Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom 20120316

those pictures are amazing more than 100 homes damaged there. 200 with no place to left. many in dexter, mesh gash -- michigan, are in shelters. bill: you see the damage, stunning to know no win because killed. the survivors say they are lucky to be alive. >> a couple windows here knocked out >> kept swirling. didn't look like it was moving. >> we shut the door and prayed and held hands. we called husbands telling them not to come home. >> i looked out my patio door and have finished basement. saw the swing set go by. i took the kids and ran. we went into the storage room. covered them up. it was trike a train. like what you hear. >> what you see on television. unrile. i can't believe this is happening. >> i called him, you better come home from work. bill: mike tobin leading coverage. it is early for tornados especially in that part of the country. good morning. >> reporter: in this part of the country it is early to have all the warm weather. you see people walking around in shirt sleeves in warm weather but there is downside. the cold air rolled in. that is what happens when you get the cold air and warm air colliding. it whips up tornados. winds now estimated at 135 miles per hour. that tornado spent about a half hour on the ground and cut a path of destruction about 10 miles long. more than 100 homes were damaged. at least 13 homes were taken right down to the ground. that wasn't the only tornado in southeast michigan. monroe county, another small tornado on the ground. that was three to five miles. winds estimated 70 to 90 miles per hour. another small tornado columbiaville. similar path of destruction, bill. bill: did they have much after warning, mike? >> they never do. witnesses on the ground heard sirens for a couple of moments. they had an opportunity to seek shelter. again you get the stories of people seeking shelter, emerging to find their home is okay. look across the street and see everything has been wrecked. bill: that part of the country a lot of homes have basements. that is where you want to go if you can. not get in the bathtub. stunning to see how people survived. mike tobin in chicago. 80 degrees in chicago. freaky, freaky weather. >> it is early for tornados. we want to see images from the tornados or aftermath. you have pictures e-mail them to us at the address on your screen. it is ureport at foxnews.com. anytime we'll put them on tv. stay safe when you're getting those images. bill: fox news alert right now. this is happening in rochester, new york. a gunman spotted on campus at the rochester institute of technology. this is upstate new york. the school has been put on a schoolwide alert. this is what it says on its website. shelter in place and stay indoors. person allegedly with rifle spotted outside kate gleason residence hall. that is on the website. this is what it reads. a person with a gun reported on campus an hour ago. students ordered to stay indoors. are investigating this report that someone with a rifle was on campus. they're trying to figure out the truth in it, where this person is. so we have an affiliate, wroc, currently en route to the campus. when we get the live picture up and a reporter on scene we'll bring you the latest information from the campus. rochester, new york, in moments. arthel: we have breaking news out of afghanistan this morning. president hamid karzai, he is lashing out accusing the u.s. of failing to fully cooperate in the investigation of last week's shooting rampage. conner powell streaming live from kabul, afghanistan. conner, tell us exactly what president --. >> reporter: president karzai said he is at the end of his rope with the american investigators running this investigation. that is searching for answers why a u.s. soldier shot and killed 16 civilians on sunday. now president karzai did not say specifically when he is is so frustrated with investigators. but talking to afghan officials involved in the investigation, there is huge gap what after fwans think happened and what americans say happened. american officials say it was one shooter involved and responsible for all 16 deaths down in kandahar. afghans believe there were multiple shooters. all the evidence u.s. presented to afghan investigators so far supported the theory it was just one shooter. afghans are not buying it. president karzai is angry. he wants to see evidence that sport supports multiple shooter theory but evidence only says there is one shooter. arthel: everybody wants to know how it impacts that? >> reporter: well, long term negotiators are talking about an agreement to keep troops here post--2014 but american and u.s. and afghan officials see have, he, very different ideas what that agreement might look like going forward. american officials say there are still negotiations ongoing but what we aren't hearing any progress is being made on that agreement. arthel: conner powell, thank you very much. meanwhile we are hearing that the shooting suspect chosen a notable seattle attorney to defend him. john henry brown says the accused soldier saw his friend's leg blown off the day before the massacre. >> somebody was greatly injured the day before the alleged incident. greatly injured. which, affected all of the soldiers. he was told he was not going to be redeployed. the family was counting on him not being redeployed. so he and the family were told that his tours in the middle east were over and then literally overnight that changed. arthel: you may remember most recently brown represented colton harris. moore, also the barefoot band did and serial killer ted bundy. bill: there was rumor of alcohol involved. and lawyer kicked that rumor aside. not the first time karzai lashed out. karzai threatened to invade pakistan, three years ago, 2009. he warned nato not to become an occupying force. this month occupy had harsh words for the u.s. saying he was quote, at the end of the rope. arthel: we're looking at the ongoing carnage in syria i can't. activists say they have video showing syrian forces attacking people's homes. >> "allahu akbar!". "allahu akbar!". shouting] [gunfire] arthel: you notice that massive ex-explosion and gunfire erupting. streets empty of anything but smoke and screaming. the united nations says that syria's year-long crackdown has killed 8,000 people. countries have called for president assad to step down but leery sending their own troops to help the opposition there. there are reports that the iranians are assisting assad. what if anything should the u.s. do? we ask arizona senator and decorated war veteran john mccain a little later in the show. bill: we'll have that for you in a couple of minutes. nine past the hour. paul ryan taking the case of the budget to. house budget committee chairman paul ryan says congress has responsibility to prevent another melt down we had in 2008. >> that crisis caught us by surprise. let me ask you a question, what if your president, your senator, your congressman knew it was coming? what if he knew when it was going to happen, why it was going to happen and more importantly if they knew what they needed to do to stop it from happening and they had the time to stop it but they chose to do nothing about it because it wasn't good politics? what would you think of that person? it would be immoral. this coming debt crisis is the most predictable crisis we have ever had in this country. bill: and it goes from there. ryan says his budget ideas will first that problem. meanwhile the debt just piles on. today 15 1/2 trillion. democrats taking issue with congressman ryan's plan the following way saying he ends medicare. quote, there is no amount of taxpayer-funded self-promotion that congressman ryan can do to defend these wrong priorities and convince the american people that seniors should be the first to sacrifice while the ultrawealthy are the last. paul ryan, seniors should not have to clean up your mess, end quote. we expect the budget to be unveiled next week and there will be plenty of debate on this over the weekend, on the talk shows and certainly on all the cable programs. next week. arthel: much cross fire. bill: have it out. see where it goes. cross fire of a different generation. arthel: of a different generation. bill: a lot more coming up in a moment on "america's newsroom.". gas prices are spiking. president obama is pushing a new energy policy while slamming critics calling them members of the flat earth society. what does christopher columbus think of that? arthel: we'll find out not necessarily from mr. columbus but a panel. 20 million americans may be at risk of losing their health care coverage. new concerns over president obama's overhaul. bill: mitt romney says he can clinch the nomination but what about a running mate. what he says about a possible short list. did you hear this. >> three names keep coming up for vice president if you get the nomination. senator marco rubio, florida. governor bob mcdonnell, governor of virginia and senator portman of ohio. are they on your short list, all three? that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com. and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend back for lunch from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. for making your financial life a little bit easier. ♪ [ male announcer ] the dodge journey was made to explore the real world. it has under-seat storage to bring everything, available seating for up to seven people to take everyone, and the grip of available all-wheel drive to go everywhere. think of it as a search engine helping you brows the real world. this marcht no extra charge third-row seating plus 0% financing on dodge journey. