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New Health Care Ruling; Bitter Cold Grips Eastern U.S.; Spotting Secret Cameras; Julian Assange Freed on Bail; Golden Globes Nominations Announced Today

Aired December 14, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.

This American is a star in Japan. Why is that so shocking? We will share his amazing story with you.

Every time you go out of your house, someone may be watching you on a surveillance camera. We will show you how to figure out if it is happening to you in our "End of Privacy" report.

And you're online right now, and we are, too. Trending on CNN.com is a story about snoring. Is it ever a good thing?

Let's get started with our lead story.

Yesterday, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government to force Americans to buy health insurance. It is the first time a portion of the president's landmark health care bill has been struck down in court, and a ruling that promises to spur a heated legal debate that could eventually see its way all the way to the Supreme Court.

The White House immediately struck back. Here is what Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have to say about the case in this morning's "Washington Post."

Let's take a look at it right here. Yes, but I can't read it on the screen. All right.

There it is. So, strong reactions on both sides today following that federal judge's ruling yesterday that parts of the new health care law are unconstitutional.

The judge says the government cannot force Americans to buy health insurance. Virginia's attorney general agrees. But the White House is already fighting back.

Here is what Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in "The Washington Post." We don't have that, but just heard it mentioned by our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry.

Let's get now to our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, good to see you.

Let's put all of the legal wrangling aside here. What does this mean, this ruling from this judge in Virginia, a federal judge, for you, for me, for families moving forward with health care?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At this moment, nothing. At this moment, this doesn't mean anything. What he struck down was basically a way to pay for all of this. Forcing Americans to buy insurance is a way to pay for all of the provisions of health care reform.

HARRIS: Yes.

COHEN: But some of those provisions have gone into effect. They will remain in effect. However, this will -- this reform will not be long- lived if they don't think of a way to pay for it. But right now, at this moment, and probably the foreseeable -- going to go out on a limb here -- sort of weeks, months to come, no changes.

HARRIS: Sure. So, what's left in the bill if this ruling stands? And I know we're looking down the road a bit.

COHEN: Right. Well, let's talk about what's in effect right now, what families, what people can take advantage of right now, and what stands, despite what the federal judge did in Virginia yesterday.

OK. Let's two things. There are several, but let's take two of them.

Right now, you can stay on your parents' insurance until age 26. That's a new thing that came with health care reform. That started in September. That will stay the same. If your child is on your health care insurance at the age of 25, that's not going to change.

HARRIS: Good. Good.

COHEN: Also, children with pre-existing conditions can get insurance now. Before, it was extremely hard for them to get it. They faced ridiculous prices or just being told no. That stays.

So, if you just, last month, got your child insurance, and your child has a pre-existing condition, they're not going to yank that insurance away. So I think those are two important things to know, because I know that people are concerned, parents are concerned, is my kid going to get their insurance yanked away? And the answer right now is no.

HARRIS: Can I read -- let's put the full screen. We had some problems at the tops of the show, and I apologize for that. But I did want to get to this, the notes from -- the editorials from "The Washington Post." And again, this is from Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

And you can comment on this once I read through a bit of it here.

From "The Washington Post" this morning, "Without an individual responsibility provision, controlling costs and ending discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions doesn't work. The legal arguments made against the law gloss over this problem."

COHEN: It's interesting how they put that. Basically, what they're saying -- I'm going simplify this here.

HARRIS: OK.

COHEN: OK. Health care reform allows people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance. Right now, if you have a pre-existing condition, and you go out on your own to get insurance, they're not going to give it to you, or they're going to charge you some ridiculous amount of money that you probably can't afford.

And so what the law says is insurance companies can't do that. If someone comes to you with cancer, you have to insure them. That's extremely expensive for the insurance companies. So how do you pay for that?

