the day of those grammies. and i won for the broadway album. and i said in that speech, you know, who knows? maybe 24 years from now i'll be up for another grammy. and here it is 24 years later. >> see more of barbra streisand's interview with me tomorrow night. it's our next-to-last "larry king live" ever. then on thursday, big hour planned. with some surprises for you. and mostly for me. time now for "ac 360." thanks, larry. thanks for watching. tonight, breaking news, a stunning tape we have to warn you first, it's graphic, disturbing to watch. a gunman charging to a florida school board meeting ordering all the visitors out of the room, then opening fire point blank at board members. we'll tell you what happened to them, to him and we'll talk with the school superintendant who somehow escaped with his life. we begin as always keeping them

honest with the birthers coming back. today a birther army officer goes on trial and we uncover a bill in congress requiring presidential candidates to prove they were born here. but is that really a birther bill? we'll see what happened when we try to ask the bill's backers if they believe the president is a citizen. first the court martial, will the colonel lakin who pled guilty to one of two charges, he is a birther, the colonel is. he doubts the president's legitimacy and the well-established fact that the president was born in hawaii. we uncovered hr 1503 requiring the submission of a candidate's original birth certificate. 11 co-sponsors, all republican. they say the legislation is not aimed specifically at president obama, but keeping them honest, we wanted to know if there say bit of birther this in their bill. here's what congressman posy

told the sentinel about president obama's citizenship. quote, i haven't looked at the evidence. it's not up to me to look at the evidence. i can't swear on a stack of bibles whether he is or isn't. later talking about the bill on a radio show, here's what he said. >> the only people i know that are afraid to take drug tests are people that use drugs. >> so is he insinuating the president has something to hide with that? decide for yourself. his co-sponsor, ted poe of texas, has doubts about the documentation of his birth. he takes issue with this certification of live birth which he says is not a birth certificate. like all other such documents, it's a computer copy. the state went to electronic records a few years ago. it's got the correct stamps and a raised seal and was checked in person by factcheck.org. but congressman poe says, quote, it's a legal document, not the birth certificate. co-sponz errandy neugebauer.

>> so you believe the president is a u.s. citizen? >> you know, i don't know. i've never seen him produce documents that would say one way or the other. >> do you have any doubts congressman about the authentic native birth in this country of our president? do you have any doubts? >> chris, my -- it doesn't matter. >> do you have doubts? zb if i have doubts or not. >> you won't answer a simple question. see, that feeds this -- no, you are feeding the wacko wing of your party. do you believe that barack obama is a legitimate native-born american or not? >> that is not what this bill is about, chris. >> no, what do you believe? >> as far as i know, yes. okay? >> several other of the bill's sponsors say they believe president obama was born here. dan burton says it would spare presidents from conspiracy theories.

louie gohmert says the same. mr. gohmert who's been on this program is pushing a conspiracy, what we call terror babies. here's what happened when we asked joe johns to take a camera crew and bring our questions to them. >> reporter: hey. joe johns with cnn. how are you all doing? >> i'm sorry, he's not here right now. he stepped out for lunch. >> reporter: can i leave him a message? >> yes. >> reporter: joe johns. is there carter or the press secretary around? >> they're in a meeting right now. >> reporter: can i leave a message? >> sure. >> reporter: joe johns with cnn. do you know what's happening to the amendment? >> i haven't heard talk about it once. >> reporter: you haven't really? he's a co-sponsor? >> i don't even know the answer to that question. >> congressman carter's office. >> reporter: it's joe johns with cnn. is john stone, the press secretary in, please? is the press secretary in? is he in?

>> sir, he's not in at the moment. would you like me to take a message. >> sir? >> reporter: yes, ma'am. >> he wasn't picking up. would you like his voicemail? >> yes, please. >> no one seems to want to talk about this, and getting back to colonel lakin, not being answers there, either. the last time we tried to take to him was before the trial. he only said a few words, letting his lawyer speak for him. watch. colonel, you say you're refusing your orders because, quote, there is significant evidence or unanswered speculation that mr. obama's not eligible to be president. you said that in a note to general casey. ignoring the idea that you actually cited speculation as justification for your decision, but to say there's significant evidence that the president was not born in america is just false. you're an honorable guy, you've served your country incredibly well, you're a doctor, do you honestly believe president obama was not born in hawaii? >> let me answer as his lawyer. >> no, no, no. excuse me, this is -- this is a man who served his country for

18 years i think he can answer a question by himself. >> i think the lawyer should protect the client from incriminating himself. you say it's false, you're not prosecuting this case. >> if you call up the state of hawaii and ask for a birth certificate, that is the official document. >> that's not correct. that's absolutely not correct. >> and the president has released -- and the president has released that certificate of live birth, there it is, two newspapers in 1961 had birth announcemented provided by the state of hawaii health department. the republican governor of hawaii sent someone to personally view the birth certificate at the department of health and says it's there. >> that's not a birth certificate. >> again, can the colonel not talk for himself? the guy's an adult. >> you want to tell the truth to your viewers. >> according to the state of hawaii -- >> sir, that's an abstract. >> according to the state of hawaii, the certificate of live birth and i'm quoting from the state of hawaii health department, the certificate of live birth is the standard form acceptable by federal agencies. so are you saying, colonel,

you're not actually saying anything but i would appreciate it if you would and not hide behind your attorney, are you say all soldiers who currently serve who are from hawaii should be suspect because that's what they provide? >> this is a constitutional matter. and the truth matters, and -- >> well, answers matter. >> i should point out that since that interview colonel lakin has gotten a new attorney. joining me now is thomas kenneth, and jeffrey toobin. jeff, does it surprise you that -- i mean, the lieutenant colonel has gone to such great lengths to defy presidential orders but he's now pled guilty to one count. >> well, his acts are so irrational that it's hard to sort of follow the logic. but you know, one of the reasons we admire the military is that they give up rights that we take for granted. if you and i defy orders from our bosses, we can get fired.

in the military if he defy orders, you go to prison. that's what this guy is doing. he's defying orders based on this whacky conspiracy theory and he's paying the consequences. >> you know the legal military system well and it's different than the other military system. what is it -- why has he pled guilty now because it basically seems like the judge made a ruling early on that kind of eliminated his whole argument. >> it's different and it's similar. i think that this would have broke very much in the same fashion actually had it been tried in a civilian criminal court. what sealed colonel lakin's fate was this pretrial order from the judge and what the order said was this whole issue of the legitimacy of the order, the legitimacy of the president, where he was born and so forth, that's a question of law for the court to decide before we even get to trial. remember, judges decide issues of law, juries decide issues of fact. that being said, it took this military judge about 15 seconds to rule that, you know, whether or not the president was born in hawaii or is a natural born

citizen or what have you is not relevant. what is relevant is that he was a duly elected president of the united states, he was sworn in january 2009 as commander in chief. you are an officer in the military, thus you're obliged to follow his orders, and the only thing the jury is going to decide in this case is whether there was a lawful order, we know there was, and whether you disobeyed it. we know that he did. that's really what hastened the guilty plea. because once he realized that issue was not going to be heard by the jury, he had no defense. not that he really had one to begin with. >> the other issue is that he only raised these objections once he was being sent or redeployed to afghanistan. if he had had these objections he he could have raised them here stateside before this deployment. >> sure. on the one hand you almost feel sympathetic to this guy. 18 years of service, a couple years away from his pension. >> that's what i don't get. he's not some young guy sort of influenced by some group. >> absolutely not. but it appears he allowed

himself to become a pawn in this sort of fringe political movement. you know, whether you think this birther movement has merit or not is really aside from the fact. he's an officer in the military. he takes an oath and he's sworn to abide by that oath. now, the thing that makes him suspicious is here he is, he's serving under president obama who we all know was inaugurated in 2009, he's getting the high level pay that a senior ranking medical officer gets, the retirement points, all the perks and privilege that's go with being an officer in the military and doesn't really have a problem with serving under anymore until he gets his deployment orders to go into harm's way and afghanistan, then all of a sudden he wants to stand on i guess what he thinks is principles, but it's hard to really, you know, to get where this guy was really coming from. >> but think about the implications if he was allowed to even raise this issue. the military operates under a system of discipline. of orders. if every military officer or enlisted person who got an order

could question whether the president was really the president, discipline would disappear overnight. you have to have a system of -- a system of discipline. and that is just simply can't be a question that's on the table, that military officials or officers are allowed to raise. >> absolutely. that's why the judge's ruling was dead on. he said you're not going to get to parade this issue, we're not going to have this proxy trial in front of a military jury as to whether the president is legitimate or not. >> no courts have taken this up, a lot of these so-called birthers were looking to the supreme court to take up this issue. they had the opportunity to, they passed on it just recently. >> just because a bunch of crazy people raise an issue that doesn't mean the supreme court has to do it. i mean, has to address it. this is not a fight between democrats and republicans. this is a fight between the sane and the insane. and that is not something that the courts really have to address. this is not a legitimate controversy.

