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CNN Saturday Morning News

Church to Protest Edwards Funeral; Polling the Bush Tax Cuts; Billionaire Families and Individuals Make Pledge to Donate Bulk of Wealth to Charity; Avoid Being Scammed At the Mall; This Week in Sports

Aired December 11, 2010 - 07:00   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 to you all.

If you are in the Midwest, it is frigid and potentially dangerous this morning with the weather. Minneapolis, under a winter storm warning at this hour. Other states are bracing for blizzard conditions as well. If you are not in that area, it could still impact you, because what's happening there could have some effects on travel around the country. So, you need to hear what's happening. We will explain it all for you, coming up.

Also, it was a half-hour show-stopper at the White House. President Obama brings in former President Clinton to help him sell his tax plan to the public. But he ends up leaving the job to the former president, all together. We'll show you this extraordinary moment at the White House press room.

From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for December the 11th. Good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

Also coming up today, we're just a few hours away from people paying their final respects to Elizabeth Edwards, the wife, of course, of the former presidential candidate John Edwards. She passed away Tuesday after battling breast cancer.

At times, you know as well, she had to battle some pretty embarrassing revelations in the headlines. She was 61 years old. Of the headlines, though, some more headlines could be coming out today. And that's really a concern for a lot of people who loved and admired her. They are concerned the headlines might be about the protests and demonstrators who'd be outside of the funeral. A lot of people are wondering why in the world would she be the target of hate and anger -- an angry protest.

Well, the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, they are the ones that are going to be demonstrating, or plan to demonstrate outside. They say Elizabeth Edwards is, quote, "in hell" for certain views and the way she lived her life. The church has been classified as a hate group by others, including the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Now, Westboro Baptist Church, that might not sound familiar to you when you hear the name, but you'll know some of their acts. They are the ones who protest outside military funerals. They are the ones who say soldiers are being killed and America is being punished because it's tolerant of homosexuality.

A lot of people would love to just ignore them, but it's hard to when they have chosen now this high profile place and this time to protest at the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards.

Supreme Court is actually taking up the case of Westboro. They have heard arguments in the case against the church who was brought by the dad of a Marine who was killed in Iraq. The church protested at his funeral. Decision is expected before the summer recess.

Now, counter-protests also expected today. They are going to try to counter what Westboro is doing. Two of the people who are organizing these counter-protests spoke with our Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN REQUENA, WESTBORO COUNTER-PROTEST ORGANIZER: This isn't about us. It's not about the thousands of people from the local community and abroad that are going to come over and help protest and spread the love. And it's certainly not about the Westboro group. This is about human decency and common courtesy.

Our freedom to go there and counter-protest takes care of their freedom to protest in the first place. Like I said, if they are there and we aren't, they're the story. So, we want to be the bigger story, better story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Elizabeth Edwards will be buried next to her son Wade who died in a car crash back in 1996. The funeral for Edwards is happening in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1:00 Eastern Time today. It will take place at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church, where the family worships.

We'll have live coverage of Elizabeth Edwards' funeral, again, starts at 1:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN.

Turn to politics now and political insiders can't remember anything like what we saw yesterday. Two presidents standing at one podium, Barack Obama and former President Clinton together. They are in the briefing room, the totally unexpected, unscripted moment. These are the two biggest names, really, in the party.

They had the same job yesterday though. They were selling the administration's tax cut deal which many in the president's own party don't like it. The two men met earlier at the White House to try to come up with a strategy, but then they stepped out in front of the cameras.

An extraordinary television moment, the current president handing things over to the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, 42CD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think this is a net plus. And you know how I feel, I think the people that benefit most should pay most. That's always been my position -- not for class warfare reasons, for reasons of fairness in rebuilding the middle class in America. But we have the distribution of authority we have now in the Congress and what we're going to have in January. And I think this is a much, much better agreement than would be reached were we to wait until January.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: There's another extraordinary moment that a lot of people are talking about today, a lot of political insiders. They're really breaking it down.

Now, the current president, President Obama, actually stepped in for a moment as Clinton kind of got going there in front of the podium and he stepped out. President Obama said, hey, I got to go. I've kept my wife waiting. I'm going to take up and I'm going to leave this in his hands.

