ahead for you this hour on msnbc sunday, it is beat the clock in cash for clunkers. but when the deal is done, will carmakers really be much healthier snmpblts n healthier. new swine flu worries. who decides who gets the shot? the obamas going on vacation but hurricane bill gets in the way. we into killing naturally. business is booming. >> the return of star power. very good morning, i'm alex witt. 11:00 a.m. eastern here on the east coast, 8:00 a.m. out west. good morning to you all. right now on msnbc sunday, new developments this hour on hurricane bill to share. forecasters have now downgraded that storm to a category 1 hurricane as it mouchs tves up east coast. storm is still packing high winds as it churns up the rough seas creating dangerous rip currents. in florida a surfer drowned after being swept out to sea. a tropical storm warning has been lifted for the massachusetts coastline though but the hurricane watches and thunderstorm warnings remain in effect for parts of canada. bill is not expected to directly hit the mainland u.s. the weather channel's julie martin is live in cape cod, massachusetts all morning. julie, another good morning to you. the beach has just opened up about an hour ago when we talked to you. looks like people are taking advantage of it, at least to come and take a look at what's happening out there. >> absolutely. a pretty angry looking atlantic ocean back there but it is producing a spectacular show. many spectators have lined up here to take it all in. we expect anywhere from 10 to 15-foot swells before high tide which is about 1:20 this afternoon. then things will rapidly diminish as far as the atlantic is concerned and those waves are going to drop down dramatically to around the four-foot range. certainly no one allowed into the water here on cape cod. this area very notorious for drownings due to rip currents so they're keeping everyone out of the water as expected. in new smyrna beach, florida, yesterday a gentleman died trying to body surf during rip tide conditions. we know of 50 water rescues in north carolina. dangerous rip currents kicking up due to hurricane bill. though the hurricane is now racing toward canada. no threat to the u.s. whatsoever except for the dangers out here in the water. alex? >> julie, no more surfers you see with their board trying to get in? you told a great story last year, lifeguards were out, out that there, guy! leave. >> they're out of here. they are very disappointed. they want to get out there as much as you can imagine but they aren't being allowed out, for very good reason. >> exactly. to live to surf another day. thanks very much, julie martin. we will check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins in a few minutes. you can find up to the minute updates on hurricane bill at the weather channel's website. logon to weather.com. across greece today, dozens of wildfires continue to burn at one of the largest of them is near athens. it is 25 miles wide and it continues to destroy homes as it nears the northern suburbs of the greek capital forcing thousands to flee their homes in the middle of the night saturday night. heavy winds are expected to fuel that three-day-old fire. the international manhunt for ryan jenkins presses on today. the former reality show contestant is wanted for the brutal slaying of his ex-wife jasmine fiore. authorities believe he may have escaped into his native canada to escape arrest. canadian police are working to track the fugitive. >> there will be no stone unturned and we'll look under every rock for him. he needs to understand that he's now officially wanted. >> there is a $25,000 reward for information that leads to jenkins' arrest. new today, auto nation, the nation's largest auto dealership chain, has stopped making cash for clunkers deals. they're not alone. across the u.s. dealers are choosing to pull out of this program early for fear that they won't be able to complete all the required paperwork before cash for clunkers ends monday night at 8:00 p.m. that doesn't mean there's not a lot of last-minute rushes for the rebate. >> it's interesting because even this late in the program there's still people coming in the door wanting details because they're just getting wind of this. >> wow. as of friday the government reported 490,000 cars sold in this program. from there to politics now. new this morning, in an appearance on "meet the press," new york senator charles schumer tells david gregory are the democrats may be prepared to go it alone on health care and pass a bill without any republican support. >> the bottom line is we prefer a bipartisan approach and that's why both senator reid, our majority leader, and president obama bent over backwards. but at some point soon after we get back if we don't have a bipartisan bill we'll never be able to meet the goal of having a bill signed into law by the end of the year. so, yes, we are considering alternatives. >> i'm joined live from washington, d.c. by nbc's mike viqueira inside the white house there. mike, talk about these alternatives. what's senator schumer specifically referring to? >> well, basically bipartisanship is the carrot and this new procedure that they could institute to get this thing through with only democratic votes and only 50 of the 100 senators in the senate as opposed to the normal 60 to push this through the senate. that is the stick. it's called reconciliation. they instituted this process as it specifically applies to health care earlier in the year. sort of held it over the heads of republicans trying to get them to the table. there are a lot of questions about whether they can apply it in the end to this health care debate. a lot of people are very angry about the way that this process