us from fox business network. how would you characterize this report over all, stuart? >> you have to say thus far this is a very modest recovery. this is not a booming recovery by any means. the fact, martha recovery remains the weakest from any recovery since the great depression of the 1930s that is a precise state of the state of this recovery. 8.3% is the unemployment rate. it did not decline anymore. that is not a good rate at this stage of the recovery. i have one more item for you, martha. that is the debt situation. february, a record deficit, $229 billion. never been higher than that in any month ever. 229 billion in that one month. now that means that we're going to have to probably borrow more money, raise the debt ceiling before the november election. that is politically very, very important. so it is a modest recovery. we're running deeper and deeper into debt. those are the headlines on the economic front this morning. martha: stuart, we'll be chewing over that a lot this morning. thank you so much, stuart varney of the fox business network. we'll see you soon. gregg: let's put this in some context here. the jobless rate has exceeded 8% for 30 straight months. that is the longest stretch on record. 42.6% of unemployed americans have been jobless for 27 weeks or more. the private sector though has added jobs for 24 straight months. martha? martha: the house passing a jobs act bill on capitol hill on thursday afternoon. it mostly supports small businesses. the republicans praised bipartisan support on this. nancy pelosi called the bill meager. let's hear from both sides on that. here we go. >> we passed a bill that will help small businesses start up and grow in this economy. that's what we need right now is a bill to undo red tape a bill to make it easier for small businesses to access capital. get out from under the sarbanes-oxley provisions. >> let's not mistake it for what we need to do for a serious, comprehensive jobs bill for our country. martha: we'll talk to congressman aaron shock,. he will weigh in on the jobs bill debate. and what nancy pelosi thought about that coming up. gregg: well, presidential candidate mitt romney hitting president obama on jobs. the gop frontrunner say the president's policies are to blame for america's stubbornly high unemployment. >> he was going to cut the budget deficit in half. he doubled it. when he became president he asked us to borrow $787 billion. he said if we got the money keep unemployment below 8%. has not below 8% since. has a lot of things to say but hasn't delivered. middle income families would get help with a tax cut. have you seen that yet? i'm afraid not? gregg: romney campaigning today in mississippi and alabama just ahead of those state's pro primaries on tuesday. many gop leaders encouraging romney to engauge the president more head on. martha: remember fox news of course is your election headquarters. head to the website at foxnews.com on the latest on race of 2012. latest on the presidential race, foxnews.com. head to the website you get everything you need to know. do that in the breaks while bill and i be, or gregg and i are catching up on stuff. gregg: seems to change on a almost weekly basis, doesn't it. all right, want to tell you now about breaking news on syria. there's a new report revealing that u.s. concerns may be vast syrian stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. the national situation there is getting worse by day. u.s. officials want the suspected deadly weapons locked down. leland vittert live in jerusalem with more. leland. is there a good way to secure the suspected weapons? >> reporter: short answer right now, gregg, no. there is no contingency plan put in place to make it happen. these fears that the stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons would fall into the hands of hezbollah or militant groups that the syrian government has been supporting. show you how different the situation inside syria is from libya. the syrian military would not be called world power but certainly a regional one. well-equipped. 12 different places where they stockpile everything from nerve gas to the cyanide. it could be put on top of missiles or artillery shells there. there is contingency plan to send jordanian special forces teams in. those special forces teams are trained by the united states but only go in if there was a larger arab peacekeeping plan. if president assad gets his way it may never happen. israel for its part is very concerned what happens to the weapons especially if assad gets more desperate. gregg: leland, is president assad getting stronger or weaker? >> reporter: depends where you look from. appears in syria he is getting much, much stronger. the assault on homs was successful. put down the assault. there was another 21 people killed today in syria by assad forces. you're looking at amateur video of massive protests. this is one year and assad is still holding onto power. meanwhile the u.s. is getting more irritated with him being there but there is no plan to force assad out of power. gregg. gregg: leland vittert live in jersey. thanks very much. martha: there are new reports this morning that the financial firm being investigated for losing $1.6 billion of investor money may be handing out bonuses. here we go again, right? three top executives of mf global could be getting a pretty big check. mf global is failed financial firm run by former democratic u.s. senator jon corzine. the company is expected to ask bankruptcy court protection from a judge to approve bonuses for executives and at least 20 other employees. global global says the workers are helping to maximize mayouts to creditors. gregg: want to takes a look right now live in mississippi because mitt romney will be speaking there momentarily. mississippi is one of the two big southern primaries to take place next tuesday. alabama is the other one there. and of course, newt gingrich is staking his campaign's future on the southern strategy which includes not only his wins in south carolina and georgia but alabama and mississippi. although polling data suggests he may have a tough time there. mitt romney,. rick:, are both also playing pretty big politics down in mississippi and alabama. martha: they would love to claim the southern states and battle for those is on now. those are a few of the stories we're watching for you here in "america's newsroom" where everything is hopping. say it isn't so. gregg: it isn't so. martha: coke and pepsi, seriously changing their recipe. die diet coke went taste like diet coke. there is a cancer warning that is coming up. gregg: new demands to ease the pain at the pump. millions of americans want relief. we'll show you brand new poll numbers the white house is sure to be watching. >> boy the key steen pipeline -- keystone pipeline issue is getting hotter all the time. a lot of action on capitol hill. you have republicans and democrats as well in some cases showing support, agreeing that the president needs to change his mind on this and tap this natural resource. >> we really should be doing everything we can at this point to unleash the energy potential we've got here at home. my issue with the administration's energy policy is seems they are hostile to fossil fuels. or even 20 years? 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[ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of the country's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before" simply bemes consider it solved. emerson. ♪ gregg: senate republicans are now saying the fight for the keystone pipeline is far from over. of course the u.s. senate narrowly rejectioning a measure to green light the new oil pipeline from canada to the u.s. gulf coast. environmental groups and some on the left are claiming victory. >> white house had to start making calls again today to get people to, you know, oppose our amendment. so it's very clear the support is there and only thing that is hard to understand is why the white house is opposing something that benefits every american at a time when gas prices are going up every single day. gregg: louisiana senator date vittert is a republican. member of the senate environment and public works committee. he joins us live. senator, thanks for taking a moment. >> sure, gregg. gregg: you have to have 60 votes. you don't have it. so realistically what can congress do? >> we keep talking about the issue with the american people because i think we're making gains every day. and i think yesterday's vote was proof of that. so i think we're getting there. i think we will get there eventually because this is a no-brainer in terms of a project. in terms of policy. gregg: right. you know the president continues to insist he has quote, no responsibility for oil prices and thus in turn gasoline prices but here are the stats. i looked them up this morning from the american petroleum institute. leases on federal