out the -- out the frontrunners, did it handily, too, over romney and perry. they were way back. welcome to "america's newsroom". hope you had a great weekend. i'm bill hemmer. martha: i did, didn't you? bill: it wasn't bad. martha: what a surprise. good to have you here, everybody. this was not close, destroyed the competition, cain got 37 percent of the vote in this florida straw poll, perry way down at 15 percent and herman cain reacting to what some critics say, it was just a fluke. >> i think that is absolutely false. i talked to a lot of delegates when i was in florida all last week. it's not a protest vote. look, the message coming out of that victory was quite simple. first of all, the voice of people is more powerful than the voice of the media. secondly, message is more powerful than money. bill: cain also said earlier that perry's performance in that debate last week hurt him, saying, quote, it's not just what he said, but how

he said it. that's from herman cain. martha: that's interesting, and herman cain is not the only person commenting on rick perry, fox news senior political analyst brit hume, one of the many to weigh in on the performance and brit, not mincing words. >> perry really did throw up all over himself in the debate in a time when he needed to raise his game. i don't think we're being too hard on rick perry. he still has some opportunity to recover his balance and put in a strong performance. what was so strikingly troubling about -- from a republican point of view about this performance was perry was thought of as a really true serve tiff. now it appears he has this position on immigration which is anathema. this hurts him with the base. martha: there you have it, brit hume acknowledged his poor performance, saying, quote, there may be slicker candidates and smoother debaters but i know what i believe in.

bill: doubts about rick perry fueling the idea of getting chris christie in the race, sores telling politico donors are once again nudging that tkp-pb to jump in and he might be listening, bill crystal saying this about this possibility. >> we don't know how chris christie would be as a presidential candidate. i'd just like to see some of these guys try. chris christie -- i've said this before and i've said it this him and he's good enough natured to not knock me out, he'd be a big man for a big job. bill: karl rove, from austin, good morning to you, how you doing? >> fab hrurbgs bill, how are you? >> bill: doingac-okay. is chris christie puting this out, is he looking for attention or is this coming from somewhere else? >> no, i don't think he's putting it out and i don't think it's new. the meeting that a lot of people have been referring to was hosted by ken langone in august and broke into the newspapers and into the

political blood stream then, so i think we're getting to the point where if chris christie is going to enter the race he's got to make a decision and october 14th is sort of the drop dead date, because that's when you have to file for the michigan primary. but i just see this as the froth that's been going on for the last five or seven weeks, i don't think that there's been an uptick in the speculation or uptick in his thinking. item not privy to it but it doesn't seem to be that he's worried about the ups and downs of the primary sickel. bill ill he has three weeks to make a call. yes or no, is he in or out? >> you know what, i think it's a very close call. he's been saying pretty persistently no, yet on the other hand, he's been under consistent pressure to do so. i think it's going to be a very close call and look, he's going to go out and give a speech on the 29th at the reagan library, he's on a fundraising tour around the country, at least three states, stoping in to raise money for the new jersey length slattive elections

this fall and i think we'll get a good sense on the 29th. bill: her man cain, why did he win in florida? >> it's an interesting concept, because first of all, i'm not certain about the predictive value of these straw polls, having spent a lot of money in '99 to win the ames strou poll, i'm not certain it was money well spent but herman cain, mitt romney said i'm not participating at all in this straw poll, michele bachmann said i'm not participate sog it came down to a choice between rick perry or somebody else, and i think in the aftermath of the thursday night debate performance you read the comment necessary the florida newspapers and there were people who say i came to the p5, the florida straw poll, planning to vote for perry and ended up voting for somebody else because i didn't like his performance in the debate. bill: some are suggesting that florida straw poll is more indicative than you would find in iowa. that's for debate on the inside with politicos like yourself.

>> yes. bill: with regard to rick perry, is he this close to imploding as brit hume suggested sunday morning or not? >> look, we're sort of at the start of the process so he does have time to recover. i thought brit was particularly tough on perry, it was a performance worth being tough on but look, we have two or debates in october, those could be -- perry could perform well in a on -- and erase doubts in the past and we also have a deadline coming up here. september 30th is the next real test, that's the end of the fundraising quarter, and by october 15th, the candidates have to report how much money they've raised. perry is from a big state, he's got -- he's raised a lot of money for the republican governors' association and races and the question is how big a number is he going to show. that may start to erase the doubts. they said they were going to raise $10 million within the first weeks of the race, so the number has to be seriously ahead of $10 million. they've also got an independent expenditure that said it was going to raise

$55 million that they would spend $20 million by the end of october. again, they have to report next month and start spending next month. again, these will be probably the next tests we have. bill: it will tell us a lot. perry's reputation in texas, he can raise money, he can go out and find the donors. we'll see if that's the case now. karl, good to see you anmonday, okay? karl rove. austin, texas. we'll talk later in the week. >> you bet. martha: president obama ratcheting up the assault on the gop field, taking a specific twaoeup at rick perry during a fundraising event over the weekend, saying, quote, you've got a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change. perry's campaign is now responding to that, they say that that is outrageous that the president would use the burning of 1500 homes as a political attack. that's the perry response. perry left the campaign trip to south carolina early they are month to head back to texas to assess those wildfires and what was going on at home. so we'd like to know what you think this morning. a lot really shook up over

the weekend after the fox debate at the end of the week there, so go to foxnews.com/"america's newsroom", weigh in on our question of the today -- of the day, today, the question is who will end up the winner in the gop nomination race, who will challenge president obama, rick perry, mitt romney, or, quote, someone else is the other category. that's foxnews.com/"america's newsroom". bill: right now, seven minutes past the hour. now looking for a silver lining, aren't you, on the economy? gas prices are dropping. there you go. first time in a month, national average, under 3.50, prices down at the pump, about 10 cents in the last week alone. right now, aaa reporting the price per gallon, 3.49, just about a week ago, it was 3.59, and in some parts of the country the average is down below three buck as gallon. want a silver lining? there it is. martha. martha: let's go overseas now to this story, an american shot dead in another high profile attack

at the u.s. embassy compound in kabul. officials say that an afghan employee opened fire last night in a building that is used by the cia. steve centanni is live in our d.c. bureau with the very latest on this. what do we know this morning? >> >> reporter: hi martha. details are sketchy because the cia doesn't want to acknowledge it happened at their kabul station but from all indications, that's exactly the case. one u.s. official speaking with fox news did not deny that is where the shooting tack operation but would not confirm either that the person shot to death is a cia officer. here's what happened. an afghan, working in the office, opened fire, and this shooter, someone not authorized to carry a gun, was then killed. one other american was injured, and was taken to a local hospital. the embassy then resumed operations. martha. martha: there's been a lot of talk about the haqqani network. we've seen a similar attack over a year ago against our cia folks in afghanistan. does anybody claim responsibility for this? >> not yet.

