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American Morning
Oil Prices Rise Again; North Korea Disabling Reactor; Kid Rock's Attack on iTunes; Saudis Agree to Boost Oil Production; Remembering George Carlin: Dead at 71
Aired June 23, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROSANNA PULIDO, FOUNDER DIR., ILLINOIS MINUTEMAN PROJECT: 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. Border security is a national security issue.
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST: All right. We have to leave it there.
PULIDO: Which has failed.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Kiran, I'd just say there's a lot of groups on the fringe that want to point only to this issue. But I think that ultimately, he's consistent in his position. He's talking about a solution and that's very different from the Democrats.
CHETRY: All right. I want to thank both of you for being with us.
PULIDO: Thanks.
CHETRY: Rosanna Pulido as well as Leslie Sanchez, thanks -- John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST: It is now top of the hour, 7:00 Eastern time. And here's what's making news this Monday morning.
Comedian George Carlin has died. The man who made famous "The Seven Words that You Can Never Say on Television" passed away of a heart failure yesterday in Santa Monica, California. He was 71. He had a history of heart problems.
Cresting, the mighty Mississippi, starting to recede this morning in parts of Iowa and Missouri. Clean-up already well underway north of St. Louis.
And here's some good news for a Monday. The price of gas is down. It's about that much, though. Average for a gallon of unleaded, just over $4.07. That's down one-tenth of a penny from yesterday.
And boosting production. Saudi Arabia is saying it will pump out more oil starting in July. The Saudi king though saying the production levels aren't why prices are so high.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is covering the story for us this morning from Washington.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, not surprisingly, most in Washington see the prospect of more oil on the market as a good thing. But when it comes to what steps to take here at home, that's something Democrats and Republicans don't see eye to eye on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH (voice-over): The White House expressed cautious optimism at the news. A spokesman saying, "Any increase in production in today's oil market is welcome." The Saudi promise to pump more crude also drew praise from surrogates for the two presidential contenders who then went partisan.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), OBAMA SUPPORTER: It's going to help a little bit. Maybe reduce prices just a little. The point is that we have got to have a bipartisan comprehensive strategy. And this administration and it seems Senator McCain, they want to do is drill, drill, drill.
DOUGLAS HOLTZ EAKIN, MCCAIN SUPPORTER: It's important to have greater global supply. It would be better if the United States control this energy destiny. That's what John McCain wants to do.
KOCH: With gas prices soaring, both parties agree something must be done, just not what. On Capitol Hill, the House this week plans to begin debating four new Democratic energy proposals, grants to cut fares for mass transit, a crackdown on fuel price gouging. Another aims to curb speculation in the energy futures market which many, including the Saudis, believe is driving up the price of oil.
REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: There is absolutely no way that this market doubled in value over 12 months unless manipulation and speculation was a part of it. And so, we need to get at the heart of it and to shut that down before it shuts down the American economy.
KOCH: Finally, one measure would force oil companies to explore for oil on federal land they're leasing or lose those rights. But oil companies insist there's a reason they're not drilling.
RED CAVANEY, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: There's no map quest chart that says drill right here for 50 million barrels. Most of that land doesn't have oil and gas.
KOCH: White House and Republican energy plans push for clean coal technologies, ending the moratorium on oil shell as well as more oil refineries and offshore drilling.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Drilling offshore on a state-by-state option is something that I think we could do very environmentally safely and, yet, anything that says production is killed by the Democrats.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: As Democrats and Republicans joust over whose energy plan is best, the one thing they can agree on is cold (ph) comfort to American drivers, that there is no single favorable solution that will quickly cut prices at the pump -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: Kathleen Koch for us. Thank you.
Well, both campaigns are reacting to Saudi Arabia's move to increase oil output. Obama supporter and former energy secretary, Bill Richardson, says he supports the move but blasted the Bush administration for how long it took.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: It's about time. You know, the Bush administration has waited eight years to pressure OPEC and their great friends, the Saudis. When President Bush came in, he said he was going to job own OPEC to increase production. Well, it's finally happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And Barack Obama blaming traders in part for $135 a barrel oil. Obama says that his plan would close a loophole that puts energy futures trading outside of federal regulation. He also blames a John McCain adviser for supporting that eight years ago. Congress has already acted to close the loophole, but Obama says his plan goes even farther.
And John McCain is challenging Americans to come up with a better car battery. McCain says the government should offer $300 million to the person who can develop technology that's better than what we have right now. The proposal is expected to be part of an energy speech plan today in Fresno, California -- John.
