your money, maybe ins respect it wasn't so smart. it is another embarrassment for the agency, was a goal of efficiency and to save taxpayer dollars. now there's another official at the gsa who is paying the price for that. >> office space. >> i know, we'll talk about that straight ahead. a savage st. patrick's day beating and robbery caught on tape, a man stripped of his clothes and belongings, stood by recorded it and laughed at him. terrible pictures. it is tuesday, april 10th and "starting point" begins right now. ♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> good morning, you're listening to john fugelsang's playlist, "cheer down" a political comedian. >> good morning. >> roland martin the host of "washington watch." >> on tv-one.

>> and a host of several thousand other things. >> black man have to have multiple jobs in this economy. >> and will cain, columnist at theblaze.com. no surprise to me george zimmerman has launched his own website to try to raise money for his defense i guess. >> and living expenses. >> clearly. he can't work, not going to school anymore, in hiding. i'm not surprised by that at all. are you? >> i guess not. george zimmerman's life totally changed over the last two weeks. regardless of his guilt or innocence i would imagine he's looking for some aid as well. >> trayvon martin's family have been raising funds for a legal defense because they have lawyers as well in this case, so this is not shocking. it happens in many other cases. we see it all the time. >> so on his website he has written this, "on sunday, february 26th, i was involved in a life-altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. as a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, i've

been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately my entire life." he goes on to say the website's sole purpose is to solicit donations to help fund his defense, if in fact that is needed. it comes out the same day special prosecutor angela corey said she'll not convene a grand jury in the case. mark, thank you for talking with us. >> good morning. >> this isn't an unusual or surprising thing to do. is this unusual for someone not charged with a crime to start think being raising funds for a potential defense? >> no, he needs an attorney now and he's doing the right thing. these type of cases, national cases are all-consuming. his lawyers will be working morning, noon and night and they need to make a living. the reality of it is for those who suggest let him get a job. he can't. his life is in true danger. there's been a rush to judgment

by many and suggestions that he has done it without really all the facts coming in, so i think there's really very few alternatives right now other than to raise money. having lawyers is an expensive proposition and he needs them as early as possible. >> there's no debate over whether or not he shot and killed trayvon martin. that's a fact of the case. interestingly on his website he wrote as i was just reading a moment ago "i was involved in a life altering event" and calls it an "incident" as well. does that surprise you? >> no, sounds like his lawyers helped word it, can't make any admissions or confessions and there's no reason to expand beyond that. we all know in fact he was the shooter. the issue is legally whether it was justified or not under florida's law so no i think they guarded their words appropriately and i'm impressed with the fact that he was honest about it. he said he was using it for living expenses and just not legal expenses. he is simply saying he can't work so i think that it was a

full disclosure of what the funds were intended for which was appropriate. >> as a defense attorney would you ever, ever advise a client, say it does move forward and he starts using the website as more than just a place to get funds, but also to have a conversation, which people often do on their own websites, here is my position, here is what i'm doing, where i can talk to my people. i imagine you would think that would be a disaster. >> of course, any time you talk those comments are going to be used against you. there are cases when you're going to want a client to talk, this is not one of them. this is a case where question need to wait for all the evidence to come out so we can better and fully assess what in fact happened and whether the acts fit into florida's law or not and i think there will be a substantial debate about is florida's law proper and the whole issue about people's rights to arm themselves and where they should arm themselves and when they can use those

weapons, so this is going to not only deal with this specific issue but i think the debate will be far, far greater. >> clearly, i would agree you that stand your ground will be closely examined. angela corey decided not to take the case to the grand jury and many people, regardless of how their perspective on the case, have called her courageous for not doing that. explain that to me. why is that courageous? >> well, typically when you have a controversial case, high publicity case it's very easy for the prosecutor to hide behind the grand jury, and simply take political shelter from the decision of the grand jury, which she has done and always done apparently, she goes, i don't go to the grand jury. i fully investigate my case and then i make a decision about which charges, if any, to bring against the accused and apparently she's staying consistent with this as she has in previous cases. she announced early on she never goes to the grand jury and i think this is consistent.

it would be easy in a case like this saying the people have spoken with the grand jury. she's choosing not to do that. the fact of the matter, though, is that she has got some very serious decisions to make. i think she's going to go ahead and do an exhaustive examination, far more than an investigation than a grand jury would be able to do, sitting and then listening to the evidence come in. >> mark, will cain. does the fact that angela corey decided not to go to a grand jury indicate to you one way or another whether or not she intends to bring charges at all? >> i don't think it indicates anything. i think that it's getting her the requisite time she thinks she needs to conduct a full and complete investigation. there needs to be tape enhancements, there's questions about when the "please help me" is on the tape, there's debate as to who was saying that. there's witnesses aparentally in some form or another who are out there. there is some enhancement that needed to be done and has been

done on the videotape when he was being processed or walked through the port of the jail. there's a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration and then those facts need to be plugged into florida's law. and so there's a lot here. then she has to determine do the actions, can they prove a case in good faith, they have ethical obligations, can they move forward in good faith? there's a lot going on here. >> mark the grand jury date was set by the previous d.a. she didn't actually set this, so she really wasn't obligated to take it to the grand jury. >> exactly. i mean it could have been canceled anyway, but that's exactly right. norm wolfinger, the state attorney for that circuit initially had it set through his assistant state attorneys when she assumed the case it was her case. this is her ball game. she'll make the decisions she deems appropriate and i think we have to take her at her word. she's a tough prosecutor, without question but this is

consistent with what she's always done. she is going to go ahead and take the hits and take the responsibility for whatever the decision is and moving forward appropriately. >> no with no grand jury, no first-degree murder, that's off the table. does that surprise you? >> no, there's no first-degree murder here. that would require premeditation. if we see charges come down they'll be man slaughter in one form another and whether there be an aggravator because of the age of trayvon. if we see a charge come down it will be in the manslaughter category, which is still serious in florida because you have a firearm, used in the commission of a death so we have very serious gun laws especially if a death ensues. >> mark najame, cnn contributor and defense attorney, nice to see you.. appreciate your time. >> my pleasure, good morning. >> thank you. coming up we'll talk to darrel parks, an attorney for trayvon martin's family, that's up later this morning. first a look at the

headlines, other stories making news. christine, good morning. >> good morning, soledad. five terrorist suspects with alleged ties to osama bin laden soon could be brought to the u.s. to face charges. the suspects have been fighting extradition from britain for several years, claimed they'den treated poorly in an american prison but the european court of human rights has ruled against them. an fa-18 hornet slammed into an apartment complex in virginia last week, several people including two pilots were hurt. we look at the pictures, amazingly no one died. one witness describes a pilot landing on her patio. >> the pilot is on your patio? >> yes, and nobody's here! and i've been calling and calling and there's no ambulance. >> is the pilot conscious? >> yes, he is. the last i saw him, he was. >> okay, so he's no longer on

