anytime soon, but it seems all the indications seem to be pointing to the fact that the rebels are gaining ground, they're doing well in misrata or at least have made progress in and around misrata. in other cities as well. so i think there's this general sense there's a momentum building behind the rebels and that's what is certainly giving this city anyway cause for a certain amount of celebration. >> nbc's lee cowan live for us in benghazi. the taliban launch what is it calls a revenge attack for the killing of osama bin laden. a pair of suicide bombers targeted a paramilitary training center in pakistan killing at least 80 people. 66 of them recruits for the pakistani army. peter alexander is live in islamabad. what more can you tell us about how they were able to orchestrate this attack? >> reporter: we've seen too many similar attacks like this in iraq and afghanistan and now again here in pakistan. this happened in the northwest region. this is alongside the tribal areas that separate pakistan from afghanistan, and what's significant about this here is it was too suicide bombers. they coordinated their attacks to be back-to-back shortly after dawn this morning hitting in a paramilitary center that's u.s.-funded like are the armed services throughout this country. among those whot are injured, about 40 of them said to be in critical condition at hospitals near and around pasha war. this is evidence in the eyes of the pakistani government that are illustrating the fact they have been victimized too often. the sacrifices they have made in the war on terror with tens of thousands killed since 9/11. >> and, peter, wie have new wor the united states has had a chance to interrogate bin laden's widows and there may be some more nosks on what was found in the compound. >> we have heard the u.s. did have a chance to interrogate those three wives. it's unclear exactly what information they gained, but officials tell us that the women provided no new real information, that their answers appeared rehearsed as if they had prepared them in case they were captured. but intelligence officials within the pakistani government tell us right now that in those conversations, one of the wives revealed the fact that bin laden never left that compound -- when she needed to go visit a doctor if she was sick, and even then she had to go out with one ever his trusted couriers. you asked about that other detail that came out from within the compound. we are now confirming a reuters report that initially said that there was pornographic material found inside that compound. right now it's unclear exactly what type. what we know for sure is that it's unclear if it belonged to osama bin laden or to somebody else. >> all right. peter alexander, live for us in pakistan with the developments there. thank you, peter. and for more on all of this mike viqueira live at the white house. mike, have we heard from anyone within the obama administration regarding this taliban attack, they say it's to avenge the death of osama bin laden. >> reporter: well, jay carney, the white house press secretary held an off camera meeting with reporters, they call it a gaggle around here. he said obviously the united states is in a state of high vigilance and although al qaeda was significantly weakened with the raid and killing of osama bin laden, it is not dead. so a state of high vigilance again and warning, as they have since the death of bin laden that sunday two weeks ago, that al qaeda is a wounded tiger, but by no means on its deathbed just yet. >> we know there have been some important meetings there today. the libyan opposition leadership as well as the president meeting with a nato leader. >> reporter: right. when you're talking about the libyan opposition leader, he was in the united kingdom yesterday. the state department earlier today. he's in the putative leader of the opposition in libya, but the question is will president obama drop by a scheduled meeting, incidentally it's scheduled to take place in two hours at the white house with the national security adviser here, tom donnell, and will the president stop by. there had been a lot of speculation over the course of the last couple days. we're being steered away from that possibility. other questions, the rebels are asking forcefully for recognition from the united states and other countries. jay carney telling us we don't anticipate any kind of announcement after that meeting in that regard. the rebels also want some of the funds from the gadhafi family, the assets that have been frozen to come their way. they describe their situation as desperate. they need resources and money. the administration is saying we're going to pursue legislation in congress to try to free up some of those funds. they're calling him, and this is a phrase we hear over the last day, he's a credible interlocutor between the united states government and the libyan rebels. if you look below the surface and talk to people, the government is still trying to sort out who these folks are. that's why you see some reticence surrounding this meeting. >> i have to ask you