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CNN Saturday Morning News
Government Shutdown Looming, Congress Takes Weekend Off; GOP Hopefuls Waiting on Florida Straw Poll Results; Satellite Debris Being Found; Google Honors Jim Henson; Examining Facebook's Newest Features; Sex Strike Against Violence; H.S. Athlete Stops Race to Help Rival; Berkeley Race Bake Sale; NBA Cancels Games; Ben & Jerry's 'Schweddy Balls'
Aired September 24, 2011 - 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 Saturday morning.
Coming up this morning, Congress goes home for the weekend and they had some work to do. They need to pass a bill to keep the government running. Yes, the word shutdown being thrown around once again.
Also this morning, the Troy Davis execution this week has reignited the debate over the death penalty. That debate continues this morning.
Also take a look -- you see it there, we highlighted it for you -- this is believed to be debris from that satellite that was supposed to be coming tumbling back and crashing back to Earth early this morning. We're told it did come crashing down. We just don't know exactly where it is yet.
From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 7:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Wherever you are, we are glad you're right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.
We need to begin this morning with a little bit of politics, shall we? And there is another showdown over a possible shutdown. One week from today, the Federal government will run out of money. So with critical government programs and disaster relief hanging in the balance, Congress is taking the weekend off. But they say they have good reason to, they needed to cool off a bit.
CNN congressional correspondent Kate Bolduan tells us what's holding up a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With lawmakers heading for the exits and after a long week of heated debate --
REP. MIKE SIMPSON (R), IDAHO: That's the danger to this country is the $14 trillion deficit and the $1.6 trillion we add to it every damn year. REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Wake up. Wake up. You can't kill these programs. This is the solution you are killing.
BOLDUAN: -- Congress leaves Washington with no agreement on how to avoid another government shutdown.
Why the holdup as the September 30th deadline looms? Neither side is backing down. Top Republicans and Democrats continue pointing fingers at each other.
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: Harry Reid is holding a bill up with full funding of what is needed right now for no reason, no reason but for politics. Again, this is why the people just don't have the respect for this institution and this town anymore.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I can't understand their logic. Do they want the government to shut down? Do they want FEMA to close and FEMA will close.
BOLDUAN: The House late Thursday night narrowly passed a short- term spending bill that would keep the government funded through mid- November. The measure also includes what both sides say they care about most, urgently needed money for Federal disaster relief in the wake of the recent floods, storms and wildfires.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: It is a reasonable, responsible approach.
BOLDUAN: But that plan was quickly rejected by the Senate. The Democratic majority strongly opposed to House GOP demands the disaster aid be paid for or offset by cutting money for clean energy programs including one linked the now bankrupt solar company Solyndra. Yet Democrats contend these programs are creating jobs.
REID: Is it really fair that to fund disaster relief, we take American jobs?
BOLDUAN: Senator Reid has countered with what Senate Democrats call a compromise, saying they'll go along with the House measure providing $3.6 billion in Federal disaster relief, less than Senate Democrats wanted, but they will not go along with the offsets in the House measure.
The stalemate now forcing at least the Senate to put off part of its scheduled recess next week. We'll see about the House.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. That's Washington, but we need to turn to Florida now. That is where a lot of the Republican presidential candidates are spending their time. Today, we've got a straw poll coming up at the presidency five event in Orlando. This comes just a day after the candidates spoke to conservative voters at the CPAC conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need a nominee who's not ashamed of the Tea Party, who's willing to stand up for our Tea Party and Tea Party values, who believe we are taxed enough already.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's time to recognize cheaters for what they are. On my first day in office, I will issue an executive order identifying China as a currency manipulator and allowing us to apply tariffs on their goods where they're cheating and killing American jobs.
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've also been governor of a state that under my leadership led the nation in job creation and whose economy grew at triple the national rate, even faster than Texas.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we want to get America working again, we need Washington to get out of the way! And with your help and people like you all across this great country, that is exactly what we will do. We will get America working again and take this country back to the great values and the principles that have made America wonderful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Mitt Romney and Rick Perry leaving Florida, heading to Michigan today for a major Republican conference going on there.
We'll have more on the battle for Florida next hour. We will take you live to Orlando where both of those major conservative conferences are going on right now.
Meanwhile to the president now, no child left behind. The president wants to leave it behind a bit. The Obama administration saying it will immediately start reviewing applications from states that want to opt out of parts of that education plan.