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spotn the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. arthel: americans are spending more for the things they buy. a sharp jump in gas prices driving the consumer price index up last month, about a half percent. that is the largest increase in ten months. the good news the food prices stayed the same. inflation reported to be mild allowing the fed to maintain its low interest rate policy. bill: speaking of money, as the nation struggles with skyrocketing gas prices president obama defending his own energy policy, making it about the fourth speech in about a week and taking shot at republican candidates. did you hear this? >> here's the sad thing. lately we heard a lot of professional politicians, a lot of folks who are, you know, running for a ceain office [laughter] who shall go unnamed, they have been talking down new sources of energy. if some of these folks were around when columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the flat earth society. they would not have believed that the world was round. [applause] bill: mary katharine ham of "the daily caller", doug schoen former pollster for president clinton ton, both fox news contributors. back with us. how are you two doing? fine, bill. bill: we tried to get columbus and galileo, but they weren't available. >> if we could run the whole country on sarcasm we would be good to go. here's the thing. president obama spent a lot of time on the trail doing exactly what he accusing others now. both economy and gas prices are complex indexes. nonetheless they are blamed or, the folks in charge get credit for them and that is just the way politics works. i also say within the speech he has been dinged twice in two days by "the washington post" fact checker getting facts wrong. one about oil reserves and using fake internet quote attributed to rutherford b. hayes. he is all over the place. bill: the hayes museum back in fremont, ohio, they were none too happy. >> there will be an attacked a about that. bill: doug, you think he sound a by the defense sieve on this front. how come? >> oh, absolutely. bill, with the polling evidence showing he is being hurt by rising gas prices, with him having blocked at least temporarily the keystone pipeline, with him being attacked on the campaign trail for not doing enough drilling, the president is on the defensive around the reason he is attacking the republicans in the way that joe biden did yesterday for allegedly bankrupting the middle class he knows if he doesn't attack them for being on the side of oil companies, not supporting alternative energy, he is going to take the full brunt of the blame and that could be devastating in ohio, florida and across the country. bill: very true. mary katherine, ask the query by doug. when you look at "abc news/washington post poll" where 65% of the americans think policies are wrong and there is blame for the white house here. you know the strategy. the question is whether the strategy can work? >> that is a very big open question. the president is a very good talker but this doesn't go alongwith his brand we're all together, there is no red states, there are no blue states. this is very sharp tone. this doesn't affect people feeling at the pump. when they say you're giving millions and millions of dollars to green energy companies are noticeably failing over and over again yet he turns out actively lobbies against something like keys stone which many americans seems like a no-brainer, why you not only see 65% disapproving but up to 50% strongly disapproving what he is doing on gas price. there is reason for that. people get the feeling he is not interested in prices coming down. bill: the pain at the pump, doug, translates as you would say, pain at the polls. >> that is exactly right. bill: what mk refers to there it is happening. >> yes, exactly right. the president's poll numbers have jumped around a lot, bill, recently. as low as 41% in some polls on approval. bottom line, the white house fears and i think correctly that if pain at the pump turns into pain at the polls the president isn't going to have a way out of it. so he has got to blame the other side. attack, deflect and the real fear he has got if the conflict with iran and middle east heats up and the straits of hormuz are closed or more active threats to close it become more apparent, gas prices could spike even more, causing him more pain in the polls. bill: that is a fair point. we'll talk about $6 a gallon gasoline. let's not go there. good news is what? >> good news, liberals like columbus. a bunch of teachers lesson plans changing. bill: 1492. have a great weekend. arthel: coming up next, north korea is defying the world after making a promise to the international community. new concerns about that rogue regime coming up. bill: also the justice department blocking a new law in texmelucan sass requiring voters to show a voter i.d. when they cast a ballot. what does texas governor rick perry say about that? you will hear him talk about that when he joins us. >> 18. all the good? brad needs car insurance, but, uh, brad doesn't want to spend too much. who's brad? this is brad. ahh! well, progressive has lots of discounts for a guy like brad. brad's intrigued. paid in full, safe driver, multi-car, goinpaperless -- all can help brad save a bunch. sign brad up. cool! jamie will ring you up. show brad the way. who's brad? oh, here we go again. discounts that everyone can use. now, that's progressive. call or click today. bill: about 23 minutes past the hour. new on this morning, election 2012, mitt romney was asked if he wins the nomination, what about a potential running mate? what has he been considering? sean hannity had a crack at that last night. listen. >> there are three names that keep coming up for vice president if you get the nomination, senator marco rubio, florida, bob mcdonnell, governor of virginia, and senator portman, ohio. all superb people. >> and much longer list of remarkable republicans than that as you know. we have fabulous team. >> would the three be on your short list, all three? >> i haven't thought about a long list or short list at this point. i have to win the nomination before i think about this. bill: you could play that parlor game for months and media will whether candidates like it or not. illinois votes on tuesday. we'll see romney there on today and puerto rico on sunday. arthel: rolling right along. there is a shocker from north korea, sparking fears around the world. the regime backtracking on previous promises saying it plans to launch a long range rocket. doug mckelway live in washington. doug, it was just a couple weeks ago that the state department was praising the new restraint by north korea not to launch missiles. now this. >> reporter: that's true, arthel. february 29th in testimony during a state department budget hearing that secretary of state hillary clinton opened her remarks that word north korea agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches and nuclear testing. at the time the secretary of state hoped the new leadership of north korea was moving to a path of peace by living up to its obligations. >> north korea has agreed to implement a moratorium on loaning range missile launches. today's announcement is a modest first step in the right direction. >> reporter: overnight statement from state department spokesman, using strong diplomatic language to describe north korea's apparent about-face quote. the announcement north korea plans to announce a missile launch is a highly provocative. the missile launch. north korea says will take place between the 12th and 16th. three years after similar launch drew condemnation from the u.s., and south korea. arthel: that has to be frustrating to south korea and japan. what do they say about? >> reporter: the japanese for minute stiner is -- foreign minister says it violation of. he is urging north korea to sus spend the launch saying it will harm peace and stability. allegedly of a earth observation satellite is reality a disguised way of testing military missiles. the fear this is a means eventually for north korea to launch a long range ballistic nuclear weapon, arthel. >> seals like when ice are not on north korea ors attention they act out. bill: sometimes you're right about that. especially after the last regime came and went. are conservationists taking aim at hunting community? more than 100 groups asking epa to ban a certain type of ammunition. we'll tell what you is going on with that. arthel: he said if you like your health care coverage you can keep it. now new word, 20 million americans may lose their coverage. we'll talk about that. 