fellowship. the united nations, everybody is coming together to create a global movement for compassion and action. >> larry: that's at the american jewish university. deepak chopra. spiritual leader and best selling author. time now for anderson cooper and "a.c. 360." thanks so much. tonight we have breaking news about this american missionaries in haiti. as you may know already they were charged today. what we just uncovered and you'll hear tonight for the first time is frankly stunning. we've been talking about their good intentions and how they may have been naive and misinformed or not well informed. you're going to see and hear in a moment the idea they were naive and uninformed appears to be simply untrue. tonight on 360 hear the firsthand account of an orphanage work in haiti who says the missionary leader went trolling for kids promising to take them to america. you'll hear from an american man who says the missionary leader offered to get the kids he and his wife were trying to adopt

legally. she offered to get them out of haiti. they wrecked the economy. wall street big whigs. everybody from the president on down promised to get tough on them. news tonight civil charges against the former top guy at bank of america, civil charges, no threat of jail time. question is why not? why after the worst economic meltdown since the great depression is not one single executive facing jail time? your money, your future. the tea party convention has begun. we'll look at who's there and who isn't. and help you make sense of the movement that could shape the upcoming elections. first up tonight, haiti. the missionaries, the kids, and now those criminal charges. today the ten missionaries, most from a baptist congregation in idaho appeared in court. they got shoved around. it was chaotic to say the least going in. once inside they were hit with accounts of kidnapping and criminal association for trying to take 33 kids across the border into the dominican republic. the prosecutor didn't bring the most serious possible charge which is child trafficking, but

a judge could amend the indictment later. look at this. a lot of -- just chaotic there as you can see. as it stands the current charges could add up to life in prison. now, a lawyer for the group said something very interesting. he said nine of the ten were, quote, completely innocent. if the court were to keep one member it could be the group leader laura silsby. we've uncovered shocking allegations about ms. silsby's actions. they had no intention of breaking the law when they tried to take the kids into the dominican republic. the group made contact with a haitian police officer to smooth the mission. we can't know if bribe was paid or not. we heard from the dominican counsel in haiti he warned the group pointblank to their face without documents, documents they did not have was against the law. in a 360 exclusive, for the first time two new voices who suggest leader of the group laura silsby was not uninformed

about what she was doing. in nashville, richard picket, brought three kids home from haiti legally. while he was there his wife got three calls from ms. silsby. on the phone from port-au-prince, david louie. who works at an orphanage. he's talking about it for the first time. david on the phone, let me start with you. laura silsby came to you to your orphana orphanage, said she was looking for orphans to take away. didn't that strike you as odd? >> yes. laura came to our orphanage, friendly, very friendly, very polite, asking us do we need help? and do we have any children that are injured and that need help? we answered them -- we told her that we had children that had

fever and the cold and they said they can help by giving us some medicine. and -- >> she also told you that she wanted to take kids into dominican republic, correct? >> well, let me explain it to you. she was asking us can she help us by taking a few children for us so that they could be raised in an orphanage, in another orphana orphanage? >> what did you tell her about that? >> hello? >> yes. what did you tell her about that, david? >> well, i told her that -- okay. i told her that the adoption process is difficult for me to

take decision. and the person that take decisions is not here. >> so you told her that she could not take -- you told her that she could not take kids into the dominican republic without the permission of the government, correct? >> no. i don't know much about -- i don't know much about that. but i only told her that i can't -- i can't make those type of decisions. that's all i did. >> richard, laura silsby learned that you and your wife were in the process of adopting several haitian kids. it's a process that you've been in for years. you were doing it completely legally and appropriately and she called your wife apparently three times saying she was in haiti and would get your kids out of the country. is that correct? >> yes, that's correct. >> what did your wife think of that? >> my wife was very surprised and alarmed. she told laura on each occasion that she called, she said

absolutely not. we do not need any help. she told her that i was in haiti and please do not do anything with our children. >> you were already on the ground in haiti already going through the proper channels to get your kids out because you had the proper paperwork. but even after your wife said, do not go to the or fphanage do not try to take our kids, she actually did go to the orphanage to look for your kids, right? >> yes, she did. >> what did you make of that? >> to me it's pretty alarming because we're the legal parents of these children and we give her explicit directions not to interfere with them. for her to continue to come and try to find them, to take them to the dominican tells me that her intent is not actually the best. >> why -- do you think she -- did your wife pointblank say to her, you know, not only don't go to the kids but this is not the way to do it? this is not illegal? >> she didn't tell her that but the person that gave laura our contact information told her explicitly that you cannot just

take any child across the border. you have to have the correct permissions to do that from the government. and laura wanted to make the calls anyway to see if there were ways she could get children. >> so a lot of us are trying to figure out, you know, everybody's been given the benefit of the doubt to these people. they seem well intention, they seem that they're coming from a good place in their heart. do you believe that? you've had actual interaction. your wife has had actual interaction with them. >> for my wife to have three different phone calls and explicitly tell her own each call to not interfere with our children and for laura to continue anyway to go to the orphanage to try to find them, to take them, tells me her intentions are not the best and i guess the best, if i tried to characterize her in the best light possible, i would say her intent was to take children and use them to do fund-raising and

for support. maybe it's worse than that but i wouldn't want to speculate further. >> you think that's what was at the heart of this? that she for whatever reason wanted to use these kids or show she was doing stuff for fund-raisi fund-raising? >> yes. because as david may tell you, if you switch back to him, she then hired david when he wouldn't give her any children, and my children were not there, they were with me. she hired david to go from orphanage to orphanage and be her translator and guide. no one would turn children over to her. in the end she was frustrated and crying none of the responsible adults would give her any children. >> david has become reticent to talk to us. i think i'm going to stick with you. he previously said he was hired as an interpreter by her and told our producers she would cry. what do you make of that, richard? >> again, it shows her intent really cannot be the best. if the responsible adults are there taking care of the children and providing for them

why would she cry and become frustrated when they don't give them up? i would think she'd be happy to find that there were possible caregivers taking care of the children. since she wasn't, obviously her intentions couldn't have been the best. >> what do you think should happen, i mean, now? >> if she had actually taken our children i think it would actually be a matter for the fbi to prosecute her for abduction or kidnapping, but since she didn't actually get our children i'm not really sure. i think the haitian government obviously has strong compelling evidence in order to keep her. i'm sure that the united states government is doing all it can to snoomooth things out and evidently they're not able to do that. that leads me to believe the government of haiti will really deal with what she's actually been able to accomplish. >> richard, i know -- i want to end on a happy note. you've gotten three kids. your family has now grown a lot.

you have photos of your kids. how are they doing? >> they're doing great. we're actually very surprised at how well the children are integrating and the biological children that we already had are receiving them very well. it doesn't seem like we're having any jealousy or non-sharing type situations that at first we were concerned about. >> richard, con grajlations to you and your wife. what you've done is extraordinary. i want to thank you for talking about this situation and also what you've done. i want to bring in karl penhaul who's been listening to these stories. karl's been on top of this story since day one. what do you make of this? the fact now, previously we had the representative from the dominican republic who said pointblank he told ms. silsby what they were doing is illegal. you have richard who says don't try go and get our kids. and the woman who gave them their information said this is illegal.

>> reporter: they had no doubt in their minds what they were doing was absolutely illegal and that if they were caught they would be arrested. what we've got is a group of people that come across as naive, come across as god-fearing people. they've told a series of lies and i won't hedge my bets there. i'll say they've told a series of lies and we have that in interviews and on bits of paper. they showed a calculated disregard for the law. every time they've been told not to do something they found a way around it, anderson. >> i want to talk to you about what those lies are. we have to take a quick break. also -- we'll be back with karl in just a moment. also, this is a story, a lot of moving parts in haiti and idaho where the missionary leader laura silsby was also in hot water. dan simon is going to talk to us about that. let us know what you think about this. it's bizarre to say the least. coming up later, welcome to the tea party. our in-depth look at the protest movement and their very first convention going on now. part of our commitment as the best political team on tv.

