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CNN Sunday Morning
Rescue on the Ice; Grammy Sunday
Aired February 08, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, February 8th. It's 8:00 o'clock here at our headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. It's 7:00 a.m. in Memphis, Tennessee, 5:00 a.m. out in Los Angeles.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: That's just for you.
HOLMES: I don't know why that song is for me. It's talked about busting windows out of a guy's car.
LONG: Because it is one of your favorite performers.
HOLMES: Jazmine Sullivan, she is a favorite of mine. It is Grammy Sunday. You will be hearing a lot of Grammy music, some of Melissa Long's favorites, some of T.J. Holmes' favorites. Good morning to you all.
LONG: Very different styles!
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Very much so. We're learning more of that as we go along.
LONG: Yes, we are.
HOLMES: But I'm learning more about some stuff -- yes.
LONG: Well, I'm learning a little bit of your style as well.
I'm Melissa Long, in today for Betty.
What's your style? More like me?
HOLMES: Betty is all over the place, literally.
LONG: Yes, and she -- you collect it.
HOLMES: Always.
LONG: OK.
HOLMES: Betty is always -- she loves Lil' Wayne, though. Don't let her fool you.
LONG: I'm slowly learning about Lil' Wayne. We're going to talk about him this hour. Of course, he's got a lot of nominations going to the Grammys tonight. A big day, musically. For the first time, a hip hop artist could take over the 51st annual awards show.
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: Now, this is -- a lot of you, CNN viewers, I don't know. If you're into Lil' Wayne, you might not know his name, you might not know the song, but if you got kids that are anywhere over the age of 10 probably, they know who this is. So why does the gentleman that goes by the name Weezy, he has been called Weezy and with so many tattoos -- why is he nominated for eight Grammys?
LONG: Why -- Weezy, I think, Golden Girls.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. (INAUDIBLE) admits that to anybody else who's listening.
(LAUGHTER)
LONG: Oh, Jefferson. That one was Jefferson. Thanks for the information.
HOLMES: Weezie, yes, but he goes by Weezy sometimes. We'll explain why he is so special.
LONG: This is my song. I love Coldplay.
HOLMES: So, yes, a lot of Grammy songs this morning.
LONG: Plus, we're talking about the economy. I may need a pickup when we're talking about the staggering numbers.
HOLMES: Yes, you're absolutely right.
LONG: Millions of people are living on a very tight budget. We're going to introduce you to a woman who can show you how to get hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for free.
HOLMES: And, I don't know how my parents would feel about me moving back in right about now. But shopping and bunking, some families are piling into one house. How much can you actually save and is that tight squeeze really worth the headache?
But new this morning -- we want to take you Down Under. The death toll from those wildfires burning in southeastern Australia is up to 84 now. Fire officials there say heavy winds are fanning these flames and these things are moving pretty fast. Nearly 650 homes destroyed. Police are trying to figure out if two of the fires were deliberately set.
LONG: One person died but the Coast Guard managed to rescue 135 people stranded an eight-mile block of ice on Lake Erie. The county sheriff is angry. He says that if they had common sense, they wouldn't have gone out on the ice in the first place. And besides losing a life, the whole episode cost taxpayers thousands of dollars and put the rescuers in danger as well.
HOLMES: And this is a new spirit of cooperation, Democrats thanking Republicans -- maybe not what you're thinking here. Actually, a handful of Republican senators are given a "thank you" for backing Obama's huge economic stimulus package. This ad you're seeing here is paid for by Americans United for Change. That is a liberal interest group.
The roughly $800 billion package is on track to pass the Senate. It looks like it's going to happen on Tuesday even though there has been very little Republican support.
Well, still critical, a critical day is coming up. Next couple of days actually, for that package. The Senate's closing in on a deal. Again, that package is kind of a floating target, the number, but anywhere between maybe $780 billion, $790 billion to $820 billion or $830 billion.
LONG: It's shaved down from 900 billion.
HOLMES: Yes. So, it is down, for sure.
LONG: It's closer (ph) with 800 billion from the House.
HOLMES: Oh, yes.
LONG: Even if it passes the Senate this week, likely vote on Tuesday the package has a way to go. Here is our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar.
BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J. and Melissa, even Republican sources privately admit they think this compromised version of the economic stimulus package will pass the Senate early next week, albeit with the support only of these few moderate Republicans. And Democrats, in order to get them onboard, had to allow about $100 billion in cuts to the spending part of this package, that included tens of billions of dollars in cuts to education, something they really didn't want to see happen.
But assuming this does pass the Senate, the next step would be for the House and the Senate to hash out their differences and come to an agreement.
And I asked Maine Republican Susan Collins, one of those three moderate Republicans, if she fears that she may lose some of the ground she made in the negotiations over the past week when they go into the process. Here is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: That is a major concern to me. If the bill comes back from the conference committee with a lost of wasteful spending reinserted, or if it comes back in excess of $800 billion, it will not have my support. So, I hope that my colleagues will follow the outlines of the compromise that we negotiated this week. That is important to me. I don't want to see a bloated, overly-expensive bill. KEILAR: And if you do, there could be another stand off?
