vision what people are looking for. we'll see if we see that in florida. bill: 10 percent unemployment down there. we have to run, have a great day, "happening now starts right now. martha: see you tomorrow. jon: we begin with this fox news alert. good morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: everybody, i'm jenna lee, we are here in the fox news room and "happening now "", as we understand it another successful mission by an ops team, pulling off a daring rescue of two aide workers held hostage by somali pirates. jon: one of those, an american, jessa buchanan, she was taken captive back in october, her danish colleague is the other, poul thisted. reporter roarp the clues should have been there during the state of the union address. you notice that president obama when he walked into the hall floor, he said to

defense secretary leon panetta when he arrived, he said good job tonight. take a listen: >> leon, good job tonight. good job tonight. >> reporter: he was referring, of course, to this daring raid, carried out, we've confirmed, five seal teams -- by seal team six. about # 50 u.s. force members were involved, they sneaked up on this compound in somalia where jessica buchanan and the danish man had been held since october. william mccraveen was at the state of the union address, seated next to the first lady. he, of course, oversaw the bin laden raid, the same that seal team six was involved in. he was there for that reason but he also oversaw the somali raid last night that was successful. all nine kidnappers were killed, we're told, and we're told that jessa

buchanan and her danish coworker were taken to camp lamonte in jubute where she was receiving medical help from the u.s. military. martha: -- jenna: and we mentioned them as somali pirates but they are called someali -- somali kidnappers and obviously we may learn more about who exactly these people are in the next couple of hours and days, in the meantime, we know who the hostages are. where are the hostages now? >> >> reporter: yes, they were taken by helicopter, by seal team six to lamp lamonu e, we were there with secretary panetta in the last month, that's where they fly the drones over yemen and horn of africa. it's a very important base in terms of the drone program. and we understand that president obama and the first lady spoke to jessa's father in ohio just moments

after the state of the union address ended last night. we have a picture provided to us by the white house of him speaking to her father. she went to school in pennsylvania and had been working out in ken yarks then somalia, working on the demining effort. jenna: breaking news throughout the day today, jennifer, thank you very much. jon: well, president obama hits the road beginning a three-day campaign swing of key battle ground states after delivering his third state of the union address to a joint session of congress last night, the president offering a sharply populist economic message calling on all americans to pay their fair share, including higher taxes for millionaires, requiring u.s. companies to pay minimum for overseas profits and laying the foundation for the 2012 reelection bid. take a listen: >> we will not settle for a country where a shrinking number of really do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by,

or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> no american company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. a return to the american values of fair play and shared responsibility will help protect our people and our economy. but it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future. we need to change our tax code so that people like me and an awful lot of members of congress pay our fair share of taxes. jon: with us now the anchor of fox news sunday, chris wallace. chris, it seemed to me, other than the idea of overhauling the tax code, which, i don't know, seems to me to have a snowball's chance of passing, it was kind of a small ball kind of speech, not a lot of big, big ideas in there.

>> no, i think that's fair. and you know what's interesting, i think it was a clever political speech which hit all the right notes, boosting manufacturing, speaks to blue collar workers, immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform speaks to hispanics, trying to deal with the dysfunction in washington obviously appealing to independents, and as you say, the big idea about trying to make the tax code fairer, trying to help the sidle class and make, as he said, the wealthy pay their fair share. the interesting thing, though, i think it was more a political speech, more involved with helping his campaign than a governing document, for instance, the buffet rule, the idea that millionaires should pay at least a 30 percent tax rate, and of course, the talk about buffet paying less or a lower tax rate than his secretary, that's not even going to be in the president's budget and when the white house was asked

yesterday, they had no idea what impact that would have on the decifit, so it seems it's more about politics than it is about governing, a blueprint for the country, and yes, there were a lot of small-board things, there was a trade unit he created and financial crimes unit and worker retraining. the only problem there, again, is this is year four of the obama presidency. if these were such good ideas why didn't he do them in years one, two and three. jon: right. i wondered how much he was going to take on the congress in this speech. he's been in so many speeches talking about obstructionism primarily by republicans is who he's referring to in the house but then when he tried to sell the -- tell the senate we ought to try to change their rules to require a simple majority for some of the votes that he wants to get there through, i just kind of had to wonder how that sat with a number of senators in the audience. >> well there, is some talk, and the specific thing he was talking about, and there is some feeling on both

sides that it's gotten out of control, is the use of the filibuster, which used to be a fairly rare thing in washington and now it has become kind of standard operating procedure if something is at all controversial, it doesn't take 51 votes, a simple majority, it takes a supermajority of 60 votes, and he was saying specifically on judicial nominations and on other nominations of personnel, not health care reform, not pieces of legislation, that they ought to be done without a filibuster, and there has been some feeling on both sides, because of course, let's say the republicans take over this election, then the democrats will do exactly the same thing if they have more than 40 votes, they will then demand a filibuster-proof majority. so it would really help both sides and there is some feeling -- on the other hand there, are traditionalists in the senate who say that's what the founding fathers wanted, that's what's in the constitution because of the idea that you want the senate to be the moderating force, the cooling saucer, of democracy. but you know, i think the idea -- he was pretty

subtle. i was wondering if he was going to bash the republicans in congress, the do-nothing congress. he did it more with a scalpel than a hatchet but he got his point across, which is i think to appeal to independents and say we need to stop argue, we need to get things done, on the other hand, i'm not sure his specific agenda is going to be very palatable to republicans in congress and that of course is the issue. both sides have to be able to reach out. jon: it was an interesting speech. chris wallace, thank you. be sure to catch chris this weekend, fox news sunday, his guest, very important, the house budget chairman, paul ryan. check your local listings for times and channel. o channel. jenna: john, gop response given by mitch daniels, you may remember he decided against a bid for the presidential nomination eight months ago, but take a listen to what he had to say last night. >> when president obama claims that the state of our

union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true. the president did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in america tonight but he was elected on a promise to fix them and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse. jenna: dana perino is a former white house press secretary for george w. bush, currently the cohost of "the five" and that lead paragraph got a lot of attention dana, the speaking of the grave state of the union. it seems to resonate with a lot of people that were listening, at the same time, how do you bring that up without being a downer? >> well, when you're asked to give the opposing speech or the response, whether you're a republican or democrat, you know that you're not in the strongest position, right, when whoever the president is, they come into the chamber, everybody wants to shake their hand and get their autograph and they get the applause and speak for 65 minutes, bore some and inspire others. when you're mitch daniels,

you're by yourself in indiana, you have a job to do, but a limited amount of time, people are ready to move on to something else and you have to capture them with something clear and sharp. i love the gracious and dignified way in which he speaks and last september he came out with a book, "keeping the republic" and it is one of the sharpest, best defenses of conserve they've i've ever read and that's what i heard from him last nievment this line i like, we do not accept that ours will be a nation of haves and haves not, we must be a nation of haves and soon to haves. i think that was drawing a sharp contrast of distinction of how republicans are approaching this election and how the president decided to spin last night. jenna: so the reality is, according to the latest census, is that half the households in this country right now have someone in that household dependent on a government benefit of some sort, whether it's social security, medicaid, or what have you. so the relationship with the government that we have right now is one where we're seeing a lot of personal ties that people have to the government. so you contrast daniels'

