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CNN Sunday Morning
New Over-Time Regulations Take Effect Monday
Aired August 22, 2004 - 9:00 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: A good morning to you. It is August 22. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Betty Nguyen.
DREW GRIFFIN, CO-HOST: I'm Drew Griffin. If you are just waking up on the west coast, well good morning, six-o'clockers. Thanks for starting your day with us. Here's what's happening now in the news.
There's been some Sunday morning explosions in Najaf where U.S. troops and planes pound militia positions around the Imam Ali Mosque. Forty-nine Iraqis killed in a 24-hour period, no American deaths are reported for that same period.
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad, a target of a dramatic bomb plot. Pakistani officials claim they have uncovered at least five, and as many as 12 suspects have been arrested today. The information minister says the plot involved seven days of continuous bombings, that was the plot. And the targets included the official residence of President Pervez Musharraf.
A stunner this morning in Oslo, Norway, bandits confronted the staff at gun point as museum goers watched and they made off with two famous Edvard Munch paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna." Some visitors panicked thinking they were under attack by terrorists. The robbers took off in a car. We'll have a live update from Oslo in about 15 minutes from now.
And police in Bangladesh find two bombs, one in a market and the other in the city's central jail in Dhaka. The discovery came as an angry mod protested a grenade attack yesterday that killed 19 people. The country's former prime minister survived that attack, but suffered hearing impairments.
Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: And here's what we have coming up for you:
Labor laws could put more overtime money in workers pockets or will it put less money in those pockets? We'll get the information on who will be left out in all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This year we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Distorted beliefs, estimates and guesstimates. It appears that he was misleading the public and the Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: First it was "Fahrenheit 9/11," now another movie is turning up the heat on President Bush and his administration. We'll talk with the director of "Uncovered: The War on Iraq." That's a little bit later in the hour.
And all is not war and politics in Iraq, at least when it comes to the Olympics. The "Cinderella" story of this year's games comes courtesy of the Iraqi soccer team. We'll have a profile in about 15 minutes.
GRIFFIN: No day off for politics. An unpaid advisor has resigned as a member of the Bush/Cheney '04 Veteran's Steering Committee. A resignation by retired Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier came after he appeared in one of those attack ads against John Kerry. It's the latest ad released by the group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. More on this from Jill Dougherty, she's in Crawford, Texas, near President Bush's ranch.
Jill, a lot to work out on this story.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is, Drew. And, you know, to make it easier, if you look at it in two-ways, there's the debate that's ongoing over what happened 35 years ago in Vietnam, back in 1969 -- February of '69 when John Kerry was in Vietnam and on that river in Vietnam. Then the second debate is over these attack ads. And who exactly is behind them. So, trying to keep that in focus.
The polls show, by the way, those attack ads are definitely hurting John Kerry among veterans. And in that context, John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, blasted the president. The democrats claiming that the White House ultimately is behind all of this, something that the White House denies. And John Edwards saying to the president "take down those ads," that that's what he should be saying.
Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign has appealed to the FEC, the Federal Election Commission, to -- charging that there is a direct connection between the White House and the campaign and the men who put those ads together. They're called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Bush White House, meanwhile -- I should say the Bush campaign, fired back and yesterday sent a letter to the FEC and said that is completely frivolous, it is untrue, and no basis for any of this. You should dismiss it. They said, quote, "sadly the Kerry campaign is misusing the Federal Election Commission's process to distract attention and gain free publicity concerning charges for which it publicly admits it has no evidence."
And meanwhile, as you mentioned Drew, a member of a veteran's coalition for Bush has stepped down. He is Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier, and he was involved in a TV ad that criticized Kerry's involvement in Vietnam era anti-war protests. The Bush campaign says that they did not know that he was going to take part in that ad.
We also have been reporting the "Chicago Tribune" editor William Rood. Now, he answered the story with an article in the "Chicago Tribune." Rood served in the Navy at the very same time as Kerry and the very same place, was on that river in question back in 1969, and he says that Kerry deserves the silver star that he got for that action.
So, finally, summing up all of this, another step, the Kerry campaign releasing another ad, this time saying we should get through this, get over this and get back to the issues -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Jill, though, by attacking the attack ads, the Kerry campaign seems to keep the ads front and center in the news. I'm wondering if the president and staff are -- you know, hands-off approach here and allowing this battle to go forth because obviously, as you reported, those ads are working.
DOUGHERTY: They are. And that's a very good point. This has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, a really, a circular type of thing. And we can tell you just, here in the filing center in Crawford, Texas there are constant calls, e-mails, blackberry messages, etcetera, coming from the campaigns. Even as we were walking over here to do this live shot, we had a call from one of the campaigns. So, there's back and forth and neither guy, neither side, wants to stop and give up and just say this is the end. So, it looks as if it's continuing for the time being, at least.