COLLINS: There could. And that would not be good for our country. We need to get going to help turn the economy around and create jobs. So, I hope everybody will buckle down and negotiate and come up with a bill that does the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And as one Senate Democratic aide told me, only the foolish are making plans for next weekend. But still, the expectation and the hope, of course, is to get an economic stimulus package on the desk of President Obama by Monday, February 16th -- T.J. and Melissa?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And be sure to stay tuned to the next half hour. Our chief national correspondent, John King, will join us live and he'll certainly be giving us all of his insights on the stimulus package and what's coming up.
LONG: You can catch his program, "STATE OF THE UNION" that airs at 9:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN.
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius could be nominated for secretary of Health and Human Services. A senior Obama administration official says she is very near the top of list of the possible candidates for that job. Sebelius was an early supporter of Mr. Obama. In Kansas, she became a favorite of consumer advocates during her years as a state insurance commissioner.
HOLMES: And we're keeping an eye on what's happening in Australia in the past couple of days. Fires are burning all over the place. Eighty-four people are dead. Most of these are happening in southeastern Australia. You see how they fan out there.
Even with cooler weather into that area, it could be days before firefighters get a handle on this. Last hour, Australian police official Wayne Wilson spoke with CNN international and he explained why the casualties are so high.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF WAYNE WILSON, SENIOR VICTORIA POLICE CONSTABLE: The number is now 84 which we're concerned. We still this was this number of unconfirmed ones which we're working on. Basically, what happened is the initial fire, some of these areas, we couldn't get into and as we've been able to get into them, the fire crews have made them more secure, and we started to work through them and we started to find these other people.
We're looking at the vehicles. We're looking at in the streets and in the houses of these places. It's just a mammoth scene in relation to the number of bodies that have been located.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now, there is a suggestion that arsonists may be involved. Explain to us what is known about that possibility.
WILSON: We've got a task force investigating the fire. You know, that's one of the -- I suppose, one of the theories that's being put forward. At this stage, they haven't even really got anything conclusive in relation to the cause of the fire.
It's going to take some time because the initial stages is to, I suppose, deal with, unfortunately, the dead people, and make those investigations and clarify their identity and getting them moved into the coroner areas. But obviously, we've set up a task force of some 20 detective that would investigate the fire scene and investigate the deaths, between that, as well as the cause.
So, quite a lot of work to do, but task force has been set up to do this and depending which way they just go into, which way their course would go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, of course, looking at the ingredients here, these scorching temperatures, these swirling winds, drought conditions, anyway, so why has somebody thought arson is involved here?
WILSON: Because we've had fires in the past and probably you'd find that same thing in this stage in the hot weather. It does draw some of these sorts of people out. And, I know, over the years, we've had fires at summer times and we've also had people who have gone (INAUDIBLE). So, (INAUDIBLE) it seems to get together (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Those fires are raging in southeastern Australia this weekend.
And now, a dramatic rescue on Lake Erie. A hundred and fifty people had to be pulled from a giant ice floe yesterday after it broke away from the Ohio shoreline. It's estimated that the slab of ice which was pretty thick jetted out as far as eight miles into the lake from Ohio. But officials say it's never a good idea for people to be out there. One person died from an apparent heart attack.
The Ottawa County sheriff is upset all those people were on the ice. In his words, what happened was just idiotic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF SHERIFF BOB BRATTON, OTTAWA COUNTRY, OHIO: Our financial status going across the country, this was wrong. These people endangered lives of volunteer firemen and the United States Coast Guard. I have estimate already, we are well over $25,000 for this . And I'm sorry that's going to climb. I'm sorry a man lost his life out there today. These people should have known better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Joining us live on the line right now is Cory Comar. He was trapped on the ice for a couple of hours. He is joining us live from Adrian, Michigan.
Cory, thanks for your time this morning.
VOICE OF CORY COMAR, RESCUED FROM ICE: You're welcome.
LONG: You've heard the harsh words from the sheriff saying also that if there was a section in the code about common sense, we would have about 150 arrests out there today, meaning, yesterday. What do you have to say about that because I know that's culture in this part of the country to be out in the ice for so many ice fishing?
COMAR: Yes, we only like to ice fish out there. There was no warnings. Ice was 16 inches thick.
What's being left out is the bulk that drove through on two miles behind us and broke the ice up. I'm not blaming the boat. I think it's a combination of the wind and the boat that drove through.
And, you know, I'm sorry that we forced him to do his job today. I want to give thanks to all of the coast guards who helped us get off the ice without complaining. I'd like to tell them they did a very good job.
LONG: You're saying forced us to do their job today. Obviously, you don't like what the sheriff is saying, even though there are some saying, "Why would you be out there because it was so warm?"
COMAR: No, not at all because he's really focusing on the money and stuff. And, you know, a gentleman did lose his life. There's a lot of things that happened out there.
This isn't something that normally happens. There's quite a few people out there. A lot of people thought it was safe. It wasn't just a small group of people. And for him to, you know get that upset about rescuing people, I thought that's what we paid him taxpayer money for.
