Transcripts For FOXNEWS Americas Newsroom 20100202

>> i did, to support james cameron. >> stick around for after the show show. log on to foxnews.com. we'll see you tomorrow. bill: here we go, 9:00 in new york city, brand new developments on a direct challenge to the health care reform efforts touted by the white house and democrats on the hill and it's coming from within their own party. in the state of virginia, the state's democratic-controlled senate saying no to a federal mandate. it passed a measure that directly contradicts any party effort in washington that all americans purchase health care insurance or face a financial fine. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer, live here in "america's newsroom". good morning, martha. martha: good morning, i'm martha maccallum. you might say it's back to the constitution as virginia says that the government cannot force you to buy health insurance. that's an idea that was scoffed at by those who pushed this bill on capitol hill. bill: also that vote in virginia coming less than a week after president obama's urge to democrats not to abandon health care efforts, president obama telling his colleagues don't run for the hills. stef centanni leads our coverage in washington. what exactly happened in the senate vote and why is it critical nationally, steve? >> reporter: it's a democratically controlled state senate as you pointed out and these three related bills were supported by virginia's key party movement so, what happened is that five democrats voted with the republicans and passed the measures, 23-17. these democrats all represent swing areas of the state and some anticipate a tough reelection battle, one of them, phillip pucket, explained why he voted with the republicans by saying, quote, i don't believe someone should be forced to buy something they don't want to. it's unamerican. and it might be unconstitutional. but those, puckett's other concern is like all the democrats who were on board with this, he represents a fairly conservative district and could face a tough reelection battle this year. bill: there were democrats who stuck by the ultimate goal of this, what do they have to say? >> reporter: they pretty much defend the president on this and say the state legislative action at this point will probably be overridden by any national legislation, so the virginia senate's effort, they say, will probably be a wasted effort, as democratic senator richard saslau said, it would not be worth the paper it's written on and everybody knows it, everybody knows this bill is nothing more than a brochure bill, by that he suggested bills were suggested to make a political point but would not have meaning in reality. bill: it's a new wrinkle, we'll see how far it goes, steve centanni, thanks from washington. martha: actually, virginia, if it worked, it would be the second state behind arizona to pass the measure in defiance of this proposed legislation in washington. in fact, virginia is just one of 29 states looking to limit, alter or oppose several federal actions out there now, including singer payor options and mandates that would require the purchase of health care insurance. in general the state measures will keep health insurance optional and would allow residents to purchase any type of coverage they want. thomas jefferson would be happy to hear what's going on in those states. we'll see what happens. bill: new details, in how president obama plans to deal with this number one priority, jobs. the president heading to nasua, new hampshire for a town hall meeting, to last six days, he'll promote a $30 billion small business lending initiative, that alwing community banks to give out small business loans to jump start the economy. we expect to see that later today, 2:15 eastern time. we'll see the latest then. martha: today we're getting a closer look at just what is in all those pages of that big budget that she showed you -- that we showed thaw was released yesterday and guess who will be the foog the bill for all the things in there? the white house is looking for more than a trillion dollars, a trillion dollars, in taxikes is what's going to pay for all this, nut hikes will of course hit the rich, that is, people who make over two # $50,000, and in some parts of this country, they might not consider themselves rich, and larger businesses as well. some of these taxes are also going to come from workers and smaller businesses, this move could also affect charitable giving and even some mortgages out there. let's bring in stu varney to explain this from the fox business network and anchor of the great new show "varney & company". the budget is paid for with our hard earned money, right? >> let me give you the bigger picture to start with. this really shifts the tax burden much more towards rich people and corporations when it's all over, if all of these proposals are implemented, half of all people who work will not pay any federal income tax at all. it's all shifted higher up the income food chain. plus, 1 percent of the population, the top income earners, now pay 40 percent of all government tax revenue. that's going to go up to maybe 44 percent. and at the end of the day, over half of the money that rich people make will be taken off of it, even so, after you've done all of that, you will still have added an extra 8 1/2 trillion dollars both of debt to the national debt in the next ten years, and even with all these tax increases, you still will not be able to pay for all the spending which will be required. martha: you know, there's so many issues that come up when you listen to what you're laying out for us, stuart, one is whether or not it's fair, for 50 percent of everybody who works in the country to not pay any taxes, federal income tax. >> yes. martha: is that fair is a question that's raised, to have 1 percent pay almost as high as 44 percent of everybody else's share of all of this. not to mention the fact that a lot of that 44 percent probably doesn't disagree with a lot of the way that money is being spent. but then it goes to another area, and that's stimulating the economy. if you tax those people who make all that money and who run all those businesses, what happens? >> that's a very good question. the first question is the fairness issue. that is a political question. i would point out that you pass the tipping point if half of all the people pay no federal income tax whatsoever while they've got a vested interest in raising taxes on the arrive and receive the benefit in return. the second question is does it help the economy. the jury is out on that one. the first stimulus plan, which spent nearly $800 billion, actually, more than that, did not create the jobs that it was supposed to create. now, if you carry this further and spend even more money, in tax money that you've taken off the rich, does it help the economy. the answer from a lot of people is no, it does not. you don't create vigorous economic growth by taking money off private individuals and giving it to the government to spend. that is one side of the argument. martha: all right, well laid out, stu varney, always good to see you, thank you stu. >> thanks martha. martha: time to hear from you at home, are americans trying to put more money in their savings accounts, are you saving, or are you barely making ends meet these days? tell us what your experience is by going to foxnews.com, click on the you decide link, it is right there on the home page, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on that. bill: belts are staying tight in this country, aren't they? we've got interesting new developments in the proposed 9/11 trials in new york city. there's a bipartisan group of senators introducing legislation today, in fact, that would cut off funding for the trials in lower manhattan, including democrat jim webb out of virginia, blanche lincoln of arkansas, support for trying khalid shaikh mohammed and four others steps from the worst terror attack on american soil dwindling in recent days, the white house saying new york is a viable option, but if there is no money for a civilian trial, how can you have one in the first place? we'll put that to steven hayes, he's been digging on the story and interesting findings coming up. martha: he's done great work on that. coming up, minnesota's republican governor making waves, comparing our nation's spending habits with bernie madoff's. we have him live to ask him what he means by that and what he would do to balance the federal check book, bill. bill: also, some incredible new video, the all-out brawl at a high school game. not supposed to happen this way. martha: that's incredible. bill: they were tasered by the police. the school superintendent is speaking out. in fact he's live with us today on the move by the police and the move by the students. >> bottom line is this, we simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequence. as if waste doesn't matter. that the hard-earned tax dollars of the american people can be treated like monopoly money. bill: that was president obama on the $3 trillion budget plan, expected to shoot our debt to record levels and now there's brand new reaction, tim palenty, accusing washington of running a ponzi scheme on the po tomac. the governor is with me now. good morning to you. you entry this as a ponzi scheme, where investors put in money at the front end and siphon off of others who come in later. bernie madoff does this very well. how does that apply to the federal government? >> the same way it applies to bernie madoff. it was a very bad idea, it was reckless and irresponsible and it comes crashing down in the end and we don't want that to happen to our country. it isn't a matter of republicans or democrats, both parties, the leadership over the last several decades has contributed to this but it is fair to say president obama and the current congress have made it exponentially worse. bill: and you said some of these numbers you point to are staggering, federal government spending has grown seven times faster than median income since 1970. at $12 trillion, the debt is