massachusetts. massachusetts democrat not known from backing down from a confrontation remain true to form. >> why do you continue to support the policy had obama had expressed this policy. why are you supporting it? >> a real solution. >> when you ask me that question, i'm going to revert to my ethnic heritage and add to your question with a question -- on what planet do you spend most of your time? >> cnn's jim acosta with a front row seat for the reports just ahead. >> the atlantic season's first hurricane, a category storm bill growing bigger and stronger. heavy surf up and down the eastern seaboard as the storm comes to the northwest. rob marciano is tracking it for us. he'll tell us where it's headed. a move that could shatter health care reform and shutter

hopes of bipartisanship as they get a earful across the country. ed henry broke the news. the democrats close to the white house are actively considering going along bypassing roadblocks and ramming health care through the senate with no republican assistance. the so-called nuclear option is no sure thing. in a moment, we'll get reaction from bill bennett. elaine kehano at the white house. what are you hearing from this? >> first of all, no final decisions have been made. but officials are actively considering this option. it's a budget move noted as reconciliation. as it noted, instead of the 60 votes need in the senate to push through any legislation, this would only require 51 votes. this is something that's always been on the table, an option that's always been available with different now though, kiran, is the context of all of this. not only is this white house

facing reluctant republicans when it comes to health care reform, but skepticism from conservative democrats as well. no final decisions made. but officials are quote/unquote actively considering this option, kiran. >> the white house isn't pulling the trigger right now, when might a decision be made on this? >> we're in a critical period right now. but really mid september is when things are going to heat up. it's decision time for the white house. at this moment, we're very much still in let's make a deal time. some republicans come onboard. it changes it equation. weeks away and congress gets back to town. once they do get back to town mid september, that's going to be the time that the white house has to decide whether or not to pull the trigger. kiran? >> elaine kehano live this morning. thanks. >> more about the cnn political contributor, bill bennett. he's the author of the american patriots' almanac. ten town hall meetings scheduled

today for reaction on health care. what do you expect the lead story in "the new york times" is going to be? >> i hope this cnn covers all ten. the debate on the last couple of months has been barack obama and the american people. you have polls showing 24% of americans think this will improve the health care. 40% of americans think their health care will get worse. so they can do this. that is they can do this without republican support. but then they're going to be held responsible and faulted for everything that goes wrong. >> if they do make a decision or the news they may make a decision to go it alone, how will they respond in the meetings scheduled for today? >> i don't think they've had so much republican color ration as much as opposition. a lot of the people are not obviously r or d, a few are.

a lot of them are elderly. this has been the bankrupt of the opposition to obama's health care plan. so i'm not sure this changes anything. but politically, it changes things big time. he still has to persuade some of his -- some of his senate democrats, unless as elaine just said, they decide to reconciliation. they've got 60 senators but they don't think they can produce 60 senators. that's the amazing thing right now. >> that's why they're thinking of turning it to a reconciliation measure. the democrats have said they have a purposely strident tone against health care reform or a different version of it. does this signal that any part of bipartisanship, even chuck grassley, the republican on the negotiating committee in the senate had said even if he got everything he was looking for, he was still going to vote against that bill? >> i don't think it's strident.

it's tough but not strident. george bush got education reform with democrats signing on. tax cuts, iraq, afghanistan. ronald reagan got democrats for his tax cuts. a big signature issue. i just mentioned the signature issues for republicans, you need to get people on the other side, otherwise, you're really dividing. they're starting fires, putting out fire, starting fires, putting out fires. it is a mess. too soon to tell the outcome of this one. >> bill bennett for us. good to catch up with you. >> love the early morning, don't you? >> nothing like it. i'll tell you that. i don't know if you get used to the hours or get used to feeling screwed up. >> howard dean said if you get up these hours, you're going to die. >> i don't know about that, but you'll get ahead of the news curve. >> you accomplish more at 9:00 a.m. than most people do all day. >> your day is almost done by 11:00. >> if democrats decide to go it

alone, it's sure to set off fireworks. americans across the country have been voicing their opinions as we've seen loudly in congressional town hall meetings. republicans have seen the rowdiest moments. barney franks, town hall meeting in dartmouth, massachusetts, there was almost nothing but rowdy moments. jim acosta is there. >> congressman barney frank. >> reporter: it didn't take long for the shouting to start. >> where's the line. which one of you wants to yell first? >> reporter: before the questions were asked, barney frank was swinging back at opponents of health care reform. >> disruption never helps your cause. it makes you look like you're afraid to have rational discussion. you drive people away.

i'm not here. this is the council on aging, not kindergarten. >> he tried to dispel some of the bogus claims. >> illegal aliens are excluded from getting assistance in the bill. >> that some of the crowd shouted, read the bill. and found the section where illegal immigrants are excluded. >> right in the bill. i will show you. >> but that didn't satisfy everyone. >> it is odd of being accused of having read the bill by people who object when i do. >> we're going to pay more taxes because of you, sir. >> this bill will practically bankrupt the economy of the united states government. >> reporter: time and again, frank took that grenade and threw it back. >> i do worry about the deficit. that's one of the reasons, not the only one i voted against the single most wasteful expenditure in the history of america -- the iraq war.

>> reporter: the chairman of the senate financial services committee took a few questions. talked at length about the option. >> not going for any bill that forces anybody in to anything. it will have a public option. >> reporter: and reassure seniors there's no death panels in the bill. >> this notion that something in this bill that would require people who are elderly or sick to be denied medical care or killed is the single stupidest argument i've heard in all my years of politics. >> it was that certainty that mary was happy to put to rest. >> reporter: can i tell you i know for a fact they're not going to pull the plug on grandma. >> they're not going to pull the plug on me, i tell you. i fight for the death. >> reporter: jim acosta with a look at how that meeting got contentious for barney frank. what you have to say about the health care debate.

should democrats try to push this through. other news to tell you this morning. a diplomatic overture. two senior diplomats are in santa fe, new mexico to meet with bill richardson. the north korean delegation requested the meeting. richardson has travelled to pyongyang several times in the past. richardson would be listening but not negotiating or representing the obama administration. and former president bill clint clinton's mission is at the white house. he briefed obama and biden on the trip. he released the american journal euna lee and laura ling. the information her husband brought back has been hopeful providing a window to what is happening in that reclusive regime. >> the power ball jackpot, $250 million. tonight's drawing will be the

15th since the last big winner at the end of july. it's the tenth largest ever. the record is $365 million. it was won by a group of workers at a conagra foods plant in lincoln, nebraska in 2006. get out there and get your ticket today. >> you know it's big when people on the staff write in, well, i didn't win the lottery. here i amge again. how quickly the storms can develop. how quickly they can come together and come stronger. category four, it blew up to a category 4 overnight. racheting up slowly )

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for the first time, dr. conrad murray, the man who was with michael jackson the day he died is breaking his silence. he posted a brief video on youtube. he remains at the center of a manslaughter case for giving the singer the powerful drug propofol in the 24 hours before he died. randi kaye with the public remarks. >> it may be 60 seconds long, but that's long enough for michael jackson's doctor to say he told the truth. >> i have done all i could do. i told the truth and i have faith the truth will prevail. >> reporter: he's been interviewed twice by investigators. this is the first time he's speaking out publicly. he was at the beverly hills mansion when he stopped breathing and at the center of the investigation at the time of his death. his lawyer says he's, quote,

under siege with threats and has a bodyguard 24/7. >> because of all that's going on, i'm afraid to return phone calls or use my e-mail. therefore, i recorded this video to let all of you know that i have received these messages. >> a source with knowledge of the investigation told cnn dr. murray gave diprivan, known as propofol within 24 hours of his death. that anesthetic which investigators believe killed him is not supposed to be used outside of a hospital setting. there's no mention of michael jackson or his treatment on the video. the video was reported last week inside the houston home. she told me he gets 20 to 30 calls every day from patients, even strangers, asking him to tell dr. murray they love him and are praying for him.

dr. murray's clinics and homes also been searched. >> the messages give me strength and courage and keep me going. they mean the world to me. please, don't worry -- as long as i keep god in my heart and you in my life, i will be fine. >> the wrongful death lawsuit was dropped by the family. the idea has been, quote, floated and dr. murray and jackson's promoter aeg could be named. dr. murray's spokeswoman said we're just asking people to reserve judgment until they have some definite ruling on what killed michael jackson. at aeg, a spokesman told me he's not aware of any lawsuit. he was to be paid $150,000 a month, money advanced to michael

jackson from the tour's budget. the singer died before dr. murray saw a penny. check in with rod in a moment. a quick break when we come back. hurricane bill, category 4. what's the path? rob's going to tell us. ed to ? re/max agents have the experience to get the job done. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. where do you want to be? bicycle, i've missed you.

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and following the breaking news. overnight, hurricane bill turning to a dangerous category 4 storm and now churning somewhere in the vicinity of bermuda. that's the way it looks like it's heading. >> it's an enormous storm. can see it on the satellite loop right there. check out this shot from the international space station. they have a great shot of hurricane bill. the winds, they say, stretched 45 miles out from the eye. rob marciano is tracking this storm. so what's the latest? we saw it blow up pretty -- pretty quickly overnight to a category 4. >> we thought it would g et to major hurricane status. category 4 is in question. category 2, 3, 4 rather quickly with a well-defined eye. that eye is 30 nautical miles

wide. 45 miles out. the north and east. the tropical storm force winds extend 45 miles out. it's grown not in strength but in size. there in the leeward islands, 400 miles of that. north-northwesterly movement. here's the deal. once it -- is it going to continue that? is it going to continue to make its way to the u.s. or recurve out to sea? some of the computer models continue to bring it more towards the north. this path, which we've been showing you for the past couple of days, has shift. the official forecast path of the national hurricane center has shifted somewhat to the west. a little bit concerned. but a category 3 as it passes bermuda with 115, 125 miles per hour. what we need to happen are the westerly winds as we get further

north in latitude we'll take them out to sea if conditions are right. the timing has to set up so that happens. that will be the saving grace for the northeast. we can't say that for 100% certainty. and you're talking about a storm that's category threes and fours hit the u.s., you don't want this thing coming any closer. keeping our fingers crossed, if the computers are right. a margin of error that will bring it close to the u.s. folks in the u.s. won't feel the effects beginning as early as friday and saturday with a big wave hitting the carolina coastline. so the folks there will see the effects of rough surf. >> rough surf, rip currents. all those ways. some moms and dads might want to take a lesson from their kids -- just say no. baby-boomers reported getting high on elicit drugs in 2007. that's double the rate from

