-- he worked there for 38 years. they've been relatively healthy. then they get sick. thethey've paid into insurance l these years. it sound z sound like insurance companies have found them pretty profitable all these years because they haven't been sifnlg all of a sudden -- they're retired and they get sick, their insurance costs have gone up so dramatically. that's not what insurance is supposed to do. in our -- what our legislation will do is give people, particularly that age between 57 and 65, because we're leaving medicare alone -- we are tbeeg make medicare better because we're going to close that doughnut hole so that people with expensive drugs can get more assistance from the government, from the medicare plan, so we'll make medicare better. but in this eight years for robert and shirley between retirement and medicare, somebody has got to help them a little more. they've paid their dues. they've paid into insurance. they've worked 38 years -- he has -- at the same company. and our legislation will athem to go into the exchange, the

insurance exchange. they will then be able to choose among an ohio company, aetna, cigna or the public choice. they then make their decision based on what plan works the best for them. if their income is only $1,600 a month, as their income is, then they will get some assistance in paying nor that insurance so they can have much better insurance than this. valerie from giago county just east of cleveland, "i've always been concerned about the availability of health care for those less fortunate than my husband and me. but never has this necessity been driven home than this past february when we both lost our jobs due to the economy. once my severance package runs out, i won't be able to pick up insurance for my husband and me. we're both close to 60. we'll probably have a difficult time finding jobs. i'm grateful that president obama enabled us to have cobra benefits we could afford but that will soon expire. what do we do after that?

cobra, as most of my colleagues know, gives you, after you lose your job, an opportunity to continue your health insurance for a year and a half. you pay your -- part of the health insurance that you were paying when you were employed, but, unfortunately, you have to pay the employer's side of the health insurance also, even though your income has dropped to close to nothing. president obama in the stimulus package that we passed here back in february, president obama included assistance for people on cobra where the government paid for a space of a -- i believe a year, paid for 60% of those cobra costs, allowing people to keep their health care. but once cobra expires, as valerie says, they have problems. "i'm worried. i pray that neither of us become ill because we can't now afford our medical visits. i know there are others in the same predicament. it's my hope that our congress can work out some reasonable solution for all who need affordable health insurance." valerie's not much different

from -- from robert and shirley in clinton county and that is that she's close to retirement but not yet medicare age, want for another half decade or so for valerie, and she doesn't have much income now. she's lost her job, her husband lost his job, and she could benefit greatly from going into either the public option -- but it's her choice -- or aetna or cigna or medical mutual or any of the other private insurance plans. and she would look at which one works for her best. she would get some assistance in paying her premiums but she would be paying less because those plans would have less cost often than -- certainly than she could get on the private market, which always charges more. third letter is from kimberly from perrysberg, ohio. a toledo suburb. perrysberg, within about five miles of perry saysberg, ohio, there are more jobs, more solar energy jobs than any other city in the country, i might add that and do a little commercial for perrysberg and for my state. "i'm a 50-year-old woman,"

kimberly writes, "and i'm a stroke survivor. i'm still in the recovery process but my left side is still paralyzed. i could no longer taind physical therapy because my insurance stopped. i can no longer afford private insurance. i'm on medicaid but medicaid doesn't cover all my needed physical therapy. i now have to do my therapy at home, just as i was starting to make real improvement with my physical therapy n. a short time without therapy, a person will lose everything they trained to hard to gain. wouldn't it be better to continue the therapy until recovery is made? in the long-run, wouldn't it be less costly to the public?" kimberly's right. imagine this. you know, we in this body, you know, most of us are lucky enough to be pretty healthy here. we have good insurance. we -- we aren't in jobs that age us quickly, like my father-in-law, who worked in a utility company plant for years and -- and wore his body out in so many ways. and it's hard for us to empathize with somebody like kimberly. kimberly's 52 years old, she's a stroke survivor, she knees

physical therapy and she can't afford to get it. what kind of health care system is that, that somebody that's worked hard like she has, is 52, has a stroke, wants toppe to dot she needs to do in physical therapy -- and that's no fun, it's hard work -- she wants to do that, she can't get the treatment. so likely she'll get sicker and if we can't pass this insurance, this health insurance reform, but we're going to pass it, but if we can't, it means her life is going to be more and more difficult and probably more expensive ultimately for the health care system because she'll end up more likely back in the hospital with more physical problems than she earlier. last letter i'd like to share and then turn the floor back t to -- to -- to the senior senator from california, alice from franklin county in central ohio, that's the county -- that's the country where the state capital's located in columbus, "when i was between jobs," alice writes, "i purchased individual coverage for my family. it was difficult to navigate and confusing but cobra's much too expensive for the average person, including me.

i'm a woman in my 30's, one insurance company discouraged me from getting a maternity rider for the policy. without this ride, i would not be covered if i became pregnant. i managed to avoid getting pregnant during this period because consider if i had. how many people must be in this situation? what about for my brother-in-law and his wife? both are schoolteachers. they decided it was important for her to stay home with their daughter and newborn but they couldn't afford to put his wife on a health plan. right after the baby was born, my strnl had a seizure and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. they got most of it. she seems fine but i can't imagine what that's going to cost. they have two babies and a house they bought a couple years ago. now they'll probably have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. the current system, alice writes, is bankrupting families. i don't know why the opposition can't see how this is dragging people down." madam president, that's -- that's kind the whole point. these are people that they're working, they're doing things right, both were schoolteachers.

