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CNN Sunday Morning

Missile Attacks Spurs Meeting; Life After Jobless Benefits End

Aired December 05, 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.

Do you remember these pictures we showed not too long ago? This was the North Korean missile attack last month that set into motion several high-profile meetings, including one that's coming up over the next couple of days between the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other world leaders. Also of note, who is not invited to this upcoming meeting?

Also, the Coast Guard to the rescue. Been some engine problems with that freighter that left it stranded off the coast of Alaska, and now it got some tough weather they have been dealing with as well. We'll tell you what's been happening there.

But hello there. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could start your day right here with us.

Let me tell you what else we got coming up for you over the next hour. Mexican police say they have arrested a hit man in the drug wars there. But this is a hit man like one probably you've never seen before.

Also, out of work -- also out of benefits. A so-called 99er telling her story and there could be millions more like her.

And we now know which two teams should be playing for the college national championship. And Reynolds Wolf is a happy man. But is this really going to settle question of who's the best out there? We'll be looking into that this morning as well.

But, first, let me get to a developing story this morning out of Iran. An alarming message from Iran saying they can go it alone, telling the world now they have self-sufficient nuclear capabilities. The Islamic Republic claims it can now produce everything it needs for its nuclear program. That means they don't need the help of anybody else, any other countries.

The head of Iran's atomic energy organization tells the state media the country is now mining and processing yellowcake uranium. The U.S. and its allies fear that Iran is trying to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran has denied that. The announcement comes just a day before Iran is set to resume stalled nuclear talks with six world powers.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hosting a summit tomorrow to talk about North Korea's recent aggressions. North Korea launched a deadly artillery barrage on a South Korean island almost two weeks ago. Following that, U.S. and South Korea held joint military exercises meant to show of force. Those exercises have been planned even before the North attack on the island.

Secretary Clinton will host her Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Washington. China has been trying to call on emergency meetings of the six-party groups. Six-party talks since that attack. But Chinese officials aren't invited to these latest talks with Hillary Clinton and the Japanese and the South Koreans. A senior State Department official says the meeting is meant to bring together the three cornerstones of security in the region. China should not consider it a snub.

We were telling you a lot about that U.S.-South Korean trade deal. The one we were following for you all day yesterday. President Obama came out and made some remarks about it as well. He's calling at it landmark agreement, one that will increase U.S. exports by $11 billion.

The accord will open up the Korean auto and beef markets. It will eliminate nearly all the tariffs on industrial and consumer goods within five years. The president says the trade deal will also support or create some 70,000 jobs right here at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm interested in agreements that increase jobs and exports for the American people. And it also helps our partners grow their economies. So, I told Ron and our team to take the time to get this right and get the best deal for America. And that is what they have done. The agreement we're announcing today includes several important improvements and achieves what I believe trade deals must do. It's a win-win for both of our countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The trade deal comes just weeks after negotiators failed to reach a deal at the G-20 summit, forcing the president to walkway from that conference without an agreement.

Also, a developing story we've been following this morning off the coast of Alaska. The U.S. Coast Guard is towing a giant freighter that was found adrift off the Aleutian Islands. The Liberian-flagged cargo vessel that's named the "Golden Seas" is carrying half a million gallons of crude oil and diesel fuel. We're told the ship and its crew doing just fine, 20 of them onboard. The Coast Guard hopes to bring the ship into port at nearby Dutch Harbor on Tuesday.

To California now where a woman missing for 10 days in the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains has been found, alive. Rescuers carried Debra Collins through two miles of rough terrain to safety. This was near Santa Cruz. Yesterday, she was found by a man and his son on an unmarked trail, huddled under a fallen tree which she used for shelter. Collins, who is 58 now and an avid hiker, had no food and survived on water from a nearby creek. Except for an injured ankle and possible hypothermia, she appears to be doing just fine.

It's good news there. Let's turn to Reynolds Wolf now, keeping an eye on weather.

Things could have ended a lot differently for that lady in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

(CROSSTALK)

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. When you're at the mercy of nature, I mean, things could have been -- it could have been a different story altogether.

Right now, people in parts of the Midwest are going to be at the mercy of Mother Nature due to some snowfall. Yesterday in Chicago they hit a record. It didn't seem that impressive when you think of the full scope of winter.

But, in Chicago, you had 5.1 inches of snowfall. That was a record for that date. But I'm telling you, later on, give it a couple of weeks, couple of months, five inches of snow will seem like nothing.

