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CNN Live At Daybreak

'Hot Topics'; Hunters Shot in Wisconsin; Dealing With Debt

Aired November 22, 2004 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. Let's check the headlines right now.
Peaceful Palestinian elections: Secretary of State Colin Powell says that is a top priority in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death. Powell is in the Middle East right now. He's meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Powell's boss is also on an international trip. President Bush stops in Columbia today, the final stop on his visit to South America. He's expected to praise U.S.-backed efforts to fight drug trafficking.

And check out this snow in Moscow. It is the heaviest snowfall in November in more than 70 years. Street crews worked furiously to clear roads. At least two people have died from exposure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: An update now on what's happening this morning in Iraq, a horrific discovery in Falluja. Military officials tell CNN they're increasingly confident they've discovered the house where insurgents beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley last month, just one of the several so-called torture houses found in Falluja.

Also, foreign ministers are gathering in Egypt today for a conference on how to bring stability to Iraq. Iraq is calling on neighboring countries to tighten borders and exchange information about militants operating in their country.

Kidnappers have released the cousin of Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The man and two other relatives were kidnapped on November 9. Allawi's office says the other relatives were freed last week.

President Bush and Republican congressional leaders will try again next month to get legislation passed overhauling the nation's intelligence services. Two Republican committee chairmen blocked the bill from going to the floor of the House for a vote on Saturday.

The 9/11 stall is our "Hot Topic" this morning. "The National Journal's" online "Hotline" editor, Vaughn Ververs, is in Washington this morning.

Good morning, Vaughn.

VAUGHN VERVERS, EDITOR, "THE HOTLINE": Good morning, Carol. COSTELLO: So, this overhaul of the 9/11 system, it has widespread support. So, why is it continually being stalled in Congress?

VERVERS: Well, I think the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee had it just about right yesterday. He said, a lot of it's a turf battle. There are people like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who does not want to cede any of his budgetary control or authority of intelligence apparatus over to a central location. That would be taking power away from that position.

There are people on the Hill who are opposed to this, some for ideological reasons, others just to assert themselves, feeling like the Senate is trying to run roughshod over the House. And the president...

COSTELLO: Oh, that's great. Just to assert themselves. Before you...

VERVERS: The president hasn't really stepped up and strong-armed them yet in the first place, and I think that's what a lot of people are calling for today.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's funny that you say that, because that's exactly what Representative Jane Harmon, a Democratic of California, is calling for. Let's listen to what she has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: It is really a tragedy today that a small group in the Republican Caucus of the House have prevented the American people from a reform that they sorely need now that we are higher-risk, and a reform that was thoroughly thought through and supported by absolutely everybody except those few who objected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: (AUDIO GAP) Representative Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. Vaughn, do you see the president coming down on him?

VERVERS: Well, you know, he's going to work it awfully hard. It's a matter of how far the president wants to push this. There are some legitimate concerns among some of these members in the House. Some of them would like to see some immigration things put into the bill. Others fear that this would actually hurt things. The military operations in Iraq right now, there is some fear of that.

So, there are some legitimate issues. And we'll see if the president wants to come and spend some of that capital to battle against some members of his own party over this issue and how much that might hurt him if he doesn't. It's an issue that didn't get a lot of talk during the campaign. So, some politicians might think that it's not top-of-mind for the voters.

COSTELLO: Oh, I think they might be wrong about that. Vaughn Ververs live in Washington this morning, thank you.

What caused Yasser Arafat's death? There is still no answer this morning. The late Palestinian leader's nephew says he's gotten some medical reports about his uncle. And he says the records give no clear cause of death for the Palestinian leader. But he says toxicology tests appear to rule out any kind of poisoning.

Let's talk about Exeland, Wisconsin now. A deer-hunting dispute may have led to a tragic shootout in that state. Five people are dead, three others wounded.

We get more on the story from Scott Wasserman of CNN affiliate KMSP in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIEF DEPUTY TIM ZEIGLE, SAWYER COUNTY, WISCONSIN POLICE: This is completely nuts.

SCOTT WASSERMAN, KMSP REPORTER (voice-over): In his many years in law enforcement, Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle has never seen anything like it.

ZEIGLE: Why? I mean, five people dead because somebody was trespassing on property. It makes no sense.

