they're the bee's knees? boss: or this? gecko: sir, how 'bout just "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." boss: ha, yeah, good luck with that catching on! anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ow. like our award-winning cc. white one! [ chuckles ] or the fuel-efficient jetta. ooh! red one! [ sighs ] or the tiguan. black one! oh. two for flinching. plus, every volkswagen includes no-charge, scheduled, care-free maintenance. silver one! ohh! on any volkswagen? yeah. [ male announcer ] with great deals on all 13 models... white one! ...it's a whole new volkswagen. and a whole new game. ♪ ♪ today on the floor of the house, congressman jim moran gave the country a piece of information that puts an outraged exclamation point on one contested matter of civil rights. >> i rise today to share the substance of an e-mail from an active duty soldier in afghanistan. response to an inquiry from his commanding officer related to the military's review of the don't ask, don't tell policy. the soldier shared how he and his partner of ten years have managed multiple deployments to iraq and afghanistan. they survived like any couple does, except because of the don't ask, don't tell policy, his partner would not be informed in the event of his death, and cannot make any emergency decisions that would normally fall to a spouse. this situation is typical, even within his unit. he learned that a fellow soldier was also gay, only after he was killed by an ied in iraq. the partner of the deceased soldier wrote the unit to say how much the victim had loved the military, how they were the only family he had ever known. >> jim moran of virginia sharing details of a gay american soldier killed in action in iraq. the letter he describes is from a gay army ranger combat arms commander who's currently deployed in afghanistan. the letter is incredible, we have posted it at our website today. i encourage you to check it out if you have an interest in this issue. the congress and some conservatives have been ringing their hands about repealing don't ask, don't tell. i want to leave you with one note. buried in the new york times in a five sentence, one paragraph long story is notification that the pentagon has decided to lift the 100-year-old ban on women serving on navy submarines. since 1993, women have been assigned to surface machines but not submarines. defense secretary bob gates has told congress the ban will be repealed. without fanfare, without congressional hearings, without a year long review, without any noticeable peep from senator john mccain the pentagon is ending a personnel ban on the basis it was discriminatory. no muss, no fuss. ♪ [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. and that's good because the competition's steep today. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air.™ i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day. multiple choice, elmer fudd, eric cartman or scrooge mcduck. which employee did a cartoon character use to get his hands on stolen ak-47s. great. come on in. would you like to see our new police department? yeah, all right. this way. and here it is. completely networked. so, anything happening, suz? she's all good. oh, my gosh. is that my car? [ whirring ] [ female announcer ] the new community. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. whatever the level of u.s. government oversight of the defense contractor black water has or hasn't been, the level is very likely about to change. we have just learned the senate armed services committee hearing that in september 2008 more than 200 ak-47s were signed out by a black water employee apparently named for this guy. >> you must respect my authority. >> that is eric cartman from south park. eric cartman is the name that a black water contractor used to sign out hundreds of ak-47s for black water employee's personal use in afghanistan. guns that were supposed to be issued to afghan police. and no, there was no one actually named eric cartman working for black water at the time. and no, black water employees were not allowed to possess weapons in afghanistan without permission, which they didn't have. a black water contractor jumped on the back of a moving vehicle with his loaded weapon. when that moving vehicle hit a bump, the contractor accidentally shot another contractor in the head. what happened to the dukes of hazard reckless shooter? black water sent the shooter back home to the u.s. that was it. black water was also nailed today for setting up a shell company in afghanistan to avoid being associated with black water's infamy. >> the people that were working for you in the theater, yeah, we work for black water, our paycheck came from black water. black water black water black water. it appears to be a classic example of a cover corporation in order for the people who are doing the contract not to know who they're really contracting with. >> despite all of this, it was reported this week that black walter is in the running for another new multimillion dollar contract from the defense department to train afghan police. the police they stole all those weapons from under the name of the kid from "south park." joining me now is