message with the president and you wonder how it can resonate in a country where we're in this space where there's still a lot of dependency on the federal government. >> that's why i think daniels is one of the most effective managers because what he does is let's step way back, as an effective governor in indiana he's actually made things different by wholesale reforms that people when he first got there said are you out of your mind, it will never work, talking about big tax reform, making things simpler, lowering the corporate tax rate and things that are very specific, rather than, as president obama's speech, when you give a speech about everything, it's really a speech about nothing. jenna: a final thought on this. there have been folks that have said this is a campaign speech by the president, but the same could be said really about governor mitch daniels, not him getting into the race but his message being brought into the race for president. how can the gop candidates take that message and make it theirs? >> there are still some people that long for mitch daniels to even get into the race now. i don't think that's going to happen. but it's really good to have

people in party leadership who can articulate your message. i think it's strange to use your state of the union which is supposed to be a speech for all americans as a campaign speech but even the white house barely denied that's what they were doing last night so i guess we do have publicly financed campaigns, an hour and a half long speech, but mitch daniels, jeb bush, marco rubio, paul ryan, who chris wallace said would be on sunday, they are good people that arlicktate the -- articulate the message well but i don't think they're going to run for president. jenna: we have to leave it there. we should state the republicans use the final state of the union if running for election for some benefit. >> there are always some benefits but when you're naked about it t. leaves a bad taste in your mouth. jenna: we'll watch for it on "the five", dana there be there, 5:00 him eastern time. jon: there a new developments in a string of arson attacks that terrorize dollars loss arrange the guy accused of setting dozens of

fires is charged with arson and why his mother is facing a judge minutes from now. rick has new information coming up. jenna: and campaigning in the sunshine state, the latest from florida and a look at which candidate has support from a key group of voters there. jon: researchers making what could be a stunning discovery about dolphins. could these beautiful creatures actually speak another language besides their own? [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. [ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you?

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jon: the republican presidential candidates are going nonstop today in where else but florida, newt gingrich, miment romny, rick

santorum, crossing florida, trying to shore up support less than a week ahead of the tuesday primary. meantime we're getting a look at where florida voters stand, the latest quinnipiac poll shows mitt romney edging newt gingrich, 36 to 34 percent, statistical tie there, rick santorum takes 13 percent, ron paul has 10 percent. meanwhile the latest real clear politics average of florida polls shows newt gingrich in front leading with 36.8% of the vote, this as speaker beginning arrive and mitt romney battle it out for the state's crucial cuban american and latino voters. phil keating is live in miami with more. phil, i flifd miami for a dozen years or so, i know something about how large and influence the -- influential the cuban american bloc is in florida. tell us more. >> reporter: for those that don't live in florida, they may be surprised but it's very important, 12 percent of the leak toreat, the cuban american population, 600,000 total

people, i'm at the florida university campus, where inside newt gingrich is giving a speech specifically dealing with the cuba issue, however, it's a very important issue when you look across the state here, and gingrich so far has been the only candidate to swing by thai ocho, cafe versailles, trying to impress the cuban community and i spoke with him on camera, he said his goal if elected would be to create a cuban spring. >> i would use every tool the united states has short of military, i would do the things that ronald reagan, pope john paul ii and margaret thatcher did to undermine and defeat the soviet empire. >> two polls showed gingrich with a surging lead over romney in florida while romney had a 12-point lead for weeks and weeks and weeks, but then south carolina happened.

the quinnipiac poll that came out today shows romney up by two but key here is neck and neck, every pollster agrees, 38 percent of florida voters, republican, still say they could change their mind. jon. jon: so other than going to the versailles restaurant and so forth what are the candidates doing to set themselves apart to try to appeal to cuban americans in florida? >> reporter: we've got four republican candidates still in the race, three with one position, the other, ron paul, with a completely opposite position. he wants to ends the u.s. embargo on cuba, open up diplomatic ties with the regime, open up trade, as well as getting americans to go down there and visit and get a free exchange of ideas, however, santorum wants to keep the embargo in place until, quote, the castros are dead, unquote, and romney, as well as gingrich both support the embargo. although gingrich says he would like to keep it everything but short of

military action, and so far, gingrich has been doing the greater courting of the vote >> i think the only candidate that has really used sort of the old style anticastro rhetoric has been gingrich. he went to versaille sevment and talked about a cuban spring. >> reporter: big day here in south florida for the cuban american community. not only is newt gingrich appeal fog their vote this morning, mitt romney has a very important speech in downtown miami this afternoon with the u.s. cuba democracy pac and we'll be there covering that as well. jon: phil keating in breezy miami, thank you. jenna: that's a big story today. u.s. special ops teams facing off against somali kidnappers to rescue two hostages, including an american woman. next, we'll take a look at the coast of africa and look at how effective our foreign policy is addressing this

particular part of the world. also, why the mother of a man charged with starting dozens of fires in los angeles, set to face a judge just moments from now, where prosecutors say her role is in the arson and why she could be sent back to her native country. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn.

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jenna: the mother accused of -- the mother of accused arsonist hairy burkhart is in an l.a. court, she faces a series of fraud charges in her native germany and authority say her son's anger over his mother's pending deportation fueled that rampage. this is more of a complicated story than we initially thought. rick folbaum has more. >> reporter: dorothee burkhart is scheduled to face a judge any minute now and she's going to find out

if she's going to be forced to go back to germany to face fraud charges there. her son harry is sitting in a nearby jail cell, his bail set at 7 1/2 million dollars, the 24-year-old facing multiple charges, accused of setting almost 50 fires around the l.a. area. the new year's arson spree sent investigators stram bling, they thought for a little while there could be multiple suspects out there. his alleged crimes and antiamerican outbursts in a courtroom are believed to be over his anger about how his mother orioo or how he feels his mother has been treated in the states. he doesn't want her sent back to germany to face prosecutors there. many of the fires you probably remember involved incendiary devices planted under the engine of parked cars but in a lot of cases the fires spread to buildings nearby. people were evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night. a little side note, one of the damaged homes once belonged to the former doors lead singer.

