we begin tonight with breaking news. the senate failing to pass a major piece of legislation and we're going to look tonight at the games that are being played behind the scenes at capitol hill, games americans say they don't want, but that's what they get nevertheless. we're keeping them honest. also tonight the birther army colonel who refused orderers because he doubted the commander in chief, president obama, was born in america. today he does a complete 180, saying he wishes he hadn't done it, wishes he had followed orders.

did he let his former attorney let him use him for the birther cause? keeping them honest. plus the man who brought down the shooter altogether a school board meeting, he says he's not a hero. a lot of people would say otherwise. story in his own words about those life and death situations. we begin with the breaking news, harry reid yanking a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government running because he says he no longer had the republican support to pass it. >> i was told within the last 24 hours that we had bipartisan support to pass this bill. many -- i shouldn't say that, many is a word that's too large but a number of republican senators told me that they'd like to see it pass. >> well, republican reportedly a number of gop senators reneged on their pledge to support the bill which contained $8 billion in earmarks.

keeping them honest, the work on this and other critical legislation has been consumed by procedural wrangling and political game playing. the chief example today, preparations to accommodate jim demint of south carolina. he asked the entire bill, nearly 2,000 pages of it, be read outloud before a vote could be held. had that happened tonight we'd be showing you live pictures right now, one of a team of senate pages doing that job, which was supposed to take two days and nights nonstop. instead, senator reid yanked the bill. so instead of that, they wasted one day fighting over it. senator demint is the one that called working until christmas disrespectful and sacrilegious and he's made no bones about not wanting to do the budget bill or anything in the lame duck session, telling fox news about the s.t.a.r.t. treaty, quote, we're trying to run out the clock until the re-enforcements get here in january. he wanted that readout loud into the record, too, even though the senate's been considering it for months just like the spending bill, just like the dream act,

the bill to compensate 9/11 first responders, the defense reauthorization bill and more. all before the senate for months, all crammed into the final few weeks, all being wrangled over again and again. in a recent gallup poll, only 13% of americans approve of the job congress is doing. our own viewers have been taking a dim view. i want to read you one of many comments on the blog we got last night about how many fewer days senators and congressmen work, complaints about having to work through the holidays. arnold writes, these people get first class benefits and they're sitting there complaining about christmas? how about those family who's lost their jobs and don't have health care, jobs or money to enjoy their christmas? and this one from maria, as a nurse, i've worked 50% of all holidays for 38 years. thanks for keeping them honest in washington. we should point out that senator demint was the star of tonight's game play but there was been plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle. what's amazing is how many politicians on both sides of the

aisle can stand up that it's not -- that it's when they're not playing games and speak out against, wait for it, all the game playing. >> the political games have already started. >> >> enough with the games. enough with playing politics. >> here we are, playing political games. >> stop wasting time. >> we're wasting time. >> what's with all the political games everybody's playing? >> i hope that very soon we'll move away from these political games. >> thanks to the same old political games. >> politicians playing games. >> the same old broken game of politics. >> putting the games aside and doing the right thing. >> stop the games. >> well joining me now to talk about what's been happening tonight and what's been going on in washington, erick erickson, redstate.com, gloria borger and steve kornacki. were you surprised senator reid decided to drop the spending bill tonight? >> not really. this has been a game of political gamesmanship, there's that word again. this will be the first congress since 1974 that hasn't passed a

budget. they've been doing these continuing resolutions. they didn't need to get this omnibus through they could have done a continuing resolution. i assume pretty soon they'll figure out monopoly is much more fun to play than congress. >> does senator reid look weak tonight? >> he did what he had to do because he didn't have the votes, but honestly this omnibus spending bill was like a bunch of alcoholics about to go into alcoholics anonymous and saying, okay, one last drink before the new folks come in to town and we're going to have to cut spending. and i think they decided at the very least, anderson, that the optics of this looked so bad for all of them that they ought to just try and deal with it, pass a continuing resolution, and go away when their work is done, but take this out of the picture. >> you think, steve, this is a sign of the power of the tea party movement? >> absolutely. i think tonight you're seeing not so much the implications of the november election in which republicans won big, but all of the primaries that came before

