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Farewell Speech from New Jersey Governor McGreevey; "The Incredibles" Tops Box Office; Best and Brightest Vehicles of 2004; Watching Fidel Castro

Aired November 08, 2004 - 13:30   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Coming up in our program, live pictures now from Trent, where we are expecting -- Trenton, New Jersey, in just a few moments to hear from outgoing Governor James McGreevey, who announced three months ago, stunning the nation, that he's gay and resigning. He'll give a farewell address, and we will bring it to you live. Should happen any minute now.
Now, news across America for you.

Some welcome news at the pump. Gasoline prices have fallen nearly three cents a gallon in the past couple of weeks. That's according to the Lundberg Survey. The average price for a gallon of self serve is $2.01 now. A drop in the price of crude oil is being credited for easing America's gas pains, if you will.

Cost of buying Babe Ruth's Boston Red Sox contract in 1919, $100,000. Current eBay bid for said contract, more than $1 million. By the way, all the proceeds of this going to charity. As for the long suffering fans of the Red Sox, seeing the curse of the Bambino finally broken this year, well, priceless.

And an incredible showing at the box office for Pixar's "The Incredibles." Two thumbs up from executive producer Mike Tafo (ph), and his movie-going friend Clara. The exploits of the super-heroic family debuted with $70.7 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend. That's $70.7 million in ticket sale in its opening weekend. That puts it second in line behind "Shrek 2" in the animated movie history ahead of Pixar's last hit "Finding Nemo."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, even though Pixar's movie "The Incredibles" came out tops at the box office this weekend, the animation company's stock is selling off today. Rhonda Schaffler joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to explain why. What's the deal, Rhonda?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. You know Wall Street is never satisfied. It doesn't matter what the news is. In this particular case, it could be a story of buy on the rumor and sell on the news. Pixar stocks rang up strong gains because of positive film reviews for "The Incredibles." Right now, though, it's down about $4. Even though the movie took in all that money over the weekend, analysts are waiting to see how it performs in its second weekend, especially since another animated film, "Polar Express" opens this Wednesday. There's also some uncertainty about who Pixar will pair up with next. Its deal with Disney expires after one more movie. The company's been informally talking with other movie studios, but could potentially return to the table with Disney. Pixar should have no problem finding a good deal. "The Incredibles" is the sixth straight blockbuster for the studio and could end up being its biggest success yet. Others hits, of course, include "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story," and "Monsters, Inc" -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Anything incredible with regards to moves in the market today?

SCHAFFLER: No, we had all that last week, when the markets were up, better than three percent. Today, fairly quiet as we start a new trading week. At this point investors a little cautious ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting, that's coming up on Wednesday. Policymakers are expected to raise interest rates once again at that meeting. Let's take a look at the numbers here. The Dow Jones Industrial Average not making any big moves at the movement, only off five points. NASDAQ slightly lower. That is the very latest from here on Wall Street. Stay tuned, lots more LIVE FROM coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Live pictures, Trenton, New Jersey, the audience there applauding outgoing Governor James McGreevey as he prepares to give his farewell address. Three months ago, you'll recall that stunning news conference when he came out and announced he is gay, and was stepping down. We're told today he will not discuss any specifics related to that, but instead try to put his tenure into some kind of perspective, the first-person perspective. Obviously it will be left up to others to put it down in history books. Let's listen to James McGreevey as he addresses supporters there in Trenton.

JAMES MCGREEVEY (D), OUTGOING NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Thank you so much, my friends. There is no possible way you can understand fully how much your kindness now has just meant to me. Thank you so much for your generosity of spirit. In fact, I have been simply overwhelmed by the extraordinary manifestations of unconditional love, compassion, and concern that I have been shown by the citizens of this great state since August 12.

Farewells throughout the years have served to say "thank you," to look back at accomplishments, and to reminisce about good times and bad. They have been used to celebrate victories and to assuage defeats, and while farewells by their very definition encompass a sense of separation, loss and sadness, they also signify new beginnings, and are used to paint visions for our future. All farewells are unique, and this is not an exception.

In this instance, however, there is a requirement not only for all those qualities, but also for an apology. I have to begin today with humility, by simply saying I am sorry. So, so sorry that mistakes in my judgment made this day necessary for us all. I am sorry that my actions have hurt those I love in my personal and political lives. I am sorry that my actions have hurt those I love in their personal and political lives. I am sorry to those that invested their careers with me that this abrupt transition has caused them upheaval, and I am sorry that I have disappointed the citizens of the State of New Jersey who gave me this enormous trust.