jeremy scahill. he was at the hearing today and the author of "blackwater." stealing weapons, shooting civilians, drinking, shooting each other, fraud, tax evasion. am i missing anything else in terms of what black water has been accuses of in afghanistan now. >> you're describing a perfect resume for a position with blackwater. what happens on "south park" poor little kenny dies in every episode. when eric cartman -- i.e. a blackwater employee steals weapons, they don't come back the next episode. it's not tv. in afghanistan, they set up this shell company in collaboration with a mammoth war giant raytheon which held the prime contract for this. they set up this contract to hide the fact that the pentagon was once again hiring blackwater, this firm that's been under investigation by practically every federal entity in the united states. it's a shell company to convince the army that blackwater was not getting the contract, but this other company, paravant. they represented in their contract documents they had years of experience. they hadn't even existed for a few months when they got that contract to work in afghanistan . i have to say, rachel, we're talking about very small details, the tip of the sphere in assassination programs and other dirty deeds on behalf of u.s. corporations. >> what do you think is the most serious of the new charges levelled by this company. it seems the company is being exposed for having -- we're learning about the criminal history and the history of incompetence and misconduct. it seems important because they've had this reputation that they hire only very elite people. that seems to be over now. >> two of the guys that have been indicted now on manslaughter charges in the united states, for killing two afghan civilians, it's been revealed that one of them had gone awol from the military. another tested positive for cocaine. another had been on the do not deploy list. another was redeployed to afghanistan. i think when you take the combination of the fact that black water is lying to the u.s. military, is in possession of hundreds of illicit weapons, is killing afghan civilians and is over all endangering the lives of u.s. forces there through their misconduct, what you have is a very lethal cocktail. the fact that the obama administration is leaning toward not giving black water a multimillion dollar contract, but a billion dollar contract to train the afghan police i think should sound emergency warning bells for subpoenas to be issue ed. >> jeremy scahill from "the nation." thanks for being at the hearing today so you could report to us. coming up on "countdown" keith's very very important special comment about health care reform and tomorrow's summit. we will be right back. w w w wa] if you're using the leading sensitivity toothpaste, you may be missing some of the protection you need. crest pro-health is the only leading toothpaste to protect against sensitivity and all these areas in a single all-in-one toothpaste. crest pro-health. these are actual farmers who raise vegetables in campbell's condensed soup. so if you've ever wondered who grew my soup, well, here they are. ♪ so many, many reasons ♪ it's so m'm! m'm! good! ♪ hungry is there to sabotage you every step of the way. but if you join weight watchers for free right now you can follow the momentum program and conquer hungry and other things that stop you from losing weight. join for free today and you can learn strategies like choosing filling foods so you can resist temptation, lose weight and keep it off. show hungry who's boss. hurry, join for free today, the offer won't last forever. weight watchers. stop dieting. start living. oh, just come snuggle with momma! missing something? now at sears optical, get 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99. with bifocals just $25 more per pair. sears optical. don't miss a thing. sfx: can shaking t $25 more per pair. when you own a business, nothing beats the sound of saving time and money. and it's never been simpler to save - with regions lifegreen checking and savings for business. you'll enjoy free online and mobile banking. and with regions quick deposit, you can deposit checks right from your desk. drop by and get started with a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it's how business gets into the rhythm of saving. regions it's time to expect more. [ski sounds] ♪ fa-diddle-diddle-do-do-do ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-la-da-da oh, hello! and hello to you too! [awkward chuckle] ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-do-do ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-deh-dee ♪ i need to get out of here [thunder rumbling] ♪ ah-deedle-deedle-leh-deh-do [thunder rumbling] travelocity is your cure for cabin fever. ♪ music if you find a lower hotel or vacation package price online, we'll match it, right up until the day before check-in. and we'll also guarantee that your booking will be right. travelocity. you'll never roam alone. that does it for us tonight. tomorrow's a big day in washington, and a big day for the country as president obama hosts a televised health care summit tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. we'll bring you the highlights of the day and analysis. that's 9:00 p.m. eastern. "countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. have a great night. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow. >> make no mistake, every republican i've ever met in my entire life is a wholly own subcidy of the insurance companies. boehner talks of plans to crash the party and interrupt the infomercial. and try to get everyone to dial 1-800-bronzer instead, john? double-digit increases in 11 states now, served by or enslaved by wellpoint blue cross. and the president on the eve? high hopes. he's got high hopes. >> i look forward to a good exchange of ideas at the blare house with some legislative leaders. and i hope everyone comes with a shared desire to solve this challenge. not to score political points. the next fight, the senate majority leader walks out of the meeting with boeing-sized big businesses after they claim they are the ones that create the jobs at the small businesses. newt gingrich defines socialism as big government, government is smart, you're stupid, government should decide everything. so a government that decides everything and lies to you because you're too stupid to let it go to war in iraq, that's socialist? newt gingrich just called george bush a socialist? the newest political science from a beauty queen. a contestant seeking to secede carrie prejean says some of her friends are gay, but the bible is pretty black and white. they're supposed to be put to death. and on the eve of the health care reform summit, a special comment. a message to all those who enter tomorrow, from my father. all the news and commentary now on "countdown." good evening from new york. heading into tomorrow's purportedly bipartisan health care summit, only one plan is acceptable to the republicans scrapping reform and, so they claim, starting over. yet on the floor of the house this afternoon, during a debate over a planned vote to revoke the insurance cartel's anti-trust exemption, when democrat anthony weiner of new york declared that the republican party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry, an offended republican invoked a rule that mr. weiner be automatically chastise and officially chastise for his remarks. well, mr. weiner consented to withdraw his words and substitute other words. the same republican, dan lundgren of california, objected to that too, in effect, affecting his own effort to chastise the gop. congressman's weiner unacceptable outburst of truth in a moment. and good luck achieving bipartisanship tomorrow, mr. president. new details emerging about what it took to get republicans to the table and about the table itself. at tomorrow's summit showdown at blare house, across the street from the white house, politico reporting that the opposition's first demand was the president not use a podium. we don't want anymore of that professor obama lecturing to us stuff, an anonymous staffer telling the white house. you'll recall the last people to offer to the president of the united states over the shape of a negotiating containable were the north vietnamese. the official white house schedule of event showing that participating will be seated at tables at a hollow square setup. the president is happy they're coming. >> and tomorrow i look forward to a good exchange of ideas at the blair house with some legislative leaders. and i hope everyone comes with a shared desire to solve this challenge, not to score political points. >> minority whip boehner telling members of his own conference that he's going to crash the meeting to which he was invited. an aide familiar with his remarks telling "the hill" newspaper, quote, we shouldn't have the white house have a six-hour taxpayer-funded infomercial on obamacare, as he calls it. we need to show up, we need to crash the party. invited but not crashing, the democrat jay rockefeller of the senate clarifying his opposition to passing the public option by reconciliation. saying in a statement, in effect, that there is no use in trying. senator levin disagreeing, still trying to become the 24th democrat and the sixth chairman to sign the letter, calling for the public option by reconciliation. meanwhile in the house, lawmakers demanding an explanation from wellpoint about its plans to institute huge rate hikes, not merely in california, proposed 39% rate increase there, but at least in ten other states where it has subsidiaries. chairman waxman of the house energy and commerce committee revealing that his investigators had found internal wellpoint documents which proved the company was raising premiums merely to pad its profits to a target of 7%. yesterday at a hearing in california, a company executive having testified that the company had no interest in anything other than slimmer profits of 2% to 5%. you know, nothing at all, next to nothing. only 2 to 4 billion dollars. wellpoint's ceo arguing that her company's profit margins are modest, compared to other sectors of the economy. you know, like europe. as we mentioned, it was against that backdrop today that the house also began debate on whether to invoke the insurance cartel's anti-trust exemption. when republicans tried to scuttle that