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we're talking about the case against the ten american missionaries caught trying to take haitian kids, many who are not orphans, out of the country. the case against them growing. we showed you at the top of the hour. a lot of pushing and shoving as these folks were brought in. charges against them, kidnapping, criminal association. in other words, conspiracy, not eligible for bail. the u.s. state department are

monitoring developments. let's talk to karl penhaul, following this from the get-go. carl, in terms of what we know that they have said to you and others that -- we know is not true. what are the lies that you say you know pointblank? >> reporter: well, let's not go into the stuff they talked about in the interview. let's talk about this little piece of paper. it's about four inches by three. this is the so-called brochure that the americans were giving out to people who were handing over children. first line, "we want to help haitian children who have lost their mother and father." that is not true. most of these children were not orphans and in many cases it was their own mother and/or father that handed over the kids to the americans. and the americans knew that because their translators were translating that for them. line two "new children refugee non-profit dedicated to loving and caring orphaned and abandoned haitian children in the dominican republic. "we understand the organization isn't registered as a non-profit

and isn't dedicated to looking after any kind of kids. because that school and orphanage is not set up yet. it is still a 45-room motel that hasn't been converted. third line on this single piece of paper. "we have permission to bring orphan kids into our orphanage in the dominican republic." not true. the dominican counsel told the americans at 2:00 p.m. on friday you do not have the paperwork. it is illegal what you're doing. do not travel. four hours later at the border the americans were arrested and then final line, they're talking about you can follow the progress of your kids on our website, the website is not up and running yet, anderson. >> so they're handing this out. i mean, semplly what we know is they were around in port-au-prince trolling for kids. i mean, going around trying to collect kids under the age of 10 so for whatever reason they could take them to the dominican republic and we had also just learned today they told the guy,

david louis, they were going to bring the kids into the united states or offered to bring richard's kids into the -- back to the united states which, you know, the fact richard and his wife -- that his wife said, look, do not go to this orphanage where our kids are in the process of being legally adopted. they went anyway to try to get them. to me that raises all sorts of red flags. >> reporter: certainly does raise red flags as well as the fact they were looking for children age from zero to 10. i asked an ngo specialist about that, why zero to 10? he says kids zero of 10 are much easier to send into adoption. they wouldn't have been adopted in the dr. maybe the dr was a halfway house. i don't know that for sure. certainly the people you talked to tonight, you can piece it together. it seems like that. yes, certainly they were trolling for orphanages as well.

the three translators said they were asked to telephone another orphanage and that other orphanage also declined help. >> it would be one thing if they had an orphanage set up in the dominican republic they had been operating for a month or two months. the fact is they didn't. i guess they rented a motel and that's what they were saying was their orphanage. again, a lot of moving parts to this. karl, i appreciate you being on top of it. the question we're wondering, then, who is this lady? this leader of this group? a lot of people in the group seem like good people. they seem like -- everybody saw the tv -- everybody wanted to rush down there and help. so why did she think she was qualified to do this? what do we know about this woman laura silsby? dan simon is on the ground in idaho. what have you learned? >> reporter: we can tell you laura silsby at one time operated a very successful website called personalshopper.com. it's still in business but they have been struggling big-time. we can tell you in the days before she went to haiti her world was really collapsing.

her home, it was foreclosed on. on christmas eve. she's a single mother. she's got three kids and she lost her home on december 24th. then her business, they couldn't pay their bills. we went to the courthouse this morning here in meridian, it idaho, and a stack of lawsuits. people saying she hasn't paid her bills. several employees saying they haven't been paid. we talked to a guy named brian jack. he's technically still a manager at that business but he doesn't know where things stand. because he hasn't been paid, in his words, he says laura silsby is shady in terms of how he operates her business. listen to what brian jack had to say about laura silsby and that trip to haiti. >> in my heart i think she went down there with good intentions to help people that were in trouble but it's a lack of foresight and planning. once again, she did that in her business life. seems to follow her in her personal life. >> wow. i mean, it's sad.

i mean, it's depressing. clearly she's got a lot of baggage and a lot going on in her life. the fact she's a single mom. i mean, has she ever run an orphanage? is there any indication? do we know how this whole orphanage idea got going? did she sell it to the church? >> reporter: here's what happened. she came up with this idea a couple years ago. she actually hired her 24-year-old nanny to actually set up this orphanage. they started a foundation and it was really in its infancy. they thought that, you know, they put together this manifesto. they thought they would eventually get down to the dominican republic down the road. then the earthquake happen and all of a sudden they wanted to get down there right away. she came here to the church, met with the pastor and solicited donations and word came out to the church members, does anybody want to go to haiti and go set up this orphanage in the dominican republic? you had a few people raise their hands and say, i want to go.

so some of the people who actually went down with her only, you know, raised their hand 48 hours before they actually got on an airplane pen were just following her throughout the country. >> that's incredible. i hadn't realized that, that it's a lot of churchgoers who wanted to do the right thing and following this woman down there. i understand why the defense attorney said today, well, look, out of the ten people nine, you know, nine know nothing, if anybody has to stay it should be this woman laura silsby, according to that attorney. dan, appreciate your reporting on the ground there. again, we'll continue to follow the story. i want to point out, i mean, there are a lot of good people doing good work in haiti and probably these people went down with good intentions, most of them. if you want to help haitian kids, there's many ways to do it. you don't have to take them out of the country. there's many orphanages one can support there. i mean, god knows there's certainly enough need. hundreds of thousands of kids now in need. and a sad foot note, a few

months ago on larry king, haiti's prime minister was on the program. the death toll is 212,000. why a central figure in the economic meltdown in this country is facing civil charges, not criminal charges. not one or a single one of his colleagues has faced the possibility of jail time. later, the pandas we watched them grow up in washington and atlanta. now they're moving out. how come? that's the "shot" tonight. [ playing "mary had a little lamb" off-key ] he sure is working up an appetite up there. bet you guys are, too. how about some hamburger helper? cheeseburger mac...

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well, billions in bailout cash, your money and the men running it at the time stand accused of defrauding the government and defrauding all of us. the charges brought against the bank of america two former top executives in a civil suit. new york attorney general andrew cuomo said they lied to shareholders about the merger with merrill lynch. the merger was approved but former ceo ken lewis, that guy there, and ex-chief financial officer joe price allegedly tried to back out of the deal claiming the losses were now too high. the only way to make it work would be the government, taxpayers, gave them billions of dollars in bailout cash which is what happened. cuomo says it's an arrogant scheme hatched by executives.

it's not a criminal case, which then raises the question, where's the justice in this? if no one is going to do criminal time if they're convicted? senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin joins me now. why isn't this a legal case? >> that's a good question. it's the broader question. think about the magnitude of this crisis. think about the damage that's been done. the amount of bailouts that have been given over the course. and not just to aig. to all the banks. >> also all the shady practices and kind of bets which, you know, are gambling with other people's money that precipitated it all. >> that precipitated it and the number of people who have gone to prison as a result of this entire scandal is zero. >> absolutely no one. >> no one. >> those guys from bear stearns -- >> they were acquitted. that's the only trial that has even come out of this so farm. the two traders at bear stearns were acquitted. now, in fairness to the justice department and other investigators, white-collar investigations sometimes take a long time.

