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CNN Sunday Morning
TSA Defends Its Procedures; CNN Salutes Top 10 Heroes
Aired November 21, 2010 - 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: Good Sunday morning to you all.
The pope is making an exception. The Vatican, of course, has had a longstanding policy against the use of any artificial form of contraception but Pope Benedict has now outlined an instance where condoms might be acceptable. Does this signal a broader shift in church policy?
Also, let me give you a live look this morning at three cities with three very busy airports. You're seeing Atlanta there on the right side of your screen. You're seeing New York at the top, Philly at the bottom. Those are three places a lot of people are going to be traveling around over this coming week.
Well, get ready. Things are going to be a little different at the airport, as you know, with all of the new TSA procedures. We're going to be looking at the airport delays that are going on right now, the airport procedures that are in place as well, getting you ready for your Thanksgiving week.
Hello to you all. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Eight a.m. here in Atlanta where I stand -- I'm T.J. Holmes.
The TSA has been getting an earful from people on Capitol Hill, from people out there on line who are going to be traveling this week, who have already gone through some of those testy procedures, if you will, at the airport. Thanksgiving, as you know, the traditionally busy travel season -- we're just getting it under way right now.
AAA is estimating that some 42 million people are going to be traveling 50 miles or more from home, 1.5 million of those are by plane. All those numbers are up from last year.
Now, the issue for some air travelers, as you know, the choice between those revealing full body scanners or do you take the intrusive pat down?
Well, the TSA chief, John Pistole, he released a video this weekend. He is trying to help educate the travelers even more and remind you of your options when you get to the airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PISTOLE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: In either case, where a pat down is required, you have born options we want you to be aware of. You have the option to request the pat down be conducted in a private room and you have the option to have that pat down witnessed by a person of your choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We're also hearing from President Obama for the first time on this TSA controversy. He says the new procedures are the only ones considered effective. He was asked about it before he left the NATO summit. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't go through security checks to get on planes these days, so I haven't personally experienced some of the procedures that have been put in place by TSA. I will also say that in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing, our TSA personnel are properly under enormous pressure to make sure that you don't have somebody slipping on a plane with some sort of explosive device on their persons. And since the explosive device that was on Mr. Abdulmutallab was not detected by ordinary metal detectors, it has meant that TSA has had to try to adapt to make sure that passengers on planes are safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: OK. You hear what the president is saying there. What are folks who actually have to fly and have to go through those TSA procedures -- what are they saying? We caught up with some of them at Reagan International.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm not very familiar with American standards, but it is something that's normal in Europe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as the scanners go, I don't feel like it's really necessary to go through security. I don't think you need to scan through clothes and be looking at what's underneath. I think that going through a metal detector should be sufficient.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I think I'd rather go through the full body scanner than have a pat down because I'm not being invaded personally by someone touching me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's necessary, yes, because, you know, people are hiding things in their shoes and their underwear. So, yes, the pat down simply is not all that invasive.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HOLMES: You're hearing from passengers. You're hearing from the president. You're hearing from the TSA chief. And you have seen all of this news coverage this past week or so about these measures.
But you really don't get the full picture until "Saturday Night Live" chimes in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE," NBC/BROADWAY VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spending time with a TSA agent couldn't be easier. Simply book a flight departing from any American airport, when selected for a full body scanner, say no. You'll be pulled aside by a TSA agent and that's when the fun begins. And you never know who your agent will be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It could be me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or even me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's probably going to be us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Oh, that is great stuff. And people are starting to have a little fun out there about it. Sometimes you just got to laugh. Plenty of other folks are taking it quite seriously, find all of it just a little too intrusive, if you will, trying to find that balance between being safe and also your personal rights.
But at the same time, you knew somebody who was going to find a way to make money off of this. You remember the line, it was an audio we heard, one of the passengers, he was going through one of the pat downs and we heard the audio it was out there. And he said to the TSA officer, "Don't touch my junk."
Well, take a look at this now. Someone has decided to try to make some money off of that line. There is a store in Milwaukee, they took that line, turned it around, put it on a T-shirt and it says, yes, the big bold letters say, "touch my junk." But the small letters say "It's OK, touch my junk." Turning this airport security issue into some profit for them.
Let me turn to Reynolds Wolf now, talk about all the security and whatnot. But a lot of people are concerned about the weather and how that's going to affect their travel plans and already, we're seeing some issues.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A few wrinkles, no question about it -- and more to come.
What we have right now, T.J., in San Francisco, we got a delay about 45 minutes on the ground. LAX, same thing, same departure delays, about 30 minutes. I would not be surprised if we see that fluctuate a bit. In fact, later on today, we do anticipate that those delays are going to -- well, they're going to be mostly out towards the west, Salt Lake City, rain and wind could give you up to an hour delay.
