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CNN Saturday Morning News
Debate Night In Iowa; Protests in Russia; CNN Hero Bruno Serato; Too Much Sugar In Your Cereal; Iowa Caucuses on January 3rd; Principal Suspends Boy, Loses Job; Monday's Billion-Dollar Impact; Making the World a Cooler Place; Juror's Tweet Leads to a New Trial
Aired December 10, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Christi Paul, in today for T.J. Holmes. Welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Grab your juice and your coffee and sit back and relax. We're going to get you caught up on what's making headlines this morning.
First of all, showing you some pictures out of Russia right now. Protests are happening there. This is a look at the demonstrations. People have been gathering there all week, as you know, to protest last week's elections. So, there have been widespread allegations of voting fraud against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party. We're going to take you live there in just a few moments.
Also, as though you can take any more of this. New allegations this morning that the head of the Amateur Athletic Union may have sexually abused two boys decades ago. Two men tell ESPN that Robert "Bobby" Dodd molested them back in the 1980s when they were playing on his AAU baseball team. Now there's been no comment from Dodd. In fact, he's battling colon cancer right now.
And there was a candlelight vigil last night on the Virginia Tech campus. They were remembering a campus police officer who was shot and killed Thursday. State police say Ross Truett Ashley killed the officer before killing himself. He was a part-time student, apparently, at nearby Radford University. They're still searching for a motive in that attack. But certainly people there trying to come together after that.
So, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Texas' congressional redistricting plan. State Republicans aren't real happy with the way a federal court redrew the map last month. That court was responding to a lawsuit filed on behalf of minority groups. The Supreme Court will hear that case in early January.
And let's talk about Newt Gingrich. He says Palestinians are an invented people. So, raising a lot of eyebrows this morning. He made this strong statement in an interview on the Jewish Channel. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I believe that the Jewish people have the right to have a state and I believe that the commitments that were made at the time -- remember, there were -- there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are, in fact, Arabs and who are historically part of the Arab community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Gingrich went on to say it's tragic that Palestinians didn't leave the area when they had the chance, instead sustaining a war against Israel. He also called the Middle East peace process, quote, "delusional."
Well, Saeb Erakat, a top Palestinian executive committee member, called the comments, quote, "the most racist statement I've ever seen."
So, those comments by Gingrich will most likely come up again tonight, of course, when he faces off against his Republican rivals in a presidential debate. This one's in Iowa. The state, of course, that will kick off the primary and caucus season in just a couple of weeks, few weeks here. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has more for us.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, Christi.
Six candidates will be on the stage at tonight's debate in Iowa, but one may have more on the line than all the rest. And that's Newt Gingrich. You know it's been nearly three weeks since the last Republican presidential debate, our CNN showdown right here in the nation's capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: It's time now to meet the 2012 Republican presidential contenders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And since then, the former House speaker surged to front- runner status in national polls and in three of the states that kick off the presidential primary caucus calendar. For Gingrich, skyrocketing numbers mean increased attacks from his rivals, like former front-runner Mitt Romney. In Iowa Friday, the former Massachusetts governor highlighted his differences with Gingrich over Congressman Paul Ryan's proposal to overhauling Medicare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a place where Speaker Gingrich and I disagree. He called this right wing social engineering. I believe it's a very important step to protect Medicare and to protect Social Security. We're going to have to make changes like the ones Paul Ryan proposed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: So far, Gingrich says he'll stay positive and keep his attacks focused on President Barack Obama.
With less than four weeks to go until Iowa's January 3rd caucuses, this is one of the last chances for all the candidates to make good impressions on undecided Iowa Republicans.
Christi.
PAUL: All right, Paul, thank you so much.
Now on Capitol Hill, the focus, you know, still on the payroll tax cut. It's set to expire at the end of the year. Both Democrats and Republicans have plans to extend those cuts, but there's not a lot of common ground between them. President Obama has called on Congress to get it done. In an interview, in fact, with CBS News, he acknowledged that there's no quick fix for the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CBS NEWS: Did you over promise? Did you underestimate how difficult this was going to be?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't overpromise and I didn't underestimate how tough this was going to be. I always believed that this was a long term project. This wasn't a short-term project. And, you know, for individual Americans who are struggling right now, they have every reason to be impatient. Reversing structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades, that's going to take time. It's going to take more than a year. It's going to take more than two years. It's going to take more than one term. Probably takes more than one president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: We're going to have more from both sides on the payroll tax fight just a little later in the show.
Right now let's talk about the Nobel Peace Prize. It's being handed out this morning. And the ceremonies in Oslo, Norway, set to start in about an hour. These three women are being honored for their work on behalf of women. Here they are, left to right. Leymah Gbowee is a leading peace and women's rights activist, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the president of Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman is known as the mother of the revolution in Yemen. We're going to bring you some of that ceremony live actually when it starts.
Let's get back to Russia, though, here real quickly. Protesters gathering there in Moscow. I want to show you a live picture and bring in CNN's Phil Black who's there.