lands in the west are down 44%. >> right. gregg: permits and new well drilling are down 39% compared to 2007. a 57% drop in monthly deepwater permits over the last three years. alaska drilling could produce 27 billion barrels of oil. it's not. so is the president wrong with a wave of a pen couldn't he make a difference? >> absolutely he could make a huge difference particularly with regard to domestic production right here in the u.s. that would also make a huge difference in terms of jobs. and of course gulf of mexico where i live off the coast is a perfect example. as you mentioned permitting is still way down since before the bp disaster. i mean it is about 40% down compared to before the disaster. that is his administration. those are his bureaucrats. gregg: right. >> he has to take that responsibility and federal lands and other policy are other good examples. gregg: nancy pelosi though says it will not ease prices at the pump. i want to play a couple of sound bites. she did sort of leave the door a little bit open here. i want you to listen to this. then after that bill clinton. >> this oil was never destined for domestic production. so says, so says the prime minister of canada. that doesn't mean it might not be something that is worthy of some consideration for reasons other than domestic consumption. >> the extra cost of running it is infinitesimal compared to the revenues that will be generated over a long period of time. so i think we should embrace it and develop a stakeholde stakeholder-driven system of high standards for doing the work. gregg: senator, when bill clinton speaks, people do listen. do you think that there might be a change of heart within the democratic party the closer we get to the election? >> again, i think we're seeing that movement in progress. i think yesterday's vote was another positive sign of that. we don't have the 60 votes in the senate yet but yes, i think we're getting there, day by day. gregg: why didn't mark kirk and john thune vote -- >> i'm sorry? gregg: why didn't mark kirk, and john thune, republicans, cast a vote. >> mark kirk is recovering from a bad stroke. so he hasn't been there in weeks. gregg: right. >> john thune was not there all day. i honestly don't know what his conflict was but he was not there all day. gregg: yeah. energy secretary steven chu, told "the wall street journal" and i'll quote, this was several years ago, 2009. they we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasolines to levels in europe which at the time was eight or nine dollars. do you think the president and secretary chu truly want the price to go up? >> yes. i think their energy policy from the beginning has been to get the price of gasoline up so that other alternative fuels can be more competitive. and i think that had a very unfortunately, effective policy at pushing that. the president doesn't want to admit that on the eve of a big election but secretary chu laid it out very clearly and he hasn't hidden from it and said it directly as you just quoted. gregg: yeah. the president has also said he has not been given enough time, his administration to study the environmental impact. do you disagree? >> yes. 3 1/2 years is a long time. i know in washington it should take 10 or 20 but 3 1/2 years is a long time. we know the environmental issues and built into the senate bill which i'm a cosponsor of, is a remedy to all of that because we have established a process to redefine the route within the state of nebraska. gregg: right. >> and the governor supports that and the state legislature support that. so we have built that solution into the bill. gregg: yeah. senator david vitter, thank you so much for being with us. >> gregg, thank you very much. gregg: good to see you. martha? martha: there has been a very hot story this weekend. new developments in the controversy over the nypd's surveillance of muslims. what the attorney general is now putting forward in this case. gregg: trouble in the deep south for mitt romney. the former governor calling it a way game. former presidential candidate tim pawlenty and romney supporter with his take coming up next. >> now you have presidential candidates traipsing through al pam. everybody wanting to have a little piece of your ear. i appreciate you coming out and listening to what we have to say because i think what we have to say is really important because alabama, which is the heart of the south, the conservative reddest part of this country that understands what made this country great. your diet. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? 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[ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. gregg: attorney general eric holder weighing in on the nypd's monitoring of muslims across the river in the garden state. these surveillance programs stirring some controversy in that state. america's top law enforcer says he is disturbed by it. muslims at a newark mosque under surveillance say they welcome the attention from the department of justice. >> we are american citizens and we have the rights and privileges and ought to have the same opportunities as anyone else to practice our religion without being, feeling like we're being watched. >> but what i have read publicly, just what i read in the newspapers is disturbing and these are things under review at the justice department. gregg: ray kelley defends his investigation. he said his officers did not break the law and newark press police were aware of the undercover operation. new jersey governor chris christie says his state was not told enough about the monitoring. martha: we are trying to help on the job hunt here at fox news and we're looking into a new service that may really revolutionize the way that people connect with jobs out there. it is a web-based platform and connects job-seekers with employers most likely to hire them. two major u.s. cities have gotten on board with this program and it is believed more could join in. jonathan serrie is on the story and he is in atlanta. good morning, jonathan. >> reporter: good morning, martha. mayors cory booker of new jersey and america seem reed has signed up. it is called tweet my jobs. and connects job-seekers with employers using social media. with a master's degree in human resource management. lauren smith is looking for human resource jobs one tweet at a time. >> i love twitter. i want to use it as a tool to find jobs. you get tweets this job available. >> reporter: she is using tweet my jobs the california based company uses twitter and other social media to combine job openings with employers seeking work. atlanta is the first city to sign up with the service. america seem reed hopes to reduce the city's unemployment rate which was fenn.7% in december. >> there are 180,000 job openings in the metro area. i want people to access them and do it in a convenient format. >> reporter: tweet my jobs has a mobile app. enable the gps on the smartphone and show you locations of job openings around you. >> somebody can go out on saturday afternoon and walk down main street and see who is hiring. kind of replacing help wanted in the window signs. >> reporter: company officials say they're in discussions with more than a dozen other state and local governments as social media become more of a tool for finding jobs. not just play. martha. martha: sounds like a good play. jonathan, thank you very much. gregg: nancy pelosi mocking a bipartisan jobs bill that passed the house this week. a republican lawmaker joins us with his reaction. martha: mitt romney heads down south after his big super tuesday wins but admits he may have a tough time pulling off victories there. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty is here how romney plans to win. >> look, since this president's been president the cost of gasoline has doubled, not exactly what he might have hoped for. and he says, well it is not my fault. by the way we've gone yes we can, so it's not my fault. notice the new campaign slogan, it's not my fault. in fact this is in part his fault. 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[ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. now for 5 days only, get 0% apr on the tempur-pedic that's just right for you. to learn more about this special financing offer, visit tempurpedic.com. don't wait. 5-year special financing ends march 12th. