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CNN Saturday Morning News
Senate Vote Scheduled Today for Payroll Tax Extension; Helping Families Afford Christmas; Momentum Heading into Iowa; Finding the "Ark of the Covenant"; Social Gaming Goes High Tech; Kobe Bryant's Wife Files for Divorce; Sam Hurd Cut by Bears, Out on Bond
Aired December 17, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: At the top of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING, 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta. It's 9:00 p.m. in the Philippines where at least 180 people are dead after a tropical storm slammed that country and there is a desperate search and rescue effort going on right now.
Also, Congress reaches a deal to stop the government from taking more out of your paycheck. However this is just a temporary fix. They are in session today. We're headed live to DC. Also, would you ask your boss' wife out on a date, especially if your boss is the president of the United States? We'll explain this and you've been chiming in on it this morning as well.
Let's start with the Senate, open for business today. They'll be open in about an hour from now. They'll be in session.
First on that agenda is extending the payroll tax holiday. This is a compromised deal that appears to have been reached. They'll vote on that today, but it's just an extension that goes for two months. It means we got to come back and do this all over again in about 60 days.
Athena Jones from the White House for us now.
Athena, the White House at least happy to know that the taxes for a lot of folks in this country are not going to go up January 1?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, they say they are. They say that this deal meets the test that the president set out. He's been saying for days, for weeks really, that the important thing is that taxes for 160 million Americans don't go up on January 1st and now even though they're going to have to return to this whole issue in another two months, they say that for now, this is a significant step and it's a significant provision of the American jobs act that the president put forward. I'll read part of the statement from the White House communications director regarding this vote that's coming up.
They say the deal is a significant victory for the American people and the economy because independent analysts have said failing to extend this tax cut would have had a damaging effect on our recovery and job growth.
They've been arguing this point for some time, the idea that for the average family, they're going to get an extra $1,000 in their pockets and they're going to keep that payroll tax cut, that payroll tax rate at 4.2 percent rather than 6.2 percent and so they say it's a victory.
There's been a real issue here and that is the issue of the keystone pipeline. Let's listen to what Senator John Thune from South Dakota had to say about that issue, about the fact that we'll have to return to this on Erin Burnett last night.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: We wanted to see the same thing that passed in the House of Representatives pass in the Senate, which was a one-year extension. But the Democrats would not accept credible offsets to pay for it in the Senate.
And so, this is what we got down to in term its of a package that we could get support from both Republicans and Democrats for. For Republicans this is a big victory in the sense that the keystone pipeline was really important. We think the real jobs component in this bill. This is the thing that really creates jobs in the near- term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And so that's the issue. In the end the provision they're voting on today, the bill they're voting on today includes a provision that would speed up, force the administration to make a decision on getting a permit for the keystone pipeline. This is a pipeline being built (INAUDIBLE) to go from Canada down to Texas to carry oil to refineries down there. It's raised the ire of some environmentalists.
The administration wants to spend a lot more time studying it. They want to make a decision in 2013. This bill would include a revision requiring them to make a decision much sooner. That's something that the president had said they didn't want, but clearly they're willing to settle to include this in order to give middle class families a tax break.
HOLMES: Athena Jones, keeping an eye on things for us in DC, thank you.
The Senate, not just a payroll tax to talk about today. They'll be in session here in about an hour. They still got that nearly $1 trillion spending bill. This is the one that will keep the lights on and keep the government running until next last September.
They actually passed a one-day continuing resolution. They did that so they can vote on the actual big bill today since the government ran out of money technically at midnight last night. The bill includes spending cuts for the Department of Homeland Security and for FEMA and freezes some aid to Pakistan. Four minutes past the hour.
We'll turn to some presidential politics. Mitt Romney, he's picked up a pretty big endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley says Romney is her guy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: It is with great pride, great respect, great support that Michael and I are very proud to say that we are endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Haley won the governor's race in South Carolina with big support from the Tea Party. South Carolina's primary is third on the nominating calendar after of course Iowa and New Hampshire. Bigger endorsements up for grabs later today in Iowa. That's when the "Des Moines Register" will be picking a candidate for the Iowa caucuses.
Iowa certainly the place to be, but not for everybody. Those at the top of the pack not in Iowa, but some others, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, they're all in Iowa today. Mitt Romney is staying in South Caroline there with Nikki Haley. Newt Gingrich is in Virginia. He's actually there to attend a book signing for his wife's new children's book.
