>> brian: you're all contenders. >> gretchen: fortunately, it's in god we trust, at least for now. nine people voted against it. >> brian: we'll see you tomorrow, among our guest, kris jenner will be here. alert. some of washington's biggest names, delivering a tough message for that supercommittee, go big on slashing that red ink, or america will pay a big, big price. good morning, everybody. i'm bill hemmer, starting our hour now here in "america's newsroom". how you doing? >> martha: good morning, bill. bill: it's getting serious. march exactly. i'm martha maccallum, by the way g. morning. hello! we have 21 days now before that decision on how to slash a trillion dollars, more than a trillion dollars from the federal government must be made and now the stern warning coming in for the country. watch this: >> i have great respect for each of you individually, but collectively, i'm worried you're going to fail

fail the country. bill: fail the country. pennsylvania senator pat toomy is a member of the supercommittee and sir, good morning to you from the hill. >> good morning, bill. bill: is ir skin bowles right, will this committee fail snerk. >> i certainly hope not. look, it's letting late, no question about that, time is getting short, but the clock hasn't run out yet and we are meeting every day, at least in groups, if not the entire committee. and i think most of us really want to accomplish something here, so i think it's too late to count this out. bill: where is the rub, senator? >> too soon to count this out. well, look, the rub is the same as it's been throughout congress. there are some of us who believe that -- and frankly, if you listened to the testimony yesterday, the message that came across, very clearly, from each of the witnesses, is that it is the big entitlement programs that are driving this entire problem, and specifically the health care component. we have programs that are

completely unsustainable. medicare and medicaid are growing at multiples of the rate of economic growth, and no program can grow indefinitely, faster than the economy is growing. they are wildly outstripping any sustainable path. and so some of us are suggesting, let's fix the problem. and let's milk these programs work for the people who need them, and they absolutely have to serve that purpose. but let's make them sustainable, too. there's another point of view that says look, just raise taxes, and you can't tax your way out of this problem. so this has been, you know, one of the challenges that we've had. bill: okay. >> it's no different from congress' role. bill: let me interject this. the six democrats on the committee, are they all demand be in mass that you raise taxes? >> i don't want to get too specific about what demands are or are not in the committee, but i'm just suggesting that there is a fundamental divide over how much we ought to focus on fixing the spending problem

that has created these decifits versus raising taxes. that is an area of some tension. bill: all right. the other six, or at least six of the 12 apparently have broken off into their own small group. is that helpful? >> you know, i wouldn't believe everything that you read, okay? i think there are a lot of rumors going around that are not entirely accurate. i think there's a majority of the 12, a big majority of the 12, that really want to accomplish something and are working to accomplish something. certainly, there are going to be one off side conversations here and there that are going to happen and that can be very constructive, actually, but i wouldn't put too much stock in it. bill: you have 21 days and i have about ten seconds. will you get a deal or not? >> i hope so. it's really important that we begin to change the course, that we recognize we need to fix what's broken which is out of control spending. we ought to reform the tax code. i've been a big advocate for

reforming the individual tax code so it will have more growth, more jobs, more people on payrolls, paying taxes. that's the kind of revenue we need to grow and should grow and we've got that within reach as well, so i hope we'll accomplish that. bill: 21 days. we're all watching. i'll put new the maybe column as of today. senator, thank you for your time, pat toomy. >> thank you for having me. martha: all right. we've got a fox news alert for you now. herman cain is speaking live right now in mcclain, virginia as this scandal has been swirling around this campaign. it has centered on sexual harassment allegations that were made in the '90s when he was head of the national restaurant association. he has already called he's accusation, quote, totally baseless and totally false. a few moments ago, cain said this. watch: >> there are factions that are trying to destroy me personally, as well as this campaign. but there is a force

greater, there is a force at work here that is much greater than those that would try to destroy me and destroy this campaign and this journey to the white house, and that force is called the voice of the people. that's why we're doing as well as we are in this campaign thus far. you all were supposed to applaud! >> [applause] >> martha: there is the applause. you know, one thing you can say about this whole situation with herman cain is he has not shied away from it or the camera. he has been out there in force over the past several days. in the beginning he said he didn't remember the specifics of the complaint against him, then he said he remembered one woman saying he stepped too close to her to make a reference to her height, comparing it to -- to his wife's height, so a lot of stuff out there that has been sort of circulating around but not a lot of facts about anything specific. bill: here's one of the reports, too, this morning,

one of the women that accused cain of inappropriate behavior says she wants to go public with this story, her attorney saying she's trying to get out of this confidential agreement that was signed 12 years ago, if not more, at least two women got payouts from the national restaurant association after complaints about cain. he was in charge of the trade group at the time, martha. martha: despite the allegations the cain train is rolling on. a georgia businessman taking once again the top spot. look at the latest quinnipiac poll that came in this morning. here is how it stacks up. it should be mentioned that this polling was done before this whole issue started to come into the forefront here. he leads the pack, 30 percent against mitt romney, right behind him, with 23 percent. that's one of the bigger divides that we've seen between these two candidates, newt gingrich is at 10 percent, he's the little engine that could against the cain train at this point and rick perry with 8 percent in that poll. so when voters were asked which candidate would do

best in creating jobs, look at this number, cain comes out very much on top, 31 percent, romney is in second place on that one, rick perry in third, and these polls as i said were done before this release. we haven't seen any solid poll numbers since this issue came up so we'll see how it is impacting him if that happens. so all eyes are on wall street this morning, folks. the market has taken a beating over the last couple of days, the dow suffering its biggest two-day drop in two months. the combined loss on monday and tuesday, no trick or treat, folks, down 573 points. people are very nervously watching their 401(k) plans, probably not opening them up these days when they come home. that's what tends to happen. stuart varney is joining us. what do we expect this morning? >> you cannot relax for a moment, not these days. obscure politicians can say something on the other side of the earth and it affects your retirement. today you can expect a very modest pounds back after --

bounce back after the losses of the last two days. that's how we will open this morning. but again, things could change in a moment. right now in cannes, france, there's an angry confrontation taking place between the french, germans and the greek, they're very angry about the possible upset for the european bailout deal. we still don't know back home here, we still don't know exactly who lost how much in the mf global bankruptcy and we've got a big report coming u so you can't sit back, relax and watch your money grow these days, you've got intense volatility and although we may see a modest gain at the opening bell this morning, i've got to tell you it changes in a moment, if some obscure politician says something on the other side of the aisle. martha: it's incredible. what do we expect out of greece in terms of whether or not they are going to go forward with this referendum, and for folks at home, this is a decision they're going to put to the people in greece ostensibly to say do you want to go along with the terms of the bailout.

