facial expressions because that's the members of the band from southern mississippi university letting loose with a chant, where's your green card, where's your green card. that's what they're saying. we're going to talk about that. it is friday, march 16th. friday, march 16th, yay, 2012. "starting point" beginning right now. ♪ yes, we're starting with kanye. today is my all kanye all day tribute, the clean version. >> viewer submissions? >> yeah. you know, i didn't have time to get that together. i was busy. it's going to be all kanye for me today. we had to use the clean version obviously because this is a family show. welcome, everybody. our panelist this morning. mark lamont hill is back, professor at columbia university. and livingston is back as well.

conservative commentator and the daughter of governor -- oh, my gosh, the long island just came out here. the daughter of governor huntsman. you are on long high eye laisla. and will cain is here. "starting point" this morning is details about this u.s. army soldier who is accused of killing 16 afghan civilians as afghan president karzai has been meeting with the family members of those victims. senior u.s. official said he just snapped. a k06r7 nation of stress, alcohol, and marital problems. now, that's according to a u.s. military official. the shooter now has a lawyer and he is contesting some of those things. the lawyer, by the way, is this renowned seattle defense attorney, john henry brown. brown says the suspect is a highly decorated soldier. should never return to combat after injured twice on three tours in iraq. suffered a traumatic brain

injury, which we talked about earlier in the week. also apparently he lost a part of his foot as well. and then as we mentioned a friend was gravely wounded a day before the massacre. that could be the first hint at a possible motive. john henry brown announced that he wants his public to know about his client and this is what he said. >> tragedy all of the way around. no question about that. i think it's of interest that we had a soldier who has an exemplary record, decorated soldier who was injured in iraq, to his brain and to his body, and then despite that setback, i think that's an issue. i think that's a concern. i think the message for the public in general is is he's one of our boys, they need to treat him fairly. >> you get a sense from how he's going to be approaching his defense of his client. i believe he also represented ted bundy and i believe he also

represented the barefoot bandit who was that kid who, you know, steal planes and things like that. interesting background. i don't know too much about military trials. it will be interesting to learn a lot as we go through this. a couple of things that stick out to me is trying to create the mindset of the soldier. he said he was injured before. he says marital spobs is what the u.s. military is spaying and problems after being deployed. that's going to be a big strategy for them, multiple deployments. >> how the incident reflects on the war at large. it will note at who sat fault here, the trial aspect. have two different sides essentially. this guy and his lawyer's side will be this is a product of four deployments to iraq and afghanistan, the product of the war and of this injury that he apparently suffered to his head at some point in his deployment. versus the military. you can see this in our quotes, you will talk about his personal issues. supposedly drinking the night it happened, that he had marital problems. it will be set up that he is a deviant.

he is an aberration. these are the stories your hear. aberration, product at large. >> when you send someone on four deployments, iraq four times, and significant brain injury and the trauma of war alone. >> but wouldn't the argument then say if it's something that happens to a lot of people. if everything that you lied is not particularly unusual you don't see mass killings. they're very unusual in and of themselves. >> evidence of this being an aberrati aberration. >> if that is the case, take a stronger look at soldiers that go through injuries before you send them out and carry a machine gun? is that something that with should take a harder look at that? >> the lawyer -- the first thing the lawyer does is to start painting the picture of the soldier as a human being versus the things that we knew. here's what he said about sort of the soldier's background in the military. listen. >> he was told that he was not going to be redeployed. his family was kourcounting on

not being redeployed. he and his family were told that his tours in the middle east were over and that literally overnight that changed. so i think that it will be fair to say that he and the family were not happy that he was going back. i think it's of interest that we have a soldier who has an exemplary record, decorated soldier who was injured in iraq, to his brin aain and to his bodd despite having that setback. >> later he said that he was decorated many times over. he's trying to flesh out that picture. interesting, i have a friend who has served in the military recently and he said one of the things -- he actually -- and many have said this, he's surprised it doesn't happen more. he said when he had traumatic speernss, the death of someone very close to you, he said there's nowhere to go out in the field. you come back. you're treated for ptsd, which

he was. you come back and people analyze how you're doing. but out in the field they send you to the chaplain, the priest, who is in the military and that he saw that was one of the biggest issues is that you just didn't have, in the field, a real psychological help. >> i was going to say the hardest thing about this is that he was under the influence. and how do you work with someone with that issue? you know, how do you really know whoofs going on in his brain at the time because he was under the influence. >> many soldier do that, too. >> he was drinking apparently -- military office shials say that information comes from two of his buddies drinking with him at night. and you say those two did not go out and do anything. >> that's the thing, all of these circumstances we keep talking about, he's knot going to be the only one who suffered an injury, not the only one to have drank in the field, not the only one deployed after the injury but he seems to be the only one who went on a shooting rampage. i think it is important to see, the when we see this lawyer talk, you're beginning to see the defense of a month long

process. we're going to see a month long trial play out. >> i think much longer than a month. i think it's going to be -- where do you hold the trial? he's obviously right now being held in kuwait. they believe that they're going to bring him to leavenworth in kansas. apparently the kuwaiti officials were surprised hfs brought to kuwait, which surprise is never a good thing, i think, in international affairs in some ways. the question becomes, if you have massacred citizen or alleged massacred citizens in afghanistan and the witnesses are afghan villagers and you're holding a trial in kansas, how do those logistics work out? >> uprising will it cost in afghanistan? that's going to be an issue. they've already expressed -- >> they're demanding it happens in afghanistan. they may have a strong case. >> that is never going to happen. >> never going to happen. >> strong case. >> if that trial is held in afghanistan. >> i think that's the weight, isn't it? you're trying to manage between do you have a trial in afghanistan and deal with the security issues around that or do you have a trial in leavenworth, kansas, or

somewhere in the midwest or wherever they end upholding the trial in the united states and have the issues with witnesses and the fallout from that? those are things we're going to be looking at this morning. we're going to talk later this morning with military officials who have experienced with these military trials. that's fascinatinfascinating. bring in military lawyers in addition to civilian lawyer. john browne is a civilian lawyer p. first i head, christine romans has those headlines. >> another developing story out of afghanistan this morning, a nato helicopter crashing in the capital city of kabul. the coalition says 12 troops were killed but they did not say their nationalities. chopper reportedly crashed into a home after experiencing technical problems. there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties. north korean nounsing plans to blast a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket. it's a move that could jeopardize a new agreement with the united states that calls for

a moratorium on all nuclear activities in exchange for food. the north arguing this satellite launch is part of a peaceful separations program. homes torn apart, more than 200 people forced to get out as a rare march tornado touches down in michigan. amateur video of the funnel cloud just outside ann harbor. a tornado ripping through that community. reports of three funnel clouds in the area. the storm damaging or demolishing many homes and downing trees and power lines and sparking fires. the twisters were part of a nasty storm system that stretched down through the south. heavy rains caved in the roof of a commercial building in kentucky. seven people were hurt. reports say the drainage system were clogged. u.s. stock futures are trading just slightly upwards this morning ahead of today's market open. that after a week of solid gains and positive economic news. the s&p 500 stock index is by far, by the way, the broadest