GRIFFIN: There you go. Jill Dougherty in Texas, this morning. Thanks for joining us, Jill.
And as president Bush takes the weekend off in Texas, John Kerry has also stepped off the campaign trail spending a couple days at home in Boston. On Friday Kerry inspected hurricane damage in Florida, yesterday campaigned in Pittsburgh and peace camped (PH) in New York.
Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, spent Saturday in Virginia and West Virginia attacking new overtime rules approved by congress and the Bush administration. Edwards says those new rules will exclude millions of workers from overtime pay and he calls the changes, quote, "a pay cut."
Our e-mail question this morning, centers around those Swift Boat ads, "Are they dirty politics or politics as usual?
A lot of responses so far. You can get in on the act at wam@CNN.com. We'll review responses throughout the rest of the show.
Both presidential candidates are in hot pursuit of a key democratic -- demographic group, they're called "undecided voters," if I can spit that out. Our Paula Zahn is on that story. Join us today for a special encore presentation of "CNN Town Hall Meeting" on the undecided vote that is at 5:00 Eastern time -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Meanwhile, New Jersey's embattled governor is defending his decision not to leave office immediately because of a sex scandal. Jim McGreevy announced earlier this month he is leaving his post in November after disclosing he is gay and had an extramarital affair with a man. Stepping down now would allow a special election to be held in November for the remaining 14 months of his term. In an op-ed piece in today's "New York Times" McGreevy says, quote, "This decision was a difficult one and it was made with serious deliberation. While I see the merits of both sides of the debate, I stand firm with my decision. My obligation is to complete the important work already started and achieve an effective transition of state government."
Now, to other news across America. First up, Colorado. The "Denver Post" reports at least one indictment has been issued in the University of Colorado football scandal. The report does not say who is named in the indictment.
A fatal fire in Philadelphia row house there is now a criminal case. Two veteran fire fighters were caught in the basement and died of smoke inhalation. One man is charged with murder and running a marijuana growing operation.
Now to Florida, family and friends gathered at the funeral for American contractor Paul Johnson, Jr. He was kidnapped in Saudi Arabia in June and beheaded by militants. Johnson's remains will be cremated and sent to his widow's home in Thailand.
GRIFFIN: Here are today's developments from Iraq. U.S. warplanes bombed positions outside the Imam Ali Mosque held by troop loyal to Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. The rebels remain in control of the shrine after talks on surrendering it to Shiite religious leaders, ran into trouble. Meanwhile, Iraqi officials say 49 Iraqis were killed, 27 were wounded in Najaf just this weekend.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb blew up near a convoy carrying Iraqi government officials. This happened north of Baghdad. Two people killed, seven were wounded. Iraqi officials say it appears the blast targeted a deputy provisional (PH) governor among the injured. That same official was targeted in another attack two weeks ago.
An aide to Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, says Iraqi kidnappers have lifted their threat to kill American journalist Micah Garen. The aide says mediators are working out a way to have him released. The kidnappers threatened, Thursday, to kill Garen within 48 hours if troops did not leave Najaf. Garen and his Iraqi translator were kidnapped in the southern city of Nasiriyah on August 13.
Violence and struggle remain an every day way of life in Iraq, so a welcome distraction from war is brining people together in peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there is any game which can unite the whole world, not just the nation, is football.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Football, soccer, whatever you call it, it's giving Iraqis something to cheer about.
NGUYEN: Oh yes, it is. As the 9/11 Commission ends its investigation, there is more insight about how the terrorists were able to put their plan together. We have those details ahead.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano at the CNN Weather Center. Good-looking day across the northeast, cool Canadian air sliding in, meanwhile across the Pacific northwest a little rainfall. In san Francisco, no rain expected, it's a little dark now. Akron is our affiliate. For the sun, I promise you it's going to come up. Sixty-three degrees across the bay with a low ceiling which is typically -- typical of this time of year. The complete forecast for San Francisco and beyond, in just a few minutes. CNN Sunday Morning returns in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Sunday morning on San Francisco Bay. Just beginning to see the outline of the hill in the background, there's. The Giants at home this afternoon, hosting the New York Mets. We're going to have a forecast for that game and the rest of California in just a few minutes.
News from Norway today, one of the most famous expressionist paintings ever created was nabbed today in a daring daylight heist. You may not know the name, but you certainly know the painting, Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was taken from the Munch Museum in Oslo along with his painting the "Madonna." Artworks considered priceless Ule Torp or NRK Public Radio and TV in Oslo joins us by phone with the latest on a brazen heist.
