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Cruise Ship Captain Arrested; Marines Ordered to Respect Dead; Barbour Defends Pardons; Rivals Slam Romney on Bain Capital; Super PACs: How they Work; New Consumer Electronics; Iran/U.S. Tensions; Golden Globe Nominations; Resupply Tanker Close To Nome

Aired January 14, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR: Hello everyone. Welcome to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It's 3:00 Eastern Time. Let's go straight to our top stories.

In Italy, the captain of the cruise ship that ran aground has been arrested. Italian prosecutors say the captain is now being investigated for abandoning the ship and for manslaughter. At least three people are dead, but many more missing.

The president of the cruise line released this statement a short time ago. It reads in part, "I want to express our deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy that devastates us." He goes on to say, "We are not at this time able to provide an answer to all the questions because the competent authorities are trying with our cooperative efforts to understand the reason for this incident."

Let's bring in reporter Barbie Nadeau. She is in the port where the survivors have been taken. Barbie, what more can you tell us?

BARBIE NADEAU, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Well, tonight the rescue efforts or the recovery efforts, we should call them, have been stopped for the night. There were divers out all day long looking under the area of the ship that is still under the water level.

The captain has been arrested. He's being investigated, as you said, for manslaughter and abandoning ship which is a huge - it's a very, very serious maritime offense. He was off the ship before the safety of his passengers had been provided for that is the grounds on which the authorities here in Italy were able to arrest him or have him - have him stopped and officially investigated is how it works within the judicial system here.

Tomorrow morning the divers will go back down under the water level to start looking at the rest of the areas of the ship they weren't able to take a look at today. All the passengers that are surviving have been moved off to the Italian main land into various cities. There are a lot of people in Rome, a lot of them in Civitavecchia and some in Savona, which is another port of call for this particular cruise ship.

Those people will - often they don't have their passports. A lot of them don't have their documents. They'll have to be provided for. They'll need clothing. They'll need some shelter. They obviously need to get their legal documents that they had to leave on the ship in order before they can return to their home.

WHITFIELD: And so Barbie, what are the survivors telling you about what happened? What kind of alarm they heard or instructions from the crew, et cetera?

NADEAU: Well, all of the survivors shared a very common anger, let's call it, with the way this evacuation was handled. They weren't given any information they say.

They knew ahead of time - they knew based on the noises they heard, the fact there was no electricity and the way the ship was listing that they were in serious trouble, so many of them self-evacuated. They made it themselves to the evacuation life boats, to the areas that they felt they should go to based on the cards and things that were available on the ship before there was an official alarm.

It was almost one hour since the electricity went off and the official evacuation began before anything really happened. A lot of the passengers are very disgruntled and very angry with the situation.

They also weren't given a lot of information once they got to the Italian main land. Many of them didn't know where they were supposed to go. They chose themselves whether they went to Rome or back to the Civitavecchia which is the port from which they left. There's a lot of anger with many of the passengers that I spoke to this morning.

WHITFIELD: All right. Barbie Nadeau, thanks so much for that update. Keep us posted.

Meantime in this country, a tanker carrying much-needed fuel to the Alaskan town of Nome is almost there. It's about eight miles away. Crew members are now waiting to find the safest path into the harbor. Nome's mayor says they can finally see the lights of the tanker and the ice breaker accompanying it. Without the delivery, the town would only have enough fuel to last until spring.

And there's new evidence today of increasing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. Defense Department has just released these pictures and they show Iranian boats speeding straight toward U.S. Military and Coast Guard ships in two separate incidents last Friday. One of these incidents took place in the Strait of Hormuz.

And it has been a deadly day in Iraq. A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman blew himself up killing at least 53 people, 137 others were wounded. Most of the victims were Shiite pilgrims on their way to a mosque to mark a holy day.

And the four U.S. Marines seen on video desecrating the bodies of Taliban fighters have been interviewed by commanders. And all U.S. forces in Afghanistan are getting a stern warning.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Out here, ISAF Deputy Commanding Officer General Curtis Scaparotti has in fact issued a directive reminding troops the need to treat the corpses of insurgents and civilians they find here in Afghanistan with what they refer to as the appropriate dignity and respect.