LONG: You know, it's interesting what you said. I was reading this "Cleveland Plain Dealer" that an unprecedented number of fishermen have been out there this year because it's been so cold and you had thick ice. Again, it was warm on Saturday, unseasonably warm.
COMAR: Right.
LONG: Why do people go out on the ice year after year?
COMAR: Well, because -- normally, you know, you can have four or five warm days that the ice will stay in good shape. This is the first warm day that we had out there. We've had some really cold weather and I really believe that it was the boat that drove through there that created the combination of problems with the wind and the boat.
LONG: And, Cory, I know we're out of time. I just want to check -- understand that you won't be going ice fishing again? You had it. This was the experience. COMAR: This was it. It's too much risk out there. I'll never try it again.
LONG: All right. Cory Comar joining us live in the line from Michigan. And I know, we also said earlier it's an important day. He's glad he can spend the day today with his son who has a wrestling match.
HOLMES: Yes.
LONG: So, he's learned his lesson though, because obviously, that was a freak incident which happened. This is part of the culture out there.
HOLMES: Yes, that was -- Reynolds has actually saw and come from this area and bring him to the weather now. And Reynolds, you actually spent some time up in this area?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: What are you saying, you're from there?
LONG: I'm from Upstate New York, I've never been ice fishing but I know so many people do this year after year.
WOLF: Yes.
HOLMES: It's part of it. And I guess it's the risk every time you go out there but people just do it and we don't hear about so many of these big and tragic incidents but the potential is there every time.
WOLF: Absolutely. You know, farther to the north, on the northern half of Michigan, right near Mackinaw Island, a lot of times during the winter, what will happen is the lake is frozen over and people actually, they take that ride from northern Michigan all the way to Mackinaw Island and they get used Christmas trees, old Christmas trees and line them up on the ice and you take your snowmobile and ride your way up to Mackinaw Island, a great resort Island.
Now, this obviously is a bit farther to the south in Lake Erie but, you know, as you mentioned, it is part of the culture and it's unfortunate what happened, and we're very lucky that only one person lost a life. Again, condolences to the family. What an awful time.
Right now in Detroit above freezing, 37 degrees current temperature; 47 in Cincinnati, 35 in St. Louis, 30 in Kansas City. It's going to be a warm day for you in Kansas City all things considered, when you've got 54 degrees in February. It's not a bad deal. Forty-one in Chicago, 63 in Nashville, 75 in Dallas and Houston.
I really want to hone in on parts of Texas because later on today, it's going to be this set up where we have high pressure forming over the Gulf of Mexico. A southerly breeze is going to be pushing in a lot of a lot of really warm muggy air, and that combined with daytime heating is going to give you a lot of instability with that increasing cloud cover, and by the afternoon, as this frontal boundary approaches from the west, we've got a chance, at least a slight risk of having some heavy rain and large hail, possibly some isolated tornadoes and wherever you have really bad drainage issues or low-lying areas, there's a chance you could have some flash flooding.
So, we're talking about a potential severe weather scenario for today and as we make our way into both Tuesday and Wednesday, we could see that risk of severe weather move into portions of the Midwest. That is a look at your forecast. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
HOLMES: All right. Slight risk.
LONG: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: Slight risk.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, we appreciate you. Talk to you again here soon, buddy.
Well, what would you think? Could you do it and also, could you move back in with mom and dad?
LONG: Possibly.
HOLMES: Times are tough.
LONG: Possibly.
HOLMES: And people are doing it right about now, but got a word of caution here. It's their house. You remember like before, it's their rules.
LONG: You know, it's only in this country that we run away from our parents.
HOLMES: Yes, quickly.
LONG: In other countries, you stay with your parents longer.
HOLMES: Oh, no.
LONG: Europe, Asia, yes. And you go on and on.
Anyway, will Coldplay rule the Grammys tonight? Nominated for best new album. We're going to get a live preview from Los Angeles.
HOLMES: Also, we'll be sprinkling a little -- a little of this with you throughout the morning. We'll have some trivia for you as well. But a look at some former best new artist winners who are still having a pretty good careers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: How is the bad economy affecting you? It's affecting some by bringing families close together. Multiple generations are living together under one roof. CNN's Alina Cho takes a look at one New York family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just a year ago, German and Lillian Tixe had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate their new home. They planned to live on the first floor and rent the second and third. But they'd never dreamt their tenants would be their own adult children until German suddenly lost his job.
KANESSA TIXE, MOVED BACK IN WITH PARENTS: He was pretty quite. He didn't want us to talk about it. We're all like, we're going to help you, we can -- I can get you a job.
CHO: German's daughter, Kanessa Tixe moved in and so did her stepbrother Eric, stepsister Lilly and her family. They are all helping out by paying rent and their landlords are strict
TIXE: You better pay the rent on time. Actually, they charged us a deposit.
CHO: It's a living situation that's becoming common. According to Grandparents.com, 65 percent of those surveyed say the bad economy will bring more multigenerational families together under the same roof.