november in which one republican incumbent after another in which one republican establishment figure after another was taken out by a tea party base that hates any kind of compromise with the democrats. one of the symbols of that has been earmarks. $8 billion of this is earmarks, that's less than 1% of the entire bill. but that became the symbol of what this represents. and so every republican, you know, in the senate looked at this and said, look at mike castle in delaware. look at nevada. look at alaska. in primaries this year where establishment figures were beaten. do i want to be the next person to face that kind of a primary challenge because i voted for this bill, because i voted for earmarks? much easier to join the republican resistance. >> so you had this bizarre situation where you had people who had earmarks in this bill coming out and saying they were opposing their own earmarks. >> yeah, it really was a comedy of errors coming out of washington with this. the republicans had to know after voting for the earmark ban

that their earmarks were going to come out in this legislation. god bless jim demint for pulling this stunt this afternoon, it worked. >> but, erick, this is probably a naive question, but when it comes down to it, what's wrong with letting a bill come up for a vote? regardless of which party poses it, isn't that the core principle of democracy, whether it's this or don't ask, don't tell or whatever? >> the senate is definitely not a democracy, it takes 60 votes to do almost anything. this is the way, again using the word, the game the played. you have to understand the rules to get things done. it doesn't matter the majority has rights. not ideologically, i hatd to use the word, but the senate is a very conservative institution. >> i also think jim demint had another agenda here when he was talking about reading this bill over a couple of days, and that is to delay. >> right. >> whatever is before the congress. and as you pointed out earlier, there's some very important things before the congress. not the least of which is the

s.t.a.r.t. treaty, don't ask, don't tell, the dream act and on and on. and if you run out the time, then guess what? you can't get to it. >> so, steve, is this just the vision of the future? this is what the next two years is going to look like? >> one thing i would say is if you look at don't ask, don't tell, and use this as a strategy to delay it, i don't think it's going to work. i think don't ask don't tell will be repealed. the vote will happen this week. >> you think it will happen this week? >> i think don't ask, don't tell is going to be repealed. i don't think the dream act will be enacted but i think you'll come out of the dame luck session with don't ask, don't tell repealed. >> gloria, do you agree with that? >> no, well, i'm not sure. i think there's some real worry among high-level democrats that the republicans could hold don't ask, don't tell hostage to the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. you know, at the end of a session, this is what happens. and they could say, okay, if you want s.t.a.r.t., maybe we'll give you s.t.a.r.t. but we certainly don't want to give you don't ask, don't tell. so those things are currently in play right now. >> that's exactly what i'm hearing, is that several of the republicans are basically

offering the president a choice, take s.t.a.r.t. or take don't ask don't tell. you can't have both. >> he's going to want a vote. >> that's true, however we've been through this before with the republican caucus essentially saying before last week that if you don't take action on the bush tax cuts we're not going to allow action on don't ask, don't tell. there are four moderate republicans like olympia snowe, susan collins, scott brown in massachusetts and lisa murkowski in alaska. will they break with their party if the rest of the party takes that approach, which i think they will. will those four or five, maybe dick lugar will join them, will they break with the party, say we've made excuses once, we're going to make excuses now. we want this vote now, then we'll get to s.t.a.r.t. >> joe lieberman said the other day it's more important to get don't ask, don't tell done now and wait on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> you'll need 66 under the constitution, two-thirds of the senate. you only need 60 to break the filibuster for don't ask, don't tell. >> politically for president obama if he's looking to, you know, gain some points with the liberal wing of the democratic

party or the democratic party passing don't ask, don't tell would seem would do that more than the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> that's huge. if you come to the end of this lame duck session, if you look have the vocal liberals within the party upset, if you look at the polls, it's interesting, the rank and file liberals aren't nearly upset but if you can counter that with, i've got $300 billion of stimulus in this tax deal and also i got don't ask don't tell repealed, and this was on the heels of an election in which the republicans won 65 extra seats in the house, a think a lot of democrats look at that and say for everything in this lame duck session, that's not the worst scenario. >> the white house would rather get it all and thinks it's a false choice between one or the other, but we'll have to see. >> i want a pony for christmas, i don't think i'm going to get it. we'll see. thanks very much. join the live chat now. he was a highly honored face of the birther movement, a decorated army doctor. we interviewed him on this program, refusing orders, refusing to be deployed to afghanistan because he didn't