Right? How do you pay for that? You know how you pay for that? You make every American get insurance.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

COHEN: You tell healthy Americans, of which there are tens of millions of them without insurance, hey, buddy, the game's over. You've got to buy insurance. And that's where that cash comes from.

The Virginia judge in saying, you can't do that, well, how do you pay for this then? The funding mechanism kind of goes away. That's a big problem.

HARRIS: Yes. OK.

Elizabeth, I know you're going to be following this closely and drilling down on what this really means for individuals and families. We appreciate it. Good to see you.

Thank you. Thanks for bailing me out here.

(NEWSBREAK)

HARRIS: Folks in parts of Ohio are used to the cold and snowy winters, of course, but it's not officially winter yet, and they're already getting hammered.

Meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. That is near Cleveland.

Rob, it does -- pardon the expression, but it does look like a bit of a winter wonderland where you are.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does. And if there is some comfort to be taken here, that's what folks here are trying to do.

We are in the town square of Chagrin Falls, where it's beautiful white snow. But it's, you know, too much of a good thing.

I know it's the holidays. Behind me is the Christmas tree all lit up, and Norman Rockwell-like, but this is the second week now in a row, Tony, where they've had not only snow come here, but bitterly cold temperatures.

So, they do a pretty good job of cleaning the roadways. But nonetheless, there's well over 200 schools and businesses and organizations that have shut down operations today for the second day in a row.

And on top of that, the cold has broken some water mains. We've got frozen roadways because of that. We've got people in Medina that have to boil their water to make it safe because of those water mains busting up.

We've got some power outages as well because of the winds. We woke up this morning in Cleveland, and the winds were blowing 40 miles an hour off the lake. It was just right through you, with wind-chills well below zero.

So, it looks beautiful, it is the holiday. You kind of want a little bit of snow. But for even the heartiest of Midwesterners here in northeast Ohio, they've already had enough.

And here's what the mayor of Chagrin Falls had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TOM BRICK, CHAGRIN FALLS, OHIO: In terms of early, this is nasty. In terms of winter, this is normally as bad as it gets, but -- so we have had storms like this in the past. But you don't have them every winter, and you certainly don't have them on a repeated basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: And they got another foot of snow last night. Other parts of northeast Ohio got up to 20 inches of snow.

And we've got a lake-effect snow warning, or winter storm warning, I should say, here, until 7:00 in the morning. Upstate New York also going to see this.

And Tony mentioned, Chad, that we're not officially into winter, although for weather guys, we know really begins December 21st. Last year at this time we were pretty much talking about the same thing.

I don't know if I'm tossing it back to Tony or to Chad, but I want to show you one thing. I came in last night and I lost my hat. So I had to buy a new hat at the store --

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You are a Buckeye.

MARCIANO: -- at the gift shop at the hotel. Ohio State. You know?

I know you're a big Cornhusker, Chad. Well, you're going into the big 10 now, baby, so --

MYERS: It's going to be the 14 by the time they're done. Thanks, Rob.

All right. And all our producers down there that went to Ohio State are happy about that. Even the people that went to Ohio are happy about that.

HARRIS: That's right.

MYERS: Right? It's OK.

HARRIS: It's all right.

MYERS: This is a pretty good year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: A startling discovery on Long Island. Details in our "Cross Country" report.

But first though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's see if you can top this one -- a cross-dressing British billionaire -- our "Random Moment of the Day."

Richard Branson lost a bet with a rival airline owner, so he will work as a flight attendant on an Air Asia flight in February. Branson will wear the regulation red uniform and heels, as this London newspaper mockup shows.

Branson, as you may recall, famously shaved his beard in 1996 when he launched his company's bridal store. As you can see, he also tried on the merchandise.

Sir Richard Branson all dressed up for the "Random Moment of the Day."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As our special week-long investigation "The End of Privacy" continues, we are taking a closer look at who's watching you. In today's digital world, surveillance cameras can literally be hidden anywhere. Our Josh Levs shows you how to avoid the spy camera spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They look like everyday objects -- a lamp, a radio, an iPod docking station. But when you look closer, they have hidden cameras inside. Tiny, unnoticeable.

