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New Year's Resolutions for Work; U.S. Closely Eyes Korean Crisis; The Koreas: A Test of Will; Oil Pipeline Explosion Kills 23 in Mexico; Storms Slamming Pacific Coast; The Funny Side with George Wallace; Christmas Surprise for Three Brothers; The Gift Giving

Aired December 19, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Drew Griffin sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield. You are in the NEWSROOM here at CNN.

A potential powder keg in the Koreas has the United Nations Security Council holding an emergency session right now. At issue are planned military drills by South Korea and renewed threats of military action by North Korea. Richard Roth, our senior United Nations correspondent, has been at the United Nations all day. Richard, any updates from there?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: The Security Council we were just told is still negotiating. One diplomat said they're waiting for China to come up with instructions on possibly a new statement. It's been that way for hours now, maybe no surprise. There are divisions between Russia and China on one side, the United States and the UK on another. The differences really center as the ambassadors have been here for hours since the late morning. The differences center on how strong a statement to make. Russia and China want a statement urging calm but the U.S. and France and others think it should be much more condemnatory of North Korea and not equivocate between the north and south since some diplomats say the south hasn't done anything and it's North Korea which has attacked South Korea. That's what they're haggling over. There may be differences on what type of statement to make. I think there's a sense of wanting to do something before any live fire drills as planned by South Korea begin. Drew?

GRIFFIN: All right, Richard, thanks a lot. Of course, we'll stick with you but we want to get to North Korea itself. Our own Wolf Blitzer is traveling with former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson who is in, somewhat coincidentally, in North Korea at this time of crisis.

Wolf, we want to just hear whatever has been going on there today, because it's been so hard for you to reach out to us. Can you give us an update on what the governor has been doing, who he's been meeting with and if you feel if there is any movement going in the negotiations to kind of calm tensions?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He's been pretty widely received here since he got to Pyongyang. It's now early Monday morning already in the North Korean capital. He's got a final rounds of talks scheduled today with the vice president, with the senior foreign minister, the vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs among others. So he's going to be able to wrap things up. He's scheduled to leave in about 10 or 12 hours from now. But he's been received from the top military brass. He had a very extensive meeting with Major General Pak Rim Su, who is the top North Korean military official in charge of the demilitarized zone and he offered some proposals, which the North Koreans by the way did not completely reject. In fact, Richardson says they seem to be open to establishing a hotline, a military-to- military hotline between North and South Korea to avoid miscalculations. This has been described, this whole Korean Peninsula as a tinderbox, Drew. One miscalculation could cause a full-scale war.

And let's not forget, there's a million North Korean forces just north of the demilitarized zone. Hundreds of thousands of South Korean troops south of there with about 30,000 U.S. troops, almost 30,000 U.S. troops stationed along the northern part of the -- of South Korea.

So there's artillery shells and there's missile launchers and there's even nuclear weapons. So this is a real, real crisis, probably the worst since the 1953 armistice. So that's why everyone is so concerned. The North Koreans are flatly saying, and they're repeating it, that if the South Koreans go ahead with this live fire drill on this island, which they say is disputed, the Yeonpyeong Island, which the North Koreans attacked back on November 23rd, they will then respond. Even if the South Koreans go ahead and fire in a southerly direction into the waters, they say those are North Korean territorial waters, their sovereignty will be attacked and that they will then respond.

So how they will respond, what they will do is anyone's guess right now. But people don't want to get to that situation. That's why Richardson has been urging calm restraint on all sides, and everyone is sort of hoping the United Nations Security Council will come up with some sort of resolution that will quiet the situation. But it's tense right now. There's no doubt about that.

GRIFFIN: This may sound like a trivial question, Wolf, but it has everything to do with the crisis. How is the weather there? Because it is the weather that so far has prevented South Korea from carrying on its artillery tests.

BLITZER: The weather is improving at least here in Pyongyang, it was bitter cold, snowy, icy on Friday and Saturday. Sunday it got much better, and the ice started to melt and it was sunny. So the weather is clearly improving. And if South Koreans want to go ahead with their exercise on Monday, I don't think there's going to be at least I'm not a weather man, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to be much of a factor, it's going to be a lot of other issues besides the weather.

