critics. >> that was incredible. >> it was a moment. it is monday, august the 6th and "starting point" begins right now. >> morning, thank you for joining us, tuesday a busy morning. >> it is the tragedy at a sikh temple, we're learning more about the gunman who killed six people and wound d three others. law enforcement officials spent the night searching for the suspected gunman's home. heidn't know -- we don't know his identity yet but a source tells cnn the suspect was an army veteran who may have been a white supremacist. witnesses say he was bald, wearing a white t-shirt and black pants and had a 9/11 tattoo on one arm. the latest victim we have confirmed, the temple leader, shot when he was trying to

tackle the victim. six victims dead along with the gunman. david mattingly, what is the latest? >> reporter: well, here's what we know this morning. we have a law enforcement source who is involved in the investigation telling us that the shooter was an army veteran and at one time it was believed to be a white supremacist. we know the witnesses at the temple describe him as a white male, bald, wearing a t-shirt, dark pants with april tattoo that says 9/11. all of that together, we have a local law enforcement official saying ty were approaching this as a case of domestic terrorism. now late into the night last night, about 5 miles from here, they were searching a house believed to be the home of the shooter. they were approaching it cautiously. i was out there until very late last night watching this going on. the evacuated the houses nearby, the house they were shooting -- that they were going into.

they were also getting the people in nearby streets to stay in their homes. they approached this very cautiously as if there still might be someone in that particular house. but they did gain entry and they were seen coming out carrying large boxes, what was in thos boxes, we do not know. as far as a possible motive, there are no answers yet about why this happened and why here and why now but the point has been made from the people in that temple. that temple is open every day for people to come in and worship and now they feel their security has been deeply shaken. listen. >> we're treating this as a domestic terrorist type incident and therefore the fbi has the resources needed to help investigate that. >> and at this point we are continuing to wait that same source telling us that this shooter was an army veteran and a possibly a white supremacist,

also telling us this morning that we should be able to learn publicly the identity of this man. but as far as a possible motive right now, there's still speculation, no official word on why this happened. >> all right, david mattingly, live from oak creek, wisconsin, thank you very much. coming up in a couple of minutes, we're going to speak to the mayor and police chief from oak creek for the latest there. other top stories this morning, it's being called the most important space mission of the decade and it kicked off just this morning. nasa's curiosity space rover has landed on mars, you are looking at the first images from the expedition. its mission is to find out if there was ever life on the red planet and if it could be habitable in the future. i always think of creatures walking around as opposed they are liking for microbial life.

>> they are so wonky and excited good the landing. wildfires are still burning in parts of oklahoma. one scorched almost 91 square miles between mannford and kellyville. dozens of homes and buildings have burned to the ground. but many families are being allowed to return. light rain and cooler temperatures have been helping the firefighters make significant gains. still no cause of death for the son of philadelphia eagles coach andy reid. police say 29-year-old garrett reid was found dead in his room yesterday morning at the team's training camp at lehigh university. they do not suspect foul play. garrett reid battled drug abuse for many years. went to prison in 2007 for a high speed crash after cops found heroin and more than 200 pills in his car. political shake-up in syria. the country's prime minister has defected and fled to jordan.

that is according to the opposition, syria state television claims he resigned. meantime state tv also repts an explosion at their building in damascus that injured several people. syrian rebels claim government war planes have launched new shelling attacks in aleppo. they say 44 people have been killed this morning, that is including ten children. the u.s. attorneys office won't confirm or deny reports that loufner will plea guilty or not. the bolt is back at the london games, jamaica's usain bolt takes another gold and sets a new olympic record to boot, 9.63 seconds. he won gold in beijing in 2008

as well. three other sprinters finished under 9.8 seconds. the other big story out of london. hometown tennis star, andy murray wins gold on the hallowed lawns at wimbledon and did it convincingly, drubing federer in straight sets. >> that was good. tlsz the medal count. >> it's an all out dogfight between the u.s. and china. this morning china is back on top. 61 overall medals, the u.s. right behind, 60 medle 0 medals britain third with 27 overall. martin luther king iii joins us as continued criticism that minorities are being prevented from voting. does president obama dislike his challenger mitt romney? a new book says he does. i don't want healthy skin for a day.

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minding your business, u.s. stock futures nor dow and nasdaq are trading higher right now. it's expected to be a choppy week of trading. speculation that the world central bank, including the federal reserve in the u.s. will do something to stimulate the world's biggest economies. gas prices are up for the past eight days in a row and up over the last month of july in the last 12 years. today's average, according to aaa is at $3.62 per gallon. prices are going up because of the rising prices in oil. more than a dozen states are gearing up for tax-free shopping days and i'm going to tweet this out the link to the cnn money story on this where you can see a list of all of states shown on the map that includes the dates for the tax free shopping days and you can see anywhere from 4 to 7%, depending on where you

live. every little bit helps if you ask me. >> i do agree with that. there's talk this week -- somebody tweeted me this because they saw something that stocks are going to be choppy this week. why do you think that is? i'm wondering why that's different from any other week? >> that's true. it is sort of like groundhog day all over again every week. part of it the fact that not a lot of people are investing right now and vacation is happening. >> summer doldrums, low volume. >> not one factor driving the market. you see everybody kind of trying to make their money quickly. we see choppy, we mean bounce around quickly. >> fewer stocks being traded, you're likely to see more volatility. there's nothing -- we had jobs and had the fed announcement that didn't turn out to be anything. >> europe. >> european central bank. >> this week it's end of summer. >> good to see you. >> today marks the 57th anniversary of the voting rights

act. signed into law by president lyndon b. johnso on august 6th, 1965. >> the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man. for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible laws which imprison men because they are different than other men. today what is perhaps the last of the legal barriers is tumbling and there will be many actions and many difficulties before the rights would haven into law are also woven into the fabric of our nation. >> with america's first black president up for re-election, the conversation about voting rights has been reignited. 30 states are currently enforcing some type of voter i.d. law which many civil rights advocates say is an effort to suppress the minority vote. joining me are martin luther

king iii and oldest son of dr. martin luther king jr. and young who helped draft the voting rights acts. he is issuing an open letter to america today to mark the date. you were there to witness history and present for the signing. america, we're wondering whether it has made any progress. what do you think the challenges are or continue to be? >> we've made enormous progress but what happens is we still don't have the majority of americans participating in the election. less than a third of the american population will even bother to vote. and there's something wrong with that. that -- the voting rights problem has been replaced by financial problems. and that now it's not who has the most votes but who gets the most money. and that has totally distorted

our problem. and we need to are advise revoting rights act to do something more along the order of our european or israeli friends, they make voting mandatory and vote on weekends when everybody can vote. and america can't be -- i think we're number 139 in terms of percentage turnout of democratic nations. and we're supposed to be the leader of the free world. >> there is a lot of apath. mr. king, if you can tell me about the effort now, what you're doing. what it's all about and why we should care. why are we talking about this this morning? >> my dad used to say a voteless people is powerless people. one of the most important steps we could take is the short step to the ballot box. as ambassador young said, out of 170 plus countries we're number