ROBERTS: A Chicago priest who mocked Hillary Clinton is back on the job. Reverend Michael Pfleger return to the pulpit yesterday comparing his comeback to Muhammad Ali and saying his suspension won't silence him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. MICHAEL PFLEGER, ST. SABINA CATHOLIC CHURCH: I think those who chose to balance what I have sought to do throughout the years of my ministry and life over a one-and-a-half minute YouTube that showed around the world.
I return to the pulpit committed to the gospel of justice. I will not -- I will not let my faults or my imperfections cause me to run, nor will I allow them to cause me to hide. Nor will I allow them to cause me to play it safe, nor will I allow them to cause me to be silent.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: Pfleger was suspended after saying that Hillary Clinton thinks she has a white entitlement to the presidency. It happened at Senator Barack Obama's former church, the Trinity United Church of Christ -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Checking on extreme weather this Monday morning. The Mississippi River is expected to crest today across Missouri. These are some live pictures now coming to us from Winfield, Missouri, courtesy of KMOV. This is over the St. Louis downtown area. In some areas, the crest forecasts have been lowered providing some hope to residents who want to start the clean-up.
And that's already what they're doing today in Cedar Rapid, Iowa. That's where our Ed Lavandera is standing by.
And the pictures you showed us of just the sheer amount of debris left over is mind boggling, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. We're just a couple blocks away from the Cedar River which flooded. This area was under five feet of water. The water is gone now, thankfully. But now, it's time for residents to come back and begin the clean-up.
And this is what you see block after block as you drive through the streets of Cedar Rapids. Landfill officials say they expect in the next four to six weeks to clean up one million cubic yards of debris, flood debris. Now that might seem like a random number, but to put it in context, they say that's about four football fields stacked 60 feet high with debris.
And one of the things they're urging people to do is separate the garbage. Here, for example, you see piles of wood and just regular garbage. And over here in this pile over here, you see several dishwashers and refrigerators. And officials here are saying if people do that it will speed up the cleaning process because a lot of oversight is just to how all of this will be handled.
And the city officials do say that it is a monumental task. There will be in the coming weeks some 120 trucks going up and down with cranes, picking up all of this debris and taking it to landfills. But city officials say they expect all of this material to fill up their landfills.
In fact, one garbage bin had just been opened. It was supposed to last the city in this area about 20 years. And now, officials are saying all of the flood debris on these streets will fill that up in about four to six weeks' time -- Kiran?
CHETRY: That's unbelievable.
Ed Lavandera for us in Cedar Rapids this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: It's coming up on eight minutes after the hour now, and there is no evidence to support reports of a pregnancy pact between teenagers in one Massachusetts high school. That's what the mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts is saying this morning. The school's principal told "TIME" magazine that a group of underaged girls agreed to get pregnant and raise their children together. Now, Mayor Carolyn Kirk says the principal can't remember where he heard that. Seventeen girls, all under 16 years of age, became pregnant this year. That is four times the usual number at the school.
A fast lane through airport security will soon be available to Delta passengers. The airline says it plans to launch the registered traveler program this summer in New York and Los Angeles. Wires (ph) can pass through the speedier security checkpoints for $128 a year annual fee. Though they face the same screening process, the TSA says 125,000 people are currently enrolled in the program at 18 U.S. airports.
Take a look at this. Waterfalls, some as high as the Statue of Liberty coming to New York City. Four of them will start flowing along the East River and New York Harbor this Thursday. Here's what one of them will look like right under the Brooklyn Bridge.
They're manmade. They'll pump out 35,000 gallons of water each and every minute. The $15 million project is the creation of a well- known Danish artist. It is expected to generate, by the way, at least $55 million in tourist money for the city. Pretty incredible stuff.
CHETRY: It is. Really neat.
Well, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Coming up at 7:13, gas on the border. Taking your SUV south for a deal on filling it up. Why some people say it's worth it and many are doing it.
ROBERTS: And at 7:33, are you prejudiced? A new poll shows three in 10 white Americans admit to racial bias. Find out what it has to say about Barack Obama's candidacy.
CHETRY: Also at 7:48, big breakfast. Pile on the carbs, throw in a little bit of chocolate. We're going to tell you why that could help you keep off the pounds. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: How about this? Dating on lunch with a billionaire? Well, you can do it. The annual auction to dine with Warren Buffett started last night.
The proceeds go to the Glide Foundation. It helps the homeless in San Francisco. Last year's lunch sold for $650,000. That's before they ordered the food.
Right now, the top bid is $40,100. I'm sure that will grow, for the lunch at Smith and Wollensky Steakhouse right here in New York. The auction runs through Friday.
Well, people head down to Tijuana for a lot of things. Now you can add gas to the list. The average price for a gallon of regular is around $4.60 in California. Some of the most expensive in the country. And right across the border in Mexico, it's $3.10 a gallon. But what you're saving now may cost your car in the future.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S./Mexico border in Tijuana, where Americans fill over for cheap gas.