>> the latest word is they are going ahead with the referendum vote that will take place sometime in january. how they're going to vote, will they say yes, we accept the terms of the bailout or no, forget it, we don't know. but you're, as i said yesterday, is in limbo for a couple of months, waiting for the greeks to decide are they in or out. martha: stuart -- stuart, thank you very much, as you said, you've got to watch fox business network if you want to go what's going on and especially varney & company. bill: and today you can do it with feta cheese and black joggives! >> -- olives. >> millions were paid to top executives at fannie mae and freddie mac. now calls for the president to cancel nearly $13 million in bonuses paid out. the government says the mortgage giants received millions in money. john barrasso wants the president to step in, because he says the bonuses reward failure.

more from the white house on that. martha: that's a big story. fannie and freddie's problems started in 2003 and result a government takeover in 2008, in july 2008, concerns over the companies, which are quasi government companies, caused their insolvency, that had a plan to provide unlimited government funding for them for 18 months. by september, both ceos were relieved of their jobs, they walked away with huge payouts in the millions of dollars, franklin raines among them whose name you may remember from all of that. later that month, fannie and freddie are removed from the s&p 500 because of their de prettied -- depleted market value, so at that point, not much later, we're seeing $13 million bonuses and we know the president has criticized that type of thing when it happens on wall street. we'll see whether he criticizes that closer to home. bill: we are not seeing it just yet. we're going to show you remarkable video out of poland in a moment that you will not want to miss on a

plane that saved the lives of 231 people. also the dust still settling in the solyndra matter and new reports of president obama's jobs council getting a $2 billion loan for his own green energy company. we'll investigate that and figure out what's up with that. martha: remember when president obama said you could keep your health care coverage the way you like it now under the new law? there's a new report now that has just come out and it would suggest that that is really not the case. the details on that are straight ahead. bill: there is fallout in the fast & furious gun scanned a we'll tell you what a major bust along the u.s.-mexican border has just uncovered. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan?

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the weapons were apparently seized in arizona. william la jeunesse is working on this story and will join us more thoon at the top of the hour. bill: in the meantime you remember president obama said if you like your health care coverage, you can keep it, mek, but a survey out suggests that will not be the case for many american companies. mccinsie company -- mckenzie company nefound that 30 percent of private sector companies would drop coverage in 2014 when the law goes into effect fully. john fund, good morning to you. extensive survey, 1329 private sector employers. what did they find, john? >> well, they find that there are some perverse incentives in this health care law. if you're an employer the average cost for the health insurance for your employee is $12,000, but if you drop

coughage on the employees -- employee the federal fine is $2000. you can do the math. it may make sense for employers facing escalating health care insurance costs that have gone up faster to say i'm not going to offer health insurance, you go out and get something on your own. bill: okay, so the company is thinking about their bottom line, right? >> because they're thinking ah, i employed john fund, it's costing me 12 grand to cover his insurance, or i can forego that, pay washington, you say, a $2000 fine, and save me ten grand on people like you. >> right. there's another thing you can do, which is you can simply convert full-time employees into part-time employees, then you don't have to cover them with health insurance. now, there certainly will be an opportunity for the employees who lose their health insurance to get more coverage. they will be subdued by the federal government in something called these exchanges which will bring people together that don't have health insurance with

companies that offer it, and the federal government will subsidize it. the problem is that will dramatically increase the cost of omabacare and as we saw with the class act which was a long term compare component of omabacare, they completely miscalculated what the cost would be and that program has been scrapped by the obama administration itself. if the cost controls simply get blown out the window with this part of the program, we're going to be seeing more explosive growth and costs and any possibility that this was going to reduce the decifit will go out the window. bill: that is of course unless you've got a waiver and then you're free and clear. kidding to the side now, the exchange you describe is government-backed, right? >> absolutely. bill: so is it the way the far left wanted to push more americans into a single payor system? >> what some liberals wanted was something called the public option, which would have been a government-run, government-structured insurance company. they didn't get that, so they got the exchange, a fall-back position, and i think this whole thing

actually doesn't satisfy liberals and it doesn't satisfy conservatives, because it's a rub-goldberg contraption. the pieces don't really work remember this bill was pushed through at the last minute with the bare number of votes and i talked to one in the senate who said it was a dog's breakfast, it's not liberal, it's not conservative, it's just a mess. bill: so no one will be happy. >> there are people who will get extra coverage but it will come at a cost, that means you and i. bill: the price tag goes higher. john, we'll watch this study and measure the impact on american companies, too, we'll reach out to them and see how they're reacting to this now. john fund out of washington, thank you. martha: this is a bizarre story. the fbi says that four senior citizens were plotting attacks on federal buildings and individuals. one of the suspects' wives says baloney! so what's going on here? >> bill: also rick perry, defending what some are calling a strange speech he

gave that got the pundits buzzing about what was going on here. he says it was a fine speech, and now someone who was there that night is telling their side of the story. >> this is such a cool sight. live for your guy? you got to love that, right? [ male announcer ] welcome to transamerica. where togeth, we're transforming tomorrow. it's the second career you always wanted. today's the day! and i've been looking forward to this for a long time. it's gonna be a big change. you ready? wow! just what i hoped for! just what you planned for. thanks! [ male announcer ] we're making people the tomorrows they always dreamed of. what can we make with you? transamerica. transform tomorrow.

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bill: about a million people, still without any power after that rare october storm. in new hampshire, 86,000 are in the dark. massachusetts, new jersey, about 200,000. connecticut, by far the hardest hit, with more than half a million customers still without any juice. connecticut light and power hopes to have everyone back on line by sunday.

wow! just in time for the football games! but today is wednesday! the governor acknowledging how difficult this has been for everybody in that state. >> let me say to the people of connecticut, i know that they're frustrated, i'm frustrated as well. i know that they're losing patience. so am i. i've made it clear to the utility companies that we need more crews. i've made it clear to the federal government that we need more crews. and we're starting to see a response to that. i want to be very clear, i'm not interested in excuses or apologies. bill: well, there have been 135 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, that comes from the generators since that storm hit. that can happen when the generators are not placed outside. word to the wise. martha: this is a bizarre story. four georgia senior citizens are under arrest today, and charged with plotting attacks on federal buildings and on individuals. saying it was on their bucket list, one of them said, in what was picked up

in this investigation. all of them are in their 60s and 70s and according to the indictment they tried to buy explosives and tried to produce the toxin as ricin. >> the four individuals arrested were part of a fringe organization that was intent on doing harm to georgia citizens, and specific very, to members of the state and federal government. martha: incredible. jonathan serrie joins us live from atlanta on this. so what do the feds believe specifically jonathan that these men wanted to do? >> good morning, martha. federal investigators say these four men have been discussing some sort of covert plot since at least back in march of this year. they say that at one meeting one of the defendants, 73-year-old frederick thomas, talked about creating a list of politicians, government employees, corporate leaders, and even members of the media he felt needed to be taken out. but the neighbor of 68-year-old suspect samuel crump of toccoa, georgia

says this comes as a surprise. listen: >> the fbi feels like they've got enough evidence, you know, but i would have never suspected it from him. >> reporter: so defendants thomas, defendant crump and the other two defendants, 66-year-old ray adams and 67-year-old dan roberts are scheduled to make their initial appearances before a federal magistrate this afternoon martha. martha: a lot of shock over this. i know one of these men served in the navy for 30 years, his wife says there's no way she believes he would ever be involved in something like this. so how did the feds catch on to all of this? >> >> reporter: yeah, one served in the navy according to his wife, and at least two of the defendants worked for either federal agencies or at least federal government contractors. so it's a bizarre case. investigators say that an fbi informant was able to infiltrate this organization and even record meetings. now, with the exception of frederick thomas, who lived in cleveland, georgia, the defendants lived in toccoa,

which is also a small town located in the northeast corner of the state, investigators believe that these four men were part of a fringe militia group, according to court records, one suspect discussed ways of disbursing ricin from an airplane over washington, while another was apparently captured in one of the recordings suggests that racein -- ricin could be blown out of a car speeding down interstate highways in multiple cities, including washington, atlanta, newark, new jersey, jacksonville, florida and new orleans. defendant thomas allegedly cited the online novel absolve which discusses small groups of citizens attacking u.s. officials. apparently this defendant in the recording allegedly saying that these attacks would be based on events in that novel, martha. martha: wow, what a story. incredible. jonathan, thank you very much. >> sure. martha: as we move along, we'll find out how far along they might have been in this

plan. bill: crazy. it was a speech that spawned wild accusations. what rick perry said and did that had critics buzzing, and now rick perry? well, he's firing back a bit and explaining. martha: and an emergency landing. a hero pilot that pulled this off. now the passengers are speaking out about one heck of a landing they had! when we come back. welcome idaho, where they grow america's favorite potoes. everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they'reood for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart assoction for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. two. three. one.