presumably things are in the works. think about two of these characters that have gotten a lot of attention. richard, the head of lehman brothers, catastrophic failure. we don't know whether he's under investigation. we certainly don't know whether he committed a crime. he is, you know, certainly -- nothing's happened to him yet. another figure, joseph casano, he is an elusive figure. it's hard to get a photograph of him. the "daily mail" of london got that one. he made $300 million. aig collapsed calamitously. there's been in criminal case brought there. again, i don't want to accuse him of a crime. it's certainly worthy of investigation. no one has been prosecuted yet. >> and so why not -- if ken lewis can be charged civilly, is it easier to bring a civil charge? >> it's easier to bring a civil charge. the burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence,

not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. so far the government has not been able to establish that this isn't just a bad luck mistakes, everybody trying to do their best, but not fraud. that's the defense so far and so far it's worked. >> and what would be the potential -- civil -- just a monetary fund? >> you know, there are a lot of people doing a lot of time in prison for white-collar crimes. the penalties are way up. the head of worldcomm is doing more than 20 years. >> for a civil fine would just be money? >> it would just be money. remember, bank of america is paying his legal fees. bank of america paid $150 million to the -- >> taxpayer money is funding his legal fees basically. >> the taxpayers are funding it indirectly. the shareholders, who in many respects are the victims of this, are subsidizing. everybody -- the money is

churning but the individuals involved have not paid virtually any price at all other than public humiliation. >> if you're a stockholder in bank of america you're not only helping to pay for his defense, you're also paying for the bailout so you're paying twice. >> three times if you count you're also being a taxpayer. >> there you go. all right. that's not a good thing. jeff toobin, appreciate it. thanks. coming up next, troubled toyota. more models in the spotlight tonight including the most luxurious and best-built cars. we'll tell you which brands now are being looked at. the tea party convention. 360 is there. sarah palin is going. other tea party activists are not going to this convention. we're going to bring you inside the movement tonight, show you what it's about and who's driving it. i've been growing algae for 35 years.

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problems in some of the 2010 priuses. lexus hybrids use the same breaking system. fears about a growing debt crisis in europe sending stocks tumbling. dow tumbled 268 points. nasdaq and s&p also ended the day down. president obama today saying, quote, we should take our time finalizing a health tear bil care bill. he wants to go through the legislation in detail with republic republicans, democrats, as well as health care experts to see if there are better ways to improve the system. heinz has revamped its familiar ketchup packets. people complained they were too messy, too small, too hard to open and can't dip with them. >> oh, no. >> you don't like it? >> i don't know. i'll have to try it. >> first of all, it's bigger. it's three times as much ketchup. you can dip or squeeze. they're test marketing it.

maybe they can send you some. they reportedly worked on this redesign for years which had some of our writers scratching their heads. why would it take so long? look at other familiar packets that managed to solve this problem. >> it does look like the other packets. >> maybe there's a fine point to it. i like the old squeeze ones. anyway, they were messy. >> had to use your teeth, right? >> yes. time for our beat 360 winners. daily challenge to viewers, caption for a photo we put on the blog. tonight's picture, the white house party crashers. the salahis pose at a usa polo event in australia. tariq is captain of the team, so he claims. our staff winner tonight, steve. i feel like going out on town. do you have directions to the prime minister's residence? viewer winner, linda, her caption, the salahis arriving in

melbourne, clear evidence that a major breakdown in australian airport security was occurred. i like that she's posing just like she did the way people pose in those photos, sort of unnatural stance. >> very awkward, right? the other thing, too, i guess there's not a lot of cardio involved. clearly her favorite color is red. >> apparently so. she knows where the camera is. join the live chat at ac 360.com. the grassroots movement has grown up holding its first national convention. spread far and fast over the last year. over the next two nights we'll bring you the raw politics. saying good-bye is never easy. no matter how cuddly and cute, every butter stick has to grow up. the pandas are leaving. i'll tell you why. st: did the wy too long to say goodnight? mom: g'night john boy. g'night mary ellen. mary ellen: g'night mama. g'night erin.

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a milestone in raw politics today. the grassroots movement known as the tea party is holding its first national convention. the meeting began today in nashville. randi kaye is there. a live report from her in a moment. it sprang up quickly, the moment did last year. we put together a timeline of key moments, last february you may remember anger over the first stimulus pack and bailouts str triggered protests across the country. april, 2009, after tax day protests in 300 cities. the event publicized by top conservatives on twitter and conservative blogs and taxdayteaparty.com coordinated

the event. outraged building over health care reform and town hall meetings every other day or so there were fistfights, anger was escalating. hundreds of independent tea party groups have sprung up. members are competing political ideas and views, but they're united around a common cause. over the next couple nights in "welcome to the tea party" we'll be drilling down deeper. joining me, john avalon, columnist for the dailybeast.com. and author of "wing nuts." it has changed, the tea party movement, in some ways over the last year. >> it has. this began as a grassroots fiscal conservative protest. over the course of the summer it got increasingly radicalized. some conservative activists advocating conservatives start using rules for radical and see them start to embrace street-theater politics. politics of confrontation. just because the guys with the obama equals hitler signs get

the attention doesn't mean it describes the whole movement. >> it's easy to dismiss the movement. it's inappropriate and would be foolish. there are people of -- who have never been involved -- what's so interesting about it there are people who have never been invol involved in the politic process who feel energized. >> that's hugely important. put yourself in the shoes of the small business owner participating in protests for the first time. ask yourself why. while he was struggling to pay his bills on time last spring he saw big business and big government run up huge debts and pass the buck on to the back of the taxpayer. that made average folks angry for a good reason. there's a common sense anger about deficits they say, hey, this is generational theft. this is unsustainable. it's important to understand where these folks are coming from and not just be distracted. >> the issue of fiscal responsibility is the most common theme you find linking a lot of these groups. >> absolutely. that is the common ground. >> and individual rights and fiscal responsible. >> you know, there are many

different tributaries to this movement. the common ground that exists is fiscal conservatism. it is a reaction against overspending and growth of government. >> a lot of the -- the critics of it will say, well, where were some of these people under the bush years when the deficits were growing exponentially, you know, notas they are growing now but were growing hugely. you didn't hear the grassroots anger about it. >> you talk to the folks who say, we were angry the way conservatives overspent during the bush years when they had unified control over washington. it took a couple days into the new administration and the anger started percolating at a new level. different kind of arena. >> this national convention, frankly, is a couple splinter groups but other groups like dick armie's group isn't taking

part. >> that's exactly right. i mean, this is a for-profit convention. that is hugely controversial. >> >> sarah palin is getting $100,000 for her speech. >> tea partyers take a lot of pride in the fact this is a leaderless movement and when folks seize the limelight they get angry. they see this as being a grassroots movement. that's where a lot of the misinformation has seeped in. there's no coordinated message. it's part of what makes it a genuine populous movement. >> what happens to it now? does it become a third party? does it -- clearly the gop is hoping to embrace -- you had this quote from john boehner the other day. john boehner said house minority leader said there's no difference between what republicans believe and what tea party activists believe in. clearly a lot of players in the republican party are hoping that to embrace the tea partyers and a lot of tea partyers are hoping they will bring the gop back to

conservative roots. >> you have conservative activists what woant to surf ths wave. a lot of people conflate tea partyers and independent voters. tea partyers are conservative populi populists, to the right of the republican party. most independent voters are in between the democrat iic party d republican party. a lot of tea partyers would like to see more polarization in washington. there's a further irony here. look at the way the republicans are trying to set themselves to take power back in 2010. look at scott brown. the idea republicans could take ted kennedy's seat, play for obama and biden's seat. they are the people tea partyers would have called rhinos in years past. mike kirk, mike castle. what's going on in the anger doesn't really account for what's going on in the real grassroots. >> appreciate it. we're going it be covering this for the next couple nights.

