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Year in Review For President Bush; New Jersey Drawbridge Tragedy; Tsunami: One Year Later

Aired December 26, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Insurgent strikes killed at least 20 people throughout the country, including five in the capital. A motorcycle rigged with a bomb exploded in a busy market, killing one civilian. A car bomb attack in the central part of city killed one civilian and two police officers. And a car bomb elsewhere in the city killed a civilian and wounded a dozen others.
Now, north of Baghdad, gunmen sprayed a checkpoint with machine gunfire, killing five police officers.

It just may be the best Christmas present ever for some of 19,000 U.S. combat troops fighting on another front in President Bush's war on terror. Amid continued deadly clashes with Taliban- and al Qaeda- linked fighters in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced last week that some 3,000 of those troops will soon be withdrawn.

But that news wasn't the only thing helping to lift the holiday spirits for the troops.

CNN's Becky Diamond is in Kabul with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soldiers serving here in Camp Eggers, Afghanistan, are about 10,000 miles from home, but, despite the distance, they say they're very proud to be here, proud to serve their country.

And they're also getting a lot of help during this holiday time from everyday American civilians, who are sending over plenty of gifts, a lot of stocking stuffers, filled with candy, supplies, and also beautiful cards extending their American support for these U.S. troops.

But Christmas here in Kabul is just another day on the job for these soldiers. I went out on a Christmas patrol with members of the Mississippi National Guard. But while they were on patrol, they did bring a little bit of American Christmas spirit here by bringing donated gifts, candy, supplies, milk, and distributing those items to some of Kabul's neediest children.

Also, soldiers here do say that they feel somewhat underappreciated and ignored in their efforts. They say the media tends to focus on the violence, especially in Iraq, but also here in Afghanistan, and not enough on the positive steps being taken on the ground here.

While the year has been violent, there are many positive things going on. There are political reforms, political institutions being built, they say. Also, they point out training of the Afghan national army. 35,000 army soldiers have graduated and are now working in the field.

This, they say, is crucial to any future U.S. troop withdrawal.

Becky Diamond, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: A gas attack sickens dozens of people and frightens many more in Russia.

Gas was released today in a store in St. Petersburg, sending shoppers heading for the doors during the height of the pre-New Year shopping period. Seventy-eight people sought medical attention. Suspicious canisters with timing devices were found in three other stores.

Authorities do not suspect terrorism, but think it may have been related to a commercial dispute.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to head back to the hospital in the next few weeks. Doctors want to seal a tiny hole in Mr. Sharon's heart discovered after he suffered a minor stroke last week. That stroke was caused about a blood clot that became lodged in the hole in his heart. Doctors hope the heart catheterization procedure will prevent future blood clots.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is speaking out on President Bush's domestic spying program. In comments yesterday, Powell said there was nothing wrong with the president authorizing the tapping of domestic telephone and Internet activity to try to stop terrorist attacks.

But, Powell said he didn't think it would have been that hard to obtain warrants for the activity, even in cases of emergency. "The New York Times" first reported that Mr. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without getting warrants from a special intelligent court.

The president has confirm he gave the order for the wiretapping and insists he was doing it -- he was right in doing it. Civil rights advocates, Democrats and some Republicans strongly disagree. And Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter has called for congressional hearings on this very issue.

Well, the president may be looking back on 2005, taking stock of the highs and the lows. But his take on the year's events doesn't always match what the political experts are thinking.

Here's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While President Bush summed up the year this way.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world, and a prosperous America.

MALVEAUX: Some political analysts have a dramatically different take.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This was a grueling and brutal year for a president.

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: If you look at the year in total, it's been a bad one for him.

MALVEAUX: Last November, when President Bush seized the White House for a second term, he declared his 51 percent win a mandate and projected an air of invisibility.

BUSH: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.

MALVEAUX: Early on, he did have a series of successes, with agreements on free trade, energy and transportation. But by mid-year, the center piece of his domestic agenda, Social Security reform, failed. As gas prices rose, Mr. Bush's approval numbers fell.

CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST: We, as Americans...

MALVEAUX: And during his normally quiet summer vacation, Mr. Bush didn't get a break, as protest mom Cindy Sheehan kept the heat on outside his Texas ranch, calling for U.S. troops to come home. Hurricane Katrina roared through the Gulf Coast, and overwhelmed the administration.