the evidence against burkhart includes dna samples, eyewitness news accounts, and there is a picture that was taken from a surveillance camera that evidently captured him as well. his mother is wanted in germany on fraud charges, she has told the judge her son is mentally ill and he was set up by the nazis, she's set to find out whether she'll be deported and that hearing is set to begin in about ten minutes or so. we'll keep you posted jenna. jenna: lots of twists and turns in that, rick, thank you. jon: we are getting new information on a dramatic military raid that rescued two hostages from somali kidnappers. one of the kidhapped victims, an american woman, special ops team carrying out the daring mission in somalia overnight. american jessa buchanan and danish colleague, poul fisted had been kidnapped at gunpoint in october. we are also learning the seal team that rescued them is the same special ops team involved in the raid that

killed usama bin laden. peter boorks is a former officer and heritage foundation senior fellow. peter, good to have you on. give us your thumbnail headline about this raid. >> well, thank god we have such brave troops that can go in harm's tbhai support of our national security. it's great to have those hostages back, but there's a bigger issue here jon and that's somalia. somalia is not the modern day pirate that is took these people hostage, but we also have a terrorist group, a transnational group, al shabab, which has recruited somallan americans and has undertaken terrorist attacks in other places of africa. we're involved in this off shore containment policy of the somalia, which is a country that hasn't had a fully functioning government for some 20 years now. jon: well, i guess it raises some questions. i mean, americans are big hearted people, but when you go into a country like that,

are you taking your life in your hands? i mean, is it worth it to risk our military forces to rescue people who put themselves in harm's way? >> well, that's a very good question. of course, this woman was involved in de mining operations with a danish group but recently these pirate, probably not the same exact group because there are a fum of these groups, also look a freelance journalist, an american, hostage as well. they do this to try to get ransom. it's a very difficult issue here. people try to do the right things, humanitarian things, but they do put themselves sometimes in harm's way and it's not just happening in a place like somalia and africa, there are place necessary pakistan. somalia and pakistan are two of the most dangerous places today. so that's an interesting sort of question. you would hope these groups would not get in the way like al shabab is getting in the way of famine relief going on in somalia today. you would hope these groups

wouldn't look to these people as targets but unfortunately they do, so you have to balance the good work they're trying to do in these countries with the risk that they take by going in harm's way to help out people who need help. jon: the word of this raid was apparently -- well, the raid was still going on while the president was getting ready for or even making his state of the union speech. we heard him saying to leon panetta good job tonight, leon, as he was on his way into the speech. you had written yesterday, ironically, that you wanted to hear more from the president about america's position in the world and, you know, our foreign policy. here's one of your lines. in the end, you can't help but feel, you wrote, peter, american strategy is adrift with team obama presiding over our decline as a world power, tonight, meaning the state of union, would be a great time for the president to make the case to the contrary if that's possible. did he make that case? >> no, he didn't. he made a lot of great

tributes to our troops and i'm thankful he did that. he spent very little time on foreign policy, it was the end of his speech. it almost sounded like he was responding to me. i don't want to flatter myself with that, but that piece came out yesterday and he said everybody who thinks american is -- america is in decline doesn't know what they're talking about but i'm afraid that's the perception around the world. we're seeing people take action against the united states, such as iran and their dlij rence because there are perceptions of weakness. jon, how are we going to deal with growing global challenges with a shrinking u.s. military? i mean, there's a lot of things. what about peace talks with the taliban? the president didn't talk about that. what about the reports of direct talks between washington and tehran? rising china? there are so many things that the president really needed to talk about last night on foreign policy and he didn't. he said a few sentences, but there wasn't a lot of substance there. now, understand, there are a lot of things to talk about, especially domestic issues, but considering we have more than 100,000 troops or nearly 100,000 troops in afghanistan, you know, we're

still -- this raid in somalia, i think there was a lot more that the president needed to tell us, and once again, i'm really concerned about the perception of america's decline, perception of american weakness because once again perception is reality and it's important what the american people and the world thinks of us. jon: he did mention iran, said he wouldn't take any options off the table, but we're going to have to talk about that another time. peter brooks from the heritage foundation, thank you. jenna: it will come up again. if we take the past few weeks as any lead on that. jon ona little different than the tone four years ago on iran. jenna: we'll watch that story, and also turning to italy, searching for the truth amid the tragedy. new video just released of divers inside that capsized italian cruiseliner, and we're going to show it to you just ahead.

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add this personal shredder-- a $29 value-- absolutely free with your enrollment. don't wait another minute. call now or go to lifelock.com. lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jon: new developments in that tragic cruise ship wreck off the coast of italy, divers resuming their search today. they set off two controlled explosions in the ship. new video now of their efforts inside that crippled vessel where 16 people died, 17 remain officially missing greg burke is live in giglio island, italy, he has the latest. greg. >> reporter: jon, you know, we've been talking about the technical aspects a lot over the last few days but the human tragedy still very much present here in the port of giglio, you see some of the families,

unaccounted for, they've been here for the better part of ten days, still no word about their loved ones. very, very tough for them. it's been a very busy day. two different activities going on the a the ship out there. you can probably see the crane behind there, they've been getting ready -- they continue the search, there are 16 confirmed dead, as you say, with the underwater divers, but then also the preparation to get the fuel out of the costa concordia, what's called the hot path process. they have to heat it up in order to get it out. it's complicated, a number of ships getting into the area there, divers also going down to locate those tanks and get things ready. they actually hope to start pumping on saturday but it is going to be a very long process. jon, the other than of the ship, costa cruises, is also getting called into this investigation. the ceo is appearing before a senate commission today. he says the dive-by salutes were not company policy. he said they were at times allowed but certainly not at the speed and at the proximity which capital

schettino did which caused that crash on the rocks. finally, the people on the island, they're looking for two things. they're looking for things to be cleaned up for the tourism season, first, for the oil to be out, and as complicated as that, that seems like it's going to be the easy part. getting the ship out of the water, upright first and then out, that looks like it's really going to be the big job, jon. jon: it is still a stunning picture to see that thousand foot long vessel just sitting there, half submerged. amazing. greg burke from giglio island, greg, thank you. >> right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax codes, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle class households. right now, warren buffet pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest americans or do we want to

keep our investments in everything else? like education? and medical research. a strong military. and care for our veterans. jenna: that was the president last night talking about the tax code, one of his big topics in the state of the union. he says it's unfair, it ought to be changed. but big changes in tax policy are probably unrealistic, according to experts. just given the president's relationship with republicans in the house, also the timeline right now, some are asking if we're -- if going after the wealthy is actually the right thing to do. john taylor is professor of economics at stanford university and author of "first principles, keys to restoring prosperity" and we're going to draw on your expertise on this subject, to talk more about what is highly complicated and that is the tax code. if we do see taxes go up on millionaires, what real effect will that have on the rest of us? >> it's not going to be a good effect. it makes no sense to me to

be raising taxes on anybody at this point. we should have tax reform to lower the marginal rates and encourage economic growth. we have a real problem in the economy. unemployment is still well over 8 percent, we're really not getting into a recovery. i think the president deemphasized that last night. if you want to help people you have to have economic growth and that's not going to come from raising taxes. he could have endorsed the simpson-bowles proposal or other ideas but that didn't come out at this point. jenna: you talked about a few different schools of thought when it comes to economic poll sell in the op-ed in the "wall street journal" and as you began your essay, you began with what the founders intended for this nation and that's talk we hear from a lot of different people, from professors to politicians, to our viewers, what the founders really intended. what's your take on? >> they emphasized economic policy, policy, rule of law, reliance on market, incentives and limited role

