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American Morning

OPEC Poised to Boost Production; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'

Aired June 03, 2004 - 08:30   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: Welcome back, everybody, 8:31 here in New York on this AMERICAN MORNING. In a few moments here, we're going to get back to this matter of oil prices jumping around all week. Now we've got an important decision from OPEC. Susan Lisovicz watching this closely in New York to see what's happening in Beirut, Lebanon. We'll get to that and what it may mean for you driving around this weekend and in weeks to come.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What you pay at the end of the day. That's what a lot of people, that's all they care about.

Also this morning, "Political Pop" back today. Our panel talking about the games people play to try to get someone elected president. There it is -- Kerryopoly. We're going to roll the dice, tell you about that game. Only online?

HEMMER: Only online. Really interesting stuff today.

O'BRIEN: They charge you to play?

HEMMER: I don't know. Haven't gone to the Web site just yet, but we will in a moment.

Sanjay's back here also, looking at just how serious the consequences are for childhood obesity. New research shows the health effects are extreme. They affect children in so many ways. A lot of news for parents out there in a moment from Sanjay.

O'BRIEN: Let's start with business, though, first. OPEC poised to boost production, but will it be enough to ease high anxiety over oil prices? With that, plus with a preview of the markets this morning, Susan Lisovicz in for Andy Serwer, who is on assignment. She is minding our business for us.

Nice to see you.

How much output are we talking about?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, OPEC is debating a couple of different proposals. Saudi Arabia is proposing to increase oil 2.5 million barrels per day, but it's meeting some opposition, not only from Iran, which says, let's take it more slowly, let's do it in a two-step process, but also reportedly opposition from Nigeria and Venezuela. So that's what's propping up oil prices today, which are back above the $40 barrel level.

Remember, the U.S. uses twenty millions barrels a day. O'BRIEN: So we're talking, you know, not to make a pun here, a drop in the bucket, to some degree, if you're talking about 2.5 million barrels of extra production versus the 20 that the U.S. uses.

LISOVICZ: And, remember, going into the peak driving season, we can never forget that. An remember, also that, Japan, the No. 2 economy, is back on an upswing, China and India, and the fear factor which pushed oil earlier this week to record prices. All of that factoring into the very high price of oil right now.

O'BRIEN: How is that factoring in to what the market is doing and is going to do today?

LISOVICZ: OK, well right now, the futures say we'll have a lower open. Been a very quiet week. We had Memorial Day, and then that record price of oil on Tuesday, so we saw that really bring prices down. Everybody is waiting for tomorrow's employment report, expecting job creation of 200,000 jobs. If that happens, pretty much interest rates, higher interest rates could be a factor, or a fact, I should say, by later this month. We did get some retail sales numbers for the month of may. Earlier today Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, had better-than-expected sales, and that's a good thing.

O'BRIEN: And those numbers, the 200,000, sometimes they are way off on those predictions. So we will see tomorrow, won't we?

LISOVICZ: Way off.

O'BRIEN: Susan Lisovicz, thanks, Susan, as always. Appreciate it. Thanks for filling in today for Andy -- Bill.

LISOVICZ: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks.

Twenty-four minutes now before the hour. Time for "Political Pop." Going to give it another shot today.

Say hello to Democratic strategist Karen Finney.

Good morning, Karen.

VH-1 contributor Paul Scheer is with us as well on the couch, and Jay Nordlinger, a first timer from "The National Review."

Good morning to you.

Paul, spell eisegesis (ph). Kidding.

First topic to you, Jay.

Apparently, there's this report that the president has Saddam Hussein's pistol off an area of the Oval Office, the one they pulled out of the spider hole. What are we to make of this?

JAY NORDLINGER, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW": Well, it's significant to me that the troops themselves wanted to give these things to him. He has not just that pistol. I think he has a brick from Mullah Omar's residence or something.

HEMMER: Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

NORDLINGER: Has an item from ground zero.

I'm not bothered by that. Some people call them trophies. He thinks he did a good thing by knocking down the Taliban and knocking down Saddam, and I agree. He doesn't flaunt these things. He keeps them back in that private study, the one Monica Lewisnky...

HEMMER: Yes, that's true, she's holding back.

