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CNN Saturday Morning News
Eyeing the Iowa Caucus; Republicans Fight over Primaries; Terror Leader Captured; Amanda Knox's Final Plea; Michael Jackson's Doctor on Trial; Two More Cantaloupe-Related Deaths; $5 Fee to Use Your Debit Card; Cyber Attack Serious Concerns for U.S.; Saudi King Promotes Reform
Aired October 01, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, top of the hour. And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this October 1st. I'm T.J. Holmes; glad you could spend some of your weekend here with us.
And there's some finger pointing and some name calling going on in the Republican Party. The Florida GOP moves up its presidential primary setting off a scramble to see which state will be first.
And now, a threat to kick off the primary season before the New Year even begins. We've got a live report in just a moment.
Also, the last moments of Michael Jackson's life are playing out in a Los Angeles courtroom. We'll wrap up this week's testimony in the Conrad Murray trial and we'll fast forward to the week ahead.
Also go ahead, have that jolt of java. A new study says coffee can help you ward off depression, especially if you're a woman. Details on that.
Plus, get ready, folks. Some of you out there could be voting for President of the United States a lot sooner than you thought. Several states want to be the first to hold a Republican primary. Florida has moved up its primary to January 31st. They want to be more of a player, have more influence, so they move theirs up.
So officials in New Hampshire say they may hold their presidential primary in December. That's right. December, this year, around the holidays -- that's two months sooner than they had originally planned.
Now, you know the tradition here. Iowa is usually the first to vote, the first state to vote. So it's also thinking about pushing up its caucus.
Our political reporter, Shannon Travis is in Des Moines for us today. And is that going to be the plan? If New Hampshire moves up, Iowa has to move up. So we're talking about what -- December, mid-December, could we go as early as November?
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I mean, possibly not November, but definitely potentially December. I have to tell you, T.J., Iowa's Republican Party is not happy at all with what Florida is intending to do by holding this January 31st primary.
As you mentioned, Iowa is always traditionally the first contest in the presidential nominating season that holds the caucuses. So Iowa is banding together with New Hampshire, with Nevada and with South Carolina. Those are the four states that normally go first, according to the RNC rules.
They're banding together and saying, look, we're going to move up our dates together, just to show how upset we are with what Florida is trying to do. Now, we don't know those states yet, but as mentioned, New Hampshire could go in December. Iowa could follow suit sometime thereafter.
Let me just read a statement from the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. Just to give you a sense of how upset they are. Listen to this, quote, "The arrogance shown by the Florida's elected leadership is disappointing, but not surprising. Equally troubling is to see this petulant behavior rewarded with our national convention. The consequences of Florida's intransigence must be swift and severe including the refusal by the RNC to credential or seat any member of Florida's presidential primary date commission at the 2012 RNC convention in Tampa."
Now of course, what he's talking about is if you're a presidential candidate, you need delegates in order to win the nomination. So what the statement is saying is slice or strip Florida of a lot of their delegates so that they will have less voting power on who becomes the nominee.
So they are not happy -- T.J.
HOLMES: Ok but still -- I don't know how much the candidates are weighing in but are they still going forward as if, hey, they know Iowa is important, New Hampshire is important, anybody campaigning in -- in that state this weekend?
TRAVIS: There are some candidates in the state -- oh, I'm sorry, just one, Rick Santorum. And oddly enough, Rick Santorum is the only one who is publicly coming out saying, you know what this isn't really a good thing that they're moving these dates around like this. All the other candidates, T.J. as you might imagine, staying a little bit mum.
I mean they are responding, they're talking about it, but they aren't coming down on one side or the other whether Florida should move up its date or it isn't. Obviously, of course they want to upset a lot of people in Florida which is a critical swing state.
HOLMES: Yes. Shannon Travis for us in Des Moines. Good to see you, as always.
It's about four minutes past the hour now. Let me turn to Afghanistan where there's word of another major blow to a terror group. You may not have heard a lot about this group, the Haqqani Network, but it is a big deal. We'll explain why some experts consider it more dangerous than the Taliban. Now, coalition forces have captured that network's senior commander in Afghanistan. Coalition officials announced that capture today. It happened Tuesday in the Paktia province. This is in southeastern Afghanistan. The operation was carried out by NATO and Afghan forces. The Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are out with a warning after the killing of an American born al Qaeda leader in Yemen. The Bulletin says Anwar al Awlaki's killing could spark attacks in the United States by home grown violent extremists.