believe president obama was a legitimate commander in chief because he believed he wasn't born in america. his sentencing and his change of tune, and, boy, what a change of tune we saw today. we'll talk about that ahead. also, a humble hero coming forward, the security guard who shot the gunman bent on murdering six people. mike jones tonight, in his own words. >> i saw that first shot and i knew the superintendant fell backwards, all the board members fell backwards. then he and i engaged in the gun battle. work longer, play longer, laugh longer, listen longer. shoot, edit, share, update, download, read, write, and even facetime...longer. all on the world's thinnest smartphone. the iphone 4.

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another keeping them honest report now, lieutenant colonel terrence changing his tune in a big way today, saying he never should have forced the army to court martial him in the first place. it's a little late unfortunately for regrets though. today lakin was sentenced to six months in military prison and will not be returning to the army. he's also going to lose his military pension. we'll talk to former j.a.g. officer and also jeffrey toobin, but i want to remind you how we got here.

you probably recognize colonel lakin. we've been following his story for months. when we first met him he'd been an active duty physician for 18 years in the military. he refused orders to deploy to afghanistan saying the order was coming from a commander in chief who he believes may not be a natural born citizen. at the time he invited the court martial to serve a greater cause, to compel president obama to prove he was born in the united states. take a look at this video. >> i want you to know the reasons why i feel i have no choice but the distasteful one of inviting my own court martial. i will disobey orders to deploy because i and all servicemen and women and the american people deserve to know the truth about the office of the presidency and the commander in chief. >> like most birthers, lakin was saying it wasn't enough that president obama produced a certification of live birth from hawaii during his campaign. also known as a short form birth certificate, but lakin like a lot of other birthers said it was not sufficient.

i want to show you what the document looks like. here's the front. first thing you should know, it has all the elements the state department requires for approving citizenship to obtain a u.s. passport. there's the stamp by the registrar, using a signature stamp, and according to factcheck.org, it's stamped 2007 because that's when hawaii officials produced it for the obama campaign who requested it. i also want to show you one more thing, the raised seal on the certificate, again, this short form birth certificate is enough information to be acceptable to the state department to get a passport. i also want to show you something else. colonel lakin came on the program with his lawyer back in may. but he didn't really get a chance to say very much because his lawyer frankly wouldn't let him. >> do you honestly believe president obama is not born in hawaii? >> let me answer as his lawyer. >> no, no, no. excuse me. wait, excuse me. 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. >> that lawyer in the video is paul jensen. he lives and practices in california, he's a republican, he was lakin's first lawyer and a lot of people are saying he gave his client bad advice. it looked like jensen was trying to use the case to force the obama administration to produce a long-form birth certificate. lakin later replaced jensen with a new legal team which took a new approach, focusing on the fact lakin disobeyed an order. that was the bottom line. lakin was embraced by the birther movement, the american patriot foundation essentially used him as a fundraising tool. here's their website. you can see it has all the latest developments of the case along with requests for contributions. keeping them honest, it seems fair to ask, was lakin a pawn for the birther cause? or did he get what he deserved? lakin pleaded guilty this week to disobeying orderers. he told the court, quote, i was wrong for trying to push this issue within the army.

i would not do this again. it was a confusing time for me and i was very emotional. i thought i was choosing the right path and i did not. he also said he wanted to continue to serve with the military. he will not get that chance. again, he's serving six months in prison. he could have gotten up to three years. let's talk about it with jeffrey toobin and former j.a.g. officer thomas kenniff. tom, i mean, six months in prison, discharged from the military, losing his pension. it's a bad punishment, but were you surprised by the sentencing? >> no, i think it was a bargain for a plea. my understanding he was facing at least two specifications in the charge sheet. he pleaded guilty to one of them. that one specification had an 18-month maximum sentence in addition to the consequences like loses his pension and so forth. it appears that he certainly received very bad legal advice. every indication is that his first attorney had absolutely no experience working within the military justice system. >> right. you can be a great attorney in the civilian system but you need experience in the military justice system.

