bill: good morning america. he said he had a specific plan to get america working. but he isn't ready to tell us what that is. now word that the president and the white house will lay out the new ideas in the month of september. i kind of like august. i don't want the summer to end just yet. the white house says they are fresh ideas. welcome to america's newsroom. martha: with millions facing unemployment the republican candidates are not waiting to have this conversation. rick perry already trading jabs with the president on the best way to get americans back and work. he's declaring himself america's quote jobs governor. bill: latest rasmussen polling shows the texas governor who just joined the race leading

that group with 29% of the vote. that's a volatile field. byron, good morning to you. what do you make of the perry surge or is he just the flavor of the week. >> on paper perry has all the credentials to be a serious contender for the presidential nomination. he got a lot of good press to the buildup to his candidacy 15-minute we are just now seeing him. he made a few verbal gaffes. but he made a good speech coming out in south carolina and in waterloo, iowa. bill: what is the story do you believe with many republicans well known conservatives who are pushing paul ryan, talking a lot about chris christie. is there something truly behind that? or is that just words? >> what's behind it is a number of observers thought once rick perry finally got in the field

would be set and this waiting for superman idea would go away, but it hasn't. there is a desire for some other candidate. paul ryan, a man who knows the federal budget better than anybody. chris christy basically said he would commit suicide rather than run for president. i don't see that happening. there is still this republican hunger because mitt romney remains a rather brittle front runner when he was ahead, and rick perry is untested on the presidential field. he had a rocky couple of days. he will probably right the ship. bill: i think what the rasmussen polls tells us ultimately is how unsettled this field is and how people are looking and trying to figure out which man or woman it is they want. >> being in iowa, so many people told me the same thing. they didn't know who they wanted to support. the ames, iowa, straw poll had a

blank line for write-ins. they included that because the field was fluid and people wanted other candidates. the jumping in of rick perry has not changed that. bill: byron york parsing the latest numbers. this to see you, byron. martha: there is one republican candidate who says rick perry needs to watch his sharp words on the campaign trail. rick santorum blasting perry who said if the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke prints mormon why it would be almost treasonous. rick santorum told sean hannity perry's comments he believed were out of bounds. >> he needs to take a step back and understand we need to have good civil discourse about ideas and not taking pot shots. marthabill: a bit of correctiond

by michele bachmann. the minnesota congresswoman and presidential hopeful getting her facts wrong about the king of rock 'n roll as folks mark 34 years since the passing of elvis presley. bachmann told a crowd this on the stage. >> before we get started let's say happy birthday to elvis birthday today. happy birthday. he played you a little bit of promisedland when we pulled up but you can't do better than elvis expressly and we thought we would celebrate his birthday. as we get started the celebrating, take our country back. bill: as you know, one problem there. it wasn't august. it was january when he was born. august is when he passed. bachmann corrected herself at a later campaign stop for that.

we'll talk about rick perry and seep if he can sustain that lofty position. fox news is your front row seat on politics. it is all there for you here in america's newsroom. martha: wisconsin's recall elections that were triggered. who can forget that scene. everybody camped out on the state capital or days on ends. the unofficial results show two democrats have held on to their seats securing the gains their party made when two republicans were defeated in the recalls. the gop remains control of the state that in wisconsin with a 17-16, a slim majority. bill: a new report revealing a major misstep that may be putting u.s. troops in harm's way. body armor. one of the last lines of defense

fear a u.s. soldier may be improperrerly tested. -- improperly tested. peter doocy, what kind of equipment does this report deal with? >> reporter: the defense department does not know for sure if 5.1 ballistic inserts, the bullet blocking part of our soldier's body armor actually worked. in 7 contracts, the d.o.d. inspector general's two-year audit says there is no way to know for sure if the plates are protecting our men and women on the front lines because the testing was not complete. and the testing was done with inconsistent ballistics. on top of all this important altitude testing was left out because wars in iraq and

afghanistan and they reportedly didn't have time. bill: what was the reaction and response, peter? >> the army says they have been working on insuring safety long before this report came out. all inspector general recommendations to improve the testing process have been implemented. the inspector general's report is 51 pages long. it conclude limited asure is all the army program assurance is able to give our soldiers. this is not a new issue for them. back in 2008 there was a similar report that says some of the body armor was faulty. and they ended up having to recall 16,000 ceramic plates. martha: there is some backlash over some comments from the agriculture secretary about food

stamps and jobs. he says the decade old program of food stamps for the poor is actually a stimulus to the u.s. the economy. stuart varney joins me now on this fox business network. you know, this is a tough argument. nancy pelosi made this argument as well. the more food stamps and the more welfare in general, those numbers come back into the u.s. economy and it's overall good stimulus. >> reporter: that is the administration's argument, that one dollar of government spending sometime lates the economy. one dollar of government spending stimulates the economy by more than $1. that's why the administration is very pleased, it's almost celebrating the rise in the number of food stamp participants up by a third in just two years. 38.8 million americans get food

stamps. the administration says that's good, the record number of people on food stamps, that is a good thing. it stimulates the economy. the secretary says it is a job creator. martha: this is a real philosophical question. if you feel good about the fact that one in seven americans gets food stamps in this country i guess you can feel good about it. 8. >> million checks going out to americans over the course of the month of august. a lot -- i got a lot of blowback when i said that was an astonishing number. people said we paid into these systems and we want to get out from them. is this the country we want to be? one in seven people need food stamps. we want people to not need them. >> do food stamps create jobs? is it a stimulator? yes, it is a stimulator to the

economy. but there are plenty of economists outside the administration that say this does not stimulate the economy. it does not stimulate the economy, it takes away from consumption and investment. the other question is moral. do we want a society where we celebrate one in seven people on food stamps? is this the kind of america we want to see? that is a moral question and i'll leave that to others to answer. martha: season me a tweet if you have thoughts on that at martha mccallum. bill: in the meantime we are going the cram a lot more in in the next 50 minutes. also americans will have to wait until september to hear president obama's new jobs plan. does that make sense to you? brand-new comments from john boehner telephoning the white house it's time to get back to work. we'll have that. martha: they were married only

11 days. a newlywed bride watches her husband get killed by a shark on their honeymoon. we'll tell you where this tragedy happened. bill: they were the agents in charge of a bomped bu -- a botcn running scheme, so how did they get a promotion. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help ler a1c. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf ubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance.

[ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. ♪ ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can cot on. ♪ if you open up a charge card account with us. [ male announcer ] identity thieves never stop coming up with ways to steal from you. they can open up an account in your nam and go on a serious spending spree. do you have cufflinks? mm-hmm. gold ones? [ male announcer ] not on our watch. we're lifelock. go to lifelock.com and learn how our patented billion point database can help protecyou. call 1-800-lifelock today. lifelock. relentlessly protecting your identity.

martha: the commuters are up in arms over a proposed toll hike that would cover the state budgets. the port authority is proposing a toll hike to fund their new projects, making the trip to new york city as much as $15 a day just to get across the bridge or tunnel. rush-hour drivers in san francisco pay $6. i remember when it was $6 here in new york. it was a long time ago.

unions support the plan. they say it will create jobs. but some taxpayers are calling it an unfair burden to bear. >> you are discriminating and we have had enough because our pockets won't take it anymore. >> we are fed up with this. this has to stop. you can't just turn around, 50%. what the hell do you think we are? we grow money on trees? martha: the proposal is scheduled for a vote friday. the final vote is subject to a veto by the governor of new york or new jersey. $15 just to get to work. plus you have to paper new york city taxes when you don't live there. >> america's crisis is not bad luck, it's bad policies from washington, d.c. jobs come by keeping taxes low, by controlling spending, by reforminger to the lawing -- ret

laws. president obama's policies increased unemployment, exploded the debt and led to the first downgrade of credit in our country's history. bill: that was moments ago, rick perry in new hampshire hitting hard at the with it house policies. we are getting reports that president obama will unveil a new and fresh plan to create jobs in september. jerry moran is a republican senator out of kansas. you are urging the white house to call congress back to work now. what would that accomplish? >> well, what i asked the president to do is provide leadership and come up with a plan to work with republican and democrat leaders of the house and senate. there is no reason to wait until

september. when we left washington, d.c. after the debt ceiling vote, our business was unfinished. and we saw that with the downgrade by standard and poor's. now that i have been back in kansas and had a good dose of common sense and good judgment from kansans, they are frustrated with the inability of congress to work together. what they know is the economy needs work and it can't wait and people need jobs and waiting for the president to say something in september, this is the third year of this president's four-year term and he's ready to make a major speech about jobs and unemployment and the economy. we know there are common sense things we could agree upon. the president ought to work with congress and take into accounts the suggestions we have and let us get back to work, not in september, but back to work now. bill: the white house says that's the reason you went on break so you could hold 87 town hall meetings and listen to 0

your constituents so you get a better idea what they are telling you. that the reason for the break. >> the president doesn't need a bus tour to know what americans are thinking. while town hall meetings are an important part of how i conduct my job. this isn't a new development. the idea we have to regroup back in washington, d.c. to come up with a new plan, where is the president been and i would include and bring congress into this as well. this is not a problem that's new to us. the president is talking about politics of getting reelected and job creation's role in that regard as compared to addressing the real problems of our country dealing with a regulatory environment, a tax code, lack of exports and trade around the world, and energy policy that discourages the production of our own sources of energy.

there are things we ought to be able to agree upon that doesn't take some rollout of a president's new political speech and get us back to work today so that we can get americans back to work in future. bill: you will get a crack at that real soon. that doesn't counts the millions more that dropped out of the workforce because they gave up looking. here is what we believe the president will offer. tax cuts, job creation infrastructure ideas. they say it's new and fresh ideas, what do you make of that based on what you heard so far. >> what i want to go does the president understand and congressional leaders understand the federal government doesn't create jobs in the long term. it creates the promotion of a free market system. we ought to create an environment in which the business community can make decisions. now is the time to invest in plant and equipment. now is the time to add to the

payroll. if the president's proposals will be once again the belief -- reflecting his belief you simply spend more money to creates more jobs, it won't work. it's how we got into the downgrade we are in growing from our federal spending being about 18% of our economy to 25% in the last two years. the downgrade occurs because we are spending too much money and not focused on the creation of jobs in the private sector. bill: the white house says it's new and fresh ideas. sir, thank you for your time. jerry moran is a republican senator out of kansas. martha: it was a dramatic end to a dramatic standoff. how rescue crews finally managed to get a man down from a tv tower and why he is so lucky to be alive this morning. bill: the challenge to the president's healthcare law heading for the u.s. supreme court with, they have say, if the individual mandate is ruled

unconstitutional, what happens then. what critics say could make matters worse. during the commercial break let us know what you think online. will the healthcare law's individual mandate survive the u.s. supreme court? you can vote during county break. we are back after this. [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and youbills. so you can view them by category... or by month. you can set a budget... d it'll even alert you when you're getting close

to the amount you've set -- anhen you've gone over. spending zone is built to help you keep better track of your spending. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you up to thousands of dollars. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, i can keep my own doctor and choose my own hospital.

and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now...

bill: a firm investigates the stage collapse in indiana. a rescue crew scaling a huge rock to save two teenagers strand on a ledge in california. they appear to be doing just fine, and so, too, does the rock. a bizarre sighting at a water

treatment plan. workers spotting a cappa-barra. it's the largest rodent in the whole world. martha: rodents are bad enough. but this rodent weighs 110-120 pounds. bill: they say it's from south america. martha: it's like a rat the size of a large dog. bill: dinner. martha: so how about this story. it has been going on for almost a week. a high-wire standoff that we have been watching came to a dramatic end. a mentally ill man climbed a tv tower in tulsa, oklahoma. he became so weak and dehydrated he almost passed out and fell. but thankfully someone was there to grab him at the last second.

>> he started to pass out, and i grabbed him to keep him from falling. for a minute he was completely out. i was just holding on to him and he snapped back into the and we started over again. martha: listen to this. >> 25-year-old william sturdevant began his long standsoff you have on a tv tower. police and onlookers watched the monday and night. >> is he going to jump, is of going to die, is he going to live, is he going to come down? >> reporter: he could be seen standing, sitting and even napping on the structure. at times he was shouting down to police. rescue crews tried several tactics in an effort to get him down including offering him food and water. >> we employed almost every negotiation strategy with this

gentleman. >> reporter: they could not force the man down and it was low jis tickally impossible -- it was logistically impossible to place a net under the tower because of its size. >> i just took my time and just continued to allow him to talk. we just kind of got it honed in that he was afraid. he felt like he had hurt people. so we had to deal with that. finally he came on down. >> reporter: he's being treated for dehydration at hospital. he's expected to be transferred to a mental health facility for observation. he could be charged with trespassing. martha: thanks to ainsley for that story. bill: if he slips, with it's all over. those rescue workers, terrific work there. all that's left now is the image of an empty babe i stroller.

