all americans in yemen to be vigilant because of the threats. white house counterterrorism advisor john brennan was on "fox news sunday" and said this is because of indication of some kind of attack in yemen with the embassy a possible target. he says we are not going to take chances with the lives of embassy staff. and also today, the british prime minister gordon brown announced the u.s. and britain agreed to fund a joint counterterrorism unit in yemen. jamie? >> jamie: so the president's top counterterrorism advisor did appear on a number of sunday shows. what is he saying specifically, though, about the christmas day attack? >> right. that's john brennan. he is leading the white house review of the attack. he says there is no smoking gun here. n the early stages of this investigation. what he sees is a failure to connect the dots. here is some of what he had to say this morning. >> there was no smoking gun. there was no piece of intelligence that said this guy is going to get on a plane. no, none whatsoever. the it was failure to integrate and piece together the bits and pieces of information. >> brennan said it's because of the lapses in errors and intelligence sharing that looks be, that looks to be the case, jamie. back to you. >> i want to ask you, because congressman pete king, ranking member of the homeland security member was here in the last hour and said that he disagreed with the comments that there was enough to go on, that abdulmutallab should have been put on a watch list. what are other republicans saying? is this becoming a blame game, somewhat bipartisan? >> i would say there is some finger-pointing between the agencies. several of the republicans, though, on some of the morning shows did not agree. they said it was a failure to connect the dots. and then perhaps there was not enough of a smoking gun. another main point of disagreement that they had with the obama administration is on the overall handling of how the suspect will be tried. they disagree with the decision to try him in criminal court. here is republican senator kit bond. >> this is not a case for series of criminal trials. we tried that in the '90s after the first attack on the world trade center, embassy bombings, cole ail t attack. this is war and it's time that we reacted to the war attacks that are coming at us. >> senator bond said he would prefer military commissions for the trial. some republicans have also criticized homeland security secretary janet napolitano for saying that the system worked the weekend after the christmas day attacks but senator bond says that raised eyebrows but it's not grounds to remove her. >> jamie: it seems like that is an issue that won't be answered for some time as far as the trials. thanks so much for the latest from washington. eric? >> eric: jamie, the white house says when it comes to the terror threats in yemen, the u.s. is not taking any chances. and the white house counterterrorism chief, john brennan, who you just saw also told "fox news sunday" this morning that there will be an ongoing threat from al-qaeda in yemen until the government there gets better handle on terrorism. so is yemen now the new front in the war against al-qaeda? joining us retired major general marks, former intelligence officer, managing partner of urgo.net, global research and consulting firm. general, good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> eric: good. it's amazing. from yemen all the way from there to the heart of our country, over detroit with the airplane plot. how can we realistically try and stop terrorists from coming here? >> i mean obviously that is question number one we have to attack on multiple fronts. it's inappropriate for us to look at yemen as the new front on terrorism. this has been an ongoing problem for years. in fact, it's clearly the nexus of a whole bunch of issues, what i call a petri -- petri dish for terrorism in that there is lack of strong governmental iinstitutioinstitu. you have issue with secessionist in the south and tribal in the north. it's a mix where it will take a lot of focus can. what we've done over years is is we thought we had the problem in a box after the strike on harithn 2002, and killed one of the leaders for a-q. now we have a.q. in the arabian peninsula and it will take effort for us to focus back, because we've been diverted elsewhere, obviously. >> eric: what went wrong? if you go back to the uss cole that was bomb and 23 al-qaeda terrorists implicated in that were left jailed. they escaped. why have we -- or have we ignored it insufficiently? >> without being not dan tick, in military terms it's economy of force. we foused against iraq and now afghanistan and we had a problem in yemen that simmer and we need to focus on that. we're going to do that. frankly, we have been doing that, but we need to step it up and make it more aggressive. >> eric: we spent $70 million there last year in anti-terrorism effort. is it enough? clearly it isn't if you have the training camps and they say they're like 200 al-qaeda terrorists wannabes, the young kids they claim ready to try to get on board airplanes and bomb them. >> absolutely. no lack of recruits, no lack of issues in terms of trying to get young men willing to give their lives for this global jihad, which is clearly what it's all about. so, obviously, what we've spent in terms of time and effort has been insufficient. we have had key successes. we just need to nail more of those against the wall and make some real progress in the short-term. we have to show some real progress. >> eric: specifically, how do we do that? the president is sending about 30,000 new troops in afghanistan. should u.s. forces be deployed to yemen? how do we, as you say, nail the successes against al-qaeda at this time, at this moment when we