Can you describe it for us, sir?
ULE TORP, NRK PUBLIC RADIO AND TV: Well, from what we understand, three or four armed robbers ran into the museum at around 11:00 local time today, threatened the guards with guns then had them lie down on the floor while the others sort of tore the paintings from the wall and ran out again before anybody could sound the alarm or anything and then the police came, but it was all too late. The robbers had somebody waiting in a car -- in a getaway car outside.
GRIFFIN: Mr. Torp, these paintings were just basically hung on the wall, they were not attached to the wall in any way, so it was easy to just grab and go?
TORP: Well, some of the witnesses have described it as a loud bang when the paintings were torn off the wall, so there must have been some sort of secure line attached to them. But it was just snapped from what we understand. The robbers came in the adjacent cafe, so there was nobody on guard, right there.
GRIFFIN: Two of these paintings exists, and one was stolen about ten years ago from the National Museum and I wonder if there was there any controversy then about how easy they were to steal?
TORP: Oh, absolutely. I mean, these are -- it seems like the museum in Norway has been criticized for living in naive times. As we all -- any museum person worldwide will tell you that some of these robberies are made professionally, that people actually order these paintings to be stolen, collectors worldwide. So, there was criticism in 1994 when it -- when "The Scream" was stolen, and there's bound to be more criticism, now. Of course, there were lots of tourists in the museum, today. This is a major tourist attraction in Oslo, and they were all very frightened thinking this might be a terrorist attack or something.
GRIFFIN: Ule Torp from NRK Public Radio and TV in Oslo. Thanks for clearing that up for us, sir, on the heist of "The Scream" -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Also overseas, the Olympics are always a rich fodder for stories of triumph over adversity. One of the best of the 2004 summer games is Iraq's men's soccer team. They compete semi-finals Tuesday against Paraguay, which could put Iraq in line to win only its second Olympic gold medal in history. Michael Holmes has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They poured onto the Island of Crete, Iraqis, from England, from Sweden, some of them refugees from Saddam Hussein's regime. All of them intensely proud of their soccer team.
They use to train, three, four of them, in different areas, sometimes the bombs and sometimes the terrorists attacks, and -- so it is incredible they are here. So far I think they achieved a miracle.
HOLMES: Their Olympic campaign would have been successful without a win, but win they have, defeating giants like Portugal on route to Crete and a quarterfinal match against Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very important in this situation you know.
HOLMES: No other Olympic team could possibly have faced the battle these men have fought just to be here. They trained and qualified in other countries, their own, simply too dangerous. And now they play for the love of their sport and their country and not the fear of torture should they fail.
AHMED ABDUL GHAFOUR ASSAMARAI, NATL. OLYMPIC CMTE. OF Iraq: The spirit of our athletes now, to be here in Athens, this is -- the fear was huge when you control our athletes before. Fear from the previous (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and its president, or that even if he didn't show the thing which he would like to see, he is going to put them in prison or torturing them.
HOLMES: In Baghdad, those without the option of being here watched every minute on television. At the very least a diversion, but much more as well -- hope.
(on camera): It is easy to glamorize this team's achievements, they are, without question, the stuff of fairy tales, but back home there are stark realities, matters of life and death with which to contend.
(voice-over): Many in this young team are from the slums of Sadr City, others from hot spots like Fallujah and Najaf. Homecoming parades are unlikely in such places. But, they had their parade in Crete this night. Iraq's dream team continuing its remarkable journey with another win. One more victory and they're guaranteed their nation's second-ever Olympic medal. If they lose, they still get to play for bronze. But as we've heard, this is about so much more than winning or medals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's any -- any game which can unite the whole world, not just a nation, it's football.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Crete.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And we will get an update on the summer games in a live report, that's a little bit later this hour.
GRIFFIN: Top stories on this Sunday: In Iraq explosions continue to ring across Najaf, this morning. U.S. troops take aim at militia around the Imam Ali Mosque. Iraqi officials say 49 Iraqis have died in the battle.
Meanwhile, a car bomb, north of Baghdad, targets an Iraqi deputy governor. It left two of his bodyguards dead, the second time in two weeks he's been a target.
A man working on President Bush's veteran's steering committee has quit. Retired Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier had appeared in a spot from a veterans group. The commercials question John Kerry's military service in Vietnam.
NGUYEN: Well, it's a Sunday morning, we want to get a check of the forecast. Rob, how is it looking this morning?
