Transcripts For WRC Today 20091209 : vimarsana.com

good morning. monster! the massive storm that s already dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of wisconsin and iow makes its way east. by tomorrow, two-thirds of the nation impacted. we re live in two towns being hit very hard. cry for help. police release the frantic 911 call placed from tiger woods home that led to his mother-in-law being rushed to the hospital. okay, hurry up, my mom just collapsed. this as one of the golfer s sponsors pulls the plug on its woods-themed line. will more follow suit? and the front lines. much of the u.s. military surge in afghanistan will play out in the country s southern region. this morning a firsthand look at what our troops face there and an exclusive, live interview with the defense secretary, robert gates, from camp eggers in kabul, today, wednesday, december 9th, 2009. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a very special wednesday morning. i m matt lauer reportingive from camp eggers in kabul. and i m meredith vieira in new york. and matt, here at home, we are dealing with a fierce storm system. actually stretches from the midwest all the way to the northeast, and we re going to get to our report in just a moment. matt, i understand that you are also having some rough weather over there. yeah, it s snowing in the mountains behind me. i don t know if you can make that out. it s been actually raining here in kabul for the last day or so. actually, the bad weather has somewhat grounded defense secretary robert gates. he had planned to visit some forward bases, but the weather is not cooperating. he has spent an awful lot of time in meetings here in afghanistan. on tuesday, he met with hamid karzai, of course, the president of afghanistan. and one of the things that hamid karzai said during and after that meeting is that it s going to take about five years for afghan forces to take the lead in terms of securing their own nation. it could take, he said, up to 15 years before afghanistan can actually afford to pay the bills for their new, improved, and larger military force. we re going to talk to secretary gates in a live interview about that and much more in just a couple of minutes. and meredith, as you know, i have not traveled here alone. al roker is also here at camp eggers in kabul. he has been talking to and entertaining the troops as only al can do, and we re going to check with him as well. meredith? yeah, entertaining. i want to find out what that s about. thanks, matt. we ll check in with you in a moment. but we begin with that powerful storm stretching across much of the country. we ll start in wisconsin with nbc s john yang. john, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, meredith. here in walk shaw, wisconsin, it is a thick, heavy snow, heart attack snow for those trying to shovel it thisthis morning. you can hear the snow blowers around here. about seven inches on the ground right now and by the end of the day, they expectp to a foot of snow. it s the first blast of winter, bringing a menagerie of wild weather after a rather mild fall. kind of like mother nature s way of saying, did you like november? well, guess what. reporter: the storm came from the west, churning up 40-foot waves for surfers in hawaii and bringing 20-degree temperatures to sacramento, california, threatening citrus crops. it s frozen. reporter: in the southwest, more than 20 inches of snow in flagstaff, arizona, and 70-mile-an-hour winds in texas and new mexico, toppling trees and causing power outages. in the southeast, rain and flooding. we d have to go find somewhere else to stay. reporter: for a huge part of the nation s midsection, this storm is all about snow. northbound is all messed up. it s like solid ice. reporter: it made travel treacherous. poor visibility and icy roads leading to countless accidents. the snow won t be the last of it. extreme winds and extreme cold are forecast to add to the harsh conditions. it s completely ice. there s cars everywhere. reporter: for grown-ups, an ordeal to endure. i m just going to hunker down. reporter: but for kids i want to play in the snow. i made the body! reporter: a chance for making snowmen and snow angels. this storm was so intense overnight, there was thunder accompanying the snow, and this morning there are reports of tree limbs down and tens of thousands of people around here without power. meredith? and more snow to come. john yang, thank you very much. the weather channel s mike seidel is in johnston, iowa, where it s been snowing for more than a day and a blizzard warning remains in effect. good morning to you, mike. reporter: hey, good morning, meredith. this is what a blizzard looks like out here in the northern suburbs of des moines. so far, we ve had over a foot of snow, and now it s these 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts picking up the snowfall. we ve had five to eight-foot drifts and the temperatures are plummeting. nearby spencer, the windchill now 25 below zero. here in des moines, we dropped from 28 last night to 14. let me take you back to yesterday, when the storm started to kick in. it was tough to get around yesterday, next to impossible is morning. cars trying to make it through rush hour. today everything is shut down. you can see the wind blowing the snow around even at that point. then we get to last night, when it really went downhill, 30 to 40-mile-per-hour gusts, temperatures starting to fall and it was just a whiteout out here. we come out here this morning and this is some of the drifting we re talking about, trying to walk through the snow. you can see what happens when you pick it up and throw it in the air. this is what s happening all across the midwest. wind-driven snow will continue right on through this afternoon across iowa and a lot of the upper midwest. travel is not recommended. meredith, back to you. yeah. yesterday, mike, you said we d barely be able to see you this morning, and you re pretty right. there s a lot of snow coming down. thank you so much. it is 7:06 and now let s go to matt in kabul. all right, meredith, thank you very much. when the first of those additional 30,000 u.s. troops hit the ground here in afghanistan in the coming weeks and months, many will head to the southern region of this country where the insurgency is in full force. jim maceda has just returned from that region and he joins us here at camp eggers. jim, good morning to you. hi there, matt. what happens in kandahar and helmanprovince really matters up here in the capital of kabul and it will affect all of afghanistan, and it s why u.s. military commanders are really insisting that the surge must play out in the south. most of the 30,000 u.s. troops surging over the next six months will be heading into southern afghanistan on the south side. reporter: to take on the taliban in its heartland. but as u.s. general ben hodges, operations chief in the south, explains, there s another reason. if we re going to do what general mcchrystal has told us to do, which is protect the population, obviously, we re going to focus where the population is. reporter: it s why some 8,000 u.s. marines will be launching into the fertile helmand riv valley, home to more than 750,000 afghans and many taliban strongholds. the military mission in helmand, afghanistan s poppy capital, is to clear out the taliban from the valley and take control of key taliban smuggling routes in and out of pakistan. these are used to transport hundreds of tons of opiate each year, which buys weapons and recruits. but the main goal is to starve the taliban of local support from the afghans themselves. what we ll be doing is trying to demonstrate that their government cares about them and can look after them, improve their lives and genuinely protect them from the insurgence. reporter: it s a big gamble, but it s worked in places like nawa in southern helmand. nawa was a ghost town when u.s. marines invaded in july. its population of 30,000 had long fled the taliban. but when we embedded with marines there only weeks later, nawa had come back to life. now it s a model of counterinsurgency. and in another flashpoint, kandahar, thousands more u.s. soldiers will be surging there to beef up undermanned nato forces in this, the taliban spiritual home. their mission, to form a virtual ring of steel around kandahar city, hoping to bring some breathing space to the 1.3 million afghans who live there. it can t happen soon enough for general dan menard. his canadian troops have fought hard in kandahar since 2006, losing scores of men. very, very excited. i mean, we re in the heat of it, and it s all happening, and really, we do look forward to make a tremendous difference over the next nine, ten months. reporter: generally speaking, the troops that we have spoken with support the surge. they feel that a sure, sharp surge will get them home earlier by knocking the taliban back on its heels, but so far, these surge forces haven t even hit the ground yet, and the plan is full of ifs and question marks. matt? jim maceda, thank you very much. i m joined now by the secretary of defense, robert gates. mr. secretary, it s a pleasure to have you here. thank you. thanks very much. i know the weather has grounded you a little bit, but you ve spent a lot of time in afghanistan talking to hamid karzai, for example. can you tell me, is president karzai and president obama, and are you, on the very same page when it comes to the surge, or are there areas of difference still? no, i think we re all on the same page. and president karzai has welcomed the surge, and he seems to be quite comfortable with the timeline that we re talking about in terms of beginning, the beginning of a process of withdrawal in july 2011, and clearly he feels you can live up to their end of the bargain that allows the beginning of that withdrawal to start? they re clearly on notice that they need to accelerate their recruitment and training of their troops and get them into the field, and i think he has confidence that they can do their part. during your meeting and after your meeting, he made the comment that it could take up to 15 years for afghanistan to be able to afford the new-and-improved, larger military that the u.s. is helping to train. did that timetable surprise you, and is it in some way saying you can begin leaving in 18 months but leave your wallet? well, to be honest, it did surprise me a little bit, but the reality is, as their forces expand and ours begin to draw down, the costs for us will decline, and the truth of the matter is, they will begin to assume a greater proportion of this. this is all a gradual transfer, if you will, that will take place over time. president karzai is set to name his cabinet next week and is under pressure to name ministers that are not tainted by corruption. has he shown you the entire list of those ministers? are you comfortable with them? and was the u.s. in any way given the right to vet any of those ministers? he didn t show me a list, but i was very frank with him in terms of our expectation that he would appoint competent and honest ministers, particularly in ministries that are important to our success and the same thing with governors and police chiefs. you said something to me on the plane on the way over here that i want to ask you about or get your comments on. you said you can t just said let s send 30,000 more troops into afghanistan and when they hit the ground, you say, guys, okay, go to work. they have to have a place to sleep, they have to have food to eat, they ve got to have transportation. shed some light, if you will, on the logistical challenges that the surge forces present to you. well, our transportation command and central command as well as the commanders here have been working intensely on this, even before the president made his decision, just on a contingency basis. and it will be tough, there s no question about it, but the truth of the matter is, the logistics folks are always the unsung heroes in this thing, and they think they can make it work. i want to talk to you about morale, if you don t mind. we ve got a war that s dragging into its ninth year now. a lot of troops are on multiple deployments. they ve been hearing news that the war is not going well. the conditions here are very ugh. and it may sound superficial, but the holidays are upon them, and that s always a difficult time. are you worried about the emotional state of readiness of the fighting force here? i think these people are enthusiastic, they re ready to go. what they want to be is successful, and i think that the decision that the president has made will help them be successful. and that s the best thing of all for morale. but are you being proactive enough? according to stars and stripes, there s only one unselor for about every 11,000 troops here. we know suicide rates inside the military are at record highs. so, is enough being done proactively to protect the emotional wellbeing of these people? i think we re doing everything we can. we are having a lot of screening before people deploy. we are getting more people into the theater who can be helpful. don t underestimate the importance of chaplains. they play a big role in this as well. but at the end of the day, it s really about leadership and people identifying those who are struggling and getting them assistance as quickly as possible. just to end on a personal note. i mean, there s so many families at home right now, and it is the holiday season, and their famil members are here serving their country. what would you like to say to the families back home? well, how much we appreciate their sacrifice. you know, the line is, you enlist the soldier and you re-enlist the family. and the families are so important to our success and so important to the success and to an all-voluntr force. they are as critical as the soldiers themselves. secretary of defense robert gates, thanks for being generous with your time while we ve been in afghantan. thank you. and thanks for the hitch over. we appreciate it. thank you. thank you very much. let s go back to new york. ann curry is at the news desk with the headlines of the morning. good morning to you. good morning and thanks, matt. good morning, everybody. in the news, we begin with the economic plan president obama unveiled on tuesday, which includes significant tax cuts and billions of dollars in new spending, and at the same time, last night, senate democrats reached agreement on another priority of the esident, which is health care. nbc s white house correspondent savannah guthrie is live in washington with more on both these stories. good morning. eporter: good morning, ann. the president did not put a price tag on these proposals, but estimates in congress say it could cost at least $150 billion. it would include, as you said, tax cuts for small business, about $50 billion in spending for infrastructure projects, tax breaks for those who weatherize their homes, make them more energy-efficient, and also a big extension of unemployment and health care benefits for the jobless. now, to do all of this, the president intends to ask today that the t.a.r.p. money be extended until october 2010. that washe program that stabilized the financial system. the idea is to take unused t.a.r.p. funds and use those potentially to fund these jobless initiatives. and then the money that wall street pays back would then be used for deficit reduction. the president also plans today to announce $600 million in grants to community health centers, another effort to create jobs. and then there s a development on the health care front. senate democrats have reached a broad agreement that would get rid of the public option, that government-run insurance plan, anwould allow people to buy into medicare early. this is a deal that s still in the works, so we ll see what happens, ann. all right. savannah guthrie, thanks. iraqi lawmakers are calling for the resignations of top security officials after tuesday s coordinated bomb attacks on government buildings there. the bombings claimed at least 127 lives and wounded more than 500 others. the tsa says it s now investigating how it mistakenly posted an internal security manual online detailing how it screens airport passengers and baggage. the posting last spring also included pictures of credentials used by members of congress and federal air marshals. the house homeland security committee s expected to vote today on whether to subpoena michaele and tareq salahi, accused of crashing the state dinner last month. on tuesday, their lawyer said they would invoke their fifth amendment rights and refuse to testify on the security breach. thousands, including law enforcement officers from all around the country, turned out for the memorial tuesday of those four police officers gunned down in washington state last month. what a sight that is. and an update now on a story we first reported to you last october about former senator ted kennedy aid and journalist bill care, who became a marine sergeant to serve his coury and was killed in afghanistan last august. his widow, renee brown, was pregnant when we spoke to her, and on tuesday afternoon, she delivered two healthy twin girls, and both the mother and the babies are doing very well this morning. beautiful babies. it is now 7:15. that s a nice story to end with. now let s go back to matt and al in kabul. all right, ann, thank you very much. and we have crummy weather in kabul, but boy, some folks back home are really getting hit. getting pounded all the way from the midwest into the northeast. let s take a look live right now in iowa and show you, this is johnsto johnstown, iowa, and they are still getting hammered, not so much by the falling snow, but the blowing snow, winds up to 60 miles per hour. take a look. we ll give you the watches and warnings out there right now. and the radar shows that we ve got that big low pressure system over northern illinois, blizzard warnings from kansas into michigan, where snowfall amounts, we re talking generally anywhere fm four to eight inches of snow, but some areas may be picking up as much as a foot to a foot and a half of snow. and then you go to the east of that system and we ve got a lot of rain along the mid-atlantic ast, but moving in new england, you can see that is a lot of snow. we re talking about upstate new york into new england. rainfall amounts generally anywhere from one to three inches of rain. as w get into interior parts of new england, 18 inches of good morning, the good news is the heaviest rains have ended moving off to our north and west. we still have a chance for a lingering shower later on but we re dealing withhe residual effects of that water. the temperatures in the low to mid 40s around washington, warmer around the bay. so a smallerhance of a passing shower early this afternoon, gusty winds after a mild afternoon will bring in that s your latest weather. matt? all right, al, thank you very much. decades of war have crippled afghanistan. the human