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American Morning

'Cafferty File'

Aired April 25, 2003 - 08:23   ET

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

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


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Checking in with Jack right now. Tanks. What tanks?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Do we have any Dramamine (ph). I'm getting a little nauseous.

HEMMER: On that one?

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm sure we can get some.

CAFFERTY: Early in the war, Iraq bragged that a farmer -- remember this story? A farmer shot down an Apache helicopter with an old-fashioned Karbee (ph). Well, Baghdad Bob has been at it again. The farmer says he had absolutely nothing to do with downing the helicopter.

During a TV address, Saddam Hussein had praised the Ali Abid Mumkash (ph). Well, when a Kuwaiti newspaper tracked down the farmer, he said he found the chopper in the field early one morning when he went out to water the camels or whatever he was doing. He said he had not shot down the helicopter or for that matter anything else.

A British company thinks it can take advantage of anti-American sentiment that was aroused in Muslim communities by the Iraq war. It has introduced something called Qibla-Cola (ph). You get a little elf in each one. The idea here is to drain sales away from Coke and Pepsi. The beverage will soon be on sale in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia.

The firm is not the first one to come up with an idea like this. Several months ago, a French company came out with something called Mecca-cola (ph). Those French are so clever, aren't they?

As if SARS isn't enough, this is serious stuff. Listen up if you have a computer. There is an e-mail virus going around that exploits the fear of SARS. The e-mail asks people to open an attachment that offers details about SARS. Subject lines include: "severe acute respiratory syndrome," "SARS virus," and "Hongkong.exe." Once you open the attachment, the worm forwards itself to all contacts in your Outlook e-mail address book. So be forewarned about that.

CAFFERTY: E-mail on Friday, you can write about anything you want, but we thought we'd ask about what your best money saving tip, given the tough economic times. And we've gotten a lot of responses. Here are some. Where are my glasses? Because I can't read this stuff without them. Here we go. This is from Ron in Boulder, Colorado: "One of my favorite Web sites, and I'm not affiliated with them," he says, "is www.lowermybills.com. They have ways to save money on all kinds of things from long distance to auto insurance."

Colleen in North Carolina: "Many drug companies and pharmacies sell a drug at the identical price no matter what the strength. For instance, Merck's Zocor costs the same per pill in any strength. I take 40 milligrams, but by having my physician prescribe 80 milligrams and then using a pill cutter, I cut the costs in half along with the dosage."

Robert Wright's saving tip: "Cancel all cable channels, except"...

HEMMER: There you go.

CAFFERTY: ... "except basic, the three networks." That would -- he's advocating eliminating us here, Bill.

HEMMER: Well, you know it was going to happen eventually.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: "Invest the difference in T Bills."

"Another alternative is either invest in the stock market or go to Las Vegas. Same difference."

John in Madison, Wisconsin: "Get your books and music at the library instead of at Barnes & Noble. Learn to eat tree bark. It's high in fiber, and will reduce your appetite. Do not buy French wine, German cars or Russian vodka, and dress like Jack and avoid owning a sport coat."

COLLINS: Wow!

CAFFERTY: OK, John.

"I have recycled CDs from the Dixie Chicks, turned them into coasters. If you turn them upside down, the shiny surface compliments any decor."

And Dee Whirl (ph) of Longmont, Colorado: "When will entertainers" -- this is my favorite, this is my favorite right here. "When will entertainers figure it out? This is not an issue of free speech. The issue is that entertainers cannot accept that they are only entertainers. They have been granted a forum only as entertainers, not as political analysts."

That's my favorite. I may read this one again later.

HEMMER: Jack's fave.

COLLINS: I bet you will.

CAFFERTY: That's from Dee Whirl (ph).

HEMMER: It was just a question in time before somebody wrote in and said get rid of cable to help save money. One of our esteemed executives in D.C. messaged me about an hour ago, and said, "I guarantee you somebody will write in and say that very thing."

CAFFERTY: Oh, really?

COLLINS: Really?

CAFFERTY: Which suit was this? You want to give names?

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: No, he's a good man, though.

CAFFERTY: Is he?

HEMMER: And a smart man.

CAFFERTY: Is it somebody we need to suck up to? Because I mean, we can do that.

HEMMER: No, not too much yet.

CAFFERTY: Can he do us any good?

HEMMER: Maybe in the future.

CAFFERTY: OK.