for government and that worked well. what we've seen is when we got off of those principles like in the '70s and more recently things have worked terribly. when we've folded those principles, '80s and '90s, things worked well. the purpose of my book is to explain that and it's common sense but it lays out really the facts of why that's the way to go. jenna: we saw last night and also in the response from the gop there really are two different schools of thought when it comes to economy and the rule of government, either hyper government involvement and a direct role in the economy or the government where they're not as active. is there any middle ground for the two schools of thought. >> i thought the middle ground was in the '80s and '90s under first president reagan and president bush 41, president clinton. you remember the speech, the end of big government? and i think the main thing here is that there's an approach that we've seen that has worked. we had those long expansions, the economy was growing well and now we started to intervene a lot

in all areas, monetary policy, fiscal policy, regulatory policy and look at what happened. so the facts are clear. and i think there is a happy medium, but we're far away from the happy medium right now. jenna: how do you get there? >> well, i'd like to look at what happened as he moved in the '80s. ronald reagan came in, he was a believer of economic freedom, he read people like milton friedman, he had advisers committed to the ideas and look what happened. we had terrific performance and we got away from the short term things, these temporary payroll tax cuts or stimulus. instead, there was this long term tax reform which just brought the economy out of a terrible situation. even worse than we are now. and it worked very well. jenna: you served in government as well for the president's council of economic advisers from '89 to '91 under the secretary of the treasury of international affairs, 2001-2005, so you have some experience in government. i'm curious, in your opinion, we keep on hearing that government is dissolving into something

that's not functioning, right, because both sides can't find common ground and there's such anger there. do you see that, or is this just the way the government typically functions when it comes to big issues like the economy? >> i think we go through phases and this is a phase now where we're not showing leadership that's needed to bring people together. i mean, the president had some nice lines about that last night, but look at the reality. he really hasn't adopted some things which i think would work. he was positive about the speech, about south korea and colombia and panama but he set those sit for six years. they were created in the bush administration so. there is a real opportunity here, if people recognize why we our problems, why we have this mess, why we're not coming out of it very rapidly, i think that's the way to get consensus, get some agreement and move forward. jenna: professor taylor, thank you very much for joining us today, sir.

>> thank you. thank you for having me. jon: the president talked about energy independence in that speech last night but did not mention the keystone pipeline. well now house republican lawmakers are going on the offensive, they want to wage a new battle to bypass the administration and kickstart that pipeline project. details in a live report just ahead. plus, danger -- dangerous weather in the southwest. the very latest on tornado watches in parts of texas and louisiana. look at that map. it does not look good. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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when we were determined to see it through. so, where to next? here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment.

thousas of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. anthe tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. jenna: now this fox news alert. tornado watches in place for people in five counties in texas and large areas of louisiana. meteorologist janice dean has the latest from the fox extreme weather center. >> reporter: tornado watches meaning the conditions are favorable for tornadoes and we've seen pictures out of louisiana and arkansas this week, so we don't want to take these watches and warnings lightly, okay? moving towards the louisiana area, and houston, so a

tornado watch in effect for the houston area, in towards louisiana, until 3:00 p.m. local tile and within those watches we do have several thunderstorm warnings, which at any time could become tornado warnings. we are indicating rotation with the cells. there's the houston area. we did have tornado warnings early on north of houston. we're going to keep an eye on this throughout the morning and into the afternoon. there's our threat for severe weather in the yellow-shaded regions, again, across portions of east texas into louisiana, even mississippi, as this line continues to press eastward, and with this, we are seeing incredible amounts of flooding. flash flood warnings in effect for the dallas area. and we're just getting video right now for the dallas fort worth region where they are seeing this flooding happening, it's imminent, and obviously roads are being shut down in and around this region. we've got airport delays and obviously, it's been so dry, they need this moisture but they just can't penetrate

the ground it's so dry, so unfortunately we're seeing the pictures where they got 3-4 inches and they are waiting for an additional 2 inches, so we'll see more throughout the afternoon, i'm afraid. the good news is, guy, they need the rain. just not so much of it in such a short period of time. back to you. jenna: all good points, j.d. we'll continue to watch for developments, thank you. jon: the notorious bare foot bandit or the punk as i like to call him is full of polices after -- apologies after his two-year crime spree but recent comments from behind prison walls could hurt his case. rick folbaum has that information coming up. we know that dolphins speak to each other using squeaks, but could they also learn another language? it's a story so crazy, it just might be true. and there's real evidence of this. the fascinating tale, next. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ do you hear me? i'm talking to you. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ across the water.

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jon: a remarkable new study in france finds dolphins making noise necessary their sleep and not just random noises. researchers hundred dollars an underwater microphone in the tank of these performing dolphins and captured sounds are similar to whale songs. the dolphins have lived in captivity all their lives, which means they never heard the songs in the ocean but trainers play hump back whale sounds during performances because they think it helps to heighten the dolphins' focus so imagine their surprise when they listened to the

underwater tapes and heard this: jon: those are dolphin vocalizations. now compare that with the hump back whale sounds. listen: >> sounds like a pretty good immitation to me. what's it all mean? let's have jim harrison, a mammal marine expert and director of outreach for mammals. this was published in a national, well respected magazine. this is pretty interesting research, isn't it? >> yes, it's very amazing. the thing is people don't realize, we're just scratching the surface on the intelligence of dolphins. i've been dealing with these animals for 38 years, all kinds of wild animals but dolphins seem to be the most intelligent.

think about it, it's like learning a second language and it's almost as if they're asleep. dolphins have the tendency to use half of the rain while asleep, one half goes to sleep, one stays awake, one eye stays open, they come up and get air back back and forth and they're making these sounds of the hump back whale while asleep. jon: it would seem to be parets, vocalizing sounds they heard but not in the ocean. they only heard recordings of it. >> think about it this way. most of the viewers, you may have it, too, have a cd of dolphin songs and whale songs. i have whale songs in my van that i put in just to relax. i like the sounds. it makes you relax. i think these dolphins pick that up. sometimes dolphins in captivity can be stressed. i think they picked it up and what they pulled out was the whale noises and it keeps them relaxed and makes them feel better. >> whennor i have a

particularly bad day, jenna brings in the whale noise toss put me to sleep in my office. jenna: better than trying to sing you to sleep! >> jon: but no, the interesting thing is they hadn't heard these sounds in the wild, right? they only heard them in captivity, because they've always been captive dolphins, and to be able to imitate them in their sleep, it just raises all kinds of questions about theirmental abilities and what they're doing, what thierp trying to say, i guess. >> yeah, because think about it this way. they get lots of noises at the park, tourists coming in, the exotic birds, they've got all kinds of noises. they pulled out the whale noises, to basically calm them at night. it's almost like when somebody hums a little bit or sings a song when they're stressed out, it's kind of like they just pick the whale noises out, same as we humans do with the cds and it's comfortable and makes them feel a lot better. jon: it's fascinating stuff. and even people who had not -- who are not familiar with these vocalizations listen

to recordings of these songs and they said yeah, you know, something like 90, 96 percent of these people said if sounds -- it sounds like those dolphins are imitating the whales, so there's pretty good scientific research behind this project. >> think of it this way, jon. if you take a child and teach him a second language, it makes them more intelligent. we're looking at these dolphins as now these people are researching these animals and finding out -- like i said, we don't even know their scale of intelligence. we need to delve more into that. every time i went out with researchers in the past we learn something new, every time we went out with them. jon: very intelligent animals, really interesting to see what they do in their sleep. jim harrison, thank you. >> thanks a lot. thank you for having me. jenna: do you talk in your sleep? sing in your sleep? >> jon: i hardly even remember my dreams. that's what i hate. i used to have good ones. jenna: i never say anything

intig this -- anything interesting in my sleep. kind of like real life! no. it's interesting to hear about all of that. in the meantime we have new information we want to share with you next hour. we're going to talk about this daring rescue of two kidhapped workers, including this american in africa. more on this special ops mission coming up. plus a new effort underway to promote clean energy. would it boost the economy or be a bust? that's the question. >> ♪ >> ♪ summer breeze, makes me feel fine. >> ♪ >> ♪ ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays]