Phil, give us a sense of what's behind the protests there, first of all.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, extraordinary scenes here today. These are tens of thousands of people. It's what they'd hoped to get and it looks like they've done it. Tens of thousands of people here on this very chilly Moscow day. They're here because they are angry they believe that the parliamentary elections that were held in this country last weekend were not fair, were not democratic. There are widespread allegations that the processes in that election favored the ruling United Russia Party. That is the party of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
So we've seen protests all through the week against that and because of that belief. It's all been building up to today. And as I say, they were hoping to get tens of thousands of people here and it does look like they have done it.
This is Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow. I'm standing on a bridge over the Moscow River. And it is absolutely packed here. The people on the stage think there are at least 30,000 people in this square. We are confined to a very tight area. Such is the crush of people. And we know that the police have actually cut off access to the square and there are, it would appear to be, thousands of other people still trying to get in as well.
So, from the point of view of the organizers here, well, these protesters loud and boisterous, but it is very peaceful. So by all accounts so far, from their point of view, you have to call it a success.
Christi.
PAUL: A success because it's peaceful thus far. We hope it stays that way. But what about Prime Minister Putin? What is he saying about these demonstrations right now?
BLACK: Prime Minister Putin has said during the week that he believes that these demonstrations should be allowed to take place as long as, and he always attaches these points to it, they are peaceful and they are legal. So we've seen the police crackdown on protests during the week. They say that they have done so because they were not legal or because the protesters were misbehaving, behaving aggressively, perhaps blocking traffic, these sorts of things. Those are the reasons they've given for breaking them up and arresting people in those protests.
This one here today had all the necessary permissions to go ahead. The Moscow city authorities assigned this square to the protesters. It is authorized to hold around 30,000 people. It is not the first choice of the protesters. What they had wanted to do was hold this gathering in Revolution Square, which is just outside those famous red walls of the Kremlin. Literally within screaming distance of dissent of power in Russia.
But the authorities said that wasn't big enough to hold this sort of crowd. So much of the protesters, dismayed, if you like, it's been moved to this location here. Not as close to Vladimir Putin as they'd like, but they've got the crowd they were after and it certainly sends the message that they were hoping to send, Christi.
PAUL: All right, Phil Black live for us there in the midst of the protesters who we can hear chanting behind him. Phil, thank you so much.
All right, something special in the skies for you this morning. In case you hadn't noticed, it's a total lunar eclipse. Parts are going to be visible to folks all across the U.S. We're going to have details for you after the break. Stay put.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: In just about 12 minutes, why don't you go out and look up in the sky. A total lunar eclipse begins at that point. Parts are going to be visible across the entire U.S. But all of you waking up on the West Coast today, you've got the winning ticket. You're getting the best view. It will last from 6:33 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Eastern. So about 20 minutes from now. Eleven minutes past the hour at the moment. Bonnie Schneider is here with a check of weather and you're going to be looking up for that lunar eclipse as well.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. I know. Unfortunately we won't see it as well on the East Coast here in Atlanta, for example, as we will out west because the sun's going to come up right when we would normally get to see it. So if you're out west, if you're up early watching, keep an eye to the sky because this is what we're looking for.
You can see the earth passes between the sun and the moon and that will definitely be occurring more towards the morning hours on the Pacific Standard Time. The best view will be towards the western U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, northwest Canada, Australia, New Zealand, central and eastern Asia. So, unfortunately, like I said, eastern U.S., not so great for eclipse sighting.
Well, the temperatures are definitely cold this morning. We're looking at chilly conditions, as you can see, into Syracuse. And most of the temperatures are cold enough to support that lake effect snow we have in the forecast.
It's also brisk in the southeast, but not quite as cold as it was earlier this week where we had temperatures about 10 degrees colder in Atlanta, for example. So, 37 right now in Atlanta. It's in the 20s, though, further to the west.
There's going to be a light glaze of ice this morning. It's called freezing fog, meaning the fog -- it's so cold the fog freezes. So that's going to limit visibility for those of you into areas of Texas, including Amarillo, Lubbock, and parts of New Mexico, as well as the panhandle of Oklahoma.
The rest of the country's looking good. Fair conditions. High pressure dominating. We're going to see clear skies across much of the country. And I think we'll be seeing mild conditions. Just watch out for that rain in the south area of Texas into San Antonio. Sunshine for today, but comfortable conditions.
And mild temperatures really when you look across the board. The Northeast has seen very little in terms of a brutal winter thus far, even though it's not officially winter. Usually we get some more cold temperatures and snowy conditions in cities like Boston, for example. But another comfortable day with a high temperature of 47 there. It will be warm in south Florida. Highs in the mid to upper 70s. The Gulf Coast looking at the 50s. And out west, San Francisco, you're looking for a high temperature of 60 degrees.
PAUL: So when you go out on the West Coast to see the lunar eclipse, you are still going to need a coat or a blanket or something.