toll, the financial toll enormous. but the toll has also been devastating in terms of this country s unique art and culture. we visited one organization dedicated to preserving that culture before it s lost forever. this is mirat khani, a section of historical kabul city known for its cultural heritage, but like the rest of kabul, this corner of the city has been handicapped by years of conflict. its rich history and culture are at risk. the streets, once teeming with artisans, have few left. william beharrell, deputy director of turquoise mountain, a foundation started by england s prince charles, say the organization is trying to change that. what we re trying to do here is to bring that quality back in such a way that it informs national identity, and in some sense, contributes to national pride. so, perhaps, getting people around the world to, when they hear afghanistan, they stop thinking only of war, and perhaps, drugs, and they start thinking about history and culture. absolutely. fazil, 1 of 11 children hopes to support himself and his family by learning to make jewelry. translator: i am dreaming of having a good future through this job that i m doing here. 20-year-old bacira, a third-year wood work student who recently received a grant to study as an apprentice at windsor castle in england. you have this beautiful talent, and as you now go out and share this with people around the world, do you think you ll help change the image some people might have of afghanistan? translator: of course. that would be something good for my country that i would be proud of. that would be a sign that what we do in this country is good. it s a great idea. they re doing great work at that organization. we re going to have much more from camp eggers here in kabul in just a little ile, but right now, let s go back to new york and meredith. all right, matt, thank you. and still ahead, the panicked 911 call placed on tuesday from tiger woods home. okay, hurry up, my mom just collapsed. we re going to hear more of that call and also get the latest on why woods mother-in-law had to be rushed to the hosp we want to take a moment to wish our friend and colleague bryant gumbel all the best. on tuesday, bryant revealed he is recovering from lung cancer surgery and treatment. he says he is meeting with his doctors next week, hopes to be cleared to do a little golfing very soon. and matt, i know that bryant is a very dear friend of yours. oh, absolutely. i just want to say, he looks great. he looks like he did 15 years ago. oh, that was from 15 years ago. never mind. no, he s doing great. he s back to talking about food and working out and golf. so, anyone that knows bryant as well as i do knows that means he s doing fine. bryant, we love you. hope to see you soon. a remarkable woman. tillie tutor in 2000 was trapped in her car. this is the scene wore seeing all over the washington region right now, flooding roadways. this at 15th and constitution. we re taking a look at the roads, keeping an eye on the skies as well. good morning, everyone, 7:26 is the time right now on this wednesday, december 9, 2009. let s get a check on our weather right off the bat. the heaviest rain has moved out of the region, moved off to the north and east, but we ll have the water slowly reseeding as we get through the next few hours. temperatures all above freezing around the region now. it s 44 in washington, high into today into the mid 50s and then turning windy and tolder this afternoon and overnight tonight. we ll take a break and we ll come back with a look at our roads, stay with us. good morning, everyone, we ll go back downtown with a live picture. this is the barometer we have been watching all morning long, 15th street and constitution continues to be an issue, not just downtown, but everywhere. this is the outbound side of the 14th street bridge, far right side is jammed to exit north on to to the g.w. park way. there are roads that are closed, 29th and fairland road in montgomery county. be careful up there. keep an eye on your screen throughout the morning for really can t stay, it s col c outside 7:30 on this wednesday morning, december 9th, 2009. and that is a live look at conditions this morning in johnston, iowa. blowing snow leading to dangerous conditions there, as that powerful storm that has dropped more than a foot of snow on some parts moves across the country. also not the best weather day in kabul, afghanistan, but that doesn t seem to bother our troops, as you can see, stationed there at camp eggers, and that is where matt is this morning. hey, matt. hey, meredith. you re right, the weather s kind of crummy here, but we re very grateful to the men and women here at camp eggers in kabul for letting us spend a little time with them and disrupt their schedule. i know anthony wants to get a shot of more than just these over here, so we want to say hi to these folks over here. and we should say that in a lot of ways, these people are changing the lives of the people who live here in afghanistan. i mean, some things that just are shocking. several years ago, women were not allowed to go to school here. that is changing. and a lot of other surprises. we re going to share some of those with you in just a couple of minute meredith. okay, matt. we re looking forward to that. meanwhile, coming up from here, the unforgettable grandmother who survived being trapped in her car in a florida swamp for three days, and that was back in 2000. now tillie tooter is 93, still going strong. we re going to catch up with her in just a bit. those are her great-granddaughters on her lap. let s begin with the latest drama tied to tiger woods. his mother-in-law rushed to the hospital following a panicked 911 call. nbc s peter alexander has details. peter, good morning. reporter: meredith, good morning to you. the tiger woods saga keeps deepening with this frantic 911 call, a tabloid list of reported lovers, and this morning, one of those reported lovers is telling her side of the story for the first time. but first, that 911 call that had paramedics racing to the woods home this week. oh, my god! reporter: the latest woman caught up in the media storm swirling around tiger woods is the golfing great s own mother-in-law, barbro holmberg, elin nordegren s mom. on this just-released 911 call, a voice believed to be elin s is heard franticly telling the operator her mom needs help. she collapsed in the bathroom. is she breathing? what do i do? reporter: at one point, you can hear what appears to be one of the couple s children crying in the background. holmberg, a prominent swedish politician who recently traveled to florida to be with her daughter, was released from health central hospital tuesday, only hours after the 57-year-old complained of stomach pains. she s at her home, tiger s home, resting, and is recovering nicely. reporter: still making headlines, the tabloid parade of names surfacing as woods reported lovers, including jaimee grubbs, a los angeles cocktail waitress and porn star holly sampson. one of woods alleged mistresses, rachel uchitel, a manhattan nightclub hostess who denies any relationship with woods, is now trying to cast herself in a more favorable light. in the new edition of ok! magazine, uchitel seen posing at home with a childhood photo doesn t comment on the golf star but says, i m not a whore. i m not a tramp. i m not an escort. i am very strong. i will survive this. tiger really wants this to go away, he basically needs to come out, address the media, explain to them exactly the things that he did, basically try and ask forgiveness from his wife and face the music. reporter: as for tiger and his wife, it s unclear if they re still sleeping under the same roof. their residence in florida is just a half hour from another million-dollar home they own. but is woods wife considering bringing her family, including the couple s two children, back to speeden? a swedish newspaper reports that last week, just days after the scandal first broke, elin and her twin sister bought this exclusive 59-acre estate near stockholm for $2.5 million. if tiger woods life leaves him, it actually helps his brand and persona, because to the american public, there will be justice. ah, look, she got him. he lost his family. he s paying the price for this. reporter: so far, woods, who rakes in more than $90 million a year in endorsements, hasn t lost a single sponsor, but gatorade confirmed to cnbc that it s discontinuing its sports drink, gatorade tiger focus, named after the superstar. the company insists its decision was made several months ago and has nothing to do with the recent flood of negative publicity. this holiday season, some retailers have already begun discounting some of woods products, including his action figures, now nearly half off. and remarkably, among those weighing in on tiger s tabloid drama, a man who is no stranger to infidelity. boy, looks like that tiger woods is having some trouble, huh? [ laughter ] i wish he would stop calling me for advice. reporter: can t make this stuff up. while it s hard to turn on a tv, as you know, and not see tiger woods these days, not a single ad with the superstar has aired in prime time since this scandal broke at the end of last month. compare that to the four weeks before it broke when there were at least eight ads seen. meredith? all right, peter alexander, thank you. donny deutsch is an advertising executive and chairman of deutsch inc. donny, good morning to you. hi, meredith, how are you doing? great, thanks. first, you have speculation as to why gatorade pulled the tiger drin they say it had nothing to do with the incident. evidence suggests that is true. meanwhile, you have the pac-10 conference, the college sports conference. they did pull an ad featuring tiger, and they said specifically because of this incident. so, are we starting to see the chipping away of sponsors and companies? no, these are different things. in the gatorade situation, this was actually a tiger product that was not doing well that was pulled before this happened. you re not going to see ads on tv now. so, pulling ads is different than pulling the sponsorship. so, any advertiser right now, whether nike or anybody else, to do a tiger ad, that would be crazy. having said that, they re not going to run. tiger woods to nike is their business. it s not just the paid spokesman. he s created a billion-dollar industry. it s a male product, bought mostly by men. once again, morals aside obviously, what he did is terribly wrong. is this going to stop men from buying golf clubs and golfwear? no. having said that, now you shift over to the at&ts of the world, a broader structure, broader constituency. those are more vulnerable. is the a remark you made that sponsors are reluctant to drop tiger because in the golf world, he s the only major figure there is in terms of superstar. follow the money. this guy is a cottage industry himself. now, once again, these companies, nike, has a responsibility to their shareholders. they don t that s their responsibility, and he s still good business. now, once again, as the details come out and you know, we ve become a society that s become somewhat annest criesed to just pure adultery. we had the president of the united states do it. now we go on a continuum of scandal and as the details become more sorted, he becomes more vulnerable. let me ask you about the davy brown index, an index measuring celebrities ability to influence brand and consumers. his ranking on that index since this incident has plummeted from number 6 to 24. how closely do sponsors look at that? that s relevant. what they re testing online is what do you think. obviously, right now he s in the eye of the storm. so if you say, do you think tiger woods is a great guy? you d be an idiot to say, oh, go tiger. even the biggest tiger fan is going, oye right now. the way people buy products, they don t go, i like! if you re a golfer, you re the best. this has got to play out. the way he s got to rescue his image at some point, there s got to be a genuine, a genuine, heartfelt contrition and if that doesn t happen? so far, that s not happening. that s got and one thing i said earlier in your piece, and this is very controversial, is that strangely enough and i don t wish this for his personal life if his wife leaves him, that actually helps correct his brand because he got justice. there s an ending to the story that s cynical. get rid of the wife o i m saying if she leaves him. not he gets rid of the wife. if she says i m not putting up with this, i m out of here, once again, he has suffered. i m not suggesting that. i m just writing the story line. look, we live in a society that has a very short memory. he can recover. there will be collateral damage, but to say that this is the end of tiger woods endorser, tiger woods brand, is crazy. all right. we ll check back with you in a week. resident bad guy donny deutsch. no, resident good guy, donny. now let s head back to kabul, afghanistan, where al is standing by with a check of the weather. hey, al. thanks a lot, meredith. we re inside one of two warrior gyms here at camp eggers. over 450 soldiers come through here every day. it s open 24/7, pumping iron. physical fitness very big part of the regime here. in fact, how important is it to keep physically fit? what s your name? senior anderson. it s very important. you ve got to stay fit to fight. now, i understand that the marines and the army value this much more than the air force and the navy. whoa, no, no that s what somebody told me. no? no. okay, they must have untrue. untrue. not true. not true. this gentleman back here, you re getting ready to go home, right? i don t know if you heard me counting, but what s that, 999? 2,014. there you go! well, you guys are doing a great job, and i good morning the, the heaviest rains have gone now. temperatures are above freezing, now 44 in washington, a bit milder south and east. we ll have a mostly cloudy afternoon and just a passing chance of a shower later on this afternoon. colder weather tonight and tomorrow. could get some snow sunday. and meredith, of course, for some reason, they put me in front of the dumbbells. i n t know what that means. oh, i could tell you, al. back to you. i knew you could. thanks a lot, kiddo. still ahead, the controversial, new reality television show that is losing sponsors for the way it portrays italian americans. we will visit the jersey shore. but first, these messages. we re back here in kabul. back in 1996, here in afghanistan, the taliban instituted fundamentalist law. women were forced out of school and there wasn t an awful lot they could do outside of the home. but now, le is changing here in some very surprising ways. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us again here at camp eggers. richard, good morning, again, to you. reporter: good morning. good to see you again. we often report about the appalling conditions that many women in this country still face. illiteracy is the norm. many women die in childbirth. but at least here in kabul, some changes are under way. in traditional afghan society, for women, wk can still often mean hours bent over a carpet loom. and walking in the streets, anonymity under a burqa. but culture in afghanistan i slowly changing as western influences seep in. at a sewing school for illiterate girls, i was surprised by what they said they did after school. at first, the girls were shy, giggling, but this 18-year-old, covering her face but wearing purple nail polish, broke the ice. she admitted, she watches tv. her favorite show is the american action series 24. i like all of the characters, she says, they re great actors. 24 and indian soap operas are extremely popular here, broadcast on a privately owned tv station. it s a big change. the taliban banned television. but there are still limitations. cleavage, exposed legs, backs and hindu icons are all blurred out, pixelated by this woman. it takes 23-year-old lila rustugart two days to go through an hour episode, frame by frame. my opinion is that if you blur out too many body parts, it only draws more attention to what s being covered up, she says. but there are some things that should be edited out, like men and women embracing. it s too shocking for the afghan people to see. also shocking some here is the growing number of women now driving. today is 21-year-old marwa nezamuldine s ninth day behind the wheel, and driver s ed i kabul is no easy task. cars share the road with horse-drawn carts and sheep. does driving give you more independence, more freedom, more power? during the taliban, women could not even leave the house without wearing a burqa. so you could forget about driving, she says. now women can go to work and go wherever they want and play wherever they want. every day girls skateboard in kabul. this time it s a competition cheered on by boys. so, congratulations. the winners thought it was only natural to be interviewed by american television after their victory. translator: i wa i want to be a doctor when i grow up and a professional skateboarder, says 6-year-old havia. as traditions for women are vanishing, centuries old. very encouraging in kabul. in the countryside, however, matt, it s still a very difficult situation for women. richard, thanks. good to see you here. we ll have much more ahead from kabul and new york. back at 7:49. and now to a controversial, new reality show, mtv s jersey shore. it has some viewers and advertisers outraged. nbc s jeff rossen has details. jeff, good morning. hi, meredith. good morning to you. the guys call themselves guidos. the girls say they re guidettes. from muscle shirts to tanning beds, it s all there. but this morning, some italian americans are calling it trash tv, and at least one international advertiser is pulling out. think real world on steroids. eight strangers living in one house on the jersey shore, a popular beach community. italian americans only. can you tell? don t listen to me. guidos, when we stop, our chrome keeps spinning. reporter: listen to pauly d. i was born and raised a guido. it s a lifestyle, it s italian. it s representing family, friends. tanning, gel, everything. i ve got a [ bleep ] tang bed in my place. that s how serious i am about being a guido and living up to that lifestyle. reporter: oh, he s not done. it takes me about 20 minutes to do my hair. comes out perfect every time. there s no way i m going without my hair gel. i see a new guido. every girl loves a new guy. reporter: oh, yeah, the girls live here, too. i want to marry a guido. my dream is to move to jersey, find a nice juiced, hot, tan guy and complete my life. guido applications accepted over here! reporter: does this make you mad watching this squl. it s a disgrace. reporter: we watched the show with the president of an italian american association. with the sopranos, it s either mafia, or with this, we re bimbos and buffoons. this is the situation right here. my abs are so ripped up, it s called the situation. reporter: now, mtv is