about a big resignation, george mitchell. the middle east special enjoy. tell us more about his resignation there. >> reporter: in the one sense if you look at it, george mitchell had always talked about a two-year term but in another sense when you look at the larger picture of what has happened in terms of the peace initiative in the middle east, things have really not gone very far ever since last fall. i believe it was in october the talks were suspended. disagreements because israel had lifted that moratorium on construction of settlements in the west bank, and then shortly after that you had the upheaval in tune e sha and egypt aisia a. the president is due to deliver a major address on middle east policy this thursday. it was just announced today at the state department. we also get a visit from the israeli prime minister netanyahu and the king of jordan, king abdullah, at the white house next week. >> a lot to talk about today from the white house. thank you very much. joining me now, bobby goche. we want to talk to you about our relationship with pakistan but i want to talk to you about the developments in libya. it's obviously a stalemate. you have the opposition leadership at the white house talking at the state department and in a meeting later today. they want to be recognized and they want more support. what more can we give them at this point? >> well, it's clear what they want. they want more countries to recognize them. they would love it if the u.s. would do so, france has done so, italy has done, qatar, and some others. i don't think they're going to get that recognition. the language out of the white house is very hess tan -- hesitant on that. we want more resources. they also want an outlet for oil to be i believe to sell some of oil they have. they want the gadhafi assets to be transferred to them, but these are all -- each one of these things is a legal minefield. sanctions actually work both ways. you can apply sanctions to a regime, you can freeze their assets, but it also restricts what you can do with those assets. so it's going to be very tricky to give them everything that they want. on the other hand, there's reason for them to be upbeat. for the past two weeks, the past two weeks have been very bad for colonel gaffe. he lost one of his sons. there have been more concentrated around his compound in tripoli. the rebels in misrata have gotten control of the airport. there's more sort of uprising in the west. so the rebels are feeling, i think, better about themselves now than they did a week or two ago -- >> but even with a bad week for gadhafi, he has still not used the full force of the resources available to him. >> i think what nato has done successfully is estimate his ability to use those resources. they bombed his tanks, limited -- he can't really get his planes up in the air. so he's played pretty much mops of t of the cards that he can. they're strong cards, but the rebels feel they have momentum behind them now. >> i have to talk to you again about the issue this week. you have an article on the relationship between pakistan and the united states. pakistan saying today that it never denied access to the united states to interrogate bin laden's widows or access to the information they obtained from that compound. where does this relationship truly stand? we've heard u.s. officials say it is important, but others say it is important but we can't trust them and that's lindsay graham who stated that. >> well, i think the crucial point, and this is the point we make in our cover story this week, is that this is an alliance. this is not a friendship. pakistan and the united states are not friends. to be friends you need much more. this is an alliance of convenience. it was convenient for pakistan to be an ally of the united states because it gives them access to a lot of military funds and that basically after 9/11 when president bush said you're either with us or against us, that was the reason pakistan came on board. and for the u.s., too, this is not really -- this is not a meeting of minds. this is an ally that the united states needs in order to fight a fight in afghanistan. so it's -- once you begin to look at it as a sort of marriage of convenience rather than a meeting of hearts, then it's easier to make sense of this relationship. pakistan's goals within its region are actually quite different from the united states' goals. the united states wants victory in afghanistan at this point and wants to get out. pakistan is not going anywhere. afghanistan is right there on its border. it has a large number of afghan refugees. it needs to have, it believes, a relationship with the taliban that will continue after the united states has left. and a lot of pakistan's actions, different branches of the government, different branches of the military giving different messages. it comes from wanting to continue to get aid from the u.s. but also protecting what they say as their own interests. >> bobby gosh, thank you for coming on with us. right now the army corps of engineers is preparing to take drastic action to save new