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Isn't it time to stop polishing the trophies and stop playing with the toys, and let's actually have a victory in the war on terror, let's actually have a strategy for, I don't know, securing the peace in Iraq, or, I don't know, re-establishing diplomatic relations so we're in a better position to fight the war on terror?

HEMMER: Just to be fair, Karen, apparently this same collection rather eclectic, has a number of Bobbleheads, too.

FINNEY: I hear he's also got his little league trophies back there as well right next to them.

PAUL SCHEER, VH-1 CONTRIBUTOR: And I hear next to that there's a hanging chad from the election, and also that peanut that he almost choked on. These are big victories, and he has to have them.

HEMMER: Paul, it was a pretzel. "Political Pop" is always accurate.

Karen, next topic, Kerryopoly. The Republicans have this online. You can go online and play this game. The point is what from the Republicans?

FINNEY: The point is I am so pleased that they're actually starting to talk about average Americans. It's been a long time. I mean, for the past four years, they focused on the needs of the wealthiest 1 percent and the fancy big corporations, and now they're actually starting to talk about average Americans. Now average Americans are going to have to shoulder the burden of a massive deficit, so I'm happy to see them talk about it.

HEMMER: What are you talking about average Americans? This is an online game against John Kerry about talking about owning property like Park Place and what...

FINNEY: Well, they're trying to say that John Kerry is not in step with average Americans. Well, like I say, I'm happy to see they're actually -- they remember that average Americans are out there, because I thought they were just focused on the wealthiest 1 percent. NORDLINGER: The party of the rich, you know. It's amazing Republicans repeatedly win, in the House, in the Senate, in the presidency. You know, average Americans must not vote.

SCHEER: This is what I'll say, yes, John Kerry pays $1,000 for a hair cut. But when Bush gets a hair cut, he goes through Halliburton, and then Cheney gets a cut back of it.

HEMMER: I would guess that there's a sandal for John Kerry. That's his playing piece, right, flip flop? I would guess the president would have what? A cowboy hat? Maybe some cowboy boots? I'm just throwing out ideas.

FINNEY: Can we just remember that this is a party that is led by three multi-millionaires, Bush, Cheney and Frist. So -- and how is it that Bush -- it's been masterful the way Bush has tried to distance himself from his humble beginnings as the anointed prince of a wealthy political dynasty.

NORDLINGER: I really don't mind that Kerry is so rich, because I want everyone to become rich. I just wish he favored policies to allow us all to become wealthy. And we can't all marry money. I think he did very well.

HEMMER: Next topic, next topic.

SCHEER: I was caught in the crossfire there.

HEMMER: Yes, you were.

(CROSSTALK)

There is this story out of California that a cough drop that was disposed of by Arnold Schwarzenegger...

SCHEER: A used cough drop.

HEMMER: ... was put on eBay and sold for 15 grand. Do you believe this?

SCHEER: I love it, and I love Schwarzenegger's response, which was, I wish it would have went for $100,000. Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly one of the most visible Republicans right now. He's popular, he's got 65 percent approval rating, and the question is, how is the Bush campaign going to use him in this next election?

FINNEY: Actually, according to this month's "California Journal," Arnold Schwarzenegger in an interview said he said we won't campaign for Bush outside of California, and apparently he has been asked to do so and has declined. So I don't think you're going to much of him with Bush.

SCHEER: Bush -- not Bush, Schwarzenegger has made a lot of bad movies, and he doesn't want to get behind the political equivalent of "The Last Action Hero." You know, he's being safe.

HEMMER: He mentioned the 65 percent approval rating. You know firsthand when numbers go up, they often go back down to gravity.

NORDLINGER: Absolutely. I think the Republicans would be crazy not to use Schwarzenegger. I think they will, and I think he'll do so happily.

HEMMER: So Schwarzenegger is going to be here in New York for the convention, and Jerry Springer is going to be in Boston with the Democrats. Does that line up?

FINNEY: Actually I'm not sure if Schwarzenegger is going to be here for the convention. He may and he may not.

NORDLINGER: The governor of California will be here.

SCHEER: Put him in the terminator glasses and the leather jacket, have him come out with a lot of scene, say he's from the future, and Bush is the future.