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. martha: here's a live look on the side of your screen in pascagoula, mississippi where mitt romney will make his next appearance. he is a busy man and will be appear moments away. taking a deep dive into the south to ahead of primaries in alabama and mississippi, that will happen on tuesday, four days from today. work is cut out for all these presidential candidates. even presidential candidate himself mitt romney aid mitts that mississippi and alabama will not be easy win for him? >> i realize it is a bit of an away game but i think we'll pick up support in states that remain this month. we obviously had a terrific super tuesday. got a good head start. martha: getting a lot of attention for this praise phrase, this away game. sort of what that means. there are the delegates at stake in mississippi and alabama, 84 all together. joined now by former minnesota governor tim pawlenty who is a mitt romney supporter and speaking on behalf of the campaign and group and former 2012 presidential candidate of course. good morning, governor. great to see you. >> good morning, martha. delighted to be with you. martha: that language got a lot of attention on early morning shows today and driving in listening to them. mitt romney called mississippi and alabama the south in general basically on away game. makes him sound like a northeasterner out of his element down there. is that helpful? >> you know, i won't overly parse any particular phrase. some states are more challenging for certain candidates than others for various reasons. conservative coalition has a lot of difficult piece to it. some pieces are in heavier demand in certain states than others. but bottom line if you look at mitt romney's conservative record, standing for life, standing for traditional marriage that is a record that should appeal in alabama and mississippi and other parts of the country. some candidates have a leg up. newt gingrich is from georgia. it is understandable to think he would have a bit of an advantage from that home region, his home state. those are the kind of things people talk about when they say who has an advantage in a certain region. martha: let's look at another piece of sound. every couple days mitt romney says something that causes everybody to say he doesn't connect well with voters out there. i want to play for you. we'll give it a fair context. >> this is garrett jackson. this guy, this guy is with me every single day. takes me everywhere i go. he was the manager of the ole' miss football team. he is turning me, i don't know, unofficial southerner. i'm learning to say y'all and. i like grits and things are strange things are happening to me. martha: what is your reaction to that, mr. pawlenty. >> martha, he is just having some fun. garrett is the gentleman referring to. travels with mitt every day. they are close friends and having fun and joking around a little bit. if i could push back constructivelily on your premise mitt is not connecting with voters. martha: okay. >> in a recent "gallup poll", recent "gallup poll" he was beating barack obama head-to-head nationally by four points. he has more than triple the number of delegates to the next closest competitor in the race. he has won more states than any other candidate in the race. he is the front-runner. he raised most money. people say things he is like he is not connecting weather voters but if you look at it objectively he is doing very well. martha: in fairness these are totally different experience when you're in the crowd and when you listen to this tape you hear people postively and smiling when he talks about ole' miss and everything. what we're from this distance watching these videos, makes everybody, people cringe, oh that is weird thing to say reality it may be resonating on the ground. i do want to challenge you back on what you said for a moment here. when you look at the breakdown over the course of soup tuesday, and look at counties mitt romney continues to do well in the high population centers. do well with people making over $100,000 and college educated folks. he is not doing well in some rural areas of these states. i was looking at a kim strassel piece in "wall street journal." this morning she pointed out somebody in his group made the comment, those rural voters we'll get them down the road, something to that effect. they're anti-obama. they're not going to vote for him anyway. is the intensity though, the connection, on a broad group of people across these states going to show up and vote for him enthusiastically in november if he gets the nomination, becomes the big question? >> well, martha, a couple of things. one there is a big difference between the entertainer in chief and being president of the united states. so do we want a leader inspiring and get people excited and passionate to follow him or her? yes. but we also want somebody who can not only do that but also thoughtful, responsible, has a record of accomplishment and thinks like cutting taxes cutting spending, standing for marriage, standing for life, growing for jobs. you have to balance the two. if it is just about entertainment and excitement and passion, go get an entertainer or some person involved in the entertainment industry. this is serious business. we're confronting iran on nuclear weapons. we have an economy in the tank. we have people that are hurting. we're not not about nominating the entertainer in chief. we're about nominating someone who can effective president of the united states. by the way mitt is doing very well. he is doing well weather catholic. he has room to grew with groups you mentioned but it is only march. head-to-head with barack obama he is strongest candidate in the field by far compared to rick santorum and newt gingrich. not even close compared to with obama. martha: talk about obamacare around romney-care. rick santorum is really sort of driving the issue he wants to repeal obamacare. he said yesterday in a very passionate sort of plea to voters he said, this isn't easy for me. not easy for me and my family financially. the reason we decided to do this because we feel obamacare is such a reprehensible plan for america. that we are committed to this. the one of the sentments out there that mitt romney has not made that passionate sort of plea to people that they understand how they feel about obamacare. the reason he might not be doing it because he might not want to bring up the question of his health care plan in massachusetts. >> martha, to be fair he says i don't like obamacare. i think it is wrong for the country. he committed to repeal it on day one and repeal all he can through executive action and sponsoring legislation to repeal. he has been all over the proposition of repealing obamacare stronger than any candidate in the field. number two as to rick, he supported an individual mandate as did newt. so this notion that somehow there's a fundamental difference between them on that particular issue isn't accurate. rick, i know is trying to appeal to this connection to people in terms of his background but let's look at his background more fully. he has been in washington, d.c. his entire adult life. he has become a very affluent or successful person in lobbying in relationship with washington, d.c. interests. some how that he is just getting by when you look at his financial disclosures i don't think that is accurate. he made a lot of money, nearly a million dollars and lives in a very nice place. he is not exactly mr. down and out at the moment in terms of his personal finances himself. martha: interesting. governor, you make great points. we love having you on and you're a great spokesperson for mitt romney. so we'll look forward to talking to you in the very near future. meantime have a great weekend in the lovely weather in minnesota. good to see you, sir. >> thanks, martha. appreciate it. gregg: very nice now. this weekend marks one year since the horrifying earthquake and tsunami hit japan leading to a nuclear meltdown. today many people in the hardest hit areas deal with the fact they may never return home. david piper streaming live what was once a picturesque fishing town that became japan's ground zero as the tsunami struck. >> reporter: gregg, it was virtually wiped off the map when a 52-foot tsunami swept through here nearly a year ago. nearly 900 people died here. there is of course the lingering danger coming from the fukushima nuclear plant which was crippled by the tsunami. i went along to see what the situation is around the plant now. this is right at the heart of the exclusion zone, the crippled fukushima nuclear plant is just behind me along the coastline. as we traveled in here today we could see the full force of the earthquake and tsunami which hit this part of the coast. cars were littered right across the landscape and village of a village was abandoned because of radiation fears in this area. there is about a 10 mile exclusion zone around the fukushima plant. but the emergency services are here. they're still searching for the remains of the estimated nearly 4,000 people still unaccounted for. >> translator: we've finally been able to start the search. now we've been able to get in here. we just want to find victims as soon as possible. >> reporter: 49 people from the local town are still unaccounted for just in this area the coastline and hope is fading fast whether they find anymore of these bodies and get