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CNN Sunday Morning
Democrats Meet In Florida To Discuss New Leadership; Army Deserters Flee North
Aired December 12, 2004 - 09:30 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Well, good morning and welcome back on this Sunday I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris, you're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Here's what's happening in the news:
Viktor Yushchenko spoke for the first time this morning since being diagnosed and treated for dioxin poisoning. The Ukrainian presidential candidate thanked doctors in Vienna for saving his life. He predicted the revote on December 26 will be a turning point in Ukrainian history.
"Fit for duty": That's the declaration by President Bush's doctors following his annual physical at Bethesda Naval Hospital; while there the president visited recovering Sailors and Marines wounded in action.
A source tells CNN that investigators found pornographic magazines at Jackson's Neverland ranch in a raid a year ago. Fingerprints of Jackson and the boy accusing him of molestation were found on the materials.
University of Southern California quarterback, Matt Leinart is this year's winner of the Heisman Trophy. He guided the Trojans through a perfect season, passing for 28 touch downs with just six interceptions. Leinart is USC's 6th Heisman winner.
NGUYEN: The Democratic Party looking to rebound from its November election losses with someone new at the helm. Several top democrats, including former presidential hopeful, Howard Dean, are vying to become the party's new chairman. They spoke yesterday at a meeting in Orlando, Florida, and here's a sample:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV, HOWARD DEAN (D), VERMONT: You got to rember why we're democrats. We are different than the other party. We are opposed and we have a different program. We believe in fairness. We believe in fiscal responsibility and balancing budgets. We want a strong national security, but we also want economic security which means Harry Truman's age-old dream of health insurance for all Americans and investment in early childhood, and all those things that we do, and the republicans don't.
SIMON ROSENBERG, NEW DEMOCRAT NETWORK: I believe the single most important direction we can move in as a party is forward. Forward into the 21st century and all of its particular challenges, forward into a new century with a republican party ascendant, but struggling; forward into a new century with a modern strategy that can restore the greatness of the our party and offer America a better and much more compelling path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The Democratic Nationally Committee will pick its new chairman in February.
HARRIS: Gruesome discoveries, this morning, in two small Iraqis towns. The bodies of four people who had been beheaded were found in Hasaw about 30 miles south of Baghdad, a fifth headless body was found in Balad, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
U.S. draft dodgers fled to Canada 35 years ago to avoid service in Vietnam, now some U.S. deserters are heading north to avoid being sent to Iraq. CNN's Sara Dorsey is covering the story of one such deserter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his wife and his son by his side, Jeremy Hinzman appeared at a refugee hearing in Toronto. Cameras were not allowed inside, as he described why he changed his mind about the U.S. military.
JEREMY HINZMAN, FLED TO CANADA: We'd be marching around, you know, "train to kill, kill we will, or huha, I want to kill somebody." The traing repeatedly stabbing a bayonet into a dummy, yelling "what makes the grass grow? Blood, blood, bright red blood."
DORSEY: Hinzman says he can't kill and claims the war in Iraq is full of human rights abuses and torture. Even thought he's never been there. Originally, Hinzman said, he signed up for the military to get a college education, but now after refusing to go to Iraq a return home to the U.S. will likely mean jail time.
JEFFREY HOUSE, HINZMAN'S LAWYER: He's going to be punished if he goes back to the United States, and he's going to be punished because he has become a person who doesn't want to kill others.
DORSEY: Hinzman said he should be considered a political refugee. About a dozen supporters rallied outside of his hearing, but not everyone feel his actions are justified.
RANDY WHITE, CONSERVATIVE MP: It is another case, I think, of evading prosecution, and it's not persecution in the United States.
DORSEY: Hinzman is not alone in his fight. Two other American deserters also face hearings before Canada's immigration board. Canada has denied similar requests in the past, but it says anyone who claims to be a refugee at least has a right to be heard.
Sara Dorsey, CNN Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Overseas now, the death toll in the Philippines from a bombing, this morning, has risen to at least 14. More than 50 others were wounded by the blast at a market crowded with Christmas shoppers. It happened in General Santos City on the island of Manila.
The other major story out of the Philippines, the overwhelming humanitarian crisis caused by a series of tropical storms. CNN's Aneesh Roman has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH ROMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the lucky ones, survivors emerging nearly two weeks after deadly storms blasted the eastern Philippines. Rescue operations are all but over, but it is now a matter of relief, getting clean water and food to the desperate half million people stranded without either. This weekend a critical boost to the effort, some 600 members of the U.S.'s 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are now in the country.
