tv CNN Newsroom CNN December 27, 2011 8:00am-10:00am PST
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that the politicians rather than doctors are defining health care, so it was a mistake. >> i just reached out to the gingrich campaign, spoke with their spokesman. he tells me that the essay wasn't even written by gingrich. he goes on to say it shouldn't be taken as an endorsement, the individual mandate and what romney passed in massachusetts and he said that if you read further into this essay from april 2006, you'll see there are parts of the essay that are critical, critical of what romney did in massachusetts. let's see what happens with this story today, whether it gathers team and continues on or whether it doesn't. >> thanks it for me in washington. thanks for watching. drew griffin is at the cnn center with more. let's get you up to speed for this tuesday, december 27th. all about politics. the republican presidential race shifting to overdrive. just a week to go now until the
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iowa caucuses. first big test really, the 2012 presidential race. the candidates crisscrossing that state. five campaigning in iowa today. so far, none have won the support of a particular aiiowa congressman whose endorsement carries a lot of weight. >> a large percentage of iowans haven't decided. i'm among them. i thought i would come to a conclusion in september or october. we're within a week of the caucus and i have not gotten to that point. >> still up in the air. a fact finding team on the ground in homs. we are hearing reports of more gunfire near a volatile neighborhood in that city. the team of arab league monitors trying to get the government to uphold its promise. more than 6,000 people have been killed since that uprising started in march. police in detroit say three of four women found dead in car
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trunks have been linked to online sex ads. all are black women in their 20s. police say three of these women had profiles on backpage.com. a website used to buy and sell things, but also offers adult services. >> we felt it was imperative to alert in deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet can be extremely dangerous. >> in maine, authorities confident about missing toddler, they are searching has been abducted. last seen in her bed days before christmas. there's a $30,000 reward being offered for anybody with information that could help find that girl. >> just bring her home to us -- i want her home. >> the mayor of stamford, connecticut, holding a news
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conference this afternoon to talk about a devastating christmas day fire that gutted that home right there. investigators have not said what caused the fire. it killed three young girls and her grandparents in the middle of the night. the mother was trying to reach her children when firefighters got there. >> what this poor family has to endure, what this mother has to endure for the rest of her life, it's too much to bear. >> the housing market taking another step backward in most major cities. the s&p case-shiller index shows home prices dropped for a six straight month in october, down 1.2%. analysts say it's just soft demand. people are either renting or looking for big bargains. britain's prince philip released from the hospital this morning. he suffered chest pains last
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friday. he had a minimally invasive procedure to treat a blocked artery. tough times for a major retail company. the holiday season hasn't been so bright for sears. now, its parent company plans to close as many as 120 sears and k-mart stores. disappointing holiday sales figures. how bad were they that they'd come out just days after christmas and say look, wooers shutting stores. >> exactly. those sales numbers were pretty bad. the company says sales this quarter are down 5%. down 6% at sears. down more than 4% at k-mart and that's pretty bad when you look at the overall holiday sales that are expected to be up by 3% this year, so obviously sears in tough shape. and you know how this is, in business, drew, there are winners and losers, so sears, in this case, was a big, big loser. >> have they said where these stores are? >> they haven't yet named which
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stores will be closing. one retail analyst told cnn money he believes k-mart stores located in the northeast and great lakes regions, that those will close first. also, look for those anchor stores. if sears anchor any kind of mall that you live near, those could be vulnerable. that's partly because malls haven't done such a great job holing on to other tenants, so you see that foot traffic sort of goes away when you see those vacancies inside the shopping malls. >> if i was to guess what was wrong, it seems like sears still has that high overhead of the high ticket kind of stores, but trying to attract the lowball market, which is being sucked up by target and walmart, right? >> exactly. not just target and walmart. don't forget amazon.com, home depot, macy's. sears has been getting beat by the competition on price, especially on appliances and electronics. consumers have gotten smarter
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about the web and they've punished companies that haven't been able to keep up, so that's one of the reasons why you're seeing sears so battered and bruised. >> the market's open, right? that's why you're there. little post break, a rally. >> hardly. stocks are barely moving. the dow is sort of flat lining there. down about one point. wall street overall, kind of holding its collective breath in the final four trading days o the year. the dow and s&p are trying to hold on to gains for the year. the big stock of the day, sears holding company, down 20%. this stock is just getting pulmoable pulmoabled today. >> trading pretty quiet this week? do you expect a lot of movement or everybody kind of close their books last week? >> you know, you're right. traders, investors, they've really just closed their books on 2011. they seem pretty satisfied about the gains they have and the trick is to just hold on to
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those for the next four sessions. >> we'll see you later on. thanks a lot. here's another side of the times. falling mf movie sales. it's also your chance to talk back. is the big screen really worth it? "the new york times" reports today that sales of movie tickets are down by $500 million. number and movie popcorn crunching to figure out why more people are staying home. the average price of a movie nationwide is close to $8. i know what you're saying. that's a lot less than what you pay. in manhattan, $13 for a multiplex movie ticket. in los angeles, could be $19 for a 3-d film, so a family of four will plunk down $78. popcorn, 6 bucks. sodas, 5 bucks a pop. compare that to renting a movie on demand at home with an
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average price of about 5 or $6. that may explain why people are opting to sit on their coaches in front of their own flat screens instead of heading to the theatre. is the experience of the movie on the big screen really worth it? we're going to share some of your responses a little later in this hour. there's a rundown of stories we are covering. first, just one week before the iowa caucuses, republican candidates campaigning around the state today. we're going to have live reports and a huge fight involving some 200 people. this at the mall of america. we'll tell you what may have sparked it on the day after christmas. stormy weather. going to get in the way for lots of folks trying to make it back home from the holidays and also, how much did the wife of jerry sandusky know about his relationships with children? a neighbor sheds new light on
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joe johns live from des moines and we've got this three way traffic jam in the polls. who are they? >> well, very close and interesting certainly for the caucuses right now. you've got three republicans as you said, bunched up at the top and within the statistical margin of error. that would be ron paul up at the very top, but not far behind, newt gingrich and mitt romney. all within one point of each other and a statistically dead heat. a lot of stories there. ron paul, who's expected back out in the state tomorrow. has a very good organization here in the state and it's been suggested he's been flying under the radar if you will and that could be one of the reasons why he hasn't seen a big drop. newt gingrich, another story just a few weeks ago. he was running very strong. now, not so much perhaps because of the attacks on him and mitt
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romney, this is a candidate who is not necessarily expected to you know, sort of win here. doesn't really have to win here, but certainly has to have a very good showing in the iowa caucuses as we move two new hampshire, where he's expected to be much stronger. you can't talk about the caucuses of course without talking about the conservative trio. that would be michele bachmann, rick santorum and rick perry. they have been crisscrossing the state, bus tours and what not. very interesting and trying to get that evan gel cal vote. in the last caucus, something like 60% of people who participated related and said they were evangelicals. the other story, and i'll leave you with that, is the ad spending in the final days as we go into the home stretch. this is the headline, $10 million ad book, so that shows you a little bit about what's going on here.