GRIFFIN: You're talking about going ahead with the plans for Monday. Monday is today right where you are right now. Do you think, Wolf, that you will still be on the ground there in North Korea when and if it's going to be decision to move forward? BLITZER: I'm scheduled to fly out of here with Richardson in about 10 to 12 hours from now, so we'll see what happens. I think it's fair to say that at least my sense is the South Koreans are waiting. They won't do these exercises until there's a resolution or statement that emerges from the U.N. Security Council. And remember, Richardson is a former U.N. ambassador to the United Nations. And even though he's here on a private visit and he keeps stressing that and the Obama administration keeps stressing it, based on everything I see when the North Koreans see him as a former energy secretary, a governor of New Mexico, former U.N. ambassador, they clearly deal with him as if he's a high-ranking U.S. official and give him all the courtesies, the motorcades, the formal meetings. They sit at these tables with the top North Korean officials. So he may be here on a private visit, but it certainly looks pretty formal to me.

GRIFFIN: Do you feel he has back door authority from the State Department to engage in some talks?

BLITZER: Yes. They didn't discourage him this time. They did discourage him, they told him six months ago when he was invited by the chief nuclear negotiator of North Korea, Kim Kwe-Gwan, they told him not to come then. This was shortly after that tunan (ph), that South Korean warship was sunk. The U.S. and South Korea blamed the North Koreans. The North Koreans denied they did it. But 46 South Korean sailors were killed in that incident. This time the Obama administration -- while I don't get the sense they were necessarily enthusiastic about his trip, they didn't tell him not to go. So he's here in his unofficial capacity as a private citizen. But as I say, if you look at the meetings, it certainly doesn't look very private or unofficial, at least to this observer.

GRIFFIN: Wolf, let me ask you one more question because this may have been the lead coming out of this trip if it weren't for this crisis going on. Governor Richardson was told about U.S. soldiers remains that maybe recoverable from a war that was some 50-some odd years ago.

BLITZER: Right. This was a surprise to Richardson. About four years ago, he came here to receive the remains of six U.S. service members who were killed during the Korean War and he brought those remains home to the Pentagon and their respective families for proper burial.

All of a sudden at this meeting with this general, Major General Pak Rim Su, the general showed him pictures. They say that some farmers recently were unearthening some land and they discovered these remains where there was a major battle during the Korean War. And they took the pictures, they showed the pictures to Richardson. Richardson by the way got copies of the pictures, he showed them to me, including the dog tag of one U.S. soldier who was killed. Richardson didn't want to identify that soldier. He wants to let the Pentagon do that properly and notify next of kin and all of that.

The North Koreans say there are at least 100, maybe 200 remains of U.S. soldiers, and they've invited a U.S. team of experts to come over and take those remains back to the United States for proper inspection and processing and all of that. Richardson saw that as a significant gesture on the part of the North Koreans to try to, you know, improve at least some sort of dialogue with the United States. So you're right, if there weren't this huge crisis, potential war as big as that erupting on the Korean Peninsula with all that's at stake, that would certainly be a major headline. It's a gesture at this point. It's an important gesture and symbolically for a lot of families who lost loved ones during the Korean War. It's something that would be important, obviously.

GRIFFIN: All right, Wolf Blitzer reporting live from North Korea. Very rare to say that. Wolf, we appreciate you hanging on the phone so long and certainly wish you and Governor Richardson safe travels back to the states leaving North Korea today in a matter of hours as Wolf said.

Senate Republicans are making a big push to delay a vote on the START Treaty. The deal would limit U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and revive the mutual inspections that each country has in the other's. The president and Democrats want the senators to vote on this treaty before the end of the year, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Republicans need more time. He says if Democrats try to force a vote this week, he will not support it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I've decided I cannot support the treaty. I think the verification provisions are inadequate and I do worry about the missile defense implications of it. I think if they had taken more time with this, rushing it right before Christmas strikes me as trying to jam us. I think if they had taken more time -- I know the members of the Foreign Relations Committee spent a lot of time on this, but the rest of us haven't. And so all of a sudden, we're once again trying to rush things right here before Christmas Eve. I think that was not the best way to get the support of people like me.