RICARDO FERNANDEZ, SAN ISIDRO, CALIFORNIA: The savings, it's great. It's great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about $1.50 cheaper.
GUTIERREZ: About $3.10 a gallon in Tijuana as compared to $4.63 on the U.S. side. The total savings to fill a 20-gallon tank? About $30. And that makes financial sense to commuter, Ricardo Fernandez, who lives a few miles away in San Isidro, California. He makes the international run once a week during off hours and doesn't mind waiting in line to drive into Mexico and back into the United States.
FERNANDEZ: Right now, the traffic is not bad. To go back, it takes me about an hour, hour and a half.
GUTIERREZ: Sounds like a big hassle, but Fernandez says he just makes a shopping day out of it.
FERNANDEZ: I can come shopping, you know, get some groceries and stuff like that and then I go back. It's like saving double.
GUTIERREZ: A similar story for Pedro Fernandez who lives in Santa Ana, California, about 100 miles north. He doesn't make a special trip to gas up, but he won't pass up the deal.
PEDRO FERNANDEZ, SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA: We come down to visit relatives and shop around. While we're here, might as well fill up the gas.
GUTIERREZ: His savings today, $40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this truck, maybe about $70.
GUTIERREZ: Savings perhaps that Stephen Mazor (ph) with the AAA Automotive Research Center says Mexican gas is made with a different formula, which contains more sulfur that overtime, could actually hurt your car.
STEPHEN MAZOR, AAA AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH CENTER: The emission control equipment, the catalytic converters, the fuel injection systems, and the censors on your newer car, any car really, and make it a polluter and make it even fail a smog inspection and then have to spend a lot of money to repair your car because of the effects of that gas. GUTIERREZ: But Ricardo Fernandez says his truck is running fine for now, and making ends meet right now is really all he can afford to worry about.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: You are watching the "Most News in the Morning." A new poll shows that three in 10 Americans admit to having a racial prejudice. We'll talk about what that could mean for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
And a man who would be on the Mount Rushmore of stand-up comics. George Carlin, dead at 71. We'll look back on the act that changed American legal history. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Seventeen minutes after the hour. The top videos right now on CNN.com, the most popular, ready for the next round. Spain beats world champion's Italy to reach the soccer semifinals of Euro 2008.
Also, bearing all at the pool. A Florida apartment complex goes condo and with it, so go the bathing suit tops at the community pool. It's all happening if you're looking for the location in Town and Country, Florida.
And Cold Play in hot water. A little known American band called the Creaky Boards (ph) claiming that Cold Play copied one of their songs "Viva La Vida." The band denies any wrongdoing.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." We are back in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE CARLIN, COMEDIAN: If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up, well, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem. You voted them in. You have no right to complain.
I, on the other hand, who did not vote, who did not vote, who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and have every right to complain as loud as I want about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.
So I know that a little later on this year, you're going to --
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: Interesting take on the political process from George Carlin. That was from "Back in Town," one of his 14 HBO comedy tours. That routine just as relevant today as it was when it aired more than a decade ago.
Word this morning that the comedy legend died of heart failure yesterday at 71-years-old. He spent more than 50 years in showbiz, but he'll forever be remembered for those seven special words.
Here's CNN's Brooke Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLIN: You might be --
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television" immediately became a show business news legend.
CARLIN: Now, that was the original (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
ANDERSON: A word for excretion.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED). For urination (EXPLETIVE DELETED), for having sex (EXPLETIVE DELETED), for breasts (EXPLETIVE DELETED), and three words still so radioactive we can't even describe them.
In 1972, that unforgettable bit of stand-up stunned a Milwaukee audience which included some children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard all this foul, profane language that really, it really shocked me. And I'm thinking here, my 7-year-old son is in the audience.
ANDERSON: Carlin was immediately arrested for disorderly conduct.
CARLIN: I didn't know the words or I wouldn't have changed anything I did if I had known there were children in the audience. In fact, the children need to -- I think children need to hear those words the most because they're, as yet, they don't have the hang-ups. It's adults who are locked into certain, you know, thought patterns.
ANDERSON: An unapologetic Carlin was released and the charges were dismissed. But then, a New York radio station aired Carlin's follow-up act. Filthy words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a complaint by a man that was supposedly driving with his 12-year-old son in the car when these words came pouring out over the radio.
ANDERSON: That complaint got to the Supreme Court which supported FCC regulation of profanity on the public airwaves. And it established which words were off limits.
CARLIN: I wanted a list because nobody gives you a list. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There, for the first time you had kind of a quantification of what is obscene. That was something you could really put your finger on. It's all there. The nastiest words are all right there!
