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American Morning

Final Farewell to Ronald Reagan; 'Gimme a Minute': Reagan Moments

Aired June 11, 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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you well know, usually at this time on Fridays we take a look at several of the week's big stories in our "Gimme A Minute" segment. But this morning we're going to devote our time to Ronald Reagan.
And joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is Jonah Goldberg. He is, of course, the editor of the "National Review Online."

Hey, Jonah. Good morning to you.

JONAH GOLDBERG, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And Donna Brazile, she is a CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist.

Donna, hi. Nice to see you.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. And presidential historian Allan Lichtman joins us as well this morning.

Hi, Allan, Good morning to you. Thanks for being with us.

ALLAN LICHTMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Let's get right to it. We're going to start with Donna this morning.

Outside of his role in the collapse of communism in Europe, Donna, what do you think was President Reagan's biggest accomplishment?

BRAZILE: Well, I believe he transformed the American conservative movement from a doom-and-gloom philosophy to one of optimism. Reagan was an optimist and that was his greatest legacy.

O'BRIEN: How about you, Jonah? What do you think?

GOLDBERG: Actually Donna stole some of my talking points, but I think it goes beyond that. He changed the nature of conservatism and that in turn changed the nature of liberalism. He never would have had the kind of politics that Bill Clinton practiced if you hadn't had Ronald Reagan. You never would have heard Bill Clinton say the era of big government if it weren't for Ronald Reagan.

O'BRIEN: That was certainly a big impact many, many years later. Alan what do you think was the biggest accomplishment of Ronald Reagan?

LICHTMAN: No question, building the modern global economy. Ronald Reagan took a Republican Party with a protectionist history. He committed it to free trade, and he worked with a whole series of international leaders -- Thatcher in Britain, of course, Gorbachev, Mulroney in Canada, Nakasone in Japan -- to build a new economy, broadly opened to free trade and investments.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. All right, let's talk, Jonah, to start, about what the smartest political move Ronald Reagan ever did. You know, people have been talking about his wit and his humor and his optimism -- all of that. But politically speaking, what was the most astute thing he did?

GOLDBERG: Fire the air traffic controllers. That sent the message that he wasn't going to get rolled by big labor, which was threatening to turn America into a Euro-sclerotic economy. He sent the message that this was going to be an open free-market economy, and that the big labor unions couldn't take advantage of him. It was brilliant.

O'BRIEN: Donna, that move, of course, was very highly controversial when it happened. Do you agree with that?

BRAZILE: It was very controversial. And, in fact, it led organized labor to hold a massive protest in 1982 to try to overturn many of Reagan's policies. I think the two good moves that he made, of course, in 1981, he appointed the first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, and she has been a very important voice in making sure that Roe v. Wade was not overturned. And in 1983, he signed the bill that designated Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday.

O'BRIEN: Allan, what do you think was the most astute -- excuse me -- political move that Ronald Reagan pulled off?

LICHTMAN: Politically, his most astute move was the move he didn't make. Despite tremendous pressure from the religious right, he never pushed the divisive issues like abortion. That helped him be the president of all the people and make conservatism more inclusive, not narrow.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. And you know what, Allan? Just ignore the bell, because I always miss it. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Let's turn and talk to unfinished business and missed opportunities. Donna, you're going to start this one. Where did Ronald Reagan drop the ball where he could have run with it?

BRAZILE: Well, as someone that came of age during Reagan years, he had a very sunny disposition, and that's why I'm wearing yellow just for him today. But he left many poor people, working poor people, behind in his vision of America. It was morning for many Americans, but for those who were poor it was still very dark and gloomy.

O'BRIEN: Jonah, do you think unfinished business involved the poor, too?

GOLDBERG: No. I think the unfinished business was that he didn't shrink government, that he didn't curb entitlements. Nothing was a more animated passion for him than shrinking government and running against government, except for the fight against communism. He chose the fight against communism, and he left that part of his legacy unfulfilled.

