as the union files a grievance. someone told him that he looked like saint nick gregg you go, mr. mcclain. >> where is your santa costume? >> it is at home. but i'll wear it. >> that will do it for us but "happening now" starts right now. >> bye-bye jon: when gregg wears it will be a fox news alert. jenna: you have your canned -- candy cane tie on. jon: getting close to christmas. red and green. we're bringing in all the colors. the showdown on capitol hill finally comes to a close. good morning, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody. i'm jenna lee. we're here in the fox newsroom where we look what just happened in d.c. the house passing by unanimous consent an amended version of the two-month payroll tax cut extension. >> nobody screamed no from the gallery.

the bill worked out by both parties, following a bruising battle on capitol hill. mike emanuel is live there with an update. mike? >> reporter: hi, jon. after a week full of drama here on capitol hill, it was peaceful passage of the payroll tax holiday extension. the senate went first. we expected no drama there and it lived up to that. after all a two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday, won 89 out of 100 votes in the senate last saturday. after it was all over, senate majority leader harry reid delivered this teachable moment message to house republicans. >> i hope this congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those who are newer to this body. everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. that isn't the way things need to be. >> reporter: then all eyes turned to the house of representatives with speaker boehner presiding. one objection could have

delayed this deal and forced the whole house to come back next week to vote. there has been grumbling from unhappy republicans on the deal. speaker boehner accepted. as the blame game begins, one house republican says he has mr. boehner's back. >> sometimes you have to as a speaker said, live to fight another day and i still have a lot of confidence in him and his leadership. >> reporter: expect the bill paperwork to get done. some of the capitol hill process to get done. then the bill will be sent to president obama's desk for his signature. nobody's taxes will be going up in the new year. and then we have the democrats, both in the house and senate, naming their conferees who will try to hammer out a longer one-year deal. jon. jon: mike emanuel live in the capitol hill building and we're learning the president plans to make a statement a little more than two hours from now. 12:15 eastern time. we expect he will talk about the resolution of this

contentious issue. jenna: he has to get on a plane to go to hawaii. jon: i'm sure he is looking forward to that. jenna: to see his family. the countdown to the iowa caucuses continues. we're down to 11 days before the first caucus for the presidential hopefuls. with several days, you go throw off momentum for many so. campaigns. we'll talk about this with chief political correspondent carl cameron back from the road in washington, d.c., chatting with us a little bit. carl, how have you seen on the campaign trail what's happened in d.c. affect some of the actions of the candidates? is all this battling in d.c. surfaced on the campaign trail at all? >> reporter: very little, very little. surprisingly little. as a matter of fact all the reporters who travel around after the candidates have been asking them about it, for the most part up until yesterday they pretty much tried to stay away from it to not get billion locksed up back and both with the republicans, and senate. for last two days, last two weeks vast majority of political headlines are not

about jobs and economy, not about what is happening in washington about the payroll cut extension but about attack ads. who is responsible. whether they're over the top or false or lying. when you consider that most voters say they don't like attack ads but do watch them, to hear the candidates talking about them endlessly raises questions whether they're actually on message. the holidays themselves really do mess them up. there is three-day holiday weekend for christmas now. and there will be a three-day holiday weekend for new year's. when there is 11 days left. six of the campaign days are gone of the it makes it tougher. it puts campaign in suspended animation situation particularly for from the time runners. there is not much to change the dynamic. for newt gingrich that is not good. jenna: talk about that if you will, carl. you have holidays. family dinners. you have church to go to and all the football games people watch. front-runner downplaying expectations why would they do that going into the iowa caucuses just first couple days of january? report report these are only

first races iowa and new hampshire, they're only first contest of long marathon. they are like a 100 yard splint at beginning of the starting line. newt gingrich recognizes that he was the frontrunner, quite a bowsful one a few weeks ago saying he would be the nominee. now he is acknowledging in iowa at least that's unlikely. based on the poltz and based upon his organizational challenges. he doesn't have as much ground troops as a lot of his rivals. he has been downplaying expectations fairly candidly. listen to this. >> this is very bunch right now and sheer weight of money to be in the top three or four, i would love to win but top three or four probably top two in new hampshire and to win south carolina and florida and from that point on i think it become as pretty easy race. >> reporter: gingrich makes the argument because he is from georgia and quote, a southern conservative he will do better in south carolina and florida than the quote, massachusetts moderate he is now dubbed mid romney as. and it is also important to note that a lot of other

candidates are beginning to see big shuffles. gingrich yesterday was harshly critical of ron paul particularly on his foreign policy and noted that he sometimes been accused of ignoring the threat of iranian nuclear bomb and putting israel on the back burner as a consequence. he made the point of saying ron paul is in favor of legalization of drugs and that's where most of his supporters come from. newt gingrich is definitely aware romney and ron paul threaten to beat him in iowa. jenna: a lot to take in carl. do you have a couple days off before you hit the road. >> reporter: back on sunday, christmas, back out to iowa to get caucuses. nice to be home day and a half to see the family. jenna: i'm sure it is. merry christmas carl. we know you have a lot of work ahead and we appreciate it. thank you, sir. jon: he doesn't stop. there is new information on twin suicide car bombings in syria. dozen killed in the attack on security service bases in damascus. more than 100 are wounded. right now it is believed to be the work of al qaeda. leland vitter live in our

middle east bureau right now. >> reporter: hi, john. al qaeda link being made by none other than syrian state television and the syrian government. in cases like this where they don't allow foreign journalists inside syria to figure these things out or see the evidence first-hand you have to take it with a very big grain of salt. we do know that 40 people, possibly more were killed in twin car bombings and they were incredibly well-organized. we saw video from state television. the general intelligence agency and one of the military intelligence buildings in a very nice neighborhood of damascus were reduced to rubble. these car bombs were huge. at least one was some 650 pounds of explosives. and it was being able to be brought into damascus, very heavily fortified capitol there in syria. this took a lot of planning. the syrian government as you said blamed it on terrorists. well, that is exactly the same people syrian

government has been blaming for all the violence that happened inside that country. so far 5,000 people have been killed since march in these pro-democracy rallies the syrian free army has been formed which is army desserters who have now taken up arms and weapons against the regime but it doesn't ever seem like from their videos they have the ability to pull off one of these massive attacks especially in assad's capital strong hold of damascus. so far the syrian free army has denied responsibility for these attacks. you might think it is a little bit of coincidence on the day the arab league advisors and monitors come in to take a look at what is going on inside syria and try to keep assad's feet to the fire ending the violence there are mysteriously two car bombs to blow up what they call terrorist attacks. what better excuse to launch a massive violent cattdown on your own citizens their terrorist attacks in two suicide car bombings. jon: so many machinations in that part of the world

especially in this country. leland vittert, thank you. jenna: a request back home at to delay the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards. the reason he won't be able to attend his criminal trial over campaign finances next month. jon: i would like to hear that. we're all set for the next couple months but what happens when time runs out on this payroll tax cut extension everybody's been fighting about?

jenna: some new information

on a few stories we've been watching for you today. former presidential candidate john edwards requesting a two month delay in his trial due to health reasons. no details though on his illness. the trial expected to begin next month. he is facing six charges alleging misuse of campaign donations. meantime to new jersey. arson is expected in a massive warehouse fire there. the mayor says it was no accident but no word yet from investigators an an official cause. the fire burned for more than a day until crews finally contained it in an isolated section. complex. hawaii police are searching for a group of people caught on tape stealing items from a toys "r" us display. the crimes happened weeks ago but no one seems to notice at the time. jon: well, just over an hour ago you might have seen it here on fox, the house approved a temporary payroll tax cut extension but this might just be a preview of things to come. the deal reached today only good for two months which means it could be deja vu

all over again. chris niedermayer, former u.s. senate chief of staff, former deputy director of the u.s. securities & exchange commission. we got through a pretty rancorous week and in couple months we're doing it all over again? >> jon, you're right, it could be more of the same. we're getting closer and closer to next year's election. obama and democrats feel the republicans in the house gave them a christmas gift with the quagmire this week and all delay happened. you have the same scenario in washington. a handful of tea party republicans in the house don't want to come into the fold with john boehner's efforts. you have obama who used the bully pulpit this week with people behind him. more campaigning than some people like to but it worked. at least they feel it worked. now they feel it has been handed a issue of middle class versus wealthy taxpayers. jon: you think advantage obama in this scenario?