more than 80 percent of gdp. that's enormous. debt per household is $600,000. that's just staggering. but you argue it doesn't have to be this way. you could just turn off the fawsel. how so? >> well, there's a number things we can do but just one other fact that stick necessary my mind, the federal government takes in for all revenuesources, about $2.2 trillion a year, the total unfunded liabilities of our country are 65 trillion, federal government liabilities, so there's no way on $2.2 trillion of revenues they can service the unfunded liabilities. not a matter of right or left, it's just a matter of mathematics. in terms of what we need to do, there are ideal things like getting the federal government to pass the constitutional amendment to pass the budget, number two, give the president a line item veto authority, number three, take the unused t.a.r.p. and bailout money and put it towards debt and decifit reduction. bill: stop there, the first two options, are they even possible with this congress? >> well, it's an uphill battle, bill, but certainly that would be the ideal. i don't believe if you keep sending politicians to washington who get rewarded for the kind of behaviors we see in politics they're going to fix this by themselves. we're going to need some kind of cap or mechanism in place to force them. the balanced budget would be the way to do it. forty-nine states do it and it works. bill: you write it requires a national understanding and acceptans. i thought that was interesting language, and when you heard president obama, flip it on its head here, what if he came out and said across the board spending cuts, 5 percent, 10 percent, every household in america is forced to cut back, so, too will the federal government. would that have been a good political stand for him to make? >> i think so. i think you twoont make it on a priority basis, so for example the military might be exempt for that. in minnesota we've bent the cost curve dramatically, we've taken spending down to dram cat -- dramatically reduced levels, we've actually cut spending in minnesota for the first time, in the 150 year history. if it can be done in a liberal state like minnesota, it can certainly be done on behalf of the country and other states. bill: in your state you're still facing a $1.2 billion decifit. i mean, the red ink is deep in minneapolis and saint paul, too. >> just about every state with the exception of north dakota and woeling, all states are facing deficits. when the crash happened in 2008 the bottom dropped out of revenues coming out of the national government. that doesn't mean run to the well and ask the taxpayers for more. we have to do what everybody else is doing, tighten your belt, live on less revenue until we get out of this hole. bill: give me a sense, when you talk about that, how do people in your home state react, i'm cool, i'm on board, let's suck it snup. >> absolutely they do. i go, in fact i was in a group yesterday and said if you're not in government, raise your hand if you're getting a raise or if you're getting your health care benefits increased or your family income or household budget has gone up. everyone is experiencing this flat revenue or declining revenue, job loss, furloughs, wage con -- concessions and they look at people in the government sector and say you guys should do the same. bill bin laden i think in iowa, i think memory serves, it might have been new hampshire, maybe a couple of months ago, do you have plans to go to either sphwhun. >> i do have a speech in new hampshire in a month or two down the road, but i travel into all kinds of states, including those states. i've got a pack and i'm speaking to these stits on a lot of frequency. it's not just limited to iowa and new hampshire. bill bin laden i understand. there are a lot of rumors out there, governor, so we'll continue to bring those up, when appropriate, only. governor tim palenty is governor of the state state of - in the state of minnesota. they've got their own problems, too. as he detailed. martha: there are new pointed threats coming from president mahmoud ahmadinejad as the white house ramps up the missile shield near his country and remember the blood in the street in iran, backlack from ahmadinejad is full throttle, two people have been hanged, now nine more will meet that same fate. what are they guilty of, and what is the reaction from the white house? bill: it took some time, martha, but a 14-year-old girl offered she was in the jaws of a man eater. you will hear from her next, how she survived. bill there is a teenage girl counting hur lucky stars, libby warren out of new zealand say she was in waist -19water, boogie boarding with her brother, and then the unthinkable happened. listen here. >> i wasn't sure what it was and it was a shark, so i looked to my side, and i wasn't quite sure what it was, so i knew it was like right beside me but i didn't actually feel it biting me, so i just hit it with one short shot with the boogie board. >> [inaudible] >> bill: hit them with a boogie board. martha: good for her. bill: lydia suffered minor injuries, the government says it was a broad nosed 7-gill shark a. species that grows 10 feet long, which is long enough! it's the same kind of shack that attacked a girl about ten years ago, that required 60 stitches. lydia is okay, though. martha: snacked him over the head with her boogie board, that's what you're supposed to do, right? punch someone in the nose? send them away? bill: can you imagine? martha: well t. works! all right, there's a new nfl ultimatum for the most of the super bowl, folks, ponying up hundreds of millions for stadium improvements or you may not get to host that super bowl anymore, folks. this as the indianpolis colts and the new orleans saints are live in soggy, miami for the game. did you know there's a game sunday, bill? bill: heard about that. martha: this is the tenth time miami hosted the super bowl, now the nfl says the sunshine state must finance $250 million in improvement phos dolphins stadium or lose out on 500 million pumped into the local economy from these huge events. phil keating is live in miami, what is the reaction in south florida, besides the fact that it's raining and people are bummed out about that, what do they think about the fact they might have to pony up all this money to keep it? >> reporter: it wasn't very well received. almost immediately the miami beach commissioners voted unanimously, 6-zero, no tax dollars for miami beach would help pay for improvements at the stadium. a lot of people thought the nfl was essentially strong arming south florida and they also pointed out that just a few years ago the former dolphins owner spent $300 million of his own dollars to improve the stadium but the nfl commissioner roger goodell told members over the past few months the dolphins stadium, sun life stadium, well, it's just not as stiffy -- spiffy as it used to be, it needs high-deaf lighting, twinkier sky boxes and a massive glass roof that's actually glat that would cover all of the seats and leave exposed the natural grass field, because, of course, when it comes to the super bowl, protecting the fans from the rain is much more important than protecting the players from the rain. martha: you know, watching all this, there is a lot of stadiums built around the country and i'm wondering why does miami get it all the time, and how real is the threat that they're going to lose it? >> reporter: well, you're looking at it behind me, that's sunny weather, it's going to be 74 and picture perfect on sunday and the chances for rain are really small. three years ago, it was an oddity, the last time the super bowl was hosted here in south florida and it did rain all day, but there's a lot of competition out there. next year the super bowl will be played in north texas, in arlington, outside of dallas, at that brand new big time football stadium, but as far as cities that have hosted the super bowl, just a handful have had the good fortune, los angeles has posted -- hosted seven, san diego oarks three, new orleans has hosted nine super bowls, tampa, florida, four, and miami, of course, setting the record this year with ten. keep in mind a lot of the big super bowl moments that you may remember from the past all have been in miami, number one, joe mam -- namath running off the field, that happened at the orange county, and lynn swan catching the cast over the super bowl x. they don't want to lose it. martha: i think it should be in new jersey. we're building a new stadium. bill: you might get your shot someday. martha: excited for the super bowl, bill? bill: absolutely. just out this morning, oscar nominations for the 82nd academy awards, leading the field with nine nominations, "avatar", it's made $2 billion worldwide already, nominated for best picture, james cameron, best director. some of the pictures joining avatar, "the hurt locker", what a film that is, detailing what soldiers and marines go through on the streets of baghdad. also racking up nine nominations, the football drama based on a true story, "the blind side" and recession tear "up in the air" with george clooney. it will have ten contenders instead of the usual five. that is to get to you spend more money. martha: we have a lot of catching up to do. "avatar" doesn't have any $8 # 50 cents yet. i'd like to see that and "up in the air" and we'll make our pick. there are new threats on a much more serious note out of iran, president ahmadinejad warning of a harsh blow, what does he mean by that, on a very specific date he's talking about, what we could be seeing in the next few weeks. bill: also in a moment, what happened on flight 37 in buffalo moments before it crashed, killing everyone on board. the 911 calls are chilling. we are live from that hearing, in only three minutes. >> we need the state police or sheriff's department, this aircraft was 5 miles out and all of the sudden, we have no response from that aircraft. martha: well, it was a tragedy for 50 people on a connector flight and now we may finally learn exactly what caused the kolgen airplane crash last