O'BRIEN: Allan, a moment ago, you talked a little about what Ronald Reagan did not do, what you called politically astute. What was unfinished business, though?

LICHTMAN: I agree that the unfinished business from Ronald Reagan's perspective was cutting government spending. He shifted government spending, as Donna Brazile pointed out, from programs to the poor for defense, but, in fact, spending nearly doubled during the Ronald Reagan years. The deficit soared, and his legacy George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders in all of American history.

O'BRIEN: All right, that's going to be his legacy, along with many other legacies, of course. As always, nice to see our "Gimme a Minute" panel, Donna and Jonah, and Allan Lichtman helping us out this morning as well. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LICHTMAN: Thank you.

GOLDBERG: Thank you.

BRAZILE: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, if your child's had a lot of headaches lately, you might want to hold off on reaching for the over-the-counter medicine. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to explain in just a moment.

Also, a mayor goes to court over same-sex marriages. So, how did it turn out? We'll let you know.

And looking back on a legend, remembering Ray Charles, ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Children who suffer frequent headaches often spell relief, O-T-C, as in over the counter. But a new study warns that children might actually be overmedicating themselves with non- prescription remedies.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with some details on this.

How old are the kids we're talking about here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Six to 18 were the kids that they were talking about.

O'BRIEN: They can grab their own medication?

GUPTA: They can, and they get it from their parents' medicine cabinet. Two messages here really that I found from this study.

First, kids get headaches as well. A lot of times people think it's for adults only. Kids get them. Also, just because it's over the counter doesn't mean it's necessarily safe. And that message may apply more to children than it does to adults.

The study looked at how often kids get headaches, first of all. They get headaches for the same reasons adults do. They're bombarded by the daily stresses of life, the tension of life, school friends, parents, teachers -- all of that sort of stuff.

The study said about 30 percent of children at some time during their adolescence are going to get tension headaches.

Now, when it comes to the medications, they found that they're also taking medications often, too often. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 22 percent of them are using it at least three times a week, 10 percent of them are using it six to eight times a week. Now, that's a large part. The American Academy of Pediatrics, just for reference sake's, say no more than twice a week for these over-the-counter medications.

Also, 14 percent of the time they're not telling their parents. So, it's hard to keep track. They're also missing a lot of school, 15 days or more of school a year, that's quite a bit, because of these headaches -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: That's really interesting. So, what are parents supposed to do about this? I mean, do you -- how do you possible monitor it? Especially if you're talking about kids who are on the older age of the range, you know, the almost 18-year-olds. How do you really monitor what they're taking? Because I think there is a theory among kids, well, if one Aspirin is going to work, two will work better, and three will be even better.

GUPTA: And that's a perception among children and adults as well, not necessarily an accurate perception. One thing is to try and encourage either the parents or the children to keep a headache diary. Sometimes it's hard to remember just how often you're really getting headaches. So really writing down when you got the headache, how bad, things like that.

But it's important to know, when does it become a problem? When does it become a point when you should actually take someone to the doctor? And there are specific times if it's becoming worse or changing in frequency all of a sudden. The pain changes, you know, the nature of the pain. It's causing persistent vomiting, especially morning vomiting, that's a concern. Also if there is a personality change or fever or a stiff neck, things like that, those are also concerns. O'BRIEN: So, if you're seeing -- I mean, if I had a child who was throwing up every morning or frequently, I mean, shouldn't the strategy be, take them to the doctor to figure out what's causing the headache as opposed to giving them drugs and sending them off to school?

GUPTA: Absolutely that is the strategy. But you'd be surprised, Soledad, how often that doesn't happen. How often by the time they get to the doctor, they say, yes, you know, Johnny, who is 7 years old, has been throwing up every morning for the last three weeks. I finally decided to bring him to the doctor. It's an important message. If that's the situation, Tylenol or Aspirin is not going to be the answer.

