Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20101124

from getting from point "a" to point "b," we've got details on that. and jacqui jeras stationed at our travel desk this morning. first we begin one of the most dangerous parts of the world. this morning, south korea's threatening enormous retaliation after an attack by the north. at the same time, the white house is weighing what to do next. the u.s. says george washington is on its way to the yellow sea as previously scheduled. it'll take part in exercises with south korea not far from yesterday's attack. president obama has called south korea's president to express his support. and this morning, the south reports the bodies of two civilians have been found on the island. nearly 24 hours after one of the worst attacks since the korean war. our stan grant is live in south korea with the very latest. stan, how high are the tensions there in the peninsula this morning? >> reporter: you know, john, this is always a volatile reg n region. you described the enormous retaliation that south korea is planning to take against north korea. north korea also talking about a merciless military confrontation. now, words are often used as weapons in this part of the world. but we know now they are backed by real fire power. north korea and south korea traded fire on this island just about 24 to 36 hours ago. two more civilians found dead, that's about four people dead. there are about 15 others wounded. and the united states saying they're going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with south korea at this time. of course, north korea, as well. such a puzzle for the kingdom. it's very, very difficult to read their motive. but we know that kim jong-il has been unwell for some time and planning a transition to his son. many are seeing this as an attempt to establish his credentials, to try to show he's a tough guy and can stand up to the united states and south korea, as well. it's a high-stakes game, john. >> you're not kidding. it's carol here. i just wondered -- and i hate to even mention it because thanksgiving's coming up and it's the last thing anybody wants to hear in the world. but could this lead to war? >> reporter: well, many are saying that's exactly what we did see, carol, when we saw this clash on the island itself. you know, at the time that south korea was carrying out its own military exercises, the north saw that as a provocation. but this has been building for some time. remember earlier this year there was an attack on a south korean naval vessel. 46 sailors killed then, and now this attack, as well. and just remember last weerks an american scientist was shown around a nuclear facility in north korea where they say they are now enriching uranium. so you're talking about an unstable regime, a secretive regime, one that's been hit hard by sanctions, but is looking at a leadership transition. it is not a pretty picture. if you look at all the facts, you realize how high the stakes are here, carol. >> stan grant live for us this morning. thanks. >> thanks. planes, trains, and automobiles. what is typically the busiest travel day of the year is getting started right now. >> aren't you excited? 2 million people are expected to board planes today are being encouraged to pass on it, go for the pat-down instead to create a delay that the feds cannot ignore. jeanne meserve live for us at reagan national airport this morning. do you see anybody out there refusing to go through that full-body scanner, jeanne? >> reporter: carol and john, i haven't seen any sign of that at all. the lines are really just starting to get long here at reagan national. but that's the usual thanksgiving rush. there are two body imaging scanners at this check point, we haven't seen anything that resembles a protest going on here at reagan national. but the day is young. but there are some experts who say this is perhaps a dangerous way to express your point of view. airport security lines are a hassle every thanksgiving, but this year could be worse than most. if a significant number of people participate in so called opt-out protest. encouraging passengers to turn down the detailed body scans, which they say amount to a virtual strip search and instead undergo those intimate pat downs. >> it's not going to be fun. it could be very uncomfortable, but it's better for your health. and if enough of us do it, it could bothering down their security theater. they don't have the manpower to put their hands in everyone's pants. >> reporter: some aviation security experts and travel groups are urging travelers not to participate in the protests because longer lines and aggravated passengers could create a security vulnerability. overwhelmed and rushed, transportation security officers could miss a weapon, explosives, or other threats. >> we've worked with our security officers to ensure that they are focused on exactly those things, especially components of an ied. something that may be difficult to detect. >> reporter: experts also worry that more congestion in boarding areas could make them a more tempting target for terrorists. >> the idea of having a very large number of people crowded at the airport becomes a target for itself in the -- whenever there's an attack on large number of people, obviously the consequences could be very high. >> reporter: airports have been hit before. in 1985, just a few days after christmas, terrorists stormed the airports in rome and vienna. and in 2007, terrorists tried unsuccessfully to ram a car loaded with propane into an airport terminal in glasgow, scotland. "usa today" and gallup did a poll, about 71% of frequent travelers say the loss of privacy or potential loss of privacy in using these techniques was worth it. and since the new methods went into effect on november 1st, it has gotten about 2,000 comments. that's when they're screening about 2 million people a day. so it's really unclear how big this protest today is going to get. we, of course, will be keeping an eye on it for you. carol, john, back to you. >> jeanne, what's your sense of all of that? any time you're in a line to get in security, it seems people want to get through it as quickly as possible. would a group of people really tie things up? wouldn't they want to get on the plane and get home? >> reporter: well, they say this is their chance to really make an expression of their opinion that's going to have an impact. if they do succeed in tieing up travel, people are going to pay attention to their message, which is, we don't want these new screening procedures. so we'll just have to wait and see. clearly there are people here. a lot of people with kids, for instance, who want to get their kids through screening and on to the airplanes and to their destination as fast as they can. it's going to be interesting if the protests pick up steam to see what the dynamic is between those two groups. we'll see. >> i like how you put that, the dynamic is. because if i'm frustrated already getting my kids through and somebody's saying don't go through the full-body scanner -- >> yeah, the protesters sending one message, but i can imagine the frustrated passengers behind them might be sending their own message right back. we'll watch that dynamic today. no question. jeanne, thanks. coming up at 7:15 eastern, tsa administrator john pistole will join us. he's the man in charge of your safety at airports. are they ready to handle the crowds today? and what about those planned protests? does he think they'll come off? >> something you can't control no matter how hard you try would be the weather. and unfortunately we're expecting snow and blizzard-like conditions in many parts of the country. so -- i guess that means a white thanksgiving in many parts of the country. we're talking about a major storm out west, making its way east and that's a sure bet to cause problems for millions of people traveling by planes, trains, and automobiles throughout the weekend. >> rob marciano already on a plane somewhere, so reynolds wolf is in atlanta tracking the holiday travel forecast for us this morning. how are we looking so far, reynolds? >> to tell you the truth, if it was one of the days if you had to make a choice of doing the weather or be on a plane like rob, i'd rather be here in the studio. you've got millions of americans heading out to the roads and airports, you want great weather. we've got it on the east coast and the west coast, but in the middle of the country, we've got a massive storm system that will mean that lot to a lot of people. the winter weather we can expect in the northern half of the country. in fact, we're seeing a little bit of light snow developing south of minneapolis. a little bit of freezing mix at this point. but in the plains, this will intensify. and everything shaded in the pink and purple, those are your watches and warnings. the advisories with the heavy snowfall anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snow is one issue. but into the central rockies, it's not just going to be some of the snowfall, it'll also be the wind that's really going to pick up. we're talking about wind gusts that will be approaching say 70 miles per hour. we're talking about the equivalent of a category one hurricane in some locations. as we zoom in, again, places like salt lake city back over towards denver, we'll have a few of those issues. one other problem we're dealing with for a good part of the morning hours, we're going to be seeing issues with fog too. we'll give you updates on that in a few moments. we had rain in alabama, into georgia, and florida. this morning, leftover moisture, fog and very low visibility. we've got all kinds of travel issues and we'll take care of all of that this morning. keeping you up to speed. >> we actually have a travel desk and it's being manned by the incredibly brilliant jacqui jeras. i always like to make fun of jacqui. >> i told you today how much i like working with you. yes, i am at the -- >> you want to take this outside? >> you too, john, of course. as always. lots of problems out there. i'm glad we're starting out laughing otherwise you'd be crying when you think about some of the travel issues we're dealing with today. when you start out of the gate, you know, this early in the morning at 6:00 a.m. atlanta time. take a look at the picture that we have here. there is an incredible amount of fog all across the area. visibility at the airport right now about two miles, but it's less than 1/4 mile in some of the lower-lying areas across town. no delays at the airport right now, but we do expect they could be very well over an hour as we head into this afternoon. now, some other areas that we're going to be dealing with travel issues. look down here from traffic.com. we have problems on the massachusetts turnpike at this hour. and we have very blustery conditions. so expecting to have problems on the roadways. east/west travel to interstates in particular. over here, salt lake city, we're still dealing with those blizzard-like conditions and we do have a blizzard warning in effect until 11:00 in the morning. this is a great website. commuter link. this is all out on i-80. and look at how bad those roadways continue to be. so you don't want to be out there driving this morning if you don't have to. and other airports we're expecting to have problems with later on today. take a look at this. chicago, minneapolis, due to clouds, rain and snow mix, and also senacincinnati and st. lou strong to severe thunderstorms expected there today. and dallas may have thunderstorms. 15 to 30-minute delays or so. so a lot of different areas in the country where we get a lot of high volume. volume in and of itself can cause major problems. you throw the weather issues in it, as well. it's going to be a rough day of travel for a whole lot of people. >> so myself and 185 of my fellow passengers are wondering, jacqui, why delta canceled our 11:00 flight from laguardia to atlanta today. >> today? >> today. >> i don't know, it has to do with -- >> they knew you were coming, they're like, no! >> have i ever told you how much i like working with you, jacqui? >> tell me every day, john. i love it. sarah palin's doing traveling too. 16 cities in 11 days. officially it's a book tour, but there's all that talk of 2012 again. more just ahead. >> she wasn't there for bristol's big night last night. you probably know the outcome already. but we're going to get into that a little later. the first apple computer sold for $666 back in 1976. want to take a guess how much an original went for at auction? the it wasn't $666, i can tell you that. and forget about snakes on a plane, they don't need an aircraft to fly. literally slithering through the air. why is the military studying them? we'll tell you coming up. 14 minutes after the hour. ♪ i hate suburbia and the bourgeoi-sie ♪ ♪ but i really love my bank ♪ i hate-- didn't quite catch that last bit. i said i really love my bank. right... is there a problem ? it's not really raging, man. uh, we were hoping for more raging ? well, you said write from the heart. yeah... don't do that. at ally, you'll love our online savings account. named the best of 2010 by money magazine. ally. do you love your bank ? we removed the alcohol and made it less intense. ♪ it still kills bad breath germs for a whole-mouth clean. and it's never felt so good. new less intense listerine® zero™. ♪ atlanta's hartsfield/jackson airport as people get set to go over the river, through the woods and to grandmother's house. atlanta's socked in a little fog. departure delays about 15 minutes and will grow throughout the morning. >> we've got a team of reporters standing by to fill you in on all the weather delays across the country and also flight delays. >> i wonder if we could get that fella with the backpack to figure out why they canceled my flight this morning. sir, excuse me. investigators are trying to figure out what led to a second blast at a new zealand mine that killed 29 miners. the miners had been trapped under ground after an initial explosion friday. it's not clear if they survived the initial blast and rescue attempts weren't possible because of dangerous gas levels under ground. johnson & johnson pulling nearly 5 million packages of two children's medications this morning because of manufacturing insufficiencies. the benadryl and motrin was pulled because of quality control lapses. the company says the