year, you're looking at a live shot of the ntsb hearing now where we are awaiting the release finally of that report of what happened that night. it's going to contain the reason why flight 3407 plummeted into a buffalo home on a cold february night about a year ago, and what can be done to prevent this from ever happening again. remember the issues with the pilots, the long hours they were working, they were talking in that cockpit, the 50 members -- the family members of the 50 victims are in the room, listening to all of this. you can watch that hearing live, it's streaming on our website, go to foxnews.com, we're going to have a live report later in the show and we'll tell you what's coming out of that hearing. bill: what a morning that was. you know there's an election day, primary day in the state of illinois and president obama's former senate seat is on the ballot there, a republican win this fall would be a major blow to the white house in that state in the wake of a string of republican victories in virginia, new jersey and massachusetts. the two frontrunners on the democratic side, former federal prosecutor david hoffman, and state treasurer alexi giannnoulis. i think i got that right. the two were locked in a tough fight for the party's nomination and tonight's winner will face congressman mark kirk, possibly the strongest republican candidate in that state in decades. steve brown, at a polling station north of chicago, are the family troubles going to hurt the democratic frontrunner? how does that stand? >> it doesn't look like it's hurt giannnoulis' campaign and here's why, the polls have been in the low 30s and it's been there quite some time and leaves him out front but he really hasn't moved and there really hasn't been any other issue that's emerged other than that one to possibly attribute his lack of upward mobility in the polls. normally you do start adding points as you get closer toward the end, particularly frontrunners of people they think are likely to win and still he's in that category but there are some folks who believe the entire chatter about broadway bank is overblown. >> broadway bank sounds like a new play. go see broadway bank. i mean, 95 percent of the people there have no idea what it is or care. >> reporter: and paul green may have a point there simply because a lot of folks voting in primaries are acti tiss -- activists and intensely watching things and a lot of people going to the poll necessary november may not have an idea what the issues are yet in this particular race, however, that's nine months from now and you can be assured that if mr. giannnoulis does win this primary, that it will be brought up again and again and again by the republican nominee. bill: steve, if hoffman is going to catch him, what will be the best scean arrow? >> he told me last week he would really love it if it were heavy turnout. a couple of factors not going in his favor in that, one, the weather is not that great, there is snow falling and that has a damper on things. the other problem is there aren't a lot of contested democratic contests which would drive up the election year. president obama isn't on the ballot, that would help, he's not, so turnout is expected to be light. bill: republican mark kirk is the favorite on the republican side, what do we need to know about him? >> it will be interesting to see how he draws from the chicago suburbs and the cao arrested counties. he's finish front of every poll since early last year. it is very likely he'll end up winning but it will be interesting to see how he does in the battle ground areas in november. bill: it will be interesting. steve brown, live from chicago, thank you steve. martha? martha: here's a new twist on this bailout situation. they are special agents, they're now investigating the banks that were bailed out and who took billions of dollars in taxpayer money last year to save the economy. under the banner known as the t.a.r.p. program, now the special inspector general kneel bar off question says he's taking on as many as 75 criminal investigations into what really happened to our tax dollars. insider trading is among the suggestions of possible claims investigated here. here he is on fox business network's america's nightly scoreboard. >> you're looking into the criminal behavior of certain individuals, is that true? >> that's absolutely true. we have more than 75 criminal investigations ongoing. >> how? >> some of them have been made public, we have smaller fraud case necessary tennessee and in atlanta where we secured indictments. martha: make sure to keep it right here with "america's newsroom", california congressman darrell issa believes there are warning signs for an economic catastrophe still to come, and he's going to tell us why at the top of the next hour. bill: in the meantime, moments ago transit police and antiterrorism units swarming the heart of the nation's capitol railway system, part of a training exercise in d.c. at union station. police say there is no threat or elevated alert level. operations will mimic attacks like the ones on the madrid train of 2004, the one underground in july july 2005. it's a runup to a learnlger series that involves hundreds of officers from around the region. that will take place today. >> we simply cannot afford a nuclear arms race in the middle east as a consequence of iran developing nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver such weapons. martha: that's the big issues, isn't it? words of warning from the national security adviser, and they come as new developments are now pouring out of iran. president mahmoud ama indad making new threats, saying his country will deliver a, quote, harsh blow to, quote, global arrogance on february 11th. that is an important day in iran, the anniversary of the iran islamic revolution of 1979. moments ago we're hearing reports of nine more people will be executed as a result of this summer's bloody protests that you watched here on fox news. opposition leaders mushavey is promising to continue their fight for freedom, they are being courageous in this tough situation. last week, these two men, one of them was 19 or 20 years old, the other, 37 years old, if we have a picture of the two of them, we'll bring it up as soon as we can, they were hanged and their charge was that they were, quote, enemies of god for their participation in some groups that the government shouldn't approve of there. it raises serious concerns over what is going on there and what will happen on february 11th. excuse me, ambassador john bolton is former ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor. ambassador, these are very disturbing developments that are coming out of tehran, and i think it's really important that people understand just how oppressive this regime is being and how they're treating these people. they're promising a harsh blow on february 11th. what do you think that means? >> almost certainly it will have something to do with the nuclear weapons or ballistic missile programs, progress they think they've made. take it with a graint of salt but i think they're playing to a domestic and international audience, telling us they're not backing away from getting nuclear weapons and telling the domestic audience that resistance to the regime is interfere wg their independence. martha: ahmadinejad is in a tough position, they have serious economic problems going on there, he's struggling, you can almost feel this man's struggle to maintain power where he is. sanctions are sort of looming against him, new sanctions, whether or not they're going to peak, we don't know but they fear them to some extent and themism shield in some of the neighboring countries, and he says we have a great relationship with kuwait and the uae and all the countries, so why are you building a missile shield? >> iran, even though, are working with the arab states and the gulf regions to try and convince them that the obama administration and the united states don't have the resolve to stop iran from getting nuclear weapons, and the gulf states are very worried about possible retaliation from iran or indemnity by iran if they get nuclear weapons. we're in a very difficult situation, i don't think anybody is persuaded by the threat of more sanctions. martha: when you hear about the missile shield the administration wants to put in this area because they're concerned and it's obviously protection from israel and anything coming from there, ahmadinejad said it wouldn't protect them, what you're doing would not protect them and we all remember the missile shield in eastern europe was canceled by this administration. >> two things, first. some of the shipments of new weapons systems to the gulf states were planned during the bush administration. i think it's a good thing to do, i think we need to show iran and show our friends in that region we do have resolve, but i'm more worried about the underlying possibility that the administration, our administration, is now convinced that iran will get nuclear weapons. you'll remember last year, secretary of state clinton said we would put a defensive umbrella over israel and the arab states in that case. i think that's a bad mistake, because if you accept that iran is going to get nuclear weapons, which is the most likely outcome at this point, the situation in the region and in the world as a whole changes dramatically and irrepraably. martha: what can we do and should we be doing anything, because some of the charges against the two men that were hung was that they were working basically for the united states, to incyte these protests within the country. there's no evidence as to that but that's the charge. it's difficult to know what the charges are when you're thrown up things like enemies of god. that being said, what can we do to encourage, if that's what we should do, this rebellion and these protestors on february 11th? >> we've missed a lot of opportunities over the years. i don't think it's too late, however, to provide both overt and clandestine assistance to the opposition. we want to be very careful we don't taint