Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

A Final Farewell to Rosa Parks; Democrats Pull Off Parliamentary Ambush

Aired November 02, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And a final farewell to a lady whose simple gesture changed the fabric of America. In fact, you're taking a live look at Detroit, Rosa Parks' body being moved to her final resting place.
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on that Senate showdown in just a minute.

Also ahead, tis the season for job opportunities, some pointers from a career expert ahead.

And you know her as the sister of a violent mobster, Tony Soprano. She will join us later to talk about a real life struggle involving her own health.

But first now in the news, Rosa Parks (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Detroit. The funeral comes at the end of a memorial tour of hope and inspiration that includes stops in Montgomery, Alabama and Washington, D.C. CNN will carry parts of the funeral live beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

A suicide car bomber claims four victims in Indian-controlled Kashmir. More than 10 other people were wounded in the blast. The bomber was also killed in the attack, which came just hours before the swear-in of the Kashmir new chief minister.

Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall leave New York for Washington today. They'll have lunch and dinner with President Bush and the first lady. Royals' eight-day U.S. tour includes upcoming stops in New Orleans and San Francisco.

To the Forecast Center and Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey Carol. Did you see the royals yesterday?

COSTELLO: I'm sorry. No I didn't...

JERAS: Did you see the royals?

COSTELLO: I didn't.

JERAS: No. You were going to take Soledad up on that invitation she got to go and see them.

COSTELLO: Soledad stiffed me.

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: But she offered it to you. Anyway...

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: I was adjusting my dress.

JERAS: You all right?

COSTELLO: I'm a little embarrassed, but I'm fine now.

JERAS: Well good.

COSTELLO: And awaiting that cold air from the Midwest. Thank you Jacqui.

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: The U.S. Senate will be open for business today as usual. Democrats pulled off a parliamentary ambush yesterday and shut things down for about two and a half hours. The tactic was meant to get Senate Republicans off the dime on why the White House went to war in Iraq.

CNN Radio's Dick Uliano joins us live from Washington and the Republicans say this was a slap in the face.

DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO: Yes, there are a lot of bruised feelings on Capitol Hill this morning, Carol, but it was a really dramatic move and caught everybody's attention when Senate Democrats basically seized control of the Senate by driving it into a closed session for two and a half hours, using a very little known rule.

And the Republicans say hey, they hijacked the Senate, but Democrats say no, they had to do this to call attention to Republican foot dragging in an intelligence committee investigation into whether President Bush manipulated or twisted prewar intelligence. And Bill Frist said you know the Republicans had been working on that.

There is an investigation already underway. Democrats didn't need to do this, but the bottom line, Carol, because of this dramatic move by the Democrats, is that they've created a sort of Senate tiger team of Democrats and Republicans, three each, who are going to review the investigation, the progress of it, and see if it in fact is moving along.

COSTELLO: And that supposedly is going to happen on November 14, right? But I really want to get to the bottom of this because I think it's an important point. Were the Republicans as Senator Pat Roberts, said, were they already working on this? And was this just a Democratic stunt? ULIANO: Well the Senate Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Roberts of Kansas, insists yes, indeed they were working on it and he says was going to reach some sort of fruition or a closure next week and when the Democrats turned around and did this. But no, says the Democrat chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, says we've been, you know, spinning wheels for 20 months.

Those weren't his words, but he says it had been going on for 20 months and nothing much has happened. Carol, at the base of this is a very fundamental disagreement. Republicans have largely concluded through the investigation so far that the prewar intelligence that President Bush used to lead the nation a war in Iraq was wrong. The Democrats, at least some of them, like Carl Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on armed services, and Jay Rockefeller say no, they misused the intelligence deliberately to bring the nation into war.

So there really is quite a difference here. And the Democrats say they want the matter investigated.

COSTELLO: Well we'll see what happens on November 14 and we're going to talk more about this with Bill Schneider in the next half- hour of DAYBREAK.

Dick Uliano reporting live from Washington from CNN Radio.

Roadside bombs in Baghdad this morning kill at least five people and wound eight others. Iraqi emergency police say the first blast targeted the police patrol in southeastern Baghdad. Five civilians killed. Another three wounded.

And just a half-hour later, in the Doran (ph) neighborhood in southern Baghdad a roadside bomb exploded next to a minibus carrying oil ministry employees. Five of those workers hurt.