Take a look at this video. We've got a video for you, showing you some of the people that's just trying to make their way up and down Michigan Avenue, cleaning up those walkways, too, on the side streets. And they will see maybe a light smattering of snowfall today and maybe a few flurries.

But the heaviest snowfall is actually going to occur on the other side of Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan itself. Kids are having a good time out there. You got to enjoy that.

Let's show some other video that we have, I believe, from Wisconsin. The video there shows basically the same thing. We've got just the light snow. The snow this time was actually coming down from the Northeast, coming right off the lake -- and sure enough great, opportunity for kids to play.

Let's show you what's happening in terms of the snow. As we speak, live radar indicates that we got the snow coming down in Kalamazoo, in Elkhart, La Porte, just the east of Gary, Indiana.

And as we make our way over the next 30 second out towards the east, what we're going to see is more activity in parts of, say, the Great Lakes, especially in parts of Lake Erie. And as we drift a little bit further south, into portions of the Appalachians and into the Smoky Mountains, one to three inches of snowfall expected for Blakely (ph), back in to Blue Field, even into Johnson City.

Big weather maker for f the day, very quickly, is going to be that wind coming off the Great Hakes. High pressure in the Southeast will give you some sunshine in Atlanta, 44 the high, 40 in Kansas City, 40 in Boise, and 58 in Sacramento.

In terms of your air travel delays right now, check it out, T.J., we're all green and green right now is good. Later on, though, expect those delays, I'd say in Cleveland, perhaps even Detroit, Chicago into the afternoon hours.

But so far, so good. So far, so good. Calm before the storm.

HOLMES: All right, Reynolds, literally, thank you.

WOLF: You bet.

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

Well, still, no extension of unemployment benefits from Congress. Up next: going hear from one of the so-called 99ers -- people who have been jobless for 99 weeks or more.

Also, take a look. High school football game, player scores. He takes a moment to give thanks to God. You know what the ref did? He threw a penalty play?

Carl Azuz from Student News brings us this polarizing story coming up at the bottom of the hour.

It's seven minutes past the hour right now.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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HOLMES: Well, that's what you needed to get the kids dressed for church this morning.

Good morning to you all. And good morning, Atlanta.

Beautiful shot of downtown Atlanta, across Centennial Olympic Park, right across from where we are here at the CNN world headquarters in downtown Atlanta.

Welcome back. It's about 11 minutes past the hour here now.

The U.S. Senate failed to extend the Bush era tax cuts yesterday. There were two votes yesterday on some Democratic measures -- one on extending the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 and another measure for families making less than $1 million a year.

Fifty-three senators voted for both measures. Democrats needed 60 votes to end the debate. Essentially, both of these failed. President Obama said he was very disappointed that the Senate didn't pass legislation that had already passed in the House.

Well, as you know, the unemployment rate went up for the month of November. It was 9.6 percent. It is now at 9.8 percent. Also with that Labor Department report we saw on Friday as well, a lot of people were expecting, the economics, the experts, that about 150,000 new jobs would be created. And report said 39,000 were created. So, far below expectations and really a disappointing jobs report.

Now, something else on a lot of people's mind during all this tough economic news is what's happening with these unemployment benefits and if they aren't extended. If not, hundreds of thousands of people will start losing benefits and join the ranks of a so-called 99ers. Those are people who've exhausted the 99 weekly limit on those unemployment benefits.

Rhonda Taylor is one of those 99ers.

Mary Snow with her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA TAYLOR, IT WORKER UNEMPLOYED SINCE 2008: Watch out for the heater because that's my heating source.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-two-year-old Rhonda Taylor shows us what she calls a tough downgrade -- her family's third rental home in two years. A spiral from the working class neighborhood they once called home. At that time, Rhonda estimates she was earning $60,000 a year. Her partner, Kevin Wallace, was a stay-at-home dad, taking care of their son now 9 who has mental disabilities and their daughters, ages 3 and 4.

But everything changed when Rhonda lost her job in April of 2008.

(on camera): How long did you think you would be out of work?

TAYLOR: Two weeks.

SNOW (voice-over): Rhonda worked in information technology. Before that, she was a teacher. Her search for work is made tougher in Rhode Island, which has an 11.4 percent unemployment rate, the fifth highest in the nation.

TAYLOR: I would look anywhere.

SNOW: Recently, she found holiday work for Kevin on a delivery truck. Still, they face possible eviction.

TAYLOR: Savings is gone; 401(k) is gone. I've sold every possession that valuable.