GERGEN: That really was a -- I think a moment of extreme disappointment for a lot of Americans.

MALVEAUX: In September, the president pushed through his new Supreme Court chief justice, but October brought more bad news: From Iraq, a grim milestone of 2,000 Americans dead. In Washington, the indictment and resignation of one of his top advisers Scooter Libby stemming from a CIA leak investigation. And at the White House, his Supreme Court pick Harriet Miers, forced to withdraw after conservatives pulled their support.

BROWNSTEIN: The president suffered an almost uninterrupted series of reversals and missteps in 2005.

MALVEAUX: Even overseas in November Mr. Bush was bombarded in South America and Asia with questions over his administration's positions on secret detention sites and torture.

GERGEN: A pattern of secrecy a pattern of perceived or alleged abuse that has really troubled an awful lot of Americans.

BUSH: Millions of people voted...

MALVEAUX: December's landmark elections in Iraq are now overshadowed by the controversy over whether Mr. Bush overstepped his bounds in authorizing a secret domestic spy program. Heading for the holidays Mr. Bush seemed to acknowledge the challenges ahead.

BUSH: We got a lot of work to do.

MALVEAUX: Political analysts say Mr. Bush is poised for a comeback.

GERGEN: We have a weakened president, but a president who's not on the ropes. He's -- there's plenty of fight left in this fellow.

BROWNSTEIN: Bloodied, but unbowed, they feel that they are in position to begin to recover in 2006.

MALVEAUX (on camera): Part of that recovery will be to win modest legislative victories and to also get his Supreme Court pick confirmed. But both Bush aides and political analysts agree, the wild card will be Iraq.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: We have more details now about what police in Fairfax County, Virginia, are calling a murder/suicide.

A short time ago, they identified 27-year-old Nathan Cheatham as the person who shot and killed four team in suburban Virginia, before turning the gun on himself. In their words, he had had contact with mental health professionals. But they don't know yet what medication, if any, he was taking.

They also say Cheatham knew all of his victims. His mother was found shot outside the home they shared in Tyson's Corner. Investigators found Cheatham's body and those of three others inside a house in nearby Great Falls. They say another man escaped after hiding in the basement.

They still have no idea what led to the shootings.

A New Jersey police department is in mourning today. Two officers were believed killed in a freak accident that involved a drawbridge, a broken safety gate, and blinding weather.

CNN's Chris Huntington has the latest on this story and the search for one of the officers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In dense fog and heavy rain shortly after 8 Sunday night, Jersey City police officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen were called to help manage traffic on this drawbridge over the Hackensack River. The drawbridge operator, facing a request to raise the bridge for a tugboat, called on police assistance because one of the bridge's safety gates had been damaged in an accident two days earlier.

Officers Carson and Nguyen drove safely over the bridge, heading west to deliver traffic cones and flares to other officers already halting the oncoming traffic. But they did not return safely.

ROBERT TROY, JERSEY CITY POLICE CHIEF: These heroes, they went over the bridge and they delivered the flares, and when they got done delivering the flares the other officers were setting the flares up. Another incident did occur there, not related to what they were doing, which distracted a lot of the officers at the scene. These two officers got back in their truck and headed east, not knowing that the bridge was open for an oncoming tug.

HUNTINGTON: Unaware that the center span they had just crossed safely was now elevated, leaving a huge gap, Carson and Nguyen plunged into the swift and frigid waters of the Hackensack River.

JERRAMIAH HEALY, MAYOR OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY: Because of the hour, the darkness, the rain, the fog, I'm sure it was impossible for those two fine young men to see what they were driving into, their own -- their own demise.

HUNTINGTON: Rescuers from the Jersey City police and fire departments, as well as U.S. Coast Guard and New York City harbor patrol responded within minutes. They soon recovered Officer Carson, who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Shortly before 2:00 a.m., the submerged emergency vehicle was pulled out of the river. But despite an ongoing search, Officer Nguyen's body has not been recovered.

(on camera): Jersey City's police chief says that, in addition to the broken safety gate on the bridge, warning bells that would ordinarily sound when raising the drawbridge did not go off.

