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American Morning
Minding Your Business
Aired December 25, 2003 - 08:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Let's talk business with Jack and Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, HOST, "IN THE MONEY": Well, a big year for a lot of people in the business world. Andy Serwer has some thoughts about what some of them should be finding under their Christmas trees this year. I'm looking forward to this. What do you got?
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we had a whole list of rogues, felons, CEOs. Is that redundant? And others who deserve a sort of tongue and cheek presence. I kind of got all -- really into the spirit of this thing in a Will Ferrell kind of thing that I've got going here. Dressed up like the elf a little bit. And...
O'BRIEN: A little bit? You put on the tights. There you are.
SERWER: I can't believe you're showing that.
O'BRIEN: It's photo shop.
SERWER: No, it's photo shop. That's real. Those shoes were Fed Ex'd in from Hollywood, California.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
SERWER: The tights were fashioned by a stylist. Never mind, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You could put that on like an online dating service.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: And who knows what might happen?
O'BRIEN: I think you looked handsome, Andy.
SERWER: Thank you. You know, you really help me out with this problem over here. Sam Waksal, what does he get for Christmas from me? Early parole. How about Martha Stewart? Here we go. A set of black and white striped curtains fashioned from imported hand spun Belgian linen, fashioned to lightly bronzed high tensil steel curtain rods, imported from Sweden, accentuated by chantilly lance ribbon.
Dennis Kozlowski, how about a bottle of (unintelligible) vodka, if you know what I'm talking about...
CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.
SERWER: ...to go with two tons of block ice to chisel.
CAFFERTY: And 1,000 pounds of caviar.
SERWER: Yes, OK. Who do we have next here? We have Rosie O'Donnell. All right, Rosie O'Donnell I thought it would be nice, a book, a copy of "Germans are Dummies" -- I mean "German for Dummies." If you remember her little problem.
CAFFERTY: Yes, make sure you include the crayon.
SERWER: Gruner and Jahr, remember them?
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: OK. And then last but not least, the former Enron executives, these people. I thought what might be nice for them would be 15 years, Jack, all expenses paid on Devil's Island.
CAFFERTY: Something nice. And Alcatraz.
SERWER: Or -- yes, the rock.
CAFFERTY: You can put them in one of those cells on Alcatraz, which is now a tourist attraction, and it can, you know, raise the price of the ticket 50 cents. People could go by and, you know, feed Kenny Lay.
SERWER: Here's the thing. If those guys aren't doing any time next year, 365 days...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: We're going -- I'll have to come up with another present for them.
CAFFERTY: And we will.
SERWER: That's my threat.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: Christmas Day and here on AMERICAN MORNING, instead of reading e-mails from viewers, we chose the occasion to read some letters from the war zone in Iraq.
Specialist William Gillstrap of the 4th Infantry Division wrote this letter home just before his outfit shipped out into Iraq. They were the ones, you might recall, that were delayed getting into the war zone.
He writes this. "It's been really crazy here lately. Yesterday an Apache was shot down. We were patrolling, when it came over the company frequency. We were too far out to make a difference, so we turned back to our patrol.
Rounding on the gate road, our last stretch to the compound, children play soccer, football to them, in an open field, the corner of Bradshaw and Gate. I'm the last man. So I turned to watch the rear as the main body follows pointman west. As soon as I turn, automatic small arms fire cuts through the air, deafening all the other noise. The kids playing, traffic passing, honking, nationals conversing and laughing.
When I turned around, I saw the ground where the dirt and concrete was, sprang into the air about 20 meters away. I took cover behind a palm tree in the median on Gate Road only for a brief moment.
We ran toward the gunfire. We always do that. They must think we're nuts, which is good. But when we got there, they were gone. And when we turned the corner, I could smell the gunpowder from where they were just seconds before. AK shells strewn about on the ground, near some foliage at the corner of an abandoned house.
A woman said she saw a car speed away. We got a description. And a few minutes later, a car matching turned the corner. Our whole squad lit it up. I'm surprised it didn't explode. The guy was shot in the knee. I was amazed that that was all. His car was a total wreck. I'm glad we didn't kill him.
We got home a little later than scheduled. I sneaked a shower and then we went back out on patrol. It's been getting crazy again. And yesterday it really hit home. It feels like we're losing now or maybe we're never winning. One minute we're up and heroes. The next, we're down and lives are being lost."
And here's a letter from a wife of a soldier in Iraq. It was published in the 4th ID's newsletter.
"I'm a retired first sergeant. My husband currently on active duty in Iraq, part of the task force Ironhorse from Fort Hood, Texas. He was able to call home a few weeks ago. And we were laughing at the number of holidays that we've been apart.
We've been married nearly 12 years. We have been apart for at least six anniversaries, seven or eight birthdays. And this will be our third Christmas. But neither of us feels that in the big scheme of things, our lives together, that this is any sort of a huge deal.
We've both been proud of what the other has accomplished in our careers. And we understand the necessary sacrifices. I've missed him like crazy, but I'd cut out my tongue before whining about it because when a soldier calls you from Iraq on Thanksgiving morning after being gone for seven months, and tells you how blessed he is, life is pretty darn good."
And a thank you to Bob Babcock, who's a veteran who puts out that newsletter for the 4th Infantry Division. He helped us gather up some of those letters from the troops in Iraq. We hope you enjoyed them.
O'BRIEN: We certainly did. They are beautiful letters. SERWER: Really stirring.
CAFFERTY: Neat stuff.
SERWER: Stirring stuff and great writing, especially that first letter.
CAFFERTY: I liked the delivery.
SERWER: Amazing.