in a situation with advertisers. dominos pizza has already pulled out of the show. the other advertisers should do the same thing. they should be responsible and not promote this attack on italian americans. reporter: still, the network defends jersey she, saying we understand that this sho is not intended for every audience and depicts just one aspect of youth culture. our intention was never to stereotype, discriminate or offend. in fact, mtv s president of programming, tony distaanto, is italian american himself. a guidette takes care of herself, does makeup and hair, has tan skin, wears heels. reporter: but is this the real jersey shore? we had to hit jersey to ask. it s like watching a car crash. i plan on watching it for the rest of the year. i think it s actually very derogatory. you know, not everybody talks about a gumba johnny. hey, girls, what s up? this show would never have been on the air if it was blatantly negative stereotyping of african-americans, of jewish people, of asians, of any other group. every time you get away with calling it entertainment when it s actually stereotyping an ethnic group, it s not entertainment. to the rest of the summer. to the rest of the summer. this is the actual casting call from mtv. on it and i m quoting here they advertise for loud and proud italians under 30, what they call the proudest guidos and guidettes, all expenses paid. that was right from the casting call. so, this was clearly the call from the beginning. meredith, i believe in full disclosure. i should tell you, i live in new jersey, i use a ton of hair spray, i have makeup caked on right now, and my ab situation is not good. so not quite a guido. thank you. we ll catch up with one of the most colorful characters of the last decade, tillie tooter. folks out there are having to deal with high water, we have flooding and ponding like right here at 15th and constitution. good morning, i m barbara harrison, our time right now is 7:56, it s been a wet and wintry morning. there are a number of school delays and closures which are running at the bottom of your screen. let s go to tom in the weather center. i know you always warn folks not to drive in high water out there? the heavy lain had moved off to the north and east. we still have some heavy rain on the north shore. it has stopped temporarily here around most of the region, there s a small chance of an additional shower as we get into the late afternoon. we re in the mid 40s around washington, 30s farther west and north. we may get some sunshine breaking out this afternoon, otherwise, about a 40% chance of an aadditional passing showers and increasing winds after a mild afternoon turning colder thursday, friday and saturday, remaining drive. we ll . this sbx at ath street and constitution avenue. all morning long the water has really risen, it is beginning to recede, but be very, very careful there. let s head ever to virginia along i-95 northbound, out of wood bridge, much improved. we ll take a look at that approach n from the city cam on 395 northbound. a lot of bright lights, but the travel planes presently open and available. keep an eye on your screen throughout the morning for the very latest weather related delays and closures. for now we re going back to the today show after 8:00 now on a wednesday morning, december 9th, 2009. 5:30 in the afternoon here at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan, as we re still trying to get used to this 9 1/2-hour time change. it s a little bizarre. here in kabul, i m matt lauer ong with al roker. meredith is back in studio 1a in new york city. meredith, good morning to you. good morning to you guys as well. yeah, we want to say that, obviously, so much has been said. first of all, it s been a privilege to spend time with the member and women here at camp eggers. yes. so much has been said about the surge troops that are on their way to afghanistan. some of the first troops, we understand, could be coming from camp lejeune in north carolina. that s right, and a number of them will be deploying right before christmas. we ll catch up with one family who will spend their first holiday season apart. meredith? guys, thank you. we ll see you in just a bit. also from here in new york, one of the decade s most unforgettable survivors. tillie tooter was 83 back in 2000 when her car veered into a florida swamp. she became trapped for three agonizing days and survived by drinking rain water and eating candy and a cough drop. well, today she is 93 and still quite the character, going strong. we re going to catch up with her in a moment. but first, let s get aheck of the top stories from ann curry. hey, ann. thanks a lot, meredith. good morning once again, everybody. in the news this morning, blizzard warnings are in effect today across the midwest, from nebraska to michigan. and as a result, there will be delays and cancellations at several major airports. more than a foot of snow fell in parts of iowa and wisconsin on tuesday. in des moines, the blizzard-like conditions and icy roads caused a jam on the highways and several accidents. parts of wisconsin received as much as three inches of snow per hour. the obama administration is announcing plans to extend the financial rescue program known as t.a.r.p. through october of 2010. it was set to expire at the end of the month. on tuesday, the president proposed spending some of the unused bailout money to create jobs with as much as $50 billion going to roads, bridge and water projects. general david petraeus, the u.s. commander in charge of the middle east, testifies on capitol hill today about the new strategy in afghanistan. on tuesday, the top u.s. general in afghanistan, stanley mcchrystal, told congress that al qaeda cannot be defeated until its leader, osama bin laden, is either captured or killed. iraq s parliament has called a special session to investigate security lapses in the wake of tuesday s terror attacks that claimed at least 127 lives yesterday. more than 500 people were wounded. in russia today, a new death toll was announced from last weekend s nightclub fire. it is now up to 121 killed and more than 100 others are still hospitalized, many in critical condition. a violent outburst in a wisconsin courtroom from an accused murderer. the suspect lunged at officers who eventually subdued him with a stun gun. he was charged with killing an off-duty wisconsin police officer and her boyfriend. it is now three minutes past the hour. let s go back to matt and al in kabul. hey, guys. ann, thank you very much. it could turn to snow here in a little bit, right? it could a little bit, but it s snowing right now in the mountains yt not for us, which is good. we have folks who want to say hi to someone back home. the cromwells in massachusetts. to my beautiful wife kathy and my new daughter leah. and? happy birthday to my grandmother and hello to my wife and daughters. let me ask you, what s it like when the weather turns bad here? it s cold. it s cold. [ laughter ] very cold! and you re grinning like a chester cat. hi. hello to my husband charles, my daughter jaylin and everyone in america. merry christmas and happy new year. thank you so much. let s check your weather and see what s going on. it is raining right here. we have some mountains up in the snow. look at the satellite and you see kabul is right now socked in. and the forecast for kabul doesn t look that great. we are looking for more clouds, some snow showers. temperatures will be in the upper 30s by tomorrow. as we take a look closer to home, show you what we re expecting, we do have that big storm section in the midsection of the country, and that s bringing snow up into the upper great lakes. a lot of wet weath good morning, thankfully the heaviest rains have ended and are now on the eastern shore. it s raining heavily there and our waters are receding from the overnight heavy downpours and we have had about an inch and a half around the a washington metro area. now 44 degrees in washington where they had the snow, sleet and icing out of the mountains that s ended there as well. for the rest of the dare, maybe some sunshine breaking out later on, late this morning into afternoon, and there s a smaller chance of a passing additional shower, windy and colder tonight into the weekend. this is the first time i ve ever seen a camouflage man bag. look at that. oh! oh. that s very nice. wow. that matches your eyes. very nice. and you re going to turn your back on him now? i don t think you should do that. al, thank you very much. there s 71,000 u.s. troops here in afghanistan right now. as you know, 30,000 more are on their way. in fact, 1,500 marines from camp lejeune in north carolina will be deployed here before christmas. nbc s janet shamlian is there with one family s story. janet, good morning to you. reporter: matt, good morning to you. camp lejeune already has about 10,000 marines there in afghanistan, and the base is expected, as you indicated, to play a large role in the build-up. in fact, some of the first surge units could be there by christmas. this morning, the troop increase from a more personal perspective, through the eyes and hearts of a young family. they ve still got the look of newlyweds. married on valentine s day, elissa and grayden merritt are settling into their new le together, but their first christmas, just weeks away, will likely be spent heartbreakingly far apart. i ll miss him very much, but i know that god s going to take care of him and he ll take care of me and nothing can separate us from that love. reporter: lieutenant merritt will be among the first marines ployed to afghanistan as part of the surge. he s packed and ready to go. that s the hardest part of all of it is knowing that i will be leaving her alone. reporter: the young couple is not unprepared for what s ahead. alissa comes from a family of military men. braden s dad served as well. i can sit there and go, oh, poor me, i m all alone. but i have a beautiful family. i have a beautiful home. my cup overflows, you know, and that s what god puts in my heart. reporter: cheers mixed with a steely resolve. i love this picture. yes. reporter: the merritts have been anticipating the call since the day they walked down the aisle. every day when he s gone, whether it s training for two weeks or a month or six months is one day too long. reporter: alissa will be in nursing school while braden s away. both have vowed not to fear the worst. it s grace that s brought us safe thus far and grace will bring me home. so, that is where we put our trust. reporter: trust in a mission, faith in their future. a young family prepares for the sacrifice of separation. and the merritts are just one of thousands of military families ying to ng on to those last moments together before deployment to afghanistan. matt, back to you at camp eggers. all right, janet, thank you very much. and our best to the folks there at camp lejeune. when we come back, we ll have more from camp eggers and from new york as we continue to look back at the stories that were unforgettable in the past decade. we re going to talk to tillie tooter. whatever happened to tillie? that s what we want to know. tillie was the unforgettable grandmother who was trapped in her car for three days. how s she doing? the she is on the couch. right now at sears, give more style. with this season s must-have jeans, all on sale. give the hottest trends, fits, and washes. to everyone on your list. plus, find great brands. now through friday, every jean is on sale. more values. more christmas. that s life. well spent. sears. make that first step easier, with the nicoderm cq patch. nicoderm steps you down from nicotine gradually. doubling your chance for success. nicoderm cq. three steps, ten weeks and you re free. 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[ keys jingle ] drop everything! shop the petsmart pet holiday sale and save 25% on holiday dog and cat toys, rawhide and more! hurry! friday through sunday only, at petsmart. back at 8:12. this morning on today s buzziest stories of the decade, tillie tooter. we first met this remarkable survivor back in 2000. today, she s a great grandma, still going strong. we ll talk to her in a moment, but first, nbc s kerry sanders has her story. reporter: 93-year-old tillie tooter. you re going to be around for a nice, long time with us. just as long as i can do for myself. reporter: a woman with an unforgettable name and an unforgettae story. now a remarkable story about a real survivor. reporter: august 2000. then 83 years old, tillie tooter was headed to ft. lauderdale airport when she disappeared. for three days, a frantic search until she flipped several times. he did land upright. reporter: in a swamp 40 feet below an elevated highway, her mangled car wedged between trees was spotted by a teenage boy. inside, tillie tooter. and remarkably, the brooklyn native was still alive. and days later, she was holding a news conference. this is the way my whole body looks, bites. it s all over, i m black and blue, but i don t care. i m here. reporter: tillie had survived three days on only rain drops she gathered in her steering wheel cover and what she did had in her purse. it s as fresh in her mind today as it was then. i found candy, a cough drop and one slice of gum. reporter: tillie tooter learned how to survive early. a child who started working at the age of 13 when the depression took her family s wealth, a n mother who struggled to feed her daughter when world war ii stole her husband at normandy. i had a hard life, a very tough life. reporter: a tough life that did not toughen her heart. she even found kindness for the man who bumped her off the highway and left her to die. i forgave him, afterward. i forgave him. reporter: these days, tillie tooter is still a celebrity. why are we still talking about tillie tooter nine years later? let me ask you something, how many tillie tooters have come along in the last nine years? she s terrific. she is one of a kind. me, an ordinary, eryday house frown, i m just an ordinary person. reporter: and that s one more reason we love you, tillie tooter. for today, kerry sanders, nbc news, pembrook pines, florida. and the one and only tillie tooter is with us this morning along with her daughter, linda sims. good morning to you both. good morning. good morning. we were talking in the break, tillie, and i asked you how well you remember everything that happened way back then. and you said not only do you still remember well, but you still sometimes have nightmares. not as often as in the beginning, but they were just as strong and they re fleeting. they don t last too long, thankfully. yeah. how are you doing physically, because you sustained quite a few injuries? well, i had a torn rotator cup, i had my neck, i had back problems, but i don t dwell on those things. no, you don t. no, i don t. today, we live today, and i m happy to be here. you know, after three days, when the authorities finally found you, the thing that they all said was how resourceful you had been. they couldn t believe how resourceful you had been. at one point, i think you took your socks off and you were letting the rain water soak into the socks and then sucking on the sos. you sucked on a button to keep your mouth moist because that produced saliva. how did you know to do those things, tillie? i think it was just instinctive. the will to live is very powerful, very strong, and i had a lot to live for. and i was hopeful that they would find me, up until the third day. and the third day you started to lose hope. that s well, i made my peace with god. i felt repentant for anything i may have done to hurt anybody and glad for the things that i did that were good. i raised a beautiful daughter by myself with two and have two beautiful grandchildren, and i loved people, people seemed to like me and i have a lot to live for. well, you did survive because that young man, that teenager justin, who happened to spot you while he was clearing debris off the highway. you were in touch with him for a while and then sort of lost touch. he moved out of florida. have you been back in touch with him? yes. he called me about six months four, five months ago to tell me that he was moving back to florida and that he would get in touch with me. i can get in touch with his mother now and his father stepfather lives in florida. so, i m calling them i call them occasionally to see what he s doing. just to see what s going on. linda, your mom, it had to be the worst three days of your life, certainly, in agony. without a doubt. how has she changed since all this? she s just a very strong woman and she s very self-sufficient, and she really hasn t changed from this experien experience, only, she s always been my best friend, so, that s the best way i can describe her, and she still is my best friend. yeah. we decided, tillie, the reason you survived was because of that brooklyn in you. that s it. stay healthy it s true. and happy. i know you re still driving, but they don t let you drive to the airport anymore, just back from. no, just back from. thank you, tillie tooter and linda sims as well. hue so much. and tomorrow on the buzziest stories of the decade, the georgia woman held hostage in her apartment by an escaped murderer on a spree. she convinced him to let her go after talking about god, her family and even making him pancakes. we re going to find out how she is doing four years later. that is tomorrow on today. and up next, 12 holiday gifts for under $25. 