It's also always worth pointing out, and I know you know about this, but aspirin in children can be a problem. There is something known as Reye Syndrome. It's a significant problem with aspirin in children. Make sure your child doesn't have that as well.

O'BRIEN: Yes, an interesting study. Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. It's so nice to have you in New York for part of the week.

GUPTA: Yes, I'll be back.

O'BRIEN: I know you'll be back, but it's nice to have you this week, too.

Let's go back out to Bill Hemmer in Washington, D.C.

Hi -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad. Soledad, good morning again.

It will be quite a sight today when the dignitaries pull into Washington later and go inside the National Cathedral. About 700,000 visitors every year stop by this cathedral in our nation's capital. In March of 1968, one of those visitors was the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. He gave his last sermon in the National Cathedral that year. He was shot a short time later in Tennessee, only to be returned here five days later. A memorial service was held in his honor after that assassination.

Our coverage continues in a moment from the nation's capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's 45 minutes past the hour now. It's time to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines today. Here's Heidi Collins.

Good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

We talked about this a little bit already today. The legendary blues singer and pianist Ray Charles is being remembered this morning as a giant of an artist. Charles died yesterday after a long battle with liver disease. Charles overcame poverty and blindness to become one of America's most popular entertainers. A memorial service for Charles will be held next week in Los Angeles. He was 73.

U.S. and rebel forces battled today just outside Baghdad. Fighters from the militia of radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr fired on American troops with automatic weapons and hand grenades. The U.S. responded from helicopter gunships. One Iraqi fighter was killed.

After two and a half years in U.S. custody, an Australian man will be charged in connection with terrorist activity. David Hicks (ph) is being held at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a news release, the Pentagon said Hicks (ph) trained with al Qaeda and armed himself to fight against coalition forces. His lawyers say Hicks (ph) will plead not guilty.

A New York state mayor is off the hook for marrying same-sex couples. New Pulse's mayor, Jason West, faced 19 misdemeanor counts for marrying couples without a license. A judge dismissed the charges yesterday. A separate court order bars West from presiding over future same-sex ceremonies.

Well, if you talk to your dog and are sure he understands you, you are not alone. German researchers say a border collie named Rico understands more than 200 words. They say Rico is able to fetch a toy that he's never heard of by eliminating all of the toys that he already knows. Critics howl that the researchers are barking mad about this.

O'BRIEN: How many puns can you write?

COLLINS: Yes, yes, a few more, I'm so organized.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Those border collies are smart, though. Remember there was that one the other week that was dancing around last week?

COLLINS: Yes. Yes, they are smart.

SERWER: Yes, they are. That's right.

O'BRIEN: All, Heidi, thanks.

COLLINS: You bet.

O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you: Is your mailbox filling up with more credit card offers these days? Plus, Wall Street is remembering Ronald Reagan today.

With those stories, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

SERWER: Good morning.

Yes, the mailbox situation with the junk mail and especially the credit card offers, I don't know about you guys, it's just totally out of control.

O'BRIEN: Oh, three a week or something.

SERWER: I can't even pull the stuff out anymore. And we now have new numbers that back it up.

The mushrooming business of credit card solicitation is totally out of control. You won't believe how many went out in the first quarter in the United States -- 1.3 billion -- billion. That's up from 832 million only five years ago.

And this is -the thing: The average American household gets over five credit card offers a month. I get more than that. You know, what we should do is stop paying our bills. Then you won't get any of these credit card solicitations anymore. That would be one thing.

O'BRIEN: Do you think that would work?

SERWER: Yes, it would work. Well, other problems.

The success rate is very, very, very small. They only get about five million people responding to these things, of course. And the problem is, you get so many of these things, I've, you know, thrown out new credit cards. You get upgraded cards. You throw them away. You don't even know what's going on. It's a real problem.