2002. the same time drug use among other age groups went down or stayed the same in the five-year period. general motors increasing promotion generating demand for the cash for cluckers program. new jobs for autoworkers. 1300 workers are called back from the assembly line from the united states and canada. gm plans to produce another 60,000 vehicles by the end of this year. >> the potential to change the blogosphere as we know it. an anonymous blogger devoted an entire website. google reportedly turned over that person's e-mail address. the blogger's attorney warned monday's ruling has potentially damaging implications for free speech on the internet. >> the candid interview that the fist lady gave to "vogue" magazine. jenny sanford weighing in on how she felt about her husband's

infidelities on the affair. why there's such a public fascination with the good wife.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. 25 minutes past the hour now. for the first time since south carolina governor mark sanford admitted having an affair, we're hearing from jenny more in depth. an interview in "vogue" magazine. >> she's a role model for spouses. giving eyes to a television show ripped from the headlines. carol costello has more on that this morning. live in washington. hi, carol. >> reporter: hi, john, kiran. she's more than a role model for

spurned women, she's a role model for all women. there's a new kind of feminist in town. it isn't who you might think. the betrayed wife is empowered role model. the picture that "vogue" paints of jenny sanford whose cheating husband is fighting to hold on to his governor's seat in south carolina. she's not the only woman to hold our attention. these ladies inspired a new drama called "the good wife." >> i never traded anything for sexual favors. >> reporter: that scene was inspired by eliot spitzer who resigned after he was caught in a call girl scandal, his good wife by his side. >> so many of these women are accomplished, high powered, intelligent. >> we like the idea of what would happen to that woman a minute later, six months later, seven months later and

throughout the rest of her life. >> these are pieces of the real life soap opera that will figure in to "the good wife" too. mrs. sanford is appealing because she didn't stand by her man. she took the kids and moved out telling "vogue" she's forgiven their husband. they weren't madly in love when they met but were good friends. he became obsessed with going to see the other woman. it was like an addiction to alcohol or pornography for him. for many, her candor is refreshing. >> what's interesting is every time she speaks, people seem to understand and going to support her words every time mark sanford speaks, people are left with more questions and are wandering how did this man get so far in his political career. >> reporter: it's the kind of thing that fits perfectly in a tv drama. in the good wife, the political stout as a power. to come back to work as a lawyer.

>> we have permanent baggage. but, hey, if she can do it, so can you. >> reporter: she's not going back to work, but some in south carolina are urging stanford to run for political office. maybe even for governor. wouldn't that be fun. mrs. sanford did run her husband's campaign and many consider her the brains bhipd the man. i asked mrs. sanford about the possibility. she told me at the time being they're focused on settling in to their new house. don't think she has any political ambitions but told me she'll pass along the compliments. john, kiran? >> she left the governor's mansion, right? she moved back to the boetsch front home. at the same time, she said a reconciliation is not out of the question if the ball is in his court. which one is it? >> he has to demonstrate, she

said, that he wants to save the marriage. she values marriage. she's not going to run out and divorce him. she understands, forgiven him, and takes this seriously. >> thanks so much for that. coming up on a minute before the half hour. checking the top stories now. hurricane bill gaining strength in the ocean. category four storm maximum sustained winds, 125 miles per hour. on the current path, forecasters expect bill to miss hitting bermuda directly. in the alleyway between bermuda and the eastern coast of the united states. high winds and strong waves in bermuda. it will be on the northeastern side of the storm. south carolina could see some rough surf this weekend. >> deadly violence in baghdad. series of bomb blasts killing 45 people and injuring nearly 300 others. officials say there are a total of six explosions all of them happening within an hour. one of the deadliest days since

iraq handed control over to iraq security forces. new concerns from the side effects from the vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. gardicil is recommended. 12,000 people reported medical problems after getting the vaccine. most of the side effects are mild including dizziness and headaches but there are more serious problems including blood clots and 32 reports of death. merck which makes it vaccine says it's confident that it is safe. >> this morning, less than 24 hours away from a critical test of afghanistan's fragile democracy. the taliban doing everything in its power to disrupt the presidential election. a wave of bombings killed tendency ceruleans as well as two american soldiers. cnn's peter bergen got pack from afghanistan and is here this

morning. good morning, peter. >> good morning. >> we talked about the bold attacks taking place in recent days. a rocket attack. a suicide attack on a nato convoy. are they ready for this election? >> interfere with the election and here when they have. they tried to. 10% of polling places weren't open. and saf gome afghans i spoke toe told not to vote because they were oit side of kabul and concerned about violence. five years ago, a presidential election. that went on well. this election will go reasonably well. the turnout won't be 85% as it was five years ago. nearer something about 60%. that's about the level of a turnout in american presidential election when a lot of people vote as they did last time. >> the security situation has changed. is that going to keep more

people home? >> it will keep some more people home than last time. last month was the deadliest month for american and nato soldiers in afghanistan. this year is on track for the deadliest year in terms of civilian casualties. but still reporting today, 45 people were killed in baghdad. and that's -- we're still four times more likely to be killed in iraq than they were in afghanistan. not necessarily seen that from the coverage. the concentration of afghanistan and iraq are increasing. it's ironic. it used to be the other way around. afghanistan is violent but not nearly as violent as iraq remairemai remains today. >> good perspective. 300,000 troops are going to be out there trying to secure areas and polling places so people can come out. but speaking to the political part of it, is there still as big of an interest.

i remember five years ago. you saw the pictures of people holding up purple fingers after voting being able to take part in the democratic process after so long of not being able to. is that same fervor going to be there? >> i think it was. i was there five years ago. it was moving to see the level of excitement. it's been a real election. karzai is not guaranteed to win in the first round. the presidential debates have been rallies where thousands of people have turned up. a great deal of excitement still despite the violence hanging over it. >> there's a lot of criticisms that even a lot of karzai is the president that really the power still lies among war lords and among tribal elders in many areas outside of kabul. how would this election, perhaps, not a guarantee of the votes. he's the leading candidate. will this change the notion that

he's the government or powerful enough to rein in the disturbing elements in afghanistan. >> karzai is an adept politician and he's adopted a strategy where he brought in a number of the war lords you mentioned in his coalition. he just brought back the warlord who's under investigation for potential crimes against humanity. but, you know, karzai is bringing those people in because they want to win the election and he's prepared to do whatever is necessary. he brings back the warlord, he may have put himself over the 50% point. >> that's interesting. he won with a lot of pashtun support the last time around. the warlord that you speak of, the allowing fighters to die in a shipping con taper? >> the allegation is that hundreds or thousands of taliban soldiers in the winter of 2001 were put in to shipping

containers and allowed to starve or dehydrate to death. >> what's been the reaction of that happening? i mean the taliban is also fighting the legitimate process -- the democratic process that's trying to take place there. >> the taliban is repeatedly on record as saying they're against democracy. they're against selections and that people are going to try to intimidate people going to the polls or intimidate people who voted. >> very interesting. peter bergen, have to see how it goes. trying to secure the situation with hundreds of thousands of troops out there. cnn national security and author of the book, the osama bin laden i know. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you, kiran. we'll continue the special series, the war at home. "the sister hood of the traveling bdus." a group of teenagers whose fathers are deployed overseas.

how they cope and how they help other people in the same situation cope with it. we've always been alike. we even both have osteoporosis. but we're active. especially when we vacation. so when i heard about reclast, the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment, i called joni. my doctor said reclast helps restrengthen our bones to help make them resistant to fracture. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in more places: hip, spine, even other bones. (announcer) you should never take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain or if you have dental problems, as rarely, jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu-like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. nothing strengthens you like an old friendship. but when it comes to our bones, we both look to reclast. you've gotta ask your doctor! or call 1-866-51-reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning and the next installment of the war at home series. >> talking about how difficult it can be to make the transition to come home. teens who really struggled to deal with their father's deployment to afghanistan and they found a way to deal with the loneliness and isolation. they want to help the military sisters do the same. >> i'm 16, i'm from california. and i'm a military teen. >> i'm kelly beacon, 16, from elk grove, california. i'm california military teen. >> reporter: these two teenagers share a tight bond. but a year ago, they were going

through similar tough times all alone. >> kids don't live on active duty basis go to active duty schools. >> both of their dads are with the national guard. when their fathers were sent to afghanistan, they found dealing with the deployment difficult. >> i don't know how many of you have been through deployment, but -- >> show of hands. yeah. >> reporter: the girls met at a national guards family event. after sharing their stories, decided to start an on-line support group called the sister hood of the traveling bdus. a play off of the movie "the sister hood of the traveling pants" but they're bdus, dance uniforms. what their dads wore in combat. >> not wondering if their dad is going to come back alive. it adds a lot of an extra toll. >> how was your dad not being around? how did that affect your self-esteem? >> girls get a lot of their self-esteem from their fathers. i've been close with my dad.

i went to school. i used to wear my dad's cam mow jacket and hat and it made me feel secure and that it was more comfortable for me. a lot of kids didn't understand that. i got picked on a lot. >> reporter: at other websites and events like this one, the girls say by sharing stories, they can offer support. >> mostly like depression. i cry myself to sleep sometimes because i would miss him so much. >> reporter: the tough times didn't magically end when their fathers came home from afghanistan. >> we're thrilled the dad's safe, dad made it back alive unharmed but things underneath the surface you guys had to deal with. >> yeah, it's hard for someone like our dads to go from leading troops and having to be really strict to coming home and, you know, trying to deal with teenage girls. >> reporter: you said your dad was stricter when he came back.

what did he say about the mohawk? >> oh, boy. >> it was blue when i met her. >> all friendly expression dropped and he was like, that's got to go. this is acceptable and it's not dyed and my natural color compared to the pink one foot tall one. >> tammy and i want to hear from you. we're two people trying to represent what you all want. our goal this whole time has been for those girls coming to the conference and that who will benefit from this. >> there you go. both the dads are at home now. kaylee, interesting enough, enlisted for the marines. she'll have to change the hair-do. they're planning to really expand -- hoping to host a big conferences in california. they want to get 400 young girls out there and maybe 100 female service members to attend. they're trying to get big-name acts like miley cyrus. the website is sister hood

bdus.org. they hold webinars. >> good for them. and tomorrow on our war at home series, big challenge for the troops coming home from iraq and afghanistan, finding a job. what the army is doing in ft. hood, in texas to try to help them out. what you see is what you shoot. how to take incredible photos under the sea. it's on "the edge of discovery."