need it the most? >> i think at this point, and if we were to inject forces in yemen right now, that would be completely out of context. i think we do incredibly more damage. now, because we don't -- we don't necessarily have to put forces on the ground. but in terms of intelligence and generating targetable, actionable intelligence against some precise targets, that is really tough, very precise work. but we've got the mechanisms in place and it starts with sharing with the yemeni forces that will work in a collective effort with the united states and other coalition partners like the u.k. to go after very precise targets to start knocking out some of these base camps and some of what i call the mechanisms of control. >> eric: if the base camps are there and the yemeni forces know about it and we know about it and presumably the satellites know about that, why haven't we done anything concrete about it? >> we have. we had strikes on 24th of december and we had successes. we need to keep the pressure up and start at the bottom at well. that's what i call a top-down strike to achieve results. we have to start from the bottom and move it up as well. >> eric: what is more amazing to me, you have about 200 estimated 200 al-qaeda recruits there. you know, actually in the scheme of things, it doesn't seem like a lot. it seems like we could isolate and target them. >> we can. frankly, we're moving in that direction. again, we need to pick up the pace. 00 terrorist -- 200 terrorists, it only took one on the airline to get our attention. significant target to do something about it. >> eric: do we know who they are? abdulmutallab were in london and it turns out that mi-5, the british intelligence service, knew about him. do we know that each one of the 200 guys, who they are, where they're from? how do we get this type of intelligence? >> we don't know all of that level of detail but we know enough of it. for us to get into the discussion about a smoking gun, really paints an inappropriate picture about intelligence. look, there is very little chance that there is ever going to be a real discernible smoking gun. intelligence is all about connecting dots. in many cases, the dots are very imprecise and aren't necessarily as discernible as they could be. or they need to be. but we need to act on those aggressively. it's all about taking risks and we need to take more. >> eric: that is the challenge. that is the challenge before us. in yemen and elsewhere, where al-qaeda wants to attack our country. major general marks, good to see you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> eric: jamie? >> jamie: let's go now to the impact of politics on the fight against terror. past attacks have inspired a united front in washington. but the failed christmas day attack has brought more of a blame game. there is finger pointing going on, on both sides of the aisle. is bipartisan politics no longer possible in today's political landscape when it comes to what to do next to prevent terror attacks? here with his take, fox news contributor doug showen. good to see you. >> yep. >> jamie: let's talk about this. there is definitely finger pointing going on, on both sides of the aisle. the question is: how do you come up with a resolution, a plan to move forward, that is truly bipartisan when the republicans are basically saying that the democrats are focussed too much on other issues like healthcare and climate change and cap and trade? and the democrats are saying that the republicans are actually accusing the republicans of standing in the way of, for example, president obama's tsa appointment and expanded tsa funding. where do you see all of this going? >> it's not going in a good direction. jamie, we're all americans. we are in a war. kit bond was right. what the president needs to do is to bring the congressional leadership to the white house. sit down, brief them on one he's doing. and a get them to commit to a bipartisan plan to work together to make america more secure and to lower our voices, end the rhetoric and fight the enemy. not fight one another. >> jamie: is that a risky proposition for both sides? because as we look toward mid-term, terrorism is sure i would imagine to become an issue of greater importance, as we look at war policy, and we look at funding. and we see where unemployment numbers are. so, in the past, really, the g.o.p. had take an position on terroriterrorism, and where the democrats stand when many of the liberal left are against war? and the focus for them might be more on let's say the environment. >> well, i think the leadership starts with the president. and the president made it clear that there have been security breaches here. there have been mistakes. but more important is that he needs to govern in a bipartisan fashion. he sets the tone. and i think the time for politics is during the campaign, jamie. it hasn't started yet. he has to make it clear that we have been overarch -- we have an overarching commitment to our security and he has to make it clear to republicans we all need to work together. there is enough risk on both sides to go around. but there is a greater risk to national security. >> jamie: how do these things work, doug? there is a meeting that the president called with the security advisors and earlier we had a member of the homeland security committee who said he is unaware of any republican that's been invited to that meeting. i don't know whether that's true or not. i tried to do research, and many of the committees and agencies, i should say correctly, that are responsible for the security will be at the table. i have don't know what their political affiliation is. primarily, they are appointees of the president. is it a game-changer that this issue will be at the forefront, at least in the coming