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apparently, rick perry at the top, followed by mitt romney and ron paul in the competition to see who can spend the most money in the ad wars as we approach the iowa caucuses. drew, back to you. >> joe, it's good to own a tv station in iowa this week. that is for sure. they're spending lots of money out there. see you a little l bit later on. tune in a week from today for the country's first real vote. america's choice 2012. live coverage of the iowa caucuses. it's beginning tuesday night, january 3rd, 7:00 eastern. right here on cnn. and later this afternoon at 4:00 eastern, newt gingrich is live in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. that is also only on cnn. there's a huge fight at minnesota's mall of america. we're going to tell you what this is all about. with your mortgage,
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let's check our stories from our affiliates across the country. this youtube video shows chaos that broke out at minnesota's mall of america on the day after christmas. 200 people were fighting after a rumor spread that a couple of rapper, lil wayne and drake, were visiting the mall. i don't think the rappers were there. an armed robber didn't know what he was in for when he held this up in hendersonville, north carolina. hit him with a left hook, knocked the robber out. how d you like that, reynolds? a man boarding a flight from
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vegas found $10,000 in cash in two caesar's palace envelopes. it took a good smar tin two weeks to track him down and give the money back. the guy says the airport wouldn't even take his name down. >> i wanted to show my kids the right thing to do. if it happened to me, i sure would want that back. you think about all the bills you could pay. it felt so good to be able to get it back to the guy. >> sounds like a scene from what it, bash lor party or something. if you're hitting the road to head back home, you'll be hitting heavy storms. reynolds wolf watching the weather for us. hangover. that's the movie. >> guy running through the airport, drops a bunch of cash. you know, people can have hangovers today just trying get from one point to another. it's going to be tough because of this big system in the parts of the ohio valley. tas combination of rain, sleet and heavier snowfall up towards
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the great lakes. you going to see it slowly lifting its way to the eastern sea board and it's going to bring with it the chance of severe weather. isolated tornados are a possibility for norfolk, virginia to the georgia, florida border. as we make our way farther to the north, that cold wind in the great lakes. you could get four to eight inches of snowfall and back to the southeast, where wind is going to be an issue. we could see gusts topping 50 miles per hour through parts of the appalachains. with the strong winds, you can expect delays in atlanta. upwards of around 35 minutes or so. san francisco, out to the west, a whole different scenario. might have back-ups toward oakland. for the rest of the nation, other than parts of the northeast and back towards the pacific northwest, it's pretty nice. mild conditions across the central plains. high temperatures in spot like
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dallas going up to 60 degrees in houston. 30 in minneapolis. 55 in new york. 50 in atlanta. 61 in san francisco and 69 in los angeles. that is the latest on your forecast. drew, overall, situation could be far worse weather wise. it will be okay. >> could be far worse. some girls like super heroes, right? >> i do think so. >> like prin sayses, but one little girl from new york is taking a stand against toy makers unethical marketing. check out this rant from riley. >> for all the girls to buy princesses and all the boys to buy super heroes. girl wants super heroes and the boys want super heroes. the companies who make these try to trick the girls into buying the pink stuff instead of stuff that boys want to buy, right? yeah, so why do all the girls have to buy princesses?
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some girls like super heroes. some girls like princesses. some boy wants super heroes, some buy like princesses. >> absolutely. >> all girls have to buy pink stuff and all the boys have to like different color stuff. >> that's right. >> love it. >> why? >> do not fence her in. >> outrage. >> a politician in the making. >> she's got a great point. why limit yourself? why focus these toys in ways that kids can only choose from one or another. >> i bet we should keep that video. she's going to be the head of mattel. >> and it all began with a rant ant about toy freedom. >> toy choice. >> and riley. thanks a lot. well, hollywood may need a super hero to rescue falling ticket sales this year. sales down despite 3-d ticket sales selling for as much as $20
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a pop. you've been responding to our question. is the big screen worth it? we'll have some of your responses just ahead. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] get an aleve coupon in this sunday's paper. multi-policy discount. paperless discount. paid-in-full discount. [yawning] homeowner's discount. safe driver discount.
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some of the video we're taking in from homs today in syria. a team of arab league observers now on the ground trying to get the government to end this. a brutal crackdown on protesters. syria's keeping international journalists out of that country. that's why mohammed jamjoom is following events from kcairo, egypt. we're getting reports that thousands of demonstrators took to the groubd again today. what can you tell us? >> well, drew, opposition
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activists there tell us that tens of thousands of demonstrators calling for an end of the regime took to the streets of homs today. the reason they gathered was because they were no longer facing crackdown by the military there. there was a live stream video that shows earlier many people chanting for people in from the international community. we're told in the past hour from residents that some members of this protest tried to go to another area of the city called clock square, where they believe that meps of the arab league delegation were so they could speak to them and when they got there, some tell thaus the protesters were fired upon. tear gas and bullets and many were injured and they tried to flee the scene. we're also told that in the area where we see the tens of thousands, that a crackdown ensue ensued in the past hour. that's according to one
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eyewitness in homs. the fear this hour is that if the arab league delegation leaves the city, what will happen. the arab league tells us some have left homs, but others are going to stay overnight, but we're trying to get more details as far as what they're seeing and hearing specifically at this hour. >> will you have access to those arab league monitors once they come out of syria and are perhaps able to speak directly about what they did see and what they were prevent ed from seein? >> well, drew, we're trying to find out right now. we've been in touch with members of the arab league mission thask in sir dwra. with some of the members that were in damascus, in homs. they seem optimistic they'll be able to do their mission, but we're trying to find out more from them as far as what they're seeing, what they've heard from people on the ground. we've seen videos purporting to show these members in homs.
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residents pleading with others there r for help, but we haven't heard a detailed account of what those monitors have seen and what else they expect to see and that they're reporting back to the rest of the delegations in damascus at this hour. >> i believe we're seeing some of that video now you were speaking of. mohamed jam joon frcairo, egypt. syria's president is under enormous pressure to end the violence. activists say that more than 6,000 people may have died, but just a few weeks ago, president assad denied the government was killing anyone. >> we don't kill our people. nobody kill no government in the world kill its people unless it's led by -- i became president because of the public support. it's impossible for anyone this
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state to give order to kill. >> that was the syrian president on december 9th, talking to barbara walters, but his own people told a different story. >> people are terrified and a lot of the towns outside syria. the economy has ground to a standstill. there are daily violent house to house raids. activists and protesters, so they live life on the run, living in safe house, moving from safe house to safe house. life is not norral. it feels like wartime. >> and when you hear the syrian leader, the dictator of syria saying we're not ordering the deaths of people. there are no house to house searches. people aren't being arrested and killed in thaz homes. what do you think? you've seen it for yourself.
