martha: ha, ha, ha. picking on new jersey again. thank you, jay leno. bill: kind of a cheap shot is it true? martha: i don't know. not in my neighborhood. have you seen the sew perhaps knows lately -- sopranos lately. bye, everybody we'll see you back here tomorrow. jon: good morning to you on this tuesday i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody i'm jenna lee. we're in the fox newsroom and "happening now", rick perry about to lay out the details of his new economic plan in south carolina. we'll have a live look for you right there where the texas governor is proposing a plan that includes a flat tax. he is calling it, cut, balance and grow. we've heard a little bit about from "the wall street journal"here he has an edorial in that paper today. chris stirewalt is the fox news digital politics editor and host of power play. while we wait for perry, chris you say his tax proposal isn't the earthquake that maybe

everyone is making it out to be but something else in this plan will shake up the publican party. what is that? >> tt is the fa th rick perry who w dogged for weeks by mitt romney for calling social security a ponzi scheme is doubling down on entitlements. in this plan he is calling for something awful like the program that paul ryan and john sununu put forward was the basis that george w. bush tried to sell in hisecond term and didn't work out. perry is reembracing the notion to changing social security to be individualized account for younger workers that is bold stands for a guy who took a lot heat on social security before. i think mitt romney will be coming back at him. jenna: let's share with viewers what exactly rick perry is saying about social security. we have a little quote from the "wall street journal" op-ed today. it says, quote, america for once and for all face up to entitlement reform. to preserve benefits for current and near-term social security beneficiaries, my plan

permanently stops politicians from raiding the program's trust fund. he uses that term, raid a second time in the piece as well. when you talk about shaking up the republican party, is that a good shake, chris? you anticipate that being a good shake for the republican party or a bad shake? >> well, ferry, who has been miserable in the polls of late and needs to shake things up. he has to take some chances. he added on new staffers. he is rolling out a big ad buy. he needs something that will shake this up. this is risky play for him to come out and go back into this issue but he has to do something. the current trend line leaves him out of the running and doesn't give him the opportunity to be the guy conservatives like. conservative republicans love the idea of entitlement reform. it is risky in the general election as mitt romney pointed out time and time again. something that the republican base really has their heart set on. jenna: you mentioned risky. every single time we talk about the nation's debt, some guest, some pundit, some economic expert says,

hey, unless we're talking about entitlements we'll not come close to solving this thing. we'll see if that bet for rick perry plays out. another quick question for you chris, about perry's campaign right now. we understand he has taken on some new advisers. tell us a little bit those advisors and how they might change things for perry. >> well, he had a small group of loyal campaign supporters that worked for him for many years. what he added in some people veterans of bush campaigns and who have broader national campaign experience most notably, joe albaugh, who was the 2,000 campaign manager for george w. bush and dick cheney. this is a sign perhaps fences are being mended between the perry camp and the bush camp. something that will probably please some donors and shows perry trying to hit the reset button. jenna: we'll see what happens. chris, always nice to have you. thank you for joining us. >> you bet. jenna: get more of this conversation at foxnews.com. check out chris at the bottom of the hour, he will host his show, p.o.w.er may have live. and quick on the link that

goes right to the show. jon: fox news alert on serial rapist own the loose. police in the dallas area say the suspect attacked four women so far. the victims have striking similarities. they're all african-americans, all in their 50s and 60s and everyone of the victims belonged to the same college sorority. rick leventhal is following that story live from our new york city newsroom. why are police thinking that this guy is going after this sorority, rick? >> reporter: it's a good question and police say they don't know why or how but they say that delta sigma theta has absolutely been singled out. our four victims were assaulted between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. sleeping in their homes of texas cities of corinth, plano oar coppell. all black females in their 60s and members the sorority. chef video. a heavy black male in late 30s or early 40s. he was between 275 and 300 pounds.

five seven to 5'9" with short hair or shaved head and distinctive swagger in his walk. >> physical description that we were given of the perpetrator does match the description of the subject that's in the surveillance video. >> reporter: he has apparently tried to avoid security cameras and tried to disguise himself too. police say they have dna evidence and they're trying to catch him before he strikes again, jon. jon: i guess members of the sorority are on alert, huh? >> reporter: yes, they are especially if they live alone. they're encouraged to stay with a relative or friend and not advertise affiliation with the sorority. stop wearing hats and pins with insignia on it. a sorority official says this is discouraging and disheartening. we encourage members to be alert of their surroundings and call police if they see anything suspicious or feel threatened. anyone with information is encouraged to call police in plano or corinth or the

crimestoppers tip line. jon: let's hope they catch this guy. rick, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: we bring you overseas to catastrophic flooding in thailand is killing people. 350 people dead so far because of this massive flooding. the water is surging into bangkok today. you see on video what devastation there is. hundreds of people in waist-high water fleeing area. it is called the worst flooding in decades. domestic airlines are forced to cancel their flights. 4,000 people are taking shelter at a northern bangkok airport. they're being relocated to another province. that is what they're trying to do now. in the meantime thailand announced a five-day holiday to help people cope with the disaster. across the world to a different area dealing with heavy rain. heavy rain is causing incredible flooding across parts of ireland. more than a month's rain fell on dublin in just one day. four rivers overflowed their banks leading it to the suspension of rail services and many roads being closed. the wicked weather caught

many people off-guard. >> i never seen nothing like this in last 40 years. living never seen flood as this. >> no warning. like, if it was that bad which it is there should have been a warning or something to say turn back. don't go that way. there wasn't. jenna: dublin city council is activating a major emergency plan sending teams out to evacuate homes and help clear the floodwaterers. the rain is expected to move farther north to scotland. jon: happening now, the stunning fall for one of wall street's brightest stars up till now. netflix shares plunging by more than a third after the video rental company announced it lost 800,000 customers and expects to lose more. fox business network's dennis kneale with that story. dennis? >> reporter: jon, these days netflix it can't win for losing. back in july this stock traded at $304 a share. wall street couldn get enough of it.

today it is down $42 a share. that is 35% plunge since it reported earnings last night. so what went wrong? well the earnings were stellar. they were up 63% versus a third quarter year ago. revenue up almost 50%. subscriber growth up 41%. what are you going to do with that? turns out the problem is what lies ahead. netflix lost 800,000 customers in the quarter and it is going to lose maybe 1 1/2 million online subs in the fourth quarter and maybe 3.1 million dvd subs. that is because the company ticked off its customers. in the summer it set up bold-faced 60% pricing increase to get dvd's and on line movies. it could lose 1 1/2 million online subscribers year-end and maybe 3 million dvd customers. that is 300 million in annual revenue that could be loss. worse, netflix predicts of international expansion it will run a loss next quarters next year.

they didn't reveal that surprise until page 9. the trapeze from the old business to the new. from dvd's in this case to online streaming. that dvd's are fading. they still have higher profit margins though than the internet business. 50% versus 8% for that online stuff. that is because the company's quadrupled spending in only three years to get all this online stuff. the company now comes out and says, mea culpa. they said what we misjudged how quickly to move there from that trapeze and they said we compounded the problem with our lack of explanation about the rising costs, expansion of streaming content and dvd, gee, absence that, many perceived us as greedy. well the question is will this come back? some people think it is a huge buy now. very hard to catch a falling knife, jon. be careful here. it will get worse before it ever may get better. jon: i imagine the competitors are looking at it too? >> that's right. they have no exclusive lock. so bingo. a booming industry but

sometimes the first guys in reap the benefits and then they pay the price. jon: dennis kneale, thank you. >> reporter: okay, thanks. jenna: it was a horrifying crime that really shocked the entire country. now a jury will decide if the second man convicted in a murder of a woman and her two daughters gets life in prison or is sentenced to death. why his attorney said jurors should spare his life. jon: also, keeping an eye on hurricane rina. janice dean whether this powerful storm could still hit the u.s. mainland. jenna: money ball literally. how the big leaguers are saving the little guys in one major u.s. city.  