WASSERMAN: A half-mile away from here at the crime scene, police say the suspect was on private property in a tree stand. When he was asked to leave, police say he started shooting. A victim radioed to the cabin for help. When they came, more people were shot.

ZEIGLE: We were very thankful to take him into custody and no one else got hurt.

WASSERMAN: Police say the suspect got lost while in the woods. Two hunters helped lead him out. When he emerged from the woods, a DNR officer recognized the deer-hunting license on his back, given to police by a victim. Zeigle says the two men who led the suspect out are lucky.

ZEIGLE: All I can tell you is when he was taken into custody, his gun was empty. And I would imagine those boys are thanking their lucky stars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from Scott Wasserman of our Minneapolis/St. Paul affiliate KMSP. Police say -- excuse me. Police say the 36-year-old suspect is from St. Paul, Minnesota, and he could face charges as early as today. We'll keep you posted.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, the bizarre sale linking a presidential tragedy to modern-day history buffs. And out of bounds. What's behind the bad behavior off and on the court?

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You know, we've been talking a lot about the national debt. Can you imagine getting a $7 trillion bill? It's a scary thought. But that's how much our government owes now.

Ali Velshi, our DAYBREAK contributor, is here to explain just how much cash that is.

I was so intrigued by this story last week...

ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... I wanted to know -- because the amounts are mind- boggling.

VELSHI: And at your suggestion, I went and started to dig around what it's like, what these figures are like. It's like nothing. There is nothing I could find that could compare to these numbers. So, I've found some other ways to explain what this is about.

But, first of all, let's talk about this. This is kind of like at holiday shopping time, you spend too much. You go over your credit limit on your credit card. And then you call the bank and say, I need a higher credit limit. So, you're at 5,000 and you spent 6,000, and you ask for $7,500. That's where we are.

We are already at -- the U.S. debt currently stands at around $7.4 trillion. That's 7,400,000,000,000.

We passed 7 trillion on January 14 of 2004. Your share of that, Carol, is $25,000. That's your share of the U.S. debt and mine. The government spends $1 million a minute.

Now, let's just give you a sense of what that is. I added it all up. And that's the interest on that 7.4 trillion, by the way: $300 billion. That's annual interest.

Now, I am 5 foot 9 and change. Let's call it 5 foot 10, because I enjoy rounding higher. At 5 foot 10, if you take my height and weight, that's $400,000, OK? So, the interest on $7.4 trillion would be -- that would be 750,000 of me. So, there's one of me. That would be 750,000 of me.

Another way to say that is the interest on -- to pay $300 billion a year in interest. The most expensive thing I could find were B-2 bombers.

COSTELLO: Yes.

VELSHI: That per-minute-spending, what you're seeing on the screen, by the way, that's what the government spends. That's the equivalent of two and a half of me in dollar bills.

COSTELLO: So, if the dollar bills were stacked up, that would be 2.5 of you stacked on top...

VELSHI: That's right, 2.5 of me.

COSTELLO: Gotcha.

VELSHI: Or next to each other, whichever you like. B-2 bombers, a little more than $2 billion apiece. So, with the interest on the U.S. debt alone, you can buy 363 B-2 bombers. And that really was the single-most expensive thing I could find. I'd be happy to hear if our viewers out there have something bigger.

Now, what happened now -- what's happened now is Congress has gone and approved an $800 billion increase to that debt limit, the credit limit that the government has basically. The entire combined value of General Electric, Microsoft and Verizon is now that increase: $800 billion.

Now, I wanted to give you all a picture of what the new debt limit is, because it's really the best way to do this. $8.18 trillion.

COSTELLO: Oh, that is...

VELSHI: There's nothing to measure it, I guess.

COSTELLO: You can't even get your mind around it now.

VELSHI: No.

COSTELLO: Even after all you've said.

VELSHI: No. No, this is a lot of money. A lot of money.

COSTELLO: Thank you for making it clear for us. I enjoyed that.

VELSHI: All right.

COSTELLO: I love those kinds of stories. Ali Velshi, thank you...

VELSHI: Thank you.

COSTELLO: ... for joining us again, and you'll be back tomorrow with more.

VELSHI: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Let's check in now with Bill and Soledad to see what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. Good morning to you.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. We are looking at the headlines coming up this hour on a Monday morning, a major intelligence reform bill blocked in the House over the weekend. Questions today about whether or not it can be revived. Two former 9/11 commissioners who helped make the recommendations will talk about their reaction as to whether or not this comes back again for a vote in the House. So, we'll get to it.