orleans and beige, louisiana, from rising waters. governor bobby jindal says a massive spillway north of baton rouge is expected to be opened this weekend to protect the two cities, but thousands of other homes will be swamped as a result. some of the areas could be left under 20 feet of water. meantime, the white house announced today president obama will meet with flood victims when he travels to memphis, tennessee, monday. the president has already declared memphis and surrounding counties disaster areas to make them eligible for federal aid. the president is headed to memphis monday to deliver a commencement address at a high school that won the white house education competition. still ahead, a plumber who is supposed to be trying to figure out what's wrong with a leaky hot water heater is caught on camera doing this. dateline nbc's chris hansen goes undercover to put some repairmen to the test. i bet you can -- you can guess what he found. he's going to join us to give us a sneak preview of dateline tonight. plus, new details on the ethics investigation involving john ensign. why he says he could not stop his affair with a female staffer and what this all means for him. also next up, what's next for team tate. the headmaster of a connecticut high school says she won't change her mind about banning james tate from his prom but there's now been a pledge to have a sit-in by fellow students. the latest on their fight to get their friend to the prom. a live report is next. my cream is what makes stouffer's fettuccini alfredo so delicious. i think you'll find it's the vegetables. deliciously rich. flavorful! [ female announcer ] together at last. introducing new stouffer's farmers' harvest with sides of lightly sauteed farm-picked vegetables. find more ways to get to the table at letsfixdinner.com. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back to "news nation." about 25 students staged a sit-in this morning inside the connecticut high school which has found itself at the center of a heated controversy. students at shelton high school are trying to support their classmate. you may have heard of this kid. he's an honor student, james tate, and he's not been allowed to attend this year's prom because he posted a message to his would-be date in huge cardboard letters on the side of the school. the headmaster sticking to her decision. did the sit-in make a difference? >> reporter: the short answer is no. school is just getting out here and it could have been an eventful day. students have planned a sit-in but the headmaster came out a few minutes ago and told us when they tried to gather for that sit-in they were told to go back to class and the students went back to class and there was no disturbance. that was perhaps a setback for team tate. this all started with that message on the what you will that you described. james tate who is a senior here posted that invitation to a friend to go to prom on a wall. he got suspended for trespassing but the school has a long standing policy that students suspended after april 1st can't go to prom. because he was suspended after april 1st, he was banned from the prom. the outpouring of support for james to be able to go to prom has been phenomenal. the let james tate go to the prom facebook page has more than 174,000 likes. just to give you a little perspective there. in the last few hours it has grown by more than 1,000 likes an hour. the gorer in er igovernor of k t the mayor of shelton says what's the big deal, let the kid go to prom. she says she's not going to bend the rules. >> joining me now, michael smerconish. and, michael, that headmaster sounds like my first grade teacher who was a really tough catholic school nun at our mother of mercy in ft. worth, texas. this lady, she doesn't care. she's like i don't care about facebook, i don't care about any of this. i'm sticking to the rule of the school. what do you think? >> no fun allowed. it sounds like that's the one and only rule at the shelton high school. this has to change and i predict it will change. it reminds me of a conversation you and i had a couple days ago about a guy with pot in texas, and because it was his third or fourth offense, he's now going away for life and i said this is the flip side of mandatory sentencing. and i'm thinking the same thing as i look at this high school example, this inflexibility is wrong. when i first saw the photograph, i thought he painted that on the school wall. then i would understand it. he taped it for goodness takes. he should never have been suspended. this is a one or two hour detention at most. let him go to the prom. >> i will play the less popular side of this because i think most people gagree with you. but, michael, he broke the rule and if she changes the school rule that's been in place for this kid, james tate, then the next person who is suspended -- and the rule basically is if you're suspended or reprimanded between a certain length of time near the prom you don't go to the prom. that's been the rule and, yes, sometimes they're meant to be broken, but how many times then will she have to change