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tv   MSNBC News Live  MSNBC  September 6, 2009 8:00am-8:59am EDT

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announcer: today how you run your business is anything but typical. so use the card that isn't your typical credit card. the american express open charge card. to see what an open charge card can do for your business, visit open.com/yourbiz or call 888-550-open. right now on msnbc's sunday, a critical week ahead. the president faces his toughest test on health care as two other controversies swirl. one of an appointees reseen. those details ahead. swine flu? a new poll suggests americans are more concerned than ever about the growing number of people catching it. the jobs outlook. how long will it take to get millions back to view? a day without cats? they're all over the internet. why would someone want to put a halt to this zany material even for one day? it makes us laugh, right?
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good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. first up, a critical week for the white house. taking off tomorrow with the labor day speech as a cl-cio in ohio, among the topics the president's expected to tackle, health care. on tuesday, we'll see if the president's speech to school children leads to further criticism that he's trying to spread some sort of socialist agenda. and on wednesday, the health care fight goes prime time as the president addresses a joint session of congress and the nation hoping to seal the day on health reform. meanwhile new this morning, white house green job czar van jones resigned amid growing controversy over past remarks of republicans and the signature on a petition suggesting that the bush administration knew of the 9/11 attacks in advance. for more now on whether the resignation will distract from the president's jam packed week, i'm joined by emily hile or roll call and writes "heard on the
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hill." good morning to you, emily. >> good morning, alex. >> let's get to the president's week in a moment. first up, though, this van jones resignation. what is the lasting impression for president obama? >> i think in the near term, at least, the hope for the obama administration is it clears the decks to talk about health care. i think when he appears at the forums this week he doesn't want to address the van jones' controversy and hopes this gets it off the table. he wants to focus on health care and nothing but health care and hoping to eliminate the distraction this is for his administration. in the long term, we don't know. in some ways, it might embolden the conservative critic that is drummed up the controversy and pressed it to the point of being a distraction for the white house. >> are you getting a sense he was forced out by the white house, and if so, what was the most damaging part of this controversy? >> i think he realized it was a distraction and in politics
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things he couldn't run away from. in his resignation, you know, remarks, he said that he realized he'd become a distraction for the white house and ultimately distract from the mission of both his job and from the administration's overarching goals. but yes, those critics did press it to the point and raise it and really disseminated that information and there was a youtube clip, you know, so it really -- they did get the message out there and pressed to the point it was a distraction. >> okay. let's get to another what some are calling a distraction. the schools not airing the president's address to school kids live but decide at a later date whether or not to show it. in easton, pennsylvania, september out a letter to parents saying, quote -- how should we interpret it, do you think? >> well, this whole issue has been, i think, difficult, mostly for teachers in these school
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administrators. they're having to deal with angry parents and, you know, this is a bizarre sort of issue. but i think it speaks to how polarized and politicized everything is. and so these teachers and school administrators having to deal with angry parents for something as seemingly inokay wous as the president making a speech with seemingly very innocuous themes but the controversy it sparked just speaks to just how, you know, politicized and polarized things are in general and also at this very moment. it is a long august, a long august of angry town hallers so i think we are seeing that play out here especially when you deal with schools which are very sensitive issues. parents are sensitive of what their children hear and see at school. >> talking about the town halls, of course, that's all about health care. what will we hear from the president on health care on wednesday that we haven't already heard? >> i think the things to listen
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for in that speech are just how specific he gets. will the of criticism of the president centered on the fact he let a lot of details up to congress to paint the george arching picture of reform and leave did details to congress and i think congress, the democrats in congress are a desperate bunch and i think that president obama has to herd all those tasks and present something more specific and so i think he needs to put the stamp on it. i think he is going to atoecht do that, come up with a clear and more detailed plan, put it before congress and then urge folks to get behind it. he is dealing with different audiences here. he is talking to democrats. he is talking to republicans. still offering this idea it could be bipartisan and not, you know, indicating that democrats would move forward without them if they need to. he's also talking to the general public who are going to be tuning in to the prime time address and he's got a lot of audiences to deal with. >> that's why it's going