(WEATHER BREAK)
NGUYEN: Lucky us. All right. Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
GRIFFIN: Time and a half, employers they love it. Many employers do not -- employees love it. But new rules will change who gets the cash and who doesn't. New guidelines take effect tomorrow. We're going to talk about them today. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, in case you did not know, Monday dawned with changes in overtime rules for the first time in 50 years. There's been great debate over whether the changes will make life better or worse for working Americans and the changes are called a "political plum" for President Bush in an election year. Dennis -- Denise Belgrade takes a look at how these new rules could affect you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DENISE BELGRAVE CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans work on average 49 hours a week. Many of them relying on overtime pay to help bridge the gap. Michelle Spears-Sevy is one of them. But she believes she is on the losing end of the government's new labor deal.
MICHELLE SPEARS-SEVY, RN SUMTER REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Most of us don't mind working some overtime from time to time. You know, a little extra Christmas money or a down payment on braces, but to -- to do it without the overtime pay would, in my opinion, be unreasonable.
BELGRAVE: Spears-Sevy is a registered nurse and she's concerned that her position could fall into the category of "professional" and that would mean she's ineligible to get paid for those extra hours. And she believes her industry will be among the hardest hit. And she's not alone.
RICHARD TRUMKA, AFL-CID: The changes they are about to make will hurt people. Six million people roughly will lose overtime, nurses are among them.
BELGRAVE: But the Department of Labor says that 1.3 million workers will now gain overtime rights, and that the rules don't necessarily mean nurses will lose the extra cash.
VICTORIA LIPNIC, ASST. SECY. DEPT. OF LABOR: You know, we've got a big nursing shortage in this country, and so I would think that even if it were the case that some nurses moved into a salaried position, their employers are very likely to pay them overtime.
BELGRAVE: Georgia Nurse's Association president Linda Easterly doesn't buy it.
LINDA EASTERLY, GEORGIA NURSE'S ASSOCIATION: Unfortunately, in the time crunches we are, with health care costs increasing every day, and facilities having to look at cutting costs in any way, shape or form they can to make ends meet, one of the ways they are looking at are employee costs, what it costs them to have nurses or any other healthcare worker in the facility providing patient care. And long- term these are -- there are enough loopholes in this law that will allow the facilities to be more creative than they have ever been before, particularly when looking at overtime.
BELGRAVE: Spears-Sevy says she is not clear on the finer points of the new rules and figuring out who falls into which category is enough to make her reach for the aspirin.
(on camera): This ream of paper is 500 sheets and the new Fair Labor and Standards Act is approximately 500 pages long. So, it's not surprising that employers and employees alike aren't certain about what this all means for the future.
Denise Belgrave, CNN, Americas, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now, the overtime changes were implemented despite howls of protest from democrats in Congress and on the campaign trails. For example, vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, denounced them yesterday in Virginia. Here to discuss the new rules from Chicago is employment attorney Michael Karpeles.
Good morning to you.
MICHAEL KARPELES, EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY: Good morning.
NGUYEN: Well first off, why are these new rules needed? Why now?
KARPELES: Well, the rules have not been changed or overhauled for 50 years, and the prior regulations have a lot of outdated job titles in them, "straw bosses" and "gang leaders," "lumber graders" things that meant something different 50 years ago than they do today. There's been a lot of class action litigation over these regulations in the last several years and I think the Department of Labor was trying to streamline them, modernize them, and actually, to condense them to reduce litigation and increase compliance. It remains to be seen whether there will be increased compliance. I think there probably will be some, although I think there will continue to be litigation because these concepts are fairly abstract.
NGUYEN: OK, in the easiest terms possible, because we saw this story and it seems people are still confused about exactly how does this works. Spell it out for us. What do the new rules mean?
KARPELES: Well, the first significant change is that anybody making less than $23,660 a year is going to get overtime regardless of their job, and so that's a bump up from $8,060. So, if you were between $8,060 and $23,660 per year and you didn't get overtime before, you're going to get overtime now.
NGUYEN: OK, but at the same time, while 1.3 million people will now get overtime, some six million will lose it, so there's a downside to this, as well.
KARPELES: You know, the six million figure is disputed. It really remains to be seen. I think it's a lot clearer that about a million plus people will be eligible for overtime. The six million number, I don't really buy that number and I think it's going to remain to be seen how many people will actually get reclassified from eligible for overtime to exempt.
NGUYEN: Talk about those classifications, because we saw in the story the registered nurse who's worried she's going to lose her overtime. What does this mean for white collar workers who do count on that overtime to make ends meet?
KARPELES: Yeah, and registered nurses are mentioned in the regulations as an occupation that is likely to be exempt, an exempt professional.
But I should emphasize that while the regulations talk about job titles, they also talk about job duties and really it comes down... NGUYEN: Obviously, we have lost our live shot with Michael Karpeles, the employment law attorney talking about the new rules for overtime.