>> this week yes. i haven't felt in the past. i've been in line with people like karl rove and others. obama is in the white house. should act like the ceo. he act like the chairman of the board and comes in at the end and christen the deal. presidents need to roll up their sleeves and cut a deal with the house and senate. jon: the speaker had problems especially with members of the tea party unit the house is supposed to be the party closest to the people. a lot of tea party people were elected to change things get done in washington. they don't want to go the old way, the way it always has been done. >> that's true. when i legislator on state level i was part of a dissident group as well of conservative democrats who wanted to hold things up. at some point you will not get the deal fighting and fighting, you have to go back to the districts we held our principles and we're moving on. you have 160 million people all over this country, workers who are counting on the payroll tax cut. you have 3 million unemployed who are counting on extension of unemployment

benefits. let's come back and fight this battle in two months if we can't get one year now. jon: so the keystone pipeline is still in this thing. that is one of the deals that the senate, that is one of the additions the senate put in this legislation. in two months, president obama has to either veto the whole thing or he has to sign off on that pipeline and agree to get it going, right? >> yes. and my guess is he will because it was part of the deal in the senate. but i also think that if he can't come up with a deal to get the house and senate democrats are feeling their oats now because of what happened in the last week. they would much prefer to fight this battle every two to four months and gain, i must say, political points back home just as republicans when last summer the deficit packaged, debt limit was before obama and boehner, the president wanted a one-year extension. boehner wanted a shorter term and that's what legislators do when it is a hot potato.

they don't want to vote on it continually. the in this case the democrats wouldn't mind issue coming up two to four months. reminding people they're for middle class taxpayers and republicans want to be voted for it once and be done with it. jon: doesn't this have democrats and harry reid on record it is bad idea to raise taxes in this economy. >> that is what they're saying. jon: that is profound achievement for republic cans, isn't it? >> to what? jon: to get democrats on record let's not raise taxes. let's keep them low? >> yes it is. but they're saying not raise them on middle class. there is issue of wealthy versus middle class. two months the key issue what is going to be on the board? how do we pay for the extension? the democrats will come back and say we want to add taxes on wealthy and republicans, particularly tea party in the house and many people are sympathetic with the point of view and they will say let's cut spending. jon: this thing, this payroll tax cut extension is

being paid for extra fees tacked on to home mortgages at fannie mae and freddie mac. so essentially what you have is people who own homes or who are buying homes, footing the bill for sort of a tax cut extension for everybody, right? >> that is in part. let me just add one thing. the problem in washington is that the scenario isn't going to change. the atmosphere is the same. old saying washington, d.c. is 67 square miles surrounded by reality. that is true today. i'm sure the american public believes that they want to throw everybody out. influence of money is still very strong. legislators don't have relationships they had years ago and this quagmire is likely to continue into the political year. jon: washington, d.c. was a swamp when they built the place and i still think it is. >> well-said. jon: thank you, kris. jenna. jenna: jon a search is underway for two little girls. why police are hunting down their father now. and new concerns over some deadly clashes in egypt. thousands protesting today after several women were

brutally beaten as well. now women are demanding an end to the violence. is their power growing in egypt? what does this really tell us where we are in the arab spring? we have more on that coming up. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.

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jon: lebanon, ohio police searching for two girls aging 11 and two months. last seen with their father. the children's mother said he took the girls with him to buy milk but never came home. patti ann browne live in the newsroom. she has more. >> that's right, jon. two young ohio girls have been missing since yesterday morning. katie hampton is 11 months old. their father brian hampton took forrer rand. when he left the home he

told their mother teresa to buy milk but the three never returned. her husband returned a chris mat gift intended for their children to a toy store. brian hampton has extensive criminal history including crimes of violence and drug abuse but no criminal charges have been filed yet in this case and no threats had been made against the children. police are just franc i canly searching for the little gills. they note the infant is nursing and was last fed by her mother yesterday around 9:00 a.m. police say teresa told them her husband with in contact with certain people in the dayton area but she didn't give an address in the area. brian hampton, 38-year-old white male, 6'2" and 200 bounds with hazel ice. he is drying teal green, pontiac grand prix. it has tinted windows and front-end damage. anyone with information is asked to call lebanon police,

513, 932-2010. jon: let's hope they get the little girls back. patti ann, thank you. >> thanks. jenna: thousands of egyptians rallying against their military rulers in cairo's tahrir square against the crackdown especially towards women. to talk us with this, author judith miller, pulitzer prize-winning investigative author and fox news contributor. we have a image to though show our audience. the incident happened, military police took a woman and dragged her into the street and exposing her and beating her in front of the crowd there. this is on tuesday. this is being front page news in egypt. >> right. jenna: we've seen obviously a lot of protests over the last year but this image specifically of a woman in the street in egypt and in that way, talk to us about why this is so important. >> well, this is such a stunning thing, jenna, for women and egyptian society because a woman in arab

culture and in islamic culture is the source of pride and of honor and when she is stripped and her body displayed in a public square it's just a shame for the family, for the tribe, for the city, for the culture and this is something that will not go away because egyptian women and men are so angry about this. jenna: now you were in egypt in february. you've lived in egypt in the past. >> yep. jenna: what do you this tells us where egypt is right now in the process of setting up a new government and becoming this new country under new rule? >> you know, i think this highlights the enormous complexity of this moment in egypt. it is wonderful that the egyptians after 40 years of kind of terrible dictatorship are finally going to get to choose, but, it's not likely to come out well for women. jenna: why is that? >> because the muslim

brotherhood is going to emerge and is already emerging as the strongest party. jenna: i have to add here, in today's protest in the streets the muslim brotherhood said they would not participate in this. >> that's right. they said they wouldn't participate because they have done a deal with the military. they want to work out an arrangement with the military that will enable them to come to power cleanly and neatly and that means that they don't want to embarass the military by going out into the streets to protest even to defend the honor of women. jenna: if women are not involved in the revolution though, then what does that mean about the new egypt that emerges given what you just told us about how important the woman is to the society there? >> well the problem is, women are people, they're more than symbols of honor. jenna: true. we have to remember that. >> what we've seen when they're out there in the streets dodging tear gas and bullets and rubber bullets is that they're courageous people and that they deserve

equal rights and that's what many of the women were out there protesting for. though want free elections. they want equality with men. they are not going to get that with the muslim brotherhood. jenna: so now this becomes another question of how we should be involved with the new egypt to come. really quite frankly how we should feel as women in the united states watching this happen overseas. >> right. jenna: seeing that image in the newspaper made me think of laura logan. >> very much so. jenna: correspondent that was dragged into the streets as well and was attacked by a mob and that was huge news. this is the image of her right before that happens. >> right. jenna: it's a tough question i don't know if we'll answer completely today, judy, but how should we feel watching as bystanders? what should our role be? >> we ought to be ambivalent and we ought to understand the egyptians are making may not be choices we as americans would make or we as american women would make. right now women have to

decide whether or not they want the brotherhood with its values or they want to be --. jenna: have a different role. >> have a different role. and there's no way to tell how this is going to come out. i have to tell you i as a woman who lived in egypt is somewhat sad how this whole situation shaped up because i always hoped the day would come when women and men would be free in egypt and now it looks almost certain we will wind up with a situation which men will be able to tell women what to do and when to do it and how to do it and that is not the revolution a lot of people wanted when they went out into the square in january and february earlier this year. jenna: a lot to think about as we see the next chapters emerge into arab spring and move into 2012. judy, thank you so much. you will be back with us later on? >> absolutely. jenna: the more judy the better. >> without a headscarf. jenna: jon? jon: the death of kim jong-il we've been talking

about it so much this week, it is causing more than political uncertainty on the korean peninsula. we're live in seoul how it is affecting christmas plans this year. in this country, yes, the holiday travel season is upon us as millions take to the skies the, the roads and the rails but the question, will mother nature cooperate for your trip to grandmother's house? what you can expect coming up. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled.

