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CNN Saturday Morning News

Senate Working on Extending Bush Tax Cuts; Air Traffic Controller Strike in Spain; New Trade Deal With South Korea; Sorting out Tech Gift Ideas; Debating the Bush Tax Cuts; iPhone App Revives Basketball Player; Homework Fixes from Dr. Perry

Aired December 04, 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 morning, two major stories developing live this morning in our nation's capital. First, the U.S. Senate expected to vote on extending Bush-era tax breaks. We will take you there live.

Also we're expecting sometime this morning maybe in a matter of hours, President Obama. He's expected to announce a major trade agreement with South Korea, an agreement that could mean an increase of up to $11 billion in American exports and also could mean tens of thousands of jobs here in this country.

Hello to you all, I am T.J. Holmes. It is 8:00 a.m. where I stand here in Atlanta, Georgia. It is 7:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Wherever you are, glad you're right here.

Some of the other stories we're going to be following over the next 90 minutes here for you, many folks, a whole lot of folks, we're talking about 250,000 travelers are stuck right now in Spain. We will be live in Madrid for the latest on a strike by air traffic controllers.

Also, have you thought about this before? Maybe you've even done it -- re-gifting. You know, you get a gift for Christmas last year. You never really used it, so this year you're going to repackage the thing and give it to somebody else? Well, we've got some rules of gift etiquette, some rules on re-gifting, as well. That's coming up from the Emily Post institute. Peggy Folks (ph) going to be our live guest coming up at the 9:15 Eastern time.

Also, a feast for 3,000 in Thailand. You do not get and you do not want a seat at the table, however, for this feast. It's a banquet for monkeys. We'll explain. Who else was going to explain that to us but Nadia (INAUDIBLE)? She'll be along here shortly.

Going head back to Washington, tell you more about what's happening there today, a big day. Two major stories breaking on politics this morning. First, the U.S. Senate is going to be kicking around the so-called Bush-era tax cuts, whether or not to extend them. And if you do extend them, who are they being extended for? Republicans as you know want an across the board cut. They do not want to see taxes go up for anybody coming up next year.

Democrats, however, they want the tax breaks for the middle class and pretty much for everybody making less than $250,000, but not for the wealthy.

That is their stance. The vote is expected here in about 2.5 hours, 10:30 Eastern time. We're keeping a close eye on that.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration announcing a new trade deal with South Korea. It's a tariff buster, effectively hiking U.S. exports up to $11 billion in the hopes of spurring more job creation right here in the U.S. The president expected to talk about that in the next couple of hours. He just got back a short time ago from Afghanistan after a short, unannounced trip there. We're going to be breaking that down for you more in just a moment. We do want to go live now to Washington where CNN's congressional correspondent Dana Bash is pulling some weekend duty because the senators are pulling some weekend duty for us this morning.

Dana, good morning to you, let's start with the simplest question here. All this is going on. We're making such a big deal about it. They're actually working on a Saturday; that rare. But is there anyone you have talked to that expects passage of either one of these two measures they're taking up today?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a one, not a one person I've talked to on the Democratic side or the Republican side thinks that they are going to be able to get the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster in order to pass either of these Democratic measures. So you might ask, T.J., why are they doing this? Certainly I am as I got up and my alarm went off this morning. But the answer, the political answer is because the Democrats want to get on record. They want their votes to be cast and they want it to be on the record that this is the way that they think is important to go forward.

You mentioned it earlier that they believe that the only tax cuts that should be extended are for those making $250,000 or less and everything else should expire for the wealthiest Americans. So they want to get on record because the Democrats know that there are intense negotiations going on between Democrats, Republicans and the White House because Republicans will never go for only extending those. And ultimately maybe even as soon as next week, T.J., Democratic and Republican sources tell me that they do expect that there will probably be some kind of compromise that will, in fact, extend all Bush-era tax cuts temporarily. So for now, at least before that happens, Democrats say let's just get out there, get on the record and politically make our voices heard and make our votes seen.

HOLMES: Dana, please explain this more to our viewers. This is just more political theater. It's not like nobody in this country doesn't know where Democrats stand on this issue or Republicans, but now, I guess, you're just putting it officially in the books. You're making somebody take a stance. But we know where everybody stands. There's, like you said, a compromise being worked out. So why the show?

BASH: It is the congressional record. There is no other way to answer that. You call this political theater. I would not disagree with that characterization. And I frankly think if I would probably corner a Democrat here they would probably agree with that. They realize that this is actually something and I think we can sort of go back in time a little bit before the election.