they decided that she would stay home with the two young children. they bought a house. they're going to be faced with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. how many people in this countr country -- i mean, we know this. how many people in this country end up because of health care costs, because they insurance that wasn't quite really insurance because the insurance got canceled when they got really sick or had a really expensive treatment, how many people like that end up in bankruptcy because they don't have enough insurance or they have the wrong kind of insurance and they got really unlucky and got really sick? and is this -- it just doesn't make sense for us as a country when people do things right, they're work hard, they're playing by the rules, they're paying their taxes, they're contributing to society. these are public school teache teachers. and -- public school teachers and then somehow their insurance doesn't work well for them and they go into bankruptcy. what purpose does that serve for any of us in this great country? our legislation is -- these bankrupt -- these health care bankruptcies will -- will drop dramatically in number, will

almost eliminate them with this health care bill. i mean, people occasionally maybe fall -- somebody falls through the cracks but we're not going to be reading stories in the paper anymore. once we pass our health insurance reform, madam president, we're want going to read in the paper anymore that people have -- ha have -- have had to file for bankruptcy because they got sick and their insurance didn't work. that's a reason enough to vote for this legislation. i ask my colleagues to work together. iin as bipartisan a way as possible to pass this legislation. my committee, the health, education, labor, and pension committee, the bill we wrote this july, we accepted 161 republican amendments. there's a lot bipartisanship to a lot of this bill. on the big question, there's very great philosophical differences. most of the democrats support a public option. we think people should have more choice. we think the public option will make shurps companies more honest. republicans philosophically don't support the public option. they think it's too much government, but many of those republicans -- most republicans also didn't support the creation of medicare. i think in the end that republicans -- a lot more republicans will join us because they want to be on the right

side of history. they want to be part of something that's going to make a big positive difference in the lives of tens of millions of americans. madam president, i thank you, and i yield the floor. mrs. feinstein: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. stein stein: it's my -- mrs. feinstein: it's my understanding that the distinguished ranking member of the judiciary committee would like to speak as if on morning business and i certainly have no objection. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: madam president, i thank the senator from california and her courtesy's legendary in this body and i thank you for that. madam president, i -- i am taken aback and flabbergasted really by the obama administration's decision announced today to cancel the european missile defense site.

i would ask, what does that mean, what kind of consequences are there for that? and i would just like to share a few remarks about it and note that it is contrary to the sense of the senate language that we included in the defense bill passed just a few weeks ago by this senate. it's a very, very significant decision. and i -- i want to give it more thought and i don't want to overstate the problem, but i want to be on record today as saying this is a surprising decision, one that i've been involved in in discussion of for quite a number of years and i feel like it's a big error. what happens? we ask our allies in central europe, poland and the czech republic, to stand with us and to agree to place a radar in the czech republic and to place a

defense system in poland, our missile interceptors. they, the heads of those governments, agreed to that. we got a lot of opposition, they did, in those countries from the traditional european left. many of them old marxist or hard-line leftists who've opposed the western world's defense programs for many, many years. but they overcame that. they were proud to be and stand with the united states of america. it did not bother them that their big neighbor, russia, objected. they're sovereign nations, of which they're quite proud, and they were proud to make a decision and reach an agreement with the united states of america that could defend this country from limited missile attack from a nation like iran, in particular. if iran were to launch a missile

attack that could reach the united states, it would come over europe. that's the location the missile would fly. it also -- iran could threaten europe. so they felt that they were participating both in a defense of europe and the quen defense e united states, and it was a good government, public interest decision that they were pleased to participate in and stood up with us. and we committed, of course, when we asked them to do this and go through this process to build a system. and for years, we've been moving forward with that in the senate. and this year we had quite a bit of discussion about it in the senate and we reached an -- an agreement that i think pretty much stated flatly what the opinion of the united states senate is. and there were some that objected, and this is how we boiled down the language. it's a sense of the senate that,

one, the united states government should continue developing and planning for the proposed deployment of elements of ground-based missile mid-course defense system, including a mid-course radar in the czech republic and ground-basased interceptors in poland consistent with the duncan hunter national defense act of 2009. paragraph two, in conjunction with the continued development of the planned grouped-based mid-course -- ground-based mid-course defense system, the united states should work with its north atlantic treaty allies to explore a range of options and architectures to -- quote -- "provide missile defenses for europe and the united states against current and future eye rain yaieyerainiranian ballistie facilities. and those deployed in europe to provide for the defense of europe and a redundant defense of the united states against

future long-range iranian missile threats should be at least as capable and cost-effective as the proposed european deployment of the ground-based mid-course defense system. and any missile defense capabilities deployed in europe should, to the extent practical, be interoperable with the united states and north atlantic treaty organization. and, i indeed, nato endorsed ths program. for awhile, some of our members said well, i'm not too sure about this, what does nato say? nato did endorse it. so one of the things that's pretty obvious that would occur is that this backing down of our plan sends a signal to our allies that we don't fulfill our commitments to them. and it's bound to make our allies in central europe particularly nervous.

