is a thing of the past. block the acid with prilosec otc, and don't get heartrn in the first place. [ me announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. good evening everybody. thank you for being with us. washington has become an ent mow logical wonderland for the obama administration seems to be more obsessed with semantics and sentence con trucks than to capture a killing of terrorists. washington -- while dismissing any sense of proportion when it comes to radical islamists and the war on terror. and for all of that, this was a red letter day. president obama's mantra that al qaeda is on the run today proved wrong yet again. you are looking at pictures of yemen where government officials uncovered an al qaeda plot to

capture oil and gas facilities, to fire on foreign embassies, to seize -- news of the foiled plot breaking as the united states is stepping up its drone attacks there. killing at least seven al qaeda terrorists in the southern part of the country. in the broader plot that led to the closings of 19 embassies and facilities and 16 countries still acted tonight with no indication that the threats have in any way diminished. here is state department spokesperson jen saki on the closings and the alerts. >> our embassy remains closed. we're continuing to evaluate all information on a daily basis. but beyond that, i don't have additional updates. we're keeping it closed to keep our people safe and because we believe a threat remains. >> saki said the threat remains as president obama visited camp pendleton today where he once

again insisted we've "decimated al qaeda's leadership." that in direct contrast to a daily beast report tooay saying the ongoing security alert is in place because the united states intercepted a massive conference call with 20 or so al qaeda leaders. an intelligence official, however, tells fox news that that notion is far-fetched. the officials speculated it's more likely al qaeda officials were talking in some kind of chat room they believe to be secure. what we do know for certain is there was some kind of electronic intercept between at least two top al qaeda leaders. and the head of al qaeda's yemen branch. nas ir al war hash i. a source telling fox news that it involved old-fashioned means. including couriers. that the message was circulated to a number of key al qaeda

members. the white house canceled a planned summit next month that was to be held between president obama and russian president vladimir putin. the two heads of state had planned a talk around september's g-20 summit in st. peter's burglary. but the president through a snit over snowden and russia's decision to grant the nsa leaker temporary asylum. a top foreign policy aide called the decision disappointing. so is the obama response to putin's decision to give temporary asylum to snowden the wisest course? how can washington's officialdom rationalize the -- al qaeda on the run or decimated with the latest terrorist plot that prompted the administration to shutter our embassies in the middle east and north africa. joining us tonight generaa jack keane, retired army general. former army vice chief of staff

and fox news military analyst. general, great to have you with us. your reaction if you will, first, to what is an amazing display of ent mow logical interest on the part of the administration, a fascination with semantics instead of plain, straight talk? >> well, we've never had some straight talk here, lou. it's really frustrating. we've never had a comprehensive strrtegy to defeat the al qaeda. i'd defy anybody to tell me what that is. so when we talk about successes, yes, we've had successes. we drove them out of afghanistan, defeated them in iraq, in their words, not mine. and we have killed a lot of their leaders. those are all successes. but the fact of the matter is, this is a political movement driven by an ideology and killing the leaders is not enough. they're all replaced. and this organization is still quite effective as we have seen played out right before our

eyes. al qaeda is spreading into the region trying to accomplish their objective, which is to dominate and control every muslim country in the region. that is their strategic plan and they are on it, lou. >> they are on it and the united states has just closed its embassies, its facilities in 16 countries, some 19 of them. how does this look to the middle east, to the arab street, if you will, for the united states to shutter its official buildings and to withdraw? >> well, it's part of a pattern that they see this administration has been doing ever since it came to power when it walked away from iraq and left no forces, put in place a plan to get out of afghanistan at the same time it was announcing an escalation. and then has waached and done nothing about the attack on our consulate in benghazi.