138. that is unacceptable. we have to find a way to make sure access and opportunity is available for all people and by virtue of the fact there are nearly 30 states or a little more who passed laws that might be perceived as restricting voting. i'm kind of disappointed that 47 years after the voting rights was signed on this day, that there may be some americans who may not be able to vote because what is perceived as restrictions. part of what we're doing is a campaign to educate and inform the public. and this is not partisan. this is about one party. this is not about a candidate. this is far bigger than any candidate. this is for every american to be able to participate and have access in this most important process that my dad and others gave their lives so that we may have. >> mr. king, you were talking about these restrictive voter i.d. laws so i want to put information up for viewers.

it's a recent study for brandon center for justice, in ten states that passed restrictive voter i.d. laws since 2008, it could be more difficult for as many as 5 million voters to cast their ballot. what is the reaction to the claims about voter suppression? >> i just turned 80 years old, born in new orleans. now they tell me when i want to get my driver's license renewed, i have to have a whole raft of the papers. i'm not sure i know where the papers are and can't go back to new orleans to get them. it's more and more cumbersome to vote. and that's not the direction in which a democracy should be moving. >> you have this awesome perspective, congratulations on the 80 years of age. do you think that having an african-american president is actually reigniting these old prejudices? >> i would rather say that we have a very divided nation on

the way in which we should go. and frankly, i think we would have that divided nation if everybody was the same color. and so i would rather keep color out of it and say, which direction do we want the country to move in. and i think the same thing is true with voting rights. voting rights was a racial problem in 1965. now it's a problem of voter participation for the elderly, for young, for college students and the difficulties that make our voteless and less important because of the billions of dollars that are going into elections, we will spend more money per vote orn this election than any other election in our history. the next president, whomever that is, needs to change that and make it possible for a citizens vote to count. next year on august the 6th, we

hope to be in washington talking to the next president about straightening out this voting procedure once and for all. first of all, it ought not be on a tuesday in november. chris rock says if you want to have a party and don't want anybody to come, have it on a tuesday in november. but we can vote on weekends. many countries vote on weekends and they get 80, 90 turnout. it's embarrassing for america to have less than a third of the people and usually that means that about 15% of the people elect the president. and he doesn't have a mandate, whoever he is, because you've got so many people frustrated on the other side because they did not have a place and did not have a voice. we've got to give every american a voice in the election of our president. >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, i

know you don't want to break this down along racial nes. mr. king, i want to bring you into this election. in 2008 president obama took the black vote and right now he is crushing romney among black voters, 87 to 5%. there are concerns about the african-american turnout. do you think the low turnout could hurt the president? >> well, think the low turnout does not just impact the president, it impacts the whole process. and the reality is the goal should be to create the climate for everyone to participate. as ambassador young has said, to make it as easy as possible, not to make it as complicate d as possible. maybe those as immigrants cannot vote. the goal is to make sure everyone has access. >> ambassador andrew young, martin luther king iii, thank you for joining us, we appreciate the dialogue and perspective. >> andrew young, not only 80

years oelds, delta has named a plane after him to celebrate his 80th birthday. he's a great atlanta and georgia presence. >> usain bolt sprints into olympic history. this guy can run! >> really? >> it was incredible. >> and fast. >> we'll talk to former olympian bob beeman about the incredible race as long as his own long-standing record in the long jump. you know him from "extreme makeover home edition." how ty pennington is getting republicans and democrats involved.

bea bea beam

welcome back, the fbi in denver says a suicidal person who made threats against oil and gas sites in western colorado is in custody. investigators can be conducting sweeps of a refinery and surrounding area and haven't found public safety issues. a s.w.a.t. team during a hostage situation in california, two workers at the sporting goods show near sacramento were held captive for four hours by an armed suspect. the man tried to rob the store but a manager was able to call 911. they talked him out in the end. truman's grandson will attend ceremonies marking hiroshima and go to ceremonies in nagasaki on thursday. it is the first time a member of

truman's family will attend ceremonies in japan. jamaica's usain bolt proving once again he's the mafastest m in the world. shattering the record, 9.63 seconds. watch very closely. >> usain bolt trying to come down. tyson gay, here's bolt, usain bolt explodes and still the king of the 100! >> he's number one. >> look at that. >> bolt may have the newest olympic record but bob beamon has the oldest. one of the greatest olympic moments of all time, seeming to defy physics he jumped 8.9 meters. >> that's more than 29 feet. >> his shoes touched the ground he set an olympic record that

still stands today. >> i have trouble to getting to 29 feet on a ladder. >> bob beamon is live from london with us. so happy to have you. thank you very much. of course, we've got to talk about that crazy record-breaking speed of usain bolt. he obviously is the greatest sprinter in history. what were you thinking when you saw him? >> well, i just think that once in a blue moon, we get someone with some amazing and astonishing speed. the first that i can say would be jesse owens and then you have the carl lewis and now you have the usain bolt. every now and then we get a blessing of fantastic athletes doing something extraordinarily well and usain has done it again with 9.63. >> we know these are supposed to

be the best athletes in the world. they train relentlessly. when you look at that kind of thing and look at your jump. how much of that is just you? there's got to be some absolute inate natural ability that people can never train to attain. >> for myself, i had an incredible day october 18th, 1968, where my horizontal and vertical just met and it was so compatible. i couldn't have it better at a better day. it happened at the olympic games. and the olympic games is somewhat kind of a mind over matter. so we go in with some of the greatest athletes, sometimes come out with absolutely nothing in their hand. but for some strange reason for the last eight years, this is four years have gone by and usain bolt has come up with incredible speed and breaking

the olympic record. for some reason my record is still standing as actually the distance, 2 feet away, what they jumped a couple of days ago, 2 feet away from where i jumped eight meters. >> how cool is that? to know nobody has broken your record? >> that's pretty cool but you know what, maybe i need to come out of retirement and bring some excitement, you know? >> he says my horizontal and vertical just met that day. i would love that to happen to me one day. >> let's look at some events coming ahead. track and field events to come. looking for a gold in the women's pole vaulting final today. which athletes do you have your eye on? >> it's kind of for the women's pole vault, it's been quite a different ride for me because when i competed in 1968, there was no such thing. and so i'm standing right now in

amazement and trying to say, wow, how can these gals go over that distance and at one point, those jumps are at one time was for men in the olympics that only jumped that distance back in the early 40s or the early '30s. this is a new event, that's been in play for just a couple of olympics. and so i'm going to be watching it myself because i'm waiting for the next woman to jump 17 feet. >> no kidding. you talk about things that have changed since you've been there. oscar pistorius, the south african runner, the first double amputee to obviously the subject of a lot of interest at the games. he failed to qualify for the 400 meters yesterday. what were you thinking about that?