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bill: this is a team of experts from boeing heading to poland to investigate this. that dramatic emergency landing, one of the most dramatic we have ever seen on a flight that began in newark, new jersey. two hundred thirty-one people on board, landing on its belly, after the landing gear would not open, no one was hurt on board, all 231 are a-okay! some passengers saying they thought everything was normal because the landing was so gentle and smooth! >> it was excellent landing, pilot was really great, yeah, and a little bit bad information before. but everything went really great. >> it was unexpectedly calm. the pilot had us landing perfectly, the crew kept us calm, we were sure we had landed on wheels. they were clapping hands. we thought we landed on wheels but it turned out there were no wheels. bill: no wheels, no problems, new the pilot is being called a hero, boeing saying well done!

there was a shot, because everyone in wa saw and -- they were told this plane was circle fog an hour so they had all local television broadcasting it live, and this became a national moment when the plane landed and everybody was okay! i mean, tremendous, tremendous story martha: you got to love the reaction, they're not complaining, they obviously knew there was an issue as they were going around dumping fuel, but no, everything was good, perfect landing! >> bill: some of the landings out there, you would take that one, with or without wheels! martha: great job to that pilot, getting those people safely on the ground. let's head back to politics for a moment, republican presidential candidate rick perry making a big push in the key battle ground state, launching a new ad in new hampshire. take a look. >> if you're looking for a slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills, we already have that and asdestroying our

economy. i'll a doer, not a talker. martha: what do you think of that? here's the latest "rasmussen poll" that shows the texas governor struggling in the beganit state, sixth plate, with 4 percent behind newt dping rich and even behind huntsman. mitt romney has a huge lead in new hampshire as we've talked about. meanwhile, mr. perry is defending a somewhat, shall we say, lively speech he gave in new hampshire recently that has a lot of people going what's up with that? take a look. >> this is such a cool statement come on, live free or die? i mean, you know, you got to love that, right? >> [applause] >> i come from a state, you know, where they have this little place auld the alamo and they declare victory or death. we're into those slogans, man, it's like live free or die, live to your death! bring it! >> martha: you don't know what to say, right? it's interesting.

let's bring in steve hayes, whreek standard, fox news contributor. steve, i mean, what do you think? what happened here? >> i mean, i'll kind of into those slogan, man! you know? i don't know. i mean, i don't know what to say. you see that and you think what was he thinking when he gave the speech. look, maybe it's just an overcorrection. he's been criticized pretty regularly since he got into the race for being stiff and appearing sort of robotic at these debates and not full of energy, and this obviously was the obsit of that. martha: i thought the same thing, this time i watched, i watched it several times as we got ready for this segment but this time i thought the same thing, maybe had said loosen up, be yourself, show the people what sort of great, down home guy you are, but the stutle but has been was he drinking, was there medication he was taking for a back surgery he had, were any of these things coming into play. apparently somebody who was with him that evening said

he didn't see him drink anything throughout the course of that evening, and he says hey, i thought it was a good speech! >> well, look, i don't think he has anything to apologize for necessarily. i mean, it's certainly getting him a lot of attention. it's probably not the kind of attention that he wants, but one of the things that rick perry has done, what's the old saying, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, that's exactly what he's trying to do here over the past really two weeks where he's relaunching with his new economic plan, he has a new set of advisers giving advice, this is the new livelier rick perry. i think what he's trying to do is get himself back in the conversation after he rose so fast and fell so fast. martha: let's take a look at the iowa poll. the shocking thing to me is it doesn't seem to be working. he has a very high level team as you pointed out, spending a loft money on slick ad -- ads, the ad we just showed and he's not budging in the polls. why can't he gain leverage over herman cain, who's the main person he's going after here? >> i think the hard part

o'clock it's hard to change peoples' impressions and people came away from the debates with an imetion that he wasn't up to the job and that's an understandable takeaway, frankly. i mean, he didn't do well in those debates, he didn't express himself well, he looked like he was lost when he was talking about policy and he's got to try to make that up. he's got a lot of money in the bank. doing these kind of ads, that ad you -- that ad you play was very effective, these ads will get him back into the discussion. martha: you wonder, i kept feeling like the next round of polls was going to show a bit of a difference for him. it hasn't really happened yet and we haven't really seen any significant polling since this whole issue with herman cain came up. do you think that's going to change the dynamic at all? >> it will be very interesting to see. the fox poll seesaw last week showed herman cain out in front, right at the top, and it was after he had had these substantive gaff, after he mishandled questions about abortion, after the complications arose with the 999 plan, so

he had been through some difficulty and he didn't suffer in the polls. it will be very interesting to see whether this latest set of allegations is sort of a galvanizing moment for the people who support him and support him strongly, or if it has the the opposite effect where people say look, i like what he was saying, but this is a little too much. martha: yeah, he seems to claim that it is galvanizing, because his fundraising is up and that it's an positive for him. so we'll see. steve, thank you very much, always a pleasure to talk to you. bill: here we go, good news now, 157 to the upside for the dow, 37 minute -- seven minutes into the day's trading, the dow lost 600 points in two days. we're awaiting the next headlines out of athens. hold your breath on that one. three weeks until thanksgiving. check this out, martha. that's a 6-foot burmese python swallowing an adult deer. enjoy breakfast. the pythons have grown after

folks who bought them as pets release them into the wild. they brought them into their homes and they grow and grow and then honey, what do we do with this thing, ty everglads in south florida and say go find yourself a deer. look at the size of that creature! >> i don't even -- oh my gosh. that's what it looks like when a deer is in your belly, i guess. bill: who knew. martha: now we do and aren't you glad you do so you can have that image in your mind for the rest of the day? thank you to our producers for that! he was advising the president on federal loans for green energy companies all while heading up a green energy company that got billions of dollars from those loans, so you can imagine why that would cause some people to raise a few eyebrows. maybe there's a conflict of interest is the thought there. we're going to talk to one senator who is looking for answers to this. bill: also a major drug bust on the u.s.-mexican border leading to the discovery of two guns linked to that botched fast & furious

program. we have exclusive details on that in moments here on "america's newsroom".