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for the next two nights, welcome to the tea party. grassroots movement that exploded across the nation last year. today in nashville tea partyers

kicked off their first convention. sarah palin is the keynote speaker. tickets pricey compared to similar conventions. that's caused some controversy. the movement is made up of hundreds of different groups. members are diverse. tonight we wanted to introduce you to one of them. here's randi kaye. >> reporter: this is the moment bob porto started to change. it was cement 2008. >> when the bank came calling and said, you're going to pay us, i'm like, how? >> reporter: with what? >> how do you come up with that kind of money? >> reporter: so began bob porto's journey. his home building business dried up. and the bank wanted its $300,000 loan back on this house. >> there are those that are said to be too big to fail. and then there are those like myself who are too small to save. we need to focus on the real america which are the people, the people who are unemployed. >> reporter: frustrated with his bank and his government, wondering why all that bailout money was bypassing everyday people like him, porto did

something that changed his world. he co-founded a tea party in his county. and today he's chairman of the largest tea party in arkansas. what does the tea party mean to you? >> tea party is a voice. the tea party are concerned citizens that felt left out of the system, that they weren't being listened to, that when -- it doesn't matter if it's a republican or a democrat. they're not listening to we, the people. >> reporter: bob says he never paid much attention to politics until now. in the past year or so he's probably protested here at the arkansas state capitol about a dozen times and like most members of the tea party bob is fighting for an end to government spending and an end to big government. before all this bob porto says he was an ordinary guy, a home builder married to the same woman for 30 years. two daughters, two cats, one named spot. now he's a new voice in the most

watched, most talked about political movement sweeping the country. porto hasn't had a paycheck in more than a year. it's time, he says, for america to rise up. i've heard a lot of independents, a lot of tea partyiers say we want to take our country back. >> uh-huh. >> do you feel that way? >> i do. i to. we want to instill the fact the founding fathers gave us values and in those values were the basic foundations that created the greatness that america has experienced. bob porto in here with -- >> reporter: bob porto talks about freedom a lot. he says the government is trampling on his. >> there's an overburden in regulations. there's -- any time that we look at what the government imposes upon us that limits us then we are losing our freedom. >> reporter: to porto the federal government, the republicans and democrats, don't

meet his needs. and spend too much. too much spending for you? >> what's that old saying? if the outgo exceeds the income then the upkeep is the downfall? how do you spend your way out of debt? this is for we, the people. >> reporter: as for those in washington who say tea partyers' opposition to the government makes them un-american? so how do you feel about the tea partyers being called un-american? >> i think it will speak for itself when you look at the people and you see what they stand for and you take the time to visit with us. we're just americans. we're patriotic. we believe that what made america great in its past that we want to take that same energy and make america great again. >> reporter: for this generation and those that will follow. >> you said there's a lot of different groups. is bob going to the convention in nashville? is he there? >> reporter: no, anderson.

he's not here. he said he couldn't afford it. he couldn't afford the airfare, he couldn't afford the hotel room. he went to washington, d.c., for a tea party event not too long ago and 15 people chipped in to send him there. this is a guy, anderson, watching the bankers get their bonuses. he's been cutting back on food for his family. the truck he was drive in, the truck has 135,000 miles on it. the speedometer doesn't work. they're frustrated, want to move the country forward. they're tired of seeing the politicians pay more attention to the parties than the people. >> randi, appreciate it. go to ac360.com to read ed rollins take on tea parties and why incumbents on capitol hill should be worried. kite surfer killed by sharks. officials say he was literally surrounded by them. latest on this story ahead. much lighter note. the great panda good-bye.

the star of the national zoo is leaving the country. we'll tell you where she's going and take a look back president if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.

get caught up on other top stories. we have the 360 bulletin. >> there's new information tonight in the death of actress brittany murphy. the los angeles coroner's office ruling the 32-year-old died of pneumonia, anemia and overdose of prescription medication. her death has been ruled an accident. a deadly shark attack in florida, it was a kite surfer killed wednesday off the coast of stuart beach, about 100 miles north of miami. authorities say the experienced kite surfer was a quarter mile out from shore when he was surrounded by several sharks, bitten multiple times and later died at the hospital. taking the oath on capitol hill, scott brown sworn in today as senator from massachusetts. the republican who won the seat in part on a wave of tea party

sentiment, pledged to do the best job he can. his victory brings an end to the democrat 60 seat supermajority. in australia there is bad news for '80s band men at work. a judge ruling a flute solo, there you hear it, from one of their biggest hits "down under" was actually stolen from a nursery rhyme. an australian schoolteacher, it was actually the estate for the schoolteacher. she passed away in 1988. they say they were sued for unpaid royalties. do you think it was stolen? let's listen. ♪ >> are you kidding? that sounds nothing like it. does that sound like it to you? >> no. i don't think so at all. what the heck happened here? they were very upset, by the way. they say it's just not true. >> also, this was back in 1980,

what, 4? i remember the '80s, this is when that song come out. did the estate lawyers not know this song was around? i don't understand why it took so long for them to -- >> i don't know. it doesn't sound anything like it. there's some sort of weird bird in the background of that song. sounds nothing like a flute. >> for tonight's shot, we watched them grow and play and we say farewell to two giant pandas. this is tai shan rolled in a container who is on the way to china. also onboard, 3-year-old mai lon born at the zoo atlanta. they belong to china as part of the agreement between the two countries. tai shan's nickname is butterstick because that's how small he was at birth. francis win has grown close to tai shan, taken thousands of

photographs with him. want to show you some of them tonight. we want to hear why butterstick is so special. watch. >> when i first saw tai shan my jaw drops and i was like, oh my god. there's no words to describe the feeling. tai shan is a little angel. he's very engaging. his eyes are beautiful and you feel connected to him. when i watch the interaction between him and his mother, the way he cares and nurtures him, so patient, and he's this rambunctious bear, he brought me a community of friendship and even i found love. i met my husband at the panda exhibit and my mom always said, you're never going to meet a guy, all you do is spend your time at the zoo taking pictures but i did what i love and love was right in front of me. pandas love being in the snow. he's so excitable. he rolls down the hill with the snow. this picture is very special to me. when i was taking the picture i didn't realize that tai was looking at me but i felt his big

eyes and it was just incredible to be that close to him, to hear him breathe. i have two hearts when it comes to tai going to china. there's a side of me that feels a great loss as if you're losing your own child. and there's a side of me that thinks that it's for the better of the future, and his future, and to spread his genes, but he's left me with a lot of gifts and a lot of good karma. it's ironic because the last week i found out i was pregnant and that's the week i found out before he's leaving. it's like one child gone and one child leaving. i felt like that was a gift from him. >> i wouldn't be surprised if she named her child tai shan. >> really cute. more claims the ten american missionaries knew what they were doing or at least their leader did when they tried to take 33 kids out of haiti. ♪ ♪

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no hidden fees... no bait and switch. no gotchas. and there's one flat rate for online equity trades... for big accounts... or small ones. that's the way it ought to be. time for fresh thinking. time for td ameritrade. tonight we have breaking news about those american missionaries in haiti. as you may know already they were charged today. what we just uncovered and you'll hear tonight for the first time is frankly stunning. we've been talking about their good intentions and how they may have been naive and misinformed or not well informed. you're going to see and hear in a moment the idea they were naive and uninformed appears to be simply untrue.