SCHNEIDER: Definitely a coat, but not as cold as it will be out east. It's too bad we won't be able to see it here, but I'm sure we'll get some great pictures from iReporters.
PAUL: We'll see it one way or another, won't we.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
PAUL: All right, hey, Bonnie, thank you so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
PAUL: If you have not voted for your favorite CNN Hero, I want to let you know there's still time. We hope you do so. Voting ends on Thursday, but, you know, maybe your favorite is chef Bruno Serato who listened to his mama and made life easier for a lot of children in Anaheim, California. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNO SERATO: I came to this country 30 years ago. I love to cook. But to be in the restaurant business, you must love the people.
How's your lunch, ladies?
In 2005, my mom was here on vacation from Italy. I said, mom, let's go to the Boys & Girls Club. This little boy, five years old, eating potato chips for his dinner. It was a motel kid. I find that a poor family who have nothing else, you live in a motel. The motel environment is extremely bad. Drug, prostitution, alcoholics. It's horrible.
When they go back after school, there's no dinner. There's no money. Mom said, Bruno, you must feed them the pasta.
I'm Bruno Serato. I listened to my mama. Now my mission is feeding hungry children. Six years ago we start feeding the kids. When the recession came, customers dropped and the children doubled. I don't give the kids leftovers. I prepare fresh pasta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Bruno brings a tray in and all the kids start getting excited.
SERATO: Are you hungry? Are you hungry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). SERATO: Right now we are between 150 to 200 kids seven days a week.
Who likes the pasta?
My mom, she made me start. Now, I could never stop.
I see you soon, huh?
They're our customer. My favorite customers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Boy, bless his heart. He makes you want to go out there and do something yourself, doesn't he. See the top 10 CNN Hero nominees and their causes. And tune in to CNN live Sunday evening, that's December 11th at 8:00 Eastern for "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." Also, scan the code on the left of your screen there with your smartphone to meet this year's top ten heroes. Vote for the CNN Hero of the year or, you know, you can donate, too, if you feel so inclined.
A four-year-old Oregon boy goes looking for his mama and winds up on a two mile train trip alone. A four-year-old. That story when we take you cross-country in just about eight minutes from now.
Plus, do you really know -- really how much sugar's in your child's cereal bowl this morning? Or maybe you're scarfing down one of these right now yourself. Stick around. The answer could really surprise you. We're back after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: What are you eating right now? Better yet, what are your kids eating right now for breakfast? Well, we're going to tell you what they're really putting in their mouth. Elizabeth Cohen here with me now.
A new study came out about what is in your cereal. This is frightening.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a lot of sugar.
PAUL: Yes.
COHEN: And I know it's not news that there's a lot of sugar in sugary cereal, but there is some news here. A group called the Environmental Working Group took a look at the sugar content and they looked at federal proposed guidelines for how much sugar should be in them and most of the cereals they looked at were in violation of these proposed guidelines.
PAUL: Oh, my gosh.
COHEN: Had more sugar than they were supposed to have.
PAUL: All right. COHEN: So I brought four of what they would call the biggest offenders. So let's take a look at this. So this is Honey Smacks. It was called Sugar Smacks when I was a kid, but they figured we'll change the name.
PAUL: Isn't that interesting. Yes. Interesting that they changed the name.
COHEN: That is interesting. However, there's still a lot of sugar in there. There are 20 grams of sugar in Honey Smacks. And that is the equivalent of, and you have it --
PAUL: Check it out.
COHEN: Eight Hershey Kisses.
PAUL: Ouch.
COHEN: That's how much sugar you're getting in there.
PAUL: Imagine having that for breakfast.
COHEN: Right, you're not going to eat eight Hersey Kisses for breakfast.
Now, of course, the cereal also does have vitamins and nutrients.
PAUL: Right.
COHEN: But, you know, you should know that your child is getting that much sugar.
PAUL: Sugar.
COHEN: You should be an empowered, aware parent.
So, moving on to Fruit Loops here.
PAUL: That was one of my favorites.
COHEN: I know. Fruit Loops with marshmallows. Did you have the marshmallows when you were a kid?
PAUL: I didn't have -- we didn't, no.
COHEN: OK. Well, these have marshmallows, which even more sugar.
PAUL: Even better.
COHEN: Right, giving you some more sugar. Fourteen grams of sugar. And that is the same thing as four of these cookies.
PAUL: OK.
COHEN: All right, so four chocolate chip cookies. That's how much sugar is in there. PAUL: One of the thing we should point out is serving size too, because this is --
COHEN: Yes, let's take a look at this. I mean, I don't know about you, Christi, but no one in my family, I don't think, would eat that much.
PAUL: No. No. I'm going to -- this is what we would do.
COHEN: OK.
PAUL: And tell me at home, you probably do the same, would you eat that much or would you eat, oh, what do you think, Elizabeth, maybe that much?
COHEN: Yes, roughly. And that's double.
PAUL: Right.
COHEN: So you're not getting eight -- you know, four cookies, you're eating the sugar of eight cookies when you do that.