O'BRIEN: Plus, I would image there is a link with identity theft, too, they say because if someone fills out that application and mail it in and they get the credit card, then they're on the way to stealing your identity.

SERWER: Yes, the fraud problem is really rampant. And I just got a fraudulent e-mail from my bank, purporting to be from my bank, Citibank, and I tried to respond to it. It turned out it was totally fraudulent. They had the logo of Citibank on the e-mail. So, you really have to be careful with this stuff.

O'BRIEN: Interesting.

All right, let's talk about the markets, because there's really nothing to talk about, only looking back.

SERWER: There is nothing to talk about, but I can always talk about something. OK. Yes, of course, we're closed for the market's national day of mourning for President Reagan today. The stock market is closed. The federal government is closed down today as well. That means post offices all across the country. Most banks seem to be open.

The market up about 1 percent this week, which is through Thursday. And we had a good week. Nasdaq right at 1,999. So, we're setting ourselves up on Monday to go back over 2,000, I hope. O'BRIEN: And Bill Hemmer will like that, because that's his number.

SERWER: Oh, he will. That's his number.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: OK.

O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you again.

Still to come this morning, before he was secretary of state, he was President Reagan's national security adviser. A conversation with Secretary Colin Powell just ahead, his reflections on the late president, as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's time to check in with Jack and "The Cafferty File."

Hello.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I almost missed my last appearance, because I broke my glasses, and I had to run down the street to the drugstore to get a new pair, and they had the security guy coming after me, saying, they want you in the studio. So, you know, I mean, not that this show would have been worse off, but I got a new pair of glasses.

O'BRIEN: What do they look like?

CAFFERTY: Well, I'll show you in the next set. I don't need them to read this, because it's just those letters.

O'BRIEN: All right, we'll wait.

CAFFERTY: Laura Bush -- is it 10:00 yet? Laura Bush took the people of Colorado by surprise when she announced Wednesday that Denver is Baghdad's sister city. Now there's a clever idea. The nonprofit group Sister Cities International that turns cities into siblings didn't know Laura Bush was going to make that announcement.

The goal is to strengthen relationships between the U.S. and Iraqi cities. I can just hardly wait for the, you know, the exchange programs to begin between Denver and Baghdad. All of the Iraqis come over here and go skiing. It's up to a vote in the Denver Regional Council of Government to officially enter into the agreement. They haven't done that yet.

Another sister city match-up, which makes almost as much sense, is Dallas and Kirkuk.

If Senator John Kerry wins the presidential election, he may have to write Howard Stern a thank you note. A poll by an outfit called the New Democrat Network found that Stern's eight and a half million listeners include 17 percent of likely voters. And one-fourth of them are the critical swing voters. The poll also shows Stern's fan support Kerry 53 percent to 43 percent. If I was John Kerry I'd be very concerned about that. The shock jock launched a jihad to defeat President Bush after the FCC began fining radio stations that carried Stern's program.

And finally, we've got some cute pictures from the Far East. Young sumo wrestlers took on the big guys at demonstrations of sumo wrestling, the Japanese sport, in China this week. They were part of a delegation of about 100 wrestlers, referees and doctors who went to Shanghai and Beijing for several days of performances. The last time a Japanese sumo team visited China was 1973. The sumo wannabes -- those would be the little guys here -- tried to topple the Japanese champs. But in the end, the wrestlers in training were no match for the pros.

O'BRIEN: Oh!

CAFFERTY: Cute. I guess the first thing you have to do if you want to be a sumo wrestler is you've to eat a lot, because they're all big fellows.

O'BRIEN: That's true. Pack on the pounds.

CAFFERTY: Right.

O'BRIEN: How cute are those kids?