but of course, there is heavy suspicion that the al haqqani network of al-qaeda operatives is behind this. less than two weeks ago, you remember, that network is believed to have carried out this deadly attack on the u.s. embassy and on nato headquarters in kabul. seven afghans were killed in that 20-hour seige. u.s. officials have been outspoken in recent days, linking pakistan's intelligence service with the haqqani network. >> we need to put pakistan on notice. you know, they help us with al-qaeda targets in afghanistan -- p. they openly support the haqqani network who has safe havens in pakistan to attack our troops in afghanistan and go after the afghan government. >> reporter: senator graham says funding for pakistan should be, quote, reconfigured until pakistan ends its support for al haqqani. martha: that's an idea that's getting a lot of attention, steve. thank you very much. bill: certainly is. two american hikers freed from iran are home after two

years in prison, now back on u.s. soil and talking about their ordeal. shane bauer and josh fattal were held in near isolation and could hear the screams of other prisoners being beaten nearby. they were arrested on spying charges after iran accused them of crossing the border while hiking in iraq. bauer says they may not ever know if they crossed the border but the real reason for their imprisonment, he believes, is all toll ticks. >> this was never -- politics. >> this was never about crossing the border between rand iraq. we were held because of our nationality. bill: bauer and fattal were released last week after postinging a million dollars bail in tehran and now they're back on u.s. soil and new york city was their first stop. it was great to see those buildings, wasn't it? home again, baby. martha: it caught a lot of attention. those are just a few of the stories we're watching in "america's newsroom" right now. coming up we have a lot more for you, new york city's top cop saying if necessary the

city could defend itself against another aerial attack. what ray kelly said that his security experts are talking about today. bill: a lot of people talking about that, right? here we go again, a showdown that could lead to a shutdown, congress on the brink of closing up shop because of the spending. we'll explain that on the hill. martha: and hundreds of millions of dollars of social security payout to dead people, folks! that would be what we call -- they can't really use the money, can they, bill? no, they can't. tax dollars, wasted. we'll be right back.

martha: good morning, everybody. we've got new details today that we want to share with you this morning after a

gunman opened fire near a school in washington state. we're just getting this in, so let's take a listen to this together and see what's on it. >> the police say the gunman was targeting people walking down the street, including a group of kids before he was taken down by the police. what an incredibly frightening situation for these children. a group of teenagers said they heard the shots whiz past them and ran for recover. witnesses report this happening at not one but two schools. listen to this. >> high heart jumped out of my chest. my wife -- she's been watching the window. sue: it sounded like there

were about 20rbgs 25 rounds fired and it was rapid. then it started really picking up like it was a real big exchange of gunfire. i just kept watching the corp of the school and just hoping i wouldn't see the gunman come running around the school on our side. >> never had a chance to negotiate with him, talk to him, he was shooting and the officer spot back. martha: what a scene that was. police have yet to identify this 51-year-old gunman. still no word on any motive that he may have had for that attack. bill: time is running out america, yet again. congress in a spending showdown with another chance of a shutdown looming. tennessee senator lamar alexander saying the latest standoff is simply not necessary. >> no, i don't. i'll give the senate democratic leader most of the credit. he manufactured the crisis all week about disaster when there's no crisis. i don't like this business

of sitting around, blaming each other over such small potatoes. bill: small potatoes to some but a bigger deal on a bigger scale to others. member of the constitutional conservative caucus and tea party caucus, gd morning, sir, from your home town in dallas, texas. you voted against this. why? >> well, we were voting on a bill that we thought the senate would pass. i mean, it's absurd for them to be dragging their feet. i mean, over $1.6 billion? all they have to do is de fund three solyndras and we're there. we passed the bill we thought the senate would pass, that's what we did last spring, it's what we did in july and all we have to do is pass what we know to be right, but the senate passed something. they have trouble ever doing that and it goes to a committee, we work out a compromise and america sees come next electrical, you want what the house stk-rbg the senate does, you give

whichever one you prefer control over the other and think that gives the republicans control over the senate, instead of just -- >> bill: you think this is purely doable but the democrats in the senate are to blame and they're turning out saying guys like you are to blame and members of the tea party. what do you think about that? >> i think that the democrats are so desperate for a game changer, that they would be willing to shut things down, let the military not be paid, let those in emergency situations not get help, just so they can shut things down. we saw it in the spring, in the summer. they are anxious for a shut down. they think they politically win a shutdown. and what most of us that i know in the house were paying, look, let's keep our promise. we promised at least $100 billion in the first year. we didn't get anywhere near to that. so let's start cutting like we promised, and i think that the s&pes will be satisfied, i think that it gets us on the right track. but the senate, not to even be able to cut $1.6 billion,

excuse me? just de fund the muslim brotherhood in egypt for a while and we'll be there. it's ridiculous. bill: are you predicting a government shutdown or is this going to be avoided? >> i thank harry reid is going to eventually see that it's in his court, because the house passed a bill that would appeal to the senate, that if they can't pass that , with virtually no cuts, then it is going to be on their heads. bill: there are a lot of articles being written about the tea party members in the house, of which you are one of them. given the republican leadership, are you giving john boehner fits? >> well, actually, at one of our conferences, i was trying to be nice, and i said look, i know it's got to be difficult, negotiating or dealing with the men in the white house, and he leaned into his mic and said and dealing with you! and everybody laughed big

but some of us do speak up for what we think we should be doing. bill: i take it that's a yes! at times, depending upon whether it's an issue. >> you would take it correctly. bill: louie goehme refplt, thank you for your time. >> we need to stand up and do whey say we're going to do. bill: we'll watch whether the government open or closes, thank you. martha: it's a billionaire battle shaping up between new york mayor michael bloomberg and the battle he has with warren buffet over taxes. what he said, that's coming up in a moment. bill: a brand new study in the health care law, why it says you will be standing in line a lot longer to see your doctor.

bill: we found a fired up mike bloomberg, the new york mayor slamming the proposed tax rule named after fellow billionaire warren buffet. the new york city mayor says that everyone, everyone, not just the rich, should pay more to uncle sam. >> it does trouble me. you can't define what's middle class, what is wealthy, what is poor. every time you have a jump, people play games to get on one side or another and i think it's not fair to say that wealthy people don't pay their fair shea. they pay a much higher percentage of their income, they have a higher rate tn people who make less. the buffet thing is just theatrics. if warren buffit made his income from ordinary income rather than capital gains his tax rate would be higher than his secretary's and a

small percentage of people pay taxes. bill: we checked, those who made a million dollars or more, $230,000, and paid more than $177 billion in taxes to the government, also, those earners who with more than $1 million make up .2% of federal income tax returns, and paid more than 20 percent of all federal income taxes. martha: that's a lot of money. how about this, two weeks after the world marked ten years since september 11th, we're learning more about some major security changes in the big apple that were inspired by those attacks, nypd chief ray kelly tells cbs' "60 machines" not only did they step up their antiterrorist game, but that officers are far more prepared. >> meeting an extreme situation, we would have some means to take down a plane. >> do you mean to say the

nypd has the means to take down an aircraft? >> i prefer not to get into the details but obvious -- obviously, this would be in a very extreme situation. martha: wow. that was quite a bit of information that he dropped there. antoin lewis, nyw, has more for us. watch this. >> new york city police commissioner ray kelly was not bragging or boastful when he made those comments to "60 machines", he erab lated more on the counterterrorism bureau. he talked about a number of things. he talked about the ring of steel, the soon to be 2000, 3000 cameras that are all around the area in lower manhattan, keeping their eye up there, a big brother type thing, if you will. it talked about radiation detection that the officers are using on the ground and in the air. but it was when he was talking about being able to defend the city, to protect the city, from an airplane, any sort of terror plot that would involve an aircraft and saying that new york city, the police department, has by some necessary, if need to, the means by some means necessary to take down