Democrats wanted -- many Democrats wanted to hold this vote. But it was so controversial and still is within the Democratic Party that they didn't do it. They were a little afraid to do that before the election. You know, now, the election is done.

So there are enough Democrats who say that we feel strongly enough about this. We shouldn't mention that President Obama campaigned on this very strongly when he was running for president. And let's just get out there and get on the record and make our voices heard.

HOLMES: And no matter what the theater today, everyone agrees that something will get done by the end of the year. There's no way they're going to get out of there and let these taxes go up at the beginning of next year, are they?

BASH: I wouldn't say no way. I would say there's a very small percentage -- the chances are very small I should say that they will allow that to happen. But I have heard from Republicans that if they can't get what they want, they would not be opposed to letting these tax cuts expire and dealing with it when they have more numbers in the Senate and majority in the House early next year and then try to do it retroactively. I don't expect that to happen at this point because these talks are really happening in earnest, but don't rule it out.

HOLMES: Dana, we're glad your alarm clock went off this morning. We appreciate you pulling Saturday duty for us. Always good to see you here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We'll check in with you plenty this morning. Thanks so much.

BASH: OK.

HOLMES: I want to turn back now to that new trade deal we were telling you about with South Korea. The White House says it could create jobs, at least support jobs maybe for Americans here, also give a boost to the U.S. carmakers.

Here's what we know. We're going to learn more from the president here coming up shortly this morning, here's what we know right now.

It would do away with tariffs on more than 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods within five years. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates the tariff cuts will increase exports of U.S. goods by $10 to $11 billion.

Also, it calls for South Korea to reduce tariffs on American car imports from half from 8 percent to 4 percent. Tariffs would be eliminated completely in the fifth year of the agreement. Meanwhile, a 2.5 percent tariff on cars imported from South Korea will remain in place until the fifth year of the agreement.

The trade deal, even though the president talking about it and agreement has been reached on several issues between the administration and South Korea. Still, Congress would have to OK this trade deal.

CNN will be bringing you President Obama's comments live on this new trade deal. We're expecting him a little later this morning. We get more specifics about a time, we'll pass that along. We are expected to get some time possibly in the next few hours.

Tens of thousands of air travelers in Spain are going absolutely nowhere right now. The fallout continues from an air traffic controllers' strike. And it's now threatening to cripple international air travel. We're going to be taking you live to Spain next. Right now I want to take you live to about 15 feet away from me right now.

Say good morning to Reynolds Wolf.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, T.J. Good to see you.

Folks are having trouble obviously in Europe because of the issues there. You might have some issues in your airport today all due to the weather. Looks like some places will be getting the first dusting of snowfall of the year and we're going to talk about that coming up in a few moments.

Plus, a sneak peek at Buffalo, they're getting a break today, but more snow is on the way. Full story coming up right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 10 minutes past the hour. Now checking in once again with Reynolds Wolf. You were talking about Buffalo.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: We've been talking a lot about the economy this morning, of course the holiday season, as well. That all ties into the economy. A lot of you going to be online ordering stuff. Hold on one second. You want to go ahead and -- no, go ahead and do it now. No, go ahead and cross. One of our camera guys here almost just shot right in front of the camera.

Josh, I'm handing over to Josh talking about the stuff you do online. You give your information. And sometimes you get -- sometimes you get follow-up e-mails targeting exactly what you want. How do they know?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Or just ads that show up based on where you've been before right because they know where you're going. Well, now the government is proposing a plan that could block websites from tracking you. And that could vastly change the Internet in some good ways, but also in some bad ways. I'll explain coming up, T.J.

Before we let you go, a quick quiz for you. This week the nominees for the 2011 Grammys were announced. Which group has won the most Grammy awards -- the Rolling Stones, Beatles, or U-2? Some good ones there. The answer for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 15 minutes past the hour. Before the break, we asked you a question that was inspired by this week's announcement of the 2011 Grammy nominees. Who has won the most Grammy Awards as a group -- the Rolling Stones, Beatles, or u2? If you said U-2, you would be correct. The group has won 22, including two for album of the year and two for record of the year.

I want to turn now to Spain where they have had to shut down air traffic, essentially close the air space in Spain. It's been closed since yesterday. We don't know how much longer it might be open because or closed because of the massive strike there by air traffic controllers. This has left literally hundreds of thousands of people stranded. We want to turn now to CNN Madrid bureau chief Al Goodman standing by for me. Al, is there any word about possibly when things might be up and running as normal again?

