>> steve: he's getting into shape. >> brian: there you go. that's how. >> gretchen: that's how i'd do it. >> steve: tony hawk, the world's famous skateboarder riding on chris. >> gretchen: have a great day. >> brian: see you. going to learn because it is concrete. good morning, everybody, will it be health care's last stand or a permanent entriinto america's way of life? that is the big question today as the u.s. supreme court hears final arguments on the health care. anthony contend dishes long note as a swing vote on the court, seemed to be casting doubt on the government's case. that is how we read the tea leaves. nobody really knows. martha: until the fat lady sings it is really not over. bill: how are you doing. good morning. i'm bill hemmer. martha: i'm martha maccallum. justice scalia questioned how far can the government extend its power over the

people. here is a little bit of that. >> everybody has to buy food sooner or later. you define the market as food. everybody is in the market. therefore you can make people buy broccoli. bill: not that there is anything wrong with broccoli. shannon bream outside the court. what happens today, shannon. a doubleheader. >> reporter: they get to the issue of severability. does the law stand if the rest of the justice strike down the mandate. they have three different attorneys arguing that case. bill: on the issue of the mandate and what we heard yesterday what clues are we now getting from the justices and the arguments and questions they pose? >> reporter: everybody is looking what justice kennedy had to say considered the swing vote. he had tough questions for both sides. it is clear some of the justice staked out where they will probably vote. justice kagan seemed especially open to the government's excuse or excuse me, argument if you don't want to get into health care you still have an impact on the economic stream of commerce. here is a little bit of what

justice kagan had to say. >> aggregate of all uninsured people are increasing the normal family premium congress says by $1,000 a year. those people, are in commerce. they're making decisions. >> reporter: doesn't seem like her vote is in question. it is justice kennedy everybody is waiting for. bill: so this morning you have a session. and this afternoon you have another one, first time they have done that last week. the argument is over medicaid. what the issue there, shannon. >> reporter: 26 states challenging the law, under this law they would be forced to add millions to the medicaid roles at state level and they can't afford it. federal government will subsidize a good percentage. tapering off to lesser amount. the feds say if you don't go alongwith this, we take away your money under the medicaid funding. i talked to florida attorney general, sam bondi says, that could be coercion and we'll hear what the justice

thinks. bill: decision comes early june late june. what is the guess? >> reporter: term ends late june we expect it to be one of the very last if not last opinion. the justices have the prerogative. they can take this into the summer or into the fall. it is totally up to them. bill: we can hear the protesters in the background. shannon bream with a long day ahead of her. martha. martha: republicans seizing on yesterday's arguments. nebraska senator mike johanns and texas senator kay bailey hutchison suggested the law took a beating but are they right? >> i would say the today the government had a tough day. >> justice roberts certainly know if it is a tax that makes congress have the capability to do it. but basically said if looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck which means it is a mandate. it is an unconstitutional

mandate that will make this whole law unconstitutional. martha: interesting takes on the action yesterday. senator johanns went on to say the burden is on the government he believes to justify its actions. so we take it from there. bill: there is a much different story though, as you expect from senate democrats. they say it is a clear-cut case in their favor. here is patrick leahy first and senate majority leader harry reid following him. >> very obvious if this law is unconstitutional then tomorrow somebody could come in and attack social security for the same reason. that would be unconstitutional. >> there's a significant school of thought that the administration is, puts them in a better position for the election if it is turned down. now, i think it will be upheld but i don't know but you can read all that stuff as well as i can. bill: if the law was not upheld both men say they expect it to be a major issue in the coming elections. that is clearly the case,

whether it is or is not. this is going to play out in the election for the next six or seven months to come and beyond all likelihood. martha: lots more to come on that today. an interesting picture painted by the congressional budget office on the cost implications of the court decision. turns out according to them, cbo it will be cheaper to strip out the mandate but much more expensive to lose the law all together. some interesting numbers here. the cbo says if the court strikes down the individual mandate but keeps the rest of the law, that is basically the discussion that they will talk about today, with the issue of severability separating it from the law. they say that would reduce the deficit by $282 billion over a 10-year period. however if the court rules that the entire law is unconstitutional, the cbo says that it would decrease the deficit by $210 billion over, increase, excuse me, by up arrow there, by that