HEMMER: Let's leave it there. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Jay. We got to run. Karen, good to see you as well.

NORDLINGER: Send that to Republican National Committee.

FINNEY: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Thanks guys -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, an alarming study on kids' health. Are your children in danger of heart disease? Dr. Sanjay Gupta stops by with some warning signs that every parent needs to recognize.

Also, thousands of U.S. soldiers thought their military service was just about over, but not so fast. We'll explain.

HEMMER: Also in a moment, hear President Bush's daughter Jenna, the pilgrim. We'll explain that in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: With 20 percent of children in the United States overweight, a new study suggests that an alarming number of kids are at risk for a cluster of health problems known as metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with details.

Sanjay, good morning. Nice to see you. Welcome back from your leave and your wedding, by the way, since I haven't talked to you since then.

This sounds terrible. What exactly is metabolic syndrome?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that people have been looking at for some time to try and figure out who is going to develop heart disease later on in life.

Here's the interesting thing, Soledad, heart disease is already the No. 1 killer of men and women, adults. Now that was before we had an obesity epidemic in our children. Twenty percent of the nation's children now overweight, and they're starting to look at what are the consequences of this? It's not just a physical problem, not just a cosmetic problem, but rather it could be a lifelong health problem as well.

Metabolic syndrome, specifically, what are those symptoms? They include obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low HDL. That's the good kind of cholesterol. You don't have enough of that. What they say is that if you have three of those five symptoms, even in children, then you have something known as metabolic syndrome. Like, who gets metabolic syndrome specifically? Well, that was the subject of a new study out of the New England Journal of Medicine, looking at 439 severely obese children, or moderately obese, and comparing them to lean, or just overweight children.

What they found was that in the severely obese children, 50 percent of them had this syndrome. In the moderately obese or just overweight children, 39 percent had the syndrome. Why is this important? It could mean a sort of lifelong history of health problems for these children who grow into adults, and they're starting to figure those things out now while they're young -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So do they know what will happen to those kids when they do enter adulthood? Does everything -- I mean, the assumption would be that everything just gets worse. Is that the case?

GUPTA: Again, the interesting thing is you sort of see a cumulative effect when you talk about the health problems. If someone develops diabetes when they're 50 years old and by the time they're 60, they're going to have 10 years of diabetes. But if someone develops diabetes when there 12 years old, by the time they're 60, they're going to have almost 50 years of diabetes. And that cumulative health problem can lead to all sorts of other problems, heart disease, talking about having heart attacks, and kids by the time they get to their 20s and 30s, strokes, talking about diabetes, all these sorts of thing because of this cumulative problem. And we're really worried not only about now, but about decades from now when this epidemic of obese children grows into adulthood -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: This is in the severely obese; even the lean or even the somewhat overweight didn't seem to have the same exact problems. What are parents supposed to do? I mean, Is it just a matter of maintaining their children's weight?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think it's probably too easy to say just eat right and exercise. I think that's too simple an answer. This has clearly become a problem. I think now, if you're concerned about metabolic syndrome in your child, it probably is time for a visit to the doctor, to the pediatrician. Why? Maybe you're going to start getting the child checked for diabetes, you're going to start getting blood pressure and things like that checked, maybe even cholesterol in children. These are not things that we typically associate in children.

Of course we need to say that you got to make it a family affair. Exercise, portion control, healthy foods, those are still fundamentally, ultimately going to be the answer to trying to curb this problem, but, you know, this has gotten into the magnitude now where doctors and other health care professionals probably need to be involved -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Complete lifestyle change.

Sanjay Gupta, nice to see you, Sanjay. Thanks, appreciate it.

The state of New York suing a British drug company on behalf of consumers over Paxil. New York's attorney general sued GlaxoSmithKline, accusing the drugmaker of concealing negative information about use of its antidepressant Paxil to treat children and teenagers. The lawsuits comes amid growing controversy over the effectiveness and the potential side effects of antidepressants in children, including a higher risk of suicide.

Well, they thought they were out only to be pulled back in. Why thousands of soldiers who thought their work was done are now sticking around a little bit longer. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Forty eight past the hour. Time to check the headlines yet again. Heidi Collins with us, starting with this news from the Pentagon today.