SNOW: And in March, Rhonda exhausted the 99-week limit on unemployment benefits.

TAYLOR: Hi, I'm Rhonda. I'm unemployed, too. I'm a 99-weeker. I lost my benefits.

SNOW: Rhonda is now organizing with others, who call themselves 99ers. They are trying to pressure Congress to extend benefits by 20 weeks.

Opponents say the cost of extending benefits would need to be offset by spending cuts, and there are critics who say widening the safety net will deter people from getting work. That's something Rhonda is trying to fight.

TAYLOR: Collecting didn't deter me. The problem was there was no jobs. Nothing motivates you more -- nothing than losing everything you own. You won't be thinking you will get a job. You will take what's out there. There's nothing out there.

SNOW (on camera): Some of those critics will say, look, go work at McDonald's. What do you say to them?

TAYLOR: I tried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you looking for something in particular?

TAYLOR: I have little kids.

SNOW (voice-over): With no money left, Rhonda now finds herself going to a ministry for clothes at no cost. The next step she fears is homelessness.

TAYLOR: We are going to be on street, among millions of other people out there. But in Rhode Island, the shelters are full. So, my kids -- I can't take them to the street.

SNOW (on camera): What your going to do?

TAYLOR: I'll call foster care. I can't be that selfish. And it hurts to say that, but I can't.

SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN, Providence, Rhode Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Rhonda Taylor that you saw featured there is kind enough to join us this morning.

Ma'am, thank you so much for being here. Do you have the actual count now? Do you know how many weeks it has been since you last worked a full time job?

TAYLOR: I don't have the count. It's been well over 99 plus eight months. I don't keep track of the weeks. It's a day-to-day thing.

HOLMES: Well, ma'am, I think you said there you would like to have Congress extend it by 20 weeks. Is that right?

TAYLOR: Yes. We have a bill on the Senate. It's still stuck in the finance committee. It's called S-3706 and it's just simply not moving.

HOLMES: Why I guess the number?

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes, ma'am, why that number? I guess why did we -- or how did you come up with 20 weeks?

TAYLOR: The Senate came up with 20 weeks. That is what we pushed for some sort of help. We didn't push for a specific amount of weeks. We didn't push for a specific amount of time. We just need some help.

We've gone eight months without any income. But yet, you hear in the news in the last few days talking about the 2 million that night not get unemployment if unemployment isn't extended.

Well, we've gone eight months and we're somebody's neighbor. We're Americans. We're no less worthy of receiving this help during a time where when we were receiving our 99 weeks, there was no job creation.

HOLMES: And you're referring there to 2 million. If there isn't an extension by the beginning of next year, we are going to have 2 million who are going to once again lose their benefits. And I was asking about that 20 week number. I guess, is that satisfactory to you? If you had your way, what would it? Would it even -- I don't think you suggested this, but I'll ask -- be indefinite on unemployment benefits?

TAYLOR: I think unemployment benefits should be -- it should be based on the unemployment rate and the job creation going on in this country. It shouldn't be based on a tier system. It shouldn't be based on how long you've been out of work. It's how long you've been in this recession.

And I really think the government needs to pay attention to people out there that are hurting and losing everything. And they are feeling pretty lost and forgotten right now. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas.

HOLMES: Ma'am, are you offended by the notion that some have that by giving people these unemployment benefits, for an extended period of time and in some way it deters them from going out and getting a job and working?

TAYLOR: For me, it's offensive. But I understand that. Because I'm sure like in everything, there's people that take advantage of that. But for the 99ers, they are not taking advantage of anything. They haven't had income for eight months.

If there was a job out there for them, they'd be in it. They wouldn't be choosing to live out of their cars. They wouldn't be choosing to be homeless and lose everything they work for. People need to look at that -- 99ers are out here and we're a symbol of how bad this economy was, is and how slow it's growing.

HOLMES: Ma'am, one last thing to you here. It is the holidays -- a tough time for a lot of people in this country. You talked about in the piece there you didn't know how much longer you would -- you could hold on. You sold just about everything valuable.

How does your family anticipate making it through the holidays?

TAYLOR: One day at a time. We'll be thankful to hopefully still be in our home by Christmas. Sometime in the New Year, we will be homeless.

HOLMES: Ms. Taylor, we appreciate you taking the time, and sharing your story and sharing what is a difficult time -- but yours is an example of what some others are going through. But we appreciate you being willing to speak out to us this morning -- and if it's all right we would love to continue to follow up with you to see how things are going and see if we can get some movement in Washington of some kind.