after this incident? >> well, i believe in the rule. i just think that the punishment in this case didn't warrant getting suspended. i remember what those days were like, springtime, senior year, testosterone at an all-time high. guys in particular go goofy things. this is american graffiti for goodness sake. >> if he can't go, should the girl go to the prom without him? >> no. heck no. >> come on. >> no, no. i'm sure that somebody will buy them a wonderful dinner and give them a limo and a corsage and it will all be good. but what a tragedy that would be. >> it's not a tragedy. come on. >> yes, it would be a tragedy. >> i'm kidding. she should stick with him because she may get something better, some fancy free meal by people who are supporting him or something. >> thank you. >> and i would never leave you behind, i would stick with the team. >> this story was our gut check yesterday. look at what the "news nation" is saying about whether james should be allowed to go to the prom. 94% of you say yes, let him go. 6% of you, and i'm so happy you're not my teachers or parents, say no, he should not be allowed to go. moving on, a death threat directed toward president obama is printed in a london newspaper. we are live with the details regarding the person who is now in custody. plus, an unusual request by prosecutors in the casey anthony trial. the gruesome reason why they're asking potential jurors about their sense of smell. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. elliott nelson owns seven restaurants within blocks of each other in tulsa, oklahoma. the establishments range from mexican, japanese, a deli, even a bowling alley. it's a balancing act. he's his own competition. the bad news, he's his own competition. watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. welcome back to "news nation." if you're a homeowner when something breaks you have to find somebody to fix it. often these days people do that online, but how do you know that you can trust the person you're letting into your home? that's what nbc's chris hansen wanted to know. sow took his hidden camera and hit the road for the "dateline" undercover investigation. chris is here with me now. i have seen a peek of this preview and i love it because i think so many people can relate to this fear. >> everybody has been through it. and we're just as surprised as anybody else when we got this hidden camera video. we tested air conditioning repairmen, garage door repairmen, pool repairmen and in almost every case somebody tried to scam us. >> reporter: our volunteer jenny allowed us to equip her house top to bottom with hidden cameras. then we created a simple problem with her water heater. is there anything currently wrong with this hot water heater? >> not at all. >> reporter: mark is a master plumber in phoenix. >> if you can see there's some water here right now. >> reporter: all he did was unscrew this nut to create a slow drip. and all you'd have to do to fix it is tighten the nut. takes just a few seconds. >> it looks like my water heat ser leaking in my garage. >> reporter: here comes the plumber, adrian. jenny heads inside leaving adrian alone in the garage. but he doesn't try to diagnose or fix the problem. instead, he walks around in circles for a while chatting on his cell phone. apparently he's already made up his mind. >> you need a new water heater. >> i need a new water heater. >> reporter: adrian says if jenny wants hot water she has no other choice. >> this is a must-do right now. >> reporter: it's time for me to have a chat with adrian. what would you bet me that i could fix this in about two seconds? >> show me. >> reporter: okay. >> so you brought me out here to fix this yourself? >> reporter: no, i brought you out here to see what you'd do because there's something you got to know. i'm chris hansen with "dateline" nbc and we're doing a story on the quality of work repairmen do when they come out to the house. >> this is what i see. there's corrosion right here. if you could bring this camera down here. >> reporter: of course, there is no corrosion. or expert says what he's pointing out is just dirty water. and i have to admit to you, tamron, i am not that handy. so if i can use that wrench and fix the hot water leak, just about anybody could. out of all the different repairmen and the services and the companies who came to the house over several days, we did get some honest guys and some guys came in and said it's just the fuse. didn't charge, left the card for future work but, you know, it was amazing how many guys tried to rip us off in all categories. >> and i guess it is one of no he is things where as you pointed out, you're not handy and a lot of people are not. how am i going to know if he's not being straight up? i just want it fixed. when you tell me it's going to explode, that amps up my worry. >>ened you could die. >> i can't wait to see the rest of it tonight. be sure to see chris' entire report. watch it sunday night at 7:00 eastern on nbc. thanks. and in today's gut check, new york city is launching a shocking new campaign warning people of the speed limit. one of these new ads actually uses this, a skeleton. it is an attempt to slow people down but is it going too far? plus -- >> wow, you can really see that every american pulled together to win this war, even the gals were in on it. >> you go, girl. >> show those germans and japanese the power of america. >> you go, girl. that's a new car soon series launched by possible presidential hopeful mike hu huckabee. it's supposed to be a tool to teach a version of hit, but whose version of history is it? 