this decision sends a message from the administration that we reward bad behavior. now, the defense department says, we're not doing this to curry favor with russia, but that clearly is a state department goal in this process, because they've objected to the system -- to the deployment of this system, although it has virtually no capability with ten interceptors in poland to in any way be an effective defense against the massive arsenal that the soviet union -- the old soviet union developed, and russia now maintains. so it does appear to be an attempt to placate russia at the expense of fabulous allies, the czech republic and poland. and we're walking away, i would note, from a bipartisan

commitmencommitment to nationale defense and the -- we accepted this sense of the senate unanimously because we hammered out an agreement that both parties agreed to. senator lieberman and i were the prime workers on this and -- and senator begich and others on the democratic side, along with -- along with a strong contingent of republicans. let me just say this about this whole system -- and this is why i'm worried. i hope my colleagues will give thought to it. we have spent approximatel approximately $20 billion developing something that many people believe would never work. that is the ability to intercept in space an incoming icbm missile and hit it bullet to bullet. we don't even utilize explosives. the energy is so great it

destroys the target when it is him we've done it consistently. our military experts have said that if north korea were to be able to successfully launch a missile, they have no doubt -- they believe they could knock it down and we're improving our system as we deploy it. we have a number of those missiles deployed and we plan to deploy more. and, yet, this year's budget was a stunning retrenchment in our missile defense system. let me just summarize the things that occurred. even though this language was in that contemplated moving forward in europe, is this what we did with regard to the united states -- for quite a number of years we planned to deploy 44 interceptor missiles, most in allah ka and a number in california. we talked about what to do with the iranian threat and to provide redunn dent coverage for those missiles coming over from

the east. we agreed that we would seek the agreement of p oland and the czech republic to put one there. what happened in this year's budget that the 44 that was to be deployed in alaska and california have been cut to 30. the next technological advance to our missile defense system, the m.k.b., the multikill vehicle, this is the warhead that would go on our missiles as we develop it, that could take out multiple incoming missiles with one missile. we think that was very capable technology that would be developed. that was zeroed out. we had an additional system of smaller, but high-speed -- very high-speed interceptor called the can he nettic energy interceptor, k.e.i., that has been on the drawing board for a

number of years an showing a great deal of promise. the k.e.i. zeroed out after years of funding. and we had plans and were working on the airborne laser. an amazing technology that our defense department believes will work and we'll test it this year. the airborne laser can knock down missiles, particularly in their ascent phase, which would be a great thing from an airplane. and that missile system after this year will be zeroed out. and the 10 missiles that we intend to impanel in central europe has been eliminated, it appears -- at least that's been the president's recommendation and decision that we heard about today. so i guess i would say this: we believe looking carefully at the

numbers and putting in some extra loose change fo for $1 billion, would could deploy -- fully deploy the system. 44 missiles in the united states and 10 in europe. and we spent over $20 billion to get to this point. so it's just unthinkable to me that we would take the chance of being low in our numbers to eliminate any future advancements in the system and i think it's -- it's -- from a -- an unwise decision. so i'm concluding that money is not the problem. i can only conclude that the obama administration has decided that they agree with the naysayers who opposed president reagan when he said this could ever be a successful system.

they posed it, opposed it, opposed it. and it looks like, to me a political decision, some sort of judgment decision to cancel this is involved more than a dollar and cents issue. because in the scheme of a $500-plus to $1 billion defense budget, $1 billion over several years to complete the system, as planned, is not the kind of budget-breaking numbers that should cause us to change our policy. so senator lieberman and i had offered this amendment -- this sense of the senate. it passed the bill -- senate just a few weeks ago. i believe it's the right policy. and i think the administration is trying to do some perhaps good things. they think maybe -- i would say that they are attempting to

placate or somehow reach out to russia and gain some strategic advantage from that. although the secretary of defense, i understand today, said it didn't have anything to do with russia on foreign policy, and i'm not sure that the administration acknowledges that either. but i would say that nato -- the czech premier yan fisher said thursday in an associated press article said thursday -- quote -- "president barack obama told him washington had decided to scrap the plan that deeply angered russia." so it seems to me that's a part of it. now, let's go to the core of this russian objection. as i've said on the floor -- and i won't go into detail about it

again -- russia knows this system poses no threat to their massive arsenal. they know that. this has been a political objection, in my view, a foreign policy bluster, and gambit to try to create a problem with the united states and extract something from us. but they've consistently opposed it. let's note the reuters news article today. mr. michael scott in an analysis of this, the lead headline in his article is -- quote -- "demise of u.s. shield may embolden russian hawks." may emboalden the russian -- embolden the russian hawks. in other words, this retreat, this backing down, may well encourage them to believe if

they're more confrontational on other matters, they may gain more than if they're nice to this administration. and he -- his lead paragraph says: "washington hopes that by backing away from an antimissile system in east europe it will get russian cope ration on everything from nuclear effort cuts to everything with north are korean nuclear ambitions. but will moscow keep its side of the bargain?" that's a good question. mr. scott goes on in his perceptive article to say with the shield now on the back burners both sides believe a deal cutting long-range nuclear ars else in can be inked this year and russia has already agreed to allow u.s. military cargoes to transports across their territory to afghanistan."