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[ male announcer ] be a winner with the all-new prius c from toyota. ♪ bill: want to take you back to this fox news alert. we had a report 20 minutes ago about a gunman on campus at rochester institute of technology, rochester, new york. the all-clear has just been given. get this know. a bus driver reported what he thought was a person with a rifle. police then were called to the school. they investigated and found it was an umbrella with a samurai sword handle. everything is cool in rochester. that word has just gone out moments ago. it is raining there. arthel: that is true. it is raining. people are nervous. you can't blame people. bill: president obama told the american people if they like their health care coverage they could keep it under his law. but a new report from the nonpartisan congressional budget raises questions about that. worst-case scenario, cbo says 20 million americans could actually lose their employer sponsored coverage. john fund, "american spectator" handles this. good morning. >> thank you. bill: worst case, best case, and most likely case scenario but the worst case is incredible. 20 million could lose? explain that. >> what you have are perverse incentives in the law. the government dramatically expanded medicaid which is the health care program for the poor and will be a lot more attractive for people to move into medicaid. there is a warning there. it is substandard medicine in many cases. half the doctors won't take new medicaid patients. you may get coverage but may have to wait a long time for an appointment. the problem employers face there, their costs for health care are going through the roof. 9% last year. obamacare did nothing to contain that. so they have this incentive coming up next year when obamacare kicks in. say the average small business pays 6, $7,000 for health care coverage for their employees if if you drop health care coverage you pay a $2,000 fine for the government. that creates an incentive. you have. you pay the fine, give your own employee $2,000 or $3,000 to look for health care coverage on your own and pocket the rest of the money and say save it for your business. this kind of thing could be as much as 20 million people. more likely 4 million people from the congressional budget office. still means a lot of people will not keep the coverage they thought they had. bill: big range. worst case 20 million lose. best case, more americans are covered. there is middle ground. the white house is quick to defend the math. what does it argue?. >> the white house says this is all expected. this is within the parameters we sketched out when we wrote obamacare. the problem the congressional budget office also said now we have the new cost estimates for obamacare. instead of about $940 billion. it will cost almost 1.8 trillion dollars over the next nine years. in other words, almost double. if the obama administration wants to defend its math i call it very new and very strange math because it is not working out on anything else they tried. bill: our fox polling went out the past week to find out whether americans like it or not. 53% still disapprove. 43 approved. i don't know if the numbers changed over past six months or a year. you make the case this law is taking on water? >> oh, it is springing leaks everywhere. and in two weeks we'll have the supreme court scheduled unprecedented six hours of oral argument on its constitutionality. and the best guesses of the constitutional scholars i talk to is, that the individual mandate, the requirement that everyone has to buy health insurance, at the heart of obamacare, may be thrown out as unconstitutional. that would take those leaks in the boat of obamacare and turn it into a full-fledged gusher. it would be going for the rocks. bill: it will be a major headline whatever they decide. john fund, thank you, from "the american spectator" with us here in new york. arthel: there is a new push to ban hunters from using led-based ammunition. conservationists are saying the bullets should be classified as a toxic substance. they say animals are vulnerable to poisoning and want government regulation but many hunters say this is an attempt to limit gun rights. lawrence keane, senior vp and general counsel for the national shooting sports foundation. donnie dan. national bird conservancy to talk about it. mr. dan, the epa, saying they have no jurisdiction over this matter but you believe putting the onus on epa is the way to go or should you follow the suit of hunters and states that already banned led and using nontoxic bullets? >> well, let me first respond saying mr. keane and i really should be on the same side of the table. i buy a duck stamp every year. i'm a member of duckses unlimited. i'm a trustee emeritus of the nature conservancy, and they permit hunting on many of its reserves. ducks unlimited with tnc has done more than anyone to preserve and save habitat. we're not against hunting. we encourage hunting. we simply are saying hunting should be responsible and spewing lead, the most toxic, possible material into the environment doesn't accomplish that. arthel: having said that, what would you like the epa to do about that? >> well the epa clearly has authority under the act. if you read the legislative history of the law that toxic control substances law which bans them regulating ammunition, i will acknowledge that, but i'm reading from the committee report, when the law was passed, it says the committee does not exclude from regulation under the bill chemical components of ammunition, which could be hazardous because of the chemical property. >> i know. >> they obviously have, they have the right to do that. arthel: mr. dan, there is also saying by excluding military and law enforcement from the ban the original petition from 2010 what you're talking about would have also banned military and law enforcement ammunition. we'll not break down the laws here. the lawsuit has been dismissed. lawrence let me move over to you now. you would like, you're trying to get the sportsman heritage act of 2012 passed the what is it i you would like the epa to do and why do you think epa and congress needs to get involved? >> epa will do what it already done to deny the original petition filed in august 2010 because congress said that the epa has no jurisdiction under the toxic substance control act to regulate ammunition products. we're confident the epa will be consistent in its position and deny this cereal position by these anti-hunting organizations. the argument you heard made is precisely why we want the legislation passed which will clarify and take away this spurious argument that somehow they can regulate the components but not the fully assembled cartridge. if you ban the components you can ban the whole item. so the bill that we're talking about, which has a 165 sponsors in the house and 27 in the senate and has broad bipartisan support of the cochairs of the congressional sportsman caucus would simply clarify --. arthel: let me jump in there. we can't get too bogged down with all the legalese in this situation. i'm running tight on time. i will give mr. dan the final word. what is it you would like the american people to know as it pertains to your concerns about wildlife conservation? >> well, when i think of lead, i think of lead paint, flaking off of walls -- >> you know that, you know that the lead --. arthel: let him finish. he has 30 seconds. i have to give him the last word. >> be honest. don't miss representative sent -- >> yeah. and that is what i'm trying to say talking about spurious arguments. the united states government has banned lead in waterfowl hunting. >> u.s. fish and wildlife service. not epa. >> waterfowl hunting is the, hunters are very happy. they're content. they made the switch. certain states have banned the use of lead. >> we have no problem with states regulating. epa has no jurisdiction. >> what in your organization insists spewing this stocks inin the environment. >> led is on the periodic table. we support wildlife -- [all talking at once]. arthel: they will not stop talking. thank you, lawrence keane, donnie dan, thank you very much for your time. that is heated debate. bill: i like that. there is a lot of passion there. arthel: you can understand. bill: indeed you can. see which way it goes. meantime we're waiting to figure out how this one goes. a humanitarian crisis in zoo syria. should the united states military get involved in another conflict? arizona john mccain is standing by. he make as strong case live. you will hear it in moment. >> here is a roadp trip for you. a daredevil's attempt to skydive from the 75,000 feet. what have you done? 35,000? bill: 15,000. and you? arthel: zero. i stay grounded. bill: that is rocketman. road trip. man we're going. