from a to z." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" starts right now. cory booker, a key obama supporter, gets mad, says the gop is twisting his words. >> i am upset. i've been taken out of context. >> whose campaign will take the biggest hit? also advice that might be a little hard to understand, a federal panel says early detection of one type of cancer might not be a good thing. it's something every man in this country and every woman who knows a man in this country needs to pay attention to this morning. plus aloha, taxpayers, some federal judges are under fire for planning a million-dollar trip to hawaii. the taxpayers are paying for it, and one small step into the future. liftoff of the first private vision to the international space station. it's tuesday, may 22nd and "starting point" begins right now.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ ♪ chuck brown, chuck brown. >> godfather, go, go! >> he recently died. >> passed last week. >> the godfather of go-go missed my radar. >> hes into go-go. >> we'll get him some by the end of the day. that's roland martin's play list because he's doing a tutorial on go-go. >> roller skates and short dresses? >> the music never stops and keeps going. you really need to get some go-go on your ipod. >> welcome, everybody. >> welcome to our panel this morning. anyone having allergies? >> no. no issues. >> anybody? >> yes, thank you. >> one crew member. one guy sniveling over there. >> he's going to be replacing

you in one moment, roland martin as you can tell is back. is he the host of "washington watch" with roland martin. notice the music keeps going, going, going. >> that's right. >> nice to have you back and will cain is a columnist for theblaze.com. >> no go-go at all. >> he's getting the go-go. it's creeping up on him. >> what is in my coffee? >> look, nothing, nothing. help, help, somebody. talk about our "starting point" this morning which is the battle over bain. we were discussing this yesterday, will cain. >> right. >> tax on mitt romney, the businessman, and whether or not that is fair game. newark, new jersey, mayor cory booker leading all the shows yesterday, a obama supporter, surrogate, rising star in the democratic party firing back after there was an ad from the

romney campaign using cory booker's words against president obama. here's what he originally said. >> this kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. it's nauseating to the american public. enough is enough. stop attacking private equity. >> so he was talking about negative campaigning overall he mentioned private equity, he mentioned reverend wright. here is how the ad magically looked. take a look. >> look at the totality of bain capital's record. they've done a lot to support businesses and grow businesses. even obama's own supporters have had enough. >> it's nauseating to the american public. enough is enough. >> wait a minute, i didn't hear the "on both sides." huh, i think someone edited that out. anyway, after seeing that last night mayor booker said the gop crossed the line. he didn't like the way that it was spun. take a look. >> taken out of context, i've been used to report a cynicism. if there was any honor mitt

romney would have come out like obama and say citizens united decision will hurt our democracy, he would have come out and saying the negativity on our side has got to stop. if he wanted to stand with me he would say i stand with cory booker. stop the super pac money and the negative campaigning and talk about the issues. >> you know what i love about mayor booker? there are not a lot of elected officials who took about honor. he really literally genuinely talks about sort of honor and how people address each other and honor in how you do a campaign ad. >> something that was quite honorable he did in the first place was speak honestly about the role of private equity because what had happened with this debate is private equity guys had been pushed into a corner and the industry was having to defend itself. this really started as a vulture capitalist corporations are bad, private equity guys are bad. is this a riff against

capitalism and that's changed as this narrative has developed. people are pulling back saying maybe it's not private equity that's bad but maybe that mitt romney didn't create as many jobs in private equity as he was running on. so the argument and narrative shifted which i think means that president obama's team is a little bit back on their heels and the romney people have sort of won the argument. >> isn't the line that's critical there the difference between venture capital and vulture capital? >> of course. >> ultimately to me, i don't think anybody's arguing should america be a capitalist nation. we're genuinely not having that conversation. we're having the conversation if you take companies and grow business and provide jobs, which everyone is running on, that's a good thing, if, in fact, you don't necessarily do that, you take companies and buy them and provide opportunity for your shareholders which sometimes provides jobs and sometimes kills jobs, isn't that not necessarily something you want to necessarily run on. >> if this is a distinction president obama wants to run on

i suggest he's making a grave mistake. and he need not look to me and margaret to point that out. cory booker was not alone. he's been joined by steve ratner, haar alleged ford, ran for democratic senator in tennessee. >> they're all in the ad by the way. >> they are because they had moments of honesty, moments of clarity where they said things like cory booker, i have to say i'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. president obama said this is what the election is about. debris with president obama. >> let's be clear, when we get to november, let's say september and october, you're not going to be hearing the voices of cory booker. mitt romney will run them. you know who you're going to hear? the people who said i had a child in cleng, they came in, stripped this company down, they ran the debt up and destroyed this town, those are the voices you're going to hear and trust me the voters out there are going to be saying, hmm, i'm listening to that person as

opposed to what harold ford said or cory booker says. the honorable thing for cory booker is stop giving interviews because you're providing more oxygen to the story and let them duke it out. people are going to deal with the reality, some folks in private equity, building up massive amounts of debt, taking over companies to enrich themselves and not focus on the worker. >> you make money by staying in business. this argument shows a fundamental ignorance of capitalism. jobs are a by-product of profits. you seek profits, you produce jobs. if it was simply creating jobs, pass out the brooms and shovels. we've all got work to do. >> when you're broke and you don't have a job trust me those voices ring louder and there are more folks who lost their jobs as a result of this than the people on wall street who are trying to do exactly what you describe. this is about votes and winning. this is not about a 101 class on economics. >> i'm talking about capitalism. >> i'm talking about people who

have no job. >> great so for the people who have no jobs, this election in november they're going to talk about which candidate will be able to make the economy into an economy where private businesses can grow and thrive in america and create more jobs. >> bring us back to the original premise behind that ad and ultimately what this is about. mitt romney would say as a businessman who worked in private equity, i am that person. >> i get it. >> president obama would say as a runs of the country for the last "x" number of years i look at what has been done through bain capital, ergo i am the person to run the country. those are the two competing arguments, isn't that why the conversation is relevant, why having the discussion about bain is relevant? >> we can all agree the bain conversation. >> newt gingrich did say it as well, they all agree. >> gpg gng even says it. we get to the top stories with christine romans. >> boldly going where no private

spacecraft has gone before. spacex blasting an unmanned dragon capsule, headed to the international space station, the world's first space station supply flight. this is a giant leap toward not having to rely on the russian space program after retiring our own fleet. >> the united states will once again be in the lead, will be providing our own vehicles to take our own astronauts and cargo to the international space station. the u.s. is losing its top diplomat in afghanistan. ryan crockler step down this summer. news of that dpareur comes hours after the conclusion of the nato summit in chicago which produced a formal agreement on the nato withdrawal from afghanistan. there was no deal on getting pakistan to reopen supply routes into afghanistan. 43 catholic groups suing president obama over contraception.