your patio right now? >> he's still on my patio, but they told me to evacuate and there's other guys there helping him. my neighbors are there helping him. >> the u.s. navy is compensating people affected by the crash, paying for housing, meals, clothing, and counseling. minding your business this morning, stock futures are pointing higher today as wall street tries to erase a four-day losing streak, the worst patch of the year. alumin aluminummaker alcoa first to report for the january to march quarter. facebook purchased instagram, photo sharing app for $1 billion, $1 billion, not bad for a company that's been around less than two years. instagram has only 13 employees, still hasn't turned a profit, but it does have something facebook wants, has more than 30 million users, and it has a technology that a lot of folks like. another mega millions

lottery winner claimed their share of the $656 million jackpot. maryland lottery official also hold a press conference to announce the winning ticket holder in that state has come forward. the winner plans to stay anonymo anonymous, the second out of three mega millions winners, the final one in illinois has not come forward yet but the first two i'm pretty sure, anonymity is a good thing when you landed a couple hundred million dollars, soledad. >> yep, yep, yep. christine, thank you. here is an outrageous story, videotape of a guy basically mugged, disturbing to watch, in baltimore, maryland, st. patrick's day, a guy visiting from out of town being robbed and clocked in the face, then he's stripped naked and all of these people are just standing by and laughing and watching even though they eventually called police, they were filming the scene. the video went viral and there

have been certain bloggers outraged seeing the guy attacked and the nerve to shoot the whole thing and post it so it goes viral they're using freeze frames to help identify the individuals especially the guy who punched him in the face there, trying to see if they can do that. some of that they said was outrage the bloggers because they felt like here you have a white tourist and young black people around him, and they feel like it's not getting the same sense of outrage that the trayvon martin case had got, even though you know obviously he did not die. >> who posted it? put down the camera and help the guy. who posted it? >> it's one of its most offensive things about the story actually as much as it is they're beating the hell out of him, how many stood there watched and laughed and did nothing? >> to me they were active participants in trying to humiliate this man. it wasn't like a bystander who didn't jump to n to help. >> apparently he poke up the next morning, was drunk, didn't

know what happened to him, couldn't tell the police how it happened until this showed up online. >> of course with the various bloggers, the police arrived on the scene looking after him. second thing is, he wasn't killed. >> of course. >> so when people are sitting here looking at cases and what happens, it's a difference between somebody is sitting here gunned down who is dead and someone who has an opportunity to actually go after those individuals, and they should be using facial recognition to determine who actually was in the video. same thing happened -- >> people should be outraged. >> and the flash mob things that took place as well in montgomery county. >> there's a time and place for that behavior, fraternity hazing. >> and you're joking. >> sure. >> i'm a grown man, somebody hit me for some lettuce, we have a problem. >> how did we get on to fraternity hazing. >> trust me, we have a problem. >> moving on, still ahead on "starting point" this morning, a boy with a teddy bear, women with their faces covered, the first look at osama bin laden's

widows and children under house arrest. also newt gingrich basically conceived the race to mitt romney, doesn't drop out though. why not? we'll talk to his campaign straight ahead. and a real estate kaboom, making luxury condos out of nuclear sigh lows. there's a hefty price tag when you hear details. sounds nice to live there. we'll leave you with christine's playlist. need any help? uh, nope. just, uh, checking out my ad. nice. but, you know, with every door direct mail from the postal service, you'll find the customers that matter most: the ones in your neighborhood. print it yourself, or we'll help you find a local partner. and postage is under 15 cents. i wish i would have known that cause i really don't think i chose the best location.

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♪ that's david bowie "modern love" off of newt gingrich campaign spokesman joe desantis' playlist. he'll talk about his candidate admitting he will most likely not be the republican nominee for president.

>> you have to be realistic, given the size of his organization and the number of primaries he's won he's far and away the most likely republican nominee and if he does get to 1,144 delegates i'll support him and do everything i can this fall to help him beat obama president primary goal has to be to defeat barack obama. >> so far newt gingrich hasn't actually dropped out of the race, despite having been in a distant third with 140 delegates so far. let's get to joe desantis, who joins us from washington, d.c. >> good morning, thanks for having me. >> it's my pleasure. thanks for being with us. he can't win, in debt roughly about $4.5 million in debt and when you hear him talk, he sort of sounds he's capitulating in one way but not capitulating, not getting out of the race. why not? >> well in that interview he was acknowledging governor romney's delegate lead but he went on to point out that just because the odds are against you, doesn't

mean that you stop fighting for what you believe in, and newt is determined to keep fighting until one candidate has 1,144 or if nobody gets to 1,144 to go on to the convention and make the case individually to the delegates on the floor. newt has a particular brand of 21st century conservatism, an individual oriented conserve serve ticconserv conservetism, what the american people voted for and wouldn't have gotten in the race if he didn't believe that was a unique perspective and a unique vision for the country, and he's determined to keep making that vision, and one of the ways that he is going to keep making that case is by talking about the republican party platform. it allows newt to both influence the future of the party and the future of the country, but also keep the focus on ideas, where

he, and if there's been one consistent pattern is that when newt is talking about gold ideas and big solutions he's doing well and some of the more typical back and forth of the campaign, sort of pettiness of it doesn't, it hasn't served us very well so this is both a tool to affect the future of the party and affect the future of the country but also get us back on the ground where we've had more of an advantage. >> there's the change, right, in what the message of the last couple weeks. i think when we talk to you and the rest of the people in the gingrich campaign a couple weeks ago it was what you started your message, taking this to a floor fight, fighting mitt romney from getting 1,144. with newt saying "i think platforms matter and the party is about more than just a presidential campaign" it's about ideas, you've shifted, you've become sort of like a ron paul campaign. am i wrong? you're an advocacy campaign about issues important to you and i have to think for guys like you personally, joe, that changes your job. >> no, we've always viewed our

mission, and -- it's never been a job for anyone on the gingrich campaign. it's always been a mission, is to advocate for a particular vision for the country, and it is -- i'll give you an example. we're not normal i guess political consultants on our campaign. lot of us are policy people, and newt is one of the only people -- is the only person in the race that identified that amidst all the talk about controlling health care costs with bureaucracies or with 15-member panels on obama care, the greatest driver downward pressure driver of costs in medicine is medical break-throughs so newt is the only one who talked about we need to fundamentally overhaul the food and drug administration because it acts as a bottleneck. >> in your mind it's all about the ideas and every time you've had big ideas that's helped new

the polls. >> that's been -- >> what about his tone is much more conciliatory when we heard him over the weekend, and yet as you well know, senator john mccain, who is a mitt romney supporter, has said this has been terrible, is not hurting republicans' chances, this does not help them down the road as it heads into november. how is it possible to undo the damage that newt gingrich has wrought upon mitt romney, assuming that mitt romney will in fact be the noment know? >> it's funny to hear that from senator mccain seeing as how he had the nomination wrapped up in a couple of weeks in 2008 and senator obama and clinton kept going for months and he ended up getting beaten pretty decisively. i don't think there's any evidence that an extended primary hurts the general, eventual nominee. >> i don't think there was any point at which hillary clinton or barack obama were calling each other liar or some of the things newt gingrich has called