that's something we've been asking them for some time and they've tangled it out there and -- and so apparently a valuable, but critical ability to transports cargo may have been gained from this. the author goes on to note -- russian diplomacy is largely a zero sum gain that relies on projecting hard power to force gains as in last year's war with georgia over the rebel regions or the gas dispute with ukraine that started the year. he goes on to say -- quote -- "western concepts of win-win deals with -- with obama's drive for 21st century global partnerships are not part of its vocabulary." he's talking about russia.

the western idea that you cut a deal and both sides benefit from has never been the way the russians think. i think he's correct on that. he goes on to say -- quote -- "diplomats here -- and he's in moscow -- "say that moscow hardliners could read the shield back down as a sign of washington's weakness." close quote. far from bidding the united states -- far from doing the bidding of the united states they may instead press for further gains to shore up russian power in the former soviet block. czech republic, ukraine, georgia, poland, the baltics,, hilistonia, hungary. the author goes on to say that ukraine, georgia and other

kremlin foes in the ex-u.s. soviet union may be the first to feel the consequences. poland and the czech republic are also nervous. in warsaw, the timing of the u.s. move is particularly delicate as it coincides with the 70th anniversary of the invasion of eastern poland. analysts are concerned about ukraine that faces a -- an election and the country reluctantly hosts a large naval base. well, i don't know what the geopolitical goals are here. i think it's a mistake to not deploy this system that we committed to deploy. i think we're not going to be able to rely on the good faith of the russians and i think they may misread what we've done

instead of being -- leading to further accommodation, it may lead to embodien -- e embolding them to go against further demands against the united states legitimate national interest. i thank the chair and would yield the floor. mrs. feinstein: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, madam president. madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you, madam president. secretary of interior ken salazar announced plans to cover 1,000 square miles in land in nevada, california, colorado, new mexico and utah with solar collectors to generate electricity. he's also talking about generating 20% of our electricity from wind power. this would require building about 186,000 50-story wind

turbines that would cover an area the size of west virginia. not to mention 19,000 new miles of high-voltage transmission lines. is the federal government showing any concern about this massive intrusion into the natural landscape? not at all. i fear we're going to destroy the environment in the name of saving the environment. the house of representatives has passed climate legislation that started out as an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. it's morphed into an engine for raising revenues by selling carbon dioxide emission allowances and promoting renewable energy. the bill requires electric utilities to give 20% of their power mostly from wind and solar by 2020. the year 2020. these renewable energy sources are receiving huge subsidies all to supposedly create jobs and

hurry us down the road to an america running on wind and sunshine, as described in president obama's inaugural address. yet, all this assumes renewable energy is a free lunch, a benign so-called sustainable way of running the country with minimal impact on the environment. that assumption experienced a rude awakening on august 26 when the nature conservancy published a paper entitled "energy straw or energy efficiency: climate policy impacts on natural habitat for the united states of america." the report by this venerable environmental organization posed a simple question: how much land is required for the different energy sources that power the country? the answers deserve far greater public attention. by far, nuclear energy is the least land intensive. it requires only one square mile

for one reactor. that is to produce 1 million megawatt-hours per year. enough electricity for about 90,000 homes. geothermal energy which taps the natural heat of the earth requires three square miles. the most landscape consuming are biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, which require up to 500 square miles to produce the same amount of energy. coal, on the other hand, requires foursquare miles mainly from mining and extraction. solar thermal heating, a fluid with large raise of mirrors and using it to power turbine, takes six square miles. natural gas needs eight. and petroleum needs 18. and wind farms require over 30 square miles. this sprawl has been missing from our energy discussions.

in my home state of tennessee, we just celebrated the 75th anniversary of the great smoky mountain national park, america's most visited national park. yet, there are serious proposals by energy developers to cover mountains all along the appalachian chain from georgia through the foothills of the smokies through the blue ridge mountains of virginia, all the way up to the pwhaoeut mountains of new hampshire -- the white mountains of new hampshire, to cover those mountains with 50-story wind turbines because the wind blows strongest across mountaintops. and i can tell from the presiding officer's smile, she's thinking of the strong winds on the white mountains which are among the strongest in the entire united states of america. let's put this into perspective. we could line 300 miles of mountaintops from chattanooga, tennessee, to bristol, virginia, with wind turbines and still only produce one-quarter the

electricity we get from one reactor on one square mile at the tennessee valley authority's wattsbar nuclear plant. the 1,000-square mile solar plant proposed by mr. salazar would generate on a continuous basis 35,000 megawatts of electricity. you could get the same output from 30 new nuclear reactors that would fit comfortably on existing nuclear sites. and that doesn't count the thousands of miles of transmission lines that will be needed to carry the newly generated solar power through and to population centers. there's one more consideration. solar collectors must be washed down once a month or they collect too much dirt to be effective. they also need to be cooled by water. where amid the desert of the scrub land will we find all that water? no wonder the wildlife conservancy and other environmentalists are already opposing solar projects on some