AMY GOYER, GRANDPARENTS.COM: This is a dollars and cents issue. When it comes to the bottom line, can you afford to live on your own and if you can't, then families come together and do what they have to do.
CHO: It's not without its downfalls.
TIXE: Every time I go out, they are like looking out the window or asking me where I'm going. It's like I feel 16 again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The music is too high and we call and put it down because, you know, sometime we have to live.
CHO: Experts say problems are bound to arise.
GOYER: The little things can get to you. I hear the most problems from the kitchen. I know one mom was telling me that she just burst into tears because her mother was criticizing the way she made a peanut butter jelly sandwich.
CHO: But if living together is a dollars and cents issue, time together is priceless, even more so for the Tixes. This multigenerational family is about to expand. Lilly is due in April.
K. TIXE: We're very close. We're united. I think now that we live together, it shows even more. Many of our friends and families come here and they wish they were this close.
CHO (on camera): The new living situation ends up helping the kids, too, by living with their parents, they all pay less rent. Kanessa jokes that they also save money by stopping down at mom and dad for meals and, of course, the laundry, a number of laundromat around the corner. By the way, with all of the concerns about layoffs, the family feels living together provides a safety net for everyone.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: A good way to save some money and for the new grandchild on the way to get to better know grandma and grandpa.
HOLMES: I don't know. Can you really go through that again which you went through as a kid, as a teenager and all that with the parent -- really?
LONG: It's about respect.
HOLMES: OK. All right. Whatever you say.
LONG: OK.
President Obama has become certainly the most popular person in Israeli politics. Now, we're going to show you why he is crucial to their campaign.
HOLMES: Did you know, though, that the president also is a Grammy winner?
LONG: No.
HOLMES: His competition was actually two former presidents, as you see right there -- best spoken word album. This was -- I think for his last book, "Audacity of Hope." Well, I think I have that right. But he'd beat out former presidents Clinton and Carter who are also in that category.
So, he is winning in the Electoral College. He is winning at the Grammys. And he is just winning these days.
We're live at a look at this year's nominees -- that's straight ahead. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: We're quickly approaching the bottom of the hour, coming up in 8:30 this Sunday morning, the Senate is expected to vote on that newly revised stimulus package, massive stimulus package Tuesday.
HOLMES: Yes. They trimmed it and it's still massive.
We're going ahead now to CNN chief national correspondent, John King. He's with ...
LONG: With the cool magic wall!
HOLMES: OK. Sorry, man, we're going to give you a hard time about that promo.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: But, hey, we all love the wall. Let's talk about this stimulus package for a second. I mean, we've been going back-and- forth but everybody is pretty much expecting this thing to pass the Senate on Tuesday and then some more work begins.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And more work begins -- you're right. And look, we're talking about nearly $1 trillion. People out there waking up, watching at home are saying, "What?" You know, we have to balance our checkbook every day, we're going to McDonald's less, maybe we can't take a family vacation and they're asking a simple question. Will nearly $1 trillion in government spending really create jobs?
And we'll watch this week and we're going to talk about this morning, too. The Senate will pass its bill probably on Tuesday, as you noted. That after reconcile it with the House, and over in the House, a lot of Democrats think it's not enough money. They don't like what the Senate did to it.
So, we've got more Washington squabbling to go in the week ahead. But the important thing is: What will this bill actually do in the mix of tax cuts, in the mix of spending? Will it really create jobs and how fast? And that's one of the things we need to track in the next days and weeks.
LONG: Well, we know the president has wanted bipartisan support. He's been very vocal about frustration that we don't have it passed it. He says wants it on the desk by Presidents Day.
KING: He wants to see this bill by Friday afternoon. Interesting question as to whether he'll get it. And you know what? We saw a very interesting moments from the president this past week -- he got more partisan in his public remarks even as they negotiated privately with Republicans.
His big test this week might be in his own party. Again, a lot of the liberals in the House think we should spend more money on this stimulus bill. They don't like what the Senate did.
Will the president call up and say, "Look, I'm the president, I'm the leader of the party, you need to accept the Senate's number" or will the House send this debate back and forth and back and forth? So, interesting challenge for the president last week, maybe even a bigger one in the week ahead.
HOLMES: Yes, he's going to throw out maybe, you know, use some influence. You know, he is the president. He has a lot of influence there. But, also he has the will of the people right now -- a lot of goodwill, at least, still from the electorate who put him into office. He's taking his pitch now directly to the people, hitting the road this week but also making a primetime press conference and going to take some questions.
KING: He's going to take some questions. It's his first primetime press conference Monday night. And then, you just hit on a critical point, T.J., because a lot of Democrats have been saying -- he's such a good campaigner, he has that great goodwill of the American people, you just mentioned, why is he sitting in Washington when the debate about the economy is really about jobs out in the country? So, he will have that primetime news conference, again, try to convince the American people -- kick the Congress to go along with me. Then he's going to go to Florida and out to Indiana, where I was this past week, to try to take his case directly to the American people.