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back with the most news in the morning. a live look at washington, d.c. 77 going to a high of 88. scattered thunderstorms in the forecast there. they had good ones last night. we had a doozy here in new york city at 10:00. the beauty of the deep blue sea is hard to capture in photos. most of the time, you have to put on the tapgs and get down there and be there. not anymore. gary tuchman shows us a combination camera and scuba diving mask on the edge of discovery. >> reporter: the images you see here didn't come from a bulky underwater camera. they came from this. >> videotaping abilities. >> strap on this liquid image scuba mask and what you see is what you shoot.

you can toggle between still camera and high definition video camera and film up to two hours of footage from a single charge. it has lights to illuminate murky waters and go as deep as 115 feet. with this mask, anyone can feel like jacques cousteau. >> we have professional divers that can go down there. just capture the experience of being underwater. >> the mask is being used by the military and scientists. >> using our mask to do research on a rig. >> reporter: one catch for fishermen trying to embellish the tale of clicking the big one. >> there's the tales -- put a wide lens on it. >> cool. would you get one. >> never taken pictures underwater. maybe in a little pool or something like that. scuba diving, i see people with

the big rigs. something like that might be good to take down. >> gorgeous. talking a little bit about health care co-ops. heard them talked about a lot in the alternative government-run health care option. how do they work? and is it a realistic model for a nation?

50 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. now more than halfway through this make or break month for health care reform, democrats may be raising the stakes. cnn learned the obama

administration may go it alone with no republican support. as the tension builds, we're hearing more about health care co-ops built by some as an alternative to the government-run plan. how would they work? would they work on a national scale? this is dana bash. john, kiran, we've been reporting for a couple of months that senate health care negotiators have been focusing on co-ops as an alternative to a public option. even so, the details of how congress will structure co-ops is thin. but supporters point to a co-op in washington state as a model. so we took a closer look. >> going to give you one of my cards. >> for dr. eric seaver, giving out his card is a ticket to more efficient health care. >> i do 350 more e-mails a month. it saves them having to get in the car and come over here. >> reporter: he can take time to e-mail patients because he's paid a flat salary, not for office visits and uses

electronic records to collaborate with colleagues. >> primary care, specialty care, pharmacy, physical therapy, home care, all of the services. and we are able to communicate and coordinate our care. >> reporter: this is group health, a cooperative in washington state which supporters of a co-op approach to health care call a model. how does it work? group health is a not for profit health plan governed by its consumers -- patients. its 11-member board is elected by co-op members. the co-op covers 600,000 people. a central question is will this kind of co-op in washington state work nationwide? a key senate supporter says experts tell him, yes. >> they think there will be 12 million members in short order that will be the third largest insurer in the country and provide meaningful competition. >> reporter: believe that? >> no. >> reporter: why not? >> i can't imagine how that would happen. >> reporter: this health care expert says it would be tough to

convince enough patients to enroll and enough doctors to participate. >> all of the things that you have to do to start up an insurance company are not the kind of things that a group of people getting together at the diener on saturday morning and saying, let's start a co-op can do. you don't see it happening. >> reporter: what about a central goal. providing competition to the insurance companies that leads to lower costs. again, skepticism. >> it will be unlikely that a co-op is going to get better rates out of providers than commercial insured. >> reporter: but back at the group health co-op, they said streamlined systems have led to reduced costs. the reality is, it's taken 60 years for this co-op to build success. when it comes to both the policy and the politics of health care, it's hard to see patients for a couple of years, much less 60 years for co-ops to be up and running and be successful. right now, senate negotiators are talking about providing $6 billion of seed money for co-op it but experts think it will

take a lot more. john, kiran. >> thank you. how would you like to have this as a retirement plan. you retire from your job, you collect a pension, keep working at the same job. >> and collect the salary too. >> collect the salary. >> how is this working? >> it is possible. allan chernoff looks in to it coming up. (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life.

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♪ we're not going to take it >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. a practice that boggles the mind. and even more shocking, it's legal in almost every state. politicians who retire, collect their pensions, and keep working and get paid.

it's called double dipping. here's allan chernoff to explain it to you. this is entirely legal. it's the kind of situation that lead people to wonder, how do i get one of those jobs? lawmakers are doing it here in new york. some may be doing in your state as well. harvey weesenberg is retired from the job he still holds. >> you retired last year? >> yes. >> but you're still working. >> that is correct. >> and you're still getting a pension? >> absolutely. >> a member of the state assembly for two decades gets a pension of $72,000 while earning $101,000 in salary. it's all legal. in new york, state and local elected officials over 65 can theoretically retire to get a pension while continuing to hold the same job earning a salary.

he's one of four members of the assembly who retired last year and now gets a pension and salary "the new york times" reported tuesday and the state's comptroller reported to cnn. he wants to be sure to provide for his wife, but he works mainly to provide public service. >> the average person looks at this and says, wait a minute, retired, still working, getting pension and salary. >> we get elected to office. the pension is earned. >> it's outrageous the law is the way it is. they're allowed to do what they're allowed to do. >> in a majority of states, legislators can double dip to earn a second job to earn two salaries. half of the nation, they can double dip by holding a second elected office on the county or municipal level. in some states including

delaware, arkansas, and new york, public officials can pull in both a salary and a pension at the same time. nonpartisan watchdog groups say this is an example of broken government. >> there's no oversight on this. and there's no accountability because there's no one other than the legislators who decide what the deal is for the legislators' pension. that doesn't sit right. >> it's tough for any new york state official to look good these days after the state senate fell into a stalemate over the summer that threw the government into chaos. a new quinn bee yak poll out this week shows 3/4 of it disapproved of the state legislatu legislature, an all-time low. >> that little intrigue brings us to the top of the hour. the 19th of august. a wednesday. i'm john roberts. >> i'm kiran chetry. the stories we're breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. democrats say they're ready to take drastic measures, consider

a go it alone strategy on health care reform. do they have the votes to make it happen? >> hurricane bill is a major storm. a category 4 with winds of 135 mile-per-hour. rob marciano is here to tell us whether it will be a hit or a miss for the east coast of the united states. good news for the auto manufacturing industry. general motors upping production and calling back some of the employees. the cash for clunkering program has been a shot in the arm. michael jackson's doctor, the man there when he died, the man at the center of the manslaughter investigation speaking out now for the first time, making his case in a youtube video. why dr. conrad murray fears for his own life. big development this morning that could change everything in the make or break month for health care reform. democrats fed up with contentious town halls and what they call misinformation are getting ready to push through a bill with little support at all -- at least that's a big

possibility right now. elaine kahano working our sources. they haven't pulled the trigger yet. we don't want to say they're going to do it. but it's something that's gaining some speed there in washington. what's going on, elaine? according to top democrats, officials are now quote/unquote actively considering this option. it's a budget maneuver known as reconciliation. what it would mean that instead of the 60 votes need in the senate to pass health care legislation, they would need a simple majority or 51 votes. we should note again there are no final decisions that have been made on this option. it's just a possibility, one that we should also note has been on the table all along here. what's different now is the context. of course, we're weeks away from when congress gets back in to town off of their august recess. at the same time, this is a white house that is facing not only reluctant republicans but also skepticism from some conservative democrats on health care reform. so, again, no final decision made. but word now that officials are

quote/unquote actively considering this option. kiran? >> elaine, if the white house doesn't pull the trigger soon, when might we see this happen? >> it will be a critical time coming up here, mid september is what we're looking at. that's when members of congress will be back in town. that will be decision time. right now, it's basically let's make a deal time. and if, of course, republicans do come onboard, that, obviously, will change the equation here. but mid september is going to be the critical time when we'll see whether or not the white house -- the democrats will decide to pull the trigger. kiran? >> we'll see what the political fallout is today from talking about it which as we heard from bill bennett a little earlier, this is something that could ignite the fireworks again. elaine, thanks so much. a little while ago, we spoke with bill bennett about what the republicans have been saying about health care reform during the month of august. all of the town hall meetings and elsewhere. the democrats have said that the

republicans have a purposefully strident tone against health care reform, at least the democrats plan. here's bill bennett's take. >> i don't think it's been strident. i think it's been tough, not strident. notice, george bush got education reform with democrats signing on. he got tax cuts. he got iraq, he got afghanistan. ronald reagan got democrats for his tax cuts. if you have a big signature issue. i mention the signature issues for republicans, you need to get other people on the oh side, otherwise you are really dividing. they are starting fires, putting out fires, starting fires, putting out fires. it's a mess right now. too soon to tell the outcome of this. >> all kinds of sarcastic remarks in the town halls. they're not coming from the member of congress at the front of the room. never known for biting his tongue, i think it's fair to say barney frank was frank with some of his constituents in massachusetts last night.

watch this. >> why do you continue to support the policy has obama has expressly supported this policy? why are you supporting this? >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. i have no interest in doing it. >> our jim acosta was in the room in the rowdy debate. he's live for us this morning. he's in dartmouth, massachusetts. barney frank never shrinks from a fight, does he? >> no, john, that's right. the old saying that i went to a fight last night and a hockey game broke out. a town hall broke out in barney fraction's congressional district last night. the white house has suggested the white house has only seen the rowdiest moments of the congressional town halls. not always the case. here in the frank's congressional district, we

didn't have time to show all of the rowdy moments. >> congressman barney frank. >> reporter: it didn't take long for the shouting to start. >> where's the line? enough. which one of you wants to yell first? >> reporter: before the first question was asked, massachusetts democrat barney frank was swinging back at opponents of health care reform. >> disruption never helps your cause. it makes you look like you're afraid to have rational discussion. you just drive people away. i'm not here -- this is the council on aging, not kindergarten. >> reporter: frank tried to dispel some of the bogus claims about the bill in the house. >> illegal aliens are specifically excluded from getting assistance in the bill. >> reporter: to that, some in the crowd shouted, "read the bill" so he did and found the section where illegal immigrants are excluded. >> right in the bill. i will show you.