Ma'am, thank you so much. Our best to you and your family, all right?

TAYLOR: Thank you. Thank you very much.

HOLMES: All right. Nineteen minutes past the hour. A quick break -- we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, a teenager said he was recruited to be a hit man in Mexico when he was 12 years old. Well, coming up, we're going to have that story for you shortly.

But also, take a look at this. A high school football player scores a touchdown. Doesn't jump up and down and celebrate. He does something you see a lot of players do. Takes a knee and gives a little thanks to God.

And you saw what happened. The flag flew in. The ref threw a penalty.

Carl Azuz from Student News is going to talk to us about this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. That music can only mean one thing -- that means Carl Azuz is here with us from Student News.

Good to see you.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, T.J. Good to see you, too.

HOLMES: Always good to have you here.

It's become a part of football, right? After a touchdown is scored, you're just waiting to see what the athlete is going to do, especially in the pros, they do some crazy celebrations. AZUZ: Big time.

HOLMES: College, not so much. But then, high school, one goes too far. This was interesting here. We've been kind of teasing it.

But tee this up to what happened here.

AZUZ: It was just what you'd expect to see pretty much any high school football game. And you have a student, he takes the ball, runs to it the end zone. We can show you video again right here.

And what he does in the end zone, got him a flag. You see him kneel, points to the sky and the ref actually hits him with the flag. You see it fly in there and kind of bump him.

So, as far as the student is concerned -- now, the ref had told him, he says the ref had told him it was excessive celebration. He's not supposed to draw attention to himself. But if you listen to the student, his name is Ronnie Hastie, he says it wasn't himself he was trying to draw attention to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNIE HASTIE, TUMWATER HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING BACK: I do that to give glory to the Heavenly Father, Jesus. Something I actually feel like he gives me the strength. He's the one who gives me these abilities in the first place. I've done it every time I've gotten into the end zone, and nothing -- no one has ever said anything about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: But, you know, as we've seen some times, excessive celebration can be a little bit subjective. Where exactly do you draw the line in this? And in this case, the line was drawn against that student.

HOLMES: And the rule is a little vague. You said you're not supposed to draw attention to yourself. That's very subjective.

AZUZ: That absolutely is. And there was -- our affiliate did speak to a represented from the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association, and he said that the student, there is a rule that says the student must surrender the ball immediately after the play is finished. So, if -- it's not there can be a reversal of this rule or anything like this, because he did not immediately surrender the ball.

HOLMES: So that's where maybe they got him.

AZUZ: That's where it was.

HOLMES: It was a quick moment. How long did that take, two seconds that --

(CROSSTALK) AZUZ: It was quick. It was absolutely quick.

But, you know, if you would ask our student audience about this one, you know, a lot of times, the last subject I talk to you about they were divided 50-50. Not the case in this one. You'll see in a graphic in just a moment here.

Ninety-four percent of our student audience did not agree he should have been penalized. And there are a couple of kids who were bringing up -- well, maybe there's a way around this.

The first comment we have is from Rebecca and she's saying, well, you know, if I were flagged for something like this, this is something that, OK, I might stop celebrating right then and there, but I would not stop altogether. She's just saying she'd let go of the ball first. That's what supposedly terrified the flag.

And then another student named Elizabeth, she brings in the First Amendment. There are a couple of kids who did this. Elizabeth telling us that, "It seems the intolerance of anything religious in the public is getting higher." But she finds the play acceptable. The Constitution talks about the right to religion.

And there were a lot of kids who wrote in in terms of the First Amendment rights.

HOLMES: Do you remember seeing a single -- you say it's only 6 percent there that agreed with the ref. But did you remember reading any comments from the kids who were supporting the ref? Do you have any idea what they were thinking in supporting the ref?

AZUZ: There was one student I saw, and I believe his name is Andrew. And he's in our blog. And he says that church is the place for worshipping God not the football field. So, there was that counterpoint.

But, by and large, so many of them -- even some kids who said they were atheist, they weren't religious, some were football players, they said we see nothing wrong with this overall.

HOLMES: Good stuff as always. Interesting topic there. I love it to get young folks and they get involved on topics like this.

AZUZ: Love talking to you, T.J. Thank you.

HOLMES: Great stuff. Good to have you as always.

AZUZ: Appreciate it.

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

Well, from Carl Azuz to Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney. Legends, all of them, really. But these legendary names are going to be on the list tonight at the Kennedy Center. Josh with the preview for us.