So clearly the U.S. Military trying to do what they can to continue damage limitation or the damage done in the eyes already on many Afghans, but perhaps also send a signal to those inside the U.S. Military that this kind of conduct is absolutely both deplorable but will also be punished as severely as possible.

But we're still waiting to see really what Afghan public reaction will be to this video. Remember, so many Afghans here without television, very few with the Internet. So this story really taking a while perhaps to percolate through Afghan society.

We've yet to see any protests. We feel a very strong reaction from the Afghan president calling this inhuman and also the Taliban referring to it as a barbaric video, but yet to see a massive Afghan public reaction. Although with that to emerge it could make it very difficult for the U.S. to retain security here, expedite that drawdown as they hoped to do this year, removing thousands of their troops.

And of course, in the back of people's minds are these nation peace negotiations happening in Qatar. Talks about talks in which U.S. officials and Taliban representatives try and see if there's any framework in which they could negotiate some sort of peaceful outcome.

The Taliban early on saying this video would not disrupt that process. But to be honest, that was more likely an off-the-cuff remark by spokesman during the result of a studied series of deliberations by senior Taliban leaders.

So potentially here for the insurgency gain political capital from this, it may disrupt negotiations. But still to be honest, it's sadly early days in what this video could do in terms of damage to NATO's presence here and a potential peaceful outcome here in Afghanistan.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And in about an hour and a half, we'll talk with a member of the Military Judge Advocate General's office or JAG to find out what charges these men could face.

And former Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour is now defending his decision to pardon more than 200 convicted criminals. He says he is surprised at the reaction. A judge has halted the prison releases and the legislature is considering changing Mississippi's constitution to take pardon powers away from the governor. Barbour insists he didn't do anything wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HALEY BARBOUR, FMR. MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR: The historic power of gubernatorial clemency by the governor to pardon felons is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances.

I'm not saying I'll be perfect, that nobody who received clemency will ever do nothing wrong. I'm not infallible and nobody else is. But I am very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons including those at the mansion.

I have absolute confidence, so how much confidence that I've let my grandchildren play with these fine men. I've let them ride their tricycles out on the driveway with them watching out for them. I have no question in my mind that these five guys are not a threat to society. But, you know, people like you can say what if, what if, what if till the moon goes down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So you just heard Barbour mention the Mansion. He's referring to prisoners who worked at the governor's mansion, four convicted murderers who worked there were pardoned including Anthony McCray who was convicted of killing his wife in 2001.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY MCCRAY, PARDONED BY HALEY BARBOUR: Everybody deserves a second chance in life.

MARTIN SAVIDEGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think people should be angry at Governor Barbour for - ?

MCCRAY: No. No, sir. He's treated us like we his children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Judge Mike Smith presided over McCray's murder case. And Martin Savidge asked him about the pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE SMITH, RETIRED MISSISSIPPI JUDGE: I was disappointed that - that he was pardoned.

SAVIDGE: Is there more to that or is that as much as we're going to say?

SMITH: I hope that the Attorney General will be successful in having the pardon overturned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In all, Barbour says he granted clemency to 215 people, 189 of them had already finished their sentences and were out of prison.

So everybody knows that you need money to run for president, a whole lot of money. And Super PACs are now a big part of that financial equation. What are these groups and how do they work? I'll explain.

Plus the consumer electronics show just ended. We'll take an inside look at the newest gadgets next.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Virginia's Republican primary will have only two names on the ballot. A judge has ruled that only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul met the requirements for the March primary. The judge says Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman waited too long to challenge Virginia's strict ballot laws.

Forty-nine delegates are at stake in Virginia. And in the judge's ruling, he wrote that the four candidates, quote, "played the game, lost and then complained that the rules were unfair," end quote.

So now let's talk about South Carolina. The primary there is just a week away. And Mitt Romney's rivals are slamming him as a ruthless, quote, "vulture capitalist who downsized thousands of people's jobs." They're talking about his work at Bain Capital, a private equity firm.

Now President Obama is piling on. Obama's campaign calls Romney a, quote, "corporate raider who profited from the country's economic crisis."

But what exactly did Romney do at Bain Capital? Here is our David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the mid '90s when Mitt Romney's Bain Capital was investing in steel, Bain bought this plant in Georgetown, South Carolina. Steelworkers local president James Sanderson says things did not go well.