1ST. LT. JEREMY DAVIS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: This is a big deal for us, it really means a lot to us. Naturally, on a daily basis, this is not what we do.
RAMAN: But weather is, once again, an enormous obstacle. With roads still flooded and key bridges destroyed, the only way into the devastated area is by helicopter. The problem is that when the rain starts, the visibility ends and the supplies don't arrive. On this day, the Marines just stand by.
(on camera): As they wait for relief to get here, residents can now only dig their way out. Everywhere is covered with mud, and weeks beyond the storm's passing, all they can do is try and rebuild.
(voice-over): It is a gargantuan task, each day it's own struggle. Emotions are quick to surface, here.
"Why does god hate us," asks this man. He lost everything but the water buffalo he clings to.
Logistically, for the country, relocating and rebuilding will take months, the cost estimated at around $55 million is nowhere near what the Philippine government can afford and the work is more than they can handle.
DAVIS: It's going to take them quite a while because they don't have the technology we have, they don't have the heavy equipment that we have.
RAMAN: But for the affected residents that is a matter for the future. Today is simply about simply staying alive.
Aneesh Roman, CNN Real (PH), eastern Philippines.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Time now to see what will be making headlines next week. On Monday members of the Electoral College meet to make the presidential vote official. President Bush won the electoral vote nationally by a margin of 34 votes.
Also tomorrow, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces nominees for the 62nd Annual Golden Globes. The award show is scheduled for Sunday January 16 and airs on NBC. During the show, actor Robin Williams will be awarded the Cecil B. Demille Award for outstanding achievement.
And on Thursday in Los Angeles, the tentative trial date for Phil Spector is set to be announced. Spector, a music producer known for creating the wall of sound, is accused for the murdering actress, Lana Clarkson, who was found shot to death in his home.
NGUYEN: All right, Tony. Are you looking for ways to spruce up that fruitcake or maybe that eggnog?
HARRIS: Well, help is just a few keystrokes away. Holiday cooking tips are next as we look at the "Best of the Web" -- Orelon.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you spruce up a fruitcake?
HARRIS: Good question.
NGUYEN: That's hard.
SIDNEY: Good. My dad loves them.
(WEATHER REPORT)
We will have the rest of your weather in just a few moments, CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Tony Harris, here's a look at the morning's top stories:
Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko leaves an Austrian clinic. Tests there confirm he was poisoned with dioxin. The poison disfigured Yushchenko's face.
Palestinian sources say an Israeli tank shell exploded in a schoolyard in central Gaza wounding eight children. Israeli military sources say they responded to a mortar attack with light weapons fire, but did not fire a tank shell.
Dangerous weather continues to stall efforts to clean up an oil spill in Alaska, 24-foot seas and winds up to 60-miles-per-hour are whipping up the baron sea. The oil spilled from a freighter that cracked in two, Wednesday. Early estimates put the size of the spill is 140,000 gallons.
NGUYEN: What's cooking? Well, if you need a recipe for holiday cheer, it's a mouse click away. Our "Best of the Web" this morning: We're going to talk about how you can go from soup to nuts on-line. And joining us from San Francisco is Adam Rogers, a senior associate editor at "Wired" magazine.
Good morning, Adam.
ADAM ROGERS, "WIRED": Good morning.
NGUYEN: All right, say you're planning a holiday party, you need ideas, you need a menu. Where do you go, first?
ROGERS: Well, try to keep dioxin out of the fruitcake, I guess.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, you had to go there, Adam. You just did.
ROGERS: Yes. Sorry. It's early. Right, so one of the places that I like is called Epicurious.com. And this is sort of one-stop shopping for cooking. Their front page right now goes from how to plan for latkes for your Hanukah party to mincemeat for the Christmas party. It tells you how much to buy, it tells you, sort of, party planning tips, gives you recipes if you know what the ingredients are. This is the place where -- you know, amateur chefs, people who are setting up for a party go, people who are setting up their dinners, go first thing, usually when they're at work and on the way home so they know...
NGUYEN: OK, so that's for amateur chefs, but what about the people who want to go to the parties, don't want to bring the old stand-by dishes. They want to impress at this party. Where should they go?
ROGERS: Right. Well, so, there's a publication called "Cooks Illustrated." "Cooks Illustrated" also has a TV show called "America's Test Kitchen" both of them have website that you can sign up for recipes that -- even some of them are sort of the ordinary things that you might expect, but they allow you to avoid all of the mistakes that like, you always make or that maybe mom always made.
