as an accused murderer. >> we filed information charging george zimmerman with murder in the second degree. >> that's the mug shot there. the first look we've had at george zimmerman since he shot and killed trayvon martin. he is due in court for the first time. ann romney, mother of five, grandmother of 16, democratic strategist, now causing an uproar over what she said about ann. listen. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. >> so, ann romney jumps on twitter to respond. we'll tell you what she said. also michelle obama taking on the colbert report. >> please welcome first lady michelle obama. >> the first lady might have had the upper hand in the gags. we'll share them with you this morning. it is thursday, april 12th. "starting point" begins right now.

gw toye, "feet first" that's how we're going to start? >> little confusion? >> i have a really hard time reading today. >> i thought you didn't know who they were. >> one of the guys on the crew is actually in the band. political comedian, brejohn fugelsang and brett o'donnell, presidential campaign adviser and will cain is a columnist with blaze.com. nice to have all of you with us. no surprise, i think, about the charges yesterday. there was sort of a flurry that, in fact, george zimmerman would be charged and then there was a sense that maybe it wasn't coming immediately and then there was a 6:00 pm press conference held by the special prosecutor. >> i would say i'm a little surprised. his former attorneys suggested they had some kind of exculpatory evidence that they had sitting out there.

i thought they would it that would preclude charges. >> i guess i meant there's a sense that there were rumors that charges were about to happen. >> second degree is a little bit of a surprise as well. >> that is. >> just short of first degree. it's pretty much the harshest penalty they could apply. >> possibly do. yeah. it's interesting. trayvon martin's parents are reacting to the charges. hear what they said. >> today, we filed an information charging george zimmerman with murder in the second degree. we did not come to this decision lightly. this case is like a lot of the difficult cases we have handled for years here in our circuit. and we made this decision in the same manner. let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. we prosecute based on the facts of any given case as well as the laws of the state of florida. >> we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less. we just wanted an arrest. and we got it. and i say thank you.

>> we will continue to walk by faith. we will continue to hold hands on this journey. white, black, hispanic, latino. we will continue to walk. we will march and march and march until the right thing is done. >> so, in order for a conviction, here is what would have to happen. the prosecution would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that trayvon martin is dead. that zimmerman's criminal act caused martin's death and that martin was killed by an act that was dangerous and had no regard for human life. an attorney who has defended george zimmerman before, she joins us this morning p nice to see you. thanks for talking to us. >> good morning, soledad. >> tell us about your experience with george zimmerman. you represented him in 2005, 2006, correct? >> that is right, soledad. my experience with george is that he was a young man at the time. he was very concerned about his future. he was interested in making sure that these felony criminal

charges were dropped and he was very proactive in his defense. and very interested in making sure he received the best result. i'm sure in this case he will work hard and diligently with his attorney to get the same exact result. >> tell me about that particular case you were representing him in. he had a dispute with law enforcement. and the charges eventually were dropped and then dismissed. it's where that original mug shot that people saw, i think, early on when we started talking about jrge zimmerman. that's where that mug shot came from. can you tell me more about that case? >> that's correct, soledad. that is that mug shot from that arrest. in that case, he was alleged to have come to the aid of his friend, who was being arrested. he was a bar employee, his friend, for serving underage minors. and the allegation is that george came up to see what was going on, why his friend was being arrested and undercover law enforcement officer actually stopped him and said, hey, don't

go there. showed him his badge and it's alleged that in that case george said to the officer, i don't care who you are. f off. and that's when the officer directed him away physically and george pushed him away. that is the allegation. and he was charged with battery of a law enforcement officer and resisting violence and charges were dismissed. >> are you surprised, as some on this panel are, that he is facing a second-degree murder charge? >> i am. we, as a legal community, thought that the charge would be only manslaughter. i'm not sure what happens happened in george's life in the last six or seven years since i've represented him. i've heard that he wanted to be a lawence forceme encenc encene officer. i don't know what happened with that. some critics may say, look, here he is again, not listening, taking matters into his own

hands while supporters will say he was protecting his friend, wanting to find out what was going on. >> i have a question about the charges for battery of a law enforcement officer. they were dropped after he agreed to undergo anger management, right? >> he signed an agreement with the state attorney's office. we plead not guilty for him and he entered into an aversion program and had a program such as an anger management class, which is usually about eight hours long. >> thank you. >> let me ask you a question. i think what people are looking for is sort of insight into george zimmerman's personality and as someone who represented him, i would be curious about that. there's a bunch of folks who would say you have a guy who is a neighborhood watchman, frustrated policeman wanna be. does that describe the george zimmerman you know? >> not necessarily at the time. i could say, soledad, as a 21,

22-year-old young man, he was very involved in his defense, where some young college kids that age will kind of go and just do what the attorney tells them to do. >> why do you think that was? >> he was very concerned. he was not just some young guy that we could tell him what to do and he would do whatever we said. he would very involved, very concerned. i think that's reflected in his personality now with the allegation that he wants to take things, and find out what's going on and he doesn't take what people tell him at face value. he's curious and wants to investigate on his own. he that personality back then. >> the cases do share a little similarity. he was aggressive in both cases. do you find him to be an aggressive person? >> not personally. not as an individual. but you are correct. the allegation is there was some aggression, some questioning of authority, as some people have

commented, regarding the 911 tape in this case when they tell him don't follow. there's some evidence that he did follow. some people say he did follow. george's version is, no, trayvon came after me. so, i think that's a similarity. whys wou why was he not listening? >> zahra umansky defended george zimmerman in the past. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you, soledad. >> mark omara will join us live. natalie jackson has been on the program before, attorney for the trayvon martin family. first, though, we've got to get to some of the headlines making news today. christine romans has those. a wake-up call, two strong earthqua earthquakes, magnitude 6.9 and 6.2 coming minutes apart, hours after another quake measuring 7.0 hit western mexico. that one was felt hundreds of

miles away in mexico city, cause people to evacuate when tall buildings began to sway. confusion, panic and her people getting in the way. we're hearing for the first time the 911 tape from the night whitney houston died. obtaining the tape of a hotel security guard making the call after houston was found face down in the bathtub. he says a woman in houston's hotel room was pretty much out of it, wouldn't let him in to try to perform cpr. >> okay. you don't know if she's conscious or breathing at all? >> apparently she wasn't preething and she's 46 years old. >> she was not breathing? >> yes. >> she is breathing now? >> i don't know. the person who called me was irate and pretty much didn't get anything out of her. >> does it sound like the person is still not breathing? >> that's correct. >> is there any way you can get into the room so you can try cpr? >> yeah, we're going in now. >> can you get me into the room to give you cpr instructions?

