Transcripts For FOXNEWS Happening Now 20100106

jon scott, along a jane skinner. another democrat about to tell voters he'll give up his seat, making the majority in the u.s. senate a little more ten tenuous. two democrats, connecticut senator chris dodd and byron dorgan expected to retire, dodd expected to hold a news conference about an hour from now conforming reports he won't run for reelection in november. shannon bream is keeping an eye on this live from washington. this has to be giving the gop and its supporters a boost going into the 2010 mid-term elections, shannon. >> you are certainly right, jon, it gives them a shot in the arm but top republicans say they were not surprised to see key democrats stepping aside, saying they know the public backlash about what they've been doing in washington and across the country is coming, here's what michael steele told us this morning. town halls are coming back to bite, and that bite is going to get a lot stronger as we go through the course. >> and he went on to say, hey, when you stand in front of your constituents, they are upset and you're ignoring them or talking on a cell phone or asking them for their i.d. before you answer questions, you're going to get yourself in trouble, jon. jon: it's not just republicans who are admitting this is a problem, right? >> you're right. take doug shoen, worked on a number of top democratic campaigns for a number of years, he says democrats are facing a potential tsunami and added this. >> i think the democrats who are now retiring, plus the four members of the house who retired before the christmas or new year's break are indicative of the polls moving against the democrats, something i'm not happy about, but it is the fact, and we've got to call it as it is. >> so even democrats, jon, acknowledging there are rough waters potentially ahead in these mid-term elections coming down the pike. jon: those mid-terms are 11 months away but i guess we could get a sneak peek in a few days. >> you're absolutely right. on january 19th, this there be a special election to fill senator kennedy's seat in massachusets. this is copley against scott brown. some show the gap closing but it would be a major coup for the gop to grab this, it would upset the supermajority of the democrats hold in the u.s. senate. it is a critical race and could give us a bit of a preview, jon. jon: and the governor of my home state, colorado, is stepping down. what does -- does that mean in terms of democratic giewbna toralship. >> a number of democrat governors are dealing with problems in their states, now that we know the potentially mandatory stakes are coming up, a lot realize it will be tough to say our economies on the state level are not doing well but there are mandated pikes at the hand of democrats so we realize there may be other democratic governors who take the path of governor ritter, jon. jon: should be interesting to watch. shannon bream, thanks. we want to know what you think the most troubling issue is going to be for incumbents in november. go to fox news.com, click on the you decide link, you can vote in our unsciesk poll. so far 53 percent say the biggest problem will be the overall direction of the country with the democrats controlling congress. jane: house democratic leaders are in a critical meeting on health care, preparing for a get together at the white house after lunch today, they'll be meeting with the president to start this evident to work out major policy differences between the house and senate bills. instead of holding a conference committee the president wants democrats to basically fast track this process that would effectively shut out any republicans and any attempts they might make to slow the process down. as you may know the head of c-span has requested that the final talks on health care be aired on television. we're going to talk more about transparency or what some perceive to be a lack thereof coming up in a couple of minutes jon: action today in pakistan in a tribal area filled with terrorists reportedly linked to the deadly attack on a cia base in afghanistan. there's word now that two suspected u.s. drone missile strikes killed 12 people in that region. the obama administration has been pushing pakistan to crack down on those al-qaeda-linked fighters, and washington has stepped up its attacks there. since the cia bombing a week ago, there have been four u.s. drone missile strikes on the tribal areas where osama bin laden is believed to be hiding. jane want to get to breaking developments we're watching out of yemen at this hour in the fight to break up the terror ring now. right now there is word security forces are surrounding the compound of a regional leader for al-qaeda, threatening to storm the home if he doesn't surrender. all this comes after we got word this morning that three other suspected al-qaeda militants reportedly linked to a plot targeting the american and british embassies in yemen have been taken into custody. >> we're hearing from our contact in sana'a, yemen, exactly what you said is happening, the yemeni security forces have surrounded the house, the compound, of the regional leader of al-qaeda in the area north of yemen, north of sana'a, his name is mohammed al-hanq, they're saying come out or we will storm that house, included with al-hanq is his aide, allegedly operating a lot of the terrorist activity necessary that region. it's believed that he issued the threat against both the u.s. embassy, the u.k. embassy, western interests, and that shut them down for the last few days. those embassies are now open, the u.s. embassy putting out a release saying they believe the security risks have less ended, but apparently the embassy security forces think otherwise. they have been staging several raids in the last couple of days that have resulted in, by our count, about 13 militants, either dead or injured or captured, jane. jane: greg, how has the yemen military responded to this growing threat as we've seen it over the past year? >> they have been making a show of it for sure, jane, as we've been saying on fox, yemen certainly identified as yet another front in the war on terror, another strong hold for al-qaeda. we've seen the linkage with the detroit airline bomber, abu mutallab, we've seen the linkage with the fort hood killer, of course other past attacks on the u.s. there has been a push by the yemeni authorities against al-qaeda in that troubled country. we saw two attacks prior to christmas. the foreign minister, jane, interestingly enough, today coming out and saying they do not believe foreign intervention, u.s. intervention, would be profit annual for them, but we've seen a lot behind the -- profitable for them but we've seen a lot of behind the scenes work by intelligence, money, support, you name it. jane: greg, thank you. you mentioned we've seen this action on the part of the yemeni forces. the question is do they have what it takes to root out al-qaeda should the --, should the u.s. military get directly involved in we'll talk about that with oliver north in a few months. >> to the airports where security is tight and nerves are frazzled. since the failed bombing attempt of a northwest jet on christmas day, more and more people are reporting suspicious activity, but how long might this last? brian wilson has more from washington. brian, first of all, a question, how has the tsa responded since that christmas day incident? >> since christmas day, jon, the tsa has been ramping up inspection procedures and ramping up guidelines for airlines into the u.s. from international destinations. how's that paying off? we have statistics from the week following christmas. twenty-eight passengers were arrested by the tsa after investigations of suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents being presented. there were 12 firearms found at checkpoints around the united states. they have four instances of artfully conceived -- concealed, prohibited items being found at checkpoints and 24 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, a terminal evacuation, or what they call a sterile area breach. i think that number is a little higher than normal, jon: jon any tsa problems reported? >> quite a few. in femed the bomb-sniffing dogs failed to test and were taken out of service. bad timing there. they had a scare yesterday at the bakersfield, california airport after a bag tested positive for explosives. no explosive. they opened the bag and found jars containing an amber-colored liquid, the contents of those jars apparently made two tsa officers sick. turned out to be jars of honey. of course we're learning the newark airport near you had problems with a security camera, the delayed response to a security breach. there was a big delay between the time of the breach and the time the terminal was closed down. in just the last few minutes there's an press conference at newark, one senator, bob menendez of new jersey has said we need to be ten steps ahead of the terrorist, not one step behind, harsh words aimed at the tsa from senator menendez. jon: what's the advice for travelers? >> don't push things to the last minute. i mean, domestic travel is still a little slower than it has been, it takes a little longer to get through the security, and think carefully about any liquids you might be trying to carry on. the tsa, as you might imagine, is being a real stickler about liquids and gels right now. follow the rules to the letter of the law. jon: brian wilson live in washington, brian, thanks. jane we're continuing to watch what's happening in yemen this hour, how it relates to our safety in this country. lieutenant colonel oliver north will be with us and molly line is on the job hunt this hour. >> we're at evergreen solar, one of america's high-tech solar power companies, they're struggling in this economy as are other companies around the world, the recession has had a major impact on this globald industry. we have more coming up, next. jon there's news on the power of the pomegranate, researchers have been tout thank fruit for years, saying it has a number of health benefits. now a new study says it can help fight