That's the same kind of bulletin that was issued after Osama bin Laden was killed. Al-Awlaki was killed by a CIA drone in Yemen. One international security expert says his death could inspire a new wave of militants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILAL BALOCH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDENT: I think targeting al- Awlaki and killing him is going to add fuel to the fire. I think it's going to completely marginalize those who agree that his violent views now are wrong, but just want to know why this happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, another part to this story, is it legal for the U.S. to target an American citizen like al Awlaki? That's the question CNN's Erin Burnett asked CNN's CIA Director Leon Panetta in an exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, CIA DIRECTOR: This individual was clearly a terrorist. And yes, he was a citizen, but if you're a terrorist, you're a terrorist. And that means that we have the ability to go after those who would threaten to attack the United States and kill Americans. There is no question that the authority and the ability to go after a terrorist is there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And be sure to tune in on Monday night, at 7:00 Eastern Time for the premiere of "ERIN BURNETT, OUT FRONT".
It's six minutes past the hour now.
Some more information for you on just who Anwar al-Awlaki was, in recent months the American born Muslim cleric had been called the new bin Laden and the bin Laden of the Internet. The U.S. says he was a master at online recruiting and finding and motivating new radicals to kill Americans around the world.
He was linked to a number of terror attacks. U.S. officials say he was a spiritual adviser to three of the 9/11 hijackers and have communicated frequently with the American accused of the deadly shooting spree at Ft. Hood. And he's also linked to the so-called Underwear Bomber in 2009 and the attempted car bombing at Time Square last year.
We turn now to the Amanda Knox trial. The American exchange student could -- could be spending her final weekend in an Italian prison. She's appealing her 2009 murder conviction in the death of her former roommate and the verdict could come Monday.
Matthew Chance is covering this trial for us. Matthew, hello to you and we are expecting on Monday Amanda Knox to speak up in her own voice on her own behalf to try to possibly save her own life.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's going to be the biggest speech of her life, I expect. She's given the opportunity by the court to stand up for 15 minutes and address them in what's called here a plea of innocence.
But Raffaele Sollecito her -- her former boyfriend who's also have been convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher will also get that opportunity, as well.
And -- and yes we spoke to the parents, the father in particular, about what was going to be said by Amanda Knox. He told us that she's most likely going to be speaking in Italian. She's obviously become fluent in Italian over the years. She's been held in the prison here just near of this town of Perugia. And she spent the past several months, according to Kurt Knox, her father, deciding what to put in that address, working it out, agonizing over it, and she's going to convince the jury and the judge in that court to see things from her point of view and to quash her murder conviction and to let her go -- T.J.
HOLMES: What are her options if she loses this appeal?
CHANCE: Well, if -- if she loses the appeal -- and we're expecting to hear whether she does or doesn't on Monday night -- and then she goes back to prison, obviously. The -- the -- the opportunity is there for her to appeal one more time to the Italian Supreme Court, which undoubtedly her attorneys will do if they lose this appeal.
But I have to say, there's a good deal of confidence on the part of the family, on the part of the family's attorneys, as well, that this time they may have a good chance of getting the jury to see it from their point of view.
Remember, there's been DNA evidence in the first trial that was so instrumental in convicting Amanda Knox. It essentially linked her and Raffaele Sollecito to the murder scene and to the crime. But that DNA evidence on the -- on the basis of work done by independent forensic experts, has been -- had doubt cast on it.
And so if the jury were looking for a reason to overturn that sentence, they've got it in the faulty DNA evidence.
HOLMES: All right, Matthew Chance for us this morning. Thank you much.
So how much sway might Knox's own words have with the jurors? I asked attorney Holly Hughes about that a little earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's going to be really important what she says, but more important today is going to be her demeanor. How the jury perceives this young woman. She's four years older now. She's been sitting in prison.
HOLMES: Wow.
HUGHES: So I think gone is that sort of carefree young girl who came across as cold, indifferent, didn't really care. I think she's come to realize that her own affect and her own attitudes may have played a part in her conviction more so than any physical evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Knox has 15 minutes on Monday to make her case to jurors. We will bring you the very latest as it happened on Monday.
We're about 10 minutes past the hour now. And witnesses talk about the day Michael Jackson died. We're one week into the trial of his personal doctor, Conrad Murray. A recap for you is coming up in two minutes.
Also, Bank of America customers are upset. They are now going to be charged starting next year, charged for using your own debit card and your own money. But is there really anything you can do? Actually, not a whole lot. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 12 minutes past the hour now.
And the ER doctor who pronounced Michael Jackson dead, he testified this week that the pop superstar had signs of a dying heart and was clinically dead on arrival. Now Jackson's personal doctor Conrad Murray is on trial for involuntary manslaughter.
Our Ted Rowlands recaps the drama so far.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., in week one, of course, we heard a lot of testimony from prosecution witnesses that were at Michael Jackson's house or with him in the hours and days before his death and those people that were there with Michael Jackson was unresponsive and they were trying to revive him.