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>> yeah, i mean, on some level, it's quite laughable. i was watching an assad interview and i was laughing at the same time and screaming at the television because what's happening there is undeniable. it's all around you. you can't escape it. >> the initiative currently underway calls for security forces to withdraw from cities, release detainees and end all forms of violence. we'll keep you posted on that. here's a rundown of some stories we're working on. next, jerry sandusky already in the middle of a child sex abuse scandal. why his wife of 45 years is now facing tough questions. then, the reason iran wants to expand military ties with iraq. also, a look back at the stories that defined 2011 and later, talk about stuck with no place to go. a family stranded in their suv, buried under four feet of snow. they were there for almost two
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days. let's move to the penn state child sex abuse candidate. it's raising questions about the wife of jerry sandusky. she is standing by her man saying she believes he's innocent, but critics say his wife should have known what was going on in her own house and about her husband's alleged relations with young boys. cnn contributor and patriot news reporter joining us from plantation, florida. in today's paper, you interjew viewed a former neighbor of the sanduskies. what did chef to say? >> he grew up with the family in their neighborhood. he was friends with some of their five adopted children. he told me he doesn't believe that dottie could have known about this. he told me she's a very religious woman. it was something she always went back to in tough times was back to her religion.
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that she wasn't someone who was in the forefront. her husband was in the spotlight a lot and she liked to be at home taking care of things, really at home, she was even more than a housewife, he said cht always taking care of the children because jerry was on the road so much with coaching, recru recruiting, games. you know how hectic a football schedule can be, but he also told me this. he said even though she liked to be behind the scenes, she wasn't the kind of person who would be silent if she saw something she believed was wrong. she would speak up. she was strict with her kids. made sure everything was on time and right and so he believes there was no way she could have known about this alleged abuse because he thinks she would have said something, but one thing he did tell me, probably about a decade ago, maybe a little less, he's not really sure when, but dottie did express some concern that her husband might be falsely accused and it's because
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she realized he could be touchy feely with kids. nothing like what's alleged. like the child rape. but that she did bring up concerns that kids who were at risk might make accusations against him because he was always, you know, around them so much. >> i got to tell you, i appreciate your reporting, but i find it so hard to believe the denials that are coming out of all the penn state community. here's a guy that was basically kicked out of the football program he loved. one of the accusers actually said i yelled for her in the basement of her home, trying to get her to help me with this issue. with all the suspicions that have been going on for years, it's hard to believe his wife didn't know what was happening. >> you know, i talked to some experts. aside from people who just know dottie, these experts say it has happened before and the dynamics of relationships with people like, you know, jerry's alleged to be. we've seen this before. we saw wit the man in austria,
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who kept his daughter in a basement, impregnated her several times over decades and his wife never knew because she was told not to go through a certain door and she didn't. we saw bernie madoff's wife get on television not too long ago and say she didn't know about her husband's alleged crimes. experts say this isn't something that is so farfetched, the dynamics of a controlling relationship. it kind of remains to be scene in this case if that was the case or if you believe the alleged victims who say they were around the family a lot, that they did show some outward signs and ask for help and it's not just dottie. you have to remember, this whole case is about missed opportunities. about adults knowing things and not doing the right thing allegedly, so i think that remains to be scene, but there are cases where that has happened. >> thanks, sara. now that the u.s. is out of
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background. i guess what has kept these two countries apart was saddam hussein and he's dead, so iran has been moving in ever since. >> yes, to a certain degree, it has, drew, and it is quite natural that the two want to form some sort of military cooperation given the lengthy and porous border both countries share. what is concerning is the type of military influence that iran has that is not spoken about. that comes via the cuds force. they were the ones carrying out the majority of attacks against the u.s. military and these groups claim they're only striking u.s. targets, however, the military prior to withdrawing from iraq has said they're also reasonable for assassinations -- to have a
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quote unquote normal relationship, try to exert some sort of influence by these shia militant groups. >> this seems like a poke in the eye of the u.s. military, which has tried to deliver some sort of democratic freedom to iraq and now, possibly in a pretty deep military. >> well, you know, iraq following the war is a sovereign country. the u.s. military will remind everyone and that means they get to make their own decisions, but arwa has put her finger on what the concern is at the pentagon and in washington. will the iranian military have a cooperative relationship or is this going to be a behind the scenes surrogate relationship where these militias engage in all sorts of activities inside iraq that unsettle and destabilize the government. i want to read for you what the iranian chief of staff said
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about this. he says the islamic republic of iran is ready to establish, boost and expand all types of military, defense and security cooperation with the friendly and brotherly nation of iraq. it all sounds pretty benign, but it's those years of iranian backed militia movements inside iraq that have everyone so concerned and of course, iraq is one country. iran also exerting a good bit oof influence in afghanistan, drew. >> i would think other arab countries, particularly saudi arabia, would be very concerned that iran would establish some kind of government figure head or become kind of the puppet caretaker of iraq. >> absolutely. especially when you look at the fact that this is at the end of the day, a shia dominated
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government. also a government that came to be because of negotiations that were mediated because of the political parties. but iraq for quite some time, has been a battlefield for various regional powers to include iran, saudi arabia, turk turkey. it has also been a power struggle between the u.s. and iran as well and if we look beyond iraq, the maneuvers that iran is undertaking right now, this massive military war game happening in the persian gulf and that critical oil strait. this iran is saying, a message to the west. that if the west trying to threaten and impose sanctions, it is going to close this vital oil pipeline that has around 30% of the tanker-based oil proving through it. so, what we're seeing here is not just dynamics of play inside iraq, but iran trying to flex its military muscle throughout the region. >> very, very dynamic story and
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complex to say the least as this post u.s. iraq tries to emerge as a country unto it's own. thank you, both. appreciate it. newt gingrich has been blasting mitt romney over the health care plan passed in massachusetts, but guess what? turns out, gingrich was for romneycare before he was against it. details ahead. i'd race down that hill without a helmet.