AL GOODMAN, MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Hi T.J.

I'm at the Madrid airport, a second straight day of chaos and dashed hopes for travelers, hundreds of thousands of them across the country because of the air controllers strike. The government trying to get control of this situation has declared a state of alert. That will put the military in control of the air traffic control towers. They're trying to oblige the controllers to come back to work.

And the latest word we have is that some of them are coming back, but many of the main airlines, Iberia, Air France, KLM, (INAUDIBLE) Air have canceled all of the flights for the day. That's not soon enough for one of the stranded passengers who's with me. Sydney Brock Nielsen is from Chicago. She's teaching English here in Madrid. Sidney, tell us what's going on with you.

SYDNEY BROCK NIELSEN, STRANDED PASSENGER: They canceled our flight. We got here at 11:00 because we knew there was going to be problems and then figured out that everything's canceled, so we took a bus. We booked a bus to go to Barcelona instead.

GOODMAN: So instead of a one-hour flight to Barcelona, you're going to be on a six or seven hour bus ride. How do you feel about that?

NIELSEN: Eight hours. We're trying to be positive. It's going to be an adventure. But obviously I'd prefer to fly.

GOODMAN: And from what you saw earlier before they cleared people out of the airport, what was the scene? What were you seeing with all these people when you got here?

NIELSEN: Well, we checked in. They didn't tell us that the flights were going to be canceled. They actually said that they would resume at 1:00 p.m. which was when our flight was. We got here and there were just hundreds of people waiting for their flight. GOODMAN: Well, good luck, Barcelona's a great town if you get there. T.J., that's just a little slice of what's happening all across the country. Many families traveling with young children. This is a long holiday weekend in Spain through next Wednesday. It was supposed to be a joyous time, right now, a chaotic time. T.J.

HOLMES: Al, before I let you go, what's the word on the possible resolution on the strike and getting things back to normal?

GOODMAN: Well, the government has been digging in its heels as the air traffic controllers union has been digging in their heels. The government says they're not going to talk to these guys, mainly men, until they go back to work. The latest sign is that some are coming back to work. The issue is it's not very easy to get the military air traffic controllers in there to run this civilian system. So what they're really trying to do is get the controllers back. It's a long-standing dispute over pay and conditions that some are coming back, T.J., indicates that maybe possibly by Sunday things may start to look a little bit normal again, T.J.

HOLMES: We certainly hope so. Al, we appreciate -- Al Goodman for us there in Madrid. Thank you so much.

Well, when you surf online and you're going to be doing plenty of it this holiday season I'm sure, companies often keep track of you. The government is proposing a plan that could possibly stop them from doing so. But could that possibly damage your online experience? Josh Levs with that answer for us. Good morning again, Josh.

LEVS: Good morning to you. It could in some ways, but it also actually helps some people. Let's take a look at how this breaks down. You know there's this do not call system out there that blocks telemarketers from calling you if you want to. Well, this would be a lot like that.

This is from the FTC. J It's called a do not track plan and here's how it would work. It would be a software add-on and it would basically tell websites that they can't collect information about you.

Now, it can't just automatically happen. It would have to go through Congress, congress would have to approve it. But think about what happened if all of a sudden telemarketers couldn't follow you and your traffic and your visits to various websites.

These are some of the pros. Consumers would be controlling who tracks information about you. And I know a lot of people would like that. Clearly a lot of people concerned right now. How do all of these companies know the kinds of products like? It's because they follow your site visits and where you want to buy things from. It would also shift the burden to companies. It would make it - basically the companies would have to make sure that they're the ones not tracking you based on that software.

But a lot of people in the industry think it could cause problems. Because if you think about it, billions of commerce dollars would be at risk. Right now, the tracking leads to advertisements, it leads to you buying stuff, and that money fuels the web. It fuels business in America. So you'd be taking that out of the picture.

Also, it would be removing incentive for websites to be free. If you look at the way it works right now, a lot of these websites are free because they have ads there. If they can't track you, they don't know how to target you, less likely that it would be free.

So people weighing in on both sides of this. The story's on cnnmoney.com. I'm at Facebook and Twitter at joshlevscnn and we're talking about it right now about this and where you stand on this whole idea of whether companies should track you or not track you.