an aircraft if it should come to that. obviously he did not say a lot about it, he did not elaborate in grand detail, it was played close to the vest but nonetheless the information was surprising, a number of people only associated that type of protection with the military, if you will. so certainly, hearing this news was an interesting bit of information. it was certainly raising eyebrows. but nonetheless people we talked to this morning had a positive reaction to what the police commissioner had to say. that's the latest from lower manhattan. back to you in the studio. martha: that was antoin liis of wnyw reporting. bill: that was the headline out of the interview from last night. it was fascinating to see how much ts city has done in ten years, because as the police commissioner said, we are target number one, again and again tkpwaepbd. >> march ma as antoin lewis, the large takeaway is people are glad to hear it, they want to hear there's raised protection on the city and let's hope there is. bill: it's true, you cannot

go anywhere in this town and not see a camera looking at you from somewhere, and there will be more, too. so president obama calling out the entire republican party, saying that gop policy will, quote, cripple america. fair and balanced debate on that with a great panel, bob and andrea on iran -- are on deck. martha: they are coming up. get fox news wherever you are, read the latest articles from foxnews.com, watch the latest video clips from your favorite shows like "america's newsroom", right bill, you can browse the hottest photos from the day, and more from your mobile phone. it's so easy to get fox news.dom into your mobile phone browser. you've got it all, all day long. we'll be right back. right bill? >> bull bill uh-huh.

martha: president obama out on the road over the weekend making a very hard push for his $474 billion jobs plan and of course for reelection. he gave a fiery speech at a fundraising event and the president called out all republicans, saying gop polices will, he says, cripple america, and he didn't stop there. listen to this: >> so yes, the republicans are dusting off their old talking points and calling this class warfare, but you know what, it's asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber, if that makes me a warrior for the middle class, i'll wear that charge. i'll wear that as a badge of honor. martha: it's the kind of rhetoric we've heard from

the president then and over the course of the weekend. we're joined by andrea tantoras, daily news columnist and bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager. both are cohosts of "the five". >> before we start, bob owes hemmer and i money. he made a bet last monday that none of the gop candidates would talk about social security, and herman crane went into specifics, he talked about the chilean model, not the model that bob likes, bob likes other chilean models. martha: let's talk dollars. how much does bob owe everyone? >> i think it was a thousand dollars, bob! >> that's the problem with your ears, hemmer! bill: i think you said a grand. >> well, i don't think so. martha: we'll have to settle this later, guys. we'll come back to that! let's talk about this, bob, because the president is clearly fired up, a lot of folks have wanted him to be fired up for quite some time. what do you think about the way he's going with this and this silicon valley sort of california sweep over the weekend? what's that going to do for

him? >> look, i think he's reflecting what the base of the democratic party believes. those are us, along with me, who thought that compromising with the republican was -- with the republicans was a good idea but now the job is to defeat president obama for the second term so i agree, to hell with them. martha: that raises an interesting point, andrea. because if that works, if the president is -- if the president can say to people they will not negotiate with me and there's no indication they will negotiate on this bill as it has been presented, can democrats win points by saying that republicans are stonewalling it? >> well, it's certainly the strategy that harry truman took. the problem with that, martha, is that congress isn't on the ballot next year. eventually barack obama will have a challenger, he will have a very strong republican opponent, so running against a do nothing congress in a presidential hr-bgs probably isn't the best message. and look, he's the one with the plan out there, his name

is at the top of the ticket. i think he made a huge mistake trying to just repeat another stimulus and do that. but look, he needs his base. that was purely a political move, the reasondy that. he's not interested in really fixing the economy. if he was, he would have taken recommendations from his decifit commission. all he wants to to is galvanize his base. martha: it's interesting, he was out playing golf, there were pictures of him playing golf with bill clinton over the weekend, last week bill clinton basically said he thought this millionaire's tax was -- he said it's a good idea, it's not going to do anything for the economy. are you glad he's playing golf with bill clinton and do you hope he takes some of his lessons? >> i certainly do, yeah. clinton has proved to be resilient politics. it's always dangerous to correct my colleague, because she could kill me, but the fact is, congress is on the ballot next year and they have the lowest rating ever. look, the one thing about the democratic base is they may not have been happy with obama, but the one thing that scares them to death is

the thought of a republican congress and republican in the white house. that's going to turn out in my view the largest turnout a democratic bay as we've ever seen and if the republicans want to continue to play this game, they're being controlled by their right wing, then i think the strategy does work because the right wing of the republican party has no interest in any compromise, on anything. they've proved that. i tried. i tried -- they don't care. >> you know this and i know this, martha, the votes are in the middle, the independent, and those swing voter, and barack obama has dropped significantly with them because he does -- >> martha: bob, he spent the whole weekend caters to the -- catering to the base, he had lead gala showing up for a fundraising, going for $4 million, the facebook folks and microsoft folks, hanging out with all of them and some people say he's criticizing rick perry for not being in texas, you know, and talking about the fires that are burning in texas, which he did by the way, some folks say the president is in california while rome is burning. >> let me say this, i don't

know -- i may be the only person who doesn't know who lead gaga is and i don't care. let me say this, the move is slidfy your base and move to the center. obama compromised with republicans on tax cuts, now he's moved back to the base. he'll have time to get to the senate and i have a great deal of faith that republicans will nominate a right winger and they can't get to the senate. >> that's the issue. i don't think he has time to get to the center. i don't think people see him as a centrist president. there's a lot right now that -- >> who, rick perry? >> mitt romney appeals to the middle more than say a rick perry. that will keep you up at night. martha: we have a lot to go over the course of a year, a lot can happen. and bob and andrea, we'll be watching you on "the five", thank you very much for that, 5:00 p.m. eastern time on the fox news channel. there's two of the five there. bill: think about how much

money bob owes by election day! come on. martha: it may be a lot of money! how much did he bet last time? >> bill: i think it was a thousand dollars! martha: you're standing by that. bill i am. dow 30, we're treading water. martha: we'll take it. bill: not a bad thing based on last week. keeping a close eye on what's going on in europe and who knows how that unravels, dow closing up 37 points on friday after that downward spiral we watched day after day last week. so we'll watch the markets throughout the show and let you know where we are headed, eight minutes into trading anmonday morning. hundreds of millions of your money, doled out to dead people, and the family members who are cashing those checks. how does this happen? we'll show you. martha: that's problem. and reports of a new push, yet again, to get chris christie into the presidential fray, will the new jersey governor reconsider his decision not to run? send me a tweet, martha maccallum, we're going to talk about that, coming up.

martha: on a monday, here's what's developing in america's news raoplt, folks in indiana on high alert after police discovered five dead bodies inside two neighboring homes. investigators are still unsure whether the shooter is on the loose or is among the dead. and with growing concerns over cyber warfare, the pentagon is now looking to protect some private sector networks here in the united states. department of homeland security, now reviewing the plan that would extend protections to power plants, electrical grids, and other critical infrastructure which certainly sounds like a good idea. apparently she's a big bob beckel fan, she's going to be very upset that he hasn't heard of her, lead gaga attend ago fundraise forepresident obama over the weekend, apparently she bought a ticket, about $38,000 for the ticket, she wanted to talk to him about bullying but it's not clear whether or not they got to have that information.