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There have been 18 hearings, 1,000 questions we've answered. But on others, they just simply are against any arms control agreement. That's the category -- they're simply against this arms control agreement. Senator DeMint is absolutely four-square against it. It wouldn't matter what it said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Democrats need at least 10 Republican senators to join them in supporting the treaty to get it passed, but if it's left to the new Congress in January, the number of GOP voters needed for ratification will rise to at least 14.

Well President Obama will sign the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell this week. The Senate passed it yesterday, but officials say it still will take months to fully implement the change to the military's policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the current policy will stay in place for now.

A brutal storm slams the West Coast. Snow, ice, flooding all part of the mix. We're going to find out how long that will last.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: The weather is terrible out West. We're just looking at this blob of mess, Karen Maginnis.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes and for skiers it's great, but if you're traveling ago long I-5, Interstate 80 especially right through the Donner Pass, and some of those areas are really going to see feet of snowfall. They already have in some cases.

Take a look at Los Angeles. We see some of the heavier bands move just to the north. Also it's going towards San Luis Obispo, some heavier rainfall amounts here. We see some of the bright orange and yellow-shaded area. San Francisco, lesser amounts, but the airport there has really seen quite a bit of precipitation over the last couple of days and the airport has been affected. Take a look right around Sacramento. We've got these pictures coming out of that region. And this is the Deer Creek Region. Now Deer Creek will flood fairly easily. And all it takes is a little bit of rainfall. But obviously they've had an excessive amount of rainfall.

Now, the smaller creeks and streams are going to fill up. I checked some of the river beds and they may see some minor to moderate flooding over the next 24 hours. But we will see in the mountains as much as 10 feet of snowfall generally speaking above about 9,000 feet or so. There you can see in this white-shaded area extending from Reno all the way down towards Yosemite. This is where we have seen the significant snowfall. I showed you just probably 20 minutes ago that right around Mammoth Lakes already in about 48 -- just a little over 48 hours they've seen 108 inches of snowfall.

Well not to be outdone, the West Coast is going to be the big news for the next couple of days. High winds expected, some of those summits maybe 90-mile-an-hour wind gusts. But then we've got this little secondary system across the Midwest. And I think today Fargo didn't make it above nine degrees today. They will only stay into the 20s, Drew, until Christmas. Temperatures in the low to mid-20s for such an extended period of time. I guess that's why it's kind of the nation's icebox across that area.

GRIFFIN: Up in Fargo.

MAGINNIS: You have to love it.

GRIFFIN: Stay warm.

OK, thanks Karen. Boy, there's a lot of trouble over in Europe, too. Tons of snow and ice making travel very dangerous. This is Denmark. This is a lot of ice on the roads creating a lot of accidents. Major airports also shut down. They're having big problems at Heathrow today in London, and this is coming, of course, the weekend before Christmas, a very busy time. The snow and ice even went all the way into -- deep into Europe, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Italy. Italy with snow and ice shutting down major highways, especially in Florence, Italy. That is a wild, cold spell going through Europe there. Four New Year's resolutions for you to enhance your career. We'll have those coming up.

And the New York City subway system is an institution, so much so it inspired a Brooklyn guy to go into business making replica subway signs for people's homes and offices. In this week's "Turnaround," CNN producer Ben Tinker and photojournalist Tom Jurich (ph) introduce us to a guy who took subway signs to new heights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TREVOR MACDERMID, UNDERGROUND SIGNS: It was 2009, and everything had tanked. There were bigger and bigger gaps between the jobs, and there was just a slowing down. This seemed to be like something I could do where it could be something that was on sort of the side burner, but then as I immersed myself in it, it seemed to be more like a business that could take my full attention.