mitt romney. >> do you remember the red phone ad? >> i do, very effective ad. that was as bad as it got, a very effective ad but i would argue and i think others would join me in this and jump me in and tell me if i'm wrong this has been nastier. is there a way to undo calling someone a liar? i got to imagine that's going to appear in on ad. >> or loser or the pious baloney comment. >> newt gingrich's focus has been on the future of the country, where it needs to go. that's what newt is going to keep talking about, whether it's throughout the rest of this primary, as he fights for every vote because every vote means a vote for more conservative platform and more conservative gop and in the general election as well. >> i don't begrudge you joe. it's not our job to push newt out of this race. >> let him stay in forever. >> if he wants to advocate for

issues, i think it changes the job for joe and some of the guys working for us. >> thanks, joe, we appreciate it. nice to talk to you. >> sure, thank you. >> i'm still rooting for him. >> still ahead on "starting point," got this incredible videotape to show you from a school bus after the driver nearly dies behind the wheel and a seventh grader takes over and rescues the other riders on the bus. and our "get real" this sounds like something i'd like to buy, pool, movie theater, library and indoor farm and no lay late because it's for after the apocalypse hit in a sigh low. we'll give you an inside tour in just a minute. you're listening to will cain's playlist, "pink houses." listen to our playlist at cnn.com/startingpoint and follow us on twitter. me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us,

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our "get real" this morning, when the first signs of the end of the world hit you might want to high tail it to kansas. dofler renovated a cold war era bunker into 14 floors, this is the mockup, 14 floors of luxury condos, it includes an aboveground security system, has cameras, places to get fingerprints and barbs wire. concrete walls, there's a pool, a movie theater, a library t will be self-powered, plenty of food as soon as you get the indoor farm up and running. big screen tv. >> duh. >> let's not even mention that. recessed lighting of course. >> track lighting is tacky after an apocalypse. >> home automation system,

simulated outdoor view. what will it cost you? take a guess $2 million. $2 million. i think it's under 2,000 square feet, like 1,800 square feet or only $1 million if you want half of the floor. >> god help you if you hate your neighbor and want to move. >> god help if you're in another part of the country and cannot get to your sigh low. >> did you see the road? do you really want to miss that when it happens, the roving bands of cannibal mutants? looks like a great place if you don't value sunlight. >> i will be the first person visiting my friends in kansas. >> hello, can i get in? >> this is soledad o'brien bfro c cnn. >> you always wanted dick cheney to be your neighbor. this is a big story today, you go to miami, and as ozz ozzie guillen realized, the new manager of the miami marlins got

off on the wrong foot with fans because he said he loved fidel castro. hello, in miami? have you lost your mind? he's paying for it today. he's going to do the apology tour. also clowning around with your cash, we'll talk about this gsa official forced to pay by losing his job for a conference, nearly cost $1 million of taxpayer money. lawmakers demanding an investigation. you're watching "starting point." we'll be back in a moment. 12y

♪ now that you're around you put them all to shame ♪ ♪ let me break it down cause what i'm trying to say ♪ ♪ no one gets me that's chris young, "you." >> my playlist. i was leaving a houston game and brothers were jamming and i said you know that's a good song if the brothers are doing a line dance. >> i played "billie jean" the other day.

i'm a very diverse individual. >> we're in 2012, will. >> christine romans has a look at the headlines. >> north korea says its new rocket should be finished today and planning to launch it next monday. they say the operation is for peaceful purposes. u.s. officials believe the launch is a cover for a long range ballistic test. leon panetta so ek with south korean official its, both countries calling it a grave provocation. south korea says it will respond with counter measures. a first look at osama bin laden's widows and their children, cnn obtained new video showing his wives praying and the kids playing with toys under house arrest in islamabad, pakistan. next week they will be deported to their home countries of yemen and saudi arabia. heightened security this morning on the university of pittsburgh campus following a series of bomb threats there, federal officials have joined

school police to investigate the threats which began back in february. the university is now limiting access to campus buildings, despite the threats, so far no evidence of explosives has been found. in our "a.m. house call" a disturbing study getting frequent dental x-rays may increase a patient's risk to are a commonly diagnosed nonmalignant brain tumor called meningioma. researchers say patients who have annual bite wing x-rays had a 40% to 90% greater risk of these tumors. also a record low for teen birth rates in the u.s., a new government report says nearly every state saw a decline in teen births between 2007 and 2010. the national rate fell 9% for girls aged 15 to 19. the decline attributed to greater pregnancy prevention

efforts. on a state level mississippi had the highest rate of teen births. new hampshire had the lowest. dramatic video from inside a school bus in washington state, a student taking the wheel after the driver passes out. footage from the bus surveillance camera shows the driver started shaking, gasping for air, throwing his hands up in the air. the bus was swerving out of control, apparently heading for a church. that's when 13-year-old jeremy woodchik ran down the aisle, grabbed the wheel as another child who was trained by the red cross performed cpr. >> i'm just thinking i just want to stop the truck, because i don't want too crash and i don't want to know what it feels like so yeah, i just don't want to die. >> it was scary and exhilarating. >> reporter: because? >> because i mean, you want to know if he's okay but then again it's just happening so fast, your heart's pumping. it's breath-taking and breath-giving.

>> so jeremy steered the butts to the side of the road, took the keys out of the ignition and the school's former principal, drove by, saw this happening, jumped on the bus, took over cpr from the other child. the bus driver who suffered an apparent heart attack was hospitalized, he was not identified although we're told his condition is still pretty grave, sole bad but boy those kids really thinking fast. >> oh my god, i think i love those kids. that little kid, he's so serene. i didn't want to die so i was going to take over, steer the bus. >> it was breath-giving, that guy will have his own show on own. >> hook me up. >> christine, thank you. here's a different video, video of a different sort, shall we say, comes from the u.s. general services administration's 2010 conference in vegas, or the gsa, that we've been talking about. that conference, by the way, cost taxpayers more than $800,000.

