Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Storm Moves East After Dumping Snow in Texas, Oklahoma; Toyota Boss Apologizes Amid Recall; Task of Rebuilding Haiti Expected To Be Arduous; Obama Attends GOP Conference
Aired January 30, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for January 30. I am T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Betty Nguyen. We got a lot to tell you about.
Many people in the Midwest and Southeast - well, they are waking up to heavy snow and ice. And want to give you a look at what Oklahoma is feeling and seeing right about now: snow-covered roads, downed power lines. That storm is continuing to move east. We'll have a check on the weather in just a moment.
HOLMES: And another story we're keeping an eye on this morning, we were scared to do, because we don't know if the NFL was going to sue is for saying...
NGUYEN: Who dat?
HOLMES: Who dat? Yes, 'who dat?' owns 'who dat?' A bit of controversy over this phrase. Of course, it's a rallying cry for the New Orleans Saints, who are going to the Super Bowl now.
But the NFL is claiming exclusive rights to that phrase. But the U.S senator down there in Louisiana, he says, 'Hold up. Sue me.' Those full details coming up just ahead.
But first, here are some of the stories we're keep a close eye on this morning, including that big recall at Toyota. The president of Toyota now saying, 'Sorry.' Sorry for making customers - quote - "uneasy." Sales of Toyota is expected to drop this month after a massive recall involving millions of cars. The carmaker says it will announce next week how it plans to fix the problem. That problem is one that cause the gas pedal to stick sometimes.
NGUYEN: Well, three more Americans have died in Afghanistan. Two U.S. service members and an American employee were killed yesterday in the eastern part of the country. Officials with the International Security Assistance Force says the incident is under investigation.
HOLMES: And in Texas, some inmates' prayers for freedom were not answered after they tried to escape after a church service. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says the men tried to get away when they were coming back from that church service at a prison last night. They jumped over a fence, but they didn't get all the way outside, if you will.
The guards opened fire. Three of those inmates wounded. They are now being treated a hospital. This was all near Livingston. The other two inmates are back in custody.
NGUYEN: All right. So severe weather is out there, and the word is getting out in the Southeast: Brace yourself, because heavy snow and ice are headed your way.
HOLMES: Yes, this winter storm already slammed the Midwest. A lot of snow - a lot of icy roads out there. That's bad.
Parts of Arkansas, northern Tennessee and western North Carolina could get up to a foot of snow. Ice also brought down scores of electric lines in Oklahoma. More than 164,000 homes - excuse me - 164,000 homes and businesses lost power last night.
NGUYEN: All that heavy snow, freezing rain and colder temperatures - all of it making tough for people hitting the highways. A lot of people being told, 'Hey, just stay home if you can.'
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, New York Senator Chuck Schumer says it is obvious the trial of five 9/11 terror suspects cannot be held in New York. The Obama administration is under pressure to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other outside Manhattan. While Schumer opposes trying the men there, another member of Congress says security should not be a problem for New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLTIZER, CNN ANCHOR: Would you be satisfied if this trial, A, moves out of New York and goes, for example, to a military base in upstate New York, a civilian trial? Would that be OK with you?
REP. JOE SESTAK (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I guess it would be acceptable, but I'd be surprised that we have to do it.
I've heard these comments that it will take 2,500 checkpoints or police officers. I've served in the White House when al-Qaeda was a problem as director of defense policy. I drove past the White House. You could almost throw a stone and hit the White House. We're able to protect that bastion of - of our society, so to speak, quite well. I don't know why we can't do it downtown New York City.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, two administration officials say the Justice Department is considering other trial locations.
HOLMES: Well, a big story this week, a big recall from Toyota, affects millions of car. One of them could very well be in your driveway right now. But the big question people are asking: OK, so I have one, what exactly do I do next?
NGUYEN: Exactly. I mean, we're talking about millions of car. So really, what do you do next? We're going to get some details on that.
And you got to check this video out: an accident that you really have to see to believe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, TOM PETTY, "BREAKDOWN")
HOLMES: We're excited. We got new mugs.
NGUYEN: Yes, we have new cups, everybody. And it's - it's truly a thrill for us, apparently.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: We take what we can get around here.
All right. So we're expecting to hear next week exactly how Toyota plans to fix its sticky-pedal issue.
HOLMES: All right. If you own one of these recalled cars, you probably have a lot of questions.
CNN's Mary Snow tries to answer some of them right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With millions of its cars recalled, Toyota now says it has a fix for its sticking gas pedals.
In an e-mail to its dealers, the automaker said it met with officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and presented a remedy. Toyota didn't offer specifics to consumers, but senior automotive editor of "Popular Mechanics" says, assuming it's gas pedals that needs replacing, it won't happen overnight.
MIKE ALLEN, "POPULAR MECHANICS": Once a steady supply of those gas pedals is available, the dealerships are going to have to make appointments with all of their customers, get them to come into the dealership, take an hour or so, probably, from the time you get there until the time you can leave for the mechanic to get all the parts installed and all the paperwork done. And that's going to take months to cycle through the entire spectrum of cars that are involved.
SNOW: Millions of cars were recalled this week because of issues with sticking gas pedals, meaning the car may keep accelerating even after you take your foot off the gas.
But this came on top of a separate recall in November of millions of other cars due to gas pedals getting stuck on removable floor mats. There has been much confusion, and adding to it, the supplier of the gas pedals, a company called CTS in Elkhart, Indiana, says the pedals aren't the problem. MITCH WALORSKI, DIR. OF INVESTOR RELATIONS, CTS CORP.: CTS was not aware and Toyota has said this also, that there's been any accidents or injuries from that condition of those pedals.
SNOW: CTS says it's supplied gas pedals to Toyota since 2005, and there are reports of problems before that.
Congressman Henry Waxman cites 19 deaths linked to sudden, unintended acceleration in Toyota cars in the past decade, based on federal data. Toyota hasn't confirmed that number.
Waxman chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has called for a hearing on February 25. Questions are being raised about how Toyota handled the recall, something the transportation secretary was asked about Thursday.
RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: I have no criticism of Toyota on this. They followed the law and they're doing what they're - they're supposed to do.
SNOW (on camera): And another blow for Toyota, influential "Consumer Reports" has suspended its recommendations for the eight Toyota models that were recalled this week. And it's advising used-car buyers not to purchase any of the affected models until the issue is resolved.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. So are you affected by this Toyota recall? If so, how are you dealing with it? What are you facing?
E-mail us on our Facebook or Twitter sites. Let us know what you think about it all, what you're doing to try to get the best fix you can at the moment. And we'll be reading some of your replies on the air.