bill: i think bob and gaga would get along well. martha: they would get along well. they should meet. we should arrange that. bill: i look forward to seeing that! we have fallout today over a new report showing the office of personnel management is paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to americans who have died. a watchdog group saying the government has made more than $600 million in benefit payment toss deceased workers over the past five years alone. tom shatz is president of citizens against government. tom, good morning to you. this must make you feel real good, doesn't it tom? >> unfortunately, it's not a surprise. the inspector general at the office of personnel management who issued this report has been talking about it since 2005, issued another report in 2008, made suggestions on how to fix the problem, and opm, by the way, is not even the worst offender -- offender out of all federal agencies in making improper payments or

making payments that shouldn't be made and would never be made by another organization. bill: who's worse, tom? >> med cay, medicare,o medicaid, medicare, social security does an interesting job because they have those social security numbers, they know when people are deceased, they send a note to the bank and say cut this off, but apparently they're not talking to the office of personnel management on a regular basis. bill: so social security does a fairer job? but in the age of the internet, there are so many who do not. >> that's the whole point. >> bill: there's a bigger issue here, too. the families of the deceased who receive the checks are apparently still cashing it. >> that's right. bill: and that is fraud, tom. >> i agree, there's tpra*ud on the other side. the people should be prosecuted, the people should get penalized, and perhaps this will stop. there's one story, some gentleman, a someone of -- son of a deceased retiree had after a million dollars, and he passed away, so they never got that money, but this is not, again, a new prorbgs $125 billion in improper payments throughout the federal government,

president obama signed a law last year, saying let's cut that in half. we agree on this, but the agencies have to stop spending this -- sending this money out and fail to go collect it. bill: tom, it is the age of the internet. you'd think this could be an easier fix based on software programming. why is it not happen something. >> it requires some investment. congress would rather throw money at other issues than fix management problems in the federal bottom. it's one of money reasons why our list of prime cuts would save $1.8 trillion over five years and it's why the taxpayers are saying get rid of the waste instead of raising our taxes because we know it's there inside the federal government. bill: so the problem is the government collects money very well, actually. but keeping track of it is the issue you have. >> absolutely. bill: and you think this is the easiest way to cut back on spending? how? >> it's one of the easiest ways, because it's simply a matter of tracking where the money is going, making sure it's going to the right people, and then when it's being mismanaged or improperly paid, getting it

back. they have something called recovery autocontracting that's supposed to stop it from being wasted in the first place. that's another good investment. but again, this requires a different way of thinking. any business would be much more concerned about this type of wasted money. in the federal government, it's not such a big deal, unfortunately. bill: families and businesses alike. it's not a huge amount of money, given the $14.6 trillion decifit we're running up right now, but it's symptomatic of a bigger issue, and do you think that climate is changing in washington? because in six months, the focus has gone away from spending to how we can trim spending. >> it's made a big difference. and these problems have been around for a long time. george w. bush signed the first -- >> bill: did that do much? >> it said to the agencies tell us how much is being improperly paid. it took almost ten years to get the bill that said wait a second, the agencies need

an incentive to make sure the money isn't wasted, and that was the bill that president obama signed last year. but by that time the problem had grown to $125 billion. bill: do you think what they signed a year ago will help? will it make a difference? >> there are more incentives to get the money back, there are better incentives to keep track, but you're right in the sense that it doesn't require a lot of work for the social security administration to notify every agency, every time an individual passes away, and those payments should stop immediately and automatically through a centralized system which unfortunately requires an investment that congress doesn't like making, because it's not that excite to go do that. bill: and a little more evident, too, tom schatz, thank you, citizens against waste. we appreciate you sharing, we'll talk again. >> thank you bill. bill: go to foxnews.com/america's news room. there's a bya box. leave a question for tom or anything else you want to talk about, how the government is spending your money, also, twitter, bill hemmer, because you asked,

bya. we're lined up to take your question. martha: there's new fallout in the whole green jobs debacle that cost american taxpayers half a billion dollars. republican lawmakers say they are not going to let this one go, not yet, anyway. bill: also, she could go free or spend the rest of her life in prison. the appeals case of american co-ed amanda knox in the final strefpl. we're live to find out her fate.

martha: all right, you need not be afraid if you want to look at the dow right now, it's up 95 points, it was up a hundred a moment ago, a little bounceback. we rough sledding last week, so we're seeing buying in the market, some encouragement on the eurotpwhafrpbg terms of debt and corporate news as well, so a little bit of a pop.

we'll sort of hold until we see how it closes, right? >> bill: news out of seattle, a home explosion in seattle has injured two people, one with life threatening injuries, this report just coming in this morning, 6:00 a.m. monday local time, about four hours ago, one with life threatening injuries, the home appears to be total loss. kyle moore with the police department in seattle, they're trying to protect two homes nearby to the flames and the explosion may have been caused by a natural gas leak but they can't confirm that right now. if we get a picture of it in a moment we'll get it to you out of seattle, happening right now in "america's newsroom". martha: back to this story that capitated us for such a long time, the attorneys to -- the attorneys for amanda knox are making their final argument in her appeals case and now the stakes are very high for the american student jailed in italy since 2007 for killing her roomate. prosecutors are now asking the court to increase knox's 26-year sentence, they want

her to serve life in prison. greg burke is live in rome. greg, boy, this is an all or nothing moment for amanda knox. >> reporter: martha, it really is. amanda's friends are saying she's not eating well, sleeping well, and you can understand why. she'll soon find out whether she walks away free or it could be life in prison or how many years, so certainly a lot at stake. today, what they call the civil parties, lawyers for the meredith kircher family, and also the bar owner, who amanda had accused of being guilty of the crime, they were talking today, and it's a bit complicated, because these are civil cases, related to the criminal case. they're separate but there's some overlap there. it's not an especially good day for amanda because they remind people of meredith kircher. a young student like herself and amanda did accuse that man whom she knew to be innocent. amanda's family said that was done because of being

under police pressure when she was questioned early on. martha: in terms of the appeals case, some of those decisions or some of the way that has been leaning has gone in her fave. what are the chances as you see it now, greg, and folks on the ground there, that she could actually go free when this is said and done? >> >> reporter: well, a lot of appeals case has gone in amanda's favor, there's no doubt about it, especially some key things. the judge ordered a reexamination of key dna evidence and basically des cidet id much of that evidence which had been key in the initial case so that did go in her favor. however it's not a done deal. as lawyers have pointed out, there are a lot of other things that tie her to the scene and there could be a middle way. italians love compromise, perhaps she could be found guilty of a lesser crime like manslaughter, then perhaps let go on time served. that's -- nobody is really going to be happy with the thing, but it could happen, it would be a possible compromise, martha. martha: that's an

interesting possibility. when do we expect a verdict, greg? >> reporter: pretty soon. we're into the last week. it looks like a week from today, that would be october 3rd, the judge should put out a basic schedule. it could come a little earlier, perhaps saturday, october 1st. martha: all right, last weekend. greg, thank you very much, greg burke in rome. bill: he has said that only his own suicide would stop people from asking whether or not he'd run for the white house. now there are reports that chris christie is reconsidering, after a flurry of requests of those big time republican donors. eleven forecaster says he could win it all. really? >> martha: plus oscar winner morgan freeman saying the tea party is about one thing: racism. the response to that is next. [ woman ] my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending.

