Transcripts For FOXNEWS Happening Now 20100202

you'd like to do that to? jon: probably me, right? jane: i'm jane skinner, jon: i'm jon scott, "happening now", president obama hits new hampshire for the second town hall meeting in less than a week this, one, getting help to small businesses, how the president plans to do that, plus the price tag. jane: in the middle box that deadly plane crash near buffalo, new york, the one that took 50 lives t. highlighted a safety gap between major airls and regional carriers. the fed has prod quick reform to keep us safe when we fly but a year later where are the reforms and what went wrong that night? jon: military hearings on the agenda, all from when the new troops arrive in afghanistan to what could you a major change in a very controversial policy. the fox news room keeping tabs on all the breaking stories across the country and around the world. jane: we start with a story gaining steam at this hour, senators from both sides of the aisle are coming together in an effort to cut off federal funding for 9/11 trials that would be held in civilian courts. the group right now is holding a news conference and it is expected to begin any minute. you see the live picture there in d.c. they're going to be talking about the proposals. the announcement comes as the white house has said to be reconsidering its decision to try the confessed 9/11 mast he mind khalid shaikh mohammed and hisald coconspirators at a federal courthouse in new york city. shannon bream is waiting for the news conference, along with us. tell me how bipartisan this group is. >> reporter: jane, of course here in d.c., that is becoming a rare thing these days, so it is unique, a show of sticking together. we've got six senators on the democratic or independent side, senators lieberman, lincoln and also webb. as far as republicans, we've got graham, collins and mccain sticking together, senator graham's spokesperson says this is an amendment they'll try to tack on the first available thing that comes to the door. we know the jobs bill could be coming shortly as they call it, so that's a possibility. one very interesting thing, the fact that we're talking about senator webb being on board with this, a former navy secretary, a very important person to have, also members of the armed services committee, to have to -- to have him on board is a big plus as they move forward. jane: exactly what are they asking for? >> this group a few days ago put a letter together to attorney general eric holder to say we remain opposed to the idea of bringing people to the states to try them, people like khalid shaikh mohammed. here's a portion of the letter, quote, as you acknowledge in your testimony before the senate judiciary committee in november, your decision to prosecute enemy combatants captured on foreign battlefields like khalid 145eubg mohammed is without precedence in our history. the challenges do not give us proper moment to break that precedent. they go on to say it is only logical and strategically wise to do through military commissions preferably at guantanamo bay and not on u.s. sail, jane. jane: didn't some of the senators try to do something similar last year and why would they expect a few months later for it to be any more successful? >> reporter: they d last year they tried to get an amendment attached to the appropriations bill, that was senator graham heading that up, trying to cut off any funding that would allow the trials to come to the u.s. to be done in civilian courtrooms. he lost that 54-45 and moss democrats lined up in standing with the administration, saying they had to give them every possible channel for trying terrorists and said the gop was essentially blocking the terror suspects from being brought to justice. this time around they've got that important bipartisan support that could make the difference. there were 200 victims and family members of the 9/11 victims who sent a letter to the senate last year hoping to get this passed, this time around with that bipartisan support they may have more luck. we'll learn a lot more from that press conference. jane: when that begins we'll dip into that and let everyone hear a portion of it. jon: secretary of defense gates on capitol hill now, the pentagon chief attend ago couple of hearings, including one at noon on the military's don't ask don't tell policy, the secretary expected to announce a year-long study on the best way to go about lifting the ban. it would be the first step toward president obama's goal of eliminating the policy which stems from a 1993 law. in all, nearly 11,000 troops have been discharged under that law since it was enact ed. jane: these are pictures sent to us of a second day of violent protests in the kashmir region, which is controlled by india. you can see protestors throwing rocks at police, cops and soldiers have been firing into the air, using tear gas to try to sub due the crowds. these crowds are protesting the death of a teenage boy, he was hit in the head by tear gas, by a shell fired by police just after a protest against the indand rule there over the weekend. antiindian sentiment runs pretty deep in this region and rebel groups have been fighting for kashmir was independence or merger with pakistan since 1989. jon: we're going to take you live to capitol hill, this is south carolina senator lindsey graham talking about the prospect of cutting off funding for the trials of khalid shaikh mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators in civilian court. let's listen in. >> the focus of the military justice system regarding enemy combatants is to lawfully collect intelligence, keep our enemies off the battlefield, and prosecute alleged war crimes. the military justice system is transparent, well-staffed, subject to civilian appellate review. and above all else, built around the idea that we have been and are now continuing to be a nation at war. the military commission act of 2009 was improved through extensive discussions with the obama administration and chairman levin. the military commissions act of 2009 is truly a model justice system for the world. a system was unavailable for richard reid, the blind sheikh, and other terrorists. the purpose of this bill is to prevent that the criminalization of the war on terror and with whole funding from the department of justice to prosecute khalid shaikh mohammed and the 9/11 coconspirators in civilian court. i believe it is inappropriate to give the mastermind of 9/11 full constitutional rights of an american citizen. we reject the law enforcement model. civilian trials of noncitizen enemy combatants captured on the battlefield is a stark departure from the past and in fact has never been used by our nation before. civilian trials are unnecessarily dangerous, messy, confusing, and expensive. let me quickly elaborate on these points. the use of civilian trials for the 9/11 coconspirators is dangerous, attorney general mccasey, the presiding judge in the blind sheikh case of 1995 has spoken about this. he said in federal district court of manhattan the government was required to disclose the identity of all known coconspirators. one of these conspirators, relatively obscure in 1995 was -- >> jon: we're going to continue to monitor this news conference involving senator lindsey graham of south carolina. again, there's a bipartisan effort underway in the house and senate, democrats and republicans, arguing there ought to be no money spent on civilian trials for the 9/11 conspirators like khalid shaikh mohammed. effectively, that would tie the administration's hands, prevent it from spending money on those civilian trials. we'll also be talking with senators -- senator chambliss, we'll speak to him next hour. five american terror suspects being held in pakistan, making an appearance in court today. as you heard there, the muslims are claiming they have been mistreated by the fbi and police, a claim which the u.s. and pakistan deny. the five suspects, all from virginia, authorities say they plan to seek life sentences under the country's antiterrorism law. scott heidler is streaming live from islamabad, pakistan. scott? >> reporter: jon, we heard they were yelling we are tortured, we were tortured on the way to the courthouse but in addition to they dropped notes from the bus and as they were going into the courtroom to reporters there on the team, because they weren't allowed inside, again, claiming torture by fbi agents, as well as pakistani police. the u.s. embassy here denies those allegations that any fbi torture was going on, as well as pakistani authorities previously denied any mal treatment. fbi has had access to the men. the message, written on tissue paper, also claimed that they were set up and prevented from any outside contact, these five young americans. police have accused them of contacting militants in pakistan through the internet, looking to link up with islamic militants, fighting troops in afghanistan. the police charge sheet includes conspiracy to carry out an act of terror, that ca yiry -- could carry a life sentence, the judge delayed sentencing them for two weeks, the court ordered medical examinations of these men after the allegations of torture. two u.s. embassy officials were on site at that court hearing. the new attorney, a high profile lawyer in pakistan, today he said his clients came to pakistan with passion, but no ulterior motive, he claimed there was no case against him, adding they should not be deported to the u.s. and they should be released on bail. jon? jon: scott heidler, thank you, reporting live from pakistan. jane: a hearing underway is focusing on the colgan air force near buffalo, 50 killed, investigators are reporting findings and the report this hour is also expected to highlight safety lapses by commuter airlines that so many of us fly so often in this country. last year the testimony revealed the two pilots made a number of critical errors leading up to that crash. senior correspondent eric shawn is in our newsroom. eric, explain what