PAUL: Wow.
COHEN: So, you know, the serving size thing, really pay attention to that.
PAUL: OK. So 14 grams there. How about this one?
COHEN: This one's 18 grams of sugar. And so that's the equivalent of eating a Twinkie sugar wise.
PAUL: Oh, my gosh.
COHEN: It's the equivalent of eating a Twinkie.
PAUL: Golden Crisp.
COHEN: Golden Crisp. There you go.
PAUL: That was one of my favorites too, I have to say.
COHEN: I know. I know. And they're yummy, but there's a reason they're yummy, right? Right?
PAUL: Maybe for dessert instead of breakfast.
COHEN: There you go. That might be an idea. Right. There you go.
PAUL: All right, last but not least.
COHEN: Cap'n Crunch, Oops! All Berries.
PAUL: I had not seen this one before. I loved the Crunch Berries. This is new.
COHEN: They didn't have this when we were kids. PAUL: No, they didn't.
COHEN: They didn't have this. So this is 15 grams of sugar, which is the equivalent of a sugary donut like this one.
PAUL: And, remember, serving size, you could double that, probably.
COHEN: Right. Exactly. Because that's just, you know --
PAUL: Nobody's going to eat that.
COHEN: Maybe a little kid would eat that much, but I think older kids are going to eat a whole lot more than that.
PAUL: They're going to fill it all up, yes.
All right, so what good choices can we make and really how do you keep your kids from eating that much sugar in the morning?
COHEN: OK. So there are good choices to make. And, you know, the cereal manufacturers point this out. They say, we make other kinds of cereals. You don't have to eat this kind of cereal. They also point out that there are, you know, lots of nutrients in here and you eat it with milk and milk has lots of nutrients --
PAUL: Add some calcium and, yes, OK.
COHEN: Right. But there are other choices. For example, you could have Cheerios, which has about one gram of sugar in it.
PAUL: Wow.
COHEN: So that's very different. Rice Krispies has about four grams of sugar in it.
And if you don't want to go the cereal route, you can do something like whole wheat waffles and maybe put some strawberries on there.
PAUL: Oh, even better.
COHEN: You know, that would be even better.
PAUL: So how do you get them to eat this instead of this?
COHEN: The trick is, if you don't want your child to have 15 grams of sugar in their cereal, don't have it in the house. I mean look how cute these boxes are. You've got a frog, you've got a bear, you've got bright colors, you've got the captain. Everybody loves the captain, right?
PAUL: You've got the games on the back.
COHEN: You've got the games on the back.
PAUL: You've got the games inside sometimes.
COHEN: Exactly. Your child is going to choose that if given the option.
PAUL: Yes.
COHEN: So if you don't want them to have it, only have this kind of thing in the house.
PAUL: Good to know. All righty. I'll go for that. Go get your oatmeal. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
PAUL: We'll be right back.
Well, coming up, a death row inmate is getting a new trial all because a juror was caught tweeting. That story and your reaction next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Checking stories across the country right now. We start with a big move for Coca-Cola in Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL (voice-over): The world's largest soft drink maker has moved its secret formula for the soft drink to a new home. The company's world of Coca-Cola Museum. The formula, developed in 1886, had been kept in a safety deposit box in the vault of a downtown Atlanta bank since 1925. The closely guarded secret remains in a safety deposit box, but it's now housed in a new exhibit entitled, quote, "the vault of the secret formula." Sounds a little like a an "Indiana Jones" flick, doesn't it?
Also, in the Portland, Oregon, suburb of Gresham (ph), proof that you have got to watch those little ones every minute. Four-year-old Jesus Atelo (ph) ran out of his house while a babysitter was changing his little sister's diaper. And what a trip he took. Surveillance video showed him getting on a rapid transit train for a two-mile-ride, apparently headed for the building where his mother had an appointment. A smart four-year-old, right, though. Fortunately, police did find him and they took him home.
And Santa delivers an early Christmas gift for two sisters in Harden County, Kentucky.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that what you want for Christmas? Are you sure?
PAUL: Army Sergeant First Class Tommy Neel surprises his daughters Bailey (ph) and Katie (ph) at school. He had just returned from his fifth deployment overseas. SGT. WESLEY "TOMMY" NEEL, U.S. ARMY: It's tough for some kids than (ph) anybody (ph) else. I mean it's tough on those two. It's wrong (ph) -- you can't hide from that. But as far as them, it's really tough on them.
PAUL: Welcome home, Tommy. We're betting the Neel family has a lot of catching up to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Boy, those stories never get old. Glad he's home safe and sound there.
A story that people are talking about too here. An Arkansas man convicted of killing a teenager is getting a new trial primarily because a juror tweeted during his trial once actually from the deliberation room. Less than an hour before the jury announced its verdict, the juror tweeted, quote, "it's over." Three days into the trial, he sent out this tweet, "choices to be made. Hearts to be broken. We each define the great line." The Arkansas supreme court ruled the tweets amounted basically to juror misconduct, that they were grounds for overturning the murder conviction and now they're looking into whether jurors should even have cell phones during the trial.