jon: a fox news alert. you might get ready for more controversy involving the human papillomavirus. the u.s. vaccine advisory

panel is now recommending routine vaccination of boys ages 11 and 12 with the gardasil vaccine that is supposed to protect against the hpv virus. it is supposed to help stop hpv infections. the authorities believe, these government scientists believe it will protect boys against again tall warts and even some kind of cancers. you might know it was recommended that girls ages 11 and 12 get that vaccine starting five years ago. so far only about a third of the girls in this country who are eligible have chosen to use that vaccine. we'll keep you updated whether the implementation for boys is also adopted. jenna: the jury that convicted joshua komisarjevsky in a brutal triple murder case is deciding whether he will live or die. rick folbaum has more on this. >> reporter: jenna, he will soon find out if he will be going to death row just like his partner in this horrible, horrible case. the two men convicted of

breaking into a suburban connecticut home, forcing a woman to withdraw thousands of dollars from her bank account, taking her two daughters hostage and sexually assaulting them. the woman's husband, dr. william petit seen there, beaten and tied up in the family's basement. forced to listen helplessly to the cries upstairs. he broke free, survived and has been in the courtroom throughout every phase of these two trials. right now a jury deliberating whether joshua komisarjevsky will go to prison for life or be sentenced to death for his role in the crimes. his attorney says that he was abused as a child. and that that should be a factor as the jurors decide his punishment. his codefendant, steven hayes, sentenced to die by lethal injection. connecticut by the way only executed one person since 1976 and the state's death row has only 10 inmates. it could soon have one more. we'll keep you posted, jenna. jenna: rick, we'll stay on it. thank you. jon: a fox news weather

alert for you now. hurricane rina, strengthening to a category 2 storm. rina's winds are topping 100 miles an hour right now and it is gaining power in the warm waters of the caribbean. is this storm going to hit the u.s.? meteorologist janice dean is tracking rina in the extreme weather center. jd. >> can you believe we're talking about the tropics this late in the season. jon, it is 7th busiest tropical season on record. this is rina. this is strengthening storm. let's zoom, i'm hoping my maps are working. come on. brandon, my producer if you can hear me. i'm hoping he can advance my maps for me. there he is. he is the best. you can see an eye forming right here. that is indicator this storm is strengthening. the last few frames you can see, right there, yeah. so we think this, very well could become a major hurricane, a category in the next several hours. certainly the track, the

official track in the national hurricane center makes it a three as we go forward in time. can kuhn, you could be hit by a major hurricane heading into friday. as we head further out in time, we're not really sure where this storm is going to go and the computer models agree with that statement. take a look. again it looks like somebody just took crayons and decided to scribble all over this map. you can see most of them moving into the yucatan peninsula. a couple moving into the yucatan channel. south florida, we still need to monitor this storm. the other big story we are talking about is winter, coming to colorado, denver, with we could see six to 12 inches of snow. now beautiful there right now. yesterday they actually hit a high of 80 degrees. we're going to be in the 50s today. then overnight tomorrow, 19 degrees. and there is your winter weather advisories for the denver area and surrounding regions where again we could get upwards of a foot or

more especially in the foothills. so that's the interesting story. and jon scott, i will bring you in here because just a couple days ago we were talking about you as a young boy living in denver, colorado. jon: yes. >> and seeing snow on the ground trick-or-treated. jon: snow on halloween. >> this is not when you were a young boy. this was taken over the weekend where he won third prize, jenna lee costume at halloween party. jon: that is not a costume. you flew with me. i wear that every time i go flying right? >> i don't remember. i was drinking. but thankfully you weren't. where did you get this? jenna: that is good look for you, jon. the scarf, everything. jon: beats my usual vampire outfit. jenna: good detail. >> where did you get that outfit? jon: that is my flying outfit. >> come on. jon: i rented it. great costume supply store in youngers. >> fantastic he won third

prize our john any love. we want to see pictures of awe young boy in colorado. jon: i see if i dig those out of the vault. if they took photos back then. jenna: did they have electricity? jon: they didn't but they did have cameras. jenna: good luck, jon. we appreciate that. one of the most powerful weapons in our nuclear arsenal, a bomb, 600 times stronger than the one that flatten hiroshima during world war ii. now big news about the final ones left. what is happening to it today? we're live with that story. illegal aliens sneaking across our border, some of them dangerous. patrol agents are powerless in some spots because of this guy. looks friendly enough. jon: yep. jenna: we're going to talk to a lawmaker that says the antelope is affecting our national security. why? we'll tell you next.

jenna: a fox news alert. want to bring you back down to south carolina where rick perry, governor of texas and also potentially the republican presidential candidate sun veiling his economic plan. this is supposed to be his time to ramp up his campaign after a slew of, well, what some are calling lackluster debate performances. key parts of his plan, an optional flat tax for americans and also doubling down a bit on social security. saying yet again we need to fix entitlement programs. if you want to listen in to rick perry go to foxnews.com. we'll monitor what he says and bring you any breaking news as it happens. jon: some brand new developments in the battle against illegal immigration. as a new bill aims to give border patrol agents more powerful tools t would allow them to bypass 36 environmental laws involving millions of acres of federal land along the canadian and

mexican borders. right now border patrol agent can't put up fences or surveillance equipment in national parks or forests within 100 miles of border. they can't even use planes or cars to patrol those areas. in one spot border patrol agents were told they could not construct watch towers if there is one endangered antelope in the area. congressman rob bishop, republican from utah, is the chief sponsor of the new bill. what, you see it as common sense legislation, congressman? >> definitely. the border patrol does a great job where they're allowed to work. that is on private public. only on public property we don't allow the border patrol to do their jobs. that is counterintuitive at best. jon: congressman edward mark can i is a liberal democrat from massachusetts. he is on the environment, i'm sorry the national resources committee. he says your plan is shortsighted and just nonsense. your response? >> well, quite frankly we have a problem on public

property which is now on the southern border, basically ceded to drug cartels. we have an amissing opportunity for the bad guys to come into this country and we have also the opportunity for terrorists to come into this country because we limit what the border patrol can do. we don't need more boarder patrol agents. we need to give them access to do their routine patrolling. the only place we stop that is on public property. i want to give them the same rights on public property they already have on priority property. jon: you say they are limited n what way? what do you mean? >> it simply means if you come to an area considered wilderness category or endangered species or conservation habitat the border patrol must stop and do anything else on patrol basis on foot. if they're in hot pursuit they might be able to have a decent land manager working with them to continue in some hot pursuit. they're limited to what they can do on foot. they're limited what they can do by transportation. they're limited where they can put tracking devices. only on public property.