And, again, SFO, LAX, also over into Oakland, you can have these delays anywhere from 15 to 30. Same deal in Portland, Oregon. Seattle is also going to join into the mix, and the reason why, it's very easy to see.
We've got a large storm system out to the west and that storm system is going to pull its way across much of the great -- actually across parts of the Sierra Nevada, into the Great Basin and into Central Rockies. The result could be snow, not in inches but in, rather, in terms of feet. It could be very heavy.
You'd see it plain as day, the scattered showers moving as could parts of the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area. When it hits the high elevations, it turns into snow, interacts that colder air loft.
Same story back in parts of the Wasatch Range and into the Central Rockies. It's great news for skiers, not so much for the travelers. We're beginning to see a light touch of snowfall up towards Thunder Bay and into the arrow head region of Minnesota. More on that on the way.
In fact, as we get into Wednesday and Thursday, which we're going to show you in a few moments, we're going to see possibly some heavy lake-effect snowfall for the eastern half of the Great Lakes.
But today, as it stands, mainly rain for the western Great Lakes, very cold in the Northern Plains. Forty is your high into Seattle, 67 degrees in Phoenix, 68 in Kansas City and 72 in Atlanta, 46 is the high expected for New York.
Again, we've been telling you about the snow, let's show you some video that really encapsulates the story of what many people will be dealing with on many of the roadways. You can see the video and much of it is out towards California. And I'm telling you, you make that drive going from Sacramento up towards Lake Tahoe, you'll see the transformation -- first, in the form of rain drops, later on, snow will begin in earnest. And then when we get towards Donner Summit, the wind is going to be roaring, some gusts possibly up to 60 miles per hour.
Fast forward into Monday -- very quickly -- 39 degrees your expected high into Portland, back into L.A., again, scattered showers and 60 degrees. But rain now is moving into parts of the central Great Lakes with 63 degrees -- again mainly rain into Monday, but then take a look at this -- notice the transformation.
We're talking about the delays, yes, we're going to see more of them. In fact, those delays are going to spread from places like Chicago as we get into Wednesday. And then fast-forward into Thursday, that low marches across parts of the Great Lakes, taps into some Atlantic moisture, and we could see the snow begin to stack up in places like Buffalo, New York, perhaps even spots like, say, Syracuse, along -- in the street, get ready for that, too, same story in Rochester.
T.J., rough weather out west, all of it is coming east.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. And we need to keep in mind as well, you're giving the updates about the delays, a lot of people are going to be flying. But you're right, the overwhelming majority, like the pictures you show, are going to be hitting the roads. They're actually going to be driving. So, they need to be careful and know what's out there as well.
We'll be checking in with Reynolds plenty this morning.
Well, coming up, they are ordinary folks doing some extraordinary things and we are saluting them, our CNN Heroes, the all-star tribute.
Also another awards show, the biggest names in music, Rihanna among them, Usher, Justin Bieber, you name them. They were all there at the American Music Awards. Ah, there's usher, Atlanta native, and a song of his we're playing right now.
Nine minutes past the hour. Stick around, folks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: Just a couple of the stars, Halle Berry as you saw there. Kid Rock, I believer, there as well -- all taking part in our CNN Heroes tribute that you will be able to see on Thanksgiving night coming up this week, honoring our Top 10 Heroes of the Year.
And this year, though, the network made a special tribute to those 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days. CNN flew the miners and some of the rescuers to Los Angeles for the taping of the show.
You see them here. They came out, of course, carrying their Chilean flag as well. They burst out into song, the song being the Chilean national anthem. They got a standing ovation during this entire thing.
But everyone -- certainly, everybody was calling them heroes how they were able to hold on for some 69 days and really became the biggest story around the world for a time today.
But here now is our CNN entertainment correspondent, Brooke Anderson, with more on last night's event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Chilean miners, the most inspiring story of the year, kicked off an evening dedicated to people from around the world who are changing the world.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN'S ANDERCON COOPER 360: They are warriors against injustice doing battle for all of us.
ANDERSON: CNN's 2010 top 10 heroes include a Cambodian man dedicated to clearing the land mines he was forced to plant as a child soldier.
And a Scotsman whose program feeds hundreds of thousands of children in 15 countries.
MAGNUS MACFARLANE-BARROW, CNN HERO: Every child in the world should be able to receive one good meal every day.
ANDERSON: Ex-con and former drug addict who helps other women just out of prison stay out and stay clean.
And a 74-year-old grandmother whose hospital in Juarez, Mexico, is an oasis in that violent city.
GUADALUPE ARIZPE DE LA VEGA, CNN HERO: Do not be afraid and never, never, never give.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing it through that commitment with no fear.