months or two, as we try to get our country as safe as it can be. we know that healthcare is still very much on the agenda. for those who will run in the mid-term elections, how do they play it, and how does it work in terms of the president embracing both sides of the aisle on this issue? >> i think he has to embrace both sides of the issue, because of the threat we're facing. whether it be afghanistan, iraq, or now yemen. so, there may well be a meeting tuesday, where the administration quite appropriately gets together to talk about the real steps that need to be taken to make us more secure. but i think the president needs to set the tone on a political level and bring the leadership to the white house to make it clear what he's doing, how he's trying to do it, and to suggest that talking about the past, what george bush may or may not have done, or the lapses that he's acknowledged that happened in his own administration is really not what is going to make america secure. what will make us secure is posing united threat against the enemy. >> jamie: what about the country as a whole, in terms of as your experience as p, the fact that afghanistan, we had the speech at west point, and the president announced there would be a surge. and many of the marines have been deployed. more will. and now the focus expands with an al-qaeda network in yemen. we have to watch somalia. not just afghanistan and iraq at this point. how does america respond as they look at who they want for their elected representatives and what funding they feel their pocketbook can afford? >> you're absolutely right. the american people feel fundamentally that they want everybody working together. and by working together, we can achieve common priorities about where we should spend our money, where our taxes should go to, and what people should be willing to pay. i mean, you know, what about war bonds to support this effort? one democrat bill nelson from florida suggested it. a good idea. but we really have a common purpose as a nation, jamie, and the political leadership, the people of america believe need to reflect that common purpose, not the separate partisan interest. >> jamie: doug, interesting discussion. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, jamie. >> jamie: take care. >> thank you. >> eric: well, a man accused of killing four members of his own family during thanksgiving has now been arrested in florida. and cops give the credit to the fox television show "america's most wanted" which aired last night. u.s. marshals finally nab paul merhige at a motel in the florida keys. his arrest was just over a month after police say merhige sat through a three-hour thanksgiving dinner, sang in a sing-along with his relatives, then walked out to his car and came back shooting, killing his twin sisters, his aunt and his little 6-year-old cousin who was sleeping in bed. now get the latest from the keaton who is in our -- phil keeting who is in the miami bureau. how did they nab him? >> it was because of the show "america's most wanted." the owners of a motel down there in the florida keys, right in between the direct middle between key largo and key west. in the town, or the island of long key. that is where the edgewater lodge motel sits, and according to the owners they were watching the show last night and spotted the guy profiled the story about the thanksgiving day massacre. and that's when the husband and wife said to each other, isn't that the guy sitting up in room 14? they called authorities and then they responded. the u.s. marshals, as well as the monroe county sheriff deputies. and they smashed through the window of the room. they tasered merhige. and merhige, according to the hotel's owners, had checked in on december 2 under a fake name of john baka, and apparently had been planning not to leave their for a while. they found many cans of beans, fig newton, jars of peanut butter, empty box of snickers. also color retention conditioner. leading some to speculate that perhaps he was trying to disguise his identity. but the hotel owners say he had not left really, hardly at all that hotel room -- the motel. he was basically camping out. as you can imagine, relatives of the victims, extremely relieved. >> actually, there were no tears. no really jubilation either. it was a relief that the monster is in the cage. >> now merhige had his first court appearance this morning up in palm beach county. he is now going to be charged with four counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. eric? >> eric: yeah. that was a photographer with the local television station with florida, certainly relieved at this arrest after more than a month. phil keeting in miami. coming up in a few moments we will talk to the jump-start jump-start -- talking to the jupiter, florida, law enforcement with the latest on the capture of paul merhige. >> jamie: a blustery start to the new year. snow in new england and great lakes today. other places like new york city, we got a hit of frigid air. not so bad in here, though. thank you,er rishgs t erieric, the thermostat. rick makes fun of me. rick reichmuth in the weather center. people are suffering, look at the temperatures. what is the latest? >> the northeast, we say we are suffering because it's 20 degrees. look at the temperatures from yesterday. there is minus 37 degrees. norfolk, nebraska, minus 16. these aren't wind chill. these are actual air temperatures yesterday. dangerously cold temperatures and no changes in sight for this week. maybe for a couple of days. i'll show you that in a second. northeast, the temps are cold. notice b banbangore, maine, is stationary it pulled the warmer air move in from the north. minus 7 in minneapolis. the cold air sunk to atlanta where you are 25. tampa is 43. you have're probably not going to get out of the 40s today in tampa. that does not happen often. that's not why you live in florida. here is some snow across the plains. this is going to amount to an inch or two. up across the northeast, the storm is still here and it will slowly pull out. as it does, we'll still see some more snow, especially across the great lakes. winds are going to continue to be very strong here. and probably we'll see some areas maybe picking up six or 12 inches of snow. the high temperatures for the day. if you want warm temperatures, go to los angeles. 