O'BRIEN: And then, the videotape of that brawl. You know, I'm not even a big basketball fan, and wow! I've seen some of this. Now, the NBA is coming down hard on all of the players and some of the fans involved as well. We're going to talk this morning with former NBA star Charles Barkley to see some of these fans get clocked in the face by the players. Ow!

HEMMER: That was a disgrace over the weekend. It's going to live on for years, too, in repercussions from it.

Scott Peterson's fate. Should he be put to death? The penalty phase in the murder case is set to begin today. We'll talk about that with Dean Johnson and Jeff Toobin. And so we'll have it all for you on a Monday.

O'BRIEN: And much more.

Carol -- back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, we look forward to it. Thanks, Bill and Soledad.

HEMMER: All right.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Foreign ministers are meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, today for a conference on Iraq. Among them: six of Iraq's neighbors. The gathering will focus on ways to restore peace and stability to war- ravaged Iraq.

The penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial begins with hearings today. He could face the death penalty for killing his wife and unborn child. The defense has asked for a new jury and a change of venue for sentencing.

In money news, it couldn't come at a better time of the year. A nationwide survey finds gas prices have fallen five cents a gallon over the last two weeks.

And in culture, Paul McCartney will headline the February 6 Super Bowl halftime show in Jacksonville. And we'll just bet there won't be any wardrobe malfunctions at this one, although I don't think we'd care if Paul McCartney would bare his breast, would we? Maybe we would. I don't know.

In sports, five straight wins now for the Green Bay Packers. They won this last one on a 46-yard field goal as time ran out. Last night's victims, the Houston Texans with a score of 16-13.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Coming up, what went wrong at the palace? We will consider the factors behind this melee with the voice of the Pistons.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Did you miss it, that big brawl on the court in and in the stands in Detroit? I know you saw it, because it's been shown about 900 times.

Indiana's Ron Artest, just so you know, is O-U-T, out, for the rest of the year. That's the punishment imposed by the NBA. Teammate Stephen Jackson is banned for 30 games. Jermaine O'Neal is out for 25 games. Overall, the NBA banned and fined nine players.

And get this: In Clemson, South Carolina on Saturday, football players from South Carolina and Clemson got into a fight in the closing minutes of that college game. SEC and ACC officials could announce punishments for that fight later today.

So, we're posing our e-mail question on sports and violence. Who is to blame, the fans, the players? Who? As we await the voice of the Pistons, Fred McCloud. Hopefully, he's up. We're calling him over and over again. So, Fred, if you're watching, wake up.

We want to read some e-mails from our viewers, though, because we got plenty.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We sure did.

COSTELLO: Do you want to go first?

MYERS: I will. We have a new product for you called Cialis. Oh, no, wait, that's spam. We get a lot of those, Carol, all of the time.

"We have an upside down morale education system. Artest will earn 6.3" -- or would have -- "$6.3 million, and I'm an elementary school teacher. In my system I'm going to make 35 grand."

COSTELLO: What does that have to do with basketball? Oh, she means as much -- as far as the basketball players making lots of money?

MYERS: If we paid people more to educate people...

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: ... maybe we would have smarter people out there.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. This is from Gary. He says: "They should be banned. The players should be banned for life. I will never pay a dollar to see them. Professional sports is awful."

This one from Bonnie from Indiana: "Now, it seems that the sport belongs to the thugs or wannabe rappers. Artest deserves to be out for the rest of the season, which he is. It is disgusting to see this type of display during a basketball game. What does this say to the younger generation of sports participants?" She signs it, "No longer a fan."

MYERS: From Matt in Lancaster. He thinks selling beer, those people selling beer, they're the problem. Why alcohol and its behavior that accompanies it, why is it allowed in public events at all?

COSTELLO: I think that's the best sentiment expressed this morning. We got more than 1,000 e-mails this morning.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: Ban alcohol. Ban it right now.

We're going to be right back after a break. This is DAYBREAK for a Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This day is a grim anniversary: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 41 years ago. We remember that day in Dallas more than we do his brief 1,000 days in the Oval Office.

Here's CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What kind of a politician was he? A very, very good one. Running for president in 1960, he was running uphill.