them returned to their loved once. there are some sad stories coming out of this region still. that fire chief i spoke to in that report, he lost his wife and four-month old child. he actually rushed to help people when the tsunami hit but he rushed away from his home but his family was killed. back to you, gregg. gregg: david piper, streaming live from japan. david, thank you. martha. martha: well, there's a stunning new report on the showdown with iran. what the pentagon, what leon panetta has now said about this and what israel now says about its timeline. gregg: and a new jobs report just in showing it stayed pretty steady month to month. this as the house as overwhelmingly passed a new plan to get americans back to work. so why is democratic minority leader nancy pelosi, sort of criticizing? >> you have to start somewhere. where we think we need to start is where the jobs come from the small businesses. that is what this bill is about. for nancy pelosi to make the comments she did i like to ask her to make comments to an individual, man or woman who actually benefits from this bill and can start up a new business and by the way, if she would like to go and say those comments to the people who actually get a job because of this bill, you know i think she would get a completely different reaction i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the mos common type of atrial fiillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke ri. other side effects include indigestio stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. martha: here's what is developing right now in "america's newsroom." the president of virginia tech expected to testify today about the 2007 massacre. 32 people were killed that day. two of the victim's families filed a wrongful-death lawsuit claiming that the school didn't act fast enough after the shots first rang out. authorities are trying to i.d. the man who shot seven people at a university of pittsburgh psychiatric clinic yesterday before he was killed. the gunman was not carrying any identification. rescue crews find a woman missing for nearly a month. she was in the new mexico wilderness. margaret page apparently survived on creek water and food she had with her. what a remarkable story that is. gregg: wow, amazing she survived. i wish you could have heard martha singing during the commercial break. she truly has a beautiful voice. you are going to do that? sing a little coke and pepsi? martha: it's possible. gregg: back to our top story, employers adding 22,000 jobs in the month of february coming on the heels of a new job bill passed by the house of representatives. that. bill: getting bipartisan support to help small businesses. illinois congressman aaron shock, joins us deputy republican whip and member of the house ways and means committee. congressman, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, gregg. thanks for having me on. gregg: how does this jump-start up businesses? >> well, there's two big things that are stopping businesses from hiring. number one, certainty in the market. people are unsure about what kind of regulations are going to be out there, what kind of risk they're going to have to take. second, access to capital. after the barney frank, dodd-frank legislation passed it has been harder for businesses to get access to capital. talk to any employer in the country, they say capital formation is very difficult. this bill goes through chapter and verse. goes through capital formation. makes it easy for businesses to get capital by easing regulations on local community banks that do lending. 390 congressman out of 435 voted for the bill. it is common sense and makes sense. gregg: why did nancy pelosi sort of dismiss it? she called it a little package. she didn't think there was much to it. why? >> well, obviously she is trying to get back in the majority. and her view of how to turn the economy around is radically different than ours. we tried the nancy pelosi way. the first two years president obama was in office she peaceally got everything she wanted from the dodd-frank legislation to the health care legislation, to the passage of cap and trade in the house. we know what was next, the card check unionization bill. gregg: right. >> all the things nancy pelosi was doing to turn the economy around the first two years her, you know, was terrible. obviously she disagrees what it takes to create a job. gregg: even the christian science monitor, david grant said this of this new bill. none of these provisions put as shovel in an unemployed construction worker's hand or cuts taxes to allow employers to have more money. isn't that true? >> well, it is true. it is not a construction jobs bill. it is not an infrastructure bill. so i will give them that. the house is working on trying to put together a highway bill. i would mention to you that when the democrats controlled the entire process they advanced no infrastructure bill. the only reason we're talking about any infrastructure for construction workers, any kind of investment in that is because the house is pushing it and trying to put something together that is paid for. it doesn't cut taxes because every tax cut bill we've advanced there have been 30 of them passed house are sitting over in the senate waiting for the senate to take action. so, at some point, you know i'm frustrated like they are in the sense that i would like to do more but we're still dealing with a very democratic-controlled liberal senate and president. gregg: sure. >> and this represents a broad bipartisan support of things that we all agree on that actually can get done this year. gregg: you have three times now said bipartisan and some skeptics will say and have said, that look, this is only passed, and promoted by your party so that you can argue during an election year that we're not a do-nothing congress. that we do in fact pass bipartisan measures. and that's why they say it is very little that the opposition party didn't oppose. what do you say to that? >> well, gregg, i guess you can't win for losing. you do nothing, do-nothing congress, you do something, you're doing something not to be a do-nothing congress. gregg: right. >> i came to congress to try to fix this economy and turn things around. the fact of the matter is that the president has been campaigner-in chief. he attended more political functions than any president entire four years already in first three years. while he is out there campaigning we'll try to get something done. look, you give me a republican president and republican senate we'll get a lot more done next year that can help businesses grow and spur job growth. gregg: fair enough and you gave us a good laugh. aaron shock, thanks for being with us. martha:. >> good to be with you, gregg. martha: everybody knows this. grass prices go up and up and up. a new poll shows this is becoming one of the biggest issues for voters out there. these poll numbers are shocking. why they want the white house and congress to act now. gregg: two rival soft drinks changing way they make soda. martha will be singing about it for a very serious reason. we'll tell you what it is. martha: i remember that gregg: some windy weather causing delays at the building site at ground zero. a spokesman for the builders of one world trade center say they expect it to be completed late next year or early 2014. the 104-story building, skyscraper will be the focal point of the rebuilt complex. ♪ . martha: i don't even know that pepsi song. do you recognize that one? >> i do. martha: coca-cola and pepsi are changing the way they make the soda. hold the phones folks, right? because who doesn't like a nice cold pop once in a while, right? the iconic american company reacting to a california law that requires warning labels now, i kid you not, on drinks that contain a certain level of carcinogens. the soda giant says there is nothing dangerous in their drinks but they are making some changes regardless. they say that consumers will not taste the difference. we'll have to do a taste test to figure that one out. dr. marc siegel, member of fox news medical a-team and associate professor of medicine at nyu langone medical center. doc, tell me i can have my diet coke in the afternoon because i look for wad to it. >> i think you have one coke a day and you'll be fine. this substance which was studied in rats a few years ago. martha: right. >> found 1200 parts per million, 1200 parts her million could possibly cause lung cancer or kid any cancer, liver or thyroid, thyroid cancer. problem is the amount you're getting in soda is only .4 parts per million in a 12 ounce can. you would have to drink 1,000, to 2,000 cans over short period of time before you would every get mere near the amount you call a carcinogen. martha: is there anything that the humans could react differently than lab rats? >> good point. never has been studied in humans. amount is so small