ANDERSON: Thirty-five years after the "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television," the debate George Carlin triggered is far from over.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Passing of a comedy legend. George Carlin, dead at the age of 71 from heart failure.
ROBERTS: It's coming up at 23 minutes after the hour. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
The McCain campaign says Barack Obama flip-flopped on public financing. The Obama campaign says John McCain flip-flopped on immigration reform. We're going to get reaction from the McCain campaign adviser coming up.
And bacon on a bagel as part of your summer diet plan. You've got to love that. The study that says a big carb-filled breakfast might just help you lose weight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning."
John McCain and Barack Obama battling over money after Senator Obama opted out of public financing for the general election. What does the McCain side think of Senator Obama's move?
Nancy Pfotenhauer is a McCain campaign adviser. She joins us now from McCain headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Nancy, good to see you this morning. There's been an awful lot of criticism of Senator Obama for this decision from the McCain campaign. Isn't that just because it puts Senator McCain at a distinct financial disadvantage?
NANCY PFOTENHAUER, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN ADVISER: I don't think so. I mean, this is something that both gentlemen said they would pursue because it was the right thing to do. And it was the right thing to do because pursuing public financing is a way of keeping corruption and special interest politics to a minimum. And the bottom line is that Obama broke his word to the American people.
You know, when it's easy to do the right -- doing the right thing is easy, it doesn't really test your character. It's doing the right thing when it's difficult that character is revealed.
So juxtapose Obama who has a preacher's gift for a righteous statement but side steps like a politician when it's going to cost him anything, with John McCain he wouldn't take the easy way out, even when his life was on the line as a prisoner of war. And he was offered early release and special treatment and he refused to take it because that wasn't the right thing to do.
ROBERTS: OK. Let me try to keep this focused on campaign finance. We had Robert Gibbs, the communications director from the Obama campaign on this program on Friday. He says that the McCain campaign uses financing -- that the public system only when it suits his purpose, and that he's got his own problems when it comes to public versus private financing. Let's listen to what Robert Gibbs said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIR: John McCain has used the public financing system over the last two years and gained it every step of the way. When his poll numbers were good, he was out of the public financing system. When his poll numbers were bad, he was using the public financing system as nothing more than a shell game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So what he's talking about there, Nancy, is back in the early stages of the primary campaign when John McCain wasn't doing so well, it looked like he was going to take public financing and then when his poll numbers came up he decided to opt out. But then there's this -- this idea of this line of credit for $4 million that he took and still some lingering questions over whether or not he used that as collateral for public financing. The FEC still wants to know about this, and the Democrats are going to refile a lawsuit on that issue tomorrow morning. So what do you say about that?
PFOTENHAUER: Well, of course, they are -- of course, they are. That's the nature of politics. But you know, John, that there's a big difference between public financing at the primary level and then the general election.
People have acknowledged from both parties that the primary system is broken, if you will, from the standpoint of financing. And it was the people who were kind of the cream of the crop who are committing to public financing in the general election. And Obama, that he would aggressively pursue it and then threw it out the window the second it was inconvenient. You know, it's bold talk, not bold actions. And frankly, it's bold actions that make the man.
ROBERTS: There's another issue out there, Nancy, that we were talking about this morning is this idea of the meeting that Senator McCain had last week with a group of Hispanic voters, about 100 of them. One of the people who was there is Rosanna Pulido, who is a member of the Minuteman Organization. She accused Senator McCain of pandering Hispanic interests by saying at that meeting that he was going to push for comprehensive immigration reform. Let's listen to what she told us just a little while ago here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Is Senator McCain, Nancy, throwing conservatives under the bus on this issue of immigration reform?
He said during one of our debates that you've got to secure the borders first. Rosanna Pulido was accusing him of pandering Hispanic voters.
PFOTENHAUER: She's also the only person who came out of that meeting who makes the claim. I think Senator McCain who has provided more day-to-day access to the media and then on the record more than any presidential candidate in history, certainly in recent history, so he's not hiding what he has to say. Has made it clear that he heard from the American people that it's secure the borders first, but you don't stop once you secure the borders. We still then have to deal with the problem that we've got and the challenges in this nation.
ROBERTS: So he -- so he will push for comprehensive immigration reform?
PFOTENHAUER: He will secure the borders first and then continue to deal with the problem of immigration. And he's never hidden from that at all. In fact, it's something that was the subject of quite a few debates during the primary season.
ROBERTS: Nancy Pfotenhauer for us this morning from McCain headquarters. Nancy, good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
PFOTENHAUER: Thank you so much.