western lands. madam president, renewable energy is not a free lunch. it is an unprecedented assault on the american landscape. before we find ourselves engulfed in energy sprawl, it's imperative we take a closer look at the advantages of nuclear power. madam president, i would like to ask unanimous consent to include, following my remarks, a summary of the nature conservancy paper entitled "energy sprawl or energy efficiency" which was published on august 26. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: madam president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. a senator: motor vehicle, i ask that the call of the -- mr. president, i ask that the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ensign science i ask unanimous consent to -- ensign science i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. ensign science mrmr. ensign: the crisis has turned my state into literally a ghost town. the grass of the housing market has been at the root of our economic crisis. we have to focus on fixing the housing problem in this country if we want many of the states

that are still severely suffering to have their -- the economies turned around. in february i offered a bill called a fixed housing first bill. and this would have done just that. it would have turned the housing market into this -- in this country around. i believe it would have created jobs all across this country including my home state of nevada. my first -- my fixed housing first act would have let american homeowners refinance their mortgages at around a 4% interest rate in a 30-year fixed mortgage. this would have meant on average of around $300 to $400 savings per month for the average homeowner in the united states and back in my home state of nevada. additionally my bill included a provision produced by senator isakson from georgia that was a $15,000 home buyer tax credit to incentivize homeownership and

create the stepping stone for our country to come out of the housing crisis that it was in. and while my bill was defeated along partylines, we were able to pass an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, sponsored by myself and senator ben cardin from maryland. today i join my colleagues, bipartisanly, to extend thi this $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit for another six months until june of next year. unless the congress acts, thi this $8,000 tax credit is set to beings prior at the end of -- expire at the end of november. and all of the evidence is showing that the tax credit is working. if we don't extend this tax credit, what we're going to see basically, homes that are going to be sold in this country will simply be the foreclosure homes. so, mr. president, we need to

act in the united states senate in a bipartisan fashion to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000. it's the right thing to do to help get housing back on the track, especially in states like nevada, florida, california, arizona who are still really suffering when it comes to the housing industry. it's at the root of a lot of the -- economic problems that we have in this country. so, mr. president, i would encourage this body to act because chairman bernanke said the other day that the recession's over. at a 9.7% unemployment rate in this country, i don't think the recession looks over to those people who are still out of a job. when you look at my state, over 12% unemployment rate, clark county, where las vegas is, over

13% unemployment rate, i don't think folks there think that the recession is over. so we need to continue to do work to fix this economy and this first-time home buyer tax credit is a good place to start. mr. president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

s

this thing and say, nobody picked us to be in it.

we're not even supposed to be here. we weren't supposed to have won all these races. i think they have nothing to lose, and i think that's the attitude they'll take into it. hey, this could be our first championship as team. we have nothing to lose. no one expects us to be here. let's roll the dies and see what happens. >> tony stewart did win three races during the course of the year and held the championshi p lead for most of the regular season. but is he the guy you'll predict to win this thing? >> no, he's not the guy i predict, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did win it. i think mark is ready. i think all the stars are lined up. he got with hendrick motorsports. he's been able to show everybody how good he system the equipment is really good. he and allen are working well toge ther. and i just believe with the strength of hendrick motorsports and the talent of mark martin and the desire of mark martin, to me that's who i believe will win it all. >> there is without a doubt millions of race fan s out there right now pulling for mark martin to win his first championship. after all, he's been the runner up four times. the chase begins sunday in new hampshire.

>> the houston texans are finding one of their own. dante roberts will be find $25,000 for shoes they deemed inappropriate. why? he wrote "pay me rick" on the back. rick smith is the texans general manager. he's paying robinson $10 million a year. >> good nfl teams often take on the personality of their head coach. think about it. bill belichick and the patriots, a quiet arrogance. confident publicly but don't say much of anything. mike tomlin and the steelers, emotional and professional. and then there's the jets and their new head coach rex ryan, outspoken and in your face. that's how the jets' defense was in week one, destroying the texans. week two, gang green gets new england, and much like his father buddy, rex isn't worried about himself or his team providing bulletin board material for the opposition. in today's "new york daily news," rex says he's not kissing bill belichick's rings and it's pretty clear his safety kerry rhodes isn't in awe of tom brady

either. this is what he had to say: >> former lions' wide receiver charles rogers was arraigned today on drinking and driving charges. police say the second overall pick in the 2003 draft refused a beth alizer test yesterday afternoon. rogers served a 30-day jail sentence earlier this year for violating probation in a domestic violence case. >> still to come, the angels say they got jobbed by the umps at fenway. we'll see if steve phillips agrees coming up. hi, it's jimmy football here. nobody likes number 2. so we just upgraded you to number 1. introducing the bud light foozie!