BRIAN CURRY, PEACH STATE INVESTIGATIONS: The camera lens is right here and it's usually pointing up.

LEVS (on camera): And I have no idea that there's a camera there. There's nothing about this that suggests anything is videoing me.

(voice-over): They can provide an extra layer of security.

CURRY: The ones that tell me what they're doing with the cameras are going to be the people that are either wanting to keep an eye on their sitter, their nanny.

LEVS: And we've all seen how hidden cameras can help the good guys in movies like "Mission Impossible."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a camera built right into the bridge. Whatever you see it sees, and then it transmits it back here.

LEVS: But some end up where they shouldn't be.

CURRY: I recently heard one that the guy had a pen camera that he got that's -- I guess it was motion-activated, and he set it up in a gym bag and took it in the -- maybe the YMCA or something.

LEVS: They're relatively affordable. These costs a few hundred bucks, and technology is making smaller and more sophisticated ones all the time. Some even broadcast their video wirelessly over the Internet.

So, how can you tell if there's a hidden camera where you are? Technology can help with that, too.

CURRY: This is actually a low-cost camera finder.

LEVS: Private investigator Brian Curry runs a spy shop near Atlanta. He sells the cameras, but he also helps people watch out for them.

(on camera): I'm seeing a big bright red blinking dot right there. And it's telling me there's a camera on me.

(voice-over): Some more sophisticated detectors can even seek out wireless camera signals.

CURRY: You see it's actually scanning the frequencies.

LEVS (on camera): So what we're seeing here, it's picking up all these -- lots of different cameras in here?

CURRY: Well, yes, it's pulling up -- that's going to be the flower pot camera that we had on earlier.

LEVS (voice-over): It's technology versus technology, potentially giving people the tools to invade your privacy, but also giving you a chance to catch them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Boy. Josh Levs joining me now.

So, Josh, how small can these cameras get? LEVS: They can really be absolutely anywhere. I mean, it's amazing what these spy cameras have come up with. They can be inside rings, they can be hidden basically inside any object. And you saw there how tiny the actual camera lenses are. You wouldn't suspect them. It's not the kind of thing that you would stop and notice unless you had reason to be suspicious in the first place.

HARRIS: And who's using this type of technology?

LEVS: Well, you know, there are people which I've actually spoken with, a couple of people who said, look, they want to keep an eye on their kids, they want nanny cams, basically to make sure that their kids are being treated well. Sometimes, you hear them used in offices in cases where that's allowed, and sometimes that's perfectly fine. But you also know there are people out there planting these things where they should not be.

But most people don't know about that technology that lets you track it down, let's you find if this is a camera in there. So, if you're suspicious, it's helpful. Get one of these camera hunters and check it out yourself -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

LEVS: You got it.

HARRIS: New York City is currently installing more surveillance video in high tourist areas like Manhattan and Times Square. When completed, there will be 3,000 cameras keeping watch, mostly funded by the Department of Homeland Security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HARRIS: An intense snowstorm leaves more than 300 people stranded on the highway in southern Ontario. The highway is shut down indefinitely and under a state of emergency. We're told the Canadian military has brought in search and rescue helicopters to help drivers.

Brandon Junkin joins me now to tell us what he is seeing.

First of all, Brandon, how long have you been trapped? And how are you holding up?

BRANDON JUNKIN, STRANDED IN TRUCK FOR ABOUT 24 HOURS: I've been -- actually, I just got out about 20 minutes ago to a half hour ago. We were pulled out. But up to that point, we've been over 24 hours stuck in the same spot, just off the main highway.

They had gotten us off the 402 highway that was closed, and then they put us on a side highway. Unfortunately, the snow continued all night, and by around midnight last night, you could no longer open the doors in your car because the snow had gotten so deep.