the university of notre dame and the archdiocese of new york are hoping to block the law that requires hem to provide contraception coverage. catholic groups say the revision doesn't go far enough and the law violates separate of church and state. a dumb guy in a wig trying to rob a casino. police say he tried to pepper spray a blackjack dealer and grab $115,000 in chips at the bellagio in vegas. police say casino staff wrestled him down. his wig and sunglasses fell off during the struggle while a suspected accomplice got away. he hung on the side of the rocks a 250 drop below for 18 hours. 13-year-old boy is safe and sound. he was hiking with his brother and father above wallace false

when he slipped and went over a small waterfall and about to go over the big one. >> i was thinking this cannot be real. i was like help me! and she went and tried to grab me but we had like that much space between our hands. i was like in standing position with my hand up, it was like, i'm not going to die! i think i am one of the luckiest people ever. >> that was the luckiest and unluckiest day of that kid's life. as a parent, unbelievable, eight hours waiting to get him. bravo to everyone who got him out of there. >> amazing. >> good news for that little kid. appreciate it. some news everybody needs to hear this morning, a recommendation that one of the most basic, routine medical tests for men might not be worth having. psa test screens for the second most deadly form of cancer in men, prostate cancer and roughly 28,000 men will die from prostate cancer this year.

the u.s. preventative services task force is recommending men don't take the test, they say it could do more harm than good. dr. william catalona is a medical director of the urological research foundation, he joins us this morning. so this task force says don't take the test. you're the guy who created the test. why are they wrong? >> well i think it's really a misguided recommendation and just let me remind you this is the same task force that a couple years ago recommended against mammography in younger women and the frequency of mammography in older women. during this era the death rate has dropped 42%, so prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death among men for cancer and the psa test has dramatically reduced prostate cancer deaths. >> they argue in this that people who don't have the disease are actually flagged in

the blood test and also there are people who do have the disease but it's such a slow moving cancer that they'll go ahead and have some kind of treatment that could be worse than if you just did nothing and let the cancer move slowly, you might die of natural causes before you die of prostate cancer. those are their arguments. >> well, the test is not perfect. it's not like a pregnancy test where when it's positive, the patient always has cancer and when it's negative, the patient never has cancer. there are false positives and false negatives, but doctors can work through these for the patients, and identify patients who really have an aggressive cancer that needs to be created in almost every instance and i just remind you that prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, that is a man who dies of prostate cancer every 15 minutes in this country. >> are these statistics wrong? what i heard is as a result of the psa test, one man will avoid

death, one will develop a blood -- and treatment, i should add -- will develop a blood clot in the legs or lungs, two men have heart attacks, up to 40 men will be left impotent or unable to control urination. somebody has treatment, there's one person will avoid death out of 1,000 xwu 40 left with a major medical problem they'll be dealing with and that's why the risks aren't worth it. are those statistics inaccurate? >> i think they misinterpreted the risk. the whole issue is you have risks on one hand and benefits on the other and do the risks outweigh the benefits and they came to the conclusion that it did. i really think they misinterpreted the data and i think the benefits greatly outweigh the risk, because it cuts the prostate cancer death rate in half in this country, and for the second leading cancer killer among men, you know, if we were to stop psa

testing over the next decade or two, the prostate cancer death rate in this country would double or triple. there's really nothing out there other than the psa test to detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages when it's curable. >> of course black men are most at risk to are prostate cancer by large margins. >> doc i'm going to interview the cook county on tom's show in a minute. >> you're not promoting tom's show. >> i have to go, but 80% of the folks who get prostate cancer can't be detected by the rectal exam. men are frankly in limbo as a result of this decision. >> well that's absolutely correct and as you mentioned, african-american men have a 50% higher incidence of prostate cancer and 200% higher death rate and the psa testing has never been adequately studied in

african-american men. this study has been done in all men of all races, and i think it's a misguided and unjustified recommendation by this government task force. one of the main problems is there were no cancer specialists on this task force. there were no urologists, medical oncologists or radiation oncologist and most of the people on the task force were population scientists who basically look at data, and this really becomes sort of abstract data to them and they don't see the suffering that men with prostate cancer go through. >> so if you were talking to a man who is trying to decide do i get the blood test or not get the blood test because of the task force, you tell them do it? >> i think every man should at least get one blood test early in life in their 40s to determine their risk, and then i think they should see whether they're high risk or low risk patient and then i think they should discuss it with their

doctor and discuss the risks and benefits and decide for themselves whether they want to have prostate cancer screening. >> dr. william catalona, thank you, sir. appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. >> um-hum, that would be my allergies. >> a segment for me, on the horizon for me and i'm dreading that prostate exam. now i don't know if i have to get it. >> you should get it. it's a terrible recommendation. it's a preventative measure. >> get the test and decide what to do next. the test itself isn't causing any of the problems. it's the treatment. >> all right, soledad, i'll get the test. >> god, do i have to do everything for you, will? still ahead on "starting point," my gosh i can't get through the allergies. do that for me, go ahead. >> coming up on "starting point," what happens when toddlers zone out on an ipad? i can tell you because i have two of them. >> ipads or toddlers? >> both.

judges are having a million-dollar getaway in hawaii. senator chuck grassley, why it may be time to end the conferences all together. >> not so easy, huh, will? >> it's hard. you're watching "starting point." [ female announcer ] fresh flavor gets an exciting twist with our new chef's picks from lean cuisine. mushroom mezzaluna ravioli, chile lime chicken,

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entire country of haiti where i was with my daughters volunteering in an orphanage, putting those children to work. some are rebuilding, it's very, very slow but parts of the country sore beautiful, other parts struggle. i love new orleans, i love haiti. i root for people coming back. in the paper this is morning, who wants to start for me? >> i'm going to go because i stole let's story. he has two children and two ipads and "wall street journal," what happens to toddlers when they zone out watching the ipad, not the television. we've known for years and years kids you put them in front of a television and not so scientific, it fries their brains. what happens when you look at the ipad? apparently a well designed ipad app encouraging interactivity and maybe encourages and stimulates the synaptic connections happening in young children's brains. the problem is we don't have a lot of research, ipads have only been out two years, scientists haven't gotten their hands on how the kids interact.