we're learning if you will. >> reporter: basically a shocking scenario is being portrayed by the ntsb, pilot inattention, pilot distraction, pilot confuse, miscommunication and deadly mistakes that led to that fatal crash of the colgan flight 3407 outside buffalo, new york. we're looking live at the ntsb hearing ongone, that was operated by continental connection, actually by colgan airlines, a commuter airline, and that has focused a lot of attention on how the regional airlines train. this is the last bit of simulation of the plane as it went out of control in a stall. this morning the ntsb officials said that the two pilots, morgan renslow, the pilot, 47 years old, they both did not notice that the plane was flying too low for as long as 18 seconds, and when they did, when their stick shifter started shake whg would indicate a stall pilot wilslow did not do the proper thing, instead of adding more power and pushing the nose down and try and get air speed. one of the members of the ntsb is dr. evan burn who described those moments just before the crash. >> his failure to make standard callouts were even a deck lative statement associated with the recovery attempt further suggests that he was not responding to the situation using the well-learned habit pattern. thus, the captain's improper flight control inputs were instead consistent with startle and confusion. >> reporter: the copilot on the right is 24-year-old rebecca shaw, she was to the shock of many americans, probably, paid by the hour, $23 an hour, when she started her career. she actually had to work in the coffee shop. so a lot of question about the regional airlines raised with this crash. the regionals say they do have the proper training and procedures just like the major airlines, but 23 recommendations have come out of this crash, but sadly, in the final moments of this crash, the ntsb officials say that, quote, neither of them called stall or recognized what was going on at the time. very tragic. jane: that's incredible. eric shawn, thank you. the first primary of the mid-term elections kicking off in illinois, after that stunning loss in massachusetts, the questions being asked, what are democrats' chances of holding on to president obama's former seat in illinois. we have the lowdown of the contenders today, in a nail biting -- and a nail biting chase in california, yes, we're going to show you the ending. jon: the state of illinois holds the nation's first primary in this year's mid-term election race, voters whittling down the field of democrats who want to occupy the seat once held by president obama, those candidates include state treasurer alexi giannnoulis, former prosecutor david hoffman and chicago urban league shed cherlye jackson. on the republican side the frontrunner congressman mark kirk, a suburban moderate described as the gop's strongest candidate in decades. democrats hope to avoid a repeat of the stunning loss they received in massachusetts' senate race. republican scott brown's wining in a traditionally blue state. joining us now, bruce dold, editorial page editor for the chicago tribune. we should remind everybody that it is primary day, we're not going to be picking one party over the other, but is it possible that president obama's septemberat seat could eventually go to a republican here? >> i think if we were holding a general election today, the republicans would probably take the senate seat, almost certainly take president obama's senate seat and probably take the governorship in his own state, too. there's a lot of anger here, we have a $12 billion state decifit and $80 billion hole in the pension funds, and we've got a rod blagojevich who is going off the celebrity apprentice and then probably to prison, so there's a lot of anger and in the primary candidates, i think there's an interesting thing to watch in the senate rate. you mentioned alexi greuel anous, the frontrunner, but he's run into criticism of late because his family owns a bank and he was the chief loan officer at one time. the family took $70 million out of the bank a couple of years ago and now federal regulators are saying your bank is in trouble, you got to pour about 70, $75 million back, so we've seen a trend in the race as this anger grows in the state and david hoffman, who is the former secretarior general and federal prosecutor, he has a chance of making taking this primary seat for the democrats. jon: bankers, not real popular among voters, are they? >> now, mark kirk has been pretty well gliding along in the republican primary. he's getting some challenge from the right wing of the party. but no one seems to have gotten a lot of traction with him. the question with kirk, with republicans, is whether he's conservative enough. he flipflopped on a vote on cap and trade, got some heat for that, but it looks like he'll ab pretty solid republican candidate in the fall. jon: and for democrats, who are already looking at the possibility of losing seats in north dakota, with byron dorgan's retirement, and also in delaware with beau bidden deciding not to run for his father's old seat, democrats are looking, you know, at some potential big losses come november when it comes to the u.s. senate. >> and i don't think for president obama there would be probably nothing larger than losing his own seat, and if it's alexi grun you'llas, because he's a friend of obama, obama was key to alexi getting he elected to state treasurer when he was 29, 30 years old, so i expect we'll -- if the president has only been home once since he took office, i think we'll probably see him moreover the next year as he tries both to save the governor's race and senate seat. jon: we'll read more about it in the chicago tribune, bruce dold, thank you. jane: we're getting breaking news on a member of congress we wanted to bring to you, politico.com is reporting at this hour congressman jack mirth, he's familiar to you probably, big on the prop operations committee, they're reporting he's back in the hospital in virginia after gall bladder surgery, the hospital confirming to politico he's in icu but not giving further details. we're working to independently confirm this and as soon as we get more we'll bring it to you. also wet weather causing pretty serious flooding in florida. we'll talk about what it means for the forecast going forward. they've got a little event called the super bowl coming up on sunday. will that affect it? also, new information about this brawl caught on tape at a high school basketball game. police ended up using stun guns. jon: in the top box, fox has confirmed pennsylvania congressman john mirtha is in the intensive care unit at the virginia hospital center after undergoing gallbladder surgery last week, middle box, word today canada is investigating the h1n1 flu vaccine after 17 people became seriously ill, including four people who came down with a rare neurological condition. bottom box, good news on the housing front, the number of americans preparing to buy a home inched up in december, a sign that home sales could stabilize heading into the spring buying season. jane: in this box, record breaking rain leaving parts of south florida under several inches of water, this flooding streak, janice, causing accidents on these rain-slicked roads, more than 8 inches in broward county. now to this box, here it is, let's take a look at these figures, cooper city, 8 inches of rainfall, pembroke pines, 3 inches, in miami, that's a record for them, this rainfall dampening spirits across miami where they are preparing for a big football game on sunday, a lot of the media events are going to be taking place indoors today. there's the rain moving across orlando towards the mid atlantic where we have the wintery mix happening and in towards the virginias and parts of kentucky. that's where we're seeing that pink on the screen, freezing rain and or sleet. we've got a system across the great lakes that could bring just light accumulation, 1-3 inches over parts of the upper midwest and northeast. here's the super bowl forecast, jane skinner, here it is, looks like rain is going to clear for miss skinner, going to be 70 degrees with partly cloudy skies. jane: so my hair won't look terrible. >> it's going to be a great hair day for jane, who's going to be super bowl. she's lucky, she knows people in high places. jane: the forecast, i thought you were talking about a prediction for the game. how did the ground hog prediction work? >> a few more weeks of winter, which i concur with. never thought i would agree with a ground hog, but -- jane: is that what you predicted yesterday? >> i did. but i'm not furry. well, anyway, moving on. jane moving on, janice, thank you! oh boy. cut her off, cut her off. jon? jon: let's move on, shall we? new information coming in about a violent scene captured on video at a basketball game at a high school in pennsylvania. check this out. it all began during half time when a girl from one school reportedly punched another girl from a rival school. police wound up using a stun gun on at least one student. the teen at the receiving end of the taser described what happened. >> it was like a stabbing feel, and once i fell, i just hurried up and tried to run. jon: harris faulkner has new details on the incident. let's go to her at the breaking news desk. >> reporter: let's start there are the tasering, i just got off the phone with the district attorney was office, they were tasked with figuring out whether or not police should have been tasering students at all. the report has been, and you heard from one student, saying -- the the report has been there may have been more than one student they used a taser on, the d.a. office is looking into whether or not that was appropriate and how many kids if any were tased and they'll go in -- from there and make the decision. the d.a. has said it would take a few days for the decision to come down. meanwhile students are reacting to the fight in pennsylvania on both sides. remember it was washington and meneston, a rivally and i mean