More American troops, more American troops may be heading to Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says an increase military presence may be needed around the time of Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections. Rumsfeld says the Iraq situation reminds him of another conflict that took place more than 50 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The question was should young Americans be sent over there to at the risk of their lives and of course the answer to that question is clear to anyone who visits the Korean Peninsula today or who have the privilege of meeting, as I have done, some of the 3,000 South Korean troops who are helping the people of Iraq rebuild and secure their newfound freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There are currently about 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today. That's 3,000 fewer than were there for last month's voting on Iraq's Constitution. The upcoming parliamentary elections are scheduled for mid December. For the first time the Marines are moving into special operations. Special ops units have traditionally been made up of Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets. Secretary Rumsfeld says about 2,600 Marines though will join missions carried out under the directions of the special operations command.

President Bush has a plan just in case of bird flu pandemic breaks out. The president unveiled his $7.1-billion strategy at the National Institutes of Health. That includes the stockpiling of vaccines for 20 million Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is vital that our nation discuss and address the threat of pandemic flu now. There is no pandemic flu in our country or in the world at this time. But if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare. And one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president's preparation includes money for worldwide detection and those stockpiles of vaccines and anti-virals we've been telling you about. It also includes funding for a new vaccine to fight possible future mutations of the bird flu virus.

So, the government is preparing for that possible pandemic, but does that mean we should be worried as well? I mean how worried should we be?

Joining me now from Atlanta to talk about that is Dr. Daniel Blumenthal, who is a public health expert from the Morehead School of Medicine. Good morning, sir.

DR. DANIEL BLUMENTHAL, MOREHEAD SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK, in the "New York Post" this morning, free flu shots. Hundreds and hundreds of people flock there. I'm going to read you some quotes from people getting their flu shots from this article, OK.

This is from one woman named Jessica Thompson (ph). She's 28 years old. She says I know it's a different strain, but I find this shot protects you from a lot of other things too.

Another quote from a man named Peter Robinson (ph), who's 45. He says I always get a shot anyway, but with the bird flu I don't want to take a chance. So some people actually think the bird flu is already here.

BLUMENTHAL: I guess I'd have to say that I'm not surprised by that. There has been so much hoopla, so many headlines around the bird flu that it's not very amazing that people think that it's actually here. But in fact, of course, it's not and the flu shots that they're getting will protect them against the regular ordinary flu that we see every winter, but not against the bird flu.

COSTELLO: Well it's not often that the president of the United States comes out and talks about a possible pandemic and comes up with a plan in all of this. I guess I'm wondering is that causing people to misunderstand?

BLUMENTHAL: I think probably so. It is not very often that the president talks about things like that. The last time that I can remember was 1976 when we had a lot of hoopla around the swine flu and we had the same kind of scenario when we urged everybody to get vaccinated against the swine flu, but of course we never had an epidemic of swine flu.

And we did have a lot of bad reactions to the vaccine. So I think we need to approach this fairly cautiously.

COSTELLO: In fairness to the president, though, I mean if this thing, you know, gets out of control, the country does want to be prepared. So in that sense, is he doing the right thing?

BLUMENTHAL: Well we do need to be prepared. That's absolutely right. And I think that it's a good thing that we're stockpiling drugs and vaccines and especially vaccines, but I think we also be -- need to be paying more attention to how we're helping our state and local health departments and whether we're doing enough there.

You know the president talked about containment and he talked about surveillance and early detection and those are functions of state and local health departments. And we really need to be putting the funding into those agencies that they need to provide the kind of protection that we have to have.

COSTELLO: OK, let's go back though to the immediate threat or lack thereof. The cases of bird flu in humans, I mean people are apparently getting it mostly in third world countries and it's coming from like contact with poultry, right?

BLUMENTHAL: That's right.

COSTELLO: So explain to us how this is occurring and why we should worry or not worry.

BLUMENTHAL: The cases of bird flu that you refer to that have occurred in humans have been mostly in rural areas in southeast Asian countries where people live in very close proximity to their flocks of chickens and their other livestock.

And so they've been heavily exposed and a few of them, about 120 people, in the entire world, but all in southeast Asia, have gotten bird flu and about half of those have died. There has been little or no transmission from one person to another and of course that's what we're worried about.