President Obama spoke about the reasons for the change in his weekly address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While the goals behind no child left behind were admirable, experience has taught us that the law had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them.
Teachers are being forced to teach to the test while subjects like history and science are being squeezed out. In an order to avoid having their schools labeled as failures, some states lowered their standards in a race to the bottom.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: President Obama has also an important night ahead of him. He has a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus has been critical of the White House for the way the president has handled the jobs issue. Unemployment among African-Americans was nearly 17 percent last month.
Six minutes past the hour, let's turn to the story that had so many of you buying hard hats and ready to duck. NASA's satellite -- we're told this thing is the size of a bus -- coming crashing back to Earth. It was going to break up into several pieces.
Reynolds, explain to me what we're seeing here. This possibly could be one of the pieces?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It could be but it could likely be anything else, could be just another meteorite. It could be anything. It could be a little bit of say space dust. You have to remember the planet Earth is actually affected by 20,000 of these per year. We're not talking about debris from space junk. We're talking about meteorites. So yes, it could be just about anything up in the night sky.
HOLMES: So we do know, NASA tells us this thing did come crashing down. They gave us a window of time that it came but we don't exactly know where the stuff might be right now.
WOLF: Exactly. Let's break this even into a little bit of a smaller scale. Have you ever seen a ticker tape parade in New York? Imagine a ticker tape parade where you have 26 little tiny pieces of paper. Instead of the tons they throw out the windows, 26 little tiny pieces they're throwing out over the Avenue of the Americas.
Now let's make it even more confusing. Let's imagine those little pieces of paper disintegrating as they get closer to the ground, trying to determine where in the heck those things are going to go. That's the same job that NASA is trying to do following these pieces.
There's a very good chance that we'll never know what happens to any of them. In fact, I'd say we're going to be lucky if we know exactly where each and every one of these go. They expect there'll be 26.
Surviving parts are made of titanium, stainless steel are the two main things. They're going to allow some of these to actually make it through the atmosphere. Total impacting mass 1,173 pounds.
If you look at the original mass - this is what's interesting -- over 12,000 pounds, which gives you an idea of how much of this is going to disintegrate before it makes contact with the Earth's surface.
There's a chance to that much of this could have actually landed over parts of the Pacific ocean. We had some video from Hawaii which is pretty interesting which showed a contrail in the sky almost like a contrail you'd see from an airliner. Also we had video that came in from Minnesota. The video from the Minnesota from an i-reporter is pretty interesting. They see some streaks that popping up. Could that be it? Could be. Could it be something else? Absolutely. So again, you never know.
HOLMES: What else could that be?
WOLF: It could be pixie dust. That's sent in from Kris Rakowski. Kris Rakowski sent that in. It could be a variety of things. We have all kinds of things there in the atmosphere T.J.
Do I think it might be? Yes, definitely there's a chance.
What do you think T.J.?
HOLMES: I have no idea. I wouldn't know what it was looking like when it was coming down.
WOLF: Then you're going to put pressure on a man like me to make the call.
HOLMES: You deal with all things atmospheric. That's kind of your (INAUDIBLE) Appreciate you. We'll check in with Reynolds plenty throughout this morning. We're at nine minutes past the hour now.
She's trying it again, trying to swim from Florida to Cuba. All right? She just got started a little while ago and already, we have a problem. We'll tell you about Diana Nyad's third try here.
Also, a 14-year-old orders a barrel for his paintball gun, innocent enough. But you know what arrived at his house for him, Viagra. That story is next.
Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Ten minutes past the hour now.
You're seeing pictures inside a church. This is in Freiburg, Germany. This is where Pope Benedict is visiting, again a live picture you're seeing here. The pope just (INAUDIBLE) in a mass a little earlier. We were watching live pictures of that and now once again, a mass inside this church.
But hundreds of people sort of excited for this pope in particular coming back to his home country of Germany. He hasn't been back there in some five years.
But the ceremony -- we don't have a closer picture. We'd like to show you, but we don't have an up-close picture here. We are at the mercy of the folks controlling this live camera feed so we're not able to give you a close-up shot of him.
Nonetheless, trust me when I say Pope Benedict on a visit to his home country of Germany right now. We'll keep a close eye on what's happening there.