ROBERT DALLEK, HISTORIAN: After all, he was going to be the youngest man ever elected to the White House. And he had to overcome the barrier of being the first Catholic elected president.

MORTON: Primaries mattered less back then. Party leaders chose many delegates, but Kennedy had to go to West Virginia to prove a Catholic could carry a heavily Protestant state.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sure that here in the state of West Virginia that no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.

MORTON: In other words, he wouldn't take orders from Rome. He won West Virginia, won the White House. He was not one of those Eastern liberals. MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": What he brought to it more than any passion was sort of a cool rationality. And in that sense, he was a remarkably detached politician from the emotions and passions of the tribal Irish.

MORTON: He needed the rationality, the cool. Nikita Khrushchev tried to bully him. Kennedy saw the Berlin Wall go up, avoided World War III, and made a speech there which inspired the diseased city.

KENNEDY: Ich bein ein Berliner.

MORTON: Khrushchev installed Soviet missiles in Cuba. Kennedy, resisting calls to invade or bomb, brokered a compromise, and Khrushchev withdrew the missiles, and the U.S. withdrew some aimed at the Soviet Union.

Dealing with Congress, though, he had a real problem. It was Democratic, but:

DALLEK: As a legislative politician, he was up against something he couldn't overcome: a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats, who wouldn't give the time of day, so to speak, to civil rights or Medicare or federal aid to education.

MORTON: A few victories, a tax cut. On the toughest issue he was stuck.

SHIELDS: Kennedy, and the greatest issue, the great moral issue of his time was late.

MORTON: That, of course, was civil rights. He introduced a bill in the summer of 1963.

SHIELDS: As an Irish Catholic, I cried out of appreciation, gratitude and respect for his raising civil rights to that level of an issue.

MORTON: But he died. It was left for Lyndon Johnson to bully the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress while warning friends it would lose the Democrats the South for a generation. It did. The South today is the most Republican part of the country.

Could Kennedy have stemmed the losses had he run again? We don't know. But he was a very skillful politician.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we apologize we don't have the voice of the Pistons. Fred McCloud overslept this morning. We'll be calling him again tomorrow many times to make sure he wakes up tomorrow.

I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. 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 November 22, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. Let's check the headlines right now.
Peaceful Palestinian elections: Secretary of State Colin Powell says that is a top priority in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death. Powell is in the Middle East right now. He's meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Powell's boss is also on an international trip. President Bush stops in Columbia today, the final stop on his visit to South America. He's expected to praise U.S.-backed efforts to fight drug trafficking.

And check out this snow in Moscow. It is the heaviest snowfall in November in more than 70 years. Street crews worked furiously to clear roads. At least two people have died from exposure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: An update now on what's happening this morning in Iraq, a horrific discovery in Falluja. Military officials tell CNN they're increasingly confident they've discovered the house where insurgents beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley last month, just one of the several so-called torture houses found in Falluja.

Also, foreign ministers are gathering in Egypt today for a conference on how to bring stability to Iraq. Iraq is calling on neighboring countries to tighten borders and exchange information about militants operating in their country.

Kidnappers have released the cousin of Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The man and two other relatives were kidnapped on November 9. Allawi's office says the other relatives were freed last week.

President Bush and Republican congressional leaders will try again next month to get legislation passed overhauling the nation's intelligence services. Two Republican committee chairmen blocked the bill from going to the floor of the House for a vote on Saturday.

The 9/11 stall is our "Hot Topic" this morning. "The National Journal's" online "Hotline" editor, Vaughn Ververs, is in Washington this morning.

Good morning, Vaughn.

VAUGHN VERVERS, EDITOR, "THE HOTLINE": Good morning, Carol. COSTELLO: So, this overhaul of the 9/11 system, it has widespread support. So, why is it continually being stalled in Congress?

VERVERS: Well, I think the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee had it just about right yesterday. He said, a lot of it's a turf battle. There are people like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who does not want to cede any of his budgetary control or authority of intelligence apparatus over to a central location. That would be taking power away from that position.

There are people on the Hill who are opposed to this, some for ideological reasons, others just to assert themselves, feeling like the Senate is trying to run roughshod over the House. And the president...

COSTELLO: Oh, that's great. Just to assert themselves. Before you...