martha: wecialtion it is 42 minutes past the hour now and u.s. troops in iraq are pack their bags and leaving in the first stage of the u.s. withdrawal, the decision to pull american forces by december 31st will end more than eight years of fighting in iraq. and rikki -- and wickileaks' julian assange, a judge saying he will face extradition to sweden for questioning on sex charges. and lindsey lohan, heading back to court today, folks, and perhaps she may go to jail this time, as a judge decides that she failed to complete service community -- community

service. it could be off to the clinks for lindsey lohan. bill: that or playboy, right? i'm not wrong about that. martha: you're probably not. there is a new scandal rocking the obama administration, we're now learning of a clean energy firm led by the president's jobs council that received billions in loan guarantees, and this was a sew apparently -- a a company apparently making a profit. jeff sessions, good morning to you, welcome back to "america's newsroom". what's going on this time? >> well, it's another one, but this is a huge, huge loan by a member on the president's advisory team, $2 billion, that's alabama's general fund budget, $2 billion, approximately. so it was a huge loan to a private company through a friend, it looks like, and it just points out that there are tens of thousands of small businesses out there that would like to get loans and need low cost loans but are not getting

them, but it does appear that when the government gets into passing out money, taxpayers' money, they tend to pass it out to their friends and cronies. bill: this is called next era energy. it's my understanding this company was actually making a profit. would have a company need that money if they were in the green? >> well, you can make more profit if you get a long term, low-interest loan. one of the things we need to look at, bill, and i'm writing to secretary chu today and it will ask him to calculate correctly and tell us how he calculates the actual projected cost of these loans, because we see solyndra, half a billion dollars, apparently totally a loss, beacon is $50 million, and it looks like a substantial loss, perhaps, so we need to know if they're properly advising the congress and the american people how much these loans are going to cost. bill: let me just -- >> or the estimated failure

rate. bill: solyndra is $535 million, that's gone bankrupt, you mentioned beacon power corporation, that was $43 million in a loan guarantee, that has filed for bankruptcy as well. now, a lot of people think these decisions were made in the west wing, but we're hearing from the administration the department of energy had control and jurisdiction over where these loans went and how they were paid out. is that your understanding? >> ultimately, yes. but, of course, secretary chu is in the cabinet, he's in the white house, really, and they know, people talk to the white house if they want the energy department to do something, that's the way washington often works. so i don't think you can simply separate that way. we know this, that the loan program was more tightly run and tightly managed than this program is and that's one reason i'm making inquiries about it because it does not seem to be nearly as tightly controlled

and properly anlied. bill: i see. do you suggest something illegal here? where do you -- >> i am not. >> bill: you are not. where do you go for the answers for such misguided programs? >> i think that congress needs to ask questions and we need to find out if there may have been something illegal that occurred. i just don't know that now. what i do know is that this is a huge amount of taxpayers' dollars, and it's going to, it appears, favored people in large amount, while tens of thousands of other small businesses around america are not getting benefits from the government. so it just raises whole questions about the very idea of picking and choosing winners by politicians. and it's fraught with danger. bill: you are now proposing the solyndra rule. what is that, senator? >> the solyndra rule is before the government asks the american taxpayer to pay more taxes they need to

bring spending under control, they need to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. they need to tighten up how we spend our money in washington. that a an absolute requirement to reduce unnecessary spending before we run out and ask the american people to just give them more money so business as usual can be continued. bill: senator, thank you for your time. the solyndra rule. we'll see if it gets traction. senator sessions from the hill. go to fox news.com/ "america's newsroom", there's a bya box on there, leave a question or shoot an e-mail, hemmer, foxnews.com, or twitter, bill hemmer, bya, because you asked. a lot of people want to know how many solyndras are out there. right now the answers with a bit elusive. martha: right now we're going to talk about a major win for bank customers, why you could end up in some ways paying the price for that whole bank of america thing. bill: a slow speed chase for a high powered machine. how one man wound up going

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bill: from san diego oarks have a look at this, a car slam going a fire hydrant and the force of the water pushing the car into the air for half an hour! four people ran from the car after the crash. look at that sight! police suspect, martha, the vehicle was stolen. martha: do you think! well, consumers are rejoicing today as bank of america backpedaled on their plan to charge debit card

users five buck as month. remember how ticked off people were in that? wells fargo and j.p. morgan also pulled the plug on their idea to have the new fees because they found it didn't go over that well with customers. they found other banks to do business with. here now the anchor of willis report, gerri willis. >> hello martha. martha: hell oavment am i cynical or do i think that because they're not going to charge us now that we won't ultimately get carnlg dollars in another pay? >> the story of banks fees is they only go up and there will be more fees in place in coming months. the thought is it will be account fees instead of the debit card fees, and it's really stuck in peoples' craw. if you're paying more to access your own money, people got upset about that. i know there was thinking hey it's not that much money, five bucks, $60 a year, who cares, no, it's my money and to have to pay for access to that, no thank you. martha: it's the principle, really. people say look, the whole reason for using a debit card was that i wouldn't run up cred -- credit card fee,

now i use my debit card, it's tapped into my checking account and they're going to make you pay for it, and all the banks were screaming they were going to have to push costs on to the consumers as a result of dodd-frank, right? >> it's the amendment to dodd-frank, they raised costs by $2 billion a year for bank of america alone and they wanted to recoup that cost and consumers are saying don't take it out of my pocket, get it somewhere else. martha: if we could force a perfect world where they weren't going to push more fees on to us, what happens? >> i think at the end of the day consumers have to advocate for their own deals, for not paying these fees. martha: which you can do. >> which you can do and i'm all for shopping around. i'm not saying you can't charge fees. what i'm saying is that consumers owe it to themselves, owe it to their family, owe it to their product books to get the absolute best deal they can and shop around and make sure you understand what it is you're getting for what price. martha: when we first did that bank of america story and i'm sure you guys experienced this too at the business channel, we got so

many tweets and e-mails, people said i'm so happy, i left the bank of america, now i've moved on to another place and clearly, that forced them to change their minds about this. >> you're seeing a revolution in consumer complaining because of twitter, this online social media network, what's going on is people are finding new ways to complain, to heighten those complains, to sharply put it to the companies. you saw what happened to netflix, they had to back off of their plans that were anti consumer, now bank of america doing the same thing, and let me tell you it is not common for banks to back down. so this is really a landmark, possibly the start of a movement for consumers to get what they want in the marketplace. martha: perhaps a whole new world. gerri, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. martha: gerri willis, don't forget to catch her every day on the fox business network, tune into the "willis report", 5:00 p.m. every day. don't miss it, guys. gerri, good to see you. the fallout over the fast & furious gun scandal

is far from over and there's been another find on the u.s.-mexican border. bill! >> bill: also in a moment, they were at the center of the housing crash, so why are executives at fannie mae and freddie mac receiving billions of dollars in year-end bonuses, we wonder? [ man ] i got this citi thank you card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪

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you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. martha: got a fox news alert for you. the fallout from the fast and furious is far from over, folks. an arizona sheriff saying more guns from the botched government sting operation were recovered on the u.s. side of the border in the hands of a deadly drug cartel. this is big news on "fast and furious". that is how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" on this wednesday. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning again, martha. the sheriff paul babeu confirming the report. it comes on heels after bombshell admission from a top official what the justice department knew about guns flowing across

the border. martha: william la jeunesse has been on the story from the very beginning. he joins us live from los angeles. what does the discovery of these particular guns in this case tell us, william? >> reporter: well, martha, the police last week basically in this huge bust seized $800,000 in cash and 100 plus weapons. turns out two of the guns were sold in "fast and furious" where the atf knowingly allowed sale of weapons to the illegal buyers and then smuggled to mexico. what does it say? 2,000 guns sold in "fast and furious", hundreds are still out there. they're in the hands of violent people. and it is not just mexico. these guns are here. they're in the u.s. and their deadly legacy will live for decades. for every person killed with one of these "fast and furious" guns the u.s. government will be a defendant likely in a wrongful death suit. just like the one we expect shortly from the family of brian terry. one agent told me, martha, he is going to be in court for years testifying about federal government behavior