And the former President Clinton stood there for about 20 to 30 minutes, taking questions there at the podium from the reporters, an extraordinary moment. He was certainly still basking in the glow of the White House, certainly enjoying himself there. He did give good support for, of course, the president's deal he made with Republicans, calling it the best bipartisan agreement we could reach to help the largest number of Americans.

The president's deal with Republicans over the so-called Bush era tax cuts continues, though, to stir up controversy. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser examines what the American people think about extending the tax cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, T.J.

The battle resumes Monday here in Washington over President Barack Obama's deal with congressional Republicans to extend those Bush era tax cuts. In the past few days, we've seen a lot of pushback on Capitol Hill against the plan by members of the president's own party, as well as by some conservatives.

So, what do Americans think? Two new polls out in the past few days give us a clue. A survey by Gallup indicates that two-thirds of the public supports the part of the plan that extends those tax cuts for all Americans for two years, and an equal amount give a thumbs-up to the part of the proposal that extends jobless benefits for another year for the long-term unemployed.

But six out of 10 question in Bloomberg national poll favor eliminating tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Other recent polls from other organizations indicate the same thing.

Remember, if there's no agreement here in Washington, the current tax cut rates disappear at the end of the year -- T.J. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Thanks as always to our Paul Steinhauser.

Speaking of D.C., take a shot of Washington, D.C. this morning. Lovely picture as always, live picture of the capital where work is always going on, even on the weekend.

Well, coming up, no matter where you are today and what you're doing, if you have anybody traveling in your family or maybe you're traveling yourself, you need to see what's happening in weather today. We have some winter weather warnings taking place. And it is going to cause chaos in some places as far as the travel schedule goes.

It's six minutes past the hour. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A beautiful shot of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. We are just starting to get some light here in downtown Atlanta, the headquarters of CNN.

It looks gorgeous, doesn't it, Bonnie? But it is frigid here in Atlanta. We are not used to that, shall I say? Or shall I just say I'm not used to that? But, yes, it's been cold here all week.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has. And, T.J., it's actually going to turn ever colder.

HOLMES: What?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. In some counties north of Atlanta, we'll see snow showers by the time we get to Tuesday. This is a huge blast of arctic weather. I cannot stress this enough. I know we just got through with one.

But there is a brand-new winter storm that is organizing in the Midwest. And this one is huge. It's going to impact so many areas on a busy December weekend. I want to break it down and show you exactly what's happening.

Wow. It's just going to getting started. You can see the snow moving into Minnesota. We could show a live picture of Minneapolis at this hour. The temperatures right now in the 20s, but you are in for heavy snow later on.

But the main thing to know is you're still going to be looking at strong winds. So, we have a lot of watches and warnings posted across not just Minnesota but to the South, in Iowa, where we have blizzard warnings in effect right now that could get upgraded from Minneapolis. Right now, you're under a winter storm warning.

But notice the blizzard warnings, that's the red right here, that's where the wind are going to gust as strong as 55 miles per hour. That's very intense wind. So, when you have the snow falling and you have the force of the wind, you get blowing snow, which makes driving almost impossible because the visibility is down to zero because the snow is going to be blowing about.

And all of this is pushing to the east. That's why a winter weather advisory is posted for Chicago tomorrow. Chicago right now 31. Not so bad. Wait until tomorrow. We're looking at a dramatic change in the weather.

I'm going to talk temperatures because that's the other big story. Right now, the temperatures are in the 20s, as I mentioned, across the Great Lakes. In the 30s a little bit further to the west. But big changes are coming with this storm system because as the low kind of drops out of the Northern Plains, it will pull down Arctic air and heavy snow. Notice the purple through here? That's where we're going to see some snow, a foot or more over parts of Minnesota and northern Michigan.

But this cold air plummets so far south and then the low kind of parks itself over New England by the time we get to Sunday. We'll be looking at blustery conditions, fierce wind that will take down the temperature and the wind chill factor and the overnight lows to dangerous levels.

Take a look at what's ahead for early this coming week. What we are expecting is this cold air to plunge so far south, it's all the way into Georgia. Temperatures will be in the teens. (AUDIO BREAK)

The numbers you see here, that's the wind chill factors. So, when we were talking about a temperature, a high temperature in Chicago of 13 degrees early next week, it will feel like it's negative 14 due to the strong wind and the wind particularly tomorrow for Chicago will be very blustery. Conditions will actually go from OK today to sleet tonight and then eventually blustery cold and snowy and goes to Cleveland as well.