breast cancer. doctors at the city of hope national medical center in california say chemicals in pomegranate slow the growth of cancer cells, you say you can reap the benefits either by eating the fruit or drinking the pomegranate juice. jane we're on the job hunt at fox. mixed news for the solar power industry, some companies invest millions to build manufacturing plants in this country, when there was a high demand for solar products. take a look. solar energy provides electricity and hot water to more than 100,000 homes, businesses and utilities in this country. in 2007, 62 percent or about 62.5% of all clean energy generation jobs were created in the solar energy industry. from 98o '98 to '07, jobs in that industry increased slightly more than 19 percent. the bad news is that the demand has dropped, and that means the prices have plummeted. let's get to molly line in massachusets at a company that is making some changes to try to be more competitive. molly, tell us where you are and what they're doing. >> jane, we are at evergreen solar in massachusets. this is a relatively new facility, a very high-tech company. if you take a look behind me, this facility was opened in 2008, it's the length of three football fields, a lot of robotics and precision involved in creating the solar panels and components, the wafers. evergreen cut a deal with the state when they chose massachusets as the site where the facility would be built, accepting $68 million in incentives, including about $20 million in cash. in return they promised to create at least 350 jobs and they exceeded that expectation. they have about 800 people work here. but they've seen a drop in prices of 45 percent -- a 45 percent decline since they opened the plant and to stay viable and competitive in what they consider to be a global market, they're facing a lot of global competition, they're moving some of their assembly operations to china, taking advantage of superior subsidies and a dramatic decrease in labor cost. ceo rick feldt explains. >> the economy affected the solar industry, so not only do you have the low cost advantage but help from the government and the chinese have decided they're going to be in solar in a big, big way and unless our country gets behind solar or alternative in the same way, then i think yes, as a country, we have a problem. >> executives tell me because they are a global company they always had plans to expand into asia but this has kind of bumped up that move, they've gotten there quicker than intended. they still have a huge incentive to stay in massachusets, they plan to keep hundreds of people employed and it's unsure exactly how many jobs will be moved overseas. they have a long-term commitment, this is their innovative hub and they're hoping if anything does get shut down to bump that back up in future years, a long-term commitment to the united states, but at the same time, there's an economic slump and they're faced with looking towards cheaper manufacturing to stay in business and keep competitive in the globe at market. jane? jane: molly line in -- line in massachusets for us, thanks. if you'd like to learn about careers across the country, go to fox news.com, our website, very easy, click on the "on the job hunt" link, check out the interactive map, it has links to articles that have lots of opportunities out there. fox news.com. jon: we are waiting for a news conference from connecticut, quite a huge surprise in some circles, anyway. democratic senator chris dodd is expected to announce he will not seek reelection. what does that mean for the balance of power in the senate? maybe nothing, maybe something. a very strong democrat there, running to replace him, but a couple of interesting republican possibilities as well. we'll have that announcement for you live when senator dodd steps up to the microphone. jane: nasty weather in the u.k. where heavy snow has stranded hundreds of motorists. they're in the longest cold snap in some 30 years, take a look, the british military was called in overnight to rescue some of the motorists. in the meantime, train lines, airports, schools have been shut down. this unusually cold weather is expected to continue for the next two weeks. the winter weather also showed no sign of abateing in germany where icy snow and temperatures caused problems for people there, slippery conditions, the rail services are disrupted, as well as the air traffic. jon yemen is looking to take charge of its fight against al-qaeda, the foreign minister making that clear today, saying yemen opposes any direct intervention by the united states or any other foreign nation. and yemeni security forces seem to be making head way against the terrorists. today they rounded up militants linked to a plot targeting the u.s. and british embassy. there's also word they have surrounded the home of an al-qaeda commander who is thought to be behind that plot. let's talk about it with retired lieutenant colonel oliver north, author and does this suggest that the yemeni government is serious about taking on al-qaeda within its own border? >> they're serious now because they stand the risk, literally tens of millions of dollars in u.s. aid. we've made it very clear unless they take the proper kinds of steps to improve security for things like our embassy and to track down some of these characters, that we're going to basically reduce our support for them. the second part of all of this, of course, is that we have been sending detainees from gitmo back to yemen and yesterday the president finally made the decision to stop doing that. jon: and you know, you have the fact that the u.s.s. cole was bombed in a yemeni port at a time when the united states was trying to reach out and strengthen ties to the yemeni government. >> in fact, yemen has been a hotbed of ridical islam now for decades. the saudis certainly know that. and of course, osama bin laden knows it well. the reality of the situation on the ground is that this is a very impoverished country, they once had oil and gas reserves that are now nearly depleted, the place is calling with al-qaeda operatives and radical islamists and we now see it with the christmas day attempt, that and the fact that our embassy is now shut down for the third time in of course the last four years. jon: you've been to both afghanistan, obviously, and yemen. how would you compare those two countries? >> yemen is running a close second to afghanistan as a place that's hard to get around, a place that's not particularly hospitable to westerners, and of course, a country that has seen its fair share of attacks on the united states, to include 39 dead on the u.s.s. cole. jon and in terms of being a place where al-qaeda is basically free to roam? >> they have been, and of course, that's one of the reasons why you got radical islamists, when they're looking for a place to go, they pick a place like sudan, somalia, or yemen, because it's a failed state from a governance perspective. we also had the largest jail break in terrorist history, rivalling anything in mexico with the narcoterrorists that have broken loose down there. what happens to these people once they're actually picked up is a major factor in where we go in terms of our relationship with yemen. jon: it has been observed that the united states, though, has to be careful as to how hard it leans on the yemeni government. >> yes, because it's fragile it's corrupt, largely. i'm not saying any one particular individual more so than others. but very typical of those kinds of governments. there's a lot of corruption. there's a lack of any real democratic process in the country. and so what we're looking for, of course, is a country that's prowestern, respects the rights of its own people, and rounds up terrorists when they show up there. they've not doing well on any of those things. jon: and how does the united states, then, you know, without destabilizing their government, how does it accomplish the kinds of things that we want to accomplish? namely, going after some of these al-qaeda cells. >> well, some of the things that are being done in yemen aren't things being talked about on the air, the military is not going to acknowledge some of the things they've done with remotely piloted ire craft and surveillance that's -- aircraft and the surveillance that's been placed in the country. the reality of what you can do to gain leverage with yemen is tied to america's intelligence and foreign assistance packages and you're talking tens of millions of dollars. they don't want that to dry up. jon: does it suggest that allowing some of these, you know, third world nations to become almost failed states is something that the u.s. is going to have to be watching very closely in the future, because you wind up with countries like afghanistan and yemen? >> you know, nation building has gotten a very bad rap over the quors of the last several years. the reality of it is is that unless we want places like yemen, somalia, sudan and the like to become cotton beds of places like where future 9/11 attacks are placed against us we're going to have to find a way to stabilize them. they're not going to be jeffersonian democracies but what you want is a state that protects itself, make sure it has security for its own people, it's prowestern in its approach to life on this planet and diplomacy and ultimateliors the rights of its own people. if we can get those kinds of things in afghanistan, yemen, somalia, this would be a far better world. jon: i don't hear anybody in washington talking seriously about sending u.s. troops in yea men, at least not large numbers, brigades and so forth. do you see that as an eventual possibility here? >> no, simply because we don't have enough. i mean, we're stretched now, with the drawdown that's occurring in iraq and in afghanistan, we do not have enough u.s. navy sailors, soldiers, airmen, guardsmen, marines, to be able to carry out those kinds of missions, and you need tens of thousands on the ground in yemen in order to track down all of the al-qaeda or, if you will, radical islamist leaders that have taken refuge there. jon: in terms of the last part of that