over the same period but that supposes there is no replacement for it. bill: the justices are not charged with deciding that either. martha: not at all. bill: they're looking at the merits of the law as it was given to them. alan wilson is the attorney general from south carolina. he was in court yesterday but will be there today and will be here in five minutes to talk about his observations. martha: let's turn now to the campaign trail here for a moment and a bombshell from newt gingrich. the candidate laying off a third of his campaign staff. also scaling back public events. just yesterday the candidate called off a two-day campaign trip to north carolina and faced questions about how long his campaign can continue. >> the money is very tight obviously. that's why we're trying to raise more money. we only canceled because of doing things in washington. martha: can he go much longer is the question of the when the money dries up it becomes problematic for campaigners. we'll talk to ronald reagan's campaign manager

about that. ed rollins has some interesting thoughts about the newt gingrich situation and he will be here moments away. bill: he sure does, martha. there is reaction from passengers after a pilot had a meltdown on a jetblue flight. he was locked out of the cockpit. this is cell phone video, from all passengers on board with the captain in the aisle. the copilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and he was screaming to passengers, say your prayers. the flight made an emergency landing in amarillo, texas. when the chaos started on board, passengers swung into action. >> i think a lot of us thought that he was, that somebody had gotten into the cockpit. you see an employee banging on the cockpit door you assume, a passenger had gotten in there or something like that. bill: well there's more to this story. the pilot was taken off the plane, tied to a stretcher. jetblue calls the incident a medical situation.

in a moment we'll have a live report with the latest what happened on that bizarre incident. headline of the day, "new york post." this is your captain freaking. apparently that is what he did. martha: you can just imagine. we've been hearing from the people sitting on that plane. he is saying say your prayers. they were trying to figure out whether somebody got in the cockpit. he is prevented from reentering his own cockpit from the copilot. by the way they did an amazing job handling that situation. he basically got the guy out and was able to land the plane. back to the whole oil prices question here for a moment. are the states starting to revolt a bit against president obama's energy policy? that is the question raised by this. utah has passed a law that demands the return of 20 million acres of their land from the federal government so that they can start drilling on it. colorado is doing the same thing. idaho and mexico are, new mexico, excuse me, are

also planning similar legislation to take control over their own resources. stuart varney joins me now. he is the anchor of varney and company and is with the fox business network which we're very glad about. stuart, this is interesting. how does this work out? >> it looks like a developing revolt by some western states against the restraints on drilling imposed by the federal government. you mentioned utah. they want 20 million acres back from the feds, put into state hands so they drill for the oil which they know is underground. at issue here is shale oil. there is literally more than a trillion barrels of oil locked into the shale underneath some western states. they know it's there. they want it and they're going to go and get it no matter what the president says. there is this developing revolt. consider what we were talking about yesterday. two new pipelines are being considered to bring canada's oil down south because the president is blocking the keystone pipeline. it is a developing revolt

but it is there nonetheless because we've got the oil and these states want to go get it. martha: it remains to be seen seen whether the federal government will allow that. you have interstate commerce issues to think about on that as well. that we'll wait on. meantime big spike continuing in gas prices specially in one key state, right, stuart? yes. in michigan home of the auto industry, just overnight, gasoline, regular in michigan went up over nine cents overnight. that is a spike. statewide average is $4.06. if you look at some of the individual cities in michigan it is a real spike, a spike 1/2 in fact. lansing, state capital, up 16 cents overnight. flynt, jackson, 17 cents overnight. spike in a key state. prices rose two cents overnight. the national average is

$3.91. most people in america are paying $4 for regular. martha: that is bummer way to start your day when prices fill up almost 10 cents overnight. stuart, thanks a lot. bill: interesting he mentions michigan, illinois and day or two ago and ohio last week. those are critical, critical areas of the country. meanwhile skyrocketing gas prices keeping tow trucks rather busy. aaa saying more and more drivers running out of gas on the road waiting too long to fill up. here is a driver in phoenix saying it was her friend's fault. >> i lent a friend my car for just a shorter rand so it was. and they left me with a thimble full of gas. bill: wow, that driver had enough gas to make it to the nearest station. aaa says the drivers to keep their tanks at least a quarter full. martha: some friend, huh? bill: here is your car back. martha: here is your car. bill: go to the gas station, chuck up a 100 bucks to fill