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 August 22, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: A good morning to you. It is August 22. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Betty Nguyen.
DREW GRIFFIN, CO-HOST: I'm Drew Griffin. If you are just waking up on the west coast, well good morning, six-o'clockers. Thanks for starting your day with us. Here's what's happening now in the news.
There's been some Sunday morning explosions in Najaf where U.S. troops and planes pound militia positions around the Imam Ali Mosque. Forty-nine Iraqis killed in a 24-hour period, no American deaths are reported for that same period.
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad, a target of a dramatic bomb plot. Pakistani officials claim they have uncovered at least five, and as many as 12 suspects have been arrested today. The information minister says the plot involved seven days of continuous bombings, that was the plot. And the targets included the official residence of President Pervez Musharraf.
A stunner this morning in Oslo, Norway, bandits confronted the staff at gun point as museum goers watched and they made off with two famous Edvard Munch paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna." Some visitors panicked thinking they were under attack by terrorists. The robbers took off in a car. We'll have a live update from Oslo in about 15 minutes from now.
And police in Bangladesh find two bombs, one in a market and the other in the city's central jail in Dhaka. The discovery came as an angry mod protested a grenade attack yesterday that killed 19 people. The country's former prime minister survived that attack, but suffered hearing impairments.
Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: And here's what we have coming up for you:
Labor laws could put more overtime money in workers pockets or will it put less money in those pockets? We'll get the information on who will be left out in all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This year we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Distorted beliefs, estimates and guesstimates. It appears that he was misleading the public and the Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: First it was "Fahrenheit 9/11," now another movie is turning up the heat on President Bush and his administration. We'll talk with the director of "Uncovered: The War on Iraq." That's a little bit later in the hour.
And all is not war and politics in Iraq, at least when it comes to the Olympics. The "Cinderella" story of this year's games comes courtesy of the Iraqi soccer team. We'll have a profile in about 15 minutes.
GRIFFIN: No day off for politics. An unpaid advisor has resigned as a member of the Bush/Cheney '04 Veteran's Steering Committee. A resignation by retired Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier came after he appeared in one of those attack ads against John Kerry. It's the latest ad released by the group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. More on this from Jill Dougherty, she's in Crawford, Texas, near President Bush's ranch.
Jill, a lot to work out on this story.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is, Drew. And, you know, to make it easier, if you look at it in two-ways, there's the debate that's ongoing over what happened 35 years ago in Vietnam, back in 1969 -- February of '69 when John Kerry was in Vietnam and on that river in Vietnam. Then the second debate is over these attack ads. And who exactly is behind them. So, trying to keep that in focus.
The polls show, by the way, those attack ads are definitely hurting John Kerry among veterans. And in that context, John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, blasted the president. The democrats claiming that the White House ultimately is behind all of this, something that the White House denies. And John Edwards saying to the president "take down those ads," that that's what he should be saying.
Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign has appealed to the FEC, the Federal Election Commission, to -- charging that there is a direct connection between the White House and the campaign and the men who put those ads together. They're called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Bush White House, meanwhile -- I should say the Bush campaign, fired back and yesterday sent a letter to the FEC and said that is completely frivolous, it is untrue, and no basis for any of this. You should dismiss it. They said, quote, "sadly the Kerry campaign is misusing the Federal Election Commission's process to distract attention and gain free publicity concerning charges for which it publicly admits it has no evidence."
And meanwhile, as you mentioned Drew, a member of a veteran's coalition for Bush has stepped down. He is Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier, and he was involved in a TV ad that criticized Kerry's involvement in Vietnam era anti-war protests. The Bush campaign says that they did not know that he was going to take part in that ad.
We also have been reporting the "Chicago Tribune" editor William Rood. Now, he answered the story with an article in the "Chicago Tribune." Rood served in the Navy at the very same time as Kerry and the very same place, was on that river in question back in 1969, and he says that Kerry deserves the silver star that he got for that action.
So, finally, summing up all of this, another step, the Kerry campaign releasing another ad, this time saying we should get through this, get over this and get back to the issues -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Jill, though, by attacking the attack ads, the Kerry campaign seems to keep the ads front and center in the news. I'm wondering if the president and staff are -- you know, hands-off approach here and allowing this battle to go forth because obviously, as you reported, those ads are working.
DOUGHERTY: They are. And that's a very good point. This has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, a really, a circular type of thing. And we can tell you just, here in the filing center in Crawford, Texas there are constant calls, e-mails, blackberry messages, etcetera, coming from the campaigns. Even as we were walking over here to do this live shot, we had a call from one of the campaigns. So, there's back and forth and neither guy, neither side, wants to stop and give up and just say this is the end. So, it looks as if it's continuing for the time being, at least.