I actually posted this on my Facebook page. We want to know what you think of the whole thing. Most of the people agree so far that they shouldn't have cell phones if you're a juror. In fact, Raymond wrote, "it's pretty clear when you're a juror you're not allowed to talk about the case, let alone tweet about it. The rules should change as technology does."
So go ahead and join the conversation there, christipaulhln is where you'll find us. And we'll read some more of your comments later.
Meanwhile, a new record for American drivers. You are not going to believe how much we have spent on gas this year. Or maybe you will.
Plus, protests in Russia. They're aimed squarely at Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Welcome to SATURDAY MORNING. I hope it's been good to you so far. I'm Christi Paul in for T.J. Holmes. Let's get right to what's happening today.
First of all, we want to check the top stories. And you are looking at some images out of Boston after police there cleared downtown's Dewey Park of Occupy protestors, ending their 10-week long demonstration against economic inequality. The move comes a day after the city imposed deadline for campers to move or face forcible eviction from the greenway there. No word yet on how many have been arrested totaled.
Also, protests underway in Russia right now. Here's a live picture for you demonstrations in Moscow. Our Phil Black told us earlier this hour - and you can see for yourself, the thousands of protesters that have turned out for this. People have been gathering there all week to demonstrate against last Sunday's parliamentary vote. Many say the election was rigged in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party. So they want a new vote.
There are new allegations this morning that the head of the Amateur Athletic Union in Tennessee may have sexually abused two boys decades ago. Two men tell ESPN that Robert "Bobby" Dodd inappropriately touched them back in the 1980s when they were playing on his AAU basketball team. Now, there's been no comment from Dodd, by the way, who is battling colon cancer right now.
A candlelight vigil on the Virginia Tech campus. It was held last night to remember Campus Police Officer Deriek Crouse, who was shot and killed Thursday, a dad of five. State Police say Ross Truett Ashley killed Crouse before killing himself. He was a part-time student apparently at nearby Radford University, and police are still searching for a motive in that shooting.
Well, you know, this year has been a record setter for U.S. drivers. You've spent more than $448 billion on gasoline so far this year. And just to give you some perspective, that's already $100 billion more than last year. The Oil Price Information Service points to consistently high oil prices obviously as the main reason there.
And Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says Christmas has come a little early to his state. He says statewide belt tightening measures uncovered an extra $320 million in corporate tax revenues. Now, Democrats are calling for an independent audit of state plans.
Well, the Iowa caucuses just a little over three weeks away now and that means there is a full-court press on in Iowa for the Republican presidential candidates. There's a debate there, as you know, tonight. Candidates rolling out new TV ads, too, to get out their word.
Here with me now, Matt Towery, syndicated columnist and former campaign adviser to Newt Gingrich; and Lee May, Democratic County Commissioner in Suburban Atlanta DeKalb County. So thank you both so much.
LEE MAY, DEMOCRATIC COUNTY COMMISSIONER, SUBURBAN ATLANTA DEKALB COUNTY: Thank you.
MATT TOWERY, POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Good to be here.
PAUL: Good to see you early this morning.
MAY: Yes.
PAUL: OK. Let's start with Newt Gingrich's comments, particularly regarding Palestinians and calling them invented people. I have to ask you, Matt, since you have worked with - with Newt. At this point, how would you be advising him after a comment like that that's raised so many eyebrows? TOWERY: Well, these are going to come from Newt. And I was saying yesterday in a column that Newt Gingrich's best move is to stay as quiet as possible for the next 30 days. I mean, he's leading in the polls. He really doesn't need to do anything other than to begin to develop his grassroots in Iowa.
I don't think it's devastating to him because, quite frankly, the people who are voting in Iowa generally speaking are very sympathetic to Israel and not necessarily so sympathetic to the Palestinian nation in the first place. But, again, I think Newt needs to be very careful. He's running for president and these off-the-cuff statements can - can have problems.
PAUL: Lee, is it really going to cause a problem for him? I'm wondering how much this is really on people's radar going into a campaign. It certainly makes you wonder how he thinks of (ph) foreign policy. But people are worrying about the economy here.
MAY: Well, absolutely. I think "mum" has to be the word for Newt Gingrich. All of these things that he has to say, you know, kind of sometimes out of left and right field.
I think his main focus needs to be building an organization that can get him elected in the first five states, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Nevada. That needs to be his focus. And all of these wild kind of things that he has to say should take a back burner.
PAUL: Well, there's a pretty fierce fight going on among all of them. And Romney is coming out now - Mitt Romney with this ad. I want to show you a quick look at it here as he's hitting Gingrich hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't have the discipline that you want in a president. He is out and basically he is out in the left wing of the Republican Party.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: With allies like that, who needs the left?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: All right. First of all, Matt, is this the strategy for Romney? Is this going to win him some points?