tonight on "360" hear the firsthand account of an orphanage work in haiti who says the missionary leader went trolling for kids promising to take them to america. he says she was repeatedly told that's illegal. you'll hear from an american man who says the missionary leader offered to get the kids he and his wife were trying to adopt legally. she offered to get them out of haiti. they said that is illegal. she tried to do it anyway. they wrecked the economy. wall street big wigs. everybody from the president on down promised to get tough on them. news tonight civil charges against the former top guy at bank of america, civil charges, no threat of jail time. question is why not? why after the worst economic meltdown since the great depression is not one single executive facing jail time? talking about your money, your future. the tea party convention has begun. we'll look at who's there and who isn't. and help you make sense of the movement that could shape the upcoming elections. first up tonight, haiti. the missionaries, the kids, and now those criminal charges. today the ten missionaries, most from a baptist congregation in

idaho, appeared in court. i want to show you the video. they got shoved around. it was chaotic to say the least going in. once inside they were hit with accounts of kidnapping and criminal association for trying to take 33 kids across the border into the dominican republic. the prosecutor didn't bring the most serious possible charge which is child trafficking, but a judge could amend the indictment later. look at this. a lot of -- just chaotic there as you can see. as it stands the current charges could add up to life in prison. now, a lawyer for the group said something very interesting. he said nine of the ten were, quote, completely innocent. if the court were to keep one member it could be the group leader laura silsby. we've uncovered shocking allegations about ms. silsby's actions. the group maintained again, today, they had no intention of breaking the law when they tried to take those 33 kids by bus into the dominican republic. just the other day we learned the group made contact with a haitian police officer apparently to try to smooth the mission. we can't know if bribe was paid or not.

we heard from the dominican counsel in haiti he warned the group pointblank to their face that without the right documents, documents they did not have, that what they were planning to do was against the law. in a "360" exclusive, for the first time two new voices who suggest leader of the group laura silsby was not uninformed about what she was doing. in nashville, richard picket, brought three kids home from haiti legally. while he was there his wife got three surprising and disturbing calls from ms. silsby. on the phone from port-au-prince, david louis. who works at an orphanage. he's talking about it for the first time. david on the phone, let me start with you. laura silsby came to you to your orphanage, said she was looking for orphans to take away. didn't that strike you as odd? >> yes. laura came to our orphanage, friendly, very friendly, very

polite, asking us do we need help? and do we have any children that are injured and that need help? we answered them -- we told her that we had children that had fever and the cold and they said they can help by giving us some medicine. and -- >> she also told you that she wanted to take kids into dominican republic, correct? >> well, let me explain it to you. she was asking us can she help us by taking a few children for us so that they could be raised in an orphanage, in another

orphanage? >> what did you tell her about that? >> hello? >> yes. what did you tell her about that, david? >> well, i told her that -- okay. i told her that the adoption process is difficult for me to take decision. and the person that take decisions is not here. >> so you told her that she could not take -- you told her that she could not take kids into the dominican republic without the permission of the government, correct? >> no. i don't know much about -- i don't know much about that. but i only told her that i can't -- i can't make those type of decisions. that's all i did. >> richard, laura silsby learned that you and your wife were in the process of adopting several haitian kids. it's a process that you've been in for years. you were doing it completely

legally and appropriately and she called your wife apparently three times saying she was in haiti and would get your kids out of the country. is that correct? >> yes, that's correct. >> what did your wife think of that? >> my wife was very surprised and alarmed. she told laura on each occasion that she called, she said absolutely not. we do not need any help. she told her that i was in haiti and please do not do anything with our children. >> you were already on the ground in haiti already going through the proper channels to get your kids out because you had the proper paperwork. but even after your wife said, do not go to the orphanage do not try to take our kids, she actually did go to the orphanage to look for your kids, right? >> yes, that's correct. >> what did you make of that? what do you think of what she was up to? >> to me it's pretty alarming because we're the legal parents of these children and we give her explicit directions not to interfere with them. for her to continue to come and try to find them, to take them to the dominican tells me that

her intent is not actually the best. >> why -- do you think she -- did your wife pointblank say to her, you know, not only don't go to the kids but this is not the way to do it? this is not illegal? >> no, she didn't tell her that, but the person who gave laura our contact information told her explicitly that you cannot just take any child across the border. you have to have the correct permissions to do that from the government. and laura wanted to make the calls anyway to see if there were ways she could get children. >> so a lot of us are trying to figure out, you know, everybody's been given the benefit of the doubt to these people. they seem well intention, they seem that they're coming from a good place in their heart. do you believe that? what do you now make of this? you've had actual interaction. your wife has had actual interaction with them. >> for my wife to have three different phone calls and explicitly tell her on each call to not interfere with our children and for laura to continue anyway to go to the orphanage to try to find them,

to take them, tells me her intentions are not the best and i guess the best, if i tried to characterize her in the best light possible, i would say her intent was to take children and use them to do fund-raising and for support. maybe it's worse than that but i wouldn't want to speculate any further. >> you think that's what was at the heart of this? that she for whatever reason wanted to use these kids or show she was doing stuff for fund-raising? >> yes. because as david may tell you, if you switch back to him, she then hired david when he wouldn't give her any children, and my children were not there, they were with me. she hired david to go from orphanage to orphanage and be her translator and guide. no one would turn children over to her. in the end she was frustrated and crying that none of the responsible adults would give her any children. >> david has suddenly become

very reticent to talk to us. i think i'm going to stick with you. he previously said he was hired as an interpreter by her and told our producers she would cry. what do you make of that, richard? >> again, it shows her intent really cannot be the best. if the responsible adults are there taking care of the children and providing for them why would she cry and become frustrated when they don't give them up? i would think she'd be happy to find that there were possible caregivers taking care of the children. since she wasn't, obviously her intentions couldn't have been the best. >> what do you think should happen, i mean, now? >> if she had actually taken our children i think it would actually be a matter for the fbi to prosecute her for abduction or kidnapping, but since she didn't actually get our children i'm not really sure. i think the haitian government obviously has strong compelling evidence in order to keep her. i'm sure that the united states government is doing all it can

to smooth things out and evidently they're not able to do that. that leads me to believe the government of haiti will really deal with what she's actually been able to accomplish. >> richard, i know -- i want to end on a happy note. you've gotten three kids. your family has now grown a lot. you have photos of your kids. how are they doing? >> they're doing great. we're actually very surprised at how well the children are integrating and the biological children that we already had are receiving them very well. it doesn't seem like we're having any jealousy or non-sharing type situations that at first we were concerned about. everything's going very well. >> richard, congratulations to you and your wife. what you've done is extraordinary. i want to thank you for talking about this situation and also what you've done. thank you very much. >> yes, sir, thank you. i want to bring in karl penhaul who's been listening to these stories. try to help us connect. karl's been on top of this story since day one. karl, what do you make of this?

i mean, the fact now, previously we had that representative from the dominican republic who said pointblank he told ms. silsby what they were doing is illegal. you have richard who now says his wife said, don't go try to get our kids. and the woman who gave them their information said this is illegal. >> reporter: they had no doubt in their minds what they were doing was absolutely illegal and that if they were caught they would be arrested. what we've got is a group of people that come across as naive, come across as god-fearing people. they've told a series of lies and i won't hedge my bets there. i'll say they've told a series of lies and we have that in interviews and on bits of paper. they showed a calculated disregard for the law. every time they've been told not to do something they found a way around it, anderson. >> i want to talk to you about what those lies are. we have to take a quick break. also -- we'll be back with karl in just a moment. also, this is a story, a lot of moving parts in haiti and back in idaho where the

missionary leader laura silsby was also in some pretty hot water. dan simon is going to talk to us about that. let us know what you think about this. it's bizarre to say the least. join the live chat at ac360.com. coming up later, welcome to the tea party. our in-depth look at the protest movement and their very first convention going on now. part of our commitment as the best political team on tv. i was just in town for a few days, and i was wondering if i could say hi to the doctor. is he in? he's in copenhagen. oh, well, that's nice. but you can still see him! you just said he was in... copenhagen. come on! that's pretty far. doc, look who's in town. ellen! copenhagen? cool, right? vacation. but still seeing patients. oh. [ whispering ] workaholic. i heard that. she said it. i... [ female announcer ] the new office. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco.