And T.J., it'll be interesting to see what people say about that. We're going to have some of those responses in the 10:00 hour.

HOLMES: Josh, thank you. We'll see you again here shortly.

Well, a lot of people doing a lot of shopping right now for those gifts. And you go to a big store, like a Best Buy, electronic store. You're looking for a laptop. You go to the laptop section though. You've got laptops, you've got iPads, you've got Netbooks, you've got tablets. What are you supposed to do? Mario Armstrong is going to break this down simply for you coming up. I said simply, Mario. We're going to speak to him in just a second.

It's 20 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: At 23 minutes past the hour, taking a look at some of the stories making headlines. Federal employees are being asked not to read any WikiLeaks documents, even on their home computers. The government memo issued yesterday says many of the documents are still considered classified and any unauthorized worker looking at them could be punished.

Well, Democrat Mark Dayton has won his bid to become Minnesota's next governor finally defeating his Republican opponent after a recount. His opponent though has some questions about the recount, though. So this may not be over. The issue may be taken to court.

Honda is ending production of that vehicle, the boxy Element. Next year will be the last year the crossover utility vehicle will be in production. It became a favorite of small business owners, outdoor enthusiasts and pet owners. But the carmaker says customers have moved on to other vehicles, for instance, its Honda CRV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 26 minutes past the hour. It's that time of year, everybody's doing their holiday shopping right now, electronics always at the top of a lot of peoples' lists. A lot of people need laptops, going to be giving laptops. But then you've got laptops, tablets, Netbooks, notebooks, iPads. What's what?

Let's bring in Mario Armstrong, our digital lifestyle expert joining me now. Mario, good to see you again, my man.

If you can, this could take a while. Do this as quickly for me as you can. What's the difference between all of these things? A laptop, Netbook, what's the difference between all of these things?

MARIO ARMSTRONG, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Real quick, laptops are for professionals. You really need better processing power. You want to get more things done and be on the go, so great for those business travelers types.

Netbooks are great for college students, people on the go, but want to travel a lot and want something lightweight and want to do just light tasks, maybe a little e-mailing and web surfing.

And then tablets are for people that really already have a primary computer, you don't want this as a primary computer. And these are good for reading e-books or surfing the web and doing some light office work on them as well or games.

HOLMES: OK. Well, that was a very good job of succinctly wrapping that up for us. That helps a lot of people out I'm sure. But you go to the store, really if you go to a Best Buy -- I'm not picking on them -- that's just the store I usually go to. And you walk into the laptop section and you're overwhelmed. Where should you even start?

ARMSTRONG: So the question is, what do you look for? There's so many models. So you're right. The first thing that I'd like to recommend for folks, when you're making a purchase for a laptop, two key things.

Number one, buy as much what we call RAM, that's random access memory, buy as much RAM as you can afford. RAM is the engine. It helps the computer run as fast as possible.

The other thing is, buy the processing speed, as well. Buy the fastest processor, like the Intel Core I-5 or I-7. Those are some of the key ways that you'll get the computer at the speed and the processing power that you really want to have, especially for a laptop. These laptops have come down in price big time, T.J. It's a good time.

HOLMES: Also the more RAM you have and also the better processor you have, that can be a significant difference in the price of that laptop.

ARMSTRONG: That's true. It can. And so you're looking at a range from the low end, probably around $599, but it can go up to close to $1,000.

I'm holding a Toshiba right here with me. This is the world's thinnest laptop with a built-in DVD drive. A lot of people look at the (INAUDIBLE) as the world's thinnest, but this is great. It's about $1,000, but it's great for the business person but someone that also likes to travel and keep something light. Got a little quarter here so you can see exactly how thin this really is. HOLMES: You said $1,000 for that one.

ARMSTRONG: That's right.

HOLMES: Here we are, we're early December here now, are these things going to continue to go down in price as we get closer? Should you jump on the deal when you see it?

ARMSTRONG: Yes, great question. Absolutely jump on the deal when you see it. Do not play the wait game right now. The deals are happening. The electronic manufacturers and everyone is telling me, look Mario, these are the packages that we're doing.

Many people are also offering accessories and bundling other items with these goods. If they don't, ask for them because they have the flexibility to give you more than just a computer itself.

HOLMES: What do you find the mistake people are making -- and I would assume that most people out there, a lot of parents even who aren't so hip to all the computer technology and the terminology, they go in and they see one for the right price and the right size and let's roll. Let's get out of here and get it done.

