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CNN Live Today

New Airport Rules; Pentagon Propaganda?; President Bush Speaks About Economy; Smith Sentencing; Consumer Gripe Tips

Aired December 02, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it roses for the economy? Well, who knows. We'll see.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll find out.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll find out.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center, going to take you through the next couple of hours.

Hey, Daryn. Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Hey, you guys have a great day in New York City. A great weekend.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You, too, Daryn. Thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. We will.

KAGAN: As well.

We'll go ahead and get started with holiday travel. It's getting a bit easier for those of you who plan to fly this year. The government just announced the biggest overhaul of transportation security since new rules were implemented following the 9/11 terrorist attack. Some of the things you couldn't carry aboard are now allowed. We'll break it all down. Plus a talk with a security expert, whether this is a good idea, ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

But first, here's some of the other stories making news right now.

The nation's top economist is issuing some stern words of warning this morning. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says the U.S. economy faces severe consequences if his federal budget deficits are not trend. Two specific issues of concern to him are the surging costs of Social Security and Medicare.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a new offensive. They're calling it Operation Shank. It's targeting insurgents believed to use parts of Ramadi for attacks on civilians, as well as coalition troops. The offensive is mobilizing about 300 U.S. Marines and 200 Iraqi soldiers.

South of Berlin, German police are investigating a fire that killed 10 people in a homeless shelter. The pre-dawn blaze swept through the mobile homes and left five other people injured. Investigators say the cause does appear suspicious.

Two days after the Atlantic hurricane season officially ended, it carves an even deeper niche in the history books. Just minutes ago, Tropical Storm Epsilon strengthened. It became a hurricane. And that makes it the 14th hurricane. Forecasters say, though, it poses no threat to land.

It is Friday. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Thanks for joining us.

We're going to start this hour with news about your security. The next time you take a plane, you might see some different screening procedures. An updated list of banned items as well. The government announced the new airport rule just an hour ago. Jeanne Meserve is at Washington's Reagan National Airport with details.

Jeanne, what's in and what is out?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says he wants to make this screening system easy for passengers to navigate, but hard for terrorists to manipulate and so some randomness and unpredictability is being introduced into the system. He also wants to see screeners spending more time looking for high threat items like explosives and less time on low threat items.

And so some items that were previously banned are now going to be allowed in carry-on bags. Specifically some scissors less than four inches of length and some tools less than seven inches in length. This has provoke some outcry in some quarters from people who say, wait a minute, this is going to make the passenger cabin unsafe for passengers and flight crews but Hawley says the most dangerous items still will be prohibited.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIP HAWLEY, TSA ASST. SECRETARY: Tools with cutting edges, bludgeons, crowbars, hammers, saws and drills will continue to be prohibited, along with any tool that is more than seven inches long. Please note, contrary to early rumors you may have heard, TSA is not removing items like ice picks, box cutters or knives of any kind from the prohibited list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Hawley also announced that random passengers are going to be pull for pat downs. He insists this is going to be done in a way that respects civil rights. He also says that TSA screeners are being trained to detect bomb components, specifically detonators. Hawley saying this is not being driven by any specific intelligence, but by the general threaten environment. All of these changes, Daryn, slated to go into effect December 22nd.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Just in time for the Christmas rush there.

Jeanne, also hearing that they're going to actually change the way they pat you down and where they touch you and how they touch you?

MESERVE: Yes. In the past, they've patted down your back and your abdomen. Now screeners are going to be able to pat arms and also your legs from the mid-thigh downward. Obviously they're going to take careful measures to make sure that you don't have men patting down women, women patting down men, but the procedures are going to change a bit. Again, it's a way to look for explosives.

KAGAN: All right, Jeanne Meserve at Reagan National Airport, thank you for that.

(INAUDIBLE) airlines has a well-earned reputation for its security records. Coming up this hour, I'm going to speak with the carrier's former head of security about its procedures compared with what we do here in the U.S.

And be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

We turn to Iraq now where freedom of the press is at question, according to a story that first appeared in the "Los Angeles Times." The U.S. military may have paid to plant positive stories in the Iraqi media. Defendant Department officials have been summoned to Capitol Hill today to answer those allegations. Our man at the Pentagon, Jamie McIntyre has more on that.

Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, you're right. Pentagon officials have been summoned to Capitol Hill and it's not clear at this hour who, if anyone, is going to be going. Part of the reason, Pentagon officials say they don't have clear answers to exactly what happened. Senate Armed Services Committee John Warner has raised some serious questions while making clear he says he has no information to confirm or deny the reports that the U.S. military secretly wrote and planted stories in Iraqi publications. Nevertheless, he says it raises serious questions about the credibility of the United States government and could undermine or erode the independence of the Iraqi press. So he wants some answers. Pentagon officials right now scrambling to do that.

At issue is the revelation first reported by the "Los Angeles Times" that alleges that a Lincoln Group, a company under contract to the Pentagon, had arranged to have stories that were written by the U.S. military, translated into Arabic and placed into publications in Iraq, stories that were favorable to the U.S. military. If that's true, it would be something that the Pentagon, obviously, would frown upon. But the debate here is whether there's something called information operations versus legitimate public relations. But already, since this story broke, there's been a lot of condemnation, particularly from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: I think that the United States of America paying for stories in Iraqi papers undermines America's credibility. What we need are Iraqis who really believe what they're saying and say it for themselves. And the sooner that happens, the sooner we begin that shift of responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Senator John Kerry speaking outside the White House yesterday. But again, encapsulating some of the opinion, some of the criticism of this practice.

Again, the Pentagon is in the uncomfortable position, at this point, of not having the answers to try to put this story into any context. We're told that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally contacted General Casey, the head of U.S. troops in Iraq, and said he needs the information to get to the bottom of this story because he says he doesn't have it at this point. So, again, unclear at this hour who, if anybody from the Pentagon, will go up to Capitol Hill to answer some of those tough question.

Daryn.

KAGAN: But, in general, Jamie, is propaganda a common tool in fighting a war?

MCINTYRE: Well, propaganda is, you know, is often used. Propaganda in the sense of what the U.S. government puts out is something that they say simply is factual information to counter misinformation that they think is being put out by the other side. And the problem comes if it's not clearly labeled where it's from. If the U.S. government puts out a statement or says something or the U.S. military puts out a statement to try to counter what somebody else has said, you can consider the source. The problem comes when you try to get cute with this and try to make it appear that the information is coming from somewhere else. It's a truth in labeling issue to some extent. Everyone recognizes that there will be propaganda. But if they know it's propaganda, they can judge it for that.

KAGAN: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thank you, Jamie.

Two mothers who are serving on Iraq's electoral board were shot down early this morning by gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms. One man is dead, the others being treated for injuries. The attack took place in Baquba, an area plagued by insurgent violence. The injured brother says he plans to be back on the job as Iraq prepares for elections on December 15th.

The Iraqi government is taking tough steps to secure those general elections. Until further notice, all non-Iraqi Arabs are banned from entering the country. The U.S. and Iraqi officials have long complained about non-Iraqi Arabs entering the country to join the insurgency. Most of them, however, are believed to enters illegally.

I want to remind you, President Bush, we learned just a few minutes ago, will be speaking, coming up, very soon, at the bottom of the hour about the U.S. economy. He'll be doing that from the Rose Garden of the White House. You'll see those comments live here on CNN.

Also ahead, it happened late last night. The jury in the trial of the man who killed a young Florida girl came back with its decision on whether he should die for his crime. That decision and reaction and Carlie Brucia's family just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: And what is it we can do for you here at 911?

SUSPECT: OH, I'm just alerting you that I'm about to start shooting right now.

OPERATOR: Where are you located? Sir, where are you located?

SUSPECT: Follow the screams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A chilling 911 call from a teenager accused of opening fire inside of a mall. His conversation with a 911 operator and the calls from victims coming up.

And on a much, much lighter note. The king and queen of talk TV kiss and make up and set the record straight about their supposed feud.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: As you can see, President Bush will be making remarks in about a half hour from the Rose Garden. Let's find out more about what we expect to hear from the president. Kathleen Koch is at the White House today.

Kathleen, good morning.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And it was White House Spokesman Scott McClellan, in his regular morning briefing with reporters, who let us know that at 10:45 Eastern Time that President Bush would be coming out to the Rose Garden to make a statement about the really positive economic numbers that have been coming out in recent days. Today it's the word from the Labor Department that the unemployment rate has held steady at 5 percent and that the payrolls grew by 215,000. That's the most since July.

McClellan said that the president would talk about the fact that he, as McClellan put it, the economy is cooking along. He says praise belong with American workers, with entrepreneurs, and he said that the White House will continue to keep its current policies in place. Scott McClellan saying the last thing that we want to do is put in policies that hurt the economy, raise taxes. Says it's clear the economy is strong and continuing to expand. McClellan also pointed to the improved third quarter gross domestic product numbers that came out yesterday adjusting upwards of 3.8 to 4.3 percent.