CAFFERTY: That's great, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: The three of them trying to push the one guy over.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That was adorable. All right, Jack, thanks.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HEMMER: In a moment here, much of the attention has been focused on Washington throughout the week, and it continues that focus today here. Ronald Reagan's long journey that will come to an end later tonight back in his home state of California, a look at final preparations ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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 June 11, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you well know, usually at this time on Fridays we take a look at several of the week's big stories in our "Gimme A Minute" segment. But this morning we're going to devote our time to Ronald Reagan.
And joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is Jonah Goldberg. He is, of course, the editor of the "National Review Online."

Hey, Jonah. Good morning to you.

JONAH GOLDBERG, "NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE": Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And Donna Brazile, she is a CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist.

Donna, hi. Nice to see you.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. And presidential historian Allan Lichtman joins us as well this morning.

Hi, Allan, Good morning to you. Thanks for being with us.

ALLAN LICHTMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Let's get right to it. We're going to start with Donna this morning.

Outside of his role in the collapse of communism in Europe, Donna, what do you think was President Reagan's biggest accomplishment?

BRAZILE: Well, I believe he transformed the American conservative movement from a doom-and-gloom philosophy to one of optimism. Reagan was an optimist and that was his greatest legacy.

O'BRIEN: How about you, Jonah? What do you think?

GOLDBERG: Actually Donna stole some of my talking points, but I think it goes beyond that. He changed the nature of conservatism and that in turn changed the nature of liberalism. He never would have had the kind of politics that Bill Clinton practiced if you hadn't had Ronald Reagan. You never would have heard Bill Clinton say the era of big government if it weren't for Ronald Reagan.

O'BRIEN: That was certainly a big impact many, many years later. Alan what do you think was the biggest accomplishment of Ronald Reagan?

LICHTMAN: No question, building the modern global economy. Ronald Reagan took a Republican Party with a protectionist history. He committed it to free trade, and he worked with a whole series of international leaders -- Thatcher in Britain, of course, Gorbachev, Mulroney in Canada, Nakasone in Japan -- to build a new economy, broadly opened to free trade and investments.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. All right, let's talk, Jonah, to start, about what the smartest political move Ronald Reagan ever did. You know, people have been talking about his wit and his humor and his optimism -- all of that. But politically speaking, what was the most astute thing he did?

GOLDBERG: Fire the air traffic controllers. That sent the message that he wasn't going to get rolled by big labor, which was threatening to turn America into a Euro-sclerotic economy. He sent the message that this was going to be an open free-market economy, and that the big labor unions couldn't take advantage of him. It was brilliant.

O'BRIEN: Donna, that move, of course, was very highly controversial when it happened. Do you agree with that?

BRAZILE: It was very controversial. And, in fact, it led organized labor to hold a massive protest in 1982 to try to overturn many of Reagan's policies. I think the two good moves that he made, of course, in 1981, he appointed the first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, and she has been a very important voice in making sure that Roe v. Wade was not overturned. And in 1983, he signed the bill that designated Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday.

O'BRIEN: Allan, what do you think was the most astute -- excuse me -- political move that Ronald Reagan pulled off?

LICHTMAN: Politically, his most astute move was the move he didn't make. Despite tremendous pressure from the religious right, he never pushed the divisive issues like abortion. That helped him be the president of all the people and make conservatism more inclusive, not narrow.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. And you know what, Allan? Just ignore the bell, because I always miss it. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Let's turn and talk to unfinished business and missed opportunities. Donna, you're going to start this one. Where did Ronald Reagan drop the ball where he could have run with it?

BRAZILE: Well, as someone that came of age during Reagan years, he had a very sunny disposition, and that's why I'm wearing yellow just for him today. But he left many poor people, working poor people, behind in his vision of America. It was morning for many Americans, but for those who were poor it was still very dark and gloomy.

O'BRIEN: Jonah, do you think unfinished business involved the poor, too?

GOLDBERG: No. I think the unfinished business was that he didn't shrink government, that he didn't curb entitlements. Nothing was a more animated passion for him than shrinking government and running against government, except for the fight against communism. He chose the fight against communism, and he left that part of his legacy unfulfilled.