Good morning again.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's right. We do. We want to get straight to it, too. We begin with an order by the U.S. Army for thousands of active duty soldiers and reservists, an expanded stop-loss order in effect, now preventing soldiers designated to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the military, even when their commitment ends. Such orders are not unusual, especially in a time of war, but this later order is broader than those previously issued.

The U.N. Security Council beginning debate on a revised Iraq draft resolution. U.S. ambassador John Negroponte says the draft needs some, quote, "fine tuning." Some other U.N. members are more skeptical. The Security Council is meeting behind closed doors this afternoon, and members will hear from Iraq's new interim foreign minister.

More testimony in the penalty phase of Terry Nichols' murder trial in Oklahoma. Two jurors were dismissed yesterday. The final two alternates took their places. Nichols faces a death penalty after being convicted of 161 counts of murder in the state trial. Nichols is already serving life in prison for his federal conviction. The 1995 bomb explosion left 168 people dead.

First daughter Jenna Bush is taking some time out to trek around Spain with some friends. The 22-year-old was spotted hiking the Communa De Santiago (ph). It's an ancient pilgrimage route across northern Spain. Jenna just graduated from the University of Texas with an English degree.

And the Olympic flame is on its way To Australia on a trek of its own. After leaving Athens on a jumbo jet dubbed "Zeus," the flame is on the first leg of a 35-day trip before returning back to Athens for the Summer Games, which you know begins in August.

Love the Olympics.

O'BRIEN: Just around the corner.

HEMMER: Our own Carol Costello gets to carry that flame.

O'BRIEN: Is she really? How great.

HEMMER: Yes, she gets, like, 20 feet with it or something.

COLLINS: She sent me a little message this morning. I said that's so great, I've always wanted to do that. And she says, yes, I'm afraid I'm going to trip.

O'BRIEN: Yes, or put the flame out. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I dropped the flame. All right, thanks, Heidi.

Hey, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Time for "Cafferty File."

The French love their wine so much that they would like to reclassify the beverage as food rather than an alcoholic drink. The change would make it easier for wine makers to advertise. Wine consumption in France has been in steep decline. Forty years ago the average Frenchman drank 134 bottles of wine per year. Today, it's down to just 77 bottles a year.

Cheaper drinks for women may soon be history in the state of New Jersey. The state's top civil right official, whose nickname is "Killjoy," ruled yesterday that bars can not offer discounts to women on ladies' night because it discriminates against men. Judges in Pennsylvania and Iowa have also said ladies' nights are illegal, but courts in Illinois and Washington State say ladies' nights are okay. Why don't you ask the men if they think it's discrimination to eliminate ladies' nights in the saloons. I mean, that's the only way a lot of these guys ever meet anybody.

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, has rolled out a television ad campaign to invite gay tourists to the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dearest beloved. How I long to be with you again, to see your radiant smile. Please journey to Philadelphia, where we will be at liberty to meet this Monday at Independence Hall, as the clock strikes 6:00.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Philadelphia and its countryside have a long history of making everyone feel welcome and free. Come to Philadelphia, get your history straight and your nightlife gay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: The commercials are set to air nationally. That is the first ad by a destination to try to attract a gay audience.

O'BRIEN: That's been in the works for a while, but it's interesting to see the final ad they came up with.

HEMMER: Kind of predictable, though, there at the end, with the woman coming across.

CAFFERTY: Or you can go there and see the Liberty Bell.

O'BRIEN: But that's the point, you do both.

CAFFERTY: Oh, I didn't realize that.

O'BRIEN: A little history and a good gay nightlife. Anything else you want to ask me that I can clarify for you?

CAFFERTY: I'm going to Baltimore.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, jack.