sentence, that's a frightening thought. colonel north -- thank you. >> it is. jane: we're getting brand new numbers into our newsroom that may be of interest to all of us on jobs and unemployment in this country. jenna has two different reports. she's going to talk about what they mean for all of us in the economy in just a minute. jane want to show you live pictures from connecticut. what we're doing is waiting for a news conference from chris dodd, influential member of the u.s. senate. as you probably know he was facing a very tough reelection bid. we're told to expect an announcement as he steps to the microphones. we expect him in the next 30 minutes or so, an announcement he will not seek reelection. as soon as he begins, we'll take you there live. jon: here's what else is happening now. president obama, pushing a plan to fast-track health care reform. but it's at odds with one of his major campaign promises. new numbers just released on the jobs front. what they tell us about unemployment and the nation's economy. plus, millions and millions of americans take them every day, but a brand new study finds a very popular medication might not work in millions of cases. jane: want to get to health care reform now, and a closer look at the cost. democrats say the plans currently on the table would generate a surplus for our country but some studies out there show that may not necessarily been the case. jim angell has been looking at this and has the numbers for us. what's out there, jim? >> jane, the president promised not to sign a health care bill that increased the decifit or cost than $901 billion that's what lawmakers say they delivered. >> whatever the funding mechanism, the president and we and the senate have pledged that this will be paid for, it will bring down costs, and it will bring down the decifit. >> to get there, jane, at least on paper, democratic leaders in the house and senate just kept massaging the numbers until they fit. the congressional budget office, the cbo, is required to score what congress says it will do without regard for whether lawmakers will actually do it, so when the lawmakers told the cbo they'd raise hundreds in revenue and cut $5 billion from medicare in ten years, the cbo says that course of action would reduce the decifit by 132 billion. critics, however, are extremely skeptical. >> there's a number of things that make that highly implausible, dubious, it assumes it will be cut 20 percent by 2011 and stay there indefinitely. if you just take that out, just that one on its own, take it out of the equation, the bill goes from being a small decifit reducer to being a large decifit increaser. >> that's known as the doctor fix, jane, and that alone would put the bill in the red. jane: this doctor fix, jim, has been a long standing issue, it isn't, though, in the versions that are currently out there, right? >> no, because it costs too much. keep in mind, this is an effort to undo one of congress' previous efforts to reduce medicare spending. lawmakers have been trying to fix it for years, because they were cutting medicare payments to doctors or reducing care for elderly, not to mention getting a lot of lawmakers thrown out of congress, so they all pledged to fix it, it was originally in both the house and senate bills, but fixing it would have cost some $240 billion over ten years, so they simply took it out. they still plan to do it but won't pay for it, which troubles some democratic centrists. >> i think eventually, you're going to have to do something that is longer term, and the question is, how will that be financed, or will it be financed. i think that's an open question. >> so jane, the current plan in the house is to do it, anyway, just not count it as adding to the decifit. sort of like spending money but pretending that it doesn't come out of your bank account. jane? jane: jim angle on the hill for us, thanks. jon: two brand new reports on the jobs front. what does it tell us about the economic recovery? jenna lee knows, she's at the fox business network. >> these reports are telling us that a recovery of some sort is underway at this time, and what's particularly important about these reports is that they are ahead of the big jobs report we have on friday, where we'll get a new national unemployment rate. that's going to be really important for the markets and also for the rest of us. let's work through some of the numbers we got today, one being from adp, a payroll firm, they showed for the month of december that we had 84,000 layoffs just in the private sector, this is just look at the private sector alone. that's actually worse than expected. but it is definitely better than what we saw during the height of this recession. challenger, gray and christmas, a staffing firm, they look at what employers are planning to do, what they're thinking about, and what they showed for the month of december is that employers were planning to lay off 45,000 people. but even when you look at these numbers, again, those are just plans, and again, that's just one part of the private sector. challenger, gray and christmas, throughout this whole entire recession, they said that employers planned on laying off 2 1/2 million people. well, we've lost 7 1/2 million jobs during this recession. so you can see the difference in the number. however, for the number that we just got for the month of december, that's the best we've seen since the beginning of the recession back in december of 2007. so the tend is -- the trend is continuing to improve, jon. the big question is we're going to start seeing that job losses are going to slow down, we've seen that over the last several weeks, even the last couple of months. the question is, have we actually created jobs, so that the people losing their jobs have somewhere to go. that's going to be something we're really looking for in this report on friday. the unemployment rate right now is at 10 percent, it's expected to edge up just a little bit, but we're really watching to see have any jobs actually been created and that's going to be very important for us on friday. jon: because you still see jobless recovery headlines an awful lot, don't new. >> exactly. again, we can see the job losses flow down, which is great, we want to see that, but we also want to see new positions created, so if you've been unemployed for a while, you actually have a hope of getting a new position, and we haven't seen that turn quite yet. jon: jen a lee, we'll check in with you later. thanks. jane: you think you're cold right now? just wait. janice is here to tell us, it's only going to get worse. those fans in south florida at the orange bowl, those are the hearty type, aren't they? >> absolutely. it was the coldest orange bowl in history yesterday in miami, 49 degrees at kickoff. it's incredible. unfortunately, believe it or not, we're going to see even colder temperatures across much of the sunshine state heading into the weekend. look at your current temperatures right now, across the upper midwest, and the northern plains, 18 in chicago, 17 in kansas city, you get down to atlanta, where it's 28, 26 in mem physical, and factor in what it feels like with that wind factored in, 10 degrees in chicago, four in minneapolis, feels like minus 24 in rapid city, four in denver, 17 in atlanta. the southeast really hurting with this cold air. this morning's lows, across florida, we're not talking so much about record breaking lows, but the duration that we're seeing below freezing temperatures across the south and that's what's really going to affect or damage those crops. so 18 in tallahassee, 27 in tampa, 28 in port saint lucy and unfortunately as we get into the weekend, we'll talk about temperatures dipping below 20 degrees, even into the teens. so tallahassee, hard freeze, watch yet again tonight, very dangerous for crops all across florida. and as i mentioned, even colder this weekend, where the mercury is going to dip into the teens. satellite radar composite over the last six hours, we haven't talked about this storm moving into the central plains and eventually into the southeast. we've got that cold air in place. let's take a look at what's going to happen thursday, at around 6:00 p.m. we've got that snow wrapping around portions of the ohio river valley, down through the tennessee river valley. look at where that snowline is. atlanta, you could certainly see a little bit of snow in your forecast, a wide swath of four to 8 inches, and the storm system will be out of the way by friday into saturday. lows across the country, very cold again. so this is going to be the story ongoing into the weekend. maybe a little bit of a warmup next week, jane, but looking at long range forecasts, we could be talking about a cold february, march, maybe even april. i don't even think that the ground hog is going to come out on ground hog's day. you -- jane: you talk about the crops. coming up in the next hour, we'll be talking to a farmer in west palm beach, in palm beach county, florida, who says they're a little nervous, they're staying up all night worried about the crops, especially, as j.d. said, it's going to get colder. jon: i worked those orange groves when in miami. democrats meeting again today about getting a health care bill done and they want it done soon, the president making it known he wanted transparency throughout but what does it mean when republicans are not included in the talks? we'll debate that next. jane democratic leaders working on health care reform are in about three hours from now, a little less, meeting at the white house. president obama has told them he wants this bill on his desk before the state of the union address so he can sign it. first, though, the house and senate have to work out pretty major policy differences. the president is pushing for basically fast track this process, five passing the usual house conference committee. there's an outcry because the meetings are taking place behind closed doors, congress isn't in session, despite the president's pledge of transparency. take a look at this. >> what we'll do is have it televised on c-span so people can see who's