Earlier I told you about that mass he was having there. He met with several victims of clergy abuse also while in Germany. A statement from the Vatican says the pope was deeply shaken when he heard their stories. More than 600 people came forward in Germany last year to say that they had been abused.
Let's give a look at some of the stories making news cross- country.
A close encounter for swimmer Diana Nyad on her third attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. The 62-year old marathon swimmer, she tangled with jellyfish. She was stung on her arms, body and face. She had to tread water for a little while and then resume the 100 plus mile swim that could put her in Florida sometime on Monday.
And Casey Anthony has to come up with another $120,000 to reimburse Florida investigators. Anthony, as you know, was found not guilty in her daughter's murder but was convicted of lying to investigators. Anthony's attorneys admitted that she knew that her daughter was dead before the search started. She's now being charged a total of $217,000 for the costs to search for her missing daughter Caylee.
And in Massachusetts, a 14-year-old boy simply orders a new barrel for his paintball gun. When the delivery arrives, he gets a box of Viagra and performance enhancing oils.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONNOR WHELIHAN, RECEIVED INCORRECT PACKAGE: I guess it was embarrassing because I was opening it up in front of my mom, you know, and my brother was also standing right next to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, you can imagine parents not too happy about this. The paintball website, they apologized for the mix-up, gave the boy his money back. How do you make this mix-up?
Thirteen minutes past the hour now.
It is hard to believe that the nightmare that the three U.S. hikers lived through in Iran is going to have a happy ending. Two of them, as you know, are getting married. Yes, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd. The pair are now formally engaged following a ceremony in Oman.
Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were flown to Oman after their release from Iran where they had been jailed for spying. Fattal expected to be Bauer's best man at the wedding.
Many of you may remember that when Sarah Shourd was imprisoned with the two men, she was released earlier last September but they actually got engaged while they were in jail in Tehran. He asked her to marry him. They had to make rings out of string that they had there in jail. So they had already gotten engaged if you will, but now they can make things more formal and official now that Shane Bauer is out of that prison.
Fourteen minutes past the hour and Facebook is reinventing itself once again, but you can imagine change is not good for everybody and they have 700 million people to please. We have a look with our digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong.
Also, let's say good morning once again to our Reynolds Wolf.
WOLF: T.J., we're following two big systems in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. It's already been a very busy tropical season. Now we've got Ophelia to deal with and in the Pacific, we've got Hilary. More on those two systems coming up in a few moments.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, 16 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
This kind of tells the story. But you were just saying here, this is a massive monster of a storm, a freak of nature. This thing is a powerhouse.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: We'll check in with Reynolds plenty throughout the morning. A satellite the size of a bus crashing back to Earth. You know those late night comedians were not going to ignore that. Also a hurricane named Hilary that Reynolds was just telling you about. They had fun with that too. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": They have no idea where the six-ton satellite -- they don't know. In case it did hit somewhere in the United States, the Obama administration is standing by and ready to blame President Bush. We will have that for you. We have that for you.
And you know, NASA did a assimilation video of what the damage might look like if God forbid, it was to hit a building in one of our major cities. It's pretty frightening. Take a look.
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Some big weather news. It looks like Tropical Storm Hilary is picking up strength near Mexico. It's expected to turn into a hurricane tonight.
When he heard that Hilary was coming, one guy was like stay indoors and do not talk back. Don't talk back, trust me. What's about to happen to you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We're at 19 minutes past the hour now.
Coming up, have you heard Facebook is making changes once again? We're going to show you what's new, what it means for you and your friends and maybe even your business.
Also, Jim Henson died more than 20 years ago, but Internet search engine Google is honoring America's best known puppeteer this weekend by letting you play puppet master. We'll explain. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-two minutes past the hour now, and you may want to check out Google today and they are honoring the birthday of puppeteer Jim Henson. He's best remembered of course for bringing the Muppets to life on "Sesame Street" in the 1970s and today would have been his 75th birthday. He died back in 1990, but his memory and his work certainly living on now with a Google doodle.
It lets you become a digital puppet master. When you go to Goggle's home pain, you'll find six original Henson characters. You click the button under any of them and the character follows your mouse around on the screen. Click on the image itself and you can make that puppet talk as you see there.
Let's talk about Facebook now reinventing itself once again, it means a new look and you know, Mario, people don't like new. People don't like change as I bring you our digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong.
