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CNN Saturday Morning News

Obama's Rating at New Low; Drug Take-Back Day

Aired September 25, 2010 - 06:57   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta; 6:00 a.m. in Chicago. And good morning to you. I'm Drew Griffin. T.J. is off today. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Time for the top stories from the Best Political Team On Television. CNN Senior Political Editor, Mark Preston is looking at what's making news this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK PRESTON, CNN SR. POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Drew.

Very busy Saturday in the political world for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He's in New Hampshire. He's headlining the New Hampshire State Republican convention. Some would that say he's going home. After all he does own a house on Lake Winnipesaukee. Others would say he's really looking ahead to 2012. After all, New Hampshire plays a very important role in picking the next presidential nominee for the Republican Party.

While Romney is going to be in New Hampshire, Mike Huckabee, another potential presidential candidate is going to be in Kentucky. He's going to be raising money, campaigning for Rand Paul. Rand Paul, the Republican nominee, the son of Ron Paul, the congressman who ran for president back in 2008.

Let's talk about some really important numbers that have just come out from CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation. These numbers are very disturbing for Democrats. Republicans are happy.

Let's first go to the president's approval rating. President Obama's approval rating right now is 42 percent. That is the lowest ever in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. In fact, it's down eight points from last month when CNN asked the same question.

Compare that to past presidents, at this same time in their presidency, Jimmy Carter in 1978, 42 percent. President Ronald Reagan in 1982, 42 percent. President Bill Clinton back in 1994, 42 percent. We know what happened in 1994, Democrats lost control of Congress.

Even more disturbing as well for congressional Democrats who were on ballot in November is that the likely voters' choice for Congress on this generic ballot question is Republican at 53 percent, only 44 percent Democrat. But are voters voting for Republicans, Drew, or are they voting against Democrats? Well, we dug a little bit deeper and we ask, is your vote for Republican most likely to express support for Republicans or opposition for Democrats. Well, 44 percent said support for Republicans. But an astounding 49 percent said it was opposition to Democrats.

And let's leave you on this -- CNNMoney.com, our sister publication, took a look into the "Pledge to America" and compared it to what President Obama's economic policies are. A brand-new story, it's up on the site. You can get to it by going to CNNPolitics.com. It will get you over to CNN Money. You'll find some very interesting figures and very interesting facts and some very interesting similarities -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: All right, Mark. Well, maybe this was supposed to be funny. It certainly was sarcastic. Some people are now saying, "Ill- advised." A hearing on Capitol Hill on a serious topic, conditions facing migrant farm workers, but testifying was a comedian, Stephen Colbert, and he was in character.

Colbert spent a day in the fields working alongside immigrant workers. He taped it for his Comedy Central show which deals with political satire. Colbert tried to be funny and made a joke about gay men in Iowa and told the panel the best way to prevent abuse of migrant workers was for Americans to stop eating fruits and vegetables they pick.

The chairwoman of the subcommittee said she wanted to call attention to the problem, saying celebrities, like Colbert, I guess, add pizzazz and controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Picking beans, packing corn for hours on end, side-by-side in the unforgiving sun, I have to say, and I do mean this sincerely -- please don't make me do this again. It is really, really hard.

For one thing, when you are picking beans, you have to spend all day bending over. It turns out and I did not know there, most soil is at ground level. If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we make the earth waist high? Come on, where is the funding?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Republicans on that committee criticized Colbert's appearance. They called it a stunt. Lamar Smith of Texas said undocumented workers drive down wages, take jobs away from those who are here illegally.

We're going to have your next political update in one hour. A reminder, though, for all the latest political news, up to the minute, you can go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.

The sex scandal at one of the largest churches in the country is deepening now. A fourth man has come forward, filing a lawsuit, accusing Bishop Eddie Long of sexually coercing him into a sexual relationship. This happened when the person was a teenager, he says. Long denies the accusation. He plans to speak to his 25,000 followers tomorrow at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church just outside Atlanta.