making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. and so that approach, i think, is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process. jane: joining us now, peter maragen, adviser to the gore campaign, and senior adviser to senator john mccain. you know the outcry, this is a critical phase, probably the most critical phase of the reform talks. defend this for me, why not have them televised? we heard yesterday even the head of c-span asking for it. >> i think that c-span has every right to ask to have it televised. i have a lot of friends down at c-span and they're good people. i think the notion that the health care bills are not available to the public is not true. i mean, these are both pieces of legislations that have been reported on, it's in the news, people can look at them, republicans can evaluate what's in there and they have been doing that, they've been sort of picking out things that they have objections to. you know, this notion that it has to be televised, i mean, the fact of the matter is when president bush was in office and vice president cheney was making energy policy behind closed doors, there wasn't a real human cry as to having that televised. i think it's an interesting play by the republicans to say that it should be televised, but i don't think it's necessarily something that the public is not being told or is being misled in any way if it isn't. jane: nancy, you've been around the hill long enough to know this is how legislation is made, it's not done front and center with a lot of sunshine, it's done behind closed doors. >> it's interesting, republicans aren't making this an issue. president obama's own words are making this an issue. he said something like eight separate times that these proceedings should be televised and remember, this isn't just any old piece of legislation, this iso is arguably the biggest piece of legislation that's passed since world war ii and will affect every single american. what we know about it, it's got a half a trillion dollars in tax increases, that it's going to cut medicare from half a trillion and raise premiums for virtually everyone and has americans concerned. i was at aral -- i was at a rally before christmas, before the midnight votes, there was a woman that said if i wanted to be ignored, i would have -- wi have married you, not elected you. she was clearly feeling like her voice wasn't being heard. jane: interesting, when nancy pelosi was asked about this question, she shot back there are a number of things the president was for on the campaign trail. peter, why the jab? >> what the speaker is doing is exercising her prerogative as speaker of the house and saying there's a -- the legislative branch will make its decision in its way. it was an institutional defense of the way -- of how things work in congress. jane: there have been guesses and quotes on the hill of saying she does that deliberately, she's mad and feels pressure that the house is supposed to go now and accept what the senate has done as the two bills emerge. >> i think she's clearly annoyed but there's a laundry list of things that were promised and broken, in not even a full year since the campaign. it's just, almost, impressive, but she's particularly concerned about the middle class tax increase that's in this bill. she's got now, and nral, these are proabortion, choice organizations that she cares about who hate this bill. noct now has vowed to stimy anyone who votes for this in the version, and you've got move on.com upset. you have major constituencies that hate both bills and wants us to slow down and be right and you've got independents who are being hemorrhaged, they're hemorrhaging in the support for democrats and republicans and the democrats up for reelection know that. that's where we've seen the retirements, when they own the white house and the senate and that's why you've got congressional democrats upset. >> republicans are upset and shut out if it's a fast track process but there are plenty of democrats who have things to say about this as well. >> they certainly do and they will have their say. the fact of the matter is, there was a great case made there by nancy but the real facts are that the democrats will come together, people are saying the senate wouldn't get the 60 votes, they got the 60 votes, they're going to go into this meeting and come out with a bill. what the republicans fear most is that the president and democratic congress will have a win on health care, something that hasn't been done in 40 years. so you know, this is actually a piece of legislation that is not easy to do. if it were so easy, it would have been done a lot quicker and there were a lot of deals that had to be made and there were a lot of compromises that had to take place. so i think when you're legislator as opposed to just defending the status quo, it's a lot harder to legislate. jane: i have ten seconds and i want a quick answer from you, yes or no, will the president get this health care reform bill on his desk before the state of the union? we don't have a date yet, end of january, beginning of february. peter, yes or no, and nancy, to you. >> i would -- wi say 60-40, yes. >> nancy? >> no. jane: we'll see. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. jon: you know what winter weather means to school kids. snow day, right? harris faulkner says doesn't always mean snow, right? >> i mean n. arkansas, the list is growing. now we're up to 29 schools that are closed because of the very, very cold weather. temperatures, you heard meteorologist there talking about how cold it is, and this cold snap and how it's prolonged. arkansas isn't used to this. later this week they could see actual temperatures -- actual temperatures of 10 degrees and you factor in the feels-like, it's 20 below. they're not ready for this. twenty-nine school districts as i read the list and also slick roads. so it isn't the snow that's doing it, but i tell you, the third consecutive day that many of these school districts across arkansas, they include baxter and benton and boone and bradley. like i said, large school districts. the list is growing. washington, van burn, a very -- very, very cold weather, keeping the kids in, keeping them warm and the cold snap continues. i tell you, if you do the math on this, they could be in school in late june to make these days up. jon let's hope not. thank you very much. harris faulkner. jane: big medical study out today about a drug that millions and millions of americans use every day, very popular, antidepressant. this new study, though, has pretty startling results on whether or not the drugs are really working for most people. jane: the faithful were greeted at st. peters amid security measures following the scare on christmas eve. it marked the epiphany, commonly recovered to as the feast of the three kings. the security measures included a wider aisle by pushing back barriers that separate the pope that other people. this was put in place after a young woman scrambled over a barrier during a procession on christmas eve. she is undergoing psychiatric treatment at a clinic not far from rome. jon: they are among the most popular drugs in this country, antidepressants, 164 million americans take them every day. but a new study is suggesting antidepressants might not be all that helpful to a lot of people. let's talk about it with dr. manny alvarez, managing editor of fox news health.com and member of the fox news medical team. are you as surprised as many seem to be about the results of this study? >> to tell you the truth, i was not. tht a topic that we monitored for quite a while, and the piece, 164 million prescriptions and the latest survey out of johns hopkins looked at about 60 percent of the population as taking more than two drugs at a time, so the utilization of antidepressants is quite high, but now this is probably the second study, very good study, published in the medical american association journal, saying mild to moderate depression, really there's no benefit in takingo in taking antidepressants, per se. it seems to be effective in severe depression which really constitute about 40 percent of all patients. so i think that we're overmedicating, i think we're utilizing these drugs in perhaps patients that do not need them, and at the end of the day, we have to look for better alternative treatments, especially in cases of mild to moderate depression. jon: in researching this story i was going to ask you how you know whether you have severe depression or not, and i was surprised to read there actually is a rating scale for determining that. >> oh, absolutely. the clinical diagnosis of depression done by physicians and psychologists is very strict. there's a specific criteria. you have to remember, what's happening is through marketing of pharmaceutical industries, you see a lot of commercials now sort of telling people if you feel this way or another way, you may have depression, talk to your doctor. a lot of folks don't go to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist, they might go sow a -- see a primary care doctor who might 23409 be -- not northbound tune with the severity of depression and therefore the easiest thing to do is just prescribe the medication. jon joond one of the suggestions coming out of this study, some of these patients who do suffer from mild depression, yes, they got better as a result of taking the pills, but the suggestion is that in taking the pills, they were also spending a lot of time talking to their health care professional, and on and just that talking, just that, you know, maybe mild psychotherapy, may have been part of the solution. >> absolutely. when people are involved in a clinical trial, as these folks were, the investigators are very well in tune and making sure that they don't report any side effects, asking questions every day, do you feel better and things of this sort, so that, you know, involvement by the medical community is helping. and this is exactly what a lot of doctors are saying, look, we have sort of walked away from psychotherapy, from talk therapy, music therapy, exercise, all of these things help tremendousby