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CNN Sunday Morning
Talabani Criticizes Baker-Hamilton Report
Aired December 10, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News": A key report on Iraq rejected by the Iraqi president. He says recommendations by the Iraq Study Group undermine the country's sovereignty. President Jalal Talabani calls the report unfair and unjust. We'll have much more ahead on this story in a live report from Baghdad. That's in less than two minutes.
More than nine years after her fatal crash, the BBC reports new DNA testing indicates Diana's limo driver was drunk at the time of her car crash in Paris. And the "U.K. Observer" newspaper reports the U.S. Secret Service was bugging Diana's phone conversations the night she died. The paper says the calls sheds no new light on her death.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A bribery investigation and $90,000 in cold, hard cashed stuffed in a freezer, that's not enough to cost Louisiana Representative William Jefferson his job. Jefferson won 57 percent of the vote in a special runoff election yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, we have booster ignition, and liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery, lighting up the nighttime sky.
HOLMES: After two weather delays they are finally on their way. The shuttle blasted off from Florida last night. Discovery will dock tomorrow at the International Space Station and the crew will do some rewiring work, three space walks are scheduled during the 12-day mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To remove the Christmas trees was never our intent and this decision clearly was made on behalf of the port.
HOLMES: 'Tis -- apparently not the season at the Seattle Airport. We'll tell you why the Christmas tree got dissed, and it's being dismantled.
NGUYEN: And people are outraged about it.
HOLMES: Yes, they are.
NGUYEN: We'll share some of those e-mails with you.
HOLMES: We'll get into that later. But from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. December 10th, 9 a.m., here in Atlanta, and 6 a.m. where they're taking those trees down in Seattle.
Good morning to you. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for starting your day with us.
Donald Rumsfeld says thanks to the troops, while an Iraqi leader says no thanks to a key report on the war. More on the Defense secretary's visit to Iraq in just a minute, but first Iraq's president rejects the recommendations of the influential study group. Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live from Baghdad.
Let's talk about the ISG report and why the president of Iraq really is not satisfied with it. In fact, didn't he call it dangerous, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Dangerous and unfair and unjust, he said. What is incredible about this, Betty, this is the most senior Iraqi official to criticize the report in a very condemning way. He is a Kurd.
And the Kurds here from the north of the country have been typically very, very supportive of everything the United States has done here in Iraq. So to hear him make this criticism is very surprising at this time. He criticizes it because he says that it leaves too many U.S. troops, too much influence in the Iraqi army; the military trainers.
He's saying, we can do it better yourselves. And by putting U.S. troops inside the sovereignty of the army, and undermines the sovereignty of the country. And he says it's unjust and unfair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JALAL TALIBANI, IRAQ: I think that Baker-Hamilton is not fair, is not just. And it contains some very dangerous articles, which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSTON: There is some background to this as well. The other big Kurdish leader in Iraq has said that the study group's report is flawed because one, they didn't go and talk to the Kurds when they came to the country, but more importantly for him, he says it takes away control of the regional governments, like the Kurdish government, puts it under central control in Baghdad. Which he says would diminish the Kurd's influence over their oil revenues.
This is all about oil, it seems. It is all about the oilfields in the Kurdish area. And all about, it appears, the Kurds losing control over those oil revenues. They always wanted to be more independent. And this seems to be a very, very Kurdish complaint, if you will, about the Iraq study group's report, Betty.
NGUYEN: Donald Rumsfeld says it's all about the troops. And in fact, the outgoing Defense secretary makes a surprise visit. Tell me exactly what happened with that?
ROBERTSON: Betty, he went all over the country and has perhaps been his biggest tour of Iraq we've seen the Defense secretary take. It happened amid intense secrecy. Even the military spokesman here were aware of the Defense secretary's visit.
He visited the Al Asad Air Base, which is out in the west of Iraq. He visited a Ballad Air Base, a huge sprawling base about 50 miles north of Baghdad, where the main medical facility is, the emergency medical facility in Iraq. He visited with troops there and thanked them. He also came to Baghdad, met with troops there, ate with them and thanked them.
This was a very big trip. A very personal one it appears, where he wanted to thank the generals and commanders, and thank the troops personally for their efforts and sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families here, Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN'S Nic Robertson joining us live from Baghdad. Nic, as all, we thank you.
Hear from the co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group later this morning at 11 Eastern. Wolf Blitzer interviews Lee Hamilton and James Baker. That's later on "Late Edition" at 11 Eastern, right here on CNN.