>> i wouldn't go so far as to say insane, but it is interesting that people who seem rational have latched on to this issue in a way that defies rational explanation. i've had a number of them on this program, and when you confront them with fact after fact after fact, it's -- it still has no impact. >> insane sounds right no me, but you're a nicer guy than i am, i guess. >> we'll leave it there. thanks very much. tell us what you think, live chat up and running right now. just ahead, the breaking news, the near massacre caught on an internet video feed during a school board meeting. the video is just stunning. we'll show it to you really frame by frame. it is graphic and disturbing, want to give you that warning. the school's superintendant pleading with the gunman to put his weapon down. we'll talk to that superintendant about what it was like minute by minute in just a moment. >> please don't. please don't. please. >> i'm going to. don't you understand? it's dif - t adththod easy-to-swallow petes.

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following breaking news right now out of florida. we have details about what exactly happened during a school board meeting that nearly ended in a blood bath just hours ago. the meeting was carried live on an internet video feed. people watched in horror as it all played out. what they saw was a disgruntled gunman fire repeatedly at point blank range at school board member who's were seated right in front of him on a platform. tom foreman joins us with the latest and we want to warn you the video we're about to show you is disturbing to watch. tom? >> reporter: you any, anderson, you're absolutely right this. it started about 2:00 this afternoon as it was winding down. you're going infof to see someo shot here. clay duked start talking about how his wife lost her job, then

started spray painting a v, pulled out a handgun and said someone was going to die. just watch this. >> somebody in this room behind that counter, hit the road. leave. you may leave, you may leave. you can leave. six men, stay. everyone else leaves. >> he's talking. john, go ahead. the school board didn't have anything to do -- >> no. ginger. >> you saw there, one of the school board members tried to knock the gun away with her purse. it doesn't work. still he let's her and many other people there leave. some of this video is from wjhg, a tv crew there at the same time. but now listen to what happens next. as the superintendant confronts him about this alleged firing of

his wife, telling him to let everyone else go. >> i mean, they don't sign the papers. i'm the only one that signs them. will you let them go? i mean, but you're obviously upset at me. so why are they here? >> they're part of it. >> part of what? >> the scandal. >> sir, i don't know what you were in -- >> this is to stop the taxes, okay? you said we don't need no taxes. >> no, that's not -- >> there's plenty of money. then as soon as you gutted the school system, then you turned around and said, oh, now we need this half cent sales tax again. >> i said we needed half cent sales tax from the very beginning. i campaigned on that. >> no, you didn't. >> oh, yes, i did. you can look on the material. i said from the beginning the half cent sales tax is the most equitable way because everybody pays it. not just property owners. >> reporter: and the superintendant is facing a guy

with a gun, trying to talk him down about this. about that time the gunman starts looking around, walking a bit, and now the tough part. >> just listen for me a minute. i don't want anybody to get hurt and i've got a feeling is what you want is the cops to come in and kill you because you said you're going to die. >> i'm going to die. >> but why? this isn't worth it. >> please don't. please don't. please. >> i'm going to -- don't you understand? >> unbelievable. the video, he's clearly shot by someone off the camera to the left that was the security guard, right? >> yeah, that was a security officer for the schools, mike jones, a retired police detective. there were seven shots in that piece of video. and i want you to look again in slow motion at what happens here. the first shot seems to go right at the superintendant. you see the papers fly up in front of him there when the shot goes up and he looks like he's

hit. he goes down but watch as a shot goes into the floor, his head pops up for a moment. then the shot comes from the left. he gets hit, another shot comes, he's hit again. two shots fire back, then one more shot and then he goes down as the officer shoots him there and puts him down on the ground. just unbelievable. and i want you to look at one tighter angle we have here as well. this is the gunman himself. you can see his face, if we move in closer, that shot, now you see him. he starts shooting. i want you to listen -- >> i'm going to kill you. don't you understand that? >> reporter: now you see at end, we played the audio, you could hear that hail of fires, of fire from the officer closing in on him, and you can hear him. i don't know if it was clear to you there, saying quit moving. very standard police thing.

this guy's got a gun. he's on the ground. what we're told is you ultimately shot himself in the head when he was on the ground there. and right afterwards, anderson, just amazing, you can actually hear the school board member saying, maybe he was shooting blanks because they can't believe that nobody in the room was hit. by this guy firing that gun around and it really is quite amazing, but they were real bullet. >> thankfully he wasn't a good shot. they sat there and tried to rationalize with the guy. >> reporter: oh, my gosh. i've seen a lot of moments like this in my career and i have rarely seen people handle it as well as they did. you saw the one school board member who tried to confront him with the purse, another school board member who you don't see here, talks to him before all this, right in front of him and he said look. tell us who your wife is. we don't know who you're talking about. tell us how she lost her job. let us try to help you. then you hear the superintendant just speak to him so plainly.

nobody seemingly panicking. the handling of the officer over here, again, i've covered a lot of these, anderson. that's pretty much by the book. just amazing how all these people maintained their composure in this position, as you've said, that could have been a blood bath. >> yeah. tom, thanks. you just saw william husfeld, the superintendant of the school speaking calmly, the shooter never losing his head, as we talked about with tom. he tried to convince the gunman to let the others go. we all think he showed remarkable composure. i talked with him a few moments ago about that very close call today. >> i cannot imagine what it must have been like for you, i mean, facing off against this guy. can you walk us through what happened? >> well, we were having a board meeting. we have two a month, and this was just a regular board meeting. we just finished talking about policy changes. i mean, one of them was about head lights the other was about some technology things we want to do, then all of a sudden we

finished that and we had the segment where we hear from the public. so anyone can come up and talk to us about anything they want to address and he came up, i didn't even notice him in the audience because there was only a handful of people that are from the public there and he came up and started spray painting on the wall. then he turned around, had a gun in his hand and it was downhill from there. >> when you saw him spray painting on the wall, he spray painted a circle with the letter v is that correct? >> that is correct. >> that's also i guess on his facebook page, there's someone saying this is a "v" from the movie "vendetta" is that your sense that it's from the movie? >> that's what i've been told. i've got other people that have told me that. i don't have a facebook account but that's what it stood for, somebody else told me that earlier today. >> so when you see him spray painting did you realize he had the gun right away? >> no. until he turned around, anderson, to be very candid with

you, i thought, man, he's really upset about our technology plan. i really did think that. i thought, he doesn't like us that we're getting ready to spend some money on technology and it never even occurred to me he was going to be violent or anything. he didn't look happy, but i just never occurred it was going to be the kind of situation it ended up being. >> and obviously we see him now spray painting. when you see him spray painting, clearly you know, okay, this is not the regular course of events, this guy is doing something already he shouldn't be doing. >> right. somebody went to -- when he started that, somebody went to go get our security officer i think i saw a couple people leave the room and it was obvious he was upset about something, but like i said i did not know how upset he was but when he turn around with that gun you could see in his eyes that, you know, he just had that look. and i'm not an expert in psychology or criminology, but you knew he had something in mind he was going to do and it was not going to ends well.