i mean, my god, we're now talking about the fact that we have identified some people for arrest, the obama administration sadly, i think tragically has gone back to pre-9/11 policies and treating acts of war against the united states which the consulate in benghazi was, as criminal behavior. this is not criminal behavior, it's an act of war. we should have been killing them for the last 11 months and they usent's word decimated, that leadership in benghazi which is al shah rah sharia. they should almost be gone and now we're issuing arrest warrants. it's really sad. >> what is the mood if you can give us some sense of it of our top military leaders, our top intelligence leaders with an administration that is using os sentence believely as a wall

around the truth. the united states leaving law enforcement agency domestically, interposing it into the responsibilities of the intelligence community, of the united states military and frankly it is functioning as an excuse, a rationalization for this administration, it seems to me, general, but not to produce answers for the american people or to take action against our enemies. >> you put your finger right on it. it gives an excuse not to do anything. we had military leaders -- they defeated al qaeda and iraq. they understand how to fight these guys. the fact of the matter is, what they wanted to do is continue bringing the special operation forces in that night, take control of that consulate and that cia base by the time in the morning. put a flag back up on that consulate, secure the place as u.s. property, then let the fbi

come in and begin an investigation. but after the director of the cia, within 24 hours declared a.a.s. as the attackers of both facilities, we should have gone after them with the cia and our special operations forces immediately thereafter. that is where their head is, not sitting back waiting for the fbi to conduct a criminal investigation against people that have committed an act of war against u.s. property. >> general, thanks so much. general jack keane. >> goodi talking to you lou. nidal hasan, the trial came to an abrupt end today after his stand-by attorney objected to the proceedings. that attorney saying hasan is intent on receiving a death sentence and he asked to be relieved of his role in that trial. the development even more bizarre when you consider hasan

has been prevented from pleading guilty because that, under the military justice code, would have eliminated a trial and the action of a death sentence. hasan is now representing himself and yesterday told the court that the evidence would clearly show that he was the shooter, the killer. adding to the outrage for the past three years, the army has reportedly been shuttling hasan back and forth from a county jail to ft. hood in helicopters. so that the wheelchair bound hasan could work on his legal defense in a special room equipped to accommodate his injuries. the army refused to detail the costs or the full reasons for that measure, although we do know hasan has continued to receive his ull army salary, totaling $280,000 since the shooting. what is the president trying to prove in his latest pitch on the economy? former cbo director douglas holt

eek en on whether he's moved to free market capitalism.

former president george w. bush in the hospital after successfully undergoing a heart stent being placed. the blockage was discovered at the cooper clinic in dallas yesterday and at the recommendation of his doctor, a stent was placed in his artery. a bush spokesman says the former president is in high spirits and is expected to be discharge tomorrow.

fannie may and freddie mac in his economic pitch today. >> private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market. i know that sounds confusing to folks who call me a socialist. i think i saw posters on the way in. but i actually believe in the free market. i believe that our housing system should operate where there's a limited government role and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market. >> joining us now. doug has holtz-aekin. president of the american action forum. doug, good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> the president quite rightly noting his departure from what has been a seemingly socialist kind of perspective and way in his governance. is this a pivot to -- from rock socialism to energetic full-on free market capitalism?

>> yes. it's a bull russia way from a mortgage market where 90% of mortgages are backed by the government right now toward one where there's fewer than 90%. i think that's what we learned today. you know, he did go on to say that he wanted to do more refinancing at the government's expense of home owners owe mortgages even though we've had 16 programs to do that so far and wanted to make sure that 30-year fixed rates were available at a lower rate. he thought it was appropriate for the taxpayers to be off the hook but they have to pay for the subsidy. it was a mixed set of free market messages the president had today. >> doug, what i hear from a lot of people and i find it ironic, the president is taking up the gses, freddie mac, fannie mae today because housing right now is the best performing sector of the economy and everyone i hear in housing says just leave us alone, washington, we'll be