ANDERSON: A host of celebrities were on hand to pay tribute to each hero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's inspiring for our young children and for me and for all those people out there who want to do good for the world.
(MUSIC)
ANDERSON: Sugarland, John Legend featuring Common & Melanie Fiona and Bon Jovi provided the music, and nearly 2 million online votes provided the Hero of the Year.
COOPER: Anuradha Koirala.
ANDERSON: Anuradha was awarded an additional $100,000 for her work in Nepal rescuing thousands of girls from sexual slavery.
ANURADHA KOIRALA, CNN HERO: We need to do this for all our daughters.
ANDERSON: All 10 heroes received $25,000 each, but the example they set are priceless.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And our salute to heroes airs Thanksgiving night, this week, of course, on Thursday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Anderson Cooper hosts "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," with appearances with the likes of Bon Jovi, Sugarland, Renee Zellgewer, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore, LL Cool J, all of them and many, many more will be there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning once again to you folks in New York. And good morning to all of you around the country right now watching us on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. A lot of people are getting ready to travel. You might be traveling already, gearing up for this Thanksgiving holiday, which comes up just a few days from now. A lot of people are going to the airports, air travel expected to be up this year compared to last year.
So, you always expect some crazy lines out there. You always expect a backup. But, now, you throw in the whole mess with the TSA and the enhanced procedures that throws in something else into the monkey wrench.
Josh Levs with some tips for you.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good song to lead in to us. But what was that? Do you know what the song was?
HOLMES: As they told me in my ear (INAUDIBLE) -- Sugar Ray.
LEVS: "Personal Space Invaders," nice, fits right in, Sugar Ray. There you go. That's what some people are feeling about this, isn't it?
Here's what I want you all to know. At CNN, we're doing so much to try to help with you with this travel experience coming up in the next few days. Millions of people are taking part in it.
Look at this number: 24 million people expected to travel just over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the Air Transport Association, and what does that boil down to per day? One-point-three million to 2.5 million people every day doing air travel over the coming days. So, if you're one of the many, many, many -- obviously, you're far from alone.
There's a bunch of information we want you to have that can help make your trip faster. One thing you're hearing a lot about is this advanced imaging technology, the body screenings. I know we've had some video. You've seen it before.
Well, one thing I can tell you is that it's just about 70 airports in this country that currently have them, they're getting a lot of stimulus money to send more to other airports.
But I have a map for you here that will show you what these airports are. Obviously, I'm not going to go through and list all of them. But we have a full list for you by name at CNN.com. Everywhere you're seeing an orange dot, that's one of the airports that has it.
Now, I pulled out some information for you about how you can make your trip faster. The TSA gives some ideas.
First of all, look at this here -- how to pack and how not to pack. They talk to you about packing in layers. And there's really a good reason for that if your bag gets opened, easier for them to look at it a certain way. And I'll show you in a second where it talks you through step by step instructions on how you can pack in layers. Also, I didn't know about this one. Check this out. There are only certain types of locks that you should use on your luggage because the TSA has certain kinds of basically lock recognition that they use. If you use a different one, it might get broken and you might never get it back. So, certain kinds of locks to use.
And one more to keep in mind this time of the year, a lot of you are traveling with gifts, do not wrap them. It's easy to forget that. You don't want to wrap them.
Now, here is where I've linked all of this information for you. You can take a look at my page right there -- you got the blog, CNN.com/Josh. Take a look at the Facebook page there, JoshLevsCNN, it has a lot of links for you and it should help you get the information you need.
And one of the main links that we're showing you is a special section that we have created just between now and the end of the year called "Holiday Travel" on CNN.com. It's actually CNN.com/HolidayTravel. It's filled with information and we're updating it every day with video, step by step instructions, and ideas to try to help make your experience better. Also, you can weigh in on what your experience is.
So, T.J., our goal here is to keep providing all that information every day here on out throughout the holiday period, when all these millions of people will be flying.
HOLMES: All right. Josh, thank you.
LEVS: You got it.
HOLMES: At 20 minutes past the hour now. We'll give an update on something you might want to gather the family around the TV to see tonight, stars -- Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Bon Jovi, just a few that are going to be performing in tonight's American Music Edwards. Eminem and Lady Antebellum, they are leading the pack with five nominations each. AMA is significant in the music industry because fans are voting for the winners here.
And this year, something that I know, so many of us here are so excited about. It will be the first time that the New Kids on the Block are going to be performing with the Backstreet Boys. I know, you can't wait.
Well, Lindsay Lohan -- she is not now going to be starring in the upcoming biopic about troubled porn star Linda Lovelace. Now, many people had been wondering what was going to happen with her.
