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CNN Live Saturday

More Suicide Car Bombs Explode in Iraq; President Bush Visits Asia. California Wildfire Nearly Under Control; Tropical Storm Gamma Weakens.

Aired November 19, 2005 - 17:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A strong earthquake jolted Indonesia today. A 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the coast off the island of Sumatra, but there are no reports of any tsunamis. The quake hit in the same area that was devastated by last year's killer tsunami.
And Tropical Storm Gamma has killed three people in Central America. It is now drifting along Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The record-setting 24th named storm of the season is expected to threaten the south coast of Florida on Monday.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

To our top story now, and the fight for Iraq and fight over Iraq. Both are raging today with fresh violence in Baghdad and fresh reaction from President Bush to the increasing calls for him to pull U.S. troops out of that country. Meanwhile, you won't believe the emotional debate in Congress over the issue.

First, the violence and the new victims in Iraq today. They include U.S. troops. CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the suicide car bomber struck the funeral gathering just as the sun was setting around about 5:00 o'clock in the town of Abu Saida (ph) -- that's about 75 kilometers, about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad -- driving his car full of explosives into a tent where family and relatives were gathered. They were readings. Verses from the Quran were being read. He detonated his explosives, many people killed, many others injured, according to local police.

We understand this was a Shia family, and it was a Shia market or a predominantly Shia community, a market in that community, that was the target for a bomber in Baghdad earlier in the day, on the southeast side of Baghdad, detonating explosives in a crowded market, 11 people killed, 20 wounded in that attack. And a little later on a crowded street in the center of Baghdad, it was Iraqi police who were the target of insurgents. There, four Iraqi policemen wounded in that attack, but it was Iraqi civilians who bore the brunt of the blast, one person killed and six other civilians wounded.

And also, we understand, late in the day, from the U.S. military, that five U.S. soldiers were killed in the northern town of Beiji (ph), about 200 kilometers, 120 miles or so north of Baghdad. So five soldiers killed in two separate roadside blast incidents, according to the U.S. military.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: These latest attacks come after a string of suicide bombings (INAUDIBLE) yesterday. A security camera was rolling as a van full of explosives detonated near the security blast wall of a Baghdad hotel. A second vehicle blew up in about the same spot just seconds later. At least six people were killed, including a woman and two children. The hotel is popular with Westerners.

All right, now, president Bush is standing firm on Iraq. He addressed American troops today at Osan Air Base in South Korea as part of his trip to Asia. Mr. Bush told them the U.S. military will stay the course in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE WALKER BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So long as I'm the commander-in-chief, our strategy in Iraq will be driven by the sober judgment of our military commanders on the ground. We will fight the terrorists in Iraq. We will stay in the fight until we have achieved the brave -- the victory that our brave troops have fought for!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Now, President Bush's comments come after raucous debate on Capitol Hill last night. The House overwhelmingly voted against an immediate pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq. Republicans introduced the resolution to try to force Democrats to take a stand on a quick exit. Democrats called it a political stunt. The vote took place a day after Congressman John Murtha called on President Bush to withdraw troops as soon as possible, and the debate was bitter and personal. One GOP lawmaker from Ohio described a phone call she received from a Marine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JEAN SCHMIDT (R), OHIO: He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message that cowards cut and run, Marines never do. Danny and the rest of America and the world want the assurance from this body that we will see this through!

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE: The House will be in order! The House will be in order! The House will be in order!

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: What the Bush/Cheney White House is doing today is a continuation of the perpetuation of the fraud on the American public! This is not the debate on the Murtha resolution, this is an attempt to undermine Jack Murtha!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: A senior defense official tells CNN the top American commander in Iraq submitted a withdrawal plan to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The official says General George Casey's plan calls for brigades to begin leaving Iraq in just a few months. A brigade includes about 2,000 troops. The withdrawal could start just after Iraq elects a parliament. That's on December 15. Secretary Rumsfeld would have to sign it, though. The defense official says the plan is still, well, depending on Iraqi security forces' ability to defend their country.

So while the president is talking Iraq, he is also thinking about trade in Asia. He and the first lady arrived in Beijing today. Mr. Bush says he's going to raise some sensitive issues with Chinese counterparts. CNN senior international correspondent Stan Grant is in Beijing right now -- Stan.