fine. and he now wants to bring his wisdom that has been so effective on economic policy in other sectors of our economy to housing. that's got to terrify people. >> yeah. i think that's spot-on observation. we did a tour of housing on the country in phoenix and las vegas. one of the things that stands out is that housing recovers most quickly where you get through the foreclosure process quickly, clear out inventory and a diversified base and get employment growth. that's a message about the strong economic growth, not about government programs. he went to the place that's best exemplified that and talked about more government programs. that sets him back. at this point we've had lots of government programs waiting to let the market clear and move forward. >> you've taken up the mantle of immigration reformer and wrote an interesting piece today. the role of immigration

quote-unquote reform, legislation in stimulating the economy. >> do you think -- you referred to folks who are really restrictionists, not anti- -- illegal immigration, they're restrictionists. you called them the just say no members in the house. are there just say yes members as well? >> we'll find out. i mean, the house has embarked into a process where they'll look at issue by issue. i think that one of those important issues is economic policy for the 21st century. as you and i have had this conversation before, we're a country that is out of step with our competitors because we don't think about shipping our labor force with the skills that we need to compete globally. i think we should. i hope we see that in the house. time will tell. i certainly believe that it's not the only thing we need to get better economic performance. >> in that regard, you and i agree i think that the house

process, it has chosen, incremental legislation carefully considered and laid as a foundation for creating a -- not an -- not a comprehensive law. but since sensible priorities moving forward carefully through the house is the correct approach. you still favor the gang of eight omnibus approach, do you not? >> i wouldn't say that. i mean, i'm a policy guy in the end. >> you can say whatever you want here. you're on the lou dobbs show. >> lou, this is what i would say. we need the right policy at the end. what you described as sensible policy, i actually don't care how we get there. we can do it in one big bill if that works for congress. in pieces in the house, i'm fine with that too. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> my biggest concern is that, you know, when we look at sort of the core visa system or employer verification, that's what i think of as the pieces. my concern is that democrats are going to refuse to support the

house process. >> i know you're not going to -- >> but if they don't, they kill all hope. that's the biggest threat this year. >> it's time what is it now, it's six years if they -- democrats, republicans have -- should have learned, be honest with the american people, do the right thing, quit trying to gain the american people on the issues and we can resolve this issue. douglas holtz-eakin. great to stru with us. >> thanks, lou. congress on vacation again granting themselves a waiver in the chalk talk. we'll show you how out of touch some of our lawmakers are with we mere citizens, next. ♪ [ villain ] well mr. baldwin.. it appears our journey has come t to a delightful en. then i better use the capital one purchase eraser to redeem my venture miles for this trip. purchase eraser? it's the easy way to erase any recentravel expense.

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and make your business dream a ality. if you've got it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and man, you know how that feels. copd includes emysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. you know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines youting, otake, even eye drops.e. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing withcopd ww don't wait to ask your doctor abo spiriva.

congress is on a five-week recess. some will be working, of course, on getting re-elected and other things. many will have, however, some time off. these folks, we notice, get a lot of time off and a lot of money and a lot of other perks that most of america doesn't.

wouldn't it be interesting to look at what congress does get. congress gets vacation. 239 days this year out of washington. of course, that's not all vacation. it includes work in their district. but, it's a lot of time away from washington, isn't it? something i personally would prefer they do more often. get away from washington. that's where all the troubles start. compare that to the average number of vacation days for us mere working citizens. eight days. that's eight days. i mean, that's not fair, is it? how about all the money. congress's base salary, $174,000. the rest of us mere citizens, we make on average just over $45,000 a year. and did i mention the perks? a free car for crying out loud upper house members. free flights almost anywhere and

a free membership to a top-scale gym. the rest of us have to deal with the average price of gasoline that comes in about $3.60 a gallon now. it's going down. so that will improve for us. congress still won't have to worry about it. average airline ticket prices, $379. an average gym member, $42 a month. you are get the idea. congress ain't a bad place to work. then there's the rest of us mere citizens. they may not have an easy job. we can argue about that. it's certainly not as tough as both republicans and democrats seem to want to make it. congress's gallop approval is a. public policy poll found americans like cockroaches, colonoscopies, root canals and lice more than congress. but really amuses me is when congressional men and women seem to think themselves to be above all the rest of us creating an