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blasting mitt romney over the health care plan passed when romney was governor of massachusetts, but he wasn't always blasting it. in fact, me might have been for it. paul, a little embarrassing thing to come up a week before the caucuses. >> yeah, this is another case of before it was against it or something like that. here's the story line. yeah, something like that. listen, we're talking about what the republicans call romneycare. that was passed by governor romney of massachusetts in 2006 with support from democrats as well. a lot of republicans say that was the the inspiration for what they call obamacare. the national health care reform law, des pized bay lot of republicans. here's what "the wall street journal" found, this is from an april 2006 newsletter published by gingrich's former company. they say the health care bill governor romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to affect major change
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in the american health care system. that was april of 2006 from the newsletter. drew, as you mentioned, newt gingrich and all the other candidates criticizing romney over that health care plan. gingrich really in the summer. take a listen to what he said in our debate in october. >> your plan essentially is one more big government bureaucratic, high cost system, which candidly could not have been done by any other state because no other state had a medicaid program as lavish as yours and no other state got as much money under the bush administration for this expeerm, so there's a lot of big government, a heck of a lot more than your campaign is admitting. >> little bit of a different message. >> so, what's the campaign saying about it? how's newt explaining this? >> well, i reached out to the spokesman for the gingrich
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presidential campaign. this is what he tells me. this is old news that has been covered. newt previously supported a mandate for health insurance and changed his mind after seeing its affects. he also says a couple of things about the newsletter, that it probably wasn't written by gingrich. and he said that if you look further into the newsletter, you will see that gingrich, the newsletter raises questions about the romney health care plan, so let's see what happens. >> so, wait a minute, paul. twupt written by newt gingrich, but later on, was that part that goes against romneycare written by newt gingrich? i want to keep it straight. >> we will check with the campaign on this one. this romneycare story has been a big one in the battle for the republican nomination and with a week to go, it remains one. >> paul, appreciate the reporting today. thanks a lot. for the latest political news,
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you know where to go. cnnpolitics.com. this reminder, a week from today is when it's happening. america's choice 2012. live coverage of the iowa caucuses beginning tuesday night, january 3rd, 7:00 eastern. the good, the bad and the u ugly. the look back at the stories that helped shape 2011. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪
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you've been soundinging off on our question. today, "the new york times" reporting movie ticket sales down a half billion with the high price of tickets and popcorn and les expensive alternatives for watching at home, we're canning you this -- is the big screen even worth it? here's what arlene says. no, i have been boycotting over a decade quietly. entertainment as a whole. she says has lost the battle because of price gouging. the music industry she says is going down, too. for the same reasons. higher prices. less quality. russell, it's still sort of worth it. the average home theater setup doesn't hold a kand toll what you see in the theater but considering the inflated refreshment and ticket prices, it's gotten to the point i'm forced to sneak my own snacks
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in. john says why pay for high ticket prices to deal with crowds, talking and laughing during the movie, annoying cell phones and expensive food when i can sit in my home and no waiting in line at the restroom. ryan says, yes, it's worth it. certain films are better when viewed on a screen measured in feet rather than inches. be part of the conversation at facebook. we'll have more of your comments next hour. 2011 filled with many event that is will have people for talking for years to come. tom foreman shows us some of the best and some of the worst. ♪ >> word crazy keeps coming to mind. crazy year. >> i think it was one of those roler coaster years. >> talk about unexpected. right?
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>> this year's been all over the place. >> the final liftoff of "atlantis." this year was weird. wasn't it? >> i think it's been a tough year for the country. >> i agree. >> the iraq war is coming to an end. >> let's start with the biggest, best story of 2011. ♪ the wholesale return of american troops are iraq after more than eight years of combat, more than 4,000 lives lost, tens of thousands wounded. whether you supported the war or not, this end was a long time coming. and even with afghanistan still in play, it was welcome relief for many military families. but some of the happy reunions may have been stifled by the biggest, baddest story confronting everyone once again. >> what was the number one concern that everybody had? it was jobs. everybody knew someone who lost
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their job. >> we have been hovering between 9.2 and 9.1 for the past couple of years. you know, that's had made -- that's defined 2011. >> reporter: a late year dip in to the 8% range helped a bit but despite ambitious talk of politicians of plans for recovering millions of jobs lost in the recession, unemployment lines remain long and frustration levels high. >> the retail slump continued. wap wap-wap. >> horrible to not pay for yourself and work at what you're good at. >> feels like i think to a lot of people the game -- they can't get ahead. there are some very, very severe imbalances in this country. >> reporter: at least there's this. if misery loves company, more americans seem to be warming to the notion that the whole world is in this economic mess together. >> we need each other. we need each other to buy each other's products and make it all work.
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>> reporter: biggest blow-up goes to the middle east where the arab spring movement ignited passions across the region. >> i don't think the middle east wept crazy. we're just starting to pay attention. >> you know, i think what we're seeing happen in the middle east is extraordinary. >> it's quite thrilling. and where's it all going to end? >> that's a preview of the best, all the worst of 2011 airing saturday, new year's eve 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern with tom foreman. reliving a nightmare. brutal treatment in one of north korea's prison camps.
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turned out to be a pivotal point of relationships, a group traveled to pyongyang meeting with the head of north korea's assembly and met with kim jong-il's youngest son. kim jong-un is the newest leader following his father's death earlier this month. they paid their respects to the deceased dictator. officially the south expressed sympathy to the north korean people. kim's funeral is tonight and a memorial service is planned for wednesday. kim jung ill put fear in the hearts of millions and terror intensified for those inside the country's prison camps. paula hancocks shares a former prisoner's story. >> reporter: he was sent to a
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north korean concentration camp at the age of 9. his crime, his grandfather fell out of favor with the elite. he doesn't know why. his entire family minus his mother was sent to the camp. he survived there for ten years before being released. managing to defect with a friend in 1992. he tells me, it was like hitler's auschwitz concentration camp. not as large and a difference in the way people are killed. hitler gassed people. kim jong-il sucked the life out of people through starvation and forced labor. he says in some ways people may have died in more misery. he says he saw inmates die of malnutrition or exhaustion every single day. he himself almost died three times. his young age did not exempt him from hard labor. public executions according to him were frequent.