To be clear, I am not apologizing for being a gay American, but rather, for having let personal feelings impact my decision-making, and for not have having had the courage to be open about who I was. You see, today I stand before you as a changed man. Aeschylus said, "Pain in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

Like the psalmists of old, I have asked God to create in me a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within me. I stand before you as a man who has experienced the freedom that comes with the truth, claiming the promise, the truth will set you free. Just as Lincoln said, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand," so it is true with a person. A divided self is not an integrated self, and so as I've been preparing for this day, I have been doing some mending in my soul.

I so want the words of my mouth and the actions of my hands and the thoughts of my heart to be one and the same thing. That brings proper alignment, something true and whole. Having apologized and shared these recent reflections, I would like to take a minute to indulge in offers of gratitude, and to look back and celebrate what you in this room have accomplished. I want to thank those in the legislature and state government in both parties who over the years I have gotten to know and to engage. The ideal common ground has been a genuine and passionate commitment to serve and to give their gifts to this state. Even in the most jaded and cynical moments, I have never doubted that they each come to this place with a firm conviction of their deeply held beliefs to make this state a better place. It has been a joy to serve with them.

O'BRIEN: Outgoing Governor James McGreevey just a few days ago ahead of his official departure November 15, the governor of New Jersey will become Senate President Richard Cooley, also a Democrat. He will fill out that term until January 2006. Governor McGreevey saying he was sorry, not for his personal situation, but for the fact that his lack of judgment, as he termed it, caused harm to the state and to those who worked for him and whose careers were invested in him.

Moving along now on LIVE FROM, inside Castro's Cuba today, from the recent video of his fall to turning his back on American dollars. What's going on with the Caribbean dictator. Our Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman is in the house, it is our pleasure to have her in the rundown.

And coming up at the top of the hour, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and joint chiefs chairman General Richard Myers, live at the Pentagon briefing, even as the Falluja assault continues. Obviously will shed some light on that. We'll bring it to you when it starts, of course. Much more on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We'll take a look at the best and the brightest vehicles of 2004 according to "Popular Science." Here's today's best of what's new.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ERIC ADAMS, "POPULAR SCIENCE": We chose the Dodge Magnum as our grand award winner for the competition, because it's the only vehicle that really in a way was almost a whole new type of car. It's a high performance, high-powered sort of station wagon, sort of sedan. And it's just exciting. It's very aggressively styled, it's very functional. And it's just a lot of fun to drive.

The Ford Escape hybrid represents the pinnacle of achievement that we're seeing now. This is the first time an SUV has been available in a true hybrid. It's a complete package, because they haven't made any sacrifices. You don't have to give up power and performance. You can haul a thousand pounds. You can go off-roading in it if you want to. It's not a soft SUV, it's a fully capable SUV, but it gets incredible gas mileage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Cuban President Fidel Castro appears in public after a widely publicized fall. He was in a wheelchair when he greeted the president of Venezuela yesterday in Havana. He shattered a kneecap and broke an arm in a fall last month. You might be surprised to learn that most Cubans never saw pictures of that fall. We saw it frequently, didn't we? Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman covers Cuba for CNN. She has more on this and a few other stories to tell from the Caribbean nation. Good to have you with us.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles, thanks for having me here.

O'BRIEN: First of all the fact that Fidel Castro is in a wheelchair must be startling enough, particularly when they consider they never really saw the fall. Because while it was broadcast on live TV, the camera angle was such they didn't see it. You had the opportunity to go around and show people the fall. How did that go?

NEWMAN: Well, that's right. People didn't really know. They just heard about it afterwards. So we went out the next day with a little monitor, and showed people. We asked them, do you know to know what it looked like? Because people weren't really convinced that it had been so bad, and we did, and people's mouths dropped. They said, "Whoa, look at that." It's fascinating.

O'BRIEN: Let's look at some of your tape. People were quite shocked. Of course, people at this point -- There you see it. Walking the streets. There you are.

NEWMAN: Here we go.