On Friday, we heard from those two paramedics that came to Jackson's home and unsuccessfully tried to provide CPR to Jackson. They testified to the jury that they thought Jackson was cold to the touch and almost bluish in color meaning that he may have been in that state for some time before they arrived.
But the most compelling testimony that prosecutors got out of those ambulance drivers or the paramedics was that they said they asked Dr. Murray point-blank, what have you given him? What drugs are in Michael Jackson's body and Dr. Murray, they say, never mentioned Propofol.
Well, next week, we're likely to hear from the doctors at the UCLA Medical Center and they are expected to tell a very similar story that when Jackson arrived with Murray in the ambulance, they, too, asked what have you given him and there was no mention of Propofol. That of course, prosecutors would hope would show a sign that Murray was trying to cover up his tracks that he was using Propofol with Michael Jackson which is highly irregular, and of course, it's the reason he's on trial here because it caused Michael Jackson's death.
Next week, we'll also likely hear from a couple of the detectives who were assigned to this case and we may also hear from a couple of doctor Murray's girlfriends. One of those girlfriends was here in Los Angeles. That's where Dr. Murray had all that Propofol shipped to the other in Houston, Texas. She was the woman that Murray was on the phone with when he realized that Michael Jackson was in trouble -- T.J.
HOLMES: And thanks to our Ted Rowlands. And testimony resumes on Monday; we will, of course, bring you the highlights from that.
Also video the jurors in the Casey Anthony murder trial were not allowed to see. You're about to see it now. It has now been released. It's a security video taken in 2008 at a jailhouse medical facility. What you're seeing is her highlighted there sitting in the chair just starting to rock back and forth. And what you're seeing is the moment that Casey Anthony found out that remains were found next to the Anthony home.
It was determined later -- about a week later that, in fact, those remains belonged to 2-year-old Caylee. Anthony was watching news of the discovery on television here at the time. A judge said the tape was too inflammatory to be played in court. Anthony, as you know, was acquitted in that murder case.
Well, funeral services for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis are set to get under way this hour. He was put to death by lethal injection September 21st for the 1989 slaying of off-duty police officer in Savannah, Georgia. His case sparked international cries for clemency. Amnesty International is urging supporters worldwide to observe today as a day of remembrance.
The video you're seeing is of a memorial services that took place last night. Actual funeral is today and no cameras were allowed inside last night for that memorial service.
Well, 16 minutes past the hour and coming up next, two more people are dead from contaminated cantaloupes and more people are at risk and they may not even know it.
Also, all the women out there drinking decaf coffee need to switch to the caffeinated stuff, at least according to a Harvard study; the benefits of a cup of Joe, stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 19 minutes past the hour now.
Two more people are dead after eating cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria from a Colorado farm. The Centers for Disease Control, saying the one person died in New Mexico and another in Colorado this week. This Listeria outbreak was first reported on October 12th and traced to Jensen Farms Rocky Ford cantaloupes. Officials with the CDC say it can take weeks before the symptoms actually show up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL: It can take a week to three weeks after you eat a contaminated product before you become ill and can take as much as two months to become ill.
Furthermore, some people may still have the Jensen Farms cantaloupe in their refrigerators. If you have cantaloupe that's labeled as something other than Jensen Farms, then it's ok to eat. But if the label looks like this, that's what the Jensen Farms label looks like; then it is not safe to eat, throw it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Again, this has been going on -- this outbreak occurred or at least it was found beginning last month around the middle of September. A total of 15 people in eight states have now died after eating this contaminated fruit.
In a separate incident, more than 2,000 cartons of chopped and shredded Romaine lettuce are being recalled after Listeria was detected in one bag. The lettuce is grown by the California company, True Leaf Farms. It was shipped in 19 states in Canada. The lettuce had a use by date of September 29th. No illnesses though have been reported so far from the lettuce.
A ten-year study from Harvard says that coffee, specifically the coffee with the caffeine in it may help reduce depression over the long-term for women.
Earlier, I talked to the author of this study. He's a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and asked how many cups of coffee a day do you really need to drink?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERTO ASCHERIO, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Those who drank four cups of coffee per day had a 20 percent lower risk of developing depression. So I would say up to four or five cups of coffee per day is ok.
HOLMES: Now, sir, that sounds like a lot of coffee. I guess. I guess what's the down side to drinking that much coffee? The caffeine may be good for you, but could you also get some negative side effects?
ASCHERIO: Well, some people do have some intolerance. That is really an individual response. But in the long-term, there is no adverse effect of coffee for people who drink it regularly.
HOLMES: Is it specifically coffee here that you can expect this impact because there's so much more caffeine in coffee than in a soft drink?
ASCHERIO: Yes a cup of coffee has much more caffeine than a soft drink or even a cup of tea. So it's difficult to reach those levels of caffeine by drinking other beverages.