Hello, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there to you.

Several others as well. I'm going to show you who the others are and what's being said today about Oprah and about Paul McCartney. It's coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, bottom of the hour here now. Welcome back to this CNN Sunday Morning. I'm T.J. Holmes.

I'll give you a look at some of the stories making headlines.

The Senate failed twice yesterday to extend those Bush era tax cuts for the middle class. The problem, Democrats want to eliminate them first for those making more than $250,000 a year. Then they tried raising the cutoff to a million both ideas failed.

WikiLeaks has lost a major revenue source. Pay Pal cut off its online donation account. WikiLeaks is already under fire from governments around the globe for leaking classified U.S. documents.

Also, a volcano which in the native language means "Throat of Fire" erupted in Ecuador yesterday; sent an ash cloud a mile high into the sky, forced evacuations in an eight-mile radius. And so far the government reports no injuries, however.

Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard -- what do those three have in common? Well for the time being they have in common is that they'll all be receiving one of the highest awards in the arts at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Josh Levs with a preview for us. Hello there again -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes hi again to you.

This is a huge gala surrounding this presentation. People travel there from all over the world. It takes place tonight at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington. So it's five people being honored, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, it's Merle Haggard the country musician, Jerry Herman, a composer and lyricist and Bill T. Jones, who is a choreographer.

The Kennedy Center says these five have spent their lives enriching, inspiring and elevating the cultural vibrancy of the nation and world. Let's go to some video here. Let's talk about what they're saying about these people.

So with Oprah, they say she had impacted nearly every aspect of the entertainment world while engaging, inspiring and enriching the lives of millions. Now let's point out that she's a producer, TV host, actress, major player on Broadway and in Hollywood. And they says she's an author and self-made billionaire philanthropist. They are calling her the stuff of greatness. Then let's go to Paul McCartney. They say he's evolved into one of the most influential and successful musicians of all time. They say the Beatles marked the lives of multiple generations and then on his own McCartney makes music, words from the Kennedy Center here, that dance to the beat of the human heart.

All right, let's come to the screen behind me. I'm going to tell you about the other ones. Merle Haggard, this is an interesting one. Merle Haggard, the country music hall of fame called him perhaps the single most influential songwriter in country music history.

Here's Jerry Herman, somebody you might be familiar with from Broadway. Creator of "Hello Dolly", "Mame", "La Cage aux Folles" and these major musicals. They say he revitalized and nourished the all- American tradition of great and unstoppable show tunes.

And finally, now an interesting choreographer here, Bill T. Jones, they described as a rule breaker, a provocative choreographer of exuberant genius. They have a lot to say about him.

All five will be honored. We'll be seeing clips, et cetera, that kind of things. And you can find out more about -- we have the site up there -- it's the KennedyCenter.org. and it talks you through they've all done and what they've done. And -- and their history and why they are being honored tonight.

So it's worth checking out. And T.J. the whole event tonight becomes a show that will be airing on CBS in -- in a few weeks.

HOLMES: All right, Josh, we appreciate it. Thanks so much.

JOSH: You go it.

HOLMES: Well, he was given the toughest punishment short of being kicked out of Congress by his colleagues. Last night he got a standing ovation.

And now Candy Crowley has got him.

Charlie Rangel is going to be giving his first TV interview since he went through a censure in the House. Candy Crowley is going to join us in just a moment to talk about it.

Also, Christians versus atheists: a billboard battle in this morning's "Faces of Faith".

HOLMES: Well, 36 minutes past the hour.

The regular viewers of this show know when I say it's time for my favorite part of the morning they know the next thing out of my mouth is going to be Candy Crowley. Candy, good morning. "STATE OF THE UNION" is coming up in just a few minutes. First of all, just how are you doing this morning?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": I am good this morning. And I actually am liking our show coming up. We've got some good guests.

HOLMES: Yes. Ok, this is a biggie. This is the first television interview he's done since he's been censured. Charlie Rangel you've got him live coming up. Please tell me what question number one will be?

CROWLEY: I think question number one is, you know, he's been saying I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. This is too tough for someone who didn't break any laws. So what is it that you did do? What is it that you believe you did? Or what will you admit you did. Because it's -- it's hard to know when so many of his colleagues voted against him like -- where his thought is on this.

HOLMES: All right, so you do have him coming up live. Also before you tell me about your other guests this morning I have to ask you about what we saw yesterday, the debate if we can call it that in the senate, they are working on a Saturday on the extension of the Bush era tax use. What did you make of everything we saw yesterday?