So, again, McClellan saying that the president will coming out to the Rose Garden and really tout the accomplishments of the administration's economic policies.

KAGAN: Kathleen Koch live at the White House. Thank you. We will look for those remarks.

Also in the news today, the death penalty debate is being renewed with a milestone. This morning a North Carolina inmate became the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Kenneth Lee Boyd was put to death for the murders of his estranged wife and father-in-law. About 150 death penalty opponents were outside the prison. One activist said, "any attention to the death penalty is good because it's a filthy, rotten system." But a law enforcement official urged people to think beyond the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF SAM PAGE, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C.: What I would ask you to do is not forget the victims of this crime. Ms. Boyd, Mr. Curry (ph), their family, their kids, their grandkids. Pray for them. Pray for them and their healing. I also would ask the criminal justice community to always place the victims of crimes first in our communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And now here's a look at the states with the most executions over the last three decades. Three hundred and fifty-five people have died on Texas' death row, 94 have been put to death in Virginia. Oklahoma has executed 79 inmates. There have been 66 executions in Missouri and 60 in Florida.

And speak of Florida, a judge could decide next month whether to accept a jury's death penalty recommendation for Joseph Smith. It took five hours for jurors to decide Smith should die for killing 11- year-old Carlie Brucia. CNN's Anderson Cooper has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The jury was unswayed by the defense. Their verdict on the fate of Joseph Smith, unequivocal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The advisory sentence, a majority of the jury, by the vote of 10 to two, advise and recommend to the court that impose the death penalty upon the defendant.

COOPER: Death by lethal injection for 39-year-old Smith. The final decision still rests with the judge. Though he didn't know it then, the man on this surveillance tape, the man grabbing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, and who later raped and killed her outside a car wash near Sarasota, Florida, last year, is Joseph Smith. In part, because of this terrifying security camera tape, the case drew national attention. Carlie was walking home from a friend's house when she was interrupted by the man in a blue shirt. Her half-naked body was found five days later just miles from the car wash.

Smith, a father of three daughters, pleaded not guilty, but DNA samples suggested otherwise. In fact, Smith's brother testified against him. He said Smith confessed to him that he had abducted and killed the young girl.

Though they've been overwhelmed with their daughter's brutal fate, Carlie's parents have been divided on exactly what should happen to Smith. Her father had been in favor of life without parole. He wanted to avoid the years of appeals and instead have Smith trapped for life in prison.

JOE BRUCIA, CARLIE'S FATHER: His life would be made extremely uncomfortable within the confines of life imprisonment amongst the other inmates and general population.

SUSAN SCHORPEN, CARLIE'S MOTHER: I want him dead. I want him dead now. My daughter's not breathing. She'll never breathe again. I can never hold her again. And I've got to wait for appeals because, you know, he dies? It matters to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That was Anderson Cooper reporting.

The jury foreman, by the way, said deciding on a sentence was not easy. The foreman is a clergyman and said jurors are praying for both the Brucia and Smith families.

It is 18 minutes past the hour right now. Now to some dangerous winter weather in the west. A storm has drop as much as 16 inches of snow on parts of California and Nevada and it just keeps coming down. The wind with speeds up to 100 miles an hour has shut down some highways. In Washington state, at least one traffic death is being blamed on a snowstorm that moved through the area last night. Police say there have been dozens of accidents and several people are injured.

So what does the west coast look like, as well as the rest of the county. Let's go ahead and check in with Chad Myers.

Good morning, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, the holiday season officially up and running at the nation's capitol. Last night the president and first lady presiding over the annual lighting of the national Christmas tree. Laura Bush did the honors, throwing the switch with the help of three Washington area students. Those student, by the way, led a drive that sent school supplies to Hurricane Katrina victims. President Bush urged Americans to celebrate the season by showing kindness to those in need.

Every state also has a Christmas tree decorated in Washington and there's a heartwarming story surrounding the tree for Louisiana. We'll have that for you in the next hour.

Meanwhile, just ahead, so much for a holly, jolly Christmas. Some shoppers turn into grinches this time of year. Gerri Willis has some friendly advice for them.

Hi, Ger.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn. Good to see you.