it in every sense of the word, now meneston girls are reacting, saying they are embarrassed by what has happened, they say they're embarrassed by the fight following that boys' basketball gale and embarrassed by how other students acted as well, they say they're glad the school has metal detectors, or quoting one of them, it could have been even nastier. also quoting, and talking with the district attorney's office, i learned there are seven, could be up to eight now, citations issued, charges issued against students in the brawl. the two original girls who were fighting, suspended. jon, back to you. jon: harris faulkner at the breaking news desk, thank you. a dangerous car chase reaching speeds up to 120 miles an hour comes to a crashing conclusion at a shopping mall. three robbery suspects with police in hot pursuit. it ends with a crash outside the americana mall in glendale, california, one suspect gets out, tries to run into the shopping com flex, the chase began with a liquor store robbery in burbank, police sealed off the entire mall for two hours, they finally found the suspect hiding in a parking lot. we've heard about the new efforts underway in afghanistan to get low-level taliban fighters to switch sides. now some new information on what the military plans to do about taliban leaders. plus, a family, killed in this crash involving a runaway lexus. the latest on toyota's plans to prevent another tragedy like it, and what you need to know to keep your family safe. jon: bottom of the hour, here's what's happening now. brand new information on the day's stories. the pentagon reviewing the don't ask don't tell policy that president obama wants to see repealed emanuel, live at the pentagon. >> reporter: jon, in about 30 seconds -- minutes, secretary of defense gates will announce a military and senior top civilian official will comment regarding the don't ask don't tell policy. gates will give them until the end of the year to conduct their review. it also requires changing the law, meaning there won't be a change in policy any time soon. jon? jon: the epa unveils a plan it says will save lives by cutting smog emissions but the price tag, a very high one in this economy. dan springer live in seattle. dan? >> reporter: jon, these new tougher smog regulations would immediately put a majority of metropolitan areas out of compliance, and to get into compliance governments would have to consider a whole host of measures, including taxing driving, getting people out of their cars, cracking down on utilities, which would then just pass the cost on to consumers, and also reformulating gasoline which would add about 15 cents to the cost of a gallon of gas. the epa says it will save lives, they really don't have a good idea six who -- of how many, and as far as the costs they're all over the board from $19 billion, up to $90 billion. jon? jon: in hollywood, who doesn't dream of taking home that little gold statue? jill dobbson, who's in the running this year? >> reporter: the nominations were announced this morning. ten films are up for best picture, leaving theo leading the say, avatar and hurt locker, both up for nine oscars, including best picture and director, and sandra bullock at the first nod for the blind side against julie & julia's meryl streep. the awards are march 7. jon: now down to jane in the newsroom. jane: new details about the u.s. plan for afghanistan, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, saying today the taliban's influence is growing and that this next year will be critical to reversing the momentum gained by the insurgents. aside from the new troops heading to afghanistan the military is also stepping up missions targeting taliban leaders, all this while the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai is tout ago reimmigration -- reintegration plan for taliban to switch side, saying those taliban not part of al-qaeda or other terrorist networks who accept the afghan constitution, who have no ideological emnity with the u.s. will be persuaded by peaceful means to return to afghanistan and lay down their arms and become part of the afghan community once again. with us, lieutenant colonel tony schaeffer, center for advanced studies. on one hand, that sounds like a carrot, yet the budget calls for a whole lot of sticks, including special ops, drones. how do you see it? >> i think first off when you look at the carrot approach, it's been minimally successful so far. we tried this before. again, we've had a record of drawing either side in to give them incentives. i think any time you want to negotiate and have incentives like this, you have to do it from a position of strength. right now as you mentioned, admiral mullen commented on the fact the taliban has momentum on their side. we've got to break that momentum. and one of the ways of doing that, obviously, is trying to go about going after their leadership. and today, when i saw the fox news website, talking about going after leadership, taliban leadership, i felt like it was dejavu all over again in the fact that we've been doing this since 2004. so we've got to get smarter. we can't be doing the same thing over and over again, the sam way, and expect different results. that's what we need to focus on. jane: how do you suggest we get somewhere? >> frankly we've known since '03 and '04 that the safe havens are in pakistan, the president commented on that recently in his speech on afghanistan and pakistan. so the drone issue, i don't think, gives us a lot of real success. yes, we can kill people, mast ad, apparently there's a good chance we killed one of their prime leaders but someone else will come up. we haven't gotten mullah omar, we haven't gotten bin laden. the overall leadership is there. someone will rise to their ranks and take their place. we have to go into the safe havens and break apart their infrastructure. we've not done that in these years, we've not broken up the entire infrastructure, therefore they regenerate constantly. jane: you referenced this taliban leader who was said to have been killed, we don't have full confirmation on this, mast ad, said to be killed by a drone. that's characterized as cutting off the head, which would be a devastating blow for the taliban. it doesn't sound like you're convinced of that. >> i'm not. again, we've done this before. we will kill their leadership, they will regenerate. the prime leadership has never been touched, talking about mullah omar, roaming around the mountains as spiritual leader of the taliban and al-qaeda and its leadership still exist in pakistan. we haven't gotten to the core and plus, someone else will come up through the ranks and pick up where they left off. it's all about infrastructure as well, it's great to kill these guys, they want that. they martyr themselves. this is an honor for them. so i think we need to look at this very realistically. i've read the reports about the pakistanis thinking we've got to score a big one. perhaps we did, but it will not net us a victory in the long term. we've got to look at this through their eyes, through a year to two years out. so they'll pick someone else, someone else will come through the ranks and they'll continue this until we go out and take out the infrastructure. we've got to do that. jane: what does it take to take out the infrastructure, that's no small task, is it strictly more american troops? >> no, i don't believe so. i think it may be a combination of what we did during world war ii, we had allies that worked together to create victories. in this case the pakistanis keep complaining about the fact they can't do everything they need to on their side of the border, although they want to now. this is one of those things where we need to find a way to go in there, possibly boots on the ground, and work with them in a cooperative way. right now there's no anvil. there's a hammer but no anvil. we've got to squeeze these guys so there's the ability to come packet them and get rid of them and dismantle them. dismantling them is the key. jane: tony schaeffer, with the center for advanced study, thank you. jon: toyota is feeling the heat, sales expected to surface that automaker is forced to fix millions of cars after a massive recall due to faulty gas ped always. fox business network's jenna lee. >> reporter: you had the gas pedal problem but also the faulty floor mats as well, so now the number of total vehicles recalled by toyota is higher than the total group sales they had last year, more than 8 million. so the company is coming out and already saying this might affect their total year sales results, and again, it's only the second day of february. so that's very aggressive this early on. i want to talk a little bit about what's going on with this company which potentially a drop in sales and more lawsuits to deal w. and also dealing with brand management. i want to show you a picture of the toyota high launder, it was voted last year as one of the top safest vehicles you could buy, by the insurance institute for highway safety. it was among a few other toyota cars that were voted on this list as the safest cars you could drive last year, including the avalon, venza, the rav-4, tundra and tacoma, so safest vehicles one year, recalled next year, because all the vehicles i mentioned are on the recall list as well. so they have a breel rand issue here and some say it could cost them billions of dollars to remanage their brand after this incident. because we're talking so much about this, jon, want to give everyone a little perspective. millions of cars are sold every year by toyota, and of course, other major companies and the amount of incidents with the floor mat problem or a sticky gas pedal is very few, but because we're talking about it, let's talk about how to prevent it and also what to do if you find yourself in that situation. this list is put together by edmunds.dom and the first thing you need to do before you get in your car today, check your floor mat, whether or not it's the right size, if you're using another