All right. On to this video that you really do have to see. It is really unfortunate, but one of those things that when you look at it, you go, 'Oh my goodness. How did that happen?'
Look at this dump truck right there, riding with the bed up. Boom. Just smashes into that pedestrian bridge, causing one person actually to fall to the ground. That person was injured.
Police are investigating; still don't know exactly why the bed of this dump truck was up as it was driving down the roadway. But obviously, it could have been a much more deadly situation considering that was a pedestrian footbridge.
Can you imagine, walking across that bridge and...
HOLMES: And there's the guy. You see him...
NGUYEN: Yes, right there.
HOLMES: ...on the left. He falls down to the... NGUYEN: To the ground.
HOLMES: ...to the - to the ground there.
The - the driver here saying that he didn't realize it was up, said it went up on its own, actually. But they're certainly investigating. I mean, they're talking (ph).
NGUYEN: There's two people on that bridge. Did you see there was someone - one person on the left, and another person on the right of that bridge.
HOLMES: It's hard to think he didn't realize that that was up. But we will see what happens.
It's a good thing - again, it could have been a lot of worse.
NGUYEN: Yes, it could have been.
All right. Well, you know, hundreds of organizations are in Haiti right now helping with the relief efforts there, but it is still not enough.
HOLMES: Yes, the military is having to do an awful lot in this regard. We're taking a look at how the U.S. military is helping out in Haiti.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Plans to rebuild the earthquake-ravaged parts of Haiti, they are taking place as the recovery progresses. And engineers, architects, aid workers and officials from Haiti's government all a part of this effort. They're working under U.N. direction.
Now, the head of the rebuilding initiative wants Port-au-Prince's population reduced from three million to 1.5 or two million. The government already plans to resettle about 400,000 homeless people east of the capital. More than $1 billion in international aid has been pledged for Haiti.
Plans for reconstruction must be approved by Haiti's government.
Well, despite plans to rebuild, there's still a whole lot of problems. There are not enough tents to house the homeless and not enough food. Medical care a big concern as well.
Our Barbara Starr looks at all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate Haitians still struggling for food, water and shelter nearly three weeks after the earthquake. More than 100 countries and 500 relief organizations and 20,000 American troops are here.
But it's still not enough for more than one million displaced. Listen to the top U.S. commander.
GEN. DOUGLAS FRASER, CMDR., U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: We're still not up to meeting the needs of the Haitian people as far as the amount of supplies that are there. We don't have an accurate number of exactly who needs - still needs shelter, who needs food.
STARR: Many Haitians are trying to get out of Port-au-Prince to go live with friends or family. Relief workers are trying to figure out who is left and who needs help.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke to Haiti's prime minister.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no heavy tents. Where are they?
JEAN-MAX BELLEERIVE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: I don't know. It's a good question.
Normally, we had report that they are already sent to - 20,000 tents in AP (ph) and 20,000 went on their way. The president himself asked the - the storage place. And we only counted 12 - 3,500 tents.
AMANPOUR: Three thousand five hundred tents.
STARR (on camera): The situation remains grim. The Navy hospital ship, Comfort, has almost no room for more patients. Medical capacity in Haiti is now being maxed out.
And the bottom line: No one can say how long it may take to meet the basic needs of Haitians or how much it may cost to do it.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And then there's this: praying on the earthquake's most vulnerable victims. Humanitarian agencies say child molesters and traffickers are looking to exploit the chaos and confusion by stealing orphan children. Anderson Cooper takes an in-dept look on "360." That's beginning Monday night at 10 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
HOLMES: All right. Everybody's happy for the New Orleans Saints.
NGUYEN: Yes, first time.
HOLMES: Going to the Super Bowl. After all that city's been through, this is a good, good way to kind of forget about Katrina for a little while.
NGUYEN: Yes. Right.
HOLMES: Every game you've watched, you hear the crowd say the same thing, 'Who dat?'
NGUYEN: Who dat? (LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: It's all about being them Saints. Who dat?
NGUYEN: Who dat?
HOLMES: You might - you might not hear it at the Super Bowl.
NGUYEN: Why?
HOLMES: Well, the NFL says they own that phrase.
NGUYEN: How is that?
HOLMES: Ask the NFL.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: Yes, let's get them on the line.
Well, we're going to be talking about this issue. Yes, that's really odd.
And - and now a senator down in Louisiana is fighting back.
HOLMES: He's got some fighting words for you.
NGUYEN: Oh yes. We'll give you the details on that.
And then there's the argument over basically who's going to win this Super Bowl, right?
HOLMES: Oh of course there are arguments there.
NGUYEN: Who - who are you rooting for?
HOLMES: You got to root for the Saints.
NGUYEN: That's who I'm rooting for, yes.
HOLMES: Peyton Manning is ridiculous though. It's hard to bet against him. But it's hard to root against the Saints.
NGUYEN: I - I'm going to go with the Saints this time. This time. It's the first time.
Stay with us. We got much more to come, right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Rhythm-and-blues singer Etta James - well, she is hospitalized in Los Angeles at this hour. Her son tells CNN that she's suffering from a bacterial infection that's become resistant to antibiotics. She is perhaps best known for the '61 classic "At Last."
Etta James, 72 years old. And she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a year ago.
HOLMES: Well, China announced today it has suspended plans for visits between the Chinese and U.S. militaries. Beijing angry at Washington over a plan to sell $6.4 million in arms to Taiwan. The sale could complicate Washington's efforts at getting Beijing's cooperation on a number of issues, including efforts to get Iran to drop its nuclear program.
NGUYEN: Well, Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown on a three-day victory tour, cruising through the state in his trademark green pickup truck. Well, you don't see it in that video, but he was.
At a stop yesterday, Brown told a large crowd his election upset is already making a difference. He says it's improved communication in Washington, and it has forced the White House to reconsider its decision to try to - to try suspected terrorists in New York. He also said he's been "humbled" by all of the well-wishes.
So is risking today's dollars on tomorrow's technology a safe bet for stimulus money, your money? The federal government seems to think so.
HOLMES: And they are laying down a $400 million bet, if you will.
CNN national political correspondent Jessica Yellin takes a look at companies using stimulus funding to create jobs by changing the way we receive energy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARUN MAJUMDAR, ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY DIR: You know, if it's successful, it changes the world.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may not look like gamblers ,but these PhDs are placing bets with taxpayer money.
MAJUMDAR: What I would say is that let's leapfrog over today's technology and invest in tomorrow's technology and create jobs at the same time.
YELLIN: They're using stimulus dollars to fund new energy technologies, and they're hoping to hit on a breakthrough that could radically change the way we power our lives.
MAJUMDAR: Let's say a few of them are successful. That would be game changing; it would change the landscape of the energy field, not just in our country, but globally.