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>> here's the 3-2. it's ball four and the game is tied. a borderline pitch. >> the 1-2 pitch. swing. fly ball shallow left field. he's coming in hard. it's base hit. two score and the red sox win it. can you believe it? 9-8 red sox win. >> you can tell who the home team was there. the boston red sox with the call. we welcome in steve phillips. let's start with the game. you called latest night on espn. l.a. very outspoken after the

game about the umpires. you were. there did you feel their gripe is warranted, that they got jobbed? >> listen, i think it's a very good umpiring crew. rick reid is one of the better home plate umpire. jeff kellogg a very good base umpire. i think the crew made some mistakes.e i think it started early, erick aybar trying to turn the double play. they said he dropped theth balln the transfer, but he never had control of it. they thought they struck tick green out twice, one on the check swing and one on the ballu down in the zone. the k zone showed it to be a strike. i think the umpires impacted the result of the game, but it's a good umpiring crew. there are other times that the angels made mistakes in the game, so it's awfully hard to blame just the umpires. -closer brian fuentes was the most outspoken. he's heard other players say the same thing, that when umpires come to fenway park, they get caught up in the coziness of it, the jam-packed place.

he said, "it's either a mistake or they're scared. it happens time after time." your thoughts? >> i don't see it like that. i don't think umpires are affected by the stadium in which they're performing. i think rick reid had the pitch as a ball down below the knees. it was a borderline pitch. our k zone had it as a strike. when you look at it, it was a close pitch. the check swing was close. i can understand for jeff kellogg not calling it a strike. it wasn't an egregious mistake. i don't think umpires are affected. i think they're too professional to have that be something that sways their opinion. i think in my mind they missed the calls. there wasn't some sort of malice or the fact they were intimidated by the fenway crowd. >> you were a general manager. mike scioscia is the manager. now this has all been out there. there's a lot out there. does he have to rein his group back in, maybe a closed door meeting where we put this behind us. it's over. in the grand scheme it doesn't mean a whole lot. we might see this team probably we'll see this team again. we need to have better focus.

>> you may see this team at fenway park and who knows what your umpiring crew will be. i think there is a number of things. i think mike scioscia after the game, i watched the interaction. the umpires walk by the visiting dugout. mike scioscia put his back back to where the umpires were. he knew there was a chance emotions would get the best of him. it looked like mike butcher had words for the umpire and had a statement that left an impact. i think it's a little late to fix what they did. what they said is out there. they can't take it away. now they need to address it and throw some bouquets the umpire's way because they may end up with a lot of these umpires again. umpires are human beings. if you start to rip them, they'll have emotions that affect them. they need to make that up and focus on what they do on the field and get away from the umpires. if you feel it's out of your control, then you're not going to play up to your capabilities. i think they need to get the focus back on their own performance. >> have you ever seen a team, and you've scene millions of

teams and game, a team in a certain ballpark just feel like they can't win? >> yeah. i lived it. for six years the general manager for the mets, that's why i have gray hair, we could not beat the atlanta braves. every team has a number. the angels during the regular season, they've handled the boston red sox pretty well. both at fenway and at home. they've won 12 of the last 15, 12 of the last 16 taking into account last night's game. the angels in the regular season have handled the red sox. the playoffs have been the issue. right now the focus has to be start playing better baseball, let's start focus, let's tighten up our game and get away from the ballpark and the umpires being the issue. >> let's get to ernie harwell. you grew up listening to his legendary pipes. any great stories you can recall? >> well, i think the thing for me is i got to know ernie harwell as a kid growing up, listening to him broadcast the games on the radio under my pillow at night, learning about the tigers, learning about baseball, learning to love the game the way ernie harwell loved the game. i think the real privilege for

me was getting to meet ernie harwell later in life when i was a general manager going back in there with the mets' organization in interleague play in detroit and really getting to meet him. he was the same guy i remember who broadcast the games. he was the guy who was like your best friend, your grandfather, your father, someone who really welcomed you maind you a member of his community. he treated everybody like that. i tell you what, he's a genuine, outstanding human being and somebody i'm privileged to know, and i just love listening to him and appreciate you, errny, thank you for teaching me the game and teaching me to love the game. >> having to spend some time in detroit, as well, i don't care how old you russia he made you feel like a kid and what you loved about baseball. what peace meant for that organization is unbelievable. >> detroit is a city whose team may make the playoffs. they need that. really to have somebody to rally around like ernie harwell, that goes a long way i think to mending some of the emotional pain that's in detroit right now. >> that's for sure. steve, you make me feel like a kid, too. >> steve phillips, thanks so much.

>> top stories coming up next, including zack greinke, another masterful performance. so why did he leave after the fifth inning and why was vince vaughn there. and we go one on one with the champ, floyd mayweather. always entertaining, a little controversial. that's next on espnews. when your engine's running clean... you feel it. ...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out up to 15 percent of sludge the first time you use it.

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 coming up on "o's xtra," we'll look back at last night's walk-off home run by matt wieters that behalf the birds a win. a valuable souvenir and the orioles had a 4-2 victory. chris tillman was outstanding pitching into the sixth inning. rick deferencey will break down the rookie's proguess. the orioles look to get three out of four from tampa bay. it is the o's and rays and it is o ease extra on masn. >> good evening, everyone on an

overcast and cool night at camden yards. it auto "o's xtra" present bid at&t. at&t, your world delivered as the o's get set to take on the tampa bay rays, the finale of this four-game series and the orioles with a chance to get 3- 4. and it is kind of interesting how things happen over the course of one year to a next, rick. the orioles may be getting the rays at the exact time. he's look back to last year at how tampa bay dominated the orioles and how the orioles are beginning to turn the tide on the rays. last year, tampa bay, 3-15 against the orioles. we're going into the game tonight. the orioles are 7-6 against the rays with five games left. one here, four in tampa. also, look at the difference last september to this september. the orioles looking to finish as strong as they can. last year the team went 5-20 for the entire month, and this year they have already won six games. they're 6-7 going into the game tonight. i guess if you're a player out there, you want to play as well as you can, finish as strongly as you can and take those positives into the off season.