this new video shows gsa worker pros motoring the go green singing along to a gospel style tune and they hold up a picture of the president, president obama, while making fun of him and mocking him, listen. ♪ the guy on the right is the eighth employee placed on administrative leave. an employee who performed a rap song bragging about the lavish spending. . morning we'll talk to a member of two congressional committees investigating expensive spending from the gsa. blake farnhold thank you for being with us. the gsa has been in the news in a bad way for the last week or so now, oversees procurement for the government, acquisitions and real estate as well and ironically are supposed to make the government more efficient. in this latest videotape and

boy, do these people seem to have a lot of time to shoot videos it's going to be part of this investigation into sort of mismanagement of the gsa. how many more videos do you think we'll see in this investigation, sir? >> i don't know. i think there was some video contest going on so we could see a wide variety of videos in the two hearings, one from government oversight and redporm and one from the transportation and infrastructure committee. >> the chitchat at an event with the organizer jeff neely is talking to an employee and i want to play a little chunk of that so people can hear and we'll talk on the other side of that. >> that was amazing. was there anybody in region seven that wasn't in that thing? >> if they worked, if they didn't work on friday, chances are they weren't in the video. >> what i find stunning most stunning is that clearly it's not a secret. clearly this wasn't done sort of behind closed doors.

it was not hush-hush. there was this obvious convention. is that what you find most appalling about all this? >> i find most appalling that the organization whose job it is to save the government money, is going out of control on their team building and conference. listen, i'm a big supporter of training and building but in tight budgetary times you got to use common sense. this was in vegas. if you went to vegas on government business under gsa rates, you get a $99 hotel room and $71 a day for food and incidentals. i guarantee you they went way over what they let the rest of the government spend. >> they are openly mocking the very policies they're supposed to be upholding and supposed to be promoting. part of that is just overspending is one category but then the other part is undermining the actual thing they're supposed to be doing. >> you've got to have the right attitude in any job and their job is to be saving the government money and if they're laughing about spending, there's

something amiss there. oh, rudy giuliani, fix the broken windows and things take care of themselves. if you've got an attitude of spend it and have fun, there's a problem. >> congressman, is the issue here really not these videos, it boils down to how much money was spent on a conference, and you just talked about the issue of going to vegas. i remember republicans highly critical of president obama when he was saying that companies shouldn't be taking their employees to vegas as well. you might be ticking off the folks in vegas who say that's not fair to malign them that way. >> regard lsz of where it is, these are the people who are in charge of buying stuff from the government. their attitude should be how can we save the taxpayers money. it's not how much money can we spend, how good of a time can we have? look, every dime we save in procurement for the government is a dime we don't have to tax people. >> did you laugh at any of the videos? did you laugh at any of them?

you got to admit congressman, some of the videos were pretty funny. >> no, they weren't. >> they -- >> sounds like you want to laugh. >> it's tax dollars. >> laughing at or laughing with? >> i wonder if this investigation committee is also going to focus on spending that didn't just happen under the oba obama administration and the bush administration. in 2004 the same conference spent $93 tncht. by 2006 the conference was spending $323,000. 2008 spending $655,000. and 2010, now, the videos we're seeing now are from 2010, $840,000. so is the goal in the investigation really to take a look from that 2004 date forward? >> i think it's to take a look at the culture overall and i think this should be a wake-up call to all the government agencies out there that, look,

your job is to be stewards of the taxpayers' money. sure it's okay to have fun at work, but you've got to be careful what you spend, and you've got to have the right aptitudes going into things. >> congressman farenthold -- >> it's the difference between having fun and mocking. >> -- i agree with him. i didn't find that funny for that price tag. >> it was laughing at them, not necessarily with them. >> thank you. time for a short break. >> homer the clown was funny. >> the ozzie guillen apology tour, going home to explain his comments about loving fidel castro. why congressman ryan thinks mindful meditation is the cure to this frantic american life. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. zap technology.

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so there's some calls this morning for the new miami marlins manager ozzie guillen to be fired after some controversial comments. he told "time" magazine this, "i love fidel castro. i respect fidel castro.

lot of people wanted to kill him for the last 60 years but that [ expletive ] is still there." guillen has since apologized saying this. >> i feel sad not because of what i did, it's because i hurt a lot of people and i'll make it cle clear especially for me, i want to get it over it and told the marlins i want to fly as soon as i can and tomorrow is a day off. i'll be to miami and clear everything up. >> he's got work to do because miami is pretty much the crowd where you don't want to say anything about loving fidel castro. >> but he's also what you have, an individual from venezuela and whether we want to own up to it or not in this country, there are people in other parts of the world who have a different view of fidel kast rcastro based upo fight with the united states. >> he supported chavez and taken

it back. >> a lot of people did that. you're saying he admires fidel castro's tenacity more than his policies or oppression of his people. >> come on! >> i'm trying to be fair, if i went to texas and talked about how great santa ana was in houston, it wouldn't be popular but it was a long time ago. >> as a nation, we play footsie with a whole bunch of dictators, if we really want to be honest, maybe we don't like having the conversation, we played footsie with mubarak. >> he said i love castro and admire castro. ooh, our stadium is in miami, whose people's lives were destroyed by castro. >> what is the best way to bring communist nations into the first world. going into cuba and praising the man who has had prison camps and firing lines just south of the border is okay.

>> will his opoll gee work or not work? >> the circumstance, i'm not saying ozzie drinks a lot but billy joel won't get in the car with him. >> there are people in that city as well saying look, don't fire the guy, so you have both sides. bottom line this country is a policy, we welcome gadhafi back into the fold even with what he did. america want to check the foreign policy. >> please. >> tell me i'm wrong. >> he better win some games and have a heartfelt apology for folks in miami. ahead on "starting point" mind over matters, congressman says meditation could cure americas ills and help the economy, he'll sit on the table and show us how to meditate -- i'm kidding. >> sitting indian style on the table. [ bird screeching ] ♪

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imagine if all the politicians in washington, d.c. turned down the lights, took a deep breath and just shut up. that's what my next guest, tim ryan advocates and practices every day. he calls it mindfulness meditation. he explains how to use it in his new book which is called "mindful nation." usually we have a politician on, we talk to a lot of politicians, both sides of the aisle. we're for the jobs act, against the jobs act. whatever. very rarely do they come in and talk about something that's their passion. you started meditation. when did you start? >> on and off. my mother, father, grandmother. i had a catholic priest teach me centering prayer.

on and off flirted with it until 2008. i was getting burned out. i was 38 years old. i was trying to help the democrats win the house back. i thought i'm going to be burned out by the time i'm 40. i'm going to jump start my practice. two days after the '08 election i checked my two blackberries at the door not one but two. we're all in the same boat. and had a great experience of just quieting my mind down. and slowing down, feeling my body relax and it really reminded me of playing athletics in high school where you're in the zone. you're just present. >> so you didn't take -- there was no studying that people have to do if they want to do a similar thing. can they read your book and learn how to meditate. >> we have a huge resource section in the back of the book if you want to do guided meditations and what's going on.

how the back transfers into my day job is that the science behind it now is growing by the day. we're realizing you can change your brain. you can actually teach kids how to pay attention instead of yelling at them to pay attention. you can teach them how to pay attention. if you reduce your stress level that's really prevention, even in the affordable care act, if you're get urge blood pressure checked and getting screenings that's sometimes too late. what's causing your high blood pressure. >> has it made you a better legislator? >> you have to ask my colleagues. >> that's very humble. >> better listener. pay attention more. >> calm center >> calmer. you don't get stressed out. that's what you see in a retreat. you have the same thought loop about a conversation you had. you called somebody by the wrong name. >> i make lists. >> then run it. run the loop. a lot of times that just

continues to cause anxiety. >> how many minutes? >> i try to do it every morning, usually 40, 45 minutes. >> how do you find the time? >> make the time. >> you got to work out. you got to work out. you got to run. you both to lift weights. now with all the information, the average teenager sending between 3,000 and 4,000 text messages a month. we have technology doubling every month. where we had to lift weights 20 years ago we have to do mental discipline today. >> it goes beyond the teaching. a person thinking oh, my god i can't do that. jesus got away from the disciples to meditate. oprah winfrey, she had a room set up at harpo for employees in the middle of the day not in the morning could simply go there to get away from everything to calm themselves and doing what you're doing here. >> i'm setting that up here at cnn.