HOLMES: We finally have liftoff. Spectacular night-time liftoff, even, for Space Shuttle Discovery. The Discovery and it's crew of seven are heading to the International Space Station right now and CNN's Brianna Keilar has more on the mission and these astronauts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, we have booster ignition and liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery, lighting up the nighttime sky.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SUNDAY MORNING (voice over): After two days of weather delays, Shuttle Discovery headed for the International Space Station, where the astronauts will conduct three space walks, rewiring parts of the ISS to accommodate new solar panels, and make way for new scientific modules.
This was the first night launch since Shuttle Columbia's 2003 launch, when foam fell off the external fuel tank, damaging thermal tiles and ultimately dooming Columbia's seven-member crew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the main engine's plumes kind of expand there's pretty good lighting and you can get to see pretty good views underneath the orbiter. No results in terms of anything we saw from the damage standpoint.
KEILAR: Only two of the Discovery's seven astronaut his been in space before. Commander Mike Polanksy and Mission Specialist Roger Curbeam. Sunita Williams who will stay for the next six months is one of the five rookies.
SUNITA WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT, SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY: First time opening the hatch and seeing the Earth with just my visor, being the -- you know, the window between me and Earth, and I think that's just going to be totally amazing. So I'm really forward to that. KEILAR (on camera): Also in this Discovery mission, Christer Fuglesang, the first Swede to go into space, and Joan Higginbotham, only the third African-American woman to do so. At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, I'm Brianna Keilar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: For more on the shuttle mission and what the crew will be doing over the next several days check out cnn.com/space.
NGUYEN: Ho, ho, -- hold it! Yes, the Christmas trees at Seattle's Airport were taken down yesterday because of one person complained. Kim Holcomb of affiliate KING has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM HOLCOMB, REPORTER, KING TV (voice over): It is the busiest time of year at Sea-Tac for one reason.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're here.
HOLCOMB: Thousands home for the holidays, but the very purpose of the rush, in symbolic evergreen, is no longer visible inside the terminal. A giant Christmas tree and other small ones removed overnight, after airport officials say one person complained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think sometimes the vocal minority dominates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of sad that we have to do that now. It seems to try to please everybody.
HOLCOMB: Airport officials say this was no simple complaint. A rabbi threatened to file a lawsuit if the court didn't allow him to hold a public Menorah lighting next to the trees. They port commission decided the best course of action was to simply take them down.
TERRI ANN BETANCOURT, SEA-TAC PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER: Our focus is on customer service, on getting our passengers through the airport. And we thought, if we can take the trees down, and avoid litigation, because we don't want to litigate with this individual. We would like to come to some resolution. But that's going take some thoughtful discussion, and we would like time to have that thoughtful discussion.
HOLCOMB: A response to one traveler sending an unattended message to many more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So to take away the Christmas tree, to me, is just saying Christmas doesn't count.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will it be that we'll take the wreath down, when is it going to be the holly comes down?
HOLCOMB: Many of those symbols are still up, strung behind airline and rental counters and long time employees of Sea-Tac say they'll remain, with the prospect of even more. JIM, SEA-TAC EMPLOYEE: They're probably going bring in their own solution tomorrow, to demonstrate. I suppose, and they're going to bring their own Christmas trees.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, earlier this morning I spoke with the main players on both sides of this controversy. And here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICIA DAVIS, PRES., SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION: We didn't have enough time to find resolution to this, but because the time was so close, and after several ultimatums, the rabbi informed us that they would sue the port in federal court. And when the commission heard about it, which was Thursday afternoon, the threat was to sue us at 10:00 the next morning, Friday.
And we discussed the fact that we do represent a very diverse population here in the Pacific Northwest by King County, actually, and we want to be respectful of all cultures, but there was not time enough to sort out how we could accommodate all cultures who might want to be represented.
RABBI ELAZAR BOGOMILSKY, HOST, "SHMOOZE RADIO": To remove the Christmas trees was never our intent, and this decision clearly was made on behalf of the port.
We're all shocked, and we're all surprised, appalled, to say the least, that the decision would be to remove the Christmas trees. I mean, the Christmas trees have been there for 25 years. The Christmas trees are a symbol of the holiday spirit. People look forward to it. Thousands of people leave every day Seattle and thousands of people come home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So, has being politically correct just gone too far when it comes to talk about the holidays. We've been getting your responses, reading them, and they're fascinating. We're getting a ton of them -- please, do keep them coming. And we'll read more of what you had to say coming up later in this newscast.