HOLMES: And what about men? You studied women in this study but can you expect it to have the same impact on men?
ASCHERIO: Most likely. A small study in Finland years ago suggested the same (INAUDIBLE) in men. So we hope to be able to examine this question in men, also.
HOLMES: Have you found -- and there have been studies over years that have shown some benefits of caffeine. Have we seen anything that you would warn people to stay away from caffeine? I guess, how is it bad for you?
ASCHERIO: Well, not really. For a regular, moderate intake of caffeine, there is really no other effect (ph). But I would warn people who never drink coffee or caffeine, we're not recommending people to start because people who don't drink coffee, they may reason and they may have an intolerance or develop anxiety. So we're talking about regular coffee drinkers here, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There you go. Drink up.
Well, 23 minutes past the hour now. Use your debit card just once a month and you're charged $5 for the privilege of spending your own money.
After the break, you've probably heard about this one by now, one of the biggest banks in the country is soon going to start charging you for that privilege. Can you really get around this? I don't really have good news for you on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: 25 minutes past the hour now.
And starting next year, Bank of America plans on charging its customers $5 a month to use your debit card. Use it once you're going to get charged $5 for it. Earlier I talked to financial analyst, Clyde Anderson about this. He says that if you plan on using big banks, you might just need to get used to this stuff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLYDE ANDERSON, CNN FINANCIAL ANALYST: Everybody is abuzz with this. This is what people are talking about. It didn't help that they had outages on yesterday. You know earlier in the morning, their system was down. So now they're making this transition. And this is what everybody is talking about, you know, because now it's like the David and Goliath. Goliath is now stepping again on the small guy. And people are feeling it and they have a lot to say about it.
HOLMES: Their explanation for why they -- they almost say they need to do this.
ANDERSON: Well, what's happened is regulation change. They've been handed new mandate. They've been coming down to say that they cannot charge retailers as much and they used to charge them for the debit fees that they usually give.
HOLMES: They're saying they're out of money over here. We need to make it up.
ANDERSON: Yes. We need to make it up over here. Make it up with you and it's almost $3 billion that we're talking about here that they'll make up with this $5 charge. It adds up to about $60 per person, per account; that' about $3 billion a year.
HOLMES: How many other banks are doing this right now?
ANDERSON: Well, we've seen that the trend is here, you know. We've seen Sun Trust. We've seen Wells Fargo start to try it out. And we're seeing these people kind of bring it in. $5 is a little higher than what we're seeing in some of the other banks. But we've seen a trend happening.
HOLMES: Ok. Is there any way you can get around this?
ANDERSON: Well, I think one of the ways. They talk about online and for $8.95, Bank of America we can do all e-banking. You can get all your statements online. You do all your banking online, but also that you can go to the ATMs.
What they're saying is you only get charged this way if you use the debit card --
HOLMES: You can't walk around with that much cash. We just don't do that, right?
ANDERSON: And we don't do it. It's not realistic for a lot of people depending on what you're doing. An everyday person, it may be normal. I mean sometimes we only spend $100 a day unless and in a lot of cases. So if that's case you may be able to be prepared for that.
HOLMES: Here is our other problem. Some people say, all right, I'll give up the debit card. I'll use my credit card.
ANDERSON: Exactly.
HOLMES: All right. But your problem there, you might get hosed, as well. ANDERSON: Yes, you're going to -- I mean you're paying interest. You're paying interest on it. And so it's almost like -- what you really have to look at, and a lot of people are saying is that there are smaller banks. You know a lot of people don't realize, the smaller banks that, you know, we're talking about, less than $10 billion in assets, a majority of the loans anyway right now. And so this maybe something to look at right now; the community banks, the smaller banks, maybe even your credit unions and no charge.
HOLMES: But they're not doing it now, but could they eventually?
ANDERSON: Could in the future. But right now --
HOLMES: Isn't this a bad time? Bank of America, if the biggest dog on the block is doing it everybody's going to fall in line --
ANDERSON: Well, you know, with the big banks -- and that's why I think a lot of people have problems -- they got bailed out. They got this money from the government. They got the bank bailouts and now we're paying for it. Our tax dollars helped them to get out of this mess and now they're hitting us again with these fees; so a lot of people are having a hard time swallowing it.
HOLMES: The other thing, people are saying, you know what? I'll just switch banks. I'll stick it to Bank of America. But that isn't easy to do, switch banks.
ANDERSON: It's not easy to do, especially if you have things like direct deposit and accounts that are already set up. It's not as easy to do. So it's a lot of red tape and hurdles that you have to jump through.