Meanwhile, today in his weekly address, President Obama hails America's fighting men and women coming home from the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week marked a historic moment in the life of our country and our military. For nearly nine years, our nation has been at war in Iraq. More than 1.5 million Americans have served there with honor, skill and bravery. Tens of thousands have been wounded. Military families have sacrificed greatly, none more so than the families of those nearly 4500 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice. All of them - our troops, veterans and their families will always have the thanks of a grateful nation.
On Thursday the colors our armed forces fought under in Iraq were formerly cased in a ceremony in Baghdad before beginning their journey back home. Our troops are now preparing to make their final march across the border and out of the country. Iraq's future will be in the hands of its own people. Our war there will be over. All of our troops will be out of Iraq. On this holiday season all of us can finally say welcome home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We are now one step closer to the end of the war in Iraq. The official closing ceremony in Baghdad was Thursday. Yesterday, the U.S. turned over control to the last American military base in Iraq south of Baghdad, about 200 miles. They also turned over the last U.S.-held prisoner into Iraqi custody.
Be sure to tune in all day today, "CNN NEWSROOM" special reporting "Home from Iraq."
It's seven minutes past the hour. Let's turn now to this desperate search and rescue operation going on now right now in the Philippines. The country hit hard by a major tropical storm. Nearly 200 people are dead, some 400 still missing. 20,000 soldiers are being mobilized to help with the search and rescue effort. It is nighttime there now. This could certainly make things a lot tougher on these rescue efforts.
I talked to one reporter, Maria Ressa a little earlier. She's in Manila.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA RESSA, JOURNALIST (via telephone): The storm is supposed to exit this evening, but it's no longer really the storm itself but its aftermath. We're turning to the aid and rescue workers who are looking for the hundreds missing. They are trying to supply drinking water. They're asking for volunteers to try to get food and clothes to the 20,000 -- actually the government estimates that about 100,000 people were displaced by the storm. World Vision said that they are particularly concerned about children, saying that many face conditions like 13-year-old Bemni (ph), whose mother was killed in the flood and whose father and two siblings remain missing -- T.J.
HOLMES: And what was the issue here? And again, this was a tropical storm. It wasn't necessarily winds that came blowing through. This was a flooding issue.
RESSA: Absolutely. The tropical storm dropped more than 10 hours of heavy rain Friday night. And its effects, not the storm itself, actually caused the casualties and the most damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Floodwaters were roof high overnight, trapping many people. Landslides are also being blamed for some of the deaths there.
Meanwhile in California, they got some issues weather related as well. Those Santa Ana winds are back. Take a look at what these things can do, 70 mile-an-hour wind gusts yesterday took down the sign you're seeing there in a strip mall. It came crashing into some things there. A 100-foot tree also came down in yesterday's winds.
And bring in Reynolds Wolf here now. And, Reynolds, like you say, they are back. We were talking about these just a week or so ago?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. I mean they're going to be strong again today. We're looking at a range anywhere from 45 to 60 miles per hour. But 60 miles per hour, that's tropical force winds. You could see some damage there today. Something else you might be dealing with at all of your airports in southern California. You could see some delays due to the strong winds.
That's not the only place around the nation where we have some expected delays. We got them in Orlando, San Diego, Chicago, even into Boston and Detroit due to a combination of fog mostly in Orlando. In San Diego, the issue is showers, no showers in Chicago, rain and snow mix in Boston, Detroit basically snow showers. For a good part of the Midwest including the Great Lakes, you're going to have snow today, but it should be about an inch or less in most places, a quick-moving system, but unfortunately that wind that we talked about in southern California is going to remain locked in place through the weekend. More on that coming up in a few moments, T.J.
HOLMES: Reynolds, we'll see you here in just a moment. Also in a moment, shrimp as big as your forearm? Massive problem that could pose a huge problem in the Gulf of Mexico.
Also, he's called a one boy USO.
You'll meet the eight-year-old who is making sure the nation's service men and women are not forgotten. It's 10 past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twelve minutes past the hour. We're giving you a look now at stories making news across the country.
Authorities in Philadelphia are looking into how a 13-year-old boy got locked up in his school overnight this week. David Field didn't make it home Thursday. His mom got worried, called police and school officials and nine hours later he was found in a locked stairwell. He says he was trying to dodge bullies at the school.