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he says, usually they fired three bullets each in the head, chest and legs. but they would sometimes use machine guns firing dozens of rounds in the head to destroy the body. they would also hang people and then stone the bodies until they were crushed. i witnessed these kinds of scenes dozens of times. he remembers his family being forced to eat mice, insects and grass to stay alive. he says prisoners were often beaten or tortured. after writing a book about the experiences, he was invited to meet u.s. former president george w. bush. he told him the u.s. needs to focus on giving food aid in return for abolishing prison camps rather than focusing exclusively on the nuclear issue. north korea does not admit to the existence of these concentration camps but amnesty international released these satellite images earlier this year which it says shows the size and location of the camps
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in remote mountainous regions of north korea. comparing them to satellite images from ten years ago and recent testimony from former inmates, the human rights group says these camps appear to have significantly increased in size. amnesty believes they have been in operation since the 1950s. he says he often thinks of those in the camp at the same time as him, wondering if they're still there or even if they are still alive. he describes that time as a living hell. made only slightly more bearable now knowing that kim jong-il is dead but, of course, the question is, will kim jong-un continue this deadly legacy? paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. top of the hour now, i'm drew griffin. what's happening on this day, the republican presidential race shifting in to overdrive. with a week to go until the iowa
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caucuses, the first big test of the 2012 race. candidates crisscrossing the state. none have won support of a congressman who carries weight in that state. >> a large percentage of iowans haven't decided. i'm one of them. it's nearly the end of december and within a week of the caucus. i have not gotten to the point where my head and heart comes together. a fact finding team is on the ground of syria. there's gun fire in cities. the team of arab league monitors trying to get the government to uphold the commitment and end a crack down on protesters. activists say 6,000 people have been killed since the uprising starting in march. detroit police say three of four women found dead in trunks
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are black women in the 20s and three had profiles on backpage.com a website used to buy and sell things, also offering adult services. >> we felt it's imperative to tell the public that it can be extremely dangerous. the mayor of stamford, connecticut, holding a news conference to afternoon to talk about a devastating christmas day fire that gutted that home you're looking at. investigators did not say what caused the fire. it killed three young girls and grandparents. the mother of the girls was on scaffolding trying to reach her children when the firefighters got there. >> what this poor family has to endure, the mother has to endure from this point on for the rest of her life, it's too much to bear. >> the housing market taking another step downward in most major cities. the index just out this morning showing home prices dropped for
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a sixth straight month in october. down 1.2% from the previous month. the biggest declines in these cities, atlanta, detroit and anyplace. analysts say it's soft demand. people are renting or looking for bargains. tough times for one of the country's largest retail companies. sears says it's closing between 100 and 120 sears and k mart stores. down 4.4% at k mart. 6% at sears. britain's prince phillip released from the hospital this morning following heart surgery. the 90-year-old husband of queen elizabeth suffered chest pains last friday. the palace says he's had a minimally invasive treatment to treat a blocked artery. well, the first votes of the 2012 presidential race are just a week away and polls show a three-way traffic jam at the top.
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wolf blitzer will interview newt gingrich later today. wolf, i got to think that newt gingrich wishes this caucus is two weeks ago riding so high but he has come down quite a bit from there. >> you know, it's an amazing thing but there's still a week to go and they say politics, that could be a lifetime. i'm in iowa right now in and th candidates are nonstop today. they're going to be going. if you watch tv at all, in iowa, you can't help but see the commercials and a lot of them are really hammering newt gingrich. these are the attack ads coming out from the ron paul campaign, from the super pac that supports mitt romney, there's some other attack ads from rick perry's campaign so i mean, newt gingrich is really, really getting pounded here in iowa. trying to take the high road but
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i think maybe belatedly realizing you have to hit back when you're hit and taking the high road might not necessarily have been the strongest strategy looking at the narrowing in the polls. >> two stories out in the last two days, some cnn reporting, talking about his divorce some 13 years ago on whether or not he or his wife at the time was asking for the divorce. that he talked about. also, this issue about romney care in massachusetts. both of those could damage him on the conservative vote. >> yeah. on the romney, "wall street journal" with a front-page story saying when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts and they it is a passed the health care mandate in massachusetts one of the news letters affiliated with gingrich organizations published glowing comments about it saying perhaps this is -- paraphrasing, the future. and it was a good experiment and he congratulated mitt romney as
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governor. since then, he's come around and he's suggested that the mandates even though at one point he supported mandates in the '90s when he was opposing hillary clinton's health care reform legislation during the clinton administration, he now believes it's not a good idea. although, you know, he's had some conflicting statements. that could hurt him. i'm sure his challengers here will go after him on that. on the story that we reported yesterday, you know, his spokesman is pointing out they're sticking by their version that his first wife may have -- that newt gingrich may have filed the paper work for the divorce, although they continue to insist she asked for the divorce and not saying anything right now so that's a subject, although i think a lot of people discounted the personal stuff. he's apologized for what he calls his mistakes in his life and said he's not perfect. i'm not sure that's as big an
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issue as the substantive policy issues coming out. ron paul keeps calling him, you know, someone who's flip flopped on the issues. >> right. wolf, let me ask you about the second tier candidates. do you see any of them doing particularly well? and if not, do you see them dropping out after iowa? >> i think of the three, we're talking really about rick perry, rick sanatorium and michele bachmann, forget about huntsman -- of those three, i suspect one or two of them if they do poorly could drop out. maybe all three of them if they really all do poorly. mitt romney, newt gingrich, ron paul, i'm sure they'll dorelltively well. but these other three, i
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wouldn't be surprised if they do really badly. you know, michele bachmann was born in iowa. sanatorium visited all 99 counties and rick perry spent a ton of money here, campaigning a lot. so they have to dorelltively well and we'll see what happens. of the three, it looks like sanatorium's getting a little momentum in the last week, getting endorsements. and so, we'll see what happens. but that's -- you're exactly right. that's one of the things we'll be watching of those three who gets a ticket to new hampshire. >> wolf blitzer, you are newt on live, right? >> live in our 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. and tomorrow, we'll be speaking with mitt romney in iowa, as well as his wife ann and son josh. i'll be anchoring from iowa today and tomorrow getting ready for the caucuses. >> all right. wolf blitzer, literally on the way to do that show in iowa today. wolf, we appreciate it.
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you can stay with cnn, of course, for the best political coverage on television this afternoon at 4:00 as wolf said having newt gingrich. now to the sign of the times. falling movie sales. a chance to talk back. today's question is the big screen worth it? "the new york times" reporting today that sales of movie tickets down this year $500 million for the year. we did some number and popcorn crunching to find out why and we got our answers. take a look. the average price of a movie nationwide, close to $8. in mabt, it's $13. in los angeles, some of those 3-d movies are $19. a family of four to plunk down 78 bucks for tickets. that's before you add the snacks which, by the way, cost a pretty penny, too. popcorn, 6 bucks. a couple of sodas, 5 bucks each. just to see a movie on the big screen. compared to renting a movie on demand at home with an average price of $5 or $6.