measure of major u.s. listed companies and best reflection of americans retirement investments. it closed thursday above 1400 for the first time in four years. just one more hour until a brand new ipad goes on sale. tech heads lined up all over the world this morning. here in new york city people are camped out at apple's flagship store. the price for this new ipad starts at $499. those are live pictures of the apple store on fifth avenue in manhattan. all this anticipation sending apple shares even higher. for the first time ever apple shares topped $600 at the opening of the stock market yesterday. the company roared past $560 billion in value just a month oi go that it soared past $500 a share. imagine that. $100 in a month. post things about your bosses online? you might pay. american airlines flight attendant learned that the hard way. a 24-year veteran of american airlines was fired and he's

fighting back. he was pretty well-known in some flier circles for his videos poking fun at american's financial trouble. one of his characters, the aluminum lady like margaret thatcher's the iron lady. >> people on the ramp creep me out. >> madam, regional managers, who is the weakest link? >> well, i tell you right now the woman that's running the flight attendant in miami is probably the most ineffective person i have in the whole company. >> fire her? >> no, don't fire her. i like it like that. >> american filed for bankruptcy a few months ago, said it needed to get rid of 13 you ,000 worke. american's spokesperson didn't mention this videos were talked about the firing told nbc miami told private details of american passengers and promoted the competitors on his website. >> i'm always surprised that people are surprised when they

get 2350ifired when they bash t company. they get fired from the company when you bash the company, which is your god-given right, but you're going to get fired. you have a right to do so on video or on youyoutube, yes. >> and they have a right to subordination clauses. >> i'm always surprised by the surprise. all right. christine, thank you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," talk about dining and dashing. we'll tell you how four customers skipped out on their check from 55 floors up. and rick santorum says english before statehood for puerto rico. we'll talk about that because he says it a couple of times a couple of different ways. our get real this morning is march sadness. subjected to taunts during the ncaa basketball game while he was trying to make misfree throws. he was absolutely cool. lamont hill's playout play us out to the break. more from "starting point." back in just a moment. this at&t 4g network is fast.

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♪ welcome back. you're listening to abby's play list, it's train "drive by." you can go tour our cnn.com/startingpoint. >> i love train. always have classics. >> you've got to step it up, will. two good songs in a row. >> it doesn't phase me anymore. this morning we're talk at the controversy brewing in puerto rico. rick santorum campaigning there this week, asked whether he would support statehood for the island. that's a big issue. they're going to take that to a vote in november. quoted in the local paper as saying this, like any other

state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law. and that is that english has to be the principle lange want. there are other states with more than one language such as hawaii but to be a state of the united states, english has to be a principle language. senator santorum said he was misquoted and he was a little bit. here's what he said to the newspaper that was caught on camera that they were rolling. listen. >> have to speak english. that would be a requirement. it's a requirement put on other states, it's a condition for entering the union. we are not doing anybody in this island a favor but not following the law, which is that this is a society that will speak english in addition to speaking spanish. >> okay. so you heard that. they have to speak english. that would be a requirement. that was key. that was caught on camera. then he softened his stance a little bit. on wednesday he said this. listen. >> what i said is language has to be learned as a language and

has to be a country where english is widely spoken and used, yes. >> should it be a requirement for this territory to become a state? >> i think english, english and spanish -- obviously spanish is going to be spoken here on the island but this needs to be a bilingual country. >> the tap dancing is going in full force because now he's saying english and spanish has to be spoken. in that same interview he was kind of pressed about the comments earlier about, you know, is it a requirement. here's what he said. >> for the -- except they don't engli english. >> i think that will be a condition. i think it's important. >> so he says that's a condition. that is a condition of statehood in his mind. he thinks it's important. and then we had, of course, mitt romney weighing in through his people and this is andrea saul. said this, puerto rico currently

recognizes both epg glish and spanish as the official languages of the common wealth. governor romney believes that english is the language of opportunity and supports efforts to expand english proficiency in puerto rico and across america. however, he would not, as a prerequisite for statehood, require that people of puerto rico cease using spanish. >> former secretary under george wr bush and he's supporting governor romney for the presidency. so you've heard kind of all of this back and forth. what do you make of the conversation in general? >> i think, first of all, it shows that we don't know as much about puerto rico as we should, which doesn't surprise me. i was born in cuba and i have to keep reminding people, it's 90 miles south from the southern most tip of florida, et cetera, et cetera. i think puerto rico today is probably one of the most

bilingual areas in the caribbean, countries in the caribbean. so they don't have this problem i don't know why we're talking about this in puerto rico. governor romney, i believe, hit it right on. english is the language of prosperi prosperity, it's the language of opportunity. we want everyone to learn english but we don't want to give people the impression that there's something wrong about speaking a second language. the chinese could read our plans, we can't read theirs. we should be having a major national program to get people to speak a second language. >> so in the spokesperson's comments though, responding to this whole kerfuffle that he brought upon himself, he said he would not as a prerequisite, this is romney, require that the people of puerto rico cease using spanish. senator an santorum had never had any point said they should not speaking spanish. >> that's true, he did not say that. but there is an attitude and impact that you have on children

if all of a sudden you have to speak english, he doesn't speak english, i have to speak better, then spanish becomes something that people don't want to speak. i've seen it. i believe children who started speaking spanish, english, you can't tell people that you would prefer them to speak english because after a while what you will have is a society that begins to lose its spanish. >> i think that's an unfair extrapolation of what senator santorum said. the dozens of people that keep up with everything i say on this program will know that i am not a senator santorum supporter orphan. that being said i'm also someone who is fair. i understand this. when he makes that statement he's you draing upon a philosophical argument which says it has a central cohesion, ties us together. english or any language for that matter is part of that process. if you do your official business in a common language, it brings us together. i think that is the instinct

behind what he is saying. not a culture phobia. >> the way it sounds to me is that either he doesn't know puerto rico. >> especially when there are conversations about, in order to be part of america, it's like puerto ricans are americans. we haven't even started quoting it. >> no statehood. it's unfair. like my sinking fairness in this conversation. >> i think that governor romney is using this to his advantage. romney is dancing around the issue and sounding a lot better about it. >> that's right. >> one at a time. >> explain the difference between romney's position because to me they're exactly the same. >> difference and there's attitude and there's law. governor romney saying, of course, learn english. you should learn english. it's important. we will encourage you to learn english. santorum said you have to learn english before becoming a state.