Also an invasion of black tiger shrimp. You see that? Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico worry the Asian species may threaten those that are native to the gulf. Roughly 200 have recently been harvested, but their actual number could be much higher. There are concerns it could throw the ecosystem out of balance and eventually threaten this $700 million industry.
And how is this for bravery from one of our Marines here? This is 20- year-old Lance Corporal Aaron Leaks (ph). He asked the first lady of the United States to the ball. Yes. Michelle Obama was here. She was actually at this toys for tots drive. He leaned over, asked the first lady of the United States whose husband happens to be his boss, asked her out.
I'm told, I shouldn't call this a date, just accompany to the ball, right? Come on now. Come on now. Now, the first lady said she'd love to. But she's on the spot. What's she supposed to say? No? Find your own date. We don't know how it's going to go down later. He's actually going to be deployed. He is leaving for Afghanistan next month. The ball is next November. I do believe we shall see.
At 13 minutes past the hour. Cody Jackson, eight years old and he's doing something pretty patriotic. Two or three times a month he goes to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airport and he thanks returning service men and women for protecting the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CODY JACKSON: Thank you for protecting us. UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: You're very welcome.
KELLY JACKSON, MOTHER: There was a joke going around that Cody would go up to the USO and ask to join. They said no, you're too young. Come back when you're 18 and the joke was well, he didn't need the USO. He's doing it on his own. He's a one-boy USO.
KEN JACKSON, FATHER: It's really wonderful what he's doing. His grandfather was in the military and he has already been in the military offices, recruiting offices asking when he can sign up.
C. JACKSON: Thank you for protecting us. I asked my mom how come it's so hard to get on an airplane? She told me about 9/11.
KEN JACKSON: He got so upset and he wanted to thank these people for putting their life on the line for him. So he comes to the airport and now meets the soldiers and thanks them for protecting him and hands them a little piece of candy and salutes them and wishes them well. As Cody has met a lot of these soldiers, a lot of them have become touched by what he's doing at such an early age and some of them have taken coins out of their pockets and given it to them. He doesn't want to take any of it. A lot of them are so touched and they've given some of their awards and medals to him.
I think it means a great deal to be a service man and women. He goes up to them and thanks them. To see this big, strong, man or woman come through and they look like somebody you want to approach and Cody goes up to them and starts to talk to them and you see them just light up. Even big, grown men are wiping tears away from their eyes. It's very touching.
CORPORAL CURT TEMPLETON, U.S. ARMY: I don't know the words to describe it, honestly. To see a little kid like this, coming here and do what he's doing, thanking us, and you see a lot of people -- somebody that small. It really tugs at your heart and it makes everything that we're doing worth it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour now. Coming up, our financial analyst, he says there are some things you do not need to buy before Christmas, but then our Mario Armstrong, our tech guru is going to be here as well to duke it out with him because he says those same items he's telling you to not buy, you do need to buy them right now. You'll hear both sides. You'll decide for yourself.
But first, "Travel and Leisure" magazine has come out with the list of the nation's sexiest cities. Austin, doing your thing at number five, Denver coming in at number four. San Juan, Puerto Rico, number three on the list and the two cities with the most attractive people, can you guess? I'll tell you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Eighteen minutes past the hour. I told you just a moment ago, "Travel and Leisure" magazine has come out with the list of cities, the sexiest cities out there according to the magazine.
The hotties are hanging out in Austin, number five on the list, Denver as well and in San Juan. Look at that, number two on the list, you have San Diego, but what city -- what city should you hit if you want to find the hotties? No, not Alabama. It's not in Alabama, but it's Charleston, South Carolina.
Did you see that one coming, Reynolds?
WOLF: Did I and I'm actually very disappointed.
HOLMES: Why are you disappointed?
WOLF: "Travel and Leisure" magazine is a great magazine, but it missed a wonderful opportunity, because it's true that (INAUDIBLE) Alabama and your hometown of west Memphis brings sexiness to a whole new level. No question about it.
HOLMES: They say the southern city has the nation's most attractive people. I need to find the criteria they used here, don't have that formula for you, but hey, we trust the people over at leisure magazine, "Travel and Leisure."
Let's go back to some weather here. We're going to get Reynolds involved. In Atlanta, they're feeling pretty good, like spring the last couple of day. But look at this, out in California of all places. Mount Laguna, are you familiar with this one Reynolds?