products have yet to hit store shelves. i'm sure you were watching "dancing with the stars" last night. i'm positive, weren't you, john? >> my dvr has been recording it even though i haven't asked it to. go figure that one out. >> i'm sure the tea party had something to do with that. bristol palin, let's talk about her improbable run on "dancing with the stars." the show's underdog finished third in last night's finale, but not before telling america that a win would be "like a big middle finger to all the people out there that hate my mom and hate me." >> okay. in the end, actress jennifer grey took home the trophy, earning nearly perfect score in her last dances, enough to overcome palin's wave of viewer votes. >> nobody puts baby in a corner. bristol's mom was not in the audience for last night's finale. because as john said, the former alaskan governor hit the road this week. >> she's promoting her new book "america by heart." the first stop, phoenix, arizona. shannon travis is there live this morning. what was the scene like, shannon? >> reporter: it was a lot of people well into the night, john. here's the book right here, maybe a little stocking stuffer for christmas. maybe a little read over the weekend. a lot of people were snapping up this book last night. we counted a few hours that people were waiting in line. and the former alaska governor stayed for a while. she signed copies, shook hands, kissed babies. there was a lot of excitement. it was like a rock star reception for her. a lot of people just wanting to meet with her. one of the people i spoke with is a woman named zac wild. >> are you a palin fan? >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: why are you here? >> because my mom is and she asked me to do this and i thought i would. >> reporter: you mentioned you're an obama supporter? >> i am. >> reporter: probably rare in here. >> i'm sure it is. >> reporter: will you mention you're an obama supporter? >> if i get the chance. i might be ushered out very quickly. >> reporter: so just one of the people. she was in the minority, definitely, here last night, john and carol in terms of fans. but, yeah, sarah palin kicked off her book tour yesterday here in phoenix. >> so the people, shannon, who actually appreciate her, the ones there to see her and might vote for her, what were they saying? >> reporter: there was a lot of enthusiasm, definitely, for sarah palin. i spoke with a few other people who were saying we definitely want her to run. we'll definitely vote for her. but there was a lot -- there was a mixed response when i said, hey, do you think she will run? a lot of people said, yes, we think maybe she will. that lot of other people said maybe she'll just continue to be a reality tv star, a publishing star. it was mixed reaction to that. >> people are so passionate, though. i mean, what? she has more than 70% approval rating from republicans. so i'm sure there were many republicans in line and other people who love sarah palin. the book tour is only now beginning, though, shannon. where does she go next? >> reporter: that's right. she's off to a lot of red states, carol. not many blue states dotted on that schedule there. interesting to note three particular stops. two stops in iowa. why is iowa important? because that's going to be the first presidential caucus there coming up. and in south carolina, the first southern presidential primary. so there's a lot of speculation about this tour possibly being a bit of a presidential kind of whirlwind tour. it's anyone's guess. she's obviously been coy about her presidential ambitions. but this book tour, going through red states and hitting key important presidential battlegrounds. >> they're going to love her in those states, no doubt about it. shannon, good to see you, thanks. coming up on "american morning," an ancient apple computer completed in original packaging is sold for a record price at auction. we'll tell you what somebody paid for the apple one. and slithering through the sky, snakes that don't need planes. that's coming up too. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come from. the best potatoes? idaho. idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal. well, here's some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. remember when the beatles went to itunes? there were a lot of analysts who said why would you want to buy them off of itunes? everybody who likes the beatles has them off their cds. well, listen to this, the fab four still fab. selling more than 2 million songs and more than 450 whole albums, 450,000 whole albums on the first week on itunes. abbey road and "here comes the sun," the best original track. and the apple one, it sold for more than $213,000 at auction. the apple one. the very first apple computer ever built. there were 200 of them built actually in a garage by the apple co-founders. they were shipped without a monitor or keyboard. it came with a typed note from jobs originally sold for $666.66. >> it was a bill it of a joke on their part. think of the numbers. >> i get it. and two words. flying snakes? first it looks like the snakes are falling out of a tree, but look at this, it leaps out there. falls for a bit and then all of a sudden the aerodynamics kick in and it kind of slithers right through the sky. it's not flying so much as it is gliding. almost employing frisby-like principles. and the aerodynamics of this you think wouldn't be able to glide let alone fly has gotten the attention of the u.s. military which is studying them for potential applications in high-level drops. >> so you're walking through the woods and this snake comes out of the sky and falls on you? >> slithers right down from the top of the tree on you. >> that's disgusting. well, i hope they find something useful militarily for the snakes. coming up, a powerful storm out west heading east could stall hall day travel. reynolds wolf has the forecast for you coming up. stay with us. join the jaguar platinum celebration ! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. we're crossing the half hour, 6:30 this morning. the bodies of two scivilian have been found after north korea pounded south korea with artillery. president obama has spoke with south korea's president. the two leaders agreed to hold joint military exercises in the waters not far from the attack. investigators in aruba say a jawbone discovered on a beach earlier this month does not belong to natalee holloway. they made the determination after comparing the bone to holloway's dental records. holloway disappeared five years ago while on a class trip to aruba. before the thanksgiving feast comes the travel fatigue. if you're flying, an opt-out protest could mean extra delays at airport security. stormy weather out west could slow your travel to a crawl. >> chicago o'hare airport, one of the busiest on a normal day. airport securities are bracing for that crush of fliers and the potential for the opt-out fallout. >> reynolds wolf in atlanta for us today tracking the holiday travel forecast. good morning, reynolds, how are we looking? >> looks like a pretty rough day. no question about it. you know, guys, winter officially begins, at least in the northern hemisphere on december 21st, but tell that to mother nature. western half of the great lakes, northern plains, northern rockies, central rockies, huge mess. we'll see that transform into thunderstorms across the midsection, mid mississippi valley, and make some toward the gulf coast. a couple issues we're dealing with to start off this morning, we are seeing precipitation out towards the west. and we're talking about that combination of snow and rainfall. when you get to places like st. louis, scattered showers and thunderstorms right along parts of 70 if you're making the drive from st. louis back over to kansas city, it's going to be a wet beginning for you. but things will ease up towards kansas city. in terms of your air travel, it could be interesting for you in places like st. louis and many other regional airports. a few other issues we're going to be dealing with. visibility in parts of the southeast. we already have fog developing chattanooga southward, even into montgomery. the issue with fog might be towards the gulf coast. so keep that in mind. in terms of issues of visibility out towards the west, it's not fog, but rather blowing snow. and we're talking about wind gusts that approach 70 miles per hour into the afternoon, especially along parts of 70. once you go from denver, heading towards the inner mountains and salt lake city and the wasatch range. it's going to be treacherous. keep that in mind. i'd say from denver, back over to salt lake city, minneapolis, st. paul, widespread delays can be expected. out to the west coast, things look nice. the eastern sea board looks pretty good too. and scattered showers possible later this afternoon. that's a rap on the forecast. just to give you an idea of what you can expect, we head out to the roads and the airports, just a little bit of advice, be patient with what you're going to find. >> kind of makes me glad i'm working thanksgiving. >> oh, absolutely. you better believe it. >> not. are you crazy? >> a little bit. that's a loaded question. might take some time to answer that one. >> reynolds, thanks. we'll see you soon. our holiday travel coverage moves to atlanta. our david mattingly travels to tampa and back to atlanta today. >> first he has to get through hartsfield-jackson airport. so, david, how is it going? are you calm? are there already crowds? >> reporter: i'm always calm, carol. you know, we travel through this airport all the time. but what makes this different is that you're not going to see a lot of business travelers like you would during the week. there's a lot of families traveling this time. the airline expecting 24 million people through this long holiday weekend. so we're going to be hitting the air today to go around and see what they're going through. i got my boarding pass. we're flying on airtran today. we're going to be heading south down to florida from atlanta. you can see some of the people taking the advantage of coming in early. and that's what airline and security's telling everybody to do. if you want to get where you're going today, come in early and do the best you can of getting through the big crowds they're expecting today. we want to talk to one of these couples. i see a family traveling today. what are you worried about today? where are you headed? >> minneapolis. >> you're heading west toward all that weather coming in. what's on your mind today? >> the weather. >> basically the weather. we caught an earlier flight to try to avoid any travel delays. once we get in, we have a two-hour drive. so just extra time. >> reporter: all those questions about security today. have you thought about what you might do the body scan or the pat-down? >> i think with the little one, we'll probably end up doing a pat-down. i don't know, it'll depend when we get in there, but i'm not really concerned about it. >> well, good luck, i hope you'll have a good thanksgiving. hope you get where you're going on time. that'll be a good early thanksgiving present. >> say bye. >> reporter: thanks. well, so far smiles today, let's see what happens a little bit later today. these are the early travelers. these are the ones that have been listening to the warnings to get where you're going early today. we'll see what happens. so far, so good. back to you. >> david, have you talked to any other passengers there about the choice of going through either the body scanners there at jackson or the pat-down? >> reporter: right. well, we can't take our cameras into security here at this airport, but i did spend time over there earlier today. i saw a lot of people going through security and talking to them there. they say they've thought about this, and they're concerned about time today. so if they have a choice, they're going to opt for the full-body scanners. this is most the people i talked to instead of going to the time-consuming pat down. it's all about getting from point "a" to point "b" as quickly as possible today. that's what's weighing on the minds of most travelers i've spoken to. >> but you haven't seen any protesters out there, any opt-out people so far? i mean -- >> reporter: no protests -- no, nothing organized. but there are people opting out today, that's beyond our view. i did see some pat downs going on in security today. but it didn't look like anything out of the ordinary today. but again, i mean, it's still really early here. we're not going to expect to see the real crush of people for a couple more hours yet. and if there were weather delays, we're going to have more backups. the problems we're looking at that we could have today are going to compound and be a lot more obvious later today if they do occur. we're going to keep our eyes on it. we're going to travel today, we're going to see what happens at the end of our trip as opposed to the beginning of our trip what you see here. >> what's david going to choose? the pat-down or the body scan? we want to know, david. >> and if you see my neighbor mimi, say hi. she's a flight attendant and a sweetheart. she'll take care of you. >> reporter: you got it. the website says, avoid the tsa's porno scanners. first facebook didn't want any other online company to have the word book in their name. now they're going after the word face. we'll explain. 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[ female announcer ] one a day women's. ♪ 40 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. minding your business. facebook one step closer to trademarking the word face. the paperwork still has to be completed. but eventually this could mean that online companies with names that include "face" could be in trouble. the company is also in the process of trying to trademark other words associated with the site like poke and like. >> how greedy can one company be? >> bizarre. new york city could become the bike riding capital of the world. the city will soon be home to the largest bike share program in the world. it would put 10,000 bicycles on the road, allowing renters to rent at one location and drop it off at another. this works brilliantly in places like amsterdam. >> they have that in washington, d.c. >> any time you leave one in new york, it's gone in like 30 seconds. it's reality. seriously, ask anything. if you fly southwest tomorrow, you can have one on the house. the airline is offering one free alcoholic drink to passengers on thanksgiving day. the carrier announced the holiday treat on twitter. one alcoholic drink -- you think they'll stop at one? which will only make your family get together more fun, don't you think? >> or tolerable. >> exactly. depends on how you look at it. he says the tsa doesn't have the manpower to put their hands down everyone's pants. just wanted that to sink in a little this morning. we'll talk to one of the men behind the national opt out day at the airports. and see why a team of guys are putting their lives on the line to chase deadly and dangerous tornados. why would they do it? it's 42 1/2 minutes after the hour. join the jaguar platinum celebration ! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. ♪ 46 minutes after the hour. there's a live look inside chicago's o'hare airport. crowds beginning to build, but looks like things are moving pretty well. not probably going to be the case throughout the morning, though. as more and more people try to get home to grandma's house and see the family for thanksgiving. >> weather delays pile up. could be nasty out there. as we said, one of the busiest travel days of the year. and you know, there's a lot of outrage over these new body scans and pat downs. and of course, that could lead to bigger delays at the airport. we're talking about national opt out day. an online campaign encouraging fliers to tie up tsa agents by opting for a pat-down instead of the machine. we're at the philadelphia international airport this morning. james, thanks for joining us. >> good morning. >> tell me, what's your plan for the airport this morning? >> well, we're going to be educating travelers about the dangers they may find inside the airport. in philadelphia here it's at terminal "f," passengers may be exposed to the radiation strip search or may opt out and go for the enhanced pat down, which under any other circumstance might be considered sexual assault. so for weeks we've been encouraging travelers to avoid the airport altogether. for those who must fly, we ask to consider opting out of the scan. it's going to be better for your health and might put them in a position where they must accommodate the travelers who refuse to be abused. >> we're going to get into those issues in a little bit. i wonders, how many people do you have with you? >> well, there's people all over the country at different airports today. our demonstration here in philadelphia will be later this evening. >> and how many people will be at the demonstration? >> that's a good question. i expect a very good crowd. probably somewhere between 50 to 150 demonstrators will arrive to help us educate the travelers. >> you know, "usa today" had this poll out, and they say that 71% of frequent fliers don't mind these pat downs at all. they say it's necessary for security. in fact, a lot of polls you look at people say better safe than sorry. so, i guess my question is why go to all of this trouble when a minority of people feel the way you do? >> well, the newest poll says 61% are opposed to the scanners and the enhanced pat downs. those that find out about the detail of the scan, that they can determine if a man is circumcised or not or if a woman is menstruating are appalled. once someone has seen or heard the enhanced pat-downs, the thought of them feeling around breasts, hands between buttocks, it's just outrageous to almost everyone. >> so the tsa is trying to address your concerns. it says it's going to look at the policy. it's already moderated some things. what more do you want? >> i want everyone to be able to travel with dignity. we are human beings, we are innocent until proven guilty, we have the inherent right to be secure in our person. >> i think a lot of people -- >> we will continue to fight. >> i think, james, a lot of people understand those concerns. but when you look at somebody like the underwear bomber, what do you do? how do you keep the flying public safe if there's no intrusion in privacy? >> well, what we're talking about right now is not about security. we're talking about security theater. the experts pretty much agree that what they're doing here is completely ineffective. i understand the manufacturers of both the millimeter wave and x-ray machines say they probably wouldn't have caught the underwear bomber or the shoe bomber. the creator of the tsa himself, the man, the congressman from florida who helped write the bill that make the tsa is calling -- >> well, the tsa, though, those people who are in charge of safety are not saying that. >> well, of course. they say obey, obey, we know what's best for you, obey. well, the american people are smarter than that. >> so what if by not doing a pat down, you know, something happens? somebody got on a plane who shouldn't have gotten on because security wasn't quite up to speed? i mean, what's the answer? >> well, i want us to have the best security possible. that means we have to abandon the security theater, and we have to bring in common sense. what they're doing right now is for show. it's actually creating a false sense of security. it could make passengers less vigilant because they see these high-tech gadgets and invasive pat-downs. the passengers have been the best line of defense, they're the ones that stop the underwear bomber, shoe bomber, the 9/11 attack over pennsylvania. that's our best line of defense. so we need to let everyone know that what they're doing right now is not making anyone safer. so once we can get rid of the fake security, we can actually make our airports and air travel much safer. >> i guess my last question is if you do cause big delays at philadelphia's airports, i mean, do you worry about a backlash? won't people be angry you're slowing things down? keeping them from their families on thanksgiving? >> well, that's not our goal. that's why for weeks we've been telling people to avoid air travel altogether. for those that are willing to accept the radiation scan, hopefully that line will be wide open. but for those that don't want to, get there a little bit early. so if you have to get the enhanced pat-down, there'll be a little bit of extra time to go through that. >> just a word on the radiation. the fda says the risk is very, very small. says the scan produces about the same amount of radiation you get in 42 minutes of walking around. so most experts say this is not dangerous because you don't walk through it every day and you don't stay in that full-body scan thing for a long period of time. >> well, there are experts that say this is acceptable, experts that say it's not acceptable. i think that's a choice that the individual should make and it should not be imposed upon us. cancer survivors, pregnant women, and other people have a sensitivity to radiation. they're not being warned about it. so that's one of the things we're doing here is to let people know what the dangers are so they can make their own informed choice. >> all right. james babb, good luck to you today. we'll see what happens. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. and coming up at 7:15 eastern. the administrator of the tsa john pistole is going to join us. the man in charge of your security. are they ready to handle the crowds? what about the protests? we'll ask him 53 minutes after the hour. i'm off to the post office... ok. uh, a little help... oh! you know shipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online. and i can pick them up for free with package pickup. perfect! cause i'm gonna need a lot of those. wow! i knew i should have brought my sleigh. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.90 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. four minutes now till the top of the hour. when a tornado strikes, most people get out of the way, but storm chasers like reid timor are a very special breed. here's gary tuchman with this morning's "edge of discovery." 100-mile-per-hour winds. >> tornado on the ground west! >> reporter: flying debris, and hail bigger than golf balls. just some of the everyday dangers of storm chasers. >> we've been hit with debris, trees. >> reporter: but for his team, it's done in the name of science. >> we're looking at new and different ways of using radar technology to track these storms and get data that's never been acquired before. >> reporter: in hopes of better understanding how storms form and move, the team uses these radar probes. they're equipped with gps and collect measurements of temperatures, moisture, and pressure from inside the storm. >> so we basically get in the path of the tornado, drop the vehicle to the ground, and then let the funnel move directly overhead. >> reporter: with wind speeds over 100 miles per hour, most cars would be crushed by flying debris. that's why they travel in a speci specially designed vehicle. it comes in a protective shell. >> the whole goal from this research is to save lives. >> reporter: standing up to mother nature's fury, it's his hope we can learn to protect ourselves in the future. gary tuchman, cnn. >> those people are crazy. more stories coming your way after the break. because of one word, imagination and reality have merged. because of one word, a new generation-- a fifth generation-- of fighter aircraft has been born. because of one word, america's air dominance for the next forty years is assured. that one word... is how. [ male announcer ] let's be honest. no one ever wished for a smaller holiday gift. ♪ ♪ it's the lexus december to remember sales event, and for a limited time, we're celebrating some of our greatest offers of the year. see your lexus dealer. ahead on "american morning," brink of war, reports of escalation from north korea. thousands of american troops potentially in harm's way. this morning, the tough choices facing the white house. and good morning to you, it's wednesday, november 24th, and it's almost thanksgiving time. >> good morning, i'm john roberts. we'll have more on north korea in just a moment. but first, here are this morning's top stories. let the holiday hassle begin. more than 40 million people expected to travel today. the weather is not cooperating in many places, and a protest at the airport could create security gridlock. we're live at reagan national airport on what is being called opt-out day. >> it's a good day to keep your sense of humor intact. in other news this morning, a second explosion at a new zealand mine kills 29 miners. and now investigators are trying to pinpoint the cause. the miners had been trapped underground after the initial blast last friday. it's not clear if the miners survived the first explosion. rescue attempts weren't possible because of dangerous gas levels underground. the maker of tylenol is announcing another recall. johnson & johnson is pulling nearly 1 million children's products because of manufacturing insufficiencies. the children's benadryl and junior strength motrin were made at a pennsylvania plant that was closed earlier this year. the company says the products have yet to hit store shelves, so there's no real consumer alert here. >> not yet. severe weather could be a big, big problem for people trying to get to their thanksgiving destination. there's a big storm out west it's making its way east. we'll have a complete travel forecast for you in a bit. first, a dangerous situation is unfolding this morning. the corner of the world where a threat of nuclear confrontation already runs high. the direct and deadly assault on south korea by the neighbor to the north was the biggest attack of its kind since the war in the 1950s. this morning, south korea is threatening enormous retaliation. and the white house is responding with a very strong show of force agreeing to hold joint military exercises with south korea not far from where the attack took place. our jill dougherty is live this morning. she's in washington. and what's happening at the white house this morning? and what's the posture that the president is taking? >> well, john, you know, they're looking at this, again, very carefully. it's very delicate and very complex. as you pointed out, the very latest is that announcement that the u.s. and south korean forces will be holding joint military exercises off the west coast of the korean peninsula. and you know those exercises had been postponed previously due to concerns of how china would react. but now they're back on the table. that, of course, was before the attack by the north koreans on the south korean island. and here at the white house, yesterday afternoon the president held an emergency session with his top national security advisers. and then he telephoned the south korean president. and it's important because both of these countries, the united states and south korea have a defense pact. but what exactly does that mean? what does the u.s. have to do? in an interview with barbara walters last night, president obama was asked about this, but he didn't define it very carefully. let's listen. >> is an attack on south korea an attack on the u.s.? >> south korea is our ally. it has been since the korean war. and we strongly affirm our commitment to defend south korea as part of that alicense. >> we will, perhaps send warships? or would you put u.s. troops on alert? >> you know, i'm not going to speculate on military actions. >> and that's, john, a good indication of the dilemma of the united states right now. because it's a delicate balancing act. you have north korea and south korea in the equation, of course. and then you also have china. and i was on a panel just a couple of days ago right before that attack. and one of the participants who was with the bush administration described it as the land of lousy options. and in a way, that's exactly what it is for the u.s. >> and we'll be speaking with victor coming up in just about half an hour here this morning. but at the same time, north korea letting it be known that it has a new uranium enrichment facility up and running. how does that play into all of this? >> well, i was talking, in fact, with that scientist yesterday who went into the facility -- actually was shown it by the north koreans. and the interpretation seems to be that the north is trying to say, here, this is what we can do. you don't believe us? this is what we can do. so there's a lot of muscle flexing going on right now. and most of the theorys say this is because of that succession crisis taking place. kim jong-il's son about to take over when his father should die. and they have to show that they are very strong. so this could be part of that. >> jill dougherty for us this morning. and of course, continued coverage on this increasingly important story as we go on this morning. jill, good to see you, thanks. >> on to thanksgiving and travel. planes, trains, and automobiles. typically the busiest day of the year is just about getting started. actually it started right now. more than 40 million people going somewhere -- this is chicago's o'hare airport. 