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello, Carol. Always sensitive, these issues, these discussions between China and the United States, mixing money and religion. We know that President Bush has already stated his desire to put human rights on the record. That's a touchy subject with the Chinese, but he wants to raise the question of religious freedom. To that end, President Bush will attend a church service of the legally sanctioned church here in Beijing before beginning a round of discussions with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Now, President Bush saying he will be very frank in his discussions with the two leaders, particularly on the issue of trade, China enjoying a $160 billion U.S. trade surplus with the United States. That's hurting the U.S. Some say it could top $200 billion before much longer. China, as a bit of a good will gesture, is now saying it will buy 70 Boeing 737s at a cost of about $5 billion U.S. dollars. Obviously, it's not going to make a huge dent, but it is being seen as a good will move.

Also on the agenda, the discussion of China's continuing build-up of its military, military boosting its defense spending. The question of bird flu -- China has been an incubator of bird flu. President Bush came to try to get a concerted front on that to try to stave off the prospect of a worldwide pandemic on bird flu.

Those are the main issues on the agenda. And then there's the question of intellectual property rights. A lot of pressure has been placed on China, particularly by the United States over the past couple of years, on tightening the question of piracy. There has been pressure on China to start criminalizing it, actually locking people up who break the law, and President Bush is going to be very stern on that subject, as well -- Carol.

LIN: You know, Stan, as you well know, he can be stern, but he doesn't have a lot of leverage. A lot of pressure for American businesses to have access to that marketplace, so doesn't China really hold the cards in this conversation?

GRANT: And increasingly so. You know, these discussions are not so much about where China is today but where China is going to be in a decade or so from now, many saying that within the next 30, 40 years, China is going to be the biggest economy in the world. It's exercising a lot of strategic clout, as I said before, boosting its military, as well. So it now meets the U.S. very much eye-to-eye.

But this is a reciprocal relationship. The United States is a (INAUDIBLE) for China. China is exporting so many goods there these days. It's also a factory for the rest of the world, building and manufacturing so many of the goods that U.S. companies -- U.S. companies sell to the rest of the world. So yes, they meet themselves very much as equals. It's a matter now of really a test of wills, I suppose, Carol.

LIN: Yes. You bet. Stan Grant, thank you very much.

Well, As we mentioned, Canada discovered the H5-N1 bird flu virus in two wild ducks. Health officials made the announcement just two hours ago, but the H5-N1 subtype is not the same as the one that's killed more than 60 people in Asia, triggering worldwide health concerns. Now, this subtype is classified as a low pathogenic, meaning it doesn't duplicate quickly. We wanted to tell you that because the news conference came on just a couple hours ago.

Now, coming up, a huge wildfire finally under control in California. We are going to go live.

And make sure you do not miss it, exclusive on CNN, an inside look behind the walls of the world's most isolated nation, North Korea. Our "CNN PRESENTS: UNDERCOVER IN THE SECRET STATE" tonight, 8:00 PM Eastern, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: It is well past fire season out in California, and yet firefighters are battling a wildfire. They are finally, though, making a dent against this inferno, which is sweeping across southern California. CNN's Kareen Wynter is monitoring the situation up close -- Kareen.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, No active fires burning at this hour, in fact, nothing in the way of that all day long, since last night. But what fire crews dealing with are those hot spots in the canyons there behind me. There have been teams going up, in and out all day, using hoses to cool down those spots. There have also been water drops by air.

Also want to pan over a little bit to the right to show you -- to the left, you can you see some of that scorched land. Well, just about 50 yards away are beautiful homes up on that hillside that were basically in danger yesterday at the height of this fire, when it just engulfed this entire area here. The flames were just shooting out, and there were about 200 homes in danger.

One of them happened to belong to David Hantke (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct. WYNTER: Tell me what it was like for you yesterday as you and your family watched what was going on here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was more than a little exciting. You could feel the heat from the flames. Very smoky intermittently. A lot of people standing around. It was a long afternoon, but we came through it well.

WYNTER: And while many of your neighbors evacuated, you decided to stay put?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was mostly down the street a little bit. Our area was not directly evacuated. A few people decided to leave, but we decided to pack up our things, get ready to leave, and then the fire truck came and parked in the end of our driveway, so we couldn't leave anyhow, so we were sort of out of luck that way.

WYNTER: Quickly, Dave, what's been going on today? You mentioned some of the work in and around your neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mostly a lot of the hotshot crews just putting out hot spots, the trucks coming up, spraying foam where needed, guys with picks and shovels throwing and covering up flames and basically standing and making certain the embers don't seem to be taking off again. Fortunately, it hasn't been windy, which has been nice.