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national. thank you very much. talk to you more next hour. >> you bet. coming up this hour for you, live to the white house for the latest on the president's plans including a preview of what some call his make or break address to congress on wednesday. now the latest on the labor day weekend. new york city, central park this weekend, sunbathers soaking up the sun rays. bikers and folks in carriages for strolls around the park, as well. of course, labor day marks the official end of summer. a live look at wildwood, new jersey. big crowds are expected to hit the resort town today and more people staying home overall. aaa reports travel this labor day down 13% from last year. let's get latest on the labor day forecast. mike sigh dell joeidel from the channel. nice to have you on board. >> thank you, alex. always a pleasure to hang out with alex and msnbc crew on sunday morning. we have issues for the middle of
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the labor day weekend with rainfall in the southern appalachians. storms off the east coast. no tropical concerns. it is an old weather front. some storms to moorhead city and north carolina. most of the rain this morning in illinois, especially down state illinois where it is pouring rain in buckets. spritzes around chicago and down here around evansville and radar estimates of six to eight inches of rainfall. the rain roils up the ohio river valley. the forecast for today and labor day. hey, northeast, it is payback time after the lousy weather and crisp in boston, 65, sunny, 73 in new york city. then move out to the midwest and you find some showers and thunderstorms. not a total washout but have a backup for the holiday barbecue. afternoon storms in south florida. maybe a raindrop or two in texas needing the rain. if you want the fall weather, pacific weather, upper 50s and
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low 60s tomorrow as the cool pacific air comes in for a couple of days. hot in the southwest but not as warm as southern california. only 84 in l.a. that's about average. humidity is up and been able to get the hands around that station fire in southern california north of l.a. most of the plains and midwest in great shape. nice day in chicago. and as we get into labor day itself, no weather issues. middle of the country, northeast hangs on. but again, ohio valley to gulf coast, alex, may have a few late summer showers and thunderstorms. not bad. no hurricanes to cover. >> i was going to say, doesn't sound bad at all. when it's time to head home, check out the forecast for the travel route going to weather.com. a report out today is sparking new outrage over the release of a lockerbie bomber. the libbian government paid for medical advice of three doctors who recommended him be released
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from prison. under scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds with three months or less to live. he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing which killed 270 people. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is confirming that an air strike targeting taliban hijackers did wound civilians. general stanley mcchrystal visited the site. the general also visited a hospital where the wounded have been taken. >> i clearly don't know all the facts now. and would not want to affect a potential investigation by saying -- making some conclusion that would be inappropriate. but from what i have seen today and going to the hospital it's clear to me there were some civilians who were harmed at that site. >> it remans unclear how many
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were talibans and how many were villagers. a nato team began an investigation saturday. five people are dead after a small plane they were aboard crashed in tulsa, oklahoma. it was on its way to dallas, texas, when it crashed into a park yesterday. investigators say the plane struck a wire that may have been hidden by fog. the dead include two men, a woman and two girls. at least four of the victims were members of the same family. let's go now to the economy. the latest government report on jobs in america shows the pace of job losses slowed in august to the lowest level in a year. but the unemployment rate rose to 9.7%. new questions now, what is it going to take to sustain real job growth? joining me live is liz wagamoff, associate editor of ""u.s. news& and world report." you write that the august jobs
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report is no labor day present. why not? >> right. so that headline number of 216,000 jobs lost, that's the smallest cut we have seen since last august so that is a good sign but the truth is whether you have nearly 10% of americans looking for work and not finding it, it's a terrible thing. and the truth is that you have also got record high long-term unemployment with about 5 million americans looking for work for 6 months or more. >> okay. when are we going to see some kind of job growth? and how long do we have to sustain it until we get back to more manageable levels? >> well, so most economists would tell you we'll probably start to see job growth by the end of the this year but the unemployment rate probably won't peak until the start of next year, and, you know, as far as more manageable levels, i think the worst case scenario is a
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prolonged period of small job losses where you would see months and months of job losses of, say, you know, 200, 100,000 people or more. the ideal really now is to see sustainable job growth but we're not going to see employers start to edge up until they're confident of future demand. and right now, we have had a lot of really good things happen as far as consumer demand. you know, we have seen a lot as far as auto purchases, home purchases but a lot of that has been driven by government stimulus programs and so i would imagine that most employers are waiting to see what the long-term outlook is for consumer spending. there are these -- there's a lot of economists would tell us that we won't see consumers return to their prerecessionary consumer behavior and that probably has a lot of employers nervous. >> what about the areas doing better? i'm thinking, it's back to