after a family is gunned down and a manhunt underway for the shooter. who did this. martha: rick perry, we have been listening to what he has been saying, he just dropped another bombshell. what he said that will have the white house taking notice. bill: before you head out to the park, the beach or the pool. take this with you. go to foxnews.com/mobile and download our app for your phone. it's available right now. martha: we'll come to the beach with you today. hi. you know, i can save you 15% today

if you open up a charge card account with us. [ male announcer ] identity thieves never stop coming up with ways to steal from you. they can open up an account in your nam and go on a serious spending spree. do you have cufflinks? mm-hmm. gold ones? [ male announcer ] not on our watch. we're lifelock. go to lifelock.com and learn how our patented billion point database can help protecyou. call 1-800-lifelock today. lifelock. relentlessly protecting your identity. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

martha: texas governor rick perry drops a new bombshell over his comments about ben bernanke. he said printing more money before the election would be almost treasonous. >> if this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what y'all would do to him in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous in my opinion. martha: you know he got a lot of

heat for that. he was basically asked do you want to walk it back web said no i don't want to walk it back. moments ago in new hampshire he's going further with this line of thinking. >> whether you are the governor a state, whether you are the president of the united states, whether you are head of the agency, or if -- you know an independent branch of government, or not a branch of government, but an agency of government like the federal reserve, they should open their books up, they should be transparent so the people of the united states know what they are doing, how they are doing it. martha: he went on to say they are not taking any improper actions which is basically what he he alluded to in that comment. tucker carlson, good to have you here. a lot of heat came towards rick perry yesterday. by spoke to karl rove and he

said his comments were unpresidential. today rick perry is taking that whole notion another step further. >> i think in this case perry's critics have done him a great service. i don't think the perry campaign was ready to lead with the issue of the federal reserve. but it is one of the main ways the executive branch influences our economy. there is no question the fed has devalued the dollar over the past couple years and that's a bad thing and most people agrieft's a bad thing. by perry bringing this up it gives his campaign focus in a very specific and again resonant issue that a lot of voters particularly on the right deeply care about. no one else is talking about it. martha: it is something we need to talk about and something the executive branch, the president of the administration, that's a way they have power to talk to the federal reserve, the federal

reserve prints money as a lot of people have criticized, as a way to stimulate the economy. so it does go to the basic notion of the administration's efforts to stimulates the economy. but what do you make of sort of the heat that rick perry got for talking about ben bernanke that way? >> it's coming from a couple of different places. it's coming from the left that's trying to print rick perry as a racist. but it's also coming from some conservatives, some former bush people. there has been a widely reported tension between perry and former president bush and their staffs. and there is no question that that plays a role in this. but again i don't think the perry campaign meant to talk about this issue, and i think they have woken up to the fact that it's advantageous to do so. there is an unwritten agreement you don't cite size the fed. interview ron paul voters.

ask people why they support ron paul and you will get six times out of 10, the federal reserve as an answer. this is a big deal. martha: talk to me about the perry candidacy. donald trump is a tough comparison. if he had a weekend where he looked like he was going gangbusters. you look at wes clark and fred thompson. people say we know who the candidate is now. do you see rick perry having lasting power in this thing? >> he's the longest serving governor in the history of texas. he's like wes clark you are right blew up and deflated in almost the same week. he has experience on the campaign trail albeit in one state. a lot of people noticed the perceived weakness of the republican field.

there are a lot of voters focused on defeating barack obama in the field. you can't deny that he announces and he's the front runner in the same day. martha: is mitt romney play can it right to be playing it quiet right now? >> i think he is. i think they are waiting to see if perry implodes. i don't know that he will, though. martha: thank you very much. bill: we mention this about 20 minutes ago. about this jobs plan that will be unveiled after labor day weekend for the president and the white house. it will be in two different proposals. one is on the jobs plan, the other is a plan the president will submit to that super committee, 12 members of congress, six democrats and six republicans, and it will be consistent with what barack obama and john boehner

apparently worked out behind closed doors on the debt negotiations, that if you believe the reports that came out of the white house, suggest a $4 trillion cut in spending is what is needed for the u.s. federal budget. so we are working through this stuff and we'll talk with that 30 minute from now. a check of wall street. a down day yesterday. we are watching europe again today. issues with germany. when you have issues with growth in germany i have questions about the entire continent of europe. we are off yesterday 75 points. but so far so good. 60 points in the early trading for the dow. new technology designed to keep your children safe. this is designed to allow parents to upload recent pictures of their kids and store information to the descriptions for your child. there are concerns over privacy and laura age is tracking that down. what does this fbi program do? >> this is cool. the child i.d.app is designed to

help parents in the first critical moments when their child goes missing. it can be shown right on the spot at a shopping mall or emailed to the police. the app created by the fbi is only available for the iphone right now with plans to expand. other mobile parenting apps using gps sets up a virtual neighborhood of prearranged helpers for the child to call if they are in distress. then you have ihound which helps children notify parents when they arrive at a location. child privacy advocates says the information could be helpful but needs to be carefully checked out. >> if it's accessing gps data and personal data then do research on those companies.

there are profound privacy problems presented by mobile applications. >> for its part the fbi tells us it will not collects or store any information. they are but with a cautious eye as far as what they say they are going to do at the fbi. bill: what kind of reaction are you getting from parents? >> reporter: for the most part the parent we talk to they say they are, but with a cautious eye. parents we spoke to yesterday say they plan on buying smartphone just for these types of apps. >> when you are in a panic i might forget what they are wearing. i don't always carry pictures of them. >> i think people are concerned with privacy. but i think in this case safety outweighs privacy. >> reporter: security experts say technology doesn't replace good parenting, but these devices could help when you need it the most. bill: we'll get more information from parents including this one

right here. would you do it? martha: you put all that information into something and you wonder if someone else could get their hands on it. i'm a little wary. i'm old-fashioned. you have top watch out for your kids. it's tough, though. you look at what happened. think about that brooklyn story over the summer. anyway, something to think about this morning. this is the centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. but cotten tire healthcare law be in trouble if the supreme court says the individual mandate is unconstitutional. what happens to the rest of the plan? bill: holding on for dear life, the dramatic attempt to save a teenager from being swept away by that rushing river.

- because it's completely invisible. - because it's designed to help me hear better. male announcer: introducing amp, a new kind of hearing aid, so tiny, it's invisible. female announcer: amp is comfortable to wear and easily removable. amp, the hearing aid for people who aren't ready for a hearing aid. male announcer: call: to find an amp hearing professional near you. only $1,500 a pair. martha: a british man died after he was attacked by a shark in

the sainthe seychelles island. look at this beautiful picture of this couple. they went to the seychelles on their honeymoon. she basically watched him snorkling 20 yards from the shore and saw him getting thrashed around by this huge bull shark and he died in front of her 11 days after they got married. another tourist was also killed in that same area and people suspect it may have been by that same -- they are call can it a rogue shark, a bull shark off the coast of the seychelles. bill: it's a key part of the president's healthcare overhaul and it might be in trouble. at issue is the individual mandate that requires by law every american to buy insurance or face a fine. we have the former cbo director,

doug, good morning to you. this is a what-if scenario. does healthcare survive if the mandate like a court ruled last week is stripped out? >> it probably does not. it is built around the notion that every insurance company has to sell you a policy if you ask. if people aren't required to buy a policy when they are healthy they can wait until they are in ambulance. and insurers, the whole thing falls apart. bill: so what the insurance companies would have to do, the insurance companies would have to make up that money somewhere. >> they are not allowed to charge higher premiums. bill: they would make it up by increasing the premiums. there was a blog suggesting that if that mandate is stripped out your premium would increase by