that once again makes no sense at all. i don't know why we want to tie our hands against bad guys coming into the country on public property when we don't have the same restrictions on the private property. jon: you mentioned the lead-in, the antelope which is center of controversy here. if you want to build a watchtower you can't build it if there are antelope nearby. >> the rural they have to encounter encounter prong horns. have to back up and can't go back 25 miles an hour doing it until the animal voluntarily left the area, which is i'm sorry, a silly rule. jon: even if you're chasing a drug suspect and antelope comes between you and the suspect you have to give way to the antelope? >> actually that is a gray area. if you're in hot pursuit you might be able to do it. however if you have too many bad marks against you by the land manager who protests what the border patrol does you endanger your career. a lot of border patrol will take the safer route which

is not helpful to the american public. jon: i mentioned the opposition of congressman markey earlier. what do you think chances are getting this legislation passed? >> hope it is a no-brainer. it is right thing to do. the house already voted on similar language that was much broader and less specific couple of years ago. and it passed overwhelmingly the house. the senate has voice voted the same concepts a couple of times. so once its is on the floor i don't think you can argue against of the logic of what we're trying to do. the reason we have specifically listed this bill basically interior department said if you don't list specifically what can be waived for the border patrol to do their jobs of patrolling we won't accept it. so we listed what has historically been listed when we had to build the fence. those were the same laws that were put, allowed to be suspended for the purpose of building the border fence. jon: congressman rob bishop, republican of utah. thank you. >> thank you. jenna: sort of have home on

the range playing the background. jon: where the animals roam. jenna: anyone else? just wondering. interesting story, really is. fascinating to know. some of the scenes in the race to the white house for 2012 may sound familiar. our next guest says president obama's campaign is starting to resemble this man's. why he believes the president is taking a page from fdr and why he says that won't work. and we're learning the names of the jurors in the case case murder trial. we'll tell more about that -- casey anthony. we'll tell you why we may not be seeing a blockbuster book by casey anytime soon. 

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get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jon: our acquisition center here at fox is where we keep an eye on news feeds coming in from all over the world. this one is coming in from lower manhattan. the dow is down 120 points. what the dow giveth, the dow taketh away. after up numbers yesterday it is not looking so good today. on remote 238. taking a look at rick perry. he is in south carolina unveiling what he calls his cut, balance and grow plan. if you want to watch it live we've got it for you on foxnews.com. then on remote 292, janice was just telling us about hurricane rina. this storm is getting stronger. a little bit of a mystery where she will end up. if you're in cancun pay close attention. jenna? jenna: a good warning, jon. meantime "happening now", the international spotlight is shifting from libya to syria. there are new report that

anti-government protesters that have been injured during the crackdown are being tortured and beaten in state-run hospitals. reena ninan is live in jerusalem with more. >> reporter: jenna that's right. with qaddafi killed and these elections in tunisia pretty successful hard to imagine that syrian president bashar assad is not feeling the heat. a new report releases by amnesty international called climate of fear talking about protesters being beaten in hospitals. corerd to the report, four government hospitals reports that wounded protesters face torture or bad trimt by doctors and nurses. one doctor at the holmes military hospital said he personally saw four doctors and 20 nurses abusing patients. these are forcing patients to go to private clinics or not seek any treatment at all. meanwhile the protests still continuing against the syrian president every friday despite the lack of media attention given to it by the international

community. every friday they show up and since march more than 2900 people have been killed. in an interview with "the washington post" jordan's king abdullah says, and i'm quoting here, nobody has an answer to syria. we're going to continue to see violence there. jenna. jenna: interesting comments coming from the jordanian president. thank you very much. jon: three months after casey anthony was acquitted of murder charges in the death of her little daughter caylee, a florida judge is releasing the names of the jurors. rick folbaum has more on that. why the delay, rick? >> reporter: safety, jon. usually in florida the names of jurors are released after the trial is over but it was only a few hours ago the judge in florida allowed the release of names of people who deliberated that verdict. the judge cited safety concerns for the individuals as the reason for the three-month delay. all 12 jurors and two alternates whowere named today have so far decided not to speak to the media. judge belvin perry said the

jurors, quote, were adamant about their desire not to contact the media or appear on tv shows even though they could have received handsome payment for their time and effort. also, there have been talk of a book deal for casey anthony as a way to help her pay her massive legal bills but the website "tmz" reporting so far no one is biting. a producer for nbc has been apparently shopping a book around. tmz saying that casey agreed to a tv interview with the network if they could help her get a book deal. she has yet to speak publicly since being act waited this -- a quitted this past summer. jon: just as well in my book. rick, thanks very much. jenna: what to do to turn around the struggling housing market a new report showing how far prices have fallen and where there might be bright spots as well. austan goolsbee former chairman of the president's council of economic advisors will join us in about half an hour to talk about that. also, st. louis they had a little bit of a tough go of

it. jon: yeah. jenna: you won't find the city complaining just yet. everyone is still in the series, right. jon: there is a silver lining. >> there is a silver lining no matter who wins the game. why losing may mean winning in st. louis. we'll talk more about that coming right up. ♪ . what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ?

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to try invisible hearing aids yourself free for 30 days. you can choose from two great styles. the invisible-in-the-canal rests comfortably inside your ear where no one can see it. the mini receiver-in-canal hides discreetly behind your ears, virtually undetectable by others. if you have trouble hearing but don't want to be seen wearing hearing aids, you'll love invisible hearing aids. call... to try them free for 30 days. now these hearing aids are truly invisible. you can't tell that i'm wearing them. no one knows that i'm wearing them. call... to try them free for 30 days. jon: "happening now", you might call it money ball. the cardinals and their fans may be disappointed the world series is heading back to st. louis. texas rangers could win their first world series title in game 6 tomorrow night on fox. but the cardinals return

means even more money for city restaurants and bars and plenty of dough for depleted city coffers. st. louis mayor francis slaegh joins us now. this baseball run, and it has been an incredible run for the cards, has really done good things for your city finances. >> it sure has. it was unexpected one. several weeks ago we didn't expect to be here. we were planning to do furloughs for city employees for the third year in a row and because of the world series run and the excess revenues that we were not anticipating coming in, about, it is going to be now about somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 million if coming back for game 6. the employees are not going to have to take furloughs this year. while st. louis is a great place, in postseason play this is cardinal nation, the city employees have something extra special to cheer about. jon: yeah. i can see why you didn't expect to be there a few weeks ago. the cards were what, 10 1/2

games back at one point before they went on that tear to get into the playoffs. how do you know, how do you see the funds coming in that quickly? it surprises me you made up what a $2 million short fall, based in large part on the game attendance? >> yeah. a world series game, world series, one world series games brings in a net of about 500,000 which is, that is a conservative number. jon: so you've got people, you've got people booking hotel rooms, going out to eat, buying beer at the local market i guess if they will watch the game on tv? >> well, it is concessions at the ballpark. it is sales taxes on the tickets we weren't anticipating. parking fees. hotels and restaurants there. sales taxes are up. this is a net increase over and above what we anticipated directly as a result of the post-season games in st. louis. jon: you talked about furloughs. you have been essentially forcing your city workers to

take unpaid time off, a week per year, for workers and two two weeks per year for managers? >> that is correct. this was something that we, to the credit of the employees and in order to address our skyrocketing pension costs and other benefit costs and to minimize the number of layoffs, the employee representatives actually, and to their credit, negotiated this. to try to save jobs and try to help keep your service levels at the highest we could do. jon: and, obviously it, well, you're going to be able, you think, you to end the furlough program for at least this year as a result of this world series tear? >> we've ended it. and it is because directly as a result of the postseason. jon: wow. >> otherwise we were on track, after our first quarter, we were on track for our anticipated revenues. this brings in, this is going to bring in conservatively after this