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. so i us my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. bill: if you were just waking up and joining us this morning, there are more developments out of afghanistan today. they are not good. afghan president hamid karzai is saying that the united states is not cooperating in the investigation after the shooting spree by a soldier over the weekend. this only a day after demanding that nato troops back off and go back to their base, leaving all the towns and villages. arizona senator john mccain is the ranking member of armed services committee. he is my guest now. welcome to you. >> good morning, bill, thanks. bill: what do we need to understand what you believe is happening in this conflict now? >> i think we need to understand several things and i will try to make it as brief as possible. one of them is that karzai of course is an elected president and has to respond to the popular will of the people and understandably afghan people were very upset to say the least when something like that takes place where their citizens and children are massacred. we understand that it was a deranged and aberrational act but it also has an impact on afghan public opinion. second of all, president karzai and the afghans keep hearing from the president of the united states and the administration about withdrawals, emphasizing withdrawals, act sell rating withdrawals. the president has accelerated withdrawal announcements over the objections of his military leaders or certainly military leaders have judged places our troops at greater risk the last couple years. and finally president karzai has to, does not quite understand that american public opinion of course is very upset about this and that the tragedy of it all is, that from the pure military standpoint, bill, we have done extremely well there in afghanistan. two major problems remain, corruption within the karzai government and the sanctuary provided by the, by the pakistanis and the isi, actually working with haqqani network who is killing americans. bill: a lot of those facts haven't changed frankly over the years and you heard the what the president said earlier in the week, the drawdown schedule, they will stick with the tile line over the next two years and that is not going to change either. there is another hot topic out there and you've been one of the most vocal members of congress talking about syria. you released a long statement just yesterday. in part you said this, the situation in syria has become an unfair and uneven conflict with iran and russia fueling assad's slaughter. how many more must die before we act? apparent the decision has been made to stay away in military sense and at the moment in a humanitarian sense as well. how much of a mistake is that, do you believe? >> i believe that the president has stated that it is a matter of national security to do what we can to prevent massacres and ethnic cleansing. we went into bosnia and kosovo for exactly those reasons. right now the killing continues. it is an unfair fight because iranians are there on the ground and supplying arms and russians are pouring arms. you now have artillery and tanks against ak-47s and rpg's. ethnic cleansing, not ethnic cleansing but massacres are taking place as we speak. we could working with other countries, i do not believe america should go it alone. i do not believe we need boots on the ground nor will we but we need to provide them with sanctuary. we need to use foreign air power and need to bring the killing to a stop. if we can't do that --. bill: i apologize about the interruption here. >> sure. bill: you're running counter to public opinion now. this is no stranger to you. pew poll does the u.s. have responsibility to whether or not to do something about syria? 64%, 2/3 say no. our own fox polling should we provide humanitarian aid, 82% say yes. should we provide ground troops? 78% say no. and that taking us to your last point which is what, senator? >> which is, one i understand that americans are war-weary. also president reagan led. president clinton led, when we went into bosnia and kosovo. it is up to the leadership to the explain to the american people what america is all about. what is taking place in syria. by the way, general empty tis, the head of our central command said if a assad fell it would be the greatest blow to iran in last 25 years. so it is also in our strategic interest. but most of all americans should not sit by and watch people slaughtered merslessly without trying to help them and find ways to help them we can do that we spend nearly $700 billion a year on defense. if we can't take out syrian and air defenses, my friend we're wasting a lot of tax dollars, thanks for your time, senator. john mccain. >> thank you, general james empty tis is a fine american. -- mattis. arthel: white house is putting re-election campaign into full swing and getting down right personal against republican candidates. bill: bundle up. discovery channel takes you to the coldest got on the whole planet. we have some of the most dramatic i am imagines ever recorded in the great white north. just look at this. ♪ [ male announcer ] fothe saver, and a g first step. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape. for the mother of the bride. for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidae, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪ i used to not travel very much, but then i discovered hotwire. now, i use all my vacation days. i can afford to visit my folks for the holidays. and reconnect with my girlfriends in vegas. beuse i get ridiculously low prices on all my trips. you see, when hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them, so i g 4-star hotels for up to half off. now i can afford a romantic trip to new orleans. hi honey! ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e... ♪ hotwire.com bill: how about this for a plunge? felix baumgartner jumping from 71,000 feet. that is 13 miles. you need oxygen up there. arthel: i think so. a lot of it. >> we're told he reached speeds of 365 miles an hour. he landed with a parachute but apparently that is only the warm-up. arthel. arthel: what? bill: he is austrian and plans to plunge 23 miles, the edge of outer space next. it would be the world record for highest free fall. we bring him on tv when he does it. arthel: that is impressive. i think he already lost oxygen to do that. i'm just saying. good luck, guy. geese gone wild, not girls. yesterday we showed you geese in a very foul mood. what do you do when a goose gets loose? paul shenkman, of our fox affiliate. heance the answer. >> let's go. >> reporter: she may look like a dog walker but doreen olson is a goose buster. she and her border colies anna and quill are looking for one particular goose on the loose. this guy. >> this particular sight, this particular gander i'm working him up to three times a day. he doesn't care. >> reporter: doreen owns windsong canadian geese management. being canadian herself she has a soft spot for her fellow travelers but also has a job to do. convince them to go someplace else. >> yesterday he was down in these culverts here. >> reporter: once doreen finds the cull pretty, she will try to reason with them first. >> beating people up. you with will get in trouble. >> reporter: on most occasions it ends like this. despite appearances dogs are not trying to catch the geese, and not scare them. despite appearance as geese are not aggressive, just protective. >> hello, pretty,. how many do you have? >> reporter: this gander is merely trying to keep his hen and her eggs safe from predators. but doreen's job is to keep people safe from the geese which can lead to close encounters of the bird kind. >> i know. >> reporter: despite the occasional delinquents, doreen's olsen's work rarely makes her into a foul mood. >> good job. arthel: modern day hitchcock. paul shenkman of ktvi. my dog george would be all over the goose. but he doesn't care. thanksgiving we have people like her to take care of that. i ain't walking into that parking lot. you think gas prices are bad? what experts say what could cap if there is war with iran? six bucks a gallon. could you handle this that america. >> in michigan a deadly tornado destroying everything in its path. >> you don't even have enough time to pray or kiss yourself good by. you sit there and wait and hope you will be there at the end. 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[ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. with verizon 4g lte and a 4.5" true hd display, it's great for watching movies and sports, a true hdtv experience right on my phone. i'll get o for me and one for my wife. i'll be like [manly voice] "a phone, my sweet" and she'll say [swooning voice] "oh, my hero ! did you remembero pick up milk, my hero ?" and i'll say "whoops." hopefullthe spectrum phones will make up for that. behold the power of two 4g lte smartphones. buy one spectrum by lg at $199.99 and get onfree. verizon. bill: start this hour, good morning, everybody. fox news alert now because they are sifting through scenes of mass destruction right outside of a major american city. these two towns 60 miles from downtown detroit, shredded by raging twisters that turned 100 homes into mere splinters. >> i asked him if you want to get the porch furniture off because i knew it was a bad storm and we saw it slide across the pat quote. we said get in the bathroom. >> saw it coming and i started moving so by the time i hit i was probably back to here and she was ahead of me and i was pushing her to get into the bathroom. i put her in there and gaat a blanket and three over top of her and told her to stay there. we watched up pieces of house fly up over the top of the skylight. bill: amazing all of that, no reports of fatalities or even a serious injury. arthel: that is amazing. so surreal for them. i can only imagine. hello, bill hemmer. i'm arthel neville. nice to see you. bill: martha is out this week. terrific to have you back, arthel. good morning, everybody. wind speeds topping an estimated 135 miles an hour. look at screen. heavy hail and rain making that bad situation worse. arthel: meteorologists say up to three funnel clouds may have touched down throughout michigan. amy andrews, from our fox detroit affiliate there. amy, what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: people are calling this the a dexter miracle. we're northwest of ann arbor where 100 homes were damaged in tornado. 