And then the lake-effect snow machine gets cranking. If this pattern looks familiar to you, this is a similar pattern to what we had the previous week when we had those heavy, heavy lake effect snows. A low right here, over western New York, pulling down the colder air over the warmer waters of the Great Lakes. And notice that air temperature will be cold enough to support snow.

So, we could be looking at dangerous lake effect snow as well, T.J., as we go into early next week. So, weather is going to be a huge story going forward from today straight through I'd say the middle of next week.

HOLMES: Middle of next week. Bonnie, we appreciate you.

We'll be checking in with Bonnie plenty throughout the morning. You're not going to miss a thing, certainly as it starts to wrap even more and more developments with the weather. She's standing by for us.

Well, about 11 minutes past the hour now.

And a man spent most of his young life building up his fortune, and quite a fortune it is. He has billions and billions of dollars in the bank now. So, what do you do with all that money? You give it away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Thirteen minutes past the hour.

They have made billions and billions and billions of dollars, and this week, some of the wealthiest people in the world decided they want to give that stuff away. Josh Levs is here to explain what's happening.

Good morning again, Levs.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning again to you.

You know what? It's really interesting as these people make decisions when they've made so much money especially at such a young age. Seventeen more families and individuals made that announcement this week, that they'll give up the majority of their fortunes to charity. Among them, this guy, probably the best known billionaire, gazillionaire young man around, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder.

He joined what's called the Giving Pledge, billionaires publicly announcing they'll give away the bulk of their money. Zuckerberg said young, wealthy people like himself have the opportunity to give back earlier in their lifetimes and see the impact of their philanthropic efforts.

Conan had a good joke about this. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, TV HOST: Mark Zuckerberg signed a pledge to give away all of his money. Yes. And he's going to do it by investing heavily in MySpace.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Nice. Well, the Giving Pledge is created by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Let me talk you through this a little bit. It's actually is created by two people, Warren Buffett and by Bill and Melinda Gates. They got together and they made this decision.

And now, they have 57 families in total who have taken the pledge. They include the investor Carl Icahn, very well-known; former junk bond investor Michael Milken; and also America Online founder, Steve Case. These are just a few of the 57 families there.

And take a look at this quote from the Giving Pledge that I want you to see. They say that it's a commitment to give. It's not a legal contract. They say it's "a moral commitment, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or a supporting a particular set of causes or organizations."

I mean, you can see who all 57 families are and the statements from them. And this is where -- I link it for you they're at my pages, at my Facebook and Twitter pages at JoshLevsCNN.

What I've done is I linked for you an interactive Web site from the Giving Pledge where you can click on any one of these families and you can learn about why they made this decision and you can also learn a little bit about what their statements are, what their views are on why they're doing it, why they want to give up all that money and what they plan to do with it.

T.J., so, it's just a beginning. I know they are expecting lot more people to join this and maybe eventually go worldwide with this.

HOLMES: All right. Josh, thank you this morning.

LEVS: You got it.

HOLMES: Well, are you one of those folks, you go to the mall for that holiday shopping, you tell yourself you're going to spend $200, when you leave, you end up spending $500? Or maybe you got three things to get, you walked out of the mall with eight?

Well, Clyde Anderson is coming up next. He's going to trying to keep you from being a sucker, because there are some specific things that retailers do out there to get you to spend that money. It's not just you. We'll explain, coming up.

It's 15 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. It's that time, I don't know, how many days do we have left? What about -- how many shopping days, 15, 16? Do we have that many? Somebody do the math for me. I don't have it on top of my head. Everybody looking at me in the studio, nobody can add it up right quick.

But you don't have much time, 14 -- 14 days left to do your shopping.

Now, when you go out there to do that shopping, there are some specific tricks that retail stores use to make you spend more than you planned on spending.

Our financial analyst Clyde Anderson is here with me this morning.

This is -- this is kind of cool stuff here that they do. Who knew?

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Who knew?

HOLMES: Who knew? All right. But what are those specific things out there you need to be watching out for in the first place?

ANDERSON: Well, I think there's three things that we need to look at first. They're doing several tricks. So, you got to be prepared. So, it's buyer beware.