NGUYEN: You know me oh too well, Adam.
ROGERS: And mistakes that I always make too. I am not trying to just single anybody out here. And my mom, of course, never made any mistakes.
NGUYEN: Never, no.
ROGERS: But, you know, these are familiar dishes and what these folks do is they go through and cook them 14 different ways: Use orange juice, use milk, use water, use nutmeg, use cinnamon, and then they give you the results and then you know how to do it best. The one I was looking at right before I came on was how to make white rice perfectly, which I thought was a useful hint.
NGUYEN: That seems so simple.
ROGERS: You would think, I have blown it many times. NGUYEN: I guess there are 15 different ways to do it. All right. OK, what about party drinks, because some might argue it's not a party without the drinks, so where do you go?
ROGERS: That's true. Well, so, OK, booze is critical. And my thinking is that at a lot of these parties, you know, you kind of want to go a little bit beyond beer and wine, so there's a site called drinkboy.com.
NGUYEN: Drink boy.
ROGERS: Drink boy, getting right to the point. It's updated sort of irregularly, but it does have a lot of stuff like article about the history of alcohol. It's got recipes for cocktails you're never heard of, things that you can put into a pitcher and have sitting out for your guest. And the only thing I want to say about that is, just it's a critical reminder, if doesn't have vermouth, gin, or vodka and an olive in it, it's not a real martini. OK? You've got to stop calling them martinis. That's a martini. Everything else, cocktail. Could be good, but this alpha martini (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they're not martinis, critical.
NGUYEN: They're not a real martini.
ROGERS: Critical for parties.
NGUYEN: Now, there are those who want to avoid the families, the holiday parties, all of that together, just get it out of the way, don't even want to deal with it over this holiday season. They want a fast get-away? Where can they go.
ROGERS: Well, again, not singling anybody out. And of course, not talking about me here, but you know, it might be possible when the holidays come around, you might be thinking forget the parties, I'm out of here, right?
NGUYEN: Right.
ROGERS: So, everybody kind of knows these travel websites, Travelocity, Expedia, Orbits. They work great, they're fun, there are other kinds of sites that are called aggregateors. There's a new one, for example, called Mobissimo.com, I'm not sure where they got the name.
NGUYEN: Mobissimo.
ROGERS: That's right. And so what the idea is, these aggregators search all of these other travel websites, plus they'll search airline websites, plus they'll search the sites that are sort of putting together the leftovers of seats that the airline haven't filled yet or hotel rooms...
NGUYEN: So do you get a better deal with those leftovers?
ROGERS: It's certainly possible, and that's the idea, is that because they're in a rush to fill them, they sell them for cheaper. And what's also useful about someplace like Mobissimo or Cheapflights.com or there's one called Quixo, q-u-i-x-o, what these sites will do is that they let you search fast and they'll search for deals that are coming up that maybe you wouldn't have seen someplace else...
NGUYEN: Sounds like you...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: I was going to say, it sounds like you have some experience at this, Adam, searching fast, trying to get away.
ROGERS: Yeah, I've made a run for it. I have occasionally made a run for it myself.
NGUYEN: All right.
ROGERS: And the important thing here is just searching a lot of them, that's what's important.
NGUYEN: True. All right, we're out of time. Adam Rogers, senior associate editor of "Wired" magazine. Thank you.
ROGERS: Thanks.
NGUYEN: Tony.
HARRIS: You know, there are some people who feel like political correctness has gone too far.
NGUYEN: Especially when it comes to Christmas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy holidays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Season greeting and happy holidays is never a substitute formerly Christmas, never will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Meet a man determined to save Christmas. He's right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING>
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look here, is your Merry Christmas getting lost in a sea of political correctness? So, Jeanne Moos went looking for the Christmas spirit, but what she found is a lot more, well generic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tis the season to be angry...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put Merry Christmas back where it belongs. MOOS: And where might that be? Stores, where Christmas has been replaced by holiday.
ANNOUNCER: Get ready for the holidays at Marshall's.
ANNOUNCER: Two-day holiday sale, at Sears.
ANNOUNCER: Beat the holiday rush.
MOOS: In their rush to avoid offending non-Christians, you will see stores using everything but Christmas.
(on camera): Christmas is the new 'c' word.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
MOOS (voice-over): And so was born savemerrychristmas.org.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Removing "Merry Christmas" is political correctness gone amuck.