in "fast and furious" as these people seek damages for the loss of their loved ones. martha? martha: william, how are the atf agents reacting to what happened yesterday? which was the testimony from assistant attorney general lanny breuer. >> reporter: what they hear are different. i spoke to three agents who are furious. they're livid with the department of justice in washington and their perspective is different from ours. let me tell you what they have to say about what lanny breuer said. he ad mitsz there was guns walked in wide receiver. he knows about "fast and furious". knows has five or six agents, lawyers working on the case intimately and says he doesn't know or doesn't ask? here is what with agent told me and i'm quoting. it is disheartening we risk our lives for this job because we believe in the mission. our agents in mexico ride in armored cars. their wives can't leave the house. we lost friends. when the whistle-blowers tell the truth, they are

marginalized retaliated against and what does the agency do, they lied to us. lanny breuer could have stopped "fast and furious". "what about brian?" terry's family? they don't give a damn about us. that is a, they were mad. you know one postscript on that bust, martha, i wanted to add to you. one of the people who were deported to mexico last week, he was caught yesterday doing 50 miles an hour in a school zone, about $1.6 million worth of methaphetamines and heroin. back to you. >> what a story. william la jeunesse with the latest on that and there will be more. bill: he mentioned the top deputy for eric holder, lanny breuer. he says you knew more than a year ago about the gun program. >> did you ever inform attorney general holder and deputy attorney general about it and if so when and if not why not. >> i can be no clear if i

know then what i know now i would have told the attorney general. bill: brewer insists the gun walking tactics he learned about in april 2010 were not part of operation "fast and furious". instead they were part of a previous investigation of a bush administration prays known as wide receiver. that started about 2005. brewer says he failed to draw the connection between that operation and "fast and furious". let's give you context on all of that. "fast and furious" was hatched in the early months of the obama administration. the bureau of alcohol, tobacco firearms and explosives launched the operation in the fall of twine. so the plan was for atf agents to allow suspects to walk away will legally-bought guns in the hopes of then following them and tracking those guns in order to expose large-scale gun smugglers. weapons sold through this botched operation linked to at least three violent crimes though now in the united states including possibly the murder of border patrol agent brian

terry because we know at least one, perhaps two of the guns from this operation were found at his death. 370 of more than 1400 guns that were allowed to walk have actually been rounded up. that leave as lot of them still out there and dangerous. just a few minutes from now we'll get reaction to all of this breaking news this afternoon, this morning, rather, from arizona's governor, republican jarn brewer will join us with the latest. we'll get her reaction to the "fast and furious" news and arizona, south carolina and alabama that is --. bill: taking that on, that's right. there is outrage this morning over executive pay at two government-seized mortgage giants the top executives at fannie mae and freddie mac snagging about $13 million in bonuses. the same fannie and freddie blamed for a major role in the mortgage meltdown in 2008 leading to $170 billion bailout by you, the taxpayer. steve centanni national correspondent from the

white house on this. what is the reaction to the news of the bonuses, $13 million, steve? >> reporter: bill, in spite of that huge taxpayer bailout for these two corporations top executives did walk away with sizable bonuses and nobody seems to like it except maybe those top executives. hear is the way it breaks down. at freddie mac the payments amounted to $6.46 million for last year. while the bonuses paid to top execs at fannie mae totaled 6.33. from a u.s. senator yesterday, this demand for action. >> i'm calling on the president of the united states to cancel those bonuses and explain to the american people the taxpayers who bailed out freddie and fannie why he continues to reward failure. >> reporter: democratic member of congress equally upset, harry reid, senate majority leader when asked about this reporters, a gag reflex in front of you all would be improper but that's how i feel about it, bill.

bill: what does the white house say about this, steve? >> jay carney, white house press secretary was asked about it. he said they are independent corporations even though they are over seen by a government agency. even so carney said the outcry over these bonuses comes as no surprise. >> the economy is tough. people are hurting. and we understand there is a lot of frustration out there because of that and important that leaders, regulators, folks in the private sector as well as the public sector be responsive to people's legitimate frustrations. >> reporter: carney says that the president believes there should be accountability and responsibility in the way companies compensate their executives. bill, back to you. bill: steve, thank you for that. the generators are working at white house, i see. >> reporter: they are. they have cement trucks over here. bill: cement trucks. hang in there. >> reporter: got to compete with those. bill: that's right. see you later. martha: the occupy wall street movement has taken defiant new turn. protesters in oakland, california, lashing out following the police crackdown on city hall camp

the incident is sparking a potentially crippling citywide strike. claudia cowan is live in oakland with the very latest. claudia, who is on board so far for this strike action? >> reporter: well, martha the protesters out here in oakland getting a big boost from organized labor, the unions that represent the city's teachers and government workers they say they are supportive of this general strike. we're seeing a lot of support coming from that side. this is also prompting however, we understand, some school closures and there could be some service disruptions as well in city departments. we'll have to see how that all plays out. now city workers were told that they could take personal time off to participate in what has become a broad-based call to action including rallies outside of banks, schools, libraries as well as foreclosed homes. protesters also want to shut down the port of oakland before the night shift, calling that a blockade to stop capitalism at the nation's 5th busiest port.

the port sympathizes with the protesters but will stay open to conduct business as usual. meantime local merchants are worried that things could spin out of control as they did last tuesday when police moved in to crack down on these protesters and things got ugly. so, martha, i can tell you a number of businesses right here near the plaza, they will be closed today, not out of solidarity but just to stay on the safe side. back to you. martha: where do the police stand in all of this, claudia? >> reporter: they will be out here in force to keep the peace but police say they are now in the middle of a new turf war with the city's mayor who has really come under fire for her handling of this occupy protest, martha. first she supported it. then she ordered police last week to move in. to do that crackdown which became so ugly. then the next day she told police to back off. so the protesters could repitch their tents here and even bigger numbers than before. so yesterday, the union that represents the rank-and-file of the oakland police force

sent out an open letter to the city of oakland, to the people, slamming kwan's administration saying they were confused asking why the city planned to beef up police presence at strike-related events today while at the same time giving permission city workers to participate. police don't like the mixed messages or the possibility they could come face-to-face today with a fellow city worker. martha, back to you. martha: pretty confusing. thank you very much. claudia cowan in oakland. bill: right about nine minutes past the hour right now. they are the pitfalls everyone eventually hits on the trail a gaffe a candidate can not take bake. herman cain had his share. even admits to them but does his latest gaffe top them all? tucker carlson has done his research. we'll talk to him in a moment there. martha: he is a former democratic governor and obama ally. now the massive golden parachute that jon corzine has received and hundreds of millions of investor dollars that are now missing. bill: wow, a riddle there, huh?

a sick twist of fate for this mother. a shopping cart dropped on her head from four stories up. guess who they are saying is responsible? >> everybody is just devastated and so worried that she should recover and pull through and get back to normal. her normal level of activity. we're just hoping and praying that that that is the outcome.