Still to come this morning, Ahmad Chalabi, once a U.S. ally, he is now accused of giving U.S. secrets to Iran. Just how damaging is it? This morning, we hear from Senator Joe Biden. He is of course the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In the meantime, summer is just about here, and if you're going to the beach this summer, what you need to know about using the right sunscreen, and the stuff that works the best is actually illegal here in the U.S. We'll explain in a moment, when we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired June 3, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, 8:31 here in New York on this AMERICAN MORNING. In a few moments here, we're going to get back to this matter of oil prices jumping around all week. Now we've got an important decision from OPEC. Susan Lisovicz watching this closely in New York to see what's happening in Beirut, Lebanon. We'll get to that and what it may mean for you driving around this weekend and in weeks to come.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What you pay at the end of the day. That's what a lot of people, that's all they care about.

Also this morning, "Political Pop" back today. Our panel talking about the games people play to try to get someone elected president. There it is -- Kerryopoly. We're going to roll the dice, tell you about that game. Only online?

HEMMER: Only online. Really interesting stuff today.

O'BRIEN: They charge you to play?

HEMMER: I don't know. Haven't gone to the Web site just yet, but we will in a moment.

Sanjay's back here also, looking at just how serious the consequences are for childhood obesity. New research shows the health effects are extreme. They affect children in so many ways. A lot of news for parents out there in a moment from Sanjay.

O'BRIEN: Let's start with business, though, first. OPEC poised to boost production, but will it be enough to ease high anxiety over oil prices? With that, plus with a preview of the markets this morning, Susan Lisovicz in for Andy Serwer, who is on assignment. She is minding our business for us.

Nice to see you.

How much output are we talking about?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, OPEC is debating a couple of different proposals. Saudi Arabia is proposing to increase oil 2.5 million barrels per day, but it's meeting some opposition, not only from Iran, which says, let's take it more slowly, let's do it in a two-step process, but also reportedly opposition from Nigeria and Venezuela. So that's what's propping up oil prices today, which are back above the $40 barrel level.

Remember, the U.S. uses twenty millions barrels a day. O'BRIEN: So we're talking, you know, not to make a pun here, a drop in the bucket, to some degree, if you're talking about 2.5 million barrels of extra production versus the 20 that the U.S. uses.

LISOVICZ: And, remember, going into the peak driving season, we can never forget that. An remember, also that, Japan, the No. 2 economy, is back on an upswing, China and India, and the fear factor which pushed oil earlier this week to record prices. All of that factoring into the very high price of oil right now.

O'BRIEN: How is that factoring in to what the market is doing and is going to do today?

LISOVICZ: OK, well right now, the futures say we'll have a lower open. Been a very quiet week. We had Memorial Day, and then that record price of oil on Tuesday, so we saw that really bring prices down. Everybody is waiting for tomorrow's employment report, expecting job creation of 200,000 jobs. If that happens, pretty much interest rates, higher interest rates could be a factor, or a fact, I should say, by later this month. We did get some retail sales numbers for the month of may. Earlier today Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, had better-than-expected sales, and that's a good thing.

O'BRIEN: And those numbers, the 200,000, sometimes they are way off on those predictions. So we will see tomorrow, won't we?

LISOVICZ: Way off.

O'BRIEN: Susan Lisovicz, thanks, Susan, as always. Appreciate it. Thanks for filling in today for Andy -- Bill.

LISOVICZ: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks.

Twenty-four minutes now before the hour. Time for "Political Pop." Going to give it another shot today.

Say hello to Democratic strategist Karen Finney.

Good morning, Karen.

VH-1 contributor Paul Scheer is with us as well on the couch, and Jay Nordlinger, a first timer from "The National Review."

Good morning to you.

Paul, spell eisegesis (ph). Kidding.

First topic to you, Jay.

Apparently, there's this report that the president has Saddam Hussein's pistol off an area of the Oval Office, the one they pulled out of the spider hole. What are we to make of this?

JAY NORDLINGER, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW": Well, it's significant to me that the troops themselves wanted to give these things to him. He has not just that pistol. I think he has a brick from Mullah Omar's residence or something.

HEMMER: Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

NORDLINGER: Has an item from ground zero.

I'm not bothered by that. Some people call them trophies. He thinks he did a good thing by knocking down the Taliban and knocking down Saddam, and I agree. He doesn't flaunt these things. He keeps them back in that private study, the one Monica Lewisnky...

HEMMER: Yes, that's true, she's holding back.