GRIFFIN: There you go. Jill Dougherty in Texas, this morning. Thanks for joining us, Jill.
And as president Bush takes the weekend off in Texas, John Kerry has also stepped off the campaign trail spending a couple days at home in Boston. On Friday Kerry inspected hurricane damage in Florida, yesterday campaigned in Pittsburgh and peace camped (PH) in New York.
Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, spent Saturday in Virginia and West Virginia attacking new overtime rules approved by congress and the Bush administration. Edwards says those new rules will exclude millions of workers from overtime pay and he calls the changes, quote, "a pay cut."
Our e-mail question this morning, centers around those Swift Boat ads, "Are they dirty politics or politics as usual?
A lot of responses so far. You can get in on the act at wam@CNN.com. We'll review responses throughout the rest of the show.
Both presidential candidates are in hot pursuit of a key democratic -- demographic group, they're called "undecided voters," if I can spit that out. Our Paula Zahn is on that story. Join us today for a special encore presentation of "CNN Town Hall Meeting" on the undecided vote that is at 5:00 Eastern time -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Meanwhile, New Jersey's embattled governor is defending his decision not to leave office immediately because of a sex scandal. Jim McGreevy announced earlier this month he is leaving his post in November after disclosing he is gay and had an extramarital affair with a man. Stepping down now would allow a special election to be held in November for the remaining 14 months of his term. In an op-ed piece in today's "New York Times" McGreevy says, quote, "This decision was a difficult one and it was made with serious deliberation. While I see the merits of both sides of the debate, I stand firm with my decision. My obligation is to complete the important work already started and achieve an effective transition of state government."
Now, to other news across America. First up, Colorado. The "Denver Post" reports at least one indictment has been issued in the University of Colorado football scandal. The report does not say who is named in the indictment.
A fatal fire in Philadelphia row house there is now a criminal case. Two veteran fire fighters were caught in the basement and died of smoke inhalation. One man is charged with murder and running a marijuana growing operation.
Now to Florida, family and friends gathered at the funeral for American contractor Paul Johnson, Jr. He was kidnapped in Saudi Arabia in June and beheaded by militants. Johnson's remains will be cremated and sent to his widow's home in Thailand.
GRIFFIN: Here are today's developments from Iraq. U.S. warplanes bombed positions outside the Imam Ali Mosque held by troop loyal to Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. The rebels remain in control of the shrine after talks on surrendering it to Shiite religious leaders, ran into trouble. Meanwhile, Iraqi officials say 49 Iraqis were killed, 27 were wounded in Najaf just this weekend.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb blew up near a convoy carrying Iraqi government officials. This happened north of Baghdad. Two people killed, seven were wounded. Iraqi officials say it appears the blast targeted a deputy provisional (PH) governor among the injured. That same official was targeted in another attack two weeks ago.
An aide to Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, says Iraqi kidnappers have lifted their threat to kill American journalist Micah Garen. The aide says mediators are working out a way to have him released. The kidnappers threatened, Thursday, to kill Garen within 48 hours if troops did not leave Najaf. Garen and his Iraqi translator were kidnapped in the southern city of Nasiriyah on August 13.
Violence and struggle remain an every day way of life in Iraq, so a welcome distraction from war is brining people together in peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there is any game which can unite the whole world, not just the nation, is football.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Football, soccer, whatever you call it, it's giving Iraqis something to cheer about.
NGUYEN: Oh yes, it is. As the 9/11 Commission ends its investigation, there is more insight about how the terrorists were able to put their plan together. We have those details ahead.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano at the CNN Weather Center. Good-looking day across the northeast, cool Canadian air sliding in, meanwhile across the Pacific northwest a little rainfall. In san Francisco, no rain expected, it's a little dark now. Akron is our affiliate. For the sun, I promise you it's going to come up. Sixty-three degrees across the bay with a low ceiling which is typically -- typical of this time of year. The complete forecast for San Francisco and beyond, in just a few minutes. CNN Sunday Morning returns in a moment.
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GRIFFIN: Sunday morning on San Francisco Bay. Just beginning to see the outline of the hill in the background, there's. The Giants at home this afternoon, hosting the New York Mets. We're going to have a forecast for that game and the rest of California in just a few minutes.
News from Norway today, one of the most famous expressionist paintings ever created was nabbed today in a daring daylight heist. You may not know the name, but you certainly know the painting, Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was taken from the Munch Museum in Oslo along with his painting the "Madonna." Artworks considered priceless Ule Torp or NRK Public Radio and TV in Oslo joins us by phone with the latest on a brazen heist.