in patients with mental illness and we have to get back to the fundamentals. jon: let's say you're a patient that's taking one of these antidepressants for mild depression right now. maybe you don't want to stop. maybe you feel like the thing is working. is there a downside to taking that medicine? >> well, look, there'sal side effects. if you look at the side effects of any of the ssris or older medicationings you're going to see multiple things, right, including recently there was some warning for adolescent depression that these drugs may give suicideal ideation, so there's a lot of significant side effects. if you take the medication under medical supervision, i wouldn't stop, i would just go back to the doctor and say by the way, i just read that maybe my case is a mild case of depression, should i be on this med, and have that conversation. don't do it on your own. but clearly, this is a wake-up call for future studies and also a wake-up call to a lot of doctors that maybe we're overprescribing these types of drugs. jon: head of our medical a team, dr. manny alvarez, thank you. jane: we're taking a look at bitter cold temperatures in the south. my hands are freezing. almost as bitter cold as the studio is. but they're very worried about their crops there. we're going to talk to a farmer in palm beach county, he's going to talk about just how expensive it is to prevent any of this freeze damage. and you may feel the frects -- the effects on your next trip to the grocery store. also live pictures from connecticut here, in moments a major announcement from senator chris dodd about his political future. this could have an effect on the balance of power in the u.s. senate. we'll take it live, as soon as that news conference begins. some lunch. you hungry? 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to step to this podium in just a few minutes and announces calling it quits. 65-years-old, five time senator. he lives in this converted 1854 schoolhouse. this very picturesque new england-type down. he has been buffeted by a variety of issues. his polls have plummeted. only a third of connecticut voters said they want to be reelected. a variety of problems. he got to mortgages from country wide financial. he got vip treatment. he denied it. also he has a country home in ireland he bought with businessmen that raised questions, and also the fact that he inserted an amendment in the stimulus package that gave the bonuses to the aig executives, $165 million worth. a variety of issues that have seen him down in the polls after having served in the senate since 1980. his father, senator thomas dodd, also in the senate. we expect the announcement to come any moment. really a legend for the state, a devoted liberal, along with his ally, the late senator edward kennedy fought on many liberal issues. but seeing the writing on the wall in the politics and the democratic downs in the senate at stake here with those 60 votes and the supermajority, still calling it quits, expecting an announcement any moment now from senator christopher dodd. jane: so without doubt in the picture, where do we expect the race to look like? >> just about to run a half hours from now the popular attorney general from connecticut richard blumenthal will announce he could be considered the front-runner. on the republican side you have three candidates. among them former congressman ron simmons who is announced that linda mcmahon, the co-founder along with her husband vince mcmahon of wwe, the worldwide wrestling, she is expected to make it. she has vowed to spend up to $30 million for the seat. for now blumenthal would be the front-runner. of course, it is a long way until november as we have seen and especially with the surprising announcement that has taken a lot of people here by surprise. he actually is bowing out, especially since senator dodd has been almost $2 million this year on potential reelection race advertising and this sort of thing. a surprise for many people who have seen him and have considered him a legend, even if a troubled candidate as he has tried to seek a sixth seat which now with this announcement expected he will not do. jane: eric, as soon as he steps to the mic we will get back to you. thanks. jon: president obama blasts his national security team saying they failed to connect the dots, calling it a mere disastrous that is unacceptable. the new york coverage peter king saying if the situation is as bad heads should rolled. michael manuel is keeping an eye on the story live from the west. >> president obama was tough. he is not going to stand for a significant failures. so the president saying that this won't be tolerated and that there will be changes coming. what we expect that his counter-terrorism adviser will step forward with some suggestions and recommendations of concrete steps that can be taken. we understand during that meeting in this situation room yesterday difference represented to us with different agencies and departments also presented what they have done since the christmas day attack to try and tighten things up. the president making it pretty clear. time for changes. jon: thanks. jane: who we want to get back to connecticut where it looks like senator christopher dodd is just about to step to the microphone there. a really tough bid for reelection. they are testing the mics. he was really considered to be one of the most vulnerable democrats. interesting his decision came, as we learned, overnight. it came a few hours after byron dorgan also announced that he would not be seeking reelection as well. outlined a couple of the reasons. he is back with us. eric, the top reasons, i guess, you would say, two words, country wide and aig for his reelection being so tough. plenty of voter anger over both those issues. >> you're right. you have to remember that senator dodd is chairman of the house banking committee. added on that the fact that he took those two mortgages. he said he didn't do anything wrong. cleared by the senate ethics committee. that caused a lot of anger. he sought preferential treatment as well as the issue of this country house and the aig bonuses. something else happened last year. he actually move from this state to run for president. he moved his family to west desmoines. thirty years plus. he was actually a congressman from the state. comes from a very prominent family. his father, thomas dodd, was a senator from here. his father got into trouble. his father was censured by the u.s. senate for misusing campaign contributions. so despite that it has been a real uphill race for a sixth term. seeing the handwriting on the wall, especially considering some of the political climate today senator dodd has decided to drop out. you hear the applause. here is a smiling christopher dodd announcing, at least as far as the senate is concerned, his political career there is now over. jane: let's take a look. >> ruining the neighborhood with all these people gathered. happy new year and good morning. every six years over the past three decades i have invited you to join me at our home to share in my decision to seek election and reelection to the united states senate. on each of these occasions i have begun my remarks by observing that every important journey in life begins and ends at home. today is no exception. what is different about today, however, is not to announce the beginning of yet another campaign for the united states senate, but rather to announce that after 35 years of representing the people of connecticut and the united states congress i will not be a candidate for reelection this november. i want to begin these very brief remarks by expressing my deepest gratitude to the wonderful people of connecticut for the remarkable privilege of being elected eight times over the past four decades to our national assembly. you have honored me beyond words with your confidence. let me quickly add that there have been times when my positions and actions have caused some of you to question that confidence. i regret that. but it's equally important that you know that i have never wavered in my determination to do the best job for state and nation. i love my job as your senator and always have and still do. however, this past year has raised some challenges that insisted i take stock of my life. over the past 12 months i have managed for major pieces of legislation, served as chair and acting chair, placing me at the center of the two most important issues of our time, health care and reform of financial services. i lost a beloved sister in july and in august ted kennedy. i battled cancer over the summer and in the midst of all of this i found myself in the toughest political shape of my career. now let me be clear. i am very aware of my present political standing here at home in connecticut, but as equally clear that any certain prediction about an election victory or defeat nearly a year for now would be absurd. strange as it may sound i am not confident that i would be standing here today making this announcement if these situations had not occurred. none of these events or circumstances either individually or collectively is the cause for my decision not to seek reelection. yet together these challenges have given me pause to take stock and to ask questions that too few of us in elected public life ever do. why am i running? on a cold morning two weeks ago tomorrow i asked myself that very question. on the early, frigid dawn of december 24th, christmas eve, with snow piled high along the streets of our nation's capitol i cast one of the most i mportant, if not the most important votes of my years in the united states senate a bill to fundamentally reform the health-care system of our nation. an hour later i was standing on the virginia outside at arlington cemetery where ted kennedy rests along with his brothers in eternity as he is in history wishing that i could have seen the look into teddy's eyes as the united states senate took that historic step to an hour before. i thought about the dozens of fine public servants, democrats and republicans, who have joined me in serving connecticut over the course of my career at