is moving forward right now. we'll know by september 15th. that's the latest deadline that this committee has set for reaching a bipartisan agreement. in the meantime, if they do go this route, this reconciliation route, you can expect a lot of anger around the country and in the senate. listen to how orrin hatch, the republican from utah, reacted to schumer's remarks today. >> now with the abuse of the process, that was set up, reconciliation, to solve increasing taxes, or lowering taxes or cutting back on public spending or spending more. the fact of the matter is the thing is that there will be an abuse of the process. >> alex, the president and the first family expected very shortly to get to andrews air force base where they will jet off to martha's vineyard. they'll take a break from this debate for about a week. meantime those town halls that we've heard so much about the past few weeks during this congressional break will continue around the country, even while the president is in martha's vineyard and more ads will hit the airwaves. congress gets back i believe the tuesday directly after labor day. >> you see this word "reconciliation" as being somewhat ironic given that there's nothing -- you know what i'm saying? >> yeah. they're not going to be reconciling and joining hands if that process takes place. i've been to a couple of these town halls and the anger there, anxiety of course very palpable. we've all seen it. but what's remarkable about it is the people who are opposing this feel as though the process is being rushed, this is being rammed down their throat. if they go this route, you probably won't even be able to hold those town halls anymore but this is something the left really wants. they think it is time for the president, democrats, you've got the majority in congress, you're here in the white house, flex your muscles, make it happen. there is a lot of tension here. but that's not much news, there's been tension all summer long but it is about to get a lot worse if they use this process, alex. >> more to come, no doubt, mike viqueira, thanks so much. it is still not clear whether a health reform bill will indeed pass this year but the fight over the proposal's already changed the political landscape. for more on where the bill stands now and the biggest winners and losers in this health care fact, i'm joined by lisa leher, reporter forepolitico. if we look at this month of the fierce public debate which you heard mike viqueira saying to us that it's going to get even worse if this reconciliation thing does go through, are we closer or are we further from the health reform bill? >> there's no question that august has been a set-back for the white house. as mike mentioned, it's been a really ugly august. town halls have been nasty with both sides, liberals pushing hard for a public option, conservatives really, really angry about this bill. then there's been the repetition of things that simply aren't in the bill, like death panels. this idea a bureaucratic panel would desitd whcide when it is r grandma to go. administration has had to spend a lot of time correcting this thing. it's like the animals got out of the barn this summer and are running around the yard and they're having to be herded back in to the barn. >> might the obama administration feel the push? >> we're starting to see that. this health care effort has r l really jammed circuits on capitol hill. congress is really only capable of doing one thing at a time. health care is one really, really big thing. that's sort of let other eye or priorities fall through. imposing new rules on banks and other financial actors that contributed to the economic downturn. that's been pushed back a little bit. some of these other priorities have had to slip down the schedule a bit because health care's consumed all the bandwidth. >> could republicans gain things politically from playing nice and working with the democrats and trying to go for some bipartisan health care proposal? >> the republicans, too, are making a bit of a gamble with their strategy on health care reform. their strategy's been to sort of oppose it and oppose it pretty uniformly. they hope that if the bill doesn't pass it will weaken the administration, they'll be able to pick up some seats in the mid term elections in 2010. the gamble is that if the administration gets it done they'll look like they were just trying to obstruct for political purposes. the other gamble i think they're taking, not only if it gets done, but is it popular. republicans oppose social security. it was a really popular program and i think that hurt them later on. the danger is that health care for republicans is that health care reform passes and people like it. then they look like the guys that were standing in the way of a popular program. >> we'll see what happens, lisa lerer, thank you very much. president obama has said he'll only raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. latest gallup poll shows most americans don't believe him. 68% of americans predict their taxes will be higher by the end of president obama's first term, this includes 35% who say they think their taxes will be a lot higher. only 9% think their taxes will be lower by 1012. freedom for a dying terrorist. the fbi director expresses the outrage over the release of a lockerbie bomber. preparing for a swine flu comeback. why might a large segment of the population have trouble getting a vaccine to fight it? you're watching msnbc sunday. progress... it starts with more models than toyota or honda with an epa estimated 30 miles per gallon highway or better. next, it's a lineup of hybrids that fit the way you live, and one day, chevy volt, a car that can go up to 40 miles before it uses