We know he is a good salesman. That's why he did so well in the election. We're learning about him as a president. Again, this is going to be a fascinating week.
LONG: And, of course, you're going to be talking about the stimulus coming up on your program. What else do you have coming up?
KING: Well, one of the most fascinating guests we'll have on the program today is Ray LaHood. He used to be a Republican congressman from Middle America, Illinois. Guess what? He is now the Democratic president's transportation secretary.
Number one: What does he think about how his former colleagues, the Republicans in Congress, are handling this debate? And number: What will he do when he gets billions of dollars to spend on roads and bridges assuming this passes.
So, we'll talk to Ray LaHood. We'll have some senators in and some House members in to have this debate. We're going to talk to Jack Welch who used to run G.E. about how he rates the president as a chief executive.
And, guys, as we always promise to do every week, we also get out of the country. This week, right out to Indiana, we talk to some autoworkers who are struggling. We went to a small town that's pretty affluent but they want billions of dollars to spend, too. So, a lot to cover on "STATE OF THE UNION" just about 30 minutes.
HOLMES: All right. John, it's a pleasure, always good to see you. And we certainly will be tuned in at the top of the hour. Have a good show, buddy.
KING: Thank you much.
LONG: Thanks, John.
HOLMES: And, of course, as you heard, he's got a full lineup. And just to make the point. we want to reiterate here, that how much he's going to have from supporters and critics of the economic stimulus package proposal. That is coming up.
LONG: "STATE OF THE UNION" is coming your way at the top of the hour, at 9:00 Eastern Time.
Interesting question: Where's the hero when you need one?
HOLMES: Where do you find one?
LONG: That's hard to find.
HOLMES: It's hard.
LONG: Typically, but for this little boy, the hero is standing right next to him during a gun fight? We'll have their story.
HOLMES: And -- something else. A woman who trims thousands of dollars from her grocery bills every year. Thousands, folks. It takes a little work, but, yes, you, too, can do ...
LONG: And organization, too (ph).
HOLMES: Yes. You can do it, too, though.
Good morning on this "CNN SUNDAY MORNING." Welcome back. I'm T.J. Holmes.
LONG: Good morning, I'm Melissa Long, in today for Betty.
HOLMES: The Senate moving a bit closer to voting on that roughly $800 billion stimulus package but the hard work certainly nowhere close to being over. The senators worked overtime this weekend debating what to keep in and what they should cut.
And after some compromises Democrats are confident they do have the votes to avoid a filibuster, they think they have the 60 they need and they couldn't get that without the help of a handful of Republicans, one of them being Maine's Senator Susan Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: Tonight is a victory for the American people. We demonstrated that we can come together to tackle the most important problem facing our nation. The economic crisis is dire and it requires tough, immediate action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, the senate is set to meet again tomorrow. The vote is expected to happen on Tuesday.
LONG: Former President Bill Clinton says Democrats need to focus more on solving the economic crisis rather than asking what it will actually cost. Clinton was the keynote speaker at Virginia's annual Jefferson Jackson dinner for Democrats last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The world needs an America that is respected and trusted, taking us to a world where we also have shared responsibilities and shared opportunities. We can't get out of this economic mess by ourselves.
And we have to realize that an enormous amount of the real impact of this economic stimulus program will be determined state-by-state, commonwealth-by-commonwealth, community-by-community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: At that dinner, Clinton also warned Democrats not to get distracted with the partisan bickering.
HOLMES: Well, we know a lot of you out there have questions about exactly what's in this massive bill.
LONG: And understandably Josh Levs posed some of those questions, your questions to a panel of experts. Good morning Josh.
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey good morning to you guys.
Yes, we got some great questions from the audience, of course. Our viewers are always sending in interesting questions. I want to show you one that a lot of people wrote us about.
Check this out. We're zooming on the board. We'll start out with Dixie, who wrote, "Republicans keeps saying the answer is to cut taxes. What good will that do for the families that are out of work? How does this create new jobs?"
I put a similar one underneath it. "In order for a tax break in someone's paycheck to work, they must be drawing a pay check." And we've got that one from Christina Fransone.
So I spoke with Jeff Rosensweig with Emory University Business School. And I said look, aside from job creation how could tax cuts actually help people? And here's his response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ROSENSWEIG, EMORY BUSINESS SCHOOL: Well we already had this experiment and we spent something like $168 billion last spring on these kind of tax cuts and as economists, we weren't able to measure any positive effect on the economy, so I think the questioner is actually quite astute.
What I am worried about, is people that are either out of work, about to fall out of work, or getting such a low wage or part-time employment. There's a rapid increase of people who want to work full- time but can only get part-time employment. They're making so little that they're really not paying taxes anyway, so we really need to focus on getting people to work in full-time jobs that pay enough that they even have to worry about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEVS: And we get a lot of astute questions all the time from our viewers. Check this out, I want to show you one more that we got. A lot of people are asking about the role of lobbyists.
This is from Jim who says, "I wanted to ask if anyone has noticed what is going on with the lobbyists and are they active in the Stimulus Plan?