>> reporter: but even that didn't satisfy everyone. >> it's odd of being accused of not having read the bill. >> several audience members insists reform would bust the budget. >> going to pay more taxes pause of you, sir. this bill would practically bankrupt the economy of the united states government. >> reporter: time and again, he took that grenade and threw it back. >> i do worry about the deficit. that's one of the reasons, not the only one, that i voted against the sickle most wasteful expenditure in the history of america -- the iraq war. >> reporter: chairman of the house financial services committee took a few questions on reforming wall street. instead, frank talked at length for supporting a public option. >> not voting for any bill that forces anybody to anything. it will have a public option. >> reporter: and try to reassure seniors there were no death panels in the bill. >> this notion that something in this bill that would require

people who were elderly or sick to be denied medical care or killed is the single stupidest argument i heard in all my years in politics. >> reporter: that absurdity that mary casinto put to rest. they're not going to pull the plug on grandma? >> they're not going to pull it on me, i tell you. i'd fight to the death. >> barney frank can be so tough sometimes if you listen to that constituent there. he made a little news after the town hall meeting when we pressed him on this public option unlike members of the house such as himself. barney frank did not insist there be a public option in the reform bill in the house or in the congress. he said to the contrary, he does not want to negotiate that element of this legislation out in the public, john? barney frank's meetings are nothing if not spirited.

jim acosta for us today. thanks for that. also new this morning, new mexico governor bill richardson is starting a meeting with the diplomats in santa fey. the former ambassador to the u.n. has been to pyongyang several times. the governor's office said they will not be representing the white house in these talks. one of the wild fires burning across california started with marijuana farmers with ties to mexican drug cartels. that fire has burned 90,000 acres in santa barbara county. one federal agent said, quote, no pun intented but it's a growing problem. passengers stuck for five hours with crying babies and smelly toilets on a continental airlines jet say they're not getting enough from the airline. continental has publicly apologized, refunded the ticket, and sent them the $200 voucher as well as a $50 gift card. but there are customers who say

for what we went through, continental's attempt at compensation is wholly inadequate. he says he felt imprisoned for the 5 1/2 hours waiting on the tarmac. >> no question, a bad situation for everyone involved. talking about the fact until recently we hit a quiet hurricane season. we have a big one out there. hurricane bill is a major category 4 storm. take a look at these incredible pictures taken from the international space station. bill was upgraded overnight. the storm's gusts topping 135 mile-per-hourings. the big question -- where is it heading? will it be a threat to the east coast of the united states? rob marciano tracking things in the weather center in atlanta. what do we know, rob, the best estimates. day three -- things get sketchy. the variance gets a lot larger. the confidence factor, once you get past day three is always a little shotty.

a lot more on friday. but right now, we can't rule things out as far as it getting close enough to the u.s. to have some sort of impact. we'll do that. a direct strike. that's yet to be seen. right now, that possibility is getting a little less likely. tell you this, getting to a cat-4 in this big of a hurry is a little unexpected. these things can do things that you don't expect. 20 to 30 nautical mile wide eye. you can see it northwesterly at 16. winds at 135. a decent category 4 expected to remain that way. drop down to a cat-3 here a little bit as you get to more unfavorable environment. the act between the carolinas and bermuda. the category 3 or 4. and notice eastern new england does get close to the code of uncertainty past day three and four. so that is our concern here is that that ship in the path will maybe go a little further to the west. and they did make a westerly

shift, the national hurricane center did last night. if that trend continues, we have more to worry ab. and certainly the category 4 has everybody in the hurricane prone areas in the east coast on edge. >> looking forward to it. talk about the health care debate, the thing people worry about with the public option will it lead to rationing? it leads to questions about what is rationing health care? we're talking about co-ops as well. is that a form of rationing. take a look at the debate over what it means. ( dog barking ) ( sheets buffeting ) ( man ) whoa ! ♪

in the debate over health care reform, we keep hearing the word rationing. for republicans, it's been one of the top talking points. here's richard shelby. >> rationing is underlying all of this. you don't get health care when you need it, ultimately, it's going to affect your life. >> want to find out more about this. bringing in peter singer, a

bioethics professor at prince ton, university. he wrote a long article from "the new york times" and said rationing isn't as scary as it sounds. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> good to have you in. >> details on all of the contentious issues. when you talk about rationing health care, what specifically do you mean? >> the public part of health care that i'm talking about. not talking about stopping people paying for whatever they can afford to pay for or paying for extra insurance they can pay for. public funds going for something, you want and the taxpayer wants to get good value for that public funds. so that means they're going to have to say, look, at the margins, if there's a very expensive new treatment or drug that perhaps doesn't do any good anyway, perhaps there's no good scientific studies that shows it's going to help you significantly, we're not going to provide that. we're going to say, we want to get a certain standard of value for money, just as if you're shopping at the supermarket. that's rationing.

>> rationing goes on all the time, in the corporate world, our personal lives. it's a cost-benefit analysis. is it worth spending the money on this. why is rationing such a dirty word when it comes to health care? is it people don't -- they want this care and can't get access to it? >> people are reasonably worried about the idea that their doctor may say to them, this is something that's good. but you can't get it. you can't afford it. but, of course, we have a health care system where there's 45 million uninsured americans who can't get it. there's people on medicare and medicaid who knows they can't get everything. they have high co-pays they can't afford. so we're already rationing health care in a way that i think is not the best way. it means there are really effective treatments that could make a big difference to people. and they can't afford it. we should change that. >> kathleen sebelius, the hhs secretary was for a while the state insurance commissioner.

talking about rationing. she says she saw rationing on a regular basis by private insurers who made decisions over ruling suggestions that doctors made for their patients. talk about rationing in the framework of public options when it comes to health insurance. is it not true that rationing is already taking place? >> it is. after i write "the new york times" article, i write the letter for someone with multiple sclerosis. a british citizen living in america. they were saying there are treatments like physical therapy denied by the private insurance company. effective and helpful. >> what about -- talk about this idea of best practices which president obama brought up several times in town hall meetings. it begs the question -- what is the price for a life? what price do we put on life? the idea of so-called best practices. t"the washington times" paper says rationing takes place when people want more health care

than is available. is it the care they need, peter, or is it the care they want? >> this is the problem -- if you have a system where if somebody says oh, i heard of some treatment or a doctor says maybe this could help you, it gives the patients some hope. expensive treatment and no real good evidence it will do them any significant good. there is a question as to whether they will be providing that treatment. that's not the best use. that's always the question. how do we most effectively use the money we have and the resource we have to improve people's health? >> again, back to this idea of being in a public plan where there's rationing. is it not true there's rationing in private health care plans now. how many people have had arguments with a bureaucrat and a health care provider. we're not going to pay for that treatment. >> the way the companies have to do that to keep the premiums down.

they're rising even faster than ever. >> cost containment is one of the big must-haves when it comes to health care reform. the only way to get the deficits down, the overall debt down, is to reform health care. where is the cost savings in rationing. particularly if -- in some of the -- not the case all the time. some of the horror stories about people who were denied care at the outset only to get it later. the disease progressed to the point where it becomes so much more expensive to treat them. >> it's saving in providing the basic treatment for everybody. they get to a situation where they don't go see a doctor and things get worse. the other area of saving are in the costs of pharmaceuticals. we can see the same drug that we're buying in the united states is on sale for much less money in britain because the british national health service says we will not provide that at that price. so the drug manufacturer brings

down the price for britain but doesn't bring down to the united states. we still have that kind of scheme of saying, sorry, that's too expensive. >> same thing north of the boarder to canada. that's why people go across the border to canada. the research money is needed to develop drugs like that. >> the drugs are developed for everyone, canadians, britains, and americans. if they can sell them for less money across the border, they can sell them for less money here. >> great to tap in on your expertise. good for coming in this morning. >> thank you. general motors firing up some plants, getting ready to produce more cars and trucks and hiring more people. christine romans about whether manufacturing is getting a big boom from the clash for clunkers.

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23 minutes after the hour.

christine romans minding your business this morning. good news coming to car manufacturing. >> gm workers are going to go back on the job. 10,000 gm workers will see extra money in their paychecks because of extra shifts and extra work they'll be getting overtime. gm ramps up some production in response to the cash for clunkers program. this is what we know. gm will be recalling 1,350 workers back to the job, back to the line. they want to make 60,000 more cars in the third quarter, in the fourth quarter. and 10,000 workers will see some overtime. they'll see some shifts reinstated. mostly in lordstown, ohio and ontario. these are canadian workers and uaw auto workers who will see junk from cash for clunkers. in ohio, they'll see the cobalt there. ford announced they're going to make 10,000 more cars, ramp up production there so workers can

get extra overtime and extra overtime. people reinstated on the line. but at the same time, edmonds.com says they think the demand for clunkers is waning. and three ways now, buyers are petering out. these are the waves of buyers. they waited and waited and then came in and did the cash for clunkers deal. there's the mass market, they say. the next wave, people responded to advertising and the buzz and waited to get on the deal. these are the last people in the deal. these are people who have to chase down the titles that are lost, maybe. they have to get their paperwork together. maybe they didn't have the is dotted and the ts crossed. it's unclear where the next wave of customers are coming from. you see the industry starting to ramp up production. >> we'll see -- we'll get the economies. more people will keep buying cars. >> maybe, maybe. or it's all this tough demand

is -- who knows. >> romans numeral for us this morning? >> big number. has to do with where we are on the trajectory for the cash for clunkers. 411,624. >> the number of cars sold in the cash for clunkers program. >> i was surprised it was that many, quite frankly. >> you've got a new car. oo. >> you get a clunker. >> yeah, a clunker. a taxi ride home this afternoon. not in the car. his own car. 411,624, the cash for clunkers so far. suggests a lot of cars. it runs its course. can they squeeze more out of it? >> runs it course when they run out of money. >> some viewers, frankly, are starting to step back a little bit saying there's paperwork delays and the like. christine, good to see you. a dynamic between south carolina governor mark sanford and his wife, jenny. it is a relationship counselor's field day.

and jeff guard deer is going to come up in a few minutes to talk about that and what his fellow psychologists are saying about what's being said on both sides of this interesting fence.

the man who was with michael jackson the day he died is breaking his silence. dr. conrad murray is under investigation. allegedly gave the singer propofol in the 24 hours before he died. a powerful operating room drug doctors say should never be used outside of medical center. randi kaye with the first public remarks. >> good morning john and kiran. that may be 60 seconds long but that's long enough for michael jackson's doctor to say he told the truth. >> i've done all i can do. i told the truth and i have

faith the truth will prevail. >> reporter: dr. murray has been interviewed twice by investigators. but this is the first time since his star patient died back in june he's speaking out publicly. the doctor was at the beverly hills mansion when he stopped breathing and at the center of the investigation to the star's death. his lawyer's office says he's, quote, under siege with threats and has a bodyguard 24/7. >> because of all that's going on, i'm afraid to return phone calls or use my e-mail. therefore, i recorded this video to let all of you know that i've been receiving your messages. >> reporter: a source with knowledge of the investigation told cnn that dr. murray gave jackson diprivan also known as propofol within 24 hours of his death. that anesthetic which investigators believe killed him is not supposed to be used outside of a hospital setting. no mention of michael jackson or

his treatment on the video. a spokeswoman for dr. murray's lawyer told me the video was recorded last week inside the houston home. she told me that dr. murray's lawyer gets 20 to 30 calls every day from patients, even strangers, asking him to tell dr. murray they love him and are praying for hip. the clinics in houston and las vegas have been searched. his vegas home was also searched. >> your messages give me strength and courage and keep me going. they mean the world to me. please, don't worry. as long as i keep god in my heart and you in my life, i will be fine. >> reporter: but there's more. dr. murray may also be the target of a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the jkson family. the family's lawyer said the idea had been, quote, floated and that dr. murray and jackson's tour promoter, aeg,