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telling your doctor if you have heart disease... or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. (woman) for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. (announcer) ask your doctor about pristiq. we're talking about the case against the ten american missionaries caught trying to take haitian kids, many who are not orphans, out of the country. the case against them growing. let me show you what happened in court today.

we showed you at the top of the hour. a lot of pushing and shoving as these folks were brought in. charges against them, kidnapping, criminal association. in other words, conspiracy, not eligible for bail. the u.s. state department are monitoring developments. let's talk to karl penhaul, following this from the get-go. karl, in terms of what we know that they have said to you and others that -- we know is not true. what are the lies that you say you know pointblank? >> reporter: well, let's not go into the stuff they talked about in the interview. let's talk about this little piece of paper. it's about four inches by three. this is the so-called brochure that the americans were giving out to people who were handing over children. first line, "we want to help haitian children who have lost their mother and father." that is not true. most of these children were not orphans and in many cases it was their own mother and/or father that handed over the kids to the americans. and the americans knew that because their translators were translating that for them. line two "new children refugee

non-profit dedicated to loving and caring orphaned and abandoned haitian children in the dominican republic." we understand the organization isn't registered as a non-profit and isn't dedicated to looking after any kind of kids in the d.r. because that school and orphanage is not set up yet. it is still a 45-room motel that hasn't been converted. third line on this single piece of paper. "we have permission to bring orphan kids into our orphanage in the dominican republic." not true. the dominican consul told the americans at 2:00 p.m. on friday you do not have the paperwork. it is illegal what you're doing. do not travel. four hours later at the border the americans were arrested and then final line, they're talking about you can follow the progress of your kids on our website, the website is not up and running yet, anderson. >> so they're handing this out. i mean, essentially what we now know is they were around in

port-au-prince trolling for kids. i mean, going around trying to collect kids under the age of 10 so for whatever reason they could take them to the dominican republic and we had also just learned today they told the guy, david louis, they were going to bring some of these kids into the united states, or they offered to bring richard's kids into the -- back to the united states. the fact that richard and his wife -- his wife said, look, don't go to the orphanage where our kids are there the process of being legally adopted. they went anyway to try to get them. to me that raises all sorts of red flags. >> reporter: certainly does raise red flags as well as the fact they were looking for children age from zero to 10. kids aged under 10. i asked an ngo specialist about that, why zero to 10? he says kids zero of 10 are much easier to send in doms adoption. your bet your bottom dollar if those kids were sent into adoption they wouldn't be adopted in the d.r. maybe the dr was a halfway house. i don't know that for sure.

certainly the people you talked to tonight, you can piece it together. it seems like that. yes, certainly they were trolling for orphanages as well. the tree translators we've spoken to extensively said they were also asked to telephone another orphanage and that orphanage also declined help. >> it would be one thing if they had an orphanage set up in the dominican republic they had been operating for a month or two months. the fact is they didn't. i guess they rented a motel and that's what they were saying was their orphanage. again, a lot of moving parts to this. karl, i appreciate you being on top of it. the question we're wondering, then, who is this lady? this leader of this group? a lot of people in the group seem like good people. they seem like -- everybody saw the tv -- everybody wanted to rush down there and help. so why did she think she was qualified to do this? what do we know about this woman laura silsby? we've been looking into it. dan simon is on the ground in idaho. dan, what have you learned? >> reporter: we can tell you laura silsby at one time operated a very successful website called

personalshopper.com. it's still in business but they have been struggling big-time. we can tell you in the days before she went to haiti her world was really collapsing. her home, it was foreclosed on. on christmas eve. she's a single mother. she's got three kids and she lost her home on december 24th. then her business, they couldn't pay their bills. we went to the courthouse this morning here in meridian, idaho, and a stack of lawsuits. people saying she hasn't paid her bills. several employees saying they haven't been paid. we talked to a guy named brian jack. he technically is still a manager at that business but he doesn't really know where things stand. because he hasn't been paid, in his words, he says laura silsby is shady in terms of how he operates her business. listen to what brian jack had to say about laura silsby and that trip to haiti. >> in my heart i think she went down there with good intentions to help people that were in trouble but it's a lack of foresight and planning.

once again, she did that in her business life. seems to follow her in her personal life. >> wow. i mean, it's sad. i mean, it's depressing. clearly she's got a lot of baggage and a lot going on in her life. clearly. the fact she's a single mom. i mean, has she ever run an orphanage? is there any indication? do we know how this whole orphanage idea got going? did she sell it to the church? how did that work? >> reporter: here's what happened. she came up with this idea a couple years ago. she actually hired her 24-year-old nanny to actually set up this orphanage. they started a foundation and it was really in its infancy. they thought that, you know, they put together this manifesto. they thought they would eventually get down to the dominican republic down the road. then the earthquake happens and all of a sudden they wanted to get down there right away. she came here to the church, met with the pastor and solicited

donations and word came out to the church members, does anybody want to go to haiti and go set up this orphanage in the dominican republic? you had a few people raise their hands and say, i want to go. so some of the people who actually went down with her only, you know, raised their hand 48 hours before they actually got on and an airplane and were just following her throughout the country. >> that's incredible. i hadn't realized that, that it's a lot of churchgoers who wanted to do the right thing and following this woman down there. i understand why the defense attorney said today, well, look, out of the ten people nine, you know, nine know nothing, if anybody has to stay it should be this woman laura silsby, according to that attorney. dan, appreciate your reporting on the ground there. again, we'll continue to follow the story. i want to point out, i mean, there are a lot of good people doing good work in haiti and probably these people went down with good intentions, most of them. if you want to help haitian kids, there's many ways to do it. you don't have to take them out of the country. there's many orphanages one can support there.

i mean, god knows there's certainly enough need. hundreds of thousands of kids now in need. and a sad footnote, a few minutes ago on larry king, haiti's prime minister was on the program. he said the death toll is now 212,000. frankly that's an estimate because they're not really counting -- reheated early on they were not counting the dead. why a central figure in the economic meltdown in this country is facing civil charges, not criminal charges. not one or a single one of his colleagues has faced the possibility of jail time. later, the pandas we watched them grow up in washington and atlanta. now they're moving out. how come? that's the "shot" tonight. hi-- number two, please. would you like that to hurt now or later? uh-- what? (announcer) pepcid® complete doesn't make you choose. it neutralizes acid in seconds and controls heartburn all day or all night. pepcid® complete , works now and works later.

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well, bankruptcy, billions in bailout cash, your money and now the men running it at the time stand accused of defrauding the government and frankly defrauding all of us. the charges brought against the bank of america two former top executives in a civil suit. not a criminal suit, a civil suit. new york attorney general andrew cuomo said they lied to shareholders about the merger with merrill lynch. the merger was approved but former ceo ken lewis, that guy there, and ex-chief financial officer joe price allegedly tried to back out of the deal claiming the losses were now too

high. the only way to make it work would be the government, taxpayers, gave them billions of dollars in bailout cash which is what happened. cuomo says it's an arrogant scheme hatched by executives. who believed they could play by their own set of rules. it's not a criminal case, which then raises the question, where's the justice in this? if no one is going to do criminal time if they're actually convicted? senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin joins me now. why isn't this a criminal case? >> that's a good question. it's the broader question. think about the magnitude of this crisis. think about the damage that's been done. the amount of bailouts that have been given over the course. and not just to aig. to all the banks. >> also all the shady practices and kind of bets which, you know, are gambling with other people's money that precipitated it all. >> that precipitated it and the number of people who have gone to prison as a result of this entire scandal is zero. >> absolutely no one. >> no one. >> those guys from bear stearns -- >> they were acquitted.

that's the only trial that has even come out of this so far. the two traders at bear stearns were acquitted. now, in fairness to the justice department and other investigators, white-collar investigations sometimes take a long time. presumably things are in the works. think about two of these characters that have gotten a lot of attention. richard, the head of lehman brothers, catastrophic failure. we don't know whether he's under investigation. we certainly don't know whether he committed a crime. he is, you know, certainly -- nothing's happened to him yet. another figure, joseph cassano, he is an elusive figure. it's hard to get a photograph of him. the "daily mail" of london got that one. he made $300 million. aig collapsed calamitously. there's been no criminal case brought there. again, i don't want to accuse him of a crime. it's certainly worthy of investigation. no one has been prosecuted yet.