Well, I presented that question to Eamon Javers of the politico -- politico.com.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EAMON JAVERS, POLITICO.COM: This is a field day for lobbyists. And I've talked to a lot of lobbyists all week and they all have little pet projects and little things that they want to slip into this bill because in Washington, the saying is this train is leaving the station which means they know this bill is going to get passed, they want their little pet project in there. And it's so big that the chances of their little thing getting noticed are pretty slim. So lobbyists are crawling all over this bill right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Not what a lot of people want to hear but of course, part of the reality is to know about.
And hey listen, T.J. you guys might have seen this is really cool. Up at CNN.com right now you want to piece through in this fashion what's actually happening to the stimulus bill? Check out what they put together.
This cool pie chart kind of thing; it breaks apart the latest bills. And you can click on any section of it and see how it breaks down how many billions go into individual plan. You can't miss it right up there at CNN.com.
I love stuff like that. It helps people understand where all of this eventual taxpayer money might actually go.
LONG: Hard working team down at dot com putting now that interactive together for you.
LEVS: Yes you know it.
LONG: Props for my team!
LEVS: There you go.
HOLMES: They are hard-working down there.
LEVS: I set you up so you would have a chance to say that.
LONG: Thank you. And we, of course, stream President Obama's speech Monday night at 8:00 p.m. just like you will hear it on television. HOLMES: If you all didn't notice, she has a soft part in her heart for CNN.com.
LONG: Yes I do, all right. Thanks Josh.
Well, if you think President Obama is popular right now in the states you should see how much they love him in some countries overseas. In fact, he carries so much weight in Israel he's influencing the elections there.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is the man of the moment, U.S. President, Barack Obama, is hugely popular worldwide. Israel candidates for Prime Minister know this and they are using it, billing themselves as the perfect partner for Mr. Obama.
Benjamin Netanyahu and his far right Likud Party is one of the most obvious. His Internet campaign for election mirrors that of Mr. Obama.
RON DERMER, SR. NETANYAHU CAMPAIGN ADVISER: In democratic countries, any serious person running for Office is going to have a very, very good Internet campaign because that's the way young people communicate.
HANCOCKS: The U.S. President supported the young voter and so has Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. It's not often you see Livni partying in a Tel Aviv nightclub but it is election time. Mr. Obama even features in Livni's election advertisements.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If somebody was sending rockets into house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that.
EYAL ARAD, KADIMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: There is one thing that is universal and that is hope for a better world and better future. And I think that's common between the promise of President Obama and the promise of Tzipi Livni.
HANCOCKS: Mr. Obama also had a cameo role in defense minister, Ehud Barak's election advertisement. And religious party (INAUDIBLE) Shah has gone one step further directly borrowing Mr. Obama's election slogan, "Yes, we can."
But one sharp contrast with the United States, no direct debate. The closest the Israeli candidates got was swapping seats on an individual YouTube Q & A. Some analysts believe that's not the only way Israeli hopefuls differ from Mr. Obama.
AKIVA ELDER, HARARETZ NEWSPAPER: The mood is, if can I borrow the phrase from the American campaign, from Obama's campaign, is, no, we can't make peace and change, we don't want it. We don't want to pay the price for peace, we don't trust the Palestinians. And what can change the equation is only a clear voice from Barack Obama.
HANCOCKS: None of the Israeli candidates are able to instill that sense of change that President Obama did. Two of them are former prime ministers, neither considered spectacularly successful and one a party leader who was unable to form a coalition government.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: As we just learned Israel had YouTube political debates.
HOLMES: Yes.
LONG: We have the Pope using YouTube so why can't churches maybe even look for the next generation priest online?
HOLMES: Why not?
LONG: Why not? If the online outreach is actually working.
HOLMES: And then a story -- sometimes can be some gloom and doom in the news, unfortunately -- but a story that will make you feel good and make you smile, could have been a horrible ending here. Bullets started flying and a promising young athlete risks his life to save a child. Their story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, did you ever imagine you could send a friend request on Facebook to the Pope? And maybe you can, the Catholic Church is getting hip and getting online in an effort to combat its priest shortage. The church is using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to court new recruits.
Here now Julie Parker of affiliate WJLA.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just forming us to be healthy integrated human beings.
JULIE PARKER, WJLA REPORTER: It's like taking Priesthood 101.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One is in terms of spiritual formation and how do we fall more deeply in love with Christ.
PARKER: A priest enrichment helped a online ad campaign this fall since then it's gotten thousands of hits. Behindthecollar.com features priests and seminarians explaining what drove them to their vocation, what life is like being celibate and day-to-day responsibilities. People with questions can turn to Facebook, MySpace and YouTube for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is definitely a good way to go particularly with the younger generations dealing with the social networking. We're on there a lot, so if you're going to be on there a lot you might as well advertise on there.
PARKER: Phillip Johnson of Alexandria grew up going to Catholic school. And is an altar server at Georgetown University. He is considering the seminary and says he is intrigued by the Behind the Collar campaign.
PHILLIP JOHNSON, CONSIDERING THE SEMINARY: It at least gets people interested and gets the message out. I can listen to a podcast or something like that I think that would definitely be really informational.