the local, state, and national level. i thought about the countless connecticut families, ordinary people with extraordinary courage and spirit whose lives have touched me over the years and whose stories have profoundly affected by decisions in the united states senate. i thought about the dozens of patriotic senators with him i have had the privilege of serving in an institution i dearly love. i have been a connecticut senator for 30 years. i am very proud of the job have done and the results i delivered. none of us is irreplaceable. none of us are indispensable, and those who think otherwise a dangerous. the work to make our nation a more perfect nation began long before i was elected to the senate, and it will go on long after i'm gone. our country is a work in progress. that is what i thought about. that is how i came to the conclusion that as the long sweep of american history there are moments for each elected public official to step aside and let someone else step up. this is my moment to step aside. there will be time to reflect in more detail on the years i've spent in public service. there will be time to celebrate victories and mourn setbacks and share less and memories and to thank profusely the talented, tireless, and numerous staffers, many of whom are here today who have made my work possible. but that time is not now. i still have one year left. one year from this week our state will have a new united states senator. in the meantime we have important work to do. a few closing thoughts. i believe in bipartisan solutions, but i also believe you can only achieve those results with vibrant, robust, and civil partisan debate. i am a democrat and very, very proud of my party's contributions to the vitality and strength of america. i would never have had the o pportunity to serve in the congress had i not had the support and backing of my party in connecticut over these years. i appreciate the passionate party activists who have never faltered in their support of my efforts. i want to say thank you to my family for their tolerance of yet another generation of our family in the political arena. i am especially indebted to jackie for her fierce loyalty, unyielding commitment to fairness, and her unlimited capacity of empathy for the needs of others. she has truly been my anchor in the stormy political waters. now there is nothing more pathetic in my view than a politician who announces they're only leaving public life to spend more time with the family. the result of this announcement today i hope will create that opportunity, but it is not the reason for my decision. i am a very late arrival in fatherhood, as many as you know. i am told repeatedly by some of you here today these young children of mine will grow up very fast. while these young ladies are not the reason for my decision, they will be an incredible benefit of these choice i have made today. and on this, the sixth of january, the epiphany 2010 i am still driven by the same passions that motivated me to try my hand at politics so many, many years ago. and just as i have encouraged the people of connecticut and looking to the future with a spirit of optimism and confidence. once again those of you gathered here today and to the people across this great state of ours i think you immensely for the opportunity you have given me to serve and i thank you all very, very much. [applauding] senator christoph, the longtime senator from connecticut announcing he will not seek reelection. that is not the only big political story shaking up the democratic party on this day. his departure coincides with the exit of two other high-profile democrats in the past 24 hours. fellow senator byron dorgan of north dakota announcing he will not run again, and colorado governor bill ritter. adding to the democratic heartbreak more than a dozen. plus an alabama congressman who said goodbye to the democratic party for good. right before christmas he became a republican. do these developments spell trouble? a professor of advanced political studies. he can glean toward the democratic side of things. bob, if we could see your hands would you be ringing them right now? >> not yet. i ran the very first campaign against chris dodd for a democratic primary for the house. he beat us badly. he is one of the best campaigners i know. i don't think the assumption we ought to make is that he could not win next year. he might well have won. the chances now for the democrats to hold that seat are immensely increased. because blumenthal will run. it has the largest number of registered independent voters, and it is independent voters are very unhappy with what is going on with incumbents, both democrats and republicans. so i think for dodd it is realistic. i don't think it was an absolute certainty would be beaten. jon: brad, what about that? blumenthal is a very popular attorney general. does that mean it is pretty much a safe bet? >> absolutely not. the amount of independents who were actually ticked off at the way the democrats and their own senator dodd has handled the economy, a banking committee, and more importantly the boondoggle. if this was such a great bill he should have been hailed on the backs of his constituents and hailed as a hero. he is not. he is leaving. the democrats are dropping like flies. here is why. the handwriting is on the wall. the democrats have overreached. they have not lead. dodd is just the tipping point of what is going to happen in 2010. republicans are going to come back strong with good candidates and good principals, all about the economy. jon: there are a number of republican senators who could be looking at retirement, too, right? >> yes, there are. but their retirements are not forced retirements. big difference. >> wait a minute. let's throw out some facts on the table. there are more house republicans retiring than there are democrats. there are more some republicans. so that argument falls flat, frankly. right now the republicans are more vulnerable in a number of seats in the senate and house. the democrats are, as well. it is an equal opportunity bashing. i'm not going to defend the democrats' position. right now the country is fed up with incumbents. they want to change things. if you're an incumbent, democrat or republican, you have a lot. jon: governor john hogan of north dakota. a republican who won 74% of the vote last time around when john mccain was pulling in the middle fifties. you lose one democratic senate seat to a republican the dynamic changes big time in the senate. >> sure. i assume that state will go republican. let's also keep in mind now that you have got some vulnerable open senate seats for the republicans in kentucky, north carolina, missouri, new hampshire which has been democratic and is moving democratic for well over a decade. it is not at all clear that you're not going to get the 60. it is going to be very difficult. i suspect democrats will not hold onto their 60 in the senate and certainly not the majority in the house. that is another reason. they can not move next year. jon: brad, typically the party in power does lose seats. what are you looking for from republicans in 2010? >> what i think republicans need to do is get our act together. we have to listen to our chairman, our leadership, and be a big party. our agenda is very big. let's get our act together, learn from our mistakes, the principal of the economy. but let's get the american people the chance that they had hoped for. let's republicans deliver that in 2010. regardless of what bob has said, this will be a republican year because the democrats who failed to lead. they had everything. the presidency. it was not republicans who started them. >> your tent is so big, are you kidding me? i couldn't get in it by myself. jon: you guys keep talking during the break. thank you. jane: more information at this hour about this man who is described as a double agent, the one who blew himself up at a u.s. base in afghanistan killing seven from the cia and how he was allowed to get so close. also this story, animals shelters in a rural areas are taking in an overwhelming number of abandoned horses. >> yeah, jane, in these tough times it is not just dogs and cats that are filling up animal shelters. horses are being relinquished or simply abandoned in staggering numbers and for reasons that are often tragic. we are live with this story just ahead. jon: new developments in the case of the double agent behind a devastating attack on a u.s. base in eastern afghanistan. an attack that killed seven members of the cia unit working to infiltrate al-qaeda. live in washington with the latest information. what are we learning? >> according to officials the operatives, the operative was and al-balawi, a jordanian sympathetic . al-balawi identifies himself as a family man in his thirties. asked why he believes in the sanctity of martyrdom. he says he blames the west and suicide attacks are justified because of attacks in pakistan itself. after all of this he writes do they expect us to bear garland of flowers and where our holiday best? now, we will wear nothing but weapons and explosives vests. this interview translated this is clearly propaganda, but it does provide some insight into the motivation of the alleged bomber. jon: i guess there is another name surfacing in this investigation. >> wow, there is. it is not a household name, but considered one of the top targets for u.s. intelligence. significantly he is linked to a denver airport shuttle bus driver who allegedly plotted to attack new york city to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary. described by u.s. officials as a primary trainer and a recruiter, but emphasizes that u.s. officials have reached no conclusions about the cia investigation at this time. jon: a lot of critics said this is a huge blow to the cia. >> one of the things that i have noticed in the past couple of days is that there have been some push back on this assessment. senior intelligence officials told fox the cia has a very deep bench on counter-terrorism. anything the attack has strengthened the resolve of people at the cia. the atmosphere is one of utter focus and