CHETRY: And it's half past the hour now. Here's a look at what's making news this Monday morning. Comedian George Carlin passing away at the age of 71. The man who made famous the seven words you can never say on television passed away last night at St. John's Hospital in Sta. Monica, California.
The mighty Mississippi is cresting and now starting to recede this morning in parts of Iowa and Missouri. And the clean-up is well under way in parts of north of St. Louis.
Also, boosting production. Saudi Arabia saying it will pump out more oil starting in July. The Saudi king though saying production levels aren't why prices are so high. Our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi is in Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada, for us this morning.
Hi, Ali.
VOICE OF ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Good morning. I'm actually up here because this is one of the places where the U.S. gets so much of its oil from. In fact I'm sitting atop the largest reservoir of oil in the world. Many, many times the size of the Saudi oil reservoir. But at the moment in terms of just being able to turn the spigot and add more oil, certainly of the OPEC countries, Saudi Arabia is the only one that is able to do that.
But this announcement over the weekend of another 200,000 barrels, which brings the increase from Saudi Arabia to about 700,000 barrels over the last month, it's less than Saudi Arabia could have put out and it's certainly no more than was expected going into this summit. So, all of this talk about this big summit of oil-producing nations and oil-consuming nations didn't result in some change in thinking about the way we're going to be supplied with oil.
And as a result, the price of oil this morning is, in fact, up, not down. Not by much, it's up by about $1. We're above $136 now, almost at $137, which we hit this morning. So bottom line is the early reaction to the announcement and the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Kiran, has not been overly enthusiastic. At the moment, this is not going to be the thing that's going to get us anywhere closer to solving our energy problem or bringing the price of oil down, at least getting it, you know, trending back downward.
CHETRY: All right. Well, let us know what else you find out there, Ali. We miss you.
VELSHI: Thanks, Kiran.
I'll be digging around here for the next few days. I'll have lots of information for you.
CHETRY: All right. We'll being looking for your special report tomorrow. Thanks, Ali.
ROBERTS: He's going to find a lot of oil and dirt is what he's going to find out there.
CHETRY: You think he's the hairless prophet of doom there?
ROBERTS: The hairless prophet of oil there. Better not get any on your shoes. Mom will be upset.
CHETRY: Alina Cho joins us now with some other stories new this morning.
Hey, Alina. Good morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDNET: On this Monday morning. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody.
New this morning, an eye-opening report is out saying roadside bomb attacks and deaths in Iraq are down by close to 90 percent. "USA Today" says according to Pentagon reports and interviews with military officials, IED attacks killed U.S. troops, 11 of them last month, down from 92 a year ago. More than 700 people are still missing at sea after a ferry capsized in a typhoon off the Philippines. More than 800 passengers and crew were aboard. Crews say only 38 survivors have been found so far, including 28 who drifted at sea in life jackets for more than a day. At least six people have been found dead.
The military don't ask don't tell policy is hitting women much harder than men. That's according to a report in "The New York Times" today. The policy prohibits those who are, excuse me, openly gay from serving in the military. One advocacy group says - thank you for the water, Kiran - almost half of those discharged under the policy last year were women even though women make up roughly 15 percent of the Armed Forces.
And Wimbledon gets under way today. Roger Federer is trying to win his sixth straight title at the all England club. But for the first time perhaps he's not a shoe in. 22-year-old Raphael Nadal who just beat Federer for the French Open title is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Going for his sixth straight which would beat Bjorn Born, by the way. It's kind of a mini Jimmy Connors-John McEnroe match up here. It's getting exciting.
ROBERTS: Didn't he beat last year Federer once?
CHO: They did. In fact, Nadal was the runner-up for the past two years. He's conditioned to win.
ROBERTS: And I remember how gracious he was in defeat, too. And then Federer reaches into his tennis bag and pulls out, you know, white pants and blue jacket, perfect.
CHO: Well, Nadal wins the French every year. So, anyway, they're pretty evenly matched.
ROBERTS: It's like James Bond where he takes off the wet suit.
CHETRY: He was the Axe, you know, deodorant. Sprayed that around the
CHO: Thank you for the water.
CHETRY: You're welcome, Alina.
ROBERTS: Coming up on 35 minutes after the hour. A new poll shows three in ten Americans admits to feeling some sort of racial prejudice. What kind of effect might that have on this year's presidential election?
Joining me now with a look at all of this is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider. Bill is in Washington this morning.
Bill, what does this say about this state of race relations in America?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, John, on the surface it doesn't look good because it says look 30 percent of whites acknowledged that they have some feelings of racial prejudice. And the number for African-Americans actually a little bit higher, 34 percent. That's a lot of people. On the other hand, is it not healthy for that many people to be willing to acknowledge that they have feelings of racial prejudice?