Did you hear about lottery winners that are already well off? Don't really need the money. Kind of bugs you. Well, in New York, a $54 million prize went to someone who has been through it all. And you can she's pretty deserving.

Plus, we're also keeping an eye on your weekend forecast. Reynolds Wolf is here with that -- Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. You know, the tropics are very active. We're keeping an eye on two systems. One is going through the Atlantic, the other affecting parts of Central America. And we're also looking at the storm system moving through the central U.S. which might bring a cool down and some much needed rain to parts of the southeast. That's moments away.

You are watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. See you in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Here is one to make you smile. Check out this "New York Post" cover story and photo, "Jail Break" is the headline. But that woman, she's not a fugitive. That is Garina Fearon, a Rikers Island prison guard and she's got a big smile on her face for one reason: she won $54 million in a New York lottery.

How about that, Reynolds?

WOLF: Amazing.

GRIFFIN: The 34-year-old single mom says she's been homeless, bankrupt, robbed and assaulted on the job. Here's the odd thing. When she bought the ticket, she really meant to play the power ball lottery, not the mega millions lottery. She learned she held the winning mega million ticket while waiting for the bus ride home.

She ought to be able to put a few more rides on her metro card after that.

WOLF: I would think so.

GRIFFIN: Fifty-four million dollars. Not bad. I wish her luck.

WOLF: You know, it's kind of good she went through some of the rough things because it gives her perspective and she can appreciate the good times.

GRIFFIN: She better get some advice. We got some financial advice coming up later on this half hour. But, $54 million dumped on your lap when you have nothing?

WOLF: Yes. GRIFFIN: That could be trouble, too. So, we wish her luck. It would be a good problem to have.

WOLF: Absolutely. It would be nice to have that kind of trouble.

Hey, we may have some trouble brewing in parts of the Atlantic. The good news with that is that it may stay offshore. We're talking about Hurricane Lisa.

We're also watching another system moving through in parts of Central America. That could bring some mud slides and flash flooding.

GRIFFIN: You know, my imagination, this hurricane season is kind of flittering by. I know Bermuda has gotten beat up and Mexico. But the U.S. has been fairly unscathed.

WOLF: We've been so fortunate because we have had some major hurricanes out there. What's good about it is that we haven't those major hurricanes made contact with really anyone, which is really good. Most of them have been fish storms. Obviously, we had a storm that hit Bermuda recently. But, thankfully, that was in a weakening state before it came onshore.

GRIFFIN: Are we on the dying end of the season? I know we get to the forecast, but are we?

WOLF: We are on the dying end. But we have to remember, though, it extends all the way to November 30th. And there is a lot of time. We could see things heat up. There's that potential.

But right now, it looks like we're doing pretty well.

GRIFFIN: Good. OK.

WOLF: Let's rock and roll, let's show you what we got.

We are also keeping a couple of eyes on a couple things. Not just the tropics but watching these rain drops developing right across parts of the nation's midsection, right across the Corn Belt. This is part of a boundary that is going to be moving across parts of, say, Iowa back into, say, portions of even Missouri before the day is out.

We're also watching this frontal boundary which is going to do a couple of things. First, it's going to bring a chance of rain to parts of the southeast. The southeast really is having tough times in terms of drought. They could use the precipitation, that maybe coming later tonight and into tomorrow.

Something else that will be coming into parts of the southeast: cooler weather. But today, another day of 90s in Atlanta, 93 in Raleigh. The cooler air on the other side of the boundary, 74 in St. Louis, 62 in Chicago, 79 in Denver and 86 in Salt Lake City, 81 in San Francisco.

Let's wrap things up with a very quick check on the tropics. We're watching Lisa. This is going to stay out to sea. Still a category one hurricane as we speak.