O'BRIEN: Allan, a moment ago, you talked a little about what Ronald Reagan did not do, what you called politically astute. What was unfinished business, though?

LICHTMAN: I agree that the unfinished business from Ronald Reagan's perspective was cutting government spending. He shifted government spending, as Donna Brazile pointed out, from programs to the poor for defense, but, in fact, spending nearly doubled during the Ronald Reagan years. The deficit soared, and his legacy George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders in all of American history.

O'BRIEN: All right, that's going to be his legacy, along with many other legacies, of course. As always, nice to see our "Gimme a Minute" panel, Donna and Jonah, and Allan Lichtman helping us out this morning as well. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LICHTMAN: Thank you.

GOLDBERG: Thank you.

BRAZILE: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, if your child's had a lot of headaches lately, you might want to hold off on reaching for the over-the-counter medicine. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to explain in just a moment.

Also, a mayor goes to court over same-sex marriages. So, how did it turn out? We'll let you know.

And looking back on a legend, remembering Ray Charles, ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Children who suffer frequent headaches often spell relief, O-T-C, as in over the counter. But a new study warns that children might actually be overmedicating themselves with non- prescription remedies.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with some details on this.

How old are the kids we're talking about here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Six to 18 were the kids that they were talking about.

O'BRIEN: They can grab their own medication?

GUPTA: They can, and they get it from their parents' medicine cabinet. Two messages here really that I found from this study.

First, kids get headaches as well. A lot of times people think it's for adults only. Kids get them. Also, just because it's over the counter doesn't mean it's necessarily safe. And that message may apply more to children than it does to adults.

The study looked at how often kids get headaches, first of all. They get headaches for the same reasons adults do. They're bombarded by the daily stresses of life, the tension of life, school friends, parents, teachers -- all of that sort of stuff.

The study said about 30 percent of children at some time during their adolescence are going to get tension headaches.

Now, when it comes to the medications, they found that they're also taking medications often, too often. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 22 percent of them are using it at least three times a week, 10 percent of them are using it six to eight times a week. Now, that's a large part. The American Academy of Pediatrics, just for reference sake's, say no more than twice a week for these over-the-counter medications.

Also, 14 percent of the time they're not telling their parents. So, it's hard to keep track. They're also missing a lot of school, 15 days or more of school a year, that's quite a bit, because of these headaches -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: That's really interesting. So, what are parents supposed to do about this? I mean, do you -- how do you possible monitor it? Especially if you're talking about kids who are on the older age of the range, you know, the almost 18-year-olds. How do you really monitor what they're taking? Because I think there is a theory among kids, well, if one Aspirin is going to work, two will work better, and three will be even better.

GUPTA: And that's a perception among children and adults as well, not necessarily an accurate perception. One thing is to try and encourage either the parents or the children to keep a headache diary. Sometimes it's hard to remember just how often you're really getting headaches. So really writing down when you got the headache, how bad, things like that.

But it's important to know, when does it become a problem? When does it become a point when you should actually take someone to the doctor? And there are specific times if it's becoming worse or changing in frequency all of a sudden. The pain changes, you know, the nature of the pain. It's causing persistent vomiting, especially morning vomiting, that's a concern. Also if there is a personality change or fever or a stiff neck, things like that, those are also concerns. O'BRIEN: So, if you're seeing -- I mean, if I had a child who was throwing up every morning or frequently, I mean, shouldn't the strategy be, take them to the doctor to figure out what's causing the headache as opposed to giving them drugs and sending them off to school?

GUPTA: Absolutely that is the strategy. But you'd be surprised, Soledad, how often that doesn't happen. How often by the time they get to the doctor, they say, yes, you know, Johnny, who is 7 years old, has been throwing up every morning for the last three weeks. I finally decided to bring him to the doctor. It's an important message. If that's the situation, Tylenol or Aspirin is not going to be the answer.