2 million people will fly out of chicago's o'hare airport. and people look pretty calm so far. as you know, though, a pat-down protest is going viral on the web. it's all in an effort to prove a point to the tsa that so-called naked body scanners must go. jeanne meserve is live for us at reagan national airport this morning. have you seen any protesters? >> reporter: the lines here at reagan national are getting long, but that appears to be simply because it's thanksgiving and a lot of people are traveling at this check point where there is two of those body-imaging machines. we have seen no indication of any sort of protest going on. what's this opt out about? people who object to the body scanners and pat downs are urging travelers to say no to the scanners. instead opt to the pat-down in a private place with a witness. others say do it in a public place so everybody can see what's going on. the point is, they want to slow down travel and send a message to the tsa that they do not like these security measures. but we did a very unscientific survey of travelers here at the airport this morning. and our results indicate people are opposed to opt-out day. >> at the end of the day, i think that security is security. it's their job to protect our lives. and as a passenger, you know, i'm susceptible to it as well as anybody else. i want my life to be safe. >> i'd rather get to my gate and get on the plane and get home, you know. they're doing their jobs, it might be misguided, i don't want to make it harder. >> reporter: and there's a new poll out from "usa today" that indicates 71% of frequent travelers say they don't mind the privacy implications of either the body scans or the body pat-downs. in addition, tsa is telling us they have now gotten about 2,000 complaints about the new procedures since they were instituted on november 1st. and they screen about 2 million people a day. we did talk to somebody from a travel group who was here at the airport this morning. they are advising against the opt-out protest. they say it's a bad idea because it will delay people who aren't participating in the protest and if they miss their flights, it will be very difficult to get a new booking because the airplanes are so full during this holiday period. carol, john, back to you. >> not only that, it could be very, very expensive. jeanne meserve, live at reagan national this morning. coming up in a few minutes, john pistole will join us. the man in charge of your safety and making sure everything goes smoothly. is the tsa ready to handle the crowds? the protests? we'll ask mr. pistole. and are you ready to handle the weather across most of the country. major snowstorm out west will make it a white thanksgiving. blizzard-like conditions causing big, big problems for people trying to get to where they need to go. that storm system, by the way, is now heading east. let's find out how bad it's going to be. reynolds wolf is tracking it all with our travel forecast this morning for us in atlanta. good morning, reynolds. >> good morning, guys. there really isn't going to be any escaping the rough weather. doesn't matter if you're going by railway, car, or flying. in fact, new york, all your major airports, including boston. you've got wind and the sheer volume of people are going to keep you on the ground for about an hour or so. same situation, atlanta, low clouds and fog going to give you problems. chicago, and minneapolis, clouds and rain. anywhere from 30 to 60-minute wait. but i have a strange feeling this may actually increase as we make our way into the midday hours and afternoon. cincinnati and st. louis, it is mainly rain event, few embedded thunderstorms, a 15 to 30-minute wait. and dallas, low clouds and thunder boomers into the afternoon as things begin to heat up a little bit. it is a tremendous mess in what we're seeing is going to really affect the center of the country. from the northern plains clear down to parts of the gulf coast and scattered showers. in terms of visibility, that will be one of the big issues. you've got some snow on the ground, but as the wind kicks up it's going to hamper things. same thing in the northeast. for parts of alabama into georgia and the parts of i-10, we'll have problems in terms of fog this morning. and then very quick through, check out parts of i-70. in st. louis, it's a rain issue, but farther out to the mountains, we're talking about denver and over towards south of salt lake city, it's a very big event in terms of your snow. and then possibly, guys, get this, 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts into the afternoon. there are going to be a lot of headaches out there. people, please be careful today. doesn't matter if you're on the railways, roads, airplanes, tough day for you. keep it all in perspective. hopefully we'll all get to our friends' houses, grandma's house. absolutely. >> should i say the cliche? pack your patience? >> i think you have to on a day like today. because there's so much truly beyond our control. when you're standing through security and you have your kids and family dog that's in a little container what have you. you've got to -- it's going to be tough. but just be kind, kind words, drink coffee, watch cnn. >> an excellent prescription. >> and if you don't have any sort of patience, you can get it in a bottle, right? >> it's funny you say that because -- actually for air travelers, nothing says thank you on thanksgiving like the word free and we're talking booze in this case. tomorrow only, southwest airlines is offering passengers one free inflight alcoholic drink as a holiday treat. adult beverages, maybe you already know this, they're usually $5 for those teeny tiny bottles of voluntadka. starting saturday, virgin america will also have free w wi-fi in the sky. that could save you $12. the deal ends on january 2nd. >> it's google providing that service for free. >> thank you, google. >> i used it on monday. thank you so much. also new this morning, michael vick telling america's youth to be kind to animals. he visited two high schools yesterday to help the humane society with their end dog fighting campaign. >> the only thing i can continue to do is just prove that, you know, i'm going to fulfill every obligation to prove that i'm going to continue to work with the humane society, continue to help more animals than i hurt. and if i can do that, then i can be at peace. but i can't change people's minds. i can't change people's perception of what they feel about me. >> vick spent almost two years in prison on dog-fighting charges before returning to the nfl. he's reportedly given 24 speeches for the humane society since then. no reports or injuries or damage after a small earthquake shook hawaii overnight. the 4.7 magnitude quake hit off the coast of maui yesterday afternoon. lasted only five seconds, but it could be felt 100 miles away in honolulu. the happy meal as we know it, banned in san francisco starting december 1st of next year, fast food restaurants can't give away toys in kids meals unless they cut the calories and fat and kick in fruits and vegetables, as well. not only will two 45-pound california turkeys get a pass later this afternoon, the birds also got a free room. president obama will pardon apple, the official turkey, and cider. i wonder what they'll be doing at the "w." >> meeting folks, signing autographs. >> i think it's a no-smoking hotel. >> sorry apple and cider, you'll have to forgo. cnn's live coverage of the rose garden ceremony, by the way, in case you want to see the pardons, starts this morning at 10:30 eastern. >> it can be as we've seen in the past, an entertaining ceremony when the turkey doesn't behave as the turkey should. >> quick clarification, the free wi-fi thing started this past saturday. so it's already in effect. >> all i know is it's free now. so go. still to come, fliers being encouraged to opt out of the so-called porno scanners at the airport. is the tsa ready for a monumental backup? plus, forget about snakes on a plane. these snakes don't need no plane. literally slithering through the air. why is the military studying them? and texting to save a life, maybe your own. 911 in line for a 21st century makeover. with a generation that now texts more than it talks. is it a bad time for a makeover? 15 minutes after the hour. i'm bob kearn, president of coit cleaning services. these pictures are the history of my family and they're also the history of coit. we've been in business for 60 years and our greatest asset has always been our people. we use the plum card from american express open to purchase everything we can and with the savings from the early pay discount, we were able to invest back into our business by hiring more great people like ruben here. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is a new employee named ruben. 18 minutes now after the hour. it's one of the busiest travel days of the year. and many people will risk missing their flight today all to prove a point to the tsa. an online campaign is encouraging fliers to jam tsa check points by opting out of the so-called naked body scanners and having to go through the enhanced pat-downs which take a lot more time. we spoke to one of the men behind the idea, james babb of wewon'tfly.com. >> we have to abandon the security theater and we have to bring in common sense. what they're doing right now is for show. it's actually creating a false sense of security. >> tsa administrator john pistole is the man responsible for making sure everything goes smoothly today. mr. pistole, great to see you. respond to james babb there. he says this is all just a show. it gives a false sense of security. it's really nothing more than security theater. >> well, clearly the procedures we have in place today, john, give us the best possible opportunity to detect a non-metallic device like we saw, a bomb that we saw on christmas day that the advance imaging technology machines would detect. i'm afraid he's uninformed as to the technology. and then the reason for doing the enhanced pat downs is because if somebody opts out of the advance imaging technology or that's not available, they are not going to alert on our traditional walk through metal detectors because there's no metal in the bomb. so that's the need for the thorough pat-down. so the bottom line is, we're all trying to get people home safely for the holidays. the best way we can do that is in partnership with the traveling public. i think that's what we're seeing. >> certainly you're aware of all the complaints out there. we've seen you on television almost every day this week. i've never seen a tsa administrator who is as visible and accessible as you have been. i take it you do believe you have a public relations problem on your hand? >> clearly there's a certain percentage of the public who has expressed strong concerns. i'm sensitive to that and trying to work through those issues from the standpoint of how do we do this in an informed, intelligent way that identifies -- everybody, i think recognizes the threats are real. that's not an issue. i'm hoping that's not an issue. and then how do we best take those security issues, blend those with the privacy issues that people are concerned about in an informed way to say how can we best work together to provide that security that everybody wants knowing that everybody wants to ensure that everybody else on that flight has been thoroughly screened. knowing you're not a terrorist, i'm not a terrorist, but what about everybody else? >> so 50% of people, mr. pistole, say that these pat-downs just go a little bit too far. they say they feel like criminals, some of them have likened it to sexual assault, they don't like the idea they're feeling groped. do they go too far? are they a little bit too intrusive? >> well, that's the challenge, john. obviously that we're dealing with. and we're looking at are there less invasive ways of accomplishing the same outcome? that is providing the highest level of confidence for everybody getting on that flight that everybody else has been securely screened. that's the challenge. i believe that they are necessary. and i believe that 71% of the public just in a poll i saw this morning agrees that we need thorough security. and they understand the threats are real and that we're trying to help them get safely home to loved ones. >> i think everybody agrees we need to have good security because we do have these events happening every once in a while that could prove to be catastrophic. but you said a second ago, we're looking at ways where perhaps this could be less invasive. what are you thinking about? >> well, so what we are informed by, john, are the inspector general, the gao reports that did covert testing, have been doing for years where they were able to successfully get through our security for several reasons. one of the common reasons was because of a lack of thorough pat-down. and so trying to address those issues, we're working with them and security experts from around the government and industry -- private industry to say, okay, if we modify these procedures, what is the risk tradeoff in doing that? that's what we're assessing. cognizant of all the concerns have been expressed, and just figuring out the best way forward. >> you know, yesterday, we talked with thomas sawyer, the fellow from michigan who had a urostomy and the bag. you had a phone conversation with him. he talked to us a little bit yesterday about that phone conversation. are you going to take him up on his offer to talk with folks from the tsa so try to sensitize them a little bit more to some of the issues that the traveling public is dealing with that may have to be looked at a little more gentle way by these screeners? >> right. a very good conversation with him and greatly appreciated his offer to help us. because as he indicated, his concern was that our security officers were not as informed about the external medical devices that he had. and so, yes, we are taking him up on his offer. and really just appreciate his assistance as we work forward in collaboration with the traveling public. >> and there's one other issue too that has been brought up by all of these body scanners and enhanced pat downs. there are certain airports, i won't mention them, but one that i fly through a couple of times a week where there are no body scanners, no enhanced pat downs unless you set off the metal detector. are people flying through those airports as safe as they would be flying through an airport like reagan where you do have the body scanners? >> we believe that the advance imaging technology gives us the best technology to address those threats. and so that's what we are -- why we're expanding from -- we'll have 500 machines at the end of this year. >> but currently, mr. administrator, these airports where you don't have the advance imaging technologies or the enhanced pat downs, can people be guaranteed they're as safe as if they had that technology? >> well, john, of course, we know there are no guarantees in this business. so we try to provide the best layers of security, recognizing that there are multiple layers of security and hopefully we've been informed about threats before anybody would get to the airport who poses that threat. but that is one of the challenges we're dealing with. that we don't have complete coverage through all 453 airports. >> all right. john pistole, good luck to you today. we'll be counting on your organization to keep us safe as we fly. thanks for joining us. and maybe we'll talk to you next week. >> thank you, john. happy holidays. >> the same to you. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. here are the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. of course "dancing with the stars." >> yes. >> you watched it? >> no. i've got this thing where i've told my dvr several times not to tape it and record it, and it still does. >> it's a right-wing conspiracy. >> i think it's just the dvr wants to watch it, not me. >> well, if you did watch it -- if you did watch "dancing with the stars," you already know jennifer grey took home the trophy. the "dirty dancing" actress had near perfect scores on her last dance. near perfect scores. >> she's a good dancer. she's been dancing a long time. >> she has. >> bristol palin goes back to alaska empty handed. and she was, of course, the show's underdog. she finished in third place, but not before telling america that a win would be "like a big middle finger to all the people out there who hate my mom and hate me." and apparently, speaking of her mom, sarah palin's trying to get christine o'donnell on the next dansing wi "dancing with the stars." flying snakes, check this out. looks like they're falling out of trees. but wait for it because the snake actually leaps off the branch and you're thinking suicidal snake, right? watch what it does? it flattens itself out, slithering back and forth, makes itself into a snake frisby. "washington post" says the pentagon is studying the aerodynamics of these snakes for future military technologies. because a snake falling out of tree can glide a couple hundred yards, you drop something from 30,000 feet with a slither snake-like type of apparatus, who knows how far you can go. >> i'm just glad those snakes are in asia. coordinating skies on one of the busiest days of the year -- >> keep your eyes up just in case. we sent david mattingly to atlanta's airport so he could experience the nightmare that many travelers will experience today. i guess he's in the air traffic control room now. so that should be interesting. >> oh, yeah. how did he get there? >> it's david mattingly, he can do anything. >> there you go. bomb-making materials found in a san diego home. details on what may prove to be the biggest bust of homemade explosives in american history. stay with us. it's lithium polymer battery lets you... work longer, play longer, laugh longer, listen longer. shoot, edit, share, update, download, read, write, and even facetime...longer. all on the world's thinnest smartphone. the iphone 4. come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. i'm bob kearn, president of coit cleaning services. these pictures are the history of my family and they're also the history of coit. we've been in business for 60 years and our greatest asset has always been our people. we use the plum card from american express open to purchase everything we can and with the savings from the early pay discount, we were able to invest back into our business by hiring more great people like ruben here. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is a new employee named ruben. well, crossing the half hour this wednesday morning. it's just after 7:30 eastern. and here are your top stories. the death toll rising in south korea after north korea's shelling of the island on tuesday. the bodies of two civilians were found this morning, bringing the total to four. president obama is reaffirming america's alliance with the south as the uss george washington heads to the area for military exercises. and we're learning more about the pope's new stance on condom use. pope benedict xvi says condom use is okay in some cases. man accused of running a bomb factory in his san diego home is being held on $5 million bail. he pleaded not guilty to a laundry list of charges, including possessing destructive devices and bank robbery. the district attorney says it is the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found in one place in the united states. back to travel now. the rush home for thanksgiving. and if you're watching us at an airport, you know you're not alone. millions of americans are flying for the holiday, including those millions of people around you. david mattingly is in atlanta's airport among you somewhere. >> we have given him an assignment. we're going to send him from atlanta to tampa and back today. he'll be recording the entire trip. we saw him at the check-in counter and line starting to form for boarding passes there. this hour, david has made his way to airtran's control center where the airline is monitoring all other planes in the southeastern united states. david, first of all, how did you get in there? and secondly, what's going on? >> reporter: well, we had to be escorted. the security is tight to get into places like this. and this is a real treat. we very rarely ever get into a place like this. every airline has a command center like this. this one belonging to airtran. and the thing about what we're doing here -- what we're seeing, the people in this room -- in this tower probably have a lot more to do and say about how you get through your trip smoothly than the air traffic control does. because air traffic control takes care of the jets when they're out there on the runways and when they're up in the air. once they get down on the ground and start heading to the gate, that's when it's in control of the airline, and that's the people right in here. they're the ones making the decisions, watching what's going on to make sure all these moving parts move exactly the way they're supposed to. with us right now is the spokesman for airtran airlines, chris white. what does it look like today? i'm looking out the window. i'm seeing fog here in atlanta. any time you have a weather delay or a weather problem and a big hub like this, there's a domino effect. so what do you see happening? >> so far things look really good. we are prepared if the fog does continue in atlanta to have some slow downs. our main concern today is really accommodating all of our passengers. we're running a high load factor. we're going to do our best to get them on the original flight as quickly as we can. >> we're standing in a high-volume spot. this concourse we're standing on and the one next to us, i understand, the busiest in the world? >> that's right. airtran operates the largest hub. and these two ramps are the busiest in the world. >> reporter: and as they're coordinating, we got a brief tour earlier. you see these computer screens we're looking at. all that has to do with all the individual flights, where they are, what their status is. and more important, you're going to be making decisions if they come in a little bit late, you're going to be making decisions that affect hundreds of passengers at a time. >> our experts here are looking at specific flights in the connections. it's important that they make that first connection. so we're going to do everything we possibly can to make sure they get on that flight. >> you also have a lot of bad weather out west, how could that affect you today? >> mainly via connection. if someone's coming from a denver to salt lake, or to a caribbean destination, it's very important we accommodate them as best as we can. we track flights literally by the second. >> and so far, so good. let's hope it stays that way. a very high-volume day here at the thanksgiving holiday. so let's see how the rest of the day goes. we're going to be going from here. we're going to be taking our own flights south. we're going to be talking to passengers and seeing what kind of experience they're having as they go home for thanksgiving. john, carol? >> you're going to go to security next. are you going to opt for the full-body scanner or the pat-down, david? >> reporter: i've actually already gone through security. i didn't get either. it was sort of business as usual. it's sort of random who has to go through the scan, who has to go through the pat-down. we didn't see any organized protests going on. we didn't see long lines for people waiting for pat-downs. it's early, we saw everything running smoothly. there were lines, but everything was moving. so, again, so far, so good. let's see how long that lasts. >> excellent. so where are you headed next? going to the gate or pass through catering first? >> reporter: from here, we're going to be going to the gate and then we're hopping aboard our flight to head south to florida. so, again, we haven't even started traveling yet. we just got through security and we're having fun getting a behind the scenes look at how things are going. but now the real test, we're going to get on the plane and see how things go. >> david, thanks so much. a deadly showdown between north and south korea this morning. threats of escalation. what happens next on the ground? and what will the white house do? 38 minutes after the hour. until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same. 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(sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal. 41 minutes after the hour. tough talk coming from both sides of the korean border about who is to blame and how to retaliate after the north attacked the south korean island killing four people. the south fired back and is promising more if attacked again. joining us this morning to talk about what the world can do and what happens next is victor cha, a korean expert at the center for strategic and international studies and a former white house adviser at the national security council. victor, good to see you this morning. >> good to see you. >> let's give folks at home the lay of the land here. we're talking about the western coast of the koreas. and there it is. it's actually closer to north korea than it is to south korea. it's about seven miles away from the north korean coast. and has been the scene of conflict in the past. 1999, i think it was 2001, as well, there was a skirmish. this is the worst, i think since the korean war. how dangerous is this? >> i think it's pretty dangerous, john. as you've said, there have been conflicts there before, but we've never seen an incident where they started actually shelling an island, shelling south korean territory. as you said, it's seven miles from north korea, but it's only 120 kilometers from the international airport, which is a major international airport. they had to close the airport because of this. so this is about the most severe conventional military attack we have seen since 1950s. >> so because of an agreement between south korea and the united states, president obama has now dispatched the uss george washington and its carrier group to the area to conduct joint military exercises with south korea. obviously a show of force to say to the north stop what you're doing. will it work? or could it prove to be an escalation? >> well, it's a really difficult question to answer. the policy problem is you want to come up with a response that is strong enough to deter the north koreans from doing this again, but again, you don't want to do something that's so strong that you start a war. and i think the obama administration is doing the right thing. but in terms of policy, it's a very difficult needle to thread. >> you still talk to the administration from time to time. how would you advise them in this case? >> well, i think what they're doing right now is right. you want to show solidarity with the allies. the big piece we haven't seen yet and they're working it behind the scenes with regard to china. you want china to say the right things about this from the beginning. saying it's a violation, and getting the chinese to stop the north koreans from doing this. >> i don't think they've gone that far? >> no, all i've heard is they're somewhat concerned about this, which is an understatement. >> and russia, another party with the six-party talking talking about the need of deescalate tensions. is there a potential this could escalate to all-out war? >> well, i mean, i don't know if it'll escalate to all-out war, but i am concerned about provocatio provocations. they claim they did this because of military exercises the south has been doing. they've been doing these exercises because the north sunk a naval vessel last march of south korea. so these go on for a week. so there may be more prove va provocations by the north using these as justifications. >> at the same time, the north koreans showed an american scientist a room of 2,000 centrifuges which the north claims are being used to process highly enriched uranium, potentially for its nuclear weapons program, as well. how does that fit into all of this? >> the first thing, that's a big revelation. i mean we have suspected for quite some time that they were producing a second nuclear program through uranium enrichment. but when they showed the facility to the scientist, nobody expected it would be that far advanced. i think this with the conventional attack are part of a general effort to show the strength of this very weak regime. as they go through a difficult leadership transition. >> you have described north korea as the land of lousy options. out of all the lousy options, which one is the least worst? >> which one is the least worst? i mean, right now the least worst option is to show strength with the allies and try to work on china behind the scenes. the military option, which no one wants to do, would be to take out the artillery on the north korean side they fired on the island. >> how do you do that? that's buried in the mountain. >> and also very dangerous because you don't know how the north is going to respond to that. >> and they've got how many trained on seoul? >> hundreds of thousands. >> thank you for being with us this morning. not exactly an uplifting conversation. >> my pleasure. >> happy thanksgiving to you, by the way. 45 minutes after the hour. we'll be right back. (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. >> ( creature inhaling ) >> ( branches breaking ) >> ( creature growling ) >> ( horse hoofs beating ) >> ( horse nickering ) >> ( train whistle blowing ) >> ( engine revving ) >> man: experience the power of progress. take advantage of exceptional new and certified pre-owned values during the season of audi event. 