CROWLEY: There are some votes that people take. Look they can count votes up there. The Majority Leader Harry Reid knows how to count votes. So he knew going into this that both of these sort of procedural votes to try to be -- bring the tax cut extensions onto the floor, were going to fail.

So why do they bring it up? They bring it up to A, set a benchmark and B to, you know, go fast forward two years from now when some of these folks will be up for re-election about a third of the Senate. And what do you have? What you have is sort of a built-in political ad. The Republican -- this Republican voted against allowing an extension of the middle class tax cuts.

So it serves both purposes and it makes them move on to the next step. Hard for me to believe that either Republicans or Democrats want to leave on their Christmas break without extending those tax cuts.

HOLMES: Ok, we're going to have a new crop of men and women coming in at the beginning of next year with the new Congress but this is a lame duck Congress we know. Will this stuff carry over? There was so much talk about getting past the mid-term elections, a new spirit though we've heard that before, a new spirit of bipartisanship. But do we just need to let this lame duck session fight it out or is this stuff going to carry over into next year into the new crop that is promising a different tone?

CROWLEY: Some it will carry over into next year. Again, I don't expect the tax cuts to carry over into next year. I think the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" will carry over. And listen, we just talked about the politics of the Democrats and how they wanted to sort of stake out their position on this.

But the Republicans, a lot of the people say listen here they are stalling, they are blocking these things because a more Republican Senate is going to come in, in January, and they are more able to kind of block these things and create some compromise.

So, hard to take the politics out of Washington at this point.

HOLMES: I'm --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: -- to even ask --

CROWLEY: Or any point.

HOLMES: Yes at any point.

Last thing here, just -- who else do you have this morning besides Congressman Rangel?

CROWLEY: We're also going to have Senator Hatch and Senator Widen, a Republican and a Democrat, to talk about where the middle ground is on this tax cut extension? Whether they think it'll happen.

And we're also going to talk a little bit about what, just the question you asked, what can actually get done in this lame duck Congress.

HOLMES: Candy, it's always an absolute delight to talk to you on Sunday morning.

CROWLEY: Thanks T.J., back at you.

HOLMES: All right, it's good to see. You have -- you have a good show.

CROWLEY: Ok.

HOLMES: And she is coming your way in just about 20 minutes at the top of the hour. Candy Crowley, "STATE OF THE UNION", 9:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now on this morning's "Faces of Faith." We're talking about billboards, two billboards about religion trying to get a whole lot of attention this morning. The first one in Bridge Port, Connecticut gives a date for the second coming; says "Jesus will return," mark your calendars here, "May 21, 2011". The group that put the billboard up says they don't want to frighten anybody here they just hope the sign will encourage more people to read the Bible.

The other billboard story to tell you about comes to us from New York. An atheist billboard that calls Christmas a myth has sparked a holiday war of words. Catholics now fighting back and that is the topic of this morning's "Faces of Faith".

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's not just light at the end of this tunnel there's a battle of the billboards. On the Jersey side, the Atheists holiday billboards you "Know it's a Myth. This season celebrate reason."

DAVID SILVERMAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ATHEIST, INC.: Well, we do know it's a myth. We -- we do know that the invisible magic man in the sky is a myth. We do know this.

BILL DONOHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: They must be reading too much Wikipedia or something I don't know where -- where they get these ideas.

MOOS: When the Catholic League saw the atheist billboard.

DONOHUE: Is there anybody to respond? Are we just pinatas? Are we just going to accept this kind of things as a doormat?

MOOS: The Catholic League put its own billboard on the Manhattan side of the Lincoln tunnel, "You know it's real. This season celebrates Jesus."

SILVERMAN: We know God is fake and we know Christianity -- Christianity stole Christmas. We know this.

DONOHUE: So they believe that we came from nothing, the big bang theory or is it the King Kong theory that we're all a bunch of apes and we fell down kerplunk one day. I don't know. If he wants to believe in that fairy tale he has every right to do so.

MOOS (on camera): The roads into and out of the Lincoln tunnel are considered prime billboard space; the atheists say they spent over $20,000 to put up their billboard for a month.

Polls show 15 percent of Americans claim no religion and atheists think a lot more of the folks driving by are what they call closet atheists.

SILVERMAN: We need those people to come out of the closet.

MOOS (on camera): Forget atheists coming out of the closet, they'll be coming out of the tunnel.