72. go inland a few miles, maybe around 78 or 80 degrees. there you go. that's why you live in los angeles. >> jamie: los angeles, miami, i'm staying here. good to see you, rick. thank you. everyone, stay warm. >> eric: so, they let the guys out of the guantanamo bay. many are from yemen. and where do they end up? in yemen, they say. in some cases planning to attack us again. that's what we allegedly saw with the christmas day airline terror plot. so is it really the best time to let those detainees go back home? we'll have some insight on that new question next. we trapped kimberly in this glass box with dust! well, it's only dust. dust contains allergens... from pet dander and dust mites. - ew! - pledge traps up to... 84% of allergens in dust. allergen trappers -- that's the beauty of pledge. s.c. johnson -- a family company. >> eric: in turkey, two passenger trains collided head-on, killing one of the drivers. seven other people were hurt in the crash. authorities say the accident was called by an electrical fault that led to a signal failure on the tracks. one of trains went through the signal when it should have stopped. turkey's government has been working to try to improve the country's rail system. signal malfunction, deteriorating tracks and lack of barriers at road crossings they say have been big problems in turkey the past few years. >> jamie: florida police say yes, it was a tip given to "america's most wanted" for finding a man accused of killing four relatives on thanksgiving and they say they have their man. officers capturing paul merhige at hotel in the florida keys, saying that merhige gunned down four family members at a thanksgiving dinner jupiter, florida. who could forget the story? dead, his twin sisters, 79-year-old aunt and a little girl, his cousin, 6-year-old michaela. joining us on the phone is sergeant scott pascerella. thank you for being with us. >> good morning. >> jamie: tell us what happened when the arrest took place? >> it was shortly before the air showed on "america's most wanted" last night and through the continuous coverage they provided previewing the case the last couple of weeks linked to the tip of this called in "america's most wanted." the tipster indicated a suspect that strongly resembled paul merhige checked in this motel on december 2 of last year. and he was actually operating a blue toyota. but did not know the license plate number. because of the information that we received through the tip, very credible, very reliable, we actively pursued that tip aggressiaggressively w the u.s. marshal service and monroe county sheriff office. they responded to the motel. were able to immediately confirm that was paul merhige staying in that motel room. and fortunately, they gained entry and took him in custody without incident. >> jamie: did he identify himself and did he have a weapon? >> i do not know if there was any weapons inside the motel room. that's still part of our continuing investigation as far as the vehicle being at that location where the weapons may be. but he pretty much did not give up -- he did not give any resistance during the arrest. >> jamie: has he said anything? >> not to my knowledge, no. >> jamie: asked for an attorney? >> i do not know that yet. >> jamie: okay. where is he being held and what has he been charged with? >> he's actually being held at the county jail. he he went through his first appearance this morning held without bond and he's been charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted first degree murder. >> jamie: for this family -- and i did have the chance to speak with them when they were just trying to have him found, you can never bring back your family members, but is there a sense of relief to them that he has been located and that justice potentially if he is convicted for them would be served? >> absolutely. in talking to jim fenton last night and listening to him talk to other media outlets, he was very relieved that this part of the case is over. obviously, you know, this doesn't bring back his daughter. but it brings some closure of this part of the investigation in this case. and now moving forward with the prosecution. >> jamie: well, they -- it's an unspeakable crime and an incredible family. sergeant, thank you very much for bringing us the very latest. we'll continue to follow the case. >> thank you. >> jamie: eric? >> eric: you know, jamie, for many of us out of work, the end of 2009 did not come soon enough. but there are signs fewer people are getting pink slips. is there a real recovery in the works or will unemployment go up again when the new numbers are released at the end of the week? when will companies begin hiring again? 