>> no. because she kept hanging up on us. >> her assistant and bodyguard were reportedly the only people in the room at the time. jury selection begins today in the jury trial for former senator john edwards. the trial is expected to last at least six weeks. edwards faces six fel nochlt y charges for conspiracy, false statements and using campaign money to support his mistress. if convicted he faces $1.5 million in fines and prison time. sony is cutting 10,000 jobs wor worldwide, part of a new revival plan after the company suffered big losses because of sagging tv sales. it now plans to build up its game and mobile business. and a lawsuit could eventually -- could mean cheaper ebooks. the federal government is suing apple over alleged ebook price fixing. five book publishers are accused of colluding with apple. three of those have settled with the justice department. apple conspired with publishers

to drive up book prices and basically force amazon's hand, which was selling most ebooks for $9.99. apple hasn't responded to the lawsuit just yet. stock futures are up, suggesting a higher open on wall street. snapping an ugly five-day losing streak yesterday. there's hope for solid earnings reports. googles earnings will be out later. mrs. obama joining the colbert nation, marking her one-year anniversary for joining forces program for military families. asked about a possible source of tension between her and the president -- >> you are popular. do you ever loured over the

president, hey, i'm more popular than you? i might campaign against you? >> i might do that when i get home. >> are you prepared to endorse the president? zblie am prepared to endorse barack obama. i think he will be a phenomenal president. he has done a phenomenal job. he's my man. >> since you're on the show tonight -- >> yes. >> i feel fairly confident that the president is watching this broadcast right now. >> probably. >> we have a photo of the president watching right now. he seems to be enjoying it. he seems to be enjoying this interview very much. >> soledad, probably the biggest most important person to endorse him and campaign for him is probably michelle obama. >> i bet. mitt romney wishes michelle obama would come in and campaign for him. that could help him a lot. thanks, christine. appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point" we'll talk about mitt

romney's wife and a shot at her. listen. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. >> that was ridiculous, honestly. we'll talk about that, straight ahead. that was hilary rosen, who has been on this program several times. and in our get real, vegas and the videos. gsa story is the gift that keeps giving, we like to say. now hawaii. that agency that was in charge of saving taxpayer money, five-day trip for one hour's worth of work. what happened there. >> they're stepping it up. >> it gets better. about to head to work, you don't need to miss the show. log in at cnn.com/startingpoint. here is john's playlist. never heard of that. black rebel motorcycle "weapon of choice." this is an rc robotic claw.

my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

that's off brett's play list. that's bonnie raitt "i will not be broken." you can see our playlists at cnn.com/start i cnn.com/startingpoint. and you can follow me on twitter @soledad o'brien. hilary rosen has been on this show and has says this about mitt romney's wife, ann. >> with respect to economic issues, i think, actually, that mitt romney's right, that ultimately women care more about the economic well-being of their families and the like. but there's -- but he doesn't connect on that issue either. what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues. and when i listen to my wife,

that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids? how do we send them to school and how do we worry -- why we worry about their future. >> well, ann romney -- >> hilary! >> ann romney gets on twitter to respond and she tweets this. i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. >> hilary rosen only hurt her own cause by this. you want to come out and say mitt romney's in a bubble and doesn't understand women's issues, that's great. but you don't bring the wife into it. ann romney has raised five kids. that's hard work. the entire burden of proof, the sympathy has shifted over to mitt romney now. a democratic strategies is seen as attacking stay-at-home moms.

>> it's inappropriate to suggest that somehow ann romney as a woman who has decided to stay home with her five kids doesn't also get a vote on the economy and as a female has a perspective on t like you don't count because this is a choice you made? it's ridiculous. it's insulting really. >> it's not a matter of her working or not. it's a matter of her knowing the important issues and she can be smart enough to know that the economy is an important issue, whether or not she worked. >> she did work. five boys? you could many in to work just to rest up for that. >> hilary, hlry. i like hilary. we're friends. >> uh-oh. whenever someone starts i like hilary and we're friends, but -- >> this turned this war on women into a war of one woman who then becomes a proxy for so many women who shares similar lifestyle, stay at home, raise children. maybe not five. that's a lot of kids. >> four. >> you're telling them that's not a hard day's work. >> we can all agree on that.

the other thing that bothers me about this, we start pitting women against women. working women who are working outside the home and working women who are working inside the home. that really troubles me. >> can i tell you what troubles me? we start pitting americans against americans. female americans against male americans. when we divide and conquer on class, on gender. that troubles me. >> really, does that trouble you? i noticed that the past couple of months, sarcastic snitty man at the end of the table there. >> even if hilary is correct and ann romney lives in this bubble, it's not relevant to the campaign, it hurts her cause and you don't make fun of a candidate's spouse unless it's todd palin. that's just good manners. >> lives in a world of privilege. >> it's irrelevant whether she lives in a bubble or went to work in calcutta with mother theresa. it's not relevant to mitt romney and his agenda for this country.

people don't care. >> let me throw in hilary's response. is ann romney mitt's touch stone for women who are struggling economically or not? nothing is ann romney's history as we've heard it, hardworking mom she may have been, leads me to believe that mitt has chosen the right expert to get feedback on this problem. he professes to be so concerned about. >> now they have a war on stay-at-home moms. >> that's how it comes off. >> and how did it only become relevant to people who are struggling economically? it's for everybody. >> hilary made a bad choice here, taken a bad position. she is a mother as well and made a bad -- >> look who is mr. concilla tchtconcillatory

this morningment. >> no, no, no. hilary had a bad idea. this is wrong. great person, mother of two children. >> the whole war on women is a bad idea. >> stupid, stupid. >> this is a distraction to a campaign that's struggling to find its voice so far. and, you know, i think the romney folks have backed them into a corner. >> if the democrats want to make this stick, they'll say it's a war on women's reproductive independence. but this will backfire on them. >> the panel is in agreement. my goodness. it may infer happen again. still ahead on "starting point" that $800,000 vegas junket and embarrassing videos, apparently only the tip of the iceberg. it's ges getting worse for the gsa. details of a trip to hawaii that we, as taxpayers, got to pay for that was fabulous. it really made me wish i was working there at that time. five days of travel for one hour. get real is next.