O'BRIEN: And you just randomly selected a group of Havanans. NEWMAN: Just people in Havana, and just asking them, well, do you want to know? They said, ooh, look at that, that must have hurt. And they just -- I had asked the Cuban government, why didn't you run this video on the state television? The answer I got is, because it's not good for people. They don't -- you know, they don't need it, they don't like it, it makes them feel bad, they're not interested in it, but when I asked people...

O'BRIEN: It's not good for people.

NEWMAN: Well, they didn't use those words at all, but it was like, you know, it does them more harm than it does them good, but it turns out people did want to see it.

O'BRIEN: And were there any repercussions for you doing just that? You don't have a minder when you go out. You're free and unfettered as far as your ability to do your job?

NEWMAN: No. I did get some off-the-record feedback. There were some people that weren't too happy that we were running along with a monitor showing some people what the Cuban government wasn't willing to show them. But I haven't heard back officially.

O'BRIEN: Maybe you will once you get back. All right, let's talk about other things going on there now. It seems we're in a period where it waxes and wanes. We're in a period of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.

NEWMAN: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: And one of the things going on is the greenback, the U.S. dollar, which you use all throughout Central and Latin America, is now being officially expunged from use. What's that going to mean?

NEWMAN: Well, actually as of today, you can no longer go shopping with the greenback, with the dollar, you have to exchange it for these things call CUCs, C-U-Cs, which is a convertible peso, which is another word for a dollar, except that it isn't a dollar anymore.

O'BRIEN: Kind of kooky.

NEWMAN: Very ironic that Cuba, which has been at political war with the United States now for 45 years, actually was using up until today as the dollar as its de facto currency, because the Cuban peso is worth nothing and people don't use it. So now they're having to convert or change the U.S dollar into this other money that the government prints itself, but it's still a dollar by another name...

O'BRIEN: It's still linked to the dollar in every stetch...

NEWMAN: ... with a tax on it, with a 10 percent tax. That's the key to this thing.

O'BRIEN: Bingo, now we know why it happens.

NEWMAN: But it's not just because of that. It's because the United States government has been really going after the Cuban government. President Bush said he would and he has. So when the Cuban government gets all these dollars from tourists, they have nowhere to exchange it. The cash is what they don't want. It's not the dollars, it's the money. The actual bills have to be taken to a bank somewhere. A Swiss bank got fined $100 million for taking the Cuban government's money.

O'BRIEN: It seems to me, when you look at that, look at the travel restrictions that are under way right now, it's difficult for Americans, relatives, or whomever to travel into Cuba. It used to be a third country would do. It seems to me this kind of back and forth helps Fidel Castro ultimately, because he survives by having a bogeyman, in this case the U.S.

NEWMAN: Well, let me say that there are many, many who believe very strongly, who argue that Fidel Castro's government couldn't survive if they didn't have the big bad wolf up north just 90 miles away. And President Bush has in many ways fit that bill. This year, remember Miles, he forbade Cuban-Americans to visit relatives in Cuba except for once every three years. He's limiting not only their visits for family reunification but also the amount of money and gifts they can take. And so Fidel Castro and his government really play this up and make the United States be the one, or at least say the United States is to blame for all their problems, and some people really believe that.

O'BRIEN: Lucia Newman, good to see you thanks for dropping by. And we look forward to further reports from Cuba.

NEWMAN: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: Bring that video camera and monitor wherever you go. Tell them the truth. We appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Next on LIVE FROM, we're checking in on the markets with Rhonda Schaffler.

SCHAFFLER: Kyra, I'm going to tell you why investors are gobbling up shares of Mickey Ds. That's coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHAFFLER: I'm Rhonda Schaffler live from the New York Stock Exchange where stocks are taking a bit of a breather after ringing up strong gains over the past two weeks. The presidential election is finally out of the way, which means investors are trying to take a look at the economy and corporate news and there's a Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday. On the corporate front, McDonald's shares are moving higher after the fast food giant said its global sales were up 6 percent in October. Sales were helped by a Monopoly game promotion. That's not doing much to help the Dow overall blue chip average only up three points. NASDAQ little changed. That's it from Wall Street. Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, Babe Ruth's curse has finally been shattered. And I'll tell you why it might bring some good luck to one charitable organization. In the meantime, back now to Kyra and Miles. PHILLIPS: Well, we're moments away from a live briefing from the Pentagon, the main topic expected to be the assault on insurgents in Fallujah. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will brief reporters. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.

