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Celebratory Mood on Wall Street; Using Frequent Flier Miles to Support Military Families; Saints to Go Home

Aired December 30, 2005 - 15:30   ET

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

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, you are starting to hear some strange sounds behind me, this whooping. They're literally whooping it up because in the final thirty minutes of the trading session on a Friday before a three-day weekend, things get very slow. In fact, right now it looks like it will be the slowest full trading day of the year.
And they live and die like we do by the clock. So at 3:30, 3:33, there is this tradition. No, it is not the opening bell. No, it is not the closing bell. But it is ingrained here at the NYSE, like everything else. And so the mood here is quite festive.

You know, just in the last hour, Kyra, I saw a gentleman with white hair who went into this extended sort of break dance to the accompaniment of all these makeshift percussion instruments. It was quite a sight to be seen.

You know, and in the same hour there was a song that was sung by the traders that dates back to the depression, "Wait Til the Sun Shines Nellie" that hopes for better things ahead. And one can only hope that '06 will bring better things than how it looks like it is going to close out,Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All that hoop and hollering, are they doing that just to try and throw you off, Susan? Are those all your good friends around you? Listen to them that's terrible.

LISOVICZ: Yes, they're whopping it up. I mean, they're practicing. It's like sort of -- you know, they're getting their vocal cords together for this.

And, you know, remember now, I mean, this is, you know, very slow part of the trading day. Looks like the slowest part of the slowest trading day of the year. But it's still very festive. I mean, this market has been very resilient.

We've been through a lot. A lot of the big stories that you've been covering, for instance, the hurricanes, Kyra, where we had those oil shocks and a lot of fear in the marketplace. The market did bounce back, but the Santa Claus rally that's so typical on the final trading week of this year, I should say, between Christmas and New Year's has not quite materialized.

And there are some serious things we're still concerned about. We're still concerned about oil prices. Oil prices have been on the rise for the last few days. They're above $60 a barrel. And we've seen at least three major reports out in the past week that the housing market, which has been a pillar of the economy, is cooling down.

But nonetheless, it's a celebratory mood here at the New York Stock Exchange.

PHILLIPS: That's what high stress does to you. You have to laugh and have to have a good time.

LISOVICZ: Yes. And that is what they're doing. I mean, you know, this is -- you know, even though it looks like the Dow Jones Industrials at this point--we can say quite convincingly that the Dow will now end, if it stays where it is, it will end down. So one of the three major averages won't make it a third winning year in a row.

You know, traders are a little bit different than the average investor. They also make money on volume and on volatility. And this is the year when you saw those oil shocks, you saw a lot of volatility.

Do you get the picture of what it's like to be on the trading floor?

PHILLIPS: I'm getting the mood. I'm getting the picture.

LISOVICZ: Give it a few seconds to hear it in full.

Three thirty-three, thirty-three on the nose. You remember, these are grown men and grown women.

PHILLIPS: That are very happy that 2005 is up, and they can't wait until tomorrow night.

Susan Lisovicz, thank you so much, 3:33. You heard all the whooping and the hollering.

LISOVICZ: They whoop it up down here, quite literally.

PHILLIPS: I tell you what, Susan, thank you.

Well, straight ahead, so how many frequent flyer miles do you have? It's the end of the year, and if you have some that are about to expire, well, how about turning those miles into miracles? We're going to tell you how straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The U.S. Army Major Timothy Vacaj (ph) went to Iraq to pray and spiritually protect his fellow soldiers. As part of the 44th division, Father Tim collected prayer requests and comforted those who needed his support.

Now his family is asking for your love and your prayers. Father Tim is hanging on for dear life. He's been in a coma for a year and a half after being hit in the head with flying concrete. His family hasn't left his side thanks to a program called hero miles. Anita Brand is Father Tim's sister. David Coker is the executive director of the Fisher House Foundation. That's how hero miles became possible.

And after hearing their interviews we are hoping that you'll take your extra frequent flier miles and turn them into miracles for families like Father Tim's.

Great to have you both.

And, Anita, I just want to give a little background on your brother. Tell us what happened.