The tragic irony for Officers Carson and Nguyen is that they fell victim to the very kind of accident they were trying to prevent.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Jersey City, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Speaking of tragedy, one year ago today, the tsunami left destruction in its wake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGE TSITOURIS, CARE INTERNATIONAL: Something that everyone wants to see, because it's really hard to believe that this is here. We are four kilometers from the ocean. And this is...

(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: This woman, a worker for CARE International, was helping victims just days after it struck. She will update us on how her efforts have affected lives in the tsunami zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Shoppers, take note, just 364 days left until Christmas, you know, next Christmas. And stores are trying to lure you in with some post-holiday deals and discounts today.

CNN's John Zarrella is watching the crowds in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: We're in the Target store in Aventura, which is in the north Miami area. And they opened here at 7:00 a.m. this morning.

I was quite surprised. I didn't expect to see the line of people waiting out the door that I did. And, as the doors open and they pour in, we asked a lot of these folks if they were here to make returns or -- and they said, no, no, no, they were really here, for the most part, for the bargains, the 50 to 60 percent off on items, and that they did also have gift cards.

Two big things this year are people shopping after Christmas for the big, big sales, and also for gift cards. And a lot of the retailers are saying they're counting heavily on people cashing in those gift cards in these early days after the holidays, because, nationwide, at least at first blush, it appears that sales were -- were maybe flat in a lot of places around the country.

Now, here at the Target, they say that the numbers that they're looking at are a 35 percent increase over last year. We are actually, as you can see, at the return desk area. And while there is a line, and it's been a steady line, it hasn't been bad all day. It's been fairly quiet here, just a few people.

Now the line has picked up again, but, for the most part, not much of a line at all. And most of the business that they're doing here has been people picking up a lot of that sale merchandise.

Now, you know, there are some items that, of course, you can't return, things that maybe, like, you get from relatives, like this belt that I got from my 16-year-old son, "The Godfather" belt. There's no way I can return that. There are certain thing that, no matter how much you might want to return, there's no way you can do it.

But, for most people, today, at least here, has not been a day for returns, but a day to pick up the bargains.

John Zarrella, CNN, Aventura, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: His son probably gave him that belt because he wanted to wear it. He knew John wouldn't.

Ali Velshi joins us.

Ali, my favorite gift -- now, you know you're getting old when you're excited about a chair. But I'm a little worried about you, because tell us about your favorite gift. Go ahead.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a power drill.

NGUYEN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: It was a little six-volt power drill. I was very pleased about that.

NGUYEN: What is wrong with you? A power drill?

VELSHI: I have a lot of -- I have a remarkable collection of power tools.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: I live in an apartment in -- in Manhattan, where there's no need for a power tool, but I...

NGUYEN: At all.

VELSHI: I enjoy them.

You see, this is the thing. Because of the thing, the weird things people like and the weird things people get, I just want to show you here.

NGUYEN: All right.

VELSHI: This is -- I walked into the office. I have been away for a while.

These are just some of the boxes of the gifts that were sent to me. There's a Bloomingdale's box here. These are things I got. Now, what -- it would be a lot of easier if people just got me gift cards, because gift cards are...

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: You can buy all the power drills you want.

VELSHI: Yes. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: And, you know, you never get the wrong thing.

Now, this is interesting, because gift card sales are way up. The numbers, the estimates of the number of people who bought gift cards this year for someone else are between 50 and 75 percent of shoppers.

NGUYEN: Wow.

VELSHI: More than 50 percent of shoppers bought gift cards. And the most common gift card denomination is 50 bucks.

Now, let's just take a look at how much people have bought, in terms of gift cards, over the last three holiday seasons. The 2005, obviously, is an estimate. But this is per person buying for other people.

In 2003, it was $183, in 2004, $223, now $248. So, clearly, people are catching on to this whole gift-card idea.

NGUYEN: Well, why do you think that is? Is it, one, people just have everything. It's a matter of, I have no idea what to get them?

VELSHI: Yes.

NGUYEN: Let me just get them a gift card?

VELSHI: I think that's part of it. I think part of it is that we buy a lot more online. It's easier to ship.

Part of it is that, you know, back in the day of gift certificates, those paper gift certificates -- and there are still some of those around -- it sort of was thought of as a last-minute gift that didn't take much planing, and maybe you didn't put a lot of thought into it.