YELLIN: It's called ARPA-E, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and it's part of the Department of Energy.
MAJUMDAR: Our goal is to get the innovation, have the U.S. get the technological lead, and -- and really create jobs.
YELLIN: The agency was created under President George W. Bush... GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: To make sure that we're a, you know, research-oriented, you know, technology- drive economy.
YELLIN: ..but it was first funded by the stimulus package to the tune of $400 million.
So far, ARPA has invested in 37 projects at an average of $4 million.
Among them...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phodesigns (ph) turbines can be placed closer together, optimizing rand (ph).
YELLIN: ... $8 million to develop a new, high-efficiency windmill using less space to generate more power that, in theory, would make wind power the blowout energy of the future.
VOICE OF MICHAEL RAAB, AGRIVIDA PRESIDENT: We're engineering these footgrass plants (ph).
YELLIN: Four and a half million to a biofuel company that's trying to transform plant waste into the next version of gasoline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the bottom electrode.
YELLIN: And almost $7 million to a lab building a battery that would store massive amounts of electricity on the power grid, which is key for a transition to renewable energy.
Much of ARPA's staff came from the private sector.
(on camera): And you help filter through who's going to get the actual funding.
DAVID DANIELSON, ARPA-E PROGRAM DIR.: Exactly. Exactly. And then, once -- once we actually select all the projects, then it's our job to, you know, on a quarterly basis, fly out and see how they're doing.
YELLIN: The Department of Energy got more than $19 billion in stimulus money to invest in new technologies and renewable energy.
Critics, including energy analyst Kevin Book, are wary.
KEVIN BOOK, ENERGY CONSULTANT: Turning science projects that nobody wants into products that nobody can afford to buy is a terrible idea. The question is whether or not choosing which projects should be commercialized belongs to the government. They've never made that choice properly. In fact, they've made almost the wrong choice almost every time.
YELLIN: And if they do hit on a winner, how much does the taxpayer get for that investment?
(on camera): Does the U.S. retain any ownership stake in these companies? MAJUMDAR: No, these are - you know, it will be privately owned companies; we won't have any equity stake. We're not here to make money out of them. We just want to enable them to really flourish.
YELLIN: So what have they done so far? Well, ARPA-E has invested $150 million that they've committed to 37 different projects. And how many jobs has that created? By our counted, they've created at least 346 new jobs that will be in place by the end of this year. But ARPA-E points out that their goal is to create many more jobs with this new technology for the future.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: You know, one of our top stories this morning, of course, is the weather outside. Pretty severe in parts.
HOLMES: Yes, Karen Maginnis keeping an eye on things. And people are freezing in some parts.
Good morning to you, Karen.
(LAUGHTER)
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning.
Yes, we've got severe weather slamming much of the central United States all the way to the Mid Atlantic with snow, sleet, ice and heavy rainfall and gusty winds.
What happens in the next 24 hours? We'll let you know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody. Hello. Welcome back. Glad you're watching this morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Six-thirty in the morning where we sit, in Atlanta, Georgia. Wherever you are, we're glad you are here with us.
Give you a look now at some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on right now.
One of them Toyota. Now, the president of that company now saying he's sorry for making customers feel - quote - "uneasy." Sales of Toyotas are expected to drop this month after a massive recall involving millions of vehicles. The carmaker says it will announce next week how to - how it plans to fix the problem, which causes the gas pedal to stick.
Well, are you affected by the Toyota recall? Do you have one of those Toyotas sitting out in your lot? We want to hear from you, just what your thoughts are, what your concerns are. Are you getting any answers from Toyota? Send us messages to our Facebook pages, Twitter as well. Or you can leave a comment on our blog, CNN.com/newsroom.
NGUYEN: We also have another vehicle recall to tell you about today, this time involving Honda vehicles. It's recalling 141,000 Fit (ph) hatchbacks sold here in the U.S. because of a problem with power windows that can cause them to overheat. This affects 2007 and 2008 models.
Honda says owners should keep their windows up when it's raining or snowing until the problem is fixed.
So you normally keep your windows up when it's raining or snowing, right?
HOLMES: You saw the look on my face when you said that. Did I hear that right?
NGUYEN: Hey, we're just providing the info, folks. That is what they say to do.
HOLMES: So many recalls to tell you about these days.
I want to turn to Afghanistan, now, just getting word three more Americans have died, there. Two U.S. service members and an American employee killed yesterday in the eastern part of that country. Officials with the International Security Assistance Force say the incident is now under investigation.
NGUYEN: Let's get to the weather outside. Because a winter storm warning is in effect for much of northeast Georgia through this afternoon. A lot of schools let out early yesterday ahead of the expected sleet and snow. Here are some pictures from affiliate WGCL. But Georgia isn't the only state dealing with the frigid weather this weekend. Let's check in with Karen Maginnis who's in for Reynolds Wolf today.
In some parts, they've had power lines knocked down without electricity; lots of problems because of this winter storm.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: President Obama went head to head with Republican members of Congress on their turf yesterday. And at times conversations got pretty testy. The president accepted an invitation by House GOP leaders to attend a caucus at their retreat in Baltimore yesterday. A Q&A session followed his speech, where he criticized partisanship, health care reform gridlock, among other things.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R) TEXAS: But this is what I don't understand, Mr. President. After that discussion, your administration proposed a budget that would triple the national debt over next 10 years. Surely, you don't believe 10 years from now, we will still be mired in this recession, and propose new entitlement spending, and moved the cost of government to almost 24.5 percent of the economy. Now, very soon, Mr. President, you're due to submit a new budget, and my question to you --
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jim, I know there's a question in there somewhere. You're making a whole bunch of assertions, half of which I disagree with, and I'm having to sit here listening to them. At some point, I know you're going to let me answer.
HENSARLING: That's the question. You're soon to submit a new budget, Mr. President. Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path to increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy. That's the question, Mr. President.
OBAMA: Jim, with all due respect, I've got to take this last question as an example how it is very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work we're going to do. Because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running a campaign.
Now, look, let's talk about the budget, once again. Because I'll go through it with you line by line. The fact of the matter is, is that when we came into office, the deficit was $1.3 trillion, $1.3. So when you say that, suddenly, I've got a monthly budget that is higher than the annual-or a monthly deficit that's higher than the annual deficit left by the Republicans, that's factually just not true. And you know it's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That was just some of the fireworks there. Both sides acknowledged Washington's toxic political climate has made it tougher to tackle major problems. They've promised to work harder and step back from the partisan brink.
We'll see.