But you brought up two important parts that they need to look at, the RAM and the processor and that could keep you from having to upgrade in the next two years, as well.

ARMSTRONG: That's right. You're future proofing yourself is what we want to look at. These are investments. These are something that you want to buy in the next 12 months or 18 months or 24 months. You want this to last for a few years. So the key is to really make the investment on that processor and on that random access memory.

The other thing is if you have gamers, you need to know the type of computing --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Right.

ARMSTRONG: -- person you're buying for.

If you have someone that may be interested in the NetBook but they also like the full -- the full functionality of a tablet, then you might want to look at something like this new Dell because this Dell has both. It's a convertible. It has -- it has a full keyboard here, but it also can convert to a touch screen tablet as well, the Dell Duo.

So you really need to know who you're shopping for and gamers, if you're buying anything for gamers, they need that processing power and they absolutely need large hard drive and -- and fast random access memory -- random access memory.

HOLMES: Ok, that Dell -- that Dell was hot. Everybody in the studio when you picked that up and did that, everybody gasped. Ok, that's pretty cool. And how much is that thing?

ARMSTRONG: Yes, this is $599. It's not bad. So it's kind of two in one. So if you're really kind of on the fence, do I get an iPad or a Tablet or do I get someone a laptop? This kind of gives you the best of a NetBook and a Tablet all in one device.

HOLMES: Mario --

ARMSTRONG: I'm very happy with this -- oh and one last thing --

HOLMES: All right.

ARMSTRONG: -- when you get -- you got to -- you got to personalize your stuff.

So this is a case.

HOLMES: Ok.

ARMSTRONG: So even if you already -- if people have tech stuff --

HOLMES: All right.

ARMSTRONG: -- you can get custom cases that you can make with your own logo.

HOLMES: You got a CNN case, I'm sorry, my producer Eddie (ph) just says you're killing us on time. So we've got to run. Good stuff this morning, though.

(CROSSTALK)

You can join us every Saturday at this time for our digital lifestyle expert. Mario Armstrong, we've got good information just like morning. Mario, we appreciate you as always.

And we've been telling you, we'll take a live look now.

We've been telling you about what's been happening on Capitol Hill. A busy day on Capitol Hill right now; the Senate is working. You're seeing them right now, they are debating right now. This is the Chicago -- oh excuse me -- the Illinois Senator Dick Durbin there. They're debating about extending the extension. The Bush-era tax cuts among other things.

We're keeping a close eye, our Dana Bash is there working for us as well, this weekend.

A quick break; we're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Thirty-four minutes past the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. They are talking about your money right now, this morning. The U.S. Senate, they are voting today, expected to vote here in the next couple of hours, 10:30 tentatively is when it's scheduled to happen. But they are voting on a couple of measures. This is a live look inside, Senator Grassley there speaking.

But a -- a vote on the Bush-era tax cuts. Two different votes they're going to be taking up. Now, both of these votes, however, are expected to fail. Nobody expects them to go through. However, Democrats will be able to at least put themselves and put Republicans on the record for these tax cuts.

Now, Democrats don't want -- as you know, they don't think people making more than $250,000 a year should get the tax breaks. They would like for them to expire for those making more than $250,000. Republicans, however, saying -- they should continue for everybody, at least temporarily. Both sides say a compromise will be likely in the next week or so. The Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year if action is not taken by this lame-duck Congress.

Now, a debate over the Bush tax cuts has delayed a vote, as well, on extending unemployment compensation for millions of people; Republicans refusing to vote on the bill until they come to an agreement over the tax cuts.

Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins us from Washington on an interesting Saturday, would you not say, Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: A pretty busy Saturday. We've got Dana Bash up on Capitol Hill. And T.J., she's covering that tax cut vote. Democrats, Republicans, obviously don't see eye-to-eye there, as you just mentioned. They don't see eye-to- eye either on -- on extending these unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of people who are kind of maxed out on these benefits. And if nothing is done, these checks won't come.

So Democrats, they're taking -- and the President are -- are taking the side of -- of these unemployed people saying continue the benefits. Just do it. Republicans say, listen, we'd like to do it, but we can't afford to do it, it's only going to make the deficit worse. If you're going to extend these benefits you've got to cut some money from somewhere else. And that's why they don't see eye-to- eye on this.

But maybe there will be an agreement, some behind closed-door agreement for the tax cuts and for unemployment benefits to be extended. And remember this all comes one day after yesterday when that unemployment report came out, T.J., a very disappointing report. Unemployment up now to 9.8 percent.