>> it certainly helps. and the attorney that took over for his first attorney is a very well-respected former j.a.g., has a lot of experience as a military defense attorney. you can bet as soon as he came on board he told him, look, you made a lot of mistakes so far. time to cut your losses. let's work out a plea bargain to at least try to minimize the time you'll spend in confinement. that's probably why he's looking at six months instead of 18 months or three years. >> was he essentially used by the birther movement? >> you asked at the beginning was he a pawn or he did get what he deserved. i think the answer is yes to both of them. he was a pawn. but i'm sorry, you know, this is not some 18-year-old private who had his head turned by some fancy lawyer, this is a doctor, 18 years in the military. he has to know that in the military you have to follow orders. and the military had to make an example of him because if they allowed him to get away with this and allowed him to have an actual challenge to the president's authority as

commander in chief, then anybody in the military could have done it and that would have placed the whole mission of the military in jeopardy. the military simply couldn't allow it and i think they did the right thing. >> the other person who testified on the stand was the doctor who had to go to afghanistan in his place. because it's not as if he just said, i'm not going to afghanistan and they didn't fill the slot. somebody else's family had to suffer because this guy was refusing an order. >> sure. you know, it goes beyond just colonel lakin. it's not about republicans, it's not about democrats, it's not about whether you believe in the birther movement or whether you support the president. civilian control of the military is a cornerstone of the american experiment. when you have a high-ranking military officer like colonel lakin using his rank, his uniform, which essentially is loaned to him, entrusted to him by the american people, to undermine the president of the united states, you're not just undermining barack obama, you're undermining this democracy. and that's what is so offensive about this case.

>> the whole birther thing, the supreme court rejected it a few weeks ago. >> every court has rejected it because there is no basis for any challenge on this regard. i mean, you know, there are lots of things that are differences of opinion, that are differences of policy. the issue of whether barack obama is a citizen of the united states is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. and the fact that there are people out there, you know, who believe in the birther movement who also believe presumably in flying saucers and the lost continent of at atlantis, you just can't be a military officer and use the courts to try to challenge things like that. >> strange end to a very strange story. thanks very much. next, the hero in the dramatic shooting in the florida school board meeting speaking out for the first time. you've seen the video probably a lot, this madman walking in, trying to shoot the school board members.

security chief mike jones understandably really shaken up by the ordeal. he talks about what went through his mind as he took down the shooter. >> honestly i shot the man in the back the first time and i was thinking i was going to jail. just so many things go through your mind. but it was the instinct and the training and i'm just glad they're all here and alive and i'm not a hero, folks, i just done my job. >> well, a lot of people disagree with that, he is a hero. president obama saying today the united states is on track in afghanistan. is that true, though? keeping them honest, we'll talk with peter bergen who just returned from afghanistan and sebastian junger. aww...that oj needs alka-seltzer plus. fast powder packs are a taste-free fizz-free way to transform your drink into a powerful cold fighter! there's a cold front moving in, but relief is on the way.

tonight emotional words from the security guard being called a hero for understandable reasons for stopping a gunman at that florida school board meeting. i want to warn you again, the video is disturbing. clay duke opened fire at school board members in panama city. amazingly he didn't hit anyone. he was shooting at them at point blank range and many are saying it's because mike jones got on the scene when he did. jones is a retired police officer. he wounded duke and then duke later turned the gun on himself. jones is the school district's chief of security. he wasn't even supposed to be there during the meeting but he stopped by to check on a project and in five minutes he was in a gunfight. jones has been in the hospital because his heart rate was speeding after the incident. today he was able to talk publicly and as many heroes do,

mike jones insists he's not a hero and wants to get back to his work as salvage santa buying christmas presents for needy kids. as i said, he's a remarkable man. >> i know the first three rounds i fired hit center, that's what i as aiming for, but he wouldn't go down. and then he started shooting at the board members again so i kept shooting but he was moving a lot and he fell and then his arm came up. i could see him arm, he was still shooting at me. you get tunnel vision. you don't know that they're coming right at you but you know he's shooting in my direction. so i laid down a couple of round and i was crawling past chairs, where i could engage him again. i was just trying to keep him pinned down to where i could get to him and engage him again, where i could get a good view. i couldn't stand back up because bullets were coming my way. and i think they said it lasted 13 seconds but it seemed like it was forever. and i can't -- they said i fired seven rounds, he fired 11 at me.