one person. when you say let's make english the official language of government, which some people ha have. >> 31 states. >> what happens is if you go and fill out a form, a driver's license form or you go to a passport agency, whatever it is that you want to do with the government, you get one language i think today is a good gesture that we have, for example, the census, i think, is in 13 languages because we have some korean citizens, because we have -- because we are a multi-cultural society of hopefully multi-language society. >> romney doesn't support the idea of english as the official language? >> he has not come out in favor of that. there was one debate where he says, i raise your hand. >> he said that before. >> it was a debate where everybody raised their nd and

said, you agree that english should be different. >> he said, yes. he understood the question and said yes. >> he raised his hand along with all the others. english is the language of the yoits. how can we argue that it isn't? why are we discussing these issues in puerto rico that really aren't issues? puerto ricans speak english and they speak spanish and we should not begin to introduce requirements. >> i think it's a way for romney to get the upper hand to move to the next primaries. came in third in the last two primaries. this is a situation where they said i don't have the upper hand. i'm going to say it in a way that i sound a lot better. >> final word. >> i think the comment was a little bit on the snob by side. >> we'll talk more about it because we're going to be

talking to the governor of puerto rico coming up next hour. that is governor luis fortuno. still ahead on "starting point" this morning we're going to talk about this teenager shot and killed by the neighborhood watch cap pan in florida. we're going to have an exclusive interview with the parents of trayvon martin straight ahead. get real this morning, hispanic player subjected to taunts during the tournament. they're saying, where's your green card, where's your green card. we'll tell you. we're talking about that straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. tired eye relief

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>> wonderful. >> yes, yes, and the next segment, too. that's off of will cain's play list. we do give you a hard time about your playlist. >> it's said with love. that was the gypsy kings, of course, "hotel california." march madness is under way. and last night it was southern miss service kansas in the ncaa tournament. we want to show you a little bit of what was caught on camera. angel rodriguez, a freshman about to throw his free throw. listen. >> mills is trying to come over and drop the charge. he's a freshman but he's about as cool as they come right now. no expression whatsoever. >> do you hear that? where's your green card? where's your green card.

that's what they're chant beg hind him. you see he kind of messed up that free throw but apparently he was key in the game, scoring 13 points and cakansas won. after that, the southern miss president apologized to the young man and the school and promised there would be disciplinary action for the students in the band, band members from southern miss chanting that at him. by the way, angel rodriguez is from puerto rico. right? because he doesn't need a green card. he is american. >> agi got to tell you i don't like this position of this story following the one that we did. >> unintentional, by the way. >> because, again, the last segment we did the conversation over language was not one about xenophobia and some people take to racism and this story we're doing right now is much more legitimately about that. >> and you could argue this story is also in part people not

understanding what it means to be from pouerto rico. green card -- also being or riffically horrible to a young man trying to shoot a free throw. but at the end of the day you don't need a green card. what's going on earlier in the debate is not understanding the dynamics of puerto rico. your dad is on the campaign trail. how disit work? do people hand you research? >> all the time. you see a difference in the candidates that do their research before they do their interviews like santorum did in puerto rico. attend of the day he wants 20 votes, whatever it is. if you're going to be the president of the united states you need to understand the people. you need to understand the issues. and i think this really brings to fruition how unfortunate this is. they don't know the biggester shus out there. >> how exhausted was your dad? >> never, we never -- very exhausting. >> some of that just at some point you're physically exhausted.

>> that's why it's so important to have someone who has just a basic understanding of some of these issues. >> the basic understanding. >> not just nuances of that but general disposition that people have toward race and ethnicity and things like that. when i hear santorum talk and romney talk i hear a disposition of antiimmigrant. english of the language of imperialism. >> shouting where is your green card as part of that. >> no. >> we could argue this point in the commercial break or in another segment when we revisit this issue at 8:00. i'm glad abby is between you two. ahead on "starting point" we're going to talk about racial tension in central florida. i know. we're talking about this really sad story about this young man. his name is trayvon martin, shot and killed. the gunman is remaining free. we're going to talk to his mother and father and family attorney. meghan mccain interview in

"playboy," fully clothed, and what she thinks the country would look like the, in fact, her dad had won. going to leave you the more kanye. back in a moment. you know when i grow up,

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keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! ♪ >> all right. >> that's hot. >> that's talib kweli. >> i am kind of worn out this morning already from the tenseness. i love it. love it. love it. let's get right to christine romans. >> good morning, soledad. controversial immigration bill on the verge of mapassing in

mississippi. require police to check the immigration status of people arrested. ban illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses. the bill was approved by the state house is now headed to the senate where it is expected to pass. the ex-miss stress of former presidential candidate john edwards is expected to testify in his federal trial next month. rielle hunter is expected to appear as a prosecution witness. prosecutors say rielle hunter received campaign monday friday in edwards. edwards denies it saying the money is a gift. if convicted he could face 30 years if prison. federal prosecutors granted hunter immunity for anything she says on the witness stand. president obama hitting the road to raise campaign cash. he's headed to chicago today for a couple of midday fund-raisers and then off to atlanta for three more. one of them at tyler perry's home, another at perry's studio where celo green will perform.

vice president joe biden hitting the campaign trail on behalf of his boss, telling ohio workers in hi if they elect a republican, middle class america will pay. >> our philosophy, ours is one that values the workers in the success of a business. it values the middle class in the success of our economy. simply stated, we're about promoting the private sector. they're about protecting the privileged sector. >> getting back against the gop claims that this administration is against business. the speech was the first of four events the obama campaign has planned for biden in the coming weeks. let's get a quick check of the weather now. meteorologist rob marciano joins us. >> in michigan, a tornado touching down in ann harbor. it did damage to a neighborhood. luckily no serious injuries or fatalities but certainly putting a scare on the folks there as

this happened during the dusk hours yesterday evening. one of three has mentioned tornadoes. over 200 hail reports yesterday. all of this stemmed by or spawned by all the record-breaking heat we've had. this is a fairly weak front but slamming into toasty temperatures. a slew of record high temperatures yesterday. hundreds of record high. this is just a few of them. 88 in columbia, south carolina. 87 degrees as far north adds norfolk, virginia. today, 76 in chicago. that's a good 30 degrees above average. again, this trend will continue it looks like right through the week. daytime highs for your st. patrick's day, 62 new york. 76 in d.c. 81 in atlanta. 78 degrees in chicago. that will likely be the warmest st. patrick's day on record. the next 90 days don't look much cooler. cpc prediction center is saying above average temperatures for a good chunk of the country right through the rest of spring. christine? >> enjoy chicago. green river and you can wear

shorts. thanks. today's "a.m. house call" researchers say eating a lot of white rice could put you at risk for type ii diabetes. americans who eat high amounts of white rice are 12% more likely to develop that disease than others. the risk is higher in asian countries where a white rice is a major part of the diet. people in china and japan who eat the most rice are 55% more likely to develop type ii diabetes. a group of daredevils take the dine and dash to the most extreme level. four men skip out on their tab by jumping off the restaurant balcony 55 floors up in the skyscraper of melbourne. the men walked in the restaurant wearing parachutes under their business suits. changed in the bathroom and then leaped off the balcony and shuttled away in their getaway car. whoa. >> what was the point of that. i'm going to guess it was bravo. >> if you're going to parachute off the top of the building take

something more than a free meal. >> because we would talk about it. >> the whole point of the free meal was to stiff them because you got to get into the story. as if jumping off the balcony of a restaurant wasn't enough, also had to support a wait staff person. >> all or nothing. >> wow, that's crazy. 56 -- that's -- that could end badly if you don't do it right. still ahead on "starting point" this morning, racial tension in central florida. a teenager, trayvon martin, was shot and killed. the gunman remains free. and then some insight into the shooting rampage that killed 16 afghan civilians. we'll tell you why officials say the united states soldier who is allegedly responsible just snapped. you're watching "starting point." short break and we're back in just a moment. confidence. available in color. depend® for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend®. good morning. great day.

