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American Morning
George Carlin Dies of Heart Failure; Big Cleanup in Cedar Rapids; Kid Rock Launches War With iTunes; Impact of Enron Loophole on Easing Gas Prices; Citigroup May Lay-Off Some Employees
Aired June 23, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NARRATOR: Breaking news, comedy losing a legend. George Carlin dead at 71-years-old.
Easing the pressure. Saudi Arabia's king promises the world more oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to help a little bit. Maybe reduce prices just a little.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: We're watching the markets for signs that relief is on the way.
Plus, Kid Rock's mock PSA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: Let's level the playing field. Steal everything. I'm (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rich, and so how can I (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about someone downloading a song or two. It's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST: His war with iTunes and just about everything else, on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
Good morning, welcome. Thanks for joining us as we begin another week. It's Monday; it's the 23rd of June.
We've got Kid Rock in the news today. It's going to be an interesting week.
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST: We sure do. Why he's telling people to steal from iTunes this morning, or actually steal his music because it's not on iTunes.
ROBERTS: Steal from Toyota and Microsoft and everybody else in the world, too. Wait until you hear it.
CHETRY: And we begin though with breaking news this morning, and some sad news for the world of comedy. George Carlin passing away of heart failure last night at a hospital in Santa Monica, California. Carlin had a history of heart trouble. He had actually suffered several heart attacks.
The legendary Carlin first gained fame back in the 1960s with his unique brand of counterculture comedy. In the '70s, he became edgier and more controversial. And his most famous routine "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" became the centerpiece of a Supreme Court case concerning indecency. Nothing was off limits for Carlin. Not even CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE CARLIN, COMEDIAN: People like to sound important. Weathermen on television talk about shower activity. Sounds more important than showers.
I even heard one guy on CNN talk about a rain event. He said Louisiana is expecting a rain event. I thought, holy (bleep). I hope I can get tickets to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Carlin also was an actor and best-selling author. He hosted the very first broadcast of "Saturday Night Live" back in 1975. Carlin was scheduled to receive the Mark Twain Award for humor at a Kennedy Center ceremony later this year. George Carlin was 71-years- old.
ROBERTS: Oh, real shame about that.
Your money is issue number one. And this morning with gasoline prices averaging more than $4 a gallon, new promises of relief on the way. They came over the weekend at an emergency summit in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis pledged to boost oil production by an additional 200 barrels a day and promised more down the road.
The idea was to offer some relief at the pump but already those hopes may have been dashed. Oil prices are rising this morning.
Our Stephanie Elam is in for Ali Velshi this morning. She joins us now with more. So oil prices on the rise. What about gasoline?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, actually gasoline ticked down ever so slightly.
ROBERTS: One of those little --
ELAM: One of those little -- it happens when I'm here, it goes down. They don't like it when Ali's here. But there's a lot of reasons why oil is going up and you may be thinking, didn't we hear last week that Saudi Arabia was adding 200,000 barrels a day in production? That's true.
So what came out this weekend is in addition. In May, they said that they're going to add another 300 barrels a day of production. So all of the same that they're hoping to boost production here to 9.7 million barrels by July, and that would be an increase here, as you can see. They're also saying that what they want to do is invest in oil projects that have a capacity to produce 12.5 million barrels a day by late 2009 all because they're trying to counter the sharp jump in oil prices around the globe. Because you know, if you get to that tipping point, people will stop buying oil. They don't want to see that happen.
Now, you're wondering why oil is up today and that's because of the fact that there were tax in Nigeria on some oil fields there. Because of that, that's pulling 300,000 barrels a day out of the system. So therefore, it's causes problems.
CHETRY: You know, a lot of people don't realize Saudi Arabia is really the only oil-producing nation that can up capacity that quickly.
ELAM: Right. And they're taking it up to 1981 levels. We haven't seen this sort of number coming out of Saudi Arabia since then. So it's obviously a big push here.
ROBERTS: But you don't think an increase at this much and still there's a market for it, it would suggest that people haven't stopped buying oil just yet, right?
ELAM: Right. I mean, if we do, countries like China and India where the uptick is still there, that doesn't really counter it. So you've got to think about it on a global level.
ROBERTS: All right. Lots more business ahead this morning as well with Stephanie coming up.
Steph, thanks.
ELAM: Thanks.
ROBERTS: And a little more about OPEC now in an "AM EXTRA." OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It was formed in Baghdad back in 1960. The original members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. There are now 13 member countries responsible for about 40 percent of the daily production of oil. That's about 35 million barrels a day worldwide.
CHETRY: Now to the flooding in the Midwest. It may take another couple of days for the Mississippi River to crest in parts of Missouri and Illinois. But forecasters say the rising river is either at its high point or close to it and now the clean-up begins. Hundreds of homes filled with mud, molds and toxic sludge.
Our CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Cedar Rapids with more on this cleanup.
Hi, Ed.