I got a little float from my dad. I got five grand from my daddy-o. I dipped in $12,000 of my own savings. I began it like the way one has a lemonade stand, try to make a couple batches and go out and see how do you. Any money that you make, you invest that in more materials and repeat. I began by putting up a very simple site, and I just went along with it.

I was approached almost immediately by the MTA, who had gotten word of what I was doing. They wrote me a very polite but very sternly written e-mail saying that what I was doing was a copyright violation. I played nice, and I engaged with them in a license agreement. They've been just wonderful.

Well, it's just like shoveling coal into the fire. It's just more. Getting the word out, taking out ads in Google Ad Words and Facebook trying to get myself into more and more retail locations. Frankly, I take to just walking around town with a sign if I can. In essence, there are three sign sizes. They're the 12-inch square, that's like the size of an LP, a 5-foot sign and flagship 8-foot sign. They are $99, $299 and $399 respectively. It's steep, but show me another piece of artwork that is good-looking and substantial that's five feet long that's less than $300.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We have four New Year's resolutions to improve your career, but first we want to look at today's top stories in the news.

Israeli police are investigating the stabbing death of an American tourist. Her body found today near Jerusalem. A British woman was hiking with the American, Christine Logan, when she says the two were attacked by two men, tied up, repeatedly stabbed. She says that she escaped and found help at a picnic area. The police there still investigating.

The Taliban claiming responsibility for a pair of deadly attacks on Afghan national army soldiers. Four soldiers and five police officers killed during this attack on an army recruiting center in Kunduz. That's in northwest Afghanistan. In the capital of Kabul, police shot two suicide bombers as they attempted to reach army vehicles. One of the bombs did go off killing five soldiers.

A deal may be close on the 9/11 workers bill that's been stalled in Congress. We are expecting an announcement on an agreement probably by Tuesday. They could have a vote on this in the senate. The bill provides for medical care payments for those who responded in the 9/11 attack.

Well, New Year's resolutions aren't just about losing weight and quitting smoking. In this competitive job market, many people are now making career resolutions. Joining us from New York, Paula Caligiuri. Is that right, Paula?

PAULA CALIGIURI, PROFESSOR: That's close.

GRIFFIN: Good, it's close. A human resource management professor at Rutgers University. Paula, your first piece of advice really is to build career-enhancing skills. What do you mean by that?

CALIGIURI: Drew, in 2011, it will be so important for all of us to think about enhancing our marketable skills. So it's really tough now for organizations to be the sole provider of training and development. If there's something we want to be doing with our career, say, for example, you want to expand your career globally, a really good idea might be to think about -- let's say if your company is expending into China, maybe your New Year's resolution should be to learn some Mandarin or learn something about Chinese culture. Whatever it is, think about expanding your skills in 2011. That will be so important and so good for a New Year's resolution.

GRIFFIN: Right, another New Year's resolution, build your professional network?

CALIGIURI: Right. There are two ways that people get jobs, and there's two ways that people enhance their careers. That's through the skills that they have, those marketable skills, but also through the professional network that they have. So if you think about a possible New Year's resolution, you could have, for instance, say that maybe once a week you're going to have a lunch or a dinner or coffee with a professional acquaintance, someone who's doing something really interesting in your field or maybe somebody who is doing something interesting in your company. That's a nice way to build your network.

You could also think about saying once a week I'm going to spend one hour working on my Linked In profile or maybe being involved in a discussion group, something that will help you build your network. Another great resolution for 2011.

GRIFFIN: Volunteer. This is something that I think a lot of people overlook, especially when they are trying to look for a job.

CALIGIURI: Volunteering, another, just such a win-win. So at minimum, at minimum, you're going to have that great helper's high, you're going to feel really good about yourself, it will increase your energy, which is, in fact, career-enhancing. But you never know, you might find a volunteer opportunity that might help you enhance your skills, maybe build your network.

Also again, real important, those two things are critical. For example, you gave the example before about Meals on Wheels. In a previous segment you were talking about delivering meals. That would be a nice way to think about gaining the skill of logistics. Or if you have a professional expertise, you could perhaps offer at your community center some opportunities for say a volunteer seminar.