>> so he turns around, you see the gun, then what happened? >> he told everyone to leave the room but the males at the front, i can't remember exactly how he said it but he told the women to leave the room and all the audience to get out of here. the two secretaries that sit up at the front, we have one female board member, told her to leave. and then everybody else left the room and he came up over towards the backside of us and started saying somebody's going to die in here. you know, that i'm upset, i'm mad, you fired my wife. my wife lost her job, my family, he was just rambling. we didn't know what he was talking about. >> when he said you fired his wife, did that ring any bells with you? >> i've never seen him before. when he told us what his name was, i don't even remember what he said. but we didn't know who he was talking about. in fact, we still think that he was just very confused, and i'm looking forward to finding out in the investigation of this whole thing because i don't

think that he understood what he was talking about. it was obvious that he was not all there. and it's sad for his family. i really feel bad for his family because nobody wants anything like this. this is a tragedy on many levels. >> and at one point in the video we see a woman who comes up with her bag, basically tries to knock the gun out of his hand and he knocks her to the ground. >> that was the female board member that was told to leave the room and he just shuns her off and then someone else helped her to get out of there. and we were just thankful like i said we're thankful he didn't start shooting. you know, it was -- it was very surreal. >> at one point you say to him, this is between you and me. did -- but you didn't know him. were you just saying that, hoping he would let other people go? >> well, and i told him that i'm the one that's responsible for hiring and firing. i'm the superintendant, i sign

the forms, i have no idea what he was talking about, but i'm telling you, if you looked in his eyes, you knew somebody was going to die. anderson, just being very candid with you, i don't have a death wish, but i know if i were to die today i know where i'm going, and i was -- i was fine with that, but i did not want everybody in that room killed. that would havjust been a waste and a tragedy and i knew he wanted to die. he said that a couple times. he was paying attention to the windows, what was going on outside even though the blinds were closed, you could see the lights flicker out there. it was almost like he wanted somebody to come rushing in so he would have a reason to start shooting. >> earlier i heard you say that he almost had a smile on his face. >> he had that comfortable look like i'm going to do this and i'm glad i'm going to do it. just, you know, again it's sad. i feel sorry for his family. but there was no doubt in my mind this was going to -- somebody was going to get shot. >> you know, one never knows how

one's going to react in a situation like this, somebody pointing a gun at you gets your attention faster than just about anything. and i was amazed at how calm you remained and you were talking to him, and i believe it was you who was saying -- he was pointing the gun and -- was it you saying, please don't do that, please don't do that? >> i believe i was saying that. i was trying to calm him down and get him to just talk with us and he said he didn't want to talk but we talked. and you know, i was trying everything i could just because i knew the police were on their way and i knew that he was going to start shooting eventually. i mean, first of all he didn't want to talk. as he came around to the front of us, i'm telling you, you can see the look in his eyes. he was going to shoot. and so we were trying to get him to calm down and just -- just to talk with us a little bit and to

be -- just tell you flat out i was just trying to delay him from doing what i thought he was going to do. >> everyone's sitting there, he shoots, i was amazed you all didn't immediately run -- did you -- did you feel that first shot coming -- he was shooting at you, right? that first shot. >> that first shot he was about eight feet, eight, ten feet in front of me and anderson, i'm just telling you, the good lord was standing in front of me, because there's two bullet holes back behind where i sat and that's the only reason they didn't hit me and i'm just being very honest with you, but we -- it's a desk type thing. we're up -- they're podium like and we've got seats there and so we all just immediately just hit the ground. mike jones, who is the real hero in all of this, is our safety security officer. when he heard that first shot, he came running in. he's the retired detective with

our local police department. he -- they started exchanging gunfire and there was 15 to 20 shots gone off in there. i mean, this wasn't a game, this was the real thing. >> and he did bring him down. how long did all of this happen? did this happen in like a few seconds? it's hard to tell from the video -- >> it was several minutes. because of the way he was positioning himself from sort of beside us and then walked around and he walked around for a couple minutes. so -- i mean, it seemed like an eternity, obviously, but, you know, i never want to take my eyes off of him because i just knew, you knew he was going to pull that trigger eventually and you knew he had a death -- he said in there, he said several times he was going to die and so were we or something to that effect. that's what he was talking about. and the sad thing is, anderson, he just was mixed up. he did not know what he was talking about and, you know,

it's just a tragedy that 30 minutes before this, maybe 45 minutes before this, that boardroom was full. we had students and patients re there, we were having a recognition ceremony for a lot of our students. it was a good time, good, fun meeting, all the fun stuff you want to do to recognize students. then we had a break and had the regular meeting. we're thankful the students and parents weren't in there. >> it's just incredible and i'm so happy that, you know, i'm sorry there was a loss of life but i'm so happy, it could have been much worse and you all responded remarkably. and i'm glad you're with your family tonight and i appreciate you talking with us. >> thank you. and you know, i feel sorry for his family. like i said earlier. but the bravery that our police department and mike jones showed was, it's beyond commendable. they saved lives today, i'm telling. >> no doubt about that. the video proves it. thank you. >> thank you. also incredibly brave,

ginger, that woman who snuck up behind him and tried to knock the gun out of his hand with the bag. just ahead tonight, keeping them honest on the massive new spending plan out of washington, all the earmarks in it, $8 billion of your money. john mccain spoke out against the bill. he refuses to ask for earmarks as he always has. what about his colleagues, democratic and republican? keeping them honest. and it's like a scene out of the movies, guy stills more than $1 million in casino chips, speeds away on a motorcycle. we'll tell you which vegas casino got hit, coming up. we fill them with amazing technology. and we fill them with inspired design. and now your chevy dealer wants to fill them with as much good will as we can. come see how chevy is giving more. right now, get no monthly payments till spring plus 0% apr financing and fifteen hundred dollars holiday allowance on most chevy models. see how your dealer is giving at facebook.com/chevrolet. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills.

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following a lot more tonight, joe johns joins us with the bulletin. >> police in new york say they

may be dealing with a serial killer after finding four bodies near a long island beach. the bodies were discovered during a search for a missing prostitute who was seen last seen in may. she reportedly had arranged to meet a client about a mile from where the bodies were found. a virginia man who allegedly threatened to blow up targets, including washington, d.c.'s metro system has been arrested and is undergoing a mental evaluation. federal court documents say the threats came during an online chat with an acquaintance on facebook. the search is on for a man who stole $1.5 million in casino chips from the bellagio casino in las vegas. the suspect pulled out a gun at a krchcraps table and rode awaya motorcycle. and hugh jackman tried to make an entrance on a zip line during the oprah show, ended up crashing into a row of lights. there you see it. the taping stopped while paramedics checked him out.

his eye was injured but not so badly the taping could not resume. that's the kind of thing you leave up to a stuntman, i would think. >> although he's a cool guy, it was an amazing entrance. anyway, hope he feels better. in tonight's shot, conan o'brien actually taking aim at me last night but it's all in good fun. take a look. >> here's anderson cooper announced the name of his new talk show is "anderson." i think i speak for everyone here on the staff of "conan" when i say, god, what an ego on that guy. you'd think people around him would tell him how bad that looks. >> a lot of times people don't say stuff to guys like that. >> well, i'm moving on. >> yeah. there you go. he's talking about a new syndicated show i'm going to be doing during the daytime and it is going to be called "anderson."

so fair enough. up next, it's your money, $8 billion we're talking about, going to lawmakers' pet projects, earmarks. we'll let you know who's taking the money and who's not taking it back, even though they promised not to ask for earmarks anymore. and imagine hitting the road and being stuck in your car in the snow for hour after hour, get this, for 24 hours stuck in a snow drift. we'll bring you the latest on the rescue effort. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort

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so 8 billion new reasons for keeping them honest tonight, $8 billion of your money for pet projects and a new $1.1 trillion budget deal that senate democrats unveiled today. earmarks from democrats who pren pledged to cut back on them and some republicans who promised to eliminate them entirely. that's less than 1% of the budget and less than leaast yea. some of the spending is transparent, some of it is not. on the house side, they're no dummies, they know earmarks have

become a third rail for politicians so they've got a budget that claims to have no earmarks at all but does have what they're calling congressionally-directed spending. listen close, i'll say it again, congressionally-directed spending. if you hear that, it sounds an awful lot like earmarks under a new name. john mccain certainly thought so. watch what he said today. >> and i thought that the message was pretty clear. that the american people said enough with the spending. enough with the pork-barrel earmark mark spending. we have already identified approximately 6,488 earmarks totalling nearly $8.3 billion $ $8.3 billion. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell pledged early this year not to request earmarks and spoke out against the spending bill today. >> i am actively working to

defeat it. there are many members who have provisions in their state actively working to defeat it. this bill should not go forward. >> notice he said members snaft who have provisions in it, senators including kentucky's mitch mcconnell. even though he's opposing the bill and even though he took a pledge not to take earmarks, he's got a bunch he put in before he took the pledge. $18 million to upgrade the rail head at ft. knox, 3 million to widen a road in ft. campbell, more than $100 million in all. earmarks he did not withdraw after taking the no earmark pledge. what you heard a moment ago was part of his explanation why not. here's the rest. >> and regardless of whether members had some input in the bill much earlier in the year when the bills could have been moved to the floor by by bill by bill is completely and totally inappropriate to wrap all of this up in into a 2,000-page bill and try to pass it the week before christmas.