>> well, i didn't see the event but however, i think it's quite an accomplishment that we have someone that has a handicap that can compete in the regular games. i think that is an absolutely outstanding. that gives hope for the younger ones that are coming along that say i have every great opportunity like this gentleman to be an olympic champion too. >> that was pretty impressive. qualified or not, the fact he's in that race. zoraida and i both got in on flights really late last night and trying to perk each other up because we didn't get much sleep. the rule at the olympics no hanky panky the night before, no trouble,on't do thinks -- >> i can't believe he's going there. >> when you were -- when you won your gold medal, what did you do the night before? >> well, i just enjoyed the

night. got myself ready mentally and physically and got myself ready. i think the good word is don't worry, be happy. >> didn't break any of your own rules the night before? >> no, as i said, i thought about don't worry, be happy. because i felt so good the next day, it was just really a wonderful night. >> words to live by. don't worry, be happy. bob beamon, thank you so much. nice to have you with us this morning. >> the news you heard here, he may come out of retirement to beat his own record. we were both out -- there was big traffic in new york and we were both in different cities which is a risky business doing a morning show. we're totally into it now after talking to an olympian. comingup, the rnc, republican national committee, announces the speakers lineup for the

convention. does the speakers' lineup give you any insight into who his running mate will be. the shooting rampage, army veteran described as a white supremacist opens fire and kills six people. the mayor and police chief of that town joins us next with pt latest on this investigation. you are watching "starting point." ah ok, move my 4 o'clock today to tomorrow. change my 11am to 2. [siri] ok marty, i scheduled it for today. is that rick? where's rick? [siri] here's rick. oh, no that's not rick. now, how's the traffic headed downtown? [siri] here's the traffic. ah, it's terrible, terrible! driver, driver! cut across, cut across, we'll never make it downtown this way. i like you siri, you're going places. [siri] i'll try to remember that.

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terrifying moments. >> ambulance up, subject's down! officer is down. >> go ahead. >> we have one officer shot. [ inaudible ] >> squad 7512 south powell avenue, subject with a gun, white t-shirt, officer down. >> officer down. that injured police officer is in critical condition right now. we're joined by oak creek mayor steven xa fitty and the police chief edwards. let me start with you, the officer who is down. can you give us an update into his condition? >> yes, he last night approximately 11:30 came out of

his second surgery. the information i have is he's resting comfortably with his family in the icu in a local hospital. he was shot between eight and nine times during the shooting a lot of extremity shots. a shot in the neck in the cheek area. none of those appear to be life threatening at this point. they have him resting comfo comfortably and we hope he makes a full recovery. >> do you have any sense of the weapon that was used to shoot him? >> it was a hand gun that was used. all indication is just one we recovered and it was very close proximity. that's why there were so many wounds. he came around the officer's vehicle and approached him while he was tending to someone was hurt. he was assisting someone who had already been shot when the suspect came around and engaged the officer at a close range. >> six people were killed, including the suspected shooter, mayor, we learned overnight that

one of the people who had been killed was the president of the temple. what do we know about his role in this incident? >> i can't confirm that, i know that i believe the sikh community released that community. obviously he was one of their leader and if that is true, it's a sad day for that community and our community but i can't confirm the identity of any victims at this point. >> we have heard from other reports he may have tried to tackle the gunman. chief edwards, sources are telling us that the suspect was recently discharged from the army. we are also hearing reports that he may have had some connection to white supremacist groups. what do you know about the suspect right now? >> we have information on the information as far as -- i do understand he did have a military background. as far as the white supremacist, things are being checked on hise

to say or confirm that was the case. i would hate to put something out we would have to retract later. we are looking into all of the claims we've gotten and hopefully can confirm those later this morning. >> as far as you know, no background you know of about the suspect that was obvious or would have been obvious to your police force as you responded to this horrific crime. >> he lived in a community neighboring ours and we're doing a 24-hour back-check to get an idea what he was doing and right now there's no indications that there were any red flags at this point. >> mayor, i understand the president called you and the governor personally. what has he said about this and more importantly, was the degree of federal involvement in this investigation? >> the president called me about 4:45 in the afternoon yesterday, was very comforting to me and the community he expressed his condolences not only himself but

his family. he offered the full support of the federal government and the agencies responsible for investigating this. we welcome that and willing to do whatever we can to make that process go smooth. chief, what makes this an investigation that would require or invite federal authorities into it? is it -- if it becomes something we look at as a hate crime or the term you used yesterday, a domestic terrorism type incident. explain what the distinction is. >> we definitely when we look at something like this with the sikh community, obviously we have to look at that and say, is this a hate crime. the fbi had resources that go beyond what we have and that's why we chose to go with the fbi as the lead on the investigation that we're assisting with them. they had more resources and had nor knowledge and intel on this type of activity. we need to look at those things to rule them out or confirm that's what this might be. >> mayor, tell ugs about the

sikh community in this -- in oak creek. what do you know about that? have you had much interaction with them? >> we have. they've been in our community, at least the temple has been in the community since 2006, very active, willing to help the community efforts. we have a large indian community in the area and these are a very positive and willing to do whatever i can to help. i grieve for that community. they are an asset. we have 23 places of worship in our city. they are one of them. and we -- we're not going to let something like this get in the way of that being the case in the future. >> chief, obviously, we've had a mass shooting recently here in the united states and immediately after the shooting, the attention got focus d on the shooter's residence, the place they live. you, i know are investigating this shooter's residence

