Vending Machine Dispenses Gold; Gays in the Military
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: This is it a first of a kind vending machine spitting out bars, not chocolate bars. Tory Dunnan from CNN affiliate WPBF has the story.</s>TORY DUNNAN, WPBF CORRESPONDENT: If you're looking for that 100 Grand candy bar, you might just get something in a similar shape that may be worth a grand.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think of a vending like a coke or a candy bar maybe, or gum, but gold? It's unbelievable.</s>DUNNEN: Instead of a liquid drink in an aluminum can, how about a solid gold bar. The "Gold to Go" ATM machine is the first of its kind right here in Florida.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boca Raton is Wall Street south.</s>THOMAS GEISSLER, GOLD TO GO INVENTOR: You come home, the chocolate is gone. Flowers, they are out two days later. You come home with gold, it will last for the next 5,000 years and gets much more points.</s>DUNNAN: Reporter: These gold ATMs are in three continents now and this is actually the 20th machine. But in order to make sure the consumer gets the right market value of gold. The machine resets itself every ten minutes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the easiest way. You cut out the middleman.</s>DUNNAN: Right now the cap is set at two ounces, a price value at just less than three grand. If you don't like it, return it within ten days.</s>STEVE TUNNICLIFFE, SHOPPER: I never even imagined I would see this, but great. I'm not sure how it's useful, but I'm intrigued.</s>DUNNAN: If you're used to getting chocolate that melts, remember the only bar you get won't melt in your mouth or your hands.</s>GRIFFIN: Lots of news this hour, including an historic vote in the Senate to end don't ask, don't tell. I'm Drew Griffin in for Fredricka Whitfield this afternoon. Let's get right to it. We're monitoring Capitol Hill, that is where the Senate is set to begin a final vote now on repealing the Pentagon's controversial don't ask, don't tell policy on gays in the military. It should be just a formality because of what happened earlier today in the Senate. Right now let's bring in CNN's congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill. Brianna, I said it should be a done deal. That's the way it looks, right?</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It basically is. Because even though the Senate hasn't had the vote and we are awaiting this, this is the moment, make no mistake about it, this is the moment where the Senate will send out of Congress a repeal of don't ask, don't tell so that men and women can serve in the military, so they can be openly gay and it's not going to be a problem for them. But this follows a very important vote that we did see a few hours ago that had to clear a higher vote hurdle of 60 votes. It passed 63-33 with the support of six Republicans. So what we know -- it's kind of in a way I guess you could say a foregone conclusion. We know that this vote is going to pass. Make no mistake about it, Drew; this remains a very controversial issue. I thought it was very interesting when we were listening to Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who votes generally with Democrats, especially on issues like this, he said this is about righting a wrong. But we heard from Senator John McCain, obviously a Republican, and he said this is a distraction and we're concerned that it's going to cost lives. This is still very much a controversial issue, even as the Senate is poised to repeal don't ask, don't tell and send this to the president's desk, Drew.</s>GRIFFIN: Brianna, I had not heard a lot from the Republicans, Mitch McConnell in particular, about this. They had six Republicans cross over and vote with the Democrats on this. Have you gotten any reaction there?</s>KEILAR: No. I think we're going to be getting some more reaction as this passes because even though, as we've said, it's pretty obvious that this is going to be moving along here, the moment is going to come here momentarily. I believe actually they're proceeding here through this vote. Then we're going to get the actual reaction to when it really does clear the Senate.</s>GRIFFIN: All right. Stand by, Brianna. Because we're going to be watching this through the hour. Maybe even the next few minutes as history is being made. Mean while, we want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara Starr has been reporting on don't ask, don't tell, for I don't want to say how many years, Barbara. Can you believe we're on the verge of perhaps getting rid of this?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Drew, this is a historic moment. I think for myself and pretty much anybody else who covers the military, the bottom line is, let's be very clear here. We have all known gay and lesbian members of the United States military. We have watched as they have been fearful of basically being booted out of military service against their will. This is a moment of history. There are many countries, many military services, around the world that have already done this and moved along and had no issues. The thing to watch here, many people will say, people like Senator John McCain, is the reaction from the front line combat forces, especially the front line units in the army and the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps commandant, General James Amos has expressed very deep reservations about this move, saying he fears it will be a distraction to marines fighting in Afghanistan. But the vote is going to move ahead. So what happens next? What will the Pentagon do next? Well under this law that's about to pass, it will begin to work on planning getting ready to help educate and train the troops, change any policies and procedures. Then they have to certify that through the president and then it all goes into effect 60 days after certification. So already gay and lesbian members are still being cautioned until all of that is done, it's not done just yet.</s>GRIFFIN: Barbara, to go back when this all started 17 years ago, a Bill Clinton policy basically, to allow gays to stay in the military as long as they didn't tell anybody they were gay, would you say -- I mean, the country has moved and also hasn't the military itself moved in a way to looking at gays more openly and more welcome?</s>STARR: Well, you know, the Pentagon finished that months-long survey asking the force, asking military troops, surveying them and their families about what they thought about all of this. And overwhelmingly the troops said for them it wasn't a big deal. You have to remember, the U.S. military is mainly full of young people who have grown up in a circumstance in this country where this is not an issue anywhere in society really these days, except in the U.S. military. I think it's very fair to say some of the older people in more senior positions are very privately expressing their reservations. I can tell you besides General Amos there are certainly are other senior officers with stars on their shoulders who have reservations and some who don't. So perhaps the military does what it normally does. It reflects society and reflects the changing sort of priorities, values, and societal beliefs. I think a good deal of the younger people in the U.S. military really have moved beyond this issue. That's what the survey that the Pentagon conducted really seemed to reflect, Drew.</s>GRIFFIN: All right. Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent. Barbara I'm sure they'll just follow the orders no matter what Congress tells them to do and tell them to do it well. Let's bring in Karen MaGinnis who as we're watching this historic vote on Capitol Hill, Karen, there's been tons and tons of snow falling out west.</s>KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. This will rival significant rain and snow event that we saw across the west coast back in 2005 where there was lots of flooding. Right now there are reports that they are telling folks in these central valley regions where to get sandbags. That's what the danger is that we're looking at now. Look at some of the rainfall totals, over half a foot at Nature Point. Now, we have seen lesser amounts and certainly before this storm system is over with we're going to see significant amounts more. Area of low pressure just kind of parked off the Pacific Northwest coast, and we're watching this pineapple express as it's known, this long fetch of moisture coming in off the Pacific. So just copious amounts of moisture, and this system isn't going to budge a lot. This area of low pressure is going to spin off other little systems that will kind of reinforce the cold air, reinforce that moisture and make things very miserable, especially if you're traveling along interstate 80 from Sacramento to Reno. The winds will get you. Also the flooding rains. You go into those higher elevations and you're going to see significant snowfall. What do we mean by significant snowfall? You could see up to 10 feet before it's all said and done as we close in across Christmas Eve. Here are some of the wind gusts. Nothing terribly dramatic right now, generally speaking 30 to close to 50 miles an hour. But this area of low pressure, we've got a very strong pressure gradient here, as a result, this moisture is going to be intensified over the next couple of days. Generally what we're looking at is through the Sierra, Nevada, the Cascades, even if standing over to the Great Basin, this is a significant rain/snow event as we say, Drew. It's not letting up at least over the next three to five days.</s>GRIFFIN: All right. Karen thanks a lot for that. We'll keep track of that through the rest of this weekend. Tensions on the North Korean -- the Korean. South Korea is planning for another military exercise. Meanwhile New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is meeting with North Korea leaders. They are going to talk about that volatile region right after this break.