American Morning
We Listen – Your comments 7/2/09
Editor's Note: Canadians chastised American Morning on Thursday for misrepresenting their health care system and reporting it in a negative context. Most believed that any American would be pleased with such health care.
- Carolina: Jim Acosta's report on health care – Please DO NOT keep referring to Canada as a negative health care system. It works VERY well here. Please come to Canada and interview people, educate your own people on how well this system works. All I can say is Canada is not in the mess that the US is in and we can take care of the health of our people – how is it working for you guys????
- Edward: John, I watched your bit on the health care fight in the us. I find it funny how the one side keeps threatening that your heading toward a Canadian system and that’s just so bad. John, I remember watching you up here on city TV so you should know how our system here in Canada is. Why don’t you do a bit comparing our two countries healthcare systems because the average American doesn’t have a clue. I would bet most Americans would love to have Canadian healthcare. Thanks a Canadian fan...
How would you feel if you had the same health care coverage as is available in Canada? Do you believe their system of coverage is appropriate for U.S. citizens? What would ideal universal heath care look like to you?
Insurance companies dumping sick people?
Democrats on Capitol Hill are passing around new details on a revised plan for health care reform. The president took his version of the plan to an online town hall meeting Wednesday, taking aim at so-called "scare tactics" from his opponents.
Critics say it's the first step towards government-run health care. CNN's Jim Acosta sat down with one insider from the health insurance industry.
FAA whistle-blower safety warnings found to have merit
By Allan Chernoff
CNN Sr. Correspondent
A federal investigation into Federal Aviation Administration employee whistle-blower safety complaints has found more than two dozen to be on the mark, CNN has learned, potentially putting the public's safety at risk.
The federal Office of Special Counsel, which investigates allegations of reprisal against whistle-blowers, tells CNN it has made a "positive determination" that the FAA improperly responded to 27 current cases of FAA employee whistle-blowers warning of safety violations ranging from airline maintenance concerns to runway and air traffic control issues.
"It means that FAA is a very sick agency," said Tom Devine, legal director of the non-profit Government Accountability Project. "There's never been an agency that's had that large of a surge of whistle-blowers whose concerns were vindicated by the government's official whistle-blower protection office."
The Department of Transportation told CNN, "We acknowledge it's a large number of cases."
"We take whistle-blower complaints very seriously and we fully cooperate with all of the investigations," said FAA spokesperson Laura J. Brown.
Among the warnings found to have merit are those of FAA inspector Christopher Monteleon, who flagged safety problems at Colgan Air for several years before a Colgan plane crashed near Buffalo in February killing 50 people. He told CNN he's faced retaliation at the FAA for pointing out issues including faulty aircraft manuals and poor cockpit procedures he observed during in-flight aircraft testing.
Job market takes turn for worse
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The battered U.S. labor market took a step backwards last month as employers trimmed more jobs from their payrolls in June, according to a government report Thursday.
There was a net loss of 467,000 jobs in June, compared with a revised loss of 322,000 jobs in May. This was the first time in four months that the number of jobs lost rose from the prior month.
The June job losses were also far worse than the forecast of a loss of 365,000 jobs by economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The unemployment rate rose for the ninth straight month, climbing to 9.5% from 9.4%, and hitting another 26-year high. Economists had been expecting that the unemployment rate would hit 9.6%.
Nearly 3.4 million jobs have been lost during the first half of 2009, more than the 3.1 million lost in all of 2008.
Bennett: Sanford needs to stop 'embarrassing himself'
(CNN) – Mark Sanford is "embarrassing himself" and needs to resign as governor of South Carolina, conservative talk radio host and CNN contributor Bill Bennett said Thursday on CNN's American Morning.
Bennett, the latest high profile conservative to call for Sanford's ouster, said it's time for the onetime Republican rising star to ditch politics and focus solely on getting his life back in order.
"I know Mark Sanford. I know him quite well," Bennett said. "He needs to get his life back in order, his marriage back in order. He is embarrassing himself."
"There is the old notion of indecent exposure, usually that refers to somebody showing some skin, and there's another form of indecent exposure. He is telling us way too much," Bennett continued. "We're not interested. He needs to stop and take care of his life."
Bennett also suggested the GOP can easily fill the gap Sanford would leave.
"We have other people," he said. "We have other people who are not only fiscally interesting and sound but also can keep their lives together. "
Bennett's comments come as more than half of the Republicans in the state senate have now called for Sanford to step down, as well as a host of other GOP leaders in the state. Sanford has indicated he does not intend to resign.
"The whole thing is pretty ugly. It needs to stop," Bennett also said.
Blogger calls Joe Jackson "shameless"
Three days after Michael Jackson’s death, Joe Jackson talked up his record label on the red carpet at the B.E.T. Awards. Some people have quietly questioned the actions of Michael Jackson’s father during the grieving process.
Journalist and blogger Jimi Izrael is questioning his behavior loudly on theroot.com, calling Joe Jackson “shameless.” He spoke to Kiran Chetry Thursday on CNN’s “American Morning.”
Kiran Chetry: You have some pretty harsh words about Joe Jackson. Why do you feel he did not necessarily look like the father in mourning after the death of Michael?
Jimi Izrael: Well, look, you know, when somebody dies – like when Nipsey Russell died for instance I was looking to his family as I was mourning to get some idea what the tone was. And the way it goes when people die, you look to the family members to get some idea of how to react. The sister's all broken up, the mom is in pieces and the dad's off in the corner trying to sell bootleg T-shirts and CD’s. I got to say it’s a bad look. Joe Jackson just hit the wrong note.
Chetry: You were especially critical of that red carpet appearance. He spoke to our Don Lemon saying he owned a record company called Ranch Records distributed by Blu-ray technology and that's the next step. You say he was pitching his music label. How did other people react to that when you spoke to them?
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