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Isn't it time to stop polishing the trophies and stop playing with the toys, and let's actually have a victory in the war on terror, let's actually have a strategy for, I don't know, securing the peace in Iraq, or, I don't know, re-establishing diplomatic relations so we're in a better position to fight the war on terror?

HEMMER: Just to be fair, Karen, apparently this same collection rather eclectic, has a number of Bobbleheads, too.

FINNEY: I hear he's also got his little league trophies back there as well right next to them.

PAUL SCHEER, VH-1 CONTRIBUTOR: And I hear next to that there's a hanging chad from the election, and also that peanut that he almost choked on. These are big victories, and he has to have them.

HEMMER: Paul, it was a pretzel. "Political Pop" is always accurate.

Karen, next topic, Kerryopoly. The Republicans have this online. You can go online and play this game. The point is what from the Republicans?

FINNEY: The point is I am so pleased that they're actually starting to talk about average Americans. It's been a long time. I mean, for the past four years, they focused on the needs of the wealthiest 1 percent and the fancy big corporations, and now they're actually starting to talk about average Americans. Now average Americans are going to have to shoulder the burden of a massive deficit, so I'm happy to see them talk about it.

HEMMER: What are you talking about average Americans? This is an online game against John Kerry about talking about owning property like Park Place and what...

FINNEY: Well, they're trying to say that John Kerry is not in step with average Americans. Well, like I say, I'm happy to see they're actually -- they remember that average Americans are out there, because I thought they were just focused on the wealthiest 1 percent. NORDLINGER: The party of the rich, you know. It's amazing Republicans repeatedly win, in the House, in the Senate, in the presidency. You know, average Americans must not vote.

SCHEER: This is what I'll say, yes, John Kerry pays $1,000 for a hair cut. But when Bush gets a hair cut, he goes through Halliburton, and then Cheney gets a cut back of it.

HEMMER: I would guess that there's a sandal for John Kerry. That's his playing piece, right, flip flop? I would guess the president would have what? A cowboy hat? Maybe some cowboy boots? I'm just throwing out ideas.

FINNEY: Can we just remember that this is a party that is led by three multi-millionaires, Bush, Cheney and Frist. So -- and how is it that Bush -- it's been masterful the way Bush has tried to distance himself from his humble beginnings as the anointed prince of a wealthy political dynasty.

NORDLINGER: I really don't mind that Kerry is so rich, because I want everyone to become rich. I just wish he favored policies to allow us all to become wealthy. And we can't all marry money. I think he did very well.

HEMMER: Next topic, next topic.

SCHEER: I was caught in the crossfire there.

HEMMER: Yes, you were.

(CROSSTALK)

There is this story out of California that a cough drop that was disposed of by Arnold Schwarzenegger...

SCHEER: A used cough drop.

HEMMER: ... was put on eBay and sold for 15 grand. Do you believe this?

SCHEER: I love it, and I love Schwarzenegger's response, which was, I wish it would have went for $100,000. Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly one of the most visible Republicans right now. He's popular, he's got 65 percent approval rating, and the question is, how is the Bush campaign going to use him in this next election?

FINNEY: Actually, according to this month's "California Journal," Arnold Schwarzenegger in an interview said he said we won't campaign for Bush outside of California, and apparently he has been asked to do so and has declined. So I don't think you're going to much of him with Bush.

SCHEER: Bush -- not Bush, Schwarzenegger has made a lot of bad movies, and he doesn't want to get behind the political equivalent of "The Last Action Hero." You know, he's being safe.

HEMMER: He mentioned the 65 percent approval rating. You know firsthand when numbers go up, they often go back down to gravity.

NORDLINGER: Absolutely. I think the Republicans would be crazy not to use Schwarzenegger. I think they will, and I think he'll do so happily.

HEMMER: So Schwarzenegger is going to be here in New York for the convention, and Jerry Springer is going to be in Boston with the Democrats. Does that line up?

FINNEY: Actually I'm not sure if Schwarzenegger is going to be here for the convention. He may and he may not.

NORDLINGER: The governor of California will be here.

SCHEER: Put him in the terminator glasses and the leather jacket, have him come out with a lot of scene, say he's from the future, and Bush is the future.

