American Morning
We Listen – Your comments 8/18/08
American Morning’s Tuesday audience continued to express concern over health care reform with viewers remaining confused as to why President Obama and his administration apparently stepped back from supporting a public insurance option over the weekend.
- Susan: Those conservative democrats need to get on board and vote for the public option. It appears to me they are trying to put a damper on this thing. OBAMA needs to twist some arms. This is no plaything. It has to be a public option or all people will not be covered. This is something Obama must pass.
- Donna: Amazing, now the Union and Acorn members are out protesting, they are not considered a Mob or organized group even though they have their professionally made Obama signs; this isn’t about dems, reps or indps, it is about a government take over plan that can not get Medicare, Medicaid and SS right;' fix those programs first. Doing the same thing over again, which doesn’t work, is crazy
- Marlena: Although the stock market dropped considerably yesterday, all health insurance companies spiked up because there was talk of dropping the public option. Those who say they support the insurance companies obviously have not needed to use their policy. If they had, they would find out their deductible is more than they thought and the coverage was less.
- Elvira: why aren’t members of congress showing their support of house health reform by signing up to single payer and giving up health coverage taxpayers grant them?
are federal employees exempt?
FULL POST
The War at Home: Young vets' invisible wounds
It's the psychological wounds of war that may take the longest to heal.
The New York Times reports the Army plans to put all of its soldiers through intensive mental stress training. It's meant to improve combat performance but also help prevent depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
In the second part of our "War at Home" series, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on how soldiers are struggling to cope with life away from the front lines.
Expert: Iran is in a pre-revolutionary state
Three Americans hikers – Shane Bauer, 27; Sarah Shourd, 31; and Josh Fattal, 27 – were picked up by Iranian authorities when they strayed across the border while hiking in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan last month. They were arrested on allegations of entering Iran illegally from northern Iraq. Iran is now saying that they are spies.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/18/baer.bob.cnn.art.jpg caption="Former CIA officer Robert Baer says Iran is potentially in a 'pre-revolutionary state.'"]
Robert Baer is a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East and the author of “The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.” He spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday.
Kiran Chetry: So we don’t know much about the condition of the three Americans detained in Iran. We know that they've been held there for about two weeks now. And we've heard very little about what's happened to them. They're up against courts being run by hardliners. They’re being accused of being spies. How dangerous is this situation for them?
Robert Baer: It's particularly dangerous because Iran, as we know, is going through a volatile situation. There's been a virtual military takeover. The regime is insecure. Clerics in Qom, the holy city, have attacked the regime. And I think we're going to - they're going to play hardball with these three guys. I mean, they're not spies. And so this could be drawn out for a very, very long time.
CNN Truth Squad: No eye care until you're blind in one eye?
The Statement:
Florence Mackie of North Carolina writes to CNN, "I got a disturbing e-mail that said the new health bill would not help a person with macular degeneration until they lost the vision in one eye first." She asks, "Is this true?"
The facts and the verdict after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »
What’s on Tap – Tuesday August 18, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- Is the White House wavering? It was billed as the backbone to his health care plan. But is President Obama considering reform, this morning – without a government-backed public option? We're breaking through the politics and getting the real answers.
- In a health care town hall in Arizona, a man was in the crowd toting, not just a gun, but two – legally. There was an assault rifle on his back and a hand-gun at his waist. The man says he was just exercising his rights while protesting the president's health care reform. In fact, police say about a dozen people at the Phoenix event were armed. That has some political observers asking: is this the start of a disturbing new trend? Or are people just exercising their rights?
- The “x-files” released. Thousands of pages of documents detailing all kinds of alleged UFO sightings. But it turns out, people go alien crazy when Hollywood does. Are these really close encounters, or are we just buying the hype?
- Would you rather get a good night's sleep, or have great sex? According to a Westin Hotel survey, sleep wins. We do hear their beds are comfy. 51-percent of travelers say they'd rather have a perfect night's sleep than great sex. Believe it or not, more men than women choose sleep over sex. And "ohhh" Canada. Our friends to the north, were the only group to pick sex over sleep.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