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school time. is education an area picking up jobs? >> yeah. education added a healthy 52,000 jobs last month. so that's a good thing. another really good thing is fact we're seeing job losses really slow in temporary services and a lot of economists would tell you that that's often a very good indicator of future hiring trends because, you know, when companies begin to hire temporarily again, it's suggesting that their demand is picking up but not quite there yet. >> yeah. which explains in part why a lot of teens didn't get the summer jobs they were looking for. okay. liz, thank you very much for weighing in. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much, alex. still aheada spike in swine flu cases as students head back to school. we'll show you how widespread it is. don't go in the water. shark sightings as one of the most popular beaches in the country. the most incredible finish
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progressive. call or click today. ask your doctor about symptom relief with nasonex. shark sightings off the coast of chatham, massachusetts, forcing officials to close all the oceanside beaches there for the rest of the labor day week. the cape cod beach closures a day after two great whites were tagged in the waters. it's common in the summer but great whites are relatively rare around new england. hmm. certain movie comes to mind. but let's go to fresh concerns over swine flu. some colleges are already seeing a spike in cases this scho
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schoolyear. here's a snapshot. washington state universities say 2,000 students reported symptoms of the h1n1 virus. health experts thousands could be sick as virus winds the way through college campuses. a new cbs news poll shows americans are more concerned with the flu. 72% now describe h1n1 as a very or somewhat serious problem and that is up from 49% in may. dr. robert lahida and professor of medicine joins me now. anything else to add to the creds? i'm just kidding. glad you're here. is it a good thing that people talk about swine flu in terms of awareness of it? i'm trying to look at a silver lining here. you have 72% of the people saying we are concerned about it which don't we hope that means they take necessary precautions? >> yes. hoping that takes it very, very
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serious seriously. we are not predicting a pandemic at this time in this country but the season is coming for regular seasonal type h after flu and hoping that everybody gets immunized this year because it is about time for that and it is available to everybody. the h1n1 vaccine we hope is around october 1, middle of october. and there we have a certain kind of person who has to be vaccinated. >> so if you're not in the kind of person list, how much in trouble are you and who are the people that will not be vaccinated? >> you are not going to be in trouble per se. i mean, those people who are not suggested as those needing vaccination are people over the age of 60 because we carry or we -- certain people over the age of 60 have a natural immunity, many do. not all. those with predisposing medical conditions like diabetes, kidney failure, certain kinds of pneumonia or severe asthma would
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be at high risk. we have a pecking order or who should be imnunized for when the vaccine is available. >> if you're a parent with a school-aged child, maybe not college bound but someone who's living under your roof, should you be getting the vaccine for your child? >> that child is in the order of magnitu magnitude. we start with pregnant women. then people who take care of children below the age of 6 and then health care workers, emts, doctors, nurses. then the 6-month-old to the 18-month-old child. after that, we go from 18 months to the age of 63. for people who have predisposing medical conditions. >> you talk about the two flus. as if it's double whammy. how does one distinguish? >> you can't really right off the bat. the rough rule of thumb is that the type-a flu which we commonly get in the fall is one that
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involves mostly respiratory symptoms, muscle aches, cough, sneezing. it is a few people that get nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. with the h1n1, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea is far more common and the other symptoms. the only way to know whether you have the h1n1 is to be tested for it. we don't advise that everybody flood the emergency room or your doctor's office and come in thinking you have the flu. if you have problems breathing, if your fingers are blue, lips are blue, toes are blue, vomiting with copious diarrhea and you can't and feel terrible and you can't get out of bed, that is the time to call your doctor. >> okay. i'm glad you have you later on this morning for more details. thank you very much. >> thank you. pleasure. a modern-day david veer sus ga rye yeah story. for the first time in asia, a race between a jetliner and a car and despite being the
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history made on the racetrack this weekend. the filly beat the boys again. let's take a listen. >> here's the wire! rachel won! she is indeed rachel alexandra, the great! >> decaf? saturday rachel alexander became the first filly to win the woodward stakes beating the elder boys and those in her own age in the field. she won preakness in may. she's won nine straight races, earned almost $3 million over her career. and a big upset in the world of tennis.
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two big champs are out at the u.s. open. >> he's done it. >> first, andy roddick with the snackdown from a player he mentored. ron isner beat roddick in a match stretching nearly four hours. meanwhile, melanie oudin continues the winning streak, share to va with defeat at just 17, oudin the youngest u.s. women in the finals, 16 in the last 10 years and this is the second major upset so far at the u.s. open. melanie, you can see right there, joins me live here in the studios in the 11:00 a.m. hour. we are looking forward to what. still ahead, the criticism aimed at the president's plan to address america's school children. how some school districts respond next. (mom) it's summer.
