1-18-10

In case you missed it...

• The studio members talked about their weekends. Deirdre drank wine this weekend and has decided that its too fattening and too bloating so she's not going to drink again until March 21st (Rosie's birthday.) Jeannie made it known that she is NOT stopping drinking (just for clarification purposes). Rosie stopped drinking once for 8 years when she was performing in the comedy clubs and last year was her "year without beer."  Surprisingly Jackie and Jeannie (her longtime bffs) were the ones who gave Rosie the hardest time for it!

• Janette talked about her weekend and how she was not chosen by The Bridge Foundation to go to Haiti and deliver relief supplies but how Barry (her boyfriend of 13 years) was. Barry went to Haiti with The Bridge Foundation where over 90% of the donations they receive goes directly to helping the people in need. Rosie recommended the site charitynavigator.org to find a charity you can trust. Janette talked about the future needs of this country when the giving has subsided and the country has not yet fully recovered. Janette said it will take years for Haiti to get back on their feet. Rosie talked to Madonna this weekend who has given her money to the organization Partners In Health.  Rosie has followed Madonna's lead on this and has also given to this charity. Rosie mentioned her concern for the orphans of Haiti because many of the people who run the adoptions in the country have been killed by the earthquake. Rosie is hoping to get foster parents in the U.S. to help. Rosie talked about the beautiful gifts you receive when you become a foster parent and she's hoping more people will step up and volunteer to take some of the children in need.

• Rosie asked about how Barry's heart is doing since having visited such a horrible situation. Janette said that Barry has been to Kosovo, Rwanda, the Congo, and Iraq, and that this is his 5th trip to deliver supplies to people in need. On this trip Barry saw a young girl die right in front of him and said "it was the saddest thing he has ever seen." He watched as the hospital personnel then carried her body across a courtyard and "drop her body in the garbage." Janette understands that there are bodies all over and you can't blame the Haitian people but it was very sad for Barry to witness. He also told Janette about dropping off one box of supplies to a hospital where a nurse asked him if she should use the last IV she had to save the person she knew she could save or use the last IV on the person who might survive. The nurse ended up using the IV on the person she knew she could save and the boy who might have survived ended up dying.  The most heartbreaking part was that Barry was delivering IVs in his supply box so although it was heartbreaking, he knows that the supplies they are bringing will save lives. So there is still hope. To give to Janette's organization visit:

Click to visit The Bridge Foundation and give.

"The more you give the more you get." Rosie O'Donnell

• Rosie and the studio talked about a telethon that is to take place on January 22nd at 8pm EST hosted by Wyclef Jean, George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper. The three will host "Hope for Haiti," to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT. Be sure and tune in and give if you can. Rosie suggested that there should be a "6 figure cover charge" for all the celebrities who offer to do it and she to be involved with the telethon herself if they would like her to be.

• The Oprah Winfrey "people" were in the studio today taping the B-Roll. Rosie was "braless and in her pajamas" and loving it. They requested to also interview her kids who were home in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Rosie tuned into Larry King Live last night and could only listen for about 5 minutes and then had to turn it off. He talked to a heartbroken father who has not heard from his daughter in 5 days who was in Haiti staying at the Hotel Montana doing charitable work. The father was pleading for Larry to help them. Rosie talked about how people often think because you're a celebrity you have "powers" that other people do not have. She told her own story of a woman who came to the True Colors Tour last year and was trying to get her son out of foster care and also needed a large sum of money. Rosie didn't see how she could help and now the woman is writing to her saying things like "how dare you say you care about Haiti and you won't even help my son or my family." And the children of the family send her letters asking her for help too. That must be an unbelievable burden to carry.  They talked about what it must be like for photographers in a disaster zone and how they can possibly deal with the images they are seeing.  They took a caller who's daughter was in Haiti during the earthquake but was now safely back home thanks to the U.S. military.

• The Oprah Countdown Clock says 3 days until Oprah!!!  Rosie said she "JJilled out" (meaning bought lots of JJ clothes) and she got some clothes off Etsy.  They should all be delivered today. Parker was in the studio to talk about his first press conference at the TCA convention. Parker said there was nothing that was asked that was too hard for him to answer.