And the next one we are following, of course, this happens to be, there you go, Tropical Storm Matthew. It is a tropical storm that may move right back over parts of the Caribbean, may gain a little bit of strength before moving into Belize and perhaps bringing some heavy rainfall, maybe even some flash flooding in that part of the world. That's certainly something to watch out for.

Something else we've been seeing, some heavy rainfall in portions of Haiti. Even some flooding there recorded just a short while ago. Those storms now are dying out. Certainly some good news.

But as we're talking, Drew and I mentioned, that we got a long time to go before November 30th. So, there is still a very good possibility. We say we may see many more storms in the Atlantic Basin, in the Caribbean, perhaps even Gulf of Mexico.

Let's send it back to you, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Reynolds, thanks.

All over the country today, officials are collecting drugs, your drugs. Josh Levs is bringing us that -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Drew.

Today is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The dangers of expired drugs in your medicine cabinet, we're going to talk to you about that. Also, how to find a place near you to turn them in safely. And it's just a matter of hours on which you can do that today. I'll have the details for you right after this.

GRIFFIN: OK, we are going to continue on with our "Forbes" richest Americans quiz. Listen up, guys. Which of these billionaires once sold running shoes out of the trunk of his car: Phil Knight, founder of Nike; Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons; Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys? Make your guess. We'll tell you the answer, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: All right. Before the break, we asked you which of the following billionaires once sold running shoes out of his car -- Phil Knight, founder of Nike; Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons here in Atlanta; Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys in Atlanta? It turns out it wasn't a trick question after all. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, the gym shoe guy.

Nike is worth $11.1 billion. He's number 23 on the top 400 list of "Forbes" magazine. And he started the company in 1964. It was called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight renamed the company Nike after the Greek goddess of victory.

Well, if you have expired medications at home, today is the day to get rid of them safely, right, Josh? LEVS: I -- you know, I just thought that there was going to be a surprising answer to that quiz question. I'm still working on that. I figured though because it was about shoes, say, it's like of those triple logic thing.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: Smart people out there.

LEVS: You got me. It's all good.

OK. Moving on. So, here's the thing, today is, there's actually a name for it, it's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

And this is actually very important for homes all over the country. It's a great day to go through the medicine cabinet, find any of these expired or unwanted medications, medications you're not going to use because having them in your home or the way to get rid of them can bring about some serious problems all over the country.

Here's a little bit of what officials are saying about today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODNEY BENSON, SPECIAL AGENT, DEA ATLANTA FIELD DIVISION: One, we are trying to take away a source of abuse, because that's where a lot of teens are getting those precipitation medicines that they are abusing, from the home medicine cabinet. So, we want to take that source away. And then, number two, is we want to raise the awareness as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: And here's the problem -- if you just take the drugs that you have and you put them in the trash, then people out there might be rifling through the trash, even people in your home sometimes, kids get their hands on drugs that way. If you put them in a toilet, they can actually contaminate the water supply and we've done studies and reports on this in the past. What happens to the water supply in America when people expose of lots of drugs even when you think you're chopping them up into tiny little bits.

So, what officials are doing in organizing today is creating these locations in cities and towns all over the country. There are 3,400 locations. And according to the DEA, they'll be opened from 10:00 a.m. until to 2:00 p.m. And I believe that's east time zone. So, you should have a good chunk of time in your day to be able to go through your medications, figure out which ones you don't want.

And in every place where all of these drugs will be brought, there were actually be authorities watching over to make sure nobody does anything bad with them.

Let me show some stuff here. We have more information for you about this on CNN.com. And there is an official Web site about today. This is it right here. It's from the U.S. Department of Justice. It's called "Got drugs?" The national take back initiative.

And as part of this, what you do is you plug in your town, your zip code, whatever you want to do, and it will give you a location. I just randomly plugged in Allentown, Pennsylvania, because what's where my editor happens to be from.

So, take a look at this. I typed it in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and it gives all these locations, all these addresses right nearby. And you can do the same thing for your city and for your town.