HOLMES: All right. We're also on the brink, in New Orleans, of a championship for that city, for the Saints. Well, just leave it to the NFL to come in and spoil the fun. The NFL is trying to claim they have exclusive rights to the rallying cry of the Saints, which is: "Who dat?
NGUYEN: Who dat?
HOLMES: Everybody knows. Who dat? That be them Saints. They've been using this for a long time, but they have now threatened legal action against folks down there, vendors who may be printing T-shirts and hats and things like that, licensing rights.
NGUYEN: I'm kind of wondering, when did the NFL come in and say they own that, they have the legal rights to it? Because the Saints have been using that for years.
HOLMES: That's a big part of the argument. And people saying, well, you're just trying to capitalize now and make a dime-or make a dollar, I should say. Because now that the Saints are in the "Super Bowl", and now that merchandise is going to be sold; you weren't down here when we were calling them the New Orleans Ain'ts. You now, they were not a good team for a long time.
NGUYEN: For a long time, yes.
HOLMES: Now, they are in the "Super Bowl", all of a sudden, Who dat?, we own it.
NGUYEN: Right. Very interesting stuff.
Well, it has caused quite a controversy and even gotten to the political realm, because U.S. Senator David Vitter wrote a letter to the NFL. I'm going to quote it right now.
"I would urge you to drop this obnoxious and legally unsustainable position and instead agree that, "Who Dat?" is in the public domain, giving no one exclusive trademark rights. This letter will also serve as a formal legal notice that I am having T-shirts printed that say, "Who Dat?" for widespread sale in commerce. Please either drop your present ridiculous position, or sue me."
That's what he says.
HOLMES: You've got to love that.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: I mean, you can see the fight maybe brewing here. And the NFL is saying, not all, "Who Dat?", they're saying on some things if you put that phrase and also use the official Saints logo, it just gives the impression that maybe this is official NFL merchandise.
So, if you just print a shirt that says, "Who Dat?", maybe they won't come after you. But they say, when you couple that with the Saints logos and things, that just kind of gives an impression. That's what they say they're more so going after.
The phrase, "Who Dat," though, some are arguing where it originated in the first place. Some say it dates back some 130 years. And actually all of us in high school, you heard those chants. I played basketball. You say, "Who dat? Who dat? Talk about beating them." You just do that, you know?
So, I don't know who owns it. I don't know if we're going to get sued for saying it like 20 times just now.
NGUYEN: For just saying "Who Dat?" You think we're going to get sued?
HOLMES: Who knows.
NGUYEN: I'm kind of thinking that phrase alone is in the public domain. How can you say you can't say something. Now, I don't know, the argument, if you put it coupled with the Saints logo, maybe that gets a little tricky. Who knows. We want to hear from you. Who Dat?, what do you think about it. The whole argument that goes behind who owns this. We've got it posted on our Facebook and Twitter sites. Weigh in today, because we will be reading your responses.
HOLMES: Other than that, just love saying, Who dat?
NGUYEN: We'll be saying, Who dat? Wrote that?" when you do write in.
Well, you know, $1 billion of your tax dollars is going to a program that actually could be canceled.
HOLMES: Just one of the stimulus-funded projects we are taking a looked at today, we are following the money. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking our top stories right now. Rhythm & blues singer Etta James is hospitalized in Los Angeles. Her son tells CNN that she is suffering from a bacterial infection that has become resistant to antibiotics. She's perhaps best known for the '61 classic, "At Last." Mrs. James, 72 years old, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a year ago.
HOLMES: Beijing said today, it has suspended plans for visits between the Chinese and U.S. militaries; China angry at the U.S. over a plan to sell $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan. The sale could make it difficult for Washington to get Beijing's cooperation on a number of issues, including efforts to get Iran to drop its nuclear program.
NGUYEN: Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown on a three-day victory tour, cruising through the state. At a stop yesterday, Brown told a large crowd his election upset is already making a difference. He says it has improved communication in Washington and that it forced the White House to rethink its decision to try suspected terrorists in New York. He also said he's been humbled by all the well wishes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Let's get to the weather, because Virginia-well, right now-are you a little under the weather yourself?
HOLMES: A little bit. Oh, a little sympathy from you. I don't get that usually.
NGUYEN: It's only for show. I'm kidding!
HOLMES: Take note, please everybody.
NGUYEN: You've been dealing with that for a little while.
A lot of people may be under the weather, because some parts are just getting clobbered with some miserable weather outside. Folks are bracing for at least a foot of snow in some areas.
HOLMES: Yeah, Shelby Brown from our affiliate WTVR standing by in Petersburg, Virginia. Looks like there was a little something coming down on you still.
Good morning to you, Shelby.
SHELBY BROWN, REPORTER, WTVR NEWS: Good morning, T.J. and Betty. Here in Petersburg, Virginia, light snow coming down right now. Want to give you a sense of what's going on.
Take a look here. Just a little light snow blanketing the road. As you see here, it's not that wet fluffy stuff. I'm going to walk over here and give you a sense of what's going on. We've got this powdery substance here. Not too bad.
Right behind me is I-95. Take a look here at the interstate. Traffic pretty light right now. But, of course, Virginia Department of Transportation, they did all they could to prepare for this storm. They've got crews out here, working around the clock. In fact, just a few moments ago, we saw an army of snowplows coming along I-95. Of course, the word is for drivers just to slow down here.
As far as the Virginia Department of Transportation, you guys just really prepared. We're talking more than 2300 pieces of snow removal equipment. 62,000 tons of sand, 239,000 tons of salt. Lots of numbers, but again, they wanted to be prepared.
As far as the budget for 2009/2010, almost $80 million allocated for snow removal here in central Virginia, or for Virginia altogether. Now, VDOT just telling folks, if they have to get out on the roadways today, call this number, 511. That will give you a check on the road conditions. But right now, things are going pretty smoothly here along I-95. Doesn't look like folks are slowing down, but the word is from Virginia state police, their working numerous accidents to the south of here, T.J. and Betty.
Prince George and Dunwoody County, Virginia, they're telling us they are working lots of accidents. Again, just slow down on the roadways. They are telling people just to hunker down at home, if you can, try not to get out in it, T.J and Betty.
NGUYEN: Good advice there. All right, Shelby. Thanks so much.
We want to take you to Haiti now, because survivors are still being pulled from the earthquake rubble.
HOLMES: Yeah. We talked to the workers on the ground, who say miracles are still happening. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. We're looking forward to this video, because apparently a baby is getting down with Ludacris.
HOLMES: Let's just roll this.
NGUYEN: Can we just roll the video?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (MUSIC)
NGUYEN: I love it.
HOLMES: And it was cute, because the kid was actually crying and upset before mom put the song on. And who knew Ludacris was a way to stop babies from crying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And he's getting pretty low, right? He was bobbing right there with the beat. Check it out.