Now Bank of America also introduced new accounts. They have an enhanced account as well as a premium and a platinum account. Platinum accounts are pretty much for people that have investments with the bank. And then the other accounts you have to have a certain minimum. So they're rolling these things out --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: -- most majority of Americans just don't have it.
HOLMES: So what you're telling me, carry cash or look into smaller banks and credit unions.
ANDERSON: That's what I say right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, those are your options.
As we get close to the bottom of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING now, terrorists using computers could cripple the U.S. economy. We'll take a tour of a special complex where experts are working to try to stop cyber attacks before they could be launched. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
***30
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour now. A story we're keeping a close eye on, new developments today in the killing of American born Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. He was killed in Yemen. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are out with new warning bell, it says Anwar al-Awlaki's killing could spark attacks in the United States by home grown violent extremists. That's the same kind of bullets and that was issued after Osama bin Laden was killed, al-Awlaki was killed by a CIA drone there in Yemen.
A terror attacks using computers could cause serious problems across the U.S. And the government has a special complex at Idaho Falls, Idaho where experts work around the clock to try to prevent cyber attacks on the homeland.
The details now from CNN's Dan Simon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): When you think about the state of Idaho, you're likely to think about one thing, potatoes. It is out through all the driving force of the state's economy. But just a few miles away from here in the town of Idaho Falls, government workers are trying to protect the country from terrorism, not from bullets or bombs, but from computers. It turns out that Idaho is ground zero in the fight against cyber terrorism.
MARTY EDWARDS, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: This is an example of one vendor's system that we have under tests.
SIMON (voice-over): Leading that fight is Marty Edwards. His job is to prevent cyber criminals from breaking into systems that control everything from a city's power grid to the water supply.
EDWARDS: As these systems become more connected to networks in general and to the internet, there's a lot of concern about people being able to manipulate these systems for ill intent.
SIMON: To show what can happen and what's being done about it, the Department of Homeland Security invited CNN and other media outlets for a rare look inside the Idaho National Laboratory.
This section was made to look like a water treatment or chemical plant. Another was built to represent a power substation. Both where specialists can run a wide array of experiments. Including injecting a power grid with a computer virus. It could knock out electricity for a wide area. The key is to see how the system reacts and what software upgrades could be done to prevent it from happening in the first place.
SIMON (on camera): We don't want to unnecessarily frighten people, but these threats are real. EDWARDS: They absolutely are real. But I think the average American doesn't understand that the vast majority of the infrastructure around them is controlled by computer devices and as we all know, we can get viruses on our systems at home. These systems are susceptible to similar types of events.
SIMON (voice-over): And viruses have the potential to leave entire cities or entire regions with contaminated water and without power. In 2007, for instance, the lab conduction of then classified experiment known as Aurora, the government test shows how hackers could not only shut off an electric generator, but could actually destroy it. Any major knockout could be dubbed a cyber pearl harbor. Worse yet, even if there were an attack, the experts might not even know it.
JOE WEISS, APPLIED CONTROLLED SOLUTIONS: Can there be a cyber pearl harbor? Absolutely. Would we know if it's a cyber pearl harbor? I don't believe so.
SIMON: Security specialists like Joe Weiss worry about cyber criminals staying one step ahead by being able to inflict damage without leaving a trace.
WEISS: Can you hide a plant shutting down when the lights went off? No. Can you not know that it was cyber targeted? The answer is yes.
SIMON (on camera): Just like the potato, cyber terrorism comes in many different varieties. The Idaho National Laboratory is trying to identify all of them, but most important to try to prevent attacks from happening.
Dan Simon, CNN, Woodville, Idaho.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thirty-five minutes past the hour now. And a woman in Saudi Arabia, convicted and sentenced. Her punishment? Lashings. Her crime? Driving a car. We'll tell you how the king's actions, though, in this case are now painting him as the reformer. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Thirty eight minutes past the hour now.
And King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia revoked a flogging sentence for a woman who allegedly broke the law. What did she do? She drove a car. The king, yes, he commuted that sentence but also he's done a couple other things that people say, show he's a reformer and that maybe Saudi Arabia is going in a better direction. He's also going to allow women to both vote and run for office in the future.
Now, again, he's being painted as a reformer and that's something I discussed without Nadia Bilchik in this morning's passport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: In the next election, which by the way is only around 2015, women will not only be allowed to vote, but run for municipal council.
HOLMES: It's huge for him to just say that.
BILCHIK: Exactly. And a few days later, a woman is sentenced to ten lashes for driving and he quickly revokes it. And that's the point, that he quickly revokes it. So, the cynical view T.J. is that he's just doing it to appease the people again, looking at the Arab Spring and saying this must not happen, what can I do to appease people? But the more optimistic view is that King Abdullah is in fact a reformer. And one has to understand that he has a lot of opposition within his own government by the more fundamental hobbies.