(on-camera): While Bain was owning the place, did you see any re- investing in the plant at all?

JAMES SANDERSON, USW LOCAL 7898: No. None at all. None at all. They were not investing anything at all in our plant.

MATTINGLY: Was the equipment wearing down?

SANDERSON: Yes, it was. Very much so.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Bain's spokesman tells CNN that claims of no investment in the plant are not true. Sanderson's view is from the downside of Romney's private sector record on job creation.

(on-camera): Were you more or less competitive?

SANDERSON: We were less competitive with Bain.

MATTINGLY: Why?

SANDERSON: Less. Because they did not have us in a position to where we could compete because all our equipment was being neglected. We could not do the stuff that we needed to be done and had been doing.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Touring a motorcycle dealer in South Carolina, Romney points to Bain's national successes, including Sports Authority and Staples, eventually employing thousands in the state. He also acknowledges the failures.

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And there are some businesses that have to be cut back in order to survive and to try and make them stronger. And sometimes you're successful at that, and sometimes you're not.

MATTINGLY: In Georgetown, the United Steelworkers Union says 50 were laid off. And Bain sold the plant in bankruptcy after just four years.

And it wasn't the first time Bain exited the state quickly. The firm inked a deal in 1987 to bring a photo album manufacturer to Cherokee County, South Carolina.

(on camera): At the time it was a very big deal for this county when Bain decided to expand to bring a company here. This entire area had not been developed, and the county was eager to get this industrial park up and running.

(voice-over): But the company closed just five years later. County officials estimate up to 150 people lost their jobs.

(on camera): What do you say to the people who did lose their jobs in those situations, and might view venture capitalism as a job-killer instead of a job-creator?

ROMNEY: I think any time a job is lost, it's a tragedy. For the family, for the individual that loses a job it's just devastating. And every time that we invested in the business, it was to try and encourage that business to have ongoing life.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The departure of Bain's company in Cherokee County was a surprise, after the county provided $3.2 million in bonds, and a $50,000 sewer line as incentive to build. But 20 years later, county officials look back at the deal as a win-win.

(on camera): Even though you lost 150 jobs when this company left, you still consider it something that helped the county?

JIM COOK, CHEROKEE COUNTY DEVELOPMENT BOARD: In the long run, we came out OK.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The building Bain built is now home of pen manufacturer Bic, employing 80 people. After changing hands a couple of times at a year-long shutdown, the steel plant in Georgetown is back up and running with 225 hourly workers. And some bitter Bain memories that have not mellowed with time.

(on camera): How much do you hold Mitt Romney responsible for this?

SANDERSON: Very responsible because he was the leader. MATTINGLY (voice-over): Decisions and consequences the apparent leader among Republican hopefuls will be explaining in this critical primary state.

David Mattingly, CNN, Greer, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So why is everyone suddenly talking about what Mitt Romney did when he worked at Bain Capital? Well, this has something to do with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A group of corporate raiders led by Mitt Romney more ruthless than Wall Street. For tens of thousands of Americans, the suffering began when Mitt Romney came to town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So that was from a clip from the "King of Bain," a 30- minute - 30-second rather attack ad released by a pro-Gingrich Super PAC.

To help us figure out what Super PACs actually do, where they get their power, I'm talking to Michael Scherer. He's the White House correspondent for "Time" Magazine and wrote the new article "Attack of the Super PAC."

So, Michael, you know, first of all, let's talk about what these super PACs are. They are supporters of these candidates who where allowed to donate significant amounts of money, whether it be by way of ads or cash without the candidate's direct involvement, right?

MICHAEL SCHERER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, TIME MAGAZINE: You have to put this in -

WHITFIELD: Yes, go ahead.

SCHERER: -- in historical context. Since the 1970s after Watergate, only candidates really have been able to advertise right before an election with what they call express advocacy, elect this guy, defeat this guy. In 2010, the Supreme Court and another court changed the rules essentially.

And now for the first time in 30 years, we have a situation in which any group of people can come in with unlimited dollars. They can actually be supported by the candidate and the candidate can come to their fund-raisers, although he can't actually ask for the check. They can say publicly that they're going to follow the strategy of the candidate even if they don't talk privately with the candidate and they can advertise with as much money as they want right up till the day of the election.