HEMMER: Let's leave it there. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Jay. We got to run. Karen, good to see you as well.

NORDLINGER: Send that to Republican National Committee.

FINNEY: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Thanks guys -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, an alarming study on kids' health. Are your children in danger of heart disease? Dr. Sanjay Gupta stops by with some warning signs that every parent needs to recognize.

Also, thousands of U.S. soldiers thought their military service was just about over, but not so fast. We'll explain.

HEMMER: Also in a moment, hear President Bush's daughter Jenna, the pilgrim. We'll explain that in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: With 20 percent of children in the United States overweight, a new study suggests that an alarming number of kids are at risk for a cluster of health problems known as metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with details.

Sanjay, good morning. Nice to see you. Welcome back from your leave and your wedding, by the way, since I haven't talked to you since then.

This sounds terrible. What exactly is metabolic syndrome?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that people have been looking at for some time to try and figure out who is going to develop heart disease later on in life.

Here's the interesting thing, Soledad, heart disease is already the No. 1 killer of men and women, adults. Now that was before we had an obesity epidemic in our children. Twenty percent of the nation's children now overweight, and they're starting to look at what are the consequences of this? It's not just a physical problem, not just a cosmetic problem, but rather it could be a lifelong health problem as well.

Metabolic syndrome, specifically, what are those symptoms? They include obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low HDL. That's the good kind of cholesterol. You don't have enough of that. What they say is that if you have three of those five symptoms, even in children, then you have something known as metabolic syndrome. Like, who gets metabolic syndrome specifically? Well, that was the subject of a new study out of the New England Journal of Medicine, looking at 439 severely obese children, or moderately obese, and comparing them to lean, or just overweight children.

What they found was that in the severely obese children, 50 percent of them had this syndrome. In the moderately obese or just overweight children, 39 percent had the syndrome. Why is this important? It could mean a sort of lifelong history of health problems for these children who grow into adults, and they're starting to figure those things out now while they're young -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So do they know what will happen to those kids when they do enter adulthood? Does everything -- I mean, the assumption would be that everything just gets worse. Is that the case?

GUPTA: Again, the interesting thing is you sort of see a cumulative effect when you talk about the health problems. If someone develops diabetes when they're 50 years old and by the time they're 60, they're going to have 10 years of diabetes. But if someone develops diabetes when there 12 years old, by the time they're 60, they're going to have almost 50 years of diabetes. And that cumulative health problem can lead to all sorts of other problems, heart disease, talking about having heart attacks, and kids by the time they get to their 20s and 30s, strokes, talking about diabetes, all these sorts of thing because of this cumulative problem. And we're really worried not only about now, but about decades from now when this epidemic of obese children grows into adulthood -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: This is in the severely obese; even the lean or even the somewhat overweight didn't seem to have the same exact problems. What are parents supposed to do? I mean, Is it just a matter of maintaining their children's weight?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think it's probably too easy to say just eat right and exercise. I think that's too simple an answer. This has clearly become a problem. I think now, if you're concerned about metabolic syndrome in your child, it probably is time for a visit to the doctor, to the pediatrician. Why? Maybe you're going to start getting the child checked for diabetes, you're going to start getting blood pressure and things like that checked, maybe even cholesterol in children. These are not things that we typically associate in children.

Of course we need to say that you got to make it a family affair. Exercise, portion control, healthy foods, those are still fundamentally, ultimately going to be the answer to trying to curb this problem, but, you know, this has gotten into the magnitude now where doctors and other health care professionals probably need to be involved -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Complete lifestyle change.

Sanjay Gupta, nice to see you, Sanjay. Thanks, appreciate it.

The state of New York suing a British drug company on behalf of consumers over Paxil. New York's attorney general sued GlaxoSmithKline, accusing the drugmaker of concealing negative information about use of its antidepressant Paxil to treat children and teenagers. The lawsuits comes amid growing controversy over the effectiveness and the potential side effects of antidepressants in children, including a higher risk of suicide.

Well, they thought they were out only to be pulled back in. Why thousands of soldiers who thought their work was done are now sticking around a little bit longer. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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HEMMER: Forty eight past the hour. Time to check the headlines yet again. Heidi Collins with us, starting with this news from the Pentagon today.