NGUYEN: There are people on both sides, but I would say nine out of 10 are just outraged by the whole fact that the trees were taken down. One of those stories you'll be talking about.
Here's another story that has people scratching their head. Who stole Baby Jesus?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It couldn't be the Wise Men, because one of the Wise Men got stolen, so it couldn't be one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Couldn't be one of them.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: That's our favorite clip of the past several weeks.
NGUYEN: Love that.
HOLMES: But kindergartners finding the true meaning of Christmas. They're raising money for a stolen Nativity scene. We'll talk to one of those kids.
NGUYEN: Plus later, shoes are a girl's best friend. Well, that, plus diamonds, of course. But we're talking shoes right now. And these shoes might help you find that perfect guy, how? The shoe psychologist gives us the scoop on how to figure out what type of man you're dating just by looking at his kicks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, there we go. A whole lot of red in downtown Las Vegas yesterday; the 5K charity event is known as The Great Santa Run and the Kris Kringle Jingle. They're jingling there. The $45 registration fee gets each runner a five-piece Santa suit, a goody bag, of course. The feeling of helping a good cause, you just can't put a price tag on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he got stolen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's terrible!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you imagine that somebody would steal Jesus? Isn't that terrible?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That is the worst thing I have heard in a long time. You know, it's not ever right to steal things, but of all the things you're going steal, how are you going to steal Baby Jesus?
NGUYEN: Baby Jesus?!
HOLMES: That's just sinful. But that's what happened.
Vandals trashed a Nativity scene. And yes, they took Baby Jesus. The injustice of all this is too much for the kindergartners at the Blessed Sacrament school -- you can hear some of our folks in the newsroom are getting upset about it, as well. Well, Stephanie Van Duzer and some of her classmates used money from the cupcake sale to replace that Nativity scene. She is here with us this morning, along with her mom, Tara.
Good morning to you both. Thank you for being here. Good to see you. Sorry it had to be, because somebody stole Baby Jesus.
Stephanie, you tell me first what did you think when you heard that somebody in fact had, yes, stolen Baby Jesus from a Nativity scene?
STEPHANIE VAN DUZER, RAISED MONEY FOR NATIVITY: Uh --
HOLMES: Were you upset about it?
VAN DUZER: Yeah.
HOLMES: Could you believe somebody had done that?
VAN DUZER: Yes.
HOLMES: You could believe it?
TARA VAN DUZER, STEPHANIE'S MOM: No, you couldn't believe it.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: You couldn't believe it when I heard it. What do you think should happen to those people who trashed this Nativity scene and stole Baby Jesus?
VAN DUZER: Go to jail.
HOLMES: They should go to jail.
VAN DUZER: Yeah.
HOLMES: All right, mom. Tara, you tell me what you thought when you heard about what happened to this Nativity scene.
T. VAN DUZER: Well, it was very unfortunate. When we saw it in the paper Monday morning, Stephanie was concerned. So I explained it to her. And just let her know that sometimes we have some bad people in this world that do bad things.
HOLMES: Is that tougher for a parent really? And how old is Stephanie there?
T. VAN DUZER: Stephanie's five years old.
HOLMES: Is it much tougher to explain to a child, I guess, something as pure and fun and whole as Christmas to them, that somebody would do something like this? Was it a tricky and tough kind of thing for you all to explain.
T. VAN DUZER: Well, a little bit, because you want to keep them innocent and shield them from these kind of things. But, unfortunately, with the TV and the newspapers they do kind of pick up on it. So I just explained it to her as best I could, and she was very concerned that Baby Jesus was gone. And, you know, apparently she went to school and took off with it, with her classmates.
VAN DUZER: Stephanie, you tell me what happened at school. How did you all come up with a plan and what was the plan? What did you all decide to do?
I assume you want to talk about it even though you don't want to talk to me this morning. A little shy this morning, dear. That's quite all right.
Well, Mom, you tell me, what did the class -- tell me how it all came about that they wanted to help out?
T. VAN DUZER: Usually we can't keep her quiet, I'm sorry.
Apparently what they do is that once a month they do sell cupcakes at the school for 25 cents a piece. She had mentioned to me one morning that she asked if it's OK if I give my quarter to Baby Jesus instead of getting a cupcake? I said, sure, go ahead.