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jon: it is time for a fox weather alert. the busy holiday travel season kicks off today essentially. millions of us are hitting the roads the rails or maybe flying between now and the new year but will the weather throw us a snowball? chief meteorologist rick reichmuth live in the fox extreme weather center. rick, how is it looking? >> barely will be a snowball to throw out there. i got to tell you remember last year the big blizzard in the midwest that turned into huge blizzard at

christmas, florida you were freezing temperatures? florida you're in the 70 as. out west is only place where we have significant snow. we had snow overnight in parts of new england. that's gone. high elevation in the mountains that had six to eight inches in the. >>. that will not cause problems on the roads into the day and sunday. yesterday we had all the severe weather in the south. take a look at it now. completely cleared out a few showers around florida, north florida and coast of georgia. the only big storm we'll have the next few days is this here and snow. look at that, snow in new mexico and texas. who would think that would be where we're dealing with a christmas snowstorm but it is. we had reports up to 12 inches of snow. we have winner storm warnings there. around another six to eight inches of snow falling across some spots. interstate 25, i-10 through texas. snow i-20 in midland.

maybe you will see a white christmas. hard to imagine there. here is where the snow is across the country. all the action is across parts of the west. pacific northwest and through the rockies where you expect to see that we'll see a bit of a white christmas in oklahoma, texas and in towards kansas. look at fargo, north dakota, nothing. indianapolis, nothing. last year all the floods in the spring will not happen this year because we don't have the snow back. even the northeast not looking at white christmas for almost everybody. that means you will get home for christmas. that is the good part. jon: that is the good news. i will take a holiday without a lot of travel nightmares. rick, thank you. jenna: knock on wood. you don't want to jinx us now. jon: i'm knocking. can you hear me? jenna: meantime the death of kim jong il now having religious implications on the korean peninsula days before christmas. plans of public displays linking the north to the south have now been canceled. greg palkot in seoul with more. >> reporter: jenna, in the wake of the death of the north korean dictator south

korea has been making some conciliatory gestures to the north. one of them, remarkably an offer to spread less yuletide glee. take a look at what we found out. even christmas is getting involved in the political wrangling in the region following the death of kim jong il. the holiday is big here in partly christian south korea. not marked in officially atheist north korea. the plan was to light up three massive christmas trees along the dmz separating the north and the south. pyongyang hated the idea. seoul just decided to call it off and early christmas present to kim jong-il's son and heir apparent, kim jong un. now if those trees were lit up it could have gotten pretty nasty. pyongyang call them dangerous psychological warfare, basically threatening to blow them up as they try to control every aspect of the message inside their country. so south koreans must be content to celebrate christmas on their own. they do it big-time. remarkable walking around seoul as we did today think that just 40 miles away is

the destution of north korea. up in pongyang another day of mourning for the late dictator and jockeying around the guest list for next week's funeral is getting intense. not included according to reports, the eldest son of kim jong il who might have been considered a potential rival for kim jong un. the south koreans are being invited but south korea is not letting most of their people go. just a few dignitaris. foreigners are not invited except again according to reports today, for a 51-year-old japanese female magician who happened to have made a few stops in north korea over the years and kim jong il happened to like a bit. even on a deathbed the, jenna, the dictator gets what he wants from. a snowy seoul, we wish you and everybody happy holidays. jenna: merry christmas to you, greg as you spend it overseas. appreciate your great reporting as always.

jon: right now the payroll tax battle that we've been talking about so much in washington is resolved at least for the negligence two months. -- next two months. house republicans agreeing to a short-term deal. this decision comes as an editorial in the "wall street journal" urged the gop to focus on the message they're sending voters. well paul gigot is the editorial page editor of "the wall street journal" and host of the "journal editorial report". you didn't have a vote in this thing on capitol hill but you sure seemed to make things happen. >> i never made the career mistake of running for congress so, no i have more fun in journalism. but we did suggest that the republicans were losing this battle. jon: they were losing the pr battle. >> they were losing the political battle and they were giving the president the opportunity to pose as a tax cutter when in fact he has a lot of tax increases he supported and even more coming in 2013. jon: but overall, does this deal make sense? many republicans said the payroll tax deal wasn't a

big job creator. if we're losing all that money from dropping that tax rate, where are we getting it? >> well, i agree with them on the substance. i don't think the payroll tax cut is going to do much for job creation. it hasn't this year. extending it for another year is unlikely to do it in part because it temporary. people and businesses don't change their behavior fundamentally if they know something is only going to be temporary. stand to reason. if you know it will be only two months or six months or 12 months, why should i change anything? that money will be taken away in 12 months. so you agree with him on the substance but they were going to lose on the politics here anyway because they were breaking ranks. they were divided. they didn't have a strategy defeating it because they were ambivalent themselves whether or not they wanted to defeat it. jon: some were actually saying, we might as well let the tax break expire because it is not doing much. >> if you're going to do that you should start, three or four months ago saying we'll oppose this.

and here's why. you make argue mane about it and argument with the public and win support for your side. the republicans never made the argument. jon: allowed the president to go on twitter and invite the stories what the $40 means to you and have the news conference. >> the tax issue, republicans have one great issue that year in year out that really helps them and that they're the party of lower taxes. they had positioned themselves in this case to be the party against reducing taxes. and that is not a good position for them to be in. jon: don't they now have the democrats on record as essentially saying, raising taxes right now is a bad idea? >> they do but the president will try to perform a little jujitsu on that next year but we'll raise them on the rich, jon. all you have to do, solve the budget deficit problems if we only raise taxes on that 1%. that is fiscal fantasy. you could take all the money the rich make and barely make a dent in our deficit but that is the argument he is going to make. reopinion cans have to fight back on that tax front and

try to win it next year. jon: talking about fiscal sanity. the payroll tax funds social security. so we have continued lowering of the payroll tax. what happens to social security? where do we get the money? >> you get the money from general tax revenues and the, we're borrowing. jon: we're borrowing. >> that's what happens. jon: we're borrowing money to pay for this tax cut? >> part of it is raising so-called guarantee fees fannie and freddie charge mortgage borrowers f you get a new mortgage next year, you will pay higher fees for the mortgage. so you will finance the tax cut in part. much of it will be out of other tax revenues f we don't get enough of those. they say there will be some spending cuts. i believe that when i see it. it will probably come from borrowing. jon: all right, paul gigot, who played a big role, "wall street journal" did, getting this thing through or it seemed to us

outsiders. paul, thank you. don't forget paul tomorrow when he hosts the "journal editorial report". that is 2:00 p.m. eastern. i will host "news watch" tomorrow at 2:30 eastern time. paul, thanks. jenna: rick told us the weather across the country was okay for travel but take a look at this. winds so strong in one part of our nation you can see trucks toppled over along with trees and power lines. we'll tell you where this is happening and what is happening today. how about getting dad a mahogany speedboat for christmas? that looks good, right? for mom, $75,000 genie bottle? some of the chris ma mass gifts in the -- christmas gifts in the neiman marcus catalog this year. who buys some of this stuff? we'll tell you just ahead a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪

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for the top al qaeda fund-raiser. u.s. intelligence believes he is hiding in iran for the last six years. christchurch, new zealand rocked by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. so far no reports of injuries or major damage there. severe winds hitting southern california pulling down trees, causing power outages even toppling trucks. they say the winds were not as bad as last month when the wind reached hurricane strength. jenna: jon, some of us are running around today doing last minute christmas shopping. jon: that's me. jenna: we want to show you this. neiman marcus has its christmas book out here. it has something for everyone on your list if you have the money. $75,000 genie bottle to a speedboat or a fountains, set of fountains for your backyard. did you ever wonder who actually buys the fantasy gifts? our next guest knows. she is vp of corporate communications for neiman marcus.

first question, ginger, do you get a discount on this stuff, come on? >> no. jenna: not even 10% off? $75,000 life-sized genie bottle. where do you come up with these ideas to put in the book? >> well, that specific one i was watching a story about barbara eden, just came out with her autobiography on her days on i dream of genie and i thought is there what every woman needs a place to go and pout and where no one could get to you? i started thinking how could do you recreate that for someone's fantasy. jenna: the $75,000 price tag, where does that come from? >> well that comes from the designer who has outfitted the interior of this yert, round tent, that we decorated this way and, so it covers the expenses of making it come true. jenna: we're taking a look at it right now. looks like a comfortable, peaceful spot. i think, jon could agree.

not just women, jon, you could escape to that. jon: i could kick off my shoes in that yert and sit there all day. >> we could make it the way he likes it. jon: a manly yert. >> a man cave. jenna: there is a lot of real interesting things you offered in the catalog over the years a $20,000 suit that is replica of a suit of armor for someone. we're showing a sports car. i love becoming the rocket-propelled grenade ket for a day. that is for day. who buys this stuff, ginger? >> people ask is it celebrity? is it sports star or something like that? it's typically not. typically somebody looking for just that thing. so to the custom suit of armor for example. there was a couple whose adult son traveled the country going to medieval fairs. what better gift for him than a custom suit of armor because antique armor doesn't fit contemporary

men. jenna: you are good. i can see why you got this job. we were showing a ping-pong table. we'll try to show it again. it is $45,000. >> it is. jenna: how many items do you have in the catalog available now a day before christmas? >> well, if you get your order in by noon central time we can deliver it to you tomorrow whenever you want. if you want a ping-pong table we still have some of those available by the artist tom burr aluminum ping-pong table covered in black rubber. not only can you play ping-pong on it but it also is a work of art that looks good during its off time. jenna: for $45,000, do you, do you give financing? is just cash, credit? do you take personal checks? how does someone go about buying it? >> in any form of payment that neiman marcus accepts we will take for a fantasy gift. this year we had a special limited edition ferrari fs

for neiman marcus. those are sold out. if that was on your list, it is too late. jon: ah. jenna: jon's heartbroken. we were looking at them. what beautiful cars. gives us something to think about and dream about. ginger thanks for taking time to share the items. maybe next year jon will find something in the catalog for me. jon: i still have an hour and 12 minutes for this year's catalog. >> exactly. jenna: ginger, thanks very much. merry christmas. >> you're welcome. same to you. jon: some harrowing moments behind the controls. an 85-year-old pilot crashes his plane but there is a miraculous story of survival to bring you next. and the holidays are supposed to be a joyful time of year but if you're a christian living in pakistan, these are very worrisome times. the discrimination they are facing this season because of their ties to the united states.

jenna: it is a remarkable story of survival. we'll take one right about now. an 85-year-old pilot counting his blessings today, patti ann, if you look at damage we have on the screen you can understand why. >> oh, yeah, he absolutely is lucky and this could have been tragic but luckily the pilot is expected to be okay and no one on the ground was hurt. 85-year-old earl swain took off from the airfield in new hampshire yesterday afternoon. he had only gone a few yards when the engine on his ultralight began to sputter. he turned the plane around and but did not make it back to the landing strip. the engine cut out and nosedived heading into a residential backyard on palmer street. it reportedly landed a few

feet from a swimming pool. its fall broken by a tree him. a neighbor who witnessed the crash along with her grandson, says the pilot climbed out the plane on his own. according to the hampton fire and rescue the plane was homemade the engine was from a snowmobile. the federal aviation is investigating. >> homemade, 85 and still flying. jon: that is my kind of pilot. this christmas is coming at a difficult time for pakistan. they are the minority in that muslim country of course. about three million of them call it home. right now they are facing even more discrimination and alien nation for their perceived connection to us in the united states. conner powell is streaming live from islamabad, pakistan. conner in? >> reporter: jon with a struggling economy and worsening security situation here in pakistan it is becoming increasingly difficult for all pakistanis of all walks of live but

particularly for the small christian pakistani community. in one of pakistan's poorest neighborhoods christmas lights are going up. decorations are being hung. santa is coming to town. this is the season to celebrate. >> it is about the christmas and away to show love. >> reporter: but this christmas comes at the end of a very difficult year for the nearly three million christians living in pakistan. >> mostly tough year because there are so many jobless people. >> reporter: christians have long been one of pakistan's most marginalized communities, living in poverty without running water or electricity. discrimination long kept them out of the best jobs making christians second class citizens. >> they are facing more challenges as compared to the muslim in pakistan. >> reporter: with anti-americanism on the rise, pakistan's christians say they are being harassed and persecuted by religious extremists who associate them with america and blame

them for the u.s. drone program that has killed thousands of pakistanis. earlier this year the taliban shot and killed a prominent christian political leader, a sign of the growing tension. till despite the countless problems pakistan's christians refuse to allow their troubles to ruin christmas. >> there are lots of problems. there are electricity problems. but we forget all that when christmas comes and we forget all that. >> reporter: chris -- chris shun leaders here in pakistan are making effort to reach out to the christian community. there was tree-lighting ceremony that the prime minister attended that was first time a senior government official attended an event. there are still a lot of problems of the as long as christians are associated with america they figure to have a very difficult time here in pakistan. jon? jon: sure sound like it. conner powell reporting live. jenna: the payroll tax cut battle is over at least for now as congress aproves the

extension but just for two months. what happens when it expires again? well these two men be at it again? that is a loaded question. deja vu? jon: yes. jenna: probably. we'll take you live to capitol hill. break this down a little bit more for you. your chances of getting a holiday kiss under the mistletoe this year are not looking so good. jon: what did i do? jenna: it is not personal, jon. we'll tell you why there is a mistletoe shortage in that country and that is next. throu, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪

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jenna: a fox news alert, we're waiting to hear from the president set to make a statement in about 15 minutes from now on the passage of the payroll tax cut extension. now it's the end of the week, and it looks like we have some reconciliation for now. we're glad your with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: sorry to interrupt. they have a deal. congress approving the bill just hours ago, renewing those payroll tax cuts for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions of

jobless. chief white house correspondent ed henry live from the briefing room. what are we expecting to hear from the president, ed? >> reporter: well, jon, we're expecting a short statement from the president, we'll see whether he takes questions out the door. he'll be heading to hawaii about 1:20 eastern time from andrews air force base. he's anxious to see his family for the hold days. this is something the white house, obviously, believes in private is a big victory for this president. i s. as you've seen in his written statement last night, he had a tweet on twitter as well that was trying to be more about how this was a victory for the american people and not for him politically. but make no mistake about it, the white house believes this fight over the last couple of days showed he is willing to work with republicans n this case he had 39 senate republicans sign on to this compromise that passed through the senate last saturday, but in this case it was the house republicans that were not working with the president. that's certainly their their ty. -- narrative.