That might not have been true a few years ago. But more to the point, this is a poll by ABC News and the "Washington Post" and they report that whites who acknowledge that they have some feelings of racial prejudice are no more or less likely to support Barack Obama for president than those who say they don't have any such feelings, which indicates that those feelings of prejudice just aren't having any impact on the vote in this election.
And that's a surprise. And I think a welcome one.
ROBERTS: All right. So is it more of a challenge for Obama or McCain or neither then?
SCHNEIDER: Well, right now if you ask white voters as "Post" and the ABC News polls did, how will they vote for president? McCain is carrying the vote among white Americans. You can see it here, 51-39. That's a 12-point edge. Now, does that indicate some kind of hidden feelings of racial prejudice?
Actually, Obama is doing about as well as other democrats have done. That's a 12-point deficit. And you find that's about average among white voters for the last eight elections. For instance, Al Gore the "Post" reports lost white voters by 12 points. John Kerry lost them by 17 points. Of course, they both lost the election. So if he wants to win this election. If he's going to win, Obama may have to do a bit better than that as well as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter did. They did a little bit better among white voters.
But there's no indication here that white voters are -- racial prejudice is having a major impact on their vote in this election. And that's good news.
ROBERTS: Interesting facts and figures. Bill Schneider for us this morning.
Bill, thanks.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
CHETRY: North Korea allowing the outside world to witness the destruction of what it says is a key part of a nuclear power plant and our own CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has been invited as part of a small group to witness this nuclear event. We're going to talk to her about it coming up.
ROBERTS: And with Ali Velshi up there in the (INAUDIBLE), getting his shoes all dirty. Stephanie Elam is filling in this morning.
Good morning, Steph.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
You know, if you want that cheap flight, you may have to get ready to stay over the weekend because the skies are getting a little unfriendly and full of rules. I'll tell you about United's latest changes.
You're watching CNN, the "Most news in the Morning."
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ROBERTS: One of those seminal summertime songs from 1970 actually. Mungo Jerry's "In the summertime." Those guys were scary back then. The lead singer -
CHETRY: I know the song though.
ROBERTS: The lead singer had lamb chop side burns like this.
CHETRY: That's coming back.
ROBERTS: It's a look. It was definitely a look.
ELAM: In New York, I think all looks exist at one time anyway. Yes.
ROBERTS: So just when you thought that it was safe to go back in the skies with those discount tickets -
ELAM: Right.
ROBERTS: Things change.
ELAM: You thought you knew everything. You thought that OK, I'm going to have to pay $15 to check my first bag and you thought that's about it. I know there's a fuel surcharge. Got that back. There's more. United Airlines coming out and saying that they are bringing back minimum stays required for the cheap tickets. So, remember how like business travelers like to fly in Thursday night and Friday after their meeting, they hop out and they leave.
Not so much. You're probably going to have to stay over a weekend night, which usually means Saturday night stay. And they're also saying that they're going to raise their tickets by as much as $90 for some of their cheapest fares. So that's each way, by the way, that's not round trip. It's going to depend on the destination, the price of the ticket, and the length of the flight will depend on how much the $90 increase will be there as far as the minimum stay requirements as well.
All of this goes into effect on October 6th. I guess you have to get your tickets before then. And the other thing that they are really trying to do here, as we all know, is combat this high fuel prices. So all of this in an effort to get it down. But the consumers are taking a little bit of a beating here. So the skies are getting a little less friendly.
ROBERTS: Yes. We've seen it over the past few months.
ELAM: Yes. Everyone has seen what's going on here. Remember when those minimum night stays kind of disappeared. They all came around basically to control business travelers. That was all a move to get business travelers from taking all the cheap seats. Well, now it looks like they're coming back because they don't care who it is. This is broad. This is all over the flights. Even the most competitive routes, that go between Southwest Airlines, other airlines as well. This is all of their flights which shows that they really need the money right now.
ROBERTS: It's getting ugly out there. Steph, thanks.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, hooked on drugs are now facing serious health problems for Grammy-award winning singer Amy Winehouse. Doctors reportedly tell her that if she keeps smoking crack cocaine, she will die. We're going to hear what her father is saying about his troubled daughter.
ROBERTS: And Rob Marciano watching extreme weather for us this Monday morning.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys.
Funnel clouds in upstate New York yesterday and hail the size of hockey pucks in New Hampshire. There's still more thunderstorms this morning. A complete weather run-down when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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CHETRY: Rob Marciano checking out the weather for us. A stormy northeast. In fact, yesterday, the inflatable kayak was filled to the brim with the water. I knew it was a bad storm. That's my indicator.
MARCIANO: Did you get the kids inside when that happened?