EL LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Well, you know, the flood waters are gone and that means people are starting to clean up. And landfill officials here in Cedar Rapids say that in the next month, month and a half, they will take in three times the amount of garbage that they normally take in in one year. And city officials promised to have it all cleaned up, at least in 30 days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN PIERCE, FLOOD VICTIM: 1900 is when it was built. So that's 108 years old now.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Flood waters destroyed the first floor and basement of Dan Pierce's home. More than 100 years of family history now sits on the curb.
PIERCE: The waterline is about halfway up my first floor. So every room -- every room was just packed to the brim with stuff. Last time we needed to pile (ph) some place is my grandmother's sewing machine that she used in the '30s.
LAVANDERA: Drive the streets of Cedar Rapids and it's an endless stream of trash, block after block of flood debris piling up. There's so much stuff that officials are worried it will completely fill up the city's landfills. Early estimates are that there's one million cubic yards of debris that needs to be removed. That would fill about four football fields stacked 60 feet high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were pretty shocked when we heard the number. It's certainly going to challenge the local facilities.
LAVANDERA: Landfill officials say this newly-opened garbage pit was supposed to last the city 20 years. But all the flood debris will likely fill it up in just a few months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously people want to get it out and want it disposed of. You know, for the safety of everyone, we want to manage it as quickly as possible.
LAVANDERA: And the trash just keeps piling up. West Side Sewing has been a downtown Cedar Rapid's fixture for 83 years. The storefront reduced to slush and grime.
DAVID PEREZ, CEDAR RAPIDS RESIDENT: Walk around the corner, I mean, my mouth just drops open. I'm so shocked. It's unbelievable. You can see so much on TV.
You know, you've been seeing it day after day. But until you get down inside of it to see what's happening, you really can't imagine it looking at the television screen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And Kiran, officials here are also urging people to separate the garbage into appliances and garbage. There's a great deal of oversight that's going to be going on, and they're urging people to separate the appliances and just garbage. That way it will move the process along quicker. And as they said, they're hoping to have all this done at least within 30 days.
CHETRY: Wow, but what a job ahead of them.
Ed Lavandera for us in Cedar Rapid -- thanks.
Also, the flooding in the Midwest draining the Red Cross' disaster relief fund. The agency now says it has to borrow money to pay for shelters, food and other emergency supplies. Our Kate Bolduan takes a closer look later in the hour.
ROBERTS: Six minutes after the hour. For the first time in U.S. history, the Supreme Court will answer what the Second Amendment means when it talks about the right to keep and bear arms.
The case is a challenge to a law in Washington, D.C. that bans the possession of handguns. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court struck down a gun control law on the basis of the Second Amendment.
Coming up, we're going to take a look at the impact of today's ruling with our legal analyst. Sunny Hostin will be joining us in a little bit -- a little bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Delta will be the first major U.S. airline to allow passengers to buy their way to the front of the line at the security checkpoint. The airline plans to launch their registered traveler program this summer in New York and Los Angeles.
For $128 a year, members can go through an exclusive line. The program is available in 18 airports across the country. But until now, travelers had to sign up for the service through the airport or a few foreign airlines.
CHETRY: Citigroup plans to fire about 10 percent of its workers. It's about 65,000 people worldwide. According to the "Wall Street Journal," the first round of pink slips are expected to be handed out today. The New York bank suffered more than $15 billion in losses over the last two quarters and lost more money than any other bank in the mortgage crisis.
Singer Amy Winehouse has early stage emphysema. Her father telling Britain's "Sunday Mirror" that her lungs are damaged from smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine. He also said doctors told her that if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won't just ruin her voice but it will kill her.
Winehouse was hospitalized a week ago after collapsing at her home in London. She is scheduled to perform at a concert Friday celebrating Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.
ROBERTS: The candidates on higher education. Barack Obama wants to extend a $4,000 tuition grant to college students who volunteer for community or national service after graduation. John McCain wants to create a student loan program protecting students from the credit crunch. How they stack up, that's ahead.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a rock 'n roll rant against iTunes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: You take the song and download it. Big deal, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Kid Rock boycotts the music giant and tells fans to just steal his music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK, SINGER: I'm (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rich.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: So, go get them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Yes, highways jammed with broken arrows and a last chance power drive and those people are paying more for gas. They're paying more for food and the cost of college. Some people say that students are getting priced right out of school, and many are taking a hard look at what the presidential candidates plan to do to help.
CNN's Chris Lawrence has got more on that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oscar Mainia came to college to study political science, but he's feeling more like a finance major as he tries to figure out how to afford tuition.
OSCAR MAINIA, CAL. BERKELEY STUDENT: If I wasn't working I doubt I'd be able to pay for it.
LAWRENCE: Mainia has had to increase his work study so much he filed an appeal to qualify for more hours. California recently raised tuition for the sixth time in seven years, and some students plan to hold the next president accountable for higher education.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Do you still belief any politician when they say education is the future?