the house believes the president was pushing for a political victory here, he wasn't willing to negotiate with them now on a fuller one-term -- a one-year extension on the payroll tax cut as well as unemployment compensation. look, they're going to fight another day on that in january, as soon as congress comes back in session to extend that. but we were talking to ed rollins yesterday, he believes this is just a blip, not a lot of people are paying attention. it's the holidays, etc., the republicans will come back in january and fight another day with this president on this issue and others. but make no mistake, this white house has a much different view. they think this shows heading into the re-election year for the president he can go to the american people and say, look, washington may be dysfunctional, but he believes he's not part of the problem, he believes he's been reaching out to republicans. and again, this is a case where he was agreeing with the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, something you heard the president make a big deal about yesterday because they think this is a chance for him to show that he broke through the gridlock this time, jon.

jon: i'm wondering if voters are going to be remembering it. i guess it's anybody's guess as to whether they will or not. it's the holiday season, a lot of people are focused on christmas shopping ratherren than what's going on on capitol hill. >> i think that was ed rollins' point, he was an architect of the reagan landslide in '84. he's no rookie, and he was saying a lot of people are not paying attention right now and also, look, the fact of the matter is that just about, you know, 31 months -- 11 months before election day 2012, that is a long, long time in american politics. we're going to see what happens in iowa in early jan, new hampshire to come. nevertheless, this white house believes that this was an example where the president stood firm, and in the end he got what he wanted, and they certainly do not believe that it was a blip, jon. jon: now he gets to jet off to hawaii. sounds pretty good this time of year. ed henry, thank you. jenna: eleven minutes is a long

time, months is a really long time. host of power play on foxnews.com, chris stirewalt joins us now. to pick up off what jon and ed were just talking about, everyone's looking at the democrats, the republicans, but what about us, chris? what about the american people? did we win here? >> i don't think anybody was talking about that. that's a novel question. i don't think there was much discussion about that here in town, jenna. you know, look, all kidding aside, the truth of the matter is that in this debate, this was all about optics, this was all about political posturing because everybody would essentially agree, i think n washington that with a $16 trillion debt and a lousy economy that this is not that big of a deal. the policies that are included herein are not that big of a deal and, in fact, we're going to have to relitigate this whole affair in february or before the end of february as this stop gam

measure expires. jenna: will it be more fun the second time around, chris? >> you know, there won't even be kris to look forward to -- christmas to look forward to. and that's what it was all about for barack obama. certainly jon and ed were correct that 11 months is a long time, but the president was able to drive a wedge in between the house leadership and the members of their caucus, the freshmen and the conservatives inside the republican caucus in the house are not happy with how this ended up. that's something that the democrats had not been able to do. they had present add united front all year. they succeeded in doing it this year, so that's the big victory for the president, one he hopes pays off next year. jenna: do you get the sense that that's the case, chris? this dissension among the republicans will continue and really set the tone for the year ahead, that it's really going to be about the republicans and whether or not they can agree rather than a fight between the democrats and republicans?

>> well, that's right. john boehner when he comes back, the house speaker, he's going to have to plead his case to his members, and he's going to have to decide whether he's going to give them their head of steam back, or if he's going to try to be a peacemaker, what he's going to be when he comes back. but he took a bad blow in all of this because he did not have unified support behind him, and there was a lot of criticism of the more conservative members in the house that were coming from outside of congress, places like "the wall street journal." so the speaker was in a real bind. he got out of it as best he could, and i think it is notable for his going forward that nobody came to the house today to try to blow this up for him. they let him have it, and that is at least something that boehner can console himself with as he goes home for christmas. jenna: getting back to voters, chris, do you think we have a better sense of what our leaders stand for today than we did two weeks ago when we were still working on this debate, or do you still feel like there's questions about what really is going on in d.c. as far as

deficit reduction, spending reduction and everything else that has to do with getting the economy back on track? >> well, there's one thing you know that they can all stand for, jenna, and that is re-election. jenna: that's true. >> now, as for what people can take away from this, what they can take away from this is that we have a deeply divided government, we've had two elections, they've came up with very different answers. the most liberal president since the 1960s and the most conservative house since the 1920s. and it is unlikely that big things are going to be accomplished between now and the election. so brace yourselves. jenna: interesting. as voters, we definitely did something, had something to do with that voting out a lot of the moderates, right? on either side of the aisle. it's kind of interesting. i want to give you a shout out, chris, because the second part of your power play we didn't get to when you talk about ron paul, i want to direct our viewers to check it out because it was a good read today. merry christmas to you and your

family, of course. >> merry christmas to you and yours. jenna: catch chris every weekday, log on to foxnews.com at 11:30 a.m. eastern time, power play is also right there as well and get your daily dose of chris stirewalt and all he has to say about d.c. jon: and you were just talking about the kinds of legislators who have been elected. now there's a new report showing more than two and a half million voters have left both the democratic and republican parties since the 2008 elections. this as the number of independent voters seems to be growing. what could this mean for 2012? let's talk about it with byron york, chief political correspondent for the washington examiner and a fox news contributor as well. byron, two and a half million people, that's enough to make both parties pay attention. >> it is. it's a lot of people. i think you have a couple of things going on. one, voters are getting more and more unhappy. in 2006 and 2008, they told republicans they didn't like 'em, gave control of the whole

government to democrats. then in 2010 they turned around and threw a lot of democrats out. now you see approval ratings of congress into the single digits, unprecedented even for congress. so you have a lot of voter unhappiness. there is something else going on though. of the two and a half million people who have left the democratic and republican parties combined, about 1.7 million of those are democrats who left the democratic party, about 800,000 are republicans who left the republican party. so republicans would say, wow, that's a 2 to 1 ratio. bottom line is, though, there are a lot of people who are looking for somebody who is outside the party system. jon: so these are people, essentially, saying a pox on both your houses. >> well, they are. and they might be, and they're going to be hesitant to just vote for another republican or another democrat. so there is an opportunity for a third party candidate out there. the question is, who is it? the only candidate who's really out there who actually has an organization and has been on the

road as a candidate is ron paul, the libertarian republican who has a big support in iowa, not so big in new hampshire, south carolina, florida and the other states. but he is probably the dangerous threat, i think, when both to president obama and the republican nominee look at the field ahead. jon: i guess these are people who are saying i'm ready to switch my allegiance either way. there aren't many independents actually elected to the legislative branch. >> well, this third party is not going to be elected. this third party candidate is not going to win the white house, but he could effect the outcome. remember, i mean, ralph nader got a tiny number of votes and yet made the difference in florida in 2000 and determined what happened in the 2000 presidential election. so the point is that would an election be close enough between barack obama and whoever his

republican challenger is? would that election be close enough so that the third party candidate could make a decisive difference? jon: you mentioned that the majority of these voters who have left the two parties, the majority of them are democrats. are we talking about the kinds of maybe southern conservative democrats who helped elect ronald reagan? >> well, there are a couple of kinds. the larger green of them -- group of them are people who voted for barack obama to create jobs and believe that the president and the democrats in congress overreach by spending too much time on health care or gays in the military. but there is a group of democrats who are unhappy with the president from the left, who feel that he did not go far enough in pursuing his legislative agenda. that's the dilemma for the president right now which is to somehow appeal to those disaffected, more conservative voters, try to get them back and yet not alienate any more people on his left. jon: going to be interesting to watch. i think there's going to be a whole lot of fighting yet to come. byron york, thank you.