As you know, Lindsay Lohan has been in and out of rehab and also, in and out of court for quite some time, dealing with issues. She's a 24-year-old actress now. But she's in rehab in California.
The director of the film said they tried to stick with Lindsay Lohan through all of her troubles but are now going to have to move on without her. Also, "American Idol" fans, this is for you. You need to listen up. You need to change your schedule just a bit.
FOX says contestants will compete on Wednesdays with the results airing on Thursdays. It had always been on Tuesdays and Thursdays. FOX says this change gives them a chance to try to win a little more on a different night.
Other changes, of course, in the show: Simon Cowell has gone away. Other celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler are going to be joining up for the show.
You know what? I just want to take a quick break right now. We're going to be right back on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. That music, that graphic, that name, that face, you know, it can only mean one thing -- it's time for us to talk to CNN Student News anchor Carl Azuz.
Always good to have you on the show.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning.
HOLMES: And, of course, the big story it seems like for the past week or so has been about the TSA -- has been about the security procedures. What about the young folks out there? Are they chiming in on this? Are they as fired up seemingly as so many others seem to be about it?
AZUZ: They're divided right down the middle, T.J.
HOLMES: Really?
AZUZ: Yes. I mean, at first, we started -- the first few comments I saw were a lot of students turning more toward it's better safe than sorry. Now, those were the first few that I saw at CNNStudentNews.com. After that, it was like there was a line right down the middle with 50 percent on one side, 50 percent on the other.
Now, to tell the story to students at CNN Student News, we know that some of them had traveled, not all of them had seen the body scanners or that sort of thing. So, we showed them the pictures and then we aired this statement from the TSA administrator so the students had an idea of why the TSA was doing this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PISTOLE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: The question is: how do we best address those issues that people have raised while providing the best possible security. We know that everybody on every flight wants to ensure that everybody around them has been properly screened so there's not a group with box cutters or liquid explosives or underwear bombs or shoe bombs, or whatever it may be. So, we had to find that area that we can provide the best possible security to address those issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: But in finding that balance, sharply divided. I know they've sharply divided your audience, sharply divided our audience.
And just as a sample of what some students are saying, I got a comment from Bethy who's saying that, listen, privacy is fine, it's good, it's great. What good does it do you if you're in danger?
But for every point that a student makes, we have a counter point on this argument. This one is from Jim. He's quoting Ben Franklin saying, "Those who would give up liberty to purchase safety deserve neither."
HOLMES: I love -- your kids are so sharp. I love when you bring us their comments there. A kid quoting Ben Franklin there. He might be studying Ben Franklin right now in school somewhere.
But are there any trends emerging with the kids? I mean, is it even a split between, maybe the women feel one way, or the young girls feel one way, the boys -- is there any kind of a rhyme or reason to it?
AZUZ: No.
HOLMES: No. All right.
AZUZ: Not that I have seen, honestly, T.J. And that's something that I like to look for because it gives us something to talk about --
HOLMES: Yes.
AZUZ: -- you know, kind of examine what students are saying and if they're lining up on one side or the other. But what I'm seeing in this is that for every point, there is a counterpoint. I have a couple more points for you from students just talking about TSA, talking about the privacy issues.
This one comes from Billiam saying the scanners are effectively a strip search and enhanced pat downs are humiliating. And he goes so far as to say they're close to sexual harassment.
But on the other side, you got Maia. And Maia is saying that some people might feel negatively about all of this, but she's saying safety first. If you're not going to bomb the plane, do you need to object? Do you have anything to hide?
So, as I said -- I mean, I like to look for sort of trends in student responses so that I could tell you about them, but on this one, man, they are just split.
HOLMES: And we know we had some video out there, I think, online of a small child, it seems like he was getting the pat down kind of a thing, but the TSA administrator came out and said, kids under 12 are not subject to that. But are kids kind of speaking out about that part of it -- what might their comfort level be? Or if -- did you even see comments of any kids had been through these yet?
AZUZ: I did see one. There was one student who wrote in who said that he had flown last week and that I think he had been patted down and he said it really wasn't much to be concerned about.
But there was another kid who wrote in, as I said point, counterpoint here, there was another kind who wrote in and told us that he'd been arrested and that what the police did in that pat down was not as invasive to him as what the TSA is doing.
So, you know, it's hard to, as I said generalize what students are saying -- but I mean, those who have seen it, those who have been through it, even those kids who have been patted down or, you know, they haven't been through the body scanners so much in our audience age range, but they're still -- they're just -- they're split.
HOLMES: What is the age range?
AZUZ: We are middle and high school students at CNN Student News.
HOLMES: What is he doing getting arrested?
(CROSSTALK)
AZUZ: That's another story altogether. Yes.