Also, I'm on Facebook and Twitter, I'll put out this links for you right afterwards if you want to check this out.

I'll tell you, I've been learning a little bit more this morning about the scope of this problem. The DEA said -- Drew, listen to this -- one out of 10 high school seniors now abusing prescription painkillers. And, you know, we have a war on drugs going on. But officials are saying that they are actually seeing that kind of abuse go up each year. So, the more families out there can do to safely get rid of these medications, the better off we'll all be, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Yes, it's a big problem. I've been investigating some of that myself -- Internet drugs so easy to get these days, especially precipitation drugs.

All right. Good stuff. I hope people follow that advice.

Hey, I know a lot of you are out of work and I know many more of you are maybe underemployed. Well, grab your pen and paper. Coming up: we're going to have a job fair with a twist. You might want to take notes on this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: In today's tough economy, dozens of companies are trying to help out their customers by teaching them about financial literacy, things like balancing your checkbook, tracking your expenditures. Some companies offer services like these to attract new customers and new employees.

This week, Bank of America teamed up with 100 Black Men of America to present a financial literacy job fair. This happened at the Georgia World Congress Center, right across the street. Not only did they offer financial literacy tools, but more than 20 companies were also on hand to recruit workers. More than 2,000 people showed up.

Financial analyst Clyde Anderson was in the crowd. Clyde joins us live this morning.

Thanks for joining us. Interesting, the topic -- especially with the recruiting involved with this in the financial literacy.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Yes, it's definitely. And it's important right now because we know unemployment is at an all- time high. So, it's great to have an opportunity to have these jobs, these employers out and compare them with employees or potential employees and then, at the same time, to have financial literate employees. It's great, you know?

And, right now, in these economic times, we need to be financial literate and understand how to manage our money.

GRIFFIN: So, what happened over there? What were the people involved getting out of this program?

ANDERSON: Well, I think there were a lot of things. And I think we got a clip right here, we can talk to. One of the ladies there was Geri Thomas and she talked about some of the things on why this is important. Let's look at that.

GRIFFIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERI THOMAS, PRES., BANK OF AMERICA, GEORGIA MARKET: Because we think it's very important that this generation understands financial responsibility and understands how they need to manage their finances, learn early so that as they grow, they'll learn how to manage credit, learn how to invest, and plan for their futures, responsibly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I understand that wholeheartedly. What about the companies? What are they getting out of this?

ANDERSON: Well, it's beneficial to the companies. I think it Sy Syms, the founder of SYMS, had also said, "An educated consumer is a best consumer." And so, they want to have educated consumers. Also, if you got educated and happy consumer that understand your programs, at the end of the day, they also want more customers.

And so, for someone like Bank of America, it's crucial to have these people that understand their finances in order to be the ideal customer that they are looking for.

GRIFFIN: Totally get that. You come there for financial literacy. You could also come there to get a job.

ANDERSON: Right.

GRIFFIN: What was the recruitment angle of this?

ANDERSON: Well, the recruitment angle is that they got these employees and that are looking for positions. People have been out of work for 12 months, sometimes 24 months, and six months. So, we talk to several of those people. But it's interesting seeing someone there that really got a chance to talk to these employers and see what they are looking for.

And we have a young lady that we can take a look at here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE MCKELVE, JOB SEEKER: I have been working on obtaining better education skills, improving my interviewing skills. I also come to find out you have to have a degree because it's always very important. I have many years of experience with administrative work. However, the degree is what I think is stopping me because the fact that so many people are out of work right now, the ones that have the degree with the experience are the ones that's getting the jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: True?

ANDERSON: That's true. And that's it. And so, it's what people are finding. The pool out there is huge. And so, you are competing against a lot of people.

So, you got to step your game up. Stand out. Got to dot your I's and cross your T's right now. It's serious.

GRIFFIN: People are getting sharp and getting serious about it.