HOLMES: That was cool, that he was crying and he instantly stopped when he heard this song and started getting down.
NGUYEN: So moms out there...
HOLMES: Ludacris.
NGUYEN: Get some Ludacris.
HOLMES: The clean versions of Ludacris, just the clean versions at Wal-Mart, OK?
NGUYEN: And make sure you send us your videos because we love to see them. Ah, who doesn't like seeing babies dance around, right?
HOLMES: Just a fun little something to throw in this morning.
NGUYEN: I love it.
HOLMES: All right. We've got more video to show you here. This one a whole lot different. A 25-year-old conservative filmmaker and activist James O'Keefe denying he's a criminal.
NGUYEN: Yeah. O'Keefe is one of four men charged with illegally entering U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu's office on Tuesday. Well, Friday, he declared himself innocent, saying he wasn't trying to bug the senator's communications, just investigating whether the phone system was working.
HOLMES: Now, he says he was responding to complaints from Senator Landrieu's constituents that she was unresponsive to their concerns over health care. Now, O'Keefe, you may recognize the name, if not, you'll recognize an earlier story we did on him. He got a lot of notoriety last summer. Videos shot of him passing himself off as a pimp at those ACORN offices, walking in with his supposed prostitute.
NGUYEN: It was all made up, right?
HOLMES: It was all made up, but he was trying to, in his way, continue that --
NGUYEN: So he says he was in Landrieu's office to check the phone system and make sure it was working? HOLMES: He was trying to move it was working and that her assertions that something was wrong with it, the calls weren't getting through. That's what he was trying to debunk.
NGUYEN: Interesting stuff there.
HOLMES: We are tracking where all your stimulus money has gone. And some of it literally went into space. We are going to be taking on that in just a second. But really, NASA is getting a lot of your money out there. So exactly what is NASA doing with it? We're going to be tracking that. And who knows how much of it is going up into space, how much of it is being used down here. Is it being put to good use, are jobs being created? We actually just don't know.
NGUYEN: Well, we'll be looking into that for you. There's a lot more to come right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We are, of course, tracking all of your stimulus money. Where did it go? Some of it literally went into space. NASA got a big chunk of that federal money and they're using it for a couple different programs.
NGUYEN: Yeah. But they may not have much to show for it. We get more now from CNN's John Couwels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, zero, and liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis.
JOHN COUWELS, CNN ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST (On camera): But not for much longer. The shuttle is retiring. The countdown clock will remain dark. NASA's replacement is called the Constellation program. But its primary mission is to send astronauts back to the moon.
(voice over): And it received $250 million in stimulus funds, which is being awarded to contractors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received $165 million between last year and this year.
COUWELS: Those stimulus dollars went towards building the astronaut's crew vehicle, Orion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were facing a reduction in workforce, and the stimulus money helped us to retain the employees that would have otherwise been reduced.
COUWELS: Between 50 and 100 Lockheed Martin jobs were saved, many of them in New Orleans.
(On camera): Another $125 million came here to Kennedy Space Center, creating 125 new jobs.
Construction behind me is a launch tower. It is the first one to be built here for human space flight in decades.
(Voice over): But now after all that stimulus money, the whole Constellation program may get scrapped next week. The local congresswoman is angry, saying if the Constellation program is canceled, America's space flight gap will become an abyss. Others bemoan the waste of money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think that some of the things that can be used regardless of what the program is; some of it, however, I think is just going to wind up on the cutting room floor.
COUWELS: NASA officials insist much of the new technology and facilities could still be used for other programs. Just like Constellation's first, and possibly last, test flight that went nowhere, so could the stimulus dollars. John Couwels, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. Well, you know, the White House is expected to make an announcement about the future of the Constellation program next week. Many in the space industry expect it to be abandoned, or at least cut back, despite those stimulus dollars that the program's gotten.
HOLMES: All right. Well, plans also to rebuild the earthquake- ravaged parts of Haiti are taking place as the recovery progresses. Engineers, architects, workers, and officials from Haiti's government all part of the effort; they're working under U.N. direction. The head of the rebuilding initiative wants Port-au-Prince's population reduced from about 3 million to 1.5 million, or maybe 2 million. The government already plans to resettle about 400,000 homeless people east of the capital. More than $1 billion in international aid have been pledged for Haiti. Plans for reconstruction must be approved by Haiti's government.
Now almost three weeks after that quake, CNN's Doctor Sanjay Gupta investigates whether there could actually be too many doctors in Haiti. What could be better done to coordinate efforts to get care where it's critically needed? That's coming up, 7:30 Eastern.
Hey, there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being with us. Yep, it's Saturday, January 30th. Can you believe the month is almost gone?
The president getting a little feisty with the GOP. Have you seen this yet? You've got to stick around for it. Because he spoke at the Republican's winter retreat, and he did not hold back. In fact, some GOP aides say they shouldn't have allowed cameras in. We'll show you a little bit of why they're saying that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Not a pundit. I'm just a president. So take it for what it's worth. But I don't believe that the American people want us to focus on our job security. They want us to focus on their job security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: I thought we were going to showing a little more of the sparring, because there's a little bit of that going on at that retreat. We'll tell you much more about that. But the headline from the "The Huffington Post" says that the president went to the lion's den and mauled the lions. More of his speech, straight ahead.
HOLMES: And who dat? Who says we can't say who dat? Got a little bit of controversy over a simple phrase. NFL claiming exclusive rights to the battle cry of the Saints. But the U.S. senator out of Louisiana, David Vitter, he's saying, not so fast, and daring the NFL to sue him. Those full details are coming your way.
First, we want to check some of our top stories this morning. One of them in Texas. Five inmates trying to break out of prison. They didn't get too far, though. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says the men tried to escape on their way back from church services at the prison last night. They jumped over a fence, never made it all the way to the outside. Guards opened fire, three of the inmates wounded. They're being treated at a hospital near Livingston. The other two inmates now back in custody.
NGUYEN: Well, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is coming under some criticism. He testified before a panel looking into Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. And outside the Iraqi inquiry hearing site, hundreds of anti-war protesters gathered to express their views.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't got very far.
(CROWD CHANTING)
NGUYEN: Protesters shouted slogans including, "Jail Tony" and "Blair lied, thousands died."
HOLMES: Toyota's president saying he's sorry for making customers feel uneasy. Sales of Toyotas are expected to drop this month after a massive recall that involves millions of vehicles. The carmaker says it will announce next week how exactly to fix the problem, which can cause the gas pedal to get stuck.