them with our assistance. i think it's a mistake for the united states to encourage people to go into the street against the revolutionary guard when we're not providing them with clandestine systems. it's too easy for us to say you take care of t i think we should have a policy regime change, i think we should be helping the dissidents. martha: the young woman in nato was bleeding to death in the street and not part of any protests and now you have nine more hangings coming, who we have no idea if they were guilty of anything it tehran. it's important to keep an eye on this. ambassador hotel bon, good to do that with your help. thank you sir. bill: we're watching developments on capitol hill, significant day for the proposed 9/11 trials in new york city, what a bipartisan group of senators is doing today that may stop these trials before they again begin. we're on that story in minutes. also with this. martha: an intense basketball game between rival high schools turns into a fist flying may lay, the superintendent is here to talk about how things got out of han and why students were tasered, when we come back. martha: this generation's biggest stars teamed up for a remake of the famous michael jackson song "we are the world". check it out. >> ♪ >> ♪ martha: proceeds are going to victims of the devastated quake in haiti, airing during the opening of the winter olympics. the song features barbra streisand and haitian-born hiphop artist, 25 years ago, michael jackson, bill dylan and bruce springstein raised $60 million with the same song to benefit famine relief in africa. remember this, bill? bill: how could you forget? martha: this generation is like, you know -- bill: it's a great cause, it sounded good, but how do you beat that, by stevie wonder and michael jackson? that's old school, but i mean, the real coke was real for a reason! martha: i know. bill: anyway, best of luck. martha: it's for a good cause. i hope it makes off a lot of money, and it's going to kick off the olympics. bill: right about that. that is some kind of videotape out of pennsylvania, south of pittsburgh, the hallway of a high school. when the dust settled the student was tasered, at least four arrested. how in the world did this go down? the superintendent of the school district is cynthia chellen, she's joining us today. i believe she's out of pittsburgh today. good morning to you. did you know there was going to be trouble that night at that basketball game? >> not really. we didn't expect any type of trouble. we knew we would have a large capacity crowd because we were filled to the maximum. bill bill the reason i ask that, they said they knew some of these students were coming from rival high schools and they were looking for one person to fight and they found her a. young lady, apparently. >> yes, we kind of had that suspicion, once the game had started. we did, however, hire extra security to prevent anything from happening. bill: you brought in three or four police officers. i understand that in minutes, 40 to 50 officers arrived on the scene, with dogs. that is a heck of a response, doctor! >> well, what happened was the four police officers who were on duty attempted to keep people in the gym from entering the haul way -- the hallway and they became overcome and they did a valley all call. bill: what that? -- what is that? >> that's whenever all the units from the valley respond to the assistance of the police department. bill: did you think this was kids being kids were was there something more sinister happening in that hallway? >> no, it was just basically a fight that had broken out, two girls went after one of the girls from muneston, and the fight was broken up in a matter of seconds. but it was the noise from all the other students screaming and hollering. bill: you know, we had fights in school, but we didn't have a taser gun. was that necessary in retrospect? >> from what i understand, they weren't taser guns, they were stun guns. and right now, i really can't comment too much on that, because it's with the d.a.'s office. bill: in general, would you say your students are well-bee haved, do they listen to authority, doctor? >> oh, yes, they do. this was like an incident that occurred that probably won't occur for another 5-10 years. it was unexpected, we handled the situation as best it could be done. bill: we expect maybe there could be more charges. we're going to watch it from here. as you point out, we hope to never see it again. the other thing we did not have when we were growing up was a videocamera and just about every classroom on every person. it makes a difference, too. thank you doctor, we're watching that south of pittsburgh, it's a dramatic have hado tape, it got our attention. my best to you and the rest of the students there, okay? >> okay, thank you. bill: martha, what's coming up? martha: we have brand new information that's coming out about a horrific plane crash that took the lives of 50 people. it was nearly a year ago now, colgan air flight 3407 crashed outside of buffalo, new york. so what really happened in that cockpit? we have heard the tape and we're going to tell but it, a key hearing in washington is revealing some new answers. >> all i can tell you is that the aircraft over the marker and we're not talking tom now. bill: if you're a board game fan, the monopoly revolution, it's going to wring in its 75th birthday. the circular game board, in an effort to reduce the probability of dealers stealing from the bank, there's no more regular cash that's out, they introduced debit cards, sign of the times, and the game will cost 35 bucks. martha: it's circlear. where is jail? that's -- it's circular. where's jail? i don't want a circular board. i like my board where it is. bill: i was always a fan of jail because i was always there. martha: you can't leash that -- learn that much about money with a debit card. your e-mail, your facebook page, maybe even your twitter account, easily accessible for anybody willing to pay the piper, hackers for hire, folks, apparently it's big business right now in cyberspace. and unless there's some other illegal activity involved, it is only a misdemeanor to hack into your personal accounts. david lee miller joins us live from the new york newsroom with a story on enterprising folks who are making money in an interesting way these days, david lee. >> reporter: indeed. perhaps the most frightening part of this story is often times the victims don't even know that they have been hacked. and because this is a crime that often goes unnoticed, it's a low priority for law enforcement. they go by names such as your hackers, pirate hackers and slick hackers, although illegal a handful of internet services brazenly advertise for a $100 fee they can obtain almost e-mail password, one site boses it's an ideal way to catch a cheating spouse or significant other. former hacker turned security consultant kevin mitnick exposed the scam, setting up an e-mail account for a fictitious girlfriend to see if the hacker could steal the password, first they requested unusual information. >> they always ask you for what is the best friend's name. >> the hacker sends the unsuspecting victim an electronic greeting card from what appears to be a friend. by click on the link to see the greeting the victim is redirected to what looks like google, aol, or whatever service the victim uses for e-mail. this site is a phony, created by the hackers. a pass cord entered here is no longer secret. >> we have the victim giving the hackers their password under the guise of deception. >> there are some easy ways for computer users to protect themselves. always make sure that your browser address bar is on the correct website and not a look-alike, and never, never, never enter a password when directed from one site to another. martha? martha: all right, david lee miller. something to be worried about when you're logging on. thank you david lee. bill: those hackers, annoying. there's a new warning about the taliban's influence in the country of afghanistan. what the pentagon is saying now, and how the u.s. plans to counter. that's coming up here. also -- martha: pay up if you want to park. one city driving towards a green environment by basically just keeping you off the road. you like that idea? when we come back. r: was gettind 'cause of all of the stress ♪ ♪ i was feeling at home ♪ had a poor credit score ♪ and the number would haunt me wherever i'd go ♪ ♪ thought i'd move to a place where my credit could stink ♪ ♪ and nobody would care ♪ i just wish that somebody had told me ♪ ♪ that place was a renaissance fair! ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! tell your friends, ♪ ♪ tell your dad,tell your mom! ♪ never mind, they've been singing our songs ♪ ♪ since we first showed up with our pirate hats on! ♪ ♪ if you're not into fake sword fights ♪ ♪ pointy 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"america's newsroom," i'm bill hemmer. martha: i'm martha maccallum, admiral mullen revealing additional u.s. troops will arrive in afghanistan, at a slower pace, than the white house had originally announced. bill: despite the hold-up, he predicts our forces will begin reversing the taliban's momentum by year's end and mike emanuel is live at the pentagon on the story, watching the hearing and talking to people over there, good morning, mike. first, to the deployment issue related to afghanistan. why the hold-up, and why the delay? >> reporter: admiral mull ln laid out, bill, 4500 of the surge troops are already there in country, and the number will rise to 18,000 by spring, and then they say they'll have the 30,000 additional troops by the end of summer. the pentagon says the issue is essentially that if an army unit has spent a year deployed in iraq or afghanistan, you need to give them a year at home, with family, and, to essentially retrain, replenish their supplies and that sort of thing and based on the "dwell time", the earliest you can get the full 30,000 is by the end of summer, now there has been controversy of whether or not that is a change, we looked back at the president's remarks, and he did say that over the -- the next day after making the announcement, december 2nd, robert gibbs said they did anticipate to have the 30,000 there by end of summer. and the question is whether they were supposed to get some of them in earlier than the spring, and, we are going through that with our sources, here and also at the white house. bill: how do you argue with family time when consider how much they've sacrificed through the past nine years. >> reporter: absolutely. bill: eager for an answer on that and admiral mullens talking about the don't ask, don't tell policy and it is controversial in and out of the military. >> and the president elevated the issue by mentioning in the state of the union address his intention, again, to repeal it. the pentagon is saying, that secretary gates will announce today that he is going to appoint a senior military official, a senior civilian official, to look at every aspect of don't ask, don't tell, with two wars going on and forces deployed all over the world there is a concern oe the military and he'll give these two people he's going to announce at noon today a year to look at every aspect of the issue and how it will affect our fighting forces as they are doing heavy lifting around the world. bill: mike emanuel at the pentagon watching the hearing taking place on capitol hill, thank and we'll be in touch throughout the day here, okay. martha: new details on assessing the threat of a terrorist attack in america, we are waiting for a key senate intelligence hearing to analyze the current and future threat to the united states and you might call this a star-studded line-up of witnesses, today. the director of national intelligence, dennis blair, cia director leon panetta and fbi doctor robert mueller all set to testify at the hearing in the wake of the would-be christmas bomber, as thing get underway and catherine herridge is covering all of the action for us, once things get heating up there and we'll bring it to you. bill: in the meantime on the economy, martha, the president hoping to reassure anxious americans about what is happening with their money and taking the message to main street and later today town hall meetings, nashua, new hampshire, and like the one he had in wayne county, west of cleveland an proposing $30 billion from the bank bailout fund to give the small community banks for loans -- loans so banks can turn around and provide loans to companies so they can grow and hire more people. wendell goler has more on what the president is expected to say a bit later in the hour and we'll check in with wendell at the white house. martha: the deficit as you no soaring to all-time highs an reaching astronomical proportion, so something has to give, right? the administration is eyeing a $970 billion tax increase over the next decade, impacting americans earning more than $200,000 a year. president obama also seeking $400 billion from the business world, california republican darrell issa, ranking member of the house oversight and government reform committee, calling on every member of congress to check out the new report that has been put out by the special inspector general for the troubled asset relief program and an interesting report by neil barosky it is. and congressman issa, good to have you with us, welcome. >> thanks for having me on more before we have to look at those large dollars, off budget and the fact they are not effective but they are being spent. martha: we played a little bit of what he had to say and i want to look at one piece of an interview that he did, on fox business network and let's play that and get your thoughts on it. >> you had experience with the columbian drug lords and you know how to deal with tough characters, right? >> yes, you know, i afternoon say when the slings and arrows come my way doing this job it doesn't compare much to the year i spent in columbia investigating the farc, narco terrorists and makes washington look for pedestrian. martha: but as david asman got out of neil barosky he's not the most popular guy in washington now. he's going through and talk about taking a scalpel is looking line by line at the t.a.r.p. money and where it went and has been doing 75 investigations into possibilities of things, you know, like insider trading and fraud and all of that that may have gone with or tax dollar money and what do you think about that, congressman? >> first of all, he's very popular with our committee and he's well-liked on both sides of the aisle. because in fact, this is a problem any time you give a president and administration this much money and basically as a blank check a lot of what he's looking at happened on obama's predecessor, president bush's watch, and the problem is, that it is still happening with money that has come back from the banks today. so, you know, it is one thing to say that george w. bush robbed the bank, and another thing to say he robbed the bank and we're still robbing it. and that is what i think this administration is going to start not liking about neil barosky, is he is making the point again and again, outside of policy that this money is being miss spent and misaccounted for. martha: in terms of reform and not allowing it to happen again and that is a reason you think it is important that we learn from the barosky report, a lot of places need reform. not just wall street, right? >>. ashley: -- >> first, wall street is a crazy term, because, you know, what we are making a point of and i think people that you wouldn't normally hear complaining about president obama, like the "oracle of omaha" the fact is, that what we have here, is we have blaming wall street when in fact aig was not per se wall street, they were in fact and insurance company that was at the heart of it. fannie mae and freddie mac, not wall street, controlled by congress, was at the heart of this clams. so, one -- collapse and one of our challenges is we talk about the t.a.r.p. of bailing out troubled assets and that did not include, general motors, did not include chrysler, and certainly would not anticipate to include money the fed had already loaned to aig. but, that is what we're learning, after the fact, when you write a $700 billion blank check bad things will happen with your money. bill: and, barosky is basically saying that t.a.r.p. didn't work. he said, it managed to sort of stave off an immediate crisis. but there are billions and hundreds of billions that did not work, did not achieve their goal. >> he's right on two fronts, one is, what we call the moral hazard. are the banks more likely to make their loans today, really thinking about the impact or are they realizing not only did we bail out the banks but we bailed out the insurance company that paid out 60-plus billion to some of the most risky banks, that they got, not as a loan but as a gift through the aig fund. so, a lot of that, neil is rightfully so seeing, this was not the right message, to send in order to keep it from happening again, and, more importantly, the consolidation of banks, which, is a policy decision, to let it happen, but it is clearly wrong and bank of america and merrill lynch and people were talking about was the deal fair and the fact. megyn: -- the fact is by combining them and keeping them alive but separate we combined an entity combined with two entities too baying to fail and i assume they are too big to fail. martha: and as he says once you have the lesson you -- sent the message that they are too big to fail, it means they will not let any of these firms go down, after lehman brothers, of course. >> martha, would you hate to be a regional bank that is not too big to fail, because your corner bank is not too big to fail and as a result no getting the kind of rates they'd like to get. martha: good folks who work in these ibusinesses do not full under the moniker of wall street, that gets tossed around every day. >> thank you, martha. bill: "fox news alert," about the economy and your home, too, a barometer on the housing market, getting word home sales inched higher at the end of last year, national association of realtors saying home sales rose 1% in december of '09, that is better than half a percent. martha: true! bill: 1%. martha: we'll take it at this point. bill: lower than analysts expected and the index has been on the rise up nine of the past ten months and buyers were going to take advantage of the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit before it expired in november and has been extended to 2010 and there is a measure they take, too, about people getting ready to buy a home and if you are getting ready to buy a home they are measuring that, too, that just crossed the wires now. in a moment here, we are awaiting refresh new answers on the fury buffalo, new york plane crash last year that claimed 50 lives and happened one year ago this month, the ntsb about to reveal a key new report on the horrific accident that started in the cockpit. martha: and critics on both sides of the aisle now, are vocal in saying no to the 9/11 terror trials in new york city, how one senator could put an end to this idea and what that might mean for future terror trials and the possibility of going back to gitmo? next. there are many paths to good health. that's why nature's bounty makes... a full line of high-quality vitamins, like fish oil for heart health. go to naturesbounty.com now for a $2.00 coupon. nature's bounty. perfect for every body. and all your little mile-pebbles ameriprise financial can help. weave over ten-thousand advisors rey to listen to your dreams and help you plan for them. because the first step towards reaching what you want is reaching the person who 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medicare and sends the prescription forms directly to your doctor for approval. then, on your schedule, packs up this box and sends it right to your door with no charge for shipping. and liberty assures you have everything you need to manage your diabetes, including most brand name meters. call now and we'll send you a free meter. plus, a free cookbook when you join. call