>> the problem is when you try to wrestle the ipad out of their little, fat fingers. >> their little, afat fingers? >> a small child, that's good for a toddler. it's really hard, they don't want to give it up because they love to be entertained like this. that's the problem. >> we finally found the off switch on the kids called the ipad and turns out it's good for them, awesome, that's great. i'm so happy and relieved. >> keep telling yourself. >> this has been soaked in guilt for years but now i know i'm educating them. research shows video games increase response time, quick thinking so all this technology we've been so scared about, not so bad. >> what you got? >> mine is also good for you. finds out, turns out altria the tobacco company is coming out with nicotine lozenge. >> you were a spoker? >> not a smoker, but coming out

with nicotine lozenge called verve, a product that will give you nicotine without toe cac bow. nicotine has negative health benefits, a little bit of high blood pressure but the cancer causing stuff is the tobacco. there's no known link. you can get your nicotine free of the cancer. >> we need to bring this back around to normalcy. >> science. >> what paper is this, "the daily news" cynthia herbert, 42-year-old teacher in brownsville, brooklyn, has a heart attack in front of her 11-year-olds in thes class, she passes out, they run to get help and the fdny shows up and four guys revive her and rescue her and today she'll be honoring raul perez, andre pierre lui for saving her life and credits her

11-year-old students for helping her save her life. >> go fdny, heroes! >> there she is. >> pay raise, pay raise. >> for the fire department? >> you don't get to walk in at the end. >> i'm trying to get the fire department a pay raise. still ahead -- moving along, still ahead with "starting point," will smith, have you seen will smith? >> i've seen him slap a guy. >> not the slapping thing but the fresh prince, my goodness so funny, takes us right back to the late 1980s i believe with the rendition of his hit theme song. we're going to show that to you in a moment and the drug enforcement administration agency now involved in the prostitution scandal, the story that will not go away. >> the dea is in on it. >> apparently. >> move along. >> we're back in a moment.

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mr. will smith kicking it old school, "the fresh prince of bel air" rapid his theme song to the famous sitcom from the early 1990s with a little help from the crowd. 22 years later can come up with all the words listen. ♪ all about how my life got flip turned upside down ♪ ♪ and i'd like to take a minute and sit right there and tell you how i became the prince of a town called bel air ♪ >> it's amazing he can remember it but i think the audience does not miss a beat as well. 22 years later he's able to -- >> that song and show made him a ton of money. >> he remembers every word. >> fascinating article.

>> how will smith became a movie star after "fresh prince of bel air," what creates big time blockbuster movies, aliens, battles, love interest and every movie he's picked has been designed to be a huge blockbuster. >> he's smart. more actors should do that. >> when they were in cannes they were doing a publicity thing and angelina jolie didn't want to get on some kind of ride or whatever, and he said, baby, you want to be on another blockbuster, get your butt on that boat and go with it. he was trying to explain to her look, big movie, this is what we do. >> this is how it works. still ahead on "starting point" -- >> she'll take his -- >> shh! i can see how this morning is going to go. people who have allergies stay with me. million-dollar tropical retreat, that's where they're going in hawaii, judges of the ninth circu circuit, taxpayers will be paying for it. why senator grassley is so mad

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welcome back to "starting point," everybody. let's get started with the headlines. christine romans has a look for us. good morning. >> good morning again, soledad. the colombia prostitute scandal grows bigger. congressional source tells cnn three drug enforcement administration agents are being investigated for allegedly hiring prostitutes in cartegna. the incidents in question unrelated to president obama's trip last month. one involves agents meeting up with prostitutes in an agents' cartagena apartment. one tornado ripped through joplin, missouri, killing 161 people, destroying 8,000 homes and businesses. president obama gave the

commencement at joplin high school yesterday, he called the students an inspiration. >> you're from joplin, and you're from america. no matter how tough times get, you'll always be tougher. and no matter what life throws at you, you will be ready. >> volunteers from all over the country in joplin this morning helping with continued rebuilding everything one year later. u.s. stock futures are up this morning, indicating slightly higher open perhaps to the markets, when things get under way but the facebook ipo, quickly losing steam. company stock dropped about 11% yesterday, facebook is down almost 20% since it went public on friday last week and it's not just investors losing money. ceo mark zuckerberg lost more than $2 billion so far in the shares he owns, a paper loss, yes, many raising questions about the pricing of the ipo, if it was too high, if they issued

too many shares overall. if you bought shares of facebook you're no longer getting a paper stock. apple, intel no longer offer paper either but some are hoping for a piece of history. the loss for jpmorgan chase could be as high as $7 billion. the drop in the stock market hasn't helped the bank either since some of its risky bets were tied to the market doing better. the s&p 500 is down 3.5% since last thursday. it's important to know this is just the latest read on its loss and could grow bigger. party foul, beer flowing all over the place in daytona beach but this was no spring break keg party, tractor trailer overturned on interstate 95, filled with heineken and am tell

light in case you're curious. he says another truck swerved ahead of him, causing him to lose control. >> a big huge loss for the nation and the world today. christine, thank you. still ahead on "starting point," it's the allergies talking. >> right. >> i want to show you this artwork is amazing, a powerful new project using photos of those who survived that joplin tornado, who then take a sharpie and write messages on their bodies. the founder of the project called it dear world, a message to the world. headed to hawaii on the taxpayer's dime, where you're paying federal judges to take a trip to the island. senator grassley will join us next to talk about that. you're watching "starting point." short break, we're back in a moment. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online.

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>> that would be all american rejects "happy endings" on margaret's playlist. check out the playlist at cnn.com/startingpoint. i'm back on twitter if you want to see pictures from my vacation of my kids. >> check it out. >> @soledad underscore o'brien. >> hangover photos? >> of course you would. >> what is wrong with you? >> i was trying to get people to check out the twitter feed. >> pictures of my kids with haitian orphans. another government vacation, this time for a group of federal judges. judges and staffers from the 9th circuit court of appeals are going to hawaii, their annual conference, the resort offers sportfishing, snorkeling, zumba dance classes, i've never taken them but hear they're fabulous,

the aloha experience could cost nearly half a million in accommodations alone. spokesperson from the ninth circuit court of appeals says tax dollars are not paying for any of the recreational activities. people have to fund those themselves, but two top lawmakers would like to see a breakdown of the expenses and one of them is republican senator chuck grassley of the state of iowa and joins thus morning. nice to see you. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. why are you focused on the ninth circuit court of appeals? >> because of the publicity about going to maui, about the fact that judge gibbons, chairman of the conference says we have to watch our dollars, already been cut 5% by the congress and the fact that there are other ways of holding conference and social networking environment we're in now, it ought to be easy to do without traveling to expensive places

like maui. >> but -- >> and the bottom line -- >> forgive me for interrupting but the ninth circuit court includes the state of hawaii so it's not like everybody's getting up and going to hawaii. the ninth circuit includes california, washington, alaska, arizona, hawaii, idaho, montana, nevada and oregon. so to some degree and most of the circuit courts do trips, maybe not to hawaii but they definitely do a trip. is this picking on them because they're overwhelmingly liberal? >> well, i think first of all you mentioned this big ninth circuit, a lot of us in congress think that ought to be broken up into two circuits because it's too big and like you say probably too liberal for the rest of the region, but beyond that -- >> that's neither here nor there on that one. talk about the conference. >> reporter: neither here nor there. but another thing is we've never really had judges step forward and defend this meeting, and i think if you look at some of the