SILVERMAN: God and Santa Claus are the same thing. They are just -- he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows you when you're awake.

DONOHUE: They believe in nothing, they stand for nothing, they think they came from nothing.

MOOS: As for an atheist view of the Nativity on the Catholic billboard.

(on camera): Who are these people?

SILVERMAN: I don't know. This guy looks a little like me, actually.

MOOS (voice-over): This season instead of just ads for watches and electronics they are selling religion or the lack thereof.

SILVERMAN: Happy holidays, Bill.

DONOHUE: And Merry Christmas to the American atheists.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Well, as you know, most of us just addicted to our cell phones. Have to stay attached to them 24/7. Well, imagine if there was a law that says you couldn't have one if you're a single woman.

Nadia Bilchik, of course, she will be alone with her cell phone to tell us what the deal is.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Single women can't have cell phones? How can you call them and ask them out, Nadia?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Exactly. Now, we're talking India, T.J.

HOLMES: India, here. Yes, yes.

BILCHIK: So in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, in a village, a small village of about 50,000 people from last month all the young women have been told, "You are not allowed cell phones," because 23 couples eloped without having their marriage arranged.

Now, when you think of Hollywood Indian wedding, what do you think of? Hollywood.

HOLMES: When you think of Hollywood, extravagant, lavish (ph) weddings. Yes.

BILCHIK: Right. So let's take a look. When we think of a typical Indian wedding, let's take a look of what we think of.

HOLMES: Ok.

BILCHIK: You think of festivities.

HOLMES: Yes.

BILCHIK: These two people in love. It's beautiful. The dancing. The wreaths.

HOLMES: Ok. So how does this -- BILCHIK: But what's the back story.

HOLMES: -- relate to the cell phone? Yes.

BILCHIK: The back story is this, is that most of these marriages and certainly in rural India are arranged. Now the caste system per se has been outlawed in India. But what has happened in this particular village is there's great concern that these women are arranging their own marriages.

So the council of this particular village has said that's it we are going to ban you from cell phone use. Twenty-three couples have eloped and the result of elopement is they will behead you.

HOLMES: Ok. The cell phones though, is it essentially just to cut off contact? You can't have a relationship --

BILCHIK: Yes. Cut off contact. They feel that it has been proved that the way they are arranging these marriages is via cell phone. Now men are allowed to use their cell phones but with supervision.

HOLMES: What's the penalty if you're caught with a cell phone now?

BILCHIK: Dire. Dire penalty. Dire penalty if you're caught with a cell phone it will be confiscated. But if you're caught arranging your own marriage -- now isn't it ironic?

Here we live in a world where Prince William has been allowed to get engaged to Kate Middleton. She's not royalty. She is a commoner. And the marriage is going ahead as planned. That's in one part of the world.

And in another part of the world, you have to have an arranged marriage and if you are caught arranging a marriage via cell phone --

HOLMES: Wow.

BILCHIK: -- the consequences can be beheading.

HOLMES: Is there a possibility, I'll just bring up this -- (INAUDIBLE) being talked -- what about the Internet? What about other ways of communicating?

BILCHIK: In this particular village it's been banned. And it's --

HOLMES: Wow.

BILCHIK: -- you know, Indian marriages have been arranged for many, many years. But to have this happen and interestingly enough the most popular cell phone is the Nokia 1100.

So it's going to be interesting to see what happens to Nokia sales. HOLMES: If they can't have their cell phone. You said about 50,000 in this particular --

BILCHIK: 50,000 so many thousand women are affected.

HOLMES: That is an interesting story.

BILCHIK: And next week we're going to be talking about bans of plastic bags and bans of cameras in Kuwait.

HOLMES: Great tease -- as always.

BILCHIK: Plastic bags in Italy and cameras are being banned in Kuwait.

HOLMES: And I'm sure you will explain, as always.

Nadia Bilchik, we just love having her here. Thank you so much.

Quick break here. We're going to be right back. We're going tell you about the young man who has become the image of a drug cartel hit man. He's 14.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 53 minutes past the hour now.

Listen to these words from a 14-year-old: "I slit their throats." That's coming from a young man accused of being a hit man from a Mexican drug cartel. The boy who we're not formally identifying here on CNN because of his age has been dubbed "El Ponchis" or "The Cloak".

He's accused of ruthless killings on behalf of a cartel boss. But said he was under the influence of drugs at the time. The teenager says the cartel's leader made him do what he did. He answered questions from reporters after his capture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people have you executed, friend?