bill with a motion to recommit, democrat anthony weiner decided he had heard enough. >> you know, you got to love these republicans. i mean, you guys have chutzpah. the republican party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. that's the fact. they say that, well, this isn't going to do enough, but when we propose an alternative to provide competition, they're against it. they say that, well, we want to strengthen state insurance commissioners and they'll do the job. but when we did that in our national health care bill, they said, we're against it. they said they want to have competition, and when we proposed requiring competition, the republicans are against it. they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. that's the fact. and now they stand up -- >> mr. speaker! mr. speaker, i ask that the gentleman's words be taken down. >> oh, you really don't want to go here mr. lundgren. >> the gentleman will suspend. gentleman from new york will please take a seat. the clerk will report the words. gentleman seeking unanimous consent to withdraw his words? >> i request unanimous consent to substitute other words. >> that would involve a withdraw. >> i request unanimous consent to withdraw my words. >> is there an objection to the request? >> objection so ordered. gentleman from new york is recognized. >> make to mistake about it, every single republican i have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. that is why americans -- >> mr. speaker, i ask the gentleman's words be taken down once more. >> we will suspend. the gentleman from oregon has 2:50 remaining. >> a minute and a half, go for it. i thank you very much. the point is very simple. there are inequities in the present way we distribute insurance, the way we distribute health care. there are winners and there are losers. the winners are the insurance industry. and our efforts to reel in the insurance profits, not just because they shouldn't make profits, they're doing what they are supposed to. but they're driving up taxes, driving our economy into the ground, and we need competition and choice to deal with that. that's what this legislation does and the motion to recommit undermines it. and i've heard a couple of times today, well, we have an effort for bipartisanship here. no, there is no bipartisanship on this fundamental issue. and that is the people that sit on this side, at the risk of offending anyone, generally oppose the risk for standing up for the american people in their daily battles against insurance. and the people generally speaking who sit on this side of the chamber, and specifically speaking in a lot of cases, simply won't permit that to happen and haven't for a generation. well, that's going to end now. that is going end to because we are going to have competition, we are going to make sure that there are regulations, and we are going to make sure that the american people aren't gouged. that's what the american people stand for. time and time again, people say, i don't mind this bill, i just want it weaken it to the point it's meaningless. and i heard my good friend from texas say, well, this doesn't do anything. but every time we've tried to do something like a tiny sliver of competition called the public option, said, no, we can't withstand competition, we can't have that. enough of the phoniness. we are going to solve this problem, because for years our republican friends have been unable to and unwilling to, deal with it. >> i thank the gentleman for those remarks. >> the house tonight voting to repeal the insurance cartel's anti-trust exemption by a vote of 406-19. time now to call in ezra klein of "the washington post" and "newsweek," who blogs on economic and domestic policy, including, especially, health care. good evening, ezra. >> good evening, keith. >> it's funny, there aren't 406 democrats in the house, that must have been bipartisan. is there any chance karen ferguson meets its death in a senate? >> i think it's going to go through. the democrats are getting good at doing something the republicans didn't expect them to do, modulating their ambitions and creating small bite-sized bills nobody can afford to be against. they could try to kill them procedurally so you can't detect their fingerprints on the death, but they can't be against them. >> here are the day's highlights as near as i can ascertain them. one, despite the 406 yay votes, the gop tried to kill the vote procedurally, killing the anti-trust exemption. then, two, a republican obstructed his own effort to chastise a democrat for calling the gop out on the subject. and three, the gop says heading into tomorrow's summit, scrapping the current health care reform plan that was passed in different forms by both houses is the only acceptable means of bipartisan reform. and four, the house minority leader claims he is crashing the summit to which he was invited. five, at that summit, the public option will not even be there on the table and it's a table, not a podium, because this is like trying to resolve the vietnam war again. six, the senator who wrote the public option legislation says the democrats should stop trying to pass the public option. explain to me, if you can, ezra, why