twice. is that possible? >> the is entirely possible. insurers would try to raise premiums. there are rules that say you can't raise them too much. they would be limited in what they could do. if your premium goes up you will say forget it, i'll buy it when i need it. bill: you go back to congress. you try and compensate for that. but the law the way it's structured is written in a way where it's difficult to 2001 wind, is it not? >> it's very difficult to unkind. if you are not going to force people to buy insurance, there are concerns about what this law will cost. if you have to bribe everybody to buy insurance, it will be much more expensive. so that route doesn't appear promising either. bill: there is another option. it's called medicare part b. it's not a mandate to sign up for. but if you don't sign up for it at a younger age. you pay a lot more money down

the road. is that an option of this law being changed? >> you could try to change insurance rules so the first time you sign up you get the premium that's offered. but if you wait, you pay a higher premium for every year you wait to $get insurance. it'it's voluntary to buy it. bill: that's not a mandate. your best hunch right now, what is your best hunch based on what the courts ruled so far. what the supreme court does with this when it gets it. >> truth is, no one knows. but the story the obama administration wants to tell, people not buying insurance sifts their costs onto the rest of us and that's why insurance is so expensive. it's a good bedtime story for health policy geeks. but the numbers don't add up. most of the people who are in

that 43 billion aren't southbound the mandate. if the justices do the arithmetic they will be hard pressed to cover this tiny sliver of a problem. bill: doug holtz, thank you. next time i'll get to you nail down a number. we'll work on that. martha: it was a picture perfect campaign scene out of iowa. the red barn and american flag. but things got a little bit tense for president obama during some of his questioning when one of his supporters took his record to task. bill: he is one of america's biggest teen sensations. in moments what his favorites girl just did for him.

bill: a street in texas renamed justin bieber way for just a day. 11-year-old care line gonzalez chosen to be mayor using her political clout to honor her favorite singer. >> i like justin bieber. i have been on student council for two years. we have done tape drives and canned food drives and collected shoes and stuff to take to the orphanages. bill: sounds like they has a political future. it was only up there for one day, the sign was, and it set the city back a total of $20. martha: sounds like a good

investment. a small atlanta suburb approving a mosque project. critics say the plan of the zoning plan there of not religion motivated this fight. take a look. >> it's wrong. it's wrong in many ways. in the zoning issue it's still wrong. all that traffic is going to come down my street, hood road. >> if it's not about religion and it's about land use, then in our opinion we have no choice but to approve it. martha: this has been a fascinating battle to watch. how did the final vote go, elizabeth? >> they passed it. they will be expanding the mosque. the vote was 3-1 last night. it was a heated meeting. there was hundreds of residents there. they had four of these very heated debates so far. the congregation argued it needs

the space. its membership has quadrupled since 1998. but the residents say it's not a religious issue, it's a figure and noise. >> we have put forth our objections based on land use and zoning issues. we never used religion as a tool in our arguments. >> reporter: the mosque will expand from 2,000 square feet to a 20,000 worship center. martha: how did we get to this point? >> reporter: it started in 2009 when they initially applied to expand. they went back in 2010. those plans were denied. and that's when an attorney for the congregation filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city of 12,000 residents. that has been dropped this morning.

but the federal government says they will investigate whether the city violated the land use by rejecting the previous application. bill there are is new fallout, that botched gun program known as fast and furious. some of the guns connected to 11 murders, there are new development in this investigation, we'll have that for you. martha: rick perry going after the federal reserve now today with new comments. brand-new comments on this. we'll show if you a moment. he wants more transparency out of the feds. his new standing as fronts runner in the gop race has a lot of people paying attention. map @

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪

♪ hah @ @@@ ♪ why settle for a one-note cereal? get more with honey bunches of oats. four nutritious grains come together for more taste, more texture, more healthy satisfaction. have a bowl of happy.

martha: atrio of republican white house hopefuls hitting target number 2 in the battle for the oval office, rick perry

and mitt romney and ron paul rolling into new hampshire today, a busy day today, the home of the nation's first primary, a crucial, crucial pit stop for anybody interested in that top job at the white house, how we get rolling on this wednesday. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. how is the vacation... holding on to it. martha: absolutely, can you tell? bill: yeah, i can, actually. good luck with that, okay? rick perry cranking up the criticism of the federal reserve. >> if they would open up and be transparent with the american people it would go a long way towards either finding out whether or not there is activities that are improper for they've handled them. selves quite well but until they do that, there will continue to be questions about their

activity and what their true goal is for the united states. martha: interesting, right, instead of pushing that comment aside, he's digging deeper into what is going on at the federal reserve. and carl cameron, a rare appearance in washington as he's on the campaign trail most days, carl, how are you? >> reporter: great, martha. there is a lot going on in new hampshire, i tell you, those three candidates and, mitt romney is in new hampshire bashing president obama and, will pretty much avoid talking about his rivals, the republican, rick perry and/or ron paul and, mr. paul corniis concord, and, he was less than 3% off the pace, in the straw poll and, rick perry stands by his remarks regarding the possibility ben bernanke might be guilty of, quote, treasonness behavior, were he to print more money and president obama

mentioned rick perry in the context and the texas governor turned the tables, not away from ben bernanke and on the president, listen to this: >> yesterday, the president said, i needed to watch what i say. and i want to respond back, if i may, mr. president, actions speak louder than words. my actions as governor, are helping create jobs in the country. the president's actions are killing jobs. >> reporter: that said, mr. perry did seem to tamp down his texas twang a little bit and he was at the politics and eggs breakfast, a gathering of very, very politically influential activists and operatives and candidates and lawmakers themselves also go to that and he took a lot of very, very tough questions, this morning. martha. martha: interesting, no doubt a really important stop for him, as he tries to gather support. in new hampshire, and what about

michelle bachmann? what is she up to today. >> reporter: he's in north carolina, raising money and yesterday she was in south carolina, playing up her christian faith, courting south carolina voters and had a tough day, too, and started it out by mistaking the anniversary of elvis presley's death with his birthday and, the aides said that that was a mistake and she simply misspoke and is trying to clear up questions over her tardiness at a g.o.p. dinner in iowa, and was late in waterloo and a lot of folks thought she didn't put in enough effort there and she said she was at a family reunion and her aides say, she didn't go to one family reunion and wasn't lying when she said that was the explanation and met with other family members and they will not say who are where but argue all of this is really not a good measure of whether or not she'd make a great president. martha: a lot of questions cropping up, carl, thank you very much, carl cameron reporting from washington. bill: getting this republican leader in the house, making a direct appeal to the president, on the economy.