that fear is prevailing factor. the center for public interest pushing california and other states to get out of soda. i'm more concerned about sugar. martha: right. >> 39 grams of suggest far in a can of coke. martha: what about diet coke? concerned about artificial sweeteners as well? >> a lot. i'm not concerned about you having a your can in the afternoon. studies never shown that the artificial sweeteners problematic but having a lot of diet coke is problematic. martha: this is what the american beverage association is saying about this. they're saying nothing more than a cspi scare tactic and claims they're making is outrageous. apparently manufacturers are going to change, it is carmel coloring is the factor here. >> exactly. martha: they will refine it, differently but they claim that nobody will be able to taste the difference. >> that may be so but think what it will cost the companies. at a time in economic strife this is the kind of thing that worries me. we target some tiny ingredient say this will kill you. we ignore the sugar when we have obesity epemdem mick. martha: that is the elephant in the room. >> that is the elephant in the room. i'm nor concerned about people getting overweight, getting diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks than i am ever concerned about the microscopic ingredient. martha: one is okay but don't want kids chugging six coax a day. >> i will not tell my child to having a soda to worry about a mouse studied three years ago. martha: you have bigger things to worry about. get a job for the summer. get a job for the summer. worry about the sugar. i want them to move and exercise and not drink coke, but not because of this. >> good toe you as always. gregg: i stick to cream soda and milk. nice mixture. good for you. martha: no great song that goes alongwith cream soda. gregg: we'll sing it, martha. the u.s. breaking a record and it's not a good one. how it impacts our growing debt problem. martha: a new warning about a possible terror attack, this time in cyberspace. we all need to pay a lot of attention to this, folks. who could be the target? >> either on one hand developing new technology for any future conflict. or on the other hand, enabling them to disable our technology in a time of war. 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ martha: the battle for the republican nomination now heeds to kansas is the next stop. the sunflower state holding caucuses tomorrow, and observers are calling rick santorum a favorite there over mitt romney. a lot of stories out there about how the delegate race could get pretty interesting over the next couple of weeks. that's how we start the next hour of "america's newsroom." i'm. >> callermartha maccallum. gregg: i'm gre r-rbgregg garrett. >> we need someone how the there with a record that can contrast this president. we have enough of a president that doesn't tell the truth to the american public. we don't need someone else. martha: no rest for the weary on the campaign trial out there. alicia acuna joins us live in wichita, kansas. >> reporter: rick santorum begins his day in alabama today before heading to kansas for a couple of events here. this is a state that mike huckabee won four years ago and a place where rick santorum by observers is considered to be the socially conservative favorite, in fact santorum is banking on the values voters in tomorrows caucuses here as well as the contests in mississippi and alabama where he spoke yesterday. take a listen. >> i appreciate you coming out and listen to what we have to say, because i think what we have to say is really important, because alabama, which is the heart of the south, the conservative redress report of this country that understands what made this country great. >> reporter: and the caucuses tomorrow, martha actually have 40 delegates up for grabs. the way they are being divied up here, some of thermgiven proportional and some of them are winner take all. martha: that makes it even more confusion. what about governor romney, is he going to spend any time in kansas? >> reporter: no he's not. he has no plans to stop in kansas unless there is a last-minute change of plans. he's putting all of his money into the south and keeping his focus there. however, he does have the back of former senator and 1996 presidential candidate bob doyle, arguably one of the most influential candidates in the state. hropl knee went afteromney went after the president over gas prices. >> he says it's in the my fault. it is his fault. this is a guy that has slowed down as i'm sure you know the licensing, meriting of offshore rigs, onshore drilling. >> reporter: earlier this week newt gingrich actually had several stobs on hi stops on his calendar in kansas. he has changed course and is remaining in mississippi and alabama. there are supporters of newt gingrich that say they feel snubbed. martha: it's interesting to see how they change the strategy as the game moves along. thanks so much. gregg: of next week'mary, romne blaming thedministrationor th rising prices of gas. take a listen. >> middle income families are really struggling in america. high gasoline prices, higher food prices, highers healthcare. he blames all this on republicans and congress. we won't forget that he had a democrat senate and house and super majority for his first two years he could have done anything he wanted to. he's out of ideas, out of excuses, and in 2012 we're going to make sure he's out of office. [cheering] [applause] gregg: and governor romney adds the president should change his re-election slogan from yes, we can, to, it's not my fault. martha: newt gingrich is in mississippi today as we just mentioned, taking some jabs at the president which is what republican candidates do when they are on the campaign trail. he is hoping for another victory in the deep outside. he's putting a lot of focus on a w*eub i bin alabama. >> it's a little bit like riding space mountain at disney, that is the roller coaster in the today, you don't know where you've been, where you're going or where you are, but it sure is exciting. and i believe with your help next tuesday, when we win here and we win in alabama we'll be back up again, and i think that is very important for a couple of reasons. we need a candidate who is capable of debating obama in october and winning decisively the debates. [applause] martha: one of newt gingrich's strongest points is the issue of whether or not he could be the guy who could go to the debates. it's garnered a lot of support for him, mississippi and alabama both hold their primaries on tuesday. and tomorrow we will have complete coverage of the race in kansas. gregg: the united states and afghanistan governments reaching a deal about transferring prisoners. conor powell is live streaming from kabul, afghanistan. connor how many prisoners will be transferred. >> reporter: over the course ever next six months or so 3,000 or so afghan-taliban detainees will be transferred from u.s. custody into afghan custody in addition to the par 1 detainee facility that will be transferred from u.s. hands to afghan hands. the afghan government has long demanded that the u.s. hand overall taliban detainees. the military never was against it but there were two big issues that held up the agreement in the past. the first is they wanted to make sure that the afghan government was prepared to handle the detainees, that they were trained and capable and had the facilities. the second one revolved around the transfer of the detainees and when would he this be released. the u.s. military feared that the detainees would be peupbgd and the afghans would simply release them. this allows general john allen to veto any release of detainees unless both the afghans and and u.s. agree on it. gregg: does this open the way to a long term strategic agreement? >> reporter: this issue ace one of the two issues holding up the long-term agreement. the next issue they have to deal with is the issue of night raids. the afghan government wants night raids to end, the u.s. military says it's a val valuable tool against insurgents in the country. dip plea matter in the military say they are talking and working on this. and over the course of the next few months they hope to have a final agreement hoping the way to a very long term agreement with the united states. gregg: thank you very much, connor. martha: there are overwhelming calls really now for action to ease the pain that americans are feeling at the gas pump. prices soared nearly 30-cents in just one month according to aaa, the national average price is up to $3.76 a gallon. that's a lot when you go from empty to filling up your tank over the weekend. 85% of consumers think that the president and congress have to take some action to deal with this issue now. nobody is better to talk to about gas prices and oil than eric bolling, cohost of the 5 on the fox news channel. what do you make of that sentiment. >> reporter: it's a hundred percent right. 