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our "get real" this morning. first it was the $800,000 vegas junket and the embarrassing videos that followed and now we're learning that gsa, the agent in charge of saving the government cash, sent employees to hawaii for five days for, drum roll, please, one hour of work. it was all released from this transcript that came from the house transportation committee that employees spent five days in hawaii for one ribbon-cutting

ceremony, complete with snorkeling in the morning because they had free time. paid $130,000 to move one employee from denver to hawaii and that was an employee who quit a year later. so, i think -- i believe that actually you'll see more of these little bits and pieces coming out. because -- >> i mean, they were on hawaii timele one hour's work in a week of hawaii, that's highly productive. >> now we know where all the money they're saving is going. >> snorkeling lessons, clearly. >> government's anti-lobby christmas present come early. ha haliburton may have ripped off the government but at least they didn't have the good sense to film it. we'll talk to george

zimmerman's new attorney after his two attorneys we spoke to yesterday were dumped. we are back in a moment. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. guys. come here, come here.

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welcome back, everybody. this morning, george zimmerman is waking up inside the seminole county jail, charged with second-degree murder. you're looking at his new mug shot this afternoon, zimmerman will be in court for the very first time. mark o'mara is his new attorney and joins us live. nice to see you, sir. thanks for talking with us. >> thank you. >> is the goal for you to get him out of jail or keep him in jail to keep him safe? >> i would like to get him out. i need him out to assist me in going over all the evidence and preparing our defense. i'm concerned about his safety to a certain extent but i'm truly hoping that there will be a receding of the frustrations or anger now that the process is moving forward. >> are you expecting that you'll be able to get him out of jail as soon as the bond hearing is finished and the bond has been

set, and you can post bond to get him out? >> a number of problems. i'm not certain that the bond hearing will be heard today. i hope it will be. it may be deferred for a few days. but i truly want him out as soon as possible. >> mr. o'mara, you just said you were concerned about his safety. just to be clear, are you talking about inside or outside of jail? >> outside of jail, i think. seminole county jail is doing a wonderful job handling him as a protective custody inmate, as they should. i'm not concerned with that. there is are certainly still some animosities and high emotions around the case. i don't want that to be visited upon george, his family or anyone. let's just move forward with getting the case figured out and resolved, tried and worked out. >> have you had a chance to talk to him yet? i know at the press conference yesterday, you hadn't. >> actually, no. i had talked to him well before the press conference yesterday, just on the phone, several times. i did see him last night at the

jail for about an hour. >> are you surprised by a second-degree manslaughter charge? >> knowing it only as a layperson, not as the attorney -- because i have no inside information as to what was going on, i did think that that was certainly the highest charge i ever thought they would charge. it seemed like it might be a manslaughter, but, again i don't want to prejudge something when i know nothing about the facts. i would rather that come out the way it's suppose d to. >> his other two attorneys that were kicked off the case talked about the fact that he was distraught, that he, in their opinion, had ptsd. can you comment on that? >> i'm not sure what happened between he and the other attorneys. a diagnosis like that should be made by a professional psychologist or psychiatrist. i'm not going to make a diagnosis like that. he is stressed. he's tired. he's been through a lot with the way this case has been handled

to date. i'm just hoping that his mental health stays well and we can move forward with getting the case figured out. >> there's a bunch of pretrial hearing that have to happen, including a hearing on stand your ground in and of itself. do you think all of this could come to an end, depending on how that particular hearing turns out? >> a pretrial motions attending to whether or not that affirmative defense should exist and should preempt the state from moving forward on the charges could well occur, but it's way too premature for that. i will just have to wait and see what the discovery shows, what the evidence s from that, we're going to craft whatever motions are appropriate and get them before the court. >> do you think it's at all possible to have an impartial jury hear this case in the state of florida with the fact that this has been on every newscast every single day for the last month? >> it's very difficult with a high-profile case, particularly

when there's a lot of community emotions. however, florida has a very good process in place to make sure we get a fair and impartial jury. other high-profile cases have been able to do so. i trust that the system, the judge, the prosecutor and i will be able to, should the need arise, to get ourselves a fair and impartial jury to hear the case. it may not be in seminole county. it's just a question of when and how the potential jurors talk to us when we see if we can seat them. >> final question for you, before i let you go, when potentially do you think roughly this case -- if you move through the pretrial hearings, could go to trial? six months, less, more? >> i cannot imagine it being less than six months. i would imagine longer than that, but i know so little about the evidence yet that, you know, what the evidence shows is them giving us grounds for motions or other investigation, grounds for

response to the evidence. without knowing that, it would be just pure speculation. >> mark o'mara is george zimmerman's new defense attorney. thank you for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> sure thing. >> and this morning -- thank you, likewise. ahead this morning, we'll talk to natalie jackson, the attorney for the trayvon martin family. we'll talk to her straight ahead. first, though, christine has headlines. good morning, christine. >> good morning, soledad. we are now within that time window that north korea says it will launch its new rocket. leaders are urging north korea to cancel the launch. north korea insists the operation is for peaceful purposes only but officials dismiss that, believing it's a cover for a ballistic missile test. one mile by ten-mile oil sheen spotted in the gulf of mexico. shell oil says it's reported the sheen to the national response center and has dispatched an oil

response vessel to skim it. the platforms are located 130 miles southeast of new orleans. shell says there's no indication this rainbow sheen came from its oil platform. it's still looking into all of that. california officials slamming u.c. davis for a pepper spray incident that sparked national outrage back in november. you may remember this video. campus police sprayed a group of occupy protesters point blank range. wow! a new state report calls police actions objectively unreasonable and says the incident could have been prevented. the report also slams u.c. davis officials for putting the officers in what they call an unfortunate situation. that video was viral for obvious reasons. today's am house call, fda is cracking down on antibiotics in our meats asking livestock producers and vets to phase out antibiotics they used to promote

growth. it's shown super bugs a danger to public health. new government stats reveal a percentage of first borns with co-has been at a ti cohabitating parents jumped from 12% in 2002 to 22% from 2006 to 2010. it it shows that couples put off getting married. prince harry may have a new girlfriend. british tabloids speculate he is dating molly king, part of the girl group called "the saturdays." king is 24 years old. tabloids say she and prince harry have been friends since 2010, when they met at a polo match. just what you needed to know about the royals to get your day started. >> and more. >> thanks, christine. watching "ac 360" on tuesday, anderson was reporting on the very important dyngus day

and he completely fell apart. this is so cute. and so hysterical that i had to share it. we'll show you that in a little bit. also, texts from hillary. anderson, man, i love you, but your giggle is ridiculous. texts from hillary. internet craze that began a picture of hillary clinton in shades checking her blackberry then went viral. ♪ [ male announcer ] we believe in thinking day and night... about your dog's nutrition. like the dual-defense antioxidants in our food that work around the clock... supporting your dog's immune system on the inside... while helping to keep his skin and coat healthy on the outside. with this kind of thinking going into our food... imagine all the goodness that can come out of it.