ANITA BRAND, HELPED BY HERO MILES: He was returning -- he was based in Mosul, and he was returning with his chaplain's assistant from doing a mass out in the field. They drove past an IED that was buried in concrete understanding that the curbs there are three feet high. And it was remotely set off with a cell phone. And it exploded and threw concrete into his humvee that he was driving and hit him in the head.

PHILLIPS: And so, I mean, he was on a mission, obviously, a spiritual mission to support those affected by these same exact type of accidents. For those that he ministered to, how did they respond to him and embrace him and comfort him when this happened?

BRAND: The chaplain that was at the base heard the call come in and was devastated that it was Tim that was injured. I believe his chaplain's assistant told me that they had gotten a call that there was injured back at the base, and Tim was on his way back to minister to them.

One of the things that I was told through the Army is that he would be with every wounded soldier, no matter if they were Catholic or not, to minister to them, to be with them and see them off on the flight to Baghdad and then further on to Landstuhl. And also he would stay with the bodies of those who died until they were transported out of the Mosul area.

PHILLIPS: Now, David, here's where you come in, executive director of the Fisher House Foundation. Tell us about hero miles because this is what got Anita to her brother and continues to get Anita to her brother to be by his side.

DAVID COKER, FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION: Well, through the hero miles program over the past 18 months, we've been able to bring in people on over 4,600 flights to be reunited with their loved ones as they're going through this terrible time.

PHILLIPS: Tell us what airlines are accepting donations right now.

COKER: Well, the best thing to do, because it is a rather fluid situation, if you go to our web site, www.fisherhouse.org, you'll see a list of those airlines that are allowing contributions to be made. We have worked with virtually every major American airline with the exception of United. And we're hopeful we'll get a deal with them early in the new year. Because sometimes we've been blessed with sufficient mileage, the airlines will cut off contributions at a certain point and then reopen them as they are need.

PHILLIPS: Now, Anita, because of the hero miles, you've been able to make a number of trips to be with your brother. How do you think that has helped him spiritually, physically, emotionally? He's got to love being able to see your face, because from what I understand he is showing some movement, is that right?

ANITA BRAND, BROTHER WOUNDED IN IRAQ: Yes, he is.

Just a little history, I do live in the D.C. Area. And I was able to be with him at Walter Reed for the four months that he was there. And the foundation was able to bring in my brother's family when it looked like he was going to die. And it took care of my parents. And then it's helped me get back and forth on occasion to Minnesota so that I can be at his side.

The last visit we were there, I was there with my daughter. And he wouldn't let go of her hand.

PHILLIPS: David, you got to hear stories like this and just be so happy you do what you do.

COKER: It's a real thrill. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to be able to play a small role. But the heroes in this case are the soldiers and the marines we're supporting and their families. And the American public deserves a great deal of credit, because it's their frequent flyer miles and their contributions that are allowing us to make a difference.

PHILLIPS: Well, Anita, I know that your brother received a bronze star. As a matter of fact his colonel said he could always be found spending time with the soldiers at the battalion keeping his fingers intently on the spiritual pulse of the battalion. A lot of people keeping the spiritual pulse on him right now yes?

BRAND: Yep. Yes, there's a Web site that, the Caring Bridge, that has been hit over a million times. I think that is it. A lot. And people are praying for him.

I've heard from -- I've gotten e-mails from all around the world. I can pretty much say that every continent I've heard from, of people that he's ministered to, people that don't know him. A lot of the people that visit him at the V.A. hospital right now and spend time with him have never known him but Tim ministering from his hospital bed as a priest.

PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to continue U.S. Army Major Timothy Vucaj (ph), Anita, you're brother. And David, once again, we're going to plug that Web site, www.fisherhouse.org. If you've got the miles, this is how you donate them. You can help people like Anita, her family members, to get to people like Father Tim who need their family right now. Anita and David, thanks so much for your time.

COKER: Thank you, happy new year.

PHILLIPS: You're welcome.

BRAND: Happy new year to you, too. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, from tragedy to triumph -- Sean O'Keefe has seen a lot of both. Tonight he's hoping to celebrate right here in Atlanta. Right now he's in the house. We're going to talk to him as the news keeps coming right here on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Yes, a lot of LSU fans down there at the CNN building today. Why? Because the Peach Bowl, of course. But there's also the Sugar Bowl, as you can imagine Atlanta is pretty craze this time of the year. But before we talk about that with our special guest, we're going to check with Carol Lin. She's also talking football, right?