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heartbroken family is speaking out for the very first time, outraged at the man who killed their son is still walking free. the boy was 17-year-old trayvon martin and shot dead on february 26th. walking foam from 7-eleven near orlando through a gated community where his father's fiance lived. george zimmerman, picture there,

admits he shot trayvon martin but he claims it was in self-defense. family says it was racial profiling. unarmed black boy shot by a larger armed white man. joining me this morning for an exclusive interview the tracye martin, trayvon's dad, and mom, and family's attorney. i thank you for joining us. mr. crump, i'll start with you because when we spoke last you were outraged that there had been no charges filed against george zimmerman. the 911 tapes had not been released yet. what's changed since we last spoke? >> nothing, nothing at all. the police department has passed the buck to the state attorney's office. and now they are doing an investigation. so more night goes by where these parents go to bed know that their son is in a grave and the man who killed their son is free sleeping in his own bed. >> tracye, i want to ask you a little bit about trayvon, do you feel there's been enough focus

on him and his story? tell me a little bit about him. >> i think that they're trying to focus -- they're trying to turn the focus away from mr. zimmerman. certainly trayvon's story is getting out. the whole world sees that this is a tragedy. it's sad. it's sad as a father to have to bury your child. as a parent, you never want to imagine about burying your kids. and for me to have to bury my son is just -- it's sad. >> i got to tell you, i can't even imagine. it's just absolutely heartbreaking to hear you say that. sabrina, if i could ask you, tell me about trayvon as a kid, 17 years old, what were his hobbies, tell me about what he liked. >> he was into sports. he loved playing football. he loved watching football.

he loved basketball. he loves to eat everything in your house. >> 17-year-old boy, yes. >> yes. he loved music. he loves kids. he love to baby sit and wash cars and just a normal kid. >> we're hearing in the absence of 911 calls sort of fill-in conversations from some of the neighbors. i'm going to play a little bit of what one neighbor had to say. listen. >> we were both standing in here. as we heard the kid crying, we kind of looked at each other and that's when we heard the gunshot immediately. once the gun went off, the crying stopped. >> it's the neighbors, benjamin, that have had to sort of fill in the gaps because the 911 tapes had not been released. what are you hearing? what details are you getting from the neighbors? >> it's real clear that the police chief said the reason they could not arrest this

homeowner's association because they said they had no evidence to contradict his claim of self-defense. well, that isn't true. these women called the police. they said several times. and the police either disregarded them or tried to attack their statements. and that is the pattern we're seeing, soledad, that anything to effect an arrest on george zimmerman, the sanford police department continues to deny or try the frustration of these parents saying we're not going to arrest him. >> why do you think that is, mr. martin, or mrs. martin? why do you think they seem so reluctant to move forward on the guy representing the homeowner's association? >> i have no idea. it's surprising. it's shocking. it just leaves -- it lets me

know that justice is just not being served here. all we want is justice for our son. we're not asking for anything out of the ordinary. we're asking that justice for trayvon is brought upon the american people. >> we're going to take a short -- go ahead, mr. crump. excuse me. >> i was just going to simply say, they are trying to espouse this claim of self-defense. trayvon martin had a bag of skittles. he was walking home. these witnesses say the kid was the one cry for help. that seemed like he was trying to get home. it was zimmerman pursuing him. now, why the police want to arrest zimmerman, it is baffling. if trayvon would have been the person who pulled the trigger he would have been arrested day one, hour one, he wouldn't have even been given bail. >> we're going to continue this conversation, if we can, right after this short break. we're going to bring in jeff toobin to talk about the law that a lot of this rests on in

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and we're back with tracy martin and sabrina fullton and their plaur benjamin crumb. bill lee said our investigation is color blind and based on facts and circumstances, not color. i know i can say that until i'm blue in the face but as a white man in a uniform i know it doesn't mean anything to anybody. is this ultimately, in your minds, about the race of your son who is a 17-year-old black kid? >> to me, if trayvon had did the shooting, he would have been arrested. he would have been arrested on the spot. >> sabrina -- yeah, go ahead. >> so there is a history, we

think, with the police department that they had other instances like this and it really goes to your series, "black in america." it's a different reality at times, and these past -- you know, they are just outranled. you think, if my son doesn't have a weapon and somebody kill him in cold blood, you at least arrest him. he can make that self-defense argument, but that's in court with the judge and the jury after he's been arrested. but for him to not ever be arrested and he gets to go home the same night that he killed my son and sleep in his bed, it's just -- there's something going on here that doesn't pass the common sense test. >> benjamin crump is the family attorney and benjamin martin and sabrina fulton are the parents. thank you for speaking with us

this morning. jeff too bins toobin, do you think it is unusual that in fact george zimmerman has not been arrested? >> not necessarily, because here you have a guy who's not going anywhere. the police have been told that he is not going to disappear. it's important to do a thorough investigation, but it's important to do an investigation. this is an appalling, appalling case and it's important to remember that this guy, zimmerman, he was not a cop. he was just a private citizen so he had no training in how to use a gun. he had no training in how to be a law enforcement officer. so i think, you know, his behavior is suspicious, to say the least. >> well, part of the case is going to have to hinge on what police told zimmerman, which was when he called in to 911, and there's a lot that's been said about these tapes which haven't been released yet, that they said stay put. he did not stay put. he completely, you know, dismissed the instructions. what kind of role could that play in the case, do you think? >> i mean, i think it is

relevant but it is not the determining factor. the real issue here is is self-defense the -- you know, was there self-defense here? you know, the police have pointed out that zimmerman apparently did have some wounds. had he a bloody nose, blood on the back of his head so there is at least some evidence that there was some sort of struggle but you can't kill people. >> i was going to say, self-defense of being beaten up, being punched in the nose? >> that's the facts, we don't know the facts. florida has an unusually protective self-defense law, the so-called stand your ground law which does give a defense to people who respond to provocation. >> so will that mean george zimmerman gets off? >> it may mean he gets off. this is a really awful case and you cannot kill people just because you feel threatened, but the facts are merky at this

point and i don't blame the police for not investigating right away. >> we have to take a commercial break. we're going to ask you to stick around the commercial break so we can keep talking on this. on "starting point", elwe'll have new information about the u.s. soldier who's charged with slaughtering 16 people. >> megan mccain is in plain boy. and the new ipad 3 makes its debut. of course the lines already long outside the apple store. that's a live picture. and it's raining today so that's going to be just a hot mess. we'll tell you about that. we're listening to abbey's play list. we'll be back in a moment. ♪ like active head restraints, brake assist, and an enhanced accident-response system standard in every chrysler 200. no one would know if we didn't.