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to keep the government up and running let's stay till december. we have it at least until december. we have once again fighting on capitol hill on this will likely take us to the brink. i know that's shocking. we'll probably get down to the final vote at final hour. welcome on monday morning. to a brand new "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum, i'm bill hemmer. one. main sticking points, $3.7 billion for people marks the federal emergency management agency running dry on disaster aid. as of now the government could run out of money by friday. >> come up with a proposal of your own that reduces the effect of additional spending. we can't borrow money every time something bad goes wrong in america. >> we agreed to their number on fema. do they want the government to shut down. this they want fema to close and fema will close. they have money to go through monday or tuesday if we're fortunate. bill: so threats of the real deal.

mike emanuel live on the hill. mike, any signs of progress on the standoff over the weekend? >> reporter: bill, not exactly. no apparent signs of progress at this point. the interesting thing democrats and republicans seem cool to the idea spending $3.7 billion for disaster relief to help victims of hurricane irene or the texas wildfires or other disasters as well. what the democrats dispute is the idea of paying for it with green technology money and so, essentially what we've heard at this point is, senator lindsey graham on "fox news sunday" says there will not be a government shutdown. take a listen. >> the government's not going to shut down because most americans want us to deal with disasters in front of us and disasters to come. that's why we're trying to start paying for things we haven't paid for before. the house proposal is reasonable. i would ask harry reid to take it. it does fund disasters. >> reporter: republicans are saying we can not do business the way we've done

it before which is writing a check every time there is a crisis. we have to pay for some of this stuff. they think this is a reasonable proposal this time around. bill: what are democrats in the senate saying? they return later this afternoon, mike. >> reporter: it is interesting. the strategy late friday senator reid would send everybody home perhaps they would get an earful from their constituents. last time we saw snored reid. -- senator reid here is his tone. >> i'm calling onp my colleagues, senator mcconnell, speaker boehner, take the weekend, work with us, cool off and let us works together to find common ground. >> reporter: so cool off a little bit. the senate will return at 5:30 p.m. and we'll see if senator reid has 60 votes to pass the version of the legislation he likes. if not what is the next move pause the government runs out of money at the end of the week. bill: it does. mike emanuel leading coverage on the hill.

martha has more. martha: seems like yesterday but the last government shutdown was 16 years ago in december of 1995 through january of 1996. what a nice couple months it was. uncle sam closed up shop for 21 days. that is the longest shutdown in american history. 280,000 federal workers were placed on furlough. another 480,000 that were deemed essential personnel worked without pay. so would we like to go down that road again? that is one of the questions. a brand new poll reveals a staggering number of americans are fed up with all of this, basically, unhappy with government. 81% of americans, a record high, say they are dissatisfied with the way that the nation is being governed. boy that could cover a lot of people involved in the administration through congress. just 19% think that the u.s. lawmakers are doing a good job. and no surprise, experts say threats of another budget shutdown or showdown that might lead to a shutdown are is a growing element in all this.

bill: in the meantime new reaction to the big florida straw poll over the weekend. herman cain, if you have not heard, took 37% of the vote. he was far out in front of everybody. florida governor rick scott said about a week ago, whomever wins the poll would win the republican nomination. here he is this morning backing that up on "fox & friends.". >> do you stand by what you originally said that he will be the gop nominee and potentially the president? >> gretchen, this is, these are the activists. we had 3500 people here. they're the activists. they are the ones that spoke big. 37%. so, i think if you're going to beat herman cain you will have to spend a lot of time in florida. bill: governor scott adds it is important for voters to support someone with a plan for jobs and a balanced federal budget. two issues floridians he says are deeply concerned about. we'll see whether or not his crystal ball is right.

martha: all of that talknd all the polls prompted this we again, will he or won't he? all that is bubbling up one more time. several big mon nor donors are pushing new jersey governor chris christie to reconsider the decision and enter the gop primary. they speculated he will decide over the next few days. his folks sort of said that is not back on the table for them. but with the part party's frontrunner sagging a bit after the big fox debate. more republicans say if christie jumps in he could win it all. here is new york city mayor michael bloomberg on "meet the press". >> he is shaking things up in a state that has problems gone on and on. some things he does i agree with. some things he does i don't agree with. if he wants to run he certainly should get in there and do it. >> would he be a formidable candidate? >> i think he would be a credible, formidable candidate. martha: that is from the mayor across the river.

larry sabato joins us from the center for politics at the university of virginia. good to see you as always. >> thank you, martha. martha: when i saw this pop up on my blackberry over the weekend i thought, here we go again. where is this coming from? is coming from christie or coming from the donors? >> it is not coming from christie. it really is coming from donors and i think some establishment republicans are looking at their opportunity to win and it is quite good in november 2012. then they're looking at the republican field. they're not satisfied with romney. they were disappointed with rick perry's debate performance. they look at the other candidates. they don't think they're winners in november. they're looking for somebody else. they keep coming back to chris christie even though he has been adamant, emphatic that he is not running. he would have to eat those words with a lot more than salt and pepper. martha: toughest words he would have to eat he said he is not ready for the job. he hasn't just said he didn't want to run right now. he said he didn't feel like he was ready.

that would be a pretty tough hill to climb to overcome those words a lot of people might say. he will do this big speech at the reagan library at the end of september. the timing is such, looks like he would have to be in by mid-october. chris christie or anybody else who might want to enter this, as carl pointed out earlier that is the michigan cuttoff for the primary. do you think he or anybody else at this point will shake up the game in terms of what we're see for the gop? >> in politics anything is possible. i think it is extremely difficult for somebody to get in. we just learned that with rick perry. he was pretty well-prepared, long-serving current governor in america. had lots of good stuff. had loads of financial resources at his fingertips and look how he stumbled. it's really difficult to get in the presidential mode and put together a national campaign quickly. this new individual, whether it is chris christie or sarah palin or somebody else would have even more trouble because there's even less

time. martha: so you think perry's done? >> oh, i absolutely not. look, we are so used to trying to bring down the curtain before the even the second act much less the play is finished. look, six weeks ago we were saying romney looks like he is swimming into the nomination. then rick perry got in. he shot to the top of the polls. he was going to win the nomination. it is obvious this is going to be a long battle mainly between perry and romney. but it is not impossible one of the other candidates could come to the fore. martha: that is what herman cain would say with his win in the florida straw poll. do you make of that? >> it is 3500 activists. mr. cain deserves his victory and it is an impressive victory. there aren't many people out there who believe he will be the nominee of the republican party. martha: always good to check in with you. larry sabato, university of

virginia this morning. >> thank you, martha. martha: we ask you our question of the day. which republican candidate do you think will end up with president obama. 1200 people weighed in. 70% think it will not be rick perry or mitt romney who end up being the one who run against president obama. how about that. somebody else they think. go to our foxnews.com/americas newsroom. and or send us a tweet and let us know what you think. bill: it is not science. martha: 70% says they're not the one. bill: gives you idea what folks are thinking. breaking news on the economy and real estate market and it is not good again in august. sales of new homes fell for the sixth-month low in august. that is the fourth straight monthly decline during the peak buying season. which is another strong indicator that the housing market could be years away from recovery. new home sales off 2.3%. that is just in right now crossing from washington.