WYNTER: Absolutely. David, thank you so much for your time.

And he touched on it, the wind here has been cooperating all day. We're in some crucial hours right now, Carol, because the winds could be -- the breeze could be coming in from the west, from the ocean from where we are, and it could cause things to flare up. As of right now, no sign of that. But again, 30 percent containment. We should be getting an update in the next several hours to see how much more of that percentage, you know, they've improved upon. In terms of full containment, we're looking at Tuesday around 6:00 PM local time here, so we still have a few days ahead, a lot of work for those teams still on the ground -- Carol.

LIN: All right, Kareen. Thank you very much.

In the meantime, just days to go until the end of the hurricane season, and another tropical storm is churning in the Caribbean, and it could become a threat to Florida. Let's turn to meteorologist Monica McNeal who's tracking Gamma in the CNN Weather Center. Monica, we don't need this storm in the United States. No way!

MONICA MCNEAL, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll tell you what, nobody is looking forward to this. You're absolutely right. We just don't need it. But first of all, we're going to talk about those Santa Ana winds, where Kareen is, at this point. This ridge of high pressure will continue to blow some very strong, dry desert air with this off- shore flow. So that's why they're not getting any moisture in parts of Los Angeles. Humidity has been in the single digits, and so that's why they're dealing with the extremely critical fire danger. And the red flag warning will remain in effect until tomorrow afternoon at 6:00 PM. So that will just need to be monitored very, very closely.

In the meantime, let's talk about Tropical Storm Gamma. As you've already indicated, one thing about this storm, it's really starting to fall apart. It is not well organized. As you can take a look on our infrared satellite, the bright red colors indicate how strong it was. Now, as we take a look at the last frame, it's really starting to fall apart. It's really erratic. The storm is encountering some very, very weak shear, and that means it doesn't have anything to strengthen it at this time.

Also, the latest information from the National Hurricane Center just in. You will certainly notice that the track of the storm has shifted well south, so good news for Florida. That takes them out of line of fire, but it moves the storm right over parts of Cuba. By 1:00 PM on Monday, it moves directly over Cuba, and it continues out into the Atlantic Ocean. So we'll be monitoring Gamma, unfortunately. We've got about two more weeks before the official end of hurricane season.

Back to the United States, showing you what's going on. You can certainly see there's some activity starting to develop in the middle of the country here, and this is going to be a cold front and a jet stream that's lining up that's going to dip all the way as far south as parts of Louisiana. It's going reinforce some cold air, so it will be a trough that's going to continue to dig in. In the meantime, there in Florida, an area of low pressure will ride across your state and bring you some rain, so you'll slide past Tropical Storm Gamma, but you will experience some rain.

Temperatures tonight will be dropping down into the upper 20s in some place, 27 in Minneapolis. Out in Phoenix, your temperature is 52. In Los Angeles, you'll drop down to about 55 tonight with some very, very dry air, 45 for you in Houston, and 73 down in Miami.

And as we take a look at the high temperatures for tomorrow -- beautiful day, great start for you there. In Boston, a high temperature of 55, 54 in metro Atlanta and 48 degrees in St. Louis. Down in Dallas, a temperature of 61 degrees. So all in all, across most of the country, it's looking pretty good. And we'll be monitoring Tropical Storm Gamma very closely, and we'll bring you any of the latest updates -- Carol.

LIN: You bet. All right. Thanks, Monica.

Now, coming up, that wildfire out in California and this tropical storm we've been telling you about, Thanksgiving -- Bill Nye "The Science Guy" has a few theories about the strange weather we've been having.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Parking disputes. Everybody's gotten parking tickets, right, out there? Well, it's not unusual in New York, but one is shaping up for an international showdown. It involves millions of dollars in unpaid parking fines and a novel approach for collecting the money. Our Liz Neisloss reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a diplomatic mess, but it's the kind that puts the brakes on your average New York driver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a horror show. They don't let us park nowhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got (INAUDIBLE) you know? We got (INAUDIBLE) you know?

NEISLOSS: Near United Nations headquarters, a neighborhood packed with diplomatic cars, there's been a long-running battle between the diplomats and the city over parking tickets, the kind most people can't afford to ignore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty dollars right now. I pay it.

NEISLOSS: But the diplomats have piled up a debt they don't want to pay.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: These countries are taking advantage of our hospitality and sort of they're thumbing their nose at us.