"usa today," speaker john boehner, majority leader eric cantor write the following: time and again we've reached out to president obama in hope to he'd finally be ready to do what is needed to solve our debt crisis and tackle america's job crisis. the offer still stands. let's get to work, end quote. they say more needs to be done, to create jobs and reduce the tax burden on businesses and, the white house for its part announcing a major address, set for september. right after labor day. right after the president's vacation. they say the president will lay out his plan for america to get working again, and they say fresh details will be contained in the speech and new ideas, they insist and chief white house correspondent, ed henry live in a couple minutes on the north lawn to tell us what is expected then. martha: let's go to new jersey and this story, now, where a manhunt is underway, after a mother and father pushing a stroller down the street were shot. the mother is dead and this is the video of the scene, witnesses say they heard several

shots, and saw both parents fall to the ground. and, police are snow searching for two men who fired on the couple with a rifle and people on the street, of course were shocked. >> i've never seen anything like this around here. a shame, what happened. you know? when i went up to the bar, a couple people were talking about it. they thought it was fireworks. you know? they didn't know it was going to be like this. martha: so sad. the children in this case were not hurt. and it is not clear if the family was the intended target. the father is in the hospital and no word on how he's doing. bill: there is a major break apparently now in the case of an american woman missing on the island of aruba. investigators say gary giordano, the man currently held in robyn gardener's disappearance took out a massive insurance policy just before leaving for that trip. now police believe that her d

disappearance may be part of an elaborate fraud attempt. steve harrigan, what are we learning about a possible motive. >> reporter: a short time ago, fox news has confirmed through aruban authorities that he took out and insurance policy on his travel companion, robyn gardener and "abc news" reports it was an accidental death insurance policy worth $1.5 million and more details about giordano's past. a string of court documents show a number of charges including domestic violence and stalking and he's also accused of videotaping ex-girlfriends during sexual encounters and posting some of those pornographic images on the web. also, charged with petty theft. and, a real string of history of violence and stalking, against giordano as well, showing up in court documents in maryland, bill. bill: that is interesting. a new twist there and what about the search for heraruban author

are planning a major speech and will use police and military as well and fbi agents are involved, and will send bloodhounds and fbi agents searched his house in maryland, as well and giordano has yet to be officially charged in the case, and aruban authorities say they'll detain him at least another 16 days, citing major inconsistencies in his terry. bill: steve harrigan, a mystery now, thank you, out of miami. martha: and brand new developments in america's third war. as the investigation into the atf gun trafficking operation fast and furious has really broken new ground. okay? according to documents that were received by fox news, the agency, atf is now admitting that weapons from that botched program didn't de indeed turn u the scene of crimes including the murder of a border patrol

agent. william lajeunesse joins us now, what can you tell us about how they are piecing it all together to trace the weapons back to the program? >> reporter: well, fast and furious lasted 18 months, martha and in that time, atf helped sell 2500 weapons from five gun stores in arizona and we know police in mexico and the u.s. recovered half of those weapons. some were seized in routine police work and traffic stops or drug stash houses when cops raided a location and take drugs and money and often the guns and the atf has something, time to crime, from the day the gun is sold, to the day it is recovered at the crime scene and some cases, guns sold in phoenix showed up at crime scenes with cartels in just 7 days. to date we only knew of three violent crimes committed with fast and furious guns, agent brian murray and the torture and murder of a lawyer in chihuahua and, a letter from charles grassley a month ago, the atf

admitted to 11 more crimes in it and there are two keys in the letter, number one, 11 fast and furious guns were found, at violent crime scenes, robbery, homicide, assault and number 2, they were found not in mexico, but in the u.s. sources say at least some of those guns were recovered in phoenix, and, el paso. now, the atf says it doesn't have specifics. my sources say that that is untrue. why? because when police filed a gun trace request there is a computer field and that is on the screen and the police agency says, describe the instances where the gun was found. where specifically, and so, atf and doj said that up until now, they didn't know, and when these instances come to light, martha, it is another embarrassing chapter, another story, crime victims potentially have claims against the government. martha? martha: what a mess. william, thank you very much. bill: brings us to the question here. you would think the men in charge of the operation would have been fired or at least reprimanded, right? guess again.

they were just promoted. all three of them. now, the man who blew the whistle on the mission is here to talk about that move. stay tuned for that. martha: and president obama and texas governor rick perry, there they are, side by side are competing for face time on the campaign trail, what happened in iowa yesterday. but it was actually the president who may have faced the toughest question there. >> i'm just curious, moving forward, what prevents you from taking a harder negotiating stance? seeing that it seems the republicans are taking a really hard stance? martha: the answer to that question, what the president had to say in that moment, alan colmes joins me in a moment to answer the question. bill: and she vanished more than two months ago and now the search for a missing college student. leading police to a grim location. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com.

but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a

price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. a living, breathing intelligence that's helpi drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪

martha: dueling trips through the heartland, president obama and rick perry crisscrossed each other in iowa yesterday on the campaign bus, and, at times, only several miles apart. with in spitting distance of each other, you could say! and the texas governor managed to dominate a lot of the headlines with his controversial comments we have discussed earlier on the show today but the "new york times" op-ed writer maureen dowd focused on what the president said and she said this, she said, as obama did dressage, perry galloped through iowa like an unbroken stallion in danger of cracking a leg which i thought was an interesting line, joined by alan colmes, host of the alan colmes radio show. >> sounds great when people who don't normally agree with maureen dowd, to support arguments... martha: the image of perry galloping across the unbroken

stallion in danger... >> you want as a president, a galloping stallion. martha: the point was, she felt that, you know, the president was sort of, you know, a little bit off his game and talked about the tense moment that happened, in the sound bite and let's play it. what a woman named emily, out at a farm, farm ground in iowa, let's play that. >> so when you ran for office, you built a tremendous amount of trust with the american people that you seemed like someone who would not move the bar enough and it seems especially the last year, as if you are negotiating -- your negotiating tactics cut away at the trust by compromising key principles, that we believed in, like the tax cuts and not fighting harder for single payor and even, social security and medicare seemed on the line, when we were dealing with the debt ceiling. so, i'm just curious, moving forward, what prevents you from taking a harder negotiating stance? being that it seems that the republicans are taking a really hard stance? >> president barack obama: well, this is a good question.

and i'm glad you asked it. because obviously i have been... you know, i have been getting a lot of this is in the press lately. martha: what is your reaction to the woman's question. >> she will not vote for rick perry if she's interested in single payor health care and there are people who are on the left who wish the president stood up to the republicans and said, i'm invoking the 14th amendment, if you do not come to an agreement i don't want to make the markets unstable and a lot of people wish he stuck to his plan to at least have a public option on health care and the other hand, when we get into the bulk of the campaign and, when people focus on this, he'll be able to list off a bunch of accomplishments, getting health care done and reforming wall street, and getting bin laden and going down this list of things and the stimulus, which according to the cbo, can work to a certain extent and, so i think he has a story to tell and the best thing is, going for him is people like rick perry who as you talked about, made faux pas and called people traitors and, even gets criticized by people like karl rove for making those kind of mistakes. so, that is what obama...