HOLMES: Carl, good to see you as always, buddy.
AZUZ: Thanks so much.
HOLMES: And coming up, the top of the hour, Candy Crowley -- she's going to be focusing on what's happening with the TSA and these pat downs and these scanners on "STATE OF THE UNION." TSA chief, John Pistole, who's been out there a lot over the past week or so, he is going to be a guest on the show -- as well as Representative John Mica, he is the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee.
Again 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, did you know your baby could actually help save a life? But you need to know how to do it. This is a fascinating story.
Elizabeth Cohen is joining us here.
First of all, just explain it. It's called cord banking.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Cord banking, but for other people.
HOLMES: Yes. COHEN: I think a lot of people know that you can bank cord blood for your own child, you pay $2,000 bucks and you do it. But you can also do it for free and it would help other people and possibly your own child but the thing -- but the other people is the important part here, this is something nice to do for mankind.
HOLMES: Ok, why would people want to do it in the first place? Let's say or why would you want to do it for yourself and also why -- for your own child and why would you also want to do it, I guess for humanity if you will?
COHEN: Ok, here is where it gets complicated.
HOLMES: Ok.
COHEN: There are lots of companies out there, I remember when I was pregnant, I heard from them saying, hey spend $2,000, bank cord blood. Your child -- God forbid might one day get leukemia and you'll need these.
HOLMES: Yes.
COHEN: Well, when I talked to doctors, people who head up pediatric transplant centers like, you know what, we're not going to use that cord blood. Because if your kid has leukemia chances are there's leukemia in those umbilical cord cells and why in the world will we want to use them. And they said, the same thing is true, if your kid has sickle cell we don't want to go back and use those. Those cells also have sickle cell DNA in them.
So they said really we don't think a kid's cord blood helps himself all that much; very few cases is how they put it to me.
HOLMES: Ok, how could it help someone else then if you just want to donate it like we said, for humanity?
COHEN: Right, for humanity. If your child is healthy as most children are, you take that cord blood, it doesn't hurt the child, it doesn't cost you anything, it sits in a bank along with tens of thousands of other -- of other babies' cord blood. And then, if somebody were to get sick, and somebody anywhere in the country were to get sick they go to that bank, they put in all their biological information and who knows, your baby could be a match and give that person with cancer a transplant.
And wouldn't that be an incredible thing just by chance if your baby matches up that baby could save someone.
HOLMES: Now, is this something you need to yourself alert the doctors to, that you want to do this or do -- are they asking these days?
COHEN: You need to plan ahead.
HOLMES: Ok. COHEN: You need to plan ahead. Now, if you're lucky you give birth at one of 200 hospitals where this is easy to do. There are about 200 hospitals that make this easy and it really can be a last- minute decision in that -- in that situation, but at most hospitals, it's not, you have to plan for it. You have to send away and you get this kit, and this is a kit that allows them to collect the cord blood, it's got all the right stuff to collect it.
HOLMES: And doctors will know what to do.
COHEN: And doctors will know -- well, they're given instructions what to do. Is that you take the kit and you have to say to your doctor, are you willing to do this and then we'll mail it into the bank.
Now, some doctors don't want to do it because it can get complicated and it involves the hospital. Some doctors may not be so enthusiastic, but other doctors may say sure, let's -- let's do it.
HOLMES: All right, last thing here, is there an effort or will there be more of an effort in the future, because it sounds like if you get a big enough bank -- a diverse enough bank this could actually help a lot of families around the country.
COHEN: Right and diverse is the key. It is hard to make a match for stem cells.
HOLMES: Yes.
COHEN: It really is. And so you want lots of people contributing. I have -- I don't -- I have four kids and I didn't hear about this --
HOLMES: Right.
COHEN: -- until after my kids were born, and so the reason why I think is -- nobody makes any money off of this, so there's no money to buy TV ads or to send flyers in the mail.
HOLMES: Yes.
COHEN: So I -- I think that there's not a lot of publicity about it.
HOLMES: Are -- and last thing, are there some scams? Because -- I don't know if I should call them scams but, you know, some out there are trying to make money off parents, almost scaring them into thinking they need to pay to store it for their own child because it's going to help their own child. But like you say it really doesn't down the road.
COHEN: Well, there may be some cases where it would help your own child but what doctors tell me is that they think there are very few cases where it would help.
HOLMES: Ok. COHEN: So when you get that flyer in the mail and you're thinking about spending $2,000 to bank cord blood for your own child ask a lot of questions and in my column I say what questions to ask and that's on CNN.com/health.