Let's start with just what they're trying to do in the first place, create a timeline of our lives? Is that accurate?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, CNN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: That is accurate. That's exactly the word that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was using quite a bit in his speech this week.
And the whole idea here, T.J. is that so much information about our lives is being posted on Facebook, how can you really see the key milestones in your life? So how can you go back over time and really see those important points?
So that's what this timeline feature, which many people will not see right away m their profiles. This will be rolled out over the next week or two. You'll start to see this in your profiles. The idea is to be able to have a synopsis of who this person is with the most memorable moments along that timeline.
So that all the information -- you may have graduated from college recently, but now all that stuff's been pushed down because you've been talking about what you ate for breakfast or where you've been hanging out and people don't know that. And so now they'll be able to see more significant life moments along your journey.
HOLMES: You said it's being rolled out. Are some noticing it already on their Facebook pages? ARMSTRONG: If you are tech savvy enough to go into what's called the developer account, then you can start to see how this is going to play out.
No, I don't think individuals just yet are starting to see this in their profile. They are seeing something else in the right-hand corner that a lot of people think is a timeline, but it's more like a news ticker. That's causing a lot of confusion and some complaints.
HOLMES: My goodness. All right, before we get to some of the reaction and you kind of hit on it there, the complaints and those are to be expected when things change, but music and video sharing is going to be big feature, as well.
ARMSTRONG: This is huge, and it's not just Facebook that's doing it. A lot of people first thought, well, maybe Facebook is going to do their own music thing. They're actually working with partners.
So on the video side, they're working with people like Hulu or TiVo or Netflix. On the music side, they're working with websites like iHeart Radio and Spotify. And the basic idea here, T.J., is if you're on Facebook and you're listening to a track on Spotify and I'm on Facebook, I can see what you're listening to, or watching to a track on Spotify and I'm on Facebook and I also have Spotify on my page, I can see what you're listening to or watching and we can join in and watch that and have that experience at the same time.
HOLMES: OK and it's to be expected, so many people spend so much time on their Facebook pages all day long.
ARMSTRONG: Too much.
HOLMES: And they got them just the way they want them. So now Facebook is making changes. So what's the reaction out there?
ARMSTRONG: So the reaction's been mixed. I would say that largely, the reaction has been negative. People have been complaining.
Look, I think a lot of people are getting cry baby syndrome for some reason when Facebook lifts a finger, they just start crying about my profile. I do understand that people don't like change. However, Facebook's got 750 million people T.J. They can't stay the same forever and continue to be relevant. They do have a competitor now, a real competitor now in Google Plus, so now more than ever, I think they need to watch how they make these changes and make sure they really don't upset people enough that they may want to try out another rival service.
HOLMES: And we're going to go, but you said you're not noticing it yet but everybody should start noticing changes when?
ARMSTRONG: Some changes have already been done. News stories are done. Now it starts to operate more like a personal newspaper. You do have the ticker in the right-hand side of your screen. So you are seeing some changes already on your user profile, but the big one, the timeline change you'll start to see that roll out over the next week or so.
HOLMES: Over the next week, all right. We'll cry next weekend, as well.
ARMSTRONG: You'll be crying all the way through it.
HOLMES: Mario, it's good to see you as always. To our viewers, you can join us every Saturday at this time for our digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, giving us the very latest on technology.
Twenty-seven minutes past the hour now.
He didn't do it at the time but he's doing it now. I'll tell you what Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is doing now and responding after a U.S. soldier was jeered and booed by a few people in the audience when he asked about gays in the military.
Also, who do you think is worth $2 million to put behind bars? We'll tell you about the government's big payout to catch accused mobster Whitey Bulger.
And take a look at this. Take a close look at your screen. Those are the prices at a bake sale. It's not based on the goods. It's based on the race. If you're white, a cookie is going to costs you 2 bucks. But if you're Native American you can get a deal at 25 cents for the same cookie. You're seeing that right. This is real. I will explain what's happening. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're at the bottom of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Welcome back to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us.
We're keeping an eye on a jury being put in place in the manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray is the late Michael Jackson's personal physician accused of playing a part in Jackson's fatal overdose in June of 2009. Murray faces up to four years behind bars if convicted.
The FBI says it paid out more than $2 million in reward money for the capture of long-time fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger. The Boston area mobster and his long-time companion were caught in California in June after 16 years on the run. Bulger is wanted in connection with more than a dozen murders.