12 destroyed all together. look behind me. this home was flattened this would be a great comercial for chrysler. the jeem only thing standing there is debris everywhere. we can tell a young baby lived in that home. there are diapers everywhere. toys, weights, this family, their home, completely gone. if you look beside it though the two houses on either side are still standing. they are badly damaged. this is miracle because no one was injured. i talked to the fire chief here. he said no one was even hurt, taken to the hospital during this tornado that struck last night around dinner time. and, hung over the area for about one hour. it touched down twice in the texter area. right now no injuries. truly a miracle. arthel: amy, thank you. that system is part of a massive system of moving across-country. janice, this is unbelievable. i'm told it is quite early for the season for this, right? >> very rare, very rare, to see tornados this far north in march. the good thing was that the national weather service sounded those alarms an hour before the tornado went through. so people had time to take shelter and go in the basements to know what to do. that is the good news. thankfully, thankfully, no one hurt and no one died. but there is the tornado, around dinnertime she said. that is exactly when we saw the big huge cell move through deckser it and then move to the south around the ann arbor area. the good news the storm doesn't have as much punch. we're not expecting any tornadic activity across the great lakes. there is march tornado probability, guys. we see them across the deep south. ex ord extraordinarily rare to see them across northern parts of the michigan. there is the system as it continues to lumber across michigan. we could see some stray thunderstorms but i don't think we'll see any, we could see a straight tornado as well but nothing in terms of an outbreak. part of the reason we are seeing this, this time of year is the incredibly warm temperatures. 81 yesterday in chicago. we're going to see temperatures 30 to 40 degrees above average today and tomorrow. arthel, back to you. arthel: tell you what? the weather is all over the map to say the least. janice dean. thank you very much. bill: we're on pays for another deadly year for twisters. last year we set a record. this year's death toll mounting. 11 dead when a massive ef-4 touched down in jefferson county, indiana. that was two weeks ago. 10 people were killed in lawrence town, kentucky, on that same day. that funnel cloud rated an ef-3. two days before that, in illinois, ef-4 took out seven lives. 55 people dead by twisters so far in 2012. >> bill, critics are saying new study on most tornado prone states may be misleading. weather channel measures number of twisters per 10,000 square miles, on that scale, florida comes in number one. places in tornado alley like kansas and oklahoma, rated second and sixth. some meteorologists saying florida's geographic conditions perfect for producing tornados year-round but they tend to be small and weak and short lived. bill: five minutes past the hour. how about six bucks a gallon for gasoline. saying that could happen if israel goes to war with iran. right now the national average, $3.83. up more than three cents from a month ago. earlier this morning on "fox and friends", newt gingrich slammed the white house what he said was policy for relying on foreign oil. >> the american people deserve inexpensive oil and gas if it is possible. they deserve it from american sources to keep the money in america, to create american jobs. the president is doing just the opposite. bill: well, phil flynn is an oil trader, market analyst with pfg best research. fox news contributor. >> thanks, bill. good to be here. bill: how strong is this possibility? >> i mean it is very real possibility especially with that talk of releasing oil from the reserves early. that may be a signal that the leaders of the united states and britain are worried something is going to happen. and for some time the market has been wore worried something may happen. obviously the biggest concern if israel attacks iran the war may spread. we may see a cuttoff of the world's most important oil choke point, the straits of hormuz and if that happens we will see $6 a gallon. bill: okay but it would go to that price but you think the world economy would probably hit a stall. would it stay there or the price come back down? what is your best guess on that? >> my best guess wouldn't stay there very long. after that point we could really collapse maybe lower than we were when we started. i think what would happen, we would see a flat of oil from the world's strategic petroleum reserves driving prices lower. the economies would slow down. demand would fall off the map and we would see prices come back down but this is a real danger for the obama administration because any price spike ahead of an election generally does not bode very well for the incumbent. bill: what does history tell us on that, phil? >> well, basically george bush, sr. can tell you after desert storm it drove prices of oil to 44. prices came back down. it put us into a recession, a recession that may have cost him his re-election. bill: you can blame that and ross perot for 1992. >> there you go. thank you. bill: phil flynn for us today. seven minutes past the hour. arthel: we have this now. we are going, we're still talking about the pressure that is mounting in iran over its nuclear program. president obama is saying quite frankly that the window for diplomacy, well, it is closing and israel's prime minister warning that the risk of war is rising. our greg palkot live in london with an exclusive from one of iran's top nuclear negotiators. so, greg, tell us who did you talk to and is the pressure working? >> reporter: arthel, his name is the iranian ambassador to the iranian iaea associated with the united nations in vienna. we pressed him on iran's nuclear program and ukraine yum enrichment program. we asked him is iran building a nuclear weapon or would like to have a nuclear weapon. here is our bit of back and forth. >> nuclear weapon has no place in our defense doctrine. nor nuclear energy, nuclear technology, nuclear uses sure. >> reporter: you would not suspend before an answer is given? >> this is not a decision that could be easily forgotten tomorrow we'll just suspend all activities. >> reporter: the suspension of enrichment is key demand of the west. he rebuffed that and would not commit on a whole host of other questions, arthel. arthel: this question, threat of israeli attack, did he have something to say about that? >> reporter: yeah, a, absolutely with israeli prime minister netanyahu a preemptive strike against various installations in iran could be a real possibility we put it to him. we asked him what would be the response, what would be the reaction? take a listen what he said to this. what if israel were to attack? what would be the response? what would be the response of iran? would you attack israel? >> of course, my offices have already said nobody could dare attack iran. if there were would be attack there would be strong response with iron fist court reporter report could israeli attack succeed and stop nuclear program in your country. >> of course. >> reporter: report threat of attacks or resolutioning have any effect. clearly all of this arthel is, there is might be set next month between iran and the west, back to you. >> we are definitely waiting for that. good on you for getting that exclusive, greg palkot, thank you very much. bill: 10 minutes past the hour now. get ready to meet president barack obama all over again. full-swing campaign mode in the white house complete with direct hit on all republican candidates from, the vice president. arthel: the land of lincoln set to be the next big gop battleground. new polls from illinois who has the upper hand. bill: an attorney and two young sons targeted by a car bomb. it happened here at home. today investigators may have their first new clue since it happened. feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. 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. ♪ [ gasps ] think again. try charmin ultra strong for a clean with fewer pieces left behind. its diamondweave texture is soft and more durable so it holds up better for a more dependable clean. fewer pieces left behind. charmin ultra strong. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. bill: there are new clues this morning in unsolved car bombing that injured a michigan lawyer and his two young sons. here is video from last fall. explosive device going off in the middle of the road. eric schappell's car going up in flames. he and his sons getting out. they're okay. the bomb was built from parts from a remote-controlled toy car. look at this thing. wow! no suspect yet. arthel: pre-election mode now in full swing at the white white house. a direct attack on the republican candidates there by vice president joe biden going after each one by name. listen. >> i want to tell you what is real bankruptcy. the economic theories of gingrich, santorum and romney. they are bankrupt. [cheers and applause] if you give any one of these guys the keys to the white house, they will bankrupt the middle class again. arthel: tammy bruce is here. she is a radio talk show host alongwith gem my green, former advisor to hillary clinton campaign. both fox news contributors. jemu, i will start with you. what do you make of the vice president direct messaging the gop candidates. is this re-election strategy or is there more behind it? >> arthel, gentlemen and ladies start your engines. the campaign has begun. even though sometimes vice president biden can have a 10 gallon mouth he, i think is the best person to carry the president's message. no one knows the president's vision about helping americans recover their economic security or helping to grow the middle class and really returning us to a place where hard work pays off, and you don't just have the rich being able to protect their, vary group and continue to take from those who are working hard. so i think, vice president biden is the good messenger most of the american people haven't been paying as close attention and, now we're going to start to see that rev up. exciting. arthel: tammy bruce, if it is revving up, the vice president saying we, the president and vice president, they're concerned about the middle class and its success. tammy, he is saying that gop candidates, all they care about are the privileged . what do you think the american people will be hearing? >> well, you know, the issue is that that still is the class warfare and for the president in 2008, they seemed to be wanting to rerun that campaign. when all the american people had was a blank slate and they could project onto the candidate. now that worked and i think jehmu would agree, hillary would have been better one for last 3 1/2 years. but at the same time now, americans know what the democrats have done and it hasn't been good. everyone is talking about contraception. free contraception will not matter if the bedroom is the back seat of your car. americans have a real personal daily experience with the result of this regime and it is $5 gasoline. the fact that, foreclosures are still happening and so, obama and biden don't have the benefit of people not having an idea where they're coming from. the american people have experienced it. and it hasn't been good. arthel: jehmu? >> well i think you just have to look at where vice president biden was yesterday, in ohio, talking to many of the ohioans who benefited from the auto bailout all the republican presidential candidates said they would not have done and would have devastated that state. if you look at the results of this administration, the, middle class workers who understand how president obama came in, saved the economy and now is continuing to grow the economy, two million jobs over the last two years. they get that. arthel: last word, there is 17-minute documentary coming up. the road we traveled. the president successes are being touted and basically saying look, we've come a long way, we have a long way to go but let's not forget in this day of instant messaging and instant everything let's not forget successes have been achieved. tammy, you say what? will this resonate? final word to you? >> no, it doesn't. it is not about movies and fantasyland and real people's lives. americans have daily experience how the democrats in general have failed. now the republicans, it is going to be up to them to make sure they're going to be able to tell people that they're not going to continue the liberal agenda, that a real conservative ideal is what is going to matter. i think they will be able to do it. arthel: jehmu, i lied, i will give you the last word, 20 seconds. but i have to run. >> if you look at enthusiasm where president obama turned out more voters in the ohio primary without any opponent on the ballot than any of the republican candidates. in 2008, bush did at 72-hour tv strategy. this campaign is doing 500-day registration persuasion turnout campaign and being met with results. enthusiasm is on the side of democrats. 1.3 million people have contributed to this campaign. they're with him. >> 20 seconds, got to be fair. tammy bruce, say hello to everybody in l.a. for me. >> i will indeed. arthel: jehmu, my peeps in austin. bill: what about your buddy in new york? arthel: i'm happy to be with you by the way. bill: could the bird flu be used as a weapon? who they are worried about that might get their hands on this? texas is fighting back, defending its voter i.d. law recently blocked by the feds. we'll talk to the governor. rick perry is here live on what he plans to do about that. whee! whee! wheeeeeeeee! ah heads up. wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. bill: we are at 22 minutes past the hour now on a friday morning. developing right now, the u.n. talking about new plans to send international monitors into syria. there are reports that the former u.n. secretary-general kofi annan will go back to damascus. a symbol of that deadly cruise ship disaster off the italian coast has now been stolen. the cost at that concordia ran aground killing 32 people. thieves have stolen the ship's brass bell from underthe water. s&p hitting the highest point in nearly four years on the market. they're trading water right now. did you hear by the way, there is new ipad out. arthel: i heard. don't say the number. bill: don't go there. the just the new ipad. arthel: that's right. the new ipad. bill: i hear it is great. arthel: you're getting one i'm sure. the bird flu sparking a worldwide debate a-team of scientists creating a mutated version of killer virus. some warning it is highly sensitive research and should be kept a secret to prevent rogue states and terrorists from getting their hands on it. fox news medical a timer, dr. marc siegel live in the newsroom here in new york. dr. mark, do you agree the study you should keep i it away from the as potential bio weapons and keep it from people who may use it for bad reasons? >> arthel, i'm looking at this very closely. i think there are two sides. the national science advisory board for science security is about to meet in a week to make a final decision whether they abridge publication on the virus. representative james steps send brenner, we spoke to him, fox spoke to him, vice chairman of the house committee on science based technology he said i'm a proponent of open scientific research but the stakes literally couldn't be higher. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula put out a call for arms for brothers in degrees in micro biology or chemistry. we know our enemies are considering these weapons. how frightening. a spokesman we spoke to said looks at it differently. >> when you get an organization such as al qaeda which is established threat that is it looking to kill lots of people, for them it is not a realistic option. >> the other question is, arthel, how dangerous this really is in this case? he is saying they couldn't use it anyway but how dangerous is it in this case? it is disappointing because the scientists that came out with this virusing looks like they were overembellishing it. their initial statements made it look a lot worse than it really was. it may not be that dangerous. but i talked to lori garrett, senior fellow at council for foreign relations. you know what she says? it may never be appropriate, never appropriate to abridge scientific research in any situation. she polled a bunch of scientists who already knew about this research. she thinks the word is already out. she thinks everyone is already looking at paper and she doesn't think it should be abridged. let's hear what lori garrett has to say on this. >> the story keeps changing. and the details have never been published. at this point i think that that argument holds less water, partly because the scientists themselves have very cleverly moved the goalposts. you know, they are now challenging every premise. they're challenging that h5n1 is even a dangero virus out in nature. >> i have to tell you, i actually agree with laurie garrett on this she is really esteemed in this field. i think this virus may be being overhyped. the real question, it may be unconstitutional to ever abridge scientific research. arthel? arthel: very interesting. dr. marc siegel, thank you very much. >> thank you. bill: we have brand new polling numbers on the next battleground for republicans and how they stack up in a one-on-one contest against president obama in his home state. scott rasmussen standing by live with that. >> also, bill, it is changing color for christmas, hanukkah, saint patty's day, even the new york giants but the empire state building refused to honor one person in particular and that has sparked a battle over the buildings in the city that never sleeps. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. bill: this is what we've been waiting for, foxess alert, brand-new polling tphufpls on the next critical contest, the illinois primary is tuesday. in illinois rasmussen reports mitt romney leading at 41%, rick santorum trailing by about ten points, newt gingrich, ron paul third and fourth respectively. scott rasmussen, president of rasmussen reports.com analyzes now. there is a lot in this poll. what did you find? >> reporter: you know, the good news for mitt romney is he's up by nine points. the bad news is it looks like it's becoming a two-person race. the more it becomes focused on just romney versus santorum the more danger there is that this could taoeupbt up a little bit, and it's a very important race bill: the next poll would suggest that, right, because you asked if the republican primary were held today and you had a choice between romney and santorum. 48 romney, 44 santorum. does that make your point, scott? >> reporter: absolutely. it's very, very simple. newt gingrich supporters if they have a choice of a two-man race they are overwhelmingly going to break for santorum over romney. this case is important, because when we go into april most of the geography, most of where the primaries are will favor mitt romney. rick santorum wants to change that dynamic right now bill: do you think the trend is exclusive to illinois. >> no, not eubg not exclusive bill: what would explain that. >> a large part of what they are doing is they are opposing mitt romney. they both draw from the group of very conservative voters who are frustrated with the status quo in washington bill: rick santorum and mitt romney do pretty well in illinois. favorable ratings on the screen now, if you're very favorable or somewhat favorable you combine the romney numbers at 68 and santorum is at 67. >> both well liked, a little more passion for santorum. again, these are things we're seeing reflected across the country right now in polling. bill: do you also reflect this in states not just illinois but across the country, when asked who is the strongest against barack obama 50% say romney, only about a quarter cezanne torsay rick santorum. >> this electability is what is keeping mitt romney in the frontrunner position. no matter how we ask it, in illinois 78% say it's somewhat likely that romney could beat president obama in the fall, only 54% say the same thing about rick santorum. while republicans want to have someone they can believe in and be excited about in the white house, they recognize and are focused primarily on who can get there. bill: that kind of goes to your next republican nominee, 71% say romney. what does that tell you? >> this perception has been building, it has been pushed by the romney campaign from the beginning of the campaign. it is something that reflects in national polls, that show romney does better against the president. but it is a key part of the storyline. you can combine the fact that people think he's the strongest candidate with the fact that any think he's the inevitable candidate ain't puts pressure on those who are supporting someone else. that's why rick santorum wants to change the dynamic quickly bill: one more thing. you asked whether you would change your mind and whether or not you're certain. a third said they could still change their mind. is that because illinois hasn't voted yet, or is there more to it? >> no this is something we are seeing in a lot of states n. this case it's a choice between gingrich and santorum. 55% of gingrich voters say they might change their mind before tuesday. bill: we'll see when it goes down then, okay? scott, interesting numbers and they are fresh, hot off the press. good to have you on. enjoy the weekend. >> thanks, bill. bill: all right. >> reporter: an empire state battle in the big apple is all over religion. critics upset because the empire state building will turn green for st. paddy's day tomorrow but refuse to honor a new cardinal. laura ingle live, what is the latest, laura. >> reporter: most of us here are seeing just a big gray fog bank over new york city and the empire state building which you can usually see back there behind me. some catholic groups are seeing red over this perceived slight. the owners of the empire state building are not backing down on their stance saying that they have a strict policy of not honoring religious or political figures. but one building has gone red, that is the rising tower, one world trade center. the port authority of new york and new jersey swapped its white lights for cardinal red in honor of timothy cardinal dolan week here if new york city. starting tonight the empire state buildings iconic tower lights will be shamrock green to honor the peyton saint state of ireland. the buildings owners told fox the empire state building lights annually lights in honor of the irish and their combinations to new york city. and for everyone who feels a little irish on st. patrick's day this is a regular annual esp lighting. this isn't the first time the building has been embroiled in controversy over the lights or lack thereof. it was baited in red and yellow for the 60th anniversary of of china's come admonition revolution. and in 20010 the owners came under fire for not honoring the 100 anniversary of mother ta rea's birth. reaction to the dolan controversy has varied. >> he's part of new york. new york should honor new yorkers who are tpaeupls. it's a no-brainer. >> i don't know why they won't want to do it. i'm sure they will offend a lot of people by not doing it. but that is their right. i just think that, you know, when it's a privately owned company, privately owned building they have a right to do whatever they want. >> reporter: well the private building owners maintain that they consider the selection a privilege, not an entitlement. >> reporter: we know the cardinal is usually never at a loss for words. what is he saying about all of this? >> reporter: you know, anybody who has ever heard the cardinal speak he is a funny and, you know, very charismatic sort of guy. he has really been talking about this and tipping his red hat in thanks many times for the large scale celebrations of his elevation that have happened here in new york and he's taking it all in stride. >> i certainly appreciate the very thoughtful initiative of congressman grimm, but i'm worried about my head swelling, so i don't need any more signs of recognition. >> reporter: if you look at new york city tonight when all the fog burns off you've got the ing i building in christmas look toght here on the isld. >> reporter: then everybody is pleased on some level. lauringle thank you very much. bill: it's green now for the empire state building. >> reporter: why for st. paddy's day bill: nicely done in red. tip the hat to the archbishop. >> reporter: he takes everything in stride bill: cardinal. >> reporter: very good catch bill: it's lent. rick perry was the driving force behind the new law that requires voters to show an identification at the polls in texas. the justice department just challenged that, blocked it, called it discrimination. the governor of texas is live on that controversial matter to explain in a moment. polar bear boxing? this must look incredible if you have an hd screen at home. discovery has a brand-new show out. we'll show you these amazing images that go true to life on screens like you're watching at home right now, the tproed even planet. >> another battle won, but he's injured now. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wideange of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. are you new to medicare? are you wondering about your choices? with over 30 years of medicare experience, unitedhealthcare medicare solutions can help. call right now for more information or to get this free medicare made clear answer guide. it was created to help make the different parts of medicare easier to understand. medicare has two main parts, parts a and b, to help cover a lot of your expenses. like doctor visits, and hospital care. but they still won't cover all of your costs. call now. unitedhealthcare has the information you need so you'll be better prepared when making medicare decisions. are you looking for something nice and easy? 