things that are going on at the meeting, you'd really question whether or not this sort of large meeting costing maybe $1 million and is really necessary considering some of the things on the agenda. teaching how to use an ipad as an example. there's a conference on that. half of the time it's spent in recreation as well. whether they pay for it themselves or not, the time is pretty valuable regardless. >> senator, hold on a second. i see will cain and roland martin squirming in their seats and i think what is disagreement with you, sir. roland, we'll start with you and go to will. >> congressman, this is a state, sorry, senator, this is a state in the united states of america. if they have this conference in iowa, would you be complaining? aren't we sitting here being

critical of an american state? don't they have the right to have conferences, judicial conferences in states like hawaii? this is not jamaica or aruba. this is the united states of america. >> first of all you have the gsa scandal and that big conference, what people consider a waste of taxpayer's money. you've got the judge that i've already quoted saying that the budget of the whole judicial branch is under strain and has to be looked out. you haven't had judges come and defend this conference, and the other thing is, if it was in my state or anyplace else, i think it's legitimate to stay that judges have to meet sometimes in conference, but i think that you also got to look at the cost of it as well, and i'll bet you, if you had the eighth circuit, which iowa is part of the eighth circuit, you wouldn't be spending $1 million to have a conference. >> seems to me that's the issue. should we be having conferences in particular?

that's the question. you can certainly have one in hawaii, it's part of the ninth circuit. the hotel is going to cost 250 bucks. it cost 200 in kansas city. what is the big deal? >> isn't this an optics question in a time of shrinking deficits, debts, a time of austerity, a time where many americans over 8% have been out of work for a long time, what are the optics of a government conference flying people to the other side of the world, literally the furthest state away, the ninth circuit -- if they learned anything from the gsa scandal, las vegas has perfectly good conference rooms and perfectly good -- >> senator grassley, will you demand all congressional scrunchets be abolished so taxpayers are not pain for any member of congress traveling around the world, not to states in america but to other countries. that's also costing taxpayers. >> there's already been decisions by senator reed the majority leader and senator

mcconnell, the republican leader to cut back on the number of travel of members of congress as well and just last week we saw reflected for 58 years, there were delegations between canada and the united states once a year, maybe amounting to five or six senators and maybe ten or 15 house members, meetings with members of parliament, cut way back by having people from the canadian parliament come down last week and that's one example of efforts by the two leaders of the senate to save taxpayers money. >> senator grassley we appreciate your time. thank you for being with us. i got to say i this i in a day where you could video conference in a down economy, i get it, and hawaii is part of the ninth circuit so that is not my issue but i think the optics is one thing and you really could understand maybe for a couple years you do the video conferencing. >> also you have resorts in hawaii, those are also jobs. i'm simply saying. >> i see. >> he didn't answer the question, he said cut back, i

said abolish. that's still a state. i think it's interesting how with las vegas and nevada where disyim nate against states where tour sichl a significant part of the economy. >> do we want government tax dollars flying every participant to hiawaii? ahead on "starting point," legendary anchorman ron burgundy is back. also this morning we're going to take to you joplin, missouri, the folks there using words to define their struggles and hopes as they rebuild their city and their lives. the photography behind the powerful image also join us next. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

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a photographer who is drawn to disasters with the desire to show the spirit of communities that are rebounding after

devastation so when joplin, missouri, was hit with a massive ef-5 tornado a year ago, he knew he had to go there and take pictures. he shows up and hands his subjects a sharpy and tells them to write what they think on any part of their body. the project is called dear world because it's a message to the world and robert joins us now. so great to see you. thank you for being with us. what i have loved about your project, look at some of these that are just amazing. it's really a way to combine a moving photo with a message from the subject of the photo. i think it packs a lot of extra weight. why did you go to joplin? >> the project started in new orleans so i photographed pretty much thousands of people who had gone through a similar experience of potentially losing something that mattered. so in keeping in line with what we felt in new orleans, i thought we should start to do things in other communities that experience some struggle. >> joplin was that place. i want to talk about some of the

individuals. there's a photo of a man carrying his son. the man's name is bradley. his son is brody. and all it says -- can we show that photo? all is says is survive. tell me the story of this dad and son. >> survived is bradley and brody german. we took people out to the place of significance where they were one year ago today. we took bradley and brody back to a spot just outside of st. john's hospital which was hit pretty badly. >> devastated in the tornado. the little boy has a obvious massive scar that runs down his neck. he could have died. he did not. what happened? >> so bradley and brody and their family were at a house a few blocks away from st. john's and he was hit with an object and really it was really bad, bad gash. we took him and his father back

to st. john's and had bradley hold him in the same position that he held him. he had to run brody down to this hospital as the story goes. that hospital was devastated though. so a surgeon there patched him up and then they hopped into a back of a pickup truck and went over to the hospital, freeman hospital up the road in the back of a pickup. there are stories like that all over the place that we got to tell through this way. >> i want to show another picture. phillip wilkinson. a plant operations manager at that hospital you're talking about. tell me about him while we show his photo. >> phillip wilkinson was an interesting story. i thought we would get a story of a doctor or a nurse who is a hero. a story of courage. they said you need to talk to our plant operations manager. >> he wrote faith and hope on his hands. >> yeah. his story was so interesting because it wasn't a doctor or nurse that st. john's says was a hero of the day.

>> what did he do? >> phil went with a wrench and down to the boiler room because there is a massive his of the gas line that was exposed and he crawled through rubble and went and turned it off. a lot of people say that a bigger, bigger part of this is if st. john's would have blown up because of a gas line and phillip closed the line. that was a really great story. >> how and why did you come up with this idea to do a sharpie and take photos? >> it's a good question. i was a journalism school graduate and i always have been fascinated by portraits and profiles and we're in such a highly shareable time in our society where we try to get as much as we can as much information and content into one space. i figured why don't we distill everything down to a person's story and message on their body. >> let me show one other picture while you show your picture.

this is willdabeast. that young man was killed on the way home from his graduation student. one of two students killed. >> how much longer after the tornado did you take the photographs? the tragedy, the loss, the anger, the shock, it takes a certain amount of time to get through. so many messages are optimistic looking forward. what was timing? >> this whole project was about commemorating today. we went last month. this is really, i think, all of us we have anniversaries for a reason. it's a time to take a step back and reflect on what year grateful for and things that may have gone a bad draw on. when we went to joplin we were clear with them that it is like, we want you to have something to say to not only your community, but to the world about how you feel about this event that we

can hopefully empathize with and sympathize with. >> that's why it's called dear world. everyone who wants to check out the photographs which are stunning, can go to dear world .me. still ahead, we'll be talking about counterfeiters and counterfeit parts from china that have landed in the hands of the military. is it a security threat? what's being done now? we'll look at that. and president obama and mitt romney go head to head over bain capital. why the former governor's record is the number one issue for the obama campaign. you're watching "starting point." we're back after this short break. stay with us. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... [ male announcer ] the security of a 2012 iihs top safety pick. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $209 a month.