MAINIA: You don't want empty rhetoric. We want rhetoric that's going to be backed up. If you're going to say you're going to back up education, how?
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Senator Barack Obama would give students a tax credit in exchange for 100 hours of volunteer work. SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. CANDIDATE: Your country will offer you a $4,000 a year tuition credit if you offer your country community or national service when you graduate.
LAWRENCE: But so far, Senator John McCain has been vague.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. CANDIDATE: We have to provide a quality education.
LAWRENCE: Since the credit crunch has made it harder for Americans to get loans, McCain has proposed a continuity plan that will make sure student loans aren't disrupted this fall.
MCCAIN: We need to spend more funds in the right way.
LAWRENCE: Obama has only voted for two bills that specifically helped students pay for college. McCain's got a longer track record but mixed results.
OBAMA: He's voted time and time again to stop us from making college affordable.
LAWRENCE: Here are the facts. Last year McCain voted against a bill that increased Pell Grant funding and allowed some low-income students to defer their loans. But that same bill increased the fees students pay to open a loan.
And Obama ignores McCain's 1998 vote to lower student loan interest rates and increase work study aid to $1 billion. But the average cost of textbooks alone soaring to $1,500 a year, students like Mainia plan to hold candidates to their word. First in his family to go to college, he's wondering if he'll have enough money to come home with a degree.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Berkeley, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: The soaring price of oil, Saudi Arabia putting the blame on speculators. Now, Barack Obama is taking them on, threatening to crack down. But will that make a difference at the pump?
Also, Rob Marciano watching extreme weather for us this morning.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kiran, rough weather across much of the eastern third of the country last night. Record heat across the west. Fires burning in California. Weather rundown coming up when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sixteen minutes after the hour. Cooler winds -- cooler weather, rather, and lighter winds helping firefighters battling hundreds of wildfires that are burning in northern California. The largest blaze in Napa County began Saturday, and firefighters say it nearly tripled in size. Close to six acres torched. One home destroyed and a hundred others in danger.
Right now, the fire is only about 35 percent contained. Officials believe that the fires were sparked by lightning.
CHETRY: And it's 16 minutes past the hour, our Rob Marciano is in the weather center tracking extreme weather for us this morning. Got a little bit of everything depending on where you live. Hey, Rob.
MARCIANO: Hey, Kiran. Hi, John.
You have the heat across the west beginning just to die down a little bit. It's 51 right now in San Francisco, but the heat is still holding on across parts of southern California. Check out some of these numbers.
116 record high in Needles yesterday. Beaumont, 105. Campo, 104. Ramona, 103 and UCLA getting into the act at 91. A little bit lighter winds and there'll be more on shore. As we go throughout the day, you see San Francisco's winds now a little northwesterly off of the Pacific Ocean. So that certainly will help firefighters.
Flooding still an issue, of course, with the Mississippi not cresting yet. We still have several days for that water to get down past the St. Louis mark. And here's the latest flood forecast as far as when these cities will see their crest.
Canton, Quincy, working our way down to Clarksville finally today and tomorrow. And then St. Louis kind of hits it right around tomorrow in through Wednesday morning. And then kind of flat lines until the end of the week and then moderate flooding will begin to recede by the end that time that happens.
Severe thunderstorms rolling through eastern parts of Kansas and through northern parts of Arkansas. Some of these contain some gusty winds and some hail. This watch box in effect for the next hour, and you can see these thunderstorms rumbling down to the south and east.
We saw some rough weather across the northeast yesterday. It's a little bit warm and humid today. Some heavy weather rolling through northwest parts of Connecticut, but New York right now looks to be fairly quiet although feeling very summery.
Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks.
ROBERTS: Hey, quick correction. Six square miles burned in Napa, not six acres. Six acres will be about that big.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: It's Monday. For the first time in American history the Supreme Court taking on the Second Amendment. So what does this mean for your right to bear arms? Our Sunny Hostin weighs in on today's expected ruling.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, steal everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: I'm (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rich.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Kid Rock's rebellion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: It's just a song.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Find out why he's boycotting iTunes. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: It's OK to illegally download music, and it's OK to steal anything else you need too. So, go get them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: There you have it. That's Kid Rock's new song "All Summer Long." But if you like it and you want to download it, you got to go somewhere other than iTunes.
Kid Rock is actually going to war with iTunes, Apples' music downloading service. He says that the policy of selling single songs cuts into CD sales and that artists are the ones being ripped off. And he has a new message for fans.
CNN's Kareen Wynter has details.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran.
He sold millions of albums worldwide, but Kid Rock says the buck stops with him when it comes to selling his music on iTunes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (voice-over): In his song "All Summer Long," Kid Rock sings about growing up without the Web and he seems to miss those days. Kid is refusing to offer his songs for download on iTunes.