closely. what is it you're looking for and what is it you found? >> as far as what i found, i won't get into what is found, any details on that because it's an ongoing information. we're looking for anything to indicate motive and anybody he may be affiliated with, anything that we can find at his residence. we go in there cautiously and want to make sure there's nothing left there for us as far as booby traps and clear it, that's why it takes so much time. we're looking for anything that can give us any indication of motive on who this individual was. >> chief john edwards, thanks for joining us and mayor scaffidi. we'll keep on following the story and good luck to you gentleman in finding out what you need to find out. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> such a difficult situation, right, a place of peace and prayer -- >> there's an extra element but the same thing with the movie

theater. that's a place you thought was safe, a place of worship is a place you think of as safe. to violate that gives people such a great deep sense of insecurity. >> and fear. i was at the airport watching as this was unfolding and everybody was saying, you're not safe anywhere anymore. that's a sad reality. >> ahead, could there be life on mars? nasa space rover landed on the red plan hours ago. why scientists call this the most important space mission of the decade. and former tv host ty pennington wants to give congress an extreme makeover, giving democrats and republicans together to help our veterans. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud.

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touchdown confirmed. [ applause ] >> cheers from nasa scientists as the curiosity space rover landed on mars. they really were excited. >> look at this, they are hugging. >> crying. >> it was so perfect. you're looking at the very first images from the expedition, it is being called the most important space mission in more than a decade. the goal here to find out if there has ever been life on mars and if the planet could support life in the future. john saturdzarrella is in pasad california. nasa scientists were able to get the curiosity through the serve minutes of terror using an untested parachute to propel through mars' tough atmosphere.

this is an usually difficult thing to do. it sounds simple but it's not at all. >> reporter: no, in fact not at all. the seven minutes of terror was aptly named because curiosity hit the martian atmosphere at 13,000 miles an hour, maneuvering itself through the atmosphere then the parachute deploys slowing curiosity to about 200 miles an hour. then after that, a series of pyrotechnic events to level up the curiosity lander with the surface of mars. the heat shield has to come off and back shell has to come off then it has to descend down to the surface on this sky crane apparatus. then the three tejers have to be cut at the same time. >> good gracious. >> if any one of those events had gone wrong, the whole mission would have been lost. but it was so successful that immediately after they landed or within minutes, the entire edl,

entry and descent and landing team, came pouring out of mission control and started chanting as they ran across the courtyard, chanting edl and made their way to -- there you can hear them there. made their way to the auditorium where the news conference was about to begin. and the president science adviser john hol gren talked about what a great success this was for america. >> if anybody has been harboring doubts about the status of u.s. leadership in space, well, there's a one ton automobile sized of american ingenuity that is -- [ applause ] >> -- and it's sitting on the surface of mars right now and it should certainly put any such

doubts to rest. >> reporter: now, ali and zoraida, we want to make sure the audience stays with us throughout the morning. we understand that nasa has spectacular images they are going to release in the next briefing. oneages they are going to release in the next briefing, one taken from the mars reconnaissance orbiter will show curiosity's parachute deploy as the vehicle is descending through the martian atmosphere. and other images taken from the descent camera as curiosity was descending to the surface. we haven't seen images like that since the apollo program. some terrific still to come today. >> but are we going to see martians? it's the question on everybody's mind, john. >> not everybody's mind. >> some people's minds. >> reporter: well, the reality is, what they're doing is they're going to look for the signs that life existed or perhaps still does.

they've landed in the crater where they believe water once probably flowed. they're going to look for that water. they're going to look for carbon and all of these signatures of life. they can't detect if life exists for this vehicle but they can detect if the environment was proper and right for life to exist then and perhaps now. >> very exciting. >> and we will all stay tuned and we will watch this. but if there are signs of martiams i guarantee it is going to be breaking, freaking news all morning. a big banner will be going across the bottom. just saying. >> thank you for that. >> even pour for us jaded journalists, if they find martians, i am all in. next up, he's not a martian but this is great. ty pennington, bringing a divided congress together for

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breaking news to tell you about now. we know the name of the alleged shooter in the wisconsin sikh temple attacks. wade michael page, 40 years old. that is according to multiple law enforcement officials speaking to cnn. two officials have said page had served in the army but this left. another official said he owned the gun used in the shooting legally. the shooter's name is wade michael page. that is according to multiple law enforcement officials who have told cnn who the shooter

is. we'll have more on that coming up. we continue to follow the story very closely. it is 55 minutes past the hour. it is a staggering number, more than 60,000 u.s. veterans are homeless and the veterans administration estimates they make up 14% of the homeless population. and while congress can't agree on much, helping those veterans is a priority for both democrats and republicans. >> so in a bipartisan effort, celebrity home builder ty pennington will be visiting both the republican and democratic national conventions as part of the craftsman house united project. now this brings volunteers and elected officials together to build a house from scratch for one deserving veteran and their family. he's unveiling the project here on "starting point" this morning. we are all big fans of yours. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here. the democrats and republicans have been able to do basically nothing together. will you be supervising them very, very closely because

they're going to fight over what nails to use and where to put the beams. >> i think he's separating them, right, ty? >> what's really cool about this project, we've done some pretty amazing things the last ten years, renovating homes, moving that bus. one thing we've never done is build two parts of a house and then bring those parts together in one city and give a deserving military family a new home and that's really what the craftsman house united project is all about. and so what is really neat about this, yeah, we're sort of working on both sides. craftsman had a great idea to work with organizations they've been working with donating thousands of project here at home, we build it together and we have next gen home and bank of america came onboard. we're urging everybody to go to facebook.com/craftsman and what you can do is click on the house united tab and then you can help register your delegate to come out and join us in building two sides of a house and then bringing that together and we've already got like 100 delegates signed on. it's going to be great. well, we're going to build a

home for a positive -- something very positive which always gets my vote. >> right. >> it's a really cool thing to do. >> and you have elected officials onboard as well? do you have commitments? >> we have commitments, yes. we have commitments. >> just may not get it done on time two parts of the house, is one to do with the republican convention and one with the democratic convention? >> we'll be going to both the republican convention in tampa and we'll be building half a home there in tampa and one in charlotte and bring it together. people are welcome to come out to the convention, help out as well, sweat some bullets with me. but it'll be a lot of fun because, you know, you really will see people really doing something positive. what's great is both sides will be part of the building process and in the end a really deserving family, a military veteran will get a new home. >> they're pretty amazing holes. have you decided who gets this home? >> well, that's the beauty of