I never thought anything about it until I found out that she had suggested it to the teacher. And like I said, it just took off from there. The kindergarten students were absolutely wonderful. And the rest of the school fell right into place. The kids are just absolutely wonderful and all of the parents should be very, very proud of our children.
HOLMES: Stephanie, I'm going to give you the last word, if you can come up with one for me. Are you happy with how it all worked out?
T. VAN DUZER: Are you happy with how it all worked out?
VAN DUZER: Worked out.
T. VAN DUZER: It worked out good?
VAN DUZER: Yeah.
T. VAN DUZER: OK.
HOLMES: All right. Mom, I'm so glad I had you here.
T. VAN DUZER: Thank you so much.
HOLMES: I don't know what I would have done without you this morning. Well, Stephanie, and mom, Tara.
T. VAN DUZER: You want to say bye?
VAN DUZER: Bye.
HOLMES: Bye, you all. Good job. I'm glad you all -- I hate you had to learn the lesson, but it's a good thing you all did the right thing with it. You all have a good one, Merry Christmas.
T. VAN DUZER: Thank you.
HOLMES: Happy holidays to you.
T. VAN DUZER: Happy holidays.
VAN DUZER: Thank you. Happy Holidays.
NGUYEN: Lesson here, always bring momma along because she can save the day.
HOLMES: Mama just saved the day for me. Thank you, Mom.
NGUYEN: Well, do you think your microwave is really turned off when it's not warming your food? You better think again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know those two dots on your microwave?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those two dots are responsible for three watts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Vampire electronics, sucking the energy out of your home. You won't believe how much money you're spending because of them, when they're turned off.
NGUYEN: And are you looking if are your soul mate? Well, look down, ladies. That's right. Down at his shoes. In 25 minutes our shoe psychologist will help you analyze your man's sneakers, and loafers, and find out if he's a perfect fit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Reynolds Wolf joins us now with a look at the weather outside.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, we have a real-life CSI to tell you about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was McVeigh's handgun. The "do not tow note" he left in his getaway car, the ticket he was issued after he was pulled over for not having a license plate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It's a rare look at a famous crime scene. We'll show you the trail of evidence left behind in the Oklahoma City bombing.
NGUYEN: Plus they may save us some time, but they sure don't save us any money. Yes, your electronic appliances are costing more than you think even when they're in the off mode. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: "Now in the News": The Iraqi president today rejecting the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. President Jalal Talabani says the findings are very dangerous, his words, to Iraq's sovereignty. He criticized a part of the report suggesting thousands of former officials from Saddam Hussein's party be allowed to serve in the government.
A salute to the troops. Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes an unannounced have said to thank the U.S. troops in Iraq. He told them the strength of the U.S. military is in the hearts of those who serve. Rumsfeld leaves office December 18th when his successor, Robert Gates, is sworn in.
HOLMES: New Hampshire, a proving ground and also a major testing ground for presidential candidates. And today Democratic Senators Barack Obama and Evan Bayh are going to give it a spin. Both are considering a bid for the White House.
A bribery investigation and $90,000 of cold, hard cash stuffed in a freezer, that was not enough to keep Louisiana voters from voting out Representative William Jefferson. Jefferson won 57 percent of the vote in a special runoff election yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, we have booster ignition and lift off of the Space Shuttle Discovery, lighting up the nighttime sky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the International Space Station took, off from Florida last night. Discovery will dock tomorrow with the space station. Three space walks are plan to rewire the orbiting outpost.
If you're a CSI fan, or just curious to see how the FBI's CSI team handled a tough case like the Oklahoma City federal building, you can. Evidence from that case temporarily open to the public at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. And CNN's Kyung Lah has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KUYNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Oklahoma City they're hands on with historic piles of rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody saw it's potential as evidence and grabbed it.
LAH: These students are learning how the FBI put the puzzle together to catch a bomber. BARRY BLACK, FBI BOMB TECHNICIAN: This particular evidence has the vehicle identification number on it which was used to trace the vehicle back to a Ryder rental truck, where it was rented, which resulted in the identification of Timothy McVeigh.
LAH: Barry Black in an FBI bomb technician who pieced together crime scene evidence from the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.
BLACK: It came through the window, hit the wall and was recovered in the floor, there, by one of the evidence response teams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back! Get back!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are seeing injured people everywhere...
LAH: Since Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were convicted in the bombings that killed 168 people, this evidence has been in the FBI's evidence locker. Now it's on public display for the first time in the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.