NEISLOSS (on camera): Several years ago, New York City and the State Department brokered an agreement that added parking spaces. Drivers for diplomats say things have gotten a lot better on the streets. But still unresolved, the millions of dollars in old parking debts.

(voice-over): The biggest debtors? Egypt with $1.9 million in unpaid parking tickets. Kuwait, $1.3 million. Nigeria, $975,000. All told, countries owe New York City $18 million in parking fines, money the city very much wants in its coffers. New York senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton say they have the answer. They tacked an amendment onto a foreign aid bill now awaiting for a signature by President Bush.

SCHUMER: It's very simple. It says to any country that has an embassy here that doesn't pay park their tickets, doesn't pay their taxes, it's deducted automatically from their foreign aid.

NEISLOSS: The U.S. would withhold the money until the debt is repaid to the city. None of the top debtor countries would talk on camera. The ambassador from Cyprus heads a U.N. committee that deals with disputes between the city and its diplomatic guests. He was, not surprisingly, diplomatic about the idea.

ANDREAS MAVROYIANNIS, CYPRIOT AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We should be very cautious and in the relationship between the diplomatic community and the host country, there should be on both sides full respect of the respective rights and obligations.

NEISLOSS: But for diplomatic drivers, the issue is simple. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say, Move, move, move, and I wait. It's difficult for my work, all right?

NEISLOSS: Debt or no debt, they keep their engines running. Liz Neisloss, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: What if all your private information was out there somewhere in the public and you didn't know who had it? Well, that's what's happened to Boeing employees. About 160,000 employees of the aircraft maker have to worry about a stolen company computer. You're going to find out more.

Also who wants to be too short or too tall? If you're between 5 and 6 feet tall, you're an average American. But learn more about what's so great about being average.

And you do not want to miss this tonight, an exclusive on CNN. Bob Woodward will be with Larry King on Monday, 9:00 PM Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's what's happening right now. A suicide car bomber targeted a funeral ceremony today near Baqubah, Iraq. Twenty-five people were killed and thirty wounded. Police say the bomber drove the car packed with explosives into a tent where mourners were reading verses from the Quran.

And President Bush is hoping to send a visible human rights message on his visit to China. He is going to attend church services Sunday in Beijing before meeting with top Chinese leaders. The State Department this month called China one of eight countries causing particular concern by denying religious freedom.

And fire crews have gained ground on a southern California wildfire, but flames could ignite again if the winds pick up. Crews have reduced the Ventura County fire to a few hot spots, and they hope to have it fully under control in the next three days. The fire has charred almost 4,000 acres.

Well, from hurricanes to wildfires to tornadoes, we have seen our share of weird, untimely weather this year. So was this year a fluke, or is there a more scientific explanation? Bill Nye "The Science Guy" joins me from Los Angeles to help make some sense out of this. Bill, how are you?

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY": Great. Good to see you.

LIN: Well, Bill, do you -- you know, it's past tornado season. Hurricane season is almost over, and yet we've had killer tornadoes, another tropical storm and these wildfires out in the west. Past fire season there, too. How do you explain all this?

NYE: Well, I mean, I can't explain it or I would explain it. You know, you mentioned the word fluke. Is it a fluke? And the answer is maybe. And fluke would be part of science. It's part of the statistical variation. Some years are big, some years are small. But if you are a betting voter and taxpayer, if you're a gambling person, you've got to wonder, in the case of big storms like Katrina, and Gamma and these other storms -- you got to wonder if more heat energy in the atmosphere isn't going drive these storms to be bigger and perhaps, in the distant future, more frequent.

LIN: You're talking about global warming.

NYE: Yes. Now, you can't -- on one season of tornadoes, you can't claim that that's a result of global warming, but -- one season of extra tornadoes and tornadoes that last well into November. You can't claim that's global warming. However, it is consistent with the sort of first fundamental assumptions that you use to do climate models -- you know, the flow of giant masses of air over this enormous planet. And so it's very hard to get them dead on, but you would expect, as the world gets warmer, for storms to get bigger.

LIN: But you are excited about what's happening right now.

NYE: Excited?

LIN: Yes.

NYE: Well...

LIN: Isn't this an exciting time to watch, as historic storms are hitting, especially here in the United States, and then...

NYE: Well, in a sense. That's the trouble. I think I know what you mean. Hurricanes are fascinating and tornadoes are fascinating, but they're causing so much trouble and devastation and they're costing every one of us, as taxpayers, they're costing us all a lot of money.