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good morning. a tax on mitt romney the businessman is going to be what the campaign is all about. early detection of prostate cancer. could that be a bad thing?

advice this morning is going against medical wisdom. we'll tell you what you need to know. a potential threat to america's security. how did knockoff parts from china get into the hands of the troop? i'm soledad o'brien. ron brownstein is back. i am soledad o'brien. we have a look at the new "anchorman" movie. it's tuesday, may 22nd and "starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> all good? >> "boogie fever." it's a club here at 8:01 in the morning. margaret hoover joins us this

morning. she's the author of "american individualism." roland martin is with us host of "washington watch" and will cain, can you do that with your neck? >> i'm doing it now. is this it? >> columnist for blaze.com. nice to have you all with us this morning. we go right to headlines. right to christine romans. >> give the man dancing lessons. >> i'm worn out with this team. >> a government health panel touching off a major medical controversy with this recommendation against psa screening, a testing to screen against prostate cancer that can lead to treatments that do more harm for men than good. we talked to a urologist who created the test. >> for the second leading cancer killer among men, if we were to stop psa testing over the next

decade, the death rate in this country would double or trip. le there's nothing to detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages when it is curable. >> the recommendation by the task force is unjustified and misguided. >> it's not clear why ryan crocker is stepping down. the surprise announcement coming on the heels of the nato summit in chicago where crocker helped president obama negotiate the agreement for nato's withdrawal from afghanistan. ambassador crocker is expected to leave that post sometime this summer. historic launch to the international space station this morning. the first from america without a nasa logo slapped on the side of the rocket. >> three, two, one, zero. and launch of the space x falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the

international space station. >> a rocket built by the commercial space flight company space x blasting off overnight from cape canaveral. the nasa administrator says this is a giant leap to not having to rely on the russian space program after retirie ining our fleet. >> the united states will once again be in the lead and providing our own vehicles to take our own astronauts and cargo to the international space station. >> a beloved san diego anchorman is getting back on the air. it's the return of ron burgundy. >> get ready to ride the palomino stallion. >> the official trailer for "anchor man" is viral but not appropriate for us to play. we can't play it for you except for that clip. will ferrell plays ron burgundy.

it's just a tease. they don't start shooting until early next year. >> wasn't christine applegate in that? >> she was. she must be a network correspondent and left him in the dust. we'll see. >> it doesn't come out until 2014. >> it has lots of time to cast a woman. >> it's a deep tease. clear the calendar so you can see it. >> they don't start filming until early next year. >> excited about that. thank you. is it a potential threat to the nation's security? seems to be happening right under our noses. counterfeit components discovered in military equipment in hardware. the revelation is part of a year long senate investigation which was released yesterday. but was first made public late last year and since november congress has been pointing the finger at china especially since these counterfeits are not only hard to detect with the naked eye but they have a high failure rate. that brings us to the democratic senator.

carl levin has been working with senator john mccain to stop the counterfeit parts from showing up in military equipment. nice to see you. thank you for joining us. give me a sense of how pervasive this problem is. >> we looked at one slice of the defense industry and found 11,000 different cases involving millions of parts. it's pervasive. it's an open market for counterfeit parts in china at a place calland then they wash th and restamp them and put phony numbers on them and sell them back to the defense industry here and it's pervasive. it's just something which must be stopped for the security and safety of our troops. you also lose a lot of jobs. >> when you read details, it's stunning really. i don't use that word lightly. they were found in night vision

targeting system on a u.s. navy anti-sub helicopter. suspected counterfeit memory chips on a military aircraft. fake ice detection module fell out of its socket on an airplane. these are major projects and major dollars involved. so to what degree do you think military personnel's safety is being jeopardized? how much risk are they literally in and by extrapolation how much risk is our nation in? >> the risk is significant. we had a lot of testimony from our military people. here we have total cooperation with our defense industry. they don't want these counterfeit parts either. they get these through supply chains and we're going to put an end to it. we adopted a law which we think will put an end to it and we're doing it on a bipartisan basis. >> tell me about the law first. go ahead. >> we adapted a law which requires a number of things. number one, you can only buy parts now from either your

authorized distributor if you're a contractor or you have to have a certified supplier. we also are going to require much better reporting. the system of reporting that we have has not worked. we also are going to make the suppliers responsible to pay for the fixes. believe it or not, some of the fixes that have been made that have come at the expense of taxpayers. we're putting an end to that and making the contractors pay for their own repairs. >> wouldn't it make sense to just buy the parts in the united states where people have a vested interest in making our military strong? i'm sort of surprised. one of the reasons i want you to list that when it comes to the american military say those parts need to be built and supplied out of this country, wouldn't that make sense? >> we're all for buy america. we buy the major systems that have to be built in america but the parts particularly if they are filling the need for parts

that are no longer manufactured and in other words where you have to buy parts that have been refurbished, we want those to be the actual real parts and not counterfeit parts which is the case. this is a problem almost exclusively that originates in china. with very to have a better inspection system at our borders and instead we're reducing the number of inspections. that's got to end. we have to fight to protection intellectual property in this country. that's one of the things the g-8 summit focused on yesterday. >> this is will cain. can we consider this or should we be considering this as a national security threat? i know we're talking about potential dangers to our soldiers and ones using the equipment but what if counterfeit parts are finding their way into the supply chain that's originating as you said in china, isn't this a potential national security threat from a sabotage standpoint? >> it could be from an espionage standpoint but more likely it will be from trying to make a big profit in china using phony parts to do it and it's usually just doing it for the money

rather than for espionage but potential is there for espionage for both reasons, for safety of our troops and safety of our country as well as jobs. the industry here estimates that we lose about 11,000 jobs a year to just these counterfeit electronic parts. there's a jobs issue here as well. >> the other issue comes from a guy who is a private investigator who looks into counterfeit goods and his name is ted. he says, you no he what, china actually is not the problem. the problem is congress. here's what he said. >> it's a fault of procurement system and that's been weakened by budget cuts. shame on politicians for blaming china. it's not china. china is not the problem. it's reduced budgets and carelessness in the u.s. >> he says politicians are to blame for blaming china but in fact the issue is budget cuts. do you think that's true? >> i think budget cuts mean we're not able to catch china but the problem originates in

china. we shouldn't have to have folks at the border to stop something which is done openly in china. this is an open sale. you can go and film the sale of a counterfeit parts market in china. of course we have the responsibility to try to catch them and put more people at the border. we fight to do that by the way. but nonetheless, the original problem here comes from china and emanates there and we shouldn't have to deal with that. >> senator levin, i thank you for your time this morning. appreciate it. see what ends up happening if this changes down the road. still ahead this morning on "starting point," the battle over bain blistering attacks on mitt romney's business record. the president says it's all fair game. now a big name obama surrogate cory booker is stuck in the middle of the fight and dangling over the falls. the rescue of a 13-year-old boy who had to hang on for eight hours with a major drop right below him. we'll tell you how he was able to survive and a twitter feed

bursting with these crazy racial rants from a school psychologist. he says i'm not a racist. i'm a realist. we'll tell what you he said. that's straight ahead on "starting point." we're back in a moment. (female announcer) most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com.