You now have a situation in which the actual candidate campaigns that are in South Carolina are not advertising with as much money as the Super PACs supporting the candidates.

WHITFIELD: And so in some cases we've heard numbers like $1.9 million in South Carolina for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich is really in the lead with getting the most Super PAC money form such ads or campaigning in South Carolina. Is that what your sources are telling you?

SCHERER: Well, he got a huge check a week and a half ago from a Las Vegas billionaire who has been a long-time supporter, a $5 million check.

WHITFIELD: Given out like five million, right.

SCHERER: $5 million check. And they said they're going to spend more than $3 million in South Carolina. We haven't actually seen those buys happen yet. They're spending a lot of money there right now. And in the end, we don't know which Super PAC will beat which Super PAC.

But it's clear that the Super PACs now are the sort of the television voice of this campaign in a way that just wouldn't have been allowed two or three years ago.

WHITFIELD: OK. And in your - and in your article here in this, you know, "Time" Magazine, part of the headline is it's a secretive new breed of spending groups that's changing the way campaigns are being lost and won.

So this is already turning out to be the most expensive of presidential races, and these Super PACs are really bringing it to a whole new level. So is it going to be an issue of whoever raises the most in Super PAC money has the greatest advantage?

SCHERER: Well, definitely in the primaries I think we've seen that play out. Mitt Romney was able to more or less cut Newt Gingrich's approval rating in Iowa in half after an enormous barrage of negative ads almost entirely funded the negative attacks on the TV by the Super PAC, not by the campaign.

So, yes, every year, every cycle we tend to have more money spent on campaigns than before. The difference is, in the past most of that more money was coming in $2,300, $2,400 checks that were bundled together.

Now you have the ability of a billionaire to write, you know, on a Tuesday a $5 million check and then that money can go to a television station on a Wednesday. So it can really radically transform the race.

It's definitely clear that the Romney Super PAC is preparing for a general election campaign as well. So we're going to see big money coming there.

Obama supporters have established their own Super PAC to support the president's campaign. Although it doesn't seem to have the same funding streams at this point. But you definitely have a way here for huge amounts of money to come into the - into the process really at the last minute.

WHITFIELD: So some of the candidates might like it, but one former presidential candidate John McCain says he doesn't like it at all. He thinks it's ruined the process in its entirety.

Do you see that these super PACs could ultimately really backfire for the candidates even though there may not be that direct involvement between candidate and super PAC?

SCHERER: They definitely ruined the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms that McCain was very proud of in the early 2000.

You know, I think one of the issues that's going to come out of this is that the Supreme Court when they made this ruling concluded as a factual matter that independent expenditures did not present the issue of corruption or even the appearance of corruption. And I think by the end of this cycle, you're going to have the American public who is a little skeptical of that idea because you now know that candidates know who's giving these checks, know who's helping them out and they're able to do it in thee enormous sums that they didn't have before.

And historically we found, you know, through the years that the people who write the fattest checks tend to be either personal friends of the candidate which happens very often -

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SCHERER: -- or they have some interest at play. And once that starts to be reported out, I think you will have the sort of, you know, scandal that we tend to have every few years here in Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Scherer, thanks so much, of "Time" Magazine, appreciate it.

SCHERER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Something that may be a little less controversial, super thin laptops, 3D printers and voice-controlled television sets, just a few of the gadgets unveiled at the biggest electronics convention this year. Next, an up close and personal look inside the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. The world's largest Consumer Electronics Show just wrapped up in Las Vegas. And our very own "Gaming and Gadget" expert Marc Saltzman was there, of course, now back in Toronto. But you brought with you some ideas to share with us on your - your favorite picks from the showcase.

So televisions apparently were the big focus at this year's CES. What made them so special?

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Well, there was a lot in that space.

Let's talk about OLED technology to start. That stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode TVs. And this is basically the future of televisions in our home opposed to liquid crystals or plasma. OLED TVs offer unprecedented contrasts, so extremely dark blacks and bright whites giving you amazing depth.