That would help you maybe build your -- maybe some skills that way, it's a great opportunity. Build your skill, build your network, volunteer.

GRIFFIN: Right. The last group is this idea about increasing your personal resources. What does that mean?

CALIGIURI: Those sound like all of the traditional New Year's resolutions, so the idea of maybe going to the gym, getting some more opportunities for gaining some energy, maybe getting out of debt in 2011. All of those kinds of things that are personally enhancing, it will help you build your personal resources. Those will also enhance your career. So real important, think about using those resources. Now that you gained those personal resources, think about using them in a way to reinvest back into your career. These are all great resolutions to enhance your career in 2011.

GRIFFIN: Is this kind of resolution catching on? I mean usually, we talk about don't smoke, eat less, I'm not going to have potato chips, blah, blah, blah. But this is real stuff that could improve your life for the rest of your life.

CALIGIURI: These career-enhancing resolutions are become more critical especially now that people need to take control of their career destiny. We can't just rely on companies to be directing our careers for us. So it's going to become more and more important that we take some ownership of this.

GRIFFIN: All right, Paula Caligiuri, I think I got it right that time, thanks for joining us, we appreciate it.

CALIGIURI: Perfect.

GRIFFIN: OK take care. In other news, tensions are rising in the Koreas. We've been talking about it all afternoon. Coming up, we're going to show you how some South Koreans are getting out of the way just in case something does happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: The U.S. is keeping a close eye on the Koreas right now as they move closer to another possible confrontation. Here's what we know right now.

North Korea is threatening military action against South Korea if South Korea goes ahead with planned military drills that are expected to begin this week. South Korea says bad weather has postponed those drills this weekend near Yeongpyeong Island.

This is that island that North Korea attacked earlier this month, killing four people. The United Nations Security Council has been in an emergency session for most of the day today on this Sunday trying to come up with a way to rut the tensions in the region.

The U.S., as we said, is monitoring this. Every word, every move between the two Koreas and our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on that.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military and entire Obama administration is trying to ratchet down tensions on the Korean peninsula. But as long as South Korea remains committed to conducting live fire exercises and the North continue to say it will respond militarily, anxieties remain high.

The Pentagon is maintaining around the clock communications with South Korea trying to stay on top of the situation and ready to weigh- in in the hopefully unlikely event hostilities break out. But that effort is really aimed at trying to keep South Korea and indeed both sides from escalating any action to keep any military hostilities from occurring.

Several U.S. military analysts say the problem is it's just so hard to read North Korea's intentions at this point. The regime there is focused on staying in power and retaining absolute control. The hope is that the North Korean government doesn't see military action as their means to do that. Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

GRIFFIN: CNN's has a close look at this latest tension between the two Koreas.

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: South Korea has not announced exactly when these naval live fire drills will be taking place. The soonest they could is Monday morning South Korea time, which is Sunday evening Eastern Time and the weather conditions are favorable. So what exactly are these naval drills?

They're live fire drills in the waters just south of Yeonpyeong Island. This is the island on November 23rd that was shelled by North Korea after a very similar naval exercise. North Korea is saying that these exercises by the South Korean military are occurring in their territorial waters.

South Korea certainly disputing that, but the impact of it was that four people were killed on the island. So we went to the island to talk with people about these military drills possibly happening, and what we saw were people evacuating because they truly feel that North Korea is very serious when the North Korean government says that they will retaliate and retaliate more strongly.

We saw young people, children, and the elderly fleeing on some of the last ferries off of the island. They say that they are angry, that they are frustrated and also scared. Some say they feel that South Korea is picking a fight with North Korea. Others say that what else can South Korea do?

That they have a very limited bag of tricks left in their arsenal when it comes to trying to deal with North Korea, but no matter how you feel about whether or not these naval drills need to take place, all sides say this is a very precarious system that one that could quickly escalate out of control. Kyung Lah, CNN, Seoul.