i don't know. i know it was a bunch. i know that. when i got to the aisle i saw him laying there and i thought he was already dead. first thing came to mind was what's this community going to think of me? i'm known as salvage santa, this nice guy and now i've taken somebody's life. and my parishioners, what they would think, and then honestly, i shot the man in the back the first time and i was thinking i was going to jail and there's just so many things that go through your mind but it was the instinct and training and i'm just glad that they're all here and alive. i'm not a hero folks, i just done my job. >> seems like a hero to me. mike jones in his own words. mike jones didn't actually kill clay duke, the shooter. he wounded him. it was duke who actually killed himself in the end but it's amazing to hear what jones was thinking. let's get caught up on some of another stories we're following, susan hendricks joins us with the bulletin. julian assange was freed on

bail in london nine days after his arrest for questioning about alleged sex crimes in sweden. assange must report to police daily and wear an electronic tag to monitor his location. iraqi authorities have warned u.s. officials that al qaeda may be planning suicide attacks in the u.s. and europe during the christmas holiday season. they say the tip comes from captured insurgents. a u.s. official said the report is being taken seriously, but added there's no intelligence indicating a specific or credible threat. police in new york have found the bodies of four women dumped near a beach in long island while searching for a missing woman but they still haven't found that woman, shannon gilbert. police say gilbert was a prostitute who had arranged to meet a client near where the bodies were found. the search will continue tomorrow. and look at this from lake erie, cold winds, water and the sun all worked together to create this brilliant scene of a lighthouse encased in ice. pretty cool.

>> wow, that's a lighthouse? >> yes, i know. >> i thought that was some sort of rock formation. that's crazy. >> it looks like it, i know. but encased in ice. >> all right, susan. tonight's shot is from the vatican. we found the video on youtube. i can set it up sesame street style with a simple question, which of these things doesn't belong? 83-year-old pope, audience at the vatican, topless acrobats, take a look. >> the topless acrobats as you can see for pope benedict performed during a convention of circuses organized by the vatican. i didn't know circuses were on the vatican's radar, but as you can see, the pope seemed to

enjoy the performance very much. there you go. coming up, more serious stuff ahead, the white house releasing its much anticipated report on the war in afghanistan today and the president said the u.s. is on track to achieve its goals. we'll talk to peter bergen and sebastian junger, author and filmmaker who recently spent a year embedded with troops in afghanistan. do they agree with the president? we'll hear from them. and nfl star michael vick has made headlines for his troubled past but it's what he said he wants in the future that puts him on our ridiculous tonight. that's ahead. ♪

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president obama said today that america's on track in afghanistan, but keeping them honest, is he really? does a strategic -- does a strategic review out today commissioned by the president and is the president kd of trying to have it both ways? mr. obama's tripled the number of troops in afghanistan since taking office and has committed to start bringing some level of troops home next summer.

he's also stepped up drone strikes on al qaeda and pakistan, but can't seem to win enough cooperation on the ground from the pakistani government. he's touting progress but couching words in fighting america public opinion. a new poll shows 60% of americans believe the war is not worth fighting, so today the balancing act continued with the president both cautious and optimistic. >> i want to be clear. this continues to be a very difficult endeavor. but i can report that thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals. >> he went on to say that any gains made are fragile and reversible and the five-page nonclassified version we got, the momentum achieved by the taliban in recent years has been reversed in some key areas. these gains remain fragile and reversible. and only one single sentence, we are also supporting afghanistan's efforts to better