These TVs and there were two 55-inch models on the show floor, by the way, from Samsung and LG, they were only four millimeters thin, that's 0.16 inches. Yes. So like thicker than a poster basically. And rich colors, energy efficient, and they handle motion very fast.

So we saw five years ago Sony unveiled an OLED TV, but only 11 inches. So now we're talking 55 and both LG and Samsung say they should be available by the end of 2012. They have not committed to a price, but the buzz is that it will be between 5,000 and 12,000 per TV.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

SALTZMAN: We will see. But just really the quality is unbelievable.

WHITFIELD: That's incredible. OK.

So speaking of television, a Sony showed off its greatly improved glasses-free 3D television. And that really weren't going so well.

SALTZMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But maybe they will if you don't need glasses?

SALTZMAN: I think one of the obstacles is the fact that a lot of consumers don't want to wear glasses in their own home. They're OK with that at a movie theater, but they don't want to do it at home or the cost of the glasses. Let's say, in our case, we're a family of five. That can add up with active shutter glasses that are $100 a pop.

So, yes, so over the last couple years TV manufacturers have tried glasses-free 3D. And this year's Consumer Electronics Show is no exception. We saw examples from LG and Toshiba.

But I think Sony had the most impressive showing with a 46-inch prototype. And the reason why it looked good to the naked eye is that you didn't have to stand right in the middle of the television, in front of the television. There's always this sweet spot with glasses- free 3D. And if you deviate even a degree or two, you lose the effect.

But Sony somehow nailed it. So no matter where - within limits, but no matter where you stood in front of the TV, you had that eye-popping visuals like fish swimming in an aquarium that looked like they were in front of the TV.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

SALTZMAN: So still a few years from mainstream. I still don't think it's quite ready for prime time, but getting much closer.

WHITFIELD: OK. Let's talk about Ultra Books, also a major trend at the show. What is an Ultra Book first of all? And what's this Lenova IdeaPad, Yoga and HP NV14 Specter?

SALTZMAN: So those are two examples of - I know these names, you know, they're like tongue twisters. They're two of my favorite Ultra Books at the show. Ultra Book is a relatively new family of laptops that are incredibly thin, ultra thin, if you will, yet powerful.

So much like a MacBook Air and a lot of people are copying Apple, let's face it. These are Windows-based laptops that are only a couple of millimeters thin. So, you know, less - about a half inch to an inch yet they deliver past performance and fast boot-up times, eight to ten-hour battery life.

So you bet I'll call that from this year's show as the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, which is a flexible Ultra Book that can convert into a tablet. So depending on how you swivel the hinge design and fold it down, it turns into a tablet.

And then the HP NV14 Specter won a bunch of awards also this week because it really had an innovative design. It was covered in glass, so it really looks cool, but it was very powerful and thin and lightweight with long battery life, and some new wireless technologies under the hood as well. So Ultra Books will be a big buzzword in 2012.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. So it's the computer that's doing the yoga, not you. OK. I get it.

SALTZMAN: That's right. If you want to you can, I guess.

WHITFIELD: All right. I guess so. All right. Thanks so much, Marc Saltzman, always good to see you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

SALTZMAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: For more high tech ideas and reviews, just go to CNN.com/Tech and look for the "Gaming and Gadgets" tab or follow Marc Saltzman on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

All right. Iran's power play in the Persian Gulf, the Defense Department just released new images that show Iranian boats speeding toward U.S. ships. We brought in a former U.S. Navy Ship captain who is very familiar with the Persian Gulf. He'll help explain what might be going on there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, since the New Year started, we've seen a couple incidents that highlight the increasing tension between the U.S. and Iran.

The latest you can see on this video released by the U.S. Defense Department. It shows small Iranian boats speeding toward U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf. There were two separate incidents just last week.

And then there's the case of the ex-Marine, an American of Iranian descent who arrested in Iran accused of spying. Iranians say they may put him to death. The U.S. is denying Iran's charges.

Then the case of Iranian sailors rescued from pirates. Who rescued them, U.S. military forces? So to get perspective on this uneasy relationship, we've asked Alec Fraser to join us, he is a retired U.S. Navy captain who spent a good deal of time in the Persian Gulf.