Hey, dead cell phone zones? You know those. How about voice mail hell? We hear your consumer gripes. We're going to fix them. "Five Tips" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open about 54 minutes and things are kind of flat on Wall Street. You can see the Dow is barely moving up a point. Barely a point. The Nasdaq also not a lot of movement there. It is up just over two points.

OK. This is the part where you get to kind of whine and complain. What are you disgruntled about? It seems consumers everywhere have something to gripe about during the holiday season. Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis here to make it all better with her top five consumer gripes, but also how to find solutions to those.

WILLIS: Yes. Yes.

KAGAN: Hello, Gerri.

WILLIS: Hello, Daryn. Good to see you.

Well, you know, Daryn, New Yorkers are world class gripers. So we talked to them about their complaints about holiday shopping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My consumer gripe are not enough cash registers open. Biggest day of the year, Friday, there are 12 registers, seven are open. Explain that to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a gouging of the American driver public in general. Everything runs on fuel and it's a way for somebody to take advantage and make some money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have cell phone coverage at my house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It bothers me that everything gets marked down right after the holidays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is not exactly to computer literate either. So she, you know, she just thought it was a great price and it had some great features, but it just didn't tell you that one little detail. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: OK. Now the solutions to these problems. If your looking for solutions to the dead cell phone zones, go to deadcellzones.com. That's where consumers write-up their own stories about areas where they can't get coverage. That way before you pick a new service provider, you can find out if you don't have coverage at the store, at home, at school, at work and you know ahead of time if you're going to have a problem.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?

WILLIS: I can indeed.

KAGAN: No, that's the cell phone. A little cell phone joke. You know the commercial, can you hear me now?

WILLIS: Yes.

KAGAN: Anyhow, OK, that didn't work.

How about just getting a gift card? A gift card?

WILLIS: Yes, a gift card would be the thing.

KAGAN: Yes, yes, let's move on with "Top Five Tips." Help me!

WILLIS: Particularly if you can't get your cell phone working or your partner working either.

Gift certificates. You know, they're really popular and I think people feel guilty about buying them sometimes, Daryn, because they think, boy, this is the easy way out. But guess what, it's number three on people's list of what they want most for Christmas. So be one of these people who buys a gift certificate. And 18.5 billion will be sold this year. And do it at giftcertificate.com. It's an easy way out of the long lines.

KAGAN: I agree with this next gripe. When you try to get through to one of these companies, push two if you want this, push three if you want that. I just want to talk to a real person who speaks English, by the way. Not in some far of country.

WILLIS: Well, that would be good, too. Well, here's the thing. It's so frustrating. There is a short cut, however, for almost every one of these systems. Go to paulenglish.com. This is a Web site by a guy who I guess spends nothing but all of his time playing with these systems to try and get through them quickly. He has shortcuts. They are easy and you can find a live person.

KAGAN: I love that tip.

What about -- you heard the guy complaining about bad gas and oil prices. How can you get around that? WILLIS: Well, you know, we talk a lot about gasbuddy.com and gaswatch.org. The cool thing about these Web site is they have gas price spotters in your community more than likely and they're looking for the best deals because, remember, the prices aren't the same across the board. You can see big differences even across the street. So they do the hard work for you. You just go get the cheaper gas.

KAGAN: What about the people that are calling your house all the time trying to get you to buy stuff?

WILLIS: I've got to tell you, not my favorite thing and they always call at dinner time. Donotcall.gov. You can always sign up to make sure you don't get these phone calls. If it's junk mail you don't like, go to dmaconsumers.org. That's a great Web site. It can help you make sure you don't get all of that junk mail. Another great thing, Daryn, to do, is people who send you junk mail, return it to them so they have to pay the return postage.

KAGAN: Love that!

WILLIS: Yes. Get even.

KAGAN: That would be the spirit of giving in the holiday season.

WILLIS: Yes, get even. Don't -- can you hear me now, Daryn?

KAGAN: Yes, I can.

You understand what the joke was?

WILLIS: I do now. But, you know, it's Friday.

KAGAN: Yes, I do. You have a great weekend.

WILLIS: You, too.

KAGAN: Thank you, Gerri.

President Bush not getting started on his weekend quite yet. He'll be actually speaking in the Rose Garden in about 15 minutes, talking about the economy is what we're told. We'll listen in on those comments.

Also, we're going to talk about these new rules about carry-on luggage announced just about an hour ago. They're designed to make travel easier, but do they also make it easier for the bad guys to get aboard. The former security head of El Al airlines in Israel joins me to talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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