liberty. they can help you live a better life. call the number on your screen. martha: terrible bus crash in north hampton, new york, police on eastern long island say one person has been killed, in the crash, and 15 others were injured. in the tuesday morning crash, happened about 7:40 a.m. and it was carrying 14 passengers. as i said all of them and the driver, all taken to local hospitals, the driver of another vehicle, was also involved, in the crash, and at the intersection of county roads in north hampton, near river head and we'll update you when we get more information on that. >> ground communication, you need to talk to somebody... northeast... okay. possibly clarence, that area right in there, akron area, either state police or sheriffs department, we need to find out if anything is on the ground, this aircraft was 5 miles out, all of a sudden -- we have no response. bill: a jet crashed outside of buffalo new york and 50 people died, and when it plunged to the ground in darkness, 49 on board on one on the ground and raising concerns over pilot's vulnerability to fatigue and the ntsb getting ready to release the probable cause of the accident, and in fact will do it this morning and we expect safety recommendations from that. senior correspondent eric sean is watching the story live in new york and eric, what went wrong one year ago this month. eric: a range of issues dealing with the crash of this plane. and it really exposed the underbelly of the regional airline system in our country, pilots who didn't get enough sleep, apaper, craparentlappare the couch in the lounge and tragical tragically, making a deadly mistake, doing the wrong thing, as it was about to crash, on the left, marvin renslow, and rebecca shaw, she was paid $23 an hour and now, we have the hearing ongoing, that killed 50 people almost a year ago, the continental airlines, operated by colgen, 3407 from newark to buffalo, this morning, the ntsb investigator said that the captain did the wrong thing as the plane started to go too slow, for 18 seconds, both the pilot and copilot didn't realize that they were flying too slowly, and when they started to go into a stall, renslow pulled back to put the nose up which is the improper procedure and should have pushed it down and added power and deborah hirshman said this about the crash, the chairman of the ntsb. >> what this investigation revealed is a picture of complacency, that resulted in catastrophe. as we heard, in public hearings, back in may, this investigation also revealed a number of other issues. issues such as cochairing and pilot professionalism and these issues are really larger than this accident itself. eric: the airline blamed pilot error for the accident and a lot of issues such as the stick shift, they said he did not have the training on the stick shaker on that type of aircraft, bombardier- he had on other planes situation they say led to -- >> some was fatigue and some pilot experience and i know there is a memorial planned and they plan to walk the final ten miles from the crash site to the airport and also, what will we get in terms of recommendation from hearing like this today. will it be safer in the end. >> we hope so, two major recommendations have to do with pilot fatigue and basically the -- limiting the hours, that pilots can fly, also, making sure that pilots and copilots have the same type of experience in terms of hours on -- in the cockpit, of 1500 hours and also similarity time. a lot of controversy over the training between regional and major airlines and regionals say they have the same standards as the major airlines and many critics say it exposed a lot of flaws with the regional systems, the last six fatal accidents in our country, have been with regional airlines, these are just some of the issues that sadly and tragically came out of the accident and that is where the memorial, will be quite emotional and stirring on february 12th, the one year mark of the crash. and family members will walk from that crash scene, the last five miles to the airport, basically, completing the flight that was -- >> completing this journey, eric sean in new york here, we'll watch the hearing out of d.c. thanks. martha: going green, it turns out, can come at a serious price, to you. remember the international climate conference in copenhagen? well, it turns out that your lawmakers racked up quite a bill, during that trip. on their way to do business, and talk about climate change, how much did they spend, how often do you spend $2200 on a hotel room? you did? you paid for it. bill: remarkable story. martha: you paid for it. 2200 and there are 38 staffers and you need 38 staffers, too and we'll talk -- >> five night minimum, who books that way! anyway, that is coming up, and a question, are americans trying to put more in savings in one in ten workers are out of work and the president proposing record deficit spending and during the break log onto foxnews.com and click on the "you decide" link and tell us if you are trying to put more money into savings these days. martha: good idea. bill: the mccallum household is, would i be right. martha: right, tightening the belt. foxnews.com, log on and tell us what you think, we'll be right back. martha: the ep a says new proposed smog rules, would save your life and save about $100 billion, in health care costs. over the next decade, so those two things sound good, right? not according to the critics. who say these changes could cost struggling americans millions of dollars. how does that work? dan springer is live in seattle, and what exactly is the epa proposing to do, to clean up the air and why are these critics fired up? >> well, martha, gets a little technical and right now the allowable ozone levels over an 8-hour period is 75 parts per billion. okay? so, the epa is proposing to lower those allowable limits, to between 60 or to 70 parts per billion. sounds like a good deal and wouldn't be that hard to do but it is, because ozone levels have been coming down, 25%, since 1980. and that is mainly through increased efficiencies in automobiles and formulated gasoline and the supporters of this, including the american lung association, say, look, this ills a gos a good thing, b owe zoep we know is a nasty, toxic gas and has short-term health effects, especially on people who have asthma, or respiratory illness, we know that the rates of asthma are going up, and one in ten kids, now suffers from asthma. so we know that reducing ozone exposure to those people will be a good thing and we also know that it is difficult to do, and, so the epa started asking for public comments, today. and, these new rules could take effect, 60 days from now. martha: all right, dan springer, interesting story, thank you, dan. reporting from seattle. bill: we might have found bipartisanship at last, martha. kind of, sort of... a few lawmakers on the hill, both parties fighting against the possibility of funding the civilian trials for terrorists detained at gitmo and we want to know whether or not the trials will happen now, steven hayes on that, great reporting, steven, he's on deck. martha: and how about this. snoopy was never like this... a band of vicious beagles, have you heard about them. bill: sure have. martha: are scaring the daylights out of people. sound crazy? how adorable dogs can inspire reactions like this: >> i quickly grabbed my dogs and came running back into the house. and closed the door and just as we got in, the dogs jumped at the door. i thought that it was like some wolfs come at me. -- wolves coming at me. want to know how fast it took my stiff joints to feel better? one pack. 6 days. that's elations. new elations. clinically proven to improve joint comfort... in as little as six days. drinking it every day keeps it working. elations has clinically proven levels... of glucosamine and chondroitin, in a powerful form that's more absorbable... than joint supplement pills. tastes great. goodbye, horse pills. start your joints on the road to comfort... in one pack, six days. that's elations. the new standard in joint health. martha: president obama is talking jobs and the economy today, in new hampshire. he's hitting the road in the next hour, we're told, heading up to nashua, where he'll announce details of a now $30 billion plan to help small businesses. and wendell goler is joining us from the white house, and wendell, how would the plan work? >> reporter: well, martha, the president wants to take $30 billion of the bailout money, repaid by banks, some of the big banks have gotten bailouts in 200, and use it to create a -- 2008 and use it to create a small business lending fund for community banks, 8,000 would be eligible for this money and the idea would be to use the $30 billion to leverage a lot more in loans, 2 to $300 billion in loans, from the small business -- so small businesses can grow and create jobs and mr. obama outlined the program, in his state of the union address. in which he vowed this year, 2010, would be focused on job creation, and critics say the stimulus program, didn't deliver what it promised and the bank bailouts were hugely unpopular and this program, aims to provide a bailout for main street that would create more jobs than small -- and small businesses are the engine of the country's job creation, martha. martha: what does the schedule look like for the president today. >> reporter: he'll leave in 30, 40 minutes and visit a small business in nashua, new hampshire, presumably where the owners can talk about the difficulty in getting loans from their local banks and then, he'll hold a town hall meeting, first town hall meeting in new england since the democrats lost ted kennedy's senate seat and with it, their veto-proof majority in the senate and the president held a town hall meeting in tampa, florida, last week, it was the... he may get an earful today, tea party protesters, are vowing to get into the meeting and talk to the president about spending too much time on health care, in 2009 and not enough on job creation. this community bank lending program, one of a couple, the president has