ROCK: This whole debate on downloading music illegally and stealing it, I guess you will, has just really gone way too far. I mean, there's record companies suing kids. The kids are writing and saying that, you know, you can illegally download my music, steal if you will, because I've done very -- I (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rich. WYNTER: Tamara Conniff is editor-in-chief of "Billboard" magazine. She says the singer's point is that he'd rather his fans rip him off before record companies or iTunes.
TAMARA CONNIFF, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: Part of the reason why he did this is because his record company, I think, had come forward and said will you please do a statement for us against possible (ph) sharing. And he kind of turned around and said, no, actually I'm going to do a statement against iTunes.
WYNTER: Mega acts such as Garth Brooks, AC/DC and The Beatles are also absent from the iTunes roster, and some say tensions are building industry-wide. Rock wouldn't speak with CNN but did sound off on his Web site.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCK: Let's level the playing field. Steal everything. I mean if you need a new MP3 player or computer, you know how much money Apple and Microsoft have? Go in there. Get a new laptop. Grab it and run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Conniff sees the point of Kid Rock's sarcasm but also feels it's only a matter of time until recording artists start asking for a piece of Apple's pie.
CONNIFF: Kids are buying downloads for 99 cents and Apple is a $1.6 billion company. And a lot of that is based on the fact that they make devices that carry music.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER: We did reach out to iTunes to get their take on things, but they had no comment -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Kareen Wynter this morning.
You know, Kid Rock and other artists say, hey, eventually we're going to have to capitulate but they want to make a point of it for now. So --
CHETRY: Great.
ROBERTS: Yes.
Wikipedia. It's a popular online encyclopedia, but now a group of parents and teachers say it is to blame for failing test scores. We'll tell you about that.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, in the red. The Red Cross deals with a disaster of its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gas prices and food prices going up, they have less disposable income.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: How tough times are pushing the relief agency to the brink. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. It was a pivotal piece of legislation dubbed the Enron Loophole. And since it was passed back in 2000, gasoline prices have more than doubled. What it did was unleashed speculators from any regulatory oversight and according to some caused the run-up in gas and oil prices.
Senator Barack Obama says he wants to close it. John McCain voted twice to close it in 2002 and 2003. But will targeted speculators really make a difference in what we're paying at the pump?
Neil King, Jr. is an energy policy reporter for the "Wall Street Journal." He joins us live from Washington this morning.
Neil, good to see you. In laymen's terms and simple language we can all understand, what is this Enron Loophole?
NEIL KING JR., REPORTER, WSJ: It's very simple, actually. In 2000, Congress passed this big piece of legislation regarding regulations as a commodities market and then they inserted a tiny little clause that said, except none of this will apply to electronic trading. Well, it just so happens that most of the energy trading going on now, particularly in oil, is happening in the electronic market.
So the result of it is that regulators have almost no real idea what's going on. There's really no transparency in the oil trading market, and that's one of the things that McCain and Obama and a lot of people in Congress want to see happen.
ROBERTS: So the fact that there are these status (ph), I guess people call them dark markets in trading oil, what does that have to do with the price of a gallon of gas at the pump these days?
KING: Well, it's hard to say exactly like if they were to fix this what the difference would be automatically. But what everyone wants to know is what is driving up oil right now. It's certainly being driven up in part by fundamental clauses but similar to the housing market of a few years ago. A lot of people are piling in wanting to make money in the ramp-up in prices. So there's a lot of focus on the speculation side. And that -- it is the dark market aspect of this is because it's so untransparent.
ROBERTS: Right. So if they were to fix this and a provision just got passed in the farm bill which was vetoed by President Bush then overridden by Congress. Senator Barack Obama wants to put another provision on, that would add more oversight, more regulation to these oil markets. If there were to be more regulation, what might it do to the price of gasoline and oil? KING: It's really hard to say. I mean, at the moment everyone, I think, it's fair to say, including if you look at the OPEC, I mean, at the meeting that happened in Saudi Arabia, is wanting to take the steam out of this market. And so, the Saudis are trying to do it by changing the dynamic on the supply side, and then people in Congress are saying, well, let's see if we can take the steam out of the financial side of this.
Closing or getting rid of the Enron Loophole is certainly not going to take the steam out of this. There are some other things that people are talking about that might help in that. But I think personally the main thing that will do it is if there's some fundamental jolt on the supply and demand side that make traders wake up and say, wow, maybe these prices aren't legitimate. Maybe the bets we've made aren't going to come in the way we want so we're going to pull back.
ROBERTS: So all this activity around the so-called Enron Loophole, is it just a lot of political posturing?
KING: Well, there's a fair bit of it. I think part of the posturing is that people in Washington, where I'm sitting now, really want to act as if these prices are totally out of nowhere and have no legitimate pause. That makes for better politics. The sad reality is there's a lot of reasons why oil prices are going up. There may be a little froth on top of whatever percent that's driven by speculation, but the sad reality for a lot of us is we may just be in an era of high oil prices.