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could explain why people are opting to sit on their couches in front of their flat screens and not going to the theater. we want to hear from you. is experiencing the movie on the big screen worth it? you can leave your comments on suzanne's facebook page. we'll share some of your responses a little later in this hour. here's a run down of the stories we're covering over the next hour. witnesses say firing again on demonstrators despite the arrival of arab league monitors. a family buried in this snow-covered suv for two days before being rescued in new mexico. >> my wife and i looked at each other and hold hands and said i love you and prayed. it was a christmas miracle that they found us. >> they did, indeed. we'll talk to that father live in this hour. from anthony weiner's
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sexting, a look back at the strangest stories of 2011. how to trade your gift card for cash. how the audio recordings of almost 130 years ago are now being listened to again. just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7,
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develops. thousands of demonstrators did take to the streets today. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, drew, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of homs today. we saw a video live streaming out of there earlier today and corroborated by opposition activists telling us. they were out today because they said they weren't going to face any violence because the arab league monitors arrived there and they saw the tanks withdrawn from the cities they were in before. they came out, demonstrated. they called on help from the international community and also called for an end to the regime. we should also add that in the past couple of hours we are getting reports of residents in homs, in fact, the scene of two different protests, one where they were gathered and another in the other part of the city, they did start firing teargas and bullets at people assembled
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there so we're now hearing reports of violence. it is a worrying development and residents wondering what the arab league is saying about it. we tried to reach observers in homs for the night but we have not got an response at this point. drew? >> we don't know yet if the monitors of the arab league actually witnessed this violence or if this happened outside of their purview. >> reporter: we're not yet sure. we're trying to find that out. we have seen videos emerging today purporting to show members of the arab league delegation walking through different parts of homs. there are residents there that appear to be getting in to an argument with a government minder who's escorting these arab league delegation around. and they're urging the arab league observers there to go to parts of the city that they say have been really affected by the
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crackdown. and then at one point in the video, it sounds like gunfire happening in a different part of the city. so right now, we have not been able to speak to the monitors. we are trying to find out what they have seen today. and find out from the people that are still there in homs staying the night if they have seen any indications of this violence that we are getting reports about right now. drew? >> mohammed in cairo, egypt, thank you. well, what started out as a holiday ski vacation ended up like that. a family of three under the snow in the suv. i'm going to talk with the father who was inside that vehicle coming up. the healing power of touch can be even more powerful. with precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.
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when, man, something went really wrong. they ended up trapped for two days buried under several feet of snow. they suffered hypothermia. their daughter doing fine but, of course, they're shaken up. david joins me on the phone from pueblo, california. david, i have to ask one question for you. how did your vehicle get in that snow? what happened? >> well, we were driving from clayton to springer down highway 56. the snow, you know, was coming in. and before we made the drive we checked the road conditions. we checked the weather. and the road conditions just said difficult driving. no road closures. and within 30 miles the stuff -- snowstorm started hitting us. it became a whiteout condition and as we were starting up an incline, the vehicle just stopped moving forward. the rear wheels started slipping in the snow.
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so, we moved the car backwards and forwards trying to get out of it and the rear of the vehicle slid to the right and off the road and the front of the vehicle still on the road so we stopped right there. >> and obviously, it was snowing and then you just waited a couple of hours and you realized we're now buried? i think you used the word entomb in ice. >> we were completely entombed in the snowbank. there was nothing else around us. these are kind of the plains on this rural road. and we were the highest object out there. and the snow just started building up around us. by 5:00 what afternoon, we could not even get out of the vehicle. the snow was halfway up the doors. >> panic? >> what? >> did you panic? >> no. we didn't panic. at first, we felt like, you know, we'll ride the storm out and when it's over we'll just be on our way. we'll knock the snow away and drive on to the destination. >> but when you realized you
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couldn't actually open that door, get out or climb out, what was your plan? what did you do? >> well, we had plenty of water. we had plenty of food. you know? my wife did a wonderful job of preplanning for this trip in that regard. we had our ski gear with us. we happen to have a couple of sleeping bags and pillows so we felt like, you know, we can stay warm. we never realized the snow would end up four feet over the top of our vehicle. and we would be encased or entombed inside that vehicle. >> how were you eventually rescued? how did people find you? >> well, in the beginning we were told by one of the people that tried to help us, one of the cars behind us, tried to help us and they said, let the people know that you're mile marker 52. so within the first hour, we called 911. we gave them our mile marker but we also gave them coordinates
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from our gps. come to find out, we were actually at mile marker 49 so we were three miles from the actual mile marker we told them. the gps just gets them within a semi close proximity. and it wasn't until they got the volunteer search and rescue team out there who i'm sure has very good experience of doing this. they looked at a very long snowbank and said, we need to look at this. honestly, i know god guided them to where we were. because they said they threw the probe down through the snow about two or three times when it struck the vehicle. >> somebody was looking out for you because otherwise we might have found you in the spring. they wouldn't have been such a pretty sight. i hope your family is doing well. we're told you suffered hypothermia and your wife. are you okay now? >> on that, yes. when they got us out there, we
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were -- we were below 90 degrees in our body temperature. so we were starting to suffer the first signs of hypothermia. we were somewhat -- had pneumonia coming out of there. we're still, you know, my daughter and i are doing well. my wife is recovering. but has made great progress. >> well, david, we wish you and your family the very best. i hope you get to go skiing later this year. >> i hope -- >> enjoy the snow. >> we plan to go skiing. this did not ruin us from that. >> take care from colorado. reynolds wolf, they got some weather. >> they did. very fortunate to escape. it could have been far, far worse. you know, situation may be difficult for travelers today not just flying but in cars like the family you just heard from. places of issues could be the great lakes. this is the big storm system that's covering nearly the eastern third of the nation.
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some scattered showers, few storms. we had a tornado warning in effect just off the outer banks of north carolina. at this time, no visual confirmation but keeping an eye on that carefully but the entire system means a lot of things for millions of americans. it's heavy rain and the snow. yeah. we could have some issues with that especially parts along 86. cleveland trying to get the way up to buffalo is dealing with the prevailing wind out of the fwes and that sweeping across lake erie could give you snowfall, four to eight inches. east of cleveland. pittsburgh, one to four. something else seeing today is the rush of some cooler air filtering across the nation's mid section. fairly mild for the most part. but looking at the temperatures like 43 degrees for the high in kansas city, this's it. not expecting anything warmer. 61 in san francisco. 40 in albuquerque and 52 washington, d.c. new york with 55 degrees. drew, that's the latest on the forecast. but wow, what a harrowing story.
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no question about it. >> here's another story. >> bring it on. >> an entire nation is going to skip an entire day for what reason? >> let's see. birthday party. crazy football time. >> pacific island of samao. they're seding back to the future. samoa skipping friday this week. switching sides of the international date line. the prime minister said it puts them on the same footing of trading. the new time zone puts them three hours ahead of eastern australian time instead of 21 hours behind it. it did this before. 1892. they had two july 4th when they changed the date to help sailors on ships bound for san francisco. >> what was the days of twice? two fourth of julys. you know it's inevitable. someone not paying attention and
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enjoying eggnog and wake up and like -- what was in this stuff? my gosh. so strong. i 50e78 missing an entire day. >> it's a resort joint. you're staying there for the week. are they going to charge you for thursday? >> interesting. the refunds. interesting story on refunds, no question. >> maybe we should both go there and check it out. >> i'm there. >> thanks. >> you bet. politicians gave comedians a lot of material to work with in 2011. we'll count down the top ten stories in politics after this. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!