could be named. dr. murray's spokeswoman said we're asking people to reserve their judgment until we have definite ruling on what killed michael jackson. at aeg, a spokesman told me he was not aware of any lawsuit. dr. murray was to be paid $150,000 a month. that was money advanced to michael jackson from the tour's budge. the singer died before dr. murray ever saw a penny. john, kiran. back to you. >> crossing the half hour checking the morning's top stories. deadly day across iraq. bombings in baghdad have killed 75 people and wounded more than 300. these are brand new images. six explosions in one hour there. it's one of the deadliest days since the u.s. handed security over to the iraqi forces. >> president obama and former president bill clinton sat down to talk about the trip to north korea. he met with leader kim jung ill and brought journalists euna lee

and laura ling back to california. it's extremely helpful but added that the white house is not changing any policy to pyongyang. >> the cervical cancer vaccine, gardicil has low occurrence of side effects. but merck didn't explain it very well while promoting the drug. the studies show after 23 million doses, 12,000 people reported medical problems, usually mild, dizziness, and headaches. are more than 700 reports of more serious problems, including 32 reports of death. merck says it's confident the vaccine is safe. when news broke about south carolina governor mark sanford's affair with a woman in argentina a lot of people wrote it off as a politician straining. his wife, jenny, is doing something else. she talked to "vogue" magazine. she didn't stand by her husband in the tear-filled press

conference. at the same time, the couple hasn't ruled out a reconciliation either. why would someone go so public with such a private problem? jeff gardere is here to weigh in on more of what jenny sanford ha to say. she opened up in a public way about this humiliation. what does that serve forre her. >> it's a catharsis. she can free her soul. she suffered through this. she kept her head low and while her husband was making a fool of herself when he was talking about the whole issue of soul mates, humiliating her and the family and so on, she was silent about it. so this was her chance to come out and talk about it. i think it's important because as a public figure, people want to know what's going on with her. and i think in some ways, she has the responsibility in doing that and she recognizes it. >> it's interesting in the interview with vogue, she said it never occurred to me he would do something like that. the person i married was

centered on a core of morals. the person who did that is not centered on the same morals. if you wind up ten guys, he'd be the last guy you'd think would do this. is it easy to tell if your spouse would be unfaithful. >> not unfaithful. if you marry someone with a lot of philandering to begin with, a lot of dates, involved with other women, you can tell that restless spirit may not calm itself in the marriage. people do change. they go through mid life crises, they have conflicts, go through issues. they do philander. they do these things in a way that i think overcompensates for them whatever the psychological issues may be. talks about she's got issues that she's got to look in to. >> it became clear to me obsessed with going to see this woman. i have learned the affairs are almost like an addiction to alcohol or pornography. they just can't break away from

them. do you agree? isn't that giving you an excuse to chase down your desire and fantasy saying it's an addiction. you can't help it. >> i don't think she's giving an excuse from the simple fact she's talking about the foibles and the issues he has to look in as i said earlier. but at the same time, is this an addiction to one person? normally, i don't see that. it might be an addiction to the idea that you have to get out and get your shot of adrenaline, do something that brings you some joy, even if it's something that's outside of your marriage, which is completely wrong. as we know. but people do that. we see there are very high rates of infidelity and they keep going higher as time goes on. >> she addresses the question why men, male politicians, don't understand the damaging effects of an affair. they lose sight of reality. basically, if they need something, ten people want to give it to them. it's an ego boost. easy to drink your own cool aid. as a wife, you do your best to

keep them grounded but it's a real challenge. is it more common for people with positions of power to think there's no consequences to their actions or forget that? >> i think they don't think aboutconsequences. they feel they deserve to have these affairs because everyone is created more equal. they're used to the power, they re used to having people catering to them at all time. they feel they can go ahead and make the affairs. the interesting thing is what she says about her husband, he's a wandering spirit, looking for the next big thing. i witness stander if it's a telling personality. here he is, wandering through life even though he's a governor and looking for the next big thing. was it the affair? was it something that excited him? she put up with that.

this is what made him alive. but as we know, an inappropriate way of doing that, of course. >> she's the model of how to deal with it. she was an enabler as well. did everything, ran his campaign, lived there. she said she kept the possibility of reconciliation open. >> i think it's a healthy thing. >> you did? >> yes, absolutely. she said she will be open to reconciliation if he explores what his issues are and he looks at what he needs to do to be a good father and good husband. because her life is grounded in her four children, her boys. she wants a father for those boys. she's giving them a chance. the ball is in his court. the thing is when we have people involve in the affairs, we get in the blame game. the enabling going on. we have to take responsibility for what may be happening in the relationship and what's missing in the marriage. and how it's a healthier marriage if we can reconcile

these things if it's not too much of a blowout. lure kab bill went from a nominal hurricane to a category 4. a major storm. the big question everyone is asking is how close to the eastern united states will it get? rob marciano joins us in a couple minutes. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on. there's no way to hide it. sir, have you been drinking tonight? if you ride drunk, you will get caught...

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n . hurricane bill here in the atlantic ocean, a dangerous category 4 storm. is this going to be a fish may strengthen as we go through time. what's the thinking here in the national hurricane center as far as where this thing will go. and you have a cold front that's going to sneak in to the east coast. it will act and often does as a block. if it doesn't get there quick enough, it will allow the storm to move to the west. these are the computer models we follow. a handful of them. they show the recurvature of them. and that's reflect in the

national hurricane center track. you know it gets a little closer to the new england coastline here as we get to sunday afternoon to monday. so this is something that we're going to have to watch closely. also something we're going to watch closely is the potential for seeing something develop here in the florida. low chances -- we have have hurricane ana. there's a very low probability of this developing. claudette over the weekend, that thing popped up in a big hurry, became a tropical storm, hit landfall all in 18 hours. watch this as well. john, kiran, back to you. >> thank you for that. >> 42 minute past the hour. a look at the a.m. rundown. what's coming up in the next 15 minutes. remember the case of the woman driving the wrong way in the new york highway. eight people were killed in that crash. she died. her daughter died in her three nieces. now, well as three other people in the other car. now prosecutors have made a decision about whether or not to file charges.

we're going to tell you what happens next. at 7:50 eastern, we're paging dr. sanjay gupta. how people with disabilities and autism will fit into health care plan. questions about health care reform. will the president and democrats go it alone on health care reform. alive in washington ahead on the most news in the morning.

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whether or not people can -- guns in to bars and restaurants. >> they can pass a law that allowed people to carry concealed weapons to restaurants and bars. some of the restaurant owners who are gun owners themselves say it's a terrible idea. look at the debate coming up in the next hour here. look at the national headlines. $10 million are set aside for veterans returning to active duty by the state of massachusetts. that money is unclaimed. the bonus to members of the military to members who serve on speculation that veterans are reluctant to accept handouts and it's part of the information getting out there letting them know what's available. >> almost two miles, allegedly extremely drunk and high. she killed herself and seven people including four children. but the new york prosecutor says there's not enough evidence to file criminal charges in the crash last month. toxicology reports show her

blood alcohol level was .19 at the time of the crash, more than twice the legal limit. two of the victims' families are expected to file for civil suit against schuller's husband. the image behind president obama as the joker from "dark knight." it ended up on posters with the caption, "socialist." the artist isn't part of a right wing group. he's a 20-year-old student of palestinian decent in chicago. he was playing around with photo shop and posted the results on flikr. he didn't expect the image to get the response it did. talking to him on the show tomorrow on how the picture went viral and how he feels about the attention. >> what part did you miss about not getting a response? >> i don't know. >> 47 minutes past the hour. introducing new nutrisystem d, the clinically tested program for losing weight and reducing blood sugar.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama's make or break push on health care continues. we're trying to cut through the clutter and the politics and give you the answers. for more on that, we're paging dr. sanjay gupta. >> good to see you. we have a question from one of our am fix viewers concerned about the the disabled. let's listen. >> hello, this is james windings. i am in west frankfurt. i just have a question about people who have disabilities with, will this health care reform affect us? okay, thank you. >> well, that's a great

question, an important point. there's about 1,100 pages of house reform bill. we've scoured through this looking for mention of how disabilities, people with disabilities, would be covered. a couple of numbers to keep in mind. there is about 54 million americans who have some sort of disability, physical impairment, a mental impairment, they may have visual or hearing impairments. a lot of though people as far as we can tell simply are under insured or uninsured as things stand now. they say if you do have some type of insurance, including medicare or medicaid, there would be no change in coverage. medicaid does cover a lot of people who do have some sort of disability. what happens a lot of times is people make too much money to qualify for medicaid, yet they still can't afford their premiums. that's what happens to a lot of people who have some sort of disability, they fall through the cracks. this has been a big concern for some time. this is a good glimpse at how this might work for somebody who's watching right now that has a disability and simply

can't afford their health care insurance. pre-existing conditions now covered. you can't discriminate. no cap on annual insurance claims. you get to september, can you imagine, you've got no money left in your insurance program, no cap anymore annually and more doctors insurance plans to choose from overall. this is potentially how it will be addressed for the disabled community. advocacy groups we've talk to, james, say they are pretty pleased with how this little looks. one thing that's interesting, there are hospital facilities right now that don't need to be wheelchair accessible. i thought there was a law saying all hospitals had to be wheelchair accessible but it's not. >> not covered by the americans with disabilities act? >> i'm not sure how that's regulated but apparently there are hospital facilities today you can't access with a wheelchair. >> that is a real surprise. when you talk about coverage for people with disabilities, autism keeps coming up. seems to be some confusion.

question from your twitter feed, why don't hr 3200, that's the house health reform bill -- why doesn't it have insurance coverage for autism treatment? >> first of all, twitter writer is absolutely right. again we scoured through the entire thing. the word "autism" is actually not mentioned anywhere that we could find in this particular bill. we talked to an advocacy group called autism speaks about this specifically. they said they were quite surprised that autism wasn't mentioned. i think what is important here -- we called the white house to ask specifically about this -- they say if you look at some of the other plans with regard to disabilities in general, including again no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, no caps on annual insurance claims, that's going to affect an improved treatment for autism as well. right now 36 states are allowed to deny coverage, behavioral cognitive therapy, they think that would change as a result of this bill. the writer is right, there is no mention of autism.