ROBERTS: So going back to this oil summit over the weekend and Saudi Arabia saying it's going to pump an additional 200,000 barrels of oil, and not much else getting a grid on at this meeting. Are we expecting any relief at the pump as a result of what happened over the weekend?
KING: You know, oil prices, as I think you guys have already noted, have already gone up a little bit today. This week is going to be a really interesting week because the meeting in Saudi Arabia one thing it didn't do was give any particular pause why anyone should think that prices are going to go down. So the lack of that sort of weight is itself going to cause an upward movement, I think, in oil prices this week. And we could see them go up quite a bit.
So like I was saying before, either demand goes down a lot or there's a big burst in supply. Something that makes people rethink all of this, in which case prices will go down and prices at the pump will go down. I don't see that happening for a few weeks or even a few months.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, Neil King, Jr. for us this morning from the Washington -- from the "Wall Street Journal" in Washington. Thanks for being with us this morning.
KING: It's a pleasure.
ROBERTS: Good to have you. CHETRY: We're coming up on the half hour now, and remembering a comedy legend this morning.
George Carlin died yesterday from heart failure in Los Angeles. He was 71. Carlin made his mark by pushing the comedy envelope. Nothing was off limits. Perhaps his most famous comedy routine, "Seven Words You Should Never Say on Television," made its way to the Supreme Court in the 1970s. Carlin was due to receive the Mark Twain Award for "American Humor" later this year.
The need for more testing could delay plans for a U.S. Missile Defense System in Europe well beyond the 2013 target date. The Defense Department is planning three tests of the missile interceptors, a process that could take years.
Concerns about testing were raised last fall by the Pentagon's oversight office. The delay would be a setback for President Bush who's made the Missile Defense System one of his top military priorities.
And cooler weather helping firefighters battling hundreds of blazes in California's wine country, officials say lightning sparked more than 500 wildfires in the Napa Valley and wilderness area of northern California.
The largest fire began Saturday. Firefighters say it nearly tripled in size, burning close to six square miles, destroying one home and threatening hundreds of others.
The rising Mississippi finally hitting its high-water mark, the river began cresting Sunday in Missouri and Illinois and more crests are expect downstream in the coming days.
Flood waters damaged more than 2 million acres of crops in the Midwest. And Americans, all of us, will soon be feeling the farmers' pain in supermarket prices on things like corn, dairy, beef, pork and poultry.
The Red Cross has some 3500 people working in the flood zone and the agency is dealing with its own disaster as well.
CNN's Kate Bolduan has more.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, for only the second time in the Red Cross's 125-year History, this symbol of U.S. disaster relief is working on borrowed money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Like so many homes in Iowa, Josh Clemmons' house was underwater.
JOSH CLEMMONS, FLOOD VICTIM: The downstairs is pretty much lost. Our kitchen ceiling has collapsed.
BOLDUAN: Now Clemmons begins the painstaking clean-up, thankful for the food and supplies the American Red Cross has offered.
CLEMMONS: They've already been past here a couple of times this morning already. And they've been out doing whatever they can do to help.
BOLDUAN: But now that very organization needs help itself. Red Cross officials say they're out of cash and relying on a loan to cover operations which just in the Midwest could cost $15 million.
SUZY DEFRANCIS, RED CROSS SPOKESWOMAN: When we started with tornadoes throughout the central U.S. We had wildfires on the coast. And now we're having this very significant flooding. And the important point is it's only June.
BOLDUAN: The Red Cross also blames the struggling economy for sluggish donations.
DEFRANCIS: This is a difficult time for people with gas prices and food prices going up, and so they have less disposable income.
BOLDUAN: But critics say this may be more about credibility than tough economic times. They point to rapid turnover at the top of the Red Cross which has had five CEO's in just six years.
PROF. PAUL C. LIGHT, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: The Americans have lost confidence in the Red Cross to spend their money wisely. So they're holding off until the next disaster, until they can actually see where their money is going.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Red Cross officials know they face a long and threatening hurricane season ahead image problem or not. They just hope their financial forecast improves quickly -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Kate Bolduan this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks Kate, here's an "AM Extra" look at where the Red Cross gets its money. The agency reported $3 billion in revenue last year. $2 billion of that actually came from products and services. Much of that was related to blood donations and distribution. $240 million came from investment income and other sources. At about $700 million or 22 percent of the budget was from contributions.
ROBERTS: So coming up on 34 minutes after the hour. Alina Cho here now with more stories for you this morning.
Good morning to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Happy Monday, guys. Good morning, and good morning everybody.
New this morning, the Pentagon is reporting a sharp drop in the number of U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bomb attacks in Iraq. Last month the military says 11 U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs. That's down from 92 a year ago. An 88 percent decrease overall. Military officials credit the drop in casualties to new heavily-armed vehicles and intelligence from Iraqis on the ground.
Pregnancy pact or not, the mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is now casting doubt on reports that 17 teenage girls agreed to get pregnant so they could raise their babies together. And this morning, she is scheduled to meet with a number of school officials, including the principal who first made that claim.