determination. on one hand they clearly want to recognize the loss, but on the other these u.s. officials say that they are equally determined to push ahead and do not change the strategy. jon: live in washington. thank you. jane: animals have become victims of this recession we are living through. dogs and cats are being abandoned at a record rate. animal shelters in rural areas say they are also seeing an increase in a number of abandoned horses, really alarming them. creating quite a challenge. salinas, california with more on that. >> yes. each one of these horses has a heartbreaking story. this was found running around loose on new year's eve. these two were found starving and near death in a roadside pasture thanks to a call from a passing driver. the monterey county spca usually looks out for four or five houses horses a year. right now there are 14 horses. two more. >> either our humane officers are seizing them because there is criminal neglect, abandonment, owners who tearfully are relinquishing them because they can't afford to keep them. >> across the nation, at least when they're brought to animal shelters they are getting good care. animal protection officers say it is the animals that aren't here that could be at greatest risk. >> we are dealing with people that own way more horses than they can take care of. a yes, we are really, really concerned about the ones who are not reported. >> luckily they discovered mocha in time. infested with ticks and severely emaciated. now mocha will be key evidence. jane: the monterey county d.a.'s office of looking at two other cases. along with pursuing criminal investigations the spca is looking for adoptive homes for these animals. otherwise they will have to be put down. while keeping a horse is more expensive than a dog or cat the folks here at the spca says it does not take much to keep them happy. after serving their honor so well for so long they deserve better. jane: thanks. jon: january is not just the beginning of the new year. it is also the start of tax season. what new powers are in the pipeline for irs agents and what they could mean for your bottom line? 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we will take a closer look. jane: a lot of people say increase use of the high-tech body scanners could help stop the terrorists. critics say that is an invasion of privacy. one company says it solves the problem. jon: and farmers are fighting to protect their crops from sub-freezing temperatures. how much could the big chill end up causing you at the grocery stores? jane: the obama administration wants to expand the reach and power of irs agents. something need to think about as you get your w-2s in the mail and prepare for april 15th. what would the irs required these repairs to do? >> register with the government and pay a user fee. plus pass a competency test. the new regulations won't take effect this year, but will be phased in over the next couple of years. the irs commissioner doug says taxpayers would improve service and less risk of bad advice with the government stepping in to regulate this largely unregulated business. exempt from most of the regulations are lawyers, certified public accountants, and agents enrolled with the irs already because they are already regulated and/or licensed by other agencies. jane: some people in the industry say these moves are long overdue. >> yes. they say it will weed out the fly-by-night seasonal tax preparers who may not really know tax law. >> i have seen now salons, barbershops, pawnshops, all the people are able to hang a shingle and say income tax is prepared here. currently there is no minimum standard, knowledge, and experience that is required prior to you hanging a shingle and preparing taxes. >> taxpayer advocates say it may squeeze out some bad apples, but the fees and regulations also may put the squeeze on small, legitimate tax preparers, possibly putting them out of business. also may increase the cost of consumers, and it is going to be difficult for the irs to test tax preparers because tax law is always changing. jane: these new regulations don't go into effect until next year. the irs is going to be stepping up enforcement this year. what exactly does that mean? >> well, the irs says it will be cracking down on fraud and errors and sending out letters this year reminding taxpayers of frequent errors on tax forms. the irs agents also will be going around to various tax preparing businesses to check up on them. sometimes irs agents will be posing as taxpayers seeking advice or help to check those businesses for their accuracy. jane: molly in d.c. thanks. jon: you want a new job? well, career test dot com is out with its list of the best and worst. the best deals with probability and risk that is because being an actuary tops the list. on average an actuary earns 85 thousand year. this is followed by the software engineer, computer systems analyst. those are the top five best jobs. the worst on oil rig, followed by lumberjack, iron worker, a dairy farmer, and welder. the bottom line the worst job require working outdoors regardless of the weather and elements. the best jobs are in high demand. jane: you're at the top of the list because you get to work not only with me. who doesn't smile? you want to see the future of tv? that is a lot of pressure. she is here to talk about the future of television. i don't get this, 3-d tv. >> 3-d tv. jane: that does that work? >> it is actually here. one includes the discovery communications company along with sonny and imac they have channels like the discovery channel, all of those adventure and space exploration shows. you will be able to see this in three days starting next year. but this june espn will be broadcasting the world cup, the soccer world cup in south africa in june, the first live sporting event in 3-d. they're going to have another 85 of fans that you will also be able to see. since they actually, the sporting event is where this is going to thrive. you want to be right in the game. and directv offering some tv. that is not confirmed yet. just what we are hearing. if these networks and channels put this content out there yourself going to need the right tv in order to see this. how much is that going to cost you? about $2,000. if you look at televisions they range in price from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand. right now this is about in the middle. the average american family replaces the television every six years. so in a couple years you might be looking for a new tv. now looking for a 3-d tv, but it'll come with that capability. but the real icing on the cake here is not necessarily the television business, the accessories that you're going to have to buy along with the tv. you're going to the those glasses. they're right here. these are pretty cool. these are the new ones. you can walk outside with these on. you never know they're 3-d. you can see why now. but you can see. think about your family. what about your kids? if you wear glasses, can you put these on top of them? you might need a couple pairs. we will have wide demand. that will be another part of this business. jon: i smell a business opportunity. >> yes. jon: designer 3-d lenses. jane: i like that. >> you and i. jane: 85 grand a year and no stress. jon: i have to buy your husband a new one. jane: 85 grand. good to see you. jon: a teen goes on a wild ride as a teen tries to take off with his truck. a red-light camera captures some of the action. campos holding on by the suspect swerved and sped through chandler, arizona. the thief made it 7 miles before the suspect forced campos out. not hurt. this truck was found a few days later. jane: president obama is slamming his national security team for their failure to prevent that attempted terror attack on christmas day, the jet was coming into detroit. what the government needs to do better to keep us safe is next. >> when a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on christmas day the system has failed in a system has failed in a potentially disastrous way.u ret 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. jane: we heard an angry president obama promising new steps to tighten airport security after the attempted terrorist attack on christmas day say we have to do better. his press secretary released a quote from that meeting. this is what he said. we dodged a bullet, but just barely. diverted by brave individuals. could be a tendency for finger-pointing. i would will not tolerate it. what must we do as a government? let's get to frank. what was the message? >> the president was very strong. as the 9/11 commission found preventing 9/11 was a failure in the imagination. congress determines the lack of a robust response to katrina was a failure in initiative. here i think we see a real failure and synthesis, analysis, integration. the dots were there. this was in the collection failure. it is a failure bring this pieces together, getting the full picture in play, and quite honestly being able to respond to that in an effective kind of white. so here i think you have, it underscores the significance of intelligence. it is the lifeblood in our arsenal against al-qaeda and terrorism, not only to unravel vulnerabilities like this, but also to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the adversary but here quite honestly their breakdowns. jane: i assume that is one of the hardest thing to do. >> it is. we have a very young and nazis and analytical core within our intelligence community. during the cold war you had seasoned veterans with many years of experience. here you have a very young group and, in addition, to that there still is not the marrying up of accountability and resources. it is still a diffuse and to some extent dispursed. jane: want to put up a quote. the intelligence community received the president's message. we got it. we are moving forward to meet the new challenges. the threat has evolved. we can and must out think, out work, and defeat the enemies some new ideas. a lot of people have questioned whether we will see if not a firing, a resignation. what do you think? >> it is early to tell. whoever