we say it's never too early for late-night laughs, right? >> exactly. let's get started with dave letterman's take on north korea. >> apparently dennis rodman, while -- you know he went to visit the evil dictator kim jong un. look, a new movie. >> an unconventional cop with a flare for destruction takes out an international arms dealer and only one man can help him succeed, rodman un, unstoppable.

the supreme leader is now your supreme action leader. coming soon. >> get it out of here. soon. another carnival cruise ship broke down, and it's called the carnival dream, that's the name of this one. the last one was the triumph. and how about better names for the ships, like misery, or oh, what is that smell? >> we are going to hear about that forever. it's his visual look in the first place. >> yeah, and the shades. he's got the look. thank you for starting your morning with us. >> we have much more here on "cnn saturday morning," and we start right now. good saturday morning to you. so glad you are up with us

bright and early. i am susan hendrix in for randi kaye. >> and i am joe johns. we have seen reports this morning that the north test fired a pair of short-range missiles into the east sea. it's a direct threat to south korea. >> but here in the u.s. the pentagon is more concerned with what north korea can do with its long-range missiles and that led chuck hagel to talk about missile defense along the west coast. and joining me now is cnn contributor general james morse. how are you doing? >> doing good. how are you? >> first question for the audience, how real is the threat of long-range korean missile strikes on the u.s. west coast? >> joe, the answer -- the short answer is its real. the issue is it still needs to be more fully developed. the challenge that we have in the united states and certainly

our intelligence communities' biggest challenge is to make sure that we are not surprised by the development taking place in north korea. we have a vigilant look in north korea, and the problem is we are not there and we have to figure it out based on observations and as you know north korea is extremely isolated and wraps it self in a cloak of obscurization. and the secretary of defense said we are not going to be surprised by not being ready if and when north korea can weaponize one of their missile systems and probably more problematic is if they can nuclearize that. >> and they talked about spending $1 billion to expand the west coast defense. how reliable is the system?

>> two parts, the early warning system, you have to be able to detect it and you detect it if there's a heat signature of some sort, if a rocket is going off we detect it and we have ground based and sea based early morning systems based in the the pacific ocean and in alaska and california. if you look at the geometry of what we are talking about that covers the united states and its territories and allowed to see if there is going to be an event and then do something about it, and that's the second part. we have a mid course intercepter, and that needs development. there has been tests and we had failures and some successes. that gets into a lot of really precise mathematics and physics in terms of intercepting one of the missiles. we have to work at it and increase our chances of being protected, so we have to increase the number of intercepters. >> not quite there, but the other question is how much is

sabre rattling on the part of the united states and shouldn't the pentagon have ramped up its missile defense sooner? >> i would look at this from the standpoint of transition of power in north korea, we have a 28 or 29-year-old new leader and he has to establish his own credibility as a leader and he has been raised on a study diet of probably chardonnay, and his grandfather was a warrior, like him or not, and this guy was a hardened steel man, and then the current leader's father had to make his own drama as well. he has to establish himself and that's a lot of sabre rattling, and for the last decade we have been at war in the mideast, we have not taken our eye off of north korea, and it's not like a knuckle ball, it's coming at you

and it's tough to predict, and the united states has to increase it. could they have done it two years ago? they probably could have, but we cannot dependant have a transition of power at that.the and another nuclear test in north korea, and we didn't have north korea put something into the orbit, and there are several events we are looking at closely to make sure we are not surprised. >> general "spider" marks, always good to see you. thank you for getting up early this morning. >> sure, joe. thank you. the body of hugo chavez will not be embalmed and put on display to see. venezuela made that decision after doctors said it would be difficult to do that. the icon died last week after battling cancer. he was 58. pope francis spoke to the media last hour in his first meeting with reporters since his

election on wednesday. he explained why he picked the name francis, and he says the name keeps the spirit of st. francis alive, and he said he was a poor man and we would like a poor church for the poor. and pope francis is scheduled to meet with his successor, pope benedict xvi. lil wayne is recovering after having a seizure. reports from gossip site tmz said lil wayne was near death and in a medically-induced coma, and a tweet debunked that. he said i am good, everybody, thanks for the prayers and love. the president of the rapper's label tweeted, don't believe the nonsense about the tubes and coma, that is false.

there were no details given about what some issues were. ticket master announced the cancelation hours before the show on friday and said refunds will be available come monday. wildfires and gusty winds are forcing people from their homes in colorado this morning. meanwhile, the mid-atlantic is tkpwaeuring up for rain and some of you are in for spring fever. can't wait. >> that's right. meteorologist andrea steel has your forecast. >> well, cained of a split decision around the country, right? here in the upper midwest, a quick-moving system, and no accumulation but snow showers around i-80 and i-90, and here in the atlantic rain and thunderstorms, and we did see some early in the morning. what we will see throughout the country is really a split decision. it's the last winter weekend, and it will certainly feel like spring here in the southeast. temperatures in the northern tier of the country on the whole about 10 degrees below average.

dry in boston today. temperatures in the 30s. new york as well, and should be at 50 but only in the 30s for you. pittsburgh and washington, washington is wet start, and a wet afternoon but breaks in between. here is where the spring is. you will inbound shorts and t-shirts. atlanta, georgia, 75 degrees. dallas in the 80s today. all this warmth came from the southwest. we had records thursday and friday in places like salt lake city and phoenix. and the southwest, those high temperatures peaked on thursday and friday, and today above average but not as warm as they were today. pacific north west, rain for you, and that storm system gets its act together and cruises through the country, and that's the next storm system down the pike, guys. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> sure. we have more ahead this hour. >> here is what is coming up next.