HARRIS: Hey, Brandon, I'm wondering if you had anticipated this when you started your journey, and if you had a kit of necessary supplies in the vehicle with you.

JUNKIN: I didn't anticipate -- I anticipated bad weather. I was told bad weather was going to be in the area. But I was driving a fairly large truck with a 4x4 and I just figured I'd take my time and go through it.

And by the time I planned to get to that area, it would have been rush hour. So I was anticipating lots of salt to be down and kind of drivers going slow anyway.

When I got there, it was just like -- there was nobody there, and everything was ice. And it had gotten bad.

I didn't actually pack a lot. I had blanket with me in the back anyway, but I didn't -- no, I didn't have anything packed that I should have. I had a quarter tank of fuel, and it just wasn't good.

By the time I got stopped and realized I was in trouble, that there was nothing we could do, by midnight, I had to shut the truck off and actually just sit there and wait. And I was showing minus 10 to 12 Celsius inside the truck, so it was getting really cold by midnight.

HARRIS: How nervous-making were those hours, the hours from the point that you actually had to shut the vehicle off until you could get some relief?

JUNKIN: Well, it wasn't until -- you really felt almost despair. It wasn't until about 7:30, 8:00 in the morning, because they kept saying on the radio, the local radio, that there are cars stuck on 402, which is the main highway, but they never made mention that we were on another highway besides 402. So you almost felt despair, because you couldn't see more than two feet in front of you.

And my concern was, did they even know we were out here, that we were sitting here? Because there was talk about blankets and food being brought to cars, and we hadn't seen anybody. Nobody had come to us. And with no fuel left, I mean, I was freezing.

It wasn't until 7:30 in the morning. The snow was still coming down and the wind was really strong, but we could hear what sounded like helicopters.

And when I opened by window, I kind of crawled out because I couldn't open my door and I looked up. There was a helicopter hovering right over the top. And at that point, I realized that for sure, they knew we were there and they were going to definitely be sending help.

HARRIS: Hey, Brandon, Chad Myers is with us as well. He's been helping us sort of orient the viewers as to where you are, where all of this is taking place. And I'm sure he's got some thoughts for you as well, and some questions.

MYERS: Major lake-effect event here. You were probably driving along and didn't have much snow. And then, all of a sudden, you drove into a whiteout.

What was that like?

JUNKIN: Correct. It was literally a full-on whiteout.

Like, I'm an avid -- I like being outdoors, and in the wintertime as well. But I have never been in something like that.

You're driving along, and it was fairly -- it was OK. Like, I mean, the driving, it was snowy. But then it got so bad, that you couldn't actually see the road even below you, if you were to look out your window and look down. You could no longer see the road at all.

And at that point, I basically just kind of a slowed down to a -- I didn't want to stop quickly. I was afraid vehicles behind me might hit me because they just mentioned Detroit -- or the Niagara area and Michigan having all these same issues, so I didn't want to get into that.

And so I basically slowed down quickly, and it was just like a white wall. And you can talk about it, but -- and I've heard people say things like that before, but it wasn't until I was actually there. It was just literally a white wall. You couldn't see anything.

MYERS: Brandon, you were concerned that --

JUNKIN: It stayed that way for 24 hours.

MYERS: Yes. You were concerned that you weren't on 402. You weren't on the parkway there. And you weren't being seen. Or did you not have a cell phone, no service, or what?

JUNKIN: I had a cell phone, but I called and just let them know that we were here. And they said that there's just too many people out right now, and that there's too much going on, and that it would be at least 12 hours until they could get to us.

But on the radio stations -- and all the local media, when you're turning it on -- like, I was turning it on my satellite radio, and even local radio stations, all they were mentioning was Highway 402, Highway 402.

MYERS: Yes.