CAROL LIN, CN ANCHOR: You bet.

PHILLIPS: New Orleans Saints.

LIN: That's right. They're going home, Kyra, it looks like. I just was monitoring a news conference where the New Orleans Saints' owner, Tom Benson, came out and confirmed to reporters, yes, indeed, the team is going back.

He talked very sentimentally about the days when back in September after the hurricane, he said that the team tried to get back to the Superdome but they were blocked by FEMA. And as he described it, armed men who refused to allow the team to get back into the Superdome to try to reclaim some of their things. And so he described very dramatically how the team was forced to relocate along with everybody else in order to survive.

But now Tom Benson says that he understands that the Superdome may be ready as soon as September 15th for play. And he is saying that the team is going to be returning back to their practice facility in Metrairie near New Orleans. And he talked about how important it was for the team to get back here. They support some 4,000 jobs, he says. They pay something like $24 million in state Taxes.

He says the players continue to pay their payroll taxes back to the state of Louisiana even though they were in Texas. Now, of course, the big question is so what does San Antonio get out of this? There were a lot of big thanks to San Antonio for taking them in.

PHILLIPS: Sure, they treated them so well. Absolutely. The players have raved about that city.

LIN: Absolutely. In fact, Kyra, some of the players have mixed feelings about going back. Because they're saying, well, OK, we can go back and yes, we want to support the home town, but what about places to live and businesses?

PHILLIPS: And their families? LIN: Exactly. They're worried about hospitals and schools. So a lot of questions for the players, but Tom Benson says that he feel that it is the best decision in everybody's best interests that the team go back and play the 2006 season in New Orleans.

PHILLIPS: All right. Carol Lin, thanks so much. Perfect segue to Sean O'Keefe.

You no doubt recognize the name. He guided NASA through one of the most painful tragedies as well as a number of successes. And earlier this year, he changed careers. Now he heads Louisiana State University, which in the hours after Hurricane Katrina became a lifeline for New Orleans evacuees and the center of local, state and national relief efforts.

Sean O'Keefe is here in Atlanta right now to cheer on, of course, the LSU Tigers in the Peach Bowl tonight. And of course to talk to us. Good to see you.

SEAN O'KEEFE, LSU: Great to see you, Carol. A pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Well, you've had quite a journey from NASA to switching careers, taking on Katrina and Rita. Wow.

O'KEEFE: I keep trying to find a low profile and failing.

PHILLIPS: What's your problem? You need to really try and lay low.

O'KEEFE: But the food is great at LSU, that's for sure. Louisiana has got the market on that.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting. You just told me about this book "LSU and the Eye of the Storm." You came out of NASA, boy tackling that really well. You really did. I know that was a difficult time for you. But so many success stories, too.

But then you take this career change. And immediately you're dealing with a disaster. What was it -- were you just thinking, I can't catch a break in my career life?

O'KEEFE: Well, it was also a case though where, you know, this is a community that was affected of a million and a half people in the city of New Orleans. And all of my family are from New Orleans. That's my home state.

And seeing so many people affected by this being at a place like LSU where an awful lot of the evacuees pass through our campus and through our city in Baton Rouge, it was really quite a searing experience. But some 30,000 people came to our campus. Some 6,000 were treated in our medical evacuation facility, which the surgeon general called the largest acute care facility set up in a contingency in the history of our nation.

So it was an extraordinary circumstance but an honor, I think, to be able to be of public service and seeing some 3, 500 of our students step up and volunteer of their time, including most of the members of the football team we'll see tonight...

PHILLIPS: Wow.

O'KEEFE: Who really helped over the course of that two, three week period. All the folks who were in need of the medical attention and the adjustments to moving and getting to shelters and so forth, they really pitched in a lot of their effort in the middle of starting a season that we're about to see culminate here tonight. It's great.

PHILLIPS: And we'll talk about the fun stuff, of course, about the Peach Bowl in a minute. But what do you think, NASA, your career there, or what you've taken on thus far, chancellor of LSU. Can you even say what might be more difficult to this day?