that's an american revolution. he needed a computer. it was kind of like a surprise present. he needs to, you know, write papers and go online. budget was definitely a concern. she was like, "help me." so i'm thinking: new cool thing is the netbook. two pounds, three pounds, 160 gigabyte hard drive. really great battery life. we get the netbook. i said, "bring him back into the store. let him pick out his bag." she introduced him to me. and it was like, "you're the guy who got me the netbook." he says, "this never happens, but i'm totally going to hug you right now." 14 past the hour. a live look right now at beach in cape cod, massachusetts where the waves are big and the folks are coming to check it out. bill is a category 1 hurricane now, it's lost some of its steam overnight. the storm is still packing high winds though as it churns up the rough seas. it is creating dangerous rip currents off the east coast. once again, a live look at cape cod. now the latest from nbc meteorologist bill karins. still the question what's the situation now? >> canadian maritimes. come together we'll probably see pictures of some damage out thereof. power outages, minor stuff. nothing horrible. it is still a category 1 hurricane heading to the canadian maritime. that doesn't happen every time. huge waves out there still especially for canada. you can see how it looks. notice new england, all the bright cloud tops are gone. hurricane bill is racing through the canadian maritimes. now moving at 33 miles per hour. at a very fast clip. it's going to be long gone. 85-mile-per-hour winds. still possible gusts up to 105 but that will be over a small area off the coast of nova scotia. all the tropical storm-force winds in orange are right over nova scotia and halifax. this will hit newfoundland, probably hitting st. john. we are rain last night in cape cod, some waves. no damage reported. not even tropical storm-force wind gusts. highest gust i saw was 31 off nantucket. the impressive thing with this storm is the waves. south of nova scotia, two buoys are bobbing up and down in the ocean. big wave producer. not the day to be in a cruise ship. >> anecdotally, do you have fun covering hurricane bill, bill? >> it's been a little interesting. >> i remember when there was a hurricane alex a while back. everyone was so funny about that. >> the names cycle every six years. >> excellent. can't wait. bill, thank you. if you have pictures or video of how hurricane bill is impacting you, we want to see them. be safe of course when you take those pictures or videos but you can upload your images by logging on to firstperson.msnbc.com. in the fight against the spread of swine flu, government health officials are about to launch a massive swine flu vaccination campaign. the campaign is set to begin this fall, aiming to vaccinate at least half the country's population within months. the u.s. has never tried to immunize so many so quickly. let's bring in deborah cox, health senior writer with "u.s. news & world report." good morning again. >> good morning again, alex. >> it is important we go over who is going to be eligible for these swine flu shots because there is not enough to go around for everybody. who gets them? >> there is not enough to go around, unfortunately, for everyone. the government will introduce this vaccine on a rolling basis. that means that they'll vaccinate the high-priority folks first. that group includes pregnant women, it includes children over the age of 6 months, young adults from 18 to 25 and it includes some middle aged folks who have certain health conditions like asthma, reter to conditions or certain immuno compromise positions. as well as health care workers and those care takers who are taking care of babies under the age of 6 months. >> you didn't mention seniors. what about them? what happened there? >> that's right. seniors who are told to get that seasonal from vaccine are not told to get vaccinated against the h1n1. that's because government researchers believe that most elderly folks do have some immunity to this strange of virus that's causing swine flu. >> what about the warning last week from the world health organization saying that this h1n1, the number of cases of this is going to explode in the near future. you've got countries that can expect flu cases to double every three to four days for several months? if that's what we have looking ahead, should everyone be vaccinated? >> i think that ideally the government would like to vaccinate most people and by the end of the year really have that going in full force. the problem is there's simply not enough vaccine to go around. there's no vaccine at this point. they're note expecting any vaccine until mid-october. yes, there is concern. at the moment this blue is really acting like a regular seasonal flu but there's some concern that it could be more severe and that it could spread quite rapidly especially as kids head back to school and that is where the flu tends to spread the most rapidly, just within those school buildings. >> deborah, i'm going to repeat your advice to everybody. it echoes sentiments of our own dr. nancy who has said time and time again, wash your hands and if you are sick stay home from school or work, don't get out there and keep perpetuating this swine flu. right? >> that's right, absolutely. >> excellent. thank you so much. farmers in southern france are in an uproar. so steamed about food imports that some farmers stormed a supermarket and trashed right through the produce department. the farmers then began blocking access to the market. and then they dumped that load of tires and trash on the road. i'm guessing they made their point. what do you think? 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