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we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions. aflac! ha! isn't major medical enough? huh! no! who's gonna help cover the holes in their plans? aflac! quack! like medical bills they don't pay for? aflac! or help pay the mortgage? quack! or child care? quack! aflaaac! and everyday expenses? huh?! blurlbrlblrlbr!!! [ thlurp! ] aflac! [ male announcer ] help your family stay afloat at aflac.com. plegh! at aflac.com. for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor,

she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. good morning, everybody. our "starting point" this morning is the first hint of a

possible motive for the murder of 16 afghan civilians. they say he snapped and now he's hired a high powered criminal defense attorney. also, mitt romney, rick santorum targeting voters in puerto rico with santorum defending his stance that english should be a requirement before statehood. the governor of puerto rico will respond. an exclusive look at the whitney houston items that are up for auction. it's friday, march 16th, and "starting point" begins right "starting point" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ you've got to love this song. gold digger. kanye. all kanye morning for my suggestions. let me introduce you to our panel. we've got mark lamont hill. professor at columbia univers y university. abbey livingston is a conservative commentator. the daughter of jon huntsman. will cain is with us. he is a he a contributor for the blaze.com. welcome, our "starting point"

this morning, learning much more about that soldier who's accused of killing 16 afghan civilians and what might have triggered that murder spree. the massacre happened after he watched a friend become gravely injured. apparently he was standing right next to that friend. u.s. officials say that may be when he snapped citing a combination of stress, alcohol, and marital trouble. no formal charges have yet been filed, but the soldier's family has hired a renound criminal defense attorney, john henry brown. there he is in those pictures there. the suspect was severely injured twice over three tours of duly duty in iraq. apparently didn't want to be deployed for eye fourth term in afghanistan. his attorney, brown, was on the "today show" just a few minutes ago and shot down some of the reports of what set the suspect up. listen. >> can you confirm that he was, in fact, drinking? >> no. that whole report makes me suspicious because it also talks about the marital discord, which i know is absolutely not true. now maybe there was alcohol and,

i mean, you know, it's absurd to suggest that somebody's under stress in afghanistan. i mean, who wouldn't be? so, you know, i just -- there's some information coming out that i'm not exactly trusting at this point. >> in afghanistan fallout from the massacre is threatening to further unravel u.s./afghan relations. president karzai wants american troops out of the afghan villages and back on their bases. he's set to meet with families of the 16 massacred victims today. got sara sidner joining us by phone. sara, update me on this meeting that's expected between the afghan president and some of the victims' families. okay. obviously we are having technical difficulties as that is not sara sidner. let's tell you what's coming up, would we're going to talk to a jag officer. he'll update us on how this trial could eventually lay out over the next months and maybe even more than months. got other headlines making news

though. christine has those. good morning. let's go to michigan. homes were torn apart. over 200 people were forced to come out. a rare march tornado touched down there. >> oh, my god. oh, my god e oh, my god. >> amateur video of the funnel cloud just outside ann arbor. a tornado ripping through that community. there were reports of three funnel clouds in the area. the storm damaging or demolishing many homes. also downing trees, power lines. the north koreans announcing plans to blast a satellite into space. they're claiming it's part of a peaceful space program initiative and not a nuclear test but it's a move that could jeopardize an agreement with the united states that calls for a moratorium on all nuclear activities in exchange for food. george clooney joining up with a group of high profile activists to protest in front of the sued danese embassy this morning. he wants to bring awareness to

alleged war crimes in south sudan. he spoke to president obama and congress earlier this week about the ongoing concerns about the humanitarian crisis. got an ipad 2. that's so yesterday. the brand new ipad went on sale minutes ago. doors at the apple store opened at 8:00 a.m. this morning. here in new york city people camped outside the flag ship store. maggie joins us? >> reporter: hi there, christine. it is a rainy, miserable day here in new york, but that's not dam penning the spirits of the crowd behind us. a big cheer is going out. apple just opened the doors. the hundreds of people who snake around this city block who have been waiting, some of them overnight, some of them since the wee hours this morning are getting inside to get the apple ipad 3. the reviews like the new ipad, better screen, better camera, faster processor. most tech people say no major innovations here. that hasn't stopped or dissuaded these people from coming inside. the pricing on the new ipad $499

for the lowest wi fi. the old ipad if you don't have one of those is cut by $100. you'll get that a little cheaper. in addition to the die hard apple fans who are lining up here and the media circus that follows them, there are some protesters concerned about working conditions at apple suppliers overseas. but they are far outnumbered by the apple enthusiasts who can't wait to get their hands on the latest ipad. yesterday, soledad, apple shares touched $600 a share. a month ago, soledad, they were $500 a share. we keep talking about it. would of, could of, should of. a hundred bucks in a month? >> i still have the 1, sadly. it's fine for me. i'm not a heavy user. >> are you going to go wait in line for somebody? >> no. >> $2500 for swapping out your space in line? that sounds awesome. >> no. there is a controversy brewing in puerto rico ahead of the territory's presidential

primary. on sunday rick santorum campaigning there this week asked whether he would support statehood for the island. he was quoted in the local paper as saying this, like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law, and that is that english has to be the principle language. there are other states with more than one language, such as hawaii, but to be a state of the united states, english has to be the principle language. well, senator santorum said that was a misquote. he said he didn't say that and he's sort of right. he didn't say exactly that. what he said to the newspaper was also caught on camera. here's what he said. >> you have to speak english. that would be a requirement. that's a requirement we put on other states. it's a condition for entering the union. we are not doing anybody on this island a favor by not following the law, which is that this is a society that will speak english in addition to speaking spanish. >> okay. so he did say they'd have to speak english. that would be a requirement. that's a requirement we put on other states for condition of joining the union. then santorum softened his

stance a little bit. listen. >> what i said was english has to be learned as a language and english has -- english is widely spoken and used. >> should it be a requirement for this territory to become a state? >> i think english -- english and spanish -- obviously spanish is going to be spoken here on the island. this needs to be a bilingual country. >> so by thursday then it kind of had moved to it's got to be a bilingual country. that was in the same though press conference santorum kind of went back to what he had said originally. here's what he said. >> overwhelmed by puerto rican people to their statehood except they don't want english. >> i think that would be a condition, but i -- i think it's important -- >> okay. so if they don't want the english language, he's saying english will be a condition. mitt romney's campaign smelling blood in the water sent out their own response with this quote.