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(announcer) it s the people at ge that are creating innovation today for america s tomorrow. my mom helps make things to make people better. announcer: today soliday gift guide is brought to you by target. expect more. pay less. this morning on today s holiday gift guide, thank-yous from your child s teacher to the la man. there are plenty of people to show your appreciation to at this time of year. here are some gift ideas under the cost of $25, and showing us all of them is amy goodman from all you magazine. amy, it s always great to see you. happy holidays to you. oh, happy holidays to you. listen, this is a tough category. what s your best rule of thumb? well, to keep it under budget, i think because there s so many people to thank, and as you make your list, it s easy to over-expenditure on this item. everything we have from all you $25 and under and some of it is even less. and some of it is surprising under that price point. yes. first of all, for teachers, you suggest sachi insulated lunch totes. this gives brown-bagging a whole new meaning. because it s insulated, it keeps it hot or cold respectively. the price is only $15. and for the male teachers, not to exclude them, there are masculine colors in a tote size. also, teachers like to write notes home. they do. especially if you want t the to say nice things. at least they re look pretty. these are personalized sticky notes. here these are monogrammed, from galison and cavallini here. all different notes to choose from. so at least the notes you do get home, at least they re pretty. i like this one with the birds. with the birds and motif. now for the babysitter, we want to do something nice because they take care of our children. they do. to relax their feet at night, from target, slipper booties, hitting two things for fall, the faux fur and the beauty trend. d for the mature babysitter, the monogrammed candle with amber and vanilla scent from pottery barn. they re offering free shipping now, which is nice. our kids have coaches or special instructors, music teachers. yes, sure. this obviously doesn t cost under $25, but this does. right. this is $19.99 from i-he audio, it s a portable multimedia speaker. you can attach it to your iphone or ipod, and it plays very loudly. isn t that incredible? that is a great buy and they re sure to love it. for the sports enthusiasts, they refurbish billiard and golf balls to make them into wine-stoppers, combining two loves of wine and sports in one. that s a very smart idea. a lot of guys would like that. a portion of the proceeds goes to vanderbilt shildren s hospital, so that s fabulous. personalized water bottles. these are for the dog walker, so they stay hydrated. you can go to the website and get these personalized water bottles. there are five templates, one with a photo option. it s very quick and you can order as late as december 20th. this is one of my favorites. this is refurbished t-shirts made into scarfs. so they re so soft, just like wearing a soft t-shirt around your neck. teenagers would love that one. absolutely. then for the stylist in your life who always makes you beautiful, beautify their lives. we all have a stylist. we do. this is from luxelink.com. you could do this for your girlfriend. this is fabulous. it helps you dangle your purse off a table when you go to a restrant. you put the flat top on the table, the hook hangs down and then you have your purse hanging. they re offering free shipping this month, all styles are $25. they do give 10% of the proceeds to children s hospital of los angeles. okay. finally? last but not least, for the mail carrier, male and female, some fingerless gloves and also from target, so they can do well, this is what it looks like outside right now, 8:26 is our time, 42 degrees, clouds and rain around the region on this wednesday, the ninth day of december, 2009. good morning, i m joe krebs. a flood warning for the northern parts of virginia has been canceled. let s get the forecast. the heaviest rains have moved off to the eastern shore. it is raining heavily on to the eastern shore and down into the lower neck of virginia and part of the bay, but the rain has endsed at least temporarily. there s a small chance of an additional shower later on this morning. and in the low to mid 50s now near the bay bay, highs today in the mid s and a small chance of an additional shower, gusty winds will increase this afternoon and tonight, ushering in colder weather. it will be in place as of saturday. it s been a roughommute out there this morning, we ll check on the traffic right after this short break. good morning, everyone, it s been a tough commute. delayings win at 210 across the kbrej in virginia where high water around telegraph road has been a problem all morning long. i-95 looking much better now, looks like the water has receded here and all travel lanes remain open here. although it s still heavy. thanks very much, keep an eye on your screen throughout the morning for the very latest morning for the very latest weather related delays and i love christmas because i love to shop. i get a rush finding just the right gifts. glam accessories, cashmere sweaters, designer bags. this year, my sister turned me on to t.j. maxx. because they strike the deal directly with designers, the savings go directly to me. chasing sales at the mall? i d rather hang with my sugarplums. once a fashionista. now, i m a merry maxxinista. t.j. maxx. 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, 9th of dember 2009. kind of a messy, gray morning here in new york with that beautiful norway spruce across the street, where it is lighting things up. i m meredith vieira along with ann curry. matt and al are over in kabul, afghanistan. hey, guys. hey. hey, meredith and ann. nice to see you guys. kind of gray and messy here, and actually, dark here in kabul with this 9 1/2-hour time difference. and we re standing here withh some of our nice friends. and al went in and grabbed himself a hat and the px over here, right? that s right. i m going to get you one right after i m going to get me one right now. you see that? good thing you did your hair! look at that. that could have been ugly. no, no. wow! never take a woman s hat off without asking first. no. okay. by the way, coming up, we have spent an awful lot of time talking about the upcoming surge of american forces here in afghanistan, what we think about what s going on here, but how do the afghans feel about that surge and how do they feel about americans in general? i went out and talked to some people. i ll give you a brief sampling of what they had to say, coming up in just a couple of minutes. okay. matt and al, thank you so much. we look forward to that. coming up in new york, we have a winner who s also a loser. in fact, he s the biggest loser, who was crowned at last night s live finale out in california, and this morning, he is live in our studio. look at him! he looks amazing. danny. he looks fantastic. mind-blowing. we ll talk to him in a moment. we re checking you out. look at you. first, let s say hello to four-time oscar nominee julianne moore, starring in the single man also a saving the children ambassador. good morning. good morning. single man we love, directed by tom ford, a designer, a friend of yours. not someone you think of as a director, and this was his first for yesterday into film. were you nervous about this? also you re working with your friend. i wasn t once i read the script. the script was really beautifully actualized and we had a conversation about it and i felt pretty confident. and it wasn t unwarranted. he was so prepared, really meticulous about everything, and i felt like i was in good hands the entire time. and the script is really a compelling, powerful, emotional piece, i understand yeah, it is. about a gay man grieving for his lost lover and you re the friend? i m his best friend, and that s the thing i like so much out the part, too, is it s kind of a depiction of a really long and intimate friendship. they ve known each other for 20, 25 years or somethi and can do almost everything together and know everything about one another. so, it s nice to see that. you don t see that in movies very often. we re also talking about your biggest passion, i think these days is save the children. yeah, yeah. with a particular focus on children in poverty in this country, which a lot of people forget about. yes, i m a u.s. ambassador. i grew up in the military and one of the things i did learn moving around is it s not the same for everybody. and we think it is. we educate people to think that that s how it is in our country, but really when you move around, you see that there s a lot of inequality. so, this is a way we have this valentine s day program we do every year where kids are able to buy the valentine s to help other kids and we partnered with the american teacher s union this year and they re doing a lesson plan about poverty in the united states. so children can see and maybe do something to help solve the problem. exactly, yeah, uh huh. what branch of service was your father or mother in? army. what were you? navy. navy gets the gravy, i m told. hi, dad. julianne, thank you so much. thank you. always a pleasure seeing you. thanks. nice to see you, too. thank you. the single man opens on friday and nationwide on christmas day. go and see it. now let s go back to kabul and check in with matt and al. ladies, thank you very much. ms. jones is back here hiding, afraid we re going to take her hat again. by the way, we got you a hat. very nice, i appreciate it. can always count on you, pal. hey, who s your buddy? who your pal? do the weather. okay. i like this sign. who do you want to say merry christmas? to my husband and my two girls, tatum and niah, and i miss you. i miss you. aww, that s very nice. says it all. say merry christmas to my daughters, alyssa, michaela and aiden. congratulations and thank you for what you guys are doing. let s take a look at your weather. for today, we ve got that big storm in the east, but as we look ahead to the weekend, we ve got more rain in the southeast, a lot of wet weather california into the pacific northwest, snow around the great lakes. then sunday, sunday, we re looking at more rain throughout the mid-atlantic states, more good morning, the rain has ended here, the flood waters are receding and as we look at the radar, still raining heavily on the eastern shore, but here we re beginning to dry out. now 45 in washington a bit milder south and east in washington. a bit of sunshine may break out this afternoon, there s a small chance of an additional shower, highs mid 50s. colder weather will be in place thursday, friday and saturday. snow here on sunday, rain to our south. and by the way, i have to read this. chandler katherine rideout was born this morning in raleigh, north carolina, the great niece of susan lasallea. says here the today show s best producer ever. yeah, she wrote this. so, there you go. congratulations, chandler. welcome to the world. susan s busy going like this. that s shameless. shameless! that is shameless. congratulations. mr. roker, thank you very much. you know, president obama s decision to send additional troops here to afghanistan has a lot of people back in the states talking, but it also has the afghan people talking, and i went to the streets of kabul to find out what they re saying. the stories of this war-torn country are written on the faces of its people. ask two different afghans about the surge of american troops, and you ll probably hear two different answers. do you like the idea of more u.s. troops coming to this country? no. i don t like that more troops are coming to afghanistan. the people we spoke to were informed and willing to debate. we need money. we need to support our ana, our police and the construction. so, you would rather the u.s. send money to support the afghan military but no more u.s. troops? yeah, that s right. this man told us he appreciates americans. far from the u.s. political debate, some asked about the date of withdrawal. you don t like the idea of 18 months from now them perhaps leaving? they should support the military, afghan military and afghan national forces, so often that if they go out, it s okay, but they should support all of the military people. several wondered what the plan will mean for their own security. he s worried that if americans are here, they ll be targeted by suicide bombers inside the city. and there will be damage, collateral damage? yeah. kalik is a former spokesman and owns a coffee shop now in kabul. nice to see you. good morning, nice to see you. you gaheard a spling of the opinions and i gather that it s somewhat complicated. i don t think so. i think afghan s welcomed americans in 2001. americans came to afghanistan without arrogant. they came to help the afghan people. we were under a bad situation under taliban. then some of the things that happened in the next five years complicated things, but today the afghan still welcome americans. and if you talk to people here in kabul, would i get a much differe answer to those questions if i went out into some of the provinces? yes, definitely. it also depends what provinces. in the south they will say different things. in the north they will say different things because of the different ethnic groups, the different tribes. in the south, with some of the things that happened, with the house searches and arrests of some people and also the civilian casualties, the air strikes, it made some people angry, but in the north, they welcome americans. in the cities they welcome americans. overall, it s, you know, it s a lot of afghans understand we need themericans for now. let me ask you about hope. is there a sense, in your opinion, of hope in the minds of the afghan people, or have they been through so much war, decades of war, and been disappointed so many times in the past, is it hard for them to be optimistic? well, one thing you have to understand, it s hope that kept this country together for the past 30 years. it s hop that they stayed in this country during the taliban time. it s hope that they live today and look for a better future for tomorrow. no, we have hope. afghans have hope. i appreciate your time this morning, khaleeq. thank you. thank you very much. and we ll have much more ahead from camp eggers and new york city. back at 8:42. this morni on get fit today, the newly crowned biggest loser. and the winner is 4-year-old danny cahill. he stepped onto the scale for the final time last night. lost an incredible 239 total pounds, the most in the show s history. he is red-eyed and is here with us this morning. danny, good morning. good morning. congratulations. thank you. look at the smile on your face. it s priceless! how could i not smile? to go where i was 6 1/2, 7 months ago to where i am today is amazing. and i feel like a million bucks. i feel great! has what happened last night sunk in? it s still i m in a daze. i am in a daze. i m numb. you know, when i walked out on the stage and rudy was a big competition between rudy and i, and we were we re best friends, but it was a big competition, and when i walked out and saw how well he had done, it scared me to death. i thought i looked at him, and i said, did you beat me? you really were nervous about it. oh, yeah, yeah. because he did so good. he did. how do you wrap your mind around feeling, as you do now you said just before we started this interview, you feel great and you feel just so how do you wrap your mind around the fact that you were 430 pounds just six months o? i know. you know, it took me a long time to get there, because when i met my wife, i was 175 pounds, and that was about 18, 19 years ago, and i slowly ballooned up to 435 pounds. so, i really didn t see a big difference. i mean, i didn t get to feel it immediately. but for six months and three weeks, going from 430 pounds, in horrible shape, to where i am now, where i just ran a marathon a few months back awesome! i know, isn t that great? awesome! and i mean, to go that quickly from that to this, it s amazing, because i can actually feel it. were there moments during that six-month period where you thought i can t do this? were you worried about giving up? the first day i walked into the gym, you know, and liz and i liz was my partner. right. and we both said, oh, we re only going to work out an hour or two and take a break, work out another hour no. bob and jillian went in there and they killed us. i was on the treadmill for 80 minutes straight. never had been on it more than 20. that day my legs were cramping and were hurting so bad and i figured out how hard it was going to be. so why didn t you turn away and run? you know, it was i had my family. and i went you know, one of my main inspirations for trying out for the show was my family. i m a father, and ib don t want you know, i want to see my kids growing up. i don t want to leave them fatherless. i don t want to leave my wife without a husband. and it was scary. i would sit behind my desk at work and think that every pain was my heart attack, that i was going to leave my family. and i couldn t do that. you also wanted to be an inspiration to them. yes. you ve got two little kids. definitely, you know? what have they said to you, watching? david i was running on the treadmill, and he was on the couch and we were watching the show, and it showed a picture of me in week on 430 pounds, trying to trek it up the treadmill. and i looked at him and he looked at me, and i said, how did this happen? and he said, i don t know, it s impossible. he said, no one loses this much ight that quick. i said, your dad does and anybody can. you just have to believe it. and my daughter has been a great inspiration, because she reminds me of me when i was her age. i had a weight problem at that age, and she s been struggling with her weight a little bit, too. and that was a big inspiration to me was just, you know what, i have to be the example to my kids. i cannot be a bad example. i need to be a good example. and you re going to be featuring in the milk ad, because that s tradition. yeah. so, there you go, you re going to have that and $250,000, which is nice. it helps. sure, it s icing on the cake, right? it is, and it s definitely going to be abling. and i m definitely going to pay it forward. the biggest loser has given me my life back, and i want to give as many people inspiration as i can, because that s what it s about. i think you just did,danny. thank you so much. you look great. you do. still coming up, important advice, especially during the holidays. we ll answer your toughest financial questions. and now to the power of democracy. an interesng new history channel documentary uses celebrity readings and performances to highlight the ordinary americans who changed our nation s history. take a look. if the land is free and the flag is mine, then how come i can t do like the white kid? he has taken from her all right and property, even to the wages she earns. power concedes nothing without a demand. it never did and it never will. maybe a fella ain t got a soul of his own but only a piece of a big one. howard zidnair with the people s speak is one of the executive producers along with chris mohr. good morning to you both. howard, i would like to start with you. it s a powerful documentary, based on your book, a people s history of the united states, and you said you wanted to present history with a different point of view than what we learned in school. where you think a lot of history is sugar-coated. yeah. i think a lot of history emphasizes too much the people on top, the presidents, the military heroes, and, you kn, i wanted to emphasize, yes, the working people, the dissidents, the antiwar protestors, and generally, the people who are left out of the traditional historie histories. i wanted to really encourage people to speak up. so, we draw on historical examples in this documentary of people speaking up. so, maybe people are going to understand that we all have a voice. chris, you said a major theme in the documentary, that howard just touched on this, is that democracy doesn t come from the top. it comes from the bottom. i think when people watch the documentary, they ll understand that we have to help our leaders figure out where to go, what to do, how they should have their companies behave or how the country should behave. and so, the idea is to put all in one place these very dramatic and inspiring moments where people