BLACK: People that are only familiar with a 60-minute television show like "CSI" can see the amount of work, the amount of man hours and the type of specialties that are required to actually bring a case to fruition.
LAH: It's rare from evidence from a major FBI case to go on display, even after the trial. This was McVeigh's handgun. The "do not tow" note he left in his getaway car, The ticket he was issued after he was pulled over for not having a license plate, The stop that led to his arrest, and the mangled remains of the Ryder truck that loaded with explosives became the deadly bomb.
KARI WATKINS, MUSEUM EXECUTIVE DIR: This exhibit was created, you know, as a crime scene -- I mean, as a crime scene investigation. It literally takes you through the pins and needles they had to step over to solve this case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you go in an ambulance or a car?
LAH: Fran Ferrari survived the Oklahoma City bombing. Rescue workers carried her to safety in an office chair with severe injuries.
FRAN FERRARI, OKC BOMBING SURVIVOR: It gives me a better understanding of the dimension, how far reaching, what was going on, but it wasn't just me and that there are a lot of other people involved.
LAH: People like Special Agent Black and now -- a National Memorial and Museum site, giving America a glimpse of how the real life CSI team solved one of the largest domestic terrorism cases in history.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: "News Across America" now. In Fort Myers, Florida, police say a baby boy kidnapped at knife point was taken because his parents owed money to human smugglers. They say the parents didn't pay the entire fee when they were brought to the U.S. illegally from Brazil. At first police thought a woman kidnapped the baby to claim it as her own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGAN LIENDO, DAUGHTER OF MISSING COUPLE: This is like a nightmare I'm going through. I just want to wake up from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A South Carolina couple is missing and their daughter is desperate for answers. The couple left their South Carolina home early Wednesday for a trip to visit family in Queens, New York. The last sighting of the couple was in a Virginia gas station Wednesday morning.
NGUYEN: Well, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a huge explosion destroys three row houses. Check this out -- residents tell the local news cable the blast was caused by a natural gas leak. No one was killed or seriously hurt, thankfully. But some residents had to scramble to get out in time after they smelled the leading gas.
Like you, many of us just love our electronics from flat screen TVs to appliances, gadgets and gizmos. but it turns out those devices can be a real energy drain even when they're turned off. CNN's Gary Nurenberg has more on these vampire electronics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The holiday run on big electronics purchases may have consumers thinking Halloween instead of Christmas.
Think vampires.
ALEXANDER KARSNER, ASST ENERGY SECRETARY: All of the devices have the potential to be vampire devices in the sense that it's really the characteristic of sucking extra electricity while they're in standby mode.
NURENBERG: This washing machine, for example, needs power to keep the electronic keypads ready to go even when it looks completely off.
ALLEN MEIER, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATL LABORATORY: It draws about two watts in standby.
NURENBERG: Allen Meyer has been studding vampire electronics for years.
MEIER: Each home has anywhere from 10 to 50 of these products, so that adds up and represents as much as a month of your electricity bill.
NURENBERG: Plug this DVD player that isn't playing a DVD into a watt meter and it shows consumption of 11.32 watts with the power on.
MEIER: But I've turned it off and it's now drawing six watts.
NURENBERG: Because with the demand for "instant on," off doesn't really mean off. Even Meier can be surprised.
MEIER: These electric toothbrushes don't consume much power...
NURENBERG: But plug in the watt meter.
MEIER: Well, I was wrong. Here -- this electric toothbrush draws about 1.8 watts, so it's about $2 in electricity consumption.
NURENBERG: Meiers' home computer just standing by.
MEIER: It's drawing 65 watts.
NURENBERG: You know those two dots on your microwave?
MEIER: Those two dots are responsible for three watts.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We expect our agency ridding themselves of the vampires...
NURENBERG: President Bush ordered the federal government to buy products that use no more than one watt of standby. California outlaws the sale of devices that use more than three watts, but nationally...
KATHERINE KENNEDY, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: The federal government isn't setting standards for those yet and we're going to need some new laws to make that happen.
NURENBERG: Manufacturers argue that would increase the product's cost.
(on camera): Energy experts recommend simply unplugging appliances or using the 21st century equivalent of garlic or a wooden stake -- a power strip where you can kill several vampires at the same time. It can take a real bite out of your electric bill.
Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: So now you know. Well, better listen up to this too, ladies especially, because loafers, sneakers, dress shoes they speak volumes about your men. Yes, you can really tell if you're dating a straight-forward guy with old-fashioned values just by looking at his shoes.