MOOS: California resident, Manuel Zamarano, founded the committee to save Merry Christmas and says it has 1,000 members that's pushing for a boycott of Federated Stores, which owns, among others, Macy's, "Miracle on 34th Street" Macy's.
SANTA CLAUS, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: Merry Christmas.
MOOS: But that was 1947, this is 2004, when everyone says...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy holidays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seasons greetings and happy holidays is never a substitute for Merry Christmas, never will be.
MOOS: But Federated Stores says, "These reflections of goodwill are more reflective of the multicultural society in which we live today." After all, this is the age of Christmas and Hanukkah, merging in "Christmaska." Greeting cards for Christian-Jewish families that feature reindeer with Menorah antlers and kosher fruitcake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The disappearance of the words "Merry Christmas" is forcing us all to be a little more creative.
MOOS (on camera): What do you say to people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, all hail the birth of Christ?
MOOS (voice-over): Well, we didn't find that one when we scoured dozens and dozens of holiday ads, searching in vain for the 'c' word, somewhere in the fine print. At last, we found one brave advertisement for diamonds.
Getting rid of Christmas will mean some adjustments.
(SINGING): Have yourself a merry little holiday... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have yourself a merry little visitation of the three wise men to the birth of Christ.
MOOS: The folks at savemerrychristmas say we can expect to see the 'c' when it's times for the after-Christmas sales, they suspect so customers know the exact date when the sales start. Sure would drive Bing bonkers.
(SINGING): I'm dreaming of a white holiday
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm dreaming of a white federal holiday.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It just doesn't' have the same ring to it.
HARRIS: No, it's a little lyrically challenged, but you know, you work on it a little bit, right?
NGUYEN: Well, I can understand why people say happy holiday, I mean, you don't know if the person you are speaking to is celebrating Christmas or not.
HARRIS: Right, right, right, right, but just enjoy the holidays. Just enjoy the season.
NGUYEN: Or Christmas or Hanukah.
HARRIS: OK.
NGUYEN: Whatever you want.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: All right, let's move on, Kelly Wallace with "Inside Politics" is coming right up. Kelly, what do you have on the table for us today?
KELLY WALLACE, "INSIDE POLITICS": Good morning to you Betty and Tony. Well, up ahead on "Inside Politics Sunday," we are on the homeland security watch. The president's top choice has bowed out, so who's next on the list?
Also does the military have the proper equipment to support the mission in Iraq? Just some of the questions we'll pose to two top members of Congress.
And our very own Bill Schneider checks in from his European vacation, you won't want to miss his postcard from London.
That's all ahead at the top of the hour. I know, Betty, you and Tony will be watching. Right?
HARRIS: That's... NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: That's right. We will be right there. Thank you, Kelly.
NGUYEN: Bill on vacation? That lucky man. Thanks Kelly.
HARRIS: We want to get to our e-mail question and a couple responses before we leave this morning and turn things over to Kelly. The question this morning is -- are we going to weather or we going e- mails? We're going to weather? The weather? E-mail?
NGUYEN: The weather?
HARRIS: OK, to e-mails. All right. OK.
NGUYEN: All right, we're going to do e-mails, we are told.
HARRIS: And the question this morning is: Who do you belie -- who would you like to see running the Department of Homeland Security?
NGUYEN: Magnum says, "I would like to see the department disbanded, it has too much power to pry into our private lives."
HARRIS: And we get this from Ruth: "Who else better than Tom Clancy to have the imagination to anticipate anything the terrorist could dream up?"
NGUYEN: And then another viewer writes: "There can only be one serious contender of the job of Homeland Security chief. California Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's a republican, he has "star" quality, and who would dare oppose his nomination? Besides, would anyone -- any would-be terrorist want Ah-nold after them? I think not!" says Dale from Philadelphia.
HARRIS: And thank you for the e-mails this morning. Let's get one final quick check of the weather with Orelon Sidney. Good morning, Orelon.
SIDNEY: Yeah, but then the deputy could be Sylvester Stallone.
(CROSSTALK)
SYDNEY: You know, so you have Arnold and Sylvester.
NGUYEN: Oh, wow.
HARRIS: Action figures. Action heroes. Yeah.
NGUYEN: Could you see those already? There's a market for it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: That looks good. All right.
NGUYEN: Yeah, thank you, Orelon. SYDNEY: You're welcome.
HARRIS: All right, Orelon, thank you. And that's all of our time for CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: But, "Inside Politics" is next can Kelly Wallace. Thanks for joining us.