puerto rico currently recognizes both english and spanish as the official languages of the commonwealth. governor romney believes that english is the language of opportunity and supports efforts to expand english proficiency in puerto rico and across america. however, he would not as a prerequisite for statehood make people cease using spanish. senator santorum never said that at all. it brings us to puerto rico's republican governor. his name is luis fraterno. nice to see you, sir. what do you make of this whole debate back and forth where candidates are saying things and backing off and doubling down on the original statements? >> well, soledad, there's a lot of excitement down here about the primary that will be occurring on sunday, and i believe this will bring out even more voters. having said that, however, i would like to clarify the whole thing. we are proud to be americans. we actually speak both languages. actually, both english and spanish have been our official

languages for over 100 years. having said that, however, as a father of triplets i can tell you one thing, english is the language of opportunity. spanish is the language of our heritage and we want to preserve both. >> okay. so rick santorum also said this when he was talking to jim accost a who's a cnn correspondent. he said obviously spanish needs to be spoken on the island but it needs to be a bilingual country, not just a spanish speaking country. right now it's overwhelmingly a spanish speaking country but in order to integrate into society english needs to be a language spoken here. i thought puerto ricans were integrated into american society. am i wrong about that? >> of course. we're not a separate country. you're right and actually we're not a separate country. actually, governor romney has shown respect for exactly our heritage and our history, understands it better. that's why i'm supporting governor romney, because he has

shown respect towards our community. >> so ultimately do you think all of this is about a lack of understanding of the role of puerto rico? >> well, and perhaps that may be it. we have, actually, contributed men and women to every single war that our nation has fought since 1917, in greater numbers than most states. actually in the recent war on terror puerto rico has contributed more men and women in uchb form than every state but one and we're proud of that. and i can tell you that we're proud to be part of this mosaic that p actually composes the greatest nation in the world. and, again, there's a lot of excitement about sunday's primaries and i believe turnout will be perhaps greater than people thought at the beginning. >> maybe it will be now because of all of this conversation. i'm curious to know, mitt romney, he supports english only, correct? so some people have said, listen, there's not a tremendous difference at the end of the day between what these two

candidates believe. >> well, let me tell you. mitt romney has been clear down here about his commitment, number one, to protect our border. and most people across the country believe that protecting our border is just talking about the southwestern border. that's wrong. that's like locking your front door and leaving open the back door. our caribbean border is the u.s. and the virgin islands. the drug smugglers are coming through here to actually distribute drugs in the eastern sea board all the way from miami to boston. that has to be stopped and mitt romney has committed to provide the necessary assets to stop that. he has also committed to create jobs and to include puerto rico as a territory, but include us as a nation in any pro-growth initiative to create jobs. jobs in puerto rico are american jobs as well. certainly he has committed to respect -- >> go ahead. sir. >> you were saying? >> forgive me for interrupting. >> and, thirdly, he has

committed actually to respect the will of the people and the voters on november 6th on our political status. so, again, if we want to win the hearts and minds of hispanic voters across america, you have to understand what hispanic voters care about. we care about public safety, we care about location, we care about lowering taxes, on creating the proper conditions to create jobs. mitt romney has done that down here in puerto rico. >> we'll see how this goes when the primary happens. governor lewis fortuno, thanks for joining us. we appreciate your time. >> my pleasure, good day. >> still ahead on "starting point" this morning, talking about meghan mccain striking a pose in play boy magazine. talking about sex and politics. keeping her clothes on though. also, if you have one of whitney's fabulous dresses, if the price is right, we have a sneak peak at some of her exclusive items that are going on the auction block. you're watching "starting point." we've got a short break and we're back on the other side

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. we've been talking this morning about some of the new details of this case of the u.s. soldier who's now accused of going on a shooting spree in afghanistan and killing 16 civilians. he now has a high powered lawyer, seattle attorneyon henry brown who once represented the serial killer ted bundy and the barefoot bandit is his lawyer. some reports say the soldier just snapped. some say it was stress, alcohol, personal issues at home. his lawyer just moments ago shot down some of those reports. this is from the "today show." listen. >> can you confirm that he was, in fact, drinking? >> no, and that whole report makes me suspicious because it also tauklks about the marital discord, which i know is absolutely not true. maybe there was alcohol. you know, it's absurd to suggest

that somebody's under stress in afghanistan. i mean, who wouldn't be? so, you know, i just -- there's some information coming out that i'm not exactly trusting at this point. >> thomas kenneth joins us. he's a former judge advocate general officer, meaning he was dealing with the military courts. it's nice to see you. >> nice to be here. >> i'm interested in what you thought of what we heard from the new attorney, mr. brown, on the "today show" this morning where he started trying to clearly undermine the early reports that have been coming out against his client? >> i think it's a risky strategy in a number of ways. if i'm the accused i don't know if i'm running out hiring the attorney that's represented an infamous serial killer. secondly, going on television this early in the case where he may not have even met with his client face to face yet. i would be surprised if he has given the logistics involved. >> he has said he has not. they haven't even had very many phone calls because clearly there's an issue with the -- >> i think with all due respect to defense counsel, i think that's an ill-advised decision

because you don't want to say anything at this point where you're going to overcommit to one particular defense or not. maybe alcohol is going to play a big part in this case as part of establishing a defense, as part of establishing a contributing factor to ptsd or the command environment in theater that condoned these sort of excesses that may have contributed to this tragic offense, but i think coming out this early and revealing or, you know, giving ideas as to what the defense strategy would be is not a good idea. >> i was surprised in the hiring of this attorney not because of his past hiring of clients but he's not a military attorney. he's only represented three or four military cases. does that surprise you? >> it does to a certain extent. everyone of you being in the military, if you're charged to a criminal offense, you're allowed to have a tds. they're part of the jag lawyer. doesn't matter how much money you make, doesn't matter how

much assets you have in the bank, you're entitled to that sort of defense. now a lot of a us coulded in the military will go out and hire civilian counsel. typically they're former judge advocate generals who have left the military, went into private practice and have more of a necks is to military law. i don't know this particular attorney. i don't know what his background is as far as military law but it also seems very quick. these events just happening a few days ago for him to have hired civilian counsel. >> let's talk about the venue. it looks like they're going to try to move the suspect to leaf vin worth. it seems like the kuwaity officials were surprised that they had the suspect in their country. what happens after he comes into the united states? >> sure. not surprised that they're bringing it back to the united states. the reality is if this is going to be a premed dated murder trial where he would be facing the death penalty, it won't be wrapped up in a year. >> do you think he'll face the

death penalty. >> i do. most death penalty trials, even civil side, military side, they take years. the reality is that it's a revolving door in iraq and afghanistan. this err' there 12 month deployments, that includes the prosecutors, jag core, military defense attorneys, the judges, the command, so forth. so in order to avoid that revolving door prosecution and defense, a big case like this, they'll bring it back state side. >> did they fly the victim's family -- there must be eye witnesses in afghanistan who were villagers, do they fly them in, take depositions? >> that's going to be a huge issue in this case. there are provisions where you can take trial testimony or depositions and so forth via video conference and so forth, but if i'm the accused attorney, i'm saying, hey, i don't want that. i want to be live in person. i want to have the opportunity to cross examine this person live in the courtroom. so it's going to be a major issue, getting those witnesses here. does the united states have

subpoena power to get them from afghanistan to the united states? presumably they'd want to cooperate, but you never know. >> you said the military you suspect will be pursuing the death penalty. am i wrong in order to pursue the death penalty there has to be one aggravating factor? is this going to be easy to prove this caused a risk to national security ji? >> it's a bifurcated trial. before you can get the death penalty, you have to get a unanimous verdict. one of the big distinctions between our criminal justice system and the regular system, you see these cases it was one holdout juror. in the military you can still get a conviction. however, in order for there to be the death penalty there needs to be a unanimous verdict. you can get a partial verdict. he could serve life in prison. if you want to pursue the death penalty the jury has to unanimously agree on his guilt

and then there's a penalty phase, separate trial, where they consider both factors, mitigation, aggravating factors. that's where you'll get into alcohol, ptsd, possibly whether there's a threat to national security. the aggravating factor doesn't have to be per se threat to rnl national security. >> it will be fascinating as we get more information about the suspect, about what happened that night to learn all of that. >> very, very sad case. >> thomas kenneth. i feel like i graduated from law school. still ahead this morning on "starting point", revealing look at meghan mccain in "playboy." she's fully clothed. she says a lot. then when ktoy yoet tees attack. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one.