>> now other republicans certainly have earmarks in the bill, some are expected to vote for it, democrat as well, harry reid says he expects the bill to pass with their support. he's not opposed to earmarks, he's made that clear and he's got plenty, 15 pages of projects, according to taxpayers for common sense. military spending, food banks, highway projects, biometric sensor research, high-speed rails. look, all of this might be worthy stuff, but that's in the eye of the beholder. the fact is, it's in the face of a sea of red ink. we talked about it earlier with paul begala and erick erickson. paul, representative obey says the omnibus bill doesn't include earmarks, but there are projects favored by democrats and the administration, is he getting just a little too creative with the definition of earmarks? >> i think any congressionally-directed spending is an earmark. i don't think all earmarks are bad as long as they're

transparent, disclosed, subject to debate. that's what the founding fathers intended. that's why they gave congress the power of the purse. but the problem here is hypocrisy and hypocrisy mostly with my friends in the republican party who have campaigned against earmarks and mitch mcconnell, the republican senate leader, he's against this bill but he's put earmarks into the bill. he's the guy who's carried so much pork he's probably got trick nose is by now and it's the hypocrisy people get fid up by. >> mcconnell does have earmarks in this bill himself, so do a lot of other republicans. >> oh, absolutely. you know, in fact i completely agree with paul on this issue. the republicans in the senate in particular, they've pounded on their chests they weren't going to have an earmark ban until jim demint and senator coburn from oklahoma got enough votes with the new guys coming in to force the issue. so they said, okay, okay, okay, we'll lead on this and ban earmarks from the republican conference, wink-wink, nod-nod, we'll go to our democratic friends and ask them to put it in for us. that's exactly what's happening. look at the guys from

mississippi, both of whom not fans of the earmarks ban, have loaded up mississippi with earmar earmarks. >> i get why democrats would push for this money while they still can, earmarks are technically a drop in the bucket, but what message does this send about the democratic party's fiscal discipline? >> the democratic party is the party that balanced the budget the last time it was balanced. the republicans know as much about balancing a budget as my dog does about sunday mass. >> the republicans were in charge when the budget was balanced. >> they destroyed all of our fiscal discipline. and i think that's part of the problem here. but somebody who's really wigged out about earmarksvy to say is an unserious person. if all of the $8 billion, $8 billion of earmarks in this bill, if they're eliminated, inwe'll have a deficit of

1,192,000,000. if the deficit is cancer, and it is, then earmarks are a hang nail. >> when you look at how earmarks are used more often than not in congress, yes, they themselves are a small portion of the budget but they're attached to larger pieces of legislation that aren't quite as popular and they get those unpopular pieces of legislation passed. it happens with the republicans and democrats. the republicans would have never passed no child left behind or the medicare prescription drug benefit without loading up enough earmarks to buy the votes of members of congress. same with the democrats, frankly, on their health care accountability -- or affordability act. the nebraska deal, the louisiana deal, the florida deal, those got votes for the bigger pieces of legislation. that's how earmarks are used. >> it does sound, though, that even some republicans now are sort of maybe trying to play with the definition of what an earmark is so that they can say, look, there are no more earmarks

but there's still, i don't know, congressional congressionally-directed spending. >> very much so. you have situations where michele bachmann and others jim inhofe are saying, well, what about transportation? >> you're saying, for a bridge or a road, it's important -- >> whether or not they can drink communion and drink the wine, will they become an alcoholic again, you've got to go free. you can't take any of these earmarks. and frankly the big issue is they don't need these earmarks. we're arguing over who should spend this stuff but whether she should spend it. >> these earmarks didn't exsit not too long ago. >> they always have. this is, again, i think this is what the founding fathers intended. they gave congress the power of the purse. i've worked in the congress and in the white house. i've seen it from both sides. if there were no earmarks, no congressionally-directed spending, all you would do is, you wouldn't cut the spending. what you would do is empower some bureaucrat at the department of transportation to decide where that road or bridge often that bureaucrat might be wiser but often she might not

be. maybe the congressman knows better in his district where the highway bypass ought to be. so my own view, as long as it's disclosed, debated, erick brings up how this is often done in secret, bypassing, that's all wrong, but as long as it's debated and open and people know about, it congress should decide where the money goes. that's what the constitution says. >> erick, appreciate it, paul, good discussion. earmarks will probably come up in 2012 in the presidential election. the presidential race, we're pleased to announce that cnn is joining with wmur-tv and the "new hampshire union leader" to bring the first presidential debate june 7th, 2011. see it right here on cnn. i know it's a little far in advance, but mark your calendars. still ahead, the late et on the severe winter weather battering the northeastern u.s. and also canada. hundreds of people were stranded on a highway, it's an unbelievable picture, as the latest rescue on the rescue

efforts ahead. plus, men are always told they should show more emotion, well, so how come with john boehner shedding a few tears the ladies at "the view" were all over the guy? we're crying foul and putting them on tonight's ridiculist. with its powerful 1 gigahertz processor... ♪ da da da don't cha... ♪ its globetrotting wi-fi hotspotting swagger... it knows you want a rich web experience with adobe flash and access to over 100,000 android apps. finally a work phone worth taking home. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work.

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all right. before we get to the ridiculist, let's get caught up with some other stories tonight. >> marine corps commandant general james amos says if don't ask don't tell goes away it could be deadly on the battlefield in afghanistan. at a roundtable discussion at the pentagon, amos said today he doesn't want to lose any marines to a distraction. wikileaks founder julian assange was granted bail but not

out of jail yet. sweder prosecutors pursuing him over alleged sex crimes immediately filed appeal. he will stay in jail until the next hearing which should be within the next two days. and amazing video from ontario, canada, a brutal snowstorm that left people stuck in their cars for more than 24 hours. canadian media reports say police and military teams worked today to free more than 200 people who'd been stranded. a local official says it's the worst storm to hit the area in 25 years. looks like staying in your car is the thing that kept those folks alive. >> yeah. one person was trapped in their car 24 hours. time now for the latest addition to the ridiculist. the honor goes to "the view" ladies, who i'm a big fan of, but i'm surprised and disappointed to learn they don't like to see a grown man cry, at least not a grown republican politician cry. john boehner's propensity to get

choked up, most recently on "60 minutes." here he is talking about school kids. >> making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream like i did. >> all right. so he got emotional, a little teary, i think i maybe heard a snort in there. but aren't people always saying they want politicians to be more real and aren't men always being told we're supposed to be more sensitive, vulnerable, willing to show emotions? check out the reaction boehner's ba bawling got on "the view." >> he's got an emotional problem. any time he talks about not raising taxes, he cries. >> he cries only when he talks about how sad his life was, he had to sweep floors, he was a janitor, and he pursued the american dream. and yet he has very little empathy for people who are in

that position now. >> kids may not have opportunity -- >> i'm sorry, i just need to go. i just have to go. >> for crying out loud, let the guy cry out loud. where's the harm in that? since when did they turn into dr. evil from austin powers? >> are you going to cry in are you going to cry in huh? you going to cry in huh? huh? are you going to squirt some? are you going to cry? see? you're going to cry. you're a big man now, huh? yeah. >> joy behar doved him weeper of the house. pelosi says she doesn't cry about politics because you have to be a professional but can you be professional and sentimental at the same time? i'm one of the most uptight people around, believe me, but i've been known to shed a tear or two, but let's give john boehner a break and not perpetuate a double standard. ladies, let the man cry. if you want to shed a tear because you're on tonight's

ridiculist, go right ahead. we'll love you all the more for it. a lot more at the top of the hour, including perhaps the most compelling images we've seen all year, a warning, look away if you feel you need to. a gunman opening fire at point blank range until he himself is gunned down at a school board meeting. we'll speak with one of the we'll speak with one of the gunman's would-be victims. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ ♪