VERVERS: The president hasn't really stepped up and strong-armed them yet in the first place, and I think that's what a lot of people are calling for today.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's funny that you say that, because that's exactly what Representative Jane Harmon, a Democratic of California, is calling for. Let's listen to what she has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: It is really a tragedy today that a small group in the Republican Caucus of the House have prevented the American people from a reform that they sorely need now that we are higher-risk, and a reform that was thoroughly thought through and supported by absolutely everybody except those few who objected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: (AUDIO GAP) Representative Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. Vaughn, do you see the president coming down on him?

VERVERS: Well, you know, he's going to work it awfully hard. It's a matter of how far the president wants to push this. There are some legitimate concerns among some of these members in the House. Some of them would like to see some immigration things put into the bill. Others fear that this would actually hurt things. The military operations in Iraq right now, there is some fear of that.

So, there are some legitimate issues. And we'll see if the president wants to come and spend some of that capital to battle against some members of his own party over this issue and how much that might hurt him if he doesn't. It's an issue that didn't get a lot of talk during the campaign. So, some politicians might think that it's not top-of-mind for the voters.

COSTELLO: Oh, I think they might be wrong about that. Vaughn Ververs live in Washington this morning, thank you.

What caused Yasser Arafat's death? There is still no answer this morning. The late Palestinian leader's nephew says he's gotten some medical reports about his uncle. And he says the records give no clear cause of death for the Palestinian leader. But he says toxicology tests appear to rule out any kind of poisoning.

Let's talk about Exeland, Wisconsin now. A deer-hunting dispute may have led to a tragic shootout in that state. Five people are dead, three others wounded.

We get more on the story from Scott Wasserman of CNN affiliate KMSP in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIEF DEPUTY TIM ZEIGLE, SAWYER COUNTY, WISCONSIN POLICE: This is completely nuts.

SCOTT WASSERMAN, KMSP REPORTER (voice-over): In his many years in law enforcement, Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle has never seen anything like it.

ZEIGLE: Why? I mean, five people dead because somebody was trespassing on property. It makes no sense.

WASSERMAN: A half-mile away from here at the crime scene, police say the suspect was on private property in a tree stand. When he was asked to leave, police say he started shooting. A victim radioed to the cabin for help. When they came, more people were shot.

ZEIGLE: We were very thankful to take him into custody and no one else got hurt.

WASSERMAN: Police say the suspect got lost while in the woods. Two hunters helped lead him out. When he emerged from the woods, a DNR officer recognized the deer-hunting license on his back, given to police by a victim. Zeigle says the two men who led the suspect out are lucky.

ZEIGLE: All I can tell you is when he was taken into custody, his gun was empty. And I would imagine those boys are thanking their lucky stars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from Scott Wasserman of our Minneapolis/St. Paul affiliate KMSP. Police say -- excuse me. Police say the 36-year-old suspect is from St. Paul, Minnesota, and he could face charges as early as today. We'll keep you posted.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, the bizarre sale linking a presidential tragedy to modern-day history buffs. And out of bounds. What's behind the bad behavior off and on the court?

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You know, we've been talking a lot about the national debt. Can you imagine getting a $7 trillion bill? It's a scary thought. But that's how much our government owes now.

Ali Velshi, our DAYBREAK contributor, is here to explain just how much cash that is.

I was so intrigued by this story last week...

ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... I wanted to know -- because the amounts are mind- boggling.

VELSHI: And at your suggestion, I went and started to dig around what it's like, what these figures are like. It's like nothing. There is nothing I could find that could compare to these numbers. So, I've found some other ways to explain what this is about.

But, first of all, let's talk about this. This is kind of like at holiday shopping time, you spend too much. You go over your credit limit on your credit card. And then you call the bank and say, I need a higher credit limit. So, you're at 5,000 and you spent 6,000, and you ask for $7,500. That's where we are.

We are already at -- the U.S. debt currently stands at around $7.4 trillion. That's 7,400,000,000,000.

We passed 7 trillion on January 14 of 2004. Your share of that, Carol, is $25,000. That's your share of the U.S. debt and mine. The government spends $1 million a minute.

Now, let's just give you a sense of what that is. I added it all up. And that's the interest on that 7.4 trillion, by the way: $300 billion. That's annual interest.