WOLF: I am, indeed.
HOLMES: It's kind of tough for the folks to drive around and the kids of course having a good time. What's going on in Mount Laguna?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Thank you. We'll see you again here shortly and Santa needs a little help this time of year. He's getting some from anonymous donors who are paying off the layaways of some cash-strapped families. It's happening at stores across the country. We'll tell you about these acts of kindness when we come back on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: You need to hear this next segment. A lot of people are getting ready for the holidays. Our financial analyst, Clyde Anderson is here with me now, got a list of items that may be on your wish list that he says you do not need to buy right now, not before Christmas, but hold on.
Our tech guru that you hear every Saturday, as well, Mario Armstrong he heard about this and said hold on. Those same items he told you to not buy, you do need to buy them right now. So Mario is joining us by satellite.
Let' me start with you. Let's start computers here, Mario. You're saying go ahead and buy it right now, why? MARIO ARMSTRONG, CNN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Because these financial analysts have no idea what they're talking about in technology. That's like me trying to explain an annuity. It's just not going to happen. But, no, computers right now are a good deal. I will tell you that you'll start to see that the prices won't drop because we're about a week away from Christmas.
So Clyde's right. I think he normally says we should wait a little while until maybe August for the school year and that's a good point, but if you see a good deal right now you should pick it up and if money is tight, buy refurbished.
HOLMES: Wait a minute here. It sounds that you're already conceding on the first point. You're telling Clyde he's right, Clyde.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: We've got him on the ropes. The whole thing is, why rush it right now? If you're going to buy a computer, it's a big-ticket item. You don't need to rush it and buy it right before Christmas.
You got to wait until Christmas. Of course, they're going to want to get rid of inventory right after the holiday. So they've got these things that they already go ahead and discount. Really they're just taking off the mark-up anyway. Wait for the new year sale, even. Wait for the first of the year and that's when they're going to be great.
HOLMES: Round one to Clyde Anderson. Let's move on to televisions here. Again, everybody likes to buy these big items around the holidays and the guys are buying the big TVs. You're saying wait.
ANDERSON: Wait. There's no hurry. Again you're playing the game. Consumers, you're playing, you're feeding into what these advertisers and these manufacturers want you to do. They're going to have these TVs and it's going to look like a deal and it's not a great deal. The TV's not going to change. But they're going to have to make room for the new inventory and the new models coming up at the beginning of the year.
HOLMES: Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
ANDERSON: The best time to buy the television is going to be right before the super bowl. That's when they sell the most. That's when they're going to have the deals. The sales are going to be better than they are having today.
HOLMES: Mario makes a good point.
ARMSTRONG: No, he stole my point. The deals are going to be great right before the super bowl on large-screen TVs. However, right now, plasma and LCD televisions for secondary bedrooms or non-main rooms are great deals right now. He's talking about inventory, are you kidding me? There are tons of inventories in these stores right now that they need to get rid of.
ANDERSON: Exactly and there's going to be much more inventory coming up. That's the thing. There's going to be much more inventory. They got to get rid of it, so what do they do to get rid of it? They drop the prices.
ARMSTRONG: One thing I can't beat him on is don't buy these HDMI cables at the big box retailers. Clyde, didn't even know this. You can get the 70 percent at newegg.com and at places like (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: I was going call that round a draw, but now that's like a low blow. You're going to introduce stuff that you're not even talking about. Let's go to cameras now. A lot of people like to buy those for the holidays. Mario, I'll let you have this one first on cameras. You say go ahead and buy it right now. Why?
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely because the point and shoot cameras are going -- all single-purpose technology is going out the window and this is the first time you're really seeing cameras so inexpensive. I'm not talking about digital SLRs. I'm talking about every day, point and shoot cameras. The prices are ridiculously low right now. You can find a lot of great deals and it's really competitive. I know people can use their smart phones, but a lot of people still want to have the dedicated item.
HOLMES: Ridiculously low. How can you top that? Why not buy that?
ANDERSON: The whole thing is we're not talking about professional photographers. We're talking about people that are taking pictures of recitals and family and things like that. I don't want you to miss any precious moments, but I'm saying, 30 percent deal. If you just wait a little bit after the holiday, again, you don't need the latest and greatest all of the time.
ARMSTRONG: You want for the holiday to be over.