>> there are still a lot of good hitters in the lineup, even though carlos pena is not there and he has been one of the kind of guys that just wrecks the orioles every time he plays against them. but to establish themselves against the rest of the lineup, eian longar i can't that sticks out. bartlett is, too. somehow the orioles have managed to come -- the bullpen pitches much better against tampa bay and then i think right now they're really starting to realize that there is a way to beat the teams that they have not had success against in the past. right now it is all working for the orioles. they got a little offense. they got a little momentum against this ball club. tonight is a big night for them. if they end up winning 3-4 and it could be one of the spoiler roles that they really need to take advantage of. >> what a contrast in emotions -- emotions last night. ben zobrist tied the game as tampa bay tied it 2-2. in the bottom of the ninth. matt wieters sent everyone hope happy with what two-run walk- off home run. following the game, wieters tumped -- talked about how he

jumped on the first pitch. >> it is something they gave me the confidence to swing away and i was just going to try to put a good swing on it. >> kid you say dave gave you the confidence? dave said something to you? >> it is a situation where you may want to bunt, but if you want to swing and drive something. >> the night that you had last night and tonight, do you feel like you're just locking in, and it is tough to do that late in september, especially in a season like this. >> it is something that comes an goes through the course of a year, and hopefully we can keep it going for a bit longer. >> dave "talk backed" today about the fact that in the east you need power, and with this team losing aubrey huff, there hasn't been a lot of power here, do you see that as a void that you can fill in the future, too, that you look forward to having more power and lifting this team up with that? >> i think the biggest thing is to be able to drive in ryder cups and we lost a big rbi guy when we lost aubrey. guys will have to step up.

>> matt wieters without a doubt is stepping up as a run producer. 4-7, a home run in each of those last two games. the first time in his young career he has homered in back- to-back games and he has eight rbi's over the last two games. .273, seven home runs and 35 rbi's on the year. rick, when you look for the defining moments, you look at matt wieters over the last couple of weeks really, much more comfortable. >> let's go back to tuesday night when he already has two rbis in the pocket already. here he hit as home run. a three-run shot. this enables the orioles to take a five-run lead. last night again, the game on the line. the score tied. bottom of the ninth. first pitch. he knows it right away. we didn't. it the in the seats there. home run number seven. eight rbi's in the last two nights and there he r. he is. matt wieters, the hero of the game. >> after the one hour and 40- minute rain delay, very few

fans were still left in the stands, but canen brown hung out there he is. he caught the home run ball by matt wieters last night. there is more to the story as we found out. ruben felix, one of the orioles' bullpen catchers asked canen if he could have the baseball for matt wet terse have the souvenir. so he gave the baseball to ruin b. ruben in turn gave him two bullpen balls that they use to walk up. so ruben went home with a souvenir and another went home with a souvenir and a nice move. it was nice for canen brown who stuck out the rain delay and matt wieters has the souvenir baseball, his first walk-off home run in his career. >> last year when tampa bay won the american league pennant, every other organization except probably the yankees and the red sox, who can buy whatever they need, every other organization said that is something we should follow. let's get more on that now as we head across the field and visit with amber. hello, amber. >> hello. andy macphail said way back in spring training that he does

look to that tampa bay rays 2008 team as a perfect example that you can go from worst to first even in the a.l. east if you make a right moves. what the a's were able to do was ride some young pitching and some solid defense all the way to the world series last year. and, of course. and, of course.(.ecl) that's exactly what the orioles are looking to do here in baltimore. today i had a chance to sit down and speak with the rays' manager joe maddon about that unlikely run. i asked him to go back to september of 2007. that was the year when they were in last place. i asked him if he saw anything or remembers anything about that team in september that he might see similarities in with the orioles that are on the field right now. >> of course. one of the big things that occurred to us in 2007 was that by the end of that season we started to win games we were supposed to. we got a lead an kept the lead because our bullpen had gotten better with dan wieer at that time. of course, carlos pena had a great year for us. we have a bunch of young guys,

b.j. started to show. and another young tall meant the making. there were a lot of pieces in place. we just had to -- going into the next season we identified that we needed veteran leadership within the group and we just had to nurture among the talent we already had. the orioles, i think we got some nice, young starting pitching on the way. i like the arms of the bullpen. i think you have great arms. a lot of velocity and a lot of durability and a lot offing up abuilt. the guys on the field, obvious; roberts is a great player along with jones. i got to meet adam dure diagnose all-star break. i like him a lot. markakis is one of the better players that people don't even talk about. there's a lot of good stuff going on there. for me, it permittedtous turn the corner, the next year the 2008, was a real strong pitching performance for the starters as well as the relievers as well as really good tight defense. >> he said the year before they went to the world series he noticed that his team started to beat teams they were