LIN: Well, I'm not asking you for social policy because you're "The Science Guy."

NYE: Well...

LIN: I'm talking from a scientific standpoint. What are you...

NYE: Well, they are fascinating.

LIN: ... looking for right now?

Oh, we lost the signal. Apologies. All right, Bill Nye "The Science Guy." I guess it's going to be a mystery as to exactly why we're having all this wacky weather in November. We got him back? Bill?

NYE: Yes? Greetings.

LIN: Sorry about that. Usually, we don't lose the signal from Los Angeles, but at any rate...

NYE: It's solid out here.

LIN: It's solid. OK. So...

NYE: Well, but I -- but we are talking about social policy. There's things that society can do to prepare for big storms, and we could do better. I think anybody would agree we could do a lot better. The question is, is this an off year that is very unusual, or is this a trend where things are going to happen -- this kind of big storm, big tornado thing is going to happen more and more in the coming decades.

And I have to say, as a first cut, as a gambling guy, I'd say, yes, probably. They're probably going to get bigger. And so the more steps we can take now, especially when we're rebuilding, it would probably -- probably be in everyone's best interest.

LIN: Because we talk about tornado season or hurricane season or fire season, but that is not so much the case now. It's happening outside those boundaries.

NYE: Yes. Well, fire season is this time of year, and bear in mind that we throw, maybe as a first estimate, half a million dollars at that, and we're able to control those fires. And so it's a model or it's a way of thinking about it, that society can deal with these difficult problems if you plan for it and have the resources in place. But these things cost money. But so does fixing things after they're broken.

LIN: But do you see a discernible shift in weather patterns now?

NYE: Well, people who study these things say, no, except when you're trying to model over half a century, say five decades, they say, Kind of. And especially if you look at size of the North Pole's ice cap, the Arctic ice cap, it's definitely shrinking. Glaciers in Glacial National Park are going away. It's going to be Mud Slide National Park or something. The snows of Kilimanjaro are just Kilimanjaro.

And so these sort of problems are visible to everybody that the world is getting warmer. And if you accept the notion or see that storms are caused by heat or driven by heat, then you got to expect the storms to get bigger. And so yes, in the long, long range, this is consistent with the changes that would happen with global climate change, global warming.

LIN: Bill, thank you very much. Bill Nye "The Science Guy."

NYE: Oh, no. It is I who must thank you. Happy Saturday.

LIN: Happy Saturday.

Well, the aerospace giant Boeing is scrambling to protect its workers this weekend. A laptop computer containing sensitive personal information for about 160,000 employees -- well, that computer has been stolen. Our J.J. Ramberg is in New York with details. Hey, J.J., what kind of information was on this computer, like Social Security numbers or birth dates, that sort of thing?

J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, unfortunately, it did contain the Social Security numbers of some employees, and that's unfortunate because that's really key to identity theft. It also contains the birth dates. In some cases, it contained some banking information. It contained the names of these employees.

Now, Boeing is saying that this was a laptop stolen from an employee working at an off-site location, but they're saying the person who stole it may not have stolen it for this information. They're not sure yet if the person even knew that the information was on that laptop. And they're trying to calm people down by explaining that the laptop had information that was password-protected, so it's very hard to get at that information.

Boeing issued a statement earlier, and let me just read a part of it to you. They said, "The company has no evidence that any of the personnel-related data on the computer has been accessed or misused, and there was no classified supplier, customer, engineering or material financial information on the computer." Again, they're really trying to calm any fears people may have.

What Boeing is doing, though, going forward, is they're going to notify every employee and former employee who had information on this laptop, let them know what happened. They're trying to track down all these former employees right now. And they're also going to pay for a fraud protection alert going forward, so that people can monitor to see if anything happened with this information.

Now, you know, Boeing is far from the only company that has experienced this kind of security breach, particularly in the past year. One watchdog group in California says that 51 million personal identifying numbers have been compromised.

That's just since February. Let me go through a few of the biggest ones with you. Cardsystems had information from 40 million card holders. Cardsystems held information for people who held Visa and Mastercards and other card issuers. Their computers were hacked, and that personal information was obtained by the hacker. Also Time Warner, Bank of America and Citifinancial all lost tapes with a combined number of more than 5.5 million people's information on it.

So this is clearly a very big issue right now. There are about 20 states who have laws that require companies to notify employees or customers if their personal information has been stolen, but there is a law making its way through Congress right now that would make that mandatory for all states -- Carol.