are they holding this summit again? >> they're holding the summit because two or three weeks ago, they needed something to do two or three weeks from then. the summit has done one thing that's been very important, keith. it has given everybody something to focus on. do the republicans come? does barack obama present a bill? while harry reid and nancy pelosi have been working to get their ducks in line, working to talk about compromises, working to figure out who goes first, how does reconciliation work? and beneath all of this, you're hearing in politico today the story where very moderate democrats, the landrieus and lincolns of the world are saying, yeah, maybe we need to do reconciliation. and over in the house, you're seeing it begin to take shape, what sort of compromise you would need. so the process is moving forward and the summit was a good job at getting the press to look over there for a while. >> about reconciliation, senator rockefeller has claimed there's no use in trying for the public option on that. was not the start of this debate, as it was scaled down from single payer before it was even introduced, was thereto no some phrase that went, whatever happened about the idea not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good? >> sure. i'll give senator rockefeller credit on this, though. when i've talked to offices they said, yeah, we're signing this, but we don't want to do this. rockefeller came out and was at least up-front with liberals. he said, i don't think we get it done and i'm not going to try. i think there are a lot of offices back there doing something cowardly, yeah, sure, it's easier for us to say we'll sign the letter, than it is for us to say we won't. but we're not going to do it, and give you another crushing disappointment. so frankly i prefer senator rockefeller's up-front approach to the in-name only support you're getting from some offices. >> and cowardliness takes us to ben nelson, who criticized the part of the president's health care plan that calls for a federal panel to monitor rate hikes. and he told "the wall street journal", i don't think there's a need for the federal government to step in on this. the state of nevada has already approved a 12.8% rate hike for wellpoint. ten other states are going to get theirs. how can ben nelson get taken seriously? >> he can get taken seriously because he was the 60th and is now the 59th vote. and he's going to be around as long as the math works out that much in his favor. >> okay. i think he's stimpy? yeah. connected to this, the job bills passed the senate this morning. big business then had this meeting with senate democrats, tried to sell them on the emphasis on small business misses the roll. their conclusion was it misses the role that big business has to play. the boeing ceo apparently argued that when big business does well, small business does well, creates the jobs, the big businesses do, in the small businesses. his argument got him a chewing out from the majority leader, mr. reid, who then got up and left. that sounds an awful lot like trickle-down economics. was what they actually tried to sell senate democrats on? >> i think they may have given it a shot. look, what are these meeting incentives for these constituency groups if not for them to raise their hand and say, you've got to give me mine. but senator reid has figured something out. figured out how to pass a jobs bill and maybe big business will be in for it down the road, but for now what they have got is they've got republicans voting for their initiatives on this. and big business would like to get in on the game. but for the moment what's going to pass is good politics. that jobs bill was very small, but when's the last time we were talking about democrats getting 70 votes on a piece of legislation? >> and is that what happened there? were there any of the minority party who sort of voted -- dare i use the word -- conscious on that? >> what you have there are eight or four republicans, i believe, 62 people voted for cloture on the bill. ben nelson voted to keep the filibuster going on the jobs bill, incidentally. and then you had eight republicans, more republicans come out for the bill. so you had a moment where you saw clearly. there was a difference between procedural votes and how you vote on a bill, which republicans have been saying over and over and over again on health care is not true. that procedural votes and final votes are indistinguishable. they're not. and this is one reason why democrats tomorrow are going to push very hard for reconciliation. because at this point you need a 51-vote process to get rid of these shenanigans. >> they finally figured that out, after only a year since the inauguration. ezra klein, have a good night. complete coverage of the blare house summit tomorrow night, replaying and analyzing extensive portions of the dialogues. chris matthews will be here for certain. i hope to join him. i'll explain that later on. president's question time begins tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern after hockey. if anything is to get done tomorrow, our political leaders, all of them, will have to spend five hours doing the equivalent of