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[ male announcer ] learn more about the school of business at phoenix.edu. welcome back to the "news nation." new details in the john ensign sex scandal as the justice department weighs whether to pursue criminal charges. plus an alleged death threat against president obama before his trip to ireland. and jury selection is under way for the murder trial of casey anthony. is there a chance this trial could be delayed yet again? and a social worker visits pop star mariah carey just after giving birth to her twins after disturbing allegations of drinking and drug use. we'll get to the bottom of that story. and an interesting political week to say the least. big news involving john ensign's ethics investigation. mitt romney's big health care speech not living up to expectations for some and another republican makes it official for 2012. >> at this moment i'm officially announcing that i am a candidate for president in the republican primary. i believe right now we're coming in number one in the republican primary is an absolute possibility. many, many times better than it was four years ago. >> let's bring in nbc deputy political director mark murray and, mark, we'll talk about congressman paul in a second. he says this is the right time. i want to pick up on john ensign. we learned a lot of details yesterday obviously of an embarrassment for his personal life, but this could have bigger ramifications than just a blush because now people are in your personal details of your life. >> exactly, tamron. this goes beyond politics and even the open senate seat for who will replace ensign eventually come november 2012. but what ended up happening yesterday, there was a senate ethics committee that said there was evidence that ensign broke the law, they said in their allegations against ensign, and even recommended sending that paper and those allegations to the u.s. justice department. one of those allegations has to do with the fact that the parents of ensign gave $96,000 to the aide that he was having an affair with as well as her husband who was also an ensign aide and saying that was almost a violation of campaign finance. there are several other charges there, but certainly a lot of dirty personal laundry as well as these allegations. >> one of the statements yesterday concealment is part of the anatomy of an affair. concealment conduct by senator ensign exceeded the normal acts of discretion. there was this phone call between ensign and the husband of the woman he was having an affair and at one point i guess tim says to senator ensign, i know exactly where you are, exactly what you're doing, put your pants on and go home to which ensign replied, i can't, i love her. i don't know politically where he could go. obviously he's resigned. how might this affect what's happened in nevada for his seat? >> we have a temporary replacement. former congressman dean heller who is running for the seat in 2012. as you know how quickly things move in politics. certainly ensign's shadow will end up playing a big role and hover over that race. however there's going to be so many other twists and turns that race might be more decided on who wins the presidential contest, particularly in that swing state of nevada. but certainly this was the reason why ensign resigned from the senate just a few weeks ago. just imagine if he were still a member of the united states senate and that report came out yesterday. >> you saw the writing on the wall. let's move on to the republican field. many have described it as a weak gop field. you have mike huckabee saying he's got a big announcement this saturday. i don't know what it is. you maybe can give us some insight. we saw mitt romney by some accounts even by conservatives say that he tanked yesterday with his big health care speech. >> well, tamron, on the huckabee news, it has been confirmed that he is going to announce on his show on fox on saturday night. going to make the announcement about his ultimate presidential decision. no one knows which way he'll go, but the taep leaves have suggested that he probably won't be running for president and a couple suggestions why not. a lot of the aides that work for him in the 2008 presidential race have already aligned themselves with other republican contenders which leads you to suggest that they have an idea that huckabee wouldn't end up running for president. and he's also going to even be hosting a cruise to alaska come june, so there would be certainly a pause if he announces he's going to be running for president and then still