game tomorrow and then hopefully we'll be there again thursday, it will bring up, as much as $3 million conservatively. jon: even if there is a nonbaseball fan in st. louis, and i'm not sure that could be the case right now but even if there is a nonbaseball fan, they ought to be cheering for the cards to win tomorrow night so you go on to game 7, right? >> absolutely. it is great to have the cardinals here. they're an outstanding team. we're used to them going into post-season play in red okay tobier and cardinal nation there is nothing like post-season play and nothing like the world series. we've been the in world series the past eight years. this is our third time. so it is always exciting but when we see this direct benefit to city employees, to people and their families it makes it even that much more special. jon: mr. mayor, i'm stuck. christina robbins from our washington d.c. bureau is the biggest cards fan in the world but the coanchor

sitting next to me is married to a texan. i will have to stay neutral yeah. jenna: i appreciate the cardinals tie. you wore your team colors on the air, mr. mayor. jon: mayor francis slay from st. louis. may the best team win. good luck to you. jenna: makes you wonder why every city could have a big sporting event, would be quite a benefit. jon: goes to show what a little bit of spending can do. >> search for little baby lisa irwin are taking up headlines. police searching through numerous tips looking for the 11-month-old girl. cops say they have a huge problem on their hands. rick will tell us about what that is. is it 100 or 100 times stronger than the bomb dropped on hiroshima. big news about the last of our nation's most powerful nuclear pops, next. wanna know the difference between a trader and an elite trader?

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jenna: today mark as big day in our nation's security arsenal. the dismantling of the most powerful nuclear bomb we ever built. it is the last one rick folbaum has the information on so-called, b-53, rick? >> reporter: that is what it is called. this is beeflt of a bomb first put into the service at the height of the cold war in 1962 when the u.s. and former soviet union engaged in a nuclear showdown until the soviets blinked of course. it is about the size of a minivan. weighing 10,000 pounds. designed to blast deep underground facilities like missile silos. scientists say it was 600 times more powerful than the bomb used on hiroshima in

world war ii. the bomb is being dismantled at a plant in amarillo, texas. this is same plant where other old nukes are being taken apart in line with the president's plan to disman he will nuclear weapons. it is considered dismantled explosives inside all 300 pounds of them separated from the nuclear material known as the pit. i learned that today. the pit. jenna: we all learned that. we'll talk about the that and the pit and everything else. joe is author of bomb scare. first question, joe, how dangerous is dismantling a weapon like this. >> very dangerous. this particular type of weapon. this is the last of the megadeath weapons, a huge bomb, nine meg today tons. -- megatons. it has more explosive power than all of the missiles fired from one of our nuclear submarines today. the problem with this bomb it didn't have many of the

modern safety devices into it. the explosive around the pit, for example, could be detonated by a variety of ways. a spark, a lightning storm, a hit to the, to the bomb in a crucial place. so it is a very, very sensitive process to dismantle this bomb without setting it off. jenna: but we have disman telled others like this. this is one of a long series of bombs exactly the same we've dismantled over last couple years? >> yes. this is the last of these 300 behemoths we built at the height of the cold war. the soviets had matching weapons as well. we take them apart very carefully. jenna: you mentioned it being a megadeath weapon. that really hits home. you've seen the people work around this bomb. obviously they are experts but takes some bravery just to do that. it --. jenna: go ahead, joe. >> this absolutely does. this bomb detonated would dig a crater 750 feet deep. it would destroy all life in nine mile radius.

flatten all buildings over 300 square miles. this weapon was the epitome of nuclear armageddon. it is a chapter in the cold where we're finally putting behind juice it sounds serrie, sounds like if your men i has one like this you want one as well. are we sure we want to get rid after weapon like this. >> we are. we have no military purpose for this. the russians have dismantling their weapons. they had similar bomb deployed until actually six or seven years ago. as part of the negotiated process they're taking apart their weapons. jenna: are we sure? are we sure, joe? >> yes. jenna: i don't mean to be a conspiracy theorist, but are we sure they're going to get rid of it? >> that is excellent question. that is why we went through great lengths in the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty to negotiate intrusive inspection agreements so we could watch them take the weapons down and take them apart and there could be verified procedures for storing these weapons and dismantling these weapons.

jenna: at the same time, joe, every week it seems like we get another report out of iran that talks about some underground nuclear plant that is building weapons that we don't know about. the fear of nuclear armageddon as you put it still seems to be among us. what other weapons, or what other tools do we have? because i understand this bomb was supposed to be able to hit those underground facilities. what else do we have to defend ourselves? >> it was a very clumsy way of doing it. because the weapons were so imprecise we would basically take out a whole city in order to get at command headquarters. we have pinpoint accuracy. we have lots of ways getting at underground shelters including knocking outdoor ways to it. including burrowing weapons that will go underground before they detonate. nonnuclear i'm talking about. we can knock out most of the command structures we need with nonnuclear weapons. we don't really need nuclear weapons for any of the military threats we face today which is why you see countries increasingly de-emphasizing this.

by the military. the militaries are making these decisions. they think of these weapons as from a previous century. no longer applicable to the threats we face today for example, of islamic terrorism. jenna: very interesting to hear that because again, when you hear those reports in the news, makes you nervous. how could it not. i have to ask you about another story that has to do with nuclear energy or nuclear waste. we had this great story yesterday that was so fascinating about all the debris coming from japan to our shores, or a portion of it i should say. i don't want to exaggerate it. a portion of it hitting the hawaii, the close line of hawaii and coastline of california. >> yeah. jenna: i was thinking about fukushima put a lot of debris itself into the atmosphere. what about that nuclear debris? is that also still swirling around in the ocean? is it still in our atmosphere? what should we know about that, joe? >> it is. the radioactive fallout from the fukushima disaster is still spreading. now, the bad news is really mostly confined to the

people of japan. there are hundreds of square miles that are uninhabitable. people can't go back to them. 10 of thousandses even hundreds of thousands of japanese are almost permanently barred from going back to their homes and schools, their churches. the radioactive debris does then go into the atmosphere. it is carried by ocean currents and will reach and has reached our shores but it is in very minute quantities. i can't say it has no health effect but it is very minimal health effect for citizens of the united states. barely detectable in our diets. jenna: when we see that debris it is still unbelievable. >> it is scary. reminds us that nuclear technology is inherently uncontrolable, inherently dangerous whether it is in bombs or nuclear reactors. jenna: very interesting, joe. always nice to have you. can't just think the debris disappears. it obviously goes somewhere. thanks for working through the subject with us. >> thanks, jenna. jon: still amazing to look

at that footage of japan. they are called the northern lights for a reason. you usually can't see them in the southern latitudes. that is not true right now. rick folbaum with more on a rare scientific phenomenon kind of a lot of fun, rick. >> reporter: it is a lot of fun and it is beautiful. if you live down south of the mason-dixon line you're not accustomed to seeing the northern lights but you might want to look up now. these are areas restricted, the lights, seeing them to the northern states. the aurora borealis seen in places like georgia or oklahoma. the scientific name is corona mass injection. the reason for a citedding a rare storm of the surface of the sun. the solar winds blowing the gases farther than usual. my winds would call that, daddy, that looks so pretty. such an event has happened probably usually happens one every three to 10 years but again if you live down south, you don't normally get a

chance. so go outside and take a look. jon: helps to get away from the cities too because you get light pollution in the cities. makes it easier to see. >> absolutely. see more down in those rural areas. a lot of people are posting their pictures on places like facebook and twitter. that is where we got some of these pictures. jon: get our viewers to send them into us as well. rick folbaum, thanks. student loans, student loan debt i should say is set to hit a record. a trillion dollars this year. president obama says he has a plan to help but will it leave taxpayers on the hook for the bill? we'll go in depth. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. a medicare supplement insurance plan helps cover some of it. that could save you up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can visit any doctor who accepts medicare patients. rates are competitive. and these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans exclusively endorsed by aarp. so don't wait another minute. be sure to call today. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. >> hi, everybody, i'm rick full bawrnlings some of the stories we're watching for you right flow, turkey where rescuers continue to dig through the rubble after that devastating earthquake. they just pulled a tiny, tiny infant little girl from the rubble. her mother, we're told, is still