HOLMES: I don't know, Betty.
NGUYEN: In fact, we're going to check out T.J.'s shoes.
HOLMES: I don't know, Betty. I don't know about that one.
NGUYEN: See what it says about him, as we speak to the shoe psychologist. That's next here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: John Wood, a former Microsoft executive, founded the non-profit organization Room to Read after trekking in Nepal.
JOHN WOOD, FOUNDER, CEO ROOM TO READ: They had 450 students in this school, but the library had about 15 books that were all backpacker castoffs.
ANNOUNCER: Wood found his mission, to educate children throughout the developing world. What started out as an e-mail to 100 friends asking for book donations has expanded to a non-profit that works with rural communities to build libraries and schools.
WOOD: The world is full of people who will tell you exactly why you shouldn't follow your dreams, and I think a lot of following your passion is about respectfully not listening to the detractors.
ANNOUNCER: In just six years, room to read has built more than 200 schools and 3,000 libraries.
WOOD: We've grown from one country to seven and we're all just very focused on reaching as many kids in the developing world as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: So, it's time to find out now what are you clicking on this morning on cnn.com?
NGUYEN: Nicole Lapin is all over it. She's here with the most popular stories online.
Good morning
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM DESK: Good morning, Betty. Well, you can bet that people are still talking about the night launch of the space shuttle "Discovery." So, did you miss it? Or do you want to see it again? Well, it's right there for you online to see. "Discovery" lifted off last night. The shuttle is on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station and it's the first night launch in four years.
And this has been on the top 10 most popular list all morning and it's still there: New details about the death of Princess Diana. Now new DNA proves her limo driver was drunk the night of the crash that killed her. And according to London, the "Observer" newspaper, the Secret Service was bugging Diane's phone the night she died. And a story of what people buy and how much they spend on eBay is the most popular story online right now. The "Velvet Underground's" first recording, a record, first bought for 75 measly cents, 40 years ago, just sold on eBay for more than 150,000 bucks.
So, who would buy that? That's what we wanted to know. All we know is that the person's screen name is "Mechadaddy." So if you want more detail goes to cnn.com/mostpopular.
NGUYEN: All rightly, then.
LAPIN: On that note.
HOLMES: You have to say it right, it's Mechadaddy. I'm sure that's what he was going for.
LAPIN: It's "Mechadaddy," I think. You can check that out at CNN.com.
HOLMES: All right, thanks Nicole.
NGUYEN: Gotcha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this for real?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your watch and your ring, quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your Manolo Blahniks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? No!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, no, not the shoes. It is a woman's priceless possession, you know, the perfect shoe, how sweet it is. And like that scene from "Sex and the City," they are indeed hard to give up, but what if a shoe could do so much more like help you find the perfect man? Yep, it's true. Women may be able to figure out their date's character by looking at his shoes. T.J. disagrees, but let's bring an expert, shall we?
Joining us now is Megan Cleary, author of "The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoe says about You."
Thanks for being with us today.
MEGAN CLEARY, AUTHOR: Thank you.
NGUYEN: All right, let's get right down to it, can you really determine what kind of character a guy has just by looking at his shoes? CLEARY: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's really -- it's a play on that old adage your mother always told you when you were dating. If you want to know about a man, just look at his shoes.
NGUYEN: But isn't it just first impressions? I mean, he may want to really spice it up and make you think he's this great guy the first time you meet him, but later on when he's throwing on those sneakers, may not be the same guy.
CLEARY: Well, you know, a man is never going to be truly comfortable in a shoe that doesn't really express his personality, so the risk of that happening is pretty low. Guys...
NGUYEN: T.J. Is balking at this. So, let's get to it, Megan. Let's talk about the shoes. Let's start with the wingtip. What does that say?
CLEARY: Yes, the wingtip. We have the wingtip, here. That -- this is a guy who really wants to impress you. He is -- he's all business. He's going take you to the best restaurant in town. You're going have the best table there. You know, this is the guy -- most world leaders wear wingtips...
NGUYEN: But in the business world isn't that part of the uniform? CLEARY: "W" wears his when he's not in his cowboy boots. Sorry?
NGUYEN: But in the business world, isn't that part of the uniform? Don't you expect them to wear that?
CLEARY: It's part of the uniform and, you know, in the business world they are quite serious. They want to be taken seriously. So if he arrives on his dates...
NGUYEN: Now, these shoes though, I have to ask you about these, because I always wonder. When you see a man with a three-quarter boot. What does that is say?