it. i can tell you it will be a military veteran family. >> this is a big issue. a lot of these military service men and women went overseas right at a time when the economy was very difficult. they served their country, they come back and walk into this horrible economy. they leave the service they find it very hard to get a job. how does this figure into your selection of who gets the home? >> i'm sure that weighs a factor as well. one thing for sure over the years with extreme we built a lot of homes for military tamm lis and we were part of that initiative of raising awareness of the fact there are so many of our mill ter service men and women who come back and it is tough to not only adopt back to whatever but also to get a job and sort of keep a family together and all of that. and so i think this is a great way that we can all show our respect for people who serve our country. it will be fun. we'll behe mix and the

political, this side and that side. what's great about this -- >> it brings everybody together. >> which i think is really important. >> get some bills in there. >> if you can accomplish that, ty -- >> how about the budget while you are at it. thanks very much. i wonder if they can do it under budget. >> he's all about extreme, though. all about extreme. >> "starting point" is back in a moment. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment? the blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery,

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good morning and welcome to "starting point." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ali velshi. we know the identity of the suspected shooter in the sikh shooting and there are signs he may have been motivated by hate. were the victims targeted because of their tour bans. we're going live to oak creek, which is with which is. touchdown. scientific pandemonium as curiosity lands on mars. look at these folks. they are so excited. the rover already on the hunt for signs of life. and the fastest man on this planet, usain bolt, blazes to 100-meter gold in london and silences his critics. this guy is fast. >> all right. it is monday, august 6th. "starting point" begins right now. so let's introduce our team for

this hour. a democratic strategist, hank she ni kof. >> and margaret hoover. happing is virtual. >> i'm a virtual anchor. >> looking good this morning. >> thank you very much. >> and the editor in chief of town and country magazine, jay. >> our "starting point" this morning and breaking news, we know the name of the alleged gunman in it the deadly shooting spree at a sikh temple in oak creek, wisconsin. wade michael phillips is his name. >> page this served in the army but then left. another official said he owned the gun in the shootings legally. seven people are dead including the shooter, including phillips. this morning investigators are looking for a possible motive in the massacre. law enforcement officials spent the night examining the suspect's home and there is word that he may have been a white supremacist. police say page walked into the

temple parking lot yesterday morning, began firing. the first officer responding to the scene was ambushed and shot several times, nine times, we're told by the police chief. here is what it sounded after he was shot on the police radio. >> subject down. [ inaudible ]. >> go ahead. we have one officer shot. >> page was then shot and killed by another police officer. david matingly is live in oak creek, wisconsin, very close to wisconsin this morning. david, witnesses said that page had a tattoo commemorating 9/11 and some significance seems to be being made of this. what do you know? >> reporter: well, at this point no one is willing to come out and publicly say officially what the motivation might have been behind this case. we know that witnesses at the scene describe him as a white

male, bald, wearing a t-shirt, dark pants with a 9/11 tattoo. and we know authorities were approaching what we believe was his home about five miles from here last night very cautiously. i was watching them well after dark last night approaching this house. they evacuated homes nearby. they were telling people on neighboring streets to stay in their homes as they went about their investigation. they were approaching this home as if someone might still be inside but they were able to get inside peacefully. no incident whatsoever. we saw them carrying out boxes. after we don't know what was in the boxes but it's clear the investigation will continue and now that we know the shooter's name is wade michael page, age 40, former army, we know there's going to be a lot more coming out today. we're waiting to hear from horse in just a couple of hours about what sort of updates they might have for us. right now this community is still absolutely reeling behind

this senseless and sudden attack on a very, very peaceful allegation, ali. >> all right. obviously we have a lot to learn in the next few hours and i know you will be on top of it. we'll talk to you again shortly, david. thank you very much. in a moment we'll talk to the niece and nephew of one of the victims, the temple leader, the president, who was shot when he apparently tried to tackle the gunman and save 0 others. >> he's being called a hero this morning. a deadly lightning strike kills a nascar fan at the sprint cup race at pocono raceway t. the 160-lap event had to be called on lap 98 when that violent storm moved in. a racetrack spokesman says about 12 minutes after. >> jeff: jeff gordon was declared the winner, lightning struck in the parking lot killing a man and injuring nine others. wildfires are still burning in parts of oklahoma this morning. an amazing blaze. that's in the northeastern part

of the state. has burned almost 91 square miles. dozens of homes and buildings have burned to the ground. the flames were so intense on friday, three firefighters were treated for burns. many families were forced to evacuate their homes, are now being allowed to return. some light rain and cooler temperatures are helping firefighters make significant gains against the flames. yesterday they got that and hopefully will get more today. >> the u.s. attorney's office won't confirm or deny reports jared lee loughner will plead guilty in the tucson shooting rampage. the "l.a. times" and "the wall street journal" are not identifying their sources by name but they say tomorrow's competency hearing will be a change of plea hearing instead now. that shooting killed six people, wounded another 13 including then congresswoman gabrielle giffords. this was last year. a political shake-up in syria this morning. the country's prime minister, seen here, that is defected. in a statement he says he, quote, joined the ranks of freedom and dignity revolution,

end quote. syria state television claims that he has resigned his post. state tv reporting an explosion at their building in damascus today that injured several people. and back to our top story now and as we just told you one of the victims in the deadly wisconsin shooting rampage at a sikh temple was the man seen here in this facebook photo, he is the president of the temple. we are told he tried to tackle the gunman and was shot in the back. his niece and nephew were supposed to be temple yesterday with their family. we are incredibly sorry for your loss. we received word that your uncle died overnight. can you tell us about your uncle? >> he was an amazing man. he was very selfless. he was a protector.