So let's try to call up some of that video again, most recently of these Iranian speed boats heading toward U.S. ships. So in your case, Alec, if you were on a U.S. naval vessel and you are seeing these Iranian vessels speeding toward you, what do the instincts tell you and other Navy sea men to do? How do you respond?

ALEC FRASER, RETIRED U.S. NAVY CAPTAIN: You know, the instincts are sort of something you trained for and thought about it. But your first instinct is I've got to protect my ship and protect the crew.

The second one is you really don't want to start something that doesn't necessarily need to be started so there's this playoff between what's the history, what's going on in the situation and deciding whether these guys are really a threat or not.

My biggest problem I think was the problem of a rogue rambo boat driver that decides to say, I'm going to show off to my friends and go charging the ship and maybe the guy up front with the machine gun decides I'm going to fire off a few rounds.

And then they've started something they don't mean to. The command and control for those little boats is not very good.

WHITFIELD: But in a case like this, where this just happened apparently on Friday and this comes after two separate incidents where either the U.S. Coast Guard came to the help of some Iranian sea vessels, and in another case, U.S. Navy came to the helm of Iranian hostages as a result of pirates who had taken control of their vessels, would U.S. ships feel like, well, you know, at this point we have fairly good relations with Iranians at sea because we've had these rescues?

FRASER: Well, sailors at sea have had good relationships. Sea to sea and sailor to sailor, it's a little bit closer although not. They're still the us versus them type of thing.

I found in the Gulf that when we ran into Iranians, Iraqis, that type of thing, they were actually glad to see us. At that level, they weren't in an antagonistic mode.

When you look at these little boats running around, I think they're really fired up. They're hot to go. But the average person isn't necessarily strongly into this anti-Navy thing at sea.

WHITFIELD: So what will be the real rules of engagement then? You've described it, kind of the assessments in a very volatile situation. But at what point does volatility become really potentially dangerous?

FRASER: Volatility comes into play in the rules of engagement. What a captain has to decide is what is the hostile intent of whoever is coming at you? One of these boats turns and starts heading at you, is that hostile intent or not?

If he starts firing now that answers the question. But do you want to shoot before he shoots in this particular case, maybe yes, maybe no. Remember the U.S. has since been engaged in what it thought was an aircraft attacking it back in the late '80s.

It was not. It was a civilian airliner, but you have a few seconds to make those decisions. It's tough in an area like the Straits of Hormuz.

WHITFIELD: All right, how do you see this ultimately playing out? Things, you know, cooler heads will prevail or is this just kind of, you know, cat and mouse game?

FRASER: I think cooler heads will prevail and it is sort of a cat and mouse game. The ability to shutdown the straits with these little boats, if they attack, there are going to be a lot of empty boat slips back in port. They'll never make it back. That's gone. The missiles and other things, they can be handled.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alec Fraser. Thanks so much. Always good to see you, appreciate it.

FRASER: Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, well, he still floats like a butterfly in our memories. You know what I'm talking about, right?

FRASER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Of course, the great, the greatest, Muhammad Ali getting ready to celebrate another milestone in his remarkable life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It doesn't seem possible, Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest fighter of all time will turn 70 on Tuesday. Ali is the only boxer ever to win the World Heavyweight Championship three times. His wife says he's still a big kid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONNIE ALI, MUHAMMAD ALI'S WIFE: Muhammad likes celebrations that involve him and are centered around him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could say he hasn't changed?

ALI: Nothing has changed, no. He's still a big kid in that area. He loves birthdays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is he? ALI: He's good. He's great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: There will be a huge birthday bash for Ali tonight in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

All right, the 69th Annual Golden Globes are tomorrow. Today, a preview of the best motion picture drama category. Our movie critic, Grae Drake from Fandango and movies.com joining us live from Los Angeles.

Good to see you. The fur is out, the jewels, you've got all the bobbles there ready for the red carpet. All right, so --

GRAE DRAKE, MOVIE CRITIC, FANDANGOANDMOVIES.COM: Listen, everybody dresses like this in Los Angeles weekend. I'm telling you.

WHITFIELD: Really? That's fun. Well, good. You don't need a red carpet then. It just is. So let's talk about the movies that are nominated in this category. Let's begin with "The Descendants."