trapped as are many other people. we'll keep an eye on that for you. here's a shot out of dallas, texas, where a chimpanzee has escaped from an exhibit at a zoo. we're told this chimp is not running around the zoo area where people are, but they are trying to track it down and get it back into the exhibit where it escaped from. and finally, that's the shot out of new haven, connecticut. this is the sentencing phase of the home invasion story, joshua komisarjevsky, he has already been convicted, the jury deciding his punishment. he could face the death penalty. those are some of the stories, but we've got a lot more. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: well, rick just gave us quite a few stories there. jon: we have a lot to cover in this hour. jenna: and we're going to start off with politics, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. texas governor rick perry is talking taxes in south carolina

right now. the focus, his proposal for a flat tax option. perry has supported it in the past, but today's the first time we're hearing specifics. with some of his republican rivals already proposing similar ideas, many are wondering if perry's flat tax plan may end up falling frat. carl cameron live in columbia, south carolina. he has the latest for us. carl? >> reporter: hi, jon. it's certainly going to dominate the debate because taxes, obviously, a huge issue as part of the republican primary debate over downsizing u.s. government and trying to get the budget and the economy back on track. governor rick perry in greenville, just up the road a couple hours from the here in the capital city of columbia, south carolina, today unveiled his plan. it is an optional 20% flat income tax that people could choose to replace the existing irs tax code for families making under $500,000, there would be deductions for charitable giving and mortgage interest and a host of oh things. the big benefit?

mr. perry says it will cut taxes for all income groups, and it's simple. listen to this. >> best representation of my plan is this postcard. this is the size of what we're talking about right here. taxpayers will be able to fill this out and file their taxes on that. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: mr. perry's already going after his critics in advance of their expected criticism saying that those who would oppose his plan are against real, bold change and, essentially, standing up for the status quo. the texas governor says he can balance the budget by 2020, a ten of year budget cycle, that he can hold the government spending to 18% of gross domestic product which means he's going to have to find another trillion dollars in spending cuts. mr. perry also is going to go after entitlement reform boldly and has made it clear he suspect going to take any -- he isn't going to take any criticism from

anybody. the problems, he says, are far too serious to, quote, nibble around the edges. jon: it would be an optional tax. you could go that route if you wanted to. >> reporter: no one's going to be forced into a new system. the idea of making it optional is one that has been around for quite some time. steve forbes and bob dole ran against each oh, and then bob dole ran with it as the republican nominee in 1996. the flat tax being untested, people can get used to it, experiment a little bit before changing up the entire system. jon: oh, but i just love our current tax code. it's such a thing of beauty. [laughter] >> reporter: perry was standing next to a pallet of paperwork to represent it. jon: i've been there. jenna: you weren't being sarcastic, were ya? jon: no, not at all. jenna: more calls for transparency after american citizens are killed in yemen by a u.s. airstrike.

of course, there's more to that story. the administration is being pressured to release memos detailing the attack on anwar al-awlaki, his 16-year-old son that we haven't heard a whole lot about and one other person. catherine herridge is live from washington with more on this. >> reporter: good morning, jenna, and thank you. through the freedom of information act, the aclu wants evidence that justified the killing of three americans in yemen in the last month including the teenage son of anwar al-awlaki. quote: >> reporter: this excollusive video of al-awlaki's teenage son who was born in denver, colorado, in 1995 was filmed by the fox team last year. he was 16 years old, and there is no public evidence he was a member of the al-qaeda network in yemen.

>> what can you tell us about the death of anwar al-awlaki's son in yemen and whether or not it was a result of the u.s. strike. >> i'm going to take that one, i'm not sure where we are on that one. >> reporter: fox followed up with the state department, and this morning there was still no response. privately, officials speaking on anonymous basis say the teenager was not the intended target, but he was traveling with a senior member of al-qaeda in yemen at the time. there's no timeline to release the memo which laid out the basis for anwar al-awlaki's death in that cia-led operation despite calls for a version to be made public by the chair of the senate intelligence committee, dianne feinstein. >> so you can confirm the existence of the memo, and will it be released as senator feinstein has requested? >> bill, as you know, i'm not going to discuss matters of that nature. i can simply say as a general matter of fact that mr. awlaki was an operational leader of al-qaeda in the arabian

peninsula. >> reporter: and this week alberto gonzales wrote that the next attack on the united states will probably involve a u.s. citizen, so it's likely a president will have to confront a thorny issue again. therefore, the need for greater transparency. jenna: a story we'll continue to follow, catherine. thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: right now police searching for 11-month-old lisa irwin say they are getting a ton of tips on the case, but many of those tips are leading investigators to babies. rick folbaum in the newsroom with more. >> reporter: this continues to be a tough information for police in kansas city saying they've gotten at least 200 tips in the case of the missing baby, lisa irwin. she's been gone now for three weeks. they say one of the biggest obstacles in the search is her age. countless babies match the exact same description as baby lisa. since recent surveillance video at a gas station near the

irwins' home show what appears to be a man emerging from the nearby bushes, more and more tips have been coming in to police. the police spokesman says they're keeping mum on whether the video has helped with any of the new leads. but police are saying that they're follow being up on at least a dozen or so tips from over this past weekend alone. if you have any information about the disappearance of baby lisa, kansas city police urge you to remember call the number on your screen, 816474 of 8437, and you can call anonymously if you've got information on the whereabouts of this little baby girl. jon: such a strange and very sad case, rick. thank you. jenna: exactly three weeks today? i believe it is. and as every day ass, more news, less news, we wonder where this little girl is. new witnesses take the stand in the trial of the doctor charged in michael jackson's death. we have the latest out of l.a. for us. plus, a new weapon to

protect ranchers threatened by drug violence. how private landowners are helping texas keep the bad guys at bay. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu uss chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

jenna: right now some new information on some crime story we're keeping an eye on for you here in the newsroom. a nurse practitioner's taken the stand at the trial for dr. conrad murray. defense attorneys are trying to prove the pop star could have caused his own death. three months after casey anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of her daughter, caylee, a florida judge releases the names of the jurors. the 12 names were originally sealed because the judge was actually worried about jurors' safety. and two north carolina students are now under arrest after a 15-year-old girl is shot at school. cops using surveillance video to find the kid. the high school student was shot in the neck.

jon: well, there's a new weapon in america's third war. the texas department of public safety is asking ranchers who feel intimidated by mexican drug smugglers to install private security cameras. they are then back intoed -- hooked into a system of cameras already along the border. chris gutierrez in austin, texas. >> reporter: hi, jon. border cameras are not new, but here's what different. there's not a live video stream that must be constantly monitored in this command center. take a look behind me. instead, the cameras only go off when something triggers the sensor, and within seconds the image is sent here to confirm whether or not it's illegal activity. take a look. nearly 250 miles north of mexico at a command center in austin -- >> we have had hits just two day ago, four days ago. >> reporter: a steady stream of images show how well these new border cameras are working.