floor mat on top of the original floor mat that, could cause a prorks if it's not safely secured and is not recommended. so check your floor mat. if you find you're in your car and for some reason your car is accelerating and it's not because you're pressing on the gas pedal, simple thing, tap the acis the rater, wrap your foot around t. see if if you can pull it off the floor. sometimes that breaks the friction and it could stopst right away. if that doesn't work, shift it into neutral, you'll hear the engine gunning. that's not gaining speed but it will make a sound, and you want to press hard on the brake. don't pump the brake but press hard on it. just a few tips. highly unlikely. but here's another tip from edmunds, never turn your car off and take out the key. might be the first thing you think about but if you do that, you can lock your steering wheel so then you're not slowed down and you have no control over the steering wheel. a few things to think about, highly unlikely but just this case. jon: jenna lee, thank you. nasa was shooting for the moon until president obama decided to pull the plug instead of going back to the moon, the president wants nasa to focus on research and the development of new technology. straight ahead, we'll talk with gene sernon, the last astronaut to leave his footprints on the moon. how does he feel about this change in priorities? >> ♪ i was strolling on the moon one way, in the merry, merry month of destoo may! that's right, may. jon: i always dreamed of retiring and cruising the open road. then, someone stole my identity. jane: coming up new in the next hour, president obama wants the pentagon to repeal the policy called don't ask don't tevment we're keeping an eye on capitol hill where a senate hearing on this topic is just about to get underway. we're getting new details on the cause of last year's plane crash near buffalo, new york, there are safety recommendations out. the question is we know what went wrong, but when will we see real change? the seven-year-old boy today saved his brother, gets help from a neighbor's dog. the boys and their mom will be here with us live. jon: a great singing voice, doesn't he? president obama is turning america's back on the moon. instead he wants nasa to focus on the future. it has been nearly 40 years since the last moonwalk. now after spending more than $9 billion on plans to return to the moon, nasa is putting that dream back on the shelf. president obama wants to boost nasa's budget, he says, but none of the money would go to a moon mission. instead, he wants the money spent on developing new technology. so let's talk about it with that astronaut you saw bouncing around there, gene cernon, the final astronaut to walk on the moon. takes you back, doesn't t. watching those pictures? >> yes, sure does. you had to have a little fun while you were there, jon. jon: i'm sure it was fun. i'm certainly envious, a lot of people are, but obviously, the president said, you know, these are lean times in this country, we've already kind of been there and done that. what do you think about the idea to cancel this moon program, the orine program? -- the oryan program? >> i'm extremely disappointed, angry at a time or two. we talk about investment in the future, he's taking that investment and put it on the shelf as far as i'm concerned. i don't care how people want to sugar coat it, we are no longer a space exploration, a space exploring nation, we are now put in a position of second place and what we don't do today, i promise you, someone else is going to do tomorrow and i don't think the american people are going to like that. jon: the chinese are getting pretty aggressive with their mission to get a man on the moon, aren't they? >> well, i think they are, we hear they are, and i think we can expect almost anything. there are so many ramifications. there is about $3 billion over the next five years, we're talking about $100 billion to create jobs, well, we're not only not creating jobs by taking that money away from nasa's constellation program, we're removing a job that exists and a job that could exist, it's no longer there. i don't understand the logic behind it. jon: there isn't unaniminity in the astronaut core about the decision. let me read to you and you probably already heard it when buzz aldrin had to say, the second man to walk on the moon, he said i wish to endorse strongly the president's new direction for nasa. the truth is we have already been to the moon some 40 years ago, a near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key cutting edge technologies to take us further faster is just what our nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this kentry. what do you say to that -- this century. what do you say to that? >> well, buzz and i disagreed on a lot of things and certainly that one. although buzz does want to go back to mars and i support that, but i believe we should do it in a logical stepping stone process. at the end of this year, the space shuttle is to be retired, and we have a space station that's the only game in town, it's a scientific labratory that yet has to produce the results that i think a lot of people said it would. jon: and we're not going to have any way to get there. >> no, no. we're going to have to ask the russians to give us a significant amount of money without any competitors to get us back up to a space station that essentially was built with our dollars. you know, we talk about the private sector. i support the private sector. it's going to be ten years before we can put humans in a private spacecraft to get us back into earth's orbit and by that time, you know, the russians andors are going to own the space station. do with it what they want. i think we've relegated, truly relegated ourselves to almost a third world country in the world of space age exploration. jon: the last man to walk on the moon. thank you. >> jon, can i say one other real quick thing? i'm not going to be there when we go back to the moon, and to mars and it may not be this president or those that follow but it's the people of this country who are going to determine where we go and what the future of this country is and what the opportunities are for our young kids and grandkids, and that's what's important to me. jon: you just said it. thanks gene. jane: students have attended second education classes for years, but a new approach to the classes, it's yielded pretty surprising results. wait until you hear what kids who enrolled in an abstinence only program ended up doing.  jon: "happening now" in the top box, live on capitol hill, where in just a few minutes, secretary of defense gates will announce a review of the military's don't ask don't tell policy. middle box, more witnesses testifying today at an evidentiary hearing in the drew peterson case, a former illinois police sergeant facing charges in the death of his third wife, his fourth wife disappeared in 2007. bottom box, 40 years after "we are the world" was recorded music stars are getting ready to rerecord it, the proceeds will be used for haiti earthquake relief. jane: a new study out today on kids and sex is offering pretty surprising insight. the study followed mainly 12-year-olds. instead of focusing on the moral issues of preaching that sex should be saved for marriage, this one involves assignments to help kids identify the drawbacks of having sex at a young maj and guess what, they found the kids who took part in this were more likely to wait before having sex, in the meantime, other kids took part in more traditional sex ed classes, two years ago, about one third of the abstinent students said they had had sex versus nearly half of the other group. james rosen is live in d.c. with how this works. >> reporter: the findings have been published in a new issue of an academic journal, the archives of pediatric and adolescent medicine, this study marks the first time that a long-term program has divided students as test subjects if you will into different groups wherein some sixth and seventh graders were subject to ab stenins-only education and others that and the instruction of condoms during sex. it was remarkable, one third of the group reporting they became sexually active in the next two years, 50 percent for the second group, however, experts pointed out this abstinence program was not the classical approach, the children, for example, were encouraged to delay sex until they felt ready, not necessarily until marriage, and the use of condoms was not dispairming dollars at any point. jane: will this change how the obama administration would view an anstinnence curriculum? >> there's some evidence it might. the obama administration essentially replaced the abstinence program with a proposal for a $183 million program focused on prove techniques for pregnancy prevention, an approach that of course includes emphasis on condom usage, however, a spokesman for health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius was quoted as offering some cautious words of praise for this study which was led by researcher from the university of pennsylvania, quote, no one study determines funding decision. hhs spokesman nicholas pathos was quoted as saying, but these finding suggest this kind of project could be competitive for grants if, and here's the qualifier, jane, if there's promise it achieves the goal of teen pregnancy prevention, that is the obama administration's preferred approach, but nonetheless, the study appears to show some signs in that direction. jane: james rosen in d.c. for us, thanks james. jon: do you remember what today is? jane: it's not your birthday, not my birthday. someone's birthday? jon: ground hog day. jane: janice reminded me. how could we forget? jon: we're going to find out about how they don't celebrate in alaska, coming up. secretary of defense robert gates is on capitol hill as well, he's telling congress how the pentagon plans to handle the president's goal of repealing the military's don't ask don't tell policy. whatta could mean for gay servicemen and women. a hearing on the issue, set to begin in just a few minutes. we'll bring you developments as they happen, straightal settt as they happen, straightal settt ahead. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. jane: top of the hour, happening now, we're waiting to hear from defense secretary robert gates on the policy known as don't ask, don't tell. we're going to be looking at a senate hearing, and this is the first steps toward lifting the ban on gays serving in uniform. hi, everybody, i'm jane skinner. jon: and i'm jon scott. secretary gates expected to launch a year-long study. the review is to be co-chaired by a pentagon official and a uniformed officer. it will look into the impact of lifting the ban, what that would do to the troops in the field. also the secretary is expected to give details on plans to loosen standards for enforce thing existing rules while that study is underway. our mike emanuel is live from the pentagon with the latest. all right, mike, first off, what do we know about this review of don't ask, don't tell? >> reporter: well, we expect defense secretary gates to announce two names, the senior defense official, also the senior military official who are going to look into all the issues involved with the idea of changing the controversial don't ask, don't tell policy. he's going to give them until the end of the calendar year to look into these issues and to make sure it doesn't impact the force. there are great concerns about with our military serving in wars in afghanistan and iraq and being asked to do so much around the world, great strain on the force, they want to make sure that if they change this policy about gays openly serving in the military, that it's done as smoothly as possible. so we've heard over the months that secretary gates feels like it has to be done very, very carefully. so he's going to lay out for the members of the senate armed services committee, the steps he's going to take gradually over the course of the next year to get to that point. jon: so as they think about changing this policy that's been in effect for, what, a couple of decades now, what are some of the concerns? >> reporter: well, it does date back to the clinton era and is what the military's been used to using since the early '90s or so. and so it's just a concern can about how young men and women who are serving in harm's way are going to react if there is a change in policy, whether, you know, housing situation may need to change, different social rules may need to change. so there are concerns about the impact of young people, and so we expect that they will reach out to the force to take their temperature to see how they feel about it and what is necessary to make this change can in policy which we've heard from the president in the state of the union address that he wants to see changed. so they want to make sure they do it right and they do it carefully, jon. jon: well, the president might want to change the policy, but it's obviously controversial. does he have enough support in congress to change the law? >> reporter: that's an excellent question, and the people here at the pentagon that i've talked to say they don't believe right now there are the votes to change the law right now, but obviously here at the pentagon it's not their job to gather votes. they leave that to their colleagues on capitol hill. but since the president of the united states has said he would like to see a change, they realize that the president wants it done, so they need to figure out what needs to be done if the law is changed. but at this point they don't believe there are the votes out there, but they will wait to see what happens on capitol hill. jon: mike, thank you. jane: a bill to cut funding for the 9/11 terror trials in civilian trial is gathering bipartisan support. two democratic senators are backing the legislation, it's sponsored by republican lindsey graham. the white house is said to be reconsidering its decision to try the confessed 9/11 master mind khalid sheikh mohammed and four others in a new york city federal court. >> we believe we're at war. the law enforcement model being used by the obama administration should be rejected. we're not fighting a crime, we're fighting a war. and to criminalize this war puts our nation at risk. jane: a similar measure failed last year, we're going to talk about why lawmakers think they have a better chance at this time, and we're going to be joined by one of the co-sponsors of the bill, senator saxby chambliss, in just a few minutes. jon: the senate select excellence committee calling top intelligence officials to capitol hill to testify on current and projected national security threats to the united states. we are all concerned about this one, obviously. national correspondent catherine herridge live in washington, what do we expect to hear this afternoon? >> reporter: well, this is really one of the most highly-anticipated hearings in terms of national security can of the calendar on capitol hill among the panelists testifying today before the senate select committee on intelligence is the nation's top intelligence official, dennis blair, also the cia directer leon panetta, and then on the domestic side, we have the fbi directer, robert mueller. so, in essence, they are projecting the threats the united states will face in the short and medium terms and how we allocate the money or the resources, pardon me, to combat those threats to the u.s., jon. jon: more questions coming about the decision to try the christmas day bomber in criminal court? >> reporter: well, i spoke to two people on the intelligence side this morning, and they said they fully anticipate in the question and answer section there will be a heavy emphasis on how the alleged christmas day bomber, umar farouk abdulmutallab was handled. as you know, he was put into the criminal system, not the military system, and what is significant is that the chair of the senate select committee on intelligence, dianne feinstein, has already said publicly she believes abdulmutallab should have been handled by this high-value interrogation group. that group, as we learned, is not set up yet, but that is certainly a signal that she believes abdulmutallab had more intelligence that was relevant and realtime information about threats not only in the short term, but also in the medium term that would be launched against the united states. jon: and americans are still at the center of the threat, i guess? >> reporter: well, if there is one name that everyone needs to take note of now based on my reporting, it is this american citizen anwral anwar al-awlaki. he's one of the key sort of foundational pieces of this group al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. this is the group that claimed responsibility for flight 253, and it's now well documented he is linked to the 9/11 hijackers, also fort hood. he was, if you will, the spiritual adviser to the alleged shooter, and now flight 253. and this week i was able to interview charlie allen, considers one of the legends within the u.s. intelligence community, and he told me that he believes that anwar al-awlaki personally met with the alleged christmas day bomber and blessed that suicide mission. and allen was the first person to file him two years ago, and he believes there are hundreds of people within the united states who are following this radical cleric. jon: catherine herridge live in washington for us, thanks. jane: right now president obama is on his way to new hampshire for a meeting on jobs and the economy, specifically he's expected to roll out a new spending program to boost community banks. the idea is to spur about $300 billion in new small business loans. wendell is here to explain how this would all work, he's at the white house. >> reporter: hi, jane. this is the president's attempt to take a portion of the wall street bailout which was hugely unpopular and turn it into something that looks more like a bailout for main street. he'd use about $30 billion in t.a.r.p. money repaid by banks that got loans in 2008 to create a small business loan fund that provides lower rates and dividend tax breaks for community banks that lend to small businesses, and the idea would be to leverage that $30 billion into something more like $300 billion in loans. now, the president left here, the white house, a little less than an hour ago headed first to a business that his aides say has capitalized on the growth potential in the energy section, they won't say specifically what that business is just yet. then he'll hold a town hall meeting, his second since the state of the union address, and he may face criticism from people who feel he should have focused less on health care reform last year and more on job creation. last year the unemployment rate grew from 7 and a half percent to more than 10 percent. this is his first visit to new england since the democrats lost ted kennedy's senate seat in part because independents felt there was too much emphasis on health care reform, too little on creating jobs, jane? jane: what does the white house have to say about the republican criticism that the president should have been focusing on this from the start, that this is coming a little bit late? >> reporter: well, they say the president's first job was to keep the economy and the global financial system from chancing -- collapsing, that was the justification for the unpopular bank bailouts that began even before the president took office, of course, in 2008. but there has been a definite turn toward focus thing on small business -- focusing on small business this year. the president suggesting or proposing small business tax breaks in his state of the union address. those tax breaks were included in the 2011 budget the president unveiled yesterday even though they would apply this year and, in fact, would raise the 2010 budget deficit. republicans say there should have been more tax breaks and less government spending in the stimulus package. the white house says the economy is just now getting to the point that small businesses are better able to use the tax breaks, and press secretary robert gibbs says the president now with these tax breaks and this small business loan fund is really proposing something focused on small businesses that is a test for republicans, he says it's a test for republican bipartisanship because these are the kinds of programs they've been calling for. jane: wendell, thanks. jon: it has been nearly a year since a horrifying crash in buffalo killed 49 people onboard a turboprop airplane and one on the ground. >> this aircraft was 5 miles out, and all of a sudden we have no response from that aircraft. jon: key safety reforms that were supposed to take place have not. why the slow pace to get airline safety right with so much at stake? just ahead. bad cold hits your whole body. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels rush relief everywhere you need it. it's the most complete relief you can get in a liquid gel, so you feel better, fast. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. jane: welcome back. happening now in the top box, the united nations is warning about the security situation in haiti after an armed group of men attacked a food convoy. the u.n. says the situation remains stable, but it's potentially volatile. in the middle box, south korea is considering a summit with north korea, the south's president insists there won't be any rewards for the north just agreeing to sit down and talk. and in the bottom box, it's groundhog day. punxsutawney phil predicting six more weeks of winter. jon: new information about what caused a commuter passenger plane to crash outside buffalo last year. fifty people died when flight 3407 plunged to the ground. one in a house that was obliterated. the crash also raised concerns over pilots' vulnerability to fatigue. the national transportation safety board is meeting today and preparing to release the probable b cause of the crash, it will likely make safety recommendations. let's talk about it with john golia, a former ntsb board member. a lot of people complain that despite what has already been learned about this accident, there hasn't been much done this the way of safety improvements. do you agree? >> well, i think in the past it's been a lot of resistance from the faa and from the industry to make some improvements, but i think with the new faa administrator he's already demonstrated a willingness to push these issues quickly. so i think that maybe this time we'll see something a little different. jon: you're talking about randy babbitt, he has gone to the airlines and suggested they make voluntary changes? >> he has done that, and he's been pretty force theful in pushing the fatigue issues to a rule, not just voluntarily, so he's a breath of fresh air in the faa. jon: well, there is always that butt l of heads between the board that investigates these accidents where you used to work and the faa that's in charge with writing the rules that airlines have to fly by. is that going to change? >> well, no, i don't think it'll ever change, but it may diminish a little bit if the faa responds to the hard work that the ntsb accomplishes in identifying these deficiencies. really the head butting is because the ntsb spends so much time, the staff spends so much time developing the safety recommendations, and then they send them to the faa, and nothing happens. so everybody gets frustrated on the ntsb side. jon: one of the discoveries that was made was that the pilot didn't have training in a key piece of safety, at least didn't have hands-on train anything a key piece of safety equipment that was on board that plane. the first officer, rebecca shaw, had basically flown all night from seattle where she had to live with her parents because she basically didn't make much money, flown all night from seattle to pick up this flight out of new jersey into buffalo. is any of that changing as a result of this accident? >> well, the fatigue issue, there's going to be a rule on fatigue, but i don't think it's going to reach into the commuting piece, so i think that we still have to address that at some point in time. in the training issue, you can't train every pilot for every scenario before they get in the cockpit. but you can certainly make sure that they get adequate training and then time to fly with an experienced pilot in order to gain the experience that they need. in this case we had two relatively inexperienced crew members flying that airplane. now, we learned a long, long time ago that what we call in the industry new new, new captain and new the first officer, is a bad combination. and the industry promised us a long time ago that they were going to fix that problem voluntarily. but i guess not everybody signed up to the program. jon: a lot of us fly on those regional carriers, the smaller jets, the smaller turboprops. can you tell the american people that you believe that they are safe? >> well, the airplane is safe. there's no question about that. it's a question of how it's operated, who's operating it and the training of the crews. and we don't have any control over that as flying public. i fly these airplanes myself, and when we get to the gate, we turn over to the airline our care, custody and control of our bodies, and we rely upon them to do the right thing, to follow the rules and maybe even exceed the rules. but oftentimes we find that these carriers, especially the regionals, fly right at the faa rules. and most people in the industry seem to forget that the faa rules are a minimum standard. they're not the highest standard. the airlines have promised us that fly to the highest standards possible, but often times we fly they just fly to the minimum faa rules. jon: not exactly reassuring words there. a former ntsb board member. john, thank you. jane: we're watching today as support is growing on capitol hill to cut funding for the 9/11 terror trials in civilian court. is it possible that these suspects could be tried ultimately back at guantanamo bay? >> try them as common criminals giving them the constitutional rights of american citizens in our courts is justice according to alice in wonderland. settlemt 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security. last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it! so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today. jane: happening now in the top box, a toyota executive says it's too soon to put a number on the ultimate cost of its massive recall. he says a consumer backlash from the gas pedal problems is really to be expected. in the middle box, treasury secretary kim geithner saying the economy in this country is stronger than it was a year ago, but he says the government still needs to stimulate job growth. in the bottom, these movies are leading the oscar nominations with nine apiece. jon: a bipartisan group of senators backing legislation that would cut funding for 9/11 terror trials in civilian courts, this as reports indicate that the obama administration is reconsidering the decision to try the confessed mastermind and his four alleged accomplices in new york city. senator lindsey graham, a sponsor of the bill cutting off the funding, didn't have to reach back far to illustrate his preference for trying the suspects before a military commission. >> just look at what happened with the christmas day bomber. an opportunity lost. someone fresh off the battlefield. failed in his attempt to kill innocent civilians, captured fresh off the battlefield and in less than an hour read his miranda rights and shut up. how much intelligence did we lose? jon: joining us now, a co-sponsor of the bill, someone who is also part of today the's announcement, senator saxby chambliss. the georgia republican sits on the armed services committee in the u.s. senate. senator chambliss, we all remember when attorney general eric holder so famously announced that the administration wants to hold these trials in civilian court and, frankly, right here in new york city. what you're saying through this bill is that, okay, administration, you can hold those trials if you want to, we're just not going to pay for them? >> well, it's going to be more than that. this is a way, obviously, to get at a way to cut off the funding which will, in effect, not allow them to try these individuals inside the united states. no, when the attorney general made that announcement, jon, those of us who have been involved in the intelligence community and the armed services community knew then that this was a terrible decision, and it turns out that it was a decision that was not very well thought through, that was not the right kind of consultation with law enforcement officials in new york city as well as the political structure within new york city. this is not the way to treat individuals who masterminded the killing and harming of over 3,000 americans and who are directly responsible for the fact that today the we are engaged in a military conflict in both iraq and afghanistan. jon: there seems to be a lot of rethinking, as i mentioned, going on in the administration as to whether those trials should be held in new york city or elsewhere. the president, one of his first announcements when he took the job was saying that guantanamo bay is going to be closed. he hasn't gotten it done in the year that he had allotted, is it possible, you think, that the trials could wind up being held at guantanamo bay? >> well, that's where they should be held. the decision by the president the day he was sworn in to announce he was going to close guantanamo in a year, again, was not a very well thought out decision. there was no plan in place, there still is no plan in place as to what you're going to do with those individuals who are housed at guantanamo. and look, jon, we've gone down there, and we have spent millions of taxpayer dollars both building a state-of-the-art facility to house those individuals, but also there's a state-of-the-art facility to try all these individuals