CHETRY: Of course.
MARCIANO: Such a good mom. Hey, John. Hey, Kiran.
Yes, we had some thunderstorms last night across the northeast. And you know, a similar weather set-up today. You have pretty good column of hot, humid air and a cold front that's going to squeeze the air out. We're already starting to see some thunderstorms and through the Adirondacks, the White and Green mountains, central parts of Massachusetts seeing some rough weather and up state Connecticut, towards Windsor and Hartford, some thunderstorms there.
But looks like the I-95 corridor at least for now is OK. Once we get that sun to get up in the air and start percolating some of that turbulent atmosphere, we might see some things pop. We have a thunderstorm watch that has been since cancelled. Southwest of Missouri, or Springfield, Missouri, eastern part of the state where most of the flooding is happening. Good news there, there's no rain in the forecast, at least for today. There might get a little bit tomorrow.
All right Here you go for the river forecast cresting today. Hannibal, Clarksville, St. Louis, kind of starting to crest tomorrow. And then flatline through the weekend and we'll get all these water out of the Mississippi here hopefully by the end of the week or at least in through next week that would be ideal. Hey, it's lightning awareness week, guys. So you might have some up there. And later on at 8:00, we'll talk about - throw out some fun numbers that you can use at cocktail parties up there in Tony, Connecticut.
CHETRY: I thought you were going to tell us how we could save our lives and not get struck by lightning but now it's cocktail party conversation.
MARCIANO: It's all about keeping you current.
ROBERTS: That's what it all about. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: Yes.
ROBERTS: Talking about keeping you current. How about this? Start you day with eggs, bacon, ham and sausage and chocolate and lose weight? The study that says the big breakfast diet could just work for you.
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CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a rock 'n roll rant against iTunes.
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KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: You take the song and download it. Big deal, right?
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CHETRY: Kid Rock boycotts the music giant and tells fans to just steal his music.
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ROCK: I'm (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rich.
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CHETRY: You're watching the most news in the morning.
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ROCK: So, go get them. (END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHETRY: I am reading this correctly. It says you can pile on the carbs at breakfast and even throw in a piece of chocolate and it could actually help you keep off the pounds, according to a new study. That study actually compared people who don't move a lot, obese women eating a big breakfast with those who ate a low carb breakfast and found that at the end of the eight-month trial, women eating the big breakfast actually lost an average of almost 40 pounds. That was compared to only nine pounds for the low-carb breakfast group. And it's almost five times as much weight. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta this morning to explain.
Come on, there's got to be a catch, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me first show you what we mean by a big breakfast, Kiran. I have in front of me an example of a big breakfast that half of the women ate and a little breakfast. Let's take a look at the big breakfast. The big breakfast is two slices of cheese, two slices of bread with a pat of butter and three slices of turkey roast beef or chicken, two large glasses of milk and coffee with cream.
The little breakfast. You can tell, one egg, three slices of bacon, and half a pat of butter with coffee and with a smaller cup of milk. Now, these women were told to basically eat the same thing for the rest of the day so there was no difference in the rest of the day. The only difference was what they ate for breakfast. And again that weight loss difference was really quite significant, Kiran.
CHETRY: So what do they say is the reason behind that?
COHEN: There are a couple of theories about what's behind this. One is that your body uses calories more efficiently in the morning. The other is that if you give your body some carbs in the morning, even a little piece of chocolate won't do you harm. It will actually stave off carb-craving later in the day.
Now, I have to tell you, Kiran, we talked to some folks who were pretty skeptical about this research. They say they don't think the study was necessarily well designed. The Atkins people don't like this study. But it's certainly an intriguing theory.
CHETRY: All right. You know, we take issue with what you are defining as a big breakfast. We were hoping for tons of whipped cream, maybe a couple of Belgian waffles but sorry to disappoint but you're eating more and you're losing more weight. So, that's not a bad thing.
Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks. In the next hour, we're going to talk to one man who says he has his own diet all figured out. He said he dropped 80 pounds and 14 pant sizes by eating only at McDonald's.
ROBERTS: Breaking news, comedy losing a legend, George Carlin dead at 71 years old. A look back at his half century in showbiz.
Plus, Kid Rock's public service announcement.
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ROCK: 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.
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ROBERTS: His war with iTunes.
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ROCK: Now, remember, stay in school. And stay off the drugs.
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ROBERTS: You're watching the most news in the morning.
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ROBERTS: Fifty-four minutes after the hour. The secret of communist nation North Korea is allowing several news organizations to witness the destruction of part of a nuclear power plant. CNN is among them.
Back in February, you'll remember CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was granted unprecedented and eye- opening access to North Korea's main nuclear facility and now she has been invited to go back. She joins us this morning.