Now, gift cards come packaged. They're durable. You can track them if you lose them. You know, I remember getting gift cards. I never knew where they were. I had to carry them around with me. There's no stigma to giving these gift cards, vs. giving gift certificates. They are much more common. You can get them all over the place. They're easy to do. They can be checked online.

It's picking up. People are enjoying getting them. And a lot of stores, Betty -- you have seen this now -- the gift card comes in a nice little gift box or...

NGUYEN: Right.

VELSHI: ... or something like that. So, it's picking up steam as a good gift for the holidays.

NGUYEN: It's a great gift. I got one of them. I love it. Hey, more gift cards, the better.

But I have to ask you this. Is that slowing down these deep discounts, because retailers are like, aha, everybody's getting gift cards?

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: They're ready to spend money? VELSHI: That's -- it has changed this very week that we are in, because this used to be the week that, if you didn't sell everything out for the holidays, you discounted everything. Some people would come back to the stores this week who got gifts to make those returns.

And if there was other sale merchandise on sale, they would make those returns, or they would exchange their merchandise for something else. So, it was a clearance week. You would go into stores and you would see all these sales.

Now, with all the gift cards, a lot of retailers are changing their displays immediately for the 26th of December. And they are now new things that you're going to go in and use your gift card on, things that you're buying for yourself, not just because you want to exchange something.

So, it's changing the whole feel of post-Christmas. As more and more people get gift cards, retailers are now going to turn this week into a week for people who are buying things for themselves, as opposed to just those who are returning things that didn't fit or wasn't their color.

NGUYEN: I see.

OK. So, when are the real discounts, then, the deep discounts?

VELSHI: I think you're probably still going to find enough of them this week, because most people who get buy -- who get gift cards, for instance, spend them in this week.

This is the week that a lot of people go back to the stores. And, certainly, if it's not this week, it will be in the next week or so. You're not going to do away with the sales just yet. But what you will find is that, January, over the next few years, will become much more of that holiday shopping season. And a lot of those sales will extend into January.

So, if you didn't get it all, everything you wanted, this might be your opportunity to go out and use your gift cards or take advantage of sales to pick it up in the next couple weeks, Betty.

NGUYEN: Absolutely, shopping and more shopping, that's what we do best.

VELSHI: I need nothing else. I have got the...

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: I have got the power drill.

NGUYEN: You got the power drill. Hang it on the wall, because there's nowhere else to put it in that place, right, Ali?

VELSHI: Yes. Exactly.

(LAUGHTER) NGUYEN: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: Good to see you.

NGUYEN: Good to see you, too.

Well, there is a powerful new majority in America, 83 million strong. Are you one of them? Find out later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It was so brutal, so quick, and so extensive, says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, we're still struggling to fully comprehend it. It's the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, remembered today, exactly one year later, with prayer and reflection, resolve and regret, in all the affected countries.

Indonesia used the indication to test a tsunami warning system, having lost more than 130,000 of its people to 30-foot waves that struck unannounced with the force of a jet plane one year ago. Overall, more than 200,000 people died. Almost two million lost their homes. And 80 percent of those, by one estimate, still lack permanent homes of their own.

Survival, then, for many, is a work in progress, as CNN's Alex Quade discovered, and, in many cases, just plain work.

This report first aired on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Hasmullah's secret way to catch fish.

HASMULLAH (through translator): I chase the fish by bashing the water. I beat the water so the fish will come out.

QUADE: And this is Hasmullah's secret fishing hole.

HASMULLAH (through translator): At this location there were houses. After the tsunami there is water here and no more houses. They were taken by the tsunami.

QUADE: The 13-year-old's relatives lived right here. They and their homes are gone. What do you remember about the tsunami?

HASMULLAH (through translator): I heard people screaming, water. The water is rising. I wondered why. I ran. I saw my friends also running. Five of my close friends died.

QUADE: More than 169,000 people lost their lives in Aceh, more than anywhere else the wave hit. Hasmullah and his parents survived. His home, relatives and schoolmates did not.

HASMULLAH (through translator): There are many dead bodies everywhere after the tsunami. There are damaged houses and schools. It makes me feel unhappy and sad to think about it.

QUADE: Though he smiles, he says he hates this water. But he must fish to help support what's left of his family. Today is a good day.

HASMULLAH (through translator): These two cost 5,000 rupees.