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the white house says it's a pep talk but some conservative commentators calling it indoctrination. a new article takes a closer look at president obama's speech to students tuesday. the text of the speech will be released tomorrow and several school districts are fielding calls from angry parents. some are even threatening to keep their kids home on tuesday. just today where two more school districts one in connecticut and pennsylvania will not show students the president's speech live, rather, they'll decide whether to show it to students at a later date. joining me live from washington, d.c. is liam mika henderson. good morning to you. >> good morning. good to be here. >> i'm glad you're here. this speech was announced last month. why are we seeing all this criticism now? >> well, i think one of the things that happened is uproar from the town halls, in some
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ways embolden the rights and critics of barack obama and seeing now trickle down to the speech that initially just seemed as you said like a pep talk to students, kind of telling them to take responsibility for their own education. it really turned into a very divisive speech and with parents calling saying they don't want their students to watch it and, you know, threatening to pull their kids out of the first day of school so school systems are now reacting to say essentially they don't want any disruption on the first day of school so some of them are essentially saying they're not going to show it on the first day of school. >> what are people in the obama administration saying about this? how concerned are they about the backlash we're seeing? >> what we have seen so far is they have kind of back pedaled in at least two ways. on the one hand they'll release the speech early to essentially calm fears and give parents a heads up to what the content is going to be and changed the language of the teaching material they suggested that
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teachers pass out to their students. because there was this thought that maybe it was -- it was -- i mean, not necessarily indock tri nation but complimentary to the president and read as political so they've changed some of that. i expect on tuesday it is probably going to be a very, you know, innocuous and kind of bland speech. the president probably help the cause if it's a short speech and an essentially just says, hey kids, do well in school. >> were it not for that education department printed material that wept out to schools officials, were it not for that would we be talking about this, do you think? >> well, probably not. i mean, the folks i talked to said that they were -- the calls that they were getting, the parents were concerned mostly about the teaching materials and i mean, if you think about schools, they're very much under local control and very much classroom to classroom so this idea that the federal government was kind of essentially handing
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a lesson plan to teachers really rubbed people the wrong way. one of the things that going forward this is going to mean for the obama administration is there is going to be a new level i think of scrutiny for their education plans. they have got $100 billion in stimulus money to push for reform. so i think they're going to expect from this a lot more scrutiny than they may have gotten before. >> have you heard from the school perfective if they're planning to show the president's address, and they -- a parent doesn't want their child to watch it? are schools making provisionless for that? >> that's exactly what's happening. alternative plans, parents say they don't want their kids to watch it, then another activity to engage in. who knows what? i mean you remember, alex. the first day of school is chaotic, trying to figure out the locker and that kind of stuff so parents and teachers and principipals are communicatg on this and trying to figure out the best solutions. teacher by teacher and student by student. >> yeah. i have a couple of kids heading there this week and all about
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what you just said. thank you so much. >> all right. take care. >> you, too. for more on the push for health care reform, head to our e-mail with an interactive feature to show the overall process and the path the bill must take to become law. let's get the very latest in the jaycee dugard case. sean hornbeck how 18 spent more than four years in the abductor's one-bedroom apartment and offered this insight into why jaycee never escaped -- let's get further into what he had to say. what do you know? >> you know, first of all, alex, let's talk about the similarities and the
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differences. yes, hornbeck was 11 years abducted in missouri but spent four years with the kidnapper, less than a quarter of the time that jaycee dugard spent with hers. also, remember, jaycee had two children with her captor. something that clearly sean hornbeck said the tie that he did not have. still, it does seem that both of them had a measure of freedom. sean, especially, described how to take frequent trips out about town unsupervised and yet he always returned to his captor and that quote you read gives us a little bit of insight as to y. he said he felt brainwashed and jaycee likely felt the same thing and that is why she also never escaped. he also said this about what she is likely experiencing in her newfound freedom --
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so he paints a somewhat positive picture of perhaps the recovery road ahead of her and almost like a description of someone who's under hypnosis, alex, and suddenly wake up and in the case of dugard, it took her 18 years to do it. >> quite a story. we'll get more from you later this morning. thank you. in michigan, the holiday weekend turns deadly for a group of teens. a 15-year-old boy was killed saturday evening when a power boat collided with the jet ski he was driving. the incident happened in the bayou in spring lake right there close to lake michigan. two teen girls were injured and taken to area hospitals. none of the five teens on the boat were injured. astronauts on board "discovery" completed the final spacewalk. they completed seven hours of maintenance setting up cables for a new room and installed
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antennas for the version of a gps device. well, a long island home is in ruins after an airborne car plowed into the second floor. police say it was a suspected drunk driver. the accident happened when the 20-year-old driver sped through a stop sign and hit a mound in the street, a speed bump. the car jumped so hard, it smashed through a wall on the second story of the home and fell into the foyer. no one inside the house was injured. police arrested the driver on charges including driving while sbx kated and reckless endangerment. this week on wall street, a light week for economic news. consumer credit, jobless claims an consumer sentiment. opec meets this week. and apple is expected to roll out an updated ipod on wednesday. word is itunes could start to sell beatles songs.