Also straight ahead, retired General Earl Hailston. He actually led the marines in the fall of Baghdad. He's going to talk to us about what's happening in Falluja. Stay with us. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 8, 2004 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Coming up in our program, live pictures now from Trent, where we are expecting -- Trenton, New Jersey, in just a few moments to hear from outgoing Governor James McGreevey, who announced three months ago, stunning the nation, that he's gay and resigning. He'll give a farewell address, and we will bring it to you live. Should happen any minute now.
Now, news across America for you.

Some welcome news at the pump. Gasoline prices have fallen nearly three cents a gallon in the past couple of weeks. That's according to the Lundberg Survey. The average price for a gallon of self serve is $2.01 now. A drop in the price of crude oil is being credited for easing America's gas pains, if you will.

Cost of buying Babe Ruth's Boston Red Sox contract in 1919, $100,000. Current eBay bid for said contract, more than $1 million. By the way, all the proceeds of this going to charity. As for the long suffering fans of the Red Sox, seeing the curse of the Bambino finally broken this year, well, priceless.

And an incredible showing at the box office for Pixar's "The Incredibles." Two thumbs up from executive producer Mike Tafo (ph), and his movie-going friend Clara. The exploits of the super-heroic family debuted with $70.7 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend. That's $70.7 million in ticket sale in its opening weekend. That puts it second in line behind "Shrek 2" in the animated movie history ahead of Pixar's last hit "Finding Nemo."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, even though Pixar's movie "The Incredibles" came out tops at the box office this weekend, the animation company's stock is selling off today. Rhonda Schaffler joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to explain why. What's the deal, Rhonda?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. You know Wall Street is never satisfied. It doesn't matter what the news is. In this particular case, it could be a story of buy on the rumor and sell on the news. Pixar stocks rang up strong gains because of positive film reviews for "The Incredibles." Right now, though, it's down about $4. Even though the movie took in all that money over the weekend, analysts are waiting to see how it performs in its second weekend, especially since another animated film, "Polar Express" opens this Wednesday. There's also some uncertainty about who Pixar will pair up with next. Its deal with Disney expires after one more movie. The company's been informally talking with other movie studios, but could potentially return to the table with Disney. Pixar should have no problem finding a good deal. "The Incredibles" is the sixth straight blockbuster for the studio and could end up being its biggest success yet. Others hits, of course, include "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story," and "Monsters, Inc" -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Anything incredible with regards to moves in the market today?

SCHAFFLER: No, we had all that last week, when the markets were up, better than three percent. Today, fairly quiet as we start a new trading week. At this point investors a little cautious ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting, that's coming up on Wednesday. Policymakers are expected to raise interest rates once again at that meeting. Let's take a look at the numbers here. The Dow Jones Industrial Average not making any big moves at the movement, only off five points. NASDAQ slightly lower. That is the very latest from here on Wall Street. Stay tuned, lots more LIVE FROM coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Live pictures, Trenton, New Jersey, the audience there applauding outgoing Governor James McGreevey as he prepares to give his farewell address. Three months ago, you'll recall that stunning news conference when he came out and announced he is gay, and was stepping down. We're told today he will not discuss any specifics related to that, but instead try to put his tenure into some kind of perspective, the first-person perspective. Obviously it will be left up to others to put it down in history books. Let's listen to James McGreevey as he addresses supporters there in Trenton.

JAMES MCGREEVEY (D), OUTGOING NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Thank you so much, my friends. There is no possible way you can understand fully how much your kindness now has just meant to me. Thank you so much for your generosity of spirit. In fact, I have been simply overwhelmed by the extraordinary manifestations of unconditional love, compassion, and concern that I have been shown by the citizens of this great state since August 12.

Farewells throughout the years have served to say "thank you," to look back at accomplishments, and to reminisce about good times and bad. They have been used to celebrate victories and to assuage defeats, and while farewells by their very definition encompass a sense of separation, loss and sadness, they also signify new beginnings, and are used to paint visions for our future. All farewells are unique, and this is not an exception.

In this instance, however, there is a requirement not only for all those qualities, but also for an apology. I have to begin today with humility, by simply saying I am sorry. So, so sorry that mistakes in my judgment made this day necessary for us all. I am sorry that my actions have hurt those I love in my personal and political lives. I am sorry that my actions have hurt those I love in their personal and political lives. I am sorry to those that invested their careers with me that this abrupt transition has caused them upheaval, and I am sorry that I have disappointed the citizens of the State of New Jersey who gave me this enormous trust.