Parker and Rosie at the TCA Convention in Pasadena, CA

•  Rosie and Parker told the story about when she hit Parker in the head with a dictionary two years ago. Rosie said "soft covered dictionary" and Parker said "it was not soft covered." Parker said it was effective because he doesn't want that to happen again. And Rosie talked about how she was in bed crying for two days after the episode because she felt so badly she hit him. She told him they had to be friends or she was going to be admitted into a mental hospital. Then Vivi (Rosie's youngest), Chelsea (Rosie's 12 year old), Blake (Rosie's 10 year old) and Ellis (a very close family friend's 1 year old) came into the studio too. Rosie talked to Parker some about what he knows about Martin Luther King and talked about his tragic death and played a portion of Martin Luther King's I have a Dream Speech:

listen and remember him today...

• Rosie asked the kids if they think they should adopt another baby and Parker said "no." The other kids said they only like the kids when they're babies. :) Rosie asked Vivi about losing her two front teeth and spoke to Chelsea about playing the DSi. Rosie said "between the Wii and the DSi they've become a video game family." Lou played Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas "so they could watch Ellis dance."

• Attallah Shabazz who prefers to be called "Ms. Shabazz" was in the studio to talk with Rosie. Ms. Shabazz is the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. Ms. Shabazz and Rosie have been friends for over 13 years. Rosie first contacted Ms. Shabazz after her mother's tragic death in 1997. Ms. Shabazz talked about how her mother taught her to "always do the most with what she had."

Attallah Shabazz

• Ms. Shabazz talked about Spike Lee's movie Malcolm X which is based off her father's life but how it is Spike Lee's interpretation and perspective of his life. Ms. Shabazz told the story of her grandfather (her father's father) who was killed by the Klan in Lansing, Michigan. Ms. Shabazz also told the story of her father's death which happened when she was in grade school. She said her father was "a real mush" and her mother was the disciplinarian of the family.

Malcolm X

• Rosie and Ms. Shabazz talked about the situation going on in Haiti and how they wished they would cover as many of the successes as they do the the tragedies that are happening over there to help us still feel hopeful. They emphasized the huge need of help. Ms. Shabazz talked about what it was like to be Muslim after 9/11 and how being Muslim almost became equated with being a terrorist. Ms. Shabazz said that when someone says something that is short-sighted she chooses not to be impulsive or reactionary but to pause and think before reacting. Rosie talked about when Ms. Shabazz came on the rfamily cruise and talked with the protesters in the Bahamas who were protesting gay families. Ms. Shabazz felt like after she had been on the rfamily cruise she could really talk about the power of family.  She said that if they are really a family who stands up for human rights it made sense that she was on the cruise that promoted the rights of gay families. She felt the cruise both enhanced and informed. They took a caller who spoke about how the people of his generation were taught to fear her father. The caller asked what book she would recommend about her father and Ms. Shabazz recommended the only book he had a hand in writing The Autobiography about Malcolm X. She said "Everything else is theory."

• A listener from Arkansas called in and talked about her bad feelings she has towards Hispanics and how she wanted to get over it but didn't know how. She asked for advice from Rosie and Ms. Shabazz. Ms. Shabazz encouraged her to talk with the Hispanics she comes in contact with and to really hear their story about what it is like for them in their daily life. She maintained that very often prejudice comes from not knowing. She encouraged the caller to choose 10 Latinos and have a conversation with them about what life is like after coming to the U.S. Ask them "How many times a day do they feel they are disliked for their race?" And Rosie suggested that perhaps the media has inundated her with negative images of the Hispanic culture.  Rosie thanked the caller for her honesty and for calling in. 

• Rosie talked about how she spent election night with Ms. Shabazz's Aunt Ruby Dee and what an honor it was for her. Ms. Shabazz and Rosie talked some about Obama and his presidency and the calmness and integrity he continues to maintain despite the challenges he faces.

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech

November 4th, 2008

• Rosie closed the show thanking Ms. Shabazz for coming and calling her "the big sister she always dreamed of having." She hopes that her listeners will have a great Martin Luther King Day.