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[ male announcer ] more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get any carpet installed for just 97 bucks -- any brand, any style, any number of rooms. >> jamie: well, it is a new year for u.s. troops in afghanistan. many are hoping to achieve progress in the country stability and the continued fight against militants. but will new efforts only trigger more attacks? connor powell taking a look at that live from us from kabul, afghanistan. good to see you, connor. >> well, jamie, pretty much everyone here in afghanistan thinks that the violence will continue can to increase can and that 2010 will be a more deadly and violent year than 2009, which was already a record year for violence and casualties in afghanistan. now, general mcchrystal said time and time again that the violence will get worse before it gets better. in part, though, he says it's because there were more american, more international and more afghan troops out in the field taking on the insurgency here. as we speak, the additional 30,000 troops that president obama has sent to afghanistan, they are beginning to arrive. and they will soon begin to fan out across afghanistan to try to regain parts of the country that are currently held by the taliban insurgents. now, at the same time, the second part of the mcchrystal strategy in afghanistan is a massive push to reduce corruption in the afghan government led by afghan president hamid karzai, which is widely seen as one of the most corrupt governments in the world. also to build up the afghan security forces so that the government and police and army are capable of taking over control of afghanistan in the next 18 to 24 months. but in many ways, jamie, it's the second part of the mcchrystal strategy, ability of the afghan government and security forces that will be the most difficult part of the plan here in afghanistan, jamie. >> jamie: connor powell, live for us in kabul. connor, stay safe. thanks. >> eric: some are asking this morning is it time to lock the door at gitmo? with yemen clearly an al-qaeda hotbed, should the bam ball administra obama administration adjust plans for gitmo? the 200 detainees are from yemen and some have returned to yemen and authorities say one is al-qaeda's number two there. so with the troubles in the country right now, is this really the best time for them to be sent home? joining us now is cullly simpson, legal fellow at the heritage foundation and former deputy assistant secretary for defense for detainees. mr. simpson, welcome to fox news channel this morning. >> good morning. call me cullly. >> eric: all right. let me get this straight. the guys in gitmo, we release them and they go back to yemen where they join al-qaeda and vow to kill us again. is that what is happening? >> essentially we have people who have graduated from gitmo who have decided not to take advantage of the programs they've been put in, in saudi arabia. and then graduate from those programs and go back to yemen and assume leadership roles in al-qaeda. it's sime for strategic pause for transferring detainees from guantanamo. that needs to happen. >> eric: they go from gitmo, they go through the programs, to saudi arabia and they end up in yemen. one allegedly implicated in the bombing plot. you said, "graduated." what type of programs do they have? is it true they're thought art therapy? >> that is correct. there were three main populations at gitmo, eric. the yemenis, the saudis and the afghans. the afghans are mostly back if afghanistan. the saudis have gone for the most part through this religious reeducation program that includes among other things art therapy and other things. some of the people who graduated from the saudi rehabilitation program have taken back and gone of course to yemen. that's why allowing any of the 97 or so yemenis back to yemen is problematic. we don't want them to join jihad again. >> eric: the saudis, and maybe what -- do we think painting pictures like kindergarten is going to make them give up the terrorist ways? >> i don't. the saudis among other things the course offers the art therapy. i think it's -- the jury is out to say the least about whether that is helpful. what needs to happen, eric, we need a strategic pause for any transfers out of gitmo. we need to de-link closing gitmo, which the administration wants to do from transferring from people. because they said they're going to be able to hold people for long detention. they say they're not going to close gitmo for 2011. we have time to do that. then we need hearings on the hill, classified hearings on the hill to see what the recidivists have done and whether they've honored the obligation to our country. >> eric: so what you are saying it's not clear when we release them how many of them go and get a real job or how many return to their old ways? >> what is clear, eric, is that the recidivism is well above 15%. i think it's at least double that. but the administration has been reluctant to release the numbers. >> eric: you think that 30%, a third of the gitmo detainees who have been released are going back and joining al-qaeda? >> i think the number is substantially higher than the official number put out by the administration. it just. do -- i just. do i have don't think there is a way to know the exact number. it's higher and congress needs to get involved. they need to brief them on everything they know about the gitmo detainees that have gone back to jihad. after we put that together decide whether or not we want to transfer more folks. yemen can make a gesture of good faith and hand back the cole bombers through the expedition process they've been reluctant to give it to us. >> eric: you have shareef who is 36 years old, in our custody. it was the bush administration in november of 2007 that released him from gitmo. and he's now allegedly number two and is implicated being part of the airplane bombing plot. why was he released back in 20 2007? >> i don't know why he was released then. it wasn't in office when it happened. i can tell you cuso and al-badawi the cole bombings who con fenced to the cole bombing has allegedly been convicted in yemen but are out on the streets doing their own thing. yemen needs to step up to the plate and allow them to be extradited yemen so we can try them