HOLMES: All right, we always talk to you. It's always good to get an idea of what Americans think about what's happening versus what the politicians think. So what are you finding out?

STEINHAUSER: As usual, I have some polls for you, ok. So take a look at this. We asked -- this is from Gallup and USA today from a couple of weeks ago. And they asked about extending those unemployment benefits, how important is it? And take a look, you can see right there that almost half of the people questioned in that poll said that it is somewhat or I mean, very important to extend those benefits.

Another 28 percent say it's somewhat important. And only -- it's only about one in four at the bottom there said it's not very important.

And here's why. Take a look at this next number, this is from our own CNN U.S. -- CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll. The most important economic issue -- jobs, T.J., it's still number one by far. And we know the economy is the top issue with Americans. And when it comes to the most important economic issue, it is jobs. It was jobs in the -- just in the recent midterm elections and it continues to be jobs -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, we appreciate you as always, Paul with the polls. Thank you so much.

And I want our viewers know -- one programming note for tomorrow morning, 8:00, we're going to hear from one of these so-called 99ers. Somebody who has been unemployed 99 weeks and the unemployment benefits have expired. Our guest, Rhonda Taylor trying to convince lawmakers to extend unemployment past those 99 weeks and that's Sunday 8:00 a.m. right here on CNN.

Also, 38 minutes past the hour now. A quick look at some of the -- the day's biggest headlines right after the break.

But first: another quiz for you that's inspired by the 2011 Grammys that were not announced this week. Do you know which of these female artists made history with the most Grammy wins in one night? Was it Alicia Keys, Beyonce, or Lady Gaga? An accomplished of group of ladies there. But who was it?

A quick break. Your answer is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now, before the break, we asked you, "Which female artist made history with the most Grammy wins in one night? Was it Alicia Keys, Beyonce or Lady Gaga?" Certainly an impressive group, but Beyonce has impressed the most. She took home six trophies last year, although she did not win "Album of the Year".

That honor you may remember went to Taylor Swift. Alicia Keys of all set the record with five wins back in 2001.

Well, a quick look now at some of the stories that are making headlines.

Investigators aren't sure what caused a tour bus driver to lose control before crashing in Vermont on Friday. Sixteen people injured here. The bus was taking students from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to Canada for a skiing trip when police say it crossed the median and rolled over.

Also, a gunman took 33 people hostage at a bank in Lima, Peru, held them for hours before a police sniper took him out. Just before the shooting the S.W.A.T. team helped some of the bank's employees escape through windows. Two hostages were wounded during this whole ordeal.

Also, the Office of Management and Budget is warning unauthorized federal workers and contractors not to try to read the classified documents on WikiLeaks. The ban applies to government and personal computers, Blackberry, Smartphones, wherever for the public or not, the documents are still classified. Meaning, you're not supposed to be reading them.

Well, every year in Thailand, they lay out a Thanksgiving spread fit for a king. But at this banquet, monkeys are the guests of honor. And there are 3,000 of them. Forty-one minutes past the hour.

Nadia Bilchik is going to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 43 minutes past the hour. You know you thought about doing this if you haven't actually done it, re-gifting. You know, something you got last year you didn't really want, but you didn't use. You're going to wrap it up this year and give it to somebody else.

Well, there are some rules to follow. There are some re-gifting etiquette. And we're going to be talking to Emily Post Institute about it. Peggy Post is going to joining us live at 9:15 Eastern. That ought to be good.

Well, 3,000 pampered monkeys in Thailand invited each year for a Thanksgiving dinner in their honor. Nadia, seriously is it 3,000 really?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Seriously in Lopburi in Thailand, which is around 1,000 or 100 miles north of Bangkok.

HOLMES: Ok.

BILCHIK: You have these monkeys. Now, there are is a proliferation of monkeys in Lopburi. And what they do on Thanksgiving is they have a Thanksgiving feast for these monkeys.

HOLMES: Why?

BILCHIK: Now there's a belief the Thai version of the Ramayana which is a Hindu legend that Rama actually built the city of Lopburi with the king of monkeys.

So what they do is they provide around 4,000 kilograms of food for these monkeys. The most exquisite array of fruit, they're just eating a durian fruit. A durian fruit is hard outside but milky inside, apparently an acquired taste but smells of dirty socks. Then there's a delicious yogurt drink that is very specific to Thailand. And it attracts a large amount of tourists because it is such a spectacle seeing these 3,000 monkeys peel eggs.