martha? martha: it was a road trip from hell. check it out. unbelievable. 50 tourists lucky to be alive this orange mop. we'll tell you what happened. bill: also the executives from that failed solar firm that got half a billion dollars of your money will not testify but republicans like our next next guest says solyndra is not off the hook. congressman joe barton will tell us in three minutes. >> the question before the subcommittee today, mr. chairman, is, how does a company go from having the president of the united states visit it to having the fbi come in and confiscate its files? the american people deserve an answer to that question, mr. chairman. there are patients who will question,

why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so. we may see more cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. a dry mouth sufferer doesn't have to suffer. i would recommend biotene. the enzymes in biotene products help supplement enzymes that are naturally in saliva. biotene helps moisten those areas that have become dry. those that are suffering can certainly benefit from biotene. bill: dozens of tourists counting their blessings now after the bus they were on burst into flames. it's on video. watch it here and listen.

thankfully they were at a safe distance. that explosion happening southwest of sydney, australia. all 50 on board were out and safe. that is what is left of the bus is a skeleton. no word yet on what caused that. there is your skelton bus. martha: house republicans are not giving up in the fight to bring out the truth in a controversial government loan to failed green company, solyndra. the obama administration reportedly rushed a $535 million loan to the solar company and there are indications that they knew that the company was in some trouble. so now gop lawmakers say they think the battle on this whole thing is far from over. >> we're not done. we didn't get any answers today on legitimate questions posed by republicans and democrats but at the end of the day we've got to find out what happened to this taxpayer money, half a billion dollars. martha: i think everybody can agree with that they would like to know where the

money went. republican congressman joe barton says the white house can not run away from this scandal. good to have you here this morning. >> good to be with you. martha: we know last week obviously the executives pled the fifth. it is not a huge surprise give the fact the fbi raided all their files and going through their stuff. no doubt their attorneys said it would be very unwise for them to talk so where do we stand now on this investigation? >> it was a little bit of a surprise because they indicated the week before if we let them come in next week they would answer the questions. obviously they changed their mind but it was somewhat surprising. where we go from here we continue to get the facts. chairman up ton and subcommittee chairman sterns indicated more witnesses will be interviewed at the staff level, both at the department of energy and the office of management and budget. the bush administration credit review committee had recommended against this particular loan in january of 2009. and the obama credit review

committee which came in recommended in, late february or early march, that same year for it. and not only recommended for it, but it put it on the fast track. so we're going to focus on that. martha: obviously that is one of the big questions to focus on, what changed from the end of the bush administration to the beginning of the obama administration that made them feel that this was a good company actually to invest in. you know, talk to me a little bit. you say that there is an e-mail trail. we've heard a little bit of that e-mail trail. what did you learn from it and what tells you about what level, who knew, who knew there was a bad situation going on at solyndra and who signed off on it anyway is the question? >> well, you have the then chief of staff rom emanuel in the obama white house kind of encouraging a quick decision in the, can the president come out and do a photo-op? you have the chief of staff of vice president biden also

asking about opportunities to publicize it. and biden did, by video, i think help make the announcement of the loan guarantee. on the other hand you have civil servants in the department of energy and the office of management and budget questioning their numbers, questioning their cash flow. in fact there is one e-mail that says, this company is going to run out of money in september of 2011. pretty prescient that that particular analyst nailed it as to when the company would go into bankruptcy. martha: the big question is how high up does it go? we saw pictures of the president walking around solyndra. they unfurled big american flags at solyndra the day the president visited the company. clearly he felt that it was a good, positive company and that it was, you know, a good sort of banner company for the green jobs that he wanted to bring into the country but the bottom line what did they actually know about the financials? and if they did, why on earth would they push it?

why would they want to push it if they had any idea this company was about to collapse? >> well it doesn't appear that the obama administration at the political level cared too much about the financials. they wanted a, at a minimum a photo-opportunity. they wanted a green jobs success story and they felt that this particular company was worth half a billion dollars without real close scrutiny. they're still $9 billion in an $1 billion program that is yet to be committed. most of those loans have been preliminary approved and supposed to be approved by end of this week. we're looking at that too. martha: congressman i have to go but very quickly who else do you want to talk to? the executives won't talk. who else is on your list? >> we have former bush administration officials. we have some of the current obama administration officials. some of the people in the general counsel's office at the department of energy. there are lots of people yet to be talked to. martha: congressman joe barton, we'll follow along.

thank you very much, sir. >> they can run but they can't hide. martha: you heard it here. thank you very much. bill: 18 minutes past the hour and harsh accusations of tea party racism. listen. >> what, what underlies that? screw the country. we're going to do whatever we do to get this black man, we'll do whatever we can to get this black man out of here. bill: that is the actor morgan freeman and his comments. now the response from presidential candidate herman cain. stay tuned for that. martha: is quite a story coming up. new fallout from the new health care law. could one state show what is in store for the whole rest of the country when we come back

martha: all right. let's get you a quick check of the headlines. nato warplanes pounding

targets in qaddafi hometown. it is what is left to dictator's regime holed up inside that city still. could there be new arrests in the 1988 bombing over pan am flight over lockerbie, scotland. they want the new libyan government to help catch anyone responsible for the attack. to date only one person has been convict of that bombing. there is new fears over a formula given to babies to newborns at hospitals. free samples may keep some new moms from breast feeding their babies. doctors recommend mama's milk for the first six months of any babe's life. bill. bill: thank you, martha. under the new health care law patients will have to wait a lot longer to see a doctor. according to blue cross-blue shield out of tennessee, about 700,000 in that state will get new coverage under the law but those already with insurance will likely

see longer wait times and increasing costs. is this going to play out in your state the same way? dr. marc siegel, fox news medical a-team, professor of medicine at nyu langone medical center. what do you have there? >> that is the report, the tennessee health institute report you're talking about. bill: the report concludes what? >> it basically shows what will happen with tennessee will happen with the nation under obamacare, which is as you said 700,000 people for insurance. 660,000 people will add to the medicare, medicaid ranks. here's the big headline, bill. one million people are going to lose their employer-based health insurance and end up on state exchanges for price tag of $3 billion for the feds and one billion for the tate of tennessee. as tennessee goes, so goes the nation, not so far from your hometown. i'm concerned about this because we don't have the doctors to take care of the people as i said on the show many times. bill: let me pause a little bit. you threw out a lot of information. a million in tennessee alone? >> a million tennessee alone

will go from employer-based insurance over to the state exchanges. this is calculation on the part of the tennessee authorities. they feel that there wouldn't be the for employers to keep people on their ranks. employers rather pay the penalty. employees will go to the state exchanges. bill: these are companies that have 50 employees or less they will let them go. >> exactly. bill: who pays for all these peoples? >> the feds will pay $3 billion for the state of tennessee. they also calculated in administrative costs a billion dollars in the state of tennessee that is without adding in what president obama is talking about maybe more cuts to medicaid and asking states to pay more? bill: where will tennessee get a billion dollars to cover this? >> that's a really good question. tennessee does not have overflowing pock wet book. as a practice physician i have another care. primary care physicians are right in middle 22 in the count interest. 99 health care docs for every 100,000 patients that