it up. martha: those are a few of the many stories we got cooking this morning. we're looking to the beginning of day three in the supreme court. we'll talk about what you can expect, what you want to listen for today. our next guest has been inside the hearings each day. he will be doing the same today. he says the law sets an incredibly bad precedent in his opinion. >> if you breathe congress can regulate you. that is what we've got to stop the slippery slope from happening. martha: he has been one of the biggest voices in this whole discussion. he will be here moments from now. that was south carolina's attorney general. bill: also battling a massive fire that is already claimed two lives, and forcing hundreds of homeowners to head for safety. we'll tell you where this is happening. >> when you build for 30 years and raise your children here, you don't want to watch your home go up in flames. >> it hurts. it is apt to hurt. we have had three bad fires up here but this one seems to have been the worst.

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bill: we are awaiting third and final day own supreme court hearings. health care law on 45 minutes. single vote from justice anthony kennedy. in yesterday's arguments, he suggested, kennedy did, the government will have a tough time prove people buy insurance. here is part of his argument. >> the government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act and that is different from what we have in previous cases. >> well -- >> that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way. bill: here we are, 26 states now fighting that law. my next guest the attorney general out of south carolina, alan wilson with me outside the court. sir, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: you were there monday and tuesday. heading back in for more.

what is your impression from yesterday? >> i was particularly excited to hear the justice asking questions concerning some of the issues we brought up two years ago. this lawsuit was originally called frivolous of the proponents of health care act. we're seeing supreme court justices, especially more moderate members asking questions showing their concern over issues we had problems with two years ago. bill: you expressed a sense of confidence. do you also have a sense of caution though? >> oh absolutely. bill: we're just trying to glean, you know, some clues in between the words that are being asked. >> i don't presume to be inside any of the justice's minds knowing which way they will ultimately opine. we obviously have precedent on previous cases that they have ruled on in their prior decisions, but the fact that someone like justice kennedy is making comments you just aired a moment ago are very telling to me. i don't know which way he is going to rule.

for those who thought this was a frivolous case, this is evidence it is not a frivolous case, it will fundamentally change the relationship between the government and its citizens. bill: appears some of the justice were looking for a very specific answer to the following question. where is the lilting principle? where does your power end with the government? did you pick up on that? >> oh absolutely. i believe scalia, even went as far to say that congress, federal government enumerated powers. the states do not have enumerated powers. the 10th amendment says the states retain all the other powers not given to the congress or prohibited by it. you're looking at a constitutional document that says, congress, here is what you are allowed to do. anything we don't specifically give you is retaped by the states. this is basically what it is about, the sovereignty --. bill: the other side would argue, then you have to overturn social security, another programs? is there merit to that argument? >> social security is it not under the commerce power.

the federal government is trying to pass this law under commerce power. there are other enumerated powers -- they could have passed health care law under the tax power. when they were passing it that wasn't politically expedient position to take. now they're running to the tax power under the constitution and that is what they originally intended to do. bill: congress can not pass massive tax increase and masquerade the matter as increase with financial penalties. >> they were afraid to do it then. now it is politically, or excuse me, constitutionally convenient to run to the tax authority. bill: you have to run inside the court. i appreciate the moment you spent with us sir. we appreciate. seems like the band came up from new orleans behind you there. alan wilson. >> thank you so much. bill: you bet. have a good day today. we'll catch up with you after the arguments are made later today. thank you, sir. martha: well, it could be a big problem for mitt romney. new numbers have many

rerepublicans worried about the general election. we'll show you numbers that came out today. bill: you're feeling lucky, aren't you? megamillion jackpot numbers worth a cool half billion dollars. you have to be in it to win it. martha: oh, is that right? >> no way i'm going to win. what the heck. never bought a ticket in my life. might as well try today. ♪

bill: some new economic numbers just in now, showing companies investing in new equipment and machinery but the number missed the estimate. commerce department says durable goods orders were up

2.2% last month. the increase follow as steep drop the month before. orders remain nearly 1% below their peak. that was december of '07. durable goods are things that are meant to last three or more years, everything from your toaster to your big ticket it many like the airplane. martha: winning ticket could be worded half a billion dollars, folks. think about that. nobody in 40 states was able to match all six winning numbers. so it keeps getting bigger and bigger. the new mega millions jackpot for friday's drawing. get your ticket by friday, whopping 476 million, bill. check that number out up there behind us. diane ryan with fox affiliate, w -- i'm sorry, kfaz in phoenix. diane, that is, what, that is a lot of cash. >> reporter: that is a huge record. there has never been one like it before.