stood up for something and actually made a difference. the documentary makes a very interesting point that the declaration of independence was a statement of, you know, hope and positive democracy. and then the constitution came along and sort of negated that. you obviously saw our documentary. and we have matt matt damon reads from the declaration of independence, which is very crucial to our documentary, because what it says is that governments are not supreme. governments are artificial creations. they re set up in order to ensure life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and when governments become destructive of that, it s the right of the people to oppose it. it s a fundamental principle of democracy. you take some a rather harsh look at some of our military endeavors, chris, and some people are going to look at this documentary and say it s unpatriotic. you ve heard that already with regard to your book. matt and al are right now in afghanistan with the troops. yep. what would you say to them and their families who might not like what they hear in the documentary? well, i think the larger point of the documentary is to question authority and question why they re there. i mean, but what i d say is i m a huge supporter of the troops and i think they re there and we think they re there howard served in world war ii. it s not anything against the military. it s against when it s chosen to be used, how it s being used and that people in power should think very long and hard and the people should support that or not support that about when we put people in harm s way. and i m sure every person there in afghanistan is thinking about their family back here, thinking about the holidays, and i guarantee you all of them are thinking, why am i here? what am i doing here? and think it s the people s right to make sure that the government thinks that through before they send people. go ahead. you know, i think the most patriotic thing a person can do is to question the government when the government is not fulfilling its obligation. and you know, in the case of the troops, i believe the best way to support the troops is to bring them home. you re not supporting them when you re keeping them there and for not a good reason. you know, one of the things we have in the documentary is we have josh brolin reading mark twain. mark twain is commenting on our invasion of the philippines. said why are we killing these people half a world away and for what reason? they say it s for democracy, civilization. same things that are said about afghanistan and iraq. well, the point, i think, of the documentary is for people to think, think for themselves and to speak out. exactly. howard zin, appreciate you being here, chris mohr as well. the people speak premieres on sunday night on the history channel. we ll head back to matt and al in afghanistan in just a moment. and welcome back on this special edition of today with matt and al live in afghanistan. so, when are you guys heading home? tomorrow morning, first thing tomorrow morning. we will see you friday, meredith. with a little lk. yeah, hopefully, the weather will cooperate. by the way, our affiliate in philadelphia asked about the guy yesterday who had on a phillies cap behind you. find out who he is. america wants to know. all right, we re on the case. all right, guys. we miss you. safe travels. we ll be right back. time mow 8:56, cloudy and rainy in some parts of the region on this wednesday, the ninth day of december. in the news for today, it s been a wet and wintry morning but the weather is improving just a bit. let s go to meteorologist tom keirnan. the rain has moved out a little bit. still raining in parts of the eastern shore and the rest of the region, we re gradually drying out, although we might have an additional shower in the late afternoon hours. temperatures in the 30s north and west of washington. in the 50s in the lower part of the bay and the eastern shore. highs today mid 50s around the region and gusty winds will usher in some sunshine this afternoon and some colder weather that will be in place through the weekend. it has been rough out on the roadways today, we get a look at traffic right after this. stay with us. welcome back. a lot of folks have had a lot of problems making it into work today. things appear to be improving a little bit and that is a very good news. the payment is starting to dry out, but unfortunately, this is the time of day where we have a tendency to see people speed up even on the wet payment. elsewhere the trip downtown, we re watching this huge puddle of water at 15th and constitution, not much improvement, a good indication that that drain is clogged. 395 to the 14th street bridge, moving along pretty well considering everything, right now, no accidents, indents, we will be watching for the afternoon road work. if you re just beginning to get out, watch for the high water. we ll have more news in 25 minutes, a full hour of news. but now back to the today show after a short and we are back with more of today on a wednesday morning. it s the 9th day of december 2009. you re looking at some of our new friends here at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan, where we have had the privilege of broadcasting for the last couple of days and hanging out with these nice people. i m matt lauer along with al roker, and we ve got ann and natalie back on the couch in new york city. ladies, good morning, again, to both of you. good morning to you. good morning. and matt, i notice that you ve scored a good hat. congratulations. did al buy you that from a px? he did. there were a couple of moths coming out of his wallet, but then he went in there and got some cash and grabbed me this hat,hich is nice. we appreciate that. so, as i say thank you to my pal al. also a couple thank-yous as well, thank you to the folks at camp eggers for their hospitality and cooperation and also to defense secretary robert gates and his staff. they made him available to us while we were here in afghanistan, also gave us a lift over, so we appreciate that very much. also want to thank all of these fine soldiers and sailors, marines, all the different services that are here. we also want to thank there are also a lot of nonmilitary support personnel here who support what they do. and again, our technical crew, who every time when we have something like this puts together an incredible job. our producers, our technicians, all of the support staff at the today show, here and back in new york. we certainly appreciate it, folks. it s been really amazing, and we appreciate all that the troops are doing there for us, and you guys really brought it home to us once again, matt and al. right, so, thank you for that, because to honest with you, it really gave people here at home a sense of, i think poignancy, to be able to see all these people and saying hello to their families and merry christmas to their daughters. it really has been powerful work. thank you very much, matt and al. safe travels. see you back here on friday morning. thank you. bright and early! hopefully, they make it out of there with that storm. all right, ladies, take care. you, too. meantime, coming up on today, holiday time is often a time that wreaks havoc on our holiday budget. so, today s money 911 is focus on that. our team of experts will be answering your financial questions about what to do when you owe more than your house is worth, how to cancel a credit card and also holiday finances. plus, all the latest on embattled golfer tiger woods. we re going to hear that 911 call that had his mother-in-law rushed to the hospital. ann has more on that and you have the rest of the morning s top stories as well. i do, natalie. thank you so much. in the news this morning, a powerful winter storm is making travel dangerous and slow today in many parts of the country. major airports from minnesota to new york are already announcing several hour delays. forecasters are warning blizzard-like conditions today across the midwest, more than a foot of snow piled up in parts of iowa and wisconsin on tuesday with up to three feet expected near the great lakes over the next few days. last night, senate democrats said that they are cse to a breakthrough on that controversial public option portion of the health care reform bill. they are moving toward replacing it with private insurance plans similar to those offered to federal workers. americans might also be allowed to buy into medicare when they turn 55. president obama heads to europe this evening to receive his noble peace prize and to attend the world climate summit. before leaving, he speaks to congressional leaders about the tax cut proposed on tuesday and a spending plan to create jobs. he is also announcing a $600 million plan to support health centers in at least 30 states. funerals are being held today for some of the victims of tuesday s coordinated bomb attacks on government buildings that killed at least 127 people and wounded more than 500 others in iraq. in the wake of the attacks, iraqi officials are calling for the resignations of top security officials. an arraignment today in chicago for the american charged with helping to plan last year s terror attacks in mumbai, india, that claimed 166 lives. david heedly is also accused of scheming to attack a danish newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet mohammad. thousands, including law enforcement officials from all around the country, turned out for the memorial on tuesday for the four police officers brutally shot and killed in washington state last month. the tsa says it is now investigating how it mistakenly posted an internal security manual online detailing how it screens airport passengers and baggage. it happened last spring and included pictures of credentials used by members of congress and also federal air marshals. and police in florida have released the frantic 911 call from tiger woods home when his mother-in-law was hospitalized early on tuesday. the caller is believed to be tiger woods wife, elin. oh, my god! fire rescue. okay, hurry up, my mom just collapsed. okay. calm down, okay? what is the address? and is she breathing? they re coming, okay? calm down for a minute so i can understand what s happening. she collapsed in the bathroom. is she breathing? what can i do? barbro holmberg was collapsed on the bathroom of the woods home. she has since been released from the hospital. you re now up to date at five minutes past the hour. let s go back to kabul, where s g a check of the weather. hey, al. hey, thanks a lot, ann. you know, yesterday we saw this gentleman what s your name, sir? joshua seltzer. and he was wearing a phillies cap and shirt and our affiliate in philadelphia wanted to know what the deal was. what was the deal with the hat and shirt? i just wanted to show my phillfil philfil was waking up to watch them in the sires. good luck next year. we know they re going to be there next year. dream on. only kidding. terry and adidi, mystery solved. and happy san verse to your folks? happy anniversary to my parents in georgia. let s check your weather, see what s happening. again, we ve got a powerful storm, right now stuck over northern illinois. blizzard warnings from kansas to michigan. it s bringing a lot of snow. we re talking about anywhere from four to eight inches of snow. some areas in the u.p. of michigan, over a foot of snow. to the east of that storm, you can see the front of that storm bringing a lot of rain along the mid-atlantic states, heavy snow in new england from new york on into new england. snowfall amounts anywhere from five to seven inches of snow. some areas picking up 18 inches of snow. up good morning, our heavy rain has ended this morning, but it s still raining on the eastern shore down to the northern neck and the lower past of the chesapeake bay and this rain will continue for another hour or so, but elsewhere the rain has endedut an additional chance of rain in the afternoon. we re in the 30s farther west and north and temperatures now in the 50s south and east. highs today may briefly touch the lower and that s your latest weather. ann? okay, al, thanks so much. now to today s money 911, and our experts are here to help you, including editor jean chatzky, personal finance expert david bach and cnbc s carmen wong ulrich. natalie morales is at dean & deluca having a latte. good morning, everybody! we ve got alanna in los angeles on skype with a question about credit card fees. go, lana. good morning! good morning. i just received a letter that i m now going to be charged an annual fee on a credit card i ve had for about ten years. i don t want to pay an annual fee on a card if i don t need to, especially because i have other non-annual fee cards and also because i ve been trying to save money in every way i can, but at the same time, want to maintain a high credit score as i m looking to qualify for a home loan soon. will my credit card still have a high credit limit or is the annual fee worth it just to keep my credit score high? great question, lana, because this is happening for so many people. how soon is soon? when do you want to buy that house? probably within the next year or two. then don t cancel the card. here s what s going to happen. because it s such a large portion of your credit limit, it will take down your score by quite a bit. get the house, buy the mortgage, lock in at the high credit score. then if you want to cancel the card after that, i wouldn t worry about it. but if you ve got a big home or auto loan in your near future, now is not the time to be playing around with your score. okay. thanks, lana. sure. we also have christina on the telephone from el paso, texas. she s got a question about renting or selling. cristina, what s your question? caller: good morning. i bought a condo in nevada but then moved out of the state. i now own another home and have been renting my condo. my question is, do i rent or consider a short sale? now, that is a deficiency state, so i would need to negotiate with the lender and the difference between the loan amount and what i owe after the sale. the property has devalued about 65%, so i would owe a considerable amount. i have two loans on the property, one which is going to change to a variable rate helocs. the rent only covers 50% of the mortgage payment. so, should i consider a short sale or continue renting it. she obviously knows and has researched about this. david? definitely. first step is you ll have to see if you qualify for a short sale, and the honest answer is you probably will not qualify for the short sale because you have another property, you have income and you actually have a renter. in order to qualify for a short sale, you re basically financially destitute and you are possibly going to lose a home because you ve been making mortgage payments. rather than take my word for it, call the bank and ask to speak to the short sale team. every single bank right now has literally short sale s.w.a.t. teams, entire departments of people who are just working on short sale process. they even have meetings now, especially like in nevada, where you can sit down with somebody live and go through your paperwork. the challenge with a short sale is you re going to have a lot of paperwork. they need to get everything looked at. they re going to want your tax returns. then if they approve it, you can get a realtor to list the property as a short sale. u re going to need to get an offer, bring that back to the bank, then the bank s going to have to actually take that offer, present it to the investor because in most cases, the banks don t hold the loans anymore. that investor will have to sign off on it. so the short sale process is taking a long time, a lot of cases six or nine months in some cases, which is often what s forcing short sale sellers like yourself into foreclosure situations. but start by going to the bank and talking to the short sale s.w.a.t. team. thank you so much. also on the topic of short sales this is a big topic these days yeah. we have joshua in oregon on skype. what s your question? yes. i am an architect in the portland, oregon, area, and was eventually laid off. we put our house on the market for a short sale but have been told that the difference in value between what you owe and what you sell it for is taxed income. is this true and is there any way around it? joshua, good morning. you re in luck because of the year we re in. there s the mortgage forgiveness debt relief act of 2007 that actually makes this not taxable. when you re forgiven debt, it s considered income, so you re taxed on it. if you re forgiven credit card debt or student loan, you get taxed as if you ve got that as income. however, since this act, up until the year 2012, up to $2 million, you will be forgiven as difference. now, it s very important that you didn t take a heloc out to pay off credit card debt, because then it gets very iffy. so, go to the irs.gov site and look up publication 4681. there you re going to see and get a look at if you really qualify for this, but make sure you talk with a tax professional. but for the most part, no. most folks in trouble, foreclosures, loan modifications, short sales if this is your primary residence, you re okay. this is not going to be taxable income. joshua, thank you so much for your question. we ve got ginger from dallas, texas, on the telephone with a question about retirement accounts. hey, ginger. caller: good morning. i understand that this year and next year are good years to convert a standard i.r.a. to a roth i.r.a. my standard i.r.a. totals about $30,000 and about $14,000 of that is a rollover from an old employer s 401(k). the remainder is from non-deductible contributions. if i want to convert to a roth, will the holder of the account be able to calculate which portions are taxable and which are not? and if not, how is that accomplished? once i can determine that, can i just roll over the portions that are not taxable? i m impressed by how smart these questions are. very smart. the questions we re getting are smarter every single week. we re teaching them well. which is incredible. ginger, this is complicated, as you know, but the answer is no, that the irs actually requires you to aggregate that whole i.r.a. and look at it as if it s one account. now, hopefully, you have actually been keeping track of what s deductible and what s not deductible as you made your contributions. that will help you work through what is essentially a very complicated formula in order to figure out how to tax how the tax on that conversion will actually be calculated. aot of brokerage firms, like schwab, for example, have these formulas on their website. i would go there. also, this is an example why you would not co-mingle rollovers with an i.r.a. account. don t co-mingle with a deductible i.r.a. account because what jean is talking about, this is so complicated to figure out if you do a rollover later. keep them separate. right, and you end up losing money if you haven t kept good track. ginger, thank you very much. we ve got natalie across the street who stopped sipping her latte to tell us what s going on there. yeah, keeping the crowd nice and warm inside. we have sidell from coral springs, florida. what s your question? okay, good morning. my question , i have a very small retirement. i d like to know if i am better off taking a monthly allotment or if i am better off taking the money all out at one time and investing it? david, do you have some advice you can give her? have you left the company yet? no, i have not. okay. so, go back to your employer and see if the benefits department has actually got advisers on site running these calculations, because in many cases now, the companies actually do have people do this for you. they ll run a calculation. they ll look at, here s how much money you could do in an i.r.a. rollover again, don t co-mingle with other money or this is how much you could get in annuity payment and you have to decide whether you want that annuity payment for life, and if you do, do you also want it with yourself and a spouse. they can run that calculation for you and then you can decide. if you take the annuity payment, you know it s guaranteed for life, but you can also do an i.r.a. rollover and create your own annuity payment. so you need to get guidance on it. thank you. and if you want to do the calculations on your own, don t even need to talk to your employer. go to dinkytown.net, you can plug in your numbers for rollovers. thanks a lot. don t go away, you guys. we ll take a break, but we also want to talk about whether we should take a personal loan to pay off our debts. coming up also later this morning, we ve got hot holiday toys for under $20. they can be found and we ll tell you about the options after these messages. to me. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia muscle pain and then he recommended lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is fda-approved to help relieve the unique pain of fibromyalgia. and with less pain, i can do more during my day. how sweet is that? lyrica is not for everyone. tell you doctor about any serious allergic reaction that causes swelling or affects breathing or skin, or changes eyesight including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. lyrica may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people. some of the most common side effects of lyrica are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands and feet. do not drink alcohol while taking lyrica. you should never drive or operate machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. if you think you might have fibromyalgia, ask your doctor about lyrica. of maxwell house s flavor lock lid. hear that? seals it tight. smells like fresh ground. fresh fresh fresh fre that s our favorite part. .fresh! 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(announcer) it s more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. i love you mom. i love you too. choosey moms, choose jif. we re back withe answers to your financial questions on today s money 911 with jean chatz chatzky, expert david back and cnbc s carmen wong ulrich. natalie is still at dean & deluca across the way. let s all get to it because we don t have a lot of time. from st. joseph, missouri, saree. what is your question? caller: good morning. i m presently working for a university and our retirement package doesn t zest for five years. i would currently leave without retirement because i ve been here 2 1/2 years. i m looking for a backup plan and our school offers a 403(b) or a 457. my question is, is it better to put my money into one of these programs or a roth i.r.a.? i ve heard it can be difficult to get your money out of the 403(b)s, and is it possible for me to still contribute to a 403(b) once i left the university? carmen. yeah, saree, this is a great question. it s nice to have all these options. the 403(b) and the 537 this is a 401(k) for public employees. here s the thing, i would love if you could do both,ecause a 403(b) and a 457 are pretaxed income, right? but you get taxed in retirement. and a roth, this ispost-taxed income, but then you re not taxed in retirement. so, anyone who qualifies for a roth, i d love for you to also have a roth. however, a lot of folks i ve heard so many complaints from people about the options that are there in terms of investing in their 403(b) and 547. so, i d love for you to go look and see what your investment and asset allocations options are. where can you put your money? if you re not happy with the where, then the roth is definitely it. if you had to choose between the two. also, with a roth, you can contribute once you leave the job. i keep hearing you say leave the job, leave the job, so that sounds like it s a possibility. so go with a roth because then a 403(b) you d have to roll over into something else. thank you for your question. now jim in wilmington, north carolina. good morning, jim. caller: my question is, my wife and i own our home. we re in no danger of not making our mortgage payment. we have a couple of credit cards totaling about $20,000, one with 2% rates, one with 30% rates. now, my wife s job is fairly stable, but recently, her employer has cut his matching contribution to her 403(b). my full-time job is not quite as stable, and i have taken also the same cuts in not matching my retirement in my 401(k) and i ve also taken a couple of pay cuts, a couple weeks off work without pay. we re wondering if we would be better off keep making our contribution to our retirement or stopping those contributions and using that little bit of extra money to pay off credit card and put into savings? this seems like a question that would affect a lot of people, jean. a lot of people, and savings right now are your most important element. if you don t have big savings and you think you may potentially be at risk of losing your job, i would just put the money there, make the minimum payments on the credit cards. second choice, put that money against the credit cards and then come back to the 401(k)s and 403(b)s. hopefully, we ll see those matching dollars come back. i m so sorry that we re already out of time, but we have a lot more questions and we re going to continue to do this and help people who are calling in. thank you so much, you three, for good advice this morning. still ahead this morning, something most of the country can use today, a warm brunch treat. but first yum! look at that. yes, we want that. so, what do you think? eh, 30 days max. we ll see about that. two complementary fragrances alternate to keep things. fresh day after day. and not just for 30 days. um. okay. our longest-lasting plugins air freshener lasts for 60. well, that lasted longer than i thought. away for 60 days. with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it s glade. s.c. johnson. a family company. really soft, really smooth lips. my blistex new lip massage. the soft tip smoothes away rough spots, as emollients moisturize and protect. my lips feel amazing. what s the difference between rough winter skin and soft summer skin? jergens ultra healing lotion delivers healing moisture 5 layers deep for softer, visibly smoother skin no matter what the season. jergens ultra healing lotion. the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic s in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. our toy drive is about fun, games and literacy. we want to help every child do the best they can do in school and life and one company that s helped us over the years is encyclopedia britannica. steve, good morning to you. hi, natalie. since 2001, you ve donated $6.3 million to the toy drive. so amazing and so generous. it s fantastic. we re really proud of that and it s great to be back again this year. it s our ninth year with the today show holiday gift drive, and britannica and our online store are just really happy to be here. so, what are you giving for the toy drive this year? this year the britannica online store is donating more than $400,000 in educational toys, books, computer software and online subscriptions to britannica.com. this here is one of our newest toys, a talking map puzzle. steve gilbert, thank you very much, and to all the encyclopedia britannica. thank you. the gift of knowledge is the best there is. the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. finally, all the sweetness of nature and just 5 calories a packet. nature gave us the recipe; just gave it a name. new sun crystals ® all natural sweetener. two natural wonders. one sweet taste™. the holidays are always so busy. gram, the video game thingy s stuck again. remember, you have to jiggle i ( doorbell rings ) we never get the time to tell people stuff. say what you need to say say what you need to say ( holding last note ) wcouldn t have made it through this last year without you, mom. this year, appreciation may be the best gift of all. a hallmark card. it s the biggest little thing you can do. the weather outside is frightful, a lot of rain this morning, not so cold, 46 degrees, our current temperature, we ll check the weather for you coming up very shortly. 9:26 is the time, it s wednesday, december 9, 20. we avoided snow and ice here in washington, we did get some rain, a lot of it out there, let s take a look at what drivers face in tyson s corner. much of northern virginia was under a flood warning, and we ll go to see if the rain is behind us this morning. we have a small chance of a passing shower this morning. look at the radar, the rain has exited no, it s off the eastern shore and we re continuing to move away from the metro area. low 40s in washington, southern maryland near the bay, as the afternoon progresses, we may see a little sunshine breaking out, winds will increase, late this afternoon and overnight tonight, that will bring in some colder weather by tomorrow, and highs tomorrow just near 40 with blustery winds, colder on friday, could stay cold over the weekend. barbara? thank you, tom, and we ll take a look at tra good morning, everyone, it looks like traffic is beginning to settle down, but be careful you may have a couple of spots where high water will be an issue. we have all the day s news coming up for you on news4 midday at 11:0 forgiveness starts with you. forgiveness liberates the soul. it removes fear. that is why it is such a powerful weapon. that is a very good lesson. oscar-winner morgan freeman and also matt damon are also teaming up with another legend in the film world, clint eastwood, who directs this movie. tomorrow we ll get to visit with both mr. eastwood and also mr. freeman about this movie. it sounds fantastic. amazing. looks good as well. i can t wait to see it. meanwhile, coming up this half hour, if you re stressing about spending on your kids, nieces, your nephews, your best friend s children, we have some help. ten hot toys for $20 or less. rfect. the right price. also ahead on a day like today, we have got cold rain in the northeast and a swath of the country now dealing with a huge blizzard, but what could be better than a hearty gourmet brunch for you? we have norwegian gourmet pancakes with a surprise from the slopes just outside of park city, utah. so, looking forward to that. speaking of food, later, we have the top chef host and foodie herself whipping up a one-pot meal. she ll be giving us a preview of the top chef finale. first, let s go to kabul where al roker is standing by with a check of the weather. hey, al. thanks, guys. . we ve talked to some of the soldiers here at camp eggers. some holiday wishes. my two boys, caleb and jacob, husband jesse and parents in north carolina. that s a bad-looking hat. i would like to say hi to my son and my wife and my mom. happy holiday. i love you guys. all righty. i d like to s hello to my husband bob and my daughter. merry christmas. see you soon. i d like to say hello to my beautiful wife anita and timmy in japan and my family in chicago. my son eric, my daughter kirsten and grandson talon in california. my wife kimberly, samuel, jose yif and samuel. that s what s going on first, a couple people over here hi to my mom in mt. vernon, new york! hi to my wife and daughter and my mom still raining on the eastern shore, but the heavy es rain has moved off farther to the east and elsewhere. we still have some low clouds lingering, low 40s around washington and points south and east. a bit milder around the bay. as the day progresses, we may get a little sunshine breaking out by this afternoon, but there s still a chance of passing shower and that s your latest weather. ann? all right, al, thank you so much. coming up next, how do they do that? the science behind olympic sports. but first, these messages. i must have the wrong house. sister? oh, i ve missed you so much. they waited up all night for you, you know. it s a long way from west africa. ahhhhh. coffee. he s here. i brought you something. really? what are you doing? you re my present this year. the best part of wakin up. .is folgers in your cup. [ door closes ] [ inhales ] [ sighs ] that is the power of pine-sol, baby. that is the power of pine-sol, baby. to use new crest extra white plus scope outlast. [ female announcer ] new crest extra white plus scope outlast for a whiter smile and a fresh breath feeling that lasts up to five times longer. [ inhales ] my breath still feels fresh. and how could i resist that smile. [ female announcer ] new crest extra white plus scope outlast. ( sneezing ) i didn t take zicam cold remedy. but i did. can you do it by 3:00 ? yes, i can how about 2:00 ? hmm. get over your cold faster. - no to fake foods. - and yes to real. yes to hellmann s. made with eggs, vinegar and oils. that are naturally rich in omega 3. with all the taste in the world. mmmmmm. hellmann s. it s time for real. hurry to santa s 2 day super sale at toys r us! get amazing doorbuster deals! friday, 3pm til midnight, and saturday, 6am-1! save big on everything on your kids wish list at toys r us, where you ll find more of the hottest toys! plus, all day deals like buy one get o50% off on all video games! this friday and saturday! to build up his savings account. use your debit card for everyday purchases and automatically build your savings. with keep the change®. only from bank of america. so, as a reminder, in february, the top athletes from all over the world will be competing in the world winter olympics in vancouver. and for many of the competitors, their skill and training has been enhanced by some innovative technology designed to help them excel, and our own lester holt is here with more. this is cool stuff. you will never watch olympic sports quite the same after this. it s a uniquecollaboration. nbc is teaming up with nbc olympics. we re producing a 16-part series about the science behind how olympic athletes prepare forhe highest level of competition. watch. in a game known for hard hits, it may be the hardest one of all. the violent collision between stick and puck that produces one of the fastest projectiles in the olympics, the slap shot. my slap shot s at least 200 miles per hour, faster than the pros. to see slapshot physics in action, we went to one of the best and brightest players in of the world. juli chu is a harvard grad and two-time olympic medal winner who will be going for her third medal as a team usa forward in vancouver. for this experiment, chu allowed us to film her slap shot with a phantom cam, a special, high-speed digital camera that can shoot at up to 1,500 frames per second. the high-speed camera is incredible. like, we know that we re flexing the stick a bit, but you might not get the sense that it bends that much under your power or the weight that you re throwing into the puck. ohthat s awesome. reporter: the first step to chu s slap shot is the wind-up. watch how she rotates her upper body until the stick isigh overhead, then how she transfers her weight from back to front skate, swinging at the puck with maximum velocity. you get the stick moving first. it s got a lot of momentum from all your muscles and their action there, a lot of momentum that s then transferred to the puck. reporter: the second step is the key to the slap shot speed. during the swing, chu s stick actually strikes the ice before it hits the puck. instead of slowing the shot, it amplifies it by adding flex to the stick and loading it with potential energy. when you let the stick slap back, it s going to put all of that energy into the puck and that energy s going to translate into the velocity of the puck. reporter: the final step to the slap shot is the follow-through, which ends a bit like a wrist shot. watch how chu uses her wrist and the curve of the blade to impart spin to the puck. like a gyroscope, the spin helps keep the puck stable in flight. when you hit the puck just perfect on a slap shot, it really takes off with some zing and you can just feel it. reporter: especially when a slap shot finds its way to the back of the net. and that phantom cam really, really shows you what happens. unbelievable. we look at that as we look at some other parts of ts series as well. you should also know, we also look at the materials of not only what athletes wear to find that extra, you know, tenth or hundredth of a second, but the difference in skis, blades, all the technology that goes into winning. amazing. seems to me this would be useful in any sport to pretty much any athlete, because looking at this in itself, i could think that the athlete would recalibrate, perhaps, how he or she is doing. i don t think necessarily they are doing the physics calculatio calculations, but they are understanding what it is they have to achieve. more about their mechanics, perhaps. obviously, hockey is a score sport, but skiing, anything like that, you just need an edge. and there is more about this. where can we find it? nbcolympics.com. we re not only looking at ice hockey, but figure skating, curling which, by the way, i did curling for a story upcoming next week. much more athletic than you thought, and there is a science to it. there is a science. very good. i still don t understand it, but well, you ll watch. thank you so much. you can logon to nbcolympics.com or nbclearn.com for more information. thanks. thanks so much. up next, the hottest toys can be yours for just under $20. (announcer) yoplait s perfect blend of real fruit and the goodness of dairy. .is just a peel away. explore all 25 delicious flavors. yoplait. it is so good. got nfl-sized odors in your house? febreze air effects actually eliminates odors in the air and leaves a fresh scent. febreze, official air freshener of the nfl. (announcer) you ve wanted to quit somany times, but those days came and went, and the cigarettes remained. but today s a new day. and a few simple steps can make a real difference in your next quit. things like starting with a plan to quit smoking. .getting support. .and talking to your doctor about how prescription treatments can help you. talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options. and