>> we can hide them virtually anywhere, they're small, compact, but we move them consistently, so there's no sense in looking for them, you're not going to find them. >> reporter: an e-mail alert is sent to the border control and local authorities along the border. >> we're providing them imagery so they can make the best choice. >> reporter: during a ten-month test phase with just 20 cameras hidden in south texas, officials arrested more than 130 illegal immigrants. >> the truth of the matter is, that's just the tip of the iceberg. >> some of these pictures were snapped on michael vicker's rancher, 70 miles north of the border. >> and i'm going to show you the smuggling trail. >> vickers has even taken his own pictures, proof of what he calls a bloody war. >> there's a lot of desperate people coming in here from all over the world, and quite frankly, a lot of them are getting through here undetected, so these cameras are a must. >> reporter: and, again, they

are working. just over the weekend, for example, those cameras led to another 23 arrests. they cost roughly $300 each, and the state plans to add some 400 more cameras along this 1200-mile border we share with mexico within the next four months. jon, back to you. jon: nice to see something that's working. chris gutierrez, thanks. ♪ >> in a drive against democratic new deal opponents, the president at barnesville, georgia, opposes senator george. >> some have given lip service, lip service to some of the objectives but have not raised their little fingers actively to attain the objectives themselves. [cheers and applause] jenna: that was fdr on the campaign trail back in 1938 railing against opponents of his new deal economic reform be. he claims big business was refusing to create jobs to destroy his new deal. he also blamed wall street for

many of the nation's economic woes. does that sound a little familiar? it might to some of us. our next guest says the president will use similar messages in the cam pay for 2012 and has already started. paul marino is a professor of history at hillsdale, college. professor, we just went on the surface there. dig a little deeper. you're the historian, why do you see these comparisons between f, fdr and the president as far as their campaign goes? >> fdr and obama were both confronted with a double dip recession. roosevelt was able to blame the recession on his predecessor. but in 1937 he had the so of called message of recession. and i think the message he used in going after the 1% of his day, president obama finds himself in a similar situation with an intractable economic problem. jenna: you mentioned in your article in the "wall street journal" the brown scare.

we all know about the red scare, but very few of us know about the brown scare. tell us a little bit about that, i think our viewers would be curious to know about it. >> during the 1930s many people pointed out some new deal measures were themselves pretty similar to those of the fascists, the corporatists in italy and germany. by the late 1930s, roosevelt had taken to accusing his political enemies of being fascist. you had a clip just before of roosevelt going after senator walter george of georgia when he was trying to purge the democratic party. and that term was used as being sort of what hitler and stalin were doing. roosevelt try today turn anti-fascist sentiments in the public against his political enemies, and a historian leader has referred to this as the brown scare. and it's been forgotten in the aftermath of the cold war/red scares. but liberals were attempting to use domestic fear of foreign

fascism for political purposes. jenna: did it work? the fear that you mentioned for fdr, the fear of big business or vilifying wall street, did it work for him? >> no. in fact, it probably saved the republican party in the 1938 midterm elections. the party was just about extinct, and they won about 80 seats in the house of representatives. and it really backfired so badly that it brought the new deal to an end. it was combined, of course, with roosevelt's attack on the supreme court in 1937. his attempt to purge the party, his vilification of big business, it made roosevelt look like he was a potential dictator. jenna: it's very interesting. you point out in your article as well that he had to go out and publicly say he didn't want to be a dictator, he didn't want to do that in order to quiet the fear in the public that maybe that's what he wanted. it's interesting to take a timeout just to look at history for this moment, professor. thank you for taking the time to join us today. >> thank you very much.

jon: well, there's a look at one possible democratic strategy. it looks like one republican rivalry may just be heating up. experts are saying the feud that really erupted between rick perry and mitt romney last week is only going to get worse. we'll tell you why. also, our economy may be struggling but, hey, this country still has the need for speed. we will talk with nascar's ceo about why viewership is up even though many people in this country are putting the brakes on spending. ♪ i'm not a number. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits...

here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪

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jon: you're on the inside track at america's elections headquarters. republican candidate rick perry of texas is beefing up his team, trying to sharpen his message and go after his opponents. joe trippi managed howard dean's presidential campaign, he's a fox news contributor and a man who knows well who some of -- how some of these political attacks can sting. you say it's pretty obvious what rick perry is about to do. lay it out for us. >> well, jon, look, it looks to me like heath sort of -- look, i'm going to run for president, i'm going to try to win it, but he's saying and signaling to romney that the i can't have the nomination, i guarantee you one thing, you're not going to either. this happens a lot in presidential politics. dick gephardt did it to howard dean, my boss, in 2004 where he started attacking us in debates,

started running negative ad after negative ad destroying and really debilitating the dean campaign in iowa while what happened then was john kerry and john edwards, two candidates that stayed out of the fray, got first and second place in iowa. and i think perry's embarking on that kind of strategy right now. he's going to do that. jon: what about the old phrase, and i've always thought it applied in politics as well, what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. >> i think he's going to be wounded by this if he does become the nominee. rick perry's dangerous in the fact, much different than gephardt in 2004, rick perry has $55 million in a super pac that i think, one l try to be used to help him get elected, but secondly, i think to do that right now with his fall in the polls the only way to do that is to destroy romney. and if you have that kind of

fight, you have to ask yourself what's left out of the ashes. and that's why herman cain's starting to grow and get past romney in some of the recent polling, and i think that's -- and i think newt gingrich and rick santorum actually may have a shot now if these two guys go at it. and romney keeps taking the bait as he did in that last debate where the two of them went at it. that is going to be a problem for both of them if they keep this up. jon: the perry campaign has also hired joe albaugh, for instance, who's one of the people who put bush 43 into the white house. do you think that's a signal of this strategy that you're talking about? >> no, i think he, he wants to be president. i think he's hiring people that he thinks will get him there. but i also think that the animosity between these two candidates is so strong now that perry is saying if i don't get there, i'm taking you over the side of the building with me. and that is a problem for the republican party. it's a big problem for romney who can't seem to gel much of

the base beyond what he already has. and if those two continue to have this kind of fight, um, i think somebody else that we're not talking about -- herman cain, newt gingrich, rick santorum or someone else -- may actually have a shot here to emerge as the nominee of the party. jon: and you're not talking as a democrat, you're trying to be objective here. >> absolutely. it happened to us in 2004, it happened to me. i was there. and john kerry got the nomination particularly because of this kind of fight that was going on between dick gephardt and howard dean. jon: all right, joe trippi. information, interesting. thanks. >> thanks, jon. jenna: new data on the housing market out today, a monthly survey of home prices show home prices in up in half of 20 major u.s. cities, pup two-tenth -- up two-tenths of a percent. the president wants to help homeowners finance their mortgages.