if you win you walk away with $341 million that is what the payout would be on friday if somebody wins. martha: 341 million after taxes. what are the actual odds? how do they calculate that of winning that huge sum? >> well, that is the whole problem. the odds are huge. we're talking about one in 176 million. that is your odds. that is probably why a lot of folks did not win last night. martha: thank you, diane. wow, bill. so would you still show up for work? bill: i would show up for work --. martha: thank you, diane. bill: maybe you take a sick day the first day and get all your finances in order. martha: we would have a couple more days. bill: i am going to buy a ticket. i don't normally do that. what did we say earlier? you have to be in it to win it. if you win $105 million we would write washington a big ol' check. right on.

there are arguments that are not over yet but the spin is already starting. why one prominent democrat argues that losing the supreme court fight could be the best thing to happen to the party and the president? congressman dennis kucinich what he thinks about that. we'll talk to him. martha: and bieber fever making one grandma sick? not in a good way, folks. she may sue the teen heartthrob. what's that all about? [screaming] [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego.

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martha: liberal pun did james carville saying a loss in the health care battle at the supreme court could actually be a good thing he believes for his party. here's what he said, quote. i think this will be the best thing that ever happened to the democratic party. you know what the democrats are going to say? it is not completely justified. we tried. we did something. go see if 5-4 supreme court majority. blame it basically on the composition of the court is the suggestion there. democratic congressman dennis kucinich joins me now. good to have you here, sir, welcome. >> hi. martha: it is interesting to watch this play out i would say because, you listen to what some of your colleagues have said in the past, they were very confident that this would have no problem. let's take a listen. we'll chat about it. [applause] [bleep]. >> we knew what we were doing when we passed this bill. it is ironclad constitutionally. what happens in the courts is another matter. but we believe that, that

we're in pretty good shape going into the court. >> dissatisfaction, not in washington, but with the millions of family who is would feel for the first time the security of coverage. martha: so, congressman kucinich with that as a backdrop and confidence we saw going into this and we don't know how this will work out, what do you say now as you look at the process? >> obviously there is a chance that the bill could be struck down and if it is struck down, there has to be waiting, contingency plan to address the health care needs of 50 million americans who don't have any coverage and to address the concerns of businesses who can't afford health care coverage for their employees. to address america's manufacturing crisis which in fact due to the extraordinary costs of health care. i think if it is struck down you could see the path being set for a universal single-payer not-for-profit health care, medicare plan

for all. martha: you've always been advocate of single payer process. what do you think about jim carville's statement? if it does get shot down, do you think in the long run it could be turned to be a positive for the democratic party? >> only if the democratic party is prepared to move forward to say that they are going to construct a system which would cover all americans. if we talk about a narrow political benefit, there are still people covered by this bill for preexisting conditions, covering dependent children. if that is struck down as well we're looking at situation there is nothing to celebrate about. politically, narrow political victory is one thing. the fact that you have so many americans whose health care needs are still being met that is another thing. that is what he keep an eye on, if the democratic party has a legitimate position on this, if the bill is struck down we must be ready with alternative and frankly only one alternative left, that is medicare for all plan.

martha: would you be in favor, as i said, you've been long advocating a single-payer plan. do you hope it does get shot down in the supreme court so we can start at ground zero again and rebuild something that, you know, would be a better plan? >> no, and i'll tell you why. because, this plan showed that it was, when president obama's plan, you know, finally passed, it showed that reform was possible within the context of a for-profit system. i wasn't for that initially. i inevitably came on because i wanted to show that we could have some reform. there is another issue here though and that is whether or not congress has the ability to be able to regulate insurance companies that is an underlying issue. mark my words on this. if congress is suddenly told by the supreme court, doesn't have that ability to regulate insurance companies, then the court reads this as a mandate, we're in a situation where congress's role, constitutionally, as a first among equals is suddenly diminished by a supreme court which in a