QUADE: About 50 cents in U.S. dollars. Fishing for a living after the tsunami is hard. Muck and debris choke the ecosystem.

HASMULLAH (through translator): Now there's no place to fish. The water has gone deeper. It's not good.

QUADE: All around Hasmullah, workers are rebuilding.

HASMULLAH (through translator): There are no houses, many poor people. I feel sad. I still feel sad.

QUADE: The tsunami made 500,000 Acehnese homeless. Today, nearly 68,000 in this provincial capital alone still live in tents. Humanitarian shanty towns are going up, but rebuilding lives is harder.

HASMULLAH (through translator): It's not the same now. I don't enjoy school anymore. I lost so many friends.

QUADE: As he fishes, Hasmullah dreams of becoming a Muslim cleric, but worries he'll be stuck for the rest of his life beating the water that took his relatives.

HASMULLAH (through translator): I don't know why the tsunami happened.

QUADE: A year later, he's still afraid it will happen again.

HASMULLAH (through translator): It was scary. I'm still scared.

Alex Quade, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: The U.N. figures three-quarters of the 13 billion the outside world promised for tsunami relief and reconstruction has been secured. Private aid groups and NGOs have been going on the scene as well, almost from day one.

Together, they have transformed day-to-day existences from impossible to the merely difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No home, food. No job. I have a small baby, and no milk. Very, very difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: That Sri Lankan woman has gotten help from CARE International.

And joining me now from Chicago to talk about that organization and her own intense involvement is Marge Tsitouris.

We want to thank you for being here on this anniversary.

You have been to the area recently. Looking at what you have seen and the progress made there, what is your assessment of the situation right now?

TSITOURIS: Well, we're about where I think that we thought we would be.

We're really looking at long term. I think, when you think about disaster response -- and just watching that film that was on -- you really need to think about the physical needs and the kinds of things that people need, just at the very beginning, the food, and water, and shelter. You need to think about those psychological needs. And that's a new one, I think, for the humanitarian community.

We have been paying more and more attention to those psychological needs. It's going to hard for that little boy, and others like him, to build their life again. And we're looking long term. And I think that's -- that's the biggest thing here, is, we need to get people back to a place that's better than it was before.

I think we're all aware, and particularly here in the United States, after Katrina, that the poor are much -- are very vulnerable and much more affected by disasters than people who have assets already.

NGUYEN: When you talk about rebuilding and rebuilding better than the way it was before, how is care doing that, not only rebuilding homes, but schools?

TSITOURIS: Building schools, building infrastructure.

In Indonesia, we're working on health centers, and putting them back in a way that's better, building good construction. As we're building permanent house, we are looking at places that we can build where -- where people can be safe again, structures that are sound and will -- will respond in whatever disaster is prevalent in that area.

We're really trying to get people back on their feet in a place where they can make a little bit more money, perhaps, than they did before. I think, sometimes, these kinds of things really allow us to see who is vulnerable, who can be protected, and what we need to do to do better for them.

NGUYEN: There's so much to be done.

Not only did people lose loved ones. You're now seeing women as heads of households, women who -- who don't have the skills or the training to take some of the jobs, the very few jobs, that are available.

So, how are you helping with that, helping in the future planning and getting these people to work and back on their feet?

TSITOURIS: Well, what CARE has done, and normally in our development program -- programming, is we have spent a good amount of our time and energy in working with women. Generally, we bring groups of women together, poor women, in savings and credit schemes, some skills training, some literacy, some numeracy. When you find after a disaster that so many women become heads of households when their husbands are lost, this is particularly important.

It's to build their capacity to take on whatever kind of livelihood that seems most appropriate for them. It really depends on the country and the situation they're in. But they need then to take care of their families.

NGUYEN: When you went back -- I want to talk about some footage that you took, basically a reminder of how devastating this was -- you were standing in front of an ocean barge which really was so huge behind you. It looked look a building.

Is it still amazing to see what washed ashore and just the reminders of how strong and powerful and devastating this storm was?

TSITOURIS: Absolutely. I was standing in an area in Banda Aceh that was just about maybe a kilometer, about half a mile from the ocean, and everything was wiped out. And you can see the footprint of the homes.

We were talking to a number of people who have survived. There was particularly a young man who built this little makeshift area, just a hut. And he and other young men who had been in town when the tsunami hit, all they had, everyone in their family, was gone. So they were now trying to at least have some connection with their family by staying on that footprint of their house, essentially the foundation, just to feel some kind of connection.