Can you describe it for us, sir?
ULE TORP, NRK PUBLIC RADIO AND TV: Well, from what we understand, three or four armed robbers ran into the museum at around 11:00 local time today, threatened the guards with guns then had them lie down on the floor while the others sort of tore the paintings from the wall and ran out again before anybody could sound the alarm or anything and then the police came, but it was all too late. The robbers had somebody waiting in a car -- in a getaway car outside.
GRIFFIN: Mr. Torp, these paintings were just basically hung on the wall, they were not attached to the wall in any way, so it was easy to just grab and go?
TORP: Well, some of the witnesses have described it as a loud bang when the paintings were torn off the wall, so there must have been some sort of secure line attached to them. But it was just snapped from what we understand. The robbers came in the adjacent cafe, so there was nobody on guard, right there.
GRIFFIN: Two of these paintings exists, and one was stolen about ten years ago from the National Museum and I wonder if there was there any controversy then about how easy they were to steal?
TORP: Oh, absolutely. I mean, these are -- it seems like the museum in Norway has been criticized for living in naive times. As we all -- any museum person worldwide will tell you that some of these robberies are made professionally, that people actually order these paintings to be stolen, collectors worldwide. So, there was criticism in 1994 when it -- when "The Scream" was stolen, and there's bound to be more criticism, now. Of course, there were lots of tourists in the museum, today. This is a major tourist attraction in Oslo, and they were all very frightened thinking this might be a terrorist attack or something.
GRIFFIN: Ule Torp from NRK Public Radio and TV in Oslo. Thanks for clearing that up for us, sir, on the heist of "The Scream" -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Also overseas, the Olympics are always a rich fodder for stories of triumph over adversity. One of the best of the 2004 summer games is Iraq's men's soccer team. They compete semi-finals Tuesday against Paraguay, which could put Iraq in line to win only its second Olympic gold medal in history. Michael Holmes has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They poured onto the Island of Crete, Iraqis, from England, from Sweden, some of them refugees from Saddam Hussein's regime. All of them intensely proud of their soccer team.
They use to train, three, four of them, in different areas, sometimes the bombs and sometimes the terrorists attacks, and -- so it is incredible they are here. So far I think they achieved a miracle.
HOLMES: Their Olympic campaign would have been successful without a win, but win they have, defeating giants like Portugal on route to Crete and a quarterfinal match against Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very important in this situation you know.
HOLMES: No other Olympic team could possibly have faced the battle these men have fought just to be here. They trained and qualified in other countries, their own, simply too dangerous. And now they play for the love of their sport and their country and not the fear of torture should they fail.
AHMED ABDUL GHAFOUR ASSAMARAI, NATL. OLYMPIC CMTE. OF Iraq: The spirit of our athletes now, to be here in Athens, this is -- the fear was huge when you control our athletes before. Fear from the previous (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and its president, or that even if he didn't show the thing which he would like to see, he is going to put them in prison or torturing them.
HOLMES: In Baghdad, those without the option of being here watched every minute on television. At the very least a diversion, but much more as well -- hope.
(on camera): It is easy to glamorize this team's achievements, they are, without question, the stuff of fairy tales, but back home there are stark realities, matters of life and death with which to contend.
(voice-over): Many in this young team are from the slums of Sadr City, others from hot spots like Fallujah and Najaf. Homecoming parades are unlikely in such places. But, they had their parade in Crete this night. Iraq's dream team continuing its remarkable journey with another win. One more victory and they're guaranteed their nation's second-ever Olympic medal. If they lose, they still get to play for bronze. But as we've heard, this is about so much more than winning or medals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's any -- any game which can unite the whole world, not just a nation, it's football.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Crete.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And we will get an update on the summer games in a live report, that's a little bit later this hour.
GRIFFIN: Top stories on this Sunday: In Iraq explosions continue to ring across Najaf, this morning. U.S. troops take aim at militia around the Imam Ali Mosque. Iraqi officials say 49 Iraqis have died in the battle.
Meanwhile, a car bomb, north of Baghdad, targets an Iraqi deputy governor. It left two of his bodyguards dead, the second time in two weeks he's been a target.
A man working on President Bush's veteran's steering committee has quit. Retired Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier had appeared in a spot from a veterans group. The commercials question John Kerry's military service in Vietnam.
NGUYEN: Well, it's a Sunday morning, we want to get a check of the forecast. Rob, how is it looking this morning?
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NGUYEN: Lucky us. All right. Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
GRIFFIN: Time and a half, employers they love it. Many employers do not -- employees love it. But new rules will change who gets the cash and who doesn't. New guidelines take effect tomorrow. We're going to talk about them today. Stay tuned.