>> and so why not -- if ken lewis can be charged civilly, is it easier to bring a civil charge? >> it's easier to bring a civil charge. the burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. so far the government has not been able to establish that this isn't just a bad luck mistakes, everybody trying to do their best, but not fraud. that's the defense so far and so far it's worked. >> and what would be the potential -- civil -- just a monetary fund? >> you know, there are a lot of people doing a lot of time in prison for white-collar crimes. the penalties are way up. the head of worldcom is doing more than 20 years. >> right. >> ivan boskey went to prison. >> a civil fine would just be fun? >> it would just be money. remember, bank of america is paying his legal fees. bank of america paid $150

million today to the -- >> taxpayer money is funding his legal fees basically. >> the taxpayers are funding it indirectly. the shareholders, who in many respects are the victims of this, are subsidizing. everybody -- the money is churning but the individuals involved have not paid virtually any price at all other than public humiliation. >> if you're a stockholder in bank of america you're not only helping to pay for his defense, you're also paying for the bailout so you're paying twice. >> three times if you count you're also being a taxpayer. >> there you go. all right. that's not a good thing. jeff toobin, appreciate it. thanks. coming up next, troubled toyota. more models in the spotlight tonight including the most luxurious and best-built cars. we'll bring you the latest in the investigation and tell you which brands now are being looked at. the tea party convention. "360" is there. sarah palin is going. other tea party activists are not going to this convention. we're going to bring you inside the movement tonight, show you what it's about and who's driving it.

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coming up in the program, sharks attacking off florida's coast. we'll tell you how it happened and why it happened. we'll check on other important stories. self-help guru james ray's attorney says his client doesn't have the money to make bail. ray is currently in jail on $5 million bond after pleading not guilty to manslaughter charges in the deaths of three people at a sweat lodge ceremony he led last year. there are more problems for toyota tonight. the company is looking into possible brake problems with its luxury lexus hybrid. this comes after the feds announced they're investigating more than 100 reports of brake failures in its 2010 priuses. toyota acknowledged a software glitch that caused braking problems in some of the 2010 priuses. lexus hybrids use the same braking system. fears about a growing debt crisis in europe sending stocks tumbling. dow plujed 268 points, the lowest close we've seen in three months. nasdaq and s&p also ended the

day down. president obama today saying, quote, we should take our time finalizing a health care bill. speaking at a democratic fund-raiser he also said he wants to go through the legislation in detail with republicans, democrats, as well as health care experts to see if there are better ways to improve the system. heinz for all you ketchup lovers has revamped its familiar ketchup packets. people complained they were too messy, too small, too hard to open and can't dip with them. so take a look now at the new ketchup -- >> oh, no. >> you don't like it? >> i don't know. i'll have to try it. >> first of all, it's bigger. it's three times as much ketchup. you can dip or squeeze. you can take your pick. they're test marketing it. maybe they can send you some. they reportedly worked on this redesign for years which had some of our writers scratching their heads. why would it take so long? look at other familiar packets that managed to solve this problem. years ahead -- >> it does look like the other packets.

>> there you go. >> maybe there's a fine point to it. i like the old squeeze ones. anyway, they were messy. >> had to use your teeth, right? >> that's right. yes, of course. just ahead, welcome to the tea party. the grassroots movement has grown up. it spread far and fast over the last year. over the next two nights we'll bring you the raw politics. plus saying good-bye is never easy, of course. no matter how cuddly and cute, every butterstick has to grow up. the panda everybody loved is leaving. i'll tell you why. aflac! ...then you don't know quack. to find out more visit getquack.com.

a milestone in raw politics today. the grassroots movement known as the tea party is holding its first national convention. the meeting began today in nashville. randi kaye is there. a live report from her in a moment. it sprang up quickly, the moment did last year. spread very fast. we put together a timeline of key moments, last february you may remember anger over the first stimulus pack and bailouts triggered dozens of tea party protests across the country. outrage was raw at times. april, 2009, after tax day protests in 300 cities. the event publicized by top conservatives on twitter and conservative blogs and taxdayteaparty.com coordinated the event. in august during the congressional recess and with outraged building over health care reform and town hall meetings, every other day or so there was fist fights, anger was escalating. hundreds of independent tea party groups have sprung up. members are competing political

ideas and views, but they're united around a common cause. over the next couple nights in "welcome to the tea party" we'll be drilling down deeper. joining me, john avalon, columnist for the dailybeast.com. and author of "wing nuts: how the lunatic fringe is hijacking america." it has changed, the tea party movement, in some ways over the last year. >> it has. this began as a grassroots fiscal conservative protest. over the course of the summer it got increasingly radicalized. some conservative activists advocating conservatives start using rules for radicals and see them start embracing street-theater politics. politics of confrontation and whole thing got a lot uglier. just because the guys with the obama equals hitler signs get the attention doesn't mean it describes the whole movement. >> it's easy to dismiss the movement. it's inappropriate and would be foolish. there are people of -- who have never been involved -- what's so interesting about it there are people who have never been involved in the politic process who feel energized. in a way that we haven't seen before.

>> that's right. that's hugely important. put yourself in the shoes of the small business owner participating in protests for the first time. ask yourself why. while he was struggling to pay his bills on time last spring he kept seeing big business and big government run up huge debts and pass the buck on to the back of the taxpayer. that made average folks angry for a good reason. there's a common sense anger about deficits they say, hey, this is generational theft. this is unsustainable. it's important to understand where these folks are coming from and not just be distracted. >> the issue of fiscal responsibility is the most common theme you find linking a lot of these groups. >> absolutely. that is the common ground. >> and individual rights and fiscal responsible. >> you know, there are many different tributaries to this movement. the common ground that exists is fiscal conservatism. it is a reaction against overspending and growth of government. >> a lot of the -- the critics of it will say, well, where were some of these people under the bush years when the deficits were growing exponentially, you know, not as much as they are growing now but were growing

hugely. you didn't hear the grassroots rising of anger about it. >> i think that's a very fair and important point. you talk to these folks who say we were angry at the way conservatives overspent during the bush years when they had unified control of washington. it took a couple days into the new administration and the anger started percolating at a new level. in a really different kind of arena. you can't underestimate the fact this is a reaction to the obama administration. >> this national convention, frankly, is a couple splinter groups but other groups like dick armey's group which has been helping, advising tea party groups isn't taking part. >> that's exactly right. i mean, this is a for-profit convention. that is hugely controversial. >> sarah palin is getting $100,000 for her speech. >> $100,000 for her primetime banquet address on saturday night. all of this is hugely controversial.

tea partyers take a lot of pride in the fact this is a leaderless movement and when folks seize the limelight they get angry. they see this as being a grassroots movement. that's where a lot of the misinformation has seeped in. there's no coordinated message. it's part of what makes it a genuine populist movement. >> the question then, what happens to it now? does it become a third party? does it -- clearly the gop is hoping to embrace -- you had this quote from john boehner the other day. i wrote it down here. john boehner said, the house minority leader said, there's no difference between what republicans believe and what tea party activists believe in. clearly a lot of players in the republican party are hoping that to embrace the tea partyers and a lot of tea partyers are hoping they will bring the gop back to conservative roots. >> you have conservative activists and politicians who want to surf this wave to power. they want to purge the party of rhinos, republicans in name only. a lot of people conflate tea partyers and independent voters.

tea partyers are conservative populists, to the right of the republican party. most independent voters are in between the democratic party and republican party. they're angry at the polarization in washington. a lot of tea partyers would like to see more polarization in washington. they don't think republicans have been conservative enough. there's a further irony here. look at the way the republicans are trying to set themselves to take power back in 2010. look at scott brown. the idea republicans could take ted kennedy's seat, play for obama and biden's seat. the folks who have the republican nominations are the people tea partyers would have called rinos in years past. mike kirk, mike castle. these are pro choice republicans. what's going on in the anger doesn't really account for what's going on in the real grassroots. >> appreciate it. we're going it be covering this for the next couple nights. you're going to meet one of the people behind the tea party movement. he's a guy who never paid much attention to politics until the day he decided he had enough. take a look at what his personal tipping point was. tonight's "shot." parting ways with the panda. sad day for those who knew and loved them. they're all right. they're just moving on. we'll tell you where they're going. i was active, eating healthy.