DRAKE: "The Descendants" was a great movie, definitely the frontrunner for this award because the Hollywood foreign press is known for loving American celebrities that spend a lot of time overseas, unofficially, of course. This movie was like George Clooney being a part of your family except just much better looking and in Hawaiian shirts.

WHITFIELD: He really is Hollywood's darling, isn't he?

DRAKE: He absolutely is. I mean, there's so much to like about this film. And it just struck me super deep in my heart. It really got me. A lot of people in the theater were actually crying in this one. It was kind of like the "War Horse" of Hawaii, to tell you the truth.

WHITFIELD: Really?

DRAKE: Yes, really just a phenomenal film. The rest of the movies are also great. This is a pretty tough category except George Clooney man, they love him.

So the other movies in the category like "Moneyball", "War Horse," "Hugo" and "Ides of March," another Clooney film, by the way, I just don't think that they are actually going to take the award.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, let's talk about "Hugo," then it's gotten quite a bit of buzz. What did you like about it?

DRAKE: Absolutely. "Hugo" is an amazing movie in the respect that finally someone who is an incredible legendary filmmaker like Martin Scorse has figured out how to use 3D. It's a visual wonder.

And then when you combine with the fact that he's really getting to express through wonderful story his love of film, the second half of the movie I thought was spectacular. The first, maybe not so much, a little long for a children's movie and generally the reception to the movie was kind of lukewarm. That's why I think this one doesn't necessarily have as good a shot.

WHITFIELD: It's very mysterious as well. You know, this is about an orphan living in the walls of a train station. Maybe it's a little tough for young people to kind of grasp, maybe still too grown up.

DRAKE: A little bit, visually stunning.

WHITFIELD: It was nominated. So something is right here, a lot.

DRAKE: Absolutely. It's Scorse, so you're not going to hear me say many bad things about it at all.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, so now let's look at some of the actresses nominated in this category. We're talking about Glen Close, Viola Davis, Rooney Mara, Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton, extraordinary women.

DRAKE: Absolutely. This is a really solid category this year because ladies we're up on it this year. Now we need to talk about Kevin was probably one of the least talked about films. You know, popularity wise in America. Critics were loving it, one of my favorite films. Tilda Swinton is definitely the dark horse in this category.

I think in the end, the favorite is Meryl Streep for her amazing performance as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" and also, though, just hot on her heels is Viola Davis from "The Help."

Because when that movie came out, I knew she was a lock for it. In fact, Meryl Streep has spent a lot of her time campaigning for Viola Davis. She loved her so much. It's going to be a really fun category to watch.

WHITFIELD: It doesn't seem fair sometimes when there is a nomination for a movie or an actor or actress in a movie that the general populous hasn't had a chance to even see yet. "The Iron Lady" isn't something everyone has seen yet so no fair.

DRAKE: Exactly. I completely agree. I mean, the way they have to do awards is really tricky because they have to be released before the end of the year even if people in the biggest part of America can't even see them.

WHITFIELD: Special releases and all of that.

DRAKE: Hollywood is out of touch? What? Are you kidding me? That's crazy talk.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, let's talk about the actors nominated in this category. We already talked about George Clooney in "The Descendants," favoring him, Leonardo Dicaprio, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt also. Did you already let us know who you liked in this?

DRAKE: I did a little bit. You know, like I said, I'm a huge fan of the Clooney. But if I had my way 100 percent, it would be to reward Mr. Fassbender for bearing it all in the movie "Shame." Seriously when a guy gets naked that much in such a good film, he deserves a statue. Let's do this.

He was wonderful in that film and I would love to see him win. But I think the Clooney is just the darling of the ceremony. He's going to be fun to watch.

Now Ryan Gosling, also nominated in this category. His co-star from "Ides of March." Maybe we'll see a fist fight and Ryan wins instead of George.

WHITFIELD: We don't want to see any fist fights. I'm sure they'll all be supporting one another. Excuse me, you and your fur coat. All right, lady, thanks so much Grae Drake. Good to see you. Have fun. We'll see you on and about town this weekend. Remember, you can get all of Gray's movie grades at Fandango and movies.com and of course, Golden Globes tomorrow night.