It's also always worth pointing out, and I know you know about this, but aspirin in children can be a problem. There is something known as Reye Syndrome. It's a significant problem with aspirin in children. Make sure your child doesn't have that as well.

O'BRIEN: Yes, an interesting study. Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. It's so nice to have you in New York for part of the week.

GUPTA: Yes, I'll be back.

O'BRIEN: I know you'll be back, but it's nice to have you this week, too.

Let's go back out to Bill Hemmer in Washington, D.C.

Hi -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad. Soledad, good morning again.

It will be quite a sight today when the dignitaries pull into Washington later and go inside the National Cathedral. About 700,000 visitors every year stop by this cathedral in our nation's capital. In March of 1968, one of those visitors was the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. He gave his last sermon in the National Cathedral that year. He was shot a short time later in Tennessee, only to be returned here five days later. A memorial service was held in his honor after that assassination.

Our coverage continues in a moment from the nation's capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's 45 minutes past the hour now. It's time to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines today. Here's Heidi Collins.

Good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

We talked about this a little bit already today. The legendary blues singer and pianist Ray Charles is being remembered this morning as a giant of an artist. Charles died yesterday after a long battle with liver disease. Charles overcame poverty and blindness to become one of America's most popular entertainers. A memorial service for Charles will be held next week in Los Angeles. He was 73.

U.S. and rebel forces battled today just outside Baghdad. Fighters from the militia of radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr fired on American troops with automatic weapons and hand grenades. The U.S. responded from helicopter gunships. One Iraqi fighter was killed.

After two and a half years in U.S. custody, an Australian man will be charged in connection with terrorist activity. David Hicks (ph) is being held at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a news release, the Pentagon said Hicks (ph) trained with al Qaeda and armed himself to fight against coalition forces. His lawyers say Hicks (ph) will plead not guilty.

A New York state mayor is off the hook for marrying same-sex couples. New Pulse's mayor, Jason West, faced 19 misdemeanor counts for marrying couples without a license. A judge dismissed the charges yesterday. A separate court order bars West from presiding over future same-sex ceremonies.

Well, if you talk to your dog and are sure he understands you, you are not alone. German researchers say a border collie named Rico understands more than 200 words. They say Rico is able to fetch a toy that he's never heard of by eliminating all of the toys that he already knows. Critics howl that the researchers are barking mad about this.

O'BRIEN: How many puns can you write?

COLLINS: Yes, yes, a few more, I'm so organized.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Those border collies are smart, though. Remember there was that one the other week that was dancing around last week?

COLLINS: Yes. Yes, they are smart.

SERWER: Yes, they are. That's right.

O'BRIEN: All, Heidi, thanks.

COLLINS: You bet.

O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you: Is your mailbox filling up with more credit card offers these days? Plus, Wall Street is remembering Ronald Reagan today.

With those stories, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

SERWER: Good morning.

Yes, the mailbox situation with the junk mail and especially the credit card offers, I don't know about you guys, it's just totally out of control.

O'BRIEN: Oh, three a week or something.

SERWER: I can't even pull the stuff out anymore. And we now have new numbers that back it up.

The mushrooming business of credit card solicitation is totally out of control. You won't believe how many went out in the first quarter in the United States -- 1.3 billion -- billion. That's up from 832 million only five years ago.

And this is -the thing: The average American household gets over five credit card offers a month. I get more than that. You know, what we should do is stop paying our bills. Then you won't get any of these credit card solicitations anymore. That would be one thing.

O'BRIEN: Do you think that would work?

SERWER: Yes, it would work. Well, other problems.

The success rate is very, very, very small. They only get about five million people responding to these things, of course. And the problem is, you get so many of these things, I've, you know, thrown out new credit cards. You get upgraded cards. You throw them away. You don't even know what's going on. It's a real problem.

O'BRIEN: Plus, I would image there is a link with identity theft, too, they say because if someone fills out that application and mail it in and they get the credit card, then they're on the way to stealing your identity.