77% gasoline was extremely important in their decision on who to vote for. assume this is a gallon of gasoline, it's actually two and a half gallons. assume this is a gallon of gasoline, what makes up the gallon, $2.55 of that $376 national afternoon that you showed, $2.55 is crude oil. refining and marketing about 40-cents. transportation 15-cents, federal tax 18.5 centss. state and local kabgs 35-cents. mom and pop business around america, this is what their profit is, they make 10-cents a gallon. meanwhile we are shipping $2.55 to oil companies with a majority of that money finding its way into middle eastern saudis, iraqis, iranian oil sheiks into their bank accounts. our poor old little mom and pop on the corner, 10-cents a gallon. what we need to do is shift some of that money back to america. it kaupbts for almost a quarter of a trillion dollars a year. that should be american money, going to the american economy not over sea -ts. martha oversees. martha: a fascinating break down of where it goes. bee have another poll that takes a look at how people feel about the money in their own pocket going to gasoline and what would force them to make a lifestyle change. 14% say under $4 they would make major live changes. if it goes to the 4 to 5 range 28%. 30% they would have to change their day if it were to go that high. >> reporter: it's changing people's habits right now. they'll put a gallon or two in hopefully get to work, hopefully get back. this doesn't have to be $3.75. it could be two bucks o or 2.50. martha: at this rate we could be in this sort of sticker shock mode at the end of the year. back in 2008 the worst year for gas prices really in recent memory you could see where the prices were. we started off the year at just over $3 a gallon, 3.04 in january. by july when we come out to do the summer period here it was up to 4.05. then it went up to 4.11. the monthly average was 4.06. look at the gap we are already at here. in january we started at 3.38. and now we are at 3.75. you can easily see the picture where we end up with $5 gas. this is a story clearly on many people's minds and not going away. gregg: so far the plan calls for nothing but sip pleamatic action against iran but the secretary of defense may be suggesting a very different plan entirely. so is the obama administration sending some mixed messages? martha: a new record for the federal government, but it's not the badge of honor that uncle sam wants to see. wait until you see how much red ink, it is a record month for debt. gregg: plus republicans, less than pleased after house minority leader nancy pelosi mocks a bipartisan jobs bill, a fair & balanced debate straight ahead. >> it's so meager. trumpet [singing] stph-plt here comes the little king. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. gee the white house is saying that it really does not want to play politics with the keystone pipeline project since the route has yet to be proposed. that is their take on this so far. the senate blocked a bill that would have advanced this whole question of the keystone pipeline yesterday. the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell was very unhappy with how the president was handling on the floor yesterday. >> it's hard to even com comprehend how completely out of toeuftoeufp is on this itouch i is on this issue. think about it, when millions of out of work, gas is skyrocketing and the middle east is in tur mail we have a president who is up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home. it's really almost unbelievable. martha: he's referring to the fact that the president -- jay carney being acknowledged that the president made phone calls to try to pull people to his side on this vote yesterday. i'm joined now by salee kohen a community activist and a contribute fox news contributor and ford o'connell the chairman much the foreign pack. you heard mitch mcconnell on the floor. there were several democrats who voted in favor of moving forward with this. and the american momentum appears on the side of going ahead. is the president doing something that is politically ineffectual for him? >> you know, where i agree with the president it's important in these kind of deals to not make a bad deal for the country for the sake of scoring political points on either side of the aisle. i think what the american people need to do is step back, take the politics out of it, and look at the fact that we should all be concerned if our justified anxiety about gas prices is used -- is manipulated by this canadian company to ram a deal down our country's throat, to threaten our sovereignty, and incidentally, you know, we should talk about the important facts of this thing, but drive up oil prices and gas prices which is what it would do and just ship the oil overseas any way. we should be looking at this very, very skeptic lee. martha: you have a skeptic khaeub being his head on the other side of the screen. >> sally i wouldn't disagree with you more. there are two ways to lower the gas price. the first is to reduce domestic supply and reduce capacity. under president bush 73 of oil leases were approved with lag time of 71 days. basically 34% of new oil leases were approved with a lag time of 109 by president obama. he is not doing everything he can to increase domestic oil supply jo as part of this bill yesterday, the part that is not getting talked about quite so much was that they also defeated expanding offshore drilling as part of this as well. sally, the question becomes the president has said ti time and time again he's for an all and above energy policy. he's for expanding green skwr-rg programs like so linda, there are somsolyndra, but why not be awful the above if that's what you say you want to be. >> let's be here. domestic oil proceed tucks is at the highest rate in the last decade. look, a couple of really important facts -fpblt we don't want to mince words. we want to have a talk about domestic production, let's have a conversation about that. that is not what the keystone deal is about. first of all the oil would be exported. i'm not saying this the company behind this deal, transcanada, this oil would be going to china and europe not to the united states. >> the world market sets the price for oil, sally. >> number two it will have no effect on gas prices. the pipeline will take a longtime to create. three, they've continually lied about the jobs it will create, and they've grain, transcanada said in their own documents by creating the pipeline they would deplete oil reserves in the midwest which would actually drive up the price of oil for people in the midwest. >> the president is not doing everything he can do, i'm sorry he's not. >> ford you want to have that conversation about every drilling project let's have it. this is a bad deal for america. martha. >> i want to talk about oil production. martha: that's all we'reee talk being about this deal. >> this goes to oil supply and production. president obama is hurting himself at the pump and is going to wind up losing re-election if pric gas prices stay around 4 khrorz. martha: it has become a symbolic deal, many can argue the underlying merits of it as well. it has become a symbolic look at what the president is rig to do to increase production and bring those jobs. the lowest estimate is a few thousand jobs and you look at the number of jobs we are creating right now, a lot of people scratch their head and say, why wouldn't you want to do that. >> 227,000 jobs created last month. martha: we've got enough then, all right. >> i'm just saying the american -- i don't think the american people want to see gas prices go up to create a couple of thousand jobs. martha: sally, ford, thank you. great points on both of your parts. you guys are good debaters. gregg: talk amongst yourselves. keep it going. a speeding suv slamming into the side of the house, then it drives off. what it didn't hit makes this a miracle with a happy ending. martha: is america destined for a full-scale terror attack in skypeer space? that is a according to a federal official. this is an issue we need to pay attention to. this is what we may wake up to one morning, and it's significant. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? martha: developments in this growing debate over american indian mascots. oregon is joining this fight considering a ban on all american-related mascots. nicknames and logos in schools. this as the debate rages over the university of north a dakota's futuring souix nicknames and the portrait of an american what are or. gregg: america destined for a siper attack in space that is what robert mull eris being told. >> certainly long term threat is by nation states finding new and general just way to exfill straight information that will give them a jump ahead in terms of developing new technology for any future conflict or on the other hand enabling them to disable our technology in a time of war. gregg: michael balboni former homeland security advisers for new york state. good to see you. what is especially dangerous about this is it can be done die terrorists remotely and anonymously. >> what's what makes it so dangerous. when you take a look at the explosion of the social media, on facebook and twitter, taking those folks and corralling them in an effort to take down our operating systems poses a real threat. gregg: can they actually do things on the computer that translates into physical harm. >> so much of our world is controlled remotely. when you use a supervisory data access control, you have the ability to go into the internet and take over the options. it's always been theoretical as to whether we can do this. we have smart grids, smart homes. gregg: what could happen, fires? >> you could turn off systems that help you monitor the level of a cool and the in an operating system. you can take a -- the amount of electricity that goes into a grid and take off the weight it to say no it's too much shut things down. remember 2003 with the grid going south. gregg: you could close down society and kill people. >> you could take off the operating system. what has really concerned security professionals for over a decade is when you combine a cyber attack with a physical attack. gregg: how do we solve it? >> we need to engage in this. we've been behind the 8 ball on this. gregg: china is better. >> they really committed national resources to this. the f.b.i. is making a major major focus. this is about everybody and their own computers as well as our businesses. we all need to have awaress. gregg: see something, say something. >> exactly, correct. gregg: good to see you. martha. martha: a news flash for the feds spending more money than they this again, this time they set a record for the highest monthly deficit ever. is that something you want to jump up and down about? president reagan's mechanic adviser joins us on the tkpwroeug debt crisis. gregg: they are cute and cuddly for only a couple of weeks. the little tv stars are going to be joining us live, they are going to be sitting on martha's lap, not mine. looking good! you lost some weight. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. 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[whispering] big dreams. gregg: a record-setting month nor red ink in washington, the highest ever monthly deficit. look at that in the month of february. the feds spent 229 billion more. we are joined by an economic adviser and author of the famed "laugher curve." arthur thank you for being with us. >> it's my pleasure. i just want to ask you, which is more dangerous, live bears in your studio or flights out of nashville. gregg: you tell me. martha: i'm not sure. gregg: we have to cut spending. martha: big number, yes. gregg: you've been an advocate of cutting taxes, you endorse newt gingrich and his tax plan that would give people the option of the current system or a platte tax of 15% on the marginal federal income tax rates. i looked at the tax policy institute analysis of this thing. i have a copy of it right here. they say it would favor the rich and cost 1.3 trillion in the first year alone adding to the deficit. >> i think both of those are wrong, to be honest with you. number one the only reason for changing tax codes is to change people's behavior. we need growth. and you can't balance the budgets on the backs of the unemployed and poor. you need to create prosperity. by having a low rate flat tax, one of which was newt gingrich's. as you fannie mae i wrote jerry brown's flat tax in 1992, the 13% one. all of those would create huge posterity which is the only way we will get control of spending or revenue. gregg: it's true that they stimulate jobs and economic growth but i've read a bunch of economic papers that say, well one-third to two-thirds but they don't fullee pay for themselves. >> some of them may not, that is for sure. i any think ever study on captain gains shows shows that reductions do pay for themselves. i think every study shows cutting the highest tax rates pay for themselves many hold whether it be under reagan, under kennedy, harding and cool lidge and it works just the opposite way. you have to be correct on how you do your taxes. a broad-based tax reform like some of these won't pay for themselves. but is that really what we want, is just something that pays for itself in or would you like to have something that creates jobs, output, employment, prosperity? i think this focus on revenues by itself is a mistake. you've got to look at the whole picture of what it does for the country. gregg: then let's talk about tax cuts. actually newt gingrich inch courses the draconian senate cuts that were outlined in ryan's budget do you remember that. didn't he in a moment of clarity and honestly call it right wing engineering? >> probably. i don't know if he did or not. gregg: he did and he had to apologize for the. >> he probably did. the ryan budget cuts are really good. they are the only way we'll get to it. you've got to remember milton freidman's old phrase, government spend p-g is taxation. the government doesn't have a tooth fairy working on its staff. it doesn't create resources, it redistributes sources. if they sake and give resources to people based on some characteristic other than work effort they come from someone else. they've got to stop that, that is what is causing the awful, awful economy and terrible deficits. it's not the lack of revenues. gregg: as an economists if the president is reelected what do you envision for the economy over the next four years? >> we've got a real problem on january 1st 2013, which is very, very serious. you've got the payroll tax cut expiring. you have the bush era tax cut. you have estate tax going up to 55%. payroll tax, income tax going up. gregg: what are you talking about a double-dip recession? i'm talking about something that is very serious like a double-dip recession f. you know they are going to raise taxes next year, what do you do this year? gregg: you fire people. >> yeah you fire people by next year but you take all the income you can in this year. it makes 2012 look better than it should and shepb you fall off the cliff. it's really dangerous. gregg: we could spend hours with you and i wish we would some day soon. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you i'm going to watch those bears. martha: a massive construction project creating hundreds of jobs in one city. you may not even know that it's happening because it is deep beneath the streets. rick is deep beneath the city. >> reporter: these are urban minors. when you think about construction labors, at a house or building being build, these h-r sand hogs. these guys often go hundreds of feet below the surface of new york city to build the steam tunnels, the water and sewer pipes and the train tunnels for the east side access project which happens to be the largest transportation project in the united states. we went below ground with the sand hogs this week and met one of them, mike warfield and asked him how he measures progress when he's dealing with bedrock day after day. >> knock it off a chunk of a time. you take a look at the scope of the job, the shear sides of it, you try and make sure that that of that changes before you go home at the end of the day. >> reporter: one chunk at a time. and they are going to be doing a lot of chunks, martha. six more years until this project is complete. martha: what was it like down there under the streets of our city, rick? >> reporter: it was very cool. it was also cold, and dark, and wet, noisy. a lot of heavy equipment down there. they are blasting with dynamite pretty much every single day an moving these machines around below the ground to clear out the rock and sand and mud and bring it up to the sur stpas obviouslsurface, very tough work, but mike says there is nothing else he'd rants doing. >> we are moving a lot of rock, doing a lot of drilling and blasting, you just try your best to make it as safe as possible. so far it's been relatively good. >> reporter: would you recommend it as a career to someone? >> not my daughters. >> reporter: not his daughters, not his daughters, starting pay, martha $45 an hour, not bad work if you can get it. martha: sounds like a nice man. gregg: so amazing. tens of thousands of tons of trash threatening hawaii and our west coast right now, a massive amount of debris from japan's tsunami making its way across the pacific. adam housley is track its path in marina del rey, california, one of my favorite places. hey, adam. >> reporter: it's hard to believe it's been a year since that earthquake and tsunami ravaged japan. a year later tons of trash is literally floating across the pacific headed our way and it gives scientists a chance to follow the trash and