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tonight, breaking news, a stunning tape we have to warn you first, it's graphic, disturbing to watch. a gunman charging to a florida school board meeting ordering all the visitors out of the room, then opening fire point blank at board members. we'll tell you what happened to them, to him and we'll talk with the school superintendant who somehow escaped with his life. we begin as always keeping them honest with the birthers coming back. today a birther army officer goes on trial and we uncover a bill in congress requiring presidential candidates to prove they were born here. but is that really a birther bill? we'll see what happened when we try to ask the bill's backers if they believe the president is a citizen. first the court martial, colonel lakin pled guilty to one of two charges. he is a birther, the colonel is. he doubts the president's legitimacy and the well-established fact that the president was born in hawaii. in researching the story, we also uncovered a bill in the house, hr 1503, requiring a

presidential candidate to submit a candidate's original birth certificate. congressman, bill posy, republican of florida, sponsored it, with 11 co-sponsors, all republican. keeping them honest, we wanted to find out if there is a bit of birther in their bill. here's what congressman posey said about the bill. quote, i haven't looked at the evidence. it's not up to me to look at the evidence. i can't swear on a stack of bibles whether he is or isn't. later talking about the bill on a radio show, here's what he said. >> the only people i know that are afraid to take drug tests are people that use drugs. >> so is he insinuating the president has something to hide with that? decide for yourself. his co-sponsor, ted poe of texas, has doubts about the documentation of his birth. he takes issue with this hawaii certification of live birth which he says is not a birth certificate. like all other such documents, it's a computer copy.

the state went to electronic records a few years ago. it's got the correct stamps and a raised seal and was checked in person by factcheck.org. but congressman poe says, quote, it's a legal document, not the birth certificate. co-sponsor randy neugebauer. >> so you believe the president is a u.s. citizen? >> you know, i don't know. i've never seen him produce documents that would say one way or the other. >> here's another co-sponsor, john campbell trying to avoid the issue entirely. >> do you have any doubts congressman about the authentic native birth in this country of our president? do you have any doubts? >> chris, my -- it doesn't matter. >> do you have doubts? >> whether i have doubts or not. >> you won't answer a simple question. see, that feeds this -- no, you are feeding the wacko wing of your party. do you believe that barack obama is a legitimate native-born american or not?

>> that is not what this bill is about, chris. >> no, what do you believe? >> as far as i know, yes. okay? >> several other of the bill's sponsors say they believe president obama was born here. dan burton says the bill would merely spare presidents from needless conspiracy theories. louie gohmert says the same. mr. gohmert who's been on this program is currently pushing a conspiracy theory about -- what we're calling terror babies. here's what happened when we asked joe johns to take a camera crew and bring our questions to them. >> reporter: hey. joe johns with cnn. how are you all doing? >> i'm sorry, he's not here right now. he stepped out for lunch. >> reporter: can i leave him a message? >> yes. >> reporter: joe johns. is there carter or the press secretary around? >> they're in a meeting right now. >> reporter: can i leave a message? >> sure. >> reporter: joe johns with cnn. do you know what's happening to the amendment?

>> i haven't heard him talk about it once. >> reporter: you haven't really? he's a co-sponsor? >> i don't even know the answer to that question. >> congressman carter's office. >> reporter: it's joe johns with cnn. is john stone, the press secretary in, please? is the press secretary in? is he in? >> sir, he's not in at the moment. would you like me to take a message. >> sir? >> reporter: yes, ma'am. >> he wasn't picking up. would you like his voicemail? >> yes, please. >> one moment. >> no one seems to want to talk about this, and getting back to colonel lakin, not many answers there, either. the last time we tried to talk to him was before the trial. he only said a few words, letting his lawyer speak for him. watch. colonel, you say you're refusing your orders because, quote, there is significant evidence or unanswered speculation that mr. obama's not eligible to be president. you said that in a note to general casey. ignoring the idea that you actually cited speculation as justification for your decision,

but to say there's significant evidence that the president was not born in america is just false. you're an honorable guy, you've served your country incredibly well, you're a doctor, do you honestly believe president obama was not born in hawaii? >> well, anderson, let me answer as his lawyer. >> no, no, no. excuse me, this is -- this is a doctor, a man who served his country for 18 years. i think he can answer a question by himself. >> i think the lawyer should protect the client from incriminating himself. you say it's false, you're not prosecuting this case. >> if you call up the state of hawaii and ask for a birth certificate, you're sent a certificate of live birth. that is the official document >> that's not correct. that's absolutely not correct. >> and the president has released -- and the president has released that certificate of live birth, there it is, two newspapers in 1961 had birth announcements provided by the state of hawaii health department. the republican governor of hawaii sent someone to personally view the birth certificate at the department of health and says it's there. >> that's not a birth certificate. >> again, can the colonel not

talk for himself? the guy's an adult. >> you said that's a birth certificate, mr. cooper. you want to tell the truth to your viewers. >> according to the state of hawaii -- >> sir, that's an abstract. >> according to the state of hawaii, the certificate of live birth and i'm quoting from the state of hawaii health department, the certificate of live birth is the standard form acceptable by federal agencies. so are you saying, colonel, you're not actually saying anything but i would appreciate it if you would and not hide behind your attorney, are you saying all soldiers who currently serve who are from hawaii should be suspect because that's what they provide? >> this is a constitutional matter. and the truth matters, and -- >> well, answers matter. >> i should point out that since that interview colonel lakin has gotten a new attorney. joining me now is thomas kenniff and jeffrey toobin. jeff, does it surprise you that -- i mean, the lieutenant colonel has gone to such great lengths to defy presidential orders but he's now pled guilty

to one count. >> well, his acts are so irrational that it's hard to sort of follow the logic. but you know, one of the reasons we admire the military is that they give up rights that we take for granted. if you and i defy orders from our bosses, we can get fired. in the military if he defy orders, you go to prison. that's what this guy is doing. he's defying orders based on this whacky conspiracy theory and he's paying the consequences. >> you know the legal military system well and it's different than the other military system. what is it -- why has he pled guilty now because it basically seems like the judge made a ruling early on that kind of eliminated his whole argument. >> it's different and it's similar. i think that this would have broke very much in the same fashion actually had it been tried in a civilian criminal court. what sealed colonel lakin's fate was this pretrial order from the judge and what the order said was this whole issue of the legitimacy of the order, the

legitimacy of the president, where he was born and so forth, that's not a factual issue for the jury, that's a question of law for the court to decide before we even get to trial. remember, judges decide issues of law, juries decide issues of fact. that being said, it took this military judge about 15 seconds to rule that, you know, whether or not the president was born in hawaii or is a natural born citizen or what have you is not relevant. what is relevant is that he was a duly elected president of the united states, he was sworn in january 2009 as commander in chief. you are an officer in the military, thus you're obliged to follow his orders, and the only thing the jury is going to decide in this case is whether there was a lawful order, we know there was, and whether you disobeyed it. we know that he did. that's really what hastened the guilty plea. because once he realized that issue was not going to be heard by the jury, he had no defense. not that he really had one to begin with. >> the other issue is that he only raised these objections once he was being sent or

redeployed to afghanistan. if he had had these objections he could have raised them here stateside before this deployment. >> sure. on the one hand you almost feel sympathetic to this guy. here's a high-ranking medical officer. 18 years of service, a couple years away from his pension. >> that's what i don't get. he's not some young guy sort of influenced by some group. >> absolutely not. but it appears he allowed himself to become a pawn in this sort of fringe political movement. you know, whether you think this birther movement has merit or not is really aside from the fact. he's an officer in the military. he takes an oath and he's sworn to abide by that oath. now, the thing that makes him suspicious is here he is, he's serving under president obama who we all know was inaugurated in 2009, he's getting the high level pay that a senior ranking medical officer gets, the retirement points, all the perks and privileges that go with being an officer in the military and doesn't really have a problem with serving under him as commander in chief until he gets his deployment orders to

go into harm's way and afghanistan, then all of a sudden he wants to stand on i guess what he thinks are his principles, but it's hard to really, you know, to get where this guy was really coming from. >> but think about the implications if he was allowed to even raise this issue. the military operates under a system of discipline. of orders. if every military officer or enlisted person who got an order could question whether the president was really the president, discipline would disappear overnight. you have to have a system of -- a system of discipline. and that is just simply can't be a question that's on the table, that military officials or officers are allowed to raise. >> absolutely. that's why the judge's ruling was dead on. he said you're not going to get to parade this issue, we're not going to have this proxy trial in front of a military jury as to whether the president is legitimate or not. >> no courts have taken this up, a lot of these so-called birthers were looking to the supreme court to take up this issue. they had the opportunity to, they passed on it just recently. >> just because a bunch of crazy

people raise an issue that doesn't mean the supreme court has to do it. i mean, has to address it. this is not a fight between democrats and republicans. this is a fight between the sane and the insane. and that is not something that the courts really have to address. this is not a legitimate controversy. >> i wouldn't go so far as to say insane, but it is interesting that people who seem rational have latched on to this issue in a way that defies rational explanation. i've had a number of them on this program, and when you confront them with fact after fact after fact, it's -- it still has no impact. >> insane sounds right to me, but you're a nicer guy than i am, i guess. >> we'll leave it there. thanks very much. tell us what you think, live chat up and running right now. just ahead, the breaking news, the near massacre caught on an internet video feed during a school board meeting. the video is just stunning. we'll show it to you really frame by frame. it is graphic and disturbing,

want to give you that warning. the school's superintendant pleading with the gunman to put his weapon down. we'll talk to that superintendant about what it was like minute by minute in just a moment. >> please don't. please don't. please. >> i'm going to. don't you understand? how's it going in there, hon? um, almost ready. [ car alarm blaring ] [ blaring echoes, fades ] oh! [ male announcer ] relax.