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>> reporter: take a look at the suburbs of fort worth, texas, that is flooding due to heavy rain. you can see cars partially submerged. some highways have been shut down in and around this area there are high winds in texas as well causing major problems in and around that area, and this weather system is now headed to houston. so, folks in that major metropolitan area better brace themselves, the weather is coming. just one of the stories we are

watching for you as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: the president today heading out across america visiting key battleground states following last night's state of the union. we are glad you are with us on this wednesday, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: a political victory lap they sometimes call it. i'm jon scott. the president is taking his message on the road. the republican candidates who want his job are out on the campaign trail as well. they are busy getting their message out. jenna: the road is busy and crowded these days. carl cameron is on a way to a gingrich event. he is traveling as we speak as we can see. gingrich and romney are courting a particular group of voters in south florida. tell us a little bit about that. >> reporter: yeah, hi, jenna you're talking about latino voters in south florida. very, very prominent. in miami latino voters make up

almost 72% of the 370 some 370 some odd registered voters. we've already heard in newt gingrich. mitt romney will be heading their dates this afternoon. we'll catch up with gingrich in a short time in cocoa, florida where he has an event. this morning mr. gingrich was very, very aggressive describing mitt romney's position on immigration, and how to prevent illegal immigration and stopping it, and it was very, very tough. listen to this. >> i think you have to live in a world of swiss bank accounts and cayman island accounts and automatic $20 million a year income with no work to have some fantasy this far from reality. now, for romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to selfdeport? i mean this is an obama-level

fantasy. he certainly shows no concern for the humanity of people who are already here. >> reporter: romney used the term selfdeportation in a debate recently and newt gingrich is pounding him even though some of his staff used the word last year in the earlier part of the campaign. gingrich is also running a spanish-language radio add in florida that accuses mitt romney of being anti-immigrant, and that has garnered a response from none other than florida's u.s. senator marco rubio. very popular and a cuban-american who has said it's both inflammatory and inaccurate. mr. rubio is neutral in the race, he says he's not going to endorse anybody. but as a latino american his judgment that the spanish radio attack add by gingrich on romney is one that will take notice. rubio is on awful the candidates

short list for vice presidental running mate. mr. romney will be speaking this afternoon. earlier today he had an event at which he basically reacted to the president's state of the union speech last night and trashed it, as all the republicans have, jenna. little patience for what the president said last night. they said it was the same sort of rhetoric that has failed. and it's tone deaf, out of touch and dangerous for the country. there is no doubt that the candidates disagree on a lot of issues. when it comes to the republican white house hopefuls they are in unison and united and in disagreement with the president's state of the union address. jenna: thank you very much. jon: we are seeing a significant shift among republican voters in florida following the south carolina primary. a new poll, we talked about it earlier released by quinnipiac university conducted over five days shows newt gingrich surging to a tie behind mitt romney in

florida. if you look at the results from the final two davis th days of the sur sraoe, those conductedafter gingrich one the primary in south carolina newt gingrich is 6 points ahead of romney. charlie hurt watches this closely. what does it say to you. >> it says mitt romney is in real trouble, and at this point we don't know how much trouble, because as you point out it looks like there is a lot of sort of late converts to gingrich. and u know, if we're at the very sort of height of gingrich's popularity in florida we are talking about a neck-and-neck race. if we just captured the beginning of the newt surge then mitt romney could find himself in severe trouble, kind of like we saw in south carolina. you know, one of the things that happened in south carolina that was so devastating for romney,

and he has acknowledged this. is that basically the percentage of the vote that he got was what he was getting in polls, and what that means is that all the late deciders, all the undecideds that didn't make up their mind who to vote for until the last couple of days before the primary, they all went for someone other than mitt romney, the vast majority of them went for newt gingrich which is how he walked away with a 12-point victory. if that is what happens in florida, man, this is -- this is -- i think that this will be the watershed moment. you know, if newt wins in florida i would say that the momentum very much shifts to newt's favor. jon: but mitt romney has all that money to spend, he's got the organization that he's put together over a number of years. newt gingrich doesn't have anything to come tear with that, does he? >> exactly, jon. i think that is why i would say that the race currently is still

sort of in romney's favor. it's because he is a very organized candidate. he has tons of money, and he has gone about this very methodically. newt gingrich hadn't even been able to get on the ballot in his own home state, which is a testament to his poor organization. but if newt manages to pull off florida, i think all that changes. suddenly momentum becomes very important. he will be in a position to raise a lot of money and i think then he will also have a several-week window where he can at least put together some semblance of an organization that could possibly carry him on further. jon: i've heard a lot of people, people, you know, who worked with him or knew him or whatever who have said, you know, he's mecurial, he can throw tantrums, that sort of thing. can newt gingrich settle down and disabuse people of the notion that he is too

temperamental or whatever to be president? >> i think that is exactly the question. and the people that i know around here who have worked with him, they are terrified of the concept of him as president, or as the g.o.p. nominee, rather, just because he is so temperamental. you kind of always expect him to sort of implode. but the problem is that, you know, that is the establishment. the republican establishment is concerned about him. apparently th the electorate, the run-of-the-mill republican -tthe country don't care about that. they are just not comfortable with mitt romney. they don't think that he's a true conservative. they think that he will change his colors if he were to get into the white house, and they are fed up with it, fired of i tired of it and they don't want to take the establishment

candidate again. jon: truly newt gingrich has truly done a great job in those debates. that is what has compelled his campaign to this point. charlie hurt we have to say goodbye. the washington times. we'll talk to you soon. jenna: this just in, jon, a spokesman fear democratic house minority leader nancy pelosi explaining a curious remark she made about republican candidate newt gingrich. she made this remark in an interview where she claimed to know, quote, something about the speaker. i'm going to leave that vague and have mike emanuel explain exactly what is going on here. mike. >> reporter: hi, jenna. last night in a television interview with john king house democratic leader fanc fancy pelosi said newt gingrich the former house peaker will never be president. it will never happen. when pressed on it pelosi seemed to threaten, quote, there is something i know. former massachusetts mitt romney, gingrich's rival pounced on it. >> we need to understand why is. and those records need to be