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was doing a ridiculous segment on people who had missed out on the dyngus day celebration. completely, completely lost it. >> last night we added anyone who missed out on dyngus day, a little-known holiday. for the record, i didn't put the holiday itself onthe ridiculist. it was the people who missed out on it. >> boys sprinkling girls that they fancy with water and the girls striking back with a tap from a pussywillow branch. >> sorry. [ laughter ] i'm not going to be able to do this.

i'm sorry. [ laughter ] so stupid. it's really so stupid. stop. [ laughter ] oh, come on. this is torture. [ laughter ] i just got to let it out. i've just got it let it out. >> that was so funny. first of all, his giggle is so ridiculous, number one. >> that sounds like a ridiculist.

>> and, of course, there was a protest. >> of course. >> because they thought he was making fun and mocking dyngus day and the folks in buffalo. he was not. he said that's so stupid, that he said a couple of times, he was actually referring to himself and the fact that he giggled. i believe i'm quoting him, like a 13-year-old girl. so it went on and on. >> and there's nothing stupid splashing women you fancy with water and those women hitting you with a pussywillow branch. >> as anderson said, that's what makes this country great, lots of traditions. still ahead this morning -- >> anderson's calling you. >> uh-oh. >> hey, anderson, i'll get right with you. hang on. >> happy dyngus day. >> still ahead, do you see this story? i love this story. arcade built completely out of cardboard and complete imagination. there's a film about a little kid who makes this cardboard wonderland. it's going viral. i'll tell you the story of this little boyd called cain's

arcade. a teacher who claims she was fired because she support aid hoodie rally for trayvon martin. more than 150 million professionals are connecting here. linkedin connects with the big board.

i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions.

you've seen thousands of rallies across the country for trayvon martin. now one woman claims she was fired for her support. brooke harris says her school let her go after she tried to hold a rally for trayvon martin's family. >> we stand with the middle school teacher in michigan, brooke harris, who lost her job for standing with us and believing that this was the right thing, and that young people had to be involved. >> brooke harris is with us this morning, joined by reverend charles williams, a pastor in detroit, who held an event in support of miss harris this week. thanks for talking with us. i appreciate it. we'll start with you, miss harris. tell me exactly what happened

and this idea behind the hoodie fund r fund-raiser. >> my kids had heard about it on their own. >> your students you mean? >> my students who are essentially my kids, that i spend so much time with them. my students wanted to write about it. it was students who don't normally write. wanting assignment. they wrote editorials and some of the best editorials i have ever read because they were invested in it. they were interested in the topic. they chose the topic. >> what happened? >> they wanted to write about the topic. they wanted to do more. they wanted to have a fund-raiser like we do once a month any way. it's a uniform school. once a month we dress down for a dollar so they can wear their street clothes. they wanted to do the same thing except wear hooded sweatshirts and donate that money to the family instead of the school. >> you brought that idea to your supervisors, right? >> yes, to my immediate

supervisor, the principal. i filled out the proper paperwork. i took it to the right person. he signed off on it. but when he took it to the final person who needed to okay it, the superintendent, she did not okay it. >> and then she didn't okay it. that came back to you that it was not going to happen. what happened next? >> i was okay with the decision. i was a little upset by her reasoning. the reasoning seemed to be it wasn't the kids' idea. they didn't know the facts about the case. they didn't actually care. they just wanted to dress down for a day. because they still wanted to do something, we were coming up with different ideas to do. they were suggesting making buttons, selling skittles, going on facebook, making youtube videos, and as we were brainstorming other ideas and moving on, then we were okay with the decision, that's when i got called into the meeting. the meeting wasn't about you didn't fill out the right form.

it wasn't about you didn't go through the proper channels. the meeting was about me being a bad teacher. i wasn't teaching them writing. i was called immature, unprofessional and a bunch of things that weren't true because she didn't even know my name. if you can't remember my name, how can you make these assumptions about my teaching. >> they told you in that meeting you were going to be suspended, is that right? >> they didn't. they told me to leave the meeting. my principal came up and told me to go home. as i was driving home i got a phone call from human resources i got a phone call that i could come back on thursday. i didn't know i was suspended until i came back on thursday and had a follow-up meeting. >> they told you that you were suspended then? >> yes. >> on what grounds? >> it was unprofessional of me to cry after the meeting despite

being thought so low of, despite my children and students being thought so low of, i should have held in my emotions. >> he asked for a statement from the superintendent. when you have an idea, the idea goes up the chain. it's how you respond that makes a difference. i wanted my students to think of our needs before anyone else's needs. i would just say that i would never fire a teacher for the reason that's been given. that's just not who i am. so that leads me to think is she talking about something else. is there possibly anything else that happened behind the scenes that you're not mentioning that's the reason you got fired? >> there's nothing else unless there was a lapse in communication, unless there was a misunderstanding. i filled out the paperwork. i went through the proper channels. i didn't say we're going to do it any way. i did what i knew i had to do.

and if it was just a simple you forgot to talk to this person or i need this form too, why wasn't the meeting about that? why was the meeting about me and my teaching and how i should be teaching the textbook and not being an activist. >> let me bring in reverend charles williams. we showed a clip from a press conference and now you have said that if in fact ms. harris doesn't get her job back by friday, you're going to march and rally on her behalf as well. what about her story has had an impact on you that you are doing this? >> thank you, soledad, for having us on today to talk about this important and pressing issue. you know, reverend al sharpton, our national president, yesterday after the charges were announced talked about the thousands and hundreds of thousands of unknown young people who engaged in this battle to make sure that there was justice for trayvon and quite frankly, anybody who would

like to squash that by firing this sister we would like to make sure is brought to justice. we believe that those who died for the cause, this young lady is related to and so we want to make sure she does not die and that her job is saved. >> have you had conversations with the superintendent? every way she's been quoted that i read so far has intimated there's something else going on. >> in the conversations that we have tried to have, we were ignored. i think that's the first issue. the second issue is this. you cannot tell me a young lady who has been working at a school for three years, two years in a row she was voted to be teacher of the year, never been disciplined, never had a write up, never been suspended before now, that all of a sudden there is no relationship to the fact that her students were adamant about wanting to organize for trayvon martin.