JUNKIN: But meanwhile, you just felt almost disheartened, because the police had turned you around 12 hours earlier, sent you off the highway into the middle of the country, in the middle of nowhere, and said, sit here. And now you're sitting there and it's just whiteout. I've been in a whiteout before, like a ten second gust of wind that came over, but this continued for 12 to 14 hours --

MYERS: So you -- you could get disoriented if you left your truck. Basically staying in your truck, from what I hear, saved your life.

JUNKIN: Hundred percent - literally, I would say 6:30 in the morning, I debated at one point getting out and walking because I thought I could see Christmas lights from a house and I was debating do I walk to it. But when I opened the door and realized the snow was four feet beside my truck, I realized there was no way I would make it so I just sat there, but you couldn't tell where you were at all.

As it turns out, when they dug us out, I only had to drive about half a mile up a road and I was at a restaurant, gas station, everything was right here and this is where everybody has been sitting.

HARRIS: Were there other people around you?

JUNKIN: Yes, there were about ten cars behind me and all the rest were big transport trucks all lined up in front of me, but you could only see at best, maybe one car. The wind stopped for a minute, I was only five feet behind the transport truck in front of me and I didn't realize.

It wasn't until morning, he had actually jack knifed in that position and his cab was spun around, but I never saw him -- I couldn't actually see it until morning even though he had the rig on all night with the lights on. I couldn't actually see the front of it.

HARRIS: Brandon, you are one lucky young man. You and whoever your traveling companion was. You guys have been -- you were really lucky. Chad, before we say good-bye to Brandon. Just orient the viewers again of what we're talking about here and Brandon, hang on the line while we do this.

MYERS: Let's just go to that Google map. I'll take you from where Detroit starts and then on up towards Sarnia (ph) and the Blue Water --

HARRIS: There are a lot of people still stuck.

MYERS: I think they probably are. The helicopters are out there now. They're looking for other people. What we said was that OHP or Ontario -- OPP sent people off the Highway 402 because it was closing.

They were sending people on to smaller roads. They sent a lot of people off to the side roads and in the range land where I grew up, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, you would see this gates that say interstate close. You would think the interstate is a safest place to be because they would find you.

If OPP were sending people on to smaller roadways that people didn't know they were there, especially and other people didn't know they're stranded because you could see them and all of sudden, you don't have all the people on the highway, you have people on random roads scattered off the highway.

I think these men were quite lucky to be alive and I'm hoping everybody did stay in the car because that's the lesson here. You must stay with your vehicle. It's much larger. It's some protection. The wind chill factor outside would have been 10 degrees at times with the gusts, 10 below zero. Your hypothermia could have kicked in within 10 or 15 minutes trying to trudge through 4 to 5 foot drifts. You never would have made it. HARRIS: Brandon, you still there?

JUNKIN: Yes.

HARRIS: You consider yourself -- I hope you consider yourself lucky and smart. It sounds like you were both.

JUNKIN: For sure. It's exactly what he said because when we got off the highway, there was nobody directing us where to go so we all followed the first guy that got off. We ended up on another highway right beside 402 and had he we not done that and stuck together. we'd be all over this great area because it's so vast. I think that's the concern right now is that so many people are out everywhere. They don't know where they all are.

HARRIS: Brandon, warm up. Collect your thoughts. You've been through quite an order and we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.

JUNKIN: Thank you.

MYERS: Another thing I want to mention and then this is just for people because it's Christmas time. Go buy a car charger for your cell phone because these guys could have been out there much longer time and I'm sure there will be others who still haven't been rescued yet and they're still out there.

If you're cell phone's dead you can't tell them you're in some ditch somewhere. I know what road I was on, but I fell off the road. Now, my car is covered. I can't even see daylight. You can't see me. You can't even tell them where you were if you don't have a cellphone.

HARRIS: Great point.

MYERS: Gas up that car all the way.