PARKER: Pod casts are another way this campaign is using new media to recruit priests.
The U.S. is facing an acute priest shortage. Father Mark Morozowich of Catholic University says the social networking strategy can only help.
REV. MARK MOROZOWICH, CATHOLIC UNIV. OF AMERICA: This virtual reality, if you will, enables people who maybe are questioning, but maybe you don't want to take that step and ask a priest.
PARKER: But some prefer their online escapes steer clear of religion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Personally, it kind of scares me just because it's another way of like religion trying to get into my life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, as we know, the Grammys are tonight and it could be a rapper's delight.
LONG: And this would be your dream come true?
HOLMES: Hall of fame, what can I say.
LONG: That's your buddy, Lil Wayne. I've heard so much about him.
HOLMES: Well, he could walk off with some major honors. We're live in L.A. with a preview of tonight's big event.
LONG: He has a ton of nominations more than anybody else.
HOLMES: He has eight this time around, more than anybody else. Also a little trivia here: superstars who've sold a ton of records but never took home a Grammy. Diana Ross is one of them. Did you know -- I believe it's 12 -- the woman has never won but nominated 12 times. They gave her a lifetime achievement award or something.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: That's Coldplay. They could pull off a trifecta this evening. They are nominated in some of the biggest categories: album, record, song of the year. That's just one of the hits there. Also Lil Wayne, could be a big night for the little guy. As we mentioned he is the most nominated artist for the evening; eight in all. "Lollipop," big hit you're probably familiar with.
As we know this is the biggest night in music. It's just hours away now. The 51st annual Grammy awards will be handed out tonight in Los Angeles and Shanon Cook will be there. But before she is there, she is here with us on this CNN Sunday morning with a preview.
Thank you for being here. I know it's early out in L.A. So thank you for being with us.
SHANON COOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's early, T.J. It's really early out here.
HOLMES: Ok, you don't have to rub it in, we understand. But we do thank you.
Help us with the -- what is considered the biggest prize of the night? Is that "Album of the Year?" Tell us about that one.
COOK: Definitely. "Album of the Year" is the category you want to win if you're nominated for it. As you mentioned, everybody is talking about Lil Wayne who has the most nomination nominations; best selling album of 2008 and he's definitely a front-runner. I think he is going to do really well tonight and I think he is going to scoop "Best Rap Album."
I don't think he's going to take home "Album of the Year." And here is why. This is a really tricky unpredictable category and often Grammy voters overlook rap albums and go for something that's a little safer and a little less edgy so I think the one to look for in this category tonight is the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant collaboration, "Raising Sand." Critics have loved this album and it's just the type of album that Grammy voters go for.
And also Grammy voters love Alison Krauss. She has won 21 Grammys, more Grammys than any other female artist. I think this is the one that is going to take the top prize of the night.
HOLMES: Did listeners like that one a lot? Did that get a lot of radio play out there?
COOK: Yes, it did and it's sold well. It's been quite a smash -- an unexpected smash, I think. I think it's going to be the dark horse.
HOLMES: That could be the -- that could be the surprise of the evening.
COOK: Remember, it's -- remember, this is a strange category. Last year, Herbie Hancock won this one and everybody was like what is that about? It was just so unexpected.
HOLMES: "Record of the Year." I get these confused sometimes; "Record of the Year" and also "Song of the year." One is a writer's award, I believe, the other's a performer's award.
But let's go with the "Record of the Year," and M.I.A., this song, "Paper Planes" a lot of people are familiar with it. People that don't understand it, explain that one.
COOK: It's a really great song by rapper M.I.A. She's a rising star on the scene, a British rapper. This song is really about stereotyping immigrants and she borrows a sample from The Clash. It's a really, really cool song. Some people think it's a little controversial because you can actually hear gunfire in the song. And some people think it's a little violent but it's not intended to be a violent song.
And I think she's amazing. I think it's really cool. I would really like to see her win this. And T.J. did you know she is nine months pregnant?
HOLMES: Yes.
COOK: And she is performing tonight at the Grammys and her baby is actually due today.
HOLMES: Due today?
COOK: That is insane.
HOLMES: Maybe she will perform, win a Grammy and walk off and have a baby right off the stage.
COOK: There's a golf cart out the back ready for her apparently. They are just going to throw her in if she starts having contractions.
HOLMES: Throw her in.
All right, we're going to have to let you go. I know there are some performances, big ones to keep an eye on. I know the ratings have been down over the years for this.
COOK: Right.
HOLMES: Just real quickly, who are they trying to get people's attention and who is performing tonight to get that attention and get more viewers?
COOK: Well, U2 and U2 is always a huge ratings grab. They have a new album coming up next month, so they, obviously, want to be in everybody's faces. You have Radiohead which is a bit of a surprise; they don't normally do shows like this. You have Paul McCartney, Jay- Z -- it's going to be very, very fun; performers are in the show.
HOLMES: You know what? People might just want to tune in to see if she has that baby on stage.
COOK: Definitely.