Reports now say there may have been some sort of pact after the girls learned they were pregnant. The mayor says so far, no one else, including teachers, counselors or the teen's families have mentioned any sort of pact.
And a lot of people rely on that online encyclopedia or Wikipedia for information these days. But some parents and teachers in Scotland say Wikipedia is to blame for failing test scores. The Scottish Parent-Teacher Counsel says students are relying on the Web site which they say is littered with opinion and inaccuracies. The accusation comes after the number of students who passed a mandatory high school exam dropped for the first time in four years.
Wikipedia says it has taken steps to improve its accuracy. But one of the big problems is that anybody can go in there and edit it.
CHETRY: And unless they put a lock on this -- particular topic.
CHO: You know back when I was in school we didn't have a choice. We only have books.
CHETRY: Thank you. Go to the library and you would hope that the one thing you need wasn't already checked out by someone else, because then you're really in trouble.
CHO: I relied on books like Cliff Notes.
CHETRY: My famous book notes, "Hamlet."
Well, Stephanie Elam joins us now with more on some bad news at Citigroup. That New York Bank was probably hit hardest out of most of them with the mortgage crisis. And now a lot of people are losing their jobs.
ELAM: And so is the "Wall Street" now it's reported that Citigroup may be losing a lot of jobs here. The thing is you maybe wondering why this matters to you.
I will tell you coming up right after this break, "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirty-eight minutes after the hour.
Stephanie Elam in this morning for Ali Velshi who is up in, guess where, Ft. McMurray, Alberta?
ELAM: Taking it home to Canada.
CHETRY: He's walking to the oil fair and trying to find some alternative energy.
ROBERTS: You better take off his shoes before he comes back in the house after walking there. We got some bad news with Citigroup this morning.
ELAM: Potentially, we've got a report coming out from the "Wall Street Journal" saying that the largest U.S. bank here, Citigroup, may be preparing to layoff thousands of people. And this would be related to its Worldwide Investment Banking Division which obviously when you hear this you may be thinking that has to do with the credit crisis and you are right.
The company has really been taking a big hit here. So the reports are that they plan to cut off about 10 percent of this division. There are reportedly 65,000 personnel in that group just to give you an idea there. So they're really trying to recover here.
Now, keep in mind, in April they reported a loss of $5.1 billion for the first quarter. Right then they said they were going to start slashing jobs. It's not clear at this point if this number may include these numbers that we're hearing now or if it's going to be in addition to that.
The other thing that we know is that in May they unveiled a three-year plan where they're saying they were trying to cut mortgages, they are trying to cut back on jobs, they are trying to cut back on real estate operations as well as more businesses and focus more on growing their revenue by 9 percent. And one of the ways you can streamline is to go ahead and cut jobs.
Now, the reason why we care about this is because it shows that the credit crisis is not over yet for Wall Street, so this could give us an idea that there is more weakness still ahead. So we will keep our eyes on it and see if this actually comes out to be true.
ROBERTS: All right Stephanie, thanks so much.
ELAM: Thanks.
CHETRY: Well, both sides of the gun debate have their eyes on Washington today. For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court could address what exactly the second amendment means.
Coming up, we'll take a look at how the ruling could impact America's rights to bear arms.
Also, we have Rob Marciano. He is tracking extreme weather for us today.
Hi, Rob.
MARCIANO: Hi, Kiran.
Severe thunderstorm and watch out for the Midwest, also some thunderstorms rumbling across the Northeast to wake you up on this Monday morning.
Complete weather coming back when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Is that a face only a mother can love? How about it? The ugliest dog, we have a new winner this morning. Top honors went to Gus. There's Gus. A one-eyed, three-legged hairless Chinese crusted.
Gus, by the way, has skin cancer, the poor guy. And his owner says that she plans to spend the $1,600 prize money on treatment for him. There's Gus. He dethroned last year's winner Elwood.
Let's take a look at Elwood. I loved Elwood, personally. I can't even tell you how much I love him. He's a sweet guy.
He stopped by our show last year. We actually took him out. There's my daughter. She loved Elwood as well. He had a really, really great personality. And anyway, see, looks aren't everything, John.
ROBERTS: That's not an ugly dog. This is an ugly dog.
CHETRY: Get a close-up shot.
ROBERTS: I'm sorry. That is an ugly dog.
CHETRY: That was the world's ugliest dog the year before Elwood.
ROBERTS: That's ugly.
CHETRY: The others were trying too well.
ROBERTS: That one's kind of cute. And the other dog? The three-leg --
CHETRY: One-eyed, yes.
ROBERTS: Fluffy-eared not so ugly. This one, ugly.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano joins us now 43 minutes past the hour. The thing is, they seem to know they're getting a lot of attention. They really don't care why. I wonder if their feelings would be hurt if they knew it was because they won an ugly contest.