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online petition that says i stand with corey. booker went on msnbc last night trying to set the record straight about what he really said over the weekend. >> i am upset. i've been taken out of context. i've been used to support a cynicism. any honor in what they were saying, mitt romney would have said the decision will hurt our democracy. he would have come out and said negativity on our side has got to stop. if he wanted to come out and stand with me, he would say i stand with corey booker. stop super pac money and stop negative campaigning and talk about the issues. >> barbara is a mitt romney campaign adviser. nice to see you. thank you for being with us. certainly appreciate it. corey booker says he's furious and was taken out of context. is he right? >> i think corey booker was taken to the wood shed. i think what was more interesting last night, you saw anderson cooper asking david axelrod about the hypocrisy of

obama starting this whole attack on private enterprise and free enterprise on a day he was having a fund-raiser with private equity. >> that may be the case. my question was corey booker right? he was creatively edited and was he taken out of context? >> he was edited by the white house who took that tape hostage after he spoke the truth on "meet the press" and when they didn't like it, they edited it down to a shorter version. corey booker is right. attacks on bain are nauseating. attacks on free enterprise for the past 3 1/2 years killing jobs and left us with 23 million people unemployed, that's what's nauseating. i think the fact that corey booker spoke the truth and white house took him to the wood shed and tried to take him out of context from their own tape they did, that's really the game playing going on here. we need to talk about getting back to focusing on jobs and the white house doesn't want to do that because when you look at

the credibility of mitt romney as a leader, a leader in his state, a leader of the olympics, a leader in free enterprise and private equity, they can't compare to that record. >> does that mean that a conversation about bain and a focus of a campaign around bain, which is what president obama said was really -- it's not a distraction. this is focus of the campaign. do you think that governor romney is fine with that or thinks that's not a good thing? >> if barack obama wants to do that, let's look at his investment at the department of energy where there are 64 companies that the inspector general is investigating for what he calls the friends and family plan. companies where the president wasted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money. >> so record about bain is fair game in this campaign. let's do it. is that what you're saying? >> i think what is fair game and what the american people want to focus on is jobs. this president doesn't have a record because he's been wasting

money on companies where he gave corporate friends money and there were no jobs created. >> let's talk about jobs. bain capital had a statement that they put out. they wrote this. our control ended in 1996 fully your four years before it encountered financial difficulties due to overwhelming pressure from big box retailers, declines if paper demand and intense foreign price pressures. bain owned the company until 1999. 36% was the number they gave of what they owned in the company. the big box tehey were talking about is staples. a huge success by governor romney. staples was the company. when you talk jobs, then is it fine to point to bain capital as something that can be the focus of a campaign looking at where jobs have been destroyed to some

degree? >> when you have bain capital 80% of their companies were successful which is better than the president's record in investing taxpayer money in failed companies for his friends and contributors. but president romney -- a slip there. governor romney wasn't even at bain when the whole thing happened. he was over saving the olympics and turning around the olympics and businey with that. he was already out to save the olympics. his record in bain -- >> margaret wants to ask a question of will. >> what strikes me about this conversation though is that actually the romney campaign does want to talk about this. this is not no holds bar for them. when this debate first started, this was putting bain and capitalism with vulture

capitalism and it was negative but now because surrogates have gone out, it's softened it. they have lost the momentum in terms of using this against romney and now people are talking about the role of private equity in the larger free enterprise system. it sounds like they want to have this debate. >> hold on. i'll get to you in one second. voters are not talking about the role of private equity in the free market system. >> they are not. >> go ahead. >> they're not. that's really what this is all about. so what voters are going to examine is say did you come in in an effort to enrich yourself, to enrich your partners, to enrich your investors, did you clean folks out? again, you can replay this corey booker all day. when you have the emotional testimony if you will of actual people, that's going to carry more weight than this conversation right now. >> at the end of the day, we've

been debating this all morning so we've been going back and fo fort on this, isn't the question about bain, private equity is about making money for your shareholders and sometimes they are foundations as you were discussing the anderson interview yesterday talking about that and sometimes those shareholders are pension funds and sometimes those shareholders are people who don't mind if companies are blown up in order to make money. and at the end of the day, isn't this going to -- could this potentially provide a big problem for governor romney. this is what ted kennedy brought into the debate and that was devastating for governor romney when he was -- >> what's devastating is for the past 3 1/2 years this president has been killing jobs. we have 23 million people unemployed. sustained unemployment over 8%. the unemployment rate and underemployed and stop looking for work is 14.5% and the

president has nothing to say to the american people about his failed job agenda and all of the taxpayer money he's wasted and are you better off than you were four years ago is the question the american people are answering and if the president wants to go talk about '90s and things and governor romney's success in creating jobs, that's fine. he has a failed record that he can't talk about. >> don't think he's saying he wants to talk about the '90s and governor romney's success in creating jobs. always nice to see you, barbara. thank you. still ahead on "starting point," a school psychologist goes on a rant talking about young black thugs that they should be put down. any way, he's now fighting charges of civil rights violations and the southern law poverty center has taken up the case. we'll tell you what's happening there. you're watching "starting point." we're back in just a moment.

when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

♪

>> going to this concert when i was in high school. classics. that's the police. will cain's playlist. our get real this morning is crazy. the jefferson parish school board in the state of louisiana has been under fire a bit lately. the civil rights organization southern poverty law center filed a complaint accusing the school system of sending a disproportionate number of black and disabled students to certain schools. they are saying they employed a school psychologist named mark traina. i would encourage you to follow him on twitter. his tweets are crazy. he tweets this. young black thugs who won't follow the law need to be put down.