So, for him to say, this is huge for King Abdullah who is seen as a reformer. And by quickly revoking the lashings for the woman who was accused of driving and then getting ten lashes. Again, it shows he's looking to reform.
Remember that in 2011, if a woman walked into -- well, up until June of this year, almost, if a woman walked into a store and wanted to buy a bra and panties, she had to do it from a man sales associate. What he's done is said women can at least sell lingerie to each other. HOLMES: OK. Now, you said there's a cynical view there and we still have to wait some four, five years before women can actually vote. But for the most part -- I mean, this is some immediate -- not immediate action, bus it was pretty quick action and repetitive action by him. Is this a sign of things that...
BILCHIK: Women feel very much this is a sign things are going to change. And that King Abdullah and again, he's a little bit between a rock and a hard place. He would like to bring about much more reform. Barbara Walters interviewed him in around 2005. And he said, he would like women to be able to drive. But again, he has the opposition within his own government. So, we're seeing a big change. But I spoke to a Muslim rights activist, Melody Moezzi and she says, you know, it's very anti-Islam that women cannot drive. Because in fact the Prophet Muhammad's wife Khadijah, his first wife was the most powerful businesswoman in Mecca.
So, hopefully for Saudi Arabian's women they will certainly be allowed to drive. Because at this point, they have to have a driver. And it's so ironic, because the reason to not drive is that you won't be in the company of strange men and yet, so many of the drivers come from other countries and are strange men. So, hard for us as Americans, right, to understand that women can't drive. But hopefully will be able to and certainly vote, coming up. So, progress is being made in Saudi Arabia.
HOLMES: We'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Take a look now at these pictures we got out of Australia. And a Ferris wheel, oh, there all kinds of problems here. It's not the Ferris wheel, but actually the plane that crashed into it, that has the problem, yes, that's the plane tangled up, this happens Saturday in Eastern Australia. This is an ultra light plane, very small plane, had two people on board, but it crashed into this ride at a country festival.
The plane barely missed two young children who were on that Ferris wheel. They were trapped on the ride for quite some time. Everybody was kind of dangling there for about an hour and a half. The kids were finally rescued. The plane's pilot and passenger rescued, as well. Could you believe, no one was injured, at least not seriously in this accident.
But as I say good morning to Reynolds Wolf, my first question here was whether or not there might have been some weather issues. The guy said, he just didn't see the ferris wheel.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it was an ultra light, right?
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: Obviously, not light enough, you know? I think, no offense but you look at that ferris wheel, there's a lot of open sky there. It's kind of hard to actually make it happen. The bottom line is, we can laugh about it now because everyone is fine. No one was hurt, that kind of thing.
HOLMES: So he didn't see it?
WOLF: Yes. I don't have a pilot's license, but if I did, I would probably capable for the same kind of mishaps. So, I'm just going to let that one just go.
Hey, one thing, we can't let go is the kind of conditions were dealing with this weekend. Everybody wants do get out and enjoy some incredible football or raking leaves or -- let's just watch football, forget about raking leaves. Taking a look at what we have, temperature wise were on the country, and if you look carefully, you'll see a little bit of a weird pattern. That weird pattern is pretty easy to see. A warm-up on one part of the country, down the other end, you've got a little bit of a cool down. The thing to cause that is your jet stream, the reason why we're seeing the cool down. Well, the jet stream is pretty simple, the jet stream was atmosphere barrier which allows warm conditions to develop over parts of the Rockies and the Northern Plains where temperatures are going to be in the 80s and 90s including Boise, Idaho to Billings, Montana, about 20 to 30 degrees above normal.
However, when we pulled to the east, it's entirely different scenario all together. You've got a bit of a trough that's going to allow cooler air to filter its way through the Great Lakes into the northeast where temperatures are going to be just the opposite. About 15 to 20 degrees cooler. And this morning, we've got something else on top of that. But that cold air is coming through with a little bit of that moisture. Lo and behold, viola. Check it out. Parts of the appellation is you have a little bit of frozen precipitation. Though, it's kind of being a significant accumulation but still, it's kind of cool, you know? You know, as it prop up.
You could see some snow, obviously, farther to the north, but in terms of that, it's going to be just a few flakes here and there. Certainly no heavy precipitation to expect or whatsoever. Wrap things up, what you can expect for the rest of your day. Check it out. A (INAUDIBLE) towards the east, windy conditions also departs the Tennessee Valley, as far southeast Georgia. Sunshine, expected from Central Plains and Southern Plains, and scattered showers in parts of extreme. Northern California back into Oregon and into Washington State.
All right. T.J., you know, I don't even talk a lot about football, but I know we've got a cool baseball story.