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following breaking news right now out of florida. we have details about what exactly happened during a school board meeting that nearly ended in a bloodbath just hours ago. the meeting was carried live on an internet video feed. people watched in horror as it all played out. what they saw was a disgruntled gunman fire repeatedly at point blank range at school board members who were seated right in front of him on a platform. tom foreman joins us with the latest and we want to warn you the video we're about to show you is disturbing to watch. tom? >> reporter: you any, anderson, you're absolutely right this. it started about 2:00 this afternoon as the school board meeting was winding down. you're going to see someone get shot here. witnesses say clay duke stood up, started talking about how his wife lost her job, then started spray painting a "v," pulled out a handgun and said

someone was going to die. just watch this. >> somebody in this room behind that counter, hit the road. leave. you may leave, you may leave. you can leave. six men, stay. everyone else leaves. >> he's talking. john, go ahead. the school board didn't have anything to do -- >> no. ginger. >> you saw there, one of the school board members tried to knock the gun away with her purse. it doesn't work. still he let's her and many other people there leave. some of this video is from wjhg, a tv crew there at the same time. but now listen to what happens next. as the superintendant confronts him about this alleged firing of his wife, telling him to let everyone else go.

>> i mean, they don't sign the papers. i'm the only one that signs them. >> that's right. >> will you let them go? i mean, but you're obviously upset at me. so why are they here? >> they're part of it. >> part of what? >> the scandal. >> sir, i don't know what you were in -- >> this is to stop the taxes, okay? you said we don't need no taxes. >> no, that's not -- >> there's plenty of money. then as soon as you gutted the school system, then you turned around and said, oh, now we need this half cent sales tax again. >> i said we needed half cent sales tax from the very beginning. i campaigned on that. >> no, you didn't. >> oh, yes, i did. >> no, you didn't. >> you can look on the material. i said from the beginning the half cent sales tax is the most equitable way because everybody pays it. not just property owners. >> reporter: and the superintendant is facing a guy with a gun, trying to talk him down about this. about that time the gunman starts looking around, walking a bit, and now the tough part.

just watch what happens next. >> just listen for me a minute. i don't want anybody to get hurt and i've got a feeling is what you want is the cops to come in and kill you because you're mad, and you said you're going to die. >> i'm going to die. >> but why? this isn't worth it. >> please don't. please don't. please. >> i'm going to kill you. don't you understand? >> unbelievable. the video, he's clearly shot by someone off the camera to the left that was the security guard, right? >> yeah, that was a security officer for the schools, mike jones, a retired police detective. there were seven shots in that piece of video. and i want you to look again in slow motion at what happens here. the first shot seems to go right at the superintendant. you see the papers fly up in front of him there when the shot goes up and he looks like he's hit. he goes down but watch as a shot goes into the floor, his head

pops up for a moment. then the shot comes from the left. he gets hit, another shot comes, he's hit again. two shots fire back, then one more shot and then he goes down as the officer shoots him there and puts him down on the ground. just unbelievable. and i want you to look at one tighter angle we have here as well. this is the gunman himself. you can see his face, if we move in closer, that shot, now you see him. same moment. he starts shooting. i want you to listen -- >> i'm going to kill you. don't you understand that? >> stay down. >> reporter: now you see at end, we played the audio, you could hear that hail of fires, of fire from the officer closing in on him, and you can hear him. i don't know if it was clear to you there, saying quit moving. very standard police thing. this guy's got a gun. he's on the ground.

what we're told is he ultimately shot himself in the head when he was on the ground there. and right afterwards, anderson, just amazing, you can actually hear the school board member saying, maybe he was shooting blanks because they can't believe that nobody in the room was hit by this guy firing that gun around. and it really is quite amazing, but they were real bullets. >> thankfully he wasn't a good shot. they sat there and tried to rationalize with the guy. >> reporter: oh, my gosh. i've seen a lot of moments like this in my career and i have rarely seen people handle it as well as they did. you saw the one school board member who tried to confront him with the purse, another school board member who you don't see here, talks to him before all this, right in front of him and he said look. tell us who your wife is. we don't know who you're talking about. tell us how she lost her job. let us try to help you. then you hear the superintendant just speak to him so plainly. nobody seemingly panicking. the handling of the officer over here, again, i've covered a lot

of these, anderson. that's pretty much by the book. just amazing how all these people maintained their composure in this position, as you've said, that could have been a bloodbath. >> yeah. clearly a der rangeed guy. you just saw william husfelt, the superintendant of the school speaking calmly, the shooter never losing his head, as we talked about with tom. he tried to convince the gunman to let the others go. we all think he showed remarkable composure. i talked with him a few moments ago about that very close call today. >> i cannot imagine what it must have been like for you, i mean, facing off against this guy. can you walk us through what happened? >> well, we were having a board meeting. we have two a month, and this was just a regular board meeting. we just finished talking about policy changes. i mean, one of them was about head lights the other was about some technology things we want to do, then all of a sudden we finished that and we had the segment where we hear from the public. so anyone can come up and talk

to us about anything they want to address and he came up, i didn't even notice him in the audience because there was only a handful of people that are from the public there and he came up and started spray painting on the wall. then he turned around, had a gun in his hand and it was downhill from there. >> when you saw him spray painting on the wall, he spray painted a circle with the letter "v," is that correct? >> yes; that is correct. >> that's also i guess on his facebook page, there's someone saying this is a "v" from the movie "vendetta," or "v" from that movie. is that your sense, that it's from the movie? >> that's what i've been told. i've got other people that have told me that. i don't have a facebook account but that's what it stood for, somebody else told me that earlier today. >> so when you see him spray painting did you realize he had the gun right away? >> no. until he turned around, anderson, to be very candid with you, i thought, man, he's really upset about our technology plan. i really did think that.

i thought, he doesn't like us that we're getting ready to spend some money on technology and it never even occurred to me he was going to be violent or anything. he didn't look happy, but i just never occurred it was going to be the kind of situation it ended up being. >> and obviously we see him now spray painting. when you see him spray painting, clearly you know, okay, this is not the regular course of events, this guy is doing something already he shouldn't be doing. >> right. somebody went to -- when he started that, somebody went to go get our security officer i think i saw a couple people leave the room and it was obvious he was upset about something, but like i said i did not know how upset he was but when he turned around with that gun you could see in his eyes that, you know, he just had that look. and i'm not an expert in psychology or criminology, but you knew he had something in mind he was going to do and it was not going to end well. >> so he turns around, you see the gun, then what happened? >> he told everyone to leave the

room but the males at the front, i can't remember exactly how he said it but he told the women to leave the room and all the audience to get out of here. the two secretaries that sit up at the front, we have one female board member, told her to leave. and then everybody else left the room and he came up over towards the backside of us and started saying somebody's going to die in here. you know, that i'm upset, i'm mad, you fired my wife. my wife lost her job, my family, he was just rambling. we didn't know what he was talking about. >> when he said you fired his wife, did that ring any bells with you? >> i've never seen him before. when he told us what his name was, i don't even remember what he said. but we didn't know who he was talking about. in fact, we still think that he was just very confused, and i'm looking forward to finding out in the investigation of this whole thing because i don't think that he understood what he was talking about. it was obvious that he was not