And if you were worried about the chance of getting hit by pieces of NASA's dead satellite, we can all relax this morning. NASA says parts of this antiquated satellite pierced the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean just before midnight Eastern Time. They say know it's come down and crashed but they're not exactly sure where all of that debris might be right now.
I'd like to turn to some politics now where Florida is the place to be this weekend if you're a Republican presidential candidate.
Our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser has more on the events going on there and Florida's importance in 2012.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR (on camera): Hey, good morning, T.J.
You know everybody knows Florida's a crucial battleground state in presidential general elections. But the state's becoming a major player in primary politics, as well.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": And welcome to the Florida State Fairgrounds here in Tampa. The site of the first ever Tea Party Republican presidential debate.
STEINHAUSER: From our debate two weeks ago, to another showdown Thursday night in Orlando, to a major cattle call of all the candidates yesterday, Florida is front and center right now in the race for the GOP nomination.
And the fight between Texas Governor Rick Perry, the front-runner in the national poll, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who is second in the surveys, over Social Security, immigration and health care, it shows no signs of letting up.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friend, Governor Perry, said that if you don't agree with his position on giving that in-state tuition to illegals, that you don't have a heart. I think if you're opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn't mean that you don't have a heart, it means that you have a heart and a brain.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The model for socialized medicine has already been tried, and it failed. Not just in western Europe, but in Massachusetts.
STEINHAUSER: This afternoon, we'll get the results of a straw poll in Florida. The contest's open to some 3,500 Republican delegates from a state that will most likely vote early in the primary caucus calendar.
Later today, both Perry and Romney also speak in person at an influential GOP conference in Michigan. Another state that's moving up its primary position in the race for the White House. Results of a straw poll there, well, they come out tomorrow morning -- T.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, thanks to our Paul Steinhauser.
And let's go back now to that GOP presidential debate we saw this week. It was on Thursday night and one moment in particular we want to focus on. It was a part of the crowd's response to a question, and it was also Rick Santorum's lack of response to a few in the audience who booed a gay American soldier's question. If you did not get to see this, this is what I'm talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN HILL, SERVING IN IRAQ: In 2010 when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I'm a gay soldier and I didn't want to lose my job.
My question is: Under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Rick Santorum's response there, he responded to the question on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." He said he'd reinstate it but he didn't respond to some of the crowd's response to that soldier. He did though yesterday -- didn't at the time but he has now.
This is what he told Fox News, and I quote, he says, "I condemn the people who booed that gay soldier. Certainly had I heard them, I would have said don't do that. This man is serving our country and we are to thank him for his service."
Well, 33 minutes past the hour now and women in the Philippines are using sex as a weapon but for a good cause. They're trying to keep their men from fighting and you can probably guess it works. That's straight ahead in our "Morning Passport."
Also this morning, a high school athlete is making an impact. He hurts his own chances of winning by helping a rival runner. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Minute past the hour now -- 37 minutes past the hour.
You hear the song there. We -- we didn't need Beyonce to tell us that girls run the world. And we have another story in our "Morning Passport," with Nadia Bilchik. More confirmation of how woman really do run things and the power of a woman to stop armed conflict.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Absolutely.
Now, in the Philippines in Mindanao Island, what happened was there are various rural villages and they've been having conflicts since the 70s.
HOLMES: Right.
BILCHIK: But in around 2008, the United Nations Refugee Agency said to these people how can we help you? And they actually made a sewing co-op for these women. Well, the women got together and they said our men are still fighting. What can we do? We are going to withhold sex.
Well, it worked wonderfully. And the road that had been closed is now reopened and trade is being done between the villages.
So let's hear from one of the women who has been withholding sex and one of the men who has been withheld.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LENGS KUPONG, VILLAGE LEADER: She told me, if I do bad things then we will be separating.
ANON E. KAMANZA, SEWING COOPERATIVE: I told them, if you don't agree with my -- you cannot -- you have no salary from me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: No salary.
BILCHIK: Yes, no salary from me.
HOLMES: The kids call it these days.
BILCHIK: But I have to tell you something funny.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: When the U.N. interviewed him, there's been so much more prosperity since this ease of tensions. They said what are you going to do now? He said I think I'm going to take a second wife. And you know what she said? She said, I'm going to help people in need.