ANDERSON: All of the family moments won't be captured during the holiday. If you don't have a camera right now and you need to capture the family moments, get the camera. But right now in this economy, every dollar is crucial. So if I have a camera that works, I'm not going to wait for the one that has more pixels or digital zoom. I'm going to go ahead and get something or I'm going to wait and save that 30 percent.
ARMSTRONG: That's what I'm saying. These cameras can't grow any more than where they are. You have cameras right now that are shooting 14 megapixels and 12 megapixels. There's nowhere else for them to go. If you see one under a hundred bucks, it's a good deal. It's OK with your pocket, buy it. Take a picture.
ANDERSON: I understand you're a tech guy and I want to get you something for Christmas and it's this right here. I want to make sure. This is the calendar and I want you to use this.
HOLMES: That's it. Mario, we're going to have to leave it there. Mario, Clyde, good stuff. Let the viewers decide.
As we come up to the bottom of the hour now, helping families afford Christmas. Anonymous donors are popping up all over the country paying off the layaway bills of some families who are struggling. In Indianapolis, a woman walked into the K-Mart, headed right for the layaway department and she said she wanted to make the holiday better for as many people as she could and she paid off the layaway bills of more than 50 customers. The balances ranged from $10 to nearly $800.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDNA DEPPE, KMART ASSISTANT MANAGER: She said that she had money. She wanted to make Christmas happy. And it was just like an angel that just dropped out of the sky.
ANGIE TORRES, CUSTOMER: I took out my credit card to pay my minimum balance. She said don't pay that. I'm going to -- I'm going to pay it for you. I said what -- what can we do for you? She said the only thing you can do for -- for me is to give back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We want to hear from you on this. You've been chiming in and we thank you so much. We want more responses. We've been asking you, tell us something nice maybe you plan to do for someone this holiday season or what's the nicest thing a stranger ever did for you? You know where to find us on Twitter @tjholmes, I've been talking to some of you there this morning already. Also, we've got that Facebook page and our CNN blog.
And like I said, just past the bottom of the hour now. Momentum in the name -- is the name of the game right now in the Republican presidential race. Who's got that momentum just a couple of weeks away from Iowa? It may not be who you think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, just past the bottom of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of you weekend here with us.
I'll give you a look at some of the stories making headlines.
Protests in Central Cairo going on right now; officials say at least eight people were killed last night and today in clashes between pro- democracy demonstrators and Egyptian security forces. More than 200 people have been injured. The Transport Ministry is burning after an explosion there and several other buildings are on fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ETTA JAMES, SINGER: At last my love has come along --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Oh, it's that wonderful voice, that wonderful song from Etta James, that signature song "At Last". But now we're getting word from the singer's manager that she is in the last stages of a terminal illness. She was diagnosed with leukemia more than a year ago. She is 73 years old.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Tripoli today; he indicated that Washington will help the new government after it gains control of several -- several militia groups but that he's also visiting a cemetery where the remains of several 19th century American naval sailors are buried.
And it may be hard to believe or maybe you've been counting the days, but the Iowa caucus is now just about two weeks away. The voting finally will start in the Republican presidential race, but as our Jim Acosta reports you might as well just throw away all of the polls. This is anybody's game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Stopping in an Iowa steel plant, Mitt Romney was beaming with a new sense of momentum and an outsider's message.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
What concerns me is that we have in Washington a class of people who have spent their whole time in Washington and they don't understand what you do.
ACOSTA: Also on message was the latest Tea Party favorite to endorse Romney, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley a top conservative in a crucial early voting state. The anti-Washington line of attack appeared to be aimed at the man clinging to the top of the GOP field, Newt Gingrich who was once again under siege at the last GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He cashed paychecks from Freddie Mac.
ACOSTA: Michele Bachmann took aim at the big money Gingrich made advising mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I never lobbied -- people ought to have facts before they make wild allegations.
BACHMANN: You don't need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to still be influence peddling.
ACOSTA: In response, Gingrich supporters eagerly tweeted out this video of Bachmann praising the former Speaker in 2008.
BACHMANN: This man can do it all. He's truly our renaissance man.
ACOSTA: But Bachmann also unloaded on Ron Paul and his hands-off approach to Iran's nuclear ambitions -- a libertarian stand that may not sit well with conservatives.
RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what I really fear about what's coming here, it's another Iraq coming and it's war propaganda going on and -- and we're arguing to me, the greatest danger is that we will have a president that will overreact.