So, they're going to blow up a cooling tower. How significant is that? I mean, they're not disassembling the main reactor?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are actually. We saw that in February. And they have been disassembling and disabling the main nuclear reactor. Bits were wrapped up in what looks like saran wrap and put on the basement floor of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
ROBERTS: But not blown up?
AMANPOUR: Now they're taking it a step further. And on Friday, they are scheduled to implode, collapse the famous cooling tower. You know that very distinct shape that denotes a nuclear power plant. Why is it important? Because it's not just symbolic. But it's also exceptionally psychological. Imagine this highly secretive, highly central control North Korea which has had this nuclear power plant and is going to do that. That is an intent - a symbol of intent that they don't want to continue their Yongbyon nuclear plant as agreed with the United States. And for that they will get a return from the United States.
ROBERTS: But if they decided to reneg on the deal, as you said, they've taken parts of the reactor apart, they could I imagine put those back together again and cooling towers are not difficult to build.
AMANPOUR: And indeed we asked the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear agency about that and they say yes, that's correct. You could rebuild the cooling tower within about a year. But you couldn't do it in secret and what's the point. If they've taken this step, if they continue and they're going to be taking off.
This is the important bit. The U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. And they're going to have some of the sanctions waved under the trading with the enemy act. Some sanctions will continue under different U.S. legislation. But this is a big step in these painstaking negotiations that Ambassador Chris Hill and the State Department have been holding with the North Koreans over the last many months.
ROBERTS: So, taking this initial step. There's still a long way to go. Apparently 37 kilos of plutonium that they had, these bombs that they extensively have as well.
AMANPOUR: Yes.
ROBERTS: So, how did that they get at that? And what's the, you know, if there are lots of carrots with this deal, what are the sticks holing them to task?
AMANPOUR: The sticks are continued isolation and what the United States has been doing for many years up until now. But they're coming -- they're not just blowing up the tower. They're first going to give a full declaration of their plutonium and then get the reciprocal from the United States.
Look, it's a negotiation. Nobody is going to say that it's fail safe. Even the United States says it's not perfect, that it's a good deal but not perfect. On the other hand, it's the best deal that they can get at the moment. You can imagine the State Department is under some fire from its conservative wing, the conservative part of the republican - you know, the think tank. And Condoleezza Rice addressed this last week in front of the Heritage Foundation.
ROBERTS: And she was actually here for that editorial meeting that we both attended. You also talked to here afterwards, she was well last week reraised this idea that they might have this uranium enrichment program. How troubling is that?
AMANPOUR: Well, people do think that's the case. They have not got a full declaration on that. Only according to our sources the North Koreans have sort of implicitly said we're not going to do it again and we're not doing it now. Both about uranium enrichment and about proliferation.
ROBERTS: We'll see. When do you go?
AMANPOUR: We're going this week. And this should happen on Friday. With any luck we'll have it on AMERICAN MORNING on Friday.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thanks very much. Look forward to your first report. We'll have Christiane Amanpour in North Korea the end of the week. It's not everybody who can say that.
Christiane, thanks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: It's a couple of minutes before the top of the hour. Some of the top stories we're following for you right now. The comedy world mourning one of its legendary figures, George Carlin. He died Sunday from heart failure at a hospital in Santa Monica, California. Carlin had a history of a heart trouble. He was famous for sometimes raunchy take on life and language and included his famous 1970s routine "seven words that you can never say on television."
Carlin even took some shots at CNN.
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CARLIN: 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 (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I hope I can get tickets to that.
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CHETRY: Carlin was also an actor, best-selling author. Just last week it was announced that Carlin would be honored with the Mark Twain award for American humor later this year. George Carlin was 71-years-old.
White House and Congressional lawyers will face off in federal court today in a groundbreaking lawsuit over the limits of executive privilege. Lawmakers want answers from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Myers about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys back in 2006. Bolten and Myers have so far refused to testify. The Justice Department says the president has, "absolute immunity in resisting subpoenas issued to top aides."
And Saudi Arabia boosting oil production. It officially announced that increase that we told you about last week, an increase of 200,000 barrels a day. It happened at an emergency summit meeting over the weekend. The move is not doing anything to help the price of oil today because many were already expecting it. Oil is actually up this morning $136 a barrel. That's also because of an attack in Nigeria.
ROBERTS: Meantime, Barack Obama is putting some of the blame on traders and speculators for the skyrocketing price of oil. Obama says his plan that he's outlining would close a loophole that put energy futures trading outside of federal regulation. He blames a John McCain adviser for supporting that plan eight years ago. Congress has already acted to close that loophole but Obama says his plan goes further.