HOLMES: Well, coming up, the Pope -- and he says the use of condoms can be justified in a particular instance. Now, at first that sounded to a lot of people like a major shift in philosophy at the Vatican; but not necessarily. The story -- just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, taking a look now at some of the stories that are making headlines. There is a fairly new online magazine out there that's got people's attention. The name of it is "Inspire", and it's reported to be published by al Qaeda. In the newest edition of the magazine it's calling last month's bomb plot that came out of Yemen -- do you remember the one in those bombs that are aboard cargo planes -- they didn't blow up but still in this online magazines al Qaeda is calling it a success.
The publication again thought to be produced by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen. Also by an American citizen who is also living in Yemen.
Also I want you to take a look at these pictures now. Massive flooding taking place in Colombia right now and the president has declared a state of emergency for just about the entire country. At least 136 people dead, another 200 plus hurt. There's more rain in the forecast, the situation could possibly get worse before it gets better.
Also back here in the U.S. now, President Obama, he is getting into the ongoing debate over the new TSA screening measures. The president says pat-downs and body scans are necessary to assure airline safety; critics of course objecting because of privacy concerns.
Meanwhile, the Vatican is making an exception in its stance on using contraceptives -- contraceptives. Pope Benedict says the use of condoms can be morally acceptable in some cases. The example he used was if male prostitutes wanted to use condoms to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
We asked CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen earlier about this if this signaled really a major change in the church's policy. This is how he explained it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: He used the example of a male prostitute but he said, more generally if the intention is to reduce infection then that could be a movement -- that could be morally acceptable which could also -- although that the Pope doesn't say this explicitly - it could also apply to the situation of a heterosexual couple, married couple in which one partner is HIV positive and the other isn't. A number of Catholic theologians and even a Vatican commission back in 2006 have recommended that in that set of circumstances, condoms might be justifiable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, some Roman Catholic leaders have spoken in the past about the limited use of condoms in specific cases. This would mark though, the first time the Pope has mentioned it as a possibility.
Well, coming up, success on the football field, that's not enough. Not for the legendary coach Bobby Bowden. He was talking to our Reynolds Wolf about some of his biggest struggles and most of those weren't necessarily on that football field. His interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty minutes to the top of the hour now.
It is time for my favorite part of my Sunday morning. I get to talk to Candy Crowley, the host of "STATE OF THE UNION" -- there she is. No time -- I have never been happier to see you than right now, Candy Crowley.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": I'm sorry it's been such a rough day.
HOLMES: No, it's all right. I don't have it that bad at all. Well, good morning to you. I guess -- I -- I guess naturally you would be talking about what the whole country has been talking about over the past week or so. What's happening at this country's airports?
CROWLEY: Yes, we do have the -- the TSA administrator to come on, we're going to talk to him a little bit about what -- what prompted this, and -- and some sort of unanswered questions that we had about how they're going to deal with specific instances.
Certainly the pictures and -- and honestly I don't know if you've been going through an airport but I have --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes, yes.
CROWLEY: -- and it's -- it's pretty amazing. So we will talk to the TSA administrator, John Pistole. We're also going to talk to Congressman Mica, who is a big critic of TSA. But our -- our star guest -- our lead-off guest will be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because also in the news has been the president's NATO meeting. The -- the word that NATO wants to withdraw all combat forces by 2014 in Afghanistan. So we talked to him about that, "don't ask, don't tell" and a number of other things.
HOLMES: Ok and back to the TSA here for a moment, you mentioned the president was over at that NATO summit and he did made comments about what's happening with the TSA. Will the administration, do you think at some point, they might need to step in and be a little more visible and say a little more to try to help the public calm a lot of these fears? Because there is outrage -- I guess that's a fair way to call it outrage -- over what's happening at the airports.
CROWLEY: Yes, and -- and certainly if the -- the TSA is already complaining that its -- its screeners, you know, are being, you know, people aren't being nice to the screeners, et cetera, et cetera. But it's a very personal experience as you know, and not something that people do willingly.
And a lot of people said look, the TSA should have explained this better. They -- they should have prepared the public for something like this, but there's also lots of questions. Is this really necessary? Is this where limited funds ought to go? What about cargo ships? What about trains?
HOLMES: Yes.
CROWLEY: What about any number of things? And -- but -- but if somebody is needed to kind of try to calm the public and say listen, you know, unfortunately this is a necessary part of the 21st century whatever you want to say, certainly the president is the guy to do that. And they may need to call him in again because as you know, we're about to hit a pretty heavy traffic time in the airways for Thanksgiving.
HOLMES: Yes we are and -- and you hit on a good point there. This happened -- maybe the TSA should have explained it a little better. I happened to be one of those who went through the enhanced pat-down at an airport before the news came out necessarily that the enhanced pat-downs were in place and it was a little jarring to go through it. You can obviously tell it's different.