Let me ask you something a little different. And in terms of looking at this with a little silver lining --

ANDERSON: Yes.

GRIFFIN: -- savings are up.

ANDERSON: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Credit is down. Is there a sea change in how we, the American consumer, are looking at finances and maybe positively, when we do pull out of this?

ANDERSON: Yes, and I think so. And I think that's very crucial, because right now, at these times, desperate times call for desperate measures. And people aren't really focused on financial literacy or focused on their budget so much on their money, now, they are trying to stretch those dollars. And so, it's really for them to understand that.

And I think we're getting that as American people are really starting to understand the value of a dollar and how to make that dollar stretch. And I think we were doing a lot of overspending in the past. And, hopefully, that has been cut down and we've learned our lessons and we can move forward.

GRIFFIN: Well, we don't have the money, right?

ANDERSON: There you go.

GRIFFIN: People are losing their jobs, they can't bank on their homes, which was, in many case, their bank when they're refinancing. And credit is tight. Credit is tight.

ANDERSON: Exactly. Exactly. And so, we've learned. GRIFFIN: Yes. All right. How do you find these kinds of job fairs, these financial fairs?

ANDERSON: There are several different ways of finding it. We even talked to someone from the Department of Labor.

I would suggest, people, look into your Department of Labor, I mean, because they are everywhere. You can go to them. Their job is to pair employers out with potential employees.

So, start there. Check on the Internet. A lot of these companies are driving people to the Internet nowadays. That's where the jobs are.

So, go to the Web site. The companies that you are interested in. I mean, we have companies like American Red Cross, Tyson Foods. Bank of American was -- they're hiring. Even the Border Patrol was they're hiring.

So, go to the Web site of companies that you may be interested in. Apply right there online. And they are actually looking at those applicants online.

GRIFFIN: All right.

ANDERSON: That's how they're doing it.

GRIFFIN: Clyde, thanks. Good to see you this morning.

ANDERSON: My pleasure. Thank you very much.

GRIFFIN: All right. Take care.

ANDERSON: Good to see you.

GRIFFIN: Well, these companies are also hiring in other cities. So, if you are looking for a job, grab a pen and paper, and write down these Web sites. Some of them Clyde mentioned. Check out all of them, please, get a job. Good luck to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Child abuse covered up. Guilty priests relocated. The sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church. As a cardinal and Vatican official, what did the current Pope know and when? You can watch this CNN investigation tonight and tomorrow 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. Gary Tuchman with that report.

Checking our top stories.

More problems for the pastor of an Atlanta area megachurch. A fourth teenager is now accusing Pastor Eddie Long of coercing him in a sexual relationship. He says that's happened in 2005 during a trip to Africa and it continued four years after that.

Long is bishop of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. That church has a congregation of more than 25,000 people here in Atlanta area. He denies the allegations.

And a group of Atlanta area pastor says it's going to rally around Long and pray for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JASPER W. WILLIAMS, JR., SALEM BAPTIST BIBLE CHURCH: I don't know what the outcome is. I just don't know. But, I do know the church and I do know the impact and I do know that, as a believer, that somebody needs to make a stand and to say something, and that's all I'm doing. I'm calling for the church to come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: There's a developing story, some political and antiwar activists are accusing the FBI of harassment. Why? Because the FBI searched their homes and offices in Minneapolis and Chicago yesterday, part of a terror investigation, looking into groups supporting allegedly supporting terrorism. The FBI confiscated computer hard drives and a cell phone. No arrests made.

One of the activists is Tom Burke. He says the group has done nothing wrong. They're part of an umbrella organization called Fight Back.

A bomb threat forces a Pakistan airline's flight had to make an emergency landing in Sweden. The plane had 260 people on board. It was heading from Toronto to Karachi. A caller said one of the passengers was carrying explosives. Police report everybody is safe but the bomb squad is still investigating. The plane is sitting on the tarmac in Sweden.

More stories at the top of the hour when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.

But first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right after this break.