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flying the sea-filled skies. airline fees are piling up for passengers and now some air travelers will have to shell out more money. joining us here at msnbc is sean o'neil, senior editor of "budget travel".com. i'm not looking at you with stink eye but southwest airlines is tacking on a fee to board early? >> that's right. it is an airline fee for all and southwest is used to be the first in a few waves of boarding, pick your own seat because they don't assign seats and now $10 for one of the first to board to get that privilege. and, you know, southwest is hurting for past nine months, not making money so there's pressure on them to add charges in order to get some extra income. >> do you think that people are going to take advantage of this? this will apply to -- people needing extra time down the walkway or parents with small children be able to board
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without the $10 pee? >> yes. parents with small children to take advantage of the back to backseats can get priority boarding. but -- >> without paying for it. >> without the $10 fee but for everyone else who wants to get in advantage of that, they pay the $10 charge. >> you know, we talk about travel being down overall this labor day weekend by 13%. how's the mindset to get people travel by paying more? >> big surprise story. airlines didn't expect it but passengers are paying the fees. $1.5 billion in fees added. this year doubling to $3 billion. it is great news for the airline owners. richard branson once made the joke that the fastest way to become a millionaire is to start out as a billionaire and run an airline. so airlines are glad that they have the new charges. >> new charges, permanent charges? will we see them forever now? >> i think forever. in fact, this coming season with ski gear, which currently allowed to take for free i think that is the next target.
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>> thinking about that. skis, send them for christmas, terrible. when's the most outrageous fee throughout and any way to avoid it? >> overweight bag fee. if your bag and the contents weighing more than about 50 pounds you are hit with a fee about $39 up to $150 each way. so pack light. or if you pack and then just overweight by a couple of pounds, ask to get it reweighed on another scale because a lot of them lie. inspectors found in new york, boston, south florida, one out of ten scales aren't calibrated correctly. >> or split up the bags, right? one heavy bag with $15 for most extra bag fees, sometimes more. not $39 to $100 and some. >> be savvy about the fee game and share your bags with whoever your traveling partner is. >> okay. thank you very much for joining us from budgettravel.com. >> thank you. still ahead, why the funny
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felines may pull a disappearing act this week. that's my favorite. that story ahead here on msnbc sunday. i'm here on this tiny little plane, and guess what... i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. anything before takeoff mr. kurtis? prime rib, medium rare. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t.