SERWER: Yes, the fraud problem is really rampant. And I just got a fraudulent e-mail from my bank, purporting to be from my bank, Citibank, and I tried to respond to it. It turned out it was totally fraudulent. They had the logo of Citibank on the e-mail. So, you really have to be careful with this stuff.

O'BRIEN: Interesting.

All right, let's talk about the markets, because there's really nothing to talk about, only looking back.

SERWER: There is nothing to talk about, but I can always talk about something. OK. Yes, of course, we're closed for the market's national day of mourning for President Reagan today. The stock market is closed. The federal government is closed down today as well. That means post offices all across the country. Most banks seem to be open.

The market up about 1 percent this week, which is through Thursday. And we had a good week. Nasdaq right at 1,999. So, we're setting ourselves up on Monday to go back over 2,000, I hope. O'BRIEN: And Bill Hemmer will like that, because that's his number.

SERWER: Oh, he will. That's his number.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: OK.

O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you again.

Still to come this morning, before he was secretary of state, he was President Reagan's national security adviser. A conversation with Secretary Colin Powell just ahead, his reflections on the late president, as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's time to check in with Jack and "The Cafferty File."

Hello.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I almost missed my last appearance, because I broke my glasses, and I had to run down the street to the drugstore to get a new pair, and they had the security guy coming after me, saying, they want you in the studio. So, you know, I mean, not that this show would have been worse off, but I got a new pair of glasses.

O'BRIEN: What do they look like?

CAFFERTY: Well, I'll show you in the next set. I don't need them to read this, because it's just those letters.

O'BRIEN: All right, we'll wait.

CAFFERTY: Laura Bush -- is it 10:00 yet? Laura Bush took the people of Colorado by surprise when she announced Wednesday that Denver is Baghdad's sister city. Now there's a clever idea. The nonprofit group Sister Cities International that turns cities into siblings didn't know Laura Bush was going to make that announcement.

The goal is to strengthen relationships between the U.S. and Iraqi cities. I can just hardly wait for the, you know, the exchange programs to begin between Denver and Baghdad. All of the Iraqis come over here and go skiing. It's up to a vote in the Denver Regional Council of Government to officially enter into the agreement. They haven't done that yet.

Another sister city match-up, which makes almost as much sense, is Dallas and Kirkuk.

If Senator John Kerry wins the presidential election, he may have to write Howard Stern a thank you note. A poll by an outfit called the New Democrat Network found that Stern's eight and a half million listeners include 17 percent of likely voters. And one-fourth of them are the critical swing voters. The poll also shows Stern's fan support Kerry 53 percent to 43 percent. If I was John Kerry I'd be very concerned about that. The shock jock launched a jihad to defeat President Bush after the FCC began fining radio stations that carried Stern's program.

And finally, we've got some cute pictures from the Far East. Young sumo wrestlers took on the big guys at demonstrations of sumo wrestling, the Japanese sport, in China this week. They were part of a delegation of about 100 wrestlers, referees and doctors who went to Shanghai and Beijing for several days of performances. The last time a Japanese sumo team visited China was 1973. The sumo wannabes -- those would be the little guys here -- tried to topple the Japanese champs. But in the end, the wrestlers in training were no match for the pros.

O'BRIEN: Oh!

CAFFERTY: Cute. I guess the first thing you have to do if you want to be a sumo wrestler is you've to eat a lot, because they're all big fellows.

O'BRIEN: That's true. Pack on the pounds.

CAFFERTY: Right.

O'BRIEN: How cute are those kids?

CAFFERTY: That's great, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: The three of them trying to push the one guy over.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That was adorable. All right, Jack, thanks.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HEMMER: In a moment here, much of the attention has been focused on Washington throughout the week, and it continues that focus today here. Ronald Reagan's long journey that will come to an end later tonight back in his home state of California, a look at final preparations ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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