way of saying shot and killed. not incarcerated. put down like the dogs they are. he also writes young black thugs created an atmosphere of fear through america. the real terrorists live among us not overseas. right here and now. quick, someone call david duke of the ku klux klan i believe he's talking about before the naacp gets here. he says this. i don't have a prejudice bone in my body. i'm not a racist. i am a realist. he had posts in various education stories which are on the website. traina responded to the complaints against him. he says the allegations against the school system are unfair. he says everything he says is backed up by facts. backed up by data and doesn't have a prejudice bone in his body. >> the big problem here is that according -- he is one of the

folks responsible in determining who goes to alternative schools so he's in a position of authority and so when you make these kinds of statements, you can't act as if somehow those thoughts are not having some kind of impact on your decision, which is one of the reasons why the southern poverty law center is going after him because they say that they're sending a disproportionate number of black kids to alternative schools and he's a decision maker. >> heyou don't criticize people twitter spelling. he said something like if someone says things i do everyone cries foul and spells it fowl. that explains everything. this dude is done. >> except that he's the guy who is going to decide where your kid goes to school. and he clearly has -- i really hate to use the word racist. it's not a word that rolls off my tongue easily. you have a guy who is going to make a decision who clearly has

issues with young black men who are in trouble if you are talking about -- i'm not sure what he means by thugs. he feels those are people that should be killed. put down. not dealt with. >> he also commented on the trayvon martin case where he said george zimmerman stood his ground. >> don't mix those up. >> follow me here. i'm stating this is the greater issue. we have the benefit of seeing his tweets. the problem is when you have people who are sitting in decision making positions who hold personal views and get to make these decisions. that's the broader issue. he can impact a child's life based upon what school they go to. >> he has the power. not just a bad speller. it is foul and not fowl. spelling is very important to me. he also has power and that really is ultimately what makes him crazy on his twitter feeds. follow him and see for yourself. still ahead, a new bill is supposed to help create jobs but

will it help all of us. two senators on opposite sides of the bill created it -- opposite sides of the aisle together to create the bill will break it down and a boy survives death. we'll talk about the rescue caught on tape. you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays]

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welcome back, everybody. time to get right to christine romans for a look at the day's headlines. good morning. >> we're following a story of four mountain climbers who died while coming down the southern slope of mt. everest after reaching the 29,000-foot summit. it's believed they died from exhaustion and altitude sickness. the victims include a doctor from germany, a canadian woman and climbers from china and south korea. a break in the case of a

missing high school cheerleader in california. police in santa clara believe 15-year-old sierra lamar may have been murdered and they made an arrest. 21-year-old torres is locked up on suspicion of murder and kidnapping. he lives in the same area where lamar disappeared and he's the owner of the car connected to her disappearance. lamar vanished in march on her way to the bus stop. one year ago today, a deadly tornado ripped through joplin, missouri, killing 161 people, destroying 8,000 homes and businesses. president obama gave the commencement at joplin high school yesterday. he says the students are an inspiration. >> if you're from joplin and you're from america, and no matter how tough times get, you'll always be tougher. no matter what life throws at you, you will be ready. >> he hung on for eight hours above a 250-foot drop and this

morning a 13-year-old washington state boy is safe and sound thanks to some daring rescuers. william hickman was hiking with his family and he fell at wallace falls. he describes what happened. >> i was thinking this cannot be real. help me. she went and she tried to grab me but there was that much space between her hands. i was in standing position with my hand up. i'm not going to die. i am one of the luckiest people ever. >> rescuing william wasn't easy. one of the men sent in to save him also then had to be rescued, soledad. >> amazing story. that poor boy. he looks great now. he seems so fine about how it all went down. good for him. thanks. appreciate it. all about jobs today. today a bipartisan group of senators will introduce legislation and show this is their own words that congress can get something done during an election year. it's called up the startup act

2.0 establishing new visas to encourage immigrants to establish startups in their country. it would also provide incentives to promote investment in startup companies and give those new businesses tax credits plus it would use existing federal funding to bring university research to the market more quickly. the two co-sponsors of the new startup act are democratic senator mark warner of the state of virginia and republican senator jerry moran of the state of kansas. nice to see you. thanks for being with us. appreciate it we'll start with you, senator warner, there's a jobs act as you well know. and they have said about that jobs act that it could create 100,000 jobs by 2020. why is this legislation needed and how many jobs are you estimating that this legislation could create in fact? >> soledad, jerry and i worked on the jobs bill as well. that is getting startup companies where 80% of the new jobs in america that's been created in the last 20 years

have come from startup companies. the jobs act focused on getting them access to capital and go public and raise money over the internet. this bill that we're also co-sponsoring together is working on how we can get access to talent and make sure that those graduate degrees, ph.d.s and engineering where there may be a foreign student doesn't go back home but actually can fill a job in america. jobs we don't have enough american born talent to fill and if there's that foreign born entrepreneur that wants to raise money and hire americans here can do that here in america as well. the jobs act was step one. access to capital. this is step two of the same effort. how do we make sure we get access to talent because we have to compete on both if we're going to win in the local economy. >> the immigration portion of this bill is the most controversial part of it. senator moran, you said it's also the most important part of it. what do you mean? >> it is. this battle for global talent is so important. i've only been in the senate for

a little more than a year. in the time i've been in the senate, six countries around the globe have passed legislation like this. this is a global fight to get the right people in the right place and we're talking about people with ph.d.s in engineering, computer science, mathematics and not just about the jobs that those individuals would accept or be able to take in the united states. if we lose those people who come to the united states and get a ph.d. in computer engineering for example and they can't get a visa to stay in the united states, they are sent home, not only do we lose those people working here but we lose the opportunity that they will have. they are the most likely entrepreneurs. people who will have a new idea and innovation and entrepreneurship is the opportunity and best opportunity we have to grow the economy. big companies are often in the process of laying off workers. small startup companies are the ones that are hiring and the statistics prove that's where job growth is going to occur. we don't want to lose those

individuals for jobs they create today but perhaps more importantly we want to make sure when they are having that idea about how to start a business and be a entrepreneur and how to grow an opportunity that it is done in the united states where more jobs are created for more americans in the process. >> let me ask a question of christine romans that joined our panel. i want to dig into this immigration part of it. it's about what you would require under the legislation. immigrants would have to complete graduate level work in technology, engineering or math within a year visa launch a business that employees at least two nonfamily employees and invest capital of at least $100,000. how many people -- all of these are not small requirements. how many people do you think, christine, this could affect? >> i think there are a lot of people getting extended degrees in this country that want to stay and start a business and they need access to capital which the first part of the jobs act tries to deal with. the big companies are spending