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 12, 2004 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Well, good morning and welcome back on this Sunday I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris, you're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Here's what's happening in the news:
Viktor Yushchenko spoke for the first time this morning since being diagnosed and treated for dioxin poisoning. The Ukrainian presidential candidate thanked doctors in Vienna for saving his life. He predicted the revote on December 26 will be a turning point in Ukrainian history.
"Fit for duty": That's the declaration by President Bush's doctors following his annual physical at Bethesda Naval Hospital; while there the president visited recovering Sailors and Marines wounded in action.
A source tells CNN that investigators found pornographic magazines at Jackson's Neverland ranch in a raid a year ago. Fingerprints of Jackson and the boy accusing him of molestation were found on the materials.
University of Southern California quarterback, Matt Leinart is this year's winner of the Heisman Trophy. He guided the Trojans through a perfect season, passing for 28 touch downs with just six interceptions. Leinart is USC's 6th Heisman winner.
NGUYEN: The Democratic Party looking to rebound from its November election losses with someone new at the helm. Several top democrats, including former presidential hopeful, Howard Dean, are vying to become the party's new chairman. They spoke yesterday at a meeting in Orlando, Florida, and here's a sample:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV, HOWARD DEAN (D), VERMONT: You got to rember why we're democrats. We are different than the other party. We are opposed and we have a different program. We believe in fairness. We believe in fiscal responsibility and balancing budgets. We want a strong national security, but we also want economic security which means Harry Truman's age-old dream of health insurance for all Americans and investment in early childhood, and all those things that we do, and the republicans don't.
SIMON ROSENBERG, NEW DEMOCRAT NETWORK: I believe the single most important direction we can move in as a party is forward. Forward into the 21st century and all of its particular challenges, forward into a new century with a republican party ascendant, but struggling; forward into a new century with a modern strategy that can restore the greatness of the our party and offer America a better and much more compelling path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The Democratic Nationally Committee will pick its new chairman in February.
HARRIS: Gruesome discoveries, this morning, in two small Iraqis towns. The bodies of four people who had been beheaded were found in Hasaw about 30 miles south of Baghdad, a fifth headless body was found in Balad, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
U.S. draft dodgers fled to Canada 35 years ago to avoid service in Vietnam, now some U.S. deserters are heading north to avoid being sent to Iraq. CNN's Sara Dorsey is covering the story of one such deserter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his wife and his son by his side, Jeremy Hinzman appeared at a refugee hearing in Toronto. Cameras were not allowed inside, as he described why he changed his mind about the U.S. military.
JEREMY HINZMAN, FLED TO CANADA: We'd be marching around, you know, "train to kill, kill we will, or huha, I want to kill somebody." The traing repeatedly stabbing a bayonet into a dummy, yelling "what makes the grass grow? Blood, blood, bright red blood."
DORSEY: Hinzman says he can't kill and claims the war in Iraq is full of human rights abuses and torture. Even thought he's never been there. Originally, Hinzman said, he signed up for the military to get a college education, but now after refusing to go to Iraq a return home to the U.S. will likely mean jail time.
JEFFREY HOUSE, HINZMAN'S LAWYER: He's going to be punished if he goes back to the United States, and he's going to be punished because he has become a person who doesn't want to kill others.
DORSEY: Hinzman said he should be considered a political refugee. About a dozen supporters rallied outside of his hearing, but not everyone feel his actions are justified.
RANDY WHITE, CONSERVATIVE MP: It is another case, I think, of evading prosecution, and it's not persecution in the United States.
DORSEY: Hinzman is not alone in his fight. Two other American deserters also face hearings before Canada's immigration board. Canada has denied similar requests in the past, but it says anyone who claims to be a refugee at least has a right to be heard.
Sara Dorsey, CNN Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Overseas now, the death toll in the Philippines from a bombing, this morning, has risen to at least 14. More than 50 others were wounded by the blast at a market crowded with Christmas shoppers. It happened in General Santos City on the island of Manila.
The other major story out of the Philippines, the overwhelming humanitarian crisis caused by a series of tropical storms. CNN's Aneesh Roman has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH ROMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the lucky ones, survivors emerging nearly two weeks after deadly storms blasted the eastern Philippines. Rescue operations are all but over, but it is now a matter of relief, getting clean water and food to the desperate half million people stranded without either. This weekend a critical boost to the effort, some 600 members of the U.S.'s 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are now in the country.