all there. and it's sad for his family. i really feel bad for his family because nobody wants anything like this. this is a tragedy on many levels. >> and at one point in the video we see a woman who comes up with her bag, basically tries to knock the gun out of his hand and he knocks her to the ground. >> that was the female board member that was told to leave the room and he just shuns her off and then someone else helped her to get out of there. and we were just thankful like i said we're thankful he didn't start shooting. you know, it was -- it was very surreal. >> at one point you say to him, this is between you and me. did -- but you didn't know him. were you just saying that, hoping he would let other people go? >> well, and i told him that i'm the one that's responsible for hiring and firing. i'm the superintendant, i sign the forms, i have no idea what he was talking about, but i'm telling you, if you looked in

his eyes, you knew somebody was going to die. anderson, just being very candid with you, i don't have a death wish, but i know if i were to die today i know where i'm going, and i was -- i was fine with that, but i did not want everybody in that room killed. that would have just been a waste and a tragedy and i knew he wanted to die. he said that a couple times. he was paying attention to the windows, what was going on outside even though the blinds were closed, you could see the lights flicker out there. it was almost like he wanted somebody to come rushing in so he would have a reason to start shooting. >> earlier i heard you say that he almost had a smile on his face. >> he had that comfortable look like i'm going to do this and i'm glad i'm going to do it. just, you know, again it's sad. i feel sorry for his family. but there was no doubt in my mind this was going to -- somebody was going to get shot. >> you know, one never knows how one's going to react in a situation like this, somebody pointing a gun at you gets your

attention faster than just about anything. and i was amazed at how calm you remained and you were talking to him, and i believe it was you who was saying -- he was pointing the gun and -- was it you saying, please don't do that, please don't do that? >> i believe i was saying that. i was trying to calm him down and get him to just talk with us and he said he didn't want to talk but we talked. and you know, i was trying everything i could just because i knew the police were on their way and i knew that he was going to start shooting eventually. i mean, first of all he didn't want to talk. as he came around to the front of us, i'm telling you, you can see the look in his eyes. he was going to shoot. and so we were trying to get him to calm down and just -- just to talk with us a little bit and to be -- just tell you flat out i was just trying to delay him from doing what i thought he was

going to do. >> everyone's sitting there, he shoots, i was amazed you all didn't immediately run -- did you -- did you feel that first shot coming -- he was shooting at you, right? that first shot. >> that first shot he was about eight feet, eight, ten feet in front of me and anderson, i'm just telling you, the good lord was standing in front of me, because there's two bullet holes back behind where i sat and that's the only reason they didn't hit me and i'm just being very honest with you, but we -- it's a desk type thing. we're up -- they're podium like and we've got seats there and so we all just immediately just hit the ground. mike jones, who is the real hero in all of this, is our safety security officer. when he heard that first shot, he came running in. he's the retired detective with our local police department. he -- they started exchanging gunfire and there was 15 to 20 shots gone off in there.

i mean, this wasn't a game, this was the real thing. >> and he did bring him down. how long did all of this happen? did this happen in like a few seconds? it's hard to tell from the video -- >> it was several minutes. because of the way he was positioning himself from sort of beside us and then walked around and he walked around for a couple minutes. so -- i mean, it seemed like an eternity, obviously, but, you know, i never want to take my eyes off of him because i just knew, you knew he was going to pull that trigger eventually and you knew he had a death -- he said in there, he said several times he was going to die and so were we or something to that effect. that's what he was talking about. and the sad thing is, anderson, he just was mixed up. he did not know what he was talking about and, you know, it's just a tragedy that 30

minutes before this, maybe 45 minutes before this, that boardroom was full. we had students and parents in there, we were having a recognition ceremony for a lot of our students. it was a good time, good, fun meeting, all the fun stuff you want to do to recognize students. then we had a break and had the regular meeting. we're thankful the students and parents weren't in there. >> it's just incredible and i'm so happy that, you know, i'm sorry there was a loss of life but i'm so happy, it could have been much worse and you all responded remarkably. and i'm glad you're with your family tonight and i appreciate you talking with us. >> thank you. and you know, i feel sorry for his family. like i said earlier. but the bravery that our police department and mike jones showed was, it's beyond commendable. they saved lives today, i'm telling you. >> no doubt about that. the video proves it. thank you. >> thank you. also incredibly brave, ginger, that woman who snuck up behind him and tried to knock the gun out of his hand with the bag. just ahead tonight, keeping them

honest on the massive new spending plan out of washington, all the earmarks in it, $8 billion of your money. john mccain spoke out against the bill. he refuses to ask for earmarks as he always has. what about his colleagues, democratic and republican? keeping them honest. and it's like a scene out of the movies, guy steals more than $1 million in casino chips, speeds away on a motorcycle. we'll tell you which vegas casino got hit, coming up. can a trading site help make you a sharper trader? mine can. td ameritrade can. they've got trading specialists i can call for help. and paper trading. free practice trading that helps me hone my technique. complex options. and free tutorials. online or in person. can a trading site really make a difference? if it can't, why are you trading there? number one in online equity trades: td ameritrade.

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tonight, joe johns joins us with the bulletin. >> police in new york say they may be dealing with a serial killer after finding four bodies near a long island beach. the bodies were discovered during a search for a missing prostitute who was seen last in may. she reportedly had arranged to meet a client about a mile from where the bodies were found. a virginia man who allegedly threatened to blow up targets, including washington, d.c.'s metro system has been arrested and is undergoing a mental evaluation. federal court documents say the threats came during an online chat with an acquaintance on facebook. the search is on for a man who stole $1.5 million in casino chips from the bellagio casino in las vegas. the suspect pulled out a gun at a craps table and rode away on a motorcycle. and hugh jackman tried to make a high-flying entrance on a zip line during the oprah show, a taping in australia.

ended up crashing into a row of lights. there you see it. the taping stopped while paramedics checked him out. his eye was injured but not so badly the taping could not resume. that's the kind of thing you leave up to a stuntman, i would think. >> although he's a cool guy, it was an amazing entrance. anyway, hope he feels better. in tonight's shot, conan o'brien actually taking aim at me last night but it's all in good fun. take a look. >> here's anderson cooper announced the name of his new talk show is "anderson." i think i speak for everyone here on the staff of "conan" when i say, god, what an ego on that guy. you'd think people around him would tell him how bad that looks. >> a lot of times people don't say stuff to guys like that. >> well, i'm moving on. >> yeah. there you go. he's talking about a new syndicated show i'm going to be

doing during the daytime and it is going to be called "anderson." so fair enough. up next, it's your money, $8 billion we're talking about, going to lawmakers' pet projects, earmarks. we'll let you know who's taking the money and who's not giving it back, even though they promised not to ask for earmarks anymore. and imagine hitting the road and being stuck in your car in the snow for hour after hour, get this, for 24 hours stuck in a snow drift. we'll bring you the latest on the rescue effort. we fill them with extraordinary craftsmanship.

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so 8 billion new reasons for keeping them honest tonight, $8 billion of your money for pet projects and a new $1.1 trillion budget deal that senate democrats unveiled today. earmarks from democrats who pledged to cut back on them and republicans, some of whom promised to eliminate them entirely. $8 billion. that's less than 1% of the budget and less than last year. some of the spending is transparent, some of it is not. on the house side, they're no

dummies, they know earmarks have become a third rail for politicians so they've got a budget that claims to have no earmarks at all but does have what they're calling congressionally-directed spending. listen close, i'll say it again, congressionally-directed spending. if you hear that, it sounds an awful lot like earmarks under a new name. john mccain certainly thought so. watch what he said today. >> and i thought that the message was pretty clear. that the american people said enough with the spending. enough with the pork-barrel earmark spending. we have already identified approximately 6,488 earmarks totalling nearly $8.3 billion $8.3 billion. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell pledged early this year not to request earmarks and spoke out against the spending bill today.