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british police say 90 people arrested following racially charged clashes in the city of birmingham. police say that the arrests followed violence that erupted when a rally against islamic extremism ran into counter demonstrators on saturday. some of the protesters were seen throwing bottles and breaking glass and police said that the 90 people detained were arrested
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on suspicion of criminal damage and violent disorder. it could be a do or die week for health reform. the president returns to washington today ahead of a series of appearances culminating with wednesday night's health reform address to congress and the nation. it starts tomorrow when the president spends labor day at a labor event. a picnic organized by the afl-cio in ohio. i'm joined by athena jones there on the white house lawn. good morning. >> good morning, alex. >> let's get to the president's labor day remarks. is it a preview to the speech before congress on wednesday? >> they certainly might. people will pay close attention. president obama as candidate and president used lesser speeches to try out turns of phrase or new lines of argument. for a bigger speech that may be a few days later. people will be paying close attention. the speech will touch on the economy and health care. on the economy, he'll probably
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spend sometime trying to tout the things the economic stimulus has done that have worked. he might bring up the manufacturing numbers of last week that showed that that sector grew for the first time in a year and a half and he could even touch on friday's unemployment numbers, certainly those numbers showed that the unemployment grew over the last month but the number of jobs lost was the low nest a year. but of course, on health care will be the most interesting to see what he says about the public option. the afl-cio, top official said that the public option is an absolute must and that health care reform -- without it. they threatened democratic congressional members we won't support you at election time if you don't support that. >> until your last statement right there, we won't support you come election time, this is a friendly audience with the afl-cio? >> certainly it is but everyone's trying to draw lines in the sand. also nancy pelosi come out again saying a plan without a public
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option can't pass the house and the congressional kauai sus said similarly with the black caucus and people are trying to pressure the president to come down in favor and to be a lot more commit alto the idea of a public option rather than saying it's good idea. >> i'm thinking, you know, those that pressed for the bipartisan oppression seems angry opponent haves the most traction this debate this summer certainly in august. are we going to see a more aggressive, no nonsense approach from the president? >> well, it is interesting. all along he said we want to work with people who are willing to work with us but certainly all of august you saw the opposition gain control of the debate. the idea now is for the president to come back, use this big setting to try to get the debate back on track. david axelrod said he wants to be specific and bring the debate the last ten yards. the president said we'll be willing to work with whoever's willing to work with us and look at ideas and indicated he won't
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wait forever and i believe we see this week the start of a tougher, tougher language, tougher fight to get something really done this year. >> is this a make or break speech wednesday night for the white house? >> well, you know, they might not say it is but there's a lot of language saying that this is last arrow in the president's quiver, a hail mary pass. certainly these speeches before a joint session are rare so you wouldn't expect the president to come out again in a few more weeks and do the same thing or do another press conference. certainly, this is a big deal, a big setting and it is a big chance for him to come down, bring everyone back to the table, explain to the american people why they should want health care reform and put pressure on congress to get something done because this is one of the huge legislative issues for the year. i would say it's make or break though they might themselves. >> thank you. >> thanks, alex. what would the internet be like without cats? well, why we could find out this
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to all you cat lovers, listen up. you better get your video fix now before it's too light. this wednesday there will be a 24-hour-long feline content blackout, also known as the day woit cats on the internet, or at least that's what the website urless is hoping for.
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oh, it's so true, joining me is ben huff, and it's a great network. it's so fun. i'm one of those typical folks out there, loves the cat videos and captions. good morning, ben. >> good morning. >> what is this day without cats on the internet. what does it mean? how did it come about? >> i think, literally speaking, it's the attempted rise of the underdog. cats have been the king of the animal kingdom since number one. >> who's behind it? >> a couple folks over at aol properties. the editor of urlesk wanted to come up with a day to feature fuzzy animals that were not feel line? >> dogs? gerbils? >> i think she even has chickens
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on the list. >>le has cheezburger -- are you expecting the number to go down? >> i think it will have the opposite effect. i posted a video how we believe if they do go forward, we'll retaliate by launching another cat website on the next day. >> you have enough material? >> tons of pearl. thousands of content comes in every day. >> we have done or research on the web there, and it's youtube's mean kitty channel, which is the 76th most subscribed video sharing site. more subscribers than the nba channel, what is it about cat videos and pictures that they get attention. >> online they have a much bigger following than in the real world.
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it's because they think cat people can share their experiences online tharn dog people. there's no cat park you can go to in real life, so they go to the internet. >> they're just ridiculous. do people -- are they able to train cats to do these kinds of things? we saw the -- is there a way to train cats or do you think they're impromptu? >> i think cats allow us to let them do that. you can't really train a cat. they agree to do things if they feel like it. >> ben, the cat that is walking on its front paws literally like lie a cartoon character, as it crosses the patio or something. can you train a cat to do that? >> i don't think so. i don't think there's any way to train them. i think you'll let them see you
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doing it, that is about it. >> the web side has a list of web sites that are standing behind them, including npr. >> even or dog site called eye of the hot dog is participating. internally that's causing a bit of a problem. >> but you'll still have the cat stuff up on wednesday? >> i think we're going to do it stronger than ever on that day just as a protest. >> i'll be tuning in to you. cats make the best videos. what can you do? >> thank you. ben huh, thank you very much. >> thank you. still ahead, more on the critical week at the white house, as the president begins a new push for health care reform e. here on "msnbc sunday." (mom) it's summer. our kids are ours again. and we want to make the most of every day with them.
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