he was a fighter and he was a believer. he left this world fighting for our church. he lost the fight and we lost him. >> we understand, though, that he died a hero. what can you tell us about that, that he was trying to protect other people in the temple. if you could answer that for us, please? >> so more or less what we gather, i mean, it's what investigators tell us and the pi pictures that they've shown, is that after the gunman entered our holy room where we keep our -- people were praying in there and he shot and killed a couple of individuals and my uncle once he realized what was going on went to tackle him and suffered a gunshot wound into his abdomen and back area and

continued to try to fight him until the bleeding just caused to be too much and ended up being fatal. >> and we announced the shooter is wade michael page, age 40 years old. when were you told that was the alleged shooter? >> we really weren't told much about the shooter other than he was a white male. we keep getting asked as 0 to whether this is a form of a hate crime. that's what we think. an action like this has to be some for the of hate to really just go in a church and shoot it up with families and children and mothers and fathers and elders. it has to be some form of hate. >> there are reports -- go ahead. >> i was just saying there's

some evidence to think this was planned, and there's other people involved based on the tattoos described of 9/11 i think it would fall under a hate crime. >> have you experienced anything like this before, any hate crimes at this particular temple? >> not even it at this temple. the culture has not experience ed anything like this in the nation ever. so, i mean, there are acts of ignorance here and there but not to this level at all. >> we're a peace loving community. we gather together every sunday to pray, to come together and pray together and to find peace and we eat together and serve each other and we open our doors to the communities around us no

matter what their faith, their gender, their creed, and to show love and homeless people come here to eat. it's really where people find the peace that they're looking for. it's really understand people understand i don't usually wear this tour ban but i wanted after yesterday to he heducate peoplet we're not terrorists. we're people who are loving and we care about others and we're humans just like everyone else. these acts of ignorance need to be stopped in some way, shape, or form. this isn't right. we're suffering here as an entire community. >> all of the reports that are coming out of that area do indeed cop ficonfirm that, that you are a community of peace. i understand both of you missed this incident by just moments. can you tell me about that? >> i was actually heading that

way. and my brother missed it by a matter of minutes just because he happened to stop at a bank. >> yeah, we usually teach a class in the mornings to little kids to teach them about the language and the culture and i literally stopped at the bank randomly to, you know, to make a deposit and you just never know. you pull up and they just start sealing off the streets and you find your family and what happened. to this point you can't believe it. it's hard to really digest this has happened to you in this place. you're talk iing with about aura one minute and then the next minute it's you and your family and i just don't understand why this is happening. why can't people just show each other love and care and treat each other as humans?

i don't know -- i just don't know. i mean, in terms of guns, you know, there's always a debate. i just never thought it would be in a temple, you know, a place of worship. i don't want it to be where people have to carry a gun with where they are worship. it's not right. people need to find a place of peace and to love each other without having to worry about these things and for us i don't know if we can. >> ir message is loud and clear this morning. i have to say that. you have been very effective in sharing you are a community of peace and love and on the heels of what has happened to you, we appreciate you've taken the time to talk to us this morning. simran, kanwardeep, thank you and we wish you peace. >> thank you. >> remarkable what he said. many sikh men wear the tour bur

and he said i don't normally wear it. we all have a reaction. you honed in on that. what an interesting thing. he's coming out saying, i am who i am. if my people got shot because of the way i look, i'm going to look that way more today. that's my protest. >> what you hear so much in the sikh community is a frustration that many people don't understand sikhism, don't know what it is. this is an opportunity for the sikhs to educate americans what they are. they are a very peaceful religion out of india from the 15th century, things probably most americans didn't know saturday. but a lot of americans -- >> and a place of worship. and it's not to me that different -- i know a place of worship is so sacred, but the same thing occurred to me with movie theater shootings. you don't go to a movie theater -- >> a place you consider safe. >> it's a family place where you get peace. >> a family place you get peace but as long as we have illegal guns running around the country,

no way to control them, we'll have more of these kinds of incidents. >> just for the record, we don't know if it was an illegal gun. do we make this a gun debate a day after this massacre or do we let the families bury their dead and have some peace on this debate before we bring it into a policy debate. >> how to stop these things from happening again. >> well, he alluded to that. >> it happens again and again and again. this is not an isolated incident. it goes on and on. it's preposterous that a country as civilized as ours sees these incidents with guns all the time. >> there was a report an official said he owned the gun illegally, the one in the shooting was illegal. and he alluded to that, right? he talks about the gun issues versus a humanity event. the fact they came on and talked to us while they're grieving through this just in order to share. this is who we are. this is what we stand for and this is an opportunity to educate i thought was remarkable. >> the shooting a few years ago in an amish school in pennsylvania and the interesting

thing about that i think we should all remember is the way that the community reacted to that and forgiving the killer. now i'm not a big enough human to forgive somebody who would do this to my family, but i think picking up on your point what is the sikh religion stand for, what is the opportunity that they have here to show the world of their ability to forgive and to be peaceful and to do something the rest of us could never do. so it will be interesting. >> well, it's wonderful. without the gun, we wouldn't be having this discussion today. >> i wish we could have our second amendment debate tomorrow. >> happy to do it. >> i don't know. i don't think that debate is going away anytime soon. >> let's give it a day. >> i'm with you, narg rhett. we're going to take a quick break here. this man is about to be the millionth customer.

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welcome back to "starting point." it is all about the track and field at the olympics which i enjoyed because it's the one thing i can understand even though i have no particular skill at doing any of this stuff. the big drama was this. the men's 100 meter race. j may can sprinter usain bolt ran away with the new olympic record 9.63 seconds and three others finished under the 9.8 mark. i don't understand that. i don't even think i can understand about a 100 meter race. zain verjee has the big stories out of london. the race, to me, zain, was a

blur. >> reporter: well, ali, if you blink, you miss it. that's the bottom line, okay? i was there and i didn't blink and it was an amazing race. there were 80,000 people in the stadium behind me. everybody roaring. the crowd was really behind usain bolt. they wanted him to win. you can see the paper here 9.63 breathtaking seconds, the cover of "the guardian." in "the daily mirror" it says wonder bolt. i've been hearing thunderbolt and the most popular headline, lightning strikes twice. he looked really cool as a cucumber despite the many doubters that have said he's had a full start before. johan blake has beaten him in the heat. he has hamstring injuries. he's not that committed but he shut everyone up. he was just so cool. he was laughing with the crowd. he was doing this and everyone was cheering. it was electric. it was sensational and actually seven of the eight finalists managed to finish actually under ten seconds which also was pretty amazing.

by the way, another amazing person to look out for, gabby douglas today in the finals on the uneven bar. she faces russia, china and the uk. so that's going to be a tough one for her. we'll keep our fingers crossed. >> you know, in sprinting the jay m jamaicans do very well. this is something about us because we don't get to be on tv together. we are both kenyans and that makes us great likely marathoners, right sh kenyans always run marathons. so if i had to compete for something i'd go for the marathon. you have to see how zoraida is looking at me. you didn't say that. to my fellow kenyan, zain verjee, thank you so much. i'm just telling you. >> that's a stretch. >> all things being equal, we went for a long run together, like a marathon -- >> you should beat me? >> i'm a kenyan. i should beat you. >> i'm in better shape than you are. >> notwithstanding our difference in physical shape.