To be clear, I am not apologizing for being a gay American, but rather, for having let personal feelings impact my decision-making, and for not have having had the courage to be open about who I was. You see, today I stand before you as a changed man. Aeschylus said, "Pain in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

Like the psalmists of old, I have asked God to create in me a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within me. I stand before you as a man who has experienced the freedom that comes with the truth, claiming the promise, the truth will set you free. Just as Lincoln said, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand," so it is true with a person. A divided self is not an integrated self, and so as I've been preparing for this day, I have been doing some mending in my soul.

I so want the words of my mouth and the actions of my hands and the thoughts of my heart to be one and the same thing. That brings proper alignment, something true and whole. Having apologized and shared these recent reflections, I would like to take a minute to indulge in offers of gratitude, and to look back and celebrate what you in this room have accomplished. I want to thank those in the legislature and state government in both parties who over the years I have gotten to know and to engage. The ideal common ground has been a genuine and passionate commitment to serve and to give their gifts to this state. Even in the most jaded and cynical moments, I have never doubted that they each come to this place with a firm conviction of their deeply held beliefs to make this state a better place. It has been a joy to serve with them.

O'BRIEN: Outgoing Governor James McGreevey just a few days ago ahead of his official departure November 15, the governor of New Jersey will become Senate President Richard Cooley, also a Democrat. He will fill out that term until January 2006. Governor McGreevey saying he was sorry, not for his personal situation, but for the fact that his lack of judgment, as he termed it, caused harm to the state and to those who worked for him and whose careers were invested in him.

Moving along now on LIVE FROM, inside Castro's Cuba today, from the recent video of his fall to turning his back on American dollars. What's going on with the Caribbean dictator. Our Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman is in the house, it is our pleasure to have her in the rundown.

And coming up at the top of the hour, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and joint chiefs chairman General Richard Myers, live at the Pentagon briefing, even as the Falluja assault continues. Obviously will shed some light on that. We'll bring it to you when it starts, of course. Much more on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We'll take a look at the best and the brightest vehicles of 2004 according to "Popular Science." Here's today's best of what's new.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ERIC ADAMS, "POPULAR SCIENCE": We chose the Dodge Magnum as our grand award winner for the competition, because it's the only vehicle that really in a way was almost a whole new type of car. It's a high performance, high-powered sort of station wagon, sort of sedan. And it's just exciting. It's very aggressively styled, it's very functional. And it's just a lot of fun to drive.

The Ford Escape hybrid represents the pinnacle of achievement that we're seeing now. This is the first time an SUV has been available in a true hybrid. It's a complete package, because they haven't made any sacrifices. You don't have to give up power and performance. You can haul a thousand pounds. You can go off-roading in it if you want to. It's not a soft SUV, it's a fully capable SUV, but it gets incredible gas mileage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Cuban President Fidel Castro appears in public after a widely publicized fall. He was in a wheelchair when he greeted the president of Venezuela yesterday in Havana. He shattered a kneecap and broke an arm in a fall last month. You might be surprised to learn that most Cubans never saw pictures of that fall. We saw it frequently, didn't we? Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman covers Cuba for CNN. She has more on this and a few other stories to tell from the Caribbean nation. Good to have you with us.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles, thanks for having me here.

O'BRIEN: First of all the fact that Fidel Castro is in a wheelchair must be startling enough, particularly when they consider they never really saw the fall. Because while it was broadcast on live TV, the camera angle was such they didn't see it. You had the opportunity to go around and show people the fall. How did that go?

NEWMAN: Well, that's right. People didn't really know. They just heard about it afterwards. So we went out the next day with a little monitor, and showed people. We asked them, do you know to know what it looked like? Because people weren't really convinced that it had been so bad, and we did, and people's mouths dropped. They said, "Whoa, look at that." It's fascinating.

O'BRIEN: Let's look at some of your tape. People were quite shocked. Of course, people at this point -- There you see it. Walking the streets. There you are.

NEWMAN: Here we go.

O'BRIEN: And you just randomly selected a group of Havanans. NEWMAN: Just people in Havana, and just asking them, well, do you want to know? They said, ooh, look at that, that must have hurt. And they just -- I had asked the Cuban government, why didn't you run this video on the state television? The answer I got is, because it's not good for people. They don't -- you know, they don't need it, they don't like it, it makes them feel bad, they're not interested in it, but when I asked people...