HEMMER: He knows...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: All right, that's a long time out, guys. We've got to go.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired April 25, 2003 - 08:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Checking in with Jack right now. Tanks. What tanks?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Do we have any Dramamine (ph). I'm getting a little nauseous.

HEMMER: On that one?

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm sure we can get some.

CAFFERTY: Early in the war, Iraq bragged that a farmer -- remember this story? A farmer shot down an Apache helicopter with an old-fashioned Karbee (ph). Well, Baghdad Bob has been at it again. The farmer says he had absolutely nothing to do with downing the helicopter.

During a TV address, Saddam Hussein had praised the Ali Abid Mumkash (ph). Well, when a Kuwaiti newspaper tracked down the farmer, he said he found the chopper in the field early one morning when he went out to water the camels or whatever he was doing. He said he had not shot down the helicopter or for that matter anything else.

A British company thinks it can take advantage of anti-American sentiment that was aroused in Muslim communities by the Iraq war. It has introduced something called Qibla-Cola (ph). You get a little elf in each one. The idea here is to drain sales away from Coke and Pepsi. The beverage will soon be on sale in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia.

The firm is not the first one to come up with an idea like this. Several months ago, a French company came out with something called Mecca-cola (ph). Those French are so clever, aren't they?

As if SARS isn't enough, this is serious stuff. Listen up if you have a computer. There is an e-mail virus going around that exploits the fear of SARS. The e-mail asks people to open an attachment that offers details about SARS. Subject lines include: "severe acute respiratory syndrome," "SARS virus," and "Hongkong.exe." Once you open the attachment, the worm forwards itself to all contacts in your Outlook e-mail address book. So be forewarned about that.

CAFFERTY: E-mail on Friday, you can write about anything you want, but we thought we'd ask about what your best money saving tip, given the tough economic times. And we've gotten a lot of responses. Here are some. Where are my glasses? Because I can't read this stuff without them. Here we go. This is from Ron in Boulder, Colorado: "One of my favorite Web sites, and I'm not affiliated with them," he says, "is www.lowermybills.com. They have ways to save money on all kinds of things from long distance to auto insurance."

Colleen in North Carolina: "Many drug companies and pharmacies sell a drug at the identical price no matter what the strength. For instance, Merck's Zocor costs the same per pill in any strength. I take 40 milligrams, but by having my physician prescribe 80 milligrams and then using a pill cutter, I cut the costs in half along with the dosage."

Robert Wright's saving tip: "Cancel all cable channels, except"...

HEMMER: There you go.

CAFFERTY: ... "except basic, the three networks." That would -- he's advocating eliminating us here, Bill.

HEMMER: Well, you know it was going to happen eventually.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: "Invest the difference in T Bills."

"Another alternative is either invest in the stock market or go to Las Vegas. Same difference."

John in Madison, Wisconsin: "Get your books and music at the library instead of at Barnes & Noble. Learn to eat tree bark. It's high in fiber, and will reduce your appetite. Do not buy French wine, German cars or Russian vodka, and dress like Jack and avoid owning a sport coat."

COLLINS: Wow!

CAFFERTY: OK, John.

"I have recycled CDs from the Dixie Chicks, turned them into coasters. If you turn them upside down, the shiny surface compliments any decor."

And Dee Whirl (ph) of Longmont, Colorado: "When will entertainers" -- this is my favorite, this is my favorite right here. "When will entertainers figure it out? This is not an issue of free speech. The issue is that entertainers cannot accept that they are only entertainers. They have been granted a forum only as entertainers, not as political analysts."

That's my favorite. I may read this one again later.

HEMMER: Jack's fave.

COLLINS: I bet you will.

CAFFERTY: That's from Dee Whirl (ph).

HEMMER: It was just a question in time before somebody wrote in and said get rid of cable to help save money. One of our esteemed executives in D.C. messaged me about an hour ago, and said, "I guarantee you somebody will write in and say that very thing."

CAFFERTY: Oh, really?

COLLINS: Really?

CAFFERTY: Which suit was this? You want to give names?

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: No, he's a good man, though.

CAFFERTY: Is he?

HEMMER: And a smart man.

CAFFERTY: Is it somebody we need to suck up to? Because I mean, we can do that.

HEMMER: No, not too much yet.

CAFFERTY: Can he do us any good?

HEMMER: Maybe in the future.

CAFFERTY: OK.

HEMMER: He knows...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: All right, that's a long time out, guys. We've got to go.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.