bill: an illegal immigrant once deported sneaking back into the u.s. now charged in brutal of murder of his 10-year-old cousin. jasmine gonzalez was found stabbed to death after vanishing from the home her family was visiting in texas. her cousin is charged with a crime that police say so despicable it shook a community to its core. >> anytime, a 10-year-old child is murdered it's heinous. i don't know any other way

to describe it. i know that it has affected our community. i know that that neighborhood has been shaken. bill: fuentes was arrested when relatives realized he was absent from a family gathering at the same time that jasmine was missing. martha: bring you back to 2012 politics for a moment. he has been battling allegations of sexual harrassment that date back to the 1990s but now presidential candidate herman cain is facing criticism over something else. another gaffe on foreign policy here he is explaining why he thinks china is a military threat to the united states. listen. >> yes, they're a military threat. they have indicated they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. yes we have to consider them a military threat. martha: the problem with that of course that china has had nuclear capability

since the 1960s that is major issue in foreign policy. tucker carlson joins me now, editor of "the daily caller" and fox news contributor. tucker is this something you expect to get more attention? >> i don't think there is any question about it. herman cain is a smart guy. if you asked him point-blank does china have nuclear weapons, he would answer yes. i doubt he was unaware of that. on the other hand the stakes are really high and everybody is watching. i don't think many people in the herman cain expected him to become the frontrunner. now they are by many measures and time to stop saying things like that on television. a lot of people are prone to gaffes in public life. vice president is one of them. some of them succeed despite that. again the stakes are very high. this is presidential nominating process. it is getting, we're getting pretty close to the first, to the first voting and so i would think that the cain people would be wary of talking like this anymore. martha: you always wonder sort of what moment it is in campaigns and this may or may not be one of them that changes things. >> that's right. martha: it reminded me of

gerald ford's moment of in his debate with jimmy carter. play that in context. let's look at that. >> i don't believe that the poles consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. each of those countries is independent, autonomous. it has its own territorial integrity. martha: that was a big problem for him, tucker. many people sort of trace back his loss to that moment. >> that's right. and of course he was dealing with the legacy of watergate at that time. but that is absolutely right. it played into this storyline that gerald ford was stupid and fell on his head, et cetera, none of which was true but, this didn't help. look here's the bottom line point as far as i'm concerned. republicans who believe it will be easy to beat the president are wrong. it is going to be difficult no matter who the nominee is and it is really important that the republican party vet its candidates sufficient when the nominee is chosen we know everything there is no know about him or her.

martha: look at the numbers though. the numbers show people are very supportive of herman cain. >> yeah. martha: he says he thinks, this harrassment scandal, not this particular china moment but that one, is galvanizing his support. this is among republican voters. this is a brand new quinnipiac poll. i should point out it was taken before the whole thing from the restaurant association started to bubble up. he has a very nice lead in this among republicans. >> that's right. there is no indication in iowa that he lost a significant support since. they had their best fund-raising day. they raised quarter of a million dollars yesterday. that is reaction by republicans and conservatives to attacks on herman cain. they're circling the wagons. all of that is understandable. on the other hand you have seen, this is amazing to me i will say, republicans using a traditional left wing attack against herman cain's opponents. people who criticize herman cain are doing it because they are racist. you heard a lot of people

say this. that is exact argument complained about liberals making. rather than engaging in an actual argument they dismiss their opponents as motivated by bias. now you're seeing a lot of very problem meant conservatives doing same thing. if there is evidence that cain's critics are racist lay it out there. this is sign a lot of people are on the right, anyway are feeling completely besieged by media and by obama supporters and --. martha: you could also make an argument that he hasn't really been brought, his feet haven't been put to the fire so to speak with these foreign policy issues. you know that other candidates who have been accused not being up on these topics in the past would have been vilified for some of these things. >> i that's right. there is certain psychology at work here. many i'm, this is world i know very well and i think a lot of people that support herman cain are fed up with washington and that includes the republican leadership in washington, with the press, with the elites in general but they still need to vet

their candidates thoroughly or they will regret it. martha: tucker, thank you. >> thanks a lot, martha. martha: interesting as always to talk to you tucker carlson. bill: turning up the heat on "fast and furious", arizona governor jan brewer is here live today on new allegations that some of the weapons seized in a recent raid in new mexico may be connected to the government's deadly gun running program that started had her state of arizona. martha: a man leads police on a bizarre chase. can't call this high speed. kind of rolls off the edge there. look at that. >> one of those days we were lucky that he was able, that he crashed. we don't know how we would have stopped vehicle on our own.

martha: 20 one minutes past the hour. let's look at some of the

headlines right now. the woman evacuated from the south pole is coming home. she was airlifted out of antarctica last month after she suffered a stroke. the u.s. engineer is now on her way back home to vermont. doctors say they may have a new way to screen for melanoma which is the deadliest form of skin cancer. doctors hope this new method will help detect abnormalities sooner and that will allow for earlier treatment of the disease. heavy snow fall causing several highway closures and a blizzard warning in october. what is going on here, folks? not even thanksgiving. denver seeing up to 11 inches of snow. bill: means there is 22 in the mountains. there you go. a senseless prank horribly wrong. marion hedges is fighting for her own life after being hit in the head by a falling shopping cart. the victim of a sick stunt allegedly pulled by the same kind of children the new york mother reportedly went out of her way to help. eric shawn piece this is together in our newsroom in

new york. walk us through what happened, eric. >> reporter: bill, she is wealthy manhattan real estate agent that helped underprivileged kids. her life hangs in the balance after police say two 12-year-olds almost killed her. marion hedges has been in a medically induced coma in critical condition since she was hit by a falling shopping target tossed by the young suspects from four stories above. it happened while she was shopping or halloween candy in a shopping mall in east harlem. every year her husbands says she buys hundreds of dollars worth of treats for the 1,000 or so less fortunate kids who knock on the door of their manhattan brown stone on halloween. police charged the kids throwing the cart over. they were allegedly laughing and joking when they were arrested. the whole thing sadly and tragically caught on surveillance tape. police by the way were able to make an i.d. they say based on the boys facebook page, bill. bill: what do we know about

these kids, eric? >> reporter: neighbors in the public housing project where they live, describe the young suspects as quote bad. they started hanging out on the streets. miss hedges by the way happens to be involved with a local center, the stanley isaac center. it is reknown program in the neighborhood for underprivileged young people. its director says they are just devastated. >> just very engaged and soup, super smart and energetic and so caring and thoughtful and so concerned that helping us deal with some of the tough times we've had to deal with helping us raise money. >> reporter: miss hedges said the suspects are children left on their own without supervision, exactly the type youngsters his wife dedicated her life to help. he also says in the best of all cases she will be in rehabilitation for months. certainly a lot of people's prayers are with her here in new york city today. bill: prayers and hope, you bet, eric. eric shawn with the story here in new york.

martha: case case is once again casey anthony is once again trying to clear her name. we're hearing interesting details what mom acquitted murder said and did not say during here latest legal challenge. bill: the fallout over "fast and furious" continues this morning. 30 house lawmakers calling for the attorney general to resign. republican arizona governor jan brewer join that chorus. we'll find out next. >> when did you first known about the program officially i believe called "fast and furious"? >> i'm not sure of the exact date but i probably heard about "fast and furious" for the first time over the last few weeks. my name is jill strange,