>> i am actively working to defeat it. i think there are many members of the senate who have provisions in it for their states who are also actively working to defeat it. this bill should not go forward. >> notice he said members of the senate who have provisions in it, senators including kentucky's mitch mcconnell. even though he's opposing the bill and even though he took a pledge not to take earmarks, he's got a bunch he put in before he took the pledge. $18 million to upgrade the rail head at ft. knox, 3 million to widen a road in ft. campbell, both in his state, $2.5 million for health facilities at western kentucky university. more than $100 million in all. earmarks he did not withdraw after taking the no earmark pledge. what you heard a moment ago was part of his explanation why not. here's the rest. >> and regardless of whether members had some input in the bill much earlier in the year when the bills could have been moved to the floor bill by bill is completely and totally inappropriate to wrap all of this up in into a 2,000-page

bill and try to pass it the week before christmas. >> now other republicans certainly have earmarks in the bill, some are expected to vote for it, democrat as well, harry reid says he expects the bill to pass with their support. he's not opposed to earmarks, he's made that clear and he's got plenty, 15 pages of projects, according to taxpayers for common sense. military spending, food banks, highway projects, biometric sensor research, high-speed rails. look, all of this might be worthy stuff, but that's in the eye of the beholder. the fact is, it's in the face of a sea of red ink. we talked about it earlier with paul begala and erick erickson. paul, representative obey says the omnibus bill doesn't include earmarks, but there are projects favored by democrats and the administration, is he getting just a little too creative with the definition of earmarks? >> i think any congressionally-directed spending is an earmark. i don't think all earmarks are

bad as long as they're transparent, disclosed, subject to debate. that's what the founding fathers intended. that's why they gave congress the power of the purse. but the problem here is hypocrisy and hypocrisy mostly with my friends in the republican party who have campaigned against earmarks and mitch mcconnell, the republican senate leader, he's against this bill but he's put earmarks into the bill. he's the guy who's carried so much pork he's probably got triconosis by now, and it's the hypocrisy people get fed up by. >> mcconnell does have earmarks in this bill himself, so do a lot of other republicans. >> oh, absolutely. you know, in fact i completely agree with paul on this issue. the republicans in the senate in particular, they've pounded on their chests they weren't going to have an earmark ban until jim demint and senator coburn from oklahoma got enough votes with the new guys coming in to force the issue. so they said, okay, okay, okay, we'll lead on this and ban earmarks from the republican conference, wink-wink, nod-nod, we'll go to our democratic friends and ask them to put it in for us. that's exactly what's happening.

look at the guys from mississippi, both of whom not fans of the earmarks ban, have loaded up mississippi with earmarks. >> i get why democrats would push for this money while they still can, earmarks are technically a drop in the bucket, but what message does this send about the democratic party's fiscal discipline? >> the democratic party is the party that balanced the budget the last time it was balanced. the republicans know as much about balancing a budget as my dog does about sunday mass. >> the republicans were in charge when the budget was balanced. >> obviously it was the clinton budget. they destroyed all of our fiscal discipline. and i think that's part of the problem here. but somebody who's really wigged out about earmarks, i have to say is an unserious person. if all of the $8 billion, $8 billion of earmarks in this bill, if they're eliminated, instead we'll have a deficit of one trillion $300 billion, we'll

have a deficit of 1,192,000,000. at that pace we'll pay off the deficit in 163 years. if the deficit is cancer, and it is, then earmarks are a hang nail. >> i disagree with that assertion. when you look at how earmarks are used more often than not in congress, yes, they themselves are a small portion of the budget but they're attached to larger pieces of legislation that aren't quite as popular and they get those unpopular pieces of legislation passed. it happens with the republicans and democrats. the republicans would have never passed no child left behind or the medicare prescription drug benefit without loading up enough earmarks to buy the votes of members of congress. same with the democrats, frankly, on their health care accountability -- or affordability act. the nebraska deal, the louisiana deal, the florida deal, those got votes for the bigger pieces of legislation. that's how earmarks are used. >> it does sound, though, that even some republicans now are sort of maybe trying to play with the definition of what an earmark is so that they can say,

look, there are no more earmarks but there's still, i don't know, congressionally-directed spending. >> very much so. you have situations where michele bachmann and others jim inhofe are saying, well, what about transportation? >> you're saying, for a bridge or a road, it's important -- >> whether or not they can take communion and drink the wine, whether they'll become an alcoholic again, you've got to go free, you can't take any of these earmarks. and frankly the big issue is they don't need these earmarks. we're arguing over who should spend this stuff but whether she should spend it. >> these earmarks didn't exist not too long ago. >> they always have. this is, again, i think this is what the founding fathers intended. they gave congress the power of the purse. i've worked in the congress and in the white house. i've seen it from both sides. if there were no earmarks, no congressionally-directed spending, all you would do is, you wouldn't cut the spending. what you would do is empower some bureaucrat at the department of transportation to

decide where that road or bridge often that bureaucrat might be wiser but often she might not be. maybe the congressman knows better in his district where the highway bypass ought to be. so my own view, as long as it's disclosed, debated, erick brings up how this is often done in secret, bypassing the normal order, i think that's all wrong. but as long as it's debated and people talk about it, congress should decide where the money goes. that's what the constitution says. >> erick, appreciate it, paul, good discussion. earmarks will probably come up in 2012 in the presidential election. the presidential race, we're pleased to announce that cnn is joining with wmur-tv and the "new hampshire union leader" to bring you the first republican presidential debate june 7th, 2011. see it right here on cnn. i know it's a little far in advance, but mark your calendars. still ahead, the latest on the severe weather battering the northeastern u.s. and also

canada. hundreds of people were stranded on a highway, it's an unbelievable picture, as the latest rescue on the rescue efforts ahead. plus, men are always told they should show more emotion, well, so how come with john boehner shedding a few tears the ladies at "the view" were all over the guy? we're crying foul and putting them on tonight's ridiculist. no one ever wished for a smaller holiday gift. ♪ it's the lexus december to remember sales event, and for a limited time, we're celebrating some of our greatest offers of the year. lease the 2011 is 250 for $349 a month for 36 months with $3,399 due at signing. see your lexus dealer. with $3,399 due at signing. when it comes to investing, no one person has all the answers.

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all right. before we get to the ridiculist, let's get caught up with some other stories tonight. joe johns has the bulletin. >> marine corps commandant general james amos says if don't ask don't tell goes away it

could be deadly on the battlefield in afghanistan. at a roundtable discussion at the pentagon, amos said today he doesn't want to lose any marines to a distraction. wikileaks founder julian assange was granted bail but not out of jail yet. swedish prosecutors pursuing him over alleged sex crimes immediately filed appeal. he will stay in jail until the next hearing which should be within the next two days. and amazing video from ontario, canada, a brutal snowstorm that left people stuck in their cars for more than 24 hours. canadian media reports say police and military teams worked today to free more than 200 people who'd been stranded. a local official says it's the worst storm to hit the area in 25 years. looks like staying in your car is the thing that kept those folks alive. >> yeah. one person was trapped in their car 24 hours. time now for the latest addition to the ridiculist.

the honor goes to "the view" ladies, who i'm a big fan of, but i'm surprised and disappointed to learn they don't like to see a grown man cry, at least not a grown republican politician cry. they were talking about john boehner's propensity to kind of get choked up, most recently on "6 0 minutes." here he is talking about school kids. >> making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream like i did. >> all right. so he got emotional, a little teary, i think i maybe heard a snort in there. but aren't people always saying they want politicians to be more real and aren't men always being told we're supposed to be more sensitive, vulnerable, willing to show emotions? check out the reaction boehner's bawling got on "the view." >> this guy has an emotional problem, that every time he

talks about anything that's not raise taxes, he cries. and if this -- >> he cries only when he talks about how sad his life was, he had to sweep floors, he was a janitor, and he pursued the american dream. and yet he has very little empathy for people who are in that position now. >> kids may not have opportunity -- >> i'm sorry, i just need to go. i just have to go. >> for crying out loud, let the guy cry out loud. where's the harm in that? since when did they turn into dr. evil from austin powers? >> are you going to cry? you going to cry, huh? you going to cry, huh? huh? are you going to squirt some? are you going to cry? see? you're going to cry. you're a big man now, huh? yeah. >> joy behar called him weeper of the house. pelosi says she doesn't cry about politics because you have to be a professional but can you be professional and sentimental at the same time? i'm one of the most uptight

people around, believe me, but i've been known to shed a tear from time to time, sure i try to keep it limited to a darkened theater while watching "bambi" but let's not perpetuate some double standard. ladies, let the man cry. if you want to shed a tear because you're on tonight's ridiculist, go right ahead. we'll love you all the more for it. we'll be right back. [ sneezes ] client's here.

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