1ST. LT. JEREMY DAVIS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: This is a big deal for us, it really means a lot to us. Naturally, on a daily basis, this is not what we do.
RAMAN: But weather is, once again, an enormous obstacle. With roads still flooded and key bridges destroyed, the only way into the devastated area is by helicopter. The problem is that when the rain starts, the visibility ends and the supplies don't arrive. On this day, the Marines just stand by.
(on camera): As they wait for relief to get here, residents can now only dig their way out. Everywhere is covered with mud, and weeks beyond the storm's passing, all they can do is try and rebuild.
(voice-over): It is a gargantuan task, each day it's own struggle. Emotions are quick to surface, here.
"Why does god hate us," asks this man. He lost everything but the water buffalo he clings to.
Logistically, for the country, relocating and rebuilding will take months, the cost estimated at around $55 million is nowhere near what the Philippine government can afford and the work is more than they can handle.
DAVIS: It's going to take them quite a while because they don't have the technology we have, they don't have the heavy equipment that we have.
RAMAN: But for the affected residents that is a matter for the future. Today is simply about simply staying alive.
Aneesh Roman, CNN Real (PH), eastern Philippines.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Time now to see what will be making headlines next week. On Monday members of the Electoral College meet to make the presidential vote official. President Bush won the electoral vote nationally by a margin of 34 votes.
Also tomorrow, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces nominees for the 62nd Annual Golden Globes. The award show is scheduled for Sunday January 16 and airs on NBC. During the show, actor Robin Williams will be awarded the Cecil B. Demille Award for outstanding achievement.
And on Thursday in Los Angeles, the tentative trial date for Phil Spector is set to be announced. Spector, a music producer known for creating the wall of sound, is accused for the murdering actress, Lana Clarkson, who was found shot to death in his home.
NGUYEN: All right, Tony. Are you looking for ways to spruce up that fruitcake or maybe that eggnog?
HARRIS: Well, help is just a few keystrokes away. Holiday cooking tips are next as we look at the "Best of the Web" -- Orelon.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you spruce up a fruitcake?
HARRIS: Good question.
NGUYEN: That's hard.
SIDNEY: Good. My dad loves them.
(WEATHER REPORT)
We will have the rest of your weather in just a few moments, CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Tony Harris, here's a look at the morning's top stories:
Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko leaves an Austrian clinic. Tests there confirm he was poisoned with dioxin. The poison disfigured Yushchenko's face.
Palestinian sources say an Israeli tank shell exploded in a schoolyard in central Gaza wounding eight children. Israeli military sources say they responded to a mortar attack with light weapons fire, but did not fire a tank shell.
Dangerous weather continues to stall efforts to clean up an oil spill in Alaska, 24-foot seas and winds up to 60-miles-per-hour are whipping up the baron sea. The oil spilled from a freighter that cracked in two, Wednesday. Early estimates put the size of the spill is 140,000 gallons.
NGUYEN: What's cooking? Well, if you need a recipe for holiday cheer, it's a mouse click away. Our "Best of the Web" this morning: We're going to talk about how you can go from soup to nuts on-line. And joining us from San Francisco is Adam Rogers, a senior associate editor at "Wired" magazine.
Good morning, Adam.
ADAM ROGERS, "WIRED": Good morning.
NGUYEN: All right, say you're planning a holiday party, you need ideas, you need a menu. Where do you go, first?
ROGERS: Well, try to keep dioxin out of the fruitcake, I guess.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, you had to go there, Adam. You just did.
ROGERS: Yes. Sorry. It's early. Right, so one of the places that I like is called Epicurious.com. And this is sort of one-stop shopping for cooking. Their front page right now goes from how to plan for latkes for your Hanukah party to mincemeat for the Christmas party. It tells you how much to buy, it tells you, sort of, party planning tips, gives you recipes if you know what the ingredients are. This is the place where -- you know, amateur chefs, people who are setting up for a party go, people who are setting up their dinners, go first thing, usually when they're at work and on the way home so they know...
NGUYEN: OK, so that's for amateur chefs, but what about the people who want to go to the parties, don't want to bring the old stand-by dishes. They want to impress at this party. Where should they go?
ROGERS: Right. Well, so, there's a publication called "Cooks Illustrated." "Cooks Illustrated" also has a TV show called "America's Test Kitchen" both of them have website that you can sign up for recipes that -- even some of them are sort of the ordinary things that you might expect, but they allow you to avoid all of the mistakes that like, you always make or that maybe mom always made.