Good morning again.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's right. We do. We want to get straight to it, too. We begin with an order by the U.S. Army for thousands of active duty soldiers and reservists, an expanded stop-loss order in effect, now preventing soldiers designated to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the military, even when their commitment ends. Such orders are not unusual, especially in a time of war, but this later order is broader than those previously issued.

The U.N. Security Council beginning debate on a revised Iraq draft resolution. U.S. ambassador John Negroponte says the draft needs some, quote, "fine tuning." Some other U.N. members are more skeptical. The Security Council is meeting behind closed doors this afternoon, and members will hear from Iraq's new interim foreign minister.

More testimony in the penalty phase of Terry Nichols' murder trial in Oklahoma. Two jurors were dismissed yesterday. The final two alternates took their places. Nichols faces a death penalty after being convicted of 161 counts of murder in the state trial. Nichols is already serving life in prison for his federal conviction. The 1995 bomb explosion left 168 people dead.

First daughter Jenna Bush is taking some time out to trek around Spain with some friends. The 22-year-old was spotted hiking the Communa De Santiago (ph). It's an ancient pilgrimage route across northern Spain. Jenna just graduated from the University of Texas with an English degree.

And the Olympic flame is on its way To Australia on a trek of its own. After leaving Athens on a jumbo jet dubbed "Zeus," the flame is on the first leg of a 35-day trip before returning back to Athens for the Summer Games, which you know begins in August.

Love the Olympics.

O'BRIEN: Just around the corner.

HEMMER: Our own Carol Costello gets to carry that flame.

O'BRIEN: Is she really? How great.

HEMMER: Yes, she gets, like, 20 feet with it or something.

COLLINS: She sent me a little message this morning. I said that's so great, I've always wanted to do that. And she says, yes, I'm afraid I'm going to trip.

O'BRIEN: Yes, or put the flame out. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I dropped the flame. All right, thanks, Heidi.

Hey, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Time for "Cafferty File."

The French love their wine so much that they would like to reclassify the beverage as food rather than an alcoholic drink. The change would make it easier for wine makers to advertise. Wine consumption in France has been in steep decline. Forty years ago the average Frenchman drank 134 bottles of wine per year. Today, it's down to just 77 bottles a year.

Cheaper drinks for women may soon be history in the state of New Jersey. The state's top civil right official, whose nickname is "Killjoy," ruled yesterday that bars can not offer discounts to women on ladies' night because it discriminates against men. Judges in Pennsylvania and Iowa have also said ladies' nights are illegal, but courts in Illinois and Washington State say ladies' nights are okay. Why don't you ask the men if they think it's discrimination to eliminate ladies' nights in the saloons. I mean, that's the only way a lot of these guys ever meet anybody.

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, has rolled out a television ad campaign to invite gay tourists to the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dearest beloved. How I long to be with you again, to see your radiant smile. Please journey to Philadelphia, where we will be at liberty to meet this Monday at Independence Hall, as the clock strikes 6:00.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Philadelphia and its countryside have a long history of making everyone feel welcome and free. Come to Philadelphia, get your history straight and your nightlife gay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: The commercials are set to air nationally. That is the first ad by a destination to try to attract a gay audience.

O'BRIEN: That's been in the works for a while, but it's interesting to see the final ad they came up with.

HEMMER: Kind of predictable, though, there at the end, with the woman coming across.

CAFFERTY: Or you can go there and see the Liberty Bell.

O'BRIEN: But that's the point, you do both.

CAFFERTY: Oh, I didn't realize that.

O'BRIEN: A little history and a good gay nightlife. Anything else you want to ask me that I can clarify for you?

CAFFERTY: I'm going to Baltimore.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, jack.

Still to come this morning, Ahmad Chalabi, once a U.S. ally, he is now accused of giving U.S. secrets to Iran. Just how damaging is it? This morning, we hear from Senator Joe Biden. He is of course the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That's ahead. Stay with us.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In the meantime, summer is just about here, and if you're going to the beach this summer, what you need to know about using the right sunscreen, and the stuff that works the best is actually illegal here in the U.S. We'll explain in a moment, when we continue.

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