GRIFFIN: We want to show you some video that came into us from Mexico. An oil pipeline has exploded in central Mexico, the state of Puebla. Twenty three people killed, at least 51 people were injured. The explosion appeared to be the result of criminals trying to tap into the pipeline and steal oil reserves.

This has been going on for years in Mexico, a big problem, a billion dollar problem with people trying to siphon off oil. Some believe that the cartels actually trying to diversify some of their businesses and are stealing oil.

But again, this explosion happened apparently when somebody was trying to extract oil from the pipeline illegally. A huge explosion there in the Puebla state in Mexico.

We want to go to Karen Maginnis following Pacific storms that are pounding the west coast and it's just a stream of them one after another, Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Certainly is. It looks like until the beginning of next week, over Tuesday afternoon we'll start to see it decrease a little bit. This has been very persistent, and what we've seen over the last 48 hours or so, areas of low pressure off the Pacific Northwest, and the Pineapple Express. You've probably heard light about that. That's because it's origins are so tropical right around Hawaii.

We've got this plume of moisture aimed at California and the interior west as the storm system slowly pulls away. Some of the rainfall totals we've already seen in and around the Los Angeles basin area. Also in Central California as well, right around 2 to 5 inches of rainfall.

But as you head towards those foothill regions, 10, 11 inches certainly is very common amounts that we'll see over the next several days. All right, as far as the snowfall totals are concerned for the Sierra Nevada above about 9,000 feet there could be 10 feet of snow.

Already at Mammoth Lakes 108 inches reported, but not just across the Sierra Nevada and into the Siskiyou's and into cascades, but also the Wasatch and San Juan and the front range in Colorado. Some of those ski resorts there are really going to enjoy the benefits of a lot of this moisture making it over the great basin and then towards the central and southern Rocky Mountain region.

So it looks like it's going to remain unsettled especially along the I-5 and especially the I-80 corridor from Sacramento towards the Reno- Tahoe area. As I mentioned, Mammoth Lakes, 108 inches since the storm system began on Friday.

There's a clear view of that Pineapple Express, and where you see these kinds of brighter-shaded areas, that's where we're seeing the cluster or the intense rainstorms. They've already reported a few minor mudslides right around Mulholland Drives, but those K-rails that kind of divert the water away from the homes. It can really only do so much.

The ground is saturated and you could see fallen trees and some power outages that have been weather-related. It looks like that's going to continue as long as this storm system just kind of meanders across the west coast.

As far as rainfall totals go, Los Angeles just about three inches reported there, Santa Barbara over three inches, over three and a half inches and into the mid-western and Great Lakes region of the United States, temperatures here have remained in the single digits and the teens.

This arctic air remains in place. I think it maxed out at 9 degrees today, Fargo is 4 degrees and the wind is going to pick up and watch a weather disturbance across the mid-western United States that's going to reinforce the cold air and bring the snowfall. It's in the low to mid-20s for the extended period of time. They will have a white Christmas anyway.

GRIFFIN: Like frozen. Thanks a lot. Karen, appreciate that.

An important pet food recall we want to tell you about. Kroger grocery stores are recalling select pet food packages from its stores in 19 states. Here's the list of the pet food being recalled, Pet Pride cat food, Pet Pride kitten food, Old Yeller Chunk dog food, Kroger value cat food and Chunk food.

Most foods may contain a toxin and that could be harmful to your pets. You want to get this stuff out of your house back to Kroger if you have any of that in there, obviously.

Coming up, a very funny George Wallace standing by with his take on the news, especially a new twist to the saggy pants trend. You're not going to sing that song about saggy pants, are you George?

We might both look like fools after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Comedian George Wallace joins us in a moment for humors look at the headlines.

But first, let's look at those headlines today and our top story is the U.N. Security Council meeting in emergency session right now to discuss the crisis in the Korean Peninsula. North Korea is warning the South to call off planned military drills or risk igniting a war. Tensions between North and South Korea soared after North Korea staged a deadly attack on a South Korean island. That happened last month.

Gas prices spiking in Iran. Iranians have paid relatively little for fuel because the government has been subsidizing it. Well, the government says those subsidies are going to be reduced as part of an overall economic reform plan.