It was an awful thing that happened. So many people really were wiped out.

NGUYEN: And I can see your face as we were showing that story right before you and just how this affects you deeply. I've got to ask you this. You have led CARE's response in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Kosovo, so many hard-hit places.

How does this compare?

TSITOURIS: In terms of the quickness of it, most often you have some kind of warning. I would say the Pakistan-India earthquake most recently would be the same, I would put it in the same category in total devastation. And it's a quick devastation.

It hit so suddenly and wiped out so many people. And I think we forget sometimes forget it's not just the swath of land and those people there, but it's the greater community that's been affected in some way or another. When you think 2,000 teachers in Indonesia were killed, that's a major -- will take a long time for Indonesia to get those people back, to get those teachers back in those schools. And the psychological trauma has been incredible for all of the people have been affected.

NGUYEN: Yes, it's more than just numbers. We're talking real people with real families and real heartache.

Marge Tsitouris with CARE.

TSITOURIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: We appreciate your time and what you're doing.

TSITOURIS: Thank you very much.

NGUYEN: You'll want to be sure to join CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW" for more of our special coverage of "The Tsunami: A Year Later." That is tonight, 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

A family story that emerged after Hurricane Katrina. Remember this face? Look at that, a boy with cancer whose spirit in the face of disaster is helping his entire family rebuild their lives and their beloved boat dock.

An update on what they're doing and how they're doing it. That's ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Hanukkah is officially under way around the world. In New York, the start of the annual Festival of Lights began yesterday at sundown with a ceremonial lighting of the menorah. Hanukkah is a an eight-day Jewish commemoration of the victory over forces who had oppressed the Jews and the redication of the temple in Jerusalem.

Well, the lighting of these candles signifies the start of Kwanzaa. The seven-day festival inspired by the civil rights struggles of the '60s and is observed by more than 20 million people in the U.S., Canada, England, the Caribbean and Africa.

Kwanzaa, which means first fruits in Swahili, is a non-religious holiday based on African winter harvest festivals. Each day develop celebrates a different value such as unity, responsibility and faith.

Hurricane Katrina created connections between people who might never have crossed paths otherwise. Elizabeth Cohen updates us on a young Louisiana boy and how he touched the hearts of people thousands of miles away. It is a story that first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When we first told the story of Tony Nata, a 6-year-old from Slidell, Louisiana, who's battling leukemia, we had no idea what an impact it would have on this man, Jeff Parness, who lives more than a thousand miles away in New York City.

JEFF PARNESS, NEWYORKSAYSTHANKYOU.ORG: We saw a wonderful story on CNN about the family. My wife and I watched the video, and we just kind of looked at each other and said, "How can we not do something to help?"

COHEN: Tony has a 50-50 chance of survival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a big breath. You have a chocolate face, man.

COHEN: He needs more chemo, plus radiation, and a bone marrow transplant. He's getting the medical attention he needs...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An alligator.

COHEN: ... but he's doing it without a home. Hurricane Katrina devastated Slidell, including Tony's house and his fishing deck. Fishing is Tony's passion. And, at this point, it's the only sport he can do.

But now, Tony's living in a FEMA trailer far away from his fishing spot. That's where Jeff Parness comes in. Jeff lost one of his best friends on September 11th. To say thank you for all the kindness he and other New Yorkers received, Jeff founded NewYorkSaysThankYou.org. They travel around the U.S. helping other devastated communities. After seeing our story...

ROBIN NATA, MOTHER: Jeff flew down with his organization and a group of guys and decided to rebuild our decks for us.

COHEN: And he didn't come alone. He brought New York City firefighters with him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glad to meet you.

COHEN: And residents from Utica, Illinois, came, too. Jeff's group helped their community after they were hit with tornadoes.

And this couple from San Diego. Jeff's foundation rebuilt their house after it was destroyed in the wild fires of 2003. And locals here in Slidell helped, too.

PARNESS: We had Slidell Lions Club, a whole bunch of 70-year-old men who unpacked this 18-wheeler yesterday, 750 pieces of lumber.

COHEN: They all gathered one freezing cold Friday morning tearing up what was left of the old deck and laying down the new. And then, Jeff had a surprise for Tony: His fishing idol, ESPN's Jimmy Houston...