goes on this cruise to alaska that he has been paid to host. so it seems that he would be against a presidential bid, but you never know, and certainly he's built some -- just some suspense on what he'll end up deciding and on the romney front, certainly health care will continue to be an issue that will play out. certainly he didn't placate all of his critics on health care, republicans or democrats, and that's going to be a very, very big issue in the months ahead. >> ron paul says the time is right but when you look at this week between paul, romney, and gingrich, who had the better week? >> that's a really good question. probably ron paul hasn't had a lot of people go after him today. he's had probably a pretty good week. you know, when you get to announce on your own terms, go to a network, have your rally, it should be a good week for you. i think when you look at mitt romney, his people realize that it was going to be a tough speech yesterday. their idea is to actually try to get that health care issue in the rear-view mirror, move ahead, criticize president obama, but of course it's much easier said than done as i said earlier. health care will be debated throughout the primary and probably even through the certainly election. >> speaking of moving ahead, where are things going with the debt ceiling negotiations? you have senate minority leader mitch mcconnell saying they don't need any more hearings about the debt ceiling until a significant conversation on medicare reforms is provided on the table. >> tamron, we've heard a lot of ratchet up rhetoric from republicans. they are asking for a whole lot. mcconnell there talking about reductions in medicare and medicaid. you also have house speaker john boehner saying we need cuts in the trillions, not billions. republicans are making some very high demands, but one thing to realize, we are just in may right now. and this is the rhetoric season in this debate. the treasury department has said that the debt ceiling really won't expire all their funds, that you won't reach that true deadline until later this summer, late july, early august, and always having this deadline is when the deals get cut. now is the time for talk. a few weeks from now would be the time for action. >> what a week, mark. thank you for the run down. we should call this mark murray's round up of the week. >> it was quite a week. >> thank you, friend. be sure to catch congressman ron paul on hard bawl with 5:00 and 7:00 eastern and then newt gingrich talks exclusively with david gregory this sunday on nbc's "meet the press." check your local listings. . "news nation" is following a developing story out of ireland involving threats against president obama who is scheduled to arrive in ireland next weekend. a man is in custody thousand in dublin. nbc's mike taibbi joins us live from london with the latest. what can you tell us about this individual being held? >> reporter: i can tell you one thing, this is not some shadowy figure who has been eluding a manhunt. he's more like a media creation or media figure in ireland. he's a 44-year-old former catholic alter boy named terry kelly. he goes by the name khalid terry. he's known by the headline writers as taliban terry. he converted to islam, married a pakistani woman and had two sons, one of whom he named osama. he's an admirer of osama bin laden and sharia law. what got him arrested was an interview that was published earlier this week in which he said he expected al qaeda to kill president obama when the president stops in ireland on the way to the g-8 summit on may 23rd and that he believed, he, taliban terry, believed that terrorists would pay as much as $1 million or more to anyone prepared to do the job. kelly said he couldn't do it himself because he's just become too well-known. he gives so many interviews. he's appeared in documentaries as ireland's most notorious islam convert. he said i would be happy if obama was killed. how could i not be happy when an enemy of islam is gone. he's being held but can only be held for three days. it's been published he's going to be released even before the president gets to ireland. that's who it is. taliban terry, likely to be released even before obama gets there. >> mike, thank you very much for the live report from london for us. jury selection in the casey anthony murder trial has hit a speed bump you might say. the 25-year-old defense attorneys have moved to dismiss one man from the pool of potential jurors. the issue seems to have been a question about his prior arrest record. nbc's kerry sanders is watching it all from clearwater, florida, for us. kerry, obviously one of the big headlines anyway is a worry this trial could be delayed yet again. >> reporter: exactly. i think the detail that the defense is going into in terms of selecting these jurors is really quite illuminating. the reason this one man who was brought up as a potential juror was released is because the defense asked him, have you ever been arrested of a crime before, ever been convicted of a crime before. he said no. and then the defense attorney brought out a