billions on r & d facilities around the world. could you have a hundred engineers for the cost of three or five here in brazil or some place else. there's a big move by companies who want to be in these other places and not clear how much legislation is going to keep people here when there's a lot of action happening everywhere else. >> at the same time we haven't seen a lot of bipartisan legislation passed. let me go back to senator warner and senator moran. this question is for both of you. how likely do you think in fact you'll be able to pass a bipartisan piece of legislation in an election year? >> i don't -- jerry and i are both new. we didn't get the memo that you are supposed to take presidential election years off. china isn't taking the year off. brazil isn't. we worked together on this jobs bill that created access to capital. we hear from tech companies -- i

was in the tech startup business for 20 years. we have to also compete for talent. and we think that this legislation moves forward. some of these companies as mentioned are trying to build r & d facilities around the world because there isn't enough american born talent to staff those facilities here. many of these companies would rather do that here in america and we're trying to provide that opportunity. we also want to make sure that those entrepreneurs -- i think about in my state a third of the entrepreneurs in the high tech field are foreign born first generation americans. if we had the same immigration policies in the 1990s that we do now, a lot of those folks wouldn't have started those jobs here in america. we want to stop that. we think we have a good shot. >> and it's absolutely possible for republicans and democrats to come together with issues that are broadly supported. i would guess the components of the startup act two have 80% support in the united states congress. and we can't let the common

phrase it's an election year, we won't do anything, overcome the value of this legislation. there's nothing more important at the moment than finding the opportunity for americans to have jobs and to feel secure in the jobs that they have, to expand the economy and if we can grow the economy, we can get our deficit better under control as well. >> senator moran and senator warner, thank you, gentlemen. appreciate your time this morning. still ahead on "starting point," catholics and contraception. we're discussing that again. 43 catholic institutions are now suing over the president's health care law. you're watching "starting point." we'll discuss that coming up next. it's very important to understand

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.

>> let's keep the conversation

going because christine was listening to the two senators talk and you wish the education component -- >> i love lowering barriers to startups and talent and getting businesses started in this country but i wish they had as much energy and bipartisanship on finding 150,000 qualified math and science teachers so we could train tomorrow's engineers and scientists in this country too. both have to happen. you're going to use a yankees analogy. >> i said this. we both agree to start with this. it's not either or. let's go for both. attract talent. let's be the yankees. you have good engineers in india. we'll take them. >> they don't develop the farm system. texas rangers showed them that.

but you are right. we understand the short-term in terms of what we need in short-term. long-term we're having a problem when it comes to that and i think part of the problem in america is we say, look, that's too costly. don't worry about it. same thing forget solar energy and forget panels. you have to grow homegrown folks. that's jobs. >> isn't it a multifront war. on one hand you have to be able to figure out how to get people who could be creating businesses in this country and mayor bloomberg has talked about this a zillion times. immigrants we know come to this country and create opportunities. at the same time if you can create a business, you can hire students but the students have to do the jobs. >> if you come here with $500,000, you can get a visa right away with 500,000 to start a company. i have no idea. >> i got to take a break. you guys continue to duke this out on the commercial break. >> christine is hot about this.

>> i like hot. it's good. hot is hot. >> anything with the word jobs on it, they'll sign it. >> you nailed it. >> stop, already, people. ahead on "starting point," 43 catholic institutions are now suing the president. they say contraception should not be mandated and want nothing to do with the new law. we'll bring you both sides of the debate straight ahead. stay with us. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. that can help lower cholesterol? on my journey across america, i found new ways to tell people about saving money. this is bobby. say hello bobby. hello bobby. do you know you could save hundreds on car insurance over the phone, online or at your local geico office? tell us bobby, what would you do with all those savings? hire a better ventriloquist. your lips are moving. geico®.

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welcome back. this morning the famed catholic university of notre dame is taking on president obama's health care law. they are suing. it joins 42 other catholic institutions who filed the lawsuit. they say their religious rights are being compromised by having to provide birth control to

students and employees. joining us this morning to talk about that is professor carter shneed. he teaches law at noter dam and supports the lawsuit and samantha is student at xavier university, catholic school, against the lawsuit. nice to see you both. professor, i'll begin with you. notre dame is a catholic university so i don't think anybody is really completely stunned by the lawsuit per se. i think some people are surprised that some employees would be getting behind it. why do you support the lawsuit? >> well, i think it's important that the university of notre dame is allowed to pursue its mission as a pre-eminent catholic research university with integrity which is to say in a way that comports with the principles that we affirm and to compel us to provide coverage for contraception and sterilization is obviously in contention with that and more worrisome it seems unnecessary. if the government wanted to as

it does to provide maximum access to these kinds of drugs, there are ways to do it without bringing us into the process. >> it's about who is paying for it. if the government were paying for it, you would be fine with it in. >> if the government were on its own initiative and entirely disconnected from us and didn't sort of loop us into its project, i think that would be an entirely different matter. the government already pays billions of dollars every year in subsidies for contraception through medicaid and title 10 clinics and new exchanges that will be created by the new affordable care act that president obama signed in 2010. there are plenty of channels through which people can get access to these drugs again without conscripting us into the process and requiring us to compromise our integrity as a catholic institution. >> samantha, you are catholic. you disagree with what you heard professor sneed just say.

why do you think that catholic universities what he's saying if it's not a moral match, the school shouldn't have to pay for it. why do you think he's wrong? >> my biggest concern with this lawsuit is the message that it is sending to the american public about the role of the american catholic church and the public as being trained in catholic teachings during my lifetime, i'm really frustrated that so much energy has been taken off of issues addressing the marginalized groups in our country. those that are suffering sincere persecution and intolerance and discrimination and instead so much time and resources and energy are being funneled into these partisan political issues and i think that it is distancing a lot of catholics and wedging divisions amongst the faithful. >> your issue is not the morality of catholic institution

paying for contraception which the church does not support. you basically think it's a distraction and you think it's basically at the end of the day going to drive away more catholic at a time when american catholics seem to be leaving the church and not joining the church. >> it does a great disservice to religious identity of the church when less emphasis is being placed on issue that i think are core of gospel and that's helping the pour and welcoming the immigrant other and ending u.s. sponsored torture in prison camps. the comparative silence of elements of the catholic church on these issues are frustrating for many catholics. >> what do you think -- how do you think it ends? i'll give you final word on this. do you think you'll be successful? >> one thing i was going to say, i agree very much with the core mission of the catholic church. i think unfortunately that's deeply connected. right now catholic charities, those institutions that are catholic, whether educational, health care, poverty, those

other kinds of very important ministries, their identity is being threatened. the president could exempt and secretary of health and human services could exempt them from this mandate and free them to do what's being described. there are some exemptions in place. what we're asking for is an exemption to care for the sick and clothe the naked in a way that comports with our core values. >> i'm going have to cut you off there because we're out of time. i appreciate you both joining us this morning. something that we'll continue to discuss. we're back in just a moment. stay with us.

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