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i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd. here's a run down of the stories we're working on this hour. next, a lot of twists and turns in the world of politics. a look at the best political stories of the year. then, maine authorities offer a $30,000 reward, the
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largest in the state's history, for information of this missing girl. and later, don't let that unwanted holiday gift card expire. how to trade it in for cash. right now, mitt romney is speaking in new hampshire, portsmouth talking about jobs to the people there. he is not in iowa with the rest of the group. the strategy to focus on new hampshire where he has owned a home and was a governor of the neighboring state there of massachusetts. we continue to follow the politics with a big year, big moments and in some cases big laughs. comedians had lots of material to work with. cnn's joe johns counts down the top ten stories from this year in politics. >> reporter: number two, the herman-ator. we want to devote an entire segment to one candidate.
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what would the election season have been without the pizza man himself, herman cain? whether it was his request for secret service protection, even before his wife found out about the alleged 13-year affair with a woman that cain denied having or the now brain freeze talking about libya? >> i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason. nope. that's a different one. >> reporter: herman cain was the candidate to beat for a little offbeat levity on the campaign trail this year. suffice it to say when he finally rolled up the campaign banners and walked off in to the sunset as the last official act, he quoted "pokemon" the movie. ♪ life can be a challenge >> life can seem impossible. ♪ life can seem impossible >> it's never easy when there's
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so much on the line. ♪ for life >> reporter: number nine. >> two women are at the door. >> don't answer it. >> i'm not. >> reporter: if they had use add really large girl, they might have gotten away with it. maryland executive jack johnson and wife leslie were a power couple caught on the wrong side of the law. court documents show he took bribes. but where there's a high-level bribery, a fbi wiretap operation almost always is not far behind. when the agents knocking on the door, the audiotape of the moment was not pretty. >> what do you want me to do with this money? >> put it in your panties and walk out of the house. >> no. but i mean all this cash, jack. >> put it -- >> i got the one from -- >> put it in your panties. >> reporter: number eight, if he dressed up as an elephant or
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donkey, would anyone have noticed? david woo of oregon caught on camera dressed up in a tiger suit and didn't resign the job until reports surfaced he had an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a long-time friend and campaign donor. number seven, after all this time they thought they were smarter than everybody else. a bill to outlaw insider trading by members of congress got on a fast track after a series of reports about how house members with special access to financial information always seemed to outperform the market on their wall street investment. number six, and the lowest blood sugar of the campaign award goes to rick perry. sometimes he seemed all over the place, completely forgetting part of his stump speech in the middle of a nationally televised debate. >>ly tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> you can't name the third one?
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>> the third agency of government i would do away with -- education, the -- commerce. let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> reporter: almost completely over the top another time. almost too much energy. when's going on with this guy? >> this is such a cool state. live free or die. i mean -- you know? you got to love that. right? i come -- i come from a state, you know, where they had a little place called the alamo and declarerd victory or death. we are in to those slogans, man. live free or die. victory or death. bring it. the ones that want to stay in the old system, pay the lawyers, pay the accountants, all that money that's gone -- or, that! 20% flat tax. take your deductions off.
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send it in. today has been awesome, girl! >> reporter: in to the handlers, endurance sports and that's what this campaign is, some brain freeze is also what you can call balking or hitting the wall. nothing that can't be fixed with a protein bar and a banana. keep it on the bus for all of uls. well, we call them super and task was heroic. but they couldn't save the day. the not so super committee and the debt debacle when our countdown continues.
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polls pandering and pot shots. the political narrative of 2011. cnn's joe johns has the top five stories in politics this year. >> reporter: number five, somehow he completely missed that writing on the wall. when he resigned his office this year, republican senator john ensign said he was leaving the capital to save his family from embarrassment but now it looks likd he couldn't raise enough money to be re-elected. why couldn't he raise enough money? maybe because of his money handling skills. he got his parents to give his girlfriend and husband a $96,000 gift, ostensibly to keep the affair quiet. number four, no, what i said was congressman elect.
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democratic new york congressman anthony weiner was adamant that someone hacked his twitter account after what you might call an inappropriate photo was stoept a college student under his name. it was only after wolf blitzer pressed him on the owner of the briefs in the picture that he slowly started to come clean. >> you would know if this is your underpants -- >> photographs can be manipulated and put in another place, can be doctored. and i want to make sure that we know for sure what happened here. it doesn't look familiar to me. but i don't want to say with certitude to you. i know some certain truths here. >> to be clure, the picture was of me an i sent it. >> reporter: ten days later his once promising political career was toast. >> unfortunately, the distraction that i have created has made that impossible. so today, i am announcing my
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resignation from krocongress. >> reporter: number three, and no, the show can't be called "real ex-housewives of d.c.." they finally called it quit this is year in the most embarrassing of tabloid fashion possible. they're the white house party crashers who somehow slipped in to a state dinner and rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful including the president setting off a security paranoia in the complex that continues to this day. the salehi's broke up before a sale. when she ran off with the lead guitarist of journey. ♪ number two, it sounded like it was right out of the comic books and turns out that wasn't too far off. a legion of superfriends, batman and robin, wonder woman and
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allies, a super committee of super heroes named this year to save the day on capitol hill, cut spending, make everything taste great and less filling. what the bad guys of wall street threatened to downgrade uncle sam's credit, the super committee was brought together to save us from ourselves. didn't the bad guys win and win the last time, too? and number one on the list, guess who's laughing all the way to the bank this time. after nearly taking down the economy three years ago and getting massive bailout from the federal government, the banks are mostly back reporting record profits but unemployment hovered at or near 9%. the good news is if you work at a bank you'll probably be just fine. >> and this reminder, tune in a week today from the country's first caucus. america's choice 2012, live coverage begins tuesday night january 3rd at 7:00 eastern here
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ayla reynolds. police confident they say they say that the little girl was abducted. here's the latest on this investigation. >> reporter: friday night, december 16th. 20-month-old ayla reynolds is ready for bed wearing green pa yeah mas with words "daddy's princess" on the front. her father, justin, puts her to sleep. he says it's the last time he saw his daughter. the next morning, ayla was gone, vanished sometime in the night. he was caring for her weeks after her mother trista checked herself in to a ten-day rehab program. after completing rehab, reynolds filed court papers to regain custody of her daughter. the papers were filed the day before ayla was last seen. police say both parents are fully cooperating in the case. and say they have no suspects yet. but they're certain she was taken from the home on that friday night.