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with some plans, you can enroll right over the phone. don't wait. call now. martha: want to let you know we're waiting for a herman cain news conference that is expected to get underway shortly. we'll keep an eye on that. that's in alexandra, virginia. in the meantime we saw brand new poll numbers. we were saying we hadn't seen a lot of poll numbers since this scandal erupted but look at south carolina, this is among gop voteners south caiz from rasmussen, 33-23, a 10 percent divide between cain and romney. so he's got a very strong lead at least according to this one poll in south carolina, and that comes after this whole scandal erupted. so keep an eye on that. bill: by the way, 10:30, fox news alert here in new york, arizona sheriff's office confirming to fox news that two guns recovered during a major drug smuggling bust are linked to operation fast & furious. arizona county sheriff paul

babeu saying the weapons found in the hands of notorious drug cartel members on our side of the u.s.-mexican border. fast & furious, you'll recall, is the botched government sting operation that allowed american guns to flow across the border into mexico, hope to go trap and lead eventually to these drug cartel leaders. it turned scandalous after guns from one of the guns was found at scene of a border patrol agent's murder. republican governor january brewer out of azoo jan brewer is author of "scorpions for breakfast", she's our guest this morning and good morning to you. >> good morning, bill, great to be with you. bill: do you think eric holder should resign? >> i think that he needs to be held accountable for what he has not done. the unfortunate thing about it is that we are trying to, of course, get our borders secured, we want the help from the federal government, and we keep getting repeated stories of this fast & furious story, about allowing guns to walk out of

arizona, into mexico and come back into our state by the drug cartel. bill: but based on what you know and what we've seen of his testimony and public statements, has he told the truth? >> well, you know, i -- you want me to be his judge and his jury and i've not heard all of the testimony. but i certainly believe he ought to be held accountable if that is proven that he is guilty, and i believe that he has been negligent in his job. bill: but for the moment, you're not joining the chorus of others on the hill. >> that would be correct. bill: his main deputy, lanny brewer, says he is the one who is responsible, and he says he's responsible because he did not inform eric holder of the full operation. >> well, the buck stops with eric holder. the bottom line is it's no different than my job, the buck stops with me, and he is accountable and responsible for everyone that works for him, every program that comes out of his office. he's the top law enforcement officer of our country. bill: he's going to face his own questions when he

testifies later this week on the hill. you heard the story that i announced here, introducing you this morning. >> yes. bill: your weeks -- your reaction, what have you heard from arizona on that? >> i've not heard anything from arizona at this point in time. i'm anxious to get back and get on the phone and call them. it was breaking news on fox when i heard about it. bill: that is true. now i want to talk to you about immigration because you're at the forefront on this, arizona led, alabama followed, south carolina followed and the federal government is challenging the laws in all these states just like it is in arizona. >> right. bill: but it appears that alabama and south carolina have actually gone one step further. can the government stop them under state laws? >> you know, i don't believe that they can. i don't know exactly about alabama and south carolina, but i do know with our senate bill 1070 it simply just mirrors the federal law, so i believe -- >> bill: the neetion somehow -- >> i believe we can win the case if the supreme court determines they're going to hear it in december. i feel very confident. >> saik sekulow is a

constitutional attorney, he was on our program just yesterday on this topic, he believes all of this is decided at the supreme court do you? >> i do. i think they'd better move swiftly and quickly, let's put this to bed. bill: because? >> because every state and america is concerned about it and if we're going to have laws that are federal laws, enforce them. we're a nation of laws. we believe in the rule of law. they're not enforcing their federal law. bill: but washington says it's the federal government's responsibility, and you cannot have 50 different laws in 50 different states. what would you argue? >> i would argue that they need to enforce their federal laws. our law in arizona mirrors federal law. and if they're not going to enforce the federal law, i believe that arizona has the right to help them enforce it. bill: you wrote a book, sarah palin wrote the forward. >> she did. bill: it's called "scorpions for breakfast". is that what they eat in arizona? >> well, we've had some really tough battles so i think it's been pretty tough. bill: i don't know what you

had breakfast this morning! why did you write the book? >> i wrote the book because i believe that after the signing of 1070 a lot of misinformation was provided to the people and i believe in truth telling and i believe that book is a truth telling book. it tells the people of america exactly why we did it, what the ramifications were, that if we didn't stand up and protect us, and -- and where america itself is headed if we don't secure our border. bill: how big of an issue is this in 2012? >> i think it's a huge issue, a flashpoint in the election. bill: a flashpoint. >> i do. when you look at the polls and talk to people around the country, 70 percent of america agrees with what we've done in arizona. it's very, very important. and it's important for people to read the book to understand just exactly what arizona has been facing and what we are putting up with, and we need to have the federal government to do their job and whoever is elected, president, he'dor step up and do it. bill: president obama was in el paso on the border in may 2008. would you welcome him to

arizona? >> i've invited him on several occasions. bill: what would you show him if he came? >> i would take him to the border, let him talk to the people, the law enforcement and ranchers and the people on our border ranching and farming for hundreds of years that are now afraid to go about their business as normal. bill: he would argue that the federal government has done more than the previous administration. >> you know -- >> bill: and i think on the record you have not disputed that. do you still? >> you know -- well, i believe and i am great him for whatever he has done but it certainly hasn't been enough. no. and even by the gao accounting at the federal level, they say that 55 percent of our borders are not secured, and only 50 percent of the illegal traffic coming across the border are apprehended, so we don't have a secure border. we want results. we want the government to do their job. bill: governor, thank you for your time. scorpions for breakfast! i'll try it! >> [laughter]

>> bill: jan brewer, thank you. >> thank you. martha: might want to try it on a weekend, not when we have a show that day! more than a million people remain without power in the northeast following that bizarre october snowstorm that we have weathered here, but parts of new england that are still reeling from hurricane irene, that storm hits two months ago. molly line from the connecticut river in vermont, what are some of the hardest hit families facing there? >> you said it, tropical storm irene was weakened by the time it hit vermont but the amount of water that came here caused engorged rivers to overflow their banks, taking out homes, bridges, property, and now there are a lot of difficult legal questions that have to be answered because not just are the homes gone, but the land that they stood on is gone and property lines have been redefined, documents are missing. it's a big legal mess. we had a chance to speak with one of the families that was hardest hit. bre testimony t morrison

evacuated with his children, thinking they'd be gone a couple of hours. when they came home after that storm came through, there was no home. take a listen: >> right now, i owe a morton a house that doesn't exist, on land that doesn't exist. >> this was a strange place to go from one day having aotomy with your kids were on the tromp lien and you -- trampoline and you had a garden, to no home, your garden is a sidewalk and your front yard is a road. >> reporter: and right now, he doesn't know where his property begins and ends. there's been a task force put in place to address those legal issues in the coming months martha. martha: so how quickly do you think that task force is going to be able to help some of the people answer questions and hopefully get some support? >> yeah, they're actually going to be listening to some of the concerns of the people hardest hit tomorrow, and by january, they're expected to give lawmakers some of their ideas been how state laws could be altered and different ways to solve these problems so people can have some sort of end to this.

for them, the disaster is still going on. martha. martha: what a shame. it's one of the most beautiful places in the country, the place where you're standing there, molly. thank you very much for bringing that to us, we wish them well in battleboro, vermont. bill bail special view for troops, walmart salutes you, our heroes! that's pretty cool advertisement, the sign carved out by some of the store's employees in a nebraska field. it is a tradition that started about ten years. cool stuff. >> we get calls from different bases all over the world, aircraft carrier, all kinds of people, thanking us for what we do. we really appreciate the tile and evident and what you all do. >> amen to that. the group trying to come up with a new message every year. next year, try watch "america's newsroom" at 9:00 a.m. eastern time! what do you think. martha: you could get out with a tractor and carve that out! you can do that.

after the financial crisis, president obama said there would be no more major payout, there should be no more, for executives who drive shareholder executives into the ground. here's what he said. >> we're putting a stop to the severance packages that we discuss, we're taking the air out of golden parachutes. march some are asking this question, will that apply to the former governor of new jersey, jon corzine, why he should land on a pile of money after his company went bankrupt. bill: it was good there wasn't a pool party went on! guess who was behind that wheel? >> ♪ >> ♪ splish, splash, i was taking a bath, long about a saturday night. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping.