we cannot allow our young people not to be moved from education to action. >> let me give final word to brooke this morning if i may. you are out of the classroom. have you had a chance to talk to your students even though you're not still at school? >> i have. yesterday i spent time with two of them and it reminded me of how much i miss them. they were telling me about students were crying, i guess, when they found out. i've had students contact me via the internet saying that they don't think it's fair. asking how they can help. i actually just heard apparently the superintendent although she won't speak to me in media but she is willing to have a meeting with a couple students. i told them how proud i was that they were willing to stand up for what they think is right. >> brooke harris, former english teacher at the pontiac academy for excellence. thank you for talking to us. reverend charles williams as

well. thank you. let us know how it ends up. we'll be following your story. >> will do. still ahead on "starting point" this morning, mitt romney has his eyes on the white house and they already have a vice president in mind. the name that has rumors swirling this morning. we'll bring that to you. also, did you know that hillary clinton uses lol also? the secretary of state joins in on some hilarious texts from hillary blog. creators of that blog with us this morning. here's my playlist. a little maxwell. . arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. is to create it. [ female announcer ] now create a new future for your skin. only aveeno positively radiant has total soy, for a whole new level of radiance. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce blotchiness,

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add your flavor naturally. good morning. our "starting point" this morning is george zimmerman who now stands as an accused murderer waking up behind bars this morning heading to court later today. we'll hear from his new attorney and get reaction from trayvon martin's family. the war on women debate. mitt romney is trying to turn the tables on the white house as

one democratic strategist pulls ann romney into the fight. >> his wife has never worked a day in her life. >> ann romney fires back over twitter. her very first tweet and hillary hills says thanks for the lols. secretary of state joins in on the text from hillary blog. the creators of this hysterical blog are going to join us up next live. it's thursday, april 12th. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> that's from the playlist of the creators of the hit blog called text from hillary. the song "two weeks." they'll join us. look who has joined the panel. it's roland martin. >> in the gay community, that means something different. >> roland martin joins our

panel. jon fugelsang is with us and will cain. someone tweeted me i should say that you are a conservative. if people haven't figured that out, will is a conservative voice here in america. >> let me talk and you'll figure it out. >> "starting point" this morning. this afternoon 1:30 eastern we expect to see george zimmerman facing a judge for the first time. here's a look at his new mug shot. it was taken last night at the seminole county jail, which is where he spent the night. zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. 46 days after he shot and killed trayvon martin in what his folks have claimed was self-defense. >> we did not come to this decision lightly. this case is like a lot of difficult cases we have handled for years here in our circuit and we made this decision in the same manner. let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. we prosecute based on the facts

of any given case as well as the laws of the state of florida. >> those are the words from the special prosecutor angela corey. natalie jackson joins us this morning. thananks for being with us. >> thanks, soledad. >> we saw videotape of trayvon martin's mother and father and relief on their faces when the announcement came across was episcoppal papable. how are they do? >> i told her that i'm impressed by their goodness. they lost a child. they feel relieved and they feel that someone recognizes that their child mattered. i think that this validates that their child mattered. >> what do you think of the charge of second-degree murder? >> i think that that's an appropriate charge. it's a very brave charge of

angela corey and really shows that she conducted an independent, impartial and fair investigation in this case. she could have charged this as a manslaughter to try to appease everyone. she didn't. she did what prosecutors do. she charged it to the hilt. >> let me ask you a question. if eventually it goes to jury which is an if at this point, can they actually convict on a lesser charge so charge is high but they could convict on manslaughter, is that correct? >> they could convict on many variation of manslaughter. the jury has a lot to consider in this case. wi we have an aggravating factor. trayvon was under 18 years old. he has child status in florida. the jury has many options here. >> it also could end before it even gets to a jury if there's a hearing -- there's a number of hearings as you well know. one is going to be on the law, the stand your ground statute. theoretically if it is decided

it can't be prosecuted under that statute, it could end there, right? >> it could. one interesting thing i noted from ms. corey's interview yesterday is she said if this statute applies, that's been the question here. you know, you always have common law self-defense. however, that's been the question whether or not this statute applies based on actions of george zimmerman. >> he has a new attorney. i'll play a bit of what he told us this morning in an interview. >> he's stressed. he's tired. 's be he's been through a lot with the way this case has been handled to date. i hope his mental health stays withal and we can move forward with getting the case figured out. >> he's talking about his new client george zimmerman who he hasn't had a chance to talk to face to face. do you know about his reputation? >> i practice here in florida. i never have been up against him because i do defense work also.

he has a great reputation. he's a board certified criminal lawyer here. he has a reputation of being professional, ethical and a good lawyer. >> what about the doj case, the hate crimes case, which is a federal case. what we're talking about with angela corey is a criminal case. what's happening on that front? >> i believe they are still investigating on that front. the lead attorney in this case has been talking with the justice department and he's been communicating. he has all of that information. we've been focusing on the state charge. >> there is a bond hearing and at some point in looks like george zimmerman could be able to post bail and his attorney told me this morning he would like to see him get out of jail and not say in jail for his own protection. would that be fine with you and the family as well if he posted bond and then got out? >> this family has only called for equal justice in this case. they called for simple justice. they haven't asked for any

favors. they asked for justice to apply equally for all. if a judge decides he has a right to bail, that's the system and we'll respect the system. >> robert zimmerman is george zimmerman's brother and he was talking to piers morgan last night and asked if he had a message for trayvon's parents. here's what he told piers. >> when the wheels of justice turn and when all of the system exonerates my brother, we are confident that will happen and the truth will come out and that george has been telling the truth the whole time, please for peace sake for the whole world and for people who are observing our legal system, please accept that answer. >> do you worry about unrest regardless of which way this goes? >> no. not from the ralliers and protesters that we've been in contact with. there are 2.2 million people that signed a petition to arrest

george zimmerman. these people have been peaceful. there's been no violence. and this conversation about unrest, it always comes from people that have been in the media supporting george zimmerman. there has been no unrest from the protesters and people who just cried for justice on this side. >> i meant both sides. i wasn't specifically talking about people marching for trayvon. i meant unrest in general for people because tensions are high. i follow myself on twitter. i know there are a bunch of angry people on all sides of the issue frankly. so i'm wondering if you worry about what could happen in this case regardless of what happens. >> i think we all have a responsibility and i think that martin family have been responsible in their message of peace and support of justice and i think that mark o'mara has gone a long way to offer that message also. i think there are more peaceful

people and we have a responsibility to make sure that the few disrupters don't -- their noise doesn't disrupt the hearing of justice in this case and the peaceful people who just want simple justice. >> natalie jackson joining us. attorney for the trayvon martin family. thanks for joining us. we appreciate that. christine has headlines this morning. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. overnight wake-up call for people living near mexico's gulf of california. two strong earthquakes magnitudes 6.9 and 6.2 coming just minutes apart. those came just hours after another quake measuring 7.0 hit western mexico. that one was felt hundreds of miles away in mexico city causing people to evacuate when the tall buildings there began to sway. confusion, panic and hurt people getting in the way. we're hearing for the first time the 911 tape from the night that whitney houston died. tmz obtained this tape of a hotel security guard making the