But as we know, T.J., this is hardly the first time.
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: Ancient Greeks when Athens was fighting Sparta, the women withheld sex and Aristophanes wrote about it in Lysistrata.
So certainly a good weapon maybe something for our politicians in D.C. or their partners to think about.
HOLMES: Let's see if that inspires some folks in this country, as well. But it has proven to work over the years.
BILCHIK: It has proven to work.
HOLMES: Nadia Bilchik, a great "Morning Passport" for us this morning. Thank you so much.
We're at 39 minutes past the hour. And anytime we can, we certainly like to highlight just regular folks out there who are doing some extraordinary stuff -- trying to impact the world.
I want you to meet a high school runner. His name is Josh Ripley. Now, he was running at a meet last week and he sees another kid from another team on the ground and bleeding badly. The rest of the runners, they say, oh, poor guy. They keep on going to run their race.
Josh though, he stops. He picks the guy up. And then he runs half a mile back to the start. There was nobody really around. It was a three-mile race. Has to run back to the starting line and get help. Then he turns around and then runs his own three-mile race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH RIPLEY, HELPED INJURED RIVAL: I had blood on my legs and arms after carrying him and a lot of people thought I was in -- I was hurt. But I had to inform them that it wasn't my blood and I was fine.
MARK PAULAUSKAS, INJURED DURING RACE: I just want to say that I'm really, really thankful that -- for what he did. Stopping his race just to help me is really truly wonderful thing that he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Mark, the injured runner needed 20 stitches to fix that gash in his ankle. He hopes to thank Josh in person at some point for his sportsmanship.
Well, if you are interested in impacting your world, good place to start is on the CNN Web page, click on CNN.com\impact.
Well, at 40 minutes past the hour, take a look at your screen. Maybe you need to get closer to see that. You might not believe what you're seeing but you're seeing it correctly. This is the price list for cookies at a bake sale.
The cookies are based on your race. If you're white, you have to pay $2 for the cookie. The same cookie if you're black is going to cost you 75 cents. This is real and they say they have a point behind it.
We'll explain what their point is when I come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're about 16 minutes at the top of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
I want to take you out to California now where a group of Berkeley Republicans have really started something there. They are selling cookies and brownies based on the color of your skin.
So if you're black, you pay one price. If you're white, you pay another price. They say this is not about race actually. They say it's about politics. But a lot of people on campus just are not feeling them right now.
Jonathan Blum from our affiliate KGO with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANAIS LEVOI, CAMPUS DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT: We're really hurt by what they did.
JONATHAN BLUM, KGO (voice-over): Campus Democrats president Anais Levoi thinks that the Berkeley College Republicans have stepped over the line. Here on Upper's Brawler Plaza (ph) where free speech reigns supreme they've scheduled a bake sale where the price you pay for a cookie or a brownie depends on your gender and the color of your skin.
It's $2 for white people, $1.50 if you're Asian, $1 for Latinos, 75 cents for African-Americans and a quarter for Native Americans, women get 25 cents off.
Club President Shawn Lewis planned the event.
SHAWN LEWIS, PRESIDENT, YOUNG REPUBLICANS: The pricing structure is there to bring attention to cause people to get a little upset but it's really there to cause people to think critically what this kind of policy would do in the university admissions.
BLUM: Lewis says it's the club's way of taking a stand against pending legislation that would let U.C. consider a student's race or national origin during the admissions process. No sooner had Lewis posted the event on Facebook than the nasty comments began.
LEWIS: Members of the Facebook group, people who've created it have been threatened.
BLUM: The response was so strong and so negative, the college Republicans say they actually canceled their usual lunchtime tabling here on the plaza for fear their volunteers would get harassed.
LEWIS: It certainly is stirring emotions. And that's what we want. But we certainly don't want people to think that we're making fun of racial issues or laughing at them because that's not the message of the bake sale.
BLUM: But that's exactly the message that the campus Democrats took away.
LEVOI: The way that they made the statement, the words that they used, the fact that they humorized and mocked the struggles of people of color on this campus is very disgusting to me.
BLUM: Many other students were equally disgusted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wrong to try to make a statement about something that serious by using something like a bake sale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they're kind of missing the point.
BLUM: You wouldn't buy their cookies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I wouldn't.