HOLMES: Shanon Cook for us out in L.A. Enjoy your time, enjoy the show.
COOK: Thank you.
HOLMES: We'll talk to you, soon.
MELISSA LONG: A terrific story to follow tonight.
HOLMES: I didn't know the due date was actually today.
LONG: That's fantastic.
HOLMES: I told you earlier she was 13 months pregnant but she is ready to pop today.
LONG: That's amazing. Due date today.
HOLMES: Due date today and performing.
LONG: One of the biggest nights of her career as well.
Next story is about selflessness; about restoring faith in people. When bullets started flying during a game of hoops, a teenager risked his life to save a little boy's.
Emmy Anderson with our CNN affiliate KCTV has this story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN MERRITT, FATHER: Saw about 15 guys walk into the gym. I looked. That doesn't look right.
EMMY ANDERSON, KCTV: It was a night Sean Merritt won't soon forget. Last Friday, four people were shot at the Aguirre Community Center during a basketball game between De La Salle and the Southeast Community Center.
MERRITT: All of a sudden in the midst of the fight, these gunshots started.
ANDERSON: And standing on the sidelines watching the game was Merritt's 6-year-old son, Desean.
DESEAN MERRITT, SAVED FROM GUNFIRE: I was just standing. I didn't know what to do.
ANDERSON: Desean had stepped away from his dad just as the gunfire started.
S. MERRITT: I went to look and he wasn't there. I'm like where is my baby?
JULLAION JONES, PROTECTED BOY DURING SHOOTING: A whole lot of shots; they were just shooting --
ANDERSON: That's when 19-year-old Jullaion Jones stepped off the court and into Desean's life. JONES: When it's quiet, all the folks were on the ground. I looked up, he was sitting there, "I want my daddy, I'm scared, I'm scared." After that, I just grabbed him and I went, "I got you. I got you."
ANDERSON: The soft-spoken athlete put the tiny 6-year-old on the ground and covered him until the gunfire stopped; holding him tight even after a bullet grazed him in the leg.
D. MERRITT: Jullaion moved me and hided (sic) me in the corner and covered his body over mine.
ANDERSON: It was a potentially life-saving act of kindness no one will ever forget.
S. MERRITT: I almost get teary-eyed just thinking about it because it could have been worse than it was. And God is really good that nothing happened to anyone. I'm glad that he put Jullaion there to do what he did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Stay with us. You can find out how to walk out of the grocery store with a full basket of groceries and didn't have to spend a dollar.
LONG: Looking forward to it.
HOLMES: Looking forward to that. Stay here, we'll tell you how to do it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Wouldn't it be terrific to stock your kitchen with hundreds of dollars of groceries every week for just 20 bucks? Reporter Steve Irvin from our Nevada affiliate KNXV helps you to cut costs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGIE CHILDS, coupon enthusiast: We're going to start at the nonfood.
STEVE IRVIN, KNXV: Following Angie around the supermarket is kind of like tagging along with a lioness on the hunt; a housewife with the eyes of a predator.
CHILDES: There is no reason why you couldn't.
IRVIN: Childs is a coupon queen spending pennies on the dollar for her grocery bill. She shows up with portable file cabinets filled with coupons.
CHILDS: I have cleaning supplies and then it goes through to like air fresheners, bathroom, candles, glass cleaner. IRVIN: Angie orders six Sunday papers a week. She browses coupon web sites and searches sale items and then shows up on double coupon day.
CHILDS: We need three of those dial pumps.
IRVIN: Many items she gets for free.
Take these cough drops; they're a dollar a piece. She also has a coupon for buy one, get one free and 50 cent off coupon which the store then doubles. The result --
CHILDS: And I get two bags free.
IRVIN: Angie says anybody can do this. In fact, she is teaching her daughter how. On this day, she buys $220 worth of groceries for just 19 bucks and change.
But that's nothing. Check out this receipt from November.
CHILDS: It was 107 percent savings; $81.17 and paid me $3.94. It's like playing the lottery and winning every time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Amazing bargain shopper.
HOLMES: Takes a little work but it pays off.
But that's it for us on this CNN Sunday Morning.
Thank you for being here this weekend.
LONG: Absolutely. Pleasure. Thank you.
"State of the Union" after a quick check of the headlines.
HOLMES: The Senate closer to a vote on a roughly $800 billion stimulus package. Job not quite yet done though; senators worked overtime this weekend debating what to keep in and what they should take out.
The Democrats made some compromise that brought a handful of Republicans on board; about three. The senate meets again tomorrow. The vote is expected to happen on Tuesday.
Also have a new radio ad that is out today. Put on by liberals but it thanks Republicans. Thanks the handful of Republicans that backed President Obama's huge stimulus package. The ad is paid for by Americans United for Change; that is a liberal interest group.
Once again, please stay tuned here for the brand new show "State of the Union" with our John king. He is going to have a number of guests and certainly talk about the stimulus. Including among his guests, one of the Republicans that is now serving the Democratic administration of Obama. Now I want to hand it over to our good guy; John King for "State of the Union."