The Senate went back to work today to work on the START Nuclear Treaty with Russia. Last night the senators passed a measure ending the Pentagon's ban on openly gay service members. This week the president is expected to sign that into law. Executing the order is expected to take several months according to the Pentagon.

George Wallace, the new Mr. Vegas at the Flamingo Hotel is back with his take on the news, but George, you're in New York. This is a good time to be in Vegas. It's warmer than New York. It must be cold up there.

GEORGE WALLACE, COMEDIAN: It is so cold up here, but not really cold. I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota this morning, 4 degrees. I was at the Mall of America. I mean, Baskin Robbins, they're selling soup. It is really cold there. They have a new flavor there. This weather is good. This is what the holiday - Drew, the holiday says it's supposed to be cold. Don't you think so?

GRIFFIN: I'm going to have to go and find somebody to balance your opinion if you sling stuff at Rush. You'll get me in trouble.

WALLACE: It's OK. I'll have him see me.

GRIFFIN: One more week into Christmas. You were at the Mall of America. Did you get your shopping done?

WALLACE: You know, that mall is so big. I don't know - Minnesota is one of the biggest malls. If you steal something there, you shoplift and try to run, you can run for like three days and won't be out of the mall.

You have to give it back to them. That's a big mall up there. I'm telling you. It's crazy, but it's good to shop this time of year. This week, this is such a beautiful week.

First of all, drew, I started this week off Monday night in New York City at the world famous Apollo Theater. Have you been there?

GRIFFIN: Yes.

WALLACE: Up in Harlem. I went to see Paul McCartney. Can you believe that? One of the Beatles, the most famous singer in the - at Apollo. I was the only black person there. I looked around and saw Chris Rock. Thank God. It was wonderful. This has been a great week, Drew. You got - this week, you got this Larry King. We're going to miss Larry. Did you see him Thursday night?

GRIFFIN: Yes. You've been on Larry King a lot, right?

WALLACE: I've been on a few times. It was wonderful. First on Larry King I was going to be a smart but - I'm only going to take calls from out of the country, and all of a sudden calls came in from Japan and all over the world. I wasn't expecting that. It's a big show now. I watch it worldwide now. I stay on CNN. We call it the Comedy News Network. You know that right?

GRIFFIN: Yes, yes. I do. Now, listen, Mr. Vegas, Larry wears the suspenders. I heard you got an idea like stocking stuffer idea kind of along those lines.

WALLACE: No, not really. I saw something on the news. Jeanne Moos our associate, she did a story this week called suspends, and these young kids, these crazy kids can wear their pants even lower off their behind.

Look at that. This is not funny, Drew. This is not funny. Look at these kids. Look. It's a new -- that's just nasty. Take it off my TV now. I'm trying to eat dinner here. Look at that. They walk around and they have to hold the pants up. That's why the streets are so clean now because the pants drag on the ground. These kids are walking around like they have a terminal case of diarrhea.

You know, Drew, my nephew said something the other day, and I wanted to kick his butt and I don't know where it was. You can laugh at the news all day long. Before I get out of here, I got to mention this. Did you see Michael Vick today? Everybody on the East Coast, we just got I don't know what's with this guy. This is the greatest football player I've ever seen, Drew.

Today he was amazing, and I hope he goes to the Super Bowl and gets MVP. He said something stupid this week. Michael Vick, I love you, but you cannot have a dog. You hear me? You cannot have a dog. We don't give alcoholics drinks when they come from AA.

Don't have anything to do with dogs. Don't let your kids watch Scooby Do. If you go to the airport and they want to check your luggage, don't get a dog. Have they get a cat. Don't have nothing to do with dogs. If you know somebody named Nathan.

GRIFFIN: George.

WALLACE: I love you. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Stay away from dogs, Michael Vick.

GRIFFIN: All right, on that note, Mr. George Wallace, Mr. New Vegas, you get warm and come back and see us, OK?

WALLACE: I'll be in Atlanta next week. I'll see you next week. Thank you so much.