BLUM: Though the campus Democrats have asked for an apology, the bake sale is still scheduled for Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: That was our Jonathan Blum reporting for our affiliate KGO. Now, a special student senate meeting has been called for tomorrow to talk about the event and the controversy.
We're about a quarter at the top of the hour now. The NBA trying to keep from having a lockout that's going to affect the entire season but apparently, it is not going to affect Kobe Bryant's paycheck. You are not going to believe how much one Italian club is willing to pay him per game. That's next.
Stay with me on THIS CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
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HOLMES: All right. We're about 12 minutes to the top the hour.
Say good morning to our good friend Joe Carter from HLN Sports. We went through this for the NFL stuff; now we have to do I with the NBA, they're canceling some stuff.
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: Yes, canceling pre-season games. So far 43 pre-season games have been axed. Training camps have been postponed.
If you can believe it, we're already in the 86th day of the NBA lockout. And if you compared it to the NFL, the NFL went through 132 days of no work or work stoppage. If you compare the two, the NFL, you know, they were agreeing on some things. They were far apart on others. But the NBA, the owners and players are nowhere near a deal. Nowhere.
HOLMES: And they're running out of time, right, to keep from canceling regular season games?
CARTER: Well, the regular season should start November 1st; that's if they can get a deal reached by mid-October. But again, it doesn't look good. 1998 was the only time and the last time that the NBA canceled regular season games. That year they went down to a 50- game schedule.
But at this point, like I said to avoid any games, regular season, the real games being canceled, mid-October they need to reach a deal by.
HOLMES: Well, pre-season is not great basketball anyway.
CARTER: exactly.
HOLMES: Anyway -- so still, hopefully they get it worked out but nobody is hopeful.
Even if we don't have an NBA season, Kobe Bryant's going to be ok. CARTER: The rich get richer, right?
HOLMES: He's going to be fine.
CARTER: He's going to be just fine, yes. A professional team in Italy has just made him a sweet offer; they said they'll pay him $6.7 million to come play with them. The deal is pretty sweet in several reasons because he could play with the team for an entire year. He could play with them for a month or he could go game to game. And as soon as the NBA lockout ends, he can go back to playing with the Lakers.
Now the paycheck is huge, too; after taxes, $600,000 per game which breaks down to $200 per second. Now, why Italy? Well, it makes perfect sense if you think about it. He lived there when he was a child. His father used to play pro basketball there and he speaks the language fluently. So there's definitely a connection.
HOLMES: And a lot of people don't know that about him. It's something to hear him break out into Italian. But yes, Kobe Bryant is a man of the world, quite frankly. Literally he is.
One other thing -- a fellow Arkansan -- poor guy, I love this guy. But John Daly --
CARTER: And I was really rooting for John the last couple of years. He seemed like he had himself back on track. I love the outfits, of course but --
HOLMES: The pants. Love the pants.
CARTER: You know, the pants, the whole deal. But at a tournament in Austria yesterday, he threw a temper tantrum and basically stormed off the course. See what happened is he hit his ball into the water. He was nine holes into his second round. His ball into the water -- he had to drop -- was docked a stroke. But the European tour official didn't like where he dropped his ball so he docked him two strokes.
He basically ended up giving him a quadruple bogey. Daly didn't like it. Basically said you know what, I'm out of here. Shook the hands of his playing partners and literally stormed off the course.
HOLMES: He's still an Arkansan. We'll still embrace him -- still love you, John. But Reynolds, speaking of Arkansas, I know John Daly, one game in particular he'll be keeping an eye on. But it's a football Saturday and people are furious. And it's been odd; it seems like weather has affected a lot of college football games this year. What about today?
WOLF: Today is going to be pretty interesting. Some people, I think they might like some bad weather at least to use as an excuse for the beat down that is inevitably coming for some teams. They'll be coming for the fighting TJs. And of course, we're talking about the (INAUDIBLE).
Let's go right to it. That is, of course, the Arkansas Razorbacks. I think fighting TJs might --
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: -- get rid of the Razorbacks playing the Crimson Tide of Alabama. Some argue that Alabama may be the best team in the nation. Some say the Sooners, if you're an LSU fan -- you know what I'm talking abt. Kickoff is at 3:30. Temperature around 81 degrees; weather should not be a factor. Clear skies, it will be beautiful.