>> just call a time-out. >> i love that. >> you're trying to bring meditation to young people. david lynch had a concert and got mccarthy and ringo to teach kids how to meditate. when we treat symptoms rather than prevent disease, do you see as bringing meditation to young people as a public health issue? >> absolutely. it's the number one issue, i think, for education. because where it's not new agy any more is because we have a whole body of science. we have the best neuroscientists on the planet studying this thing. stamford, emery, michigan. umass. these kids, your old brain, when that gets activated all your information is dealt with in there. when you can calm down, information will pass through, get to your pre-frontal cortex.

it calms the kids' brains down. you're calming the nervous system down. >> disappoi"starting point" is exclusive with a marine sergeant for slamming president. he said it's free speech. one on one with magic johnson, new broadway play and his thoughts on the trayvon martin case. we're back in just a moment. and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution,

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♪ the c-class starts at just $34,800. welcome everybody. our "starting point" this morning, george zimmerman asking for money. he has a website now where he asks for financial support. to defend himself against any charges that might be coming his

way. plus he called the commander-in-chief the enemy, a "starting point" exclusive with the marine sergeant facing a discharge for slamming president obama on facebook. a savage st. patrick's day beating and robbery. man stripped of his clothes and belongings as several people stood by, recorded it and laughed. it's tuesday, april 10th as "starting point" begins right now. ♪ that's aretha. she's playing "wonderful" off the daryl parks play list. first i want to introduce you to the panel this morning. r rowland martin is here with us. john if you gel sang is here

with us and will cain. we're talking about morning about george zimmerman who is break being his silence now. he, of course, is the man who shot and killed trayvon martin. elaunched this website because he's hoping to raise funds for his legal defense. the site includes a statement which says in part, as a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage i've been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately my entire life. at the same time all eyes are on special prosecutor angela corey. she announced she won't go before a grand jury. she said this, the decision should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case. so this morning, let's get right to daryl parks, an attorney for trayvon martin's family. nice to see you, sir. thanks for being with us. what do you think of george zimmerman's website? >> well, you know, i think mr. zimmerman's statement doesn't take into consideration one very important factor. trayvon martin lost his life in

all of this. so when he's talking about the minor interruptions in his life, trayvon paid the ultimate price. his statement doesn't give any weight or significance to that. it's a little troubling. mr. zimmerman will have his day in court. he should have a fair detain court. we want simple justice right now. we're a little disturbed by his statement in how he weighs his interruption of life compared to trayvon's. >> no question killing somebody is an interruption. he's had to go into hiding. he can't gate job. i don't think that those things -- i don't think he's being overly dramatic. do you think it's a mistake to go to the web to ask for money? some websites are asking money for trayvon martin's family as well. >> let me say this as well. we believe that everyone should have their day in court.

he should have good representation. so him asking for money for his defense is perfectly okay. we want a good fair trial. in the end we think that trayvon's life has to be defended, and he should defend himself because he was the person that shot trayvon on that dreadful night. >> angela corey, the special prosecutor decided not to hand that case off to the grand jury. they framed that as courageous. what's your interpretation of why she's doing that? >> well, we all along as a legal team we've advocated that we wanted her to have the case more so than a grand jury. in florida grand juries are in secrecy. with her having the case as a prosecutor she's doing the investigation, she has investigators who are questioning witnesses, she knows their statements, she can make the decision. so we have all the confidence in the world that after her investigation she will charge mr. zimmerman. so we're very confident it being

in her hands rather than the secret process of a grand jury. >> there's been some, i guess, reports that have said that there are expectations that george zimmerman could be arrested this week. have you heard those reports, and what other information are you getting from the special prosecutor, if anything at this point? >> she's being very nonspecific about the actual date. we are very encouraged and hopeful that she will hopefully arrest this guy this week. the longer mr. zimmerman walks the street right now is very unfortunate for everyone because he has killed someone. he shot and killed trayvon. he should have been in jail. so, the sooner this happens, the better. obviously it's totally miss corey's call. we hope she moves in an efficient matter so not only arrested but lead to george zimmerman's conviction. >> when you say she's being nonspecific about the date, has she indicated or signalled to you there will be an arrest she just hasn't said when? >> no, i'm not saying that.

i'm hopeful. i personally am hopeful that she will and i think all the evidence has been, there's no way in my opinion that she could do anything but file charges against this guy. all the evidence is there. so it seems to me logically he has to be arrested. >> what about a civil case moving forward because obviously she would be in charge of the criminal case if there were to be one. would you have a civil case as well? >> well, obviously, however, our major focus right now is the arrest of george zimmerman. once we get through that and get the criminal process goes into play then our legal team will kick into action to address the civil matter. >> daryl parks is the attorney for the trayvon martin family. thank you. time to get to some of the other stories making news this morning. christine has a look at those headlines. >> good morning. people in baltimore this "morning express"ing disgust and outrage in response to that viral video. we warn it's disturbing to

watch. it shows a tourist being beaten, robbed and stripped naked on st. patrick's day last month. onlookers stood by, watching and laughing. police have identified one suspect although he's not in custody yet we're told. they are now asking for the public's help to i.d. the other attackers. a new report released this morning claiming norwegian mass murder suspect previck was not insane at the time of the murder. the report also claims there's a high risk that breivick could commit more violent acts. the brother of one of the tulsa shooting suspects is speaking out saying his brother is not racist. 33-year-old alvin watts and 19-year-old jake englander accused of killing three black people and wouldn'ting two others. prosecutors are deciding whether

to file hate crime charges. alvin watt as brother said he's not a racist. >> my brother was raised in the middle of what you would call the hood. he was raised in the middle of black schools. he went to black schools. i did too. went to cherokee, monroe, mclean. i have black brothers, black sisters. he was raised with them. he said brother i need an alibi. he didn't say hi, hello, nothing. brother, i need an alibi. >> wow. england posted a facebook message a day before the shooting that used a racial slur to describe a black man who killed his father. a good news from rick santorum. his bower bella is home from the hospital. she was released last night. santorum and his wife are overwhelmed by the prayers and support they received. the campaign cancelled his first two events scheduled for today to allow santorum family to settle in at home.

president obama traveled to florida today to campaign for the buffet rule. his tax proposal targeting millionaires and billionaires. it would require that the wealthiest earners to pay 30% of their income in taxes. the president will make his case in a speech this afternoon at florida university. lottery officials are announcing three winners are claiming a share of the $656 million jackpot. they say it's three co-workers who pooled their money spending $20 each. they bought 60 tickets. the winners are choosing to remain anonymous. they are so smart. but we do know this. they are a woman in her 20s, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s. all work in the public school system in maryland. this is the second out of three mega million prizes claimed. the final winner in illinois has not come forward yet. i'm pretty sure this is the first time these three people were in an office pool.