is not a lot. these calculations according to the report, bill, they don't have anymore primary doctors coming. nurse practitioners, 5,000 in the state of tennessee. no more coming. we don't have doctors and nurses. >> you talk about that a lot. go to blue cross-blue shield does it have an incentive insurance company to put out numbers like this would benefit it? is there an agenda on the behalf of the insurance company? >> thought it was pretty even-handed report. spent first half of the report, hey we're increasing access to people by giving them insurance that is obamacare's line. they figured out these people might not get the access they were hoping for. i found this report to be pretty fair and balanced. bill: it concludes that the longer wait is a result or will be a result of fewer doctors? >> we've already seen that in massachusetts. bill: which is something you talked about for three years now. >> because we've seen it in massachusetts already which is a similar model, the massachusetts model. 9% more people are going to the emergency rooms in massachusetts now since

romney-care passed. bill: we will watch that, okay? that's an interesting report and see whether or not it has implications for the rest of us. mark segal. >> i figure it will. thanks. bill: martha, what's next. martha: the debate over president obama's jobs bill is heating up right now. the he had hads of the republican democratic parties have been scaring off on national television and they're talking about who they think is to blame, plus this. chaos on the streets after a century's old tradition comes to an end. [shouting] let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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... martha: brand-new polls this morning show that americans don't believe that washington will be able to reign in the spending at all before the presidential election. according to rasmussen reports 73% say they think that is not likely that anything gets done before the election. 22% say they think it is likely or somewhat likely. pollster scott rasmussen joins us this mourn. nice to have you here. >> great to be with you. martha: you look at the economy and you think of us just sitting here, if we are lucky enough to just sit here and not decline further over the next 13 months, it's no wonder people are discouraged. >> reporter: what we see is 85% of concerned about this deficit problem, the spending problem. three out of four say nothing is

going to happen. most voters say they'd like to see a fix, primarily spending cuts to resolve the deficit. they expect if anything is going to be done it will be mostly hike hikes. if taxes are raised people don't believe it will be used to reduce the deficit. they say it will be spent on new programs. there is a lot of concern. it's a combination of economic concerns and realities along with the lack of faith in the political leadership that is creating the foul mood in the country today. martha: i think you've touched on something really significant there, scott. you said if taxes are raised people don't buy it, they don't think that that money will then be used to solve the problem. you hear the president about taxing corporate jet owners, and also millionaires, for months and months. then there was bill clinton who said, you can do it but it's in the going to solve the problem. >> reporter: right, the reality is the american people are much more willing in their political

plead tkers to make hard choices and decisions. if there was truly a sense to get spending under control, if you need to pay a little more in taxes to cleanup the mess the politicians have made, people would go along with that, but they don't believe the spending cuts will happen or the tax cuts will reduce the deficit. martha: this is the presidential tracking poll for today from your folks. 54% disapprove. this is about where it was, right? >> reporter: yeah, right, like the president's job approval rating on the positive side has been in the low to mid 40s, for quite some time. it's dropped in a couple of months from where it was before. these numbers suggest the president would be an underdog if the election was held today. the election is 14 months away and an awful lot can change. if the economy gets better and some of the issues we just talked about approve the president's job approval will improve. martha: there will be a lot the more water under the bridge and a two things thrown into the mix

we pre ticket. thank you, scott. bill: a fiery clash overt president's plan for creating jobs. heads of the republican and democratic parties facing off on national television and reviving this debate over who is to blame for the economic crisis. >> we've had 18 straight months of job growth added 2.4 million jobs for the private sector month after month, past the american recovery and reinvestment act, saved the american automobile industry which ever republican candidate for president would have let go down the tube. >> it sounds like the new slogan is no longer hope and change, it's hey, it could have been worst. great bumper sticker debbie, i hope it works for you. the reality is that the americans are hurting in this country. bill: the debate lines are being drawn every day. steven morris a senior writer for the "wall street journal" is with us. >> great to be with us. bill: what he said continuously

in that debate is said anytime a policy that has helped improve the american economy since barack obama took the white house in january of 2009. what is the policy or policies that have he helped the economy, steven. >> debbie is a very good spokeswoman for the democratic party but she has a tough sales job, bill. the truth is if you look at the wide array of statistics about how the economy has done over the last two and a half to three years since president obama has taken office there is just not much that looks very rosy right now. jobs picture is worse than it was back in january of 2009. the poverty numbers went up. the medium income for families went down. foreclosures, you just noticed that the housing numbers still took pretty lousy. the one statistic that actually has improved fairly significantly under barack obama has been the stock market. it was really in the tank in the waning days of the bush

administration. that has improved. that is wall street. bill: that is not a policy that comes out of the white house, though, either, does it? >> reporter: well, you know, you could say that there has been more of a confidence and inspiration from some of obama's policies that have helped the stock market improve. the problem ishat hasn't translated for real gains for americans on main street. that will be a big problem. bill: you can also argue that interest rates are at historical lows since the 1940s, but that is from the fed. >> reporter: that is a very positive thing as well. by the same token look at what happened to the value of the dollar. it's fallen. gold prices are at 1800. i think this is a really important point and we chatted about it last week, the question of whether or not barack obama 14 months from now will be able to blame george bush for all these problems. for the last year or two that's been plausible. as we get closer to the election as the polls indicate, less and less people are buying into the fact that thinks the bush economy and more and more people

are calling it the obama economy. bill: let me ask you a little bit more about that. we expect to her a lot of republicans in the next 12 months say are you better off now than you were four years ago. it will be a repeated mantra from 1980. how much county democrats hang on president bush and say, it's your fault and here is why? >> reporter: it could work. this is a very personally popular president. the approval numbers you looked at were on his job performance. the american people like barack obama. that is going to make him very difficult to beat. if they see even a sliver of hope that the economy is getting better this time next year then he's going to be -- i still believe he'll be tough to beat. if we head into a double-dip recession i think all bets are off. they are going to trot out what the gipper says, are you better off today four years ago and very few americans are going to be able to say yes to that question. bill: many would argue that we are already in a double-dip

recession. >> reporter: certainly with jobs, certainly with jobs we are. bill: thank you, stephen, from the "wall street journal" stephen moore. martha: there is a religious rift brewing on the campus of an american university. why some proves are outraged at this new policy. bill: president obama telling the congressional black caucus to quote, stop complaining. >> put on your marching shoes, shake it off, stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. we are going to press on. we've got work to do. bill: now the son of a famous civil rights leader not exactly in the president's corner on that. we'll explain, details in only three minutes.