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♪ i'm kidding. that's a tribe called quest, apple plumb. you can check out our entire play list on our website. meghan mccain is in "playboy "magazine. she keeps her clothes on dishing about politics as she calls the 2012 campaign lame. says, where's the electricity? you think someone would rise up and tap the frustration of the occupy movement or the tea party but it hasn't happened. on the ee keel republican candidates, she says they need someone to excite the younger people. i think if chris christie is the vice presidential nominee we can change the weather and have a very good chance of beating obama. i love that he's no b.s.

on how america would be different if her father had won the election, she says, i believe this one, you would have the craziest first daughter ever who would be making ridiculous headlines and hurting the administration every step of the way. one could imagine. >> certainly not for loss of words. >> exactly. she would be very, very quotable. do you get offers like that? do people say, here's what we want from you? "playboy" magazine. >> my sisters and i are on the cover of -- no. we won't be doing "playboy." you can show you're still beautiful by being clothed. you have to make a decision as a child of a candidate of how you want to portray yourself and how you want to portray your dad, mom, whoever is running for office. i think meghan is a very independent woman and i admire her for that. my sisters and i decided to stick to the issues mainly. you can spend all day talking about emotional things, ups and downs of the relationships within the campaign or whatnot,

but we've decided to rise above all of that and not get too involved with that. >> i appreciate meghan. she has the courage to push back against the party. she's not a mainstream conservative. neither is her father. she's really good about pushing back against the party, representing the new wing of the gop. i like her courage. >> she represents our generation. i think she's right, there is no excitement. there's not excitement within the base, how can there be excitement for our generation. she makes a lot of good points about that. >> why didn't she say her father didn't bring any excitement. sarah palin brought the fire, not john mccain. it was a snooze fest. wasn't there a snooze fest on your side of the aisle? >> my said of the aisle? >> yes. not to make this a partisan people. weren't you people unexcited? >> you people? >> yes. >> there has been a lack of excitement for several years at least at the top of the presidential ticket. there are several exciting republican figures a little lower down the rungs who we might see rise. i'm excited to hear from these

guys. as a forum to get out your message, do you think "playboy" is wise? >> you're going to get me in trouble. i wouldn't do it. every child, you know, has the ability to make their own decisions and represent their family and their dad or their mom the way they want to. i respect meghan for doing this. she looked beautiful. me personally i wouldn't do it. >> everybody reads the articles anyway. what are you talking about? >> "playboy". >> get your message out. >> in fact, i think he was the best conservative option. >> i appreciate that. john mccain's career is over. she wouldn't have done it -- >> talk to me 20 years from now. >> still ahead this morning on "starting point," from the bad five, jay lynn rose, he went from nba star to creating a school. we'll talk to him about creating a school. whitney houston's wardrobe is about to go on the auction block. got a look at some of the dresses and jewelry that she wore. you're watching "starting point." we have a short break.

we're back in a moment. ♪ next time that's the end of me ♪ ♪ my name is not susan so watch what you say ♪

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♪ we were silenced by the night ♪ ♪ but you and i, we want to rise again ♪ welcome backs, everybody. you're listening to abbey's play list. you are looking at some of the most amazing wardrobe from whitney houston. it goes on the auction block. we'll talk about that as soon as christine gives us our headlines. good morning, christine. >> good morning, soledad. a controversial immigration bill to tell you about. it's on the verge of passing in mississippi. this would require police to check the immigration status of people arrested. it would ban them from obtaining

their licenses. the bill was approved by the statehouse and it's headed to the senate where it is expected to pass. a rare march tornado caught on video forcing 200 people from their homes. >> oh, my god, oh, my god. >> amateur video of the funnel cloud just outside of ann arbor. tornado ripping through that community. there were reports of three funnel clouds in the area. the storm damaging or demolishing many homes. also downing trees and power lines sparking some fires. twisters were part of a nasty storm system that stretched down through the south. heavy rains caved in the roof of a commercial building in kentucky. seven people were hurt in that. reports say that the drainage system was clogged. torrential rains pooled up on the roof causing that partial collapse. let's check in with rob marciano. >> good morning. that rainstorm one of several that rolled through the area. ohio to points south and east of

columbus seeing seven inches of rain. they had flash flooding. reports for tornadoes. there were three across michigan. all part of a weak cool front that pushed across the east but moving into very, very hot and humid air. we've seen a slew of records since 2012 began, january 1. over 6,000 record high temperatures have been set. a couple of hundred in yesterday alone. here's a handful of them. 85 in huntsville, 82 in atlanta. 81 in chicago. 88 degrees in columbia, north carolina, as far north as norfolk seeing 87. d.c. 84. cherry blossoms are way ahead of schedule. they probably won't last through the festival. st. patrick's day tomorrow in chicago will likely be the warmest one they've had on record. temperatures 30 degrees above average in some cases. the climate prediction center is saying get used to it at least in the eastern 2/3 parts of the country. go to the pacific northwest if you want to stay cool. christine, back up to you. >> bring it on, rob.

bring it on. minding your business, u.s. stock futures trading just slightly upwards today ahead of today's market open. that after a week of solid gains and positive economic news. the s&p 500 index, which is by far the broadest measure of major u.s. companies, and the best reflection of your retirement investments, it closed thursday above 1400 for the first time in four years. snow birds and locals in pea or yeah arizona are a little frequented out this morning over some pretty brazen coyotes. three people have been a being at thatted including lesli hawkins who was sitting in a chair sunning hill self when he felt something on his leg. he says at first he thought it was his wife. >> the likelihood is one person a year might get bitten. i'm one out of 300 million. i'm going to have my wife out here with a gun. >> more than 200 residents of the community turned out last night for a meeting with police

and wildlife officials. they were told to remain alert and refrain from activities like reading, sleeping, or sunbathing on their patios. soledad, that is -- >> pretty much everything. >> that's a really rude awakening if you're trying to have a little nap outside. >> don't do anything on your patio ever again. whitney houston obviously not known just for her voice but also she was a glamorous diva. now fans and collectors can bid on some of her most iconic fashion items. she's been added to the list of celebrities whose memorabilia will appear in this month's hollywood legends auction in beverly hills. they're hosting the auction. >> thanks for having me on. >> how many items do you have overall of whitney houston's and where did they come from? >> we have approximately 12 items and they come from in some cases friends, family, people that worked with her like on the film of "body guard." >> you brought mannequins in. let's talk about this gray dress which is sort of to my right.