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for the next two nights, "welcome to the tea party." digging deeper on the grassroots movement that exploded across the country last year. today in nashville tea partyers kicked off their first convention. runs through saturday. sarah palin is the keynote speaker. tickets pricey compared to similar conventions. that's caused some controversy. the movement is made up of hundreds of different groups. members are diverse. tonight we wanted to introduce you to one of them. here's randi kaye. >> reporter: this is the moment bob porto started to change. it was september 2008. >> when the bank came calling and said, you're going to pay us, i'm like, how? >> reporter: with what? >> how do you come up with that kind of money? >> reporter: so began bob porto's journey. his home building business dried up. and the bank wanted its $300,000 loan back on this house. >> there are those that are said to be too big to fail. and then there are those like myself who are too small to save.

we need to focus on the real america which are the people, the people who are unemployed. >> reporter: frustrated with his bank and his government, wondering why all that bailout money was bypassing everyday people like him, porto did something that changed his world. he co-founded a tea party in his county. and today he's chairman of the largest tea party in arkansas. what does the tea party mean to you? >> tea party is a voice. the tea party are concerned citizens that felt left out of the system, that they weren't being listened to, that when -- it doesn't matter if it's a republican or a democrat. they're not listening to we, the people. >> reporter: bob says he never paid much attention to politics until now. in the past year or so he's probably protested here at the arkansas state capitol about a dozen times and like most members of the tea party bob is fighting for an end to government spending and an end to big government. before all this bob porto says

he was an ordinary guy, a home builder married to the same woman for 30 years. two daughters, two cats, one named spot. now he's a new voice in the most watched, most talked about political movement sweeping the country. porto hasn't had a paycheck in more than a year. it's time, he says, for america to rise up. i've heard a lot of independents, a lot of tea partyers say we want to take our country back. >> uh-huh. >> do you feel that way? >> i do. i do. we want to instill the fact the founding fathers gave us values and in those values were the basic foundations that created the greatness that america has experienced. bob porto in here with -- >> reporter: bob porto talks about freedom a lot. he says the government is trampling on his. >> there's an overburden in regulations. there's -- any time that we look

at what the government imposes upon us that limits us then we are losing our freedom. >> reporter: to porto the federal government, the republicans and democrats, don't meet his needs. and spend too much. too much spending for you? >> what's that old saying? if the outgo exceeds the income then the upkeep is the downfall? how do you spend your way out of debt? this is for we, the people. >> reporter: as for those in washington who say tea partyers' opposition to the government makes them un-american? so how do you feel about the tea partyers being called un-american? >> i think it will speak for itself when you look at the people and you see what they stand for and you take the time to visit with us. we're just americans. just amer. we're patriotic and believe what made america great in the past, we want to take that same energy and make america great again. >> for this generation and those that will follow.

>> there's a lot of different groups. is bob going to the convention in nashville? is he there? >> no, anderson, he's not here. he he said he simply couldn't afford the airfare and the hotel room. in fact, he told us he went to washington, d.c. for a tea party event not too long ago and about 15 people chipped in to send him there. this is a guy, anderson, watching the bankers get bonuses and he's been cutting back on food for his family. that truck you saw us driving in, that truck has 130,000 miles on it. the speedometer doesn't even work. you can see where his passion comes from. a lot of people here are saying the same thing. they're frustrated and want to move the country forward and they're tired the seeing the politicians pay more attention to the parties than the people. >> appreciate it. for more view go to ac306.com. see why incumbents on capitol hill should be worried and learn about them. up next, horror off the coast of

florida. kite surfer killed by sharks. he was surrounded by them. we have the latest on the story ahead. on a lighter note, the great panda good-bye, tai scattered shan is leaving the country. we take a look back at how many people watched this panda grow. . you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin. where's my car?!!!! where are you?! arghhh... (announcer) dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles give you outrageous comfort, all-day-guaranteed. woah. it's not too far... (announcer) are you gellin'? dr. scholl's.

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get caught up on other top stories. we have the 360 bulletin. there's new information tonight in the death of actress brittany murphy. the los angeles coroner's office ruling the 32-year-old died of pneumonia, anemia and an overdose of prescription medication. she went into cardiac arrest in december.

her death has been ruled an accident. a deadly shark attack in florida, a kite surfer killed on wednesday off the coast of stewart beach. thourts say the experienced kite surfed was a quarter-mile out from shore when he was surrounded by several sharks, bitten multiple times and later died at the hospital implts taking the oath on capitol hill, scott brown sworn in today as senator from massachusetts. the republican who won the seat in part on a wave of tea party sentiment pledged to do the best job he can. it brings an end to the democratic 60-seat. in australia there's bad news for men at work. a judge ruled that a flute solo from one of their biggest hits was actually stole frn a nursery rhyme. an australian schoolteacher, it was actually the estate for the schoolteacher. she passed away. they were suing for unpaid royalties. do you think it was stolen? let's listen. ♪

>> that sounds nothing like it. does that sound like it to you? >> no, i don't think so at all. it's very strange. they were very upset, by the way. they say that it's just not true. they said that -- >> this was back in 1984. i'm not sure. i remember the '80s when the song came out. did the estate lawyers not know the song was around? i don't understand why it took so long. >> it doesn't sound anything like it. there's some sort of weird bird in the background of this song. it sounds nothing like a flute. >> not at all. we watched them grow and play and say fathrewell to two giant pandas. this is tai shan. the 4-year-old male was born at

the national zoo and mei lan was born at the zoo in atlanta. tai sh a's nickname was butter scott. he grew close to close to tai scattered shan and has taken thousands of photographs from him. we want you to hear why butter stick is so special. watch. >> when i first saw tai shan and my jaw dropped. there's no words to describe the feeling. he's like a little angel. he's very engaging. his eyes are beautiful and you feel connected to him. when i watch the interaction between him and his mother, the way that she cares and nurtures him so patient and he's this rambunctious little bear that's very playful and never gives up and full of confidence, he has a community of friendship and even

i found love. i met my husband at the panda exhibit, and my mom always said you'll never might a guy. you just spend your time at the sdploo taking pictures, but i did what i love. love was right in front of me. pandas love being in the snow. he's so excitable when he rolls down the hill with the snow. this picture is very special to me. when i was taking the picture i didn't realize tai was looking at me but i felt his big eyes, and it was incredible to be that close to him, to hear him breathe. i have two hearts when it comes to tai going to china. there's a side of me that there's a great loss as if you're losing your own child, and there's a side of me that thinks that it's for the better of the future and his future and to spread his genes, but he's left me with a lot of gifts and a lot of good karma. it's ironic because in the last week i found out that i was pregnant, and that's the week i found out that he's -- before he's leaving. so it's