holding their breath. they'll have to think about other people, not their careers, not their posturing, and they damned well better. and why you need to summon your own life panel. life panel. two messages from the hospital bed of my father in tonight's special comment. [ male announcer ] this is nine generations of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars. this is the world record for longevity... and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial. newt gingrich defines socialism, applies that definition to barack obama, never noticing his definition also fits george w. bush and even ronald reagan. he outed bush as a socialist. who knew carrie prejean was the good one? a contestant set on succeeding her as miss california usa has now said that the correct outcome for gay people is bib lick can i death. ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends nearly $3 billion dollars to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses in every corner of the economy. america. ♪ growing stronger. every day. the party that claims to stand for balanced budget produces the most debt in the modern political era. former house speaker newt ki gingrich described it as socialism. professor gingrich explained president obama is indeed a socialist. without tackling the multiple distorsions necessary, he offered a single measure of obama's socialist. >> i think he represents a strain of left wing big government. government is smart, you're stupid, government should decide everything, you're not capable of it. if you're asking the question, does he think the overwhelming dominance should be government? and does he think government is smarter than the rest of us, the answer is yes? >> this from a man named newt. where do to begin. the sneering "we know better than you" of the bush/cheney administration tends to leap to mind. president bush's achievement, his war in iraq, which was described by andrew card as akin to rolling out a new product, and when that war could not be sold with marketing alone, the lying was kicked up a notch or two, because, you know, the government is smart, you're stupid. government should decide everything, you're not capable of it. and when shock and awe did not usher in a speedy conquest, american casualties increased under donald rumsfeld. who of all of president bush's men may have most epitomized this part of it, government's smart, you're stupid. of course, the same administration brought us torture and warrantless wiretapping, so that even constitution-shredding maneuvers were predicated on the notion that a particular cluster of government men knew better. ah, but lets harken back to the golden years when administrations sold arms to iran in direct contradiction of the stated u.s. policy. and when that president's subordinated came up with the genius idea to use the money from those sales and funnel it to the contra. it is a patriotic act when our own government breaks the law, because government is smart, you're stupid, newt. and by the way, why don't conservatives pay more attention to the words of the republican president dwight eisenhower? "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." government is smart, you're stupid. we could devote an hour to wasteful military contracts throughout the years, but when the current pentagon is struggling against pork barrel kind of congressmen to cancel further production of c-17 transport planes which they already have in surplus and needs no more of, that pretty much says it all. to be fair, mr. gingrich cited y other items in calling mr. obama a socialist, like the bank bailout, and this health care reform thing of obama's. but in the modern era, the greatest redistribution of income, especially the specialty of socialists, was in fact produced by president reagan. redistribution from the middle and lower classes to the upper class. and the reason bank bailout, of course, began under president bush. and the biggest new entitlement since the heyday of social security and medicare was the medicare prescription drug program from the bush administration, underfunded, therefore deficit financed. but through mr. gingrich's eyes, it is president obama that believes that government is smart, you're stupid. and of course he believes in the unsaid gingrichian corollary, gingrich is smart, you're too stupid to notice that his definition of socialism defines george bush. big changes to the segment formerly known as "worst persons in the world" next. missing something? now at sears optical, get 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99. with bifocals just $25 more per pair. sears optical. don't miss a thing. at a weight watchers meeting you can get the life skills that put you in charge of your world and hungry and the online tools to help you face any situation which means "darn right you can go to the dinner party" and still lose weight. and learn how to keep it off. join for free now. sorry, hungry. you're not invited. but you are, join for free today and change your life. weight watchers. stop dieting. start living. ♪ [ male announcer ] we make them beautiful. ♪ we make them tougher. ♪ we make them legendary. ♪ we make them better... ♪ to make your