let's take a quick look at the medal count. there's a stretch. china back on top with 61 overall medals. 30 golds. the u.s. with 60 medals. great britain is in third with 37 medals overall. all right. and next, a dilemma facing a lot of americans. they like chick-fil-a but don't like the anti-gay marriage stance. a new website might have the solution to erase your guilt. [ thunk ] sweet! [ male announcer ] the solid thunk of the door on the volkswagen jetta. thanks, mister! [ meow ] it's quality you can hear and feel. that's the power of german engineering. right now during the autobahn for all event get great deals on a 2012 jetta.

all right. welcome back to "starting point." this is a tough call. >> i think while watching it

that has to be tough. >> there's a new website for people who love chick-fil-a, like ali, but hate that the company's president opposes same sex marriage. it is called chickenoffset.com. it lets you donate. $1 gets you one chicken meal offset. $6 gets you ten offsets. >> it's probably not a very contemporary example to indulge in, where you could buy away your sins and you looked at me like i had three heads. >> we have some very bad and good things out of indulgences including the sistine chapel. >> you support very good organizations, it gets better and they suggested freedom to marry. it is an organization that educates people about the value of marriage. >> hank, you get a chance to do

that, right, they tell you at the bottom you can check the thing to say you are going to use this much carbon for your ticket so you can offset it somehow? >> no, they don't do that. if you carry this logical argument to the end and you go right to the liberal argument, okay, don't stay in a marriott hotel because they're not the n union, don't use x products because they pollute in the creation of it. how can people afford to do these things? i'm not doing the other things as well and it's a great swindle on the bottom because he tells you what it's really about. he's a trial lawyer. going to make money out of claims so this is an advertisement for him. >> exactly. >> but he's doing good by doing it. it fits the american philosophy of let's do well by doing well, folks, great. >> it's good food. >> cholesterol indulgence is what you want. >> eat the chick-fil-a, it's good, and don't feel guilty. is that the deal? >> i'm not -- all i am telling you, and many people who have had this discussion, who have had very strong views about

chick-fil-a's position quaul pie it by saying, boy, that chicken is good. >> there's a place to have a same sex marriage argument and a place to eat chicken and they're not the same place. >> i am saying i am conflicted in the whole issue. >> how about instead of worrying about same sex marriage, let's talk about what the people are being paid hyped the counter every day. >> if you start going down that road, so a lot of people say buy everything american, right? stop buying things that are outsourced. if i did not buy things made in china, i would be naked and without any electronics right now. >> but you would be a great sprinter as a kenyan. >> i am sorry i introduced that at this hour of the morning. >> it's great. no encumbrances. you just go. >> that and shave my body and i'm set. >> goodness. >> i think it this might be time to take us to a commercial. greetings from mars. the first photos beamed back from the red planet. it's courtesy of nasa's rover.

is there anyone out there? nasa's chief scientist is here to talk about what we could find and if we are ready to handle it. ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network.

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welcome to "starting point." breaking news in the deadly traj di in oak creek, wisconsin. the suspected shooter was former army soldier wade michael page. he was 40 years old. two officials tell us page served in the army but left. another said he owned the gun used in the shooting legally. there's also word that he may have been a white supremacist. >> six worshippers were killed and at least three others are in critical condition right now.

the chairman of the board of trustees for the sikh coalition is joining us this morning. thank you so much for being with us. and now we were chatting and you said you watched the interview we had on eaier, the niece and nephew of the president who was killed in the shooting. and what they wanted to do was educate. so we want to do the same this morning, understand a little bit more about the sikh community. and i want to add we are very sorry for your loss. it's just a horrible tragedy. >> i appreciate that be and one of the things our hearts goes out to the entire communities that were there, the families, the victims, the brave police officers who prevented an even bigger tragedy. we want to celebrate their commitment and just the outpouring of support we've seen from across the kcountry has ben an inspirg part of this tragic aftermath. >> let's ask about the turban. the gentleman we interviewed said he didn't usually wear his turban. this has been some of the d

discourse that in a post-9/11 world a lot of sikhs were discriminated against where people were associating them with taliban but sikhs proudly wear this turban you are wearing. >> the sikh religion has been around since the 1500s, 25 million people across the world, over 500,000 in the united states. the turban, the beard you see, most people you see are sikhs. and the religion really focuses on these core beliefs of living an honest living, giving back to those less fortunate and living and remembering in the service of god. there's a huge focus on equality and fight for the justice of everyone not just sikhs. and so those values, i think, are universally american in terms of what we're trying to do as a community and that's the untold story of the sikhs. we've been part of this country for the last 100-plus years in all walks of life from doctors and lawyers to inventors and

entrepreneurs and part of this for us is around helping explain that story because it's such an important and american story. >> there's so much hate involved in this, right, and a lot of people are calling it perhaps a hate crime. how do you move forward from here? >> i think one of the things this is an important discourse, when we see these kinds of mass killings or things we immediately focus on the weapons and how them got this, justifiably so. if this is confirmed as a hate crime, i think we have a broader responsibility as a society. it's not. then it's about the environment we created. it's about our schools, about our communities, about our governments, and the kinds of environments we create where we separate out americans from other americans. we create an other. and we have to address and look at those pieces and that's a large part of the work of the sikh coalition since the years of 9/11. >> can you talk about what are some of the misconceptions people have about sikhs that you work in your coalition with correcting in the american public? >> so one of the biggest things is around just who we are. there's a confusion of who sikhs are and the values had a we represent. i would say that's the biggest

pieces that people have and the media is in no small way a part of this. you flash an image of a sikh alongside what's happening. so i remember the days after 9/11 when even on cnn there was an image after man taken from a railroad car that was a sikh and then hours later it was retracted that he had nothing to do with it but the damage was done. and so i think the image and the stereotype is the biggest piece, that association with terrorism or the other. it's been -- i grew up here in the united states. i was born in cincinnati, ohio, and i remember from the first iran hostage situation to the first war in iraq to, of course, 9/11 and in each case we became a symbol of the other. >> because it's a clear symbol. >> and it's not about mistaken identity. this shouldn't happen to anybody. >> you are not saying that sikhs are not muslims and that's why you shouldn't be targeted. you are saying that you clearly look like another and you become easy to identify. >> whatever that other is.