O'KEEFE: Well, there's a lot of similarities. I mean, NASA is working with a lot of very bright folks in the science and engineering and technical fields. The university, particularly at LSU, dealing with a lot of very bright folks and the faculty. And around the community, who are big supporters.

It is very, very similar to see, you know, the national enthusiasm for space exploration and to see the enthusiasm among the LSU community in such great pride in our flagship of the state of Louisiana. So there's a lot of close similarities and a lot of exciting aspects of both jobs that I found to be extremely stimulating then and very stimulating now.

PHILLIPS: So why put together this book? And, of course, it is a number of people at LSU, "University Model for Disaster Response." Tell me about it. I mean, why do this? Why put this together? Why distribute this?

O'KEEFE: Well, it was an extraordinary time at LSU, but it was, in particular, it spoke to the value, I think, of just a little bit of strategic planning goes a long, long way.

We prepared as part of the state's plan for how to deal with emergency evacuation of any origin, we required or we were required to establish a facility of about 200 beds for a special needs facility for minimally attended care and a variety of different, similar kind of conditions that folks would -- nursing homes, et cetera.

Well, that expanded from 200 to, you know, over 850-bed hospital operation we ran. Had we not focused on that minimalist kind of approach months beforehand, we would have never able to escalate it up to respond to the thousands and thousands of folks who were evacuated over a 48-hour span from the city of New Orleans.

PHILLIPS: Speaking of response, you were also secretary of the Navy. Your life is amazing. I look at your bio, and I think my goodness. In '92, right?

I'm curious what you think about what's happening in Iraq right now. Do you think there should be a timetable for when troops should come home? Do you think that the mission there is going the way it should? What are your feelings? I don't know if you've been asked that question before. It's been a while.

O'KEEFE: It's been a challenging time. There's no doubt about it. I was on the White House staff before going to NASA. I spent the first year of this administration on the White House staff and was there in the West Wing on 9/11.

People forget about how searing an experience that was, and how much it really jolted the national psyche, to realize that being attacked at home was something we had not experienced since the beginning of World War II.

And to have a very shadowy kind of threat that was forming in the form of this, you know, global terrorism is what we had never confronted before. Lots of other places around the globe have, but we have just caught up in the last five years, four years to doing that.

So in a lot of ways, what we're seeing playing out in Iraq right now is, I think, the price to keep that, I think, conflict and the threat where it belongs rather than seeing it continually, I think, focus on national and domestic kind of focus.

There's a reason why we haven't seen a repeat of 9/11 for the last four years, and that's because of the diligence, I think, of folks really being attended to the nature of domestic terrorism and how that needs to be arrested. And this is part of that forward effort to accomplish that. It's long, it's painful.

There's no question history will record this as a very difficult time in our nation's history. But is it one that is an imperative to win and to continue the charge successfully.

PHILLIPS: Chancellor, I wish your Tigers the best of luck.

O'KEEFE: Thank you. I have learned how to spell goal. It's geaux. Go Tigers.

PHILLIPS: You learned that quickly. And you've got the colors and everything.

O'KEEFE: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Thank you sir so much for your time.

O'KEEFE: Very glad to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: There you go. All of Sean O'Keefe's fans downstairs right there in the CNN Center.

All right we're still talking football. We're going to step aside for just a minute though.

Carol Lin working a story that's happening right now in Gaza.

Carol, what do you know?

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got some good news it appears, Kyra. The British hostage, Kate Burton, and her parents who were touring Gaza have been released according to some Palestinian security forces telling CNN.

I've got John Vause, our correspondent in Jerusalem, on the telephone right now.

John, what do you know?

All right, I don't have John Vause on the telephone right now.

But this is what I can tell you. Apparently -- all right, we've got John back.

John, what can you tell us about the release of Kate Burton?

All right. We're still having some technical problems.

So, let me just tell you this. Apparently there were various Muslim and Palestinian groups in Britain who were negotiating or helping to influence some dialogue with whoever these kidnappers were to release Kate Burton, who was a well known human rights activist, working on behalf of Palestinians.

Her parents were in Gaza. She was giving them a tour when they were kidnapped. Now, we understand according to the Associated Press, that they are in good condition, that they were treated well. Still no specific details on who kidnapped her or why. All right. Back to you--Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Carol Lin, thank you so much. We'll take a quick break. Almost time for the closing bell. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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