HARRIS: Let's get to a break. Boy, Brandon, you and your travel companion, very, very lucky. We're back in a moment here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, I want to give you a quick market check because we've got a nice number as you can see over my shoulder here. We're in positive territory. Up 69 points and the headlines, stocks gaining on strong retail sales.

The numbers so far are pretty good. You're out spending money and that's producing a bit of a pop if stock prices right now. So we are buying and the Nasdaq I can't see it there, but it is up as well, up nine points.

Let's get to London now and to CNN's Atika Shubert. Atika, if you would, give us an update on the situation with the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. What happened in court today? ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, the judge has granted him bail with certain conditions, but you would think he would be released, but that's not the case. That's because the Swedish prosecutor has just filed an appeal, which means he must remain in custody until this has been resolved.

Another hearing will be scheduled within 48 hours that will basically hear the prosecution's case. For the moment, it looks like Julian Assange remains in jail, in custody. He will not be walking out of here tonight.

That is a fact for his legal team. They were hoping that because the judge had decided he could be released on bail that he would be walking out of here, but he will be here for the next 48 hours it seems.

HARRIS: Well, and Atika, bail set, let me see if I've got the figure right here. Is it 200,000 pounds or the equivalent of 315,000 or so U.S. dollars?

SHUBERT: That's right. The judge had set the bail for that amount, but he also sets several conditions. For example, Julian Assange would have to be at the residence that he had registered under from 10:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon.

He would have to be there in the evening from 10:00 until 2:00 in the morning and that he would to check in with police every evening. He would also have to hand in his passport to police and that he could not travel anywhere overseas.

And he would have to wear an electronic tag to make sure he was monitored during those times that he was under basically house arrest. There were quite a few conditions in place already, but clearly, the Swedish prosecutor was not happy with that and I should point out that Julian Assange's defense lawyers are saying the fact that the Swedish prosecutor is not happy is making this a show trial.

HARRIS: OK, CNN's Atika Shubert for us in London. Atika, good to see you. Let's take a break. We're back in a moment here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, of all the blabber we hear all year, what are some of the best quotes of 2010 according to Yale Book of Quotations? Coming in at number five, I am going to really mess this up. What the Chilean miners exclaimed when they were rescued after two months underground. Is there a Spanish speaker anywhere? Anywhere?

All right. I'm going to give it a go -- is that close? Is it reasonably close? All right, number four. Sarah Palin's now infamous tweet. Don't retweet instead reload and number three is if you touch my junk, I'm going to have arrested. That great quote from airline passenger John Tyner, refusing the security pat-down or full body scan at the San Diego Airport. Let's go back to chi chi le.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's do this. Let's get you caught up on some big stories in the entertainment world. Kareen Wynter is standing by in Los Angeles to get you plugged in. Kareen, it's all about the Golden Globes today. It's really the biggest night in film and television, correct?

KAREEN WYNTER, ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Tony. It's also the unofficial launch of the entertainment award show season. So we're all excited here in Hollywood. It started really early this morning.

Katie Holmes, she made the announcement. She got up bright and early, 5:30 a.m., Tony. That's dedication right there. She was joined by actor Josh Duhamel as well as Blare Underwood and some of the big highlights Johnny Depp. He's actually going to be competing against himself in the best actor in a motion picture category for these two flicks, "Alice In Wonderland" as well as "The Tourist" so good for him.

And Angelina Jolie, Johnny's co-star in "The Tourist" also got an actress nomination in the motion picture musical or comedy category along with your personal favorite, I'm talking about Ms. Berry, Haley Barry for her performance. I hear you chuckling, in Frankie and Alice where she plays a woman with multiple personality disorder. It's an Indie film.

Also Annette Benning and Julian Morris, they will round out this category for the "Kids are All Right" along with Anne Hathaway and new comer Emma Stone. OK, Tony, we got to take a little breather here because we're about to hit the big category, the huge, huge category, the film drama category.