NGUYEN: All right. So here's what Toyota is apologizing for: 2.3 million cars that have been recalled. Eight models affected and these are very popular models, including the Camry, the Corolla, the Matrix, the Avalon, the Highlander, the Tundra, the Sequoia, the RAV4 -- I mean, that's a lot of cars.
HOLMES: Yes. And the Camry has been long-time -- I mean, one of the bestselling or the bestselling car for a long time.
NGUYEN: Yes, for years.
HOLMES: So, it's affecting a lot of folks and it's a serious problem because you don't want -- the last thing you want is your accelerator to get stuck.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: But they announced this week that that's the problem, they're going to recall these cars. But they're not explaining exactly how to fix it just yet. They're saying we're going to get this next week. Meanwhile...
NGUYEN: And the company that makes that pedal -- that accelerator pedal says, "Wait, it's not us."
HOLMES: We did it to your specifications. So...
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: People were getting themselves and, you know, legally, nobody wants to get sued here.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: But everybody starting...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: But therein lies the problem. OK. Well, if no one knows, you know, no one saying it's their fault, how do you fix it?
HOLMES: Because nobody knows the problem or takes credit for the problem.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: But meanwhile, wouldn't you know it, the rival carmakers, including G.M. and Hyundai, they're hoping to cash in on Toyota's problems.
NGUYEN: Yes, absolutely. They're offering rebates worth $1,000 and financing as low as zero percent to Toyota owners who want to trade in their cars, of course, to all of the deals very slightly. But some discounts last until the end of the month. And you can find out more by going to our Web site at CNN.com.
All right. So, are you affected by this Toyota recall? I imagine a lot of you are. I mean, in fact, we're talking about millions. So, if you're dealing with this, e-mail us on our Facebook or Twitter sites. Let us know what you think about the situation, what you're doing about it, and what you hope to see resolved after all the dust settles in this.
Again, still no word on exactly how you fix the problem. So, that has a lot of Toyota owners just going, "OK, well, if that's the case, what do we do now?" So, let us know what you think. HOLMES: All right. Southeast, brace yourself. We've got some heavy snow and ice coming your way. Some of it's already hit a lot of places.
NGUYEN: Yes. It caused some problems, in fact. Storms slammed into the Midwest, lots of icy roads there, parts of Arkansas, northern Tennessee, western North Carolina could get up to a foot of snow. Ice brought down scores of electric lines in Oklahoma.
Here's some video of people trying to get their cars all filled up, make sure they've got gas, also for generators as well, should the power go out in many parts. More than 164,000 homes and businesses, in fact, have already lost power. That happened last night.
Let's get the latest on the weather now, with CNN's Karen Maginnis. She joins us in for Reynolds Wolf today.
Boy, it's a mess in many parts.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is, Betty and T.J. It encompasses a good portion of the south central United States, into the southeast.
Just to show you a few of the temperatures, this across in Mid- Atlantic, stretching on over towards the Appalachians. In Lexington, Kentucky, the temperature is 18 degrees. Richmond, Virginia, 21.
This is kind of the area where we've got the snowfall, but you head down towards Charlotte and Raleigh, it's that icy mix. The sleet or the snow and rain or the icy mixture and the road conditions are absolutely appalling, very dangerous weather conditions.
Take a live look now out of Nashville, Tennessee. I just checked the weather conditions there. The temperature -- a very blustery 23 degrees. It's a little bit foggy and they do have some snow occurring there right now. And it does look like Nashville, you've got about a 40 percent chance of that snow continuing through the rest of the morning before it begins to taper off just a little bit as we go through the evening hours.
All right. Here we go. Taking a look at where that swath of snowfall is going to be over the next 24 hours, the dark purple indicates where that heaviest is going to be. And we did say, right around that Richmond area, extending along the border between Virginia and North Carolina, some areas could see in excess of 12 inches of snowfall. Now, that's going to be those extraordinary areas. But already, Asheville, North Carolina, has picked up 11 inches of snowfall.
I want to show you a very quick iReport. This from Kelly Lavaux, this out of Eagle Butte. She says there were downed trees, power lines. They had blizzard conditions, and they really would like it if their power came back on. It's been a while.
T.J., Betty, I'm going to throw it back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you for that, Karen. HOLMES: Well, a lot of people watched the State of the Union address, and it's standard. Not everybody's going to get up and stand and clap during the president's speech.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: However, what the president said had one, at least, Supreme Court justice, shaking his head. You probably saw this moment. We'll get into it in just a minute.
NGUYEN: Yes. A lot of people are asking, was that the right thing to do? On both parts, the president and the Supreme Court justice.
We're also going to hear from a woman who lost $50,000 in real estate investments and she now thinks it was a scam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was it that caused you to want to take people that believed in you and totally turn their lives upside down because you took their money? Do you have no conscious at all?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And what she learned that could keep you from being conned. Stay with us for those details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, the president and the Supreme Court justice. You probably know by now what I'm talking about.
There was a moment during the president's State of the Union speech this week where he called out the Supreme Court for its recent decision on campaign finance. But it didn't stop there. You know, we got an isolated shot of Justice Samuel Alito, and he couldn't really keep his feelings to himself when he heard this go down.
Take a look and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With all due deference to separation of powers, last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Did you catch that? He clearly said, "Not true." May have said completely not true, but he clearly didn't appreciate what the president said there.
We're going to talk to Jordan Lieberman now. He is the head of "Campaign & Elections" magazine, and with us early this morning.
We appreciate you being here. Before we get into the substance of the, I guess, disagreement between the president and the justice, just talk about the etiquette of this. How often do we see, do we ever see -- is there an unwritten rule that, first of all, the president shouldn't just, in their face, criticize them like that? And secondly, to see a justice openly disagree with the president on that stage, just the etiquette of it?
JORDAN LIEBERMAN, "CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS": Well, T.J., they both broke the rules. And this is -- maybe Joe Wilson started it last time, but, you know, the president never criticizes the military or the Supreme Court in these circumstances. And the Supreme Court and the military don't criticize, don't roll their eyes, don't shake their heads either back. This is something I've never seen before.
HOLMES: OK. He set it up by saying, all due deference to the separation of power, so, he kind of set himself up and he knew what he was about to get into. So, why was it so important to still make that point on that stage?
LIEBERMAN: Well, it's a very important topic. The most important thing here is that no -- most Americans don't really understand exactly what this is about. And the fact is that this is going to open the floodgates, as he said, to perhaps $1 billion in corporate spending to influence the political debate over just in the next year. And right now, it technically allows foreign corporations to generally contribute to this discussion. That could change, of course, in the very near future, but as it stands today, it's really a free-for-all.
HOLMES: Does the justice, I guess -- and some people disagree. Some say we still have other laws on the books that prevent foreign corporations from making donations, but some say you've got to go back and make sure you close some of those loopholes.