TOWERY: You know, it's not because I mean Newt Gingrich I'm totally nonpartisan. In fact I usually poll him below the other pollsters. This is a dumb move. You don't go to Iowa and start slinging mud.
Anybody who knows anything about Iowa politics knows it's a very small state. People don't like attack ads. They have never worked and it's going to be a big problem for Romney. I can't believe he put his name on this stuff. I was getting all the press releases yesterday that had all of these quotes that he's collected from these former members of Congress, some of which were half-wits. I knew them. Some were very good.
But the fact of the matter is he's collected all of these and he's put his name at the top of - of the press release coming out of the Romney press shop. I'm shocked he's doing it.
PAUL: OK. But, Lee, what can Romney do? I mean, when you look at his strategy, people know who he is. He's just not resonating with them.
MAY: Well, you know, I think his former approach kind of the passive- aggressiveness isn't working. And I think this shows that he's a bit desperate and so I think he's looking at the frontal attack now to say, look, I do have this passion for this campaign because that's been one of the knocks against him that he didn't have any zeal, any passion. He's kind of dull.
And so now I think he's showing that he's ready to take the fight to - now to the frontrunner which is Newt Gingrich and hopefully he's thinking that can turn the tide for him.
TOWERY: But I don't understand why he didn't just skip Iowa and go to New Hampshire.
PAUL: Romney?
TOWERY: Yes, where he was going to do very well. Get a head of steam there and then build up his base in South Carolina where the conservative there is conservative but a little different.
MAY: But I don't think you can do that and -
PAUL: I was going to say, Iowa is - everybody looks at Iowa and it's pretty darn imperative, is it not?
TOWERY: Half - half the time the person who wins it doesn't even get close to getting the nomination.
MAY: But you have to be competitive, though. You have to show because even though that's in Iowa, that is showing the nation that you're going after this fight on all fronts -
TOWERY: Well -
MAY: -- and his in particular area is
(CROSSTALK)
TOWERY: That's the strategy, I would have told you. I think it's a whole lot better than going there and slinging mud and then having people in Iowa who don't like it turn around and say, what are you doing? Because it's pretty tough stuff they're doing.
PAUL: OK. So you think he should skip Iowa? What about Trump's Debate, skipping Trump's Debate is a smart thing to do?
TOWERY: Well, I know that (INAUDIBLE) is on that. I was involved talking yesterday on that. That decision has not been made yet. It may become a series of fireside chats, Trump with Gingrich and Santorum. It may be canceled. I think they all made a mistake skipping it. Yes, Donald Trump is very polarizing and he has a tremendously strong personality, but so do a lot of other people who have done this.
PAUL: But he's also got the eye. I mean, if Trump's involved a lot of times people will watch, yes, Lee?
MAY: Yes. Well, absolutely. And it's all about ratings for Trump. I think it's risky for Newt to participate in this especially because I think with only two people, him and Santorum that have confirmed, he's a frontrunner now. He can't take these risks. And I know that's part of who Newt is, you know, is to take those risks.
But you're the frontrunner. I think you have to take a different position now. And, again, going back to building your organization that you can be competitive (INAUDIBLE).
PAUL: All right. Lee May and Matt Towery, we're going to talk more about this in the next hour. They're sticking with us. Thank you both so much.
TOWERY: Thank you.
MAY: Thank you.
PAUL: Good conversation here.
And you're going to want to grab yourself a good spot, by the way, to watch a rare event going on right now, in fact. There is a super- sized blood red moon you have got to see. People already telling me about it on my Facebook page.
Also, a school principal who suspended a boy for calling his teacher "cute" now finds himself without a job. Stay close.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Forty minutes past the hour. Time for Bonnie Schneider and a check of the weather.
I have to tell you, Donna on my Facebook page in Colorado said, "I'm going out to see it now, the lunar eclipse."
SCHNEIDER: Oh, good. Colorado West (ph) is where you will have the best chance to see it. I'd say California, anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, that's where you will see the lunar eclipse, but on the East Coast, not so much.
Let's take a look and I'll explain why. It has to do with the timing. Timing is everything really. And as you can see that the lunar eclipse is likely to pass between the sun - the earth will pass between the sun and the moon for about 51 minutes, and that will occur the best time would be 6:06 to 6:57 A.M. Pacific Standard Time. So areas west will have the best chance for seeing it. Now, in the northeast it's a cold morning but not as cold as it typically is this time of year. You can the temperatures are in the 40s at this hour. In New York City, it's 41 degrees; Philadelphia, 41, that's not bad at all for this time of year. It's brisk and colder in the south; 30 in Birmingham, Alabama; the temperature in Nashville is at 28 degrees at this hour; 47 in New Orleans and 35 in Shreveport.
As you head further off to the north and west of Shreveport, you'll find we're looking at a light glaze of ice. This is really about less than a quarter of a mile that's freezing fog out there. So those of you trying to get a jumpstart on your Saturday maybe heading to the stores, be careful for visibility. It's going to be poor.