improve national and sub national governance and to build institutions with increased transparency and accountability to reduce corruption. sounds reasonable enough, but just a tad understated. remember those diplomatic cables that came out of the recent wikileak dump. the bottom line in the cable was there was essentially no one in the afghan government that could be trusted. no one. now perhaps the unclassified version is more frank. we certainly hope it is. but keeping them honest, none of this sounds like the very best very mixed progress, which may explain why it always sounds like a mixed message. take a look. >> we're making progress in our mission. >> we're a long way from where we need to be. >> progress comes slowly. >> but we're making progress. >> significant progress. >> some progress. >> real progress.tantrogress. >> we're steadily making progress. >> i would add that -- because of the progress you're making we look forward to a new phase next year. >> the truth is the situation in afghanistan has deteriorated.

>> we will continue to face huge challenges in afghanistan. >> progress does not come fast enough. >> progress comes slow at a high price. >> much more work needs to be done. it's not going to be instant. >> it is a big, messy process. >> but it's important that the american people know we are making progress. >> and i'm absolutely convinced we will succeed. >> the president some saying trying to telegraph the mixed situation there, others say he's trying to have it both ways rhetorically and also on the ground with lives of troops on the ground. i'm joined by peter bergen who just got back from afghanistan tuesday and sebastian junger, co-directed a brilliant documentary about it, which if you haven't seen you really should, also author of "war," which is a great read as well. peter, you just got back. president obama described his exit strategy in afghanistan as on track. while in some shape or form, may be true, he didn't give clues as to what that, starting in 2011, will look like.

>> joe biden has publicly said the drawdown? july 2011 could consist of as few as 2,000 soldiers and sadly all the soldiers i spoke to in afghanistan on the u.s. side, the afghan side, you know, anticipate a pretty large scale continuous presence of the united states until december of 2014. imagine if a republican president had basically just announced that we're going to be there for four more years in large numbers. i think the liberal side of the democratic party would be up in arms. already 72% of democrats are opposed to the war in the poll you just cited earlier, anderson. so i think this is -- you know, it hasn't really sunk in this is a really major commitment. i think personally it's the right thing to do, but clearly i think a lot of americans don't. >> how can a report on the war in afghanistan only have a brief mention about corruption in afghanistan? >> i think because it's a problem that doesn't have a ready answer.

and in my opinion, it's the heart of the issue. >> the heart of the issue? >> yeah, it is. look. it's the u.s. military. it's nato. if you put enough american soldiers somewhere, they're going to win at least for a while. they're going to kill everyone who's fighting them. that's kind of a given. but the problem is that's not a long-term solution. we can't stay there for ever. the afghans don't want us there for ever. so to have a long-term solution, you need the afghans themselves to buy into this fight. to make this fight their own. but why would you -- if you were an afghan civilian, why would you do that if the government you're fighting to protect, that you're risking your life for is corrupt? it's a contradictory message we're delivering. >> peter, you see the corruption. you see these mcmansions going up in kabul which are owned by people associated with the government who earn a small fraction of a salary that there's no way they could pay for this, then that wikileaks

cable that talked about one high afghan official found in i think it was dubai with a suitcase full of, you know, 50 some-odd million dollars. >> yeah, his stated income is several hundred dollars a month and according to this "new york times" correspondent his house in dubai, a very nice neighborhood, there was a rolls royce parked in the drive. so sebastian is right, the corruption thing is something that hit me in my visit. there are things that can be done. the united states military can be more careful about who it contracts to, make smaller contracts instead of these huge contracts that are then subcontracted out. u.s. officials are also considering trying some of these cases in places like the southern district of new york rather than trying them in the afghan system. a lot of the people involved, dual citizens of the united states and afghanistan and other countries in europe, so you could actually have cases not in the afghan court system but in a european or american court that would actually get some traction and deal with this problem and make some examples.