GRIFFIN: Great. Take care. We'll be back right after this.

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GRIFFIN: A Christmas surprise for three brothers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Mr. Brian champagne.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): These three guys thought they were going to a school play, but Santa turns out to be their dad who was away in Iraq for six months. Lt. Col. Brain Champaigne came home a week early to pull off that surprise. Pretty cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: A story out of Minnesota grabbed our attention this week. We'd like to share it with you. It's about people from a small town and what happens when they receive unexpected gifts from someone they've always known being tight with his money. We get the story from Boyd Huppert, of our Minneapolis affiliate, KARE.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOYD PUPPERD, MINNEAPOLIS AFFILIATE, KARE (voice-over): There are people in big cities, who would consider this harsh, unwelcoming country. People who wouldn't give a nickel to live in Leroy, Minnesota, who wouldn't pay the quarter they charge for coffee at the Leroy Senior Citizen Center.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they take a cookie, it's another quarter.

HUPPERT: People, who need to pull up a chair and listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God, we've never had this kind of money.

HUPPERT: As Eileen Evans tells a story of small town values and a check.

EILEEN EVANS: We didn't know what to do. This is like $20,000.

HUPPERT: The envelope arrived from the estate of 94-year-old Lauren Krueger, a retired farmer who had seen his share of sadness, having lost his first wife then, his second, having lost his only child, a teenage son, to cancer. But long before he passed away last year, Lauren gained a reputation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very frugal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Watched his pennies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very frugal. He was very careful with his money.

HUPPERT: Apparently so. For, as he humbly lived out his days in this white framed house on Main Street, Lauren quietly amassed a fortune.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, let me see it. I've never seen a check.

HUPPERT: That first $20,000 check was followed by two more, $100,000 each.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God. Look at this.

HUPPERT: Up until then, the seniors had been getting by on what the county gave their center, $600 a year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got $220,000, total. HUPPERT: And Lauren wasn't done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He loved this church.

HUPPERT: Lauren willed roughly $1 million to St. Patrick's Catholic Church.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came here for many, many years.

HUPPERT: Then, he revealed an ecumenical streak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think we're very blessed.

HUPPERT: When Lauren left the Presbyterians more than $400,000, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking at the steel rope we put on the church, thanks to Lauren.

HUPPERT: Checks for the same amount were delivered to the Bethany Bible Church and to the Lutherans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- fix.

HUPPERT: Who've already used some of Lauren's gift to repair their bell tower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were notified through attorney.

HUPPERT: That oil pumper truck? Plans are to replace it with a new one, thanks to the $220,000 Lauren left the fire department.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our crew quarters.

HUPPERT: Another $220,000 allowed the ambulance service to build an apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to get another bed in here, yet.

HUPPERT: For its on-call EMTs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I don't know -- nobody, you know?

HUPPERT: All told, Lauren spread some $3 million around a town of 925 people.

(on camera): But to suggest the giving ended in a $3 million flurry, is to show you have a little more to learn about Leroy. The churches were all aware the town's assisted living center needed a new kitchen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The stove will go here.

HUPPERT: So, together, they're sharing some of the money Lauren gave them to build one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the type of the community we live in. HUPPERT: The seniors wrote a check for the new school playground and were joined by the Lutherans in paying for improvements at the community pool. Good, the way the seniors felt when they wrote a $10,000 check to Grace Christian Church.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thank you for your generous gift.

HUPPERT: Which had the misfortune of being the only church in Leroy, founded after Lauren made out his will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not give it away? It was given to us. We didn't have it before. Why not help other people that are in need, too?

HUPPERT: Frugal was the word pinned on Lauren Krueger in life. Generous is the way he'll be remembered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's astounding what he did. There are still people that wouldn't give a nickel to live in Leroy, but folks around here prefer to put their faith in the kind of person who'd give everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Good story to end on. I'm Drew Griffin in Atlanta. Don Lemon up next with you.

With this, do you remember the Ohio woman who stepped in to help a police officer who was under attack? Don is going talk to her straight ahead.

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