And one of the things that they do is actually go ahead and use promotionals, and use things like early bird specials to get you in the store quickly and save that limited supplies, you know, while supplies last.

HOLMES: So, you tell me that's not true?

ANDERSON: It's not true. They get orders throughout the whole holiday season. And so that triggers that emotion in you to say, hey, I got to get this before they're all gone. All right?

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: That's one. The next one is going ahead and saying that, OK, number two, the thing that they do and they're trying to get you to do is outside of the early bird specials, they're going to send you promotional items and things like gift cards in the mail. OK?

HOLMES: OK. What's wrong with that?

ANDERSON: Well, they send free items. They'll say buy, you know, don't buy anything, just come here, I'll give you a $25 gift card. And a lot of retailers are doing this right now. But think about it, when you go in those stores, you're going to buy something else. If you buy a shirt, you're going to buy a pair of pants to go with it. Very few people take that gift card, that free coupon and go in and just buy that one thing. OK?

So, the emotion is that I'm getting something for free, why not buy something else?

HOLMES: OK. We love free stuff.

ANDERSON: We love free stuff. All right. And that's BOGO, and we talked about this before. That's "buy one, get one." With the buy one, get one, you think you're really getting something for free.

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: Nothing in life is free.

HOLMES: Yes.

ANDERSON: And so, we got to really understand. And so, it's just like getting something off the clearance rack. They're going to mark those things up a lot of times to be able to offer that deal to you. So, you might as well just going to shop on a clearance rack instead of getting suckered in to believe you're really getting for free.

HOLMES: Wait a minute. Buy one get one free is not legit? It's not legit? Even at the grocery store -- you went to the grocery store, it says buy one get one free.

ANDERSON: I ruined it for you, didn't I? HOLMES: You kind of killed it for me.

ANDERSON: Yes, I kind of killed it for you.

HOLMES: OK. Let's move on to the next one here. I have no idea about this and I don't even know where you're going with this. But there are certain smells that trigger --

ANDERSON: Certain smells trigger your emotions. And department stores pay a lot of money to get these scents. And there are scientists and chemists that come up with this scents to lower your inhibitions and to get you to spend more money. And that's what they do.

HOLMES: It's like liquor when you walk in there.

ANDERSON: It's relaxing. You think about it. You know, it's known that casinos pump oxygen into the casino. The same thing, they want you to keep ringing that register over and over again.

And so, you think about it. The baby department is going to smell like baby powder a lot of times. When you go to the beach section, or you're looking for bathing suits, it's going to smell like the beach.

HOLMES: Are you serious?

ANDERSON: Take a look at it. Next time you're in the store, smell -- step back a little bit, take a breath, smell and then you realize that a lot of things in there are strategic. They are planned. They came to play hard, they want your money. So, they are prepared.

And the other thing is sound. You know, we don't think about that music of the festive holiday music that we're hearing all the times. Those are things that get you to stay in the store a lot longer. Generally, there's like 30 percent to 40 percent longer, especially if they're playing slow tempo music.

So, if you go in a store and they're playing the slow tempo music, that's to get you to linger around a little bit more. If you linger around a little bit more, you got to pay or going to spend more money. You're going to swipe that card because you're comfortable, you're relaxed, and to get you in a holiday spirit, especially with that Christmas song.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. Some of it, I had no idea. So, what's the best way you're supposed to combat this stuff? With the mind set?

ANDERSON: The best way -- it's mind set. Be prepared. Go in there with the plan, know I'm going in there to get these specific items. Lists are perfect, because otherwise, you're going to fall victim, you become the prey. You know, you got to have a plan, know what you're buying. Don't go in the store and end up walking out with stuff you had no intention of even buying in the first place. HOLMES: I am such a sucker. Oh, I have no idea. I was telling everybody else in the tease -- hey, trying to avoid being a sucker. I'm a sucker. All right.

ANDERSON: Sucker no more.

HOLMES: All right. Clyde, we appreciate you as always. Good stuff to be able to --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

Well, 21 minutes past the hour now.

Coming up: 13 rules of basketball. Yes, there are more to it that now. But there were 13 original rules to basketball. A 111- year-old document was auctioned off. How much did it go for? Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

Take a look here, something that went viral. You've seen some of this before. Look at this guy. That's impressive, probably a little dangerous as well.