released. you know if nancy pelosi knows those things right now she will hand them to barack obama's campaign if speaker gingrich were our nominee. >> reporter: former speaker gingrich says he has no idea what pelosi is talking about, and said, bring it on. here is gingrich firing back. >> look, i think if she knows something she ought to say it and if she doesn't know something she ought to quit saying it. this is baloney. i don't think any republican is going to be threatened by nancy pelosi, and frankly i'd rather have her threaten mean endorse me. >> reporter: today pelosi's spokesman says what she knows is that gingrich will never be president, end quote. leader pelosi previously made a reference to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware. i should point out that pelosi served on the house ethics committee which investigated gingrich near the end of his speakership. jenna. jenna: we'll continue to watch

it, mike, thank you. jon: new information today on the keystone pipeline. a house committee is holding a hearing on a bill that would give a federal commission the power to approve the project, essentially bypassing president obama's authority. chief national correspondent jim angle is in washington. you might call this a bit of turn about. >> reporter: they'd like to take all the authority from the president all together on this. the first thing republicans made clear they will press the case for approval of the keystone pipeline in spite of the president's decision to delay. listen. >> keystone is a shovel-ready project whose construction would create badly needed jobs. >> we fought in one world war ii in less time than it's taken so far to evaluate this project. >> reporter: though the pipeline was stayed for more than 40 months democrats offered a new objection today calling it a republican earmark aimed at helping their political friends. congressman waxman pointed to

the coke brothers, republican contributors and asked that they be subpoenaed, which republicans opposed. >> we are not going to be subpoenaing the coke brothers, and we are not asking the coke brothers to appear, because the coke brothers have nothing to do with this project. we are going to recess this hearing for ten minutes, and then we're going to come back. >> are you calling the coke brothers during the recess? >> let me tell you something, if you want to talk about that, let's talk about the millions of dollars that the obama administration gave companies like solyndra. >> reporter: and to investors who support the president pointedly asking if the committee should also subpoena them. the u.s. state department gave environmental approval to the pipeline last fall, as you know, but then protestors raised concerns about its route over a key aquafer in the state of nebraska. the state of nebraska planned to find a new route and the governor plans to move on it. >> the state department already approved the route that was much

more environmentally sensitive, and so in my view he should have said yes to allow this to move forward. >> reporter: many think the president delayed the decision to keep from having to anger part of his political base. either environmentalists who oppose the pipeline or unions which favor it. the governor says he'll send the new route to the president no later than september, putting it right back in the president's lap just before the fall election. jon. jon: we are going to be hearing a lot about this pipeline for the year to come, aren't we, jim. >> reporter: you better believe it. republicans are pushing it because of the jobs, the unions do to. democrats are uncomfortable with it and have offered six or seven different reasons why it sh*u shouldn't go forward, part of them because they don't think we should be developing more oil and gas missions, especially what they call tar sands from canada. jon: thanks for keeping an eye on it for us. jenna: a kennedy cousin convicted of murder still insisting he didn't commit the crime. his new request of the judge, and panel next.

a daring rescue of through hostages held by kidnappers in somalia. high praise for the u.s. military today. we'll go in depth on that mission. and rick is alternate the web wall. >> reporter: on that story, jenna we want to turn your attention to foxnews.com maybe during this commercial break turn away from the tv set and log onto foxnews.com, our colleagues there doing a great job behind the scenes of this mission with video and graphics. more of "happening now" coming right back. get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

jenna: an update on crime stories we are watching for you today. today by the way is the deadline for the psychologist who is treating arizona shooting suspect loughner. he is accused of shooting congresswoman gabrielle giffords and killing six other people in tucson. she just offered her resignation today. a chilling look at the diary of a new york man who confessed to killing a young dancer he met at a manhattan nightclub. prosecutors say he secretly took pictures of unsuspecting people for years and wrote in his

journal. it was only a matter of time before he hurt someone. laura garza, her body was found months after she vanished. kennedy cousin michael wants his jail sentence reduced. he's accused of killing phort that moxley when they were teenagers. a three-judge panel will release a decision within a few weeks. stpho: fox news alert, we are told the same elite navy seal team involved in the osama bin laden raid pulls off another successful and very daring mission. this time the seals go deep inside somalia to rescue two kidnapped aid workers held there for months. bandits captured american jessica buchanan and her danish colleague back in october. the seals had to parachute in and put up a fight to rescue the two. in the end they killed nine kidnappers and took off with the two aid workers who are, we are

told unharmed. let's bring in retired marine lieutenant colonel bill callahan. hats off to the team that put together a very successful mission here. >> showing our forces, including these particular seals are among the very best in the world. this operation wasn't quite of the importance that the osama bin laden raid was but it was certainly important to those two hostages rescued there. hats off not only to the seals but to all of the military elements that had some role to play. these are a lot bigger operations than we tend to think of. it's all the people who perform to the highest standards. if i can, quickly, jon, i have to question a little bit. i have a lot of experience with these kinds of forces, and these kinds of missions and i have to question the timing a little bit. we are glad those people were rescued. but to have it happen just as the state of the union address is going out, you know, i'm not certain about that, we are glad

it worked successfully but, you know, i question the timing. jon: well, yeah, the president was heard on a microphone as he was entering the state of the union address last night reaching out to defense secretary leon panetta and saying, good job tonight leon, good job tonight. a lot of people wondered what that was all about, then after the state of the union address we find out about this raid. >> that's right, jon. a raid like this really depends on extremely good intelligence, and sometimes lacking all the intelligence you need you'll make a decision to go ahead and conduct a raid because the hostages are already being killed by the hostage takers or there is absolute reason to believe that the hostage takers are about to kill somebody. in this case neither one of those circumstances exists. there are reports that either the female or the male might have been sick. but there was nothing to indicate going in at this particular moment. somebody along the line made the decision to do it at that particular time, and that

particular time worked out just great for the president. jon: we are told the president authorized the raid on monday and then it took place as we know on tuesday. tell us a little bit -- just in broad strokes, what this team did. it was one of those halo entries they call it, where they drop out of a fixed wing airplane from way up high, parachute in, in the dark of night. tell us a little bit about that, it sound fascinating. >> typically from a fixed wing aircraft, what the threat is, what the scenario on the ground they could have dropped from helicopters. you like to get the aircraft as far away from the target as you can. these guys come out of the aircraft, they will glide with their khaouts. they might do a low opening, a high opening but the information thing is that they all land within a relatively closed in area that they can quickly assemble themselves, the bad guys have not been alerted by the presence of arrest and i craft. they'll rally and get their command of communication folks all together, make sure all their team is there.

they will lee deploy. the configuration depends a little bit on what the particular target would be. my guess would be as they started moving and particularly as they started to have a firefight with the bad guys the helicopters, which probably weren't far away with alerted to get in there as quickly as possible. all of these things happen very quickly on the ground. if your intelligence is good you know where everybody is. jon: it's great story. >> a lot of elements to this. jon: bill cowan, thank you. and we'll be right back. i'm trading everywhere... on one of the most powerful mobile apps out there. i'm trading here every day. and i'm customizing everything. everything. from thought, to trade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and seven dollar trades are just the start. ♪ [ rodger ] with innovations like our powerful mobile app and free scottrader streaming quotes, no wonder more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade!