>> peter, also it seems like -- i mean, a key to all of this is the afghan security forces. the army and the police. i just did a piece on "60 minutes" about the afghan police force which is just plagued by corruption. there's a general now, lieutenant calwell, revamping a lot of the force, gotten rid of the private contractors, allegedly training these guys, though not doing much of a good job of it, this guy is clearly a good general and he's working really hard at this. but that is the key component, is trying to get the afghans to do the job. and right now, are they doing it? >> i can't think of a single significant operation that the afghan army has done independently of any american support. and sebastian may probably -- i don't know what his view is on that. but the afghan army, i was at one of their bases, they're churning out 2000 graduates in the kabul area now. they seem to be a much better corps in the afghan army, but it's got a hell of a long way to go. >> on the ground, thoughts about

the afghan army apong the u.s. troops. >> where i was with the platoon there was always a unit of afghan soldiers attached to that platoon. and once in a while there was some good guys that came through there. but their fire discipline was terrible. frankly they're pretty dangerous to be around because they're pretty indiscriminate in their fire. here's the sort of conundrum. here's the question. why is one taliban fighter worth ten ana? what is that? they're the same people, they have the same weapons. >> right. >> sort of pound for pound. >> it's the same question asked about the u.s. forces asked in vietnam, during the vietnam war, like how come their fighters, the north vietnamese fighters are doing so much better than the south vietnamese fighters? >> the taliban believe in what they're fighting for and the ana are not sure what they're fighting for. frankly, if you take a look at the government that we have allowed to sort of fall into

corruption, it's hard to answer that question for them. >> peter, did you see, you know, did you see signs of progress, what gives you hope and what do you think is the biggest problem right now that you saw on the ground? >> you know, afghanistan is one of those places you spend a lot of time there, you can make the argument the glass is half full, the glass is half empty. the glass half full argument, kabul is very, very safe now. taliban is really not able to man attacks there. definitely parts of kandahar and helmand are safer. on the other hand in the north of the country, the taliban which shouldn't have much of a presence is really a significant factor. parts of the eastern central part of the country, so, you know, you can argue both sides of this. the biggest problem as sebastian underlined is corruption of the pakistani safe haven is not going away. i think the pakistanis have reached a ceiling of what they're going to do against the taliban. we don't have a lot more leverage over them. we've got admiral mullen going over there now, chairman of joint chiefs, asking for more

action. but there's certain things they're going to keep on the table. these cards they want to play and they've shown absolutely no impetus to actually stop the actions of these militants. >> yeah. peter bergen, appreciate it, and sebastian junger, both the film and book are -- i've seen the film twice and read the book once. both are great. thanks for being on. yes, we're talking about none other than michael vick, he wants a dog. that's coming up. thank you for calling usa pmy name peggy. peggy, yes, i'd like to redeem my reward points for a gift card. tell points please? 250,000. calculating... ooh! answer: five fifty! 550 bucks?! 5 dollar, 50 cents. minus redeeming charge. leaving 50 cents.

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let's check in with some other news, susan hendricks joins us. a massachusetts court has awarded $152 million in damages to the family of a 54-year-old woman who died of lung cancer. the court ruled a tobacco company gave away free newport cigarettes years ago to african-american children. the company says it plans to appeal. los angeles police need your help in the grim sleeper serial murder case. today they released these 180 photos found in the suspect's home and are asking for your help in identifying the women in the pictures. police are worried some of the women may have been killed by

lonnie david franklin junior. he was arrested in july and charged with ten murders, some dating back to the 1980s. if you bought an electric heater from walmart you may need to bring it back. that's because the retailer along with the consumer product safety commission is recalling more than 2 million of them because they could pose a fire hazard. the heaters were sold under the brands flow pro, air tech, aloha breeze and comfort essentials. and it was raining teddy bears at a hockey game in canada. on sunday fans dropped 23,000 stuffed animals on to the ice after the first goal. it didn't surprise any of the players. this is an annual event for a junior hockey team. the players donated the stuffed animals to more than 50 children's charities. >> that's cool. looks like someone could get hurt. >> got to duck. >> got to duck indeed. thanks very much. time now for the -- is larry ready yet? all right. larry's not ready yet.

