheaper if I bought my microwave by itself. I don't need the coffee. It's cheaper to by the microwave than the cup of coffee there.

(LAUGHTER)

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. You better believe it. George, thank you so much for being on. You can by anytime and visit. I will look forward to seeing you and buying you some chocolate in New York when you're there.

WALLACE: Happy holiday, and something good is going to happen to you. George Wallace every night at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. I love you. And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. I love you, Deb. Here's your chocolates. Here's your chocolates. Mmmm!

FEYERICK: I'm going to cope with that love there, George. Oh, see, now you're just making me jealous.

(LAUGHTER)

WALLACE: Mmm! Uh-huh! Mmmm!

FEYERICK: Really, rub it in. Rub it in. OK.

Well, before you post any of your holiday party photos online, you want to see our end of privacy report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, you probably think that nobody but you and those closest to you know what you like, or what you think. Well, think again. As you'll see in this Jeanne Meserve report, what was once thought to be private is now very much public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dick Hardt put photos of his Hawaiian wedding on Facebook to share with close friends, but when he made mention of it on Twitter, he didn't know a link would be attached. Giving more than 3,000 followers access to some rather intimate images.

DICK HARDT, PRIVATE PICTURES WENT PUBLIC: We didn't think were offensive in any way, but my wife didn't prefer for everybody to see those photos.

MESERVE: While his case was embarrassing, others are downright dangerous. Sarah Downey was horrified when a picture of her young daughter was hijacked from her Flicker account and used in a sexually suggestive Portuguese language profile on Orchid.com, a social networking site.

SARAH DOWNEY, PRIVATE PICTURES WENT PUBLIC: It broke my heart. It broke my heart.

MESERVE: Downey posted a translation to warn other Flicker users, but then she says total strangers exploited the Internet to find her phone number, and worse her home address.

DOWNEY: We would go to the grocery store and I would wonder has this person seen my daughter. Are they here, you know, trying to find us, trying to get close with my daughter?

MESERVE: Since then, Downey tried to protect her private information. Has it worked? With her permission, we gave her name to Steven Rambam, a private investigator who harvests information from the Internet. In less than 90 seconds, he turns up 100 pages of possible links.

STEVEN RAMBAM, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Frankly anything you would want to know about this young lady seems to be available on the Web.

MESERVE: On sites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, more and more Americans are making their private information public. Put it together with public documents like newspaper accounts and property records and a portrait emerges. Take Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Using free publicly available information on the Internet, a Fordham University Law School class came up with 15 pages of information. Including Scalia's home address and phone number, even the movies and foods he likes.

JOEL REIDENBERG, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: If we were willing to spend $100 for the project, we would have been able to acquire far more intrusive, far scarier information.

MESERVE: Private Investigator Rambam says anytime you hit the send button, your information is no longer your own. He says your frequent flier program, movie account, book purchases, even some searches can be tracked, stored and sometimes sold.

RAMBAM: I have a window into your soul. I know what you believe. I know what you think. I know who your family is. I know who your friends are. I know your politics.

MESERVE (On camera): Orchid.com says it updated its policies and tools to find and remove fake profiles like the one of Sarah Downey's daughter and Google says it gives customers the tools they need to protect their personal information. Many of us could be more careful.

In addition, some privacy experts would like to see standardized and simplified website privacy policies or even government restrictions on secondhand use of private information.

(Voice-over): Steven Rambam sees a lot of positives to having so much information on the Internet and says the genie is already out of the bottle.

RAMBAM: Ten years from now you'll have a choice of getting used to minimal privacy or subleasing the Unabomber's cabin. That's going to be your two choices. The fact of the matter is there is nowhere to hide.

MESERVE: As Rambam puts it, privacy is dead. Get over it. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Scary stuff there. Well, a new CNN series looks at whether it is possible to keep your identity private. "End Of Privacy" starts Monday, right here on CNN.

I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield. Don Lemon is up next with more of the day's top stories. Plus Annie Lennox joins Don at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. She reveals why she's spending time with the first family in Washington and she sings some Christmas carols.

(MUSIC)