in the courts for killing 17 american sailors and i jurying i injuring 38 fog of the uss cole. >> eric: why can't we grab them like others and put them ol trial? >> we might be able to do that but we would be reluctant to snap and grab them. it's a better way fortune if the yemeni government working with us and the intelligence joint capability worked the extradition process, grabbed them legally, bring them here to the united states to face the justice in a federal court. >> eric: there are still 90 or so of the yemenis in gitmo now and the obama administration just released six of them a couple of weeks ago before the bombing plot occurred. clearly some big questions about this. cully stimson, thank you for joining us on the fox news channel. >> thank you. sure. >> eric: jamie? >> jamie: well, here is a dilemma. for a lot of people, the bake sales at schools seem almost as american as apple pie. just like the car wash is too. but this tasty fundraising tradition has become taboo now at schools in new york, because there are growing fears about childhood obesity. it has a lot of parents upset at the loss of revenue the schools could have when school budgets are already slim. laura ingle has the story. she's in new york. do i remember the bake sales, laura. >> they were always a lot of fun. the past bake sales were sure-fire way for students to rake in extra cash for the extra clicurricular school activity but now that it's changed it's left them hungry for cash. number on overweight and unhealthy kids in america helped form a new wellness policy put in place last june by the department of education and department of healthcare in new york. well, the new policy includes strict nutritional standards for food sold at school. and made it so that only parent-teacher associations, not students could hold bake sales and only once a month after the school lunch period. >> in all honesty, i don't see how it's going to make my child fat once a month. if i have an issue with my child, you know, being a little bit overweight and i know there is a bake sale, i'm not giving him the dollar. >> the average bake sale can bring in $300 to $500. that is in one day. that's extremely profitable. >> when the rules changed, students rallied and started petitions going on social networking sites like facebook and twitter to get the word out to help sway school officials so they can continue to turn a profit. those at the department of education say it's not about trying to reduce the amount of money that can be made for kids. it's about not contributing to a recognized on going health problems in the nation's schools. >> there is all this talk that we are raising the first generation of americans that may live sicker and die younger than their parents. if we are going to avoid that prediction and hopefully make it not come true, we have to take a lot of comprehensive steps. >> well, when we talked with the department of education about the bake sale slap they told us they are looking to see if there could be some compromise made with the rule and hopefully lead the way for other cities to help combat obesity and keep kids fit. >> jamie: got to balance those two. thank you, laura. >> eric: millions of american lost their jobs last year. but there are signs the mass layoffs that marred 2009 have begun to eaease. so will companies begin hiring more workers in 2010? we'll have the job outlook for the new year coming up next. coming up live from washington, dan lungren and democrat adam smith join us to talk about what mistakes led to the botched christmas day attack on flight 253 and who should be held accountable? and the debate over the body imaging scanners at the airport. aclu attorney will tell us why they're fight something hard against them. and one state attorney general who is warning he may sue over the senate's healthcare plan. all that and your latest news coming up in about 20 minutes. >> jamie: 20 million people collected jobless ben it in in 2009. the unemployment rate skyrocketing to double digits. is the worst over? ask peter marisi, former chief economy frist the u.s. international trade commission and university of maryland business professprofes. peter, great the see you. >> nice to be with you. >> jamie: for those folks who had to collect unemployment, they know who they are. they're looking for good news. will they find it in 2010? >> well, the economy will start adding jobs again in the first quarter of 2010. however, it won't add them fast enough to bring down the unemployment rate. we have to create 1.5 million jobs each year just to bring -- keep things even with the labor force growth. >> jamie: where are the jobs? >> well, the jobs are going to be in business services. there will be a little pick-up in manufacturering, some in technology. but the workhorses of past year -- retailing, financial services and so forth -- they're going to remain depressed. commercial construction will remain depressed. there will be some pick-up in residential construction. it's going to be a tough job market. there isn't going to be like really big growth anyplace other than maybe healthcare, which is always growing. >> jamie: what careers are soon to be only for the recordbooks? like for example, travel agents. most people book their travel online. are there some professions that we really won't be filling slots for anymore? >> there is hardly anything that we won't be filling slots for, but there are professions that are in decline. essentially people use the internet and the computer to avoid doing a lot of things. we're going to see fewer bookkeepers going forward than we have in the past, as much as we've seen in recent years. we're going to see fewer travel agents. i predict that at some point, we're going to see fewer realtors. and we're probably