call after houston was found facedown in the bathtub. he says a woman in houston's room was out of it and wouldn't let him in to try to perform cpr. >> you don't know if she's conscious or breathing? >> apparently she was not breathing. >> she is breathing now? >> i don't know. the person that called me was irate and didn't get much out of her. security going in there now. >> we'll send police and fire over. does it sound like the person is still not breathing? >> that's correct. is there any way you can giveet the room to give cpr instructions? >> she kept hanging up on us. >> according to the report on houston's death, her assistant and bodyguard were the only people in the room at the time. rick santorum once called mitt romney the worst republican in the country. now that he's out of the race, would romney consider santorum for the number two spot? a voter asked him that question. >> would you consider him as a

vice president candidate? if not, why not? >> everybody is on my list. everybody is on my list. i'm not taking anybody off the list. i actually don't have a list yet. so i can't say someone is on or off my list. i can tell you the people i had the privilege of running against would surely be among those i would consider. >> meantime newt gingrich insists he has no plans to drop out. he says it's a two-man race between him and romney. >> i want to continue doing what i do best which is talk about big solutions and big approaches and keep campaigning. we'll see what happens. as you admitted, governor romney does not yet have the nomination despite every effort to get people to concede it and i have a right to campaign until he gets the majority. >> the next gop primaries are april 24th when connecticut, delaware, new york, pennsylvania and rhode island all go to the polls. sweet child of whine?

axle rose declined his induction into the hall of fame. rose says he won't join former band mates at the ceremony in cleveland. he says the hall doesn't seem to be a place where he's wanted or respected. the hall of fame plans to induct rose with the rest of the group. >> that's sad. i want you. i respect you. >> who knew they were so temperame temperamental. >> i respect him. >> i was looking forward to him going to the ceremony making it start four hours late like their concert. >> 30 years from now they often regret those type of nights in terms of not really being a part of it. i say suck it up, grow up and enjoy it. >> or he's taking a stand for something he doesn't want to do.

>> he wears a charles manson t-shirt but thinks playing with slash is in poor taste. >> if temptations could come together and accept their award, trust me, you can show up and accept it. >> hall and oats got back together. >> there have been moments. >> okay. >> hot topic. >> clearly. i touched a nerve. still ahead on "starting point," the blog texts from hillary went so viral so fast that hill herself had to be part of it. the two men behind it will join us live up next. also, a filmmaker takes his car to a shop to get a handle for his car door and discovers a cardboard wonderland. this is a great story about a little boy there that built an arcade. you don't look a day over four.

happy birthday botox. we'll talk to folks that discovered it during dinner at their kitchen table. this is roland's playlist. prince. ♪ a new tire like...every five seconds, how's that possible? well, we purchase 3 million a year. you just sold one right now didn't you? that's correct. major brands. 11 major brands. oop,there goes another one. well we'll beat anybody's advertised price. and you just did it right there, what's that called? the low price tire guarantee. wait for it, there goes another one. get a $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. look at that. it's happening right there every five seconds. your not going to run out are you? no.

♪ >> that's "pumped up kids." shush. i'm trying to do my introduction to my segment. creators of texts from hillary. that's off their playlist. that blog as quickly as it came was gone. these guys both work in communications in washington d.c. 32 posts. 82,000 shares of facebook. truly a sensation. it all started with this image. that's secretary clinton on her blackber blackberry. the creators of texts from hillary join us this morning. nice to see you. >> thanks for having us. >> you saw that photo which is

"time" magazine photographer took that picture on the plane. then what happened? >> we were just at the bar last wednesday having drinks after work and we started talking about this picture. i thought it was amazing. i said let's make a meme out of this. texts from hillary. that's how it started. >> we picked some of our favorite ones. this is president obama. he says hill, what you doing? what is this? get rid of this on my screen. i hate when technology fails. hill, what you doing? she says running the world. so cute. let's do our next one. oprah. you get a car. hillary says, no thanks. i ride in a g-6. next one is mark zuckerberg. guess what i just bought?

hill tweets back, a shirt with a big boy collar? it goes on and on. what were your favorite? what you surprised it took off so fast and what were your favorites? >> obviously we knew we created a meme that was fun, authentic and got people involved. i think that's why it took off. we had followers that really embraced it. as far as my favorite, i have to admit, getting brunch with meryl streep. >> i'm not the only one who likes to look at pictures of strong women talking to one another. >> there was one with congressman weiner. he's just texting. >> that was his idea. >> very funny. you have shut it down. this was the moment when you would take meetings about turning this into a sitcom or do

your book on it and you shut it down. that seemed to surprise everyone. >> we met the secretary. she invited us to the state department because she -- >> they created her own. >> she loved the blog. she created her own. she wanted to meet us. once you meet the subject of your meme, i think that it's very hard to top that. >> you gentlemen realize the secretary can never be seen in public using her phone again because she can never be photographed again. >> we had a shot up of what she added. the meme she said. what's up, adam? it's going to stick now. it's great. it's ended. do you feel sorry about that? do you regret it? what's next? who's next? >> what's next is texts of soledad. >> i need to make sure i look good in that shot. >> that picture of me is so terrible. >> that is a terrible picture. i agree. >> how come you didn't sort of

have it run further? very rarely do people take something brilliant and creative and just stop. >> we also have day jobs. we don't just make websites for a living. i think our bosses will be happy that we can get back to doing the work we've not been doing. i think it's good to go out on top. we don't want to be like the last season of "seinfeld" that people make fun of because it was terrible. >> not everyone understands what a meme is. it's an internet craze fad that runs out of control. what's surprising is most memes are accidental. you said let's create a meme and then did that. >> we were just like, let's do this. you never know if it's ever going to take off. i think that's the internet dream, right? >> your first attempt? >> not my first attempt but definitely my best one. >> he's well known tumbler already. >> you see a potential book in this. come on. >> we've got a few calls already. we don't want to discuss negotiations. >> there you go.

you can tell he's already got an agent. that's agent talk. so what was it like to meet the secretary? they bring you to the state department. she had already contributed her own add to the meme. >> it was great. the secretary's office is very secure. they take your cell phones away when you walk in. she came out of her office. shook our hand. all smiles. very warm. very friendly. told us how much she loved the site. i don't know if you saw the picture of the three of us where we all have our cell phones out. that was all her idea. she said i want to do this picture. i wanted to do but i didn't want to ask. >> you won't mind when you are audited later this year. >> no. >> you met her. are you waiting for the white house visit? >> you know, never say no. the agent talking. >> i happen to know barack obama already follows me on tumbler. >> big dog.