CLEARY: The three-quarter boot. This is a guy who bucks convention in his own way. He's a little bit traditional, but he actually bucks convention in his own way. It's a way to, you know, he can have his pant leg down and looks like it's a tailored shoe, but if he lift it up the boot is still there, so he retains his individuality.
NGUYEN: And this one is going to be funny, I can imagine. Well, I don't know, maybe not. The penny loafer and actually pennies inside them, mind you?
CLEARY: The penny inside, that's really old school, but the penny loafer guy, he's a straight-up traditionalist, home, family, work. Those are his values. He's not a flashy guy. You know, he's very humble, church-going guy?
NGUYEN: And the clog? CLEARY: The clog. The clog man -- now usually a clog man is someone who is, you know, he wears them for his occupation, he's a surgeon, he's a chef like Mario Batali. If he's not wearing them occupationally, this is a guy who's a little bit more spiritual. He's usually very interested in the environment and environmental causes.
NGUYEN: And the Chuck Taylors. A lot of them wear that.
CLEARY: The Chuck Taylors.
NGUYEN: I even wear those.
CLEARY: Classic. I wear these, too. They're so comfortable, they're so fun. This is a guy who's a bit of an inner rebel, even if he's wearing them, you know, to the PTA meeting. He's a little bit of a inner rebel. Lots of rock stars wear those.
NGUYEN: And the running athletic shoe. But who doesn't have a pair of those?
CLEARY: The running athletic shoe. This is a guy, he's really straightforward, he's active, he's on the go. He's practical, he's fun, but he's not really silly.
NGUYEN: All right, well, we're going to size up T.J. just real quick. Hopefully you have a monitor there and you can check out the shoes he has on today, mind you, he just buffed them up and shined them up two seconds ago.
CLEARY: Oh, he just shined them up just for me?
Wow! He means to impress so he's got an oxford on here, but it's a square toe. This is a guy who's a little bit forward-thinking and also the fact that he takes care of his shoes is very important.
NGUYEN: Oh, he just bought them yesterday. Don't let that fool you. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
HOLMES: But still, what shoes do you look at -- can a woman say, "oh, he's a bum." I do you know that's a loser right there?
NGUYEN: T.J.!
HOLMES: No, I mean, you talk about personalities, but how does she know if she has a winner or a loser?
CLEARY: The most important, T.J. is really how the man takes care of his shoes. Whether he's in a clog or he's in his sneaker. How does he take care of them? Are there new laces? Is the sneaker well taken care of? Is the clog polished? That is the way -- because that's the way he's going take care of you.
NGUYEN: You know, women around the world would love if you could find a solution to this. You say shoes can determine the man, but can shoes actually change the man? So if we want our man to be a little more, you know, upstanding and traditional can you say can you put on those penny loafers, just today. Will that change him?
HOLMES: Oh, gee.
CLEARY: Wouldn't that be great? Just the shoe and it would be, like, a magic change? Well, you know, the thing is once you're dating a guy you really -- you can use your influence, a little bit, sometimes...
HOLMES: Oh, this is just...
CLEARY: If you sort of lead him toward the shoe that you want him to be. He will actually -- he will go there and he will also make some other changes in his wardrobe.
NGUYEN: See, T.J.'s giving us a hard time with all of this. He's actually leaving.
HOLMES: I'm going go.
NGUYEN: But, one quick question about him, though. He wears boots. What does that tell you?.
CLEARY: He wears boots? What kind of boots? The three-quarter?
HOLMES: I got cowboy boots in the house.
NGUYEN: Cowboy boots.
CLEARY: Oh, he wears cowboy boots? He's a cowboy boot guy. Oh, that's great. Yeah, they're really fun. Those guys that can like rope a steer or like run a company. You know? They get things done, they're very active, really, really fun.
NGUYEN: All right. This is interesting stuff. Megan Cleary, author of "The Perfect Fit," we appreciate your time today.
CLEARY: Thank you.
NGUYEN: And we don't want you to go anywhere because you don't want to miss the world's smallest grand piano.
The big sound from this tiny, tiny, tiny instrument -- that is coming up in the "WaterCooler."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, it's now time to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on CNN's RELIABLE SOURCES (INAUDIBLE).
Good morning to you, Howard.
NGUYEN: Good morning.
HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Good morning to both of you. Coming up, after a very tough week on Iraq, White House spokesman Tony Snow fields questions about his often contentious relationship with the press, why he slammed NBC's David Gregory for challenging him on the Baker-Hamilton report, and why his boss isn't always wild about dealing with journalists.