austan goolsbee is our guest today. hi. >> great to see you, jenna. jenna: we've been covering this potential financing program over the last couple days when the first reports came out last week. so i've put the criticisms into three bullet points, and we're just going to work through each of them, and i'd like to hear what you have to say about it. the first is one of philosophy. people say, listen, the government should not be involved in the housing market period. that's the reason why we're in the housing crisis now, and it's not going to help us get out. what do you say to that? >> well n something like this you've got the circumstance that's very unusual in u.s. history where normally when rates go down, people can refinance. but because we've got so many people underwater, they vice president been able to -- haven't been able to refinance. so it's perfectly normal. all thai trying to do -- all they're trying to do, as i read in this program, is to give people the opportunity to do what they normally would be able to do on their own in the private market but because the market is fouled up in the these

various ways, it takes a little more effort to try to allow people to do what they could normally do. jenna: so you're saying in this instance the government is actually helping the market function like a private market? is that what i'm hearing hearinm you? >> >> well, yeah. the government's just trying to enable people to refinance at the rates as they are out in the market. it's not a subsidy, and it's not any special government program of that form. it's just trying to allow the market to work as it would normally work if it were a market. i mean, the gses, fannie and freddie, the problems they created were a big mess, and let's hope we never go back to a privatize the profits, socialize the loss model, that's in the past. that was in the 2000s. jenna: what should we do with that model, fannie may and freddie mac as it currently stands? >> well, there are a lot of different options. i think for sure you want to

move slowly away from the circumstance we're in now which is coming out of the crisis you've got the u.s. government backing 95-plus percent of the mortgages being done in the market. i think you've got to start over time phasing in more private sector involvement of doing the mortgages. i think a lot of people agree with that. jenna: do you think the president agrees with that, privatizing fannie may and freddie mac? >> yeah, that was in the -- >> absolutely. that was in the president's and the treasury's white paper that they put out. i think there are some partisan differences of exactly how fast and what forms you would do that, but i think the view that you don't want the government to be the sole provider of mortgage financing, i think, is pretty widespread. jenna: so the situation we're in now though is that the president says this program's going to help a million homeowners that are underwater, but 11 million homeowners in this country are underwater, so what do we do about the extra ten million out there that are still weighing on the market and still potentially on the verge of going into

foreclosure? >> well, you raise a good point. there are a lot more -- whatever program you design, the troubles of the housing market are far more wide steady than any one program. -- widespread than any one program. i still think if you could go at a million people who currently have interest rates that are way higher than the market rate but they have been unable to refinance just because they've been underwater, it does strike me as a logical approach, and it has been supported in a bipartisan way. we've just had some practical problems of getting a thing like that enacted. jenna: sir, let me pick up on that because you mentioned the practical problem. when we first put out a financing plan, i mean the american government put it back in 2009 when you were part of the administration, the estimate it was going to help five million homeowners, and it has yet to cross 900,000. part of the reason was the system wasn't just set up.

why do you think it's going to be different now? why do you think the estimate of a million is going to come in at 100,000 and this does nothing to help the market? >> well, you're mixing two different programs, two different programs in there. but i'll be the first to say, you know, when -- if you look back at the 2009 experience, we had some of the banks inside the bank itself that were just confused. one side of the bank was extending these mortgage modifications to reduce people's payments, and the other side of the bank was taking the evidence that they were paying this lower amount as a reason to foreclose on them. so, i mean, they had a lot of internal control problems in the football institutions that were -- financial institutions that were doing those. this, i think, is a little different from what i read about the program. they're just trying to get the people who are already have their mortgages backed by fannie or freddie so there's no risk, there's no additional risk of

default onto the government. those people right now can't refinance their mortgages at the going rate. so you could have people with interest rates of 8, 9, 10% when if they, if this were a normal time, they could refinance at 4 or 5%. so it's just trying to allow them to do that. and that's pretty serious money if you're one of the people who can qualify. i don't think it's going to be the sole thing that saves the housing market. i mean, the main thing that drives the housing market is how's the wider economy doing. so we ought to be putting some serious focus on that. but i do think if you could get a half a million or a million people into this where the data i saw looked like they might benefit $5-$6,000 a year on a permanent basis from lower interest payments, that seemed pretty significant. jenna: we're going to have the run, and the president said maybe $200 in the pocket every month. "the washington post" put that estimate at just $25.

love to talk to you about jobs in the future because that is, of course, the measure as well. >> you bet. jenna: we'll be right back with more "happening now" n. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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jon: a fox business alert and student loan debt is filing up, expected to reach a record $1 trillion just this year. the president plans to unveil a new plan that he says would help college graduates pay back all that money, so just what is the rescue plan, and will it cost you, the taxpayer?

rich edson has a look live from washington. >> reporter: good afternoon, jon. the government would take on more student loans. it's a riskier investment these days. the "wall street journal" reports the president will allow those with student debt to consolidate their private loans into a government loan at a lower interest rate. it would also allow boar roars to pay as little as 10% of their income instead of 15% each year towards their federal loans. that reduction was supposed so start in 201, and the white house will move that up to next year. officials say the president can do this all without congressional approval. the white house has yet to provide detail on what interest rates students will pay for their new government loan which in some cases can be more expensive than private rates. there are hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans, and nearly 9% of federal loans have defaulted. one congressman and presidential candidate says government student lending has driven up college costs and instead of changing the way it does

business, the federal government should be out of the student loan business altogether. >> student loans should be phased out. it doesn't close them down right away, and there's a fund that will tide people over. but it is a failed program, and my argument is that it's unconstitutional, and so much that we do now not only is it, not only unconstitutional, but we don't have the money. >> reporter: a recent survey shows more than 90% of student loan dollars come from the federal government. jon? jon: rich edson in washington, thanks. >> failure. i think that you're seeing across the board it's the same, it's a failure to understand that there are extremist groups that are mobile eyeing to take advantage of the arab spring, and it's also a failure to understand that these groups happen to be the most organized and the best equipped, best resourced groups in the middle east which means that the arab spring is working in their favor and not in favor of the democrats. jenna: that was yesterday, a stark warning about the dangers potentially of the arab spring, and we wanted to continue the

corporation as so many nations are confronting what their new government is going to look like. patrick clausen is director of research where he directs the iran security initiative. do you agree with that opinion? do you think those extremist groups are really the ones that are going to benefit from the arab spring? >> perhaps in the short term because, as he said, they're very well organized. but i very much doubt that'll be the long-term winners. the long-term winners are more likely to be more democratic groups because that's what the people in the arab countries want is a chance to have a voice about their government. jenna: why do you believe that? >> if we look at the countries that have had a change in leadership like in libya, for instance, we see that the current libyan leader is talking about making it easier for men to take a second wife. but we see an awful lot of libyans really kind of unhappy about that. or if we look attu news ya where the islamist party did well in

the elections, we find a lot of people voted for them because they were the most organized force. and i don't think that's the long-term future of either tunisia or libya. jenna: as far as any of those countries being a true ally of the united states, do yo see that -- do you see that? they may not fall to extremist governments, the truth is none of us know the state of some of these countries like tunisia that we're seeing on the screen there, but will they be pro-western, will they be pro-the united states government? >> well, with libya and tunisia, almost certainly. saudi arabia has a pretty pro-western government even though an extremely conservative in the application of social rules, things that i don't like like not allowing women to drive, it's pretty disgusting, but they're a friend of the united states. and most of those who are anti-u.s. in the middle east, their agenda is a revolutionary, anti-westerner agenda.

it's not religion. jenna: just real quick because your expertise is on iran. what do you think this all mean for iran? >> there's been a lot said about us withdrawing from iraq, and that's going to empower iran. the different governments popping up, they're going to side with iran. is that fate sealed in this your mind? is iran really going to benefit from the arab spring? >> iran's getting a temporary benefit because people's anticipation is diverted away from iran's nuclear program and the big threat that represents. but if people throughout the middle east get used to the idea that governments are representative and dictators can be overthrown, bad news for the iranian regime because they have a very restive population which doesn't like the dictatorial regime in tehran. jenna: kind of a different point of view than we've heard over the past couple of days, patrick. nice to have you back with us again. >> thank you. jon: well, the u.s. economy may be stalled, but americans still find they have a need for speed. nascar viewership is up among