picture, a mug shot, and said isn't this you? aren't you convicted of a dui? and then he went on and said, didn't you buy these items on the internet? didn't you buy a little toy electric chair? didn't you buy a skull? are you a blogger? and he said, well, i have written some stuff on the internet. and he goes didn't you write something on the internet about a portrait of a serial killer. we are now at -- the sefert to get 12 jurors and 8 alternates. they now have 7 jurors, 4 men, 3 women. they just selected another injure, a woman who is in her 30s who is a nurse. interestingly though, as they go through this, the defense attorneys are holding the right sort -- reserving the right to say they can use what are known as preemptory challenges. they can say afterwards, no, i don't want that one. let's move on to the next one. again, the goal is to have a total of 20 so they can begin this case next tuesday in orlando and, of course, for the jurors, they will be impanelled and sequestered for up to eight weeks guarded in a hotel in orlando during the entire duration of this trial. >> kerry, what about this question i guess for potential jurors. they were asked about their sense of smell. do we know why they were asked that question? >> reporter: they were, and it's really quite revealing. little caylee anthony, the 2-year-old who died here, casey, the mother accused of murdering her, it's believed she was in the trunk of the car that casey was in and that there was an odor emanating from there. there's some scientific evidence that the state will present showing that her decomposed body was in there. part of the evidence the prosecution has are canisters that are sealed with what they indicated to the judge contained the odor that they would like to open up and have each of the jurors smell so that the defense cannot suggest it was a rotting piece of pizza or some other garbage but it has a distinct odor of a decomposing body. the judge is not certain he's ever going to allow the jury to, as he says, become witnesses where they have to smell something that's been inside a can for so long. >> thank you for the latest on this case so many people are interested in watching. it is official, have you heard? ashton kutcher lands a major role at the center -- i can't hold it. ashton is replacing charlie sheen. we're going to get more details in the scoop ahead. first, here are some of the things we thought you should know. georgia's governor has signed an arizona-style immigration bill into law. the bill allows police to question certain suspects about their immigration status, punishes anyone who transports or harbors illegal immigrants and requires many employers to check the status of workers. and mike huckabee is considering a 2012 run. we may know what he's going to do on saturday. but he's also working on this new project. he made an animated video for children aimed at apparently he said correcting what his website calls blame america first attitude he believes exists in classrooms. one episode is called, the reagan revolution. >> the dourn turn in the economy is killing us. people are out of work. some of their morals are just gone. >> give me your money. >> why is everybody so excited? >> because they see hope. >> god had a plan for america and i soo he it as shining city on a hill. >> huckabee says teachers have not found a way to make history fun for students, and you can bet there have been plenty of critics of that animated movie. and a democratic candidate for california congress dan adler has some creative campaign ads and they have gone viral. you have to see this. we're going to leave you with one featuring adler's own son that is getting so much attention. watch it. >> oh, yeah? well, my dad is a lawyer. >> yeah, well my dad is a molecular biologist? >> yeah, my dad is the ceo of a web company. >> well my dad gets [ bleep ] done. >> oh, no! for pain? oh, bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. it works great for pain. [ male announcer ] nothing's proven to relieve pain better than extra strength bayer aspirin. it rushes relief to the site of pain. feel better? yeah. thanks for the tip. maybe you don't think you're at risk for heart attack or stroke but if you've been diagnosed with p.a.d., or have pain or heaviness in your legs, i want to talk to you. you may have heard of poor leg circulation, which could be peripheral artery disease, or p.a.d. with p.a.d., if you have poor circulation in your legs, you may also have poor circulation in your heart or in your brain, your risk for heart attack or stroke is more than doubled with p.a.d. now, ask yourself: am i at risk? if you're not sure, call for this free information kit to learn more. [ female announcer ] call the toll free number on the screen now to find out what the risks of p.a.d. really are. you'll find a 7-point checklist that helps you understand what could be putting you at risk. if you have symptoms, you'll learn how treating symptoms is different from reducing your risk. you'll also learn about lifestyle changes and treatment options that can help reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke. there's even a discussion guide for you to bring to your doctor that can help you discuss p.a.d. together. call the toll free number on the screen for your free information kit today. the risk is real. take the next step. call today. i'm martin bashir. coming up at the top of the hour, a stash of porn found in osama bin laden's compound. the sordid details of the ensign affair, and some men who chase ghosts for a living. i guess it must be friday the 13th. and we have breaking in us to report out of libya right now. libya state tv has aired an audio statement by moammar gadhafi. in the statement gadhafi says he's alive after nato attacks and has the support of millions of libyans. he also says he's living in a place where, quote, you can't reach me to kill me. again, there were conflicting reports from an italian official who said that gadhafi had been injured and had fled tripoli and now we're just getting this audio statement in for moammar gadhafi saying also in part, if you kill my body, you won't be able to kill my soul so trying to make it clear he is still in libya and is alive and well at this point. we'll bring you the very latest on libya and what is happening there. in the meantime, charlie sheen has been replaced officially on "two and a half men," and a social worker investigating mariah carey in the hospital. let's get the scoop from our pop culture columnist courtney hazlett. it was sent out in a cryptic tweet by ashton kutcher -- >> that our long national nightmare is over, there's someone going to replace the gaping hold left by charlie sheen. he sent out a cute tweet asking what the square root of 6.25 is. the answer is two and a half. his coy reaction last night before it became official. a lot of buzz about how much money ashton kuch ser going to make. i can tell you high ranking people tell me the million dollar per episode fee is wildly off base. i think what cbs hopes is he brings his 5 million twitter followers and 3.5 million facebook friends over to the network when he joins it. >> can he save the show? what do you think? >> i think the show can do really well with him. i don't think it needs saving. i think it's going to do very well because it did so well before. i think ashton is a great pick. he will be fun to watch. as far as mariah carey, there were abuse allegations leveled against her -- >> by whom. >> and nick cannon told piers morgan that a social worker visited her in the hospital saying she was possibly having alcohol or doing drugs. nick cannon thinks it stemmed from the fact that a nurse at the hospital suggested that she drink a very small amount of dark beer or guinness to improve her breast feeding. nick thinks that a person overheard this and wanted to sell the story to the tabloids which is just absolutely rep reprehensib reprehensible. give these new parents some time to settle into it and enjoy being new parents. >> she had a very public pregnancy, just don't make up stuff about people. that's terrible. >> precisely. >> thank you. be sure to get the latest entertainment news. log on to scoop.today.com. courtney is also on twitter like ashton kutcher and she's got 4 million people. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] doctors have been saying it forever. let's take a look. but they've never actually been able to do it like this. let's take a look. v-scan from ge healthcare. a pocket sized imaging device that will help change the way doctors see patients. that's better health for more people. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's either this magic number i'm supposed to reach, or... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's beach homes or it's starting a vineyard. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 come on ! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 just help me figure it out tdd# 1-800-345-2550 in a practical, let's-make- this-happen kind of way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a vineyard ? 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do new york city's new digital speed signs that splash skeleton figures go too far? go to newsnation. msnbc.c msnbc.com to cast your vote. martin bashir is up next. look, both these potted plants got the same sun. same water. only difference? this. miracle-gro potting mix. rich organic ingredients with miracle-gro plant food mixed right in. it even feeds plants for six straight months. want this result? gotta start with this soil. miracle-gro potting mix. success starts with the soil. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ flash, aah-ah l about blackberry playbook? that's right. it runs flash. so unlike some tablets we could mention, you get the best of the internet - not just part of it. ♪ flash, aah-ah ♪ flash, aah-ah god afternoon. it's friday, the 1th of may, and here is what's happening. the devil is in the details. if you want a great summer read, why not grab the report on senator john ensign. more real life stories of sex, lies, and bribes than danielle steele could dream up in a month of sundays. plus a treasure trove of