life better. ♪ ♪ and we've never made one... quite like this. the 100% electric nissan leaf. ♪ the 100% electric nissan leaf. nature knows just how much water vegetables need. so, to turn those vegetables into campbell's condensed soup, we don't boil it down, our chefs just add less water from the start. ♪ so many, many reasons ♪ it's so m'm! m'm! good! ♪ the new beauty queen who says, "gay people will be visited with death ordained by god." and my special comment about health care reform and my father. but tonight we are changing the title of one of more popular segments. the premise is the same, but since some of the people did not get that the title was ironic, here are tonight's two runners up for the countdown hall of shame. the website mediaite. i can't believe i called them gullible. they offer a couple of conspiracy theorys about it, but to take a look at the tea party video without questioning its claim that it highlights the lack of diversity on msnbc's lineup, judge not lest ye be judged is not diversity. there are at least 23 newscasters hosts and paid correspondents from nbc on msnbc's lineup. perhaps the reason that mediaite took a tea party's word for it is that this is the same site of a fired msnbc employee and in his attempt to implant his bitterness towards this place, to plug or weave it into his website, he has wigged out. he would like us to sweep his failure under the rug as if it were a bald-faced lie, or there will be hell to pay. our runner up, lonesome roads beck. critics are not happy with his speech to cpac last weekend. right-wing critics, bill beck is projecting his own past drug problems on to the scene. "taken to our politics, a cosmo lodgeizing of his own deficiencies. this is a baseless criticism. they are his own deficiencies that he keeps publicly redounding to apologizing to it is wrong and he is wrong." mark levin told him to stop dividing conservatives and added, "i have no idea what philosophy glenn beck is promoting. neither does he. it's incoherent." and now beck is learning, sooner or later you become impure and get purged. but someone called ann warren who writes, "keith olbermann has decided to take the easy way out of facing those he denigrates and bagged out of a tea party invitation and come to meet them. like the school bully hiding behind his mama's skirt when it's time to face the principal. in fact, in his comments, he tries to evoke sympathy for himself by using his hospitalized father as an excuse. he's been in intensive care apparently for six months, as olbermann claims he hasn't been able to leave nyc but once in all this time. you just called my father's illness the easy way out and an excuse. who's the bully? but thank you for letting america know why your ilk opposes health care reform. check that space where your heart is supposed to be, just there. the rest of us can see right through you to the other side. ann warren, welcome to the countdown hall of shame! to stay in tune with life after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for bone and breast health. just what i need! one a day women's. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon in a delicate broth, without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment. affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. a miss california usa hopeful aspires to inherit the tiara once worn by carrie prejean. but the current miss beverly hills cites define law as reasons for gays not to marry and as a reason for them to die, although she does seem to think god takes care of that rather than people. the city that she claims to represent has renounced her. miss beverly hills, lauren ashley, telling foxnews.com's blog, pop tarts, "the bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. if man lies with mankind as he would lie with woman, both of them have committed an abomination. they shall surely be put to death and their blood will be upon them. the bible is pretty black and white." elaborating, she says, "if he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that's a pretty stern warning and he knows more than we do about life." her prophesy angering the mayor of beverly hills. "we are dismayed by any potential association with the city of beverly hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect. the city maintains it does not sponsor a beauty pageant and has no association with miss california usa. tmz says, "contestants are allowed to choose which areas they represent, and as long as they add the letters usa to the end of the title, it doesn't have to be approved by the city." adding insult to injury, a city spokesperson says miss ashley is not even from beverly hills, she's from pasadena. geographical differences aside, miss ashley is not backing down. >> it's nothing against people who are gay. i have friends who are gay. and i just personally, from my beliefs, i'm a christian and it's in the bible. so. >> joining me now, the author of "the commitment: love, sex, marriage, and my family," columnist dan savage. dan, good evening. >> good evening, keith. >> so some of her friends are gay, but they deserve death because they're gay. do we think miss ashley fully comprehends what she's saying is