But there's also and Candy you remember, after 9/11, everybody, whoa, the government now needs to take over security at the airports, and now people are saying we need to go back to the private companies at the airports and your guest, John Mica is one who's kind of starting the drumbeat.
CROWLEY: He is, but -- but one of the things we're learning is he's actually talking about efficiency and saving money, because in the end, the TSA is going to set the regulations.
HOLMES: Yes.
CROWLEY: Here's what need to happen under these things. So I -- I'm not all together sure that even if they're more efficient as Mica claims that private firms are going to do anything that much differently than the TSA is doing.
HOLMES: That's a good --
CROWLEY: We'll find out.
HOLMES: That's a good point. I don't know what that means, they say better customer satisfaction if you will. But -- CROWLEY: I don't know what that means either. We'll ask.
HOLMES: Yes -- whatever that means.
Candy, it is always, always good to see you and I mean it when I say it.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Thank you. Thank you.
HOLMES: This is one of the highlights of my Sunday morning to see you.
CROWLEY: Me, too.
HOLMES: Well, we will see you again. And you can see Candy, everybody, in about 16 minutes. She's coming up at the top of the hour, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific right here on CNN, Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we have a quarter to the top of the hour now for a twist on our "Faces of Faith" today.
(INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: We love talking about football.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes we do.
HOLMES: So, no doubt we have a "Faces of Faith" and you're here. Must be football related.
WOLF: It is a little bit. It's like one of those, you know, two birds one stone kind of deal.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: That's right. You know, we often do talk about our love of college football on the show. And recently I had the opportunity to speak to one of the true legends of the game. Now, his name is Robert Cleckler Bowden. You know him as Bobby.
Bobby Bowden, Birmingham, Alabama native. He began his career in 1954; now, that career ended last season. Although the playbooks, the players, the names, the uniforms have changed over the years, one thing that has remained a constant is his faith. He writes about that in a new book called "called to Coach: Reflections on life, faith and football".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: How much has faith played a part in this book and how much has it played a part in your coaching? ROBERT CLECKLER BOWDEN, FORMER FOOTBALL COACH, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY: It's the strongest part of my life, not that I'm so good but I believe in it, you know. And it's -- I just know that when we go through life, we're going to face problems. We're going to face adversity. I don't care what business you're in; you're going to face it. You know that?
WOLF: What was your biggest struggle on the field?
BOWDEN: The biggest struggles came when your players would get in trouble. You know, everybody would accuse me oh he doesn't diss on his kids. He don't kick them off the team when they do something wrong.
No, I don't. Not if I can help them I'm not. I'm going to save them if I can. In coaching, I've had so many boys, a majority that don't have families. Don't know what it's like to have a daddy. Boys -- can you imagine boys raised and there's not a male figure among them? Everything is mother, mother, mother, mother, you know. And so those kids a lot of them are looking for that dad and the coaches have to play that role.
I used to tell my coaches, you all might be the closest thing to a daddy these kids ever have, you know.
WOLF: If there's someone who is tuning in across the nation thinking of starting a business, maybe trying to be a coach, maybe just trying to follow their dream.
BOWDEN: Yes.
WOLF: And they're a little bit unsure, what advice would you give them?
BOWDEN: I would give them the advice that I give all the young men I coach or any lady who asks me about her son. I'd give them the same -- I'd give them the same answer and it's kind of the theme of that book.
Number one, son, get your priorities in order. If you want to be a success in life, get your priorities in order. Many times I've spoken to the National Coaches Association. They might be 2,000 -- 3,000 coaches all over the country there. And one of the things I tell them is, "Don't make football your God." Because you are not going to win all your ball games, and you're going to need help from somebody a whole lot stronger than you before this thing's over or you aren't going to last, you know.
And so when I talk to young men it's the same thing. Son, get your priorities in order, put God first in your life, put your family second. Not football. We're not ready for football yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: You know one of the amazing things that he mentioned during the interview that we spoke about was one of the criticisms that he got over the years as head coach of Florida State is that a lot of his players have the reputation for some of their off-field shenanigans.
Bowden's response to that was many of these young men came from situations where they did not have a father figure as he mentioned in the piece. And he always pointed out you would never give up in your children, he was not about to give up on his players. He would often give them second chances.
But at the same time, don't get him wrong, Daddy Bowden had some serious punishment -- he really did -- for those players. But his goal was to make them better people and he believes he was a success.
HOLMES: That's a good way to put it in that -- you're right we heard over the years -- criticism. He keeps letting these guys come back after they make mistakes. Well, parents don't give up on their --
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: You don't give up on your kids. And he looked at those players as being his children.
HOLMES: That's very cool. After all the success he's had on the football field to hear him say football is not that high on the list of priorities. Great stuff Reynolds.