What about the number one team in the nation? They're going to be going up against the Missouri Tigers. Temperature 78 degrees, cloudy skies, maybe a drop of rain but I doubt it.
And then as you look at Morgantown, West Virginia, two of the rowdiest fan bases you'll ever know, the LSU Fighting Tigers, and of course, if you ever go to a game up in West Virginia, it is insane up there.
CARTER: They love to burn couches.
WOLF: Don't they indeed? Oh, my gosh. It's scary times. Put away the Broyhills (ph), that's for sure. Temperature 63 degrees, cloudy skies. For my team they're playing for the Atlantic Auburn, Tigers playing Auburn. Temperature 74 degrees; 8:00 p.m. kickoff. Let's hope they win this one.
HOLMES: Ok. So nobody's going to be able to use weather as an excuse today.
WOLF: They may try. They may try.
HOLMES: All right. Gentlemen, thank you both. Reynolds, we'll see you again shortly. Joe, always good to have you buddy.
We're about seven minutes until the top of the hour now.
Ben & Jerry's catching heat over ice cream. Why? They have a new seasonal release -- they do this every year. But now a group of mothers outraged over the name of one of their new flavors. Here's Jack Thurston from our affiliate NACN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD WARDWELL: Yes, very good.
JACK THURSTON, NACN REPORTER: Todd Wardwell was loving the new special edition flavor from Ben & Jerry's, apparently unfazed by the hoopla surrounding it.
WARDWELL: There's nothing wrong with it.
THURSTON: He had his hands on "Schweddy Balls" a light rum and vanilla based with malt balls and rum balls. The inspiration was a "Saturday Night Live" skit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Um, balls. THURSTON: In it, a guy named Pete Schweddy tries peddling his snacks, all of them ball shaped and the double entendres fly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mouth's watering just thinking about them.
THURSTON: But some consumers aren't so sweet on the Vermont company's idea. Among them, Edna Bazura (ph). She's been an ice cream fan for 96 years.
EDNA BAZURA, ICE CREAM FAN: Tell me the name again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Schweddy Balls."
BAZURA: Yes. No class.
THURSTON: A Mississippi conservative group has more complaints. The pro Bible "One Million Moms" calls Ben & Jerry's vulgar and tasteless and says it sends a bad message to kids. They say this is no surprise for a company that supports is gay marriage.
This pair thought the "One Million Moms" should just get over it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of other things in the world to worry about other than ice cream.
THURSTON: And Todd Wardwell wanted to swear his Schweddy with his traveling companions.
WARDWELL: Why were you so shy?
MARY BRADLEY: Because I don't like cameras in my face.
THURSTON: So it had nothing to do with the flavor.
BRADLEY: No, I like "Schweddy Balls."
WARDWELL: The name is a little bit juvenile.
SEAN GREENWOOD, BEN & JERRY'S SPOKESMAN: It's irreverent. You know, I think if you know "Saturday Night Live," you watch the skit, it's not a name that we just put on there to shock people. That doesn't help us as a business.
THURSTON: The company says support has far outweighed complaints. Even this critic of the name liked her sample.
BAZURA: It was very good, very creamy.
THURSTON: Whether or not you see controversy here, the flavor is selling fast at stores and scoop shops. So it seems people are just nuts about "Schweddy Balls."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Which one of you all want to get fired by making the first comment here?
CARTER: Hook line and sinker. I'm definitely going to try it.
HOLMES: They've done this before, controversial names. They had a Hubby-Hubby, you all might remember, about gay marriage. They did a Kama Sutra one year but nothing kind of like this.
So Reynolds you were saying they do this to get attention.
WOLF: Yes. I mean mission accomplished. I mean this is exactly what they want. They tend to get prime placement. We're talking about it. What's not to love?
HOLMES: But if you have not seen that skit on SNL, it is my all- time favorite. I encourage you to go watch it. It is fantastic. But here we go, ice cream.
WOLF: Explains everything.
CARTER: Yes.
WOLF: It really does.
HOLMES: Gentlemen, thank you as always. See you both here shortly.
We're getting close to the top of the hour. We'll turn back to some politics. Shall we?
An important measure for the 2012 race -- conservatives picking their favorites in Florida; we'll take a look at what are the stakes there.
Also take a look. You see that dot right there? That is part of that big satellite coming down. We know it came down but we don't exactly know where it is right now. We'll explain.
Stay with us.
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