even greater gulf between the gof government and what the government serves. when congress left town on this five-week recess, it was all about obama care. because of the health care law, members of congress are going to have to pay an additional $5,000 a year for an individual health care plan. and $11,000 a year for family coverage. that scared a lot of folks. because they're only making a little bit of money. but a lot more than just about everybody else in the country. so including ddmocrats and obama care supporters, they revolted and president obama struck a deal requiring that we mere citizens and taxpayers pick up the cost for congressional employees who buy policies on the obama care exchanges scheduled to open in less than two months. the rest of us, we get ready to shell out a little more money for obama care.

many residents in new york and california may actually see decreases in those premiums. but residents, for example, across the country, will definitely see increases on average. but in florida, we figure it's going to be about a 35% hike. ohio, you all will see about 41%. indiana, health care costs going up an average of 72%. 72% in indiana. like i said, there's congress and then there's the rest of us. the gulf is wider between us and our presidents. big shot presidents. although this president seems to be trying especially hard to distance himself from mere citizens. vacations on a multimillion dollar martha's vineyard estate. showing great restraint by not leaving town until this saturday for vacation. for now, i base it on that basis, i'd put the score at

obama 1 congress 0. we're coming right back. it said the sun powers light. but it's the solar max that can make life very difficult here on earth. we'll be talking about nasa astrophysicist dr. leak a perta. the countdown to obama care we'll be talking with congressman diane black next right here. stay with us. acting irs

commissioner to toy admitted he was not change his current welfare plan to obamacare my next guest says we are of the 60 days away from implementation at the time the administration says it is not ready about what is surely a trade representative. we now ha fromthe house

ways and means committee and also a member of the budget committee and a registered nurse for more than 4 years. great to have you with us civic figure for having me on. >> you heard that be for all of us peasants out here. >> does that not just tell the story that this is a train wreck. even the acting commissioner at the irs says not for me. i don't want anything to do with it. >> 16,000 of his agents are supposed to be enforcing obama care. the agency doesn't even want to be covered by obama care. when is it going to dawn on everyone that this is a mess and that something had better be done and done quickly. >> that's the reason why we have the hearing today. to shed light on a number of things we've been looking at for several months.

we've been looking at the whole issue of verification. just this really -- it's odd that the secretary sebelius came before our committee back in april and said, 15 different times during that hearing, we're ready to go. there will be no delays. july 4th week, while we were all celebrating the celebrations of the birthday of our country, they came out with two provisions to say we're going to delay. one was the employer mandate and the other was the verification of income for subsidies, which is just defrauding taxpayers and just about -- >> you don't like the honor system when it comes to giving away government money? >> that's right. if that's such a good idea -- i had a question to ask mr. war fell, do you think the w-2 not be required if we want to ask everybody to self-attest to the amount of money they make. we know this is a train wreck and it is defrauding the

american taxpayers. the hard working taxpayers are doing the things the right way. it would be defrauding them if we don't check and verify their income. after all, that's a part of their own bill. >> it's really absurd stuff, frankly. a larger program at this point, medicare, that fraud is estimated between $100 billion, $200 billion a year in fraud alone. >> lou, we have all the programs that are just like medicare where we can point to by the inspector general's report. we have one from the treasury talking about earned income tax credit. $11 billion a year is given out in potentially fraudulent claims for just that program. another $3 billion for education tax credits and there's been an estimated $25 billion of fraudulent taxpayer credits, tax credits that would be given out if there's not a verification system as provided for in their