>> first time they ever went in together. they want to invest. they plan to buy new homes. every single one of the three that worked together buying that one ticket said that they work multiple jobs so they will be able to cut down and they claim they will keep teaching. >> or they can salvage the entire baltimore school system. >> or build their own school. >> good for them. when they were doing the press conference they said look if you can't win the lottery these are the kind of people you want to win. >> the mcdonald's lady is okay who said she won. >> that was not. >> still ahead on "starting point", "starting point" exclusive the marine sergeant who is now facing dishonorable discharge for slamming the president on facebook. calling him an economic and domestic enemy. he says hey that's free speech. we'll talk to him straight ahead this morning. our new segment called s.o.b. or

soledad o'brien. a fugitive who found time to update his facebook status which is important for you to do that while you're on the lam. this is christine's play list, smashing pumpkins, 1979. we'll be back in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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. welcome back, everybody. "starting point" exclusive this morning. should members of the armed forces be allowed to use social media to voice their political opinions? that answer could decide the fate of a marine sergeant gary stein this week who is facing a less than honorable discharge for comments he made on facebook where he criticized president obama. despite repeated attempts by sergeant stein to halt the process a panel recommended he be discharged from the military, a move that would render him

ineligible for his veterans benefits. marine sergeant gary stein is with me this morning. he's here with his attorney. gentlemen, i appreciate your time this morning. thank you for being with me. sergeant, why don't we start with you. you were ruled unanimously in this administration separation board that you be discharged. why do you disagree with what they decided 3-0. >> i believe it was more based on personal opinion of the three members than it was based on the legalities of the case. they denied four expert witnesses that were there to talk about the legalities. they didn't want to hear them or take written testimony from them and they base this on personal opinion, nothing about the legal aspects. >> i'll read southeast things you posted to your facebook page because you have a personal page that you posted to. one, you called president obama a domestic enemy. we have that up there.

another one where you wrote, i won't read the whole thing, but you said this. as an active duty marine i say that word obama and they say that the post specifically violated the uniform code of military justice, article 134 which basically says you neglect the reprejudice of good order. you're a marine. should you write that about your commander-in-chief, sir >> first of all, let's talk about those comments. those comments were made on a closed forum. they were up for five minutes which we found out through testimony at the hearing and only three people saw them. in fact the only reason that anybody has a picture of those posts or knows what those posts are because a marine master sergeant decided he was going to take a screen capture and send it out to god who knows. that's the reason why it's out

there. it was on a closed forum. three people saw it. >> or you could argue the reason it's out there you wrote it. you're not denying you wrote it. so are you arguing that it's your free speech right to be able to write something about that about the commander-in-chief when you're an active duty marine. >> no. i do believe my words were somewhat tasteless and i could have used better words. i agree with that. the same point the principle behind it or the thoughts behind it that the principles that the president put forth in the last three years is my personal opinion. it's my right to say that. >> let's turn to your attorney. your goal is going to be the next hearing in which you're going to try to argue that your client's, sergeant stein's first amendment rights have been violated. what will you argue. he said he wrote it. it was tasteless. he could have used better words. he's an active member of the

marine corps. how do you argue this? >> contrary to popular belief members of the army, all members of the arm forces don't give up their first amendment rights. let's look at this from a different point of view. this is not a first amendment case. according to the manual sergeant stein cannot be discharged for what he did. and that's part of the evidence that we tried to sub to when the tribunal. we had retired brigadier general braums, the judge advocate to the commandant of the marines corps. they took a rule that applies only to officers, not to noncommissioned officers but only to commissioned officers and said this rule applies and so we think it should apply to noncommissioned officers as well even though it doesn't so we'll kick him out for that. they violated their own rules

and procedures. >> there's another rule -- let's talk about this one called directive 1344.10. i'm sure you know it far better than i do. but it says that a member of the armed forces on active duty shall not, allow or cause to be published partisan political articles, letters or endorsements signed or written by the member that solicits votes for or against a partisan political party, candidate or cause. this is referring to the armed forces tea party that your client is an administrator of, correct? wouldn't that be a direct violation? that's the second thing. personal facebook page forum and then this one as well. >> no. because that was reviewed by attorneys for the marine corps a couple of years ago and they told him it was fine. all they said he had to put up a disclaimer which he did immediately which said this was not a part of the marine corps. he was not representing the marine corps it was his own personal statements. that was fine. >> let me ask a question of

sergeant stein which doesn't go knee deep in the law but in your job as a marine opinion i thought members of the military are supposed to protect and serve no matter who is the commander-in-chief. or supposed to do their jobs and take order from the commander-in-chief and do it with honor regardless of their political beliefs in that commander-in-chief. am i wrong? as a marine you're there to protect america. is that wrong? >> no. i'm here to protect the constitution. i'm here to uphold and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. i never disobeyed an order. i was never told to take down armed forces tea party. i was never told not to do media interviews. i was never told to write on red state.com. i was never told that. >> when you call the president an enemy of the state -- i mean that seems to me to go over the line. you don't think so? >> if i can just interject.

what it comes down to is, for instance, one of the witnesses, when they are talking about this, had a post on their facebook page that clearly, one of the witnesses against sergeant stein that clearly violated this directive. clearly. that's okay. there was a part of the obama website in 2008 that solicited the endorsement of active members of the military. that means that all of those people under these proceedings could have been kicked out because that's what they are saying. >> probably could have been under that directive. i would agree with you. i guess, as a person who is not in the military, my understanding was always that when it comes to the military we shouldn't be particularly partisan, that you would expect people in the military to not say one way or the other and follow the orders of the commander-in-chief. i think that's one of the things that i find sort of disturbing about this case honestly. >> i think what you have to remember, though, the tea party which the armed forces tea party

page that i run, tea party is bipartisan by nature. the tea party itself has gone after republicans, democrats, liberals, conservatives, it's gone after everybody. you can't sit there -- we have aclu working on our side. they have come out and said the tea party is bipartisan. the tea party is bipartisan. not partisan. you will not find bipartisan in dod 1344.10. >> your hearing is coming up. i want to ask you. what do you think your chances are. your hearing is coming up. if you lose this hearing there's a good chance you could in dishonorably discharged from the military. >> well it's not dishonorable it's less than honorably. there's a difference. if we lose the hearing on friday, which is a definite possibility we'll be filing with the ninth circuit, federal court judge hearing this matter has expressed a marked unwillingness to protect the rights of sergeant stein and has urged us