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choose a style, customize, publish and get found... from just $7.99 a month. get a 30-day free trial... at intuit.com. jon: pardon the pun, but nascar is on a roll. viewership is up among key segments of the population. that's good for nascar and good for the businesses that support it. joining us now, the ceo and chairman of nascar, brian france. brian, yours is a sport in which change is not always popular. you guys changed the fuel this year. you're going with, what, an ethanol blend. is it working? >> it's working great. it's an american biofuel with ethanol, with american ethanol. we're putting out a lot of the myths that occur in that industry. the fuel mileage has been great, the performance of the fuel. it helps us in our march towards, you know, leading the way in the sports in the green economy and be helps us attract

other companies with technology and in that space. so it's been a great partnership, and we're only in year one. jon: you know, there are a lot of people who don't want to put ethanol in their regular cars, their driving around on the streetcars because they don't think it has the power, or it's bad for the engine. you're proving, or you're convinced that is not the case? >> we know it. and that's why they partnered with us, because they knew it as well. if it can withstand the test of 500 miles of the close e competition under extreme circumstances, it'll work everywhere, and it does, and we're proving it every sunday. jon: your viewership peaked not that long ago and had been dipping since then. why do you think nascar is coming back, and can you get back to the levels of interest you had just a few years ago? >> i think we can. we've had, generally, a growth year and, as you said, it's ratings. -- television ratings. some attendance issues going in the right way. but, look, we're still working with a very difficult economy.

it has a greater effect on us. we have a greater dependent on corporate sponsorship than any other sport, so we have, you know, naturally some things to contend with with this economy. but, look, the racing is great, generally speaking, and we're about to close out our season on a, on a high with four races to go. we'll crown a champion here shortly in south florida. jon: yeah. and that champion is not going to be named jimmie johnson for the first time in phi years -- five years, it looks like. is that good for the sport? >> he doesn't think he's out of it yet, but certainly, he's far back in his playoff run. but, look, carl edwards is leading right now. he's a driver that has got all kinds of star power. and if he has a big moment and wins a championship, that would be probably a big thing for everybody. but there are a lot of capable drivers. we'll have to see how it goes. jon: talking about star power, you've got a driver coming onboard named danica patrick.

she ought to bring a few viewers with her. >> well, she will. and we're excited to have her full time next year. and, you know, she's talented too. obviously, she has her fan baiz, and he's charismatic, but she's proven week in and week out she's getting better, and she's going to join the toughest, most competitive motor sports in the world. jon: it's going to be interesting to watch. brian france, good to have you on. >> thank you. jon: thank you. jenna: well, it's an unimaginable crime, really. the man convicted could pay the ultimate price. the penalty phase in joshua come komisarjevsky's trial begins today. the horrific details of this connecticut home invasion, the very latest on their process next. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans,

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jon: a connecticut jury now in the final phase of one of the

most gruesome murder trials in that state's history. joshua komisarjevsky faces either life in prison or the death penalty. he's been convicted of all 17 charges against him relating to that 2007 home invasion and triple murder. well, now the same jury that found him guilty has to decide whether he lives or dies. laura ingle, live in connecticut state court in new haven, she has more for us on that decision. >> reporter: hi, jon. this morning jurors got a lesson in aggravating and mitigating factors there the judge as they prepare to listen to what could be weeks of testimony coming from the defense. it's really the defense's show at this point. the prosecution waived its right to give an opening statement today, leaning on all the evidence presented during the guilt phase of the trial. the state contends that come star jeff key committed crimes that were cruel, heinous and depraved that left jennifer hawke-petit and her two

daughters dead inside of their burning home in 2007 is one of the aggravating factors the prosecution must prove to get a death penalty conviction. they also have to prove that komisarjevsky committed the crimes during a felony he has been convicted of before, that would be burglary. the state rested quickly today after providing jurors with a 19-page rap sheet of komisarjevsky's that was mostly burglary charges. the defense now has the floor and has told jurors this morning they plan to give them a detailed road map of komisarjevsky's life, about his miserable life, they say, about his adoption, claims of sexual abuse, history of head trauma, his mental state. defense attorneys have told jurors come komisarjevsky was ad by a big, mean, nasty 15-year-old foster child who sexually assaulted komisarjevsky for three years when he was done. the defense claims his adoptive parents turn today prayer and their church to exorcise the

demons. now, all along the defense has claimed it was steven hayes, come star jeff sky's accomplice, that escalated the violence inside the home, sexually assaulting the mother before strangling her and lighting the match that started the fire that killed the two sisters. back here live, back here live we continue to listen to the defense go through this long history of not only joshua komisarjevsky's criminal record, but of the life they say he endured out on the streets. we just learned that he said that he burned down a gas station when he was. >> years -- 14 years old, so we're going to hear more about his past here today. back to you. jon: and when does the jury get the case? is. >> reporter: it could be weeks. the defense has the floor, they are expected to take about four weeks to present their side. jon: laura ingle, thanks. jenna: a little bit here to politics. whether it's the tea party from the right or the occupy wall street crowd maybe from the left, there's a growing sense of unrest in america. that's pretty much stating the

obvious. our next guest is from a group that says he has a solution for those of us who want to get along. jonathan lewis just told us his real name is jon scott miller. i think that happens a lot. i have no doubt. are you creating a space for moderates? >> well, you know, it's moderates, but it's also liberals and conservatives because when you're on the left, the right or center, you probably have something in common; you're sick and tired of the political system. jenna: what's the goal? >> bring together democrats, republicans, independents, and let's put aside our labels and deal with these big issues. you know, the left is talking about income inequality. the right's talking about the debt. they're both right. but the way we need to handle them is by getting rid of the polarization and the paralysis in washington. the bipartisanship is creating this, and we believe getting bipartisan compromise we'll deal with all these issues.

jenna: some would say the founders hated each other when they formed this country, and they came from so many polar opposites, and that's where the idea for america came. is some of this partisanship just part of the american process? >> we're not against partisanship, we're against the hyperpartisanship where people say we're only going to do what's in my party's interest or the special interests. and we're focusing on the nation's interest. jenna: how do you think we got like that? >> you know, it's a deterioration of the political system. i think people are pretty angry about the economy right now. but, you know, we think it's structurally a problem, and so this is a spoiler alert, but on december 13th no labels is going to be releasing a congressional reform package to try to get at the guts of what the problems -- i'll give you an example. a lot of people are fed up with the way congress doesn't meet their deadlines in passing the bills or the budget. one of the things we're considering is let's tell the congress they don't get paid if they don't pass the budget on time, and they don't get back pay for the time they spent be delaying things.

it's those kind of common sense reforms. jenna: are people listening? >> no labels has grown from a few hundred people to now nearly 200,000. we're going to join next july in orlando, we hope to have a good 10,000 people in presence and hopefully have a million of our movement because, again, you don't have to be in the center. you can be a liberal, you can be a conservative, but if you're fed up with the system, go to nolabels.org and join us. jenna: who's funding you? >> we take contributions from all over the map. small, big, we'll take 'em. we need to be able to compete with all sorts of different organizations. jenna: you're not endorsing any specific candidate for president. are you get into the third party -- >> no. i, personally, i support barack obama. there are folks in our organization for mitt romney, jon hunts match, rick perry, you name it. the idea is we need to get together. we'll pick our sides, we'll fight in november for who's the best president or congressman, but when november's over, let's get together and get to common

sense reform. jenna: jon scott, nice to have you on. [laughter] another jon scott. jonathan miller, nolabels.org. check it out. we'll be right back with more "happening now." when i inspect homes, i can't be in an allergy fog. so i get claritin clear for strong, non-drowsy relief of all my alleres like dust mold pets and pollen. looks good. thanks. i ve claritin clear.

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