>> sanjay gupta there for us in atlanta straightening it all out for us, thanks so much. we've heard about the nuclear option before. right? that was when there was talk about maybe bypassing democratic concerns when it came to judicial nominees. now the nuclear option is something that we're talking about yet again, this time it has to do with democrats considering going it alone when it comes to health care. we're live from the white house in the next hour. ♪ [ female announcer ] arthritis targets your body where it's weak. where it's vulnerable. ♪ tylenol arthritis works with your body to block the pain, without interfering with certain high blood pressure medicines like aleve sometimes can. ♪ so you don't just feel better, you feel better knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. ♪

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alanis morissette harnessing the anger of a break-up. >> that song scared more men than the movie "fatal attraction." >> that's a tie perhaps. for the first time since south carolina governor mark sanford talked about the affair with an argentinean woman. >> jenny sanford is being called the role model for wronged spouses. now her family's scandal and others like it are giving rise to a television show that's literally ripped right from the headlines. our care costello is in >> good. who knew cheating women are in? you know, they're being called a new kind of feminist.

the betrayed wife is empowered role model. it is the picture september's vogue paints of jenny sanford whose cheating husband is fighting to hold on to his governor's seat in south carolina. she's not the only wronged woman to hold our attention. these ladies have inspired a new cbs news drama. it's called "the good wife." >> i have never trade for sex -- >> reporter: governor eliot spitzer resigned after being caught in a call girl scandal. his good wife by his side. >> so many of these women are so accomplished and so high-powered and intelligent. >> we just kind of like the idea of what would happen to that woman a minute later, six months later, seven months later and throughout the rest of her life. >> reporter: bits and pieces from the real-life sanford soap opera figure into the good wife, 2. mrs. sanford is appealing

because she didn't stand by herman as he told the nation he cheated. she took the kids and moved out of the governor's mansion telling "vogue" she's forgiven her husband, that they weren't madly in love when they met but were good friends, that he became obsessed with going to see the other woman. it was like an addiction to alcohol or pornography for him." for many, her candor is refreshing. >> what's interesting is that every time she speaks, people seem to understand and kind of support her words. every time mark sanford speaks, people are left with more questions and are wondering how did this man get so far in his political career? >> reporter: it's the kind of thing that fits perfectly into a tv drama. in "the good wife," the political spouse uses a sort of sanford power to return to work as a lawyer. >> not only are you coming back to the workplace fairly passl a. but there are some in south carolina willing to raise some money for mrs. sanford. >> we'll keep following this

drama in real life and on tv in the fictional version of it all. just can't get enough. carol costello this morning, thanks so much. coming up to the top of the hour right now. 8:00 here in new york on this wednesday, august 19th. i'm kiran chetry. >> good morning to you, i'm john roberts. here are the top stories of the morning we'll be breaking down for you here in the next 15 minutes on the most news in the morning. a town hall on health care turns into a literal sound bite machine. congressman barney frank met with voters over reform and met fire with fire. listen for yourself. >> why do you continue to support a nazi policy, as obama has expressly supported this policy? why are you supporting it? >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. i have no interest in doing it. >> yes, the barbs were flying last night. the latest in the health care

debate from massachusetts and the white house straight ahead. a dangerous situation right now in the atlantic. hurricane bill now exploding into a category 4 storm overnight. winds right now 135 miles per hour. rob marciano tells us this will be felt in the u.s. mainland. just how intense it will get though still up in the air. and it is a loaded question. should concealed weapons be allowed in bars and restaurants? it is now legal in tennessee for gun owners who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon into any restaurant that serves liquor. but could this new law turn bar fights into gun fights? we'll hear from both sides in this debate. we begin with a move that could shatter the impasse on health care reform, but perhaps scorch some earth at the same time. after trying to negotiate with republicans and getting an earful at town halls across the country, as we just saw, cnn's ed henry broke the news overnight that democrats close to the white house are actively considering a go-it-alone option with no republican assistance to pass health care reform.

this so-called nuclear option is no sure thing though. cnn's elaine quijano is live at the white house. what are you hearing this morning about the likelihood of this? >> reporter: well, kiran, still waiting to hear back from officials on this, but as you noted, no final decisions have been made on this. as ed henry reported last night, top democrats close to the white house are saying that officials are actively considering this option. it's basically an obscure budget move and it is called reconciliation. it would mean that basically, instead of the 60 votes needed in the senate to push through legislation, there would only and simple majority needed -- 51 votes. this is something that has been on the table all along. it's always been an option. what's different now though is the context. we're just weeks away from when congress gets back into town after its august recess. this white house faces not only reluctant republicans when it comes to health care reform but skepticism from conservative democrats as well. >> if the white house does not pull the trigger soon on this,

when might it come up? >> reporter: we're looking at when congress comes back. about mid-september is when things are really going to get critical here. right now it's sort of "let's make a deal" time. anything can happen. if republicans decide to come on-board, we're obviously talking about a different story here. but the critical period if things don't change is going to be mid-september. >> elaine quijano at the white house this morning for us, thanks. joining me on the telephone to talk more about this, former new york congresswoman susan molinari. she's now a parterer in in a law firm. susan, do you blame the democrats for going with this toy-it-alone idea when we've seen what's happened in the last couple of weeks, what democrats are calling a strident tone toward health care reform? >> caller: good morning, john. i don't blame the democrats in

terms of there clearly needs to be a bill that has to be passed for the same of the obama presidency, if you will. this is an issue he's staked out as his own. he has said this is going to be a major initiative of the obama presidency early on and i think he has put a lot of his presidency on the line to pass this. now when we get to how do you do this, clearly if you don't have -- i think you've had republican after republican come on your show and say these exact words, without medical malpractice reform, this is something we don't feel we can sign on to because we don't see how you effectively control costs and change a lot of the paradigm of what's wrong with health care with regard to the costs that come with the -- what some consider excessive tests. the democrats have clearly said that's a no-starter. i think what you're starting to see in the last few days is something that frankly took the president by surprise, which was

the overwhelming -- first the overwhelming reaction to changing our health care system. and then the overwhelming reaction from democrats who said do not take the public option off the table. clearly the republicans have said if the public option is on the table, republican and conservative democrats have said we're not in the room. >> but republicans didn't seem favorably disposed to the alternatives to a public plan when white house officials, kathleen sebelius, came out on the weekend saying well, maybe it is not so important to have a public plan. >> caller: in fact what you started to hear from republicans is let's define what co-ops are going to be. in fairness to the republicans who were debating in the senate, that was part of the discussion that was centering around the bipartisan group in the senate, centered around max baucus and senator chuck grassley. >> one other point, given the rancor we've seen in these town halls and how mistrustful of the government many participants have been, when they hear this news that the democrats may be prepared to go it alone, what do

you think that is going to do in these town halls? is the go-it-alone strategy a risky one? >> caller: always in politics it is risky to go it alone. if you blow it you own it. now president obama, if he goes the public option route and can secure his base, has made a gamble that may pay off by the end of his presidency and the time he's up for re-election. i'm sure conversations now that are taking place at the dccc and the white house today, if we go it alone it has to include the public option in order to get enough democrats to pass it. there is no excuse not to if the democrats are going to own it. then what are implications in light of the stimulus, gm, cash for clunkers, federal bailout under president bush, when the democrats come up for re-election in 2010. that's the conversation that's taking place with democrats today. >> this thing just keeps moving

in a million different directions. really appreciate your time this morning. we've heard all kinds of snarky, snide, even sarcastic remarks during health care town halls. not just coming from the members of congress. last night congressman barney frank got rather frank with some of his constituents in massachusetts. jim acosta was in the room during the rowdy debate. he's live for us this morning in dartmouth, massachusetts. some are what we're see something really democracy at its best. you elect this guy, he's supposed to represent you and you guys have a healthy back-and-forth when you don't agree or you have questions. >> reporter: i was waiting for the congressman to remind people to tip their waiters and bartenders before the evening was over. yes, we've heard the white house suggest that the public is only seeing the rowdiest moments from these town halls. that is not the case with barney frank's town hall. there was nothing but rowdy moments. >> congressman barney frank. >> reporter: it didn't take long

for the shouting to start. >> what's the lie? is. >> hey, hey, enough! >> which one of you wants to yell first? >> reporter: before the first question was asked, massachusetts democrat barney frank was swinging back at opponents of health care reform. >> disruption never helps your cause. it makes it look like you're afraid to have a rational discussion. you just drive people away. i'm not here -- this is the council on aging, not kindergarten. >> reporter: frank tried to dispel some of the bogus claims about the bill in the house. >> illegal aliens are specifically excluded from getting any assistance in the bill. >> reporter: to that some in the crowd shouted "read the bill," so he did and found the section where illegal immigrants are excluded. right in the bill, i will be glad to show you. >> reporter: but even that didn't satisfy everyone. >> it is a little odd to be accused of not having read the bill by people who object when i do.

>> reporter: several audience members insisted reform would bust the budget. >> we're going to pay more taxes because of you, sir. >> this bill would practically bankrupt the economy of the united states government. >> reporter: time and again, frank took that grenade and threw it back. >> and i do worry about the deficit. that's one of the reasons -- not the only one -- that i voted against the single most wasteful expenditure in the history of america. the iraq war. >> reporter: the chairman of the house financial services committee took only a few questions on reforming wall street. instead, frank talked at length about his support for the public option. >> i am not voting for any bill that forces anybody into anything. it will have a public option -- >> reporter: and tried to reassure seniors there were no death panels in the bill. >> this notion that something in this bill would require people who are elderly or sick to be denied medical care and killed is the single stupidest argument

i have ever heard in all my years in politics. >> reporter: it was that absu absurdity of the health care reform this woman was happy to see put to rest. can i tell you, i know for a fact they are not going to pull the plug on grandma? >> they're not going to pull it on me, i tell you. because i'll fight to the death. >> now barney frank did say that unlike some of the liberal members in the house such as himself, he is not insisting that there be a government-run insurance option that's voted on in the congress. even though he says is he a strong supporter of the public option, he at this point does not want to negotiate that part of this legislation out in public. kiran? >> all right, there you go. jim acosta for us this morning, thanks so much. this week we've also heard a lot of talk about health care co-ops, the idea gaining traction perhaps in the senate as an alternative to a government-run public insurance plan. but will a co-op really help

curb costs? is it something that's practical on a large scale? i'll be talking to dr. barbara detering who works for a co-op. 75 people were killed in a wave of bombings in baghdad and more than 300 others hurt. iraqi police say there were six bomb blasts within an hour. one of the attacks was near the heavily fortified green zone. it is one of the deadliest days in iraq since the u.s. handed over control of security to iraqi forces. 12 minutes after the hour. >

news in the morning. in make-or-break push on health care reform, some on capitol hill are saying that there are other ways to help drive down costs. other ways besides the government getting involved in public insurance. in the senate, there's growing talk about health care co-ops. how do they work, and could that kind of plan really work on a nationwide level? let's bring in dr. barbara

detering, she works for one of the country's most successful co-ops, group health in seattle, washington. thanks for being with us this morning, doctor. >> thanks for having me. >> first, for people wondering how health care co-ops work, how does yours work? >> this organization was started about 60 years ago by a group of people who came together and decided that they wanted to pay for health care in a different way. that is, that instead of having a see-for-service model where one's paid for individual visits and individual events, that they group their money together and organized a whole system of care and a delivery of health care and a group of physicians that provided all the health care, sort of pre-paid in advance. in this way, the incentive to the doctors and to the whole system was to try to be really efficient taking care of everybody so that you wouldn't run out of money by the end of the year. and money at end of the year would be available for re-investing in the organization and in the care and hopefully

lower premiums for the group the following year. >> what it sounds like, in what's become sort of a nasty buzzword, is rationing. but what you're describing sounds like in a way, are you rationing? >> i would say absolutely not. every time there is a decision to be made about how to best care for a patient, one has to take into effect the efficacy or how effective the treatment is, how safe it is, and how affordable it is going to be. i don't thing that affordability is a bad thing to talk about when it comes to making decisions about what best to do for each patient in their individual situation. >> now how is it different -- you talk a little bit about the fact that you have your members who come together, you pool your resources. you have about what? 580,000 members in yours. is that a model that can be replicated on a large scale? talking about the 49 million uninsured. could you do it on a scale of millions? >> i think that from an insurance standpoint you need to

be at least about this size in order to make the insurance part of the whole thing work. but i know of many delivery systems throughout the country, whether it's the mayo clinic, the kaiser, the cleveland clinic, that practice the kind of medicine we do which in my mind is the most important thing, which is to focus on prevention, primary care, quality outcome, versus simply more procedures and more visits and more events in people's lives. i think that part really can be -- i think that that's the key to making health care available for everybody, and affordable. in seattle, because of the type of practice we have, have really helped keep our community's cost of care down. if the whole country costs as much as seattle does for health care, we wouldn't be in this mess because we're much less expensive than other chair of the country and yet our outcomes are quality and how healthy our population is, is just as good as anywhere else.