So -- but aside from that, are we in a new era here? Is this an isolated incident? But you mentioned from Joe Wilson from last year as well.
LIEBERMAN: Right.
HOLMES: But there always seems to be something that goes down at these State of the Unions with -- well, this is his first official State of the Union, but that last speech last year. But -- are we in a new era, we're just going to just wait for something to happen at every big speech the president makes?
LIEBERMAN: Oh, it makes it more interesting. You know, maybe it's the new tradition. But I think -- I think in this case, this speech, specifically, there was a lot more light-hearted, a little looser than previous Barack Obama speeches. And, you know, perhaps, you know, the light-hearted nature of this allowed people to feel a little more free to do whatever they wanted to do in the situation.
HOLMES: Have we seen anything like this before, recent history, anything you can remember where a Supreme Court justice openly disagreed with the president like that?
LIEBERMAN: Not in that -- not in that circumstance. And I've spent plenty of time with Supreme Court justices in off the record, you know, not on TV and things. And, you know, they're a little more free. But in this circumstance, no, does not happen.
HOLMES: This must have really gotten to Samuel Alito. Do we know -- have there been any follow-ups between the two men? Have we heard yet that the president reach out or the justice reach out?
LIEBERMAN: Yes. I don't think so. I don't think they're playing golf today, T.J. I wouldn't count on there being much communication between the two individuals.
HOLMES: What precedent does it set, as well, for the president, on this stage or any other, really, but certainly on this stage, to criticize the Supreme Court in this way? Because like we say, we like to keep those two separate, and he -- he made the point, due deference to that separation of power. What kind of precedent does the president set here?
LIEBERMAN: Yes. What's interesting is that the Supreme Court of all the major institutions in kind of the American, you know, public arena, the Supreme Court is generally the most highly respected institution and this is one thing that really gets to them, you know, when you criticize them in public, in this specific instance. This is -- this is a tough call. Yes, he was really separate -- he was, of course, separating, you know, the separation of powers, but this really affects, you know, the American people, really, in a way that I don't think most people understand yet.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing here. Who -- in your opinion, last thing, who made the bigger no-no there, the president or the -- Justice Alito?
LIEBERMAN: Well, the president is the president, so Justice Alito has some apologizing to do.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: All right. Well, there you go. Jordan Lieberman, good to have you with us this morning. Great discussion. It's what a lot of people were talking about after that speech. Thanks so much. You have a good rest of the weekend.
LIEBERMAN: You, too.
NGUYEN: Well, the president also got a little testy himself yesterday when he faced off against Republicans, but they weren't keeping quiet either. You've got to see this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: It's our second Tom Petty song this morning. NGUYEN: And you love Tom Petty, don't you?
HOLMES: I like that song, though.
NGUYEN: It's the one that you know.
HOLMES: It's the only one I know.
It's appropriate right now. The president was not backing down even though he stepped into the lion's den, some would say, yesterday.
NGUYEN: Yes. The Democratic president ventured where few Democrats go, he actually attended a Republican gathering in Baltimore yesterday. And the cameras -- they were rolling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We've got the close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality. I'm not suggesting that we're going to agree on everything, whether it's on health care or energy or what-have-you. But if the way these issues are being presented, by the Republicans, is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me.
You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion, because what you've been telling your constituents is, this guy's doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America. And I would just say that we have to think about tone. It's not just on your side, by the way. It's on our side as well. This is part of what's happened in our politics, where we demonize the other side so much that when it comes to actually getting things done, it becomes tough to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the president got his say, Republicans got theirs as well. Well, for the most part, everybody was respectful in there. They accused the president, however, of brushing off their ideas, also of driving up the national debt.
Now, in Washington, we always see it as red or blue. But it seems that independents now are starting to gain some ground. I don't know what color they're going to go with but...
NGUYEN: Purple, maybe?
HOLMES: Not just so red and blue anymore.
NGUYEN: No. But just how many of you are independents? That's the question. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, guys. One question often asked is: just how many people are truly independent? In every CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll that we conduct, we always ask, "Politically, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?"
In our most recent survey from a week ago, 42 percent of those we questioned described themselves as independent, 32 percent called themselves Democrats and 26 percent say they're Republicans. Now, let's break that down. Of those 42 percent who say they're independents, 14 percent say they're independents who lean towards Democrats. Another 19 percent say they lean towards the GOP. That leaves another 9 percent of the public who say they are independents with no partisan preference.
Another important point, people, including independents, change their minds.
KEATING HOLLAND, CNN POLLING DIRECTOR: In the past 12 months, the number of men who call themselves independents have gone up, but the number of independent women has remained the same. Possibly as a result of that, independents are now more conservative than they were last January.
STEINHAUSER: Why do we spend so much time talking about independents? That's simple. They matter. While they don't always swing elections, recently they have. Independents help Barack Obama win the White House in 2008.
But it was a very different story last November, when they helped the Republicans capture two Democratically-held governor seats in Virginia and New Jersey. And, of course, they helped the GOP pull off a big upset in this month's Senate election in Massachusetts.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Here's a question: Did someone kill for $1 million? That's what police are looking into after the body of a missing lottery winner was found. We have those details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking our top stories right now.
Rhythm and blues singer Etta James is hospitalized in Los Angeles. Her sons tell CNN that she is suffering from a bacterial infection that's become resistant to antibiotics. She, perhaps, is best-known for the '61 classic, "At Last." Mrs. James, 72 years old, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a year ago.
HOLMES: Well, CNN -- China rather, announced today it has suspended plans for visits between the Chinese and U.S. militaries. Beijing is angry over Washington's plans to sell $6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan. The sale could complicate attempts at getting Beijing's cooperation on a number of issues including over Iran's nuclear program.
Excuse me.
NGUYEN: Are you all right there?
All right. Well, Florida detectives have found the body of a lottery winner who's been reported missing since November. Abraham Shakespeare is his name, and police identified him using his fingerprints on Thursday. He received $17 million after winning a Florida lottery back in 2006. A tip led detectives to a home owned by the boyfriend of a woman police say is a person of interest. Right now, the family is waiting for more answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope he didn't suffer. But I'm just going to go be with my family.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What do you say to the person who did this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they rot in hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Investigators say the cause of death probably will not be determined until Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, folks.
So, you've scraped, you've saved and waited for just the right opportunity. Well, with the housing slump, real estate deals, they are out there, there are some really good ones. But so are the con artists. They are out there too, preying on novice investors.
And right now mortgage fraud, it is off the charts. The FBI is investigating more cases than ever before. Let's going to give you a look at where it's happening the most across the nation. Here's the top 10 states list for you. But that is not all, because smart, honest people are losing their savings in real estate investment scams.