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do you have documented cases in texas where you thought the law was abused? >> we do. during the testimony that was in front of the texas legislature this last session we had multiple cases where voter fraud was in various places across the state. this isn't a democrat or republican issue, i think any person who does not want to see fraud believes in having good, open, honest elections, transparent. one of the ways to do that, one of the best ways to do that is to have an identification, photo identification so that you prove you are who you are and you keep those elections fraud free. it goes without saying that in today's world having a photo id, whether it's to get own an airplane or cash a check or check a library book out is pretty standard fare. bill: you need a photo id in new york to by sue certain medications. >> i might add in texas too. the only thing that i can put out is that there is obviously those who would like to fraudulently impact elections, and therefore they are against having a photo id, otherwise it makes all the sense in the world. we've put in place ways for people to get those id's, and so i think this is a clear example of people wanting to take advantage of the process bill: i apologize for the interruption. i think you knew the justice department would have a problem with this. >> i would agree that this justice department has a problem with a lot of things that states want to do bill: i'll get to my question. the burp in the south is a little higher in some other states because of the voting rights law that was passed. how do you win this right now the way it's set up against eric holder? >> well we take it to the supreme court, and the supreme court has already raourblgsd and i believe it waruled, and i believe it was an indiana case that you can require a photo identification law to pass in your state. we'll take it to the supreme court. unfortunately texas is having to spend, as a lot of states, like south carolina, and other states, i think there have been 16 states now that have passed voter identification laws. we are having to spend a lot of money and time defending our right to make sovereign decisions from this administration, and voter id's, women's healthcare, the clean air act, it goes on and on the strings that want to be attached to the state by this federal government, and it's in clear violation of the 10th amendment bill: wow. south carolina, i believe is being challenged now as well. and i think georgia had some form of it, but that was considered okay for whatever reason. do you know of a southern state that has been challenged by the justice department and won on voter id? >> here is what is more important from my perspective is that section 5 of the voter rights act, it's being challenged in various places. texas is challenging it. and here we are in 2012, and the idea that somehow or another the southern states, and texas in particular, a state that is a majority-mine eartminority in our public schools now is somehow or another being discriminatory towards minorities i think is a vestage of fear tactics that have been used through the years that frankly don't hold water any more bill: governor, one other topic here. apparently your state has cut off some funding for planned parenthood, in turn the federal government is cutting off funding for medicaid. a tit for tat on that front. what do you want to add as to how that issue is resolved. >> this administration would let that program die if it's left up to them because they control our dollars that flow to washington d.c. and come back in that medicaid program. we are not going to let the program die. we will find the money somewhere. it's just sad that you have an administration that is more interested in paying off and rewarding their political supporters, and using this as a political issue. our legislature believes in protecting life, and we don't think that whether it's planned parenthood or one of their affiliates that they should be getting our dollars to be used in their programs. so -- and we see whether it's a planned parenthood directly or whether it is one of their affiliates who are involved in the abortion business, our legislature is pro-life, overwhelmingly voted to not allow planned parenthood to be receiving any of these dollars, and, again, this administration, in clear violation of the 10th amendment of the united states, they are just playing politics. we are going to make sure that these low-income hundred thousand-plus women have those services, but, again, it's an exposure of this administration's clear politics that they are playing to try to use this as a wedge issue. bill: okay. got a couple of fights going on down there. >> we have more than that, trust me. this administration is overwhelming. bill: how is life off the trail? >> well, it's good. we continue to fight the fight. i told people i said, we're still in the fight, still engaged in the dialogue we are just fighting on a different front. there are still plenty of fights to be -- bill: do you think it's healthy or is it going on too long? >> i think it's always healthy to vet the candidates. we said that in our remarks and wwhen we were said involved. september is not the time to be finding out you have a candidate with flaws. let's talk about all the issues, get everything out on the table. it's a healthy process, and it's only unhealthy for those who don't want to be vetted. bill: governor, thank you for your time. we'll speak soon. >> thank you, bill. tell martha high. arthel: we have about 12 minutes left. after that "happening now" is coming up. jon scott is on deck. what you got planned, jon for today's show. jon: good friday morning to you. the noose tightens on iran, there is more on the intensifying crackdown on iran's economy with the world now set to cut off financial transactions over the weekend. ambassador bolton among our guests. vice president biden is making the rounds, looks like he will be the obama 2012 attack machine. our panel weighs in on him. someone on the ground at the site of another twister in michigan that destroyed more than a hundred homes. why is "the new york times" spending so much of its copy space on goldman sachs? our news watch panel weighs in. it's all coming up on "happening now" in then minutes. arthel: i'll b watching. a good friday to you too jon scott bill: how about the amazing arctic north? it's coming to life in a way we have never seen before. behind frozen planet, next. >> when the tide is low they swim. we can't know for sure, but this looks a lot like bliss. >> the younger bulls with their lighter antlers are more fleet afoot. as the female's pace slows the older bull catches up. he makes a pit stop to lay down the law, because he's not just a lover, he's also a fighter. arthel: well done. that is a clip from the new discovery channel's documentary frozen planet. here now two members of the award winning team, the produce eurs. goo producers. good to see both of you. i've only seen a short portion of this. i'm very much going to tune in and watch this thing sunday night, we'll remind people when it's on shortly. four years in the making, vanessa, how humbling was it to be up close and personal with nature. >> it's an amazing experience. you feel really small as a person. and it's just incredible too get the chance to see all that incredible wildlife. >> chad when you were filming this was there a time when you thought, it doesn't get any better than this? >> yeah, absolutely. we have gone to the absolute extreme ends of the planet to have the most exbream anima extreme animal films. arthel: a little scary too, after all they are animals, they can be unpredictable and so can mother nature. of course it's exciting. i have to find out, you know, not everybody is cut out for this. so when did you guys first get involved with this? did they come to you, or did you decide this to this on your own? how did this workout. >> we both worked on planet earth. i actually produced the episode on the polar regions. we said there is so much more to do here, stuff that no one has ever seen. it was an obvious choice to go back and do another series there. arthel: and it's so magical, so majestic, and for you vanessa. i'm going to get to you again, but you were pregnant when you were filming and then you took your son back. >> oh, no he's not been back yet. i was five months pregnant when i did one of the shoots. it was amazing watching a polar bear mum with her new cubs. i was up in a helicopter thinking i bet this is what it will be like for me. and it sure was. arthel: you went back and skaoeupd with your son. skyped. >> yes on christmas day. arthel: besides sharing the magic behind animal nature, what would you like the viewers to lock in on? >> i think these parts of the world, the polar regions are places that most people will never get the chance to go to, and i think what we really wanted to do was capture that other worldliness, the world beyond imagination and really bring it back to people and share it, and basically show that it is a habitat worth protecting. arthel: indeed, indeed, it really is incredible. i can't believe you're so fortunate to have been right there. thank you so much. and i want to remind everybody to watch the premiere of the seven-part series, frozen planet airing this sunday march 18th, 8:00 eastern and pacific time on the discovery channel. be sure to watch. bill: great stuff. i bette it looks even better in hd doesn't it. >> oh, yeah. blu-ray. bill: get your blu-ray, i like that. a devastating blitz of tornadoes hammering more than a hundred homes and all that destruction, what some are calling a miracle. ahh, one. two. three. one. two. and, three. 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