loan law. once again, these are not provisions that are coming from the republicans. it is the provisions that they put in there. the two major planks, the employer verification that someone has access to employer sponsored insurance and the second is the income verification before someone qualifies to get those tax credits. on both of those together, they're just a recipe for huge amounts of fraud. >> doing this -- you guys are going to vote again to defund the rollback, the affordable care act 40 times? >> yes. we continue to do everything that we can to stop this train wreck from occurring. i believe that the more we can do -- i'd love to totally repeal this bill and start all over again. but something that's patient centered and market-based. that really is the way this should be done. but besides that, the fact that we're not able to fully repeal it, we need to do everything

that we can to delay this train wreck so that we don't have this huge amount of money taken from hard working taxpayers to fund something that is not going to work at tte end of the day. >> congresswoman, we thank you for being with us. appreciate it. good to see you. congresswoman diane black. >> always good to be with you. senator graham has been working hand in hand with president obama on a number of issues of late. leaving south carolina republicans looking for alternatives. nancy mace says she's the woman for the job. you'll meet her here, next. ♪

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and that's why when diet and exercise alone aren't enough to lower cholesterol i prescribe crestor. [ female announr ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. callour doctor right away if you have muscle pain or akness, feel usually tired, have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or ylowing of skin or eyes. these could be signs of rare but serious side effects. is your cholesterol at goal? ask your doctor about crestor. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford yr medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. the primary challenge against senator lindsey graham growing after the republican has been increasingly working with democrats, specifically the president, on a number of issues. state senator lee bright today launched his campaign website

with an official announcement expected next week. he's joining two other republicans including my next guest in challenging graham for the senate seat in 2014. joining us now is nancy mace. she's the first woman to graduate from the citadel. a candidate for the republican senate nomination in the great state of south carolina. great to have you with us. >> thank you for having me, lou. i appreciate it. >> two-term senator, a big deal. on lots of sunday talk shows. president obama and he are getting to be buddies. his best buddy is john mccain. >> right. >> what chance does a newcomer like you have in that kind of deal? >> i think we have a great chance. i think that the people of south carolina are more than ready and willing to see some change. we have a rich history of sending conservative leaders to washington, like jim demint and

scott. are you and senator scott still buddies? there's talk about that. >> he's a former client of mine. i've worked with a few folks in the house, like congressman mulvaney and those from the state legislature in south carolina. and he's one of my former clients. >> and are you still buddies? do you still work together? >> no. if i'm running for the u.s. senate, i have no clients. this is my full-time job. >> i didn't ask if he was your client. i asked if you were still buddies? >> sure. >> that seems a little reluctant, nancy. let's talk about some other buddies. let's talk about governor nikki haley. >> right. >> apparently your relationship with her is a little rocky? >> some might say that, i suppose. but this race is not about the govvrnor. it's about washington. and we're running a campaign. i like what you said earlier about truth and truth in this

administration. the question of this campaign is very simple. do you trust this government? do you trust it with your taxes or your health care or your personal phone and e-mail records? >> right. >> that's what this campaign is about. we're going to work very hard to be successful on june 10th, 2014. >> what are your specific advantages over lindsey graham in your judgment? >> well, i'm not a politician. i think that for starters is a plus. and i've never run for office. being a small business owner, i think, is important because i understand what it's like to start a business. and when i see something like the marketplace fairness act or the internet sales tax putting taxes on the backs of small businesses, those are things that i strongly disagree with. >> and i think a lot of people would agree with you. but your business is actually to help politicians in part, is it not? >> well, no. my business is p.r. and marketing. i work with small businesses and

medium-sized businesses, even publicly traded entities. >> no candidates? >> i have worked with some candidates over the years, sure. if you're a candidate, you're in politics, to be honest, nancy. that's not a persuasive argument for me. i'm not voting in south carolina. >> i mean that as i haven't run for office before. >> in that sense. and the idea that the foundation said you retweeted the following before deleting it to add -- nancy mace, we support you here in florida. nancy mace versus nancy boy graham. that was deleted. was that your account? did you delete it? >> that was my account, absolutely. when we're trying to do right now is interact with people. we've been bombarded and overwhelmed by all the support that we received bothcarolina a. and it's my mission to be able