martha: i guess the question becomes, how solid is his support among his supporters? you know? and, as you point out, accurately, i'm sure, emily, the woman we just saw, unlikely to vote for rick perry or anyone else on the republican side if she is interested in a single payor option, for health care but you have to have that sort of strength and passion and what she is saying is you are not who we thought you were and that is a stuff thing for any human being to hear. >> nobody is who they think they are when running a campaign, he ran a brilliant campaign and everybody would agree and the first near perfect campaign and expectations are never met and that happens with every politician but where will emily go, sit on their hands and getting frustrated, emily and people who may think like her on the left or they are going to vote, maybe with a clothes pin on their nose, wish he would have been...

martha: not motivated, exactly. and, let's talk, about the answer to her question. it was basically, you know, he talked about the reasons that he had to make compromises along the way and then he said, but, you know, come september, when everyone gets back to their vacation, the jobs plan, will be rolled out and the word from the white house, fresh ideas, not a rehash of things we have heard before. what do you think it will be? >> i'm not -- i don't have a crystal ball, nor does the white house call me with advanced information on this stuff. so i really have no idea. but, i think it is good that he waits until september when there is more focus and people are back from vacation and, most people are not focused on the presidential race in the middle of summer. martha: but they are very focused on jobs and want to hear what he says. and we were told he had a plan, before, and, what carney said, the president has a plan and now we hear, this is a fresh new plan, and it is... >> i hope it will be about infrastructure and hope about

putting people to work. and, to build infrastructure, something he talked about wanting to do and of course it takes money and my view as opposed to what many republicans believe you need to invest, like a business has to invest money to make the money back, we as a country have to invest to get the money back and make the money back like we did with gm, which paid back. martha: all right, we'll see. thank you, as always, good to see you. alan colmes. bill: in a moment here, a battle over graphic labels on a pack of smokes, tobacco companies saying they are being forced to put these on their product and now, they are fighting back and suing the federal government. we asked the question whether or not they have a case and incredible video of a teenager from rushing floodwaters, how did he wind up dangling from the tree in the first place? >> i thought, like, real quick, i was going to drown and i realized, if i let go, something a lot worse is going to happen, and i caught my foot. . hey !

chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i'm new, too. umm... he's new... er... than you. even kids know it's wrong to treat new frien better than old friends. at ally bank, we treat all our customers fairly, with no teaser rates and no minimum deposit to open. it's just the right thing to do.

martha: something you don't see every day... look at this in woodside, queens in new york. truck went right through the sidewall of a building, and it is dangling over the street and the good news is they got the driver out already. and maybe hit forward when he wanted to hit reverse, i don't know. but it is a trash truck, went through the wall of the garage and hanging out and the driver has been removed. and now they need to figure out how to remove the vehicle. bill: not going to be easy. martha: no, that's not. bill: should have been a d instead of an "r", right there. and we have new video, after historic flooding in the northeast, nearly swept away a teenager. and, he's 17, kevin reid, and he was able to cling to a tree until rescue crews were able to save him and nearly swept away by the historic floodwaters, so intense on sunday. rescuers had to use a helicopter

to get him out, in new jersey. and, david lee miller is in our new york newsroom with more on that. how did he get into such a mess in the first place, david lee? >> reporter: well, what almost killed him comes down to one word, bill, curiosity and he and buddies were checking out an asphalt pathway that had been washed away after a nearby dam broke and suddenly he found himself literally swept away in the floodwaters and what he was able to do was grab branches and climbed a tree and he said he thought he was going to die. >> panic attack, once in a while, especially when it started raining, i thought i'd be struck by lightning. >> reporter: it took rescuers an hour-and-a-half to get to him. and he did suffer a cut to his foot and he was taken to a local hospital and treated. but, otherwise, he's all right. and, by the way, he's a member of the civil air patrol and has now enlisted in the marines. bill? bill: good training. for all the wrong reasons.

we had 7 inches of rain in a matter of hours. there is still a risk of flooding? >> reporter: a flood warning remains in effect for parts of new jersey, and parts of new jersey received 3 to 4 inches and some counties got as much as 11 inches of rain, over the weekend. and, a number of rivers still remain above flood stage. and, what resulted was millions of dollars in damage. dams were broken through and roads were forced to close. in one county, bill, and this tells the story, as well as these pictures, the roads were so impassable, that local residents were told they wanted to go to the -- if they wanted to go to the local hospital, take an emergency vehicle and not drive themselves there, that is how serious the situation was. bill: remarkable, david lee mill owner the story for us, thanks, and the opposite in texas, martha. we are hearing that that drought, dallas had 30 some-odd days, straight of triple-digit weather. the losses for the agriculture industry in texas, said to be more than $5 billion. martha: wow.

bill: which surpasses what they experienced five years ago in '06, it was $4.1 billion and they think $2 billion in livestock losses and the rest in crop damage, too. texas, taking a hit. martha: yes, all right, so this is what started out as a routine traffic stop, and ended with one of the most bizarre discoveries these police have ever seen. look at this: cashing out, can't miss this. bill: we won't and it is one of the biggest failures in the history of american covert operations. but, the men in charge of it were just promoted to headquarters in washington. >> i was so committed to bringing down the complex network of criminals operating in our homeland and bringing violence on both sides of the southern border. but in our zeal to do so, and in the heat of battle mistakes were made. and for that, i apologize.

[ male announcer ] you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity, turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. hi. hi, you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. you just read my mind.

[ male announcer ] just one little piece of information, and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money, and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection. relentlessly protecting your personal information to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked. protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. [ male announcer ] credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your identity and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock, as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network, our advanced lifelock id alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me, and it's gone away because of lifelock. [ male announcer ] while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information,

lifelock is there to help fix it with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right. a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock free for 60 days. that's right -- 60 days free! use promo code safe60. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you'll never pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands... a $29 value, free. get the protection you need right now! ♪ ♪ ♪