48 minutes past the hour. bringing 911 into the 21st century. calling for a next generation 911 service that would allow people to send, texts, videos, and pictures. it says modernizing the system would allow americans to text for help in situations where a call might jeopardize their safety. and sending mobile videos and photos could provide first responders with critical, on-the-ground information. well the fab four still fab after all of these years despite some analysts predictions that nobody would want to buy their material on itunes. the beatles sold more than 2 million songs and more than 450,000 full albums during their first week on the apple music downloading site. abbey road was the top-selling digital album. and what do you think the top track was? "come together?" "long and winding road?" >> that would be my favorite. >> "here comes the sun" was the top. >> a happy tune. people want to be happy. forget the pessimism. talking about happiness and thanksgiving -- >> don't pull yourself totally out of your cynicism here. >> i know. i'm just thinking the next story is about the football games that will be on tomorrow for thanksgiving day and one of them is my detroit lions against the new england patriots, which could get very ugly. >> you're going to be excited to watch this one, i can tell. >> it could be so ugly. i only want to say one thing about the detroit lions. there will be a prayer vigil in detroit. and reverend horace chetfield is organizing it. people are going to start for t detroit lions and i'll just read you a quote from the radio show. he said, i believe if we can all come together and pray that we can assist in making detroit lions a truly competitive team and be super bowl champions. >> such an incredible display of faith against the odds. it is impressive. >> i admire him. i'll go to his church. >> well, if you need help with something else like the bird, don't pray. you can pray if you want. our friends will be live blogging starting tonight through dinner time tomorrow. leave a note in the comment section or reach out on twitter. it's 51 minutes after the hour. >> i'm praying now. 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[ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to support and protect all who serve. that's why we're here. ♪ all this week dr. sanjay gupta is looking at the concussion danger. >> today hard hits, dangerous game, sanjay tells us about a former nfl star who paid a severe price for years of hard hits and joins us now from atlanta. good morning, doc. >> good morning. we have been concerned and ta talking quite a bit about the potential long-term impact of the concussions and a theory could be causing a sort of early onset dementia and that's what researchers are looking at for some time. on average this season, one concussion a game. what's the compilation of the concussi concussions? people start to develop symptoming, memory problems, depression and rage and then spirals into this dementia-like state. we found out it through the eyes of one particular retired player. take a look. >> nice play. oh! he got drilled in the thigh. >> they're thrilling. >> delivered the blow. >> came in with a stinger. >> reporter: and terrifying. watch a football game and you can't miss them. the hits. >> dropped. >> what is the real impact? what is happening to the player's brains? how many times did you take a hard hit playing football? >> one time when i had a real seen your concussion and it was so serious that i was dizzy for, like, you know, for, like, two or three weeks. >> reporter: 30 years ago fred mcneil was a line backer for the minnesota vikings. he played for 12 seasons and then two super bowls. >> big shot. >> reporter: relentlessly hitting opponents was his job. >> you got to be able the move, right? >> reporter: right. he is robust physically. >> you can control it. >> reporter: you can tell his brain paid a price. what has it done to you? >> well, impact is on memory. i meet people and they talk about the conversation that we had, you know, two weeks ago or three weeks ago or a month ago or whatever. and i don't remember. >> reporter: if we saw each other again, would you remember me? >> sanjay, i don't know. when i started out -- >> reporter: the not knowing, it happens often. there was also rage. >> it got to where i would say things that really shouldn't upset him and he would get angry really quick. his temper was very short. >> reporter: followed by remorse. >> i think that was the biggest thing for my dad. he felt like it was all his fault. >> reporter: it wasn't but there was no doubt he was different. >> it was a moment where i realized i wasn't living with the person that i knew and married. >> reporter: no one seemed to know what was happening to fred mcneill until reports about other former nfl players who had been through similar issues, like mcneill, they had memory problems, rage issues and depression. most disturbing, all died young. could concussions, the common denominator, be to blame? >> little bit different? >> reporter: researchers at boston medical university school are looking deep into the brain and spinal cord of former athletes to find out. what they're seeing is startling. this is a normal brain. this one a 45-year-old former nfl player. see the brown tangles? that's brain damage. it looks a lot like this 70-year-old brain. with dementia. >> to see the kind of changes we are seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of. >> reporter: it's called chronic traumatic enreceive lop think and here's the kicker. those changes are directly associated with rage, memory problems and depression. >> i was actually considering not living. i was actually considering that. >> reporter: you wanted to end your life? >> yeah. i was just thinking it would be so much easier. >> gives you an idea of how profound the impact on him. he is doing better today and followed up with him but he believes so many of the symptoms described were due to concussions. now, we did reach out to the nfl, as well, telling them about mcneill and they say this, what we're trying to prevent is multiple concussions without recove recovery. we know there are long-term effects of concussion. the whole goal of the nfl is when in doubt, sit them out and let them recover. but again, you know, part of what fred mcneill teaches us is the long-term impact. looking at the brains, as you a saw the images there, it is remarkable. never seen anything quite like that. >> it is just sad he feels that it might be better if he wasn't on this earth. i just -- it just makes it so difficult to understand why so many football players are not for increased penalties for hitting someone illegally or stay out of the gail too long after they've been hit in the head or hard hit because they don't want to lose their position. so difficult. in the end, does it really matter? >> the culture, you heard from kurt warner, as well, carol, on monday. the culture has been that way for so long. even for him. there's a real desire for organizations to win, but again, people hadn't thought about the impacts. what you saw are brand-new studies and 15 out of 16 brains examined so far show the problems and people as young as 18 years old. >> incredible. maybe by studying it more and more, something will be done about it. doc, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> top stories after a quick break. exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. rheumatoid arthritis going? they're discovering simponi®, the first self-injectable r.a. medicine you take just once a month. taken with methotrexate, simponi® helps relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of r.a. with one dose once a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi® can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults, heart failure, nervous system disorders, liver or blood problems, and allergic reactions. before starting simponi®, your doctor should test you for t.b. and assess your risk of infections, including fungal infections and hepatitis b. ask your doctor if you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, or develop symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough or sores. you should not start simponi® if you have an infection. [ woman ] ask your rheumatologist about simponi®. just one dose, once a month. good day to you. thanks so much for joining us on this "american morning." wednesday, the 24th of november. big travel day. day before thanksgiving. >> probably getting ready for dinner tomorrow. happy thanksgiving day in advance. i'm carol costello. there's a lot to talk about this morning so might as well get right to it. south korea threatening to strike back in a big way after the biggest attack in decades by the north. thousands of troops on the line and the white house in the middle of it. sarah palin out of alaska. she is on the road shaking hands, signing copies of her new book and plans to hit 16 cities in 11 days with two stops in, yes, iowa, home to the nation's first presidential caucuses. and the past three years have been tough on everyone's bottom line and we have tips to get ahead next year. today, jobs. how to get one and how to get a raise if you're already working. but first, this morning, a dangerous situation unfolding on the korean peninsula after north korea fired dozens of artillery shells at an island that south korea claims at its own. the directed deadly assault was the biggest attack of its kind since the war in the 1950s. this morning, south korea is threatening, quote, enormous retaliation and the white house is responding with a very strong show of force. agreeing to hold joint military exercises with south korea not far from where that attack took place. our jill dougherty is live in washington this morning, and a very delicate dance here because you don't want to provoke too much if all-out war erupts it could have devastating consequences. >> reporter: absolutely, john. you know, there's a high degree of uncertainty about what north korea will do so this announcement that the u.s. and south korea would be engaged in four days of military exercises off the coast is part of sending that message. warning north korea. but not going too far. you know, there's exercises had actually been put off for a little while because of the concern about how china would react. after that attack by the north, they're definitely back. president obama yesterday afternoon was here at the white house huddling in emergency session with the top national security advisers and then after that meeting, he went to the phone, called the south korean president. both countries involved in mutual defense pact and the united states, white house, issuing a very strong statement saying, the united states remains firmly and fully committed to the defense of its ally, the republic of korea. but the u.s. doesn't want to go too far and say precisely what it would do so listen to this interview last night with barbara walters in which president obama stopped short of being specific. >> is an attack on south korea an attack on the u.s.? >> south korea is our ally. it has been since the korean war, and we strongly affirm our commitment to defend south korea as part of that alliance. >> will we perhaps send warships or would you put u.s. troops on alert? >> well, you know, i'm not going to speculate on military actions. >> reporter: and john, you know, if you look at this area, it's very complex. you have got the north, the south. you have china involved and, in fact, the entire region. plus the united states. so, it is very delicate and i think we're mentioning last hour that victor cha with the bush administration was saying at a panel calling it the land of lousy options. and it presents a lot of very serious challenges to president obama. >> the white house always likes to leaves what it calls constructive ambiguity with north korea and taiwan. if the north would attack again, would the u.s. have any choice but to do anything and take out the artillery pieces? >> reporter: well, that is -- they have a defense pact. how that would be defined and when it would go into effect and the degree of force that you use is really the question. do you have a south korean president? this is a president that stopped the sunshine policy just recently that amorecent ly with the north. there's a hardening on both sides. the u.s. is in the middle trying to tamp down the -- any chance that this could spin out of control. >> jill, thanks. planes, trains and automobiles. typically the busiest travel day of the year well under way right now. more than 40 million people going somewhere today. >> if you're watching in the airport, hello. we feel for you. because we know the lines are getting longer right now. there's a pat down protest going viral on the web. all in an effort to prove a point to the tsa the naked body scanners must go. we are covering travel conditions