If it becomes a variety of flu that can pass from one person to another, then we're in trouble. But so far it's only been from birds to humans or almost entirely from birds to humans. COSTELLO: So in a nutshell, can you boil it down for us so that we don't panic about this, but we think about it in an intelligent way.

BLUMENTHAL: I think that the nation needs to be prepared in a orderly, quiet way. As you say, panic is never called for. We need to have vaccine preparedness. We need to have the infrastructure in place. We need to support our state and local health departments so that if there is an outbreak, we can be ready for it.

COSTELLO: And just to make clear, no cases of bird flu here in the United States and the vaccine that you're getting this year for the flu is just for the ordinary flu that you know...

BLUMENTHAL: That is very important to get that vaccine for the ordinary flu.

COSTELLO: That's right because people die from the ordinary flu...

BLUMENTHAL: About 36,000 a year. That's right.

COSTELLO: That's right. Dr. Blumenthal, thank you very much for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

BLUMENTHAL: My pleasure.

COSTELLO: Still to come, possible changes to the income tax system. Supporters say it simplifies things and it's more fair. Critics say it hits the middle class right between the eyes.

And here comes Santa Claus and with him a bunch of new retail jobs ripe for the picking.

And later, focusing on a health problem that's affecting more and more Americans. But first here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 6:16 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

A large crowd is expected at the Greater Grace Temple Church in Detroit for this morning's funeral of Rosa Parks. You're looking at a live motorcade of her casket being moved from that African American history museum to the church. Thousands of people passed by the casket until early this morning to offer their last respects to the civil rights pioneer. CNN will carry parts of the funeral live beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

In money news, those of you who still rely on snail mail, the price is going up. Preliminary approval has been given for a two-cent increase. That pushes the price of an ordinary stamp to 39 cents. Postcards jump a penny to 24 cents. The hike is expected to take effect early next year. In pop culture, the NFL is serving up crow for this Thanksgiving. Singer Sheryl Crow to be exact. She will perform at halftime at the Broncos-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game to promote the Salvation Army's red kettle Christmas campaign.

In sports, the New Orleans Hornets open the NBA season with the wind in their new home. The displaced Hornets are playing 35 of their games in Oklahoma City. The Hornets beat the Sacramento Kings last night 93-67.

Ouch -- Jacqui.

JERAS: Ouch, 93-67, that's embarrassing.

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: But, right, we were glad that the Hornets won, though, right?

COSTELLO: Pardon?

JERAS: We were glad the Hornets won, though, right?

COSTELLO: Of course.

JERAS: Home game. You know, anyway, do you feel the change in the wind this morning, Carol?

COSTELLO: Yes I do.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Sounds great. Thank you, Jacqui.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, need a job, a little extra income? Now is a great time to shop for that job.

A presidential panel has some ideas to streamline the income tax code. You could call it a love-hate proposal. Some love it. Some hate it.

But first, let's say good morning to Miami, where officials are thinking about lengthening the school year for some 360,000 students. They want to do that to make up for days missed during Hurricane Wilma. We'll keep you posted.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz". The rising price of your prescription drugs may continue to be a pain in the you know what. AARP says price increases for popular name brand prescription drugs rose at twice the general rate of inflation for the year ending June 30. Pharmaceutical companies say the organization will get more accurate figures if it compared drug prices to medical inflation as measured by the consumer price index. So I guess you decide.

A big win for Medicaid, Tennessee-based King Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay the federal government $124 million to settle allegations of overcharging the Medicaid Program and other federal programs, one of the largest Medicaid settlements in history.

And as we've been telling you, a federal panel recommends some changes to the federal tax codes in order to make your life simpler. But it's still pretty confusing, so we've got Carrie Lee here to sort through it for us.

CARRIE LEE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS BUSINESS ANCHOR: Well that actually is the goal of this tax panel, President Bush's tax reform advisory panel to make tax filing simpler. Now there are a lot of controversial details in here, but basically the idea is to be revenue neutral. The panel is not trying to cut taxes because Uncle Sam still wants to raise the same amount of money.

The panel is trying to make the tax code simpler and fairer. Two major changes proposed. The first and biggest is the elimination of the AMT, the alternative minimum tax...

COSTELLO: Yey.

LEE: ... the AMT, yes, a lot of people are going to be happy to hear this. Of course, you probably know it was designed to make sure wealthy taxpayers paid their fair share of taxes, but too many people have been affected because the income numbers were never adjusted for inflation.