to go up to the ninth circuit and on monday or so if we lose on friday we'll be before the ninth circuit. >> marine sergeant gary stein and his attorney joining us. thanks for talking with us. appreciate the time. >> no problem. have a great morning. >> god bless. >> few. i just -- i'm stunned by that honestly. i find that very surprising. >> to be in the constitution, foreign and domestic and you call the president of the united states a domestic threat you have a problem. >> you want to support him go on your facebook page and insult your boss and see how he likes it. >> on "starting point" we'll go one on one with magic johnson. take a look. >> a lot of us have sons. sons who wear hoodies. caps turned backwards. they are not doing anything. >> right. >> the lakers legend sits down and talks about the trayvon martin case and why it's hitting home with some of the nba players. and today's s.o.b., soledad

o'brien keeping a low profile while updating his facebook profile, the fugitive on the lam but had time to update his status. he broke up with a girlfriend by the way at the same time. you're watching "starting point". we'll be right back in a moment. [ wind howling ] [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant.

they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

welcome back to "starting point". this morning we call out our first gentlemen. pay attention. rowland martin. a fugitive who was on the rub, there he is, he's got like dregs on his beard. he's on the run in washington

state. he's updating his facebook status. his name is 26-year-old travis nicolayson. managed to escape a police dragnet last week on foot. a friend posted his account, cops all over you. and he responds, yeah, got away, thanks, bro. authorities say that there are growing number of comments on his facebook page, some mocking the police, travis nicolayson has been convicted of five felonies including domestic violence. he's accused of assaulting his girlfriend and apparently his ex-girlfriend because he changed his relationship on facebook status to single. >> darwin explained this thoroughly. >> he wins the s.o.b. award today for soledad o'brien. we're hearing the 911 tapes from a navy fighter jet crash. look at that.

that's amazing. hear what witnesses saw, one woman saw a pilot land on her patio and then she was evacuated but he was not. plus wildfires are raging all along the east coast, the flames threatening homes, thick smoke is stopping traffic. threat isn't over yet. we'll tell you what's happening there. you're watching "starting point". we're back in just a moment. 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. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price,

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now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. . yep. that's master blaster. we'll speak to sean robinson about what he's doing you in regards to the trayvon martin case. first, those i want to get to the headlines. christine has a look at those. >> dry and windy weather fueling

wildfires across the entire east coast right now. flames popping up as far north as new england and as far south as florida. thousands of acres are burning as one of the warmest and driest springs on record continues in the southeast. in new jersey, the pinelands are glowing. flames have burned about 1,000 acres and threatened two dozen homes there. no evacuations have been ordered yet. for the first time we're hearing the 911 calls from that u.s. navy jet crash. an fa-18 hornet slammed into an apartment complex in virginia last week. about two miles from the naval station where it took off. seven people including two pilots were hurt. but amazingly no one died. one witness describes a pilot landing on her patio. >> the pilot is on your patio? >> yes. and nobody he's here. i've been calling and kaelg and there's no ambulance.

>> is the pilot conscious? >> yes. last time i saw him he was. >> he's no longer on your patio? >> he's still on my patio. they told me to evacuate. there's other guys there helping him. my neighbors are there helping him. >> the u.s. navy is compensating people affected by that crash paying for housing, clothing, meals and counselling. a new video adding to the problems of the general services administration, the agency in charge of saving the government money. >> i think meetings are good to have in between breaks. >> employees go on to mock president obama. they bragged about boozing and goofing off during work in these videos. two different congressional committees are now investigating. a member of both those committees, republican congressman blake farenthold spoke earlier. >> their attitude should be how can we save the taxpayer money. it needs the attitude of look,

every dime that we save in procurement for the government is a dime we don't have to tax people. >> all right this as this guy david foley becomes the eighth gsa official on leave. he was giving out an award for a video mocking the lavish spending. stock futures are pointing slightly higher today. wall street trying to erase a four day losing strike. quarterly earnings season starts today. we're waiting for alcoa the first big doe report for the january to march quarter. in other business news facebook spending big bucks to buy the photo sharing app instantgram. the price tag, a billion dollars. not bad for a company that's been around for less than two years. instantgram has just 13 employees. still hasn't turned a profit. but it does have more than 30 million users. oh, yeah. and the interest now of facebook. wow. a picture is worth a billion dollars. >> should have learned a code.

every time i hear a sorry like that i should have learn ad code. >> the people who code say man i wish i was an anchor. >> no. not when they -- >> no one of says i wish i could read off a teleprompter. i wish i could code and create a company that would be worth a billion dollars after two years. >> whole new way for facebook to sell information to advertisers. it's beautiful. >> all right debbie downer. >> i like getting ads for things like. >> i want to talk this morning about one of the most influential groups you may never have heard of. it's called for alc. they are so powerful because of their membership. it includes walmart, pfizer, exxonmobil and more than 500 other companies and foundations and individuals as well as rouflly a quarter of the nation's state lawmakers. basically what they do they draft model bills that can be

introduceed into state legislatures nationwide. one of the bills they push and one of the reasons why you know their name is the stand your ground law. coca-cola, kraft foods, intuit withdrawing their member sin from alec. they want other companies to follow suit. chore of change naming at&t as the next prime target yesterday. sean robinson is the executive director of chore of change and he joins us this morning. nice to have you. thanks for being with us. alec has been around for 39 years. is the reason that we've been hearing about the group and their role in legislation really because of the trayvon martin case or is it more than that? >> it's more than that. we started our campaign last year specifically around discriminatory i.d. bills, laws that were popping up around the

country in the states. all fingers kept pointing back to these model bills that alec was creating in d.c., working behind-the-scenes with state legislators in back rooms writing these bills and sending them out to states all over the country. this is what alec has been doing for 30 years. in some states they still had alec's mission statement on it where the legislator was so loppy where they didn't remove alec's information. >> when you talk about your campaign what's your campaign >> our campaign is to hold the corporations that every single day come to black americans for our money but at the same time are supporting alec working to suppress the vote. now we learned supported these stand your ground laws and has pushed those laws with the support of walmart and support of the nra has pushed those laws in states around the country. >> it's 23 or 25 states i believe have those stand your ground? >> absolutely. we know where alec stands on democracy and on the right to