aim at small businesses and he has a program in his budget aimed at providing small business tax breaks this year. also, aim at trying to get the small businesses that provide most of the country's jobs, more capital to work with and provide more jobs. martha: wendell goler at the white house, thanks, wendell. bill: from washington there is this, opposition, a civilian court trial of suspected 9/11 terrorists seems to be growing by the say, republican senator lindsey graham introduces legislation to cut off funding for the civilian trials and it's not just republicans, two democrats on the senate side joined the fight and it happened last night an stephen hayes, senior writer for "the weekly standard," and fox news contributor and i know you have been writing about this for some time and in addition to the christmas day body bomber. this topic i.r.s. if, jim webb and blanche lincoln, apparently like his idea. can he be successful in cutting off funding at this point, steven? >> yes, i think he can be. in fact i would be surprised if he wasn't, precisely because you have democrats eager to join in now, what you have, basically is an effort to cut off the funding for the trials for 9/11 conspirators, like khalid sheikh mohammed and we have seen over the past week, the obama administration, basically backed down from the plans to hold civilian trials, in manhattan, and, you know, there has been talk of them trying to hold civilian trials elsewhere and this is an -- i think this aims to short of short-circuit that process. and eliminate the possibility -- >> the price is extraordinary, in new york, $200 million a year and the forecast was, okay, maybe the trial will go on for five years, and that is a billion dollars in safety and security and rerouting the city. if you don't have the money through congress, would the civilian trials even happen. >> no. no. the congress is in charge of appropriation, and they can determine, to that extend, whether the trials happened or not. and, the interesting thing is, i have heard an estimate that holding the trials actually at guantanamo bay, for each trial, would cost approximately, $50,000, each year. for the same kind of a trial, because there is a facility down there, that is built for these kinds of trials, exactly. so, it would be a totally different -- talk about a different ballpark. bill: 50 grand is a lot of money but is peanuts to the figure we talked about, $200 million and do you find and the people you talk to on the hill is there more support on the democratic side for graham's idea than we've talked about here with webb and lincoln. >> most definitely and talk to senator graham's people and other people involve in the legislation and they'll tell you they are confident democrats do not want to, at this point, stand forward and basically defend the administration's plans to hold civilian trialser for 9/11 conspirators. there is no appetite for it and whatever appetite there was in congress is diminishing, and you have seen companion legislation, actually now introduced in the house by frank wolf from virginia, already has a handful of democrats, cosponsoring that legislation and i think you will see it move quickly and will see... bill: just so i understand it, based on history and your understanding of the way the hill works when it happens like this based on history, when there is... i don't want to call it bipartisanship and whether we've achieved that, necessarily on this piece of legislation, but is that a signal the white house, that says, hey, find another plan, because, this isn't going to happen, and i'm thinking, 6 months down the road, a lot of these decisions, they come out like a slow trickle and reverse one by one by one and what do you end up with, you end up with quite likely is gitmo for 50 grand and is that the scenario that is developing. >> i think so and that is exactly the right question. and i think when you see them, there is so little political will on behalf of lawmakers to back the administration's initial plan, you have to wonderer how long the administration is going to stand by its plans and in an election year ask democrats to stand up and support this when clearly the country thinks it is unpopular and majority of the country thinks it is unsafe and certainly thinks it is unwise. i think it will be hard for the white house to continue to press this for, you know, through nof. bill: steven, thanks for coming in today, i mentioned the christmas day body bomber and you are still reporting on that and i'm out of time and we'll do it next time. >> thanks. bill: you've got it. from washington, martha. martha: new developments in the case of acorn owe opponent and film director james o'keefe, the attorney general, recused himself, outside of mary landrieu's office, no reason given for him recusing himself but one of the suspects is a son of a federal prosecutor and there are thoughts it has something to do with the decision and o'keefe and three men are charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the purpose of committing a felony and telling sean hannity it was never his intention to bug or tap the phones, at the senator's office and he says he and the others posed as phone repair men because they wanted to find out senator -- if the senator was trying to avoid constituents who wanted to complain about health care reform, stay tuned, folks! we'll find out where this one is at. bill: where will that lead, right. martha: i don't know. >> demolition day now for a home hit by a truck driver, chowing down on chili and you saw it hear on friday and "america's newsroom," a flatbed plowing into a home in massachusetts, low well, massachusetts and 25 miles outside of boston and inspectors say tearing down the house is the only way to take this truck out and they say the driver was eating chili and hit a bump and started choking and veered off the road and no one was seriously hurt and the investigators say drugs and alcohol into the a factor but clearly the chili. martha: driving end the influence of chili. how can you eat chili and drive at the same time... i guess not. free parking is under fire in california, environmentalist are looking at ways to eliminate free parking and if drivers are forced to pay for parking they'll consider eco-friendly ways to get around town and claudia cowan is live in san francisco. hey, claudia. >> reporter: no question about it. free parking spot is one of life's little pleasures and when retailers like best buy built a new store, local governments usually require them to provide enough parking for their customers and employees, something they really appreciate. and here in california, the state senate has just passed a plan, aimed at reducing the number of parking spots, why? because lawmakers think it is harder to find a place to park for free, people will be encouraged to leave their cars at home. and take this bus or even a bicycle. fewer parking spaces might also mean more congestion and likely fewer customers, but the lawmaker who sponsored the bill, and who has been blasted by critics across the country, insists his measure is pro business. >> the problem with so much free parking, the problem is that we overregulate sometimes to force massive amounts of parking and can do less of that. >> reporter: critics don't buy the pro business argument and they say it is another example of the democratic majority in sacramento pushing a liberal agenda. >> this is a step one, sort of the camel's nose under the tent, if you will, to do away with free parking and force people to take mass transit which currently in many areas of the state simply doesn't exist. >> reporter: the bill now heads over to the state assembly and even the senator doubts it will become law and he says it is just enough at this point to begin the conversation, about what he calls the hidden cost of free parking, here in car-loving california, we'll have to see how the conversation goes. back to you. martha: all right, thank you. i wonder where the free parking thing is on the circular monopoly. bill: we have to keep looking at the clue there. bill: the bong heard around the world, martha mark excuse me? bill: i don't know, and, i don't watch the show and abc's "lost", the supernatural phenomenon has folks across the world fired up for the season premier, of the final season. starts tonight. martha: yes. bill: "lost" prides itself on diehard fans and its characters and often finding themselves tanged up in a web of intricate plot lines and begging the viewers to look deeper, and deeper at each and every turn. martha: and, best looking people that ever landed on an island, i have to tell you that, and people are hoping tor answers to some of the show's big question, all i have to say is 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. and i know that one of our producers, who is a big fan will tell you why that is -- what that means after this. bill: i don't think it is the lottery. martha: i don't think so, either. bill: and the numbers, too in a moment, racking up the bill on your dime. the trip for more than 20 lawmakers at the climate change summit costing you a heck of a lot more than you might think, we break down how they spent your money. and some of these charges are just -- martha: we're going to copenhagen! on your dime! and an inky invasion, along the california coastline is creating an opportunity for some fishermen. ink? what does that mean, squid, right? we'll be right back. from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. two of nature's sweetest wonders now in new sun crystals, the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. with just 5 calories a packet. new sucrystals all-natural sweetener. >> good morning i'm jon scott along with jane skinner, up in 17 minutes with "happening now" there are efforts in the house and senate to shut off all funding for civilian trials of the 9/11 terrorists. we'll talk to one of the sponsors of that legislation, senator saxby chambliss. >> and you saw a wonderful life, of course, jimmie stewart rescues his brother from the pond as he's drowning and it