EL PONCHIS, 14-YEAR-OLD MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL HIT MAN: Four.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are you?

EL PONCHIS: Fourteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you detained?

EL PONCHIS: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you detained?

EL PONCHIS: There at the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you going? EL PONCHIS: San Diego.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who were you going with?

EL PONCHIS: With my sister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who picked you up?

EL PONCHIS: "El Negro".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he convinced you or he made you join this?

EL PONCHIS: He made me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he tell you?

EL PONCHIS: That I either work or he'll kill me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That you work in the "mota"?

EL PONCHIS: No, that either I work or he'll kill me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was going to kill you? You don't have parents?

EL PONCHIS: No, I don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn now to some video we want to show you. And look at the highlighted area we're going to have here for you. And what you'll see, you see the man -- the man falls off the subway platform, falls down onto the tracks. Other passengers that you can see on the right side of the screen there, they are trying to wave down a train that's coming.

Well, you see someone else in the highlighted area approach grabs the guy and literally pulls him out at the very last moment. Literally before -- not even seconds maybe even before that train arrives. The man who actually hopped down there was an off duty police officer who saved the day. We do believe the man who fell down is going to be all right.

A big day yesterday if you didn't notice. A lot was going on in the college football world. It was decided yesterday who's going to be playing for national championship. If you don't know, here's a hint. Reynolds is happy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right.

This morning I need to say congratulations and thank you to my man, Reynolds Wolf, this morning. If you don't know, his Auburn Tigers did win the SEC championship which puts them in the BCS national championship which opens up a spot in the Sugar Bowl for the Arkansas Razor Backs. Do you see how this all works?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You see, there's always a caveat. There's always a caveat.

HOLMES: Congratulations and thank you. Here's some of the video here. Auburn and Cam Newton. I'm sorry, did Cam --

WOLF: From College Park. The man you see him there, pumped and watch this. On the fly, goes -- kind of amazing shot that he had there. That was a jar banana (ph) it was interesting, (INAUDIBLE) had three or four big drops yesterday that he normally would make.

HOLMES: Yes. He had some problem down the road but he had a blowout. Six touchdowns, I believe, Cam is responsible for. This guy is going to win the Heisman Trophy. Just write it down. Put it in the books.

Of course, this is the young man who's been surrounded by all that scandal. But let him celebrate today. Congratulations, you're going to the national championship. They're going to be playing Oregon. Oregon beat Oregon State, rivalry game. A lot of people thought this might go differently because it's a rivalry game. Oregon State not having the best year, but Oregon did what they need to do.

Oregon and auburn, national championship, Glendale, Arizona, January 10th or 11th.

WOLF: It is the 10th. And believe it or not, the Ducks are actually favored to win the BCS championship. They're favored in this game, so there you go.

HOLMES: What do you do? That means nothing, everybody this and that. Numbers, Vegas lines. You get on the field, you suit them up and let's go.

All right. Derek Jeter. This has been going on as well, long time, he hasn't played for anybody but the Yankees. He is the Yankees. He has finally resigned with the Yankees. Back and forth, he was asking for a little bit more money than the Yankees thought he deserved given his age. He is 36 now.

He wanted a longer contract at least four maybe five years but he ended up with a three-year contract that's worth $51 million, so he's going behind (ph) and he will be a Yankee as well.

And Tiger, Reynolds, Tiger Woods, people have been asking when is he going to be back? Some were asking, is he back now? He is leading going into the last round of the Chevron challenge out in California playing some pretty good golf. This would be his first, his only win of the year if he pulls this off and what a way to wrap up the year.

WOLF: What a shot. Incredible shot.

HOLMES: Unbelievable talent. Just amazing. Of course, this is the tournament he holds -- only 18 players out there, I believe. The best in the world -- still some of the best, but still he's looking pretty good right now.

WOLF: Unbelievable turn around.

HOLMES: Well, we would like to thank you in behalf of us. Appreciate you hanging out with us here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING.

On behalf of Reynolds Wolf and the Auburn Tigers.

WOLF: There you go.

HOLMES: Again, congratulations and thank you.

Really, we thank you all for being with us --

WOLF: Thanks folks.

HOLMES: -- this weekend.

And as you know, a big interview coming up right now on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley; the first interview -- first television interview with Charlie Rangel after he's been censured by his colleagues on Capitol Hill. She has that interview with him live coming up in just a moment.

"STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley starts for you right now. Have a good Sunday.