WOLF: Thank you.
HOLMES: We got to get you involved in our "Faces of Faith" more often.
Coming up here when you depart this earth is that how you want to go out? You want to make your final journey maybe in a giant chicken, a fish, a tortoise, a hammer? That's the way you want to go Reynolds?
WOLF: Absolutely. The tortoise, sure
HOLMES: A lot of people are choosing this way to make their final journey.
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Fifty-two past the hour.
Take a look at that picture, folks or take a look at that one. What do you think you're seeing? I'm going to bring in our Nadia Bilchik to explain to me exactly what I'm seeing because I can't believe what I'm saying. They are what, Nadia?
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: They are coffins.
HOLMES: No, they're not. BILCHIK: And they're made by a company in Ghana and it's actually been going since the '50s. And how this company in Ghana started making coffins like this was the owner of the company at the time had a mother who always wanted to travel and she never got to be on an airplane.
He was a carpenter; he used to make beautiful chairs.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.
BILCHIK: So he made her a coffin as an airplane. That's a coffin of a fish and that would be for a fisherman. So some are literal and some are figurative. So that's a figurative, and that would be a snail so a chief would get buried in one as a snail. Why?
HOLMES: Thank you.
BILCHIK: Because a snail or tortoise goes very slowly before it arrives at its destination.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: So the chief said he goes very slowly but always gets there.
HOLMES: Oh, come on.
BILCHIK: That would be somebody who loves motor vehicles, someone who is passionate about cars and this company in Ghana is very, very successful. But look at the beauty, look at the detail. It's a celebration of life.
HOLMES: Ok but you said they've been around for 50 years?
BILCHIK: They have been around. This is the third generation that they're doing this and that's the tortoise.
HOLMES: Why would somebody want to have them --
BILCHIK: For a chief -- because tortoises go very slowly but they always get to where they're going. So this idea of a very deliberate person so a lawyer might do a tortoise or a chief, and that would be a crab, probably a fisherman.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: And there was a beautiful one of somebody had a lot of children, she might have a chicken. A mechanic would have the wrench.
HOLMES: How expensive are these things, do we know?
BILCHIK: These are expensive and this particular, the wrench was exported to the Netherlands for a couple. She was a piano teacher, so she had a piano which is standing by for her funeral and the wrench was for the husband who was a mechanic. Now let's dig (ph) further, Steven Covey in "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" always said begin with the end in mind. And what he meant was what do you want to be famous for, what do you want to be known as? I thought this would be a Steven Covey moment, begin with the end in mind and skilled carpenters in Ghana.
HOLMES: Ok. Before I go, what would yours be if you had to pick one?
BILCHIK: I would like to think of a flower, definitely not a vixen. I can't think of a vixen coffin. But I like a flower. Or a heart; it would be quite sentimental.
HOLMES: That's a little better, a heart. All right. That's very interesting and a great picture this is morning. Nadia we always appreciate you.
BILCHIK: And I'm allowed to ask you yours. You can tell me yours next week so you can think about it.
HOLMES: Oh, I know it off the top of my head. I'll tell you in the break.
BILCHIK: Ok.
HOLMES: Quick break. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY. And folks we've been talking about weather. Let's just show you some great pictures. This was sent in from one of our iReporters Jason Lynch in Winnemucca, Nevada. It's the first snowfall of the year. You take a look at it. It's roughly about five inches or so and it was shot just yesterday, more is on the way.
You know that same storm system that brought the snowfall is going to bring quite a few delays out towards parts of the west. Salt Lake City expect anywhere from a 30 to 60-minute delay later on today. We also anticipate some major delays in all your major airports in California, in Portland, Oregon and Seattle faced with the same deal due to the rain but in the high elevations look for snowfall that's going to be very difficult for a lot of drivers out there.
More rough weather possible for the Great Lakes as we get into Wednesday and into Thursday, eventually moving into New England. T.J., that's the latest in the forecast.
HOLMES: All right Rennie. Appreciate you, buddy. Thanks so much.
We're going to give you a quick look at some of the stories making headlines here.
TSA chief John Pistole -- he released a holiday travel video today essentially trying to give you kind of a play by play, a walk- through of what you need to expect when you go to the airport. We know the busy travel season is now under way, going to get even busier this week. Everybody has questions about those body scanners, those pat-downs, but again he's trying to calm the fears of a lot of people out there.
Also out in Los Angeles, the funeral of the Los Angeles publicist Ronnie Chasen is going to be taking place today. She was murdered on her way home from a movie premiere. The Beverly Hills mayor says this was a planned attack. She was 64 years old, shot to death while driving her vehicle.
It's now time for me to hand these air waves over to our Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION" coming up right now.
Thank you for being with us on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