>> thank you, jon. jenna: those are just a few of our top stories today. we have a lot more coming up including the fact that some people are saying if ron paul wins in iowa, the hawkeye state loses credibility in choosing candidates for president. is that really true or an overreaction? jon, you're going to have the media watch panel. jon: plus, people in one state may be losing their love for a bold, high-speed rail project. what's prompting this change in attitude? jenna: and mistletoe trouble this christmas. why your chance of sneaking a kiss may be coming up short this season. it's our hard-hitting report coming up, jon. jon: tough for me every year. [laughter] plus, if you could choose any as seen on tv product for christmas, what would it be? go to foxnews.com/happeningnow, cast your vote. here are your options. the forever lazy -- jenna: good one. >> the eggies. the baby bullet, pajama jeans or flex seal. we're going to tell you what our

staff picked as well. that's a little later in the hour. so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of.

jenna: right now a few celebrity stories today. barry bonds is appealing his conviction on obstruction of justice in the federal steroids probe. the case will go to a three-judge panel, but no date is set yet. of course, last week we told you a judge sentenced pons to 30 days of house arrest and a $4,000 fine. singer george michael says he's

lucky to be alive after a severe bout of pneumonia. he spent a month in an austrian hospital and underwent a tracheotomy. and britain's royal family is preparing for a very big 2012. that year, this next year, marks queen elizabeth's diamond jubilee, that's 60 years she's reigning an queen. she's planning a pageant of 1,000 boats, and that's going to take place in june. jon: god save the queen. new info on what may be a huge case of buyer's remorse. two-thirds of californians want a redo of that referendum that committed the state to a massive high-speed rail project that's running into the tens of billions of dollars. william la jeunesse has the latest developments from los angeles. that state's going broke. where are they going to find the money, william? >> reporter: it's not just the state, jon, it's the feds as well. this is what voters were sold. it looks really good. this was the promotional video,

if you will. instead, the san francisco to l.a. bullet train is mired in the fights over costs, right-of-way, design, noise, environmental impacts and a totally unrealistic sales pitch. but remember, as i said, this isn't just about california. much of the cost of this would be paid for by all u.s. taxpayers. >> our goal is to give 80% of americans access to high-speed rail. >> reporter: less than a year after that speech the president's bullet train probability looks more like a runaway engine. >> it is not viable, it is not the best use of tax dollars, and especially when you're borrowing the money to do it. >> reporter: republican kevin mccarthy joins other fiscal conservatives hoping to derail the federal money train. >> what fire stations, what police officers, what schools are we going to close to continue to build a train that will probably never be finished? >> we need to move forward with this project because the costs of doing nothing are far greater. >> reporter: california residents voted to issue nine

billion in bonds to help pay for the project that promised to create thousands of jobs and reduce gridlock. today polls show a majority consider the proposal a boondoggle. >> the reason that private equity is slow in coming is because congress is not taking action. >> reporter: a dozen lawmakers called for a federal audit into potentially false claims including figures that show more people riding california bullet trains than all americans now using amtrak. a price increase from $33 to $98 billion, travel times that are longer and ticket prices higher than airplanes which could mean taxpayer subsidies. >> costs have gone up which is typical of large infrastructure projects. >> the numbers don't lie, and every time you look at this more, the worse it looks. >> reporter: now, not a single spate of dirt has been moved for high-speed rail anywhere in the u.s., but california is farthest along and wants to be first. supporters are trying to lay down a little track in the middle of nowhere where land is cheap and then argue, well, you're in for a penny, in for a

pound. critics, jon, hope this gao audit will expose the project's weaknesses and kill it before it actually gets started. jon? jon: what a mess. william la jeunesse, thanks. jenna: a massive fire leaving dozens ohmless just -- can homeless just before christmas. we're going to tell you where. and a longtime holiday tradition under threat. why is there such a shortage of mistletoe this year? we're going to tell you coming up. ♪ okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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jenna: well, for those of you who look forward to the holiday tradition of kissing under the

mistletoe, don't we all? have you noticed it's been pretty hard to find this season? the missle mistletoe, not the kiss. mistletoe has had a terrible time growing because of that record drought in texas and all the tough weather we've seen across the country. one of the country's largest suppliers of mistletoe in texas has halted shipments for the first time in its 58-year history. so we wanted to talk to robert, he is the owner of tieman's mistletoe. i'm glad to have you join us. we have a picture of you holding mistletoe in your hands, and i think a lot of us don't think about texas and mistletoe, but tell us about it. [laughter] >> oh, good morning. it is, mistletoe is a wild harvested plant, and it's a semiparasite that grows on trees and mostly in texas that we gather mistletoe out of the mesquite. it goes in hackberries, elm and

some of the spanish oak. jenna: so do you have any crop this season? >> no. we, we feel that 60-70% of the mistletoe in the texas hill country is either dead, or it was very seriously compromised. and those pictures you can see that it's dead or doesn't look worth a flip. so that has been the problem. jenna: what do you do in this situation? >> we just, we just did not ship any. jenna: wow. >> there is a little mess l toe that's coming -- mistletoe that's coming out of california, i think, and a little bit of mistletoe that's coming out of oregon, but the problem is there that it's going 100, 150 foot up in the trees, and down here as you know being, getting married in texas that the trees are, most of them are from 15-25 foot tall, and they're a lot easier to gather stuff out of. jenna: yeah, beautiful country

there, but it's definitely tough weather though. and it's been so tough for so many of you folks in texas. how do you, how do you recover from something like this? >> it's hard. this is the first time in our history that we've had to move before to a place where the mistletoe was in good shape, but we've had droughts but never statewide like it was this year. no place in texas had enough rain to, as we say, amount to anything. jenna: so for your own personal house, robert, what do you do? you don't have artificial mistletoe this year, do you? >> no, i don't have any up as of yet. i'm still looking for a good sprig that i can put up. jenna: you know, a quick final question here. i'm just wondering as a small business owner when you look ahead into the new year, you know, what do you feel right now as just someone in this country that's trying to get by, own your own company and have employees, how are you feeling as you're heading into the new year?

>> well, if mistletoe was the only thing that we did, it would really be devastating. it'd hurt the whole community around here because there are a lot of people that depend on the extra 4 or $5,000 they make for christmas. jenna: sure. >> we do have a diversified income here, so just doesn't look real good. it really doesn't. jenna: yeah. well, it's a pleasure to speak with you, and it's something i think we all learned today about texas and mistletoe. who knew? i didn't know that the mistletoe came from texas. i like it even more now that i do, robert. [laughter] it's a mesh to speak with you, and we'll think about you when we buy the mistletoe and buy tiemanns. >> all right. hopefully, next year we will be back in the full year, and we'll be providing all the kisses again next year. jenna: and we'll look forward to that, robert. thank you so much. merry christmas.

>> merry christmas. thank you. bye. jon: i've got to say, he sounds awfully jocular for a guy who is missing his mistletoe season. jenna: who knew? did you know texas -- i would never even think of texas, you know? the texans will always prove you wrong though, just when you think you know. jon: it's a big state. got a lot of agriculture in. hey, time is ticking away for last minute shoppers, myself included, but if you're running behind, do not become a panic shopper. don't go out and just grab what you can as you make a mad dash through the mall. jenna: never a good thing. jon: a few more tips to keep your cool and keep you from busting your budget. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right,

i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. ♪ with quarter inch holes and blueprints for the coming year? those of us with doers on our lists. and because it's always better to give than to guess, we can take these last few days of shopping and our holiday budgets a lot further. ♪

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jenna: right now i don't need to tell owe this. millions of us are rushing around trying to get those last minute gifts, and according to a survey by visa a staggering 77% of people still haven't finished their holiday shopping as of earlier this week.