zpr it . >> it is interesting to see that model and see that you guys are among the lowest in terms of how much washington state has to pay for health care. >> exactly. >> one of the other questions people have, wait a minute, these co-oftens may be great on a smaller scale but really they couldn't compete with private insurance the way that a government-backed public plan could to try to negotiate lower drug costs, to try to negotiate. what do you think about that? >> well, i do think you have to have a certain group of people together. it requires a certain number in every ininstance. we do have to compete on the open market with other insurance companies to attract members and other people to our organization so you would have to have it fairly big. we still have to play by all the rules of any other insurance company and compete. we of course don't have to make the kind of huge profits to give to our shareholders because we're not-for-profit. and the money that we do make in our margin at the end of the

year we use to actually re-invest into the delivery of health care and also to hopefully hole down or premiums for the following year. >> all right, well you were able to explain to us exactly how a co-op would work. it is very interesting to see your model and to see whether or not that could work on the national stage. thanks so much for being with us this morning. it was great to talk to you. dr. barbara detering with group health, the co-op we've been talking about in seattle. >> thanks for having me. we know you have a lot of questions about health care reform as well. we're sorting fact from fiction. all the answers are online at cnn.com/health care. a law passed last month in tennessee has created strange opponents. it allows people to take concealed weapons into bars and restaurants. there is a democratic state senator who says it's a great idea and there's a restaurant owner who's also a gun owner who says it's a bad idea. it is kind of turned all sorts

of things on its head. we'll be talking about this in just a few minutes. 19 minutes after the mourp augh. - honey bunny. - ( coos ) . we would do anything for her. my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. man: it was really easy to do. - ( blows raspberries ) - ( laughing ) robert shapiro: we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. ♪ who's born to care this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference

there is a new way to use twitter. apparently it can bring you closer to god. an israeli student has set up a page where you can tweet prayers to be placed in jerusalem's western wall. all you have to do is get your hopes and dreams down to 140 characters, or put it in a tiny url. then you can write chapter and verse. well, we are now talking with christine romans "minding your business" right now. this is interesting, is the financial sector no longer what's going to drive a recovery? is that somewhere else? >> a very good question. you talk to technology ceos in silicon valley and they think that their industry is going to lead us out of a recession and will be the first to turn and will actually lead a recovery. silicon valley ceos saying 77% of them expect their sector, tech, to lead the recovery. almost half of them -- ding ding

ding ding ding -- half of them think the job picture will improve by next year. so if you are work being in the technology field, you should know that those ceos sitting there in silicon valley are thinking that things are going to get better. 14% of these ceos are planning layoffs for next year. 14% is a dramatic improvement from 60% of them who cut jobs in the past year. so this is what we're seeing here. technology executives saying their industry's going to lead the economic recovery. one of the triggers, they say it's really important here, business confidence, no surprise. consumer confidence, no surprise. they say we need effective regulation, government stimulus spending they say is going to be helpful. and government bailouts. >> yet they're still shedding jobs. >> actually that's -- they say bailouts and stimulus was the least -- sorry. >> they are still shedding though. if they were saying they were going to lead the recovery and

they were hiring, wouldn't it be better? >> well, you always hire the very last thing you do is hire. when you start to hear companies saying we're looking out, we're going to try to see when we can start calling people back, which brings me to some companies that have -- ford, dell, gm, truckmaker oshkosh, there are companies that are starting to call people back. that tends to be what they do first. before they hire new folks and put a notice in the paper saying we're hiring, they start to call people back. and they're starting to bring them back. >> gm starting to bring them back. every day christine brings us a "romans numeral." >> it's 38. it is 38%. it has do with this notion of calling people back. it has to do with this idea of -- >> 38% of companies say in the next six months they'll be calling people back. >> in the next year.

>> that's important for people to remember, when you start to see the recession waning, you'll see companies saying, gosh, we had some people we had to let go, we're starting to build up, let's reach out there, call them in. it is a little something to watch an see if it is a sign the recession is starting to wane. >> like a game show contestant with a parting gift, could i not believe my eyes? >> nice. >> you guys could take this show on the road. get a little brass band. >> i can mem miz lyrics. however, i can't sing anything on key. >> i apparently can't remember if it is or isn't the reason why -- so a new law in tennessee allows people to carry concealed weapons into bars and restaurants. is it a good idea or is it, as one gun owner says, an absolutely terrible idea?

we'll have that debate coming up for you. 26 minutes after the hour. ( whooshing, riders cheering ) (announcer) listening to you. it's how we save you money at nationwide insurance. my name is sandy garza and i am on your side. only nationwide gives you an on your side review. you tell us about your life and your insurance. sometimes you don't have enough coverage. or you may even have too much. we'll let you know. we listen and build you a custom policy of just the coverage you need at the right price for you. (announcer) only a nationwide insurance agent can give you an on your side review.

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we're back with the most news in the morning and we're also back with our next installment of our "the war at home" series. >> just about the difficulties and challenges that returning veterans face as well as their families. we had a chance to introduce you to two california teens who struggled to deal with their dad's deployment to afghanistan and they found a way to cope with the loneliness and isolation by coming together. now they're trying to do the

same for other military girls. their military sisters, as they call them. >> i'm 15, i'm from california. i'm a military teen. >> i'm 16 and i'm from elk grove, california. i'm also a military teen. >> reporter: these two teenagers now share a tight bond but just a year ago they were going through similar tough times all alone. >> kids who don't live on active duty bases or live on active duty schools go through a lot of bullying. >> reporter: both their dads are with the national guard. when their fathers were sent to afghanistan they found dealing with the deployment difficult. >> i don't know how many of you have been through deployment. >> show of hands. >> reporter: they met at a national guard family event, and after sharing their stories decided to start an online support group called the sisterhood of the traveling bdus.

it is a play on the "sister hood of the traveling pants," but these bdus are battle dressed uniforms, what their dads wear in combat. >> going to bed crying yourself to sleep wondering if your dad is going to come back alive, it adds an extra toll. >> reporter: how was your dad not being around -- how did that affect your self-esteem? >> well, girls get a lot of their self-esteem from their fathers. i've always been really close with my dad. >> i went to school, i used to wear my dad's camo jacket and camo hat because it made me feel secure in that it was more comfortable for me. a lot of kids didn't understand that so i got pick on a lot. >> reporter: so on their website and at events like this one in san pedro, california, the girls say by sharing stories, they can offer support. >> mostly, like depression. you know. >> i kree cry myself to sleep sometimes because i miss him so much. like being used to seeing him.

>> reporter: those tough times didn't magically end when their fathers came home in from afghanistan. >> reporter: you're thrilled your dad's safe, your dad made it back alive unharmed but there were other things underneath the surface that you guys had to deal with. >> yeah. it is hard for someone like our dads to go from leading troops and having to be really strict to coming home and trying to deal with teenage girls. >> reporter: what did your dad say about the mohawk? >> oh, boy. >> it was blue when i met her. >> friendly expression's dropped. he's like, "that's got to go." this is acceptable because it is not dyed and it is my natural color compared to the bright pink one-foot tall one. >> we really want to hear from you and what you think about it. we're just two people trying to represent what you all want. >> our goal this whole time has been for those girls coming to the conference and that who will benefit from this. lives can be changed.

>> there you go. both their dads are back home. kaley, the one with the mohawk, she analysting in the marines. >> she'll be getting a new do. >> they hope to get 400 teens and 100 female service members to take part in another conference, also hoping to get miley cyrus. they were up this morning watching our show, they sent me a tweet and said who else is getting up at 3:30 to watch this? sisterhoodbdus.org. tomorrow, finding a job for troops coming home from iraq, especially in this economy. what the army's doing in ft. hood in texas to help. breaking news from iraq this morning, 75 people killed, more than 300 injured in a wave of bombings in the capital of baghdad. police say there were six bomb blasts all occurring within an hour. one of the attacks to the heavily fortified green zone

near the foreign ministry. it is one of the deadliest days in iraq since the u.s. handed over control of security to iraqi forces. two senior north korean diplomats are in new mexico meeting with the governor bill richardson later today. energy issues expected to be on the agenda. the obama administration says the north koreans requested that meeting but that governor richardson will not be representing the president. we've learned who is behind the image of president obama as the joker from the dark knight. it ended up on posters with the caption "socialist" at town hall meetings on health care. but the artist is not part of any right wing group. he is a 20-year-old student of palestinian decent from chicago. we'll talk to him on the show tomorrow. guns and alcohol. the argument goes, it could be a dangerous, even deadly, combination. in tennessee it is now legal for licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons into restaurants and bars. this morning a group is challenging that law trying to get it repealed. one of the plaintiffs is randy rayburn, he owns several

restaurants and also joining us this morning, state senator doug jackson, one of the lead sponsors of the legislation. senator jackson, start with you. what does this law say? why did you support it? because when it was first -- the idea was first introduced back in 1997 you were pretty skeptical of it. >> i was skeptical in 1997. we passed a law that allows law-abiding citizens that go through a background check, that gets training to carry a handgun and handle their handgun be armed day to day. it was predicted at that time in 1997 by the news media and people throughout the state this would turn tennessee into the wild west. now looking back 12 years, we see that was not the result. now 44 states have that same handgun carry law. millions of permit holders, law-abiding citizens around this country have this same right. what we see is an outstanding record of safety and responsibility. >> let's bring in randy rayburn. you're one of the lead plaintiffs in this case trying to get this law repealed. are you a restaurant owner. we should point out, you are

also a gun owner. why do you want this law repealed? >> john, i feel it is very important for everyone to understand that tennessee was the first state in the united states to pass a law to specifically authorize expressly allow the carry of weapons into bars in the state of tennessee. the law does not differentiate in tennessee between restaurants and bars, as we have over110 different alcoholic beverage licenses but only no bars. the reality is this is a chilling impact upon our tourism, hospitality and restaurant industry, our second largest industry in the state. >> how does it have a chilling impact? >> john, there have already been three shootings in tennessee this year by gun permit holders in the state of tennessee without them coming in to bars where alcohol is served. there is a whole section of tennessee law on nuisance laws that shows that historically night clubs, honky-tonks, places that serve a majority of alcohol are at risk for fights. i own three very nice restaurants and i'm not worried

about myself. but you can ask any bartender or server in the state of tennessee and they'll tell you this law is very, very misguided and that the fabrications which have been told to pass it, were passed along by washington lobbyists. >> restaurant owners and operators can keep weapons out of their restaurant by simply posting a sign that says no guns allow. tennessee hospitality association conducted a survey that showed 78% said they'd ban guns on their premises. half of the remaining 22% said posting no-guns-allowed signs might hurt business. they don't want to tell people out there, no. the restaurant association says this is a nightmare for us. they get hundreds of thousands of visitors. no when they go to beale street in memphis, they'll be greeted by a three-by-five sign with a weapon in a circle and a line drawn through it." they say that is a turnoff. >> john, nothing could be further from the truth.