JIMMY HOUSTON, ESPN FISHING HOST: Man, oh man.

COHEN: ... best known for kissing the fish.

HOUSTON: The biggest speckled trout. Show me about how long it is. Yes. TONY NATA, FATHER: Jimmy was great. He was a class act. Tony doesn't speak to everybody. He's in his own little world.

COHEN: In just two days, they finished the deck. Tony drove in one of the last nails and then cast his line.

J. NATA: All of my heart, from all of our hearts.

R. NATA: Yes.

J. NATA: You know, this has been special. This is...

R. NATA: To Jeff, you know, we couldn't thank you more.

J. NATA: It's powerful.

R. NATA: Yes. Yep.

J. NATA: We're on our way. We're on our way back. You know, we're going to get back. That's special.

COHEN: Now, finally, Tony has his fishing spot back.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Let's go fishing!

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Slidell, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And if all goes well, the family will move into their repaired home by early next year and little Tony should be getting his bone marrow transplant in February. Jeff Parness and his group expect to travel to tornado-damaged Indiana for their next project.

Well, there is a powerful new majority in America, 83 million strong. Are you one of them? Find out later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It could be a seismic shift for singles. Unmarried adults are emerging as a powerful new majority in America. But is that taking a toll? Many unattached Americans say they are becoming the targets of discrimination.

Here's CNN's Randi Kaye with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blythe Collier and Bob Simpson have been together for 18 years. They live together, own a business together and are blissfully in love.

BOB SIMPSON, BLYTHE'S "SWEETIE": I met Collie (ph); she is someone I wanted to spend my life with.

KAYE: But Bob and Blythe aren't married. Nor do they have any plans to ever get married.

BLYTHE COLLIER, BOB'S "SWEETIE": Have you priced wedding dresses lately? Oh my god, it's like, why would you want to spend that kind of money.

KAYE (on camera): Is this at all somewhat of a protest, this not getting married business?

COLLIER: For me, it is a little. I'm nobody's property. I belong to me.

KAYE: Don't you belong, somewhat?

COLLIER: I belong to me.

SIMPSON: There are a lot of people that say they're committed because they're married. And then they're divorced in two years or five years or ten.

KAYE: Bob and Blythe are part of the 86 million single adults beginning to define the new majority in America. Already unmarrieds make up 42 percent of the workforce, 40 percent of homebuyers, 35 percent of voters, and are one of the most potent consumer groups out there. Yet they say they face mass discrimination in almost every one of those areas.

(voice-over): When Bob Simpson lost his job, Blythe Collier lost her health benefits, because they are unmarried, she would no longer be covered under Bob's supplemental insurance.

Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller, founders of the Alternatives to Marriage Project, hear stories like that every day.

DORIAN SOLOT, CO-FOUNDER, ALTERNATIVES TO MARRIAGE PROJECT: People who have lost their jobs or been refused promotions because they're not married.

KAYE: Solot and Miller founded the group after they say they experienced discrimination.

SOLOT: Not being able to get joint health insurance, to having trouble renting an apartment together, to being charged twice as much for tenants insurance.

KAYE: Singles don't just feel discriminated against in the private sector, but at the federal level, too.

MARSHALL MILLER, CO-FOUNDER, ALTERNATIVES TO MARRIAGE PROJECT: I don't think married couples should get tax breaks. I don't think unmarried people should get tax breaks. I think the tax code should have nothing do with marital status.

KAYE: But it does. Marital status can also impact getting a gym membership, renters insurance, even mortgages. Unmarried workers pay the same Social Security as married workers. Yet their partners won't receive survivor benefits. Insurance companies charge higher rates to unmarrieds because most states allow marital status to be used as a rating for setting premiums. And unmarried people are not eligible for family health coverage for their partners or families.

TOM COLEMAN, EXEC. DIRECTOR, UNMARRIED AMERICA: Private sector employers, wake up and smell the roses. Unmarried America is here.

KAYE: Tom Coleman is the executive director of Unmarried America, a lobby group that fights for rights for singles.

COLEMAN: Federal law does not prohibit marital status discrimination in employment or housing. So when we go knocking on the doors of these federal agencies, they can't help us.