NGUYEN: You know me oh too well, Adam.
ROGERS: And mistakes that I always make too. I am not trying to just single anybody out here. And my mom, of course, never made any mistakes.
NGUYEN: Never, no.
ROGERS: But, you know, these are familiar dishes and what these folks do is they go through and cook them 14 different ways: Use orange juice, use milk, use water, use nutmeg, use cinnamon, and then they give you the results and then you know how to do it best. The one I was looking at right before I came on was how to make white rice perfectly, which I thought was a useful hint.
NGUYEN: That seems so simple.
ROGERS: You would think, I have blown it many times. NGUYEN: I guess there are 15 different ways to do it. All right. OK, what about party drinks, because some might argue it's not a party without the drinks, so where do you go?
ROGERS: That's true. Well, so, OK, booze is critical. And my thinking is that at a lot of these parties, you know, you kind of want to go a little bit beyond beer and wine, so there's a site called drinkboy.com.
NGUYEN: Drink boy.
ROGERS: Drink boy, getting right to the point. It's updated sort of irregularly, but it does have a lot of stuff like article about the history of alcohol. It's got recipes for cocktails you're never heard of, things that you can put into a pitcher and have sitting out for your guest. And the only thing I want to say about that is, just it's a critical reminder, if doesn't have vermouth, gin, or vodka and an olive in it, it's not a real martini. OK? You've got to stop calling them martinis. That's a martini. Everything else, cocktail. Could be good, but this alpha martini (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they're not martinis, critical.
NGUYEN: They're not a real martini.
ROGERS: Critical for parties.
NGUYEN: Now, there are those who want to avoid the families, the holiday parties, all of that together, just get it out of the way, don't even want to deal with it over this holiday season. They want a fast get-away? Where can they go.
ROGERS: Well, again, not singling anybody out. And of course, not talking about me here, but you know, it might be possible when the holidays come around, you might be thinking forget the parties, I'm out of here, right?
NGUYEN: Right.
ROGERS: So, everybody kind of knows these travel websites, Travelocity, Expedia, Orbits. They work great, they're fun, there are other kinds of sites that are called aggregateors. There's a new one, for example, called Mobissimo.com, I'm not sure where they got the name.
NGUYEN: Mobissimo.
ROGERS: That's right. And so what the idea is, these aggregators search all of these other travel websites, plus they'll search airline websites, plus they'll search the sites that are sort of putting together the leftovers of seats that the airline haven't filled yet or hotel rooms...
NGUYEN: So do you get a better deal with those leftovers?
ROGERS: It's certainly possible, and that's the idea, is that because they're in a rush to fill them, they sell them for cheaper. And what's also useful about someplace like Mobissimo or Cheapflights.com or there's one called Quixo, q-u-i-x-o, what these sites will do is that they let you search fast and they'll search for deals that are coming up that maybe you wouldn't have seen someplace else...
NGUYEN: Sounds like you...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: I was going to say, it sounds like you have some experience at this, Adam, searching fast, trying to get away.
ROGERS: Yeah, I've made a run for it. I have occasionally made a run for it myself.
NGUYEN: All right.
ROGERS: And the important thing here is just searching a lot of them, that's what's important.
NGUYEN: True. All right, we're out of time. Adam Rogers, senior associate editor of "Wired" magazine. Thank you.
ROGERS: Thanks.
NGUYEN: Tony.
HARRIS: You know, there are some people who feel like political correctness has gone too far.
NGUYEN: Especially when it comes to Christmas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy holidays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Season greeting and happy holidays is never a substitute formerly Christmas, never will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Meet a man determined to save Christmas. He's right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING>
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look here, is your Merry Christmas getting lost in a sea of political correctness? So, Jeanne Moos went looking for the Christmas spirit, but what she found is a lot more, well generic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tis the season to be angry...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put Merry Christmas back where it belongs. MOOS: And where might that be? Stores, where Christmas has been replaced by holiday.
ANNOUNCER: Get ready for the holidays at Marshall's.
ANNOUNCER: Two-day holiday sale, at Sears.
ANNOUNCER: Beat the holiday rush.
MOOS: In their rush to avoid offending non-Christians, you will see stores using everything but Christmas.
(on camera): Christmas is the new 'c' word.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
MOOS (voice-over): And so was born savemerrychristmas.org.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Removing "Merry Christmas" is political correctness gone amuck.