that's absolutely false. the most dangerous place to be in nashville is between randy rayburn an a tv camera. randy rayburn has the right to post at his restaurant. every time i turn on the 6:00 news it seems he's there holding up a sign that says guns never, free parking always. for such a sinister bill that poses an imminent risk to public safety, so he claims, he certainly doesn't mind combining marketing of his restaurant with this very issue on the 6:00 news. here's the reality. tennessee is not the first. we're one of the last states to pass this. john, your own state of georgia allows law-abigd citizens with permits to go into restaurants that serve alcohol. tennessee is following the lead of the majority of the other states. we're not the very first state. millions of citizens have this same right all across the country. not a single state has ever repealed this law. the state of arizona just passed it. 40 or more states have a same or similar law that allows citizens to go in establishments that serve alcohol. not a single state has ever

repealed their law. >> let me point out, senator jackson, i'm in new york, not georgia. certainly can't bring a concealed weapon into a bar in new york city. at least not yet. randy, what do you say to what the senator just said, you're seeking publicity for your restaurant here? >> john, i'm concerned this may cost me business but i'm going forward with this because i believe this is poor public policy. i might note in the state of georgia you may not carry weapons into the bar chair of those restaurants and you may not go into those bars that serve more than 51% alcohol. this is an issue that has been disingenuously applied to public and to the legislature. both on bars and guns. proponents of this really would like to remove all exemptions, or preemptions, whether in schools, courthouses, legislative plaza is still restricted. senator jackson is obviously a very strong supporter of this, but one of his own colleagues in a state wide pofl 800 registered voters in tin confirm recently that 67% of the voters in this state who are regular voters are

opposed to this bill and less than 20% of them support guns in bars and restaurants and/or parks in tennessee. >> john, one quick response. thank you very much. let me point out, this law has been in effect now, went into effect in july. you can dine all across nashville. you see few very restaurants that have put up a sign no guns allowed. they have restaurants in neighboring states that have the same or similar law. they don't have problems in other states. we're not going to have problems in tennessee. >> since this law was enacted a month ago, there are no reports of any issues with concealed weapons in restaurants but we'll keep watching this issue going forward because it is a very charged one. gentlemen, thanks for being with us this morning. we really appreciate it. we want to know your thoughts in all of this -- should guns be allowed in bars and restaurants? sound off on our blog, cnn.com/am fix. how do you like this one? you collect a pension but you keep working and you also collect a salary? >> wouldn't that be great?

now there's a lovely route to retirement. i could do that. >> some lawmakers are actually doing it. double dipping. >> can i start now? >> i don't know if that's included in our paperwork. allan chernoff takes a look for us. 40 minutes after the hour.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. it is a practice that boggles the mind, and even more shocking, it is legal in almost every state. politicians who retire, collect their pensions, but then they can keep working and collect a salary. it's called double dipping. here's allan chernoff to explain. >> reporter: john, kiran, this is entirely legal. it's the kind of situation that can lead people to wonder, hey, how do i get one of those jobs? lawmakers can do it here in new york, and some may be doing it in your state as well. long island assemblyman harvey weisenberg is retired from the job he still holds. you retired last year? >> yes. >> but you're still working. >> that is correct. >> and you're still getting a pension? >> absolutely. >> reporter: is he a member of the state assembly for two

decades. he gets a pension of $72,000, while earning $101,000 in salary. it's all legal. in new york, state and local elected officials over 65 can theoretically retire to get a pension while continuing to hold the same job earning a salary. weisenberg is 1 of 4 members of the assembly who retire last year and now gets a pension and salary. "the new york times" reported that tuesday. the state controller confirmed it to cnn. weisenberg says he wants to be sure to provide for his wife, but says he works mainly to provide public service. the average person looks at this and says, wait a minute. he's retired but he's still working? he's getting a pension and a salary? >> yeah, but do they get elected to office every two years? we get elected to office. and the reality is -- >> that's why you should have a pension? >> the pengusion is earned.

>> it is outrageous that the law is the way it is but they're allowed to do what they do. >> reporter: legislators in double dip by holding a second government job to hold two salarie salaries. only nine states ban it. in some states, including delaware, arkansas and new york, public officials can pull in both a salary and a pension at the same time. n no non-partisan watchdog groups say this is an example of broken government. >> there is no one accountable because no one other than the legislators decide what the deal is for the legislator's pension. that doesn't sit right. >> reporter: it is tough for any new york state elected official to look good these days after the state senate fell into a stalemate over the summer that threw the government into chaos. a new quinnipiac poll out this week shows nearly three-quarters of new yorkers disapprove of the

state absolute tulegislature. an all-time low. the latest on hurricane bill ahead. could it threaten the east coast of the united states? rob's tracking it. 46 minutes after the hour.

good morning, atlanta. it is partly cloudy and 75 degrees right now. not too much clouds in the sky though. isolated thunderstorms and a high of 87 degrees here.

boy, did we have a thunderstorm last night? >> it woke you up, huh? >> the hail banging against my window. then the lightning and thunder and sheets of rain coming down. it was great. >> you could be in for more of that. because we have hurricane bill making its way to the east coast. >> let's hope not. >> even if it skirts us we're probably going to feel something. rob marciano is keeping track of this hurricane which popped newspaper a category 4 overnight. >> this was quite the storm. it is always nice to have a summertime thunderstorm, that will sound and smell nice even at night. especially when you hit the 90s. here it is, this thing has winds of 135 miles an hour. the well-defined eye is about 30 miles in diameter, moving to the west-northwest at 17 miles an hour. where is this thing going to go? a trough with a front should come and block it. but the timing has to be just right. at this point the national hurricane center's actually shifted the track to the west.

that gives us a little bit of nervousness especially across parts of eastern new england where sunday afternoon into sunday night, monday this thing may be close enough. if they shift this even farther to the west we could be talking about a direct hit. that's not out of the question at the moment. but certainly effects from this thing will be felt up and down the east coast. this is what's left over of ana. it still has a chance to develop though it is unlikely at this point. we've seen some thunderstorms that have rolled across parts of texas last night. beaumont, texas, had an f-1 tornado. hurt a lot of people. hot across the northwest and hot again across the the northeast. heat advisories up for new york city. lower 90s. a thunderstorm will only feel good if you get one later on today. back over to you. >> that was a heck of a thunderstorm last night, too, rob. i pity people who were flying in late at night. probably got delayed.

sanjay's been answering a lot of questions people have about health care and health care reform. why do americans pay more for their drugs than other countries? he'll answer that for us. achoo! (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life. there's no way to hide it.

sir, have you been drinking tonight? if you ride drunk, you will get caught... and you will get arrested.

when it comes to health care reform, there are tv ads, there is spin from washington. there is a lot of misinformation

throating around out there. we're trying to get you real answers to your questions. >> this comes from a twitter follower for sanjay gupta. you know how many twitter followers he has? 631,000. he's a popular guy. will the current reform push the sale for generic drugs? >> lot of people interested in this stuff, no question. let me give you a couple of numbers. we've been looking at this issue of prescription drugs, generic drugs specifically. as things stand now, 7 in 10 prescriptions filled in the united states are for generic drugs. on average, they're 80% to 85% cheaper. keep that in mind when you think how cost saving might play into this. we went straight to the white house to ask what is part of the bill you're dealing with so far will help to make sure again r

will continue to be made available. establish legal pathway for generic drugs. create incentives for research innovation. and prohibiting anticompetitive agreements. this is surprising, but say you have a prescription drugmaker. they may go to a potential generic maker and create the illusion that we know you can go to generic now but we'll give you money not to do this, keep it as a brand name drug longer. that sort of anticompetitiveness could make a difference. what it might mean for you in the end, if you go to a pharmacy, hospital pharmacy or outpatient pharmacy, your likelihood of getting generic drugs may have faster after a brand name drug has come out. >> the administration also made a pretty big deal with the pharmaceutical industry to the tune of billions? how does that factor in? >> some people have said, the white house talking to pharmaceutical industry, they've lost their competitive edge in being able to negotiate with pharma later on down the road.

you're absolutely right, they're talking about $80 billion. this will be over ten years trying to bring down costs specifically for medicare. this is as far as the language we could tell said we need to try and cut the drug costs down for medicare recipients specifically. there is a thing known as a doughnut hole. let me spend two seconds explaining this. if you have lots of drug costs, lots of prescription drug costs, once you spent $2,100 you will no longer be covered until you spend $6,700. that's the hole in the middle. they think that money might cut down on the size of that doughnut hole. also possibly offering some discounts for certain drugs. that's what we're hearing. a lot of this is very fluid. >> sanjay gupta answering your questions for you this morning, doc, thanks very much. question for you -- what's 40 years old, makes $25 million over two years? got the answer coming up. reading about washington these days... i gotta ask,

what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family. for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. quarterback brett favre has unretired again, signing now with the nfl's minnesota vikings just a few weeks after saying he wouldn't join the team and had planned to stay retired. it was something about a rotator cuff tear he found he had and was worried he wouldn't be able to play, then found it was an old one and he was playing with it anyways. favre reported to the vikings training camp and is expected to start in the game friday against the kansas city chiefs. >> the love of the game keeps him coming back for more even if his body says now. >> he's going to be 40 years old in october. the vikings are willing to pay him $25 million over