HOLMES: Yes, you know, it's a bittersweet baseball story. To remind our viewers here, on July 7th, it was at the ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Firefighter Shannon Stone, you're seeing him there, he's reaching over trying to catch a baseball that had been tossed up into the stands by Josh Hamilton. Well, he ended up falling as this video -- we're not going to continue it here, but he fell to his death with his son, 6-year-old son was right next to him. Cooper was watching. Well, Stone went back to ranger stadium last night for the first time since this incident and he was there for game one of the American League Division Championship Series between the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays. Look at how it went down.
Now, Cooper, as you see there, got a chance to throw out the first pitch of the playoffs, and he threw it to his favorite player, Josh Hamilton happened to be, yes, the one who actually tossed that ball into the stands that his dad went after.
But you saw some people there in the stands, just about everybody in the stands had tears in their eyes last night. It was great for the little guy, a 6-year-old, but again, bittersweet moment for him.
You know, he would much rather have skipped this moment in his life and to have his dad back, but still, the Rangers doing what they can to try to support the young man and also support the family and also fans in the community after that tragedy this summer. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Well, ten minutes to the top of the hour. Oh, I love this time of the morning. Good morning, Fredricka Whitfield.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. How are you doing?
HOLMES: I am doing well.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: I was about to call you out on Twitter, but I'll just call you out here.
WHITFIELD: Please. HOLMES: Are you tweeting?
WHITFIELD: I didn't tweet today.
HOLMES: You did not?
WHITFIELD: No. Sorry. Yes. The day is young, that's right. OK. Whew. Who are you going to tweet?
HOLMES: I was going to tweet, just put your name up and say hey, it's Fredricka tweeting. You know, soon people would say...
WHITFIELD: Putting me on the spot.
HOLMES: What, Fredricka has a Twitter account?
WHITFIELD: That would be the reaction.
HOLMES: That's all right for you. It's a process.
WHITFIELD: I will get there.
HOLMES: It's a process.
WHITFIELD: I'm just slow. Anyway, well, we have a lot going on. We won't be slow in the noon eastern hour. We'll be rocking and rolling, we've got lots coming up, especially with our legal guys, Richard and Avery. Well, you know, they're going to talk about a host of things, but the SAT test. You took the SAT test?
HOLMES: Yes. We did ACT in Arkansas.
WHITFIELD: OK. Great. And you know, it is stressful and all that. But you know, there's this investigation now involving a college student who took the test allegedly for six others and the arrest. So, is this just the tip of the iceberg? And why criminal charges? And why is this something that just wasn't addressed with the school district?
HOLMES: What is it, is it a fraud charge he had or something, what was it?
WHITFIELD: Yes, fraud for posing, allegedly, as six other students.
HOLMES: He was a little entrepreneur. He was charging...
WHITFIELD: And making big money. Yes.
HOLMES: Yes. He was making some money on it.
WHITFIELD: You know, maybe $2,500, $1,500 a pop. So, yes, we're going to talk about that, why the criminal charge.
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: OK. And are you ready for your holiday shopping? HOLMES: We do this every year.
WHITFIELD: I know. But, you know, I shop throughout the year.
HOLMES: Really?
WHITFIELD: Yes. I see something, that person is going to like that, I pick it up. That way I'm not as stressed out at the end of the year.
HOLMES: Really?
WHITFIELD: Kind of squirreling away, you know, yes.
HOLMES: That's fascinating.
WHITFIELD: I know. Well, that's not necessarily my financial tip. But -- and she's going to talk about how you plan for the entire year, perhaps even kind of parcel out the year in third.
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: When you figure out how much money you want to spend, you know, come Christmas season, or Hanukah season, or Kwanzaa, how much money do you want to spend? And then you start to plan throughout the year. She's got other financial tips too.
HOLMES: We probably should have this conversation back in April.
WHITFIELD: I know, I know, I know, but you could start your shopping now.
HOLMES: OK. It's not too late.
WHITFIELD: The lay away plans, they're back.
HOLMES: Really?
WHITFIELD: Remember the day of lay away plans? They're back. You want to take advantage of that.
HOLMES: I used to do that. K-mart and all those -- they were famously doing that.
WHITFIELD: Yes, yes. And a lot of them are bringing it back. That's something you might want to consider. And then, OK, so do you have any ideas to whether the healthier of the children in the household would be the eldest, the middle, at the bottom?
HOLMES: That's a good question. Who would be healthier?
WHITFIELD: Or would you even think that all of them should be equally healthy?
HOLMES: Well, you would think. But maybe the older people show you what not to do and how not to live. So I'd like to think my sister gave me that example, this is what you shouldn't do.
WHITFIELD: OK. And the responsibility on the parents, as well. Dr. Bill will be along to help impress upon what parents should or shouldn't be doing.