bill: a popular past time in spain is now just a thing of the past. the city of barcelona hosting its last bull fight. wow, the century's old sport was

banned last summer. they are still fighting there, but those aren't the bulls. following a petition by animal rights activists critics say the ban is less about animal welfare and more about an attack on spanish culture. martha: presidential candidate herman cain is now responding to some controversial kepbts by academy award winning actor morgan freeman. here is what morgan freeman says he thinks is the tea party's number one mission. >> the tea partyers who are controlling the republican party, their stated policy, publicly stated is to do whatever it takes to see to it that obama only serves one term. what underlines that? crew the country. we are going to do whatever we do -- we are going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here. >> but it's not necessarily a

racist. >> it is a racist thing. martha: a lot of reaction to that over the weekend. so then herman cain says if morgan freeman believes tea partyers are racist then he's never actually been to a tea party event. that's what he said this morning about all this. a tea party activist joins me now and a column noise for the daily caller and a fox news contributor. good morning. what is your response when you see what morgan freeman says. >> morgan freeman is a great actor but he's also a great liar. i'm sure he has not been to a tea party event. i speak at tea party events across the country. americans are concerned about our count tree, the decisions that are made in washington. when i speak, martha i get standing ovations because my message is so well received. this is the true heart of america, people who are concerned. the tea party has absolutely nothing to do about race, it is about the policies that are harming our country, harming our economy, that is what it's

about. martha: when i look at this situation i look -- i don't think anyone is judging this president on his skin color. i think they are looking at this president and judging him on how they think he's doing in his job. am i wrong? is there a racist feeling in this country against president obama that i'm not picking up and? do you think it's possible. >> that's just it he would not be president if that were the case. the problem is are his policies. that is something that pouring began free man and the congressional black caucus should be complaining about. they want to whip up the pays. spewing these lies and hey dread. andre carson saying they want to see blacks hanging from trees, that is utterly outrage us. they should be concerned about the 50% black unemployment among teens, that is what the focus should be on, not playing the race card. martha: i haven't seen the

president as fired up as he was when he spoke to the cbc late last week. there has been -- let me say this first, there has been a lot of reaction from maxine waters and others speaking out to the president saying, you know, you're not doing enough you need to get fired up, mr. president, and here was his reaction when he spoke to this group on thursday or friday i believe. let's look. >> i'm going to press upon for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself, i don't have time to complain, i'm going to press on. i want all of you to be with me and express one. take off your bedroom slippers. put on your marching shoes. shake it off. stop complaining. stop grumbling, stop crying, we are going to press on. we've got work to do. cbc. martha: what's your reaction? >> in 2008 obama ran as the great divider, bringing our

country together. no is running as the great divider, he's playing the class warfare car which in my opinion is subtle racist there and he's whipping up blacks in the community with the messages of him pushing for his bigger government, and he's going where the congressional black caucus is clearly trying to whip up racial tension in our country. that's the last thing we need when we have unemployed people. the economy is struggling and he's playing the race card. martha: i want you to listen to this gentleman who is on, a liberal blogger on fox & friends this morning, the son of a civil rights leader and he's upset for the other reason. he felt that in that sound byte the president was talking down to black people in the way that he was speaking. let's listen to this from eric todd. >> when you set foot in the congressional black caucus for

the legislative weekend and chastise black people and dealt with black people with our leaders in these paternalistic terms by telling us to shop whining and stop complaining, i frankly was stunned and disa.ed. >> i don't think what he is doing of late is being a good leader. he is dividing the country. his comments are not bringing people together at all. and i think he's very desperate right now. martha: the peach he did at the democrat e convention. he said he was going to join the country. >> that's not what is going on right now. the left is very desperate. i think this will be ramped up even more, expect more of the race card and the class warfare card. martha: thank you very much for coming today. bill: presidential candidate

herman cain sits down with megyn at 2:15 eastern time, a little bit later here on the fox channel. looking forward to that this afternoon. jon scott has something cooking in the newsroom. jon: good morning to you. what to do about the economy. it's a question to be answered in europe as well as here in the u.s. is pakistan a friend or foe? we are asking that question again today after another attack on the u.s. in kabul. a scientific challenge that stumped scientists and even computers turned over to video gamers, and guess who solved it. donald trump on the 2012 race, what his blessing might mean. plus bret baier on the suddenly shifting presidential field among republicans. you can go to fox news.com/"happening now," click on the america's asking tab to share your thoughts with us. bill: we'll see you at the top of the hour. we lost three limbs on the

battlefield in afghanistan. today an emotional homecoming for a real american hero. [cheering] >> overwhelming to have this many people turn out for one hero. >> any young man that comes home in that condition, that's what you need, to know that people still care about you. [ male announcer ] heard this one? listen to this. three out of four americans don't get enough vegetables. so here's five bucks

to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us.

bill: new home sales numbers just into "america's newsroom," new home sales down for another straight month. 25% of all homes have mortgages said to be underwater, which means they oh more money than the home is worth. that is a stunning figure. i'll show you what it means for the economy. each new home bill creates an average of three jobs for a year, and brings in $90,000 in taxes. new home sales have been down

for five straight years. get this. though, national association of home builders. you ready, martha? martha: ready. bill: 25% of all mortgages are underwater. which means they owe more than what it's worth. it took 19 years for home prices to recover after the great depression. martha: there is no indication -- now they are saying, the year after next they may be up 1.5%, so your home is just not going anywhere in terms of value any time soon it would a pier from the numbers. now we have this for you. claims of religious sue expression at one tennessee school and it comes from one of the school's own professor. the vanderbilt university policy would establish that religious groups can't require their leaders to share the same beliefs as the group. john roberts has more on this story for us. this is being called an assault on christianity, is that what it appears to be?

>> reporter: it certainly appears to be if your carol swain. or one of four christian groups placed on provisional status after vanderbilt said you're in none come phrao*eupbgs with a policy. all student groups cannot require their leaders to say are the groups, goals, beliefs and values and it affects christian groups to a greater degree. they are is the constitution from the christian legal society. they say, quote, each officer is expected to lead bible studies, prayer and worship at chapter meetings. would seem to be a no-brainer right? the university says, vanderbilt policies do not allow this expectation, qualification for officers. justin g u.n. ter is the president of the christian society at vanderbilt university. he says he's negotiating with the university to change the constitution but says he will only go so far. >> the point where they are saying we can't have bible studies and prayer meetings as a

part of our constitution, if we go beyond that we're compromising the very identity of who we are as christians and the very thing we believe as religious individuals. >> reporter: now, they have actually had a problem like this in the past, cls has at wash burn university if they allowed a student to lead a liable studies and it became apparent that his beliefs were completely contrary to cls beliefs. they believe they will be able to maintain their teg ra tee as a christian tkpwro*ep group. if forced to take it out they don't know what will happen. martha: it's hard to imagine that you can be a collective group if you're interested in one thing and you're not allowed to express that one thing. bill: the race for the white house in 212, you wonder? we are building a website by ourselves.

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martha: very emotional homecoming for a real american

hero who suffered unthinkable injuries on the battlefield. a 21-year-old j.b. cerns returned from afghanistan to a heart warming welcome, greeted by hundreds of supporters on motorcycles. they followed him and met him and went all the way to his hometown. >> it feels really good to be home. and it's an honor to come from a town like this that gives such great support. you all don't know what it means to me to know that everybody here is here for me. martha: a great young man. what a good story. it's nice to see him come home to his hometown and be greeted by so many wonderful people who wished him well. they have raised $50,000 to help pay his medical bills. he spends every day, really undergoing rigorous physical therapy and we wish him well. bill: kudos to the folks in west virginia. martha something through and a full tank of premium, please, 93

octane i think. cincinnati, ohio this couple tying the knot at a gas station. they dated for about four years and says we want to get hitched at the place where we met for the first time, which was and is the local speedway. martha: i love that. i think that's very novel. that's cute, a good idea. weddings are so over the top now. why not get married at the gas station. lovely couple, wow. bill: we'll fill her tomorrow morning. martha: we'll see you right back here tomorrow, folks. jon: we begin "happening now" with this fox news alert. you're looking at a helicopter shot from marsh field massachusetts, near the plymouth area outside boston where police are searching for the suspect wanted in the murder of a woman in what appears to be a domestic situation. the guy they are looking for they say is 40-year-old