All right, CNN Heroes, everyday people who are changing the world. Straight ahead. You'll meet a teenage who are is changing lives in Mexico one house at a time.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon. Coming up tonight on "CNN WEEKEND PRIME," ever heard of passing? Thousands of African-Americans did it during Jim Crow pretending they're white.

Are you as white or black as you think you are? A story that could make you question your racial identity. That and more tonight on "CNN WEEKEND PRIME, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

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WHITFIELD: All right, millions of young people say they want to change the world. Today CNN Heroes recognizes someone who did. Justin Churchman is just 18 years old, but he is already changing lives in Juarez, Mexico. How he's doing it? One house at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To give someone a home is from your heart and it's to their heart. You really change their life forever. My name is Justin Churchman. I work with an organization called "Casas for Cristo" and they build houses in Juarez, Mexico.

After I built my first house, I just fell in love with it. It changed my heart and it changed the way I saw the world. It's an addiction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We organize the team and at 13 years old led a group of Americans across the border. He built a home and he handed the keys of that home to that family in need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our first house that we built. We met this wonderful lady and I've just fallen in love with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a goal pretty early on that he wanted to build 18 houses by the time he turned 18.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents got behind me and supported me and "Casas for Cristos" supported me and on my 18th birthday, I completed my 18th house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's absolutely a young wonder. He's changing the world one house at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, perhaps you know someone who is making a big difference in other people's lives. Go to cnnheroes.com and tell us about them. Your words just might change the life of someone working very hard every day to help others. Nominate a 2012 CNN Hero today.

After incredible 10-day journey, a tanker with a million gallons of fuel to resupply a city in trouble makes its final push.

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WHITFIELD: Finally, a tanker loaded with fuel oil for Nome, Alaska, is close to its destination about eight miles away. It's taken 10 days for a coast guard ice breaker to lead the way.

The Russian tanker is filled with more than a million gallons of oil. The voyage is the first ever attempt to supply fuel to an arctic Alaska community.

And finally, it's feeling a lot like winter in other parts of the nation. No one has felt like Alaska has because Alaska really has been in the throes of winter.

Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. But, Jacqui, you know, other parts of the country are finally starting to feel a little cold.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know, it's been forever, at least it felt that way, right. But now winter has arrived. It's been here a couple of days already in the Midwest, the Great Lakes and pushing to the northeast.

This is kind of a two to three-day event as the temperatures then will start to warm up after that. It's a kind of a quick hit sticking around a few days. The warm weather sticking around a couple of days, then we'll go back to that pattern.

We'll have another repeat of an arctic blast coming in starting in this region by Monday. So get ready for some of these changes. In the meantime, let's take a look and see where you are compared to average.

That warm-up already beginning here for tomorrow across the plain states. We are talking 10 to 20 degrees above average once again while we stay m this cool pocket across the east where we are 5 to 15 below average there. What about the snowfall?

We are getting a clipper-type system moving across the Ohio Valley and the lower Tennessee River Valley. That will bring in a quick one to two inches in most locations so shouldn't be too heavy for you.

We're also going to see some significant accumulations coming in from the lee side of the lakes as the cold air blows over the warmer lake water. We have some lake-effect snow advisories in effect here. The weather pattern is going to start to change here in the week ahead.

Where things have been quiet across parts of the west, we'll start to see a much more active pattern, a cold front moving through now. That's going to bring snow to the higher elevations. As we head into tomorrow, those snow levels are going to be dropping and we could see snow down to the valley.

We're talking about Seattle. We're talking about Portland, maybe getting your first snowfall accumulation of the season. When I say accumulation, we are only talking about maybe an inch, maybe two inches into the Portland area.

Our jet stream is going to be changing. That hopefully provides a little optimism for the snow-deprived ski resorts across parts of the west.

WHITFIELD: In fact, you're going to be talking to someone coming in the next hour. Some states like Utah, Colorado, not getting enough snow and skiers not happy and a lot of businesses are hurting too. You'll be talking to someone out of Vail, right, correct?

JERAS: That's coming up next hour, big story, economic impact, people are wanting their fresh powder. At least it's been cold enough to make some of the snow. Some areas are really hurting.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

Also, a pregnant waitress fights to keep her job. Our legal guys will be weighing in next.

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