LIN: All right. J.J., I hope there's a short answer to this, but is there any evidence from all those stolen records from all those different companies that they ended up in the wrong hands, that people's identities were, in fact, stolen?

RAMBERG: Yes. In most cases, we don't really have evidence yet, but it's very hard to track that because when your identity is stolen, you don't necessarily know where it was stolen from because we give that information in so many areas.

LIN: You're right. All right, J.J., thank you.

Now, usually, we talk about people who are exceptional or people who were the absolute worst at what they were doing, right? There's an art, though, to being average, all right? And a guy spent a lot of time to track down literally the average American and what it takes to be so average. So you got stick around for this one. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bird, it's a plane. Wait. What is it exactly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like a regular helicopter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet Woody Norris (ph), inventor by trade and creator of this recreational flying machine, the Air Scooter. Equipped with two sets of counter-rotating blades, a specially designed four-stroke engine and handlebar controls, like a motorcycle, the Air Scooter can fly for about two hours at 55 knots an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forward takes you forward. Neutral, you just hover there, anti-gravity. Backwards, you actually fly backwards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's built to meet FAA standards as an ultra- lightweight craft and requires no expensive pilot's license and no build-it-yourself kit. Norris says this gives the machine widespread appeal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting interest from Customs for border patrol, from the military for shuttling mail around on aircraft carriers, lifeguards, fire departments. I think the last count, we had 5,000 inquiries to buy these things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Air Scooter should hit the market by early 2006 with a price tag of around $50,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, 140 years after the end of the Civil War, another battle is raging in the deep South. This one pits Southerners against Southerners over conflicting visions of the past. It's a fight that's been going on for years. Kyra Phillips reports this latest skirmish involves a road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over); What do you think of when you think of the American South? Many people around the world think of a book and a movie. The focal point for "Gone With the Wind" was a fictional plantation named Tara, located in Clayton County, Georgia. Today, Clayton County is a sprawling suburb of Atlanta. There's not much that would remind you of the old South, except for the name of one of its major streets, Tara Boulevard.

In recent years, Clayton County has gone from a predominantly white population to a largely black population. Instead of looking to the old South for heroes and heroines, many African-Americans look to a more recent era. Now there's a move to rename Tara Boulevard for the late Rosa Parks who helped spark the Civil Rights movement by refusing to give a white man her seat on a bus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a good idea. I mean, Rosa Parks has done a lot for the country and for, I guess, peace in general.

PHILLIPS: So is Tara Boulevard "Gone With the Wind," or will the old South rise again?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: During the Civil Rights era, Atlanta managed to avoid much of the racial strife that plagued other cities with quiet compromise. It's a tradition that has continued in recent years. When African-American groups objected to the Confederate battle flag design on Georgia's state flag, the flag was changed to resemble another Confederate flag that was less controversial. Then there was a move to rename Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, named after a white former mayor, to Jackson International Airport, in honor of Atlanta's first black mayor. Atlanta politicians split the difference, changing the name to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Confronted by the latest request, Atlanta politicians seem to be looking for a way to finesse this issue also. The chairman of the county commission suggests there are better ways to honor Rosa Parks.

ELDRIN BELL, CLAYTON COUNTY CHAIRMAN: I think we ought to think beyond just a street. We ought to think monumental, something significant that would leave a legacy to her memory.

PHILLIPS: Old South versus new South. Is there a way to honor both traditions?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVIEN LEIGH: I'll think about it tomorrow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Time will tell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: That was our Kyra Phillips reporting. Now, taking a look at other stories across America. The man who tried but failed to ban the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance is embroiled in another legal fight. Michael Newdow has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the phrase "In God we trust" from U.S. currency. He argues the words are an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Now meet the new mega-millionaires. Seven people are splitting the $315 million lottery jackpot from Tuesday's drawing. The winners, a secretary and a series of laboratory workers from California. They went in on the tickets together, and really, it paid off. Each winner will receive about $25 million, but that's before taxes.

A mystery surrounding the great composer Beethoven may be solved. Officials with the Center for Beethoven Studies are coordinating tests on what could be missing pieces of Beethoven's skull. Fragments from his skull were removed by doctors after his death. Years ago, a California man inherited what he was told were some of Beethoven's remains. Why would you inherit something like that? Now, just recently, he turned them over to the center, and he says early tests show a likely match.