>> and with that we end the interview. nice to have you guys. congratulations. we loved it. we thought it was hilarious. >> you can't wear a plain white shirt and blazer. >> we move on. thank you, gentlemen. appreciate it. still ahead, we'll talk about a film that's only about ten minutes long about a little boy's make-believe cardboard arcade. here it is. we'll tell you what happened and how the little boy made it and what happened when a filmmaker discovered him and made his dream come true. it's a great story. you're watching "starting point." back in just a moment. so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok?

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♪ >> that is arcade music. welcome back to "starting point." the little boy whose name is caine. he built an elaborate arcade in his father's used auto parts star out of cardboard. a filmmaker comes in who is so surprised and taken by caine's creation, he asks if he can shoot this for a film. he falls in love with the kid and the project and then decides it would be a good idea to make this boy's concept of an arcade made only out of cardboard boxes, make it his dream come true. he creates a flash mob. the flash mob suddenly this little arcade goes worldwide and the flash mob shows up in east

los angeles to play on the arcade that this 9 year old has created. take a look. >> come on down to caine's arca arcade. ♪ >> so cute. to see the little boy's face to discover the people lining up down the block to play his arcade games only made out of cardboard boxes was hilarious. they ended up raising money for cain cainesarcade.com's college fund. he feeds the tickets out. it's a lot of work for that little kid. it's a great idea. >> do what you have to to get to college. >> weekly job numbers will be released moments from now. will it be good news for the

economy? we'll bring those numbers to you. what women want. mitt romney is trying to convince female voters he's a better choice than president obama but his wife, ann, ended up in the middle of the fight. ron brownstein will join us to talk about that battle. here's ron's playlist. you're watching "starting point." for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. that's why i take doctor recommended colace® capsules. i have hemorrhoids and yes, i have constipation. that's why i take colace®. [ male announcer ] for occasional constipation

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i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. good morning. welcome back, everybody. this just in. the jobs numbers. let's get to christine with a closer look. >> just in. weekly jobless claims report. 380,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. that's more than economists were expecting. quite frankly, they thought it would be another four-year low. it's disappointing. we want to see this number come in below 400,000 but higher than expected. it means the labor market

overall is healing when you keep it below 400. the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular is down for six days in a row at 3.91. some say we've reached the peak. they say it could fall from here. prices at the pump could drop to $3.70 by next month. your cable bill is taking a bigger bite out of your wallet. wages for workers have remained stagnant but the average monthly cable bill has been climbing steadily 6% a year. it will surpass $200 a month by the year 2020. keep watch on north korea today. the country says it will launch its new rocket by this coming monday. international leaders are urging north korea to cancel this launch. the u.s. says it's suspending food aid. japan is threatening to shoot down this rocket. north korea insists this

operation is for peaceful purposes only. u.s. and south korean officials believe it's simply a cover for a ballistic missile test. new shelling in syria this morning possibly ending hope for a u.n. backed cease-fire plan. the cease-fire deadline passed earlier today and all was quiet in the first seven hours. no major attacks as we reported to you and then some opposition activists said they hoped the government would stick to that peace plan but now explosions and gunfire rocking at least one syrian neighborhood. keeping a close eye on syria and that cease-fire. connecticut now on its way to ending the death penalty. the state house voted late last night to repeal the death penalty. the senate has already voted in favor of the bill. connecticut's governor has pledged to sign it. if he does, the death penalty will be replaced with life in prison without possibility of

release. the 11 men currently on death row would still face execution. a grandmother arrested for selling marijuana. she's no small fish. investigators say she's the biggest player in the drug trade in the grand lake area of oklahoma. police busted her after a four-month investigation. they found four pounds of marijuana and more than $270,000 in cash at her home. >> i can't believe this. you know, this is a lady that my grandmother's age and i could never in a million years picture my own grandmother doing this. >> investigators say more and more seniors are turning to drug trafficking as a way to make extra money after retirement. a grandmother arrested for weed but she was a major drug trafficker. >> that's crazy. >> that's the allegation at least. >> both democrats and republicans are battling over the war in women in the run-up

to the election. for months obama campaign accused republicans of waging that war. now mitt romney trying to turn the tables. listen. >> these are just statistics which show how severe the war on women has been by virtue of the president's failed policies. 92.3% of all the jobs lost during the obama years have been lost by women. >> 92.3%. that's lets to ron brownstein, cnn senior political analyst and editorial director of the washington journal. is that number accurate? >> accurate in its own boundaries but it isn't the whole picture. the recession since the beginning of the recession the balance looks different. the first couple years we were talking about a mansession because the job loss was concentrated among men in the early stage with cyclical industries like manufacturing and construction taking the

biggest hits. since we have bottomed out and started growing again, women's professions dominated by women, health care, government employment, teachers, they have taken the bigger hit. in the recent period women have not been improving as much as men but they didn't fall as much as men in the first period. another way of looking at this in the last 51 months, 48 of 51 months unemployment rate is higher for men than for women. on the other hand, picture is not great for either side at the moment. mitt romney has a point on that case. >> the bigger political picture in the war of women is really in a way capturing the hearts and minds of women because that will be the category that will move this election, correct? >> women are a majority of the vote. women are key to president obama's hopes of re-election but it's a mistake to think about all women under one broad rubric. one category as president himself noted this week. you have to think of it in a couple of different ways. minority women overwhelmingly

democratic. white women without a college education, working class white women called waitress moms have voted republicans in five of the six previous elections and polls show that mitt romney is still winning among them today. the big problem for romney are college educated white women more socially liberal who have been the most affected by the focus during the republican primaries on issues like funding for planned parenthood and access to contraception. obama won 52% in '08. he's now up to 60% of those women in the latest abc/"the washington post" poll. other polls show they are moving sharply toward him. that's where the damage has been and where the biggest challenge is for republicans in the female vote between now and november. >> that's why all of this is framed as a war on women or a war against women so then hillary rosen, who has been on this program a caouple times, talked to anderson cooper last night about mitt romney's economic policies and this is what she told him. listen. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying my wife tells me that what women really care about are

economic issues. when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school? how do we -- why do we worry about the future? >> that started a big debate. ann romney says i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. what do you think of what hillary rosen said and how it was framed? >> i can't believe she said it the way that she meant it. that's not a fight the democrats want to have. you saw that by the way immediately david axelrod disenvowed those comments. >> i could not disagree with rosen more strongly.