it was responsible should clearly be held accountable. but we all must have a layer on top layer of bureaucracy within our intelligence community, so it gets kind of hard to pin the tail on one direction. that said what we can do is march into the future backwards and only defending against the tactic we saw yesterday. we are dealing with it thinking predator. it is dynamic, it is not static. they base their actions in part on our actions and on our defenses. so we need to be able to get ahead of the curve and try to be as productive as impossible and not simply reacting to yesterday's challenges alone. jane: frank, that that you said something interesting. we need to have more unpredictability in the system. but air travel, passengers don't like the unpredictability. they want to know what exactly is going to be done to them and expected of them. >> you know, this is the big challenge of balancing privacy and safety with security. i tend to err on the side of security if it requires a little more nuisance or a challenge to the individual. what we don't want to do is simply that the adversary can the system. i don't want to advertise exactly how we are defending ourselves against the perpetrator. we don't. i have a big proponent. profiling. we are not talking about profiling in the same way that perhaps everyone else does, but behavioral indicators. all the intelligence mistakes aside, we should have seen bells ringing when you have an individual paying cash for a one-way ticket, no luggage. that should have ding, ding, ding, ding. in addition to the intelligence issues, which are critical, we also have defensive measures that ought to be put in place, and they should not be the first line of defense, but rather the last line. and people compare the israeli model. jane: right. >> which i think is good, but i think there is a scale ability and scale issue. we have more planes flying in a minute then they do daily. we have to try to work that. jane: former assistant to the president homeland security. thanks for your thoughts. >> thank you. jon: at dover air force base there is a new visitors' center open. a dedication ceremony held just today. american troops killed overseas are flown to the military mortuary. their families often travel there to witness the return. those families will have the center for families of the fallen. it is to be staffed by counselors and other specialists and will be a point of contact for families who request follow-up counseling or other help as they try to the cope with there tremendous losses. jane: there is another freeze warnings for the southern part of florida. record-breaking cold. you know that brings heart ache and indigestion, i guess, to farmers in that area. they have been worrying about the frost for their crops. you may be worrying about the prices at the grocery store. we will take you live to palm we will take you live to palm beach county. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? light & fit has 80 calories versus 100 in the other leading brand. light & fit. irresistible taste. fewer calories. i love light & fit. only alka-seltzer relieves your upset stomach, heartburn, indigestion and headache... so you're good to go in the morning. you're late. alka-seltzer brings you back. jane: south florida not the place to escape winner. that region is in for another freeze warning tonight. last ngith did you see, the coldest ever, 49 degrees. those temperatures, they may sound downright balmy. they could be devastating. in florida, by some accounts, $9 billion industry. there are a lot of other crops that need warmth in the florida sunshine. let's get to huntley farms. farmer for 16 years. in palm beach county. he has had his share. good to see you. how are you doing today? we will talk about what you can do to protect them. >> we grow vegetables and sugarcane in western palm beach county. the sugar cane does pretty well in cold temperatures, but the sweet corn and green beans are very susceptible to the cold. jane: and talk to me about the process. i know it is expensive to try to protect them. what is it exactly that you do? >> well, what we will do if the conditions are right is to try and take helicopters and actually fly helicopters over certain fields that we think we can save. there is a warmer layer of air up above the ground. if the wind conditions are right and it is a still condition, you can blow the warm air down on to the crop and get that dense cold air of the plant. it is an expensive process, but sometimes it can make the difference of saving your crop and losing it. jane: expensive for you, but you know what consumers are worried about. >> hard to say right now. we are not finished. supposed to be cold tonight and turn cold again this weekend. it is going to take a few days to assess the full damage. i know there has already been some losses. how much more we have to lose, that is the question. jane: i was reading about the citrus growers say we literally stay up all night. the coffee brewing because we are so worried and watching that temperature gauge. is that what has to be done? >> well, on the vegetables the same thing happens with some of our farm managers and my brother were up all night monitoring in the temperatures to let the helicopters know when it was starting to hit the freezing point and when they needed to go up and fly. you know, you are monitoring wind conditions and temperature the whole time. the wind is blowing too hard, you can't use that method. jane: and tell me a little bit about the process of using those aircraft, just how expensive that is for you have somebody runs a farm. >> it is very expensive. you can only do so many acres that way. it is something you want to take and focus on some of the crops that you have that are close to harvest. we flew three last night. the cost is between 1,000 to $2,000 an hour. jane: that is a lot of money. >> no fun. jane: from west palm beach. that is for sure. we will keep our fingers crossed. >> i appreciate it. jane: thanks for your time. jon: the demand for body scanners at airports is growing in the wake of that failed airport attack. not everyone is a fan. some say they are an invasion of privacy. one company has developed a less-revealing way. live in tampa, florida with more on that. what is the difference between these machines and the controversial full-body scanners? >> well, the controversial full-body scanners used millimeter wave technology. that is what some in congress feel is a little too invasive. this technology here by thermal major space out of tampa uses this which is an infrared sensor in camera, a laptop with a screen and a special software. it is using thermal imagery. take a look at those guys over there. they work for the company. they are standing, they are filling in as props as we demonstrate the effectiveness of the system. tim here on the left has a block of what is supposed to be c4 plastic explosive, popular among terrorist. wearing very full vest suicide explosive. you can see that these areas are wearing shaded in black. you can see me, i have no obvious square or liquid a bottle or any type of potentially explosive device that seems obvious on-screen via the infrared sensor. the way the camera works is that it is reading the body heat going from our bodies to the lens. so if you have something on your torso that is going to show up as black. on christmas day, of course, that is when all of this talk renewed about the screening devices at airports. that is when the plane flying from amsterdam to detroit got fired about ten minutes from landing. of course the arrested person and the alleged that al-qaeda operative at umar farouk abdulmutallab had 80 grams have petn. we also tested that to show whether that in itself would be revealed by this system. you can see that it is pretty clear there is something shaded and dark in that area. thermal metrics pretty effective and also picks up liquids and powders. jon: thank you. we taking you to the white house. the president spokesman is beginning his daily briefing. interesting day at the white house. lots of lots of developments regarding developments regarding health care. let's listen into robert gibbs. >> now that he has turned the colors and is within hawaii let's get back. [laughter] >> two new topics, please, robert, on senator dodd's retirement and the president's reaction. >> i don't have the reaction. i know he spoke with both senators dodd and dorgan. obviously senator dodd has been enormously involved an enormously helpful in moving both health care and financial regulatory reform, working on those issues and moving them through congress. the president has a great fondness for senator dodd and for his work over 30 years in the united states senate. >> the democrats will not keep the seat in the senate. the white house is going to fight for every one of the combined seats to keep this in the moving. how do you think this will affect the president's agenda? >> it is hard to look into the crystal ball 11 months from election day. there is retirements on both sides of the aisle in the senate. it will be the same in the house. we will let the political season play out over the course of the next 11 months. i don't want to make a lot of predictions for 11 months. >> i still want to ask about terrorism. we know yesterday that they will be released soon. >> released tomorrow. >> the president. >> an unclassified version of what john brennan gives to the president. sometime probably early afternoon. and our hope is to bring john down here and go through it. >> the president also said in the coming days he will be announcing more steps on passenger screening. still expect that this week? >> i will check on that part of the schedule, whether that is part of tomorrow's information, but i do expect at least the beginning part of that to happen tomorrow. >> what i'm getting at there is, can you give us a sense of how this is all going to finish? will there be a final review and then the president will then speak to the nation again? >> the president, if i was clear, the president will mak

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