to interact with people and retweet and we've retweeted a lot of endorsements this week and when that was retweeted, we realized that at the end of the tweet on there shouldn't have been retweeted. we took it down. it's my campaign, i take full responsibility for that. what i see happening in the media is they're taking something and acting as if these are words that came out of my mouth on the stump. so while there's some manufactured outrage, i suppose -- >> you're in media and public relations. you know what's coming. >> we're going to keep calm and pry marry on. >> we wish you well and good fortune. nancy mace, thanks for being here. come back. >> thank you. up next, major league baseball commissioner bud selig drops the hammer on alex rodriguez. he is suspended. but he's playing baseball? wait a minute. fox sports senior baseball writer ken rosenthal explains it all to us next.

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major league baseball suspending 13 players, principal among them alex rodriguez. however, rodriguez is set to make his 2013 debut tonight after major league baseball suspended the yankees third baseman for a record 211 games starting thursday. a-rod is vowing to appeal that decision. here to explain it all. the suspensions, the new major league baseball and what in the world is going on with rodriguez is ken rosenthal, senior baseball writer for fox sports.com. ken, good to have you with us. tell us, i mean, this truly is the beginning of something new about major league baseball,

isn't it? >> caller: they've had testing in place for some years now with penalties. this investigation was a little bit different because it was an investigation of an anti-aging clinic in south florida that was alleged to have provided performance-enhancing drugs to players. so baseball went outside its testing program to investigate these players and that is what led to the suspensions that were announced today. >> and that is a big deal when they go outside the testing program and the union, looks like, it is -- it certainly is in full compliance with, in agreement with major league baseball itself. i've never seen that kind of if you will, a joint view on this issue. >> caller: well, it is a joint agreement. that is precisely what it's called. the union is an interesting place here. on one hand it is charged with enforcing that agreement and doing everything possible to make sure the agreement works

effectively and on the other hand, it will be defending alex rodriguez vigorously because, as the union chief michael wiener said today, they feel that the penalty is too harsh. not appropriate. so the union is caught in between and the difference now, lou, compared to, say, 10 or 15 years ago is that the players want this stuff out of the game. and they're very vocal about it. that is why the union has essentially softened its position. >> and with that softer position, the -- what are the prospects for a-rod? 211 games? this is serious stuff. what are the prospects? >> caller: hard to know without knowing the evidence. >> right. >> caller: but the union will argue that this penalty is for a first-time offender under the drug program. a-rod has never disciplined. it's way beyond where it should be. the longest penalty for a first-time user or first-time violator is 65 games.

that's the one that went to ryan braun. baseball feels that it has ample evidence to justify the rest of this season and next season, 211 games. but we will see if, indeed, before an arbitrator that holds. >> there's another charge in this that is interesting. it looks to me like it may indicate something, again, new about the era that is perhaps dawning with these suspensions. and that is the obstructing of the major league baseball's investigation itself. your thoughts on that, ken? >> caller: that is one of the allegations against alex rodriguez. and as far as we know right now, all we know is the statement that baseball issued today, which was that in addition to using performance-enhancing drugs over multiple years and the drugs included testosterone, human growth hormone, in addition to that, baseball cited alex rodriguez for "obstructing and frustrating their investigation of biogenesis."

how exactly he did that, we do not know just yet. >> ken, the impact on baseball itself, it seems as though major -- professional sports is absolutely impervious to the scandals that have toucced, whether it be basketball, whether it's a professional football, baseball. do you expect there to be an impact and will it be positive or negative as a result of these suspensions? >> caller: that's a great point about professional sports basically being impervious to all of these things. baseball has had record revenues for several years now. all the indicators for the most part are up. attendance, local television revenue, national television revenue. these flare-ups with the performance-enhancing drugs have not affected that one bit. if anything, baseball is making positive strides here at least to show that it cares about this. >> ken, we thank you for being

with us. a slumbering giant force with a potential to destroy all cell phone communications, disrupt all radio and television transmissions, knock out the entire global electrical grid. we'll be talking with one of nasa's top astrophysicists, dr. lika guhathakurta joins us to tell us what likely lies ahead next. the boys used double miles from their capital one venture card to fly home for the big family reunion. youust be garth's father? hello. mher. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actuay use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ win! what's in your wallet?