We'll also talk to top commentators about the skeptical coverage of the House report on the Mark Foley Paige scandal and why Mary Cheney's pregnancy has put her in a media crossfire with same sex marriages. Is that really fair?
All of that and more ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.
NGUYEN: Looking forward to it. Thank you, Howard.
HOLMES: And again, that's coming up at 10:00 Eastern. That's going to be followed by Wolf Blitzer and LATE EDITION at 11:00 and then THIS WEEK AT WAR coming up at 1:00. So stay to CNN as we go in- depth into the stories of the day.
NGUYEN: Ah yes, the moment we've all been waiting for, the "WaterCooler."
HOLMES: Yeah, we just -- parting gift for you here as we run down the stranger news items we've in across in the news day.
NGUYEN: Yes, first off, you've got to see this, and actually take a listen to it.
(PIANO MUSIC)
That sound is not dubbed in. It is the actual notes being plaid by what is believed to be the world's smallest, fully-functioning grand piano.
HOLMES: Yeah, Sega's newest toy. It's may be small, but it's not cheap, the 88-key wonder will sell for -- I'm sorry, did I read that right -- $400,000 -- in April?
NGUYEN: Four-hundred dollars.
HOLMES: Four-hundred dollars. OK.
NGUYEN: Four-hundred-thousand -- wow.
HOLMES: I put a thousand in there. I put a thousand in there, sorry.
NGUYEN: That makes a difference. Now take a look at this, thought, for every new dad who hates hauling around a cutesy diaper bag, salvation is at hand. It's made by Passchal Bag Company in Richmond, Virginia and sells for a very manly 175 smackeroohs.
HOLMES: All right, this macho diaper bag made from recycled truck innertubes.
NGUYEN: I thought it looked like rubber.
HOLMES: So, it will look great as you and junior hit the road in your big honkin' 4x4 with power stroked diesel, whatever it may be.
NGUYEN: And speaking of manly men, you'll get a kick out the most popular guys in Egypt. Wow. This is the annual meeting of the mustache club.
HOLMES: I've been asking to go this route, but they wouldn't let me do it on the air. Members of this exclusive club first started getting together 20 years ago. The unique and flowing whiskers have made them easily recognizable celebrities in Cairo.
NGUYEN: And listen to this, one member says he once showed up unannounced and got in a government administers' office identifying him as the "King of Mustaches." Well, that minister immediately granted him a meeting. The power of the mustache.
HOLMES: The power of the mustache.
And of course, we want to get back now to our question of the day. All morning we've been asking you for your thoughts on the holiday question. PC holidays, as it gone too far? This, of course, after the story out of Seattle. They took down the Christmas trees because the rabbi complained...
NGUYEN: And wanted a menorah put up right next to -- an eight- foot menorah, mind you and if it wasn't put up within 24 hours he was going to sue. So they took it all down and here's what you have to say. Got those e-mails in hand. A lot of them here.
The first one from Cindy and she says it quite easily, The Grinch can officially retire now that the rabbi has stolen Christmas."
Yes, next here from Allison in Florida, "I celebrate Hanukkah, and I have to tell you I am appalled at how the rabbi made such a stink about the Christmas trees being up. Even though I do not celebrate Christmas, I believe that festive decorations are just that, festive decorations, they do not represent the religious or spiritual aspect of Christianity in any way. To threaten a lawsuit unless a menorah is put up just ruins the whole idea of Happy Holidays!
NGUYEN: Well, Steve from New York says, "Why not allow the menorah to be put up and be done with it? I feel the airport intentionally over-reacted to the situation to place undue criticism on the rabbi."
HOLMES: And finally from Tim, says, "I think that the airport did the right thing with taking down the Christmas trees. The fact of the matter is that we are a highly religiously diverse society, but Christian symbols dominate public space. Airports, stores, schools, and other public places should find a way to represent our religious diversity in a better way..." That's from Tim who wishes us "Happy Holidays."
NGUYEN: And speaking of the holidays, feeling a lot like it outside with this cold weather. Reynolds Wolf has a check of that.
Hi there. (WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Reynolds. And RELIABLE SOURCES, that is next, followed by LATE EDITION and THIS WEEK AT WAR, so don't go anywhere.
HOLMES: And, of course, we'll have all your top stories right after a short break.
NGUYEN: Have a great day, everybody.
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