MOOS: California resident, Manuel Zamarano, founded the committee to save Merry Christmas and says it has 1,000 members that's pushing for a boycott of Federated Stores, which owns, among others, Macy's, "Miracle on 34th Street" Macy's.
SANTA CLAUS, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: Merry Christmas.
MOOS: But that was 1947, this is 2004, when everyone says...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy holidays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seasons greetings and happy holidays is never a substitute for Merry Christmas, never will be.
MOOS: But Federated Stores says, "These reflections of goodwill are more reflective of the multicultural society in which we live today." After all, this is the age of Christmas and Hanukkah, merging in "Christmaska." Greeting cards for Christian-Jewish families that feature reindeer with Menorah antlers and kosher fruitcake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The disappearance of the words "Merry Christmas" is forcing us all to be a little more creative.
MOOS (on camera): What do you say to people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, all hail the birth of Christ?
MOOS (voice-over): Well, we didn't find that one when we scoured dozens and dozens of holiday ads, searching in vain for the 'c' word, somewhere in the fine print. At last, we found one brave advertisement for diamonds.
Getting rid of Christmas will mean some adjustments.
(SINGING): Have yourself a merry little holiday... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have yourself a merry little visitation of the three wise men to the birth of Christ.
MOOS: The folks at savemerrychristmas say we can expect to see the 'c' when it's times for the after-Christmas sales, they suspect so customers know the exact date when the sales start. Sure would drive Bing bonkers.
(SINGING): I'm dreaming of a white holiday
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm dreaming of a white federal holiday.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It just doesn't' have the same ring to it.
HARRIS: No, it's a little lyrically challenged, but you know, you work on it a little bit, right?
NGUYEN: Well, I can understand why people say happy holiday, I mean, you don't know if the person you are speaking to is celebrating Christmas or not.
HARRIS: Right, right, right, right, but just enjoy the holidays. Just enjoy the season.
NGUYEN: Or Christmas or Hanukah.
HARRIS: OK.
NGUYEN: Whatever you want.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: All right, let's move on, Kelly Wallace with "Inside Politics" is coming right up. Kelly, what do you have on the table for us today?
KELLY WALLACE, "INSIDE POLITICS": Good morning to you Betty and Tony. Well, up ahead on "Inside Politics Sunday," we are on the homeland security watch. The president's top choice has bowed out, so who's next on the list?
Also does the military have the proper equipment to support the mission in Iraq? Just some of the questions we'll pose to two top members of Congress.
And our very own Bill Schneider checks in from his European vacation, you won't want to miss his postcard from London.
That's all ahead at the top of the hour. I know, Betty, you and Tony will be watching. Right?
HARRIS: That's... NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: That's right. We will be right there. Thank you, Kelly.
NGUYEN: Bill on vacation? That lucky man. Thanks Kelly.
HARRIS: We want to get to our e-mail question and a couple responses before we leave this morning and turn things over to Kelly. The question this morning is -- are we going to weather or we going e- mails? We're going to weather? The weather? E-mail?
NGUYEN: The weather?
HARRIS: OK, to e-mails. All right. OK.
NGUYEN: All right, we're going to do e-mails, we are told.
HARRIS: And the question this morning is: Who do you belie -- who would you like to see running the Department of Homeland Security?
NGUYEN: Magnum says, "I would like to see the department disbanded, it has too much power to pry into our private lives."
HARRIS: And we get this from Ruth: "Who else better than Tom Clancy to have the imagination to anticipate anything the terrorist could dream up?"
NGUYEN: And then another viewer writes: "There can only be one serious contender of the job of Homeland Security chief. California Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's a republican, he has "star" quality, and who would dare oppose his nomination? Besides, would anyone -- any would-be terrorist want Ah-nold after them? I think not!" says Dale from Philadelphia.
HARRIS: And thank you for the e-mails this morning. Let's get one final quick check of the weather with Orelon Sidney. Good morning, Orelon.
SIDNEY: Yeah, but then the deputy could be Sylvester Stallone.
(CROSSTALK)
SYDNEY: You know, so you have Arnold and Sylvester.
NGUYEN: Oh, wow.
HARRIS: Action figures. Action heroes. Yeah.
NGUYEN: Could you see those already? There's a market for it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: That looks good. All right.
NGUYEN: Yeah, thank you, Orelon. SYDNEY: You're welcome.
HARRIS: All right, Orelon, thank you. And that's all of our time for CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: But, "Inside Politics" is next can Kelly Wallace. Thanks for joining us.
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