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♪ jon: yes, right now he's telling the judge he's truly sorry. the young man we know as "the barefoot bandit" is apparently singing a different tune in some

of his communications from behind bars. rick has more from our newsroom. rick. >> reporter: you called this guy a punk don't you, isn't that what you said. jon: yeah. >> reporter: if you're truly sorry about something you've done you don't usually go and brag about it, but that's what the so-called barefoot bandit did. colton harris-moore pleaded guilty to a two-yearlong crime spree that had him flying, crash landing a stolen plane, getting him arrested in the bahamas after escaping a hail of police bullets. after his capture he said he was so*r re. now he is sending emails from prison making fun of the place and prosecutors who were handling his case calling hem pigs and fools. he compared himself to the wright brothers and he called the reporters covering him vermin. we'll let that slide. the prosecutors are looking for six and a half years. his lawyers want him to get less than that obviously. the sentencing is in seattle on friday, and jon, we will let you

know what he ends up getting, back to you. jon: as a pilot who doesn't like to see all of those airplanes that he destroyed lying there in a heap i think he's a punk. >> reporter: that's absolutely within your right to say so my friend. jon: i appreciate it, rick, thank you. jenna: new information in the economic plan the president laid out in his state of the union address. the president says the u.s. will be more aggressive in getting back american jobs that went overseas and get tougher on what he calls china's unfair trade practices, take a listen. >> we brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration, and it's made a difference. [applause] >> tonight i'm announcing the creating a trade enforcement unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like china. it can happen in cleveland, and pittsburgh, and raleigh. we can't bring every job back that's left our shore, but right now it's getting more expensive

to do business in places like china. meanwhile america is more productive. jenna: gordon chang is the author of the coming collapse of china, we wanted to ask you about some of the things the president was saying. is it getting more expensive to do business in china. >> it is was the workforce is starting to level off. that will happen between one and three years from now, and also because wage rates are just going up, because of a number of factors. so, necessity it is, and therefore some companies are actually starting to bring their manufacturing back to the united states, also to places like vietnam, bangladesh, elsewhere. jenna: the jobs, or the benefit from higher cost tph- costs in china don't directly go to the united states, but we are in the pot. >> some have started to come back. he's right about that. jenna: what about the trade enforcement he's talking about that. what will be the ultimate goal of the trade enforcement unit? >> that is an interagency task

force and we don't need another task force, because, you know, he's got all the tools and the leverage that he already has. last year 175.6% of china's overall trade surplus was derived from sales to the united states. that gives the president enormous leverage over the chinese economy. the only thing that he needs is the will to use it. jenna: the leverage to do what? >> well, he can certainly bring trade cases, he can actually encourage u.s. companies to start filing cases in the united states as well, with the world trade organization. jenna: what will that do? >> that after a couple of years will give you some benefit. what the president really can do is pick up the phone to the chinese leader and say, look, buddy, your economy is becoming much more dependent on ours, and if you don't cut this out there are a few things that i can do, like sort of making sure that all of the inspections at the ports get more rigorous, the container ships will be backed up halfway across the pacific. jenna: so what he wants, or what america wants, as far as a

better policy for the economy, some would say is that china allows its currency to float, it's not under valued so everything is so cheap to be made in china and so cheap to buy, that it's more an even, quote unquote playing field. and fairness is something that the president talked about last night when he talked about an economy built to last. i'm curious when you're looking at an economy built to last what does that mean for the ideal relationship we should have with china in the future as we look for the ultimate stability within our own economy? >> we don't need an ideal relationship. we need for them to stop pirating our technology and stop subsidizing their companies which really is unfair towards ours. president obama has a real opportunity to do that, because chinese vice president comes to washington on valentine's day, and instead of giving the guy a big, wet kiss which is what president obama always does, all he needs to do is give the vice president a stern lecture in public. that will catch the attention of

the chinese. jenna: do you think change is possible? >> i think change is possible if the president is willing to use the leverage that the united states has. all he needs is the political will to be tough. jenna: we didn't even get into talking about debt. that's something that we talk a lot about when it comes to china we'll ask have you book and the conversation will continue. thank you very much. jon. jon: -pls in that state of the union address, jenna the president was calling for wealthy americans to pay their so-called fair share. with the top five percent of easterners in the u.s. already paying close to 60% of all taxes collected. what is fair? we'll break down the numbers behind the president's claim. and country music star garth brooks winning a major settlement against an oklahoma hospital, we'll bring you the details straight ahead. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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jenna: we told you about some of the extreme weather in parts of the country, especially in texas and j.d., we now have new tornado watches? >> >> reporter: a tornado warning, watches meaning that the conditions are favorable for tornadoes but we have a warning south of the houston area. it does include houston, pareland and hobby airport. not houston international, but south of the houston area, that's where we have the warning, doppler radar indicated, so we see strong cells pushing through the area and with that not only the possibility phos tornado you but hail and wind damage

and downpours. we saw video out of dallas, we could certainly see that around the houston eamplet they desperately need this rainfall, unfortunately it's causing the threat for severe weather as well as the threat continues across louisiana, texas, parts of mississippi, and we saw the damage from those tornadoes earlier this week, in parts of alabama, arkansas, so people really need to heed these warnings and make sure they're in the lowest part of their home, in the basement, in the bathroom or a closet, interior sections of their home. jenna: very important information for us, j.d., we'll continue to watch it. thank you. jon. jon: >> if you're earning a million dollars a year you shouldn't get special tax subsidies or deductions. on the other hand, if you make $100,000, $250,000 a year like 98 percent of american families, your taxes shouldn't go up. you are the ones struggling. with the rising costs bs and

stagnant wages. you are the ones who need relief. now, if you can call thiso now, you can call this class warfare all you want but asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as a secretary in taxes? most americans would call that common sense. jon: well, the obama in his state of the union address there last night, making the thargt wealthy americans are not paying their so called fair share. so how does the rhetoric measure up to the facts? let's check in with fox business network's elizabeth mcdonald. so exactly who is paying federal income tax, liz? >> reporter: based on irs data, the top 1 percent pay about 38 percent of the federal tax pie, meaning the revenues the government collects in the way of federal income taxes. the top 5 percent pay about 60 percent, the top 10 percent pay about 70 percent of all federal income taxes that go into the system, and essentially, you know, about half of

taxpayers don't pay any federal income taxes at all because of the recession, because of tax breaks, the president has passed in the prior stimulus bill, they will pay things like, of course, state and local taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes. they do pay taxes there. and that bracket, we're talking about, you know, senior citizens, the disabled, or students. but there are basically a lot -- there's a lot of research out there, the oecd, a top european research organization, has said the u.s. already has one of the most progressive federal income tax systems in the world, jon. jon: elizabeth mcdonald from the fox business network, thank you >> reporter: sure. jenna: several republicans who are not running for president have talked about how important the 2012 election is. new jersey governor chris christie saying this is the most important election in generations, former mississippi governor haley