live from across the country this mitt romneying. >> we spoke to tsa administrator john pistole this morning and asked him if the new security measures are maybe a built much. feel like criminals, some likened it to sexual assault. they don't like the idea they're feeling groped. do they go too far? are they a little bit too intrusive? >> that's the challenge, john. are there less invasive ways of accomplishing the same outcomes, that is providing the highest level of confidence for everybody getting on that flight that everybody else has been securely screened? so that's the challenge. i believe that they're necessary and i believe that 71% of the public just in the gallup poll i saw this morning agrees that we need thorough security and they understand the threats are real and we are trying to help them get safely home to loved ones. >> so it doesn't look like any big changes are going to go into effect now but maybe in the future. >> he did say they're looking at ways to change them a little bit. made some news this morning. >> we'll have to wait and see what happens. jeanne meserve live at reagan nation aal airport. have you seen any protesters? >> reporter: we haven't here. if people are opting out, they're not causing any kind of delays. as a matter of fact, if you look behind me at the lines, virtually nonexistent even though it's one of the busiest if not the busiest travel day of the year. we have spoken to number of travelers here about opt-out day. many of them didn't know what it was. everyone else that did know what it was who would speak to us said they were opposed. >> the end of the day i think that security is security. it's their job to protect our lives and as a passenger, you know, i'm susceptible to it as well as everybody else. >> i'd rather get to the gate and get on the plane and get home. you know? they're doing their jobs. it might be misguided but they're doing their jobs. ypt to make it harder. >> reporter: are you participating in opt-out day? >> i'm not. >> reporter: tell me why. >> i'm in favor of improved security if it helps us keep the terrorists at bay. >> reporter: did you ajust your travel times or anything today because you thought there might be disruptions here at the airport? >> yeah, i got here a little early. >> reporter: of course, we can only see what's happening here at reagan national at this particular checkpoint with two of the body imaging machines but at this point in time no disruptions. perhaps an indicator of how it will go today. there's a new poll out of gallup and "usa today" indicating 71% of frequent fliers have no privacy, no privacy concerns over the pat downs and the body scanners and more concerned with preventing a terrorist attack. we'll be monitoring. things may change later in the day. we are at least expecting some people to come here to rational national passing out literature about the new pat down and body scan procedures. back to you, carol and john. >> so jeanne, the passengers, they looked a little tired. you know how trying travel can be. so let's say one of the protesters come up and present a pamphlet to the travelers and maybe delay their time in the security line a little longer. what do you think the reaction might be? >> reporter: oh, who can predict? i don't think people will object to a piece of literature explaining what concerns may be about the security measures but i think if you see major tie-ups, if, in fact, security lines are greatly delayed because people are opting out of the body scanners and asking for the pat downs, then maybe you would have a little bit of tension. i know i have talked to some officials here at the airport. they've got their eyes open for that kind of thing. let's see how it plays out. may be much ado about nothing or on the other hand could be active at other airports and not others and how the travelers will be. back the you. >> keep watching it. jeanne meserve for us, thanks. severe weather could impact your travel plans. white christmas in parts of the west. that storm system now slowly making the way east and more rough weather is expected today midwest to the plain states. >> we know you want the know more. let's get the travel forecast. reynolds wolf. i'm sorry. i butchered your name. >> you didn't. you said -- it was wonderful. >> she's got a headache already. not even traveling. >> i know. >> i got that effect on people. all good. you know what will give you a headache? the weather is interesting today. if today's weather like an old western novel, it would be like this. or western movie. the good, you have the sunshine towards the east. and then you got the bad. a chance of thunderstorms and then the flat-out ugly and the northern plains and back into the rockies. the worst to be seeing in parts of the eastern seaboard is new england and looking good but it's feeling awfully rough with some strong winds. high wind warning with some gusts up to 40, 50 miles per hour. that's going to cause quite a few delays in boston logan. a lot of regional airports you are going to be kind of stuck on the tarmac for a bit and back with minneapolis, freezing precipitation. far fargo looks good for the time being. st. louis, imbedded thunderstorms. i would not be surprised with watches posted. keep that in mind. parts of denver, it looks okay and then back into the front range and along i-70, white-out conditions are possible. wind gusts topping 60, 70 miles per hour. approaching an equivalent of category-1 hurricane at times. whiteout conditions really difficult to deal with and if you happen to be in one of the high profile vehicles, semi truck, a camper, you are going to feel the winds, too. take it easy up there. something else to contend with in terms of forecast into thanksgiving day, many of you are going to probably be sitting on the couch watching football having a great time. for those of you planning to go out, bring the umbrella in the southeast, the central great lakes, michigan, snowfall still in the picture for you. twin cities, believe it. pretty good in parts of the four corners. west coast great. surfing, waves two to three sets, four to five-foot wave sets. >> ended with surfing. makes me feel better about life. >> they're shoveling the snowfall, a guy on the west coast is waxing up the board. >> never a complete weather forecast unless you hear about pisbo beach. >> we cover the bases. investigators are looking for answers after a second blast at a new zealand mine that killed 29. they have been trapped underground after an initial explosion last friday. not clear if they survived the first accident and rescue attempts were not possible because of a dangerous gas levels underground. investigators at aruba say a jawbone discovered on the beach does not belong to natalee holloway. they made the determination after comparing the bone with a tooth attached to the dental records. she disappeared five years ago while on a class trip to aruba. still to come this morning, we are actually taking holiday travel into our own hands this morning. david mattingly ready to board the flight to tampa on air tran. we'll see how his day is going so far. and forget about snakes on a plane. these snakes don't need planes to fly. they're literally slithering through the air. why is the military studying them? we'll tell you. it's 14 minutes past the hour. 17 minutes after the hour. we take you to london. this is the white hall section of london near the parliament buildings. grass roots protest organization, organized by students there who are organizing a day of action against a rise in proposed tuition fees of some 9,000 pounds which is about $15,000. right now, the students seem to have a security van surrounded here. they've been rocking it back and forth and calling for peaceful protests, but they're definitely getting a little bit aggressive with this one particular vehicle. >> interestingly enough, the students, university hikes are almost double. huge hikes and the government is doing this to lower the deficit in great britain and the students don't much like -- well, they don't like that bit of civic duty to perform and protesting the huge -- i mean, that's huge. >> it is. >> more than doubled rise in university fees. >> you can imagine the protests that would ring out here if similar thing were to happen and so many countries -- ours included, so many countries in europe having debt crises and trying to trim wherever they can. >> they have decided to raise taxes. raise fees on universities to cut their huge deficits. so you see what it's doing there. >> students speaking out about that. we'll be watching that today, as well. meanwhile, the getaway day coverage and today we're in atlanta. >> we aren't exactly but david mattingly is and navigating the way through the airport on his way to tampa. at 6:a.m. we saw him check in for his flight. 7:00 a.m. he stopped in at the air tran control center and now he is ready to board. >> yes! he is at the gate and getting ready to get on. what are your impressions so far? how's the trip been? >> reporter: well, john, everything seems to be going as business as usual. you know, i fly out of this airport all the time. i mean, hundreds of flights over the years with cnn, and today, i really haven't seen anything that unusual for a holiday weekend. i mean, there's a large volume of passengers. the airlines are all running atika paat at capacity. the lines are moving. the flights seem to be doing well and fog here in atlanta. the faa put a flight stop for flights coming into atlanta and going to start a domino effect for later in the day. flights going to tampa that i'm about to get on right now, everything's going just fine. i talked to quite a few passengers through security. they had their minds made up whether it was going to be a pat down or a full body scan before they came through but that people being selected for that, that's being done entirely at random here and didn't see people pulled aside but it was steady and so far so good. this is one holiday weekend that's starting off with everything seeming to be working the way it's supposed to but again we have a long day to go. big weather delays out west. we have a ground stop for flights today for fog and when you start having delays, then tempers start to get a little short and seeing what happens as this pre-thanksgiving day travel day progresses. >> what time's your flight scheduled to take off, david? >> reporter: scheduled to take off about 10, 15 minutes. i keep looking outside. again, the weather's fine. this is a very busy concourse, one of the busiest in the world for the number of flights going out of this part of the airport. and we are looking at -- you know, it looks like normal day here. i see a lot more families traveling than you would normally see in the week. you have people going home to visit relatives, be with loved ones for thanksgiving. everything so far so good. let's hope it stays that way. >> thanksgiving day spirit is in all of us this morning. feeling warm and cozy right now. >> still a little foggy outside, though. >> david. thank you very much. good luck on your trip. maybe we'll talk to you just before you're about to take off or when you get into tampa. thanks. >> thanks, david. you heard david mention, there's a powerful storm out west and heading east and could put the end to the happy day traveling feeling. we'll check in with reynolds wolf right after this. >> what's thanksgiving if you're not stuck in the airport? slithering through the skies, snakes that fly? how freaky is that? come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. here's the story that is got us talking this morning. bristol palin's run on "dancing with the stars" over. >> oh. >> the show's underdog finished third in last night's finale not before telling america that the win would be like a big middle finger to the people that hate my mom and me. >> classy. >> actress jennifer grey took home the trophy. earned near perfect scores in the way to overcome the wave of palin votes. >> nobody puts baby in a corner. >> but she did have the time of her life. >> so bad. scoring on your own goal. the dutch pulled the goalie down to one minute -- in the final minute, down one. no one's home. keep an eye on it. slides all the way to the other end of the ice. nearly 200 feet and into their own net. whoops. >> he will never live that down. come on. where was the center? >> very sad. betty white did it. now another legend wants a shot at hosting "saturday night live." that would be the cookie monster. he made an audition tape. we'll show you a bit of it. >> oh, and live, from new york, it ee's saturday night! ♪ thank you. yeah. it's great to be here hosting "saturday night live." blah blah blah. cookie joke. cookie joke. cookie joke. we got great show so stick around. we be right back. >> i don't know. i think "sesame street" might be behind that. i'm not sure and brought along a special musical guest to up the chances of getting on the show. >> ladies and gentlemen, monster gaga. ♪ ♪ cookie face note me me cookie face ♪ >> it's been great to be -- >> "sesame street" has to be the most fun television program in the world. >> that's lady ga did. two words for you. flying snakes. >> disgusting. >> very interesting. physiological and aero dynamic feature in the animal world. it starts to slither in midair and turns into a snake frisbee. >> walking through the field. >> no arms and legs. i'm gliding. they're found in asia. the pentagon is stud degree i for their aero dynamic qualities to see if there's a military quality. >> plant little bombs on the snake and -- i'm kidding. >> what they might do is -- >> kidding. >> high altitude drops. fly them out. that sort of thing. >> glad the snake can help them out. still to come this morning, your top stories, plus making money in 2011. is it even possible? 