We're also looking for the chance of rain across parts of South Texas. Cold temperature is coming in behind this front. But as you can see, high pressure really bringing fair weather through much of the country for today, so that's some good news. Temperatures today will be comfortable out there.
A couple of exceptions. It's colder with the first snowfall of the season in Chicago, so temperatures will allow that to stick. We've got 28 for a high. Starting off kind of cold there this morning, but mild along the Gulf Coast, and certainly very pleasant down in Florida in the 70s - Christi.
PAUL: A good weekend in Chicago. Love that first snowfall.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
PAUL: Michigan Avenue. Get some hot chocolate. And here we are in the studio.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Warm in here.
PAUL: Oh, yes. Thank you, Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
PAUL: Do you remember this one, a 9-year-old boy in North Carolina suspended for three days for saying this about his teacher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMANYEA LOCKETT, STUDENT: I was talking talked to my friend. I said - I said, "Ms. Terry was cute." And that's it. That's all I said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: He called his teacher cute and he was punished for it. The school principal said it was sexual harassment and against school policy. Well, now it is the principal who's being told to stay home. He was forced into early retirement after a 44-year career.
The principal admits he made some errors but, he says he believes he was treated unfairly. The school district has apologized to the student and to his parents, by the way, as well.
So forget Black Friday. Green Monday is the day online retailers are banking on. We're going to tell you why after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Well, Monday is going to be a big day for the economy, particularly retail. We've been talking about Black Friday. You're probably thinking, what are you talking about? In fact, it's up there with Cyber Monday. It's called Green Monday, though.
Josh Levs is here -
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
PAUL: -- with the details.
LEVS: Another day with a name.
PAUL: Go figure.
LEVS: I know. Well, here's the thing. So these days keep sprouting up with names.
PAUL: Yes. And nobody - sometimes people don't know what they're talking about.
LEVS: I know. But then they actually turn into something. And what's so interesting about this one is that this coming Monday is going to have a billion dollar impact.
It turns out it's always two Mondays before Christmas when all of a sudden there's this rush of gift orders and these delivery companies get overwhelmed. So we visited a major carrier to give you a behind- the-scenes glimpse of what Monday could be like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not trying to overwork you, but it is going to be heavy. And expect the load to be heavy. Everyone understand?
LEVS (on camera): A lot of people in the industry call it Green Monday. Two Mondays before Christmas is always a huge day for shipping. Why is that?
PAUL BRADY, DHL AREA SALES MANAGER: Well, typically what we find these customers go shopping a couple of weeks before Christmas on the weekend and they just give up. And then they go online. They order online. The packages get processed throughout the - the weekend and the pickups are made. Deliveries are made on that Monday.
We've increased the number of routes that we have on the streets by over 100 routes. We hired additional part-time workers.
LEVS: We're seeing all sorts of different kinds of boxes travel along this conveyor belt here. And in some cases you're seeing things that shipped well, some cases not so much.
BRADY: This to us is a perfect package. Very solid material. Good corrugation on here. So we definitely want to make sure that our customers are utilizing new boxes if at all possible and also the strongest type of tape. Don't use regular masking tape or some cheap tape that you may get at your local drugstore.
LEVS: So you see how all the packages get moved through here. But then to ultimately get to you, you need a person. You need a courier. And that's why we have Darone Jones, who is one of the couriers.
How do you prepare? You got some extra workouts. You got some caffeine or you get some Red Bull?
DARONE JONES, DHL COURIER: Well, I bought my Krispy Kreme doughnuts, you know, and get some Krispy Kreme (INAUDIBLE), Red Bull, Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I'm ready to go.
LEVS: So, partly is that these are heavy. But more is that they're just really big and bulky, too. I'm 6'1". I'm pretty sure they're bigger than me. I'm trying to look it up. And Jimmy, I need your help on this. Come on over. There you go. That's how it's done.
We have been watching you this morning. You lift more by 8:0 A.M. than most body builders do in the week. Are you the strongest one around here?
JIMMY DAVIDSON, DHL COURIER: I'm pretty sure I am. Everyone wants me to (INAUDIBLE). They call me popcorn right here, you know?
BRADY: It's very gratifying knowing that a grandmother over in China is sending their grandchild maybe their first - their first Christmas present. So we're excited to be able to do that. And our couriers experience that on a daily basis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Last year, there were $954 million in online sales alone on Green Monday and that doesn't include all the people who went shopping over the weekend and decided Monday was the day to ship it. According to comScore, it's expected to go up this year on Green Monday. Some major retailers are actually offering deals for consumers, Christi, on Green Monday, kind of like Cyber Monday.
PAUL: Yes. I kind of wondered. But what - there are so many different options for shipping. I mean, how do you know what's best?
LEVS: Right. And this is part of what the problem is and a lot of people are making mistakes. And if you took a look at some of the video we were seeing just now, some people are making some bigger errors.
So we have gathered some tips for you. We want to help you get your goods. Actually there is a couple from FedEx. First of all, make sure to write gift in the shipment description. A lot of people leave that out. Also, a lot of people leave out the phone number of the recipient because they don't want the recipient to get a call saying you're going to get this gift.