and that can lead to so-called pan ec shopping. and -- panic shopping. that's overspending to get a gift in time for the holidays. joining us with a few tips to keep us all from panicking -- [laughter] author of a new york times bestseller, "it's your biz." jon, jon needs your help. he sure does. [laughter] >> oh. jenna: he needs a lot of it. >> shame on you, jon. jenna: what is the best piece of advice if we still have a gift left that we haven't gotten anything, and the clock is ticking? what's the best piece of advice? >> sure. well, actually, i love what you said in your opening. you want to have a plan. you've got to make a list and have a strategy. you don't want to rush out the door without having any idea of who you want to buy for and what you might be looking for. take a few minutes and write down the items you might want. without that you can get overwhelmed and, as you said, you can overpay, spend too much. heaven knows last year i was out shopping for the kids, i bought

the same item twice. and the worst thing that can happen is you get home and you realize, oops, i forgot uncle joe. jenna: not everyone will like this, but i like this tip about an iou just in case, that sometimes an iou might be better than a panic present. >> you know, that's absolutely true. if you know there's something special that someone would like to have, you can't find it, don't just go out there and buy that awful green sweater off the shelf and give it to them. go ahead, print off a picture of it, pull it out of a magazine, whatever, and put it in this a card and say this has been ordered for you, i'm going to be getting this for you, it's coming later. that's much nicer. people will appreciate that. the other thing is, you know, you can go online, and many of the retailers allow you to print out gift cards online. so if you have a nice color printer, go online, print out a nice gift card. by the way, that's one of the top holiday gifts this season. so it could be a big hit too. jenna: that sounds good as well.

what about regifting? i hesitate even saying it. [laughter] what about -- is regifting acceptable in some tough situations? >> you know, i have to say regifting, it's got this pejorative connotation. if it's done in the right way, it can be done tastefully. all of us get some things at times that we don't need or we simply can't use, but it's a nice gift. there is nothing wrong with regifting something that you can't use but that's nice. not something that's junk that you just want to get rid of. make sure you check the packaging. i actually had an employee give me a gift once, and it was nice bath soaps and things like that. i looked in the bag, there was the card that someone had given it to her. [laughter] jenna: oh, no! >> you've got to be careful; you've got to remember who gave it to you, you don't want to regift in the same social circle. jenna: that brings me to a point i wanted to ask you about because haven't all of us received a panic present at one

time or another? you think either this person doesn't know me at all, or this was a panic buy. any advice on maybe the appropriate reaction when you have a sense that that might be happening? >> you know, the appropriate reaction if someone gives you a gift is always just to graciously say thank you. i mean, there's no other way to handle a situation like that. you might walk into the next room and roll your eyes and say, oh, brother. you know, was this a last minute gift, or maybe they were regifting something they didn't like. but certainly, you know, just graciously say thank you. obviously, wanting to make you feel good in some way. jenna: that's true. they were thinking of you, and that's important. are you done with all your christmas shopping, susan, by the way? >> do you know, i am actually done with all my christmas shopping, everything is wrapped, and i last night -- so i could be on the show with you -- baked a carrot cake, a double chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and a new york-style cheesecake just so i could be here with you. jenna: did you sleep? i mean, you're making us all

look bad, susan. >> oh, no, no, no, i love to bake, but i love being with you guys too. you know, and one final thing i just want to mention, though f be you haven't been out there to shop, take those promotions and those coupons or any circulars that you have advertising something. a lot of stores if they don't have the product will substitute something, and also remember a lot of them are also if you've got a lower price, they will meet that price. jenna: that is some good advice. we want the lower price. >> that's right. jenna: susan, you seem relaxed, you seem ready to go for christmas. it's been a delight. >> come on over. oh, it's great being here. happy holidays. jenna: merry christmas to you. jon: she seems relaxed, i'm not. jenna: bake the cake, you have got to get the gifts, you've got to wrap them. jon: making the list, that's my problem. jenna: and when you get home, you've done everything and you don't have enough wrapping paper -- jon: i've got tons of wrapping paper, i just don't have the gifts. [laughter]

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jenna: a fox news alert, we want to bring you to richmond, california, this isn't too far from san francisco, and this scene is actually being repeated in other areas of the country, and get this, it's over, well, a pair of shoes. apparently, what was previously on the screen was a big, long line of people and a crowd that had to be dispersed because there was a shooting. and everyone was in line to buy a pair of air jordan shoes, a new pair of shoes that just came out. and there have been lines and lines in stores all across this country, places like washington, indiana, florida, georgia, texas, michigan, north carolina have all reported crowds that have had to be dispersed. and so in richmond there was a shooting, and police were called to scene.

no one was hurt, apparently, someone was trying to clear the crowd so they could get in line. it's just about after 9:38 there in california, so probably before the stores open. if you see a long line of people and they're in line for shoes, they're probably in line for this one. it's retailing for $180 and, apparently, a lot of folks want it. so we'll keep you updated as we hear more. jon: we are just days away from the iowa caucuses, and some recent polls show gop presidential candidate ron paul with a slim lead. however, some pundits, especially those on the right, now argue that if congressman paul does win, iowa could lose its standing as an important early primary state that can help catapult a candidate's campaign. let's talk about it with our news watch panel, judith miller is a pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, author and fox news contributor. also with us, kirsten powers, a columnist at the daily beast and also a fox news contributor. much of this began with national review editor rich lowry who is

also a frequent panelist on news watch. and who writes that paul is a marginal conspiracy-minded congressman with an embarrassing catalog of racist material. judy? >> well, right. and rich said that if iowa took him seriously and iowans took him seriously, maybe we shouldn't take iowa all ha seriously. all that seriously. so it was really kind of like a double whammy. he doesn't like ron paul, and he's not going to like iowa if they have the bad judgment to vote for this guy it was really pretty harsh and, jon, i'm just stunned to the extent by which the conservatives really detest ron paul. jon: but there are other people, kirsten, who have won iowa and not gone on to win the presidency. why is ron paul generating so much negative attention? >> well, i think the primary problem that a lot of the conservatives have with him is with his foreign policy. he's not only, you know, noninterventionist and doesn't approve of a lot of the iraq

war, afghanistan war, they feel that he sometimes, you know, seems sympathetic to iran. and so he just isn't, you know, towing the line, i think, on foreign policy. so they have major issues with that substantively. and then there's a lot of stuff that's going to start coming out. i know there have been some other articles written about some racist comments that i guess showed up in some newsletters that he had his name on, not necessarily made by him. and so i think they feel like he just cannot represent the conservative brand, um, appropriately. jon: if he wins iowa, a guy named phillip klein writes in the examiner, judy, his outrageous statements and ugly associations will be granted a lot more attention. is that an accurate statement? >> well, not if keys have anything -- conservatives have anything to say about it but, sure, that's the role of iowa. even though people who win iowa don't necessarily go on to get the nomination, they do get a lot of attention, and it usually builds momentum for candidates.

so, yeah. i mean, we will have to pay more attention to ron paul if he wins. >> well, and -- jon: go ahead, kirsten. >> i just think it's interesting because it's a double-edged sword. you always hear ron paul, any on us on tv, from supporters why aren't you talking about ron paul more? careful what you wish for because it's starting to happen and, you know, as we saw happen with newt gingrich, when you come to the top and start getting media scrutiny, it can be very unpleasant. and if he wins iowa, it's going to be really much higher scrutiny than he's been under to date. jon: but everybody i talk to, judy, says he has exactly zero chance of becoming the eventual nominee of the republican party. would you agree with that, and if so, does it, does it suggest that if he wins iowa, um, the importance of iowa is, in fact, diminished? >> well, i think yes and yes, jon. i mean, if he does win, the importance of iowa will definitely be diminished because people like rich lowry have already written it off.