see how it affects our ocean. as the tsunami surged ashore in japan one year ago it washed back up to sea up to 25 million tons of debris, including homes, cars, planes and boats. scientists say one to two million tons could still be out there, and computer models show a debris field more than 2,000 miles moving towards hawaii and the western united states. >> the tsunami today pwraoerbgs the field of trash going across the ocean, it's as horrible of a tragedy as it is it's a unique toupbt for some good science. how much trash is out there, how much is left. >> reporter: dr. marcus erickson is leading a group that will sale 7,000 miles from the marshall islands to japan and then back east and examine the nam's impact on marine life, the biggest worry plastic. >> you'll see a lot of broken up pieces of every day live. plastic forks and spoons and plates and styrofoam cups, all these things that are all part of an every day life. >> reporter: that possible plastic waste adds to the pollution already in the ocean's garbage patches. >> some of these pollutants can transfer from the plastic into the body and tissues of the fish that eat that plastic. they mistake it for something to eat. that becomes a health concern. >> reporter: it has already left from southern california. it is in hawaii. they leave in may for the marshall islands. for the whole tour they'll send pictures and video. we'll keep you updated as they head across the pacific and monitor all the trash. gregg: adam housley, marina del rey. thank you very much. martha: diplomacy has always been plan a with dealing with iran. the administration says it's already working on plan b. you might be surprised by what it is. gregg: and a two-year-old deemed a safety hazard on a flight? what happened there? what is thishorty? uh, tissues si i'm sick. you don't cough, you d't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! 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[singing] gregg: i can't remember which margarine. democrats say it's a modest bill that already passed the house by a wide margin. martha: a brand-new report out today that says that the u.s. in fact preparing potential military plans for iran. defense secretary leon panetta says that washington believes that a nuclear iran would mean trouble for the united states. he says, quote, i think they are serious about the threat that they view from iran, and its impact on israel. i think they also understand that we view iran as a threat to our security as well. meanwhile here is white house press secretary jay carney when asked about this. >> i think we've been sepbgs tphabeen exceptionally clear about what our policy is. we know there is the time and space to continue to pursue the diplomatic objection. martha: he talks a lot more about continuing to pursue the diplomatic option. we are please towed have james spider marks who served as a senior intelligence officer in iraq. welcome. good to have you here. >> thanks, martha. martha: i just looked over some of what you said on this matter. basically you believe that if israel does decide to strike as her ally we will absolutely also become involved then as well. >> oh, we will, certainly military. i think israel has probably already requested some assistance with refueling, and maybe even some additional bunker busting capabilities. they have the ability to go off some deeply buried targets where the nuclear facilities are housed in iran. the ability to get down deep and have devastation and penetrate as deeply as possible, we have that capability and i think they've asked for that as well. martha: let's imagine for a moment, a lot of tphoebgs don't want tfolks don't want to imagine this. that the clock is ticking and this stuff is purchase read so far underground that we had to strike. what would be the ramifications and response from iran, we would become a target as well i assume. >> we would. i think it's on two levels, immediately you'd probably see as attacks around the globe schools, embassies. the united states is a hard target. tough to penetrate in there. they have the ability we should assume. iran has surface to surface missiles. primarily at israel. israel has a strong air defense capability so they could probably handle that. then we get into an escalation that is difficult to control and measure. martha: the president, you know, has said that he believes that there is still some time and space as jay carney says for discussion on this matter. charles krauthammer wrote about this yesterday an basically said, why doesn't the t-t give iran a deadline to allow us to come in there and inspect in a meaningful way. he said he gave deadlines for afghanistan, deadlines for iraq, the president did, why would we not give this enemy of ours a true deadline after which we would say, you know, all b, terbgs s are off? >> i'm not a political adviser but it's an election year. that's probably the primary issue that kind of runs across all of this. clearly there needs to be a deadline. the challenge that we have is we don't know where iran is inside those facilities, in terms of centrifuge production, highly enriched, low enriched you're rain yan, to highly enriched ooh rain yan, how is that progressing. we have to assume the worst. iran has tremendous natural gas as well as oil. why do they need peaceful nuke capability. we have to assume this development is for military purposes. martha: always good to see you. thank you. gregg: a family is outraged after getting kicked off a fig fight. wait until you hear the captain told the couple and their little girl they had to go. meet the little black bears. i think martha should handle this segment not me. martha: i think so too. well, online dating services can get kind of expensive. so to save money, i've found a new way to get my profile out there. check me out. everybody says i've got a friendly disposition and they love my spinach dip. five foot ten... still doing a little exploring. but... my sign is sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. getting a weave. there's an easier way to save. who wants some ronald tonight!? who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more. martha: a dream vacation turned into a nightmare for one family. a couple from whode island through a tantrum and they were thrown off the jetblue flight. the family was forced to rebook and it cost them $2,000 they are saying. they say the flight had customers that did not comply with crew member instructions for a prolonged period of time. that is not a happy story. gregg: just seven weeks old, maybe five pounds, already growing teeth and claws like meat slicers, and i'm talking softly here. i don't want to be in trouble here. they are about the cutist guests, as far as of an exciting new series debuting this sunday on natgeo wild with our good friend casey anderson. thanks for being with us. boy, those are beautiful. >> aren't they so cute and tiny. gregg: how quickly do they grow and how big do they get. >> these little girls could be 400 pounds when they are full grown. >> in a year they could be a hundred pounds. and they eat a lot to get to that size. you want to hold one. martha: sure. it says if we hold underneath they feel safe and secure and the claws don't get out. >> when they get afraid they want to climb. they are extent tree climbers. this little girl is trying to climb the tree. gregg: she is shaking a little bit. martha: how many weeks are they. >> 7 weeks old. whether they are born they are half the size. in my series i get to teach one of these cubs all the things they need to know the first year. gregg: like what? >> how to walk, swim, how to raid a beehive. martha: have you to teach them what their mother would teach them. >> mom teaches them everything. i got to be mom and teach a little black bear cub all its skills. gregg: i heard that. they are very teachable, right. >> super, super intelligent. bears are one of the most intelligent animals we have in north america. gregg: amazing. martha: what else are we going to see on the show, casey. >> it's a trek across north america, everywhere from the bottom of the grand canyon to the arctic, polar bears, wo wolverines. i track down a mountain lion. wolverines, and an malthat is hardly ever filmed. we go out there and film them. gregg: they look so cute now. but that changes quickly. >> they are pretty peaceful animals. if we do the right things we can coexist with them. they do get in trouble once in a while, they like to eat. martha: this is quite lovely, we all are just being very quiet and nice around these guilt gals. thank you so much casey, we love it when you come by and so do all our folks at home. listen to that. gregg: check it out for yourself, america the wild with casey anderson appearing sunday, march the 11th. i'm going to be question quiet here. only on natgeo wild. do not miss it. 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