BACHMANN: And with all due respect to Ron Paul, I think I have never heard a more dangerous answer for American security.
ROMNEY: Thank you so much --
ACOSTA: It all fit neatly into a game plan perfectly executed by Romney who called Gingrich "zany" earlier in the week and then stayed positive at the debate. Newt (INAUDIBLE) seemed to be fading before Republican eyes.
GINGRICH: I sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong so I've been standing here editing and I'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany.
BOB VANDER PLAATS, IOWA SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE: I've never seen a caucus like this before.
ACOSTA: Iowa social conservative Bob Vander Plaats believes caucus- goers are so conflicted over the GOP field the state could be up for grabs down to the wire.
PLAATS: I really think you might get a late surprise. I think this thing could break very late and very fast.
ACOSTA (on camera): Another shift in this campaign could come this weekend when the state's major newspaper, "The Des Moines Register" is expected to endorse a candidate, that leaves a little more than two weeks of twists and turns before the caucuses.
Jim Acosta CNN, Sioux City, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And "The Des Moines Register" endorsement that Jim was talking about just a moment ago is expected to come tonight. Stay tuned to CNN to see who gets that.
But here's a quick look at who got it in the past. It really -- it looks like they're good picking Republican winners maybe but not so much as far as Democrats are concerned.
And you heard the "Ark of the Covenant", right, one of those holiest relics from the Bible and every archaeologists' dream find. Could it be in a small church in a small town in Ethiopia? That's our "Morning Passport". Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you realize what the ark is? It's a radio for speaking to God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Oh, you remember that well, right? Indiana Jones, "Raiders of the Lost Ark." "The Ark of the Covenant" they found it, but in our "Morning Passport", Nadia Bilchik has found it, as well.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes, and the mystery continues.
HOLMES: And it continues.
BILCHIK: I mean Steven Spielberg certainly popularized it.
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: But this is a mystery that's been going on for hundreds of thousands of years.
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: And where is the "Ark of the Covenant?" Well, the Ethiopians, both Christians and Jewish Ethiopians --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: -- believe that's in a church in Ethiopia.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: Now interestingly enough, the story and the mystery has revived because this particular church developed a leak which means that the famous ark will have to be moved. Now, why this is a problem is that the only person who can actually watch it is one guardian. He is the only person who is allowed to see this "Ark of the Covenant".
HOLMES: Ok, let me sure I got this right. They sprung a leak so they need to do some repairs.
BILCHIK: To move it.
HOLMES: It needs to be moved.
BILCHIK: Of course and he can't move it alone, so it may be the first time in thousands of years that people get to see it.
BILCHIK: Ok are we sure it's there? Or they've been playing a hoax on us for years?
BILCHIK: Well can you ever -- one popular belief is -- is that there is some ancient relic there and that they really believe it is the ark, but Jews believe it's in the tunnels under the temple in Jerusalem and there's even some belief that it's in Jordan on the top of Mt. Nebo, so it really is one of those great mysteries.
But you have to believe that the Ethiopians certainly believe this is it and they treat it as the most sacred relic in the world.
HOLMES: So what are they going to do?
BILCHIK: Well, what they're going to do at this point is either repair the leak.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: Or I don't know how it's going to work as to how they're going to actually move it because the belief is that if you see the ark you will implode. So it's one of these great mysteries --
HOLMES: Wow.
BILCHIK: I know Steven Spielberg has nothing to say -- you see the beautiful wood encased with gold.
HOLMES: Ok what is this -- this is the -- what am I seeing here?
BILCHIK: This is supposed to be the ark which is the container of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.
HOLMES: Ok but only one guy can see it. Aren't people lining up trying to get a glimpse? Why would you want to if you're going to implode?
BILCHIK: Well absolutely, which is why it's been secret up until this point --
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: But with the leak in the roof it has to be moved. So what's going to happen to the sacred relic? And whether you believe it or not, it certainly is something mysterious and certainly something sacred and maybe not in our entire lifetime will we ever know where the real "Ark of the Covenant" is, but we live by those laws, don't we, T.J.?
HOLMES: Don't we, though. All right, what's their timeline before I let you go here for when they're going to fix the leak or when might they have somebody --
BILCHIK: It's happening over the next -- this only happened at the end of last week that the leak arose.
HOLMES: Ok.