>> new word from the white house this morning. president obama will be laying out not one, but two proposals in the beginning of september. there's going to be a jobs plan that he will roll out after he gets back from his vacation, and congress is back from theirs. also the second part of this is a new decifit cutting plan. now, that announcement comes as president obama heads to his home state of illinois this hour and he's wrapping up a three-day bus tour through the midwest. our chief white house correspondent ed henry joins us from atkinson, illinois. so ed, we've been hearing we're going to get a major speech in the beginning of

september. what should we expect, and you know, is it really fresh and new as the white house is saying this morning? >> reporter: well, martha, that's going to be the question. we did research and found at least half a dozen times where we've heard the white house bill some sort of a major new speech on the economy, major new initiative. we've heard this before, still the president is obviously struggling with trying to turn this economy around. bottom line is aides say the speech will be sometime after labor day, which is september 5th, the president as you noted will lay out a jobs plan but also a decifit plan and specifically is going to be pushing that supercommittee on capitol hill to come up with more than the $1.5 trillion in cuts that have already been discussed, already on the table. he wants to go further than that, and he gave a little preview yesterday to our affiliate in iowa, wdaf, about what he wants from congress. take a listen: >> if we get that under control we can actually pay for some additional job programs in the here and now, and it's that kind of combination that i want to be able to present to congress when they come

back. >> reporter: now, as i mentioned, we have heard these kinds of speeches before. that's why spokesman for house speaker john boehner said quote, we don't need another speech, seriously, drop it in the mail, podium not required. thanks. that's sparking a lot of democratic anger on twitter, people saying it's disrespectful to the, david pfeiffer saying we should pay attention to it and see what's actually. martha: you're right, we shall see what's exactly in it. he's gotten a bit of a flack over the tour, about whether it's a campaign tour or presidential duty across the midwest. what does he hope to accomplish, what is the headline coming out of today? >> reporter: aides say that largely since he was in eastern iowa, he thought illinois is right across the mississippi river, why not come on over to his home state. i think the headline they want is obviously about jobs and the economy, as we've been discussing.

two more town hall meetings in illinois before he heads to d.c. for one night, then in martha's vineyard for nine days on that vacation. interesting because he'll have a chance on that vacation to put fine-tuning to the economic speech and he's been warning congress, republicans, if you don't pass this i'm going to run against a do nothing congress but let's remember the past was won by democrats. bill: we are learning this morning about a promotion for the man in charge of a disastrous and deadly vo cert operation near our southern border, three agents with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and fire ams, the sting phone as fast and furious are heading to washington. head of operations to bring fast and furious to life, sir, we talked to you in june, what do you make of this promotion for these three men.

why is that? >> well, i do want to say that i'm still a current atf agent and intend to stay that way, despite their efforts to terminate me. basically, across the country, it's just a big sigh, they're thumbing their nose at any accountability and we're also sitting, wondering how long they're going to allow this to happen, to thumb their nose at ago and the oig. bill the other thing you say, if they stayed back in phoenix, the problems you believe would still fester. do you think that's the case? >> oh, absolutely. i think they probably needed to at least remove them from their leadership positions at that point. i don't think the public or anyone else would stand by for them to remain in leadership positions in phoenix. but to put them in these buffered positions, to protect them and their personal careers is

unfathomable when there's people that may be facing criminal liabilities here. they wouldn't do it for the field agents. bill: you're saying let the investigation take its course, resolve it first before you give them the responsibility of overseeing anything else with the agency. >> i think we've established that probably none of them are suited to be overseeing operations or supervising our people at this point in time for sure. bill: 11 deaths have been now tied to these guns. how many more are we going to see, sir? >> well, until every gun is recovered, it's a potential crime gun, and peoples' lives are at risk on both sides of the border. that was the travesty of this concept to begin with, and we all knew it. bill: we initially heard one or two or maybe three but now it's up to 11, when you think about the number of

guns that were distributed, how high could that number go? >> as high as there are guns still out in the world that we have not yet recovered or that we allowed to get into the hands of criminals. the hunters -- it wasn't hunters these guns were going to. bill: the last time you were with us you were worried about your own future with the agency. do you fear for your job or will you hang on? >> oh, i will absolutely stay the course. i'll not be the target of any reprisals, because i did the right thing, while i'm watching the senior management be shifted around and protected and still in leadership positions after that abysmal representation before congress. so we'll see. bill: vince cefalu, atf agent, with us from san francisco, thank you, sir. martha: this is a story

we've covered extensively here and it's the search for a missing college student, and it is now -- it has now led detectives to a landfill in rural indiana, 20-year-old lauren spiere vanished more than two months ago after a night on the town with friends. the new york native was going to new york university's bloomington campus and now the local police, the fbi and center for missing and exploited children are searching a landfill that takes in trash from the bloomington area, they say that process could take two weeks, even with two dozen people searching that entire scene, and that is just one of those stories that disappears from the headlines and you want to know what happened to this young lady. bill: you think about the family, the parents, they've been on tv and talking about this and it's so important too for the families because they want to keep the issue out there. martha: of course they. bill: they want the focus to be on the wild an finding them, getting them safe. we're two months down on that story, let's get it

resolved. tobacco companies have been facing lawsuits for years and today they're going on the attack with these brand new warning labels and we wonder why is that and do they have a case, martha. martha: famous for taking off his clothes, now an american clothing giant is willing to pay mike the situation -- if you don't know who that guy is, that's mike the situation -- they want him to take off their clothes forever. a situation, bill, on the jersey shore. it doesn't get any better than a situation on the jersey shore. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

bill: a neighborhood hero stops a terrifying kidnapping of a child in albuquerque, new mexico, the suspect snatch ago six-year-old girl right near her home, pulls her into a mini van and takes off, but a neighbor jumps into his car and chases down that suspect, that suspect then crashing his van, the

neighbor grabbed the girl and police showed up minutes later, arresting that person. case closed, martha! martha: love that story, what a great hero he is, better than any gps you can download on your app is that guy. good for him. let's bring you this story now, america's largest tobacco companies are fighting back against federal drug administration regulations, they're suing the fda over some extremely graphic warning labels that they want to put smack over the package of cigarettes. the company is going to be forced to use by 2012. they say the federal government is violating their free speech rights in these cases. it's hard to see in this picture but it's basically like the dots before an incision that would go down the torso of this man and we'll show you the other graphic images as well. judge andrew napolitano is fox news senior judicial analyst and host of "freedom watch", he's so busy, always do so many things, writing books every summer, but anyway, i find this very interesting.

it raises the question, at what point -- i mean, everyone knows it's unhealthy to smoke, but at what point can the federal government force a private company, a private industry, to slap packages -- these graphic pictures over their own package that they're selling, you know, it's the miss of their company? >> since 1964 the tobacco companies have been forced to put on the surgeon general's warning, you may recall that, it was a rather discreet somewhere on the package saying that tobacco products can be harmful, that was challenged, the supreme court never ruled on it but the lower court said it was okay. these warnings are so graphic, they are to frighten, shock, disgust potential customers from purchasing the product and the tobacco companies are saying if the government wants to exercise its own free speech, if the government wants to say this product, of which they earn $50 billion in taxes, let the government say it. they can't make us say it about our own product.