and i think that's a part of the dialogue here and we have an even more general point of how doe represent others and so for us as americans, as sikhs, to me those are attacks on one of the fundamental principles of america, this notion of opportunity, that brought families from well before even sikhs to this country because of that opportunity of inequality. >> when you say you've been here for 100 years, many of the sikhs came over like we associate the chinese in the west to build the railways. they've been here for over 100 years. often served in india as sold requestiers. they were a very big part of the army and, in fact, there's a picture i wasn't able to find, if there's a picture i've seen where sikh soldiers captured during world war i were lined up, targets placed on the turbans and shot. and so this has been a community dedicated to not only service but the protection of wherever they are. >> sikhs have served this world war i, world war ii and it's been part of one of the issues the sikh coalition has taken on. we would like to see that certifica

service be recognized and served even more broadly. and so at the coalition, for example, we've received thousands of reports over the last ten years on hate crimes, school bullying, work place discrimination, religious and racial profiling. for us address iing these was a first step to then starting to take place in a broader dialogue. we worked on the work place religion freedom act and other pieces because, again, it's about a dialogue that's broader than the sikh community. it's about how we look at these issues as a kcountry together. >> well said. thank you so much for joining us this morning. it's been a great education. >> thank you so much for having me. >> and ahead on "starting point" it is personal. the new book revealing president people has developed a genuine dislike for mitt romney. ♪ ♪

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things that you might have done ♪ ♪ for only the good die young >> everybody is singing this morning. that is billy joel "only the good die young" from hank's play list. that's why you were singing along with me this morning. >> that's the only reason i came here to sing that song. why else would i be here? the race for the white house is apparently very personal for president obama. a new e book called "obama's last stand" will be out in two weeks. aides have picked up a level of anger in the president for mitt romney that he never had for hillary clinton or john mccain. tlush writes he began the campaign with neutral feelings about romney but quickly developed, quote, a genuine disdain for the man. what do you make of this? >> i think it's help pl if you are going to be running against someone and saying terrible things about them to actually

believe it and dislike the opponent you are running against. if there's any sign the tone and tenor of the race has really changed since 2008, all stops are off right now. this is a very meg tiff campaign. the majority of the ads have been negative. they're going to continue to be negative and this sort of feeds into that narrative that this is not the hope and change and the spirit of bringing a country together that we felt so much in 2008 when the president was running the first time. >> jay, of the initial field of republican canndidates for nomination, he was the second most agreeable guy, i mean, other than jon huntsman. >> sure. i think the sadness of this to me ithat obama, who i really admired at the beginning, is being a very big hearted, above it all kind of guy. if he's fallen to having to hate somebody or dislike them, it's a sad thing. what other part of life do you get to do that? the people you work with, the people in your family, you have to find something to like or admire and they have to do the

same for the same of the rest of the country. you hate people, it's not going to help anything. >> if thrush says it, he's got it. it says that rommie has been laying a glove on obama and obama doesn't like it because he's convinced that he's right. when you are convinced you're that right, anybody who says you are wrong you have to dislike. >> do you think it's a good thing? >> look, it's the nature of american politics. people run around all day, and i've been in hundreds and hundreds of campaigns, they tell you, don't worry, it's not personal. trust me, it's always personal and this is personal. >> especially between the principles. >> you don't want to lose your job. the greatest job in the world, president of the united states. here is the guy who can take it away from you. >> even the fund-raising plan was this could be the last birthday i have in the white house. send me more money so i can have another birthday in the white house. >> they ought to be willing to lose to stand up for some of the things they believe in. >> nobody is prepared to do

that. not a single congressman in this country. >> things you would do. >> all the data points to one simple conclusion is that people do anything not to lose. they'll take any position, say anything and, by the way, their whole reason for being in congress is not to lose but to get re-elected. >> if we can identify those who are prepared to lose by doing the right thing, those are the people everybody in america should vote for. all right. thank you. let's move on here. ahead, what if science fiction isn't fiction? ? the cure yotty rover lands on mars. sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? it's an ultrabook. he signed the purchase order. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. introducing the ultra sleek,

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welcome back to "starting point." curiosity landed on mars after traveling over eight months, 352 million miles. >> it htouchdown confirmed. >> they seem all very surprised by the thing despite all the work they put into it. these are the very first pictures, by the way, the pictures of the land, the first pictures the rover has taken on mars. wow, martians everywhere. the point is to find out if mars can support life. jim, congratulations, first of all. that was wild. this is incredible. your folks there looked a little more excited given how much work you put into this, did you not expect it to land? >> well, we were very confident but it took 11 years to get this spacecraft, this rover, this mission from conception to

executing the landing. that's a long time. like three olympics have gone by since we started this. we're ready to go. >> what are we thinking? what's your best case scenario for all of you who put the effort into this. i'm expecting little green men to show up. what is your best expectation this rover finds? >> we'd like to find the kind of chemical fingerprints of the signs mars could be a habitable world. maybe in a different time, a different place. that would tell us we're not alone. this mission is all about understanding the record and rocks and soils on mars as if we were chemical fossil hunters. so we have to do a lot of driving. we have to do a lot of exploring with the magical instumts we have onboard to address that request question. >> everybody is talking about a manned trip. you're testing radiation levels as well to see if that is a

potentiality? >> yes. we have 12 instruments on this amazing vehicle, curiosity, one of which measures the spectrum of radiation that a person if they were on mars would experience and that's a real factor, a health factor when we eventually get to send women and men to mars. we're path finding. >> is it seven minutes, was that really important landing point that happened, could you walk us through that because this, if would have failed, it would have been a huge failure. >> well, sure. we've traveled for, as you said, hundreds of millions of miles in space since we launched last november and when we got close to mars we had to separate our spacecraft, put it in configuration to land, seven minutes to go to the right place. we had to go through a whole series of almost gymnastic movements to be able to bring this vehicle to the point this

metric ton rover, the size of a car, could land on mars in the right state at the right place to do our science. that's miraculous. it's like winning a gold medal in the olympics getting it right the first time, and we did. >> we could watch that video all day long. folks really excite body this moment in time. we can't wait to see what you find next. jim garvin, chief scientist, nasa goddard space center. we're excited to have you. good luck. >> thanks. we're ready to go. >> he has reignited my excitement about this thing. i was disappointed we didn't see green martians. >> they're going to be there for one mars year which is over 600 days, collecting data and sending it back hopefully to earth. >> it'll be exciting to work. >> that little delay, is he in area 51 in mexico?

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