Now, I am 5 foot 9 and change. Let's call it 5 foot 10, because I enjoy rounding higher. At 5 foot 10, if you take my height and weight, that's $400,000, OK? So, the interest on $7.4 trillion would be -- that would be 750,000 of me. So, there's one of me. That would be 750,000 of me.

Another way to say that is the interest on -- to pay $300 billion a year in interest. The most expensive thing I could find were B-2 bombers.

COSTELLO: Yes.

VELSHI: That per-minute-spending, what you're seeing on the screen, by the way, that's what the government spends. That's the equivalent of two and a half of me in dollar bills.

COSTELLO: So, if the dollar bills were stacked up, that would be 2.5 of you stacked on top...

VELSHI: That's right, 2.5 of me.

COSTELLO: Gotcha.

VELSHI: Or next to each other, whichever you like. B-2 bombers, a little more than $2 billion apiece. So, with the interest on the U.S. debt alone, you can buy 363 B-2 bombers. And that really was the single-most expensive thing I could find. I'd be happy to hear if our viewers out there have something bigger.

Now, what happened now -- what's happened now is Congress has gone and approved an $800 billion increase to that debt limit, the credit limit that the government has basically. The entire combined value of General Electric, Microsoft and Verizon is now that increase: $800 billion.

Now, I wanted to give you all a picture of what the new debt limit is, because it's really the best way to do this. $8.18 trillion.

COSTELLO: Oh, that is...

VELSHI: There's nothing to measure it, I guess.

COSTELLO: You can't even get your mind around it now.

VELSHI: No.

COSTELLO: Even after all you've said.

VELSHI: No. No, this is a lot of money. A lot of money.

COSTELLO: Thank you for making it clear for us. I enjoyed that.

VELSHI: All right.

COSTELLO: I love those kinds of stories. Ali Velshi, thank you...

VELSHI: Thank you.

COSTELLO: ... for joining us again, and you'll be back tomorrow with more.

VELSHI: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Let's check in now with Bill and Soledad to see what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. Good morning to you.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. We are looking at the headlines coming up this hour on a Monday morning, a major intelligence reform bill blocked in the House over the weekend. Questions today about whether or not it can be revived. Two former 9/11 commissioners who helped make the recommendations will talk about their reaction as to whether or not this comes back again for a vote in the House. So, we'll get to it.

O'BRIEN: And then, the videotape of that brawl. You know, I'm not even a big basketball fan, and wow! I've seen some of this. Now, the NBA is coming down hard on all of the players and some of the fans involved as well. We're going to talk this morning with former NBA star Charles Barkley to see some of these fans get clocked in the face by the players. Ow!

HEMMER: That was a disgrace over the weekend. It's going to live on for years, too, in repercussions from it.

Scott Peterson's fate. Should he be put to death? The penalty phase in the murder case is set to begin today. We'll talk about that with Dean Johnson and Jeff Toobin. And so we'll have it all for you on a Monday.

O'BRIEN: And much more.

Carol -- back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, we look forward to it. Thanks, Bill and Soledad.

HEMMER: All right.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Foreign ministers are meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, today for a conference on Iraq. Among them: six of Iraq's neighbors. The gathering will focus on ways to restore peace and stability to war- ravaged Iraq.

The penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial begins with hearings today. He could face the death penalty for killing his wife and unborn child. The defense has asked for a new jury and a change of venue for sentencing.

In money news, it couldn't come at a better time of the year. A nationwide survey finds gas prices have fallen five cents a gallon over the last two weeks.

And in culture, Paul McCartney will headline the February 6 Super Bowl halftime show in Jacksonville. And we'll just bet there won't be any wardrobe malfunctions at this one, although I don't think we'd care if Paul McCartney would bare his breast, would we? Maybe we would. I don't know.

In sports, five straight wins now for the Green Bay Packers. They won this last one on a 46-yard field goal as time ran out. Last night's victims, the Houston Texans with a score of 16-13.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Coming up, what went wrong at the palace? We will consider the factors behind this melee with the voice of the Pistons.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Did you miss it, that big brawl on the court in and in the stands in Detroit? I know you saw it, because it's been shown about 900 times.

Indiana's Ron Artest, just so you know, is O-U-T, out, for the rest of the year. That's the punishment imposed by the NBA. Teammate Stephen Jackson is banned for 30 games. Jermaine O'Neal is out for 25 games. Overall, the NBA banned and fined nine players.