or the slight danger that her friends appear to be in? >> no, i don't think she fully comprehends what she's saying. and i would like to see her gay friends produced for the cameras to give a quote too. i don't think she understands that even though there are very hateful things in the bible about gay people, there are very hateful things in the bible about a lot of people. but by promoting those passages that call for the deaths of gay people, she encourages people who might commit violent acts against gay people to feel justified. so she is putting her friends who may visit west hollywood in very real danger of being gay bashed. >> i think that's a good point. and we'll explain why she's sitting there with a doctor holding some sort of cattle prod in a moment. but also from leviticus is this, love thy neighbor like thyself. when is someone going to pull that out, or pull out the explanation as how the elders of the town are supposed to stone some male relative of her because he shaves. >> there's so much in the bible who take it literally choose to overlook and pretend it's not there. the bible justifies genocide and slavery, and calls on parents to murder their disobedient children. and all these literalists who say, it's in the bible, i have to take it seriously. if the versus are in there and apply that to my life and are going to be bandied about and enforced. i would like to see the one that calls for death of women who are not virgins on their wedding night. and i don't want to see that enforced. >> oddly enough, the fox news blog reports that miss ashley parties with paris hilton. so paris would be out the window. but she also appears in that series of videos we saw for this website calling buying beauty tv, in which she discusses liposuction, lip implants, breast augmentation with that plastic surgeon there, the guy holding the stick. carrie prejean got herself into trouble by casting the first stone. and i guess in response, she kind of broadened where she was -- where she had originally been. but i'm not agreeing for a moment with what she did, but there was a sort of -- sort of an understanding why she escalated it. this girl comes pre-escalated. not only -- she seems to be topping carrie prejean. >> she does. and you know, as we found out about carrie prejean, as that unfolded she was a very randy girl, a randier girl than the figurehead for the religious right has a right to be. and if we're going to bandy about bible verses, timothy one, women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and golden pearls or costly attire. and really, breast implants and lip implants are the braided hair and gold and pearls of our era. and if she believes that i should have to live and die by the prescriptions in the old testament, i believe that she should have to obey the prescriptions in the new testament. she's a cafeteria of biblical litteralist apparently. and she should be called on it. if she believes levitticus applies to me, timothy applies to her. >> it's going to clear out the whole country in a hurry. anything in there about cell phone photos? never mind. dan savage, a great thanks, as always. >> thank you, keith. when rachel joins you at the top of the hour, did you know reconciliation is actually the dreaded nuclear option? it ain't, it ain't. but the republicans are telling their supporters it is. their special guest, senator barbara boxer says it isn't. and on the eve of the health care summit, a special message to all of the participants from my father. tonight? roasted chicken recipe? okay, savory rice and lamb stew. [ barks ] you're right. tonight is a beef stew kind of night. you've made another fine choice. look at those beefy chunks all packed with protein, the real vitamin-rich vegetables, the wholesome grains. and you think you're getting spoiled. it's so good for you too. [ announcer ] beneful prepared meals. another healthful, flavorful beneful. trugreen lawns are easy to spot. that's the hasskamp house. great-looking lawn... hi, bobby. hi, bobby. ...better-looking daughters. i got a solid business plan, too. take the walker's. no trugreen. no thanks. trugreen treats every lawn special. they call it customized service. i call it my ticket to the cover of forbes. [ male announcer ] call 866-trugreen and get a customized plan for a healthy, green lawn, guaranteed. more green, means mo green. [ male announcer ] get a healthy, green lawn today. call trugreen. go greener. life panels. i had one last year with my father and one last friday with a doctor and one this afternoon about my father. and why they are a blessing and why all those at tomorrow's health care reform summit damned well better be thinking about him and all the others and not themselves and all their pitiful political careers. special comment next. nice! ah! these tomatoes, they're bye bye. hunt's flash steams their tomatoes and that keeps in that backyard garden fresh taste. guys, dishes. isn't it time to take a fresh look at your tomatoes? ♪ [ male announcer ] we make them beautiful. ♪ we make them tougher. ♪ we make them legendary. we make them better... to make your life better. and we've never made one... quite like this. the 100% electric nissan leaf. ♪