ROBERTS: I don't think -- they're much like us, they just want the attention. But I noticed the trend is if you have that tongue sticking out that seems to score you points. The one John just showed us -- mean.
CHETRY: They lose their teeth and then their tongues doesn't stay in their mouth anymore.
ROBERTS: Kiran says Chinese crested do not age well.
MARCIANO: It's all about what's in here.
CHETRY: Exactly.
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys.
Let's roll through some maps for you. Thunderstorms rolling across the midsouth here. This is about to expire this thunderstorm watch.
There have been thunderstorms rolling south and east rapidly. A little bit of hail, a little bit gusty winds with this.
Rainfall over the weekend into the flood-ravaged areas. Here are the latest flood stage times, with the Mississippi cresting in through Hannibal, Clarksville. And St. Louis really about to hit through Wednesday in a kind of flat line.
Lincoln County, some areas in Missouri. That's the area that's got hammered the most. We've got some aerials shot yesterday, I think, and, boy, it just doesn't seem to want to get better soon enough.
Three hundred homes in Lincoln County alone, 90 percent of levees in that particular area of Missouri overtopped. So a slow go for the folks there and certainly our heart goes out for them there to continue this very, very slow clean up.
The northeast seeing your own round of severe weather last night into yesterday afternoon. We had a number of severe weather watch boxes. Still some left overs north of Albany, into parts of upstate New York heading towards Manchester, New Hampshire. Be aware of that.
Other than that it will just be kind of warm and on the muggy side as we get into late June now across the north east.
John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
The Supreme Court on the brink of issuing what could be its most important ruling ever on the right to bear arms. Ahead we're going to take a look at the impact that the ruling may have on current gun laws.
According to crucial Latino vote, we're going to talk with one voter who says John McCain is trying too hard to go after it accusing him of pandering.
You're watching the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-eight-and-a-half minutes after the hour.
Never in the U.S. history has the Supreme Court ever said what the second amendment means when it talks about the right to bear arms. But today the justices may answer that very question. It's a challenge to a law that bans the possession of handguns in Washington, D.C.
Joining us now with more on the case is "American Morning's" legal analyst Sunny Hostin.
So what's at stake here in this ruling?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What is at stake is every single American citizen's right to own and possess a gun. And that really is the crux of it.
And you're right; the Supreme Court really has never said that, that an individual has the right. And let's take a look at actually what the second amendment says in particular.
The second amendment says, "a well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." What most federal courts and Supreme Courts have found is that you can possess a gun; it means that the military can possess a gun, it's a collective right. That's going to be the balance.
What's fascinating about this case is that the way it came up, is one woman, a computer software designer she received death threats from a local drug dealer in D.C. He actually broke into her home and threatened to kill her because she had organized the homeowners to report drug activity in her neighborhood.
Police officers determined that she was really at risk here and they advised her to get a gun. But in D.C. you can't have a handgun and that is really how this case came up. It really is -- its very essence John is the right of an individual to possess a gun.
ROBERTS: So the oral arguments were heard back in March. At that time did the justices give any kind of indication on how they might rule?
HOSTIN: John, you're always asking me to predict verdicts or to predict how the Supreme Court is going to rule.
ROBERTS: Isn't that what everybody wants to know?
HOSTIN: You're right. I don't want to guess at what the Supremes are going to do. But I think in this case when you listen to the oral argument it's pretty clear that they're probably going to invalidate the ban.
In particular, Chief Justice Roberts, -- and it's conservative court right now -- said if it is limited to state militias why would the founding fathers say the right of the people. And even Justice Kennedy who is usually the swing vote said, in effect, the amendment says we reaffirm the right to have a militia. But in addition, doesn't it say there is a right to bear arms?
When you look at that I think what we're going to hear today and I hate to guess but I think what we're going to hear is that the D.C. ban is no more.
ROBERTS: Let me just get back to something you said initially when you showed us the second amendment. You said read militia and gives the military the right to have weapon or would it give citizens militia?
HOSTIN: The founding fathers, when this happened, they wanted to make sure the new federal government did not ban state militias from organizing. So I think really what it meant then was sort of that a military or a state police type could own a gun, not just the individual that was threatened by drug dealer. But this Supreme Court is saying, I don't know, I think it's a little bit broader than that.
ROBERTS: It's an important ruling today. We'll be watching it.
Sunny, thanks very much for that.
By the way, you could e-mail Sunny your legal questions; get a little free legal advice here at CNN. Drop her a line at sunnyslaw@cnn.com. Or logon to our Web site, CNN.com/am. She will be answering your e-mails every Friday -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks guys.
Tons of debris piling up and downstream the flooding may still get worse.
Live to Missouri as crews and residence make a last-ditch effort to stop the water.
ANNOUNCER: Breaking news, comedian George Carlin dead at 71- years -old, a man who could weave a tapestry of profanity.
And three words still so radio active we can't even describe them.
The indecency debate continues without him.