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NGUYEN: Well, in case you did not know, Monday dawned with changes in overtime rules for the first time in 50 years. There's been great debate over whether the changes will make life better or worse for working Americans and the changes are called a "political plum" for President Bush in an election year. Dennis -- Denise Belgrade takes a look at how these new rules could affect you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DENISE BELGRAVE CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans work on average 49 hours a week. Many of them relying on overtime pay to help bridge the gap. Michelle Spears-Sevy is one of them. But she believes she is on the losing end of the government's new labor deal.
MICHELLE SPEARS-SEVY, RN SUMTER REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Most of us don't mind working some overtime from time to time. You know, a little extra Christmas money or a down payment on braces, but to -- to do it without the overtime pay would, in my opinion, be unreasonable.
BELGRAVE: Spears-Sevy is a registered nurse and she's concerned that her position could fall into the category of "professional" and that would mean she's ineligible to get paid for those extra hours. And she believes her industry will be among the hardest hit. And she's not alone.
RICHARD TRUMKA, AFL-CID: The changes they are about to make will hurt people. Six million people roughly will lose overtime, nurses are among them.
BELGRAVE: But the Department of Labor says that 1.3 million workers will now gain overtime rights, and that the rules don't necessarily mean nurses will lose the extra cash.
VICTORIA LIPNIC, ASST. SECY. DEPT. OF LABOR: You know, we've got a big nursing shortage in this country, and so I would think that even if it were the case that some nurses moved into a salaried position, their employers are very likely to pay them overtime.
BELGRAVE: Georgia Nurse's Association president Linda Easterly doesn't buy it.
LINDA EASTERLY, GEORGIA NURSE'S ASSOCIATION: Unfortunately, in the time crunches we are, with health care costs increasing every day, and facilities having to look at cutting costs in any way, shape or form they can to make ends meet, one of the ways they are looking at are employee costs, what it costs them to have nurses or any other healthcare worker in the facility providing patient care. And long- term these are -- there are enough loopholes in this law that will allow the facilities to be more creative than they have ever been before, particularly when looking at overtime.
BELGRAVE: Spears-Sevy says she is not clear on the finer points of the new rules and figuring out who falls into which category is enough to make her reach for the aspirin.
(on camera): This ream of paper is 500 sheets and the new Fair Labor and Standards Act is approximately 500 pages long. So, it's not surprising that employers and employees alike aren't certain about what this all means for the future.
Denise Belgrave, CNN, Americas, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now, the overtime changes were implemented despite howls of protest from democrats in Congress and on the campaign trails. For example, vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, denounced them yesterday in Virginia. Here to discuss the new rules from Chicago is employment attorney Michael Karpeles.
Good morning to you.
MICHAEL KARPELES, EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY: Good morning.
NGUYEN: Well first off, why are these new rules needed? Why now?
KARPELES: Well, the rules have not been changed or overhauled for 50 years, and the prior regulations have a lot of outdated job titles in them, "straw bosses" and "gang leaders," "lumber graders" things that meant something different 50 years ago than they do today. There's been a lot of class action litigation over these regulations in the last several years and I think the Department of Labor was trying to streamline them, modernize them, and actually, to condense them to reduce litigation and increase compliance. It remains to be seen whether there will be increased compliance. I think there probably will be some, although I think there will continue to be litigation because these concepts are fairly abstract.
NGUYEN: OK, in the easiest terms possible, because we saw this story and it seems people are still confused about exactly how does this works. Spell it out for us. What do the new rules mean?
KARPELES: Well, the first significant change is that anybody making less than $23,660 a year is going to get overtime regardless of their job, and so that's a bump up from $8,060. So, if you were between $8,060 and $23,660 per year and you didn't get overtime before, you're going to get overtime now.
NGUYEN: OK, but at the same time, while 1.3 million people will now get overtime, some six million will lose it, so there's a downside to this, as well.
KARPELES: You know, the six million figure is disputed. It really remains to be seen. I think it's a lot clearer that about a million plus people will be eligible for overtime. The six million number, I don't really buy that number and I think it's going to remain to be seen how many people will actually get reclassified from eligible for overtime to exempt.
NGUYEN: Talk about those classifications, because we saw in the story the registered nurse who's worried she's going to lose her overtime. What does this mean for white collar workers who do count on that overtime to make ends meet?
KARPELES: Yeah, and registered nurses are mentioned in the regulations as an occupation that is likely to be exempt, an exempt professional.
But I should emphasize that while the regulations talk about job titles, they also talk about job duties and really it comes down... NGUYEN: Obviously, we have lost our live shot with Michael Karpeles, the employment law attorney talking about the new rules for overtime.
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