This is some kids out of Mission Viejo, California. They are hopping off anything they can hop off of. They are bouncing the balls off anything to bounce off of. And they end up in the pool, dunk. I mean, I don't know how much, Joe, they actually had to practice these. We're just seeing the final versions.

But these guys spend a lot of time, maybe got a little too much time on their hands in doing this.

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'd like to see the outtakes.

HOLMES: I'd like to see the parents. Where are the parents? These kids are jumping off the roof of a house into a shallow pool, I'm sure. But, yes, it went viral and it's impressive for the most part.

CARTER: Yes, it's definitely impressive.

HOLMES: I'm here with HLN Sports' Joe Carter checking this out with me. Couple of things to check out and there's no mystery about who's going to win the Heisman tonight. But there's intrigue about the ceremony.

CARTER: Yes, I guess you could say. Yes, there is intrigue. I mean, tonight is the 76th Heisman trophy award that's going to be handed out. There are four finalists.

HOLMES: And we (INAUDIBLE). CARTER: Three quarterbacks and one running back but we clearly know who's going to win the Heisman Trophy this year and it's going to be Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. I mean, no player in college football has meant more to his team than Cam Newton has to the Auburn Tigers.

You don't -- I don't know if you could find an Auburn fan out there that could tell me this time last year that they're going to be in the national championship.

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

CARTER: And h is truly the reason why they are where they are. So, it should be interesting. Now, there have been several voters out there that have said because of the pay for play scandal that his father is allegedly involved in --

HOLMES: Just a handful, though. Just a handful.

CARTER: Just a handful say that they're not going to vote for him. But I don't think in any way it's going to affect his chances. I think he's going to run away with the Heisman trophy tonight.

HOLMES: It kind of makes me sad, though. His dad has come out and said he's not coming to the ceremony. This is the biggest moment in his son's life and because of all this. It would take away if his dad actually was there.

CARTER: Yes, it would. It would. And that's I think the reason why his dad is not going to come because he doesn't want to -- it would distract his moment. And Cam said that he's disappointed his dad is not going to be there, but he understands.

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn now to a story that's fascinating. I didn't actually get the final dollar amount, but the original 13 rules of basketball as written down by Dr. Naismith himself actually auctioned off.

CARTER: Auctioned off yesterday for over $4 million. Now, going into the auction they had thought, well, $2 million is about what it's going to grab. But it set a new record for an auction when it comes to sports memorabilia. Now, these documents were created back in 1891 on two yellow pieces of paper.

HOLMES: Wow.

CARTER: Thirteen rules -- 13 rules, some of which were no dribbling. No pushing or striking other players.

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

CARTER: Nine players on each team. So, it's 18 players at once on a court.

HOLMES: It's still valid? CARTER: You know, not really. It's amazing how much the game has evolved. They used a soccer ball and even shot into a peach basket. So, it's amazing how the thing has evolved over the years.

HOLMES: Last thing, we have any idea who bought it?

CARTER: Yes. His name is David Booth (ph). And he's a Kansas University alum. And he plans to give it to the University of Kansas, one favorite to house.

HOLMES: Very nice. Very nice.

All right. Joe, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much.

Quick break here. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Coming up on the bottom of the hour here now, a couple things we're keeping a close eye on today.

The public is getting a chance to say goodbye to Elizabeth Edwards today. We will carry the funeral services for her live here. She, of course, the wife of former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards. She died of cancer this week.

The service is going to be held at a family church in Raleigh. Among those giving her a eulogy will be her oldest daughter Cate. Elizabeth Edwards will be buried next to her son Wade who died in a car crash in 1996.

Also, Elizabeth Smart wants to move on with her life. She faced cameras yesterday, eight years after she was abducted from her home, and on the day the jury found a street preacher Brian David Mitchell guilty. She was 14 at the time she was taken. She endured nine months of captivity, saying Mitchell raped her at least daily. She calls the verdict an example that justice can be served. Mitchell could get a life when he's sentenced in May.

Also, the week ahead, it's going to be cold and snowy for much of the country. Live picture here. They might be enjoying the weather right now. This is in Central Park. The skating rink set up there. People are already out and about.

Meanwhile, we have winter watches and warnings going on in the Midwest. Minneapolis, in particular could get as much as a foot of snow. We have a close eye on that, which could cause some travel issues for some folks today.

But right now, I want to hand it over to the good doctor.