vote for black americans, for latinos, poor people. our question is where do these corporations stand. we're continuing to amplify the voice not only of our members but people all around the country. >> when you say amplify the voices does that mean public shaming of a company? >> the fact of the matter is these corporations have been able to, you know, experience alec because they do it behind closed doors. they are not having an open relationship. we need to shine a spotlight on so when bills and laws are created they are done out in the open. so americans can understand how these things become law. and for, you know, alec, they benefitted 99% of their money comes from corporations. so the idea that we can really push back by holding corporations accountable is the focus. >> you mentioned at&t. who else are you aiming for? >> today, along with a number of good government groups and

organizations across the good government spectrum we're launching campaign to mcdonalds's, state farm and johnson & johnson. >> you go on tv and talk about johnson & johnson. >> we've been having private meetings or trying to have private meetings for a number of months. we just had a meeting yesterday with state farm trying to give them a final chance to pull out. we've been working for no, sir educate these corporations behind-the-scenes to give them an opportunity to pull out. before we went public. the goal was always to get these corporations to do the right thing. they were given a chance and now they are not. >> alec creates model bills. states can vote on or adapt. it's a clearinghouse a model bill creation center. there are people who disagree with you on the purpose of those laws. voter i.d. laws. stand your ground -- >> i don't know if it's a serious problem with fraud. >> people that want disagree

with you on your position whether there's a serious problem with fraud and purpose of i.d. bills. obviously i don't know right now what stand your ground law has to do with race. i'm curious about this. a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month, a boycott against ellen degeneres and her partnership with jc penny. you have a right to boycott these companies. do you think it's a valuable thing to suppress the debate. ellen degeneres, jc penny boycott failed. is this the way we should go? >> we never called for a boycott. never a call for a boycott. we're shining a light. coca-cola and pepsi and kraft and other companies that pulled out and mcdonald's, state farm and johnson & johnson they have a choice. they can tell color of change and other organizations that they want to stand behind voter suppression laws, they want to stand behind stand your ground laws. they can tell us where to go.

or they can say they don't. they don't want to stand with alec and they want to make a different choice. the end goal is that they are no longer can do it in private. they can no longer side with this organization that is nameless and faceless, that most americans have never heard of and gets to make laws behind-the-scenes out of the light of color of change. we send our petition out to hundreds of thousands of americans. our goal is to make sure democracy is out in open. >> nice to have you come and talk to us. still ahead on "starting point", lakers legend is part owner of the dodgers. magic johnson has some thoughts why nba players have so much concern about the trayvon martin case. we'll bring you that interview in just a moment. helping generations through tough times. good times.

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equestrian ballet has been described as circus desoliel. sanjay gupta has a story about a rider who had to mount great obstacles.

>> reporter: her high flying career came very close to not happening after a freak accident almost left her unable to walk. she and her friends were diving 70 feet off a cliff in virginia. >> fell down the rocks. and just fell and fell and hit and hit and hit and hit all the way down until i fell into the water. >> reporter: she lots consciousness and began to drown. her friends rescued her from the water but her bones were broken in 46 places and she had to undergo eight operations over six months. >> the doctors told me because of the severity of how bad my left leg was, you probably won't walk again. if you do walk you'll walk with a severe limp. i respected their judgment but i didn't believe it. this one is super hard on my ankle. >> reporter: she my to overcome her injuries she had to work hard at her rehab, be patient and stay positive. >> there's mornings i woke up and limped to the bathroom and my leg hurts but it it rains it's terrible.

but it's a reminder just like hey remember where you were and so get up. get going. and, you know, live this life that you have a second chance at. >> reporter: despite the pain she didn't give up and she got back on her feet. working towards her dream of performing she turned her love for horses into a career. ♪ landing her in performing tricks like this. sanjay gupta reporting. >> up next from trayvon martin to why he bought the dodgers, we go one on one with magic johnson up next. you're watching "starting point". stay with us. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal,

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this into cnn. happening right now. % george w. bush is speaking at a national economic place taking place in new york. he'll be joined by new jersey

gof governor chris christie and some potential vice presidential candidates. we'll dip in and listen to that as it goes on for the day. that's happening at the george w. bush institute. up next he's a lakers legend and also is now part owner of the los angeles dodgers. we sat down with magic johnson on a new play about his storied rivalry with larry bird. well obviously we have technological difficulties. who wants to play magic johnson in this interview. wait. wait. let's see if we can fix the problem. roll tape. >> still a long way to go? >> not a long way. we don't take over until may 1st.

so i'm excited. >> why baseball? >> well, i love baseball. i grew up a tigers fan. i love going to dodge stadium. i love the dodgers. dusty baker, steve garvey, all those guys, tommy la sorta and who would have ever thought dodgers would be up for sale and who ever thought magic johnson would be in a group to own the dodgers. so me it blows my mind, but staying positive, mark walters, the group, we made a good bid and they accepted it. >> a lot of money. >> the value is there. i'm excited about it. >> i want to bring you to current day with race and the trayvon martin case. right? because there's a lot of tension. here we are 30 years later and it seems like we haven't progressed very much. a lot of nba players are rallying around trayvon martin. how do you feel about that? >> with the nba players, if they felt good about speaking about

it and they wanted to say something i'm glad they did. because we're still all of us are still wondering, okay, what's going to happen. and so -- and here in america we still dealing with situations like this. and it's very unfortunate because also a lot of us have sons, sons who wear hoodies. you know, caps turned backwards and they are not doing anything. that's the fashion of today. and so they could really happen to our sons. that's what the nba players, i'm sure are think, that's what i'm thinking. so i hope that justice is served. i hope that they get down to making sure they have a thorough investigation. and then take it from there. >> today the special prosecutor said she's not going to give this to the grand jury. and so what do you think -- first of all, how do you feel about that? and secondly, is there a

teachable moment, a learning opportunity here for our black and latino families? >> first of all, we have to understand that, you know, the black and brown community got to work better together anyway. you know. and it's going to be tough no matter which way it goes. right? but the black community have seen days like this so many times, unfortunately. and we thought that this case would be different in terms of they are going to really investigate, get behind and find out what happened, get to the bottom line and it's unfortunate that we may not see the real justice to this. and so you got a family whose grieving, who lost their son. and while -- when you think about we don't know all the circumstances, but, you know, he

can't come back. so they want justice. and whichever way that is they want to see this young man, to make sure that we find out the truth on what happened. >> you know, it was really interesting because we talk about race a lot. you think about those times back when they were competing it was great white hope versus the magic. >> larry bird versus magic johnson. >> exactly. he said for them they never saw the color of the skin but they only saw their similarities. but for the rest of the world that's all anybody ever talked about. >> for the record there's policemen of caucasians that rooted for the lakers and plenty of black folks cheered for larry bird. >> it was very divided. they talked to some folks who were black in boston that said no way i'm going to root for the boston celtics. >> great interview. back in just a moment. ♪

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welcome back. we just have time for end point. my question, what's with the beard? what's going on? >> with the beard. you're eating in to my time. >> yes, i am. answer. >> for my time i'm going to nominate rowland martin the number one parakeet hunter. >> moving on, rowland martin, tell us about the beard he's got going. >>