One of the films to beat this year will absolutely be "The King's Speech." It had the most noms this morning, seven nods from the foreign critics, followed by the Facebook film, the social network and Mark Walberg's "The Fighter" brought in six.

Among the other best film dramas nominated are the "Black Swan" and "Inception" and you know this, Tony. The Golden Globes, they're traditionally a rowdy, unpredictable party because it's the one show that brings together film and TV stars. So, you know, what could be better. So in the TV nominees in the comedy category, "Glee," they're coming off that huge momentum from winning all of those awards from the Emmys earlier in the summer. They earned five nominations, as well as "30 Rock," "The Big Bang Theory," "The Big C," "Modern Family" and Showtime's "Nurse Jackie." And the awards show will air Sunday, January 16th. And the very funny comedian Ricky Gervais is back hopefully better than ever again this year as the host. There you have it, Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, good. How did that "Modern Family" -- did that get a couple -- did you just mention that and I just -- that just didn't --

WYNTER: Yes, they snagged three in total.

HARRIS: Three.

WYNTER: Three in total. It's popular. Not as many as "Glee." "Glee" had the most with five. But again, another show doing extremely well. Such a favorite. So we'll have to see, you know, who comes out on top of the big night.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.

It's good to see you.

WYNTER: You too, Tony.

HARRIS: You're a winner all day, every day.

WYNTER: Oh, back at you.

HARRIS: Kareen, good to see you.

WYNTER: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: And if you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, Brooke Anderson and A.J. Hammer got you covered this evening on "Showbiz Tonight" at 5:00 and 11:00 on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Gays in the military back on the agenda in the House. Dana Bash, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," live from Capitol Hill.

And, Dana, so what do we have here, Dems in the House pushing for a vote?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You remember last week when the Senate failed to begin debate on a defense bill that included the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Senate Democrats who support this said that they were going to try to push a standalone bill in the Senate before they leave for Christmas break. Well, today, what the House said is, you know, we're going to do it first. And so that's what the House majority leader announced.

Now, to be clear, the House wasn't where the hurdled have been in these votes. The House has already passed this before. But what they are hoping is that this gives the Senate a little push, Tony. That perhaps the way that they can craft this, it will expedite a vote in the Senate. But it is still kind of a question mark whether or not the Senate is going to have time to do this because they still, after they're finished with tax cuts, want to begin the debate on the START treaty, which could take a little time. And Christmas break is really just the end of next week, coming up. So that's the first item on the ticker.

Second item is Mitt Romney. Tony, he is now the latest high profile Republican to say he really does not like this tax cut legislation that's moving through Congress right now. You know, of course the Senate, in the Senate, all but five of his fellow Republicans voted to move forward on this. But Romney is arguing in an op-ed in "USA Today" is that he believes that it's bad for the economy because it's just temporary when it comes to tax cuts and that the whole idea of extending tax cuts from his perspective economically is to give certainty to the economy and certainty to investors and this just doesn't do it.

Tony.

HARRIS: Right.

And, Dana, I received an e-mail telling me that you had received an e- mail from Bill Clinton, the former president, with a contest to pay off Hillary Clinton's debt. What is that all about?

BASH: You know, we all like contests. I think everybody in politics knows this, too. It's really interesting. First of all, let's just start with paying off Hillary Clinton's debt. No, the calendar is not wrong. There's not a time warp. It is the winter of 2010 and her campaign did end more than two years ago, but she does still has debt, Tony, about $75,000 or so according to the latest filing.

So what Bill Clinton has done is he has sent an e-mail saying that if you contribute at least $5, at least $5, you will be eligible for a contest that you could win to fly to New York and spend the day with Bill Clinton. So they are trying very hard to retire that debt with some interesting things going on here.

But, you know, he has done this in the past, Tony. He had this contest and in his e-mail he said he had a blast with the person who won this. So he's going to try to do it again.

HARRIS: That's a reality show moment, the day with Bill Clinton. All right --

BASH: Actually, that's good. Maybe we can ask if we can bring cameras. Good idea.