>> this is a gray dress she wore at the pre-grammy party of clive davis in 1996. we have great photographs of her wearing it with bobby brown. whitney was known for her fashion so these are items that are one of a kind items made for whitney houston. we estimate because whitney's collectability has not really been determined yet, not a lot of her items have come up for auction, so we conservatively estimate these items 1 to $2,000 each on the dresses. >> a dress might sell regularly for 1 to $2,000 without having been worn by whitney houston to a world famous glamorous hollywood party. what are your genuine expe expectations for how much that dress could fetch. >> i anticipate it could sell for 10 to $20,000. this is the first time her items have ever come up for auction. on march 31st we'll know what her collectability is. >> to the right of that dress is this beautiful velvet purple dress, very, very low cut with a broach on the waistband. >> yes. another one of a kind dress made for whitney houston.

she wore it in the 1990s. and it was -- we have photographs and video of her wearing it on stage during a performance. >> so how critical is that? i mean, obviously part of your job is authenticating that in fact something that someone is saying is whitney houston's actually she wore at one point? >> that's right. that's a very important part of it. provenance means something, where something came from. the earrings that we have in the auction and the vest from the "body guard" those are items that come from her costume designer. then we match them up with video so the patterns on the vest, we match them up to the film to make sure that it's exactly the items that she wore. >> if you look at the black velvet dress which is the third one which is absolutely stunning. i wish i fit into anything, what are you expecting that you could get for a dress like that? >> again, you know, we estimate at 1 to $2,000. i think it will be surprising to see what her collectability is. an example of michael jackson before his passing, we sold his gloves for 30,000. after his passing his gloves we

sell for 3 to 400,000. >> tell me about that dress. where did you get it from and where was it seen and worn? >> that particular dress comes to us from somebody who bought it out of an auction where whitney was forced to sell some items in 1997. so it was a storage locker here where the bill hadn't been paid. it comes from that auction which was her storage unit. so the proceeds go to the person that bought it in that auction. >> we'll end on the vest which is a vest, i have a he seen pictures of the vest in the "body guard" will something from a movie be more valuable than something worn to a hollywood party versus something even worn to a concert? >> it really depends on how iconic a piece is. the best, because it was in the "body guard" because it was her best film, amazing film, we anticipate that that could sell for more than the dresses. >> what are you expecting to get with that? >> we estimate that 4 to $600 because it's not as big as a dress and not something somebody can wear to a party but because of its historical significance we anticipate it could sell for

thousands. >> one has to imagine if you're gieg to buy that, you're not going to wear it, you're going to put it somewhere. >> go to a museum. >> thank you for talking with us this morning. we want to remind everybody that they can check out all the items that are going to be up for auction on our website which is cnn.com/startingpoint. after 20 years of basketball, jalen rose is taking his leadership back to detroit and helping build schools and the community. i'll leave you with my play list which is kanye "amazing." you're watching "starting point." we're back this a moment. ♪ i'm the reason everybody got up this evening ♪ ♪ i'm exhausted, barely breathing ♪. airline with no bl.

his leadership back to detroit breathing ♪.

♪ an all kanye day for me. kanye west, stronger. former nba veteran, jalen rose played. five players on the team were considered to be the greatest class ever recruited, but he's not just an athlete. he's also decided he's going to

give back to the city in which he grew up. he opened the jalen rose academy. an open enrollment school. he joins us for this week's cause celeb. why would you start a school? you're not a principal? you're not a guy who spent 30 years studying education. you're a guy who was educated and a ballplayer. why? >> i understand the importance of education, giving back to the youth of detroit and giving a leadership opportunity. >> many people would say they still haven't started a school. why take that step of creating a school? >> it's very much so needed in the city of detroit. i'm pretty sure you've heard a lot of the horror stories of schools closing, plant bailouts. now the plants are back in a position to thrive. i want to put the young men and young women in my hometown for in a position of success. >> when did you get the idea? >> we've helped 40 children. i have an endowment at the

university of michigan. >> there's a lot of debate, as you know, about charter schools, and sometimes even especially in the city of detroit. there's an argument that goes by investing in charter schools, you are often, we see this here sometimes in new york city, removing from the public schools. i'm sure people have said to you why not use your leverage and your power to invest in public schools? >> that's so far from the truth. plus, a lot of those people making those arguments never attend public school or don't have kids in public school. it's a money argument really. those that live in districts that are low performing, they are forced to go to schools that aren't doing well. so now if you have money, what do you do? you move to the suburbs, you move to a better school district. if you have more money, you put your young student in private school. well, if you don't have the money, you don't have that choice. so basically i see it as a hybrid. plus, by the way, i don't care if it's public, charter, magnet, home schooling, i just want young men and young women to have the opportunity to go to great schools. >> tell me about your freshman class.

>> it's terrific. 129. >> boys and girls. >> boys and girls. it's great to see them starting out freshmen and don't know if they want to be leaders, followers, if they want to be successful, if they want to succumb to a lot of things that are negative in their communities. >> obviously sports is a huge part of your life. in a charter school, what is the sport atmosphere like there? >> well, i always tell the students, i'm more concerned about their gpa than their ppgs, but obviously the students want to play basketball so we have the young men, young women's basketball team. >> do you play with them? >> no, i have not played this year. no way. i like to be seen as the old man of the school, the founder of the school. >> come on. >> you trash talking. you probably backing them down, throwing elbows. >> i will be this summer. i have not just yet. >> what has been the biggest surprise for you as you take on the challenge of education? education is a massively huge, i can't even find the words to describe how challenging that is as an issue to tackle. in the city of detroit which has

many issues even outside of education. what's been the biggest surprise for you in tackling this? >> shattering all of the myths that come with educating yuck men and women. >> which are what? >> that they're lazy and they want to be barefoot and pregnant. they want to be gang bangers. no, our students, longer school day. 4:30 p.m. is the end of our school day. 211 days. six super saturdays. i know you would have loved going to school on saturday. really showing that they're willing to put in the effort, time and energy their families have made to sacrifice, tuition free, students are chosen via lottery. >> you want to liberate these students from schools they might be trapped in, poor schools, giving them choices. what's the biggest hurdle for allowing students to do that? >> options and opportunity. if you live in a district where the school is poorly performing, to me you should be able to get a voucher and put your student where you choose. but obviously because of money that really isn't on the table and hasn't become an issue.

a lot of times people think just because you open a charter school, they give you this big blank check. you have all of the money that you want. no, that's why we fund raise. it's very important for me to fund raise so i can have a quality facility for our young men and women. >> jay lynn rose. what a pleasure. >> jrla detroit.com. >> i love that. our end point is up next. >> thank you. ♪ we always hear about jobs leaving america. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west,

to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? um, i was definitely looking for fuel economy. that's the whole reason we, we wanted to look at the ecoboost. can you talk a little bit about the style of the edge? um, well, i think it's very hip. i even have several guys were like "whoa, do have twenties on those". like, don't even know what that means, but i guess it's cool. (laugh)

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rose. i'm so inspired by people like him especially in a terrible economy that give back and create schools. i'm going to give it to him today. >> i'm going to support you on that. i love him. he's so much fun. we have to take a short break. we come back on the other side. will cain, we give you the end point. that's in a moment. stay with us.

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