make this time, your time. have come home to custom roasted maxwell house. really great flavor. i love the taste. hmmm. hmmm. smooth. rich. fabulous. is it hmmm? hmmm. (announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. this morning on today s holiday gift guide, the hottest toys for under $20. you don t have to spend a bundle to get a bundle of smiles from kids on the list and shouts of xub rennes. elizabeth warner is here with great help. these kids are having a great ti time. they re playing elefun. it blows out nylon butterflies that they ll catch with their nets and then ty ll count them and see who got the most. and it s $19.99. every emmy and alex having fun. also remmy s father. you guys keep having fun. they want some more. they want some more. this is an educational toy. i love leapfrog. they bring us great educational projects. this is my pal scout. with scout, we re going to touch all of the different parts of his body and he s going to talk to our children. and he s actually personalized. parents can use a cable from the computer, plug it in and incorporate their child s name, favorite color, favorite songs, all sorts of great stuff and they ll be learning as they play with this toy, all the basics, letters, numbers, even about their daily routines. okay. so, for 6 months and up and under $20. that s a good thing. now, for older kids-of-got beads, which kids love, but also candy beads, which are the best. remember the candy necklaces we wore when we were younger? i lived on them! the stickiness around your neck. exactly. this is girl gourmet sweets, the candy beads studio for under $20. they ll be able to make 24 necklaces and bracelets, all with fun candy beads and there s an ink pen like a frosting, so they ll be able to decorate and color on their jewelry. then they can wear it and eat it. and give it away as a nice gift. extra fun for a party. wouldn t that be fun? a play date, yes. action figures are always big. what s new now? transformers so hot because of the movie. the boys, even if they re not old enough to see the movie, they love these characters. they love to transform them, play with them. collectors are searching for these. what i love is for under $20, you can get collectible, fun figures you can play with. and these are great for kids, because it s not a one-time toy. they bring them everywhere they go. i remember my son carrying his action figures. this is a lot of fun. do they come apart and you lose pieces? no, it s all one part and it transforms from the character into an automobile. love that. you get so sad when pieces are lost. exactly. now boys, dolls, there are so many varieties now. there are, and so many great new dolls came out and girls are clamoring for all of them, each one offering something unique. these are the barbie fashionistas. they re cool, they re hip. each one has a different sort of sassy character and different kinds of clothing. they re all posable now so the girls can make poses with them and have a lot of fun. barbie, of course, is also a doctor and astronaut. so, depending what you re looking for for your child, there s a variety. princess tiana, from the new disney movie the princess and the frog is coming out on friday. so girls are looking for the brand new disney princess, the first one in over ten years. we re very excited about her and she s stunning. this is her wedding dress from the movie. beautiful. and these are the live dolls. they re really fun because they have a new type of hair play. this hair is actually a wig. it comes with additional wigs. they can change the wigs out to give them a brand new look, and this time if they cut the doll s hair, not a problem. we can give it a new wig and the doll s not ruined. now the toy that s a blast from the past, or it seems so, is we ve got margaret and yusef, our interns, playing the game. looks like a lot of fun. these are tv games by jakks pacific. what i love is for under $20, you have everything you need to play a game. this is the old-fashioned pacman. this plugs directly into the av in the tv. you don t need a separate gaming console or a joy stick. everything comes built into the actual unit. this one s pacman. they also have atari, but they have new titles like spongebob and spider-man and great things for kids of clearly all ages. [ laughter ] yusef, thank you so much and margaret, thank you so much. look like you re having fun. don t kill each other with that. elizabeth, great ideas. thank you. happy all of it to you. to you too. and for information on any of these toys, logon to todayshow.com. coming up next, a steamy sunday brunch straight off the ski slopes. mm-m announcer: today s holiday kitchen is brought you by hershey s kisses. delightfully delicious, one-of-a-kind kisses. this morning in today s holiday kitchen, a hearty brunch, and we scoured the ski slopes of deer valley, utah, to find chef zane who is here to make our brunch this morning. i have eaten at your place and this is one of the signature dishes. this is one of ours. norwegian potato pancakes, right? norwegian potato pancakes. grated potato, very easy. i ve cooked some bacon and we ve diced our bacon, and an onion, about equal parts bacon and onion. okay. and then a little flour and some herbs, some parsley and chives. and then we have egg whites. egg whites. and we just fluff it just a little bit. all right. and we make a very simple potato pancake. so, no cheese in this yet? not yet. we re going to save the cheese for the end. for the topping. if you want to make it without the bacon, you can, but it s just not the same. the egg white kind of glues it all together. the egg white and flour helps pull this all together. using an ice cream scoop. that s a good way to do it. i like the ice cream scoop. you make nice, even sides. right. get a couple of these going. these are going to cook for about three to four minutes on each side. flatten them down. we are going to get them going. then we move on to our pancakes that are cooking. that s great. so, we ve had these going for just a few minutes. and we want to have nice, golden brown, kind of a rustic look. until the potato looks cooked. exactly. we ve already cooked the potato, so we re going to give it that hash brown look. okay. then we re going to make our cheese sauce. and this is with jarlsberg cheese. it s norwegian cheese, similar to a swiss, with holes in it. then a little cornstarch and little cold water, just so we can hold this sauce together. and we re going to add that to our sauce. we want to make sure this comes up to a boil. that just kind of thickens up the whole sauce. it is. this is our milk and this is our cream. then we re going to add our jarlsberg. we ve grated it. and you can find jarlsberg at most markets or a cheese store. and i ll tell you, loading up before going out on the slopes, this is the perfect meal for that, right? it s got plenty of calories to get you through a cold ski day. exactly. or a day like today, where it s raining here or blizzards across the country. raining here. it s snowing in utah. we have great snow already. all right. so, i make a cheese sauce, and i m going to use a little pepper. a pinch of salt. and a bit of our salt. i see a fresh nutmeg there. we are. we re going to use our nutmeg grater and grate a little nutmeg. ooh. that sounds amazing. don t want to grate your finger with that. and you have the jarlsberg cheese sauce. and let s see how it s plated. we re going to serve it up. how are you? ann curry. and you actually do a side of cranberry sauce? we made our cranberry sauce cranberries, sugar, lemon, a little bit of orange, salt and pepper. zest. and we ve made our pancakes and they re ready. there you go. they re kind of warm we re running out of time. we poached our egg. look a i love christmas because i love to shop. i get a rush finding just the right gifts. glam accessories, cashmere sweaters, designer bags. this year, my sister turned me on to t.j. maxx. because they strike the deal directly with designers, the savings go directly to me. chasing sales at the mall? i d rather hang with my sugarplums. once a fashionista. now, i m a merry maxxinista. t.j. maxx. our time right now is 9:56, 42 degrees, cloudy skies out there, some areas are getting rain still, good morning to you, i m joe krebs and we did forecast the snow and ice for this morning. here s a look at what drivers face this morning in tyson s corner. well, viewers off to our west are getting snow and sleet and ice this morning. as we take a look at the radar now, we do have rain now exiting the eastern shore, heading on up into new england, flight delays from there up into new york city and boston this morning. there s a small chance of rain moving in later this afternoon. our temperatures are in the upper 30s to low0s. we ll have perhaps temperatures recovering into the low 50s. winds will pick up though, late this afternoon, overnight tonight, and that will bring in some colder weather, partly cloudy, windy and cold on sunday. still a bit breezy and highs on saturday near 40. getting some light snow on sunday, maybe some rain midweek next week. one intersection has a problem all morning long, 15th street and constitution avenue. apparently the drainage system not functioning. moving along relatively smoothly now across the 14th street bridge. more news for weather and traffic coming up in just about sleigh bells ring are you listening who is senate? one guess. barbra streisand. one more. i wonder who it could be. it s my cheesy rendition of walking in a winter wonderland. gone away is bluebird you can t get it anymore except on ebay. donny deutsche rocking. yes. mr. casual. kathie lee requested donny can you wear jeans tomorrow? when i say a guy th likes the way you dress, this is important you. yes. nice. he looks very cute. donny has been giving us the male s perspective. our friends are facebook are enjoying him. i m sure they are with that tight sweater. i m just saying. wednesday, december 9th. it is usually matinee wednesday. but today we are doing something i m so excited about. we will finally get to see the movie nine. harvey weinstein produced with daniel day lewis. looking so forward to it. rob marsha is one of my all-time favorite directors and she nice man. looking forward to that. she plays his mama. yes, she does. how about that for a hot mama? more tiger stuff. brace yourselves. buckle up. there s a little more. yesterday when we left you there was a woman on a stretcher and weren t 100% sure who she was. it has been revealed that the woman is elin s mother. tiger s mother-in-law. she is stomach pains and taken away by ambulance. and then there was a 911 call that came in to dispatchers and weren t 100% sure whether it was elin or her twin sister. they are identical. let s take a listen to the 911 call. it is so sad to hear. my dad collapsed once in his final years. it was the middle of the night. could you hear i heard the thud and rushed upstairs and there he was. it is just you really do panic. you do not know what to do. to think about what elin is going through now, one thing you watch your household really crumble. your world. falls apart. then your mother like only so much you can take. are you surprised they are still in the same home. yes. that has to be a chilly home in florida. i couldn t believe when i heard elin was still in there. it would see she would leave. every time you open the paper, there s another fit the mold, too, don t they? there is another one. by the way shall everybody, yoknow by now, we don t know what is true and what isn t true. a lot of these people people getting paid by different sources to tell their stories. in fact, okay, magazine on the cover is that rachel oouk teicc. she said i m not a tramp. the post, showing her at the gym here in new york. it is not like she is under cover somewhere. she s out in the open. she said she never mentioned tiger once in the ok magazine interview. may have been part of her deal if there was a zbleel can i say something about thisring? first of all, we want to say thank you to the party souls out there. we don t understand why they are there. god bless them. kathie lee. and hoda. it is sweet. i woke up this morning. my kreeling in my apartment is leaking. okay. what floor are you on? i m on the sixth floor. there s a seventh. there is a balcony over me. wonder what the seventh is like. the outdoor balcony is on my rife. i woke up and literally i almost slipped going up the stairs. it is leaking i have like i have a small apartment. leaking all over the place. this is when you are grateful have you a landlord. but i called it is raining. they said that last time. i called twice. how long i have been trying to get to you move? you are a huge television star! huge! you should not be living there. move. what can i tell you? it is so upsetting. when i go home it will be drenched. it is raining all day long and they can t do anything. frank couldn t get in the morning to do morning joe. making sure everything is clean in our lobby. she comes in from the poconos every day, two hours for her to get here. my assistant, christine, can t get in because there is flooding in our area. in the middle of the country, huge snowstorm. if you look at the pictures of iowa nebraska. nebraska, i mean, it is like a blanket of white. that s sara country we are talking about. iowa is sara country. yes, it is. in the meantime, the salahis what are they doing? well, they were asked, i think, to sbe what happened and pleading the fifth, we read. they have been subpoenaed. that s different being asked. i was asked once to testify before congress. i was grateful to have the chance to do it. but being subpoenaed is something that s not nice. i think who was it that i think will he ehrmann i heard say at least they have been invited to something. invited to appear before congress. they are not going say anything. what happened. because that would incriminate them, obviously. their lawyer probably told them look, don t say a word. you are going to incriminate your self- they say they have evidence and information that prove they were supposed to be there. let s see it. yes. let s see it. i tell you, i don t want any of these situations to be solved except for tiger s because what are we going to talk about. how about the surf that s up? surf is up. look at this video from the main island of oahu, north side of the island. 50-foot waves. crazy. i had a friend who died i don t mean to make it so personal. sorry. lived a long time. a friend of mine named mark fu, one of the top surfers in the world, was killed on a wave. you are kidding me. no. young kid. all right. let s talk looks fun but it ain t. birds and bees. so we should be talking to jenny mccarthy about this. she is the expert. she is on this stuff. there is a study that basically what they are saying parents are waiting to long to talk to their children about sex. when they are embryos is when it is time now. they said 40% of adolescents have had sex and never had the conversation with their parents about it, about anything, birth control, stds, the whole deal. you know what when my kids were little i was told by 8 years old, you have to have the talk by 8 years old. third grade? yes. yes. it was the last week of cody being 8 and i finally locked the door in the bathtub it seems very strange to tell your kid about sex when they are playing with their little gi joe guys, you know. it was the funniest thing. cody said i don t want to, mom, i m busy. no, no. i sat down and we talked. he went like this. but how do you tell an 8-year-old like this. what do you tell an 8-year-old? he went through the whole thing. what did you tell him? i told him that our bodies are a gift from god. temple of the holy spirit. we are to honor it and honor god with our body. i tried to make it spiritual. i m not sure he remembers that. but i said that sex is a gift from god. and that did he even know what you were talking about? yeah. no. but the funniest thing is he listened and finally he goes, mom, can i watch rug rats now? the cutest part is about oh, eight months later, we are watching something on tv. a guy and girl are kissing and it fades. mom, it is not the end of the story, huh? he said that? yeah. yeah. he got it. he got it. he got it. sara, we need to talk to sara. she has not heard about the birds and bees yet. stop. it when i was a nanny they told the kids the summer i was there. i guess the little boy s reaction was you did that twice? oh, my gosh. i wonder we have our guys tell all. they have to remember serious thing, sara. video is the important thing. but they are not remembering we node to know what you look like. we need your video. that s the truth. that s what you said. do it on the phone, flip video, whatever you have to do. it needs to be quick. we need a videotape. we want to see it. wait a minute. bring in jenny. just because. christmas cd. along with everything else. she has everything going. how are you? we are going to see you later in the show. my new fitness program. jim s movie is a huge hit. a talk show with oprah. merry little christmas let s listen. we will be back after these messages. how sweet. from now on birth knows how hard it is to take off those pounds. she was pregnant with her son evan and credits weight watchers to regain her incredible figure. continuing with her commitment to healthy living, jenny partnered with the video game company unisoft to develop your shape, a new wii exercise game. you are looking better. you are getting tynier. it s the jeans. i don t think so. imagine that. life is good. life is good. tell us about the talk show. you shot a pilot. i shot a pilot. at harpo? i shot 14 over 14 years. this time have you the big o behind it. you have oprah behind you this time. i hope. i really do hope. is this for o network or syndication? syndication. don t go on at 10:00. it is a late-afternoon show. i like that. tell bus this wii game. they came to me to show me their newest technology. a camera that comes with a game and projects your image on to the screen so you are actually working out with the trainer. and the camera actually scans your body. that s the bad part. no. so it can keep track of your movements if you are doing it wrong and corrects you. you don t need a controller. you don t need a stand-up pad. controller-free. there s over 400 different exercises. do instand in front? it is watching you. i m just doing a little march to warm up. there s only supposed to be one person on the screen. get out. you are on. do it. hoda! there you go. do it. you have to start doing something. arms. move them. you got it. what are the percentages over there? it is telling you how percentage you are using. she is right on target, it would go up further. you are going way too slow. if you screw up go faster. see, it is telling you that you are doing it wrong. because i m just supposed to do what you do. you want to stick with the timing. the great thing about it is it does a fitness test on you before the game. it knows how fast you should go or shouldn t go. follow me. stop being lazy. do a different one. she s doing it in heels. i know, i know. that s cool. i love that. okay. you already feel something. you are doing something. yoga and you can incorporate if have you a yo good ball or hand weights. i want to tell the game to do a workout with these things and you can. all of a sudden, holding just the heavyweights. in time for the movie to come out, too. perfect. it certainly is. have you other things going on in your life, too. so jim s daughter is having a baby. just got married and pregnant. yes. she is having a baby in february, march. you are going to be a grandmother. yes. i m very proud to be a grandma. don t ask. stop it. stop it. you don t want to know. no. the hardest thing for me is not butting in. like i of course, want to be like this is what you should do like most grandmas do. i have to try to back off. what do you want the baby to call you? grandma! you do not. yes. honestly? of course. i cannot wait for menopause. watch what you wish for. twittering about cramps and now i m talking about menopause. no, i m excited and she is excited and jim sex sited. evan is doing well. evan is awesome. he is in new york with me having a ball. i love him. jenny, good luck. good. christmas present. very, very good. coming up next, what you really get when you order edible gifts online. uh-oh. right after this. back with today s holiday gift guide. advice before you click on the culinary gift package. if you plan to send something tasty and nice, make sure you check it twice to make sure you get what you paid for and advertised. janice lieberman is here to help. happy holidays. you went online and ordered things. we did. typical things you would like to send your best friends or your family for the holidays. we wanted to see if it looks like the picture on the website. i bet there s mixed results. let s start with flowers. 