HARRIS: I'm going to leave it there. I'll get both of us in trouble.

All right, Dana, good to see you. Thank you.

Your next political update coming in one hour. And for the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato, she's a senior writer with "Money," and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a columnist with walletpop.com.

All right, guys, first question comes to us from Colorado. Kathy there writes, "I have a practice of buying a used car with 30,000 miles, driving it for five to seven years until it's worth only $1,000 to $2,000 and then selling it on Craigslist. I paid off my most recent car in March with 130,000 miles and just had a $1,400 repair bill. Is there a formula for deciding how long to keep a car?"

Lynnette.

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, COLUMNIST, WALLETPOP.COM: This is a great question and, no, I don't think there's a formula to be honest with you. If there is, I haven't heard of it.

ELAM: Right.

KHALFANI-COX: Just in general, I think the, you know, good advice here would be, keep that car as long as possible. I love the fact that they had this car with 130,000 miles on it. They said they've paid a $1,400 repair bill. Well, if you look at that over the cost of a year, that's like, you know, $100 a month or something. You know, a little bit more than that. So, to me, if you thought about, you know, buying a new car and the cost of what that would entail, it's so much greater. Keep the car as long as possible, you know, until it's like on its last legs, you know.

ELAM: So if it's working for her, then stick with it, right?

KHALFANI-COX: Yes, just got to stick with it. Keep going with the car.

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY": I think it's a good idea.

ELAM: All right. All right. The next one comes to us from Kim in Ohio wrote writes, "my brother told me he signed over some H&R Block stock to me several years ago. How can I find out if I still own the stock and how much I own."

What do you think, Donna?

ROSATO: Very nice of the brother to give the stock to Kim.

ELAM: Yes, very nice.

ROSATO: It's relatively easy to track down whether you own shares or not. What you need to do is track down the stock -- the transfer agent for that stock. You can call up H&R Block's investor relations department and ask for the transfer agent or even maybe look it up on the website. Once you get in touch with the transfer agent, they're going to have you put up something called assuredly (ph) bond. They're going to track down that stock certificate for you, but they want to have a little assurance that nobody else has taken that. It's 1 to 3 percent of the cost of the shares. But once you do that and you put up that money, then they'll issue a new stock certificate and you'll have those shares.

ELAM: And then you can track it and know what's going on with it.

ROSATO: Yes.

ELAM: And pay attention a little bit closer.

All right. Thanks so much, Donna and Lynnette, for helping us out today. Hey, if you have a question you want to get answered, we're happy to help you out. Go ahead and send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's check in once again with Sandra Endo. She's in Washington for your trending stories.

And, Sandy, I hope we spend some time here talking about the new CNN app for the iPad, right?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. That is definitely trending today. The unveiling of CNN's new iPad application. Check it out. I know you're jealous I have this in my hands.

HARRIS: Wow, look at you.

ENDO: But you can see the look. It's so cool. Obviously a broad sheet presentation. You can scroll up for your favorite stories. But there's also different looks if you prefer more of a text style to read your stories. But my favorite part is also a way to get all the featured stories. So if you want to cut through all the nonsense and go to all the juicy stories of the day, you can get it right there. And my favorite is the video portion because then you can play the videos you want to see that have been playing on CNN. So the best part about it all is that it's free, Tony. So pick it up.

HARRIS: That is terrific. That's terrific.

ENDO: Yes.

HARRIS: Look at you with the gizmo in your hand and making it work, the CNN app for the iPad.

ENDO: I got lucky.

HARRIS: All right, Sandy, appreciate it. See you tomorrow.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Just enough time to say, CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with the man, Ali Velshi.

Where are you, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm here. I'm here.

HARRIS: Oh, there you are.

VELSHI: I'm in a different place today, my friend. You have a great afternoon.

HARRIS: Thank you, sir.