going to see a change in investment banking in new york. you know, huge profits and salaries are being made in new york that probably aren't warranted on the basis of the services being provided. and those jobs are either going to go offshore or the industry will change by leaving new york where expectations are more reasonable. >> jamie: talk about leaving new york, because many places like new york will have increased taxes. not only federal, state, local, city -- i could keep going on and on -- healthcare. but are there places if you could pick up and leave right now, what is the part of the country that you would go to that has the most potential to find a good job? >> charlotte, north carolina, is one good example. basically cities that don't have too much government. and that have some growth industries. charlotte has a lot of business services, financial services that are likely to rebound. things of that nature. i would say that probably the interior west will rebound. and don't be surprised if we see somewhat of a renaissance over the next several years in manufacturering in the midwest. one way or another to get the economy growing we're going to have to manufacturer more. if president obama is not willing to put policies in place that facilitate that, then the next president who replaces him will. he might get replaced sooner than he likes. one people want to know what -- young people want to know what to study, study engineering, security services, something technical in nature. generally speaking, the jobs that pay best that offer the most promise are more difficult to study in school. the easy way out is not the answer. >> jamie: i got to sneak in one more question, because then i have to let you go. peter, let me ask you this, states like florida have no state income tax. a lot of people move to the states because they get to keep a bigger chunk of the paycheck. in this changing economic picture with more taxes, and stimulus and healthcare, et cetera, and unemployment where it is, will it be harder for states to do that? why can one state get away with no state income tax and not another? i need a quickish answer. sorry. >> over the last ten years, state and local governments have added a lot of employees when the economy was booming and real estate prices were rising, property taxes. those that have more discipline with regard to the number of employees they have and needless employees that they might have tend to be able to control taxes better. >> jamie: you're so smartish that you can do it quickish. thank you, peter. always good to have you with us. really interesting information. thanks. >> best of the new year. >> jamie: same to you. >> eric: the u.s. military recently did an aboutface on the pregnancy band in the war zone. did you hear about it? or did the mainstream media did not ask the right questions? you know who is on the mainstream media. liz trotta. she will discuss the policy changes and the media coverage of something you may not have heard about. >> eric: guess what? the tallest building in the world is set to open tomorrow. the final height of what they call the burge dubai in the united arab emirates has been a closely guarded secret. estimates say it will top out at 2,684 feet. that's just over half a mile into the sky. you know that easily beats out the previous record holder in taiwan, taipei's 101 building. it would be more than 1,000 feet taller than the empire state building, which held the world's tallest building record for so long. the opening of the $20 billion building and complex comes at a serious time of economic uncertainty in dubai. facing a debt and cite crisis in the once booming real estate sectsector. >> jamie: are you looking for a sitter for your kids? no, i'm not offering. but how about checking out the web? parents are now using the internet to establish babysiting swaps. it's a great idea. it reduces the high cost of hiring someone to look after your kids and you share it all the way around. casey stegall has the story from the l.a. bureau. casey, tell us, this is really creative. >> reporter: well, jamie, it is very creative. i have a feeling you would be a great babysitter maine, not so much. i'll take my name out of the running but the whole idea is fascinating, especially with tough economic times. it's usually comprised of about 25 different families. everyone goes through extensive background checks to make sure that no criminals slip through. it's really quite simple. parents earn points for babysiting for other children in the group. and then they can build up a point balance, if you will. and later down the line they can cash those points in for their own night out on the town. so, no money ever exchanges hands here. and it's something that the parents we talk to say really saves them, especially with wages being cut, so many people have been laid off from their jobs. who would have thought, jamie? >> jamie: there is probably a lot of bartering that can go on as the couples get to know each other. >> absolutely. they say it establishes community, that it's actually a very good way for your kids to interact with other children and learn other cultures and things of that nature. it's really, really catching on. all you have to do is jump online to figure that out. there are a lot of websites out there that teach parents how to set up their own co-ops in their own community. now because they are so popular, the sites are growing like wildfire. it's hard to track just how many co-ops there are around the country. but just from some of the people we talk to in our own research for this story they say it's growing by leaps and bounds. >> jamie: you have to be careful, though, right, casey? how do you check out the folks that are signing up? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. that's where the background checks are so important. they say that you really have to vet all of the sitters out, obviously, before people can join the co-op. interestingly enough, if you don't have children and you're watching you wonder how does it affect me? well, other services are also being offered. house sitters, pet sitters, even transportation sprouting up in various communities on a co-op basis, so all you have to do is jump online, do a quick google search and find out if you have any of these co-op services offered in your area, jamie. pretty cool indeed. >> jamie: it is, casey. sounds great. you know what the problem is, though? the kids end up being able to stay up later than i can. >> reporter: i know. what is up with that? extended bedtime. works both way. >> jamie: maybe. take care. thanks. great story. >> eric: the u.s. is closing down ore emba our embassy in ye. new threats. they want to hit us again. what it could mean in the war against osama bin laden's followers. that's everything for chicago. and fedex ground will get ithere fast. wait. fedex has ground shipping? oh, that's right. you just woke up from a 23-year coma. yeah, it was a long one. did i miss anything? uh, the cold war ended. [ man ] pluto's no longer a planet. culture club broke up. the berlin wall came down. wait. the club bre up? i never saw them live. that was too soon. what have i done? [ male announcer ] we understand. you need it there fast. fedex ground. i can tell you that childhood is a magical time. but for children with diabetes, life is not quite so carefree. the barbara davis center for childhood diabetes is fighting hard to find a cure. know the signs: irritability, excessive urination, weight loss. if you have any of these signs, please call your doctor. early detection can save your life. give to save lives and reach for the cure. call now or log on to childrensdiabetesfoundation.org. >> eric: welcome liz trotta. >> good morning. >> even the introduction is for a punishable offense. this is the way the story is cast. anyone who gets pregnant in the army will be punished. it doesn't say anything about the people who will do the impregnating getting punished. as you know, general in northern iraq, he commenced 22,000 soldiers. 1700 of them are women. and he decided in a new general order that he issued, which went into effect in november that he was, that -- and the list of things that would be actionable perhaps by court-martial, getting pregnant or impregnating a soldier was one of them. didn't say it was absolute but it was a possibility. the reason for that was to maintain the combat strength in opportunity. to him, as to every good soldier, the mission is the most important thing. but according to the crazy feminist in the u.s. senate and by name shaheen democrat in new hampshire, barbara boxer, california, kirsten julibran, why are we surprised? they went into a hissy fit and they wrote to the secretary of the army and the general and they went to the press. christmas and new year's intervene to give the story more of the back burner but there was a noticeable note of tomidity in the mainstream media, because this is really the third rail of the whole feminist blah. and that is that this issue of women in the military has never been fully debated. by the u.s. congress or anybody else. they slipped in the combat roles, they are -- the women, that is, are now asking for special protection. the general was overruled by the commanding general in iraq. ray odierno, who gets the prize for political correctness of the week. he was overruled and boy, he knows a hot griddle when he sees it sfoocit. >> eric: you are saying the media has not delved in this sufficiently or if they have, in your view, they have taken the wrong path. >> what they've done, tough few crazies writing the editorial about their rights as women and how they can shoot the enemy, just as i could do anything any other guy can. that kind of horrible reasoning. but what you really have is behind all of this is the issue. and that is no man in the editorial business wants to debate whether women should be in the armed ffo eed forces not. this is something they don't want to debate. it makes them uncomfortable, because many of them think it's wrong and because the pregnancy rate, which by the way, you cannot get from the pentagon. you cannot get the figures. i've never seen them, i know a lot of people asked for them. for all the services we don't know what the pregnancy rate, is what they are per year, per unit or anything else. what we know is that the feminists have been successful in establishing clinics and special nurses and mental health counselors. and so, you know, why don't we just move cribs in and why do we just make it sort of an afternoon tea party there in northern iraq? >> eric: i assume the aforementioned senators and others, editorial writers you label as crazy would differ from that point of view. >> i don't think they do. i think they are absolutely elephant walked into it. i think if you got these guys at a bar and had one drink with them, they would spill it. but i think the public faces, uh-oh. don't go there. this is women's rights again. and they'll drive us crazy. they'll get us fired. excuse me, i didn't mean to interrupt. but yes, i did. >> eric: all right, liz. as always, interesting and compelling commentary from you every sunday. thank you. >> thank you. >> eric: happy new year, by the way. >> happy new year. >> eric: that does it for us. i'm eric shawn. happy new year to everybody spending time with us on this sunday morning. >> jamie: it was a busy two hours. but the news continues in washington now. america's news headquarters rolls on. great to have you with us. i'm jamie colby. see you next time. >> eric: take care.