supposed to beat. here is a look at the orioles this september. they haven't play any teams that they're supposed to beat, but they had beat teams that they weren't supposed to beat. look at the series against the rangers. they took two out of three in that series, against the yankees at yankee stadium. and already against the rays, they have taken two out of three here this week in baltimore. so those are some encouraging signs. of course dhope is that the orioles will be able to follow that blueprint that the rays had that took them all the way to the world series in 2008. hopefully the future will be bright for the orioles. jim? >> all right, amber. thank you very much. it is joe -- as joe maddon pointed out, it is all about the pitching. chris tillman, one of the guys that the orioles are very much looking forward to next year being a part of the rotation, he was outstanding. when we come back on "o's xtra" presented by at&t, we're going to look back at tillman's night and rick dempsey breaks down the rookie's performance.

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 >> "o's xtra" is brought to by corona and corona light, the official sponsors of the time out. please relax responsibly. last night chris tillman pitched very well. he ended up with a tough luck no decision, and he gave the orioles a chance to win. following the game tillman talked about his ability to get deep into that game. >> yeah, i feel like i got into that groove. i think i found my stuff that that yankee game. wieters, actually moeller got me settled dunn a little bit and got me working downhill. kerney did in my bullpen session between starts and felt good tonight. i didn't feel like i had to throw too many off-speed pitches, well, minimal. >> and almost equally as effective. do you feel like this is your best performance? >> i do. until i located my fastball better, and when i kneed, i had my off-speed stuff, too curve ball and changeup.

i could have thrown my changeup a little better. i mean, i felt good after tonight. >> and you sat down the first 10 you faced where you at a point where you're saying, okay, the stuff is good, this could be the good flight for me. >> yes. i just want to get my team back in the dug out, especially after we scored that one. i made one mistake and zauny turned that pitch around quick. he did what he did with it. >> so chris tillman last night goes six and 2/3. the only run he allowed was the home run he referred to to gregg zaun. five hits in all, just one walk and no strikeouts. look at his record against the a.l. east this year. four starts, 1-1 with a very impressive e.r.a. of course, you have to have not only the talent to compete in this division, you have to have what it takes mentally and emotionally and chris tillman without a doubt is showing he can pitch in this division.

what have you been seeing over his last couple of starts that is allowing him to be consistent. >> well, you go back to new york. i think what he did in this ballgame, he establishes his off-speed pitches early in this ballgame. the changeup you see. he really threw everybody off balance for a while. and the curve ball. i think they were all sitting there waiting for him to throw the fastball, and when he did, it was up in the strike zone most of the time and he really did a good job. now, last night there was more fastball, changeup than it was curve ball like it was in new york. i think this is the way he has to pitch. six and 1/3 innings, only one earned run. very powerful lineup again that he has to work up against. but the things is, the fastball and the changeup are starting to come with him. h e's getting a little more confidence with them. i like it because his curve ball is can he feel going to be his outpitch. >> finale of the four-game series here tonight t-birds trying to make it three straight wins. here is the tampa bay lineup for tonight. bartlett, crawford and longoria with ben zobrist in the clean-

up spot. he has had some kind of a series, 5-12. last night the game tying home run in the ninth inning and three rbi's. buehrle will d.h. with aybar at first. kapler in right field and flay vairo will catch and the youngster perez in center field and evan longoria, she is a guy every team has to look out for because he is a game changer. >> he just has the easy power. he doesn't swing hard after the ball. he doesn't have to because he just already has it. he is a big, strong guy. seven home runs against the orioles already. not even a full two seasons yet against the ball club with 20 rbi's. he is a guy, you know, when you make a mistake, it's going to go out of the ballpark. you have to be real careful with him. the best way to defend against him is to keep people off base that is the key to holding him down. >> let's get a look at the orioles' lineup. nolan reimold is back in there. so brian roberts goes back to the lead-off spot. pie, reimold to markakis. and matt wieters in the number seven spot. speak of big series, how about

wieters, 5-10, a couple of home runs abnine rbis in the first three games in this series. aubrey will be at first base and andino at shortstop batting ninth. good to have nolan rye million dollar back in. he bring as five-game hitting streak into the game. >> he does. i really don't think it matters to nolan reimold whether he is rookie of the year or not. what he really cares about is being productive for the ball club. 15 home runs, 45 rbi's. he had nine home runs before he came here. that is 24 on the season. and i think he's really showing the kind of patience now that a veteran hitter shows you. he waits for a good pitch. he drives it to right field. to center field, to left field. it really doesn't matter. this guy is showing great meek ins for a young rookie the that lineup right now. >> tonight it is the finale roof the four-game series and during the telecast tonight covering the bases, we're going to go back in the archives and look all of the cute baby pictures and the pictures of them in little league. i definitely recognize that guy in the lower right, but i'm not going to give it away that is

covering the bases tonight dure diagnose telecast here on masn. when we come back on "o's xtra" presented by at&t, we're going to hear from the skipper and rick dempsey breaks own the pitching match-up as the orioles look to get 3-4 # from the rays. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.