barbour saying, quote, this is the highest stakes presidential election of my lifetime. congressman paul ryan of wisconsin, quote this, is the most important election in our lifetime, no matter what generation you come from, and indiana governor mitch dab yells says the mathematical threat we are scheduled to pile up threatens every american. our next guest has strong opinions as well about this race, b are rett stephens of the "wall street journal". quite the editorial this week, br. ett. you say the gop deserves to lose and you meetings these guys we were talking about. why? >> you mentioned the a team of the republican party, you can compare daniels to barbour to someone else, but these are the guys who had historical responsibility to step up to the plate if they really feel this election is as important as it is. instead whorks do we have on stage? newt and mitt going for their four, five, maybe 15 rounds, and almost certainly coming out losers against president obama. we have a very weak field a

moment when you have a weak incumbent. jen i'm going to generalize but putting together the excuses some of these men -- whether it was chris christie, talking about his family, mitch daniels talked about the sacrifice my family made to get into the race. >> abraham lincoln was worried about mary's state of health when wondering whether to run in 1860, but when this is a national moment, a national crisis, at an historical inflection point as we are in 2012, you step up. they are the leaders of the republican party and instead you have a republican party that has represented the most extraordinarily weak field for as long as i can remember. they will be responsible when president obama takes the oath of office again a year from now. jenna: does the responsibility lie in the party of demanding more of the candidates and trying to make them better if these

are in-- indeed the can dismaints. >> you hope a fierce newt-mitt matchup promote the candidates, maybe make newt more of a sober campaigner and mitt more of an aggressive or confident campaigner but on the evidence right now, you see two guys, neither of whom is going to convince the majority of americans to fire president obama in november. jenna: why do you say, though, then that republicans deserve to lose, going from your opinion about the candidates to saying the republicans deserve to lose is a big loop. why do you say? >> because the party has responsibilities and the leader of the party have responsibilities but the primary voters also have responsibilities to vet these candidates seriously and not just say well, this guy is going to do great in a debate against obama and so therefore it's going to be an entertaining ticket. debates are not going to win the election for the republicans. they didn't win it for john kerry, they didn't win it for al gore, either.

jenna: let's look at some optimism, right? you have to have some optimism, there has to be a silver lining somewhere when you're looking at what's ahead. >> there's always a silver lining for america. it's a powerful country of the we will get through no matter what the result is. the possible silver lining is that if you have two crippled frontrunners in the republican party, come the convention, you may have a broker convention, you may have one of the members of the a team that you just put on your screen finally stepping forward and saying i have a larger responsibility than whether i go to all of my son's little league games. jenna: don't you think it would hurt them getting in, whoever that potentially hypothetically could be, if they haven't gotten in and suddenly get in at the last minute, could that be a leader not fully committed to the cause? >> maybe, or someone on the contrary who is exciting and someone who has the benefit of not having had that overlean be ambition from the very beginning. there is something

refreshing about that, if it's a candidate who has long experience, who's been in the public eye for a long time, and any number of those candidates who aren't running would fit that bill. jen have you heard from any of the candidates by the way? >> no, i've not but i expect i might. jenna: it was a provocative piece and we like talking about it, thank you. jon a scary -- a scary call from the home of demi moore, the star rushed to a hospital in los angeles. some new information about her condition, coming up.

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carried john f. kennedy, the cadillac cost $160,000 or thereabouts. there you go. a jury side wg country music legend garth brooks, failing an oklahoma hospital for failing to build a woman's health center with the money he donated in his mother's name, saying the hospital wanted to spend the money on a different project. the jury awarding brooks $1 million. jon: well, there's a new push to promote clean energy in california. a boost for the economy? or a bust for businesses and homeowners? always two sides to these stories. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles for us. >> reporter: it's not just california, other states are doing it as well and while the president promises more green subsidies to spur innovation, produce independence, create jobs, clear the air, the power being produced is not cheaper. >> the most -- to most consumers solar power looks cool and sounds great but

pricewise how does it stack up against conventional electricity? >> we're probably going to see maybe a 5-7 percent jump in bills in the next few years as a result of the renewable portfolio. >> reporter: california is one of 31 states with something called renewable portfolio standards that require utilities to buy green energy, regardless of cost. # states have renewable power goals. eleven states have none. critics say the green mandate acts like a hidden energy tax. >> this raises the cost of energy and it makes it less dependable. solar and wind power are not depend alible 24 hours a day. >> reporter: california requires utilities to generate one third of their electricity from renewables by 2020, the highest percentage in the u.s. >> we have something that is a real success story. it's california leading the country. >> but studies show california's aggressive green energy push is pushing up prices. californians pay 50 percent

more than neighboring states for electricity and 29 percent above the national average. while most consumers don't know where their power comes, from green advocates say renewals are worth it. >> it's a key part of our climate change strategy and it will create good, clean energy jobs >> reporter: that's true but it's also true many of the jobs are in china, the largest supplier of solar to california. so while, jon, there are many benefits to green energy in these renewable portfolio standards, things like wind and solar have not reached so called grid parity with coal and natural gas. back to you. jon william la jeunesse in l.a. for us, thank you. jenna: winter fun becomes a terrifying ordeal as an avalanche comes crashing down and buries a man live. it's all caught on camera and we have the dramatic rescue for you, next.

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jenna: a few guys out enjoying the fresh powder on their snow mobiles didn't realize how dangerous and real the threat of an avalanche was until it was a little too late. luckily, rick, they had a better outcome than it does at the beginning. >> reporter: it does but i got to tell you these guys have not been watching "happening now" because we've been telling but these avalanche conditions, areas of heavy snowfall, there have been a handful of deaths in the past few days and this close call happening in washington state, john swan son was cut ago trail on his snow mobile, hospitalized off to take a break, completely unaware of the wall of snow getting ready to crash down on him. luckily his buddy was watching whole thing. >> i actually thought the snow mobile was on top of me. it wasn't until i was undug

and looked at the hill to realize the whole hill gave away. >> it's like being in concrete. i guess i always had figured you could move somewhat, you wiggle here and there and create an air pocket, but there was nothing. the snow just filled totally in, filled my mask. >> reporter: jon's friends had a hard time locating him at first but in those critical moments they were able to find him. after ward, swanson said he wasn't sure what had happened but what did he do next? he got on his sled and rode more and he plans to hit the trails this weekend, too. you know what they say? you got to get right back on that snow mobile. jenna: maybe we have a new slogan, watch "happening now", it will save your life! tornado, avalanches, and everything else. we're glad he's okay. rick, thank you! jon: a quick look at what's going on in cedar rapids, iowa there, is the president who jetted there from washington on the heels of his state of the union speech. it's kind of customary for

presidents to travel and the country and try to reinforce some of the points they made in their state of the union speeches, the president last night talked a lot about the economy, he's appearing today at something called the conveyor, engineering and manufacturing plant. we have his remarks streaming for you live right now on foxnews.com if you'd like to listen in. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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