time now for the ridiculist. time to add in the name. tonight should be probably called the revicklist. tonight michael vick is getting added to the list. vick is having a great year on the field with the eagles, but rather than being happy with that and letting sleeping dogs lie, michael vick now says, wait for it, he wants a dog. that's right. michael vick, who spent almost two years in prison on dogfighting charges, wants another dog. here's what he told the website called thegrio.com. >> i would love to have another dog in the future. i think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. i think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that i genuinely care. >> now, i know vick has been working with the humane society talking to kids about how dogfighting is wrong. look, i love a good redemption story as much as the next guy. i'm all for britney spears bouncing back and lindsay lohan maybe some day getting insurance so she can get an actual job again, but isn't it kind of soon to let michael vick get his hands on another pooch?

would you trust the guy with your dog? i don't know him personally and have nothing against him, but i'd sooner stay in a motel 6 run by a norman bates. vick only left prison in may of 2009 and is banned from owning a dog until july 2012. so he's not going to be able to get his wish for a while. so here's what we're thinking. maybe vick should just start out small. you know, a gold fish, for instance, and not one of those fighting fish. or maybe better yet, a pepper pepperidge farm goldfish cracker. they're cute and they're tasty. if vick like most 4-year-olds around the world really, really, really wants a puppy, we found something that could be a way for him to kind of ease back into dog ownership. it's a german toy. here's the commercial for the cacledakle. [speaking in a foreign language]

>> yeah. you see that? see that? find it hard to believe that german kids are really dying to pick poop out of the cacledakle, but can we see that again? there we go. i don't know, is that play-doh or something? but as an interim set for michael vick, cacledakle. why not? we checked our list, we checked it twice, and since you've been naughty and nice, we hereby award you a cacledakle, a bag of goldfish crackers, and a spot on the ridiculist tonight. and tonight's perry's principles ahead. the, socket. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty worth of charge a day,

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tonight's "perry's principles," a tough reality. state funding for higher education has dropped over the last decade with the recession fueling even deeper cuts. college tuition rates are rising faster than inflation, but there are ways to reduce college expenses. here's education utility steve perry.

>> reporter: car are a fin. >> you were going to a private college in d.c. you're originally from connecticut. and you made a decision to leave the private college. why was that? >> i view college as a privilege but also an investment. i wanted to get the best education possible but i also wanted to get the most out of my money and i didn't feel as i was getting that at my previous institution. i think a lot of the time people equate quality with costly and that's not necessarily true. i've been far more academically stimulated here at uconn than at my previous institution. >> reporter: she also considered what she wanted to do after college. >> i'm very driven toward mission and purposeful work. i wanted to save now so i could have a greater impact later. >> reporter: lee melvin is uconn vice president of enrollment planning and management. he says there's several ways to cut down on college costs. >> one creative way is students are recognizing the importance of graduating in four years. so what some students are doing is while they're in high school

they're taking dual enrollment classes, where they're enrolled in high school and college. they're taking advance the placement courses where they can take advanced placement tests and take that score and some schools will give college credit for that score. so once they arrive to us, many students will have completed half of their freshman year. another ways that students are being creative is they are looking at costs both in state and out of state schools. and they're also comparing their private schools and now more students are looking at two-year institutions. you may not start at your dream school. you may have to start somewhere else and then move on to your dream school as far as transferring to that institution. and you'll see students that will come in and they'll try to get a housing assignment where they're a resident adviser. that will help them cut down on some of their room and board. they will look at different ways to do summer programs. some students will look for different scholarships available to them. >> reporter: uconn senior robert herman relies on loans and grants to fund his education but worries about how he will pay it all back. if you were to talk to a student

who's 18 years old, coming out of high school, what would you tell them? >> don't just go to college for the sake of going to college. have an idea of what you want to do with yourself. do some research. find out about job prospects. don't just start up because you think it's the right thing to do. >> as college prices go up, it's getting harder and harder for families to afford. what can college student dozen to keep costs down? >> reporter: keep options open. one of the things they have to do is consider two-year colleges. they also have to take a look at maybe staying home when they do go to college. and a lot of times we think that a private college is inherently better than a public college and that's not always the case. there are a lot of fine public colleges out there. this is not the college that you go to, it's what you do with the education that you receive. >> yeah. i went to yale, some of the stupidest kids i ever met were there and some of the smartest as well. it's what you make tuchbt you have.