knives are coming to the sky. how safe is the crew? a new measure one 9/11 widow is pushing to make pilots safer. they are rich, famous, and we love to hate them. now one star is defending young celebrities from what she calls media bullying. you know when the celebrities tweet out a product. violators could be in trouble.

reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. take the next step. talk to your doctor. cymbalta can help. investigators are looking into what caused a deadly plane crash in ft. lauderdale. the twin engine went down in a

nearby parking lot shortly after takeoff. here is what witnesses saw. >> i couldn't even describe it. it was -- it was a sound that i never heard before. >> he was in a wing up bank and went straight down into the ground, and it was a boom and then explosion. >> we see the plane sideways, and then it goes just behind the building, and then you just hear the -- >> remarkably, nobody on the ground was hurt. officials say the plane hit a tree and fence before slamming into seven vehicles and a boat. the head of the tsa been the to capitol hill to defend his decision to allow small knives back in airplane cabins. >> and a widow of 9/11 says if that does take effect as planned, pilots should have protection in the cockpit. >> this new policy has a 9/11

widow saying how dare they? the policy will endanger pilots like her late husband and now she is on capitol hill saying all planes have a secondary cockpit door while in flight. >> it was called one of the most effective ways to protect pilots. what happens when the doors are open? 9/11 widow knows the worst case scenario. >> the reason he is not here right now is because there was a breach of the contract. i am here today to stand for vicker because he stkpt have a voice anymore. >> hijackers using small knives over powered the flight crew and flew the plane into the towers.

with the tsa to allow small knives on boards within weeks she says congress needs to mandate all airplanes have this, a secondary barrier to add protection when the cockpit door is open and pilots leave for the bathroom or to get a meal. >> studies have shown it takes three to five seconds to breach a cockpit and once inside it's two seconds and the cockpit is taken over. >> one pilot says these doors give the crew extra time to react. right now airlines use a food cart and a flight attendant to protect the cockpit. airlines believe the current procedures are sufficient, but for the pilot and the union, it's not enough. >> when they tested which is more effective, again, the secondary barrier wins out every time. >> the international airport transportation disagrees.

>> the doors themselves are very strong, and as long as the procedures are followed, then there should not be any issue. >> if the secondary barrier were installed on victor's airplane, we would not be talking today. we would have the safe aircraft and nobody -- and 2,973 people would not have died that day. >> they believe they could get bipartisan support for a law that would make the barriers mandatory especially with the new knife policy kicking in. >> you know this question of allowing knives back on planes, it's sort of an issue of what are you more scared of, tsa said a knife or a bomb? they say we will spend all our time on a bomb. i don't know, though, because we know knives can do a lot of damage. >> i think they want it to be

easier to go through security, and the thought of somebody having a knife on the plane is scarier for everybody involved. i think the food cart, the secondary barrier we agree with. coming up just ahead, this little guy was supposed to fly across the country, and instead he flew across an ocean. find out how he ended up so far from home. plus, fitting your message into 140 characters is tough, and triadiy adding a disclaimer. and a rainy day there in d.c. you are watching "cnn saturday morning." acne medicine from the wintergreen leaf treats breakouts. no parabens or harsh sulfates. for naturally clear skin.

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6-year-old springer spanial. he had been flying with his family from newark, new jersey, to phoenix, and there was a cargo mix-up, and he went oversees. hendrix' owners were relieved to have him back but they say they are not sure when he will be on a plane next time. >> you can tell he is happy to see his owners. where did i go? ireland. the dow hit multiple highs and the housing markets shows signs of a stronger recovery and the lunch box classic coming back to shelves, and alison kosik has a rap of the headlines. >> the 10-day winning streak and the 8-day streak of record highs came to an end friday, but it was great while it lasted. the longest streak since 1996. we also saw the s&p come within two points of the all-time high on thursday before pulling back on friday. that's a major market milestone that investors will continue to watch next week. what is more behind the rally. most notably, a better than

expected retail sales report that shows consumers continued to spend money in february despite higher payroll taxes and gas prices. the policies are keeping interest rates down and making the stock market the best place to go for a return on investments. and samsung's galaxy could be one of the best selling smart phones of the year. it comes with a high resolution crean, and it is lightweight because of the plastic shell. samsung is not giving any details away on the processor or price. the galaxy is expected to hit the shelves in april. and then plunging to the lowest level since 2007, and more buyers jumped back in the market thanks to low interest

rates. and then hostess filed for bankruptcy last fall after a baker's strike pushed the company over the edge. >> people were mad about that, couldn't get their tweenkees, right. facebook is using hash tags as well now. >> it took me a while to figure out what the hash tags were used for, and now facebook wants to cash in on it and maybe the stock will go up as well. >> the idea is to get people

using facebook longer. you check in and go away, and they want you to stay on facebook longer. >> you see people with twitter and their smart phones all the time. >> because of the trade commission, twitter is actually saying that people are going to have to announce that they are doing a commercial when they are doing one. >> lets say the kardashians, and they endorse a lot of things, and people follow them and say i eat this and go -- >> she is being paid. >> maybe she has to say i am being paid by sketcher, or so to speak. >> it's the government invading social media. >> the kardashians right now are saying we need a lawyer on this one. finally, a red box where you can see movies, maybe streaming movies online.

>> which is a great idea. i use red box when i go on vacation, and you have to go and find the box, and put it in and go through all the hassle. here apparently all you have to do is get online and download it on your computer or whatever. >> which is a great thing. >> but apparently only a few trials, at least that's what i am hearing, 4,400, not many titles. >> i wonder if going to the movie theater will go out of style? but you have to love going there and the experience and the popcorn. >> yeah. sarah palin is back in the spotlight. she has a primetime spot at the c conference. and hillary clinton, she got into the discussion with a suggestion from the crowd, and we will tell you what they said about hillary clinton. this is $100,000.

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