BILCHIK: So what's going to happen? We'll be following closely. It seemed the Ten Commandments have quite a lot of power over our lives, don't they?
HOLMES: All right, Nadia Bilchik with a great -- another great "Morning Passport". Thank you so much.
We're about 43 minutes past the hour now.
And there's a new way to play. We're going to meet a couple of guys who say the Rubik's cube oh, that's old. They've got another cube for you. It's called the Sifteo. Check this thing out. We'll explain in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A quarter of the top of the hour now.
A lot of people looking for high-tech gifts around Christmas time; got a new one for you. Kind of reminds you of the Rubik's Cube, but certainly there's an upgrade here.
Joe Carter has the story in this "Start Small, Think Big".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For college classmates David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi, inspiration came from a simple object.
JEEVAN KALANITHI, CO-FOUNDER, SIFTEO: Dave and I were sitting around in the kitchen of the media lab at MIT where we were both graduate students.
DAVID MERRILL, CO-FOUNDER, SIFTEO: And we think what if alphabet blocks had been invented in the 21st century?
CARTER: So they gave them a high-tech twist and created Sifteos, electronic cubes that interact with one another and they make computer games a little more personable.
MERRILL: We used to think of when we talked about social games was checkers, board games, where you sat around the table with other people face to face and played games with pieces on the table. And that's what we think of when we think of how Sifteo cubes are social.
KALANITHI: And combined what's great about sort of thinking board games with what computers can do in terms of interactivity.
CARTER: Programs are sent to the cubes wirelessly, giving them almost endless gaming abilities.
KALANITHI: We'd like to thank we have a vision or an idea that is pretty inexhaustible.
MERRILL: We think of play as a pretty broad umbrella and Sifteo cubes are a system that we think is going to be really useful both for the entertainment side of play and for the learning side of play.
CARTER: For Merrill and Kalanithi making technology with the future in mind is both a business and personal goal.
MERRILL: I want to design the kind of technology that's going to be in the world that my child lives in.
CARTER: Games that are adopting to our new style of play. Joe Carter, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, they're calling them holiday angels, anonymous donors paying off the layaways of cash-strapped families. We've been asking you to weigh in on this story; more of your comments in just a bit.
Also Vanessa Bryant says she's done with Kobe, has now filed for divorce. We'll have an update here and other happenings in sports in just a moment.
But we're coming up on the end of the year. A lot of those lists are out there. Here's something a lot of people have been wondering. Which hash tag is at the top of the list for 2011? We're talking Twitter here for some of you folks but most of you know. Was it #egypt, #tigerblood, or was it #threewordstoliveby.
Stay with me. I'll give you the answer in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: About ten minutes off the top of the hour now.
Before the break we asked you if you knew what Twitter's top hash tag of the year was: #egypt, was it #tigerblood, was it #threewordstoliveby? The answer, you probably guessed this one because of the protests in Tahrir Square this past spring; #egypt, the most popular hash tag of the year.
And with that, let me say good morning to our Joe Carter, HLN Sports. Always good to have you.
Seems like the past couple of weekends, some of the stories in sports aren't necessarily always sports-related.
CARTER: Yes. You know, it's funny like that. In that sense you may call me and say, since you're the sports guy, you should go ahead and do it.
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: We were talking about Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa yesterday. We're finding out that the two have filed for divorce after a ten-and-a-half year marriage. The thing in this whole situation I think, when you take the positive out of this is that there are two children involved and they're not going to go through some long, nasty, drawn-out divorce because the two have already come to a settlement.
Kobe Bryant entering his 16th season in the NBA will be without Vanessa for the first time in 12 and a half years because they were dating basically for two years before the two got married. But they have both requested joint custody for their 8 and 5-year-old daughters.
There are reports out there that are saying that he's already moved out of their mansion and that he's living somewhere else. They do not have a pre-nup which means she's entitled to half of what he's earned since they have been married which as many people know and it's very well-documented that Kobe's made a lot of money in the last ten years.
HOLMES: It's something to see this now, all these years after she was holding his hand at that press conference after he was accused of that sexual assault.
CARTER: Yes, I mean she's famously stood by him through that 2003 assault accusations -- sexual assault accusations and then obviously his admission to his premarital -- extra-marital affairs. And the $4 million ring came into play and that whole thing. So obviously it just didn't work at the end of the day.