her comments were wrong and families should be off-limits. she should apologize is what he tweeted. david axelrod said disappointed in comments about ann romney. they were inappropriate and offensive. obviously that is a good insight into the take of the obama campaign on those remarks. >> two separate issues there. you don't want to go after the spouses of candidates. that's something that's kind of considered off limits in presidential politics and more importantly single and married women. single vote democratic. married women vote more republican. women who stay home with kids vote more republican overall. democrats don't want to project an image of disdain or looking down on women who choose to stay at home with children. ironically, we do this quarterly poll in the economy, heartland mon monitor, we found much less conflict between stay at home and working women than you might have expected in the past.

the idea of mommy war is behind us. >> that's a very '80s theme. i have to say. >> totally. women recognize that they are making choices. they are juggling conditions that are not always ideal between balancing work and home and the idea that staying home is not work, i can't believe rosen meant it that way. that's certainly not a debate democrats want to get into. they much rather be focused on the debate we saw during the republican primary about issues whether employers should fund ext contraception in health care. >> i think the comments are ridiculous. you act as if you don't communicate with other people. i'm not a woman but trust me. i have three sisters. i have a mother. they are women who i work with. if i'm sitting here talking about what women are discussing in our conversations, what do you say? you're a guy, you don't understand that? that's why her comments don't make any sense whatsoever. again to insult someone by saying you haven't worked a day

in your life. people make those choices. >> i would like to reference you back to the five boys. >> also there are some people, some guys i know, they made a decision in their marriages, wife is making more money. he stays at home. am i going to criticize a guy for raising kids? no. >> you don't go after spouses. you'll never hear fox news criticize michelle obama, right? >> it's what we decide is appropriate or inappropriate. i agree with roland. it's so over the line on a lot of different fronts. anybody who is raising anybody honestly is hard work. nice to see you. appreciate it. still ahead this morning on "starting point," the first lady visits comedian steven colbert's show but she got bigger laughs than he was. ten years young today. botox is celebrating its birthday. we'll talk to the discoverers of the use of botox over dinner. from the doctor's playlist,

"going up the country." everything that i've gained in life has been because of the teachers and the education that i had. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i not had a wonderful science teacher. a teacher can make a huge difference in a child's life. he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me.

♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] choose the same brand your mom trusted for you. children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade.

the first lady michelle obama meets the self-proclaimed first gentleman of colbert nation and the president's name and popularity came up. >> you are popular. do you ever hold over the president that you are more popular than he is? do you say watch it or i may not campaign for you? >> i might try that when i get home. >> have you endorsed him yet? are you prepared to do that? >> i am prepared. i'm endorsing my husband barack obama. i think he will be a phenomenal president. he has done a phenomenal job.

he's my man. >> she was funny. she's got excellent timing i think. she always has. >> you will never win that on your own show. she's going to win it every single time. she's funny. >> she's got naturally very -- >> too bad about her looks but she's funny. >> she's also cute. >> in fairness, aren't most first ladies more popular than their husbands? >> they are. that's why they are on talk shows. >> this is women's day in general on "starting point." >> i'm disturbed about having three men on the panel. i need more girls out here with me. >> i'm straight with that. i'm cool. >> you want more women on the panel? >> i got no problem talking about women. that's a great subject of mine. >> in high school i was legally a sissy. >> you aren't anymore? >> still ahead on "starting point," 5.6 million injections in just 2011 alone. americans are stuck on botox as the treatment turns ten years

old. two doctors put their minds together to find out what they could do. have an incredible story to tell you about botox. they'll join us up next. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

welcome back. the numbers really say it all. $1.8 billion projected in sales this year alone. 5.6 million injections last year alone and millions of happy customers. we're talking about botox, which is celebrating an anniversary. this week marks ten years since the fda approved botox for cosmetic purposes. how much is too much? who better to ask than miss piggy. >> i'm 99% botox but that might be underestimating it. >> your forehead doesn't move at all, does it? >> it doesn't. there's hardly a single expression i can make with this

face. >> you discovered the use of botox as a treatment for frown lines. they join us this morning. nice to see you. tell us the story of how it was discovered. it happened over your dining room table, right? >> that was the connection point. i did a fellowship in san francisco to learn how to straighten out people's eyes using botox. then the next use was people with eye spasms. two days later after their eyelids are injected, they are 20/20 functionally normal. it's one of those patients that got angry at me and said you didn't treat me here. i said i'm sorry. i would have treated you there but i didn't think you were spasming there. every time you treat me there i

get this beautiful untroubled expression. so i knew this was a really important point. >> you brought that to your husband? >> over dinner with three little boys and you know what dinner is like with three little boys. chaos. >> jean produces this idea which has beco went over my head in the chaos. she goes into the office the following day. looks at our receptionist and says kathy, i'm going to treat you. kathy had been watching jean's patients coming in and out. it was a no-brainer for her. she knew it was a simple, safe treatment and so she said, yes. jean treated her. two days later i looked at kathy and i said wow. this is really something. >> how does the toxin work that it has this use and also a bunch of other uses off the original

label. >> what it is doing is weakening muscles that make the frown. what that does is to lift the brow as bit giving you a fresher more relaxed look. that is what was really great because kathy was our receptionist and by 3:00 in the afternoon before the treatment she was ferocious. >> i think you target demographic. when you went to your receptionist, did you know there was this pent up insecurity in people about their brows and frown lines and did you know we just hit on something that everyone is insecure about? >> you are bringing up something that's chicken and egg argument. the fact that the baby boomers were there all wanting to work and no time for downtime and yet didn't want to look stressed and then we come along with botox and it's a marriage made in heaven. would botox have happened some other way? sure. >> when do you say no?

when do you decline a patient and say, no, it's not the right treatment for you. some people do have a frozen face. >> there are actresses that can't get work anymore. >> the frozen face is one of those things that those actresses, it will wear off but sometimes they get the wrong idea and they'll find someone to go along with their idea. >> is there an age limit? is someone too young? >> my oldest patient who just passed was 98. self-esteem we're talking about, it has no age. >> i'm with will. i'm not your demo. injecting stuff is not really flying with me. to me, what's the big deal? to the point we say are these folks who simply can't be happy with themselves? why go there?

>> the idea people have is that botox is all about wrinkles. it's not. it's about self-esteem. it's about feeling better about yourself. this is what my patients tell me. the way they feel about themselves improves. >> you have other issues. >> i'm going to just say that when i look at your forehead, your left brow is about three-quarters inch lower than the right brow and you have quite a deep frown line and it makes you look unbalanced and really angry. >> when i'm on television and making a point i'll raise my eyebrow and say guess what -- you ain't putting a needle to my forehead. >> happy birthday to botox. congratulations on this discovery. end point with our panel is up next.

end point in remaining few seconds. jon, start? >> botox is ten years old. don't look surprised. i just want to caution politicians who are considering yo