(CROSSTALK)
Well, it depends. You might be.
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: But then the flip side to that is your older sister may be more susceptible to certain things because of the way parents helped raise them, asthma, older kids have the propensity of having more asthma and allergies, as well.
HOLMES: She has both.
WHITFIELD: See? You're so right.
HOLMES: Thanks.
WHITFIELD: He's going to elaborate.
HOLMES: Thanks for taking one for the family.
WHITFIELD: I know. He's going to elaborate on that later on in the day, as well. So you want to begin at noon eastern and hang with us throughout the day.
HOLMES: We absolutely will. Great stuff. Always good to see you. She is @FWitfield, if you want to check her out.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
HOLMES: We'll see you in just a minute. Fredricka, thank you.
WHITFIELD: So busy, you know? What to do. The to-do list is piling up and now, tweeting, too?
HOLMES: You've got seven minutes to get your own stuff.
WHITFIELD: OK.
HOLMES: See you for the next seven minutes.
All right. Coming up, how far is too far when it comes to criticizing a politician? We do take a look at how possibly presidential candidate Chris Christie is being just blasted right now for his weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As we get close to the top of the hour, give you a look at some of the stories making news across the country. Listen to this. A convicted rapist in Vancouver, Washington asked the judge to throw the book at him, and he gets his wish. Sean Carl (ph) pleaded guilty yesterday to raping a woman at knifepoint and then attacking another woman back in February. The 21-year-old requested the maximum sentence, so the judge gave him the maximum sentence, 15 years in prison, Carl says, it's his way of showing remorse.
Also, a Florida company is constructing partially built homes, it will be constructed and then head over to Florida -- excuse me, Iraq, let me get this right. Florida Company making homes for Iraq. We got that right? OK. The homes will be manufactured in Palmetto and made of steel frames injected with foam. The company says, the houses can withstand hurricane-force winds as well as earthquakes.
And an Army Sergeant Tim Johanson, he sent home a special package to his wife Katie, a stray puppy named Leo (ph), he found in a bomb- riddled Afghan countryside. Katie says, Leo still trying to adjust to the calm of the new home in Illinois. The sergeant is expected home shortly after Christmas.
Well, you know, Fredricka is coming up just in a few minutes. But before we get to Fredricka, she's busy tweeting by the way. A big question surrounding New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is will he or won't he run for president. But people are also speculating about another pretty heavy issue involving the governor.
Here now, CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Governor Chris Christie's profile gets bigger, so does the issue of his size.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: All right.
MOOS: Now that he's a national figure, comedians are starting to make his waistline a punch line.
DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Take a look. I mean, does he show up and go -- and go to Google Earth.
MOOS: From late night to daytime talk, Chris Christie's weight is being tossed around.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Can you see him as president?
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": You say no? OK. Why not? Because he's hefty.
MOOS: For a while they danced around the f word but then...
(CROSSTALK)
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I don't think the country is ready for a fat president again.
WALTERS: I think that's ridiculous.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Imagine this conversation about an overweight female candidate.
MOOS: Governor Christie is a bonanza for cartoonists like Jeff Danzinger (ph) who drew Republicans in a life raft seeking rescue while Chris Christie is belly up on the beach.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: I saw him the other day. I was amazed by him. He must be 300 plus. And that's something you just have to deal with because you're not going to say I'm going to cut the budget. How about starting with supper?
MOOS: But Chris Matthews would go to bed without his supper for that remark if Mike Huckabee had his way.
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: To criticize Chris Christie because of the amount of his skin is absurd.
MOOS: The amount of Huckabee's skin used to be excessive. He lost 110 pounds.
(on camera) His weight may be the elephant in the room but Chris Christie talks about it comfortably.
CHRISTIE: I'll let all of your audience in on a little secret, Wolf. I'm overweight.
The thing that I feel most guilty about, my weight.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Where do you fold out in terms of dealing with it?
CHRISTIE: I eat too much. I mean it's not a complicated thing.
MOOS (voice-over): When it comes to portly presidents, William Howard Taft was America's biggest at over 200 pounds. Taft was famous for getting stuck in the White House bathtub. Aides had to come and get him out. He then had a new tub made big enough for four men. At a Christie town hall, one voter saw beyond size.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think having a governor that is smart and that has the perseverance to do what's right is hot and sexy.
MOOS: Contrast that with Letterman's top ten ways the country would be different if Chris Christie were president.
LETTERMAN: Number two, instead of Iraq, we'd invade IHOP. And the number one...
MOOS: Prepare for a steady diet of jokes.
Jeanne Moos, CNN...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: No more Vinos, only Cheetos, yehey.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: He does talk it openly, though.
WHITFIELD: He does.
HOLMES: He doesn't make fun of himself necessarily. That can be brutal.