DAVID POPENOE, THE NATIONAL MARRIAGE PROJECT: Married couples raise children, and society is very interested in having children raised well, because they're our future.

KAYE: Dr. David Popenoe of the National Marriage Institute promotes marriage, and studies how its perceived imbalance is affecting society. Popenoe argues that married people are in effect being discriminated against.

POPENOE: The single people are getting away scot-free. They're going to, when they're 70, benefit from somebody else's kids paying their Social Security benefits. And probably they ought to have to pay, you know, double.

KAYE: But Tom Coleman disagrees.

COLEMAN: A single person who dies a month before they retire, everything that they have paid into Social Security evaporates. They cannot leave anything to a survivor or beneficiary.

KAYE: Social discrimination also exists, even among family members. Blythe and Bob, after nearly two decades together, are still treated like teenagers.

COLLIER: There were a couple of visits where I think my father made sure that we slept in different rooms. But he got over it after a while, and a couple of years later when we came back for another visit, we were in the same room with twin beds. And we looked at it and looked at each other and said, Shut the door, and we just pushed the beds together.

SIMPSON: Pushed the beds together.

KAYE: Some things you find a way to change. Some things you find a way around.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, a "Desperate Housewife" stops traffic in San Antonio and winds up in a verbal jam. Early Saturday, Eva Longoria was riding in a car driven by her boyfriend, Tony Parker, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs. Well, a bicycle cop says he knocked on the hood of Parker's car because it was blocking traffic.

The police report says Parker and Longoria began screaming at the cop, then as Parker began to drive away he allegedly came close to hitting a pedestrian and was ordered to pull over. While the officer wrote out a ticket for impeding traffic and not having a valid driver's license, Longoria reportedly shouted, "He's just a Mexican bike cop, he only wants your autograph!"

Well, Longoria calls the report highly inaccurate and insists she never made any sort of racial slurs, especially about the officer being Mexican "as a Mexican myself."

All right. Chalk up another tackle for Pittsburgh Steelers line backer James Harrison. But body slam is more like it. Check this out.

There he goes. Up and down. Harrison taking down a fan who ran out on the field.

It's reported the guy was apparently drunk. Harrison held the guy down until Cleveland police arrived. The man was taken into custody and later charged with criminal trespass. The Steelers, incidentally, shut down the Browns, 41-0.

Talking about ice skating now. No matter what your age or skill level, it can be a hair-raising experience. But everyone's flocking to this skating rink. Find out why it's the coolest place around, literally.

That's tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

Your travel weather is up next today right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The cinnamon bun was way past stale, but it's making fresh hot news today in Nashville. First, the back story, though.

This bun -- check it out right there on the left -- gained renown in 1996 went a customer of the Bongo Java coffee house said it beheld a striking resemblance to Mother Teresa. Others agreed, so the bun was shellacked and set up for display.

Well, since then, the "Nun Bun," as it's called, has inspired T- shirts, mugs, and prayer cards, and even made a trip to David Letterman's "Late Show." At one point, Mother Teresa wrote a personal letter to Bongo Java asking that sales of bun-related merchandise be stopped.

Now someone else has stopped them. The nun bun was stolen -- that's right, stolen in a break-in. Bongo Java owner Bob Bernstein says the culprit clearly had a mission on mind. A cache of cash next to the purloin pastry was undisturbed. So they were only after one thing, apparently.

Today it's a lot of hurry up and wait. If you're heading home from the holidays today, you'll have plenty of company along the way.

AAA estimates that 63.5 million Americans hit the road this holiday. The vast majority, more than 51 million, went in their cars. Almost nine million took to the skies. And a little more than three million went by train, bus or maybe dogsled if you're in the Sierra Nevada.

A winter storm warning is in effect for Lake Tahoe, where as much as two and a half feet of snow could fall by tomorrow. That's good for skiers.

And here's a little value-added info from the Bureau of Transportation. Check it out.

The average long distance trip at Thanksgiving is 214 miles. Over Christmas and New Year's the average is 275 miles. Perhaps the inducement of gifts makes people willing go the extra mile, yes? Hmm? Hmm? Yes, I think so.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers always going the extra mile to find out whether weather will be a factor for your travel plans.

Did your agent write that, Chad? What was that?

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: All of the day's news is straight ahead in "THE SITUATION ROOM." That is right after a short break.

Have a good day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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