Plus, pumped up. Saudi Arabia promises the world more oil as the U.S. looks for relief at home.
You're watching the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most politics in the morning. Time for the "Political Ticker." That's Donatella Versace. She's dedicating her spring and summer 2009 lines to Barack Obama, showing off a new line in Italy. Versace said it was designed for a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscle to show he has power. Her fashion advice for Obama, lose the tie and jazz up the shirt. Hillary Clinton makes good on her promise to speak at a high school graduation. Clinton told a student four years ago that when she graduated high school, Clinton would be there.
True to her word, the senator spoke at the Helen's Repertory Academy in the Bronx yesterday. The girl's mother is a Clinton supporter and Clinton says she's known the girl since she was 2 -- John.
ROBERTS: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told Fox News that he would consider being John McCain's vice presidential running mate if McCain asked him to be. But some say that Ridge will not be asked because he supports abortion rights while McCain is anti- abortion. Ridge did say the vice president's job is to support the president on all policy decisions once they're made.
John McCain facing criticism from the Obama campaign saying he flip-flopped on immigration. McCain reportedly told a group of Hispanic leaders last week that he would push for immigration reform if elected. Earlier this year at a Republican debate McCain said he opposed his own immigration reform bill from 2007 because, as he said, the borders needed to be secured first.
And for more up to the minute political news, just head to cnn.com/ticker.
CHETRY: We're talking a little bit more about that immigration stance of John McCain. Some conservatives say they are outraged over what they're calling McCain's flip-flopping on immigration. They're accusing him of pandering to Latinos for votes.
Our next guest says there are two John McCains when it comes to immigration. Rosanna Pulido is the founder and director of the Illinois Minuteman Project. It's a group for advocates for tight border controls and also joining us Leslie Sanchez who says that McCain should be paying attention to the Latino vote. She's a CNN contributor and author of "Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other."
Welcome to both of you this morning.
Rosanna let me start with you because you were invited to this closed door session with McCain as well as some other Hispanic leaders last week. You're a Mexican-American and you're also conservative. You said that that meeting or what you heard him say at that meeting was upsetting. Explain.
ROSANNA PULIDO, SENIOR CITIZEN ADVOCATE: Absolutely. Because John McCain one day said, I got it, I understand that people -- that American citizens want enforcement first, but the truth is, is that if you look at John McCain's voting record, as far as illegal immigration, it's terrible.
And to come into a group in his mantra that evening was that he assured us that he would ask Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. That's not what I came to hear. John McCain is just another politician that acts like he was elected to represent the Mexican government and not the citizens of America.
CHETRY: Hold on, let me stop you real quick, Rosanna, I'll get to you in one quick second. But I want to ask you, what is it that you want to hear from him? Don't we need some sort of reform to immigration in our country?
PULIDO: We need enforcement. We need comprehensive immigration enforcement of our laws.
CHETRY: And hasn't he said he would do that?
PULIDO: Not when he's talking comprehensive immigration reform, which is really a code word for amnesty. John McCain acts like there's two choices, mass deportation or mass legalization. What Americans want is attrition through enforcement.
CHETRY: Let me ask Leslie about this. Is John McCain finding himself in a no-win situation when it comes to immigration?
LESLIE SANCHEZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, I think that John McCain took his lumps on immigration reform, especially with respect to conservatives making sure their voices are heard on this issue. If you look back at last summer, this issue was one of the few that basically destroyed the campaign.
Three-quarters basically went bankrupt. Lost three-quarters of the staff and had to rebuild. And I think if you listen to the message that Senator McCain puts forward he says, I've stridently worked with Kennedy on comprehensive immigration reform, not through any fault of his own or many Republicans but I would say a lot of fault lays on the Democrats. Not on both sides but this did not move forward.
CHETRY: But let me ask you. Is he telling one thing to the conservative Republican voters and one thing to Latinos when it comes to what he would do?
SANCHEZ: Kiran, absolutely not. I think what he is saying is exactly what's consistent. I spoke to the campaign yesterday about this particular meeting. It's consistent with everything else he says. He says I moved very strongly on immigration reform. It did not work. There was not a sentiment in America for this type of movement.
I understand now we have to focus on border enforcement first. He's going to start with that. He is not going to move forward with a measure like McCain/Kennedy. He knows that didn't work. I think that's what he's saying.
The difference is he's saying there has to be some sort of compassionate, realistic approach to what to do with the 12 million plus undocumented illegals who are here.
CHETRY: Let's hear what he actually said about this at a presidential debate here on CNN in January.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, I would not because we know what the situation is today. People want the borders secured first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Border security --
He said he would not again vote for his own measure. He said that he understands that people want the borders secured first. What's wrong with that?
PULIDO: What's wrong with that is that he is a senator in a border state where we've had a massive flood of illegal aliens who come into this country. He hasn't done anything to stop it and now he's going to use it for his campaign, saying I will close the border? What has he been doing all these years? Border security is not an immigration issue.