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>> reporter: yeah. i think the police at this point saying they have it under control. what they do not want is a repeat of the november 10th when university students managed to pour into the conservative party headquarters and trash the area costing about -- more than $1 million in damages so what they have done now is coming into the area, it's an unruly crowd and haven't caused a lot of property damage. there is that police -- in the middle of the road here. graffiti all over it. rocking it back and forth and haven't caused any property damage in the area. there's a number of businesses and government offices here and none of them touched. in fact, a lot of the employees in the area sort of -- the windows of this whole scene that's unfolding and so police really content to let them -- you know, yell, make their point. and to burn themselves out and it probably eventually will start letting -- feed the area slowly. >> atika, i just wondered, i know the british government made difficult choices. slashed programs all in an effort to decrease the deficit. will they make any difference to the decisions that have been made? >> reporter: well, you know, the government says they have to make the cuts. simply not -- they cannot afford it in this sort of economic climate that they're in. but will it have an impact? certainly might. that's what the students are hoping. a lot of this age tore the democrats and they feel betrayed out, campaign season, they promised to oppose any hikes on tuition. and of course, that's exactly what's happened. now the liberal democrats say it is not an ideal solution but the best to offer for now and this is what has angered a lot of students. in fact, protesters originally supposed to end up in front of liberal democrats' headquarters. police clearly are not allowing that to happen. they blocked them off at parliament square. we'll have to see what happens next if the students are content with the statement here and if they'll attempt to try to go further. >> all right. atika shubert live in london for us this morning. fred mcneill spent 12 years in the nfl. years later, his brain is paying the price. dr. sanjay gupta's special series just ahead. all this week dr. gupta is examining the concussion problem in the pros on down. >> last week, sanjay tells us about a former nfl star who paid a severe price for years of hard hits and sanjay joins us now from atlanta. you found out some stunning facts about the long-term impact of concussions and sometimes hits that would seem to be fairly innouk wous. >> yeah. you know, it's interesting because the long-term imspakt what researchers have been focused on for some time and what they're finding is some players it can cause the sort of early, pretty early onset dementia. almost an alzheimer's-like problem. in football games, one concussion a game. that's why they're focused on what are the repeated concussions doing the brain? they find people develop symptoms like depression and rage and memory problems and progressing into this early onset dementia state. take a look. >> nice play. oh! he got drilled in the thigh. >> reporter: they are thrilling. >> delivered the blow. >> came in with a stinger. >> reporter: and terrifying. watch a football game and you can't miss them. the hits. >> dropped. >> reporter: but what is the real impact? what is happening to the player's brains? how many times did you take a hard hit playing football? >> it was one time when i had a real seen your concussion and it was so serious that i was dizzy for, like, you know, for, like, two or three weeks. >> reporter: 30 years ago fred mcneill was a line backer for the minnesota vikings. he played for 12 seasons and in two super bowls. >> big shot. >> reporter: relentlessly hitting opponents was his job. >> you got to be able the move, right? >> reporter: right. no question, mcneill is robust physically. >> you can control it. >> reporter: you can tell his brain paid a price. what has it done to you? >> well, impact is on memory. i meet people, and they talk about the conversation that we had, you know, two weeks ago or three weeks ago or a month ago or whatever. and i don't remember. >> reporter: if we saw each other again, would you remember me? >> sanjay, i don't know. when i started out -- >> reporter: the not knowing, it happens often. there was also rage. >> it got to where i would say things that really shouldn't upset him, and he would get angry really quick. his temper was very short. >> reporter: followed by remorse. >> i think that was the biggest thing for my dad. he felt like it was all his fault. >> reporter: it wasn't but there was no doubt he was different. >> it was a moment where i realized i wasn't living with the person that i knew and married. >> reporter: no one seemed to know what was happening to fred mcneill until reports about other former nfl players who had been through similar issues. like mcneill, they had memory problems, rage issues and depression. most disturbing, all died young. could concussions, the common denominator, be to blame? little bit different? researchers at boston medical university school are looking deep into the brain and spinal cord of former athletes to find out. what they're seeing is startling. this is a normal brain. this one a 45-year-old former nfl player. see the brown tangles? that's brain damage. it looks a lot like this 70-year-old brain. with dementia. >> to see the kind of changes we are seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of. >> reporter: it's called chronic traumatic encepholopathy and here's the kicker. those changes are directly associated with rage, memory problems and depression. >> i was actually considering not living. i was actually considering that. >> reporter: you wanted to end your life? >> yeah. i was just thinking it would be so much easier. >> i can tell you it's hard to see fred mcneill like that. he is doing better nowadays and all the symptoms that he was just describing he attributes to concussions. we did reach out to the nfl to ask them about mr. mcneill and other players like them. >> it was we're trying to prevent multiple concussion without recovery. the impacts have not been fully characterized. the goal of the nfl to sit them out when in doubt and let them recover. but again, this is what a lot of researchers are focusing on, the long-term impact as you asked of the concussions. >> just so frightening. so how common is dementia among ex-football players? >> well, you know, this science is pretty new, carol. and the lab that you saw there, they're looking at brains of former athletes, you know, obviously, after they die to figure out evidence. 16 brains so far examined. 15 so far out of 16 had evidence of it. the youngest incidentally, 18 years old. so the process seems to occur and starting at very early age if it does happen. >> i have seen research, too, sanjay, suggest not just the big concussions that can have a cumulative effect over time and sometimes the little hits off the line where they come together. >> no question. sub con cussive hits and you may have read that some people may be genetically predisposed to having the brain suffer the worse consequences of the brains. who those people are exactly, another fertile area of research. >> you know, brings up baseball because it's becoming a problem in baseball, as well. with players getting hit in the head. who's the first first baseman for the minnesota twins? the first baseman suffered a concussion sliding into second base and simply took the rest of the season off. he didn't want to take -- justin mor know. that's his name. he took the season off. he didn't want to take a chance. >> probably good advice. on his own or coaches, other players told him to do so, that seems to be the key. to let the brain rest after a first concussion, that second concussion is not exponentially worse otherwise it is as you saw yesterday with max conradt. >> great to see the research and learning more of what happens out there on the playing field. great to see you this morning. happy thaflg. >> you, too, guys. thanks. the key to making a buck and getting ahead in 2011? what is it? are you out of a job? will you get one next year? if you have a job, will your boss give you a raise or maybe a bonus? money magazine is here to tell us what to expect. e and supporting a family of four. after i got the job at walmart, things started changing immediately. then i wrote a letter to the food stamp office. "thank you very much, i don't need your help any more." you know now, i can actually say i bought my home. i knew that the more i dedicated... the harder i worked, the more it was going to benefit my family. this my son, mario and he now works at walmart. i believe mario is following in my footsteps. my name is noemi, and i work at walmart. ♪ my name is noemi, and i work at walmart. [trumpet playing "reveille" throughout] let's support the small business owners getting our economy booming with the first ever small business saturday. on november 27th, shop small. it's going to be huge. [trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence] 2010 drawing 0 a close and we could use a fresh start. on the money front this year. "money" magazine is des kating the special edition to making money in 2011. we are kicking off a three-part series with "money" magazine writer amanda gangler and of course i hope you have some good news for us. let's start with the outlook for 2011. the unemployment rate at 9.6%. will businesses finally start to hire in the new year? >> good news is that if you have held on to your job thus far chances are you're out of the danger zone. most of the firing and mass layoffs over the past couple of years have ended so companies aren't firing a whole lot, but unfortunately, they're not hiring a whole lot either. job creation is only expected to grow modestly throughout the year. not enough, unfortunately, to put a serious dent in joblessness. the consensus among economists is even by the end of the 2011 the unemployment rate will still probably be above 9%. >> oh, okay. so let's think positively. you have a job. one of the lucky people who have a job. i mean, are businesses -- are bosses ready to give people raises and bonuses? >> they absolutely are because they're really going to focus on retaining their current employees in 2011. so with that, raises are back. companies on average plan to increase the salaries of the employees by 3% next year. so this is definitely the year that you and i and everyone else should be pressing for more money, asking for that promotion. and i -- >> big ,huh? >> i should point out, here's the interesting thing that companies are really -- they're differentiating between the super star performers and just average joes and janes so they're best, most valued employees to give increases as much as 6% and larger bonuses. >> okay. so let's say you're one of the valued employees, you're a superstar which all of us think we are anyway. you say one of the ways that you can increase the chances of getting a raise is you need to keep learning. >> that is the top reason that employers say they'll give a bonus next year. specialized industry knowledge so you have to keep learning. you could quickly become obsolete if you don't. you want to master the latest whether it's technology solutions or marketing tools, even if the company has yet to adopt them and may sound like common sense but few workers do it that investing the time actually can have a huge payoff. >> sometimes when workers do learn new things, they don't know how to toot their own horn and that would be your next tip, right? >> of course. well we have all heard of port folios but anyone can build one and career experts recommend all workers do create a portfolio. put the best work in it, testimonials maybe. thank you notes from colleagues or clients and bring that to the annual review. you will have physical evidence in front of your boss of all of the noteworthy accomplishments you had over the past year and then it's also a great jumping point then to talk about what you're going to do for the company in the upcoming year. >> okay. you know, it's funny because i talked to some economists last week, actually, who said that it's unlikely that people will get raises this year because the unemployment rate will remain high and when there are 100 people in line for your job, there's really no incentive to give you a raise but you say that's -- >> well, so companies aren't going to be firing. not going to be hiring. what are they doing? they're focusing on retaining their current employees into this recovery. developing them and, again, taking those super stars and making sure that they stick with the company and what's the best most effective way to do that? probably give them more money. >> putting together my portfolio right now. i'm a superstar, right, john? >> right. you will have to have the new technology. facebook. >> i'm going to learn how to tweet more effectively. >> i will try to do that, as well. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good advice. tomorrow, home is where the heart is and the key to the financial success in the coming year. thanksgiving tips to make money in 2011. amanda, you will be back to tell us more about that. ♪ you're the one ♪ who's born to care this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference let's get a quick check of the weather headlines with reynolds wolf this morning. >> hey, guys. things are extreme weatherwise today. west coast, picture perfect. the east coast okay. center of the u.s.,like mother nature put a giant bull's eye on the middle of the continent. showers, thunderstorms, some heavy snowfall possible in the northeast, the wind the big story, especially into the afternoon with some gusts approaching 40 to 50 miles per hour. that's going to cause some delays up there. the plains and western great lakes, snow. warnings and watches and advisories in the landscape and the rockies, it's going to be a blizzard warning to cause real slowdown and many spots and parts of i-70 and blowing snow is a problem. wind gusts approaching 60 to 70 miles per hour. again, later in the day is when those winds will really accelerate. and then getting into the central plains, freezing rain will be a problem along parts of i-80. the drive westward from lincoln, issues there, as well. fast forward to thanksgiving day, the storm system drifts to the east. scattered showers from new england, the gulf coast. great for skiers. driving through it gives you headaches. back to you. >> thank you, reynolds. >> you bet, guys. >> as long as it's on the mountains. good thing. >> stays there. that would be nice. we'll be right back. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. well, before we let you go this morning, if you need some help with the bird over the next couple of days, our friends at eatocracy will be live blogging tonight through

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