O'BRIEN: It's not good for people.

NEWMAN: Well, they didn't use those words at all, but it was like, you know, it does them more harm than it does them good, but it turns out people did want to see it.

O'BRIEN: And were there any repercussions for you doing just that? You don't have a minder when you go out. You're free and unfettered as far as your ability to do your job?

NEWMAN: No. I did get some off-the-record feedback. There were some people that weren't too happy that we were running along with a monitor showing some people what the Cuban government wasn't willing to show them. But I haven't heard back officially.

O'BRIEN: Maybe you will once you get back. All right, let's talk about other things going on there now. It seems we're in a period where it waxes and wanes. We're in a period of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.

NEWMAN: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: And one of the things going on is the greenback, the U.S. dollar, which you use all throughout Central and Latin America, is now being officially expunged from use. What's that going to mean?

NEWMAN: Well, actually as of today, you can no longer go shopping with the greenback, with the dollar, you have to exchange it for these things call CUCs, C-U-Cs, which is a convertible peso, which is another word for a dollar, except that it isn't a dollar anymore.

O'BRIEN: Kind of kooky.

NEWMAN: Very ironic that Cuba, which has been at political war with the United States now for 45 years, actually was using up until today as the dollar as its de facto currency, because the Cuban peso is worth nothing and people don't use it. So now they're having to convert or change the U.S dollar into this other money that the government prints itself, but it's still a dollar by another name...

O'BRIEN: It's still linked to the dollar in every stetch...

NEWMAN: ... with a tax on it, with a 10 percent tax. That's the key to this thing.

O'BRIEN: Bingo, now we know why it happens.

NEWMAN: But it's not just because of that. It's because the United States government has been really going after the Cuban government. President Bush said he would and he has. So when the Cuban government gets all these dollars from tourists, they have nowhere to exchange it. The cash is what they don't want. It's not the dollars, it's the money. The actual bills have to be taken to a bank somewhere. A Swiss bank got fined $100 million for taking the Cuban government's money.

O'BRIEN: It seems to me, when you look at that, look at the travel restrictions that are under way right now, it's difficult for Americans, relatives, or whomever to travel into Cuba. It used to be a third country would do. It seems to me this kind of back and forth helps Fidel Castro ultimately, because he survives by having a bogeyman, in this case the U.S.

NEWMAN: Well, let me say that there are many, many who believe very strongly, who argue that Fidel Castro's government couldn't survive if they didn't have the big bad wolf up north just 90 miles away. And President Bush has in many ways fit that bill. This year, remember Miles, he forbade Cuban-Americans to visit relatives in Cuba except for once every three years. He's limiting not only their visits for family reunification but also the amount of money and gifts they can take. And so Fidel Castro and his government really play this up and make the United States be the one, or at least say the United States is to blame for all their problems, and some people really believe that.

O'BRIEN: Lucia Newman, good to see you thanks for dropping by. And we look forward to further reports from Cuba.

NEWMAN: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: Bring that video camera and monitor wherever you go. Tell them the truth. We appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Next on LIVE FROM, we're checking in on the markets with Rhonda Schaffler.

SCHAFFLER: Kyra, I'm going to tell you why investors are gobbling up shares of Mickey Ds. That's coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHAFFLER: I'm Rhonda Schaffler live from the New York Stock Exchange where stocks are taking a bit of a breather after ringing up strong gains over the past two weeks. The presidential election is finally out of the way, which means investors are trying to take a look at the economy and corporate news and there's a Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday. On the corporate front, McDonald's shares are moving higher after the fast food giant said its global sales were up 6 percent in October. Sales were helped by a Monopoly game promotion. That's not doing much to help the Dow overall blue chip average only up three points. NASDAQ little changed. That's it from Wall Street. Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, Babe Ruth's curse has finally been shattered. And I'll tell you why it might bring some good luck to one charitable organization. In the meantime, back now to Kyra and Miles. PHILLIPS: Well, we're moments away from a live briefing from the Pentagon, the main topic expected to be the assault on insurgents in Fallujah. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will brief reporters. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.

Also straight ahead, retired General Earl Hailston. He actually led the marines in the fall of Baghdad. He's going to talk to us about what's happening in Falluja. Stay with us. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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