HOLMES: Yes. All right.
Let's turn now to another story. This was a shocker. I mean the details are shocking about the wide receiver of the Chicago Bears and accused of -- and I used the reference earlier -- accused of being the Tony Montana of the NFL, what he was trying to do.
CARTER: When I heard the numbers come down on this, the alleged numbers; I thought ok, is he trying to supply drugs for the city of Chicago or for the state of Illinois?
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: We're talking about massive, massive numbers. But the Bears caught wind of all this and they decided yesterday that were going to cut Sam Hurd from the team. GM Gerry Angelo coming out saying, "Listen, this is the best decision for us. It's the best decision for the organization. Let's just get rid of this guy."
They did sign him too earlier in the summer to a three-year, $5 million deal but he really didn't turn out to be much of a player for the Bears offense. He only had eight catches this year, zero touchdowns. So he really wasn't very productive. They're not going to miss him, per se, in the offense currently.
But he was released yesterday from jail, posted $100,000 bond, he faces federal drug charges and apparently authorities say -- the federal authorities say that his intent was to buy three to five kilos of cocaine, plus 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week which is about $700,000 for the drugs per week to set up this massive drug distribution ring.
And there are other reports out there saying that there's a double- digit list of NFL players that the federal authorities have of which Hurd was selling drugs to. His attorney has denied that, and says it's 100 percent, patently false in terms of him selling to NFL players. But this is a mess for him. And we'll see how it develops in the next coming weeks.
HOLMES: Ugly for the NFL -- it could get uglier if he does happen to have a list.
All right. Let's end on a higher note, please. We're talking football -- kicking a football, but not on the field.
CARTER: Yes. Today is college football, bowl season kickoff. We have the next 24 days. We have 35 bowl games and so yesterday they decided to set up a field goalpost in Times Square. A number of former NFL greats were there like Jim Kelly, Eddie George, the Gramatica Brothers. But what they were doing yesterday was for a good cause but they also broke a Guinness Book World Record. They kicked 181, 20-yard field goals in six hours. They raised a ton of money for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Foundation. Had a lot of fun.
As you can see, there's one of the Gramatica Brothers --
HOLMES: There's a Guinness Record for this too.
CARTER: You know there's a Guinness Book of World Records for everything -- for everything. Yes. And they broke one yesterday, 181 field goals in six hours.
HOLMES: Who knew? All right. Joe Carter, always a pleasure, my man.
CARTER: Happy college football bowling to you.
HOLMES: Yes. Thank you for that.
CARTER: Starts today and there's a game every day for, like, the next three and a half weeks. So enjoy that.
HOLMES: Love it. Joe thanks as always.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: We're about six minutes of the top of the hour now.
Senators sat on their hands (ph) (INAUDIBLE) they're about to get in session here just a few minutes from now. They're getting to ready to vote on around a $1 trillion in government spending but they're also deciding whether to leave your paycheck alone. We're taking you to Capitol Hill.
Stay with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, anonymous donors out there are paying off layaway accounts of some family -- excuse me -- of some families who are in need and they're asking in return only that people pay that kindness forward.
I wanted you to hear -- we wanted to hear some of your stories. We asked you this morning what's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you or maybe something you plan on doing this holiday season for a stranger.
Here are some of your responses. One saying "A few of us have adopted a family with eight children; we try to get the kids everything they want so Santa has a full sleigh."
Also another one saying "I plan to surprise somebody; he's a homeless man who lives behind a Target store in central Florida."
Another saying, "We're having a holiday toy drive and all the gifts will be going to a children's hospital on Christmas morning." As we come up on the top of the hour now, something here you'll certainly recognize. Listen to this.
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: Oh, that voice, that song. Etta James, her signature song, "At Last". We're getting word now from her manager that she is in the last stages of a terminal illness. She was diagnosed with leukemia more than a year ago. Etta James is 73 years old.
Also this morning the death of a Florida A&M University band member has been ruled a homicide. Orange County medical examiner says Robert Champion died November 19th from blunt force trauma. Champion was the drum major for the band. No one has been charged in this suspected hazing death.
Also baseball all-star and yes, he is the home run king, Barry Bonds. He has learned his fate now. He has been sentenced to two years' probation, 30 days house arrest. Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice during an investigation into illegal steroid use by pro athletes. Bonds, as you know, broke Hank Aaron's major league home run record in August of 2007.