And get this: In Clemson, South Carolina on Saturday, football players from South Carolina and Clemson got into a fight in the closing minutes of that college game. SEC and ACC officials could announce punishments for that fight later today.

So, we're posing our e-mail question on sports and violence. Who is to blame, the fans, the players? Who? As we await the voice of the Pistons, Fred McCloud. Hopefully, he's up. We're calling him over and over again. So, Fred, if you're watching, wake up.

We want to read some e-mails from our viewers, though, because we got plenty.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We sure did.

COSTELLO: Do you want to go first?

MYERS: I will. We have a new product for you called Cialis. Oh, no, wait, that's spam. We get a lot of those, Carol, all of the time.

"We have an upside down morale education system. Artest will earn 6.3" -- or would have -- "$6.3 million, and I'm an elementary school teacher. In my system I'm going to make 35 grand."

COSTELLO: What does that have to do with basketball? Oh, she means as much -- as far as the basketball players making lots of money?

MYERS: If we paid people more to educate people...

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: ... maybe we would have smarter people out there.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. This is from Gary. He says: "They should be banned. The players should be banned for life. I will never pay a dollar to see them. Professional sports is awful."

This one from Bonnie from Indiana: "Now, it seems that the sport belongs to the thugs or wannabe rappers. Artest deserves to be out for the rest of the season, which he is. It is disgusting to see this type of display during a basketball game. What does this say to the younger generation of sports participants?" She signs it, "No longer a fan."

MYERS: From Matt in Lancaster. He thinks selling beer, those people selling beer, they're the problem. Why alcohol and its behavior that accompanies it, why is it allowed in public events at all?

COSTELLO: I think that's the best sentiment expressed this morning. We got more than 1,000 e-mails this morning.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: Ban alcohol. Ban it right now.

We're going to be right back after a break. This is DAYBREAK for a Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This day is a grim anniversary: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 41 years ago. We remember that day in Dallas more than we do his brief 1,000 days in the Oval Office.

Here's CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What kind of a politician was he? A very, very good one. Running for president in 1960, he was running uphill.

ROBERT DALLEK, HISTORIAN: After all, he was going to be the youngest man ever elected to the White House. And he had to overcome the barrier of being the first Catholic elected president.

MORTON: Primaries mattered less back then. Party leaders chose many delegates, but Kennedy had to go to West Virginia to prove a Catholic could carry a heavily Protestant state.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sure that here in the state of West Virginia that no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.

MORTON: In other words, he wouldn't take orders from Rome. He won West Virginia, won the White House. He was not one of those Eastern liberals. MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": What he brought to it more than any passion was sort of a cool rationality. And in that sense, he was a remarkably detached politician from the emotions and passions of the tribal Irish.

MORTON: He needed the rationality, the cool. Nikita Khrushchev tried to bully him. Kennedy saw the Berlin Wall go up, avoided World War III, and made a speech there which inspired the diseased city.

KENNEDY: Ich bein ein Berliner.

MORTON: Khrushchev installed Soviet missiles in Cuba. Kennedy, resisting calls to invade or bomb, brokered a compromise, and Khrushchev withdrew the missiles, and the U.S. withdrew some aimed at the Soviet Union.

Dealing with Congress, though, he had a real problem. It was Democratic, but:

DALLEK: As a legislative politician, he was up against something he couldn't overcome: a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats, who wouldn't give the time of day, so to speak, to civil rights or Medicare or federal aid to education.

MORTON: A few victories, a tax cut. On the toughest issue he was stuck.

SHIELDS: Kennedy, and the greatest issue, the great moral issue of his time was late.

MORTON: That, of course, was civil rights. He introduced a bill in the summer of 1963.

SHIELDS: As an Irish Catholic, I cried out of appreciation, gratitude and respect for his raising civil rights to that level of an issue.

MORTON: But he died. It was left for Lyndon Johnson to bully the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress while warning friends it would lose the Democrats the South for a generation. It did. The South today is the most Republican part of the country.

Could Kennedy have stemmed the losses had he run again? We don't know. But he was a very skillful politician.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we apologize we don't have the voice of the Pistons. Fred McCloud overslept this morning. We'll be calling him again tomorrow many times to make sure he wakes up tomorrow.

I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com