Now losing the AMT would cost $1.3 trillion over 10 years, so the panel's other proposals have to make up for that shortfall, again, revenue neutral here. So the most controversial of the other proposals is the reduction in home owners' tax breaks.

COSTELLO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

LEE: Yes, now this is a big one. The proposal would lower the cap for the deduction of interest paid on a loan from $1 million to the average home price regionally between 227,000 and 412,000.

A couple of other proposals, reducing taxes on investment earnings, reducing the marriage penalty, Carol, there are others, but clearly this homeowner change is a very big deal for a lot of people because you know the housing market has been booming. A lot of people bought their homes with the expectation that they would be able to deduct that interest mortgage...

COSTELLO: Yes and when you said million-dollar homes, I said OK. But then you said $212,000-homes to 400, that's the middle class...

LEE: Exactly. Exactly. Now generally with this -- with the homeowner tax rules, the higher the cost of the loan, the higher your tax bracket, then the more you're going to -- then the lower tax break you're going to see, but still this is going to affect a lot of people. So it's just a proposal. We'll see how this all works through. Bush administration has to take a look at it, try to sell it to Congress. It's going to take some time. These are just ideas, but these are the two big ones.

COSTELLO: OK. Carrie Lee...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: ... thank you for explaining that to us.

LEE: Sure, it's so difficult to understand.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: So enough about taxes. Are you in the job -- are you in the market for a job I should say. Are you ready to dress up like an elf? Yes, the holiday season is gearing up and you know what that means. It is time to shop.

Fifty-eight percent of employers say they need extra help for this holiday season and you don't even have to dress up like an elf. Twenty-five percent plan to hire 50 or more workers and 45 percent say they will pay $10 an hour or more.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) too early to hear that song.

Rosemary Haefner is the vice president of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com and she's got more on holiday hiring. Thank you for joining us this morning.

ROSEMARY HAEFNER, H.R. V.P., CAREERBUILDER.COM: Pleasure to be here, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well it's a pleasure to have you here. So you know whenever I think of getting a job for the holidays, I mean I would head to the mall and apply at stores there, but are there other places you can apply?

HAEFNER: Absolutely. There are the standard industries. We're used to retail hospitality, but this year (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the additional seasonality and they're hiring for administrative positions, customer service. A lot of sales positions outside of what you're going to find in the retail sector.

COSTELLO: You know in some parts of the country last year I know that stores were finding it difficult to find workers. Will that be the case this year?

HAEFNER: We don't see any slowing down this year. In finding that job or finding the right candidate seems to be very much the process you'd be using year round. So not a lot of changes in terms of creative sourcing for candidates or for candidates have to look very hard. There's a lot of positions out there.

COSTELLO: So if people are interested in finding that holiday job, what should they do right now?

HAEFNER: They really need to start looking. One thing is with seasonal hiring you've got to get your foot in the door pretty quickly. They're going to be looking around whether that's online, on job boards, whether that's in newspaper. A lot of these seasonal jobs are through networking and word of mouth. So that's very important to start that chatter right now.

COSTELLO: And you also said take it seriously. What do you mean by that?

HAEFNER: You will find, what's interesting enough, seasonal employment most people think dress up as an elf or it's a two-week, two-month long position. A lot of people use this as an opportunity to get their foot in the door, so perhaps it's a career that they want to get into or a company specifically they've been focusing on. And they're there at the right time, right place, and able to turn it into a longer term position.

COSTELLO: Yes, you never know what it could turn into. It could turn into more than the job you get during the holidays. So you should plan to stick around, right?

HAEFNER: Plan to stick around. Be smart about it. I mean this job from the company's perspective, you're as important as somebody who has been there 20 years, so be smart about it. Show a lot of enthusiasm. Stress that you're organized. You're a quick learner. Typically for seasonal employment, there's not going to be as much ram time or ram time or training. You really need to make a case that you're going to be hitting the ground running, so be very smart about how you present yourself in these interviews.

COSTELLO: Good advice. Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com. Thank you for joining us this morning because I know it's earlier...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: ... in Chicago.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Good-bye Rosemary. Have a safe ride back home to take a nap.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, prewar intelligence triggers a Senate brouhaha, insights from our political insider Bill Schneider after the break.

And Delta Airlines is at odds with the Pilots Union as the carrier struggles to get back in black.

This is Wednesday on DAYBREAK. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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