Look at the array of food. The photographs we've seen, exquisite platters of all kinds of fruits. In Thailand, there's three kinds of apples: there's cashew apples, custard apples, rose apples, star apples -- so the exquisite exotic fruit.

HOLMES: Ok. Can I assume here though looking at the pictures I'm seeing, doesn't this wreak havoc? You've got these 3,000 monkeys running around, it seems like they're on cars -- does it cause kind of a problem in the town?

BILCHIK: Well, they're a menace anyway. And they're very cheeky but not too problematic. They do things like pull up people's skirts, they grab food, but they're part of Lopburi --

HOLMES: Ok.

BILCHIK: So the authorities in Lopburi decided let's celebrate these monkeys and give them a Thanksgiving feast. But it does draw thousands of tourists to Lopburi in Thailand.

HOLMES: Ok. Nadia, always interesting with you even if it makes us shake our heads sometimes; we appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.

Well, coming up, take a look at this video. Got a guy here to show you. He was in the hospital -- well, he was in the hospital because his heart stopped beating during a high school basketball practice.

But HLN, our CNN sports guy, Joe Carter he is going to tell us now how an iPhone app -- yes, an iPhone app actually saved the young man's life. Joe is in the house. We're going to talk to him right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, you've heard the saying, "They've got an app for that." Well, they have an app that will save your life. And apparently someone put it to good use on a high school basketball player.

Let me bring in for one of these wild moments, Joe Carter from HLN Sports. Good to see you. Coaches, quick-acting, saving his life using an iPhone app.

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: You say it's one of those wow moments. So this happened in the Los Angeles area. Xavier Jones is the basketball player's name. During a practice suddenly collapses, stops breathing, goes into a seizure.

Two of his coaches quickly act. One starts giving him CPR while the other one takes out his iPhone and is giving the other coach step- by-step instructions, CPR instructions thanks to an application that he downloaded the night before.

HOLMES: Wow.

CARTER: Now, for people looking for this app, it's called "Phone Aid". It's $1.99 and like I was gives step-by-step instructions on how to go through the CPR process with someone who needs it. Ok.

So they start administering CPR on this young man. He starts breathing again. He's taken to the hospital. He was in a coma for 24 hours, came out of the coma and now is doing well.

But the doctors say thanks to the coaches and because he was able to breathe so quickly after he passed out and stopped breathing, he's going to be ok.

HOLMES: And you say the kid kind of had a history of some medical conditions.

CARTER: He's got a heart condition, which doctors say could actually limit his ability to play basketball in the future. Now, he plays for a really good basketball team in Los Angeles. They actually ranked seventh in the country when it comes to high school basketball teams.

But this is a 4.0 student. This is someone who wants to be a medical military doctor, and someone that his coaches say is the kind of guy you would want your daughter to marry. He's a good guy.

HOLMES: Right now, do we know if he will be able to continue, at least this year with his basketball? Or is that up in the air?

CARTER: That's up in the air right now. Not sure if doctors are going to let him continue to play this year because, you know, there's too much on the line.

HOLMES: One more thing I want to get through here quickly. Everybody's been asking, when Tiger is going to be back. Not just back on the course, but actually dominating on the course again.

CARTER: He's not quite dominating but he's looking pretty good. Well, he's leading this tournament and this happens to be the one tournament actually the first tournament that he missed following last year's scandal.

All right. So, he's got a four-shot lead heading into the weekend. He -- you know, this course really plays in his game too. There's a lot of long par 5s. So, he's got a great chance at winning.

And here's the ironic part, when he was knocked off of being the number one player this year, mathematically, he has a chance if he wins this tournament this weekend to become the world's number one golfer once again.

HOLMES: One day I'm going to bring you on and we're just going to do a whole segment on doing that mathematical equation to figure out how a guy is number one. But he could get right back this weekend. And this is his tournament. He hosts this tournament.

CARTER: He hosts this tournament. The proceeds go to the Tiger Woods Foundation. And he hasn't played it in two years, but he's won it four times before. And it's interesting how everything played out one year later.

HOLMES: This is the one a lot of people will remember, like you said. This was right after -- it happens the same time every year, after that Thanksgiving accident, people are wondering, is he going to show up?

CARTER: Yes.

HOLMES: What's his face going to look like? Is he cut up? And then last minute he said he wasn't going to show up.