and they said if you have the bad judgment to, you know, go with this guy, we're not going to take you seriously. i think that's what this crescendo of anti-paul, potentially anti-iowa stuff is all about, is to just discounting, discount this primary before it's ever happened. this guy is not going any place. he's not even going to be vice president. so, therefore, i think people are saying, well, maybe i wouldn't even go to iowa. jon: there's a great quote from jonah goldberg who is frequently a guest on fox news channel, and rewrites: let's take the idea of a president paul as seriously as his supporters say he should although the idea he could beat president obama in the general election strikes me as crazier than joe biden on angel dust. [laughter] kirsten, some of the conservative pundits really don't like this guy. >> yeah. i think, you know, they're very concerned that if he was to -- you know, i don't think he's going to become the nominee, but even be taken seriously that it will look very bad for conservatives and for the republican party. and you can kind of look back to

pat robertson when he won new hampshire. it's a similar thing where conservatives really came out of the woodwork trying to stop him because they didn't want him to represent conservativism for some similar reasons, frankly, because he's very noninterventionist, and he also has some racist things associated with him, so they really came around and tried to discredit him. so i think that, like i said, you will see the same thing with ron paul if he wins iowa. you're going to see it even leading it. if he wins, it's going to explode. jon: here is the good news for voters in iowa. they have been bombarded with television advertising, radio advertising as well, pretty much all kinds of advertising, and much of it is negative. and the good news, judy s that because we are about to celebrate the christmas holiday, those negative attack ads are going to go silent at least for the weekend. >> that's a real joy. [laughter] and that's a true christmas gift from mitt romney to newt

gingrich because everybody knows that he has really nasty attack ads, and gingrich was not impressed with this christmas gesture and christmas offering. so i imagine it'll heat up 48 hours after they agree to this temporary truce in advertising. jon: peace on earth, right? >> peace on earth. [laughter] jon: kirsten powers, judy miller, thank you both. >> with thank you. jon: and there's going to be a lot more analysis when i host "news watch" tomorrow. don't miss it, 2:30 p.m. eastern time. we'll be examining how the media covers the big stories of the week. jenna: well, right now the president is preparing to take off for hawaii to spend christmas, well, in that state with his family. and now that congress voted to approve the two month extension of the payroll tax holiday, the president can actually start his own holiday. not everyone gets to start their holiday, especially if you're part of the press corps that is following the president, and doug is live in honolulu just waiting for the president to arrive and then reporting his

every move. hi, doug. >> reporter: good morning, jenna. it is a terrible, terrible assignment, i'll tell you that. [laughter] take a look around here. not too shabby, not a bad place to spend a christmas vacation, although politically for the president perhaps a little bit dicey. and this may distill down to kind of a tale of two pizzas. on the one hand, you have the white house trying to craft an image of the president as a champion of the middle class who understands their needs and the challenges they face, particularly during an economic downturn. we even saw the president delivering pizzas this week to the white house, and he invoked pizza again when he spoke to the media talking about the need to extend the payroll tax holiday saying that it would add about $40 to the average american paycheck. >> joseph from new jersey talked about how he would have to sacrifice the occasional pizza night with his daughters. he said, and i'm quoting, my 16-year-old twins will be out of the house soon. i'll miss this.

>> reporter: at $40 for pizza, now, you contrast that with the images we see around here. there's a very exclusive beach outside where the president's home is, and part of that beach, in fact, will be shut down after the president arrives here. there was a report this week from a white house food blog saying that first lady michelle obama along with the first daughters went to a local organic farm here, not exactly a $40 pizza outing. you talk to people around here, and they do not begrudge the president's vacation, they say he needs to have time away with his family. for the white house, though, the trick is to not overdo it when a vacation like this is, frankly, out of reach for most americans. jenna: the other part was just drowned out by the waves crashing behind you in a peaceful way. are you doing any surfing while you're out there, doug? >> reporter: you know, i find that i'm not very good on a surfboard. jenna: we'd love a picture if

you figure it out. the pizza theme is something interesting, and we'll continue to watch the president in hawaii over the next couple days. doug, thank you so much. >> reporter: thanks. jon: a holiday tragedy to tell you about for some families. a massive fire forcing dozens of people out of their homes just before christmas. this thing was so big it took half of one city's daytime fire fighting force to put it out. why it all spread so easily, that's coming up.

jenna: welcome back, everyone. a new home for an american hero. army sergeant joel tavara was severely injured while serving in iraq. he underwent more than 75 operations, and now this courageous young man and his family have a new home equipped for his needs thanks to a very

special organization. hi, ainslee. >> it's a great story. a few days shy of joel finishing his tour in iraq, his humvee was hit by phi rockets. -- five rockets. everyone onboard died except for joel with no eyesight, no legs -- he's missing one leg, and 60% of his body burned, joel is recovering in a place he can call home, and it's all made possible by the charity building homes for heros. a true hero's homecoming from. the doors of the hospital, joel and his parents are met by a caravan of police officers, fire trucks, military vehicles and veterans. bag pipers escort them through his new neighborhood where more than a thousand members of the community are waiting. >> there is no finer example of courage and commitment and selfless service and dedication. >> he asked me, what do you want? i want to be in a private, gated community, and i'd like to have

a therapy pool in the backyard. >> and from the first scoop of dirt to the last coat of paint, they didn't stop. >> took us five months to build this home from beginning to end. >> reporter: working constantly. >> oh, yea, every day. yeah, we don't miss a day. to us veterans' day is 365 days out of the jeer. >> reporter: the result is a brand new home, especially designed for joel and his injuries. >> started about a year ago raising the funds, 4200 square feet, and it's beautiful. >> i was referenced as to a hero, but i don't really look at it that way. i signed up to do my job with. i got hurt, i managed to survive. [applause] >> i've known that man for a year and a half, i've never one time heard him complain about anything. >> y'all think i'm, like, cool and stuff because y'all don't see me on my bad days. [laughter] >> reporter: do you have bad days? >> we're all human. i mean, i'm not perfect. no one's perfect. >> reporter: we couldn't tell. he smiled the entire time. a very special holiday season for joel's family. for more on his touching story,

tune in to a hannity holiday special tonight at 9 p.m. back to you, jenna. jenna: we'll look forward to. what a great story, ainslee. thank you. jon: wow. well, days before christmas a massive participant -- apartment fire in san francisco is leaving some 60 people homeless. took about 150 firefighters to bring this thing under control, some are still putting out hot spots right now. patti ann brown joins us with the latest. >> reporter: that's right, jon. about 60 people have no home to go back to in san francisco. a massive five-alarm fire ripped through two residential buildings yesterday injuring three people. a civilian was treated for smoke inhalation, a firefighter suffered minor neck bushes and another -- burns and another treated for exhaustion. 174 firefighters fought this blade for more than three hours, some were on the roof where they cut a hole for ventilation, but the firefighters had to exit both buildings at one point

because the fire was so hot, there were concerns the buildings would collapse. so they used expeer your hoses for a while until it was safe to reenter. the fire started in a three-story victorian condominium building on golden gate avenue, then jumped to a four-story apartment building next door. two other buildings in the neighborhood were damaged including a school. officials are still investigating the cause. they do say strong winds helped to fan the flames, and the mayor, ed lee, says the city is going to do everything it can to support the displaced residents. jon? jon: patti ann brown, wow. thank you. jenna: big shout out to my hometown firefighters out there. that was a tough job and a good job of getting it under control because it really could have just caught everything around there on fire. we have a little bit of a special feature for you today. have you seen those ads, you know, the as seen on tv products? jon: oh, yeah. jenna: sometimes you look at them and think, i might want to try that. log on to

foxnews.com/happeningnow and cast your vote on which item you would like to have this christmas. coming up, we're going to share what our team picked, and you don't want to miss it. this is an rc robotic claw.

my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

>> this is the greatest country in than world and inventors have come up with all kinds of products to make our lives better. we are asking our viewers, what seen on tv products would you like to find under the tree? maybe the forever lazy, maybe eggies. the pajama jeans. take a look at the bottom of your screen. flex seal that spray on rubber. that is winning. that might be my personal choice. but our staff had another idea. jenna: the team had their own favorite and that's what they wanted for christmas. jon and i decided if that's what they wanted -- jon: here is our post show meeting, no that is not