All right, you've heard the expression "regular Joe," the average American, the Everyman. But just who is he? Kevin O'Keefe is the author of "The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen." Now, armed with more than a thousand facts about the average American, he set out on a quest to find one. Kevin joins me now from New York to talk about it. Kevin, congratulations.

KEVIN O'KEEFE, AUTHOR, "THE AVERAGE AMERICAN": Thank you, Carol.

LIN: You actually did find him, didn't you?

O'KEEFE: Yes, I did. I had 140 criteria that I felt best made up the profile of the average American, and every single person in this country was truly a contestant in this search.

LIN: Wow.

O'KEEFE: And only one person in all of the United States...

LIN: Seriously?

O'KEEFE: ... was able to hit all 140.

LIN: And you're keeping his identity a secret. Why is that?

O'KEEFE: Well, not so much a secret. I can tell you people that people that have read the book have really enjoyed the journey, going on the journey with me and discovering how average they are. So to give away...

LIN: See? There he is.

O'KEEFE: To give away the ending I think is disappointing to a few people.

LIN: All right. All right. Well, this guy, what makes him average?

O'KEEFE: Oh, where do we start? Well, first of all, I must say that he is a loving father and husband. He's been married for over 30 years. He has a son in the Air Force. He has a son who's an attorney. And he has a daughter who's also a professional. But you look at things like where he lives. Obviously, the Hispanic dominance in this county is growing. This is a community where Hispanic is the largest minority. Any community...

LIN: Where does he live?

O'KEEFE: I'm sorry?

LIN: Where does he live?

O'KEEFE: Windam (ph), Connecticut.

LIN: Windam, Connecticut. OK. And his name?

O'KEEFE: Bob Burns (ph).

LIN: Bob. All right, wouldn't it be Bob, you know, not something too exotic? Some of the questions that were part of your research on the average American, I want to share them with the viewers, just in case they want to answer them for themselves. For example, you asked "How close is the nearest Wal-Mart to your home?" And what is the average drive, what, 20 minutes?

O'KEEFE: The average is under 20 minutes from door-to-door.

LIN: All right. So you live close to a Wal-Mart. And also, you asked people, "Do you believe you are living the American dream?"

O'KEEFE: Yes, this is -- this is really incredible for me because I started this journey with, to be honest, Carol, a negative view of the average American. And two years later, I finished with a very, very positive view. And that's just one reason why, that most Americans really, truly feel that they're living the American dream.

LIN: And what did Bob tell about his American dream?

O'KEEFE: Well, I'll tell you, as soon as I told him he was the most average American, the first words out of his mouth were, What an honor.

LIN: Oh!

O'KEEFE: He just feels that he has a certain balance in his life that he doesn't want to give up. He doesn't want to be famous. Most Americans do not want to be famous. And he just loves his life being average. He wouldn't have it any other way.

LIN: And you addressed the next question, too, in Bob's life, "Are you tolerant of all races?" He felt comfortable with the fact that his community was changing.

O'KEEFE: Well, not just his community. He actually -- his daughter is married to a Hispanic woman. (SIC) Bob is not Hispanic, white, so not just in his community, but certainly, there's Hispanic blood now in his family.

LIN: Now, why did you think it was important to ask people if they could name all three Stooges?

O'KEEFE: Well, I threw that one in there just as a tie-breaker, in case I needed it, because most Americans can name the three best known Stooges because, as we know, there is also Shemp (ph) and Little Joe.

LIN: OK, there I would have missed. OK, there I would have missed. And -- but disappointing that people could not name the three branches of government. What does that say about the average American?

O'KEEFE: Well, I found out, actually, that sometimes the younger you are, the more you know the answer to that question because you're closer to when you learned it in school. You know, I have a 10-year- old niece, Grace, who knows the answer to that question because she just learned it in class. But it's when we get old that sometimes we forget.

LIN: Our priorities change. And by the way, Kevin, do you prefer smooth or chunky peanut butter?

O'KEEFE: I do prefer smooth.

LIN: Ah!

O'KEEFE: And I didn't start the journey preferring smooth. I went from chunky to smooth. I really do have a greater appreciation for being average.

LIN: Yes. You know what? In a society that always tells to you shoot for the stars, to be the very best, to be competitive in your field, I take comfort in the fact that average can be pretty special.

O'KEEFE: It is amazing. Thank you, Carol.

LIN: OK, Kevin. Smooth it is.