this is called forced speech, and the first amendment which protects your free speech, your right to say what you want, also prevents the government from forcing you to say things you don't want. martha: you don't want to say. very interesting. and i hope we have the other images, because they're very graphic images that you would put over these packages and it raises the question, you know, why don't you put these -- so that's a picture of lungs, maybe you can see it more clearly at home, nice, pink, healthy lungs on the left and destroyed lungs on the right, and it would take up a large part of the package of cigarettes would be covered by this picture. so you know, if you're going to sell beer orioo why can't you put -- why don't they force alcohol to put labels that are on the package? >> that's a very good argument, where will this end, will you have to warn people about if you consume too much sugar it's going to make your teeth rot? if you consume too much of anything -- other than water it could be harmful to you if you have it in excess. what is the limit of the government's ability to

force you to say something bad about your own product? there's another argument, by what the government is doing, it is reducing the profit of the tobacco companies. the fifth amendment says if the government harms your property, it has to pay you for the harm, so if the government wants -- wants the tobacco profits to have less profit -- the tobacco companies to have less profits it's got to pay them for what they would have earned. washington, d.c. will address these constitutional issues involving tobacco and the government. martha: you raise another interesting point, the government makes, how much did you say? >> $50 billion. martha: $50 billion in taxes on cigarettes and we've seen those taxes rise over time, it's sort of a punishment tax for people who smoke cigarettes. you know, if this is done on a moral, ethical basis, right, would it be morally and ethically correct for them to accept taxes that are garnered off a product that is unhealthy and bad for americans? >> very interesting. i don't think the government would refuse to accept taxes from any source, even when the president is a chain

smoker. martha: if he -- we don't know that! he's trying to quit. >> i don't know. he doesn't want to go there. martha: no, he doesn't want to go there. but it's a fascinating legal debate and we'll see where this goes, you know, where is the line, at what point is the government infringing on peoples' rights. everybody knows smoking is bad for you, that message has been completely saturated in society. but judge, thank you so much, good to see you. >> good to see you two guys back together again! martha: we're in therapy. we think we're going to stay together. we're working on it! working it all out. judge andrew napolitano, free -- freedom watch, thank you, judge. bill: back together, judge! we asked you a bit earlier, will the health care law's individual mandate survive in the supreme court when it gets there as expected, poll results so far, 1200 votes, about 97 percent of you say no. you can still vote, fox

news.com/"america's newsroom", and we'll take your votes for a while, still. rick folbaum is hanging out, "happening now" coming up in 12 minutes. what are you working on? rick: i'm glad you're working out by the way! the president is wrapping up his bus tour. what is his real message? what about this new plan we're going to hear? also rick perry continues to stay in the spotlight during his rollout but is it working? we'll take a closer look. plus escalating violence in mexico's -- in mexico, there's been a spike in dog theft, what you need to know to protect your animal. did you see this headline? every hour of tv takes 22 minutes off your life. do you buy that? i'm not sure i'm buying it. but we're going to talk about it on "happening now". bill: if that's the case, man, you and i are done. see you top of the hour. it might have been a parent's worst nightmare, a little girl, snatched near her home, pushed into a van, possibly never seen again,

until one man stepped in.

martha: a surprise discovery by police during a traffic stop in texas. check this out. they searched the vehicle, they turned up nearly half a million dollars in cold hard cash that was stuffed inside a tv, and a propane tank. that's a lot of money to be stuffed into a tv. hundreds of 20 and $50 bills, totaling $432,000 in cash. i wonder where they got it, what bank did they knock over for that, right? police say they've never seen anything like this one before. >> if it's guns related, weapons related, human trafficking related, that's the key, and i've never seen where they were rolled up like this or in a tank. but it just shows one more thing that we need to be aware of.

martha: wow, that is a weird situation. you know that money is dirty in some way, right? they don't know if it's drug-related as you heard them say. the driver of that vehicle is being held by the police to try to figure out where the money came from. bill: not going to fit in a plasma screen, is it? >> martha: no, you need an old tv to get that much volume inside! bill: to an uncertain future for an oil pipeline that could bring more than half a million barrels of oil into the u.s. every day, it would go through six states, down to the refineries in the midwest and gulf coast, it would create jobs, help with our nation's energy security, but not everyone is happy about this. dan springer is live in seattle. what's at stake here? good morning. >> reporter: good morning. what's at stake is about 900,000 barrels of oil a day that would come from a friendly trading partner, canada, and could replace up to 40 percent that the oil currently gets from opec, the $7 billion keystone xl pipeline would run about 2000 miles from the oil

sardz in hardesty, alberta to texas, it would travel above a major aquifer in nebraska,. supporters say it would create 20,000 direct construction jobs, billions of dollars in tax revenue a year, and help with energy security. >> the growth is significant, and that's going to need to get to market. you've got refineries on the gulf coast that are running empty, you've got venezuela choosing to sell their oil to asia, you've got mexico in decline. these are similar heavy oils and we're a natural fit. >> reporter: the u.s. already gets 2 million barrels a day from canada. that would increase that by 50 percent. bill: what's holding up the approval for this? >> because the pipeline would cross an international border the state department has a say and they have promised they would have a decision made by december, but environmentalists are lobbying hard against it and

they have a planned protest starting this saturday, calling on activists to get arrested, they point to three recent pipeline spills in montana, north dakota and michigan, they say oil sands is the most toxic form of oil on the planet because it is so labor intensive to extract, it creates more greenhouse gases and requires more blending than light crude. >> keystone xl pipeline, frankly, puts thousands of miles of our lands and our waters at risk from toxic spills, and frankly, the track record for transporting the fuel is abysmal. >> reporter: talking about that track record, transcanada in that one year in operating that pipeline to the midwest has had 14 spills, but bill, 13 of them were very small, averaging only 5-gallons, and one of them, the largest one, was 400-gallons. bill: dan springer, we'll see where it gets -- what gets done in the end. martha: this might be my favorite story of the day, a

major fashion situation, coming up next, one popular label now offers to pay some reality tv stars to please stop wearing our clothing. we do not want you associated with our clothing line, they're saying, and they're paying them to do it why t-shirt time could be over for some of these people and that iconic brand. stick around for that, folks.

martha: how about this story, an american fashion icon making the jersey shore crew an offer they can't refuse, folks. abercrombie & fitch says they will pay this guy, who's known as mike the situation sorentino not to wear abercrombie & fitch clothing, they're worried he might be damaging their image. pay him money! only in america do you make money for someone to say please stop wearing our clothing.

the same offer went to the whole family, the whole crew, anybody who doesn't amer crombe & fitch. it's an interesting p.r. ploy, but they simply don't want these people -- i want to point out, i don't think any of them are from yersy. bill: don't get offensive now! martha: i'm a jersey girl. i don't think they're from jersey. >> bill: does it help abercrombie? >> i think it helps or crombe. martha: anyone who would like me not to wear their clothing, feel free to pay me! bill: see you tomorrow, everybody. martha: see you tomorrow. jenna: hi everybody, we're so glad to see you on this wednesday. i'm jenna lee. rick: i'm rick folbaum, in for jon scott. we're here in the fox news room and "happening now", jobs are topping the agenda for the president as he gears up for a town hall meeting in his home state of illinois. it's the final stop on his midwest bus tour swing and