under the military justice act. and, you know, the military commissions act was improved last year, it was modified from the previous bill we passed, and it was designed specifically to try these individuals who are housed at guantanamo as well as other individuals that are captured on the battlefield. you know, why in the world do we want to bring these five individuals to new york city, give them constitutional rights that are guaranteed to american citizens versus trying individuals in the future that will be captured on the battlefield and bringing them in to be tried at guantanamo under the military commissions act? makes no sense at all. jon: and worth pointing out, you have the support of a couple of key democrats, jim webb of virginia, and blanche lincoln of arkansas. senator chambliss of georgia, thank you. >> thanks, jon. jon: senator lincoln, whom i just mentioned, is one of the more conservative democrats in the senate. she is also facing a tight race for reelection. we're talking to her tomorrow on "happening now," senator blanche lincoln of arkansas. right now we're also monitoring a hearing on capitol hill that could effect the future of the military and its don't ask, don't tell policy. secretary of defense gates announcing review of the boon gay military service, whether it could be lifted in wartime. we will continue to follow that for you on "happening now" as well. plus, a scary discovery in israel, two barrels filled with more than 80 pounds of explosion sieves wash 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for you. the biggest difference is stopping it before it starts. don't wait another minute. call now and immediately start enjoying the confidence, security, and peace of mind only lifelock can offer. call the number on your screen and mention shredder ... to receive this special offer. real people, real protection, real peace of mind. don't wait until it's too late. get your lifelock protection started immediately. call now. jon: bottom of the hour, here's what's happening now. brand new information on the day's big stories. two barrels filled with explosives wash ashore in israel. >> reporter: hi, jon, that's right as police have cordoned off a 25-mile section north of the gaza strip after two barrels full of explosives washed up onto israeli shores. they believe the explosives were meant to the detonate by using a cell phone. the prime minister has vowed he will retaliate for this attempted attack against israel. jon: one state says no to federal man kates on health insurance -- mandates on health insurance, steve centanni live in washington. >> reporter: five democrats joined republicans in the virginia state senate to pass a measure challenging the health care reform effort. the measure would make it illegal to require anyone to purchase health insurance. it has a good chance of passing the virginia legislature and being signed by the governor there, and it could be an early indicator democrats are getting nervous about health care reform as they face reelection this year. jon? jon: big business in cyberspace could put your personal information into the hands of hackers. david lee miller has the story from our newsroom. >> reporter: it appears to be a growing problem on the internet, hackers for hire. the services, although illegal, offered to steal the pass words to basically any e-mail account for $100 fee. they send victims an electronic greeting card that redirects them to a fake site that looks like their e-mail provider. and making the problem especially insidious, often times the victims don't know their passwords have been stolen. jon: thank you all. the ford motor company releases some positive new sales figures today, the first numbers of 2010 showing gains from a year ago and an increasing market share. fox business network's jenna lee is with us. nice to have some good business news to report for a change, jenna? jenna: and interesting to think about, jon, last year at this time chrysler and general motors were looking to go back to the u.s. government for a second round of bailout loans, and that was never the case for ford. ford had the option to get that government support, but they never used it, and here they are in january 2010 with some positive sales numbers. but it doesn't really have a lot to do with us, the consumer. in fact, it has more to do with what's going on on the business side. a lot of these big automakers sell to fleets such as large governments or rental car companies, and those fleet sales are up double the amount of last year. and that's really indicative of a better credit environment than we had last year at the same time. retail sales, the consumer side, not as strong as last year, but fleet sales really, really positive. if you do own a ford, this is interesting, the resale value of your vehicle has gone up according to the company, on average the resale number for ford is up by about $1300. that's interesting, jon. also to note real quick here, ford stock has gained about 500% in the last 52 weeks, so investors have baked in a lot of this news for ford, but it's going to be an interesting company to watch going forward, and we'll get gm and chrysler numbers in the next few hours. jon: jenna lee, thank you. jane: right now on capitol hill, a controversial issue is being played out. secretary of defense robert gates announcing today his full support for repealing the ban on gays openly serving in the u.s. military. that's the policy known as don't is ask, don't tell. these are pictures from the senate armed services committee. secretary gates is announcing a yearlong study on the best way to end the ban. he's announcing that the department of defense counsel jay johnson and general carter hamm will be serving as co-chairs of this study. the policy has been in place since 1993 when bill clip canton signed -- clinton saned it into law. in all, close to 11,000 troops have been -- republican congressman duncan hunter of california is here as well, he's in favor of keeping don't ask, don't tell. both are members of the house armed services committee. congresswoman, first to you. secretary gates has made it clear he's supportive of repealing this ban, but what is not clear is really when it's going to happen. it's not going to the happen tomorrow, he's talking about at least one year as they study it. your thoughts on the timeline. >> yeah, well, you know, first thing is it's law. he can't repeal anything unless he gets the votes in congress. the law enacted by a democrat congress in 1993 makes that the law, no homosexuals in the military. ike skelton, chairman of the armed services committee, democrat, says he's not going to hold hearings. frankly, i'm kind of angry secretary gates is devoting an hour to this when we have not had an actual full hearing on roadside bombs, the number one killer of soldiers, sailors, and marines in afghanistan. his priorities are out of whack, and i think congress' are too. jane: but, congressman, i want to stay with you, hasn't he been directed by the president to look into this so that's his job? >> that just means the administration's priorities are out of whack. the wars in iraq and afghanistan, the economy, b now we're talking about don't ask, don't tell? this diverts us from fixing the american economy, getting jobs back to the american workers and winning the wars in afghanistan and iraq, not a social experimentation from this liberal ideology making the military the social petri dish to see how we're going to have combat with homosexual and transjenlders. i just think that's the wrong way to do it. jane: congresswoman, i know you want to 1307bd to that. this also will be a complex study because it deals with all issues including what the bare acts would look like. your thoughts. >> well, frankly, i just hope the study doesn't take too long. representative hunter and i serve on the armed services committee, we've been to iraq and afghanistan together, and i have a lot of respect for his service in the military, but i completely disagree. i think our military is ready for this. as you said, 11,000 people have already been discharged, we've lost a lot of people with valuable skills. i think our young soldiers today are ready for combat, they're ready to serve together, they're way beyond this. this is, this is old-fashioned thinking. i applaud the pratt and can secretary gates for moving forward. i look forward to repealing the ban. we need every soldier we can get, we need to support everyone who chooses to serve. i think we're long beyond ready to repeal this ban, and i hope we move forward quickly. jane: congresswoman, i just want to stay with her for a moment because there are questions about whether there is enough support, particularly in the house. the latest count was 187 votes, you need 218. will you have enough to pass it? >> let's just be clear, that's 187 people who have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. we haven't really put a bill on the floor, we haven't heard from our constituents around this. i just think we're ready to do it, and i'm very pleased they're having a hear anything the senate today. jane: i'm sorry, we're going to have to leave it there the, we thank you both. we'll continue to watch this hearing as it plays out with the secretary, bring our viewers any headlines as they come. well, who doesn't love a fast sled ride? a man from massachusetts got a little bit creative, he added a rocket-like device to his backpack, but his experiment didn't go too well, and now he's paying his dues. we'll show you next. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. heck it out, gas prices ♪ - ditched my used subcompact for a two-wheeled ride ♪ ♪ - now i'm rolling eco-friendy but i still look bad ♪ ♪ when the bike store saw my credit ♪ ♪ they said this was all they had ♪ ♪ i'm singing- f to the r to the to the e ♪ ♪ to the c to the r to the e-d-i-t, ♪ ♪ re to the port to the dot, to the com ♪ ♪ come on everybody grab your bike and sing along, ♪ ♪ it's easy... f to the r... ♪ vooffer applies with enrollment in triple advantage. jon: at the top of the hour less than 20 minutes from now, it's "america live" with megyn kelly. here she is with a preview of what's on. >> sarah palin versus rahm emanuel, and one of them just blinked. monica crowley on that. also why you should never, ever, ever again eat those pre-packed salad packages. it's not good. all that plus kelly's court on that basket brawl we brought you yesterday, and john rich is in the house top of the hour. jon: megan, thanks. jane: you've heard it before, but this time we really mean it. do not try this at home. a 62-year-old man tried to amp up his snow sled, and he ended up in the hospital. he rigged a rocket-like backpack to his sled. take a look. apparently the man holds an annual sledding party, and he always does outrageous things. this year he had somebody light a wick, the device exploded, he ended up with second-degree burns and has possible eye damage, and this might shock you, but police say he was drinking. before the stunt. jon: president obama's new budget proposal presents some stunning numbers. for instance, the projected deficit in the coming year expected to reach 11% of the country's total economic output. and much of our debt is sustained with foreign credit. china and other emerging powers are now using this to leverage greater influence in global affairs diminishing u.s. power on the world stage. as part of our ongoing series on america's debt, chief washington correspondent jim angle is live in our d.c. bureau with more. so all this borrowing, jim, that can't be good over the long term, can it? >> reporter: no. it's not good over the long term and even over the medium term, jon, it makes us very vulnerable. you know, we've been agonizing for two to three decades over our dependence on foreign oil, now we have a growing dependence on foreign credit because we're spending far more money than we have, we need to borrow from anyone who will loan it to us. listen. >> we've gone from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation. we've gone from at the end of world war ii where we had no foreign debt to where now 50% of debt held by the public is held by foreign lenders. last year 68% of the new borrowing by the united states came from foreign entities, china became our biggest creditor last year, japan is number two. anybody that doesn't think that has, doesn't have an effect on our policy, i think, is just detached from reality. >> reporter: the fear, of course, is that we would be beholden to those who loan us money and their interests sometimes conflict with ours, naturally, and that is often the case with china which has numerous foreign policy differences with us, so that makes us quite vulnerable, jon. jon: and the concern, obviously, is that the u.s. would have to go hat in hand to china and a lot of these other governments that lend us money, right? >> reporter: well, that's right. we're so vulnerable to just a lack of interest from china and other lenders would be a problem for us. we have to sell so many bonds that if china just sat on the sidelines, it could drive up interest rates which, with as much as we owe, could cost us dearly. listen to this. >> we are no overleveraged and so dependent on other countries showing up when we issue our treasury auctions that it starts to affect foreign policy. >> i'm sure that secretary clinton when she talks to the chinese is well aware we are borrowing amounts of money from them, so you're beginning to see it. >> reporter: china, for instance, is very upset about u.s. contacts with the dalai lama in tibet or u.s. weapons sales to taiwan. could any of those issues anger them enough for them to hold back on loaning the u.s. men money? experts fear that could be the case and say we are so exposed because of our borrowing needs that we are extremely vulnerable to any pressure if china wanted to exercise it. jon? jon: jim angle in washington. jim, thanks.. two little boys -- jane: want me to do it? jon: sure, god. jane: out for an adventure on the ice, one of them ended up saving the other. you're going to love this story, their here with us and their mom. 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. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: does charlie daniels play a mean fiddle? ♪ fiddle music charlie:hat's how you do it son. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it! so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today. jon: coming up on "happening now," let's take a look at the boxes. there is a health scare for the well-known congressman john murtha. also some new housing numbers just out showing a bit of a surprise, maybe an uptick. let's hope things are stabilizing. and all kinds of rain in florida. in advance of the super bowl, not exactly what they were hoping for. wait until you hear the numbers. that's ahead. jane: now to a pretty amazing story out of new jersey where a little boy has his younger brother and a barking dog to thank for saving his life. the brothers decided to take their boogie boards to a lagoon over the weekend, against their mother's best wishes. sage, who is 10, was standing on the ice when it gave way. he reached out and grabbed for his younger brother's hand. the two boys were out there alone. tristan, who's just 7, mustered up all his strength and held on to sightly, and then the dog comes in. we'll explain. sage and tristan are here with their mom, and the dog's owner, joanne abbott, is on the phone. sage, you're the 10-year-old, what were you thinking? >> i was thinking, like, am i going to die or something? jane: and you reached out for your brother's hand? >> yeah. jane: and it was there? >> i just kept saying, pull me up. jane: and he did. >> yeah, he tried to. jane: how strong are you? let's check out those muscles. how did you do that? how tightly did you have to hold on, and what were you thinking? >> i was thinking that was he going to make it, and i tried to pull him up, but luckily, the dog was barking at us, and joanne saw us and called the ambulance. jane: joanne's the neighbor, the dog owner, how'd you know something was up? >> well, i'm so glad you guys are okay. my husband, scott, and i had just come home, and kay does not normally bark, and he continued to bark and very fixed across the bay. and fortunately, he kept barking, and i finally saw a red hat move. jane: a red hat, and you knew something was wrong, and you called out there, and be the boys said, we're not okay? >> i yelled twice. the second time there was a big voice that said no. i then called the police department. jane: madonna, so you, i understand, find out about this because you see your child on a stretcher. you didn't realize the commotion was over your boys? >> i looked out my front window and saw the emergency vehicles arriving, and their grandmother started out the door to see what was going can on, and i actually said to her, it's not my boys because they're down the road playing in the snow. i had no idea. jane: weren't where you were supposed to be, were you? >> no. jane: did do you guys get in trouble? [laughter] tryst taan, you're not in any trouble because you saved his life, right? was there a point in time where you really thought your brother was going to go down in that water and you weren't going to see him again? >> yeah. jane what do you have to say to him? any message? >> i just kept saying thank you to him and also the police officers. jane: how are you feeling? were you feeling okay? they said you might have had hypothermia. >> yeah, i was fine after they warmed me up. jane: yeah, i bet. were they okay? did they have to go to the hospital? >> sage was taken and observed for about an hour. he was fine. jane: and, joanne, you're a heroine in all this too. >> well, i think the one thing the i'd like to say is if anyone is considering a pet, rescue animals are the best. jane: i understand your dog got pickled herring as a treat? [laughter] >> yes. my husband walked him, and they both came home and had pickled herring. jane did tristan get something other than pickled herring for saving a life? >> ice cream, remember? and hot dog cans. jane: ice cream and hot dogs, perfect. tryst tristan, great work. joanne, madonna, thanks to you. jon: that's great. coming up on "america live," a basket brawl call on tape. out of control students and police using tasers to control the crowd. we report, you decide if the police were justified. jon: well, guess what. it is groundhog day. for the first time ever alaska has his very own version. this one does not include a groundhog like punxsutawney phil. there are no groundhogs and alaska. in alaska it is marmet. governor palin's signed the bill last year. the marmet does not have any forecasting duties. the lawmaker and it is the bill says she hopes the state will create educational activities around the animal. jane: it is. oscar time just around the corner. the winners were announced. a bit of an awkward moment. more on that. you are the big winners? james cameron which "avatar" picked up nine nominations. tied with the movie called "the hurt locker," also nominated for nine awards. get this. kathryn bigelow, she and james cameron used to be married. both of the films have already taken on some of the year's top prizes. we can weigh in on which film you think will come out on top. you see the blue arrow. it is the second one down. so far more than half of our voters say "avatar" will take on the prize. jon: i saw "avatar." i have not seen "the hurt locker." a few of them. i'll take you to the movies. jane: that is going to do it for us. jon: "america live" with megyn kelly begins right now. megyn: good afternoon and welcome to "america live." i'm megyn kelly. breaking news on the number one issue facing americans today and the issue that could make or break the democrats in the 2010 midterm election, unemployment. we are awaiting remarks from the president who is in the new hampshire at this hour are he will unveil a new jobsp

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