PAUL: Right, right.
LEVS: They want it to be a surprise. Don't do that because you want it to get there safely.
I've got a lot more tips for you from all of the major carriers. Hop at my pages at the blog - CNN.com/Josh and at Facebook and Twitter JoshLevsCNN. So take a look. We want to empower you -
PAUL: Yes.
LEVS: -- to get the gifts there in time for Christmas.
PAUL: Maybe just wait until Tuesday after they've worked out all of the kinks and the flow maybe that time.
LEVS: I think that's a really good idea, but, hey.
PAUL: Hey. And it gives you an extra day if you're not ready.
LEVS: But as you saw, they are ready for you on Monday. They're ready for you.
PAUL: OK. Thank you, Josh -
LEVS: Thanks, Christi.
PAUL: -- so much.
LEVS: Yes.
PAUL: Well, saving the planet has been on the to-do list of one of the most powerful men in the world for years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED TURNER, MEDIA MOGUL & PHILANTHROPIST: By the powers combined I am Captain Planet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Last night, media mogul and philanthropist, you see him there, Ted Turner joining forces with a super hero at a fundraiser to help spread awareness about global warming. We have details for you straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Oh, look who's with us. Nadia Bilchik, she's joining me this morning after a star-studded gala last night. She emceed the Captain Planet Foundation's 20th Anniversary. He's the world's eco hero and was created actually by media mogul Ted Turner, who pretty much created us.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Absolutely. PAUL: CNN.
BILCHIK: He is so creative to come up with this idea of an eco super hero to educate children about the environment.
And, Christi, the first question I asked him last night was, "Ted, why Captain Planet?" Let's hear what he said.
PAUL: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TURNER: We were running cartoons and children's programming. And I looked at a lot of it and I said, gee, there's no environmental messages in any of these programs. And, you know, cartoons are a great teaching mechanism. Television is an entertainment medium, but it's also an informational medium where you can be educated by watching them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILCHIK: And what was so remarkable about the whole evening is people were even wearing eco jewelry. Like, for example, I'm wearing this, it's Mark Edge and it's actually what they call Eco Vintage. So it's a coin and eco chain.
PAUL: Wow.
BILCHIK: The people were wearing recycled parachutes, there she is. That's a recycled parachute -
PAUL: What?
BILCHIK: -- from World War II. There are my wish bone earrings which are made of a salad dressing bottle.
PAUL: Are you kidding me? You wore a salad dressing bottle in your ear.
BILCHIK: Yes, I did. The whole idea is this group of people getting together to say let's help save the planet.
Now, the Durban Summit Conference has just ended and very disappointing was America's involvement and the U.S. in general.
PAUL: Right.
BILCHIK: And I spoke to Ted also about the concept of global warming, and what you say to skeptics. And here's what he said to those people who don't believe in global warming.
PAUL: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILCHIK: You have said that global warming is one of the most serious, if not the most serious environmental issues we have. What do you, Ted Turner, say to skeptics about global warming?
TURNER: Well, all you need to do is show them the evidence and read what the scientific reports say. The overwhelm majority of the scientists and climatologists all say that we're - we're in a lot of trouble with that. And the naysayers - remember people - some people say the world was flat, you know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILCHIK: What I love about Ted is he would go for a walk and pick up trash. And he's been doing that for the last 50, 60 years. His children will tell you that he was the most exemplary parent when it came to being Captain Planet because, you know, Captain Planet is after Ted Turner himself. He has five children. And in the cartoon they are the five planeteers.
But I'm happy to tell you for your three children, Christi, the movie is in the making.
PAUL: You're kidding.
BILCHIK: Cartoon Network's Stu Snyder, the COO of the Cartoon Network, is in charge of the project and very soon you'll be able to see "Captain Planet, The Movie."
PAUL: I can't wait. That's going to be great.
Thank you so much. So good to have you with us, Nadia, great to be here. And she's going to be joining us again actually in the next hour, so we'll talk more about it.
Honoring three strong women, mind you this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners, we're going to check in on that ceremony.
And we've been asking you to weigh in on this story this morning. A juror's tweet leads to a new trial for a death row inmate. Don Preston says, "Charge the juror with contempt and fine them the cost of a new trial. Problem solved."
More of your comments coming up right after the break. Go to ChristiPaulHLN and let us know what you think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: A juror's tweet leads to a new trial for a death row inmate in Arkansas.
Well, we wanted to know what you thought about that. I want to read some of our responses to you.
Kimberly Brown says, "It's a no brainer! No cell phones or any device that can "reach out and touch some" while serving as a juror."
A.R. Thomas says, " I think he's getting a new trial over a minor technicality. That being said, though, I don't think they should allow cell phones in the courtroom during the court proceeding neither during jury deliberations."
And Russ finally says, "Flabbergasted that they haven't already made confiscating cell phones a regular part of jury duty -- what was the judge thinking?"