And financial analyst Clyde Anderson is here with some advice from a woman, actually, who was taken for $50,000? How is that so?
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Fifty thousand dollars, can you believe that?
Well, you know what, Betty, there's no typical victim, but there are typical scams and things to watch out for. And Sherri Perkerson was one of the people that fell for this scam.
NGUYEN: What happened?
ANDERSON: Well, actually, let's take a look at it and we can kind of see exactly what happened. It was a $50,000 loss and it was a hard lesson to learn, but she learned a lesson.
NGUYEN: Goodness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRI PERKERSON, INVESTMENT FRAUD VICTIM: Anytime you go into an investment, be sure you know the people you are involved with. You know all the players and you know they're backgrounds and you know what property it is or what piece of information that you need to know in order to make a good decision. And then figure out where your money's coming from, because if you take it out of a self-directed IRA, you can never declare that on a loss on your taxes. If you take it out of your own personal funds, you can.
So know where your money's coming from and what your end result is going to be. And be willing to take that loss on your taxes if it should turn sour. And then have a real estate attorney or an attorney look at any paperwork prior to your signing it, to make sure that all of it is legal and the title search has been done, if it's property, and you know exactly what you're going to get for the money that you're investing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Some good tips there.
ANDERSON: Yes.
NGUYEN: Did someone come to her with, I guess, false information, a bad contract? I mean, what exactly happened?
ANDERSON: Well, what happens a lot of times, these con artists are very slick, and this is what they do for a living. And they sound very convincing.
And a lot of times, they're friends or they're family members of people you know.
NGUYEN: Really?
ANDERSON: And they'll come and offer these deals to make money. And they'll say, we'll invest in real estate. And there are several different types of them.
NGUYEN: OK.
ANDERSON: You've got flipping scams. You got straw purchase scams, you know, where they'll say, hey, let's use your credit. We'll use your credit, buy a property, and then we'll move somebody else in.
A lot of times they don't move people in. They'll take the money out of the property. They'll refinance it, pull cash out, and iNFLate the values. And that's what's happened to a lot of our communities is that the values have been iNFLated. And so, they've been iNFLated to the point where it doesn't make sense and nobody else can buy the property. NGUYEN: Well, how do you spot a con artist then?
ANDERSON: Well, you've got to be really have a keen eye. You've got to ask a lot of questions.
NGUYEN: OK.
ANDERSON: You know, ask a lot of questions. Ask for references. Talk to an attorney. Look out there and find out what the typical scams are.
You know, educate yourself so you're aware. And if it sounds too good to be true, you know, it probably is. You know, these quick returns, you know, for high dollars. You know, it sounds good and it's alluring to people.
NGUYEN: But you see all those, you know, stories on TV, oh, I got this for nothing and right now, it's in foreclosure, you can get a zero down, you can get a da, da, da. You know, all that's out there. So, a lot of people don't even know it's truly too good to be true, because we've seen so many of them over and over again.
ANDERSON: Exactly. And we've heard some success stories of people who got rich off of real estate.
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly. Nothing, yes.
ANDERSON: Yes, it's hard right now. So, you really got -- really have a keen eye, look out for it, and make sure that you know what you're doing.
NGUYEN: Yes. And I'm trying to figure out, too, if you do get scammed, if you will, is there any recourse? Can you get that money back?
ANDERSON: It's hard. It's challenging. The FBI is really on top of it right now. So, you really can report things like this to the FBI. Even if you're suspicious of someone, I would say, report it to the FBI.
But a lot of time, it's hard to prove. I mean, a lot of time, you're in cahoots with these people and you're not even knowing that you're in cahoots with them.
NGUYEN: So, just like the lady that we saw, she lost $50,000. She's not going to get any of it back.
ANDERSON: Not of it back. Hard-earned, saved money. You know, and there's a lot other places she could have put that money instead of that.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: And again, quickly, what was it in particular, that was a scam in that case? ANDERSON: Her deal exactly is buying into real estate. And then what you're buying into real estate that doesn't have the value, get all these investors together, and when the investors come together, they're buying properties. But a lot of time, the value's not there in the property. They're pulling all the money, stripping the money out, doing cash out refinances and taking the money out and then a lot of times, you're struck holding nothing.
NGUYEN: Nothing.
ANDERSON: Nothing.
NGUYEN: That is just awful and there's nothing you can do to get it back.
All right. Well, then, the key is knowing before you go into something like that.
ANDERSON: Education is key.
NGUYEN: Clyde, thank you so much.
ANDERSON: It's my pleasure, Betty.
NGUYEN: And if you have a topic that you want Clyde to research, send an e-mail to weekends@CNN.com. Clyde is here every Saturday morning at 7:20. And now, he's got his own graphic.
T.J., he is a member of the family, a bona fide member.
HOLMES: Let's put it back up.
NGUYEN: The graphic.
HOLMES: We're going to try to straighten it up a little bit.
NGUYEN: He's leaning a little bit, right?
HOLMES: He's leaning a little. The leaning tower of Clyde right there.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: You just want to prop him up a little bit, aren't you?
HOLMES: Clyde, you know we love you, because we're giving you a hard time, brother.
ANDERSON: Thanks.
HOLMES: Thanks, as always.
Well, we have asked and you have been answering some of our questions this morning. Asking you about Toyota and asking you about "Who dat." We're going to read some of your responses -- coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. A little bit of a controversy going on.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Super Bowl is coming up, as we know, next Sunday. But in the meantime, "Who dat" is really what's at the issue of possibly a lawsuit.
HOLMES: Yes. NFL, in short, is saying they have the rights to that phrase, "Who dat," which is a rallying cry for the Saints.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Telling vendors they cannot print that with certain logos of the team. If not, they have threatened legal action and also sent out some cease-and-desist letters already to some folks. So, we've asked you about it this morning and you've been chiming in.
NGUYEN: And we've been hearing a lot from you.
Let me take you to my Twitter site, first of all. Dagda02 writes, "Doesn't the NFL make enough money? They should let the smaller companions make money off of 'who dat.' It helps the community." And this one is interesting, Bugsdat (ph) says, "Downright ridiculous. I guess the NFL will start claiming, 'Oh, no, you didn't,' or 'Yeah, right.' To NFL, please sit down," is what she's saying to the NFL.
HOLMES: Say that, "Oh, no, you didn't" one more time.
NGUYEN: Oh, no, you didn't.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: We're going to be reading a whole lot more. We got a number on this topic. So, we'll be reading those when Betty and I come back at the top of the hour for more live news.
But first, the good doctor is in.
NGUYEN: "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." is starting right now.