CARTER: He bailed out. Yes. Now he's got a four-shot lead heading into today. So.

HOLMES: All right. Joe, good to see you; it's good stuff. I'm going to have to download that app. That's good stuff. $1.99.

All right. Well, coming up, when you need a fashion makeover, who do you talk to? Maybe a beauty expert of some kind. When you want an education makeover, you bring in this guy.

How are you doing Steve? I've got all kinds of company in the studio today. Everybody wants to come see me. I love it.

Steve came all the way down from the northeast just to be here with me this morning. Our education expert and good friend Steve Perry; he has an update on a family that was looking for some help. He's coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. About five minutes to the top of the hour. Every parent out there wants their child to be successful in school. But the kid's got a lot going on. You have to get to class, you have the homework, you have sports, you have the social life. How do you keep your kid on track.

Well, for one family, the battle starts way before the first bell rings at the school. It starts with the alarm clock. We sent in our Dr. Steve Perry for an education makeover.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA RACZKOWSKI, MOTHER: We have three marvelous children. They're all in middle school right now. The first is Nathan. Nathan is 14, he just turned 14, and he's in the eighth grade. And then our twins, David and Eva are 12 years old.

They love school because they get to see all of their friends there. But Victor and I feel that the children -- maybe they're not meeting their full potential. STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: We gave the Raczkowski family a flip cam so that I could get a sense of what was going on inside the home. What their daily routines look like, and how mom and dad struggle to get their children to comply with what they want them to do to be successful in school.

J. RACZKOWSKI: Good morning, Nathan, time to get up.

Good morning, Eva, time to rise. Are you awake?

David, good morning; time to wake up. Time to get up and get your stuff together and go to school. Good morning.

Come on, rise and shine, happy guy.

Come on, Nathan, this is your second call. Ok. Hurry up, you need to leave with daddy in like five minutes, ok?

It's worrisome because it is 5 minutes of 8:00, I'm leaving the house, and the kid isn't out of the bed yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: That doesn't ever happen in my house. Steve -- Dr. Steve Perry is here with us. It's good to have you in with us.

It's a long lasting debate. You and I had a debate about this yesterday. If there's a quality teacher in the classroom, does it really matter about the other forces acting in that kid's life? Or can he succeed as long as he has a good teacher?

PERRY: The most important part of this, actually, is what happens in the school. But the support does happen at home. Because you could have the best parents in the world, you send a child to a raggedy school, you're not going to get very far. You have to overcome the limitations of the educational system.

But when you have the family who can support a good school, great things happen.

HOLMES: On the flip side of that, what if you have -- not the best parent in the world sending a child to maybe a sub-par school, but what about if you've got the best teacher in the world in that classroom, but then the circumstances outside of the school for the kid aren't so great?

PERRY: Teachers make magic happen every day, that's what they do. What they're able to do is look into the soul of a child and find out what they can be, not what they are. Not what they are, but what they should be. And when we put teachers -- great teachers in front of children, great things happen.

Now, look, this is about -- what this story's about is about how parents can play a role in educating their children. Very often, we hear parents beaten up upon and said well, the reason why the children are failing is because the parents are not doing --

(CROSSTALK)

PERRY: -- most parents are doing the best that they can. The Kraczkowski family -- the father's a doctor, mom's a school nurse, beautiful kids, beautiful community struggling just like so many of us because in the end we're all reduced to being parents. No matter what you do for a living, no matter how much you make, no matter how much education you have; in the end, we're just parents trying to figure our way through.

HOLMES: All right. What are we going to see? I know this is coming up at 2:30 and 4:30 today. But what -- what do we expect to see. We're going to hear more from that family, what else?

PERRY: What we're going to going to see is how the family began and how they ended -- a lot of surprises. And, and -- an original theme song, the best theme song since "Good Times".

HOLMES: How did you get a theme song?

PERRY: Man, every hero needs a theme song.

HOLMES: How did you get a theme song? And look at this. You've got a graphic.

PERRY: Ferrell --

HOLMES: Made the song, I remember.

PERRY: Ferrell, the original theme song -- the best theme song since "Good Times", man.

HOLMES: This is Dr. Steve Perry and his episode of "Good Times 2" coming up today at 2:30 and 4:30 Eastern, the education makeover with our Steve Perry right here on CNN. Don't miss that.

My man, good to have you in studio here for a change; good to have you in Atlanta as always.

We're going to take a quick break here. I'm coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)