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the sun is moving toward a big change in its magnetic field. in fact the poles are about to switch. and that could have a major affect on perhaps our entire solar system. according to nasa, a change that could quite possibly, if all goes -- well, we don't know for sure. but amazing solar storms, electronic communications could be threatened. to give us some sense of what is

happening here in the solar maximum is dr. lika guhathakurta. doctor, it's it's great to have you with us. this is exciting stuff. i don't think most people know that the activity on our sunday is the least it's been for 100 years. that this maximum looks an awful look a minimum, doesn't it? >> actually, it does. it's really interesting. you know, many people don't even think of sun as a star simply because we see it in our day sky. we are used to associating stars with night sky. so, yes, what's going on in the sun as a star and how that affects us is really something that many people don't know. >> what is it risk here in your judgment potentially as we watch the poles of the sun actually

reverse then selves as they do every 11 years in the solar cycle? give us a sense of that. >> so as you mentioned, right, this is kind of almost clockwork. the sun goes through an activity phase called a solar cycle. when the magnetic field on the sun actually goes through peaking and then it goes down. it goes through ups and downs. and this happens about every 11 years and so the actual magnetic field in the poles goes through a reversal every 11 years. so what we are witnessing is not really unprecedented because this has happened over and over again and in the last 50 years of space age, what we have been able to do is study this phenomenon with better and better resolution telescopes. we're getting a better insight into what's actually happening

on the sun and can be predict some of this phenomenon with sufficient accuracy that people can then begin to kind of take some preventive measure. because this activity on the sun, the solar cycle, can cause all kinds of effects like space weather. >> space weather affecting our satellite communications, affecting our power grid. if indeed coronal injections, the flares are strong enough, powerful enough and the influence on our gravity, our polar system itself, what are your expectations for the next few months? what can we expect as the sun goes -- begins its transition from the peak activity solar maximum? >> what's happening right now, the fact that we are able to

actually witness that field, the polar field of the sun is actually reversing, that tells us that we are very close to solar maximum. solar maximum is when we have sunspots that kind of pepper the surface of the sun. these are dark regions and these are regions of very strong magnetic field. in fact, this dark regions, if you took one of them out from the surface would be very bright. but they're dark because of the strong magnetic field which inhibits essentially -- >> with about 45 second left, doctor, do you expect this to have an impact here on earth? >> so solar maximum will have greater number of solar storms. solar storms can always have impact on our technologically dependent society. these observations are used by the prediction center to provide alerts and forecasting to the rest of the nation.

so i think we're well-prepared. >> all right. that's reassuring. we thank you for being here to reassure us. dr. lika guhathakurta. thanks for joining us. that does it for us. good night from new york. >> announcer: the following program is a paid advertisement for the food lovers fat loss system, brought to you by provida life sciences-- practical solutions for better living. >> what if you could lose weight simply, practically anfast? >> the food lovers fat loss system is probably the easiest program i've ever done >> you lose weight like crazy. it just amazed me how it melts off. >> i lost 16 pounds in the first 21 days. >> what if you could finally keep that weight off for the rest of your life? >> i lost 50 pounds in a matr of like, six months and i've kept it f for five years. >> i've lost 55 pounds in 10 months and i've had it off for nine years. >> what if you could lose weight without ever going hungry, without ever depriving yourself of a single one of the foods you love? >> i've never been hungry >> i actually eat more now than