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bill here's one unusual police chase, cops in hot pursuit of a bulldozer! >> march what's so unusual about that! bill: go caterpillar. stolen from a construction site, police say the operator got out to clear off stuff from the road and the person jumped in and took off, tearing through fences and locked gates before crashing, which is how they usually end. >> they're like who's that, you know, then the boss called 911. >> it's one of those day, we were lucky he was able to -- that he crashed! we don't know how we would have stopped the vig on our own. bill: now, that would be a challenge. the person who stole the bulldoze ser in custody, police say it was the third vehicle he had stolen in one day! >> we got corporate executives giving themselves million dollars golden parachutes and leaving workers high and dry. that's wrong. it's an outrage! martha: campaign ad from back in 2008, president obama took a tough stand against golden parachutes to

failed wall street executives back in 2009, but now former democratic governor and friend of the president, kohn zor corzine may be getting a sweet deal after his investment firm filed for bankruptcy this week. federal regulators are now investigating what happened to the missing $700 million that investors put into that company. now, back in '09, president obama said that corzine was a great help to his economic recovery plan back then, he said this, he was an ally in helping the federal government, my administration, develop the national recovery plan, and he remains a big supporter of the president, which that's no secret. let's talk to alan coomes about all this and see what he thinks, host of the alan coomes radio show. alan, hi there. what do you think about it? >> let's use carr zine today to smear obama. you know, guilt by association. i'm not going to sit here and defend jon corzine or a company going bankrupt and giving a big payout, but do you want the president to jump in and stop it? then you have people call --

calling him a dictator like some right wingers do when gefs executive orders. he was a supporter of obama, obama thanked him for that, now he's supposed to say this is horrible, shouldn't happen and somehow it reflects badly on the president? >> martha: i -- i completely understand what you're saying, so that -- there is that to think about, when you look at the situation, but i guess there's also this. in terms of the broader picture and who gets to finger -- the finger pointed at them, you've also got the situation at fannie mae and freddie mac, a quasi governmentantty where you've got $11 million going to corporate executives at the top of that ladder, and we all know how much money those entities have lost. so i guess the question is, you know, he does tend to point the finger at points, fat cat bankers and the rest. so is he doing that in a selective way? whether it's corzine or to fannie mae and freddie mac. >> he's doing it broadly, using the the bully pulpit of the presidency in toard

to make a statement. i'm glad we're in sync about occupy wall street. that's what the demonstration is about, what zuccotti park is all about. if we want to change politics and how money is raised, let's do things like say corporations are people my friend and not confine it to one candidate. the system needs to be cleaned out. it's not about corzine or president obama, it's much bigger than the two. martha: when you talk about cleaning the whole system you're conveniently leaving out the fannie mae and freddie mac equation. the occupy wall street issue, they think that the bad guys are the bankers and there may be bad guys and bankers. i would argue the people who actually perppate dollars that is a very small group of people, so perhaps the finger needs to be pointed ought -- >> but corzine, he's only one guy. martha: he is one guy, and he may be, and the details to this, we could do a whole

other interview on this detail and that's going to come out but the question is is the president selective in terms of who he points his finger at. >> no. martha: if not do you expect he will criticize the fannie mae and freddie mac million dollars bonuses going out? >> i'm not a spokesperson for the president of the democratic party. i think this has to be cleaned up, wall street needs to be cleaned up, we need to stop these golden parachutes and i think we can all pretty much agree on that but let's not take it the politics of personal scruks and -- politics of destruction and smear an individual because another individual did something that we don't think should happen. martha: what we're talking about is the broader concept of should the finger be pointed at people in government that do the same thing as what is happening on wall street. i'll ask you again and i'm not asking you to be a spokesperson for anyone except alan coomes. >> barely that. i'll barely even do that. martha: do you think the president should come out and talk about and perhaps

condemn if you think so these million dollars bonuses to fannie mae and freddie mac? >> yes. and he did condemn the million dollars bonuses and the golden pair use chutes and he should do it as broadly as possible, absolutely. martha: but you would like to see him do that when it's -- >> when appropriate, absolutely. and i think he's actually given that message. martha: not to fannie mae, and freddie mac, he's been silent. >> he's not been silent, he's enabled fannie and freddie do more in terms of people keeping their homes. he's not going to say everything you want him to say every time. martha: but the taxpayers are paying fannie mae and freddie mac, we're still bailing them out. is it appropriate that those executives -- we are. is it appropriate those executives should get million dollars bonuses is the question? it's a government entity. >> it is not appropriate that they receive those bonuses. i would like to see the president speak out about that as well as i just said, i it should be as broad as possible and he should make that statement as well, but i think he's done a very good job clearly going after all thoseo again, he's gone

after wall street, you want to go after fannie and freddie, fine, if that will make you happy, make conservatives happy, fine, let him do that. martha: it's not a question of what makes me happy. we're talking about getting the economy back on track. alan, thank you very much, alan coomes. bill want to check in on what's happening next. jon scott, hanging on. what's on, jon? >> jon: good morning, bill. we're going to have more breaking news on what martha was just discussing, charlie gasparino joins us to talk about the explosion of the investment firm mf global, headed by jon corzine. also conflicting reports on the effects of alcohol on our health. what are we to make of these drastically different findings? we'll talk with a sheriff, as well, who says forget the mace, ladies, go buy yourself a gun! plus the giant trove of gold and relatives, discovered by an amateur treasure hunter. the mystery behind who put all these millions of dollars worth of jewels in the ground, straight ahead.

bill. bill: send them our way! >> jon: i wish! wish i had them. bill: that's what i'm talking about! see you in ten minutes, jon. thanks. there is more drama for casey anthony, stunning reflations and a whole new court issue for the woman found not guilty of found not guilty of murdering her daughter. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition.

could've had a v8.

martha:y waiting from the man leading in most of the gop polls right now to have a news conference, herman cain expected, moments away in alexandra, virginia. as we wait for him to come

out, we'll keep aur eyes posted on it and bring you details of what's happening there. bill: watching every move he makes! 50 times that, is the number of times casey anthony invoked her fifth amendment right to stay silent as part of a lawsuit from a woman who says her life was destroyed by anthony's trial, the i. acquitted anthony of killing her daughter in july. she was deposed, right phil, but she did not say much. >> she only answered about a dozen times, that included six yes, one i don't know and other times stating her name. reportedly, casey anthony showed up by video wearing a baseball cap and big dark sunday glasses. -- sunglasses, remember she's still living this & hiding in florida, the jury convicted her of four counts of lying to cops and that included the lie that her daughter caylee had been

kidnapped by zanny the nanny. the deposition was a constitutional sparring match from charles greene and attorney for the plaintiff john morguon. now, the -- there was a true gonzalez in the summer of 2008 in the orlando area, and apparently, and this is what the cops believe, is that casey anthony went to this apartment complex, the sawgrass apartments and that's where we saw a car cawith gonzalez, listing names of her kids, because she had visited the apartment complex, so the cops believe that's how casey anthony concoct dollars a fictitious nanny story but she has such detail on that. according to fernandez gonzalez, she lost her apartment, had threats made against her kids, searching for another job and she's suing for unspecified jobs. she did not reveal that that

casey anthony has not spoken to her parents or brother since she was release july. bill: thank you, phil keating live from florida. martha: he helped to bring down the soviet union and the cia is releasing the briefing tapes from ronald reagan's time in the white house, behind the scenes of the cold war and so much the cold war and so much more.'t cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed.

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