O'BRIEN: And the delivery was OK. No, Jack, you were great, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 25, 2003 - 08:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Let's talk business with Jack and Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, HOST, "IN THE MONEY": Well, a big year for a lot of people in the business world. Andy Serwer has some thoughts about what some of them should be finding under their Christmas trees this year. I'm looking forward to this. What do you got?
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we had a whole list of rogues, felons, CEOs. Is that redundant? And others who deserve a sort of tongue and cheek presence. I kind of got all -- really into the spirit of this thing in a Will Ferrell kind of thing that I've got going here. Dressed up like the elf a little bit. And...
O'BRIEN: A little bit? You put on the tights. There you are.
SERWER: I can't believe you're showing that.
O'BRIEN: It's photo shop.
SERWER: No, it's photo shop. That's real. Those shoes were Fed Ex'd in from Hollywood, California.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
SERWER: The tights were fashioned by a stylist. Never mind, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You could put that on like an online dating service.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: And who knows what might happen?
O'BRIEN: I think you looked handsome, Andy.
SERWER: Thank you. You know, you really help me out with this problem over here. Sam Waksal, what does he get for Christmas from me? Early parole. How about Martha Stewart? Here we go. A set of black and white striped curtains fashioned from imported hand spun Belgian linen, fashioned to lightly bronzed high tensil steel curtain rods, imported from Sweden, accentuated by chantilly lance ribbon.
Dennis Kozlowski, how about a bottle of (unintelligible) vodka, if you know what I'm talking about...
CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.
SERWER: ...to go with two tons of block ice to chisel.
CAFFERTY: And 1,000 pounds of caviar.
SERWER: Yes, OK. Who do we have next here? We have Rosie O'Donnell. All right, Rosie O'Donnell I thought it would be nice, a book, a copy of "Germans are Dummies" -- I mean "German for Dummies." If you remember her little problem.
CAFFERTY: Yes, make sure you include the crayon.
SERWER: Gruner and Jahr, remember them?
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: OK. And then last but not least, the former Enron executives, these people. I thought what might be nice for them would be 15 years, Jack, all expenses paid on Devil's Island.
CAFFERTY: Something nice. And Alcatraz.
SERWER: Or -- yes, the rock.
CAFFERTY: You can put them in one of those cells on Alcatraz, which is now a tourist attraction, and it can, you know, raise the price of the ticket 50 cents. People could go by and, you know, feed Kenny Lay.
SERWER: Here's the thing. If those guys aren't doing any time next year, 365 days...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: We're going -- I'll have to come up with another present for them.
CAFFERTY: And we will.
SERWER: That's my threat.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: Christmas Day and here on AMERICAN MORNING, instead of reading e-mails from viewers, we chose the occasion to read some letters from the war zone in Iraq.
Specialist William Gillstrap of the 4th Infantry Division wrote this letter home just before his outfit shipped out into Iraq. They were the ones, you might recall, that were delayed getting into the war zone.
He writes this. "It's been really crazy here lately. Yesterday an Apache was shot down. We were patrolling, when it came over the company frequency. We were too far out to make a difference, so we turned back to our patrol.
Rounding on the gate road, our last stretch to the compound, children play soccer, football to them, in an open field, the corner of Bradshaw and Gate. I'm the last man. So I turned to watch the rear as the main body follows pointman west. As soon as I turn, automatic small arms fire cuts through the air, deafening all the other noise. The kids playing, traffic passing, honking, nationals conversing and laughing.
When I turned around, I saw the ground where the dirt and concrete was, sprang into the air about 20 meters away. I took cover behind a palm tree in the median on Gate Road only for a brief moment.
We ran toward the gunfire. We always do that. They must think we're nuts, which is good. But when we got there, they were gone. And when we turned the corner, I could smell the gunpowder from where they were just seconds before. AK shells strewn about on the ground, near some foliage at the corner of an abandoned house.
A woman said she saw a car speed away. We got a description. And a few minutes later, a car matching turned the corner. Our whole squad lit it up. I'm surprised it didn't explode. The guy was shot in the knee. I was amazed that that was all. His car was a total wreck. I'm glad we didn't kill him.
We got home a little later than scheduled. I sneaked a shower and then we went back out on patrol. It's been getting crazy again. And yesterday it really hit home. It feels like we're losing now or maybe we're never winning. One minute we're up and heroes. The next, we're down and lives are being lost."
And here's a letter from a wife of a soldier in Iraq. It was published in the 4th ID's newsletter.
"I'm a retired first sergeant. My husband currently on active duty in Iraq, part of the task force Ironhorse from Fort Hood, Texas. He was able to call home a few weeks ago. And we were laughing at the number of holidays that we've been apart.
We've been married nearly 12 years. We have been apart for at least six anniversaries, seven or eight birthdays. And this will be our third Christmas. But neither of us feels that in the big scheme of things, our lives together, that this is any sort of a huge deal.
We've both been proud of what the other has accomplished in our careers. And we understand the necessary sacrifices. I've missed him like crazy, but I'd cut out my tongue before whining about it because when a soldier calls you from Iraq on Thanksgiving morning after being gone for seven months, and tells you how blessed he is, life is pretty darn good."
And a thank you to Bob Babcock, who's a veteran who puts out that newsletter for the 4th Infantry Division. He helped us gather up some of those letters from the troops in Iraq. We hope you enjoyed them.
O'BRIEN: We certainly did. They are beautiful letters. SERWER: Really stirring.
CAFFERTY: Neat stuff.
SERWER: Stirring stuff and great writing, especially that first letter.
CAFFERTY: I liked the delivery.
SERWER: Amazing.
O'BRIEN: And the delivery was OK. No, Jack, you were great, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