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>> we believe that someone was involved in taking her out of the house. and that's where the focus of this investigation has turned. >> reporter: two days after ayla's disappearance trista tells various media outlets including nancy grace of hln that she worried her daughter was not safe with her father. the day after ayla's mother gives the interviews, justin writes a letter to law enforcement. he says he has no idea what happened to his daughter, nor does he know who's responsible for her disappearance adding -- i will not make accusations or insinuations towards anyone until police have been able to prove who's responsible for this. meanwhile, the search for ayla widens. police receive nearly 200 tips. civilian volunteers joined state, local and federal authorities in over 80 searches of the area. including a nearby river. a pond. and several hiking trails. cadaver dogs are brought in.
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still, no sign of the missing girl. >> is she okay? is she laying somewhere dead? is she safe? is she cold? is she being fed? is someone watching her? >> bring her home! just bring her home to us. i want my baby home. i want her home. ♪ >> reporter: on christmas day, prayers instead of presents for ayla. it's been over a week since the blond-haired blue-eyed toddler was last seen. and these cases, time is the enemy. but police continue their search, hoping a new $30,000 reward will bring them closer to finding little ayla. cnn, new york. >> we'll keep you posted on that story. it is not often you get anything free but today we have free advice from the cnn help desk and don't you hate when you get a gift card to a store you don't like?
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it doesn't have to go to waste. how to trade that card in for cash. time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions and joining me is a financial planner and gail cunningham. thank you both for being here. gail, first question to you from julie in ohio. my son has over $100,000 in private loans of school but he isn't making enough to cover the monthly costs. we are co-signers on a good portion of those loans. should we dig in to our 401k to pay them down? this is tough. >> it is. they have to choose between bad and worse. ruin their credit or raid their retirement. people don't understand often when they co-sign on a loan, they're equally responsible for the payments and fulfillment of that debt. and all the activity is reported on both the co-signer an the primary signer's credit report so if the payments are not being
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made, the credit is tanking and of course negatively impact their future access to credit. if they raid their retirement, i'm not for that either, i might suggest if they're still contributing to their retirement plans, maybe suspend that temporarily. temporarily is the word until the son gets back on his feet and assume the responsibility himself. >> that's a great point. gary, your question comes from bill in missouri, my wife and i each have a 401k. is it better to combine them or keep them separate? >> it's an easy answer of that you can't combine them of two different people. >> sure. >> the only way it ends up getting combined is if it's an i.r.a. and inherit it. it's not a choice. >> they can always roll over in to an i.r.a. individually. thanks so much. if you have a question you want answered, send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com. people with a machine.
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the new york stock exchange to explain how to swap cards for cash. alison? >> yeah. how much do you hate when that happens? you get a great gift card and think i'm never going to spend it. you're not alone. americans are sitting on $41 billion in unused gift cards. i'm talking about money that's actually accumulated over the past 7 years and just this holiday season consumers spent almost $28 billion on gift cards and almost half of that used by the end of the january. of course, the question is, what happens to the rest of that money on that card? well first of all, you know, you can't return them to the store but you can try to unload them online. yes, enter card swapping websites like plastic jungle, gift card rescue, card pool, abc gift cards. great places to go to to sell your unwanted cards at a discount, of course, or trade them for something that, hey, you do want. drew? >> what's the charge? i mean, these companies got to be making something off of this. >> they do. so what they do is offer about
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90% of the value of your unwanted cards and they sell cards, actually, at a discount, as well. up to 35% off. that means that they'll buy your unwanted $50 gift card, let's say, for $45. and then turn around and sell it to someone else for $32.50. that's a pretty good deal. an alternative that you have here is to go to ebay with thousands of gift cards on auction block. in fact, today, i took a look at it. mostly a seller's market. i saw a $25 home depot card for $23.50. a $15 starbucks card going for $13.75. you have the greedy people on ebay. there's an itunes card listed for above full price. don't fall for that. stock prices not falling. we are in the green right now. the dow up 17. the nasdaq better by 9. we have a couple of mixed economic reports and investors sitting out the rest of the year. four more trading days left. >> thank you so much. you are sounding off on the
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talk back question. movie ticket sales down by half billion dollars this year. but the high price of movie tickets and popcorn and the rest, and less expensive alternatives for watching at home, we are asking, is the big screen worth it? kevin says, rarely. most home theater systems offer the same effect and microwave popcorn is less than the price of one adult ticket. plus no screaming babies. unless they're your own. jim writes, big screen with the dramatic sound is much better than watching a dvd or streaming movie. but the high price is just not affordable. fortunately, a theater here in oakland is only $5 all day every day sunday and tuesday. there's no reason to charge a reasonable price just give up the ex3e7pensive popcorn. zuhaib said i'd rather wait and get it for a quarter of the price. and gerald says this. it's worth it if the wife is happy afterwards. if you know what i mean.
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two hours napping in a movie theater. i know what you mean. thanks for writing and keeping the conversation going on facebook.com/suzannecnn. alexander graham bell was also behind some of the earliest audio recordings ever. now almost 130 years later, we are hearing those recordings for the first time. i'd race down that hill without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol
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and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 years of research. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. [ man ] still love that wind in my face! talk to your doctor. don't kid yourself about the risk of heart attack and stroke. if lipitor's been working for you, stay with it. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. learn more at lipitorforyou.com.
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alexander graham bell was on the cutting edge of technology in 1880s but now the experiments are restored 130 years later. here's brian todd. >> reporter: the audio clips among the earliest ever recorded have been virtually unplayable for over a century. in the past year, scientists have found a way to listen to them. >> one, two, three. >> reporter: after edison invented the phonograph in 1877, there was a rush of competition to make sound recording commercially viable. >> edison and the bells had settled on the cylinder as the format. >> reporter: bell inventer of the telephone was part of the competition. he sent several tin boxes to the smithsonian with prototypes to protect himself. the recordings have been stored in the smithsonian since the 1880s but they sat on the shelf. enter carl haber of lawrence
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albuquerque ri laboratory. >> we can use the camera to take a large number of pictures of the item and create a very, very detailed digital representation of the structure of the surface. i'm going to rotate the record now and see it starting to move up and down as if the needle is ride l up and down. >> reporter: around 18,000 optical images are taken. then the computer plays back sound from the images. >> this kind of a bowl is the groove that the stylist would sit in. >> reporter: there's reading of shame spear's "hamlet." >> to be or not to be. >> reporter: and mary had a little lamb. >> mary had a little lamb. its fleece was white as snow. >> at that point, the first part of the record ends. something apparently went wrong. it's probably
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