1-800-fluors. this washe presentation. right here. they look okay here. they were kind of wilt when he got them. they did open up. squished in a box. a vase like this. that was $50. some people we spoke with said you can get this at the supermarket cheaper. they look i m sorry because i want everybody to do well but they look like they have been around the corner. they pride themselves on their flowers and will replace or refund. that s what it is supposed to look like. you say that if you order overnight you are going to pay a premium. you don t even know. i mean, omaha steaks, it says free shipping, free shipping, free shipping all over their website. okay. fine. so we order the steaks. we needed it the next day. free shipping all over. that added 40 buck. if you need it the next day an extra 40? yes. not free shipping overnight. they tell you that when you get to checkout. once it gets there it is good. $70 for this. i don t know if you want to taste anything. baked potatoes. does the cake come with it? good everything comes frozen. it does not look as luscious as it looks on the website. you have to cook it. people were pleased. lobster. lobsters come in live. okay. this one was cooked, thank goodness. i held it up. snapping back at me. people are happy with this. this was a good deal. like six lobsters for $110. we didn t have to pay for the overnight shipping on that. i don t want them to come five days dead. that s a good gift. all right. talk about this this looks like whatever cost it would be worth it. who knows. cheesecake factory. donny thinks so, too. looks delicious. this is eir red velvet cheesecake. $50. $30 in shipping. overnight. that s an $80 cake. overnight. overnight. you can go pick it up and bring it to a friend from cheesecake factory. does it come fresh? it is crazy good. this is so good. i can t stand it. oh, my god. unbelieve zblabl beautiful presentation. i would pay 100 buck force that cake. i love harry and david. fantastic company. gift tower. their fruit came in nice. pears are okay. they show on the website the cherries and the nuts. look how beautiful it looks. what do you really get? to us, it looked like an airline package. it does. i m standing up for harry and david, too. they are delicious. nice and fresh. they have to pack it appreciate and that s the freshest way it can be packed. they tell you the exact ounces and stick to it. did you have the like sometimes the fruit is not ripe and you have to let it. it which is okay. you don t want a super ripe eat all of it at once. the fruit you were happy with. we were happy with that. 40 bucks for the gift to youer. that was fair. godiva, fabulous company. this was a little over a pound. maybe a pound and a half for truthful truffles. $120. i figure like like a couple buck as bite. they came in nice. presentation was nice. if you go to a local place, this is in buffalo, new york, you know. a pound is like $35. great segment. great advice. still to come, how to make your house sparkle for christmas. the weather has caused some major problems and i m joe krebs, also coming up on news4 midday, the latest from the northern virginia community college where an armed student apparently stormed a classroom. the campus is closed right now. when students can return and more on who the police say may we are back on this wednesday with today s countdown to christmas. a do it yourselfuide to decking your hall. robin moreno is a contributor to women s day magazine. best ideas for christmas. she is here to show us how to put those things to use. hey, robin. hey, robin. i m already looking at a new spin on sort of the wreath. something new. you have cool stuff around your house. if you are a crafty babe, you probably have buttons. i got these from joanne s. all you need is glue here. even if you are not a crafter, really easy. this one is fun. very modern. it changes the silhouette. it is going to square instead of a circle. this is an old picture from time to time. cute. we reused. wrap it in sequins and tucked in leaves. it is mod. get at craft stores. yeah. hobby lobby. joanne s or whichever you want. if you are like into greens, i love spray paint. crazy for the spray paints. all we did was spray paint some aves and somehow makes it more chic and really easy. it is. so a lot of us break christmas ornaments over the years. you found another way we can use these broken ornaments. exactly. bring some recycling. into your christmas. which has s always a good thing this time of year. they pull them outnd half the ornaments are broken. instead of tossing them. in a vase. that s smart. it is easy. easy. easy. where do you get these? i don t see these. beautiful. i got those at joanne s. you like joanne s. cork screw. all right. what did these used to be? the thing stockings. if you want to be crafty is the easiest thing to make. again if you are not a crafter. this is an old skirt of mine. this is may old pajamas. all you do is just trace like the old felt stocking and you could hand sew it or use like fusible bonding. this is probably a great craft for your kids because it is so fundamentally easy. it is easy. don t you think? it is really fun. yeah. trying to ralph lauren up it up with the stockings. what have you done? go to any design stores. you probably pay a lot of money. go outside and bring the outdoors in. send the kids outside and grab pine cones, greenery, stuff them in the stoc zblgs before santa comes. exactly. put them around your house. going over real good with the kids christmas morning. exactly. we will trade them out for really fun gifts. what do we have over here? again, sort of keeping with this i would say country feel, birch bark is a really fun thing to play with. i don t know if you ever used it before. i don t know what it is. nursery. it is inexpensive and you just wrap things, shavings. so all we did they sell it like this? they sell it like this or this. this is the actual tree. you wouldn t think it would be worth much. this is all about, you know, using stuff you wouldn t normally think you would use. all we did was natural look. wrapped this around an old glass vase and sustainly looks cool. oh, my god, amazing. you made it. you can use hot glue. if you are not a hot glue person, all you do is twist wire and we can wrap it with ribbon. you wanted to show people how easy it is to do. put a nice candle on top of that, too. make sure it has a glass around it. the sky is the limb. it she s smart. crafty. hello. this one is a little bit harder. if you are into power tools, power tool chick yeah, we are into power tools. we see this as craft fairs and those booths. whirl. country. all you actually do is just get a saw and you cut birch wood and then you just attach like little twigs. it is really easy do. you do need a power drill. don t give it to your 6-year-old. if you can hang a picture frame you can do this. lastly over here, decorate your window. exactly. people are going to come to your house. get in the the spirit as soon as they come in. so there s different greens that last all year long. evergreens obviously. it is a good thing when people first come in. that s a great idea. like the holly and pines. if you want to go fake go for it. is that poinsettia? poinsettia. it is climactic. all of these are very she s so competitive. great to see you. all right. up next, one-pot dish for you new year s bash. look how pretty. right after this. kitchen and one-pot recipe from padma. she says it is easy and delicious. best part of all it can bring you good luck. that s right. padma, it brought you good luck, baby. it did. how are you feeling? i feel great, actually. do you? due in the spring. do you know the sex of the baby? i do but i m not saying. mystery woman. we love you anyway. i want to tell you before we start talking about top chef, i making lentils. lentils in italian culture where i lived for years is good luck. so people have it for new year s. it is a tradition to have lentils. always on new year s eve because the lentils symbolize little coins. it is for prosperity. it is also a great one-pot dish. they are delicious. very nutritious. very knew trishous. great fiber and great protein. what else do you have in there? all i m doing is browning onions, bay leaves, and garlic with the sausage. i m using this sausage. you can use any kind of sausage. not flavored, sage? ? i don t know. there s there is sage in this dish. all do you is let that brown like you see. and then precook lentils. lentils are really easy these lentils easy to cook. one cup of lentils and three cups of salted water and just boil that for like 15 minutes. you like the dark lentils, padma? i do because they have more flavor, french lentils. can we get a slash of your ring/bracelet combo? that s gorgeous. is this one of yours? yes, it is. it is from the padma collection. i cook with this all the time. it is very convenient. hyper feminine. it is so pretty. as i m cooking this. i m going to add two cups of chicken stock. if you wanted to make this a vegetarian dish, you could totally use vegetable stock and leave out the sausage. and then we are putting artichoke hearts. i love. and all we are using is oregano. what s this? sage. which is really nice and wintry. and then re chili flakes. whole thing? yes. you want to let this bubble. you said pepper is incredibly important in the winter months. tell us why that is. red pepper and black pepper. red pepper it raises the heat in your body. raises circulation. and it has chemical in it. what it does is it actually is known to raise your metabolism, you know. in the olden days we believed it made men virile. does it, donny? oh yeah. while this is cooking, padma, how is everything going on top? i m so glad the finale is going to air because finally i don t have to keep my mouth shut anymore. which is something i m really not good at. how long has it been since you have known the results? i have known for a few weeks. i mean, we we don t film the actual finale until as close as we can get. to keep the secret. it is better that way. you are adding whole milk? no. i m adding buttermilk. stop it. yeah. at the end. you can see how it is cooked down and the colors change. i m adding buttermilk just to give the sauce a nice thick, gooeyness. i m adding fresh parsley. and that s really it. i use buttermilk i use kosher salt or sea salt. i love the buttermilk because it is more sour than cream and it is not as fattening. but it makes sounds like it would be. buttermilk sounds like it would be. yeah. i think the finale is going to knock your socks off, by the way. yeah. so juicy. i can t tell you anything interesting about it. i have a couple of brothers. i can tell you that. and there s also you know, another contestant. just try this. i m really anxious for you guys to see if you like it. this is great for red velvet zblak new year s. one-pot dish and great the next day when have you a hangover. i always make double. wholesome for a winter. lots of pepper. congrats on top chef and congrats on the new baby. padma s recipe is on our website. you can catch again the big finale of top chef tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central. tonight. look how cute you are. up next, donny s back for more straight talk. that s what he calls it. right after this. all week long donny deutsche deutsche. you mo who i mean. has been sharing the male side of the story. his point of view of the issues we talked about the past hour. he s back. let s go to our viewers questions. people want to ask you things. sherry wants to know how serious are younger guys about older women. that s a very good question. first of all, it depends on the guy. you can t make a blanket statement. i personally as a man, i know a lot of men feel that way, i find men older more beautiful, sexier. i m not saying it to sound good to the audience. month, no. more comfortable with their bodies. more comfortable with their sexuality and more to offer. when i see a 52-year-old guy and 23-year-old they look like idiots. don t ever lie about your age. it shows insecurity and if guys don t like your age you are who you are. all right. rachel wants to know can you tell when a man actually loves you and when is the proper time to sayt to a man? okay. do you say it first? you should never say it first. i don t care does it scare a guy off? it is not that. men want to feel as a woman, you should wait for a guy to say it. i think that once again, a lot of guys difference between a guy saying and it knowing if a guy loves you. if you have to ask that question, the answer may not be the right answer. don t ask it. just because a guy doesn t say it doesn t mean he doesn t love you. how do you know if a guy loves you? if you question that in your bones the probably is he doesn t. that s a good answer. good point. stephanie wants to know why do men cheat instead of just moving on? good question. i m going to give you an answer that s not going to be necessarily popular but true. a lot of men cheat to stay in the marriages. it is very interesting. listen to me. you brought me in for this reason. listen to me. they don t want to lose their families. they have whatever urges are out there so they rationalize themselves oh, the way i will keep my family together is i will just fill this little you know, this little gap other places. that s one of the reasons are you seriously thinking that? there is a reason they can t they want everything. you think that could very well blow up their lives. people don t think that through. the average person oh, you know, i m going to just leave my husband or wife, so a lot of people cheat because that s the way they stay in it. it is wrong. once again. i m not saying it is the right thing. you are asking me the question. why don t they just leave if they have turnlg to cheat? do they feel bad even if they are not caught? i think a man does. a good man does. look in the mirror i have not been a saint my whole life. you feel bad. transgressions. you know what i always say this to people. you look in the mere wror and you know. if you continue to do it it is a different story. once again, i think people cheat for a host of reasons. there are many people that cheat but still like their family lives. that sounds contradictory. it is the truth. it is the way guys operate. clint eastwood said in an interview he said he had his years of doing that. he s sick of it now. o.d. on his life. as you age 79. come on, clint. i love clint eastwood. let s take another one. megan wants to know is three months into a relationship too early to buy gifts? like a birthday gift, christmas gift? first of all, it is christmas. you are with somebody three months small. yeah. there s different kinds of statements. guys love gifts. we live in a society where it is always thought of. man gives a woman gifts. there s nothing nicer than when a woman surprise as guy i saw this the other day flowers, something. it just is great. don t be afraid to do that. it shows you are generous and thinking. err rr on the side of generous. you are not making a wrong statement by doing that. we have time for a few more. sheilah wants to know do men really think plus-sized women are sexy? this man does. the one thing i hate kate moss the other week comes out guys like curves. there is a difference between curves and plus size. i happen to personally like women who are not like this. do all men like bigger women? men are different. be who you are. be your best you. there are so many gorgeous women out there that are size 8s and 10s, 14s. 14 is the average. i blame so many of the women s magazines. it is the women. do you it to yourselves. you are in the advertising business. you do it to yourself by the images you put out. we are our own worst enemies. thank you so much. thank you so much. thank you. we will be back with more of today on nbc. one of the best things about the holidays families preparing meals and baking goodies together. one of our toy drive contributors is help families get the tools they need to share in that tradition. dan is with pampered chef and a wonderful dough inauguration. this is something the company does all year long. dan. hi, dan. thanks for having us. this is our sixth year of participating. we are delighted to be back. this year, as we are the largest seller of kitchen tools, $100,000 worth of kitchen tools for kids designed to get them into the kitchen and spend time with their families. christmas is about creating memories it is a chance for them to create delicious treats with their moms, dads and families in the kitchen. learn something along the line. exactly. perfect time of year for that. dan, thank you so, so much foyour donation. hope you make it home today with this bad weather. thank you. thank you for coming to new york. thanks for having us. we will be collecting toys for two more weeks. come to the plaza with a gift or go to the website and find out how you can contribute through our friends at amazon.com. we will be back. this is the end. we are not coming back. well, tomorrow we will be. curtis stone is back. and billy ray cyrus.