All right. "Time" magazine says they are some of the coolest inventions in 2005. So what do you think? Would you want any of these so-called amazing inventions as your holiday present? Let's see what Jeanne Moos thinks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Yet another tropical storm to worry about, the possibility that Tropical Storm Gamma might hit Florida sometime in the days to come. Monica at the CNN Weather Center -- Monica, what do you think? MCNEAL: I'll tell you what. Right now, the way this storm is looking, Carol, it's not looking too good. It doesn't have its act together. You can certainly see on our infrared satellite it's really been wobbling back and forth. The movement is very erratic at this point. And the bright red colors that you see initially at beginning of the frame, they start to dissolve and disappear as we get to the latter part of the frame. That means the storm is losing its intensity. It's not as strong because it's encountering some very weak upper-level winds, and it's also encountering some very weak steering currents.

So at this point, the storm is not very strong. It still has winds packing winds of about 45 miles per hour. I do want to point out to you where this storm could eventually go. It has shifted farther South, so good news for the folks in Florida, but not so good news for those people in Cuba. You can certainly see by 1:00 PM on Monday, the storm will be moving just across parts of Cuba and heading more out into the Atlantic Ocean.

So we'll continue to monitor this storm. In the meantime, we'll be talking to you a little bit later about what's going on coming up for the holiday.

LIN: That sounds good. Thanks very much, Monica.

MCNEAL: OK.

LIN: And I hope it's a safe one, too. We'll see you in a bit.

MCNEAL: All right.

LIN: In fact, 'tis the season where you'll be trudging through the malls and the discount stores and maybe even the boutiques, all in the quest to find something new, maybe something even grandiose or perfect for the person who has everything. So what about something really cutting-edge? Well, take a look at what CNN's Jeanne Moos has to offer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, you can live without a robot that plays music. And you don't really need land rollers, skates with overgrown wheels for extra stability. And is something called a flavor spray really a must-have item?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get that cucumber.

MOOS: Still, they all made it into "Time" magazine's annual "Most Amazing Inventions of 2005" issue. The most amazing invention of all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Snuffy the puppy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snuffy the puppy.

MOOS: The Afghan puppy that South Korean researchers cloned from another Afghan's ear cell. Forget about seeing double. Feast your eyes on Nike's Maxi-Sight (ph) contacts. The amber makes tennis and baseballs really show up.

(on camera): They are so freaky to look at. I mean, this -- do they have -- they have to be this color, right?

MARYANNE BUECHNER, "TIME" REPORTER: They do have to be this color. This is how they filter out the blue lights.

MOOS (voice-over): And for ultra-sharp underwater images, the Sealife DC-500 made the list.

BJORN HARNS, V.P., SEALIFE CAMERAS: Smile, fishies! We have had a request from someone that specializes in nude photography under water.

MOOS: We kept our clothes on, and later had our picture taken by a robot, though at first, Nouveau's (ph) framing was a bit off. Another robot called Eyecat (ph) made the list for its unrobot-like ability to make facial expressions.

COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Happy. Sad.

MOOS: Eyecat got your tongue?

(on camera): No, don't run. I want to know what you think of it.

(voice-over): It is Toyota's concept vehicle. Is it a chair? Is it...

COMPUTERIZED VOICE: A car.

MOOS: Shaped like a leaf, powered with by lithium ion batteries. You steer by moving this ball. The eye unit has two positions.

(on camera): Sort of like the dentist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the dentist!

MOOS (voice-over): The reclining position is for faster speeds.

(on camera): You like it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would do you with it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who knows? It's for the future. Back in the present, tattoos etched by laser on fruit made the most inventive list. Stores get all the product information without customers having to pick off those annoying stickers. If you want to add taste without adding calories, try flavor sprays by Chef David Burke (ph). They come in flavors ranging from root beer to bacon to ranch dressing.

(on camera): Well, it's all right.

(voice-over): And if you make a mess in the kitchen, there's Scuba (ph). Scuba mops. This is the floor's-eye view. Robots that mop, robots you can dance robotically to. Nouveau (ph) even tells time.

Nouveau, what time?

COMPUTERIZED VOICE: 12:34 PM.

MOOS (voice-over): But even a robot with 15 motorized joints takes a beating. It's enough to make a robot take up smoking. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Happy holidays!

There's much more straight ahead on CNN. In fact, you are going to meet a lieutenant colonel who's been on the front lines in Iraq and New Orleans. The similarities between the two, he says, are startling.

And then inside the mind of Charles Darwin, one of history's most original thinkers. More of CNN LIVE SATURDAY right after this.

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