happened in real life in new jersey, the 7-year-old hero will be with us, coming up! bill: jane, thank you for that and, bring out the marinara sauce, chowing down on colossal calamari, an illiteration from an anchor and the fishermen having a field day, roll the videotape, reeling in hundreds, maybe thousands of the elusive pictures -- or the still picture -- and hitting the scales with more than 60 pounds and they are rather mysterious and here today, gone tomorrow, experts say. martha: maybe has something to do with the numbers we talked about before... bill: eat up! martha: do you want to know what fueled the climate conference in copenhagen last month? your money, folks. and lots of it. the total travel expense costs for 21 house members and 38 of their staffers, who had to come along for the whole trip, comes in at over $533,000. and that is not including the military planes, so, chew over that while you think about the budget released yesterday. this range between 4,000 and $20,000, for each and their flights ranged from 5,000 to $10,000. we don't know yet the exact tab for the senate, not to mention for the obama administration officials who were also there and we have a-on some of the house ubs -- handle on some of the house numbers and, look at -- you know, the numbers really tell the story and we could sit here and put up owe numbers and people at home could figure that all out. what is going on here? >> well, we have a congress that is complete out of touch with the american people. i mean, you know, to fly this many people to copenhagen for a climate change summit which produced absolutely nothing in terms of -- i mean, anything meaningful. it is pretty astonishing in the current climate, if you will, economic climate i'm talking about. it is amazing they would even consider doing this and, frankly, you may have the house numbers and that is hard to come by and you don't get a fully detailed account even with the house numbers, senate has not even put their stuff up for our review and we don't know how much the administration spent. so, this is going -- a huge number. if we were to get to the bottom of it. martha: you know, there are two sides of this. what are these congressmen and, you know, the rest of them, as you, thinking, of spending $2200, a night, to go to this climate change conference, there is not a corporation in america, that wouldn't look twice, or that certainly shouldn't look twice, at numbers like this, and say to the people going on the business trip which is what it is, you know, you guys can do it cheaper, right? there is another way to do this, right. >> absolutely, any one of your viewers, we can go on expedia, travelocity and find air fares for under a thousand dollars to copenhagen, you can find good hotel rooms for $200 or less, and when you hear the word government rate most taxpayers assume it is a deal and you get a volume discount or something and on the contrary, the government rate is where you really are getting, you know, taken for a ride, if you will. >> it makes you wonder, if a lot of, throw the bums out mentality in this country now and a lot of it has to do with spending and the deficit and all of that. wouldn't it behoove these congressmen and senators, somewhat of rhetorical question, i guess, do we need to send 59 house and senate members and we could have been represented at the thing with three or four people, probably. am i wrong. >> absolutely. >> am i wrong. >> no. i mean, i i think the taxpayers will get it and this is like a congressional field trip and is a carbon footprint that is like big foot and, it is the cost of -- martha: there is the other irony. >> exactly. the carbon footprint of big foot. so much for being, efficient, and being green and being cost-effective, and not spending a -- expending a lot of internally and it is almost comical, a "saturday night live" skit it is so ridiculous and they wonder why taxpayers are so disgusted? all you have to do is point to this small slice of spending. to get the feel for why. and there is a lot of hypocrisy. martha: you want -- think about it. these people are in public service and are serving the people of the country, are not high-paid ceos, they are not people who can say i bring in a ton of money for the company and if i want to fly on the fancy jet, i will fly it and if you want to fire me, fire me and it is not that kind of situation and looks like they are behaving like it is. >> right. and in terms of bottom line, okay, we spent an enormous amount of money and what did we get for it in the sense of copenhagen we got absolutely nothing. there is no treaty, no meaningful agreement. and the other thing, i think that taxpayers need to understand is there is no transparency on these congressional travel expenses and we need to know what they are doing and all of the money and all of the cost of the military jets they are using. martha: you are right, anybody ought to log onto a government web site, gov.com or whatever and say what did we spend on this and should be able to find out where this money went, we have to go but thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. bill: did a great job. martha: $8,000 for four people traveling. bill: five night minimum and what company in america will allow you to book a hotel for five nights at a minimum when you are there for two days. martha: and you get back and you will get a phone call, i'm sorry. was this on you. bill: help bill hemmer, bill hemmer... martha: write your own check. bill: more than a tv news anchor could bear, she couldn't sit by and watch it on television and julie pierce springing into action and her drastic life-changing response, she'll join us live to explain what she is doing next. martha: and they are cute, right? cuddly and beagles, man's best friend, except... on far eastern -- the far eastern end of long island where one town is terrified of them! for all te every day special. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon in a delicate broth, without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment. martha: folks at home who are easily frightened, look away, because this is the new face of horror! a pack of ferrell beagles is roaming parts of eastern long island and are scaring the residents of small communities there. and, here's why. actually the reason why is kind of sad, animal shelters in the area, say it has been a huge problem for a while, hunters, abandon their beagles, in the wild. they take them rabbit hunting and that it doesn't work out they leave them to fend for themselves and the dogs grow cold and hungry and travel in packs and can get very aggressive. on eastern long island, watch out for feral beagles. bill: work on that. minutes before the hour now, and she quit her tv job, as a news anchor and booked a one-way plane ticket to haiti and julie pierce out of duluth, minnesota is also a registered nurse and today is live in orlando, and within days hopes to be in haiti. julie, good morning to you. why did you make this decision. >> good morning, bill. can you say it one more time, i'm having trouble hearing you. bill: how did you make this decision? >> well, i was actually in belize and doing outreach work there when the earthquake happened and when i got back i went straight back to the anchor desk and suddenly i'm having to read the headlines and tell the stories, and, as it breaks my heart like i know it is every american's heart i know there is something i can do about it and being a trained, registered nurse, going to one of best soldiers around the country, st. sclas ka, i knew i could could get there and assist and i made the decision to exchange the bright lights of the studio for the bright sun of haiti and get down there and start doing good. bill: you mentioned belize, and there are certain parts of that country, it is pretty tough going and other parts, it is -- caribbean resort-like and are you prepared for what you might see in parts of port-au-prince? and what is your expectation? >> bill, i don't think there is really any way that anybody can totally prepare themselves for what to experience when you get there. i think you have an idea in your head of what you see, on the headlines, and, you read in the papers, but, really, you can't experience the snomell and soun and hour and absorb the magnitude and i think it will hit when i hit the ground and i hope i hit the ground running and need to stay focused on what i need to do. bill: best of luck to you, julie pearce, thanks for your time and good luck. it will be an adventure of a lifetime. >> absolutely. bill: thanks. martha: all right, plans to hold 9/11 terror trials here in new york city, at one time, seemed pretty much unstoppable. until now. today, one senator will take a giant leap towards killing the program, altogether. what that might mean, for guantanamo bay, next. 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( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. not to let your immune system become a statistic. so take every precaution. wash your hands frequently. maintain a well-balanced diet, get plenty of rest... and support your immune system... for a full 24 hours with panted ester-c. taken daily, ester-c gets into your system quickly... and stays all day to provide.. up to 24 hours of immune support. w more than ever, trust your imme health... clinically tested ester-c. the better vitamin c. martha: actress stephen frye reported on a parrot called a cucapoo, the feathered friend got frisky, it's a mating ritual, we're told, bill! this is hilarious. bill: that bird has bad eyesight. martha: there are only 124 left in the world. bill: wow. martha: and there are 123 out there looking around for bill hemmer. bill: that's funny. he's been named conservation ambassador by new zealand. bill: a cucapoo. martha: that's what it's called. that's hilarious. we'll think about that all day and get a chuckle out of it. bill: where else would you go? have a great tuesday, everybody, we'll catch you tomorrow, right here. martha: "happening now" starts right

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