sense takes the marberry versus madison case and amplifies to a court having a decision that in effect will put the supreme court above the ability of the people's house to be able to make legislation. martha: well, if that's the case, you know there is one line of thinking that this could be used during the general election as an argument for re-election for president obama. that he will want to continue to have greater impact on the composition of the supreme court. do you think that provides a general election point for him? >> well, it would, if it is seen by the white house as an opportunity to address the broad-based needs of american people through a medicare for all plan. if we're just talking about a tit-for-tat, well you voted against us. now we want to bring you down, that doesn't make sense. let's look at the bigger needs of the american people here. our political process has to serve the needs of the people and it has to go beyond just politics for

politics sake. martha: when you look at cost of it, cbo now scaled this, almost double what it was supposed to be, approaching two trillion dollars over the course of 10 years. doesn't that concern you and does it make you lean at all in the direction of hoping that it goes down so you can get something that, might be somehow affordable? >> i'm not going to join those hoping for this bill's demise. what i will say this, we spend $2.7 trillion a year for health care, all spending. of that amount, one out of every three dollars goes for corporate profit, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, cost of paperwork. if you take the money that goes for things not related to the health care and put it into health care you would have enough to cover all the health care needs of all the american people. inevitably health care for profit many abouts an issue. whether or not health care is basic right is an issue. the supreme court decisions

not with standing we'll still have to find a way to make sure everyone is covered in america. martha: dennis kucinich, thank you very much, sir, always good to have you with us. good to see you. >> thank you for the invitation. martha: absolutely anytime. bill: how big is the case we wonder? the supreme court scheduled six hours of oral arguments over three days,. that is most time for a single issue in more than 44 years. this is the first time the high court considered striking down the president's signature legislative achievement in the midst of his re-election campaign that is history too. $262 million spent on advertising, television about the health care law with opponents outspending proponents three to one so far. share this with you. happy home coming for the heroes of the massachusetts national guard. can not get enough of scenes like these. [cheers and applause] that was the melrose family. like the whole time came out for them. cheering for their loved

ones, coming home from afghanistan. 182nd infantry regment. coming home from a year-long deployment, a year-long deployment. and the crowd loved it. [shouting] from battlefield duty to bottle duty, one of the soldiers holding his newborn son for the very first time. what a moment that is. >> as a new mom what is it like to see your husband holding your first-born son? >> awesome, yeah. it's cool. >> what us did it make you feel like to know while you're so far away in conditions that you were in to show that she was so supportive throughout the whole pregnancy and eventually birth of your son? >> makes me feel fortunate for good family and friends. >> do you say he is mugging for the camera already? >> smiling a little bit. looking at his dad kind of. bill: cool stuff. formal welcome home ceremony is to be held a bit later for the national guardsmen.

every town should do it that way. martha: like all moms when the dad comes home from work even taking a year, here you go. bill: you're on the clock, man. martha: exactly. he will have to do his time now and look forward to it. great moment there. how about this? newt gingrich's campaign on its last legs. that is one of the big political questions this morning. the candidate scaling back on events, laying off staff but he is still promising a fight all the way to the convention, folks. he is feisty. we've seen it before. will he do it? bill: what about that strategy too. ed rollins tackles that and dozens of homes are destroyed. at least two people are dead, firefighters battling a growing fire in colorado. will the conditions change today? >> comforting but it frightens you when you can read the numbers off the plane coming across your house. >> at what point would you leave? >> i'm not sure. i've been here almost all my life now. i don't know.

e. the first one we're going to call x. go ahead and take a sip, and then let me know what the baby thinks of it. four million drivers switched to this car insurance last year. oh, she likes it babies' palates are very sensitive so she's probably tasting the low rates. this is car insurance y, they've been losing customers pretty quickly. oh my gosh, that's horrible!, which would you choose? geico. over their competitor. do you want to finish it? no. does the baby want to finish it? no.

martha: we have music for you this morning, folks. he is in the news over a twitter prank gone wrong. listen to this the beebs apparently asked the 19 million twitter followers, he has more than bill on ado, gave them phone number minus the last digit to call him on the phone. a phone belongs to a 81-year-old great-grandmother in texas, not too happy about this. her phone will not stop ringing. >> i know you're there. call me. i love you so much. >> i think it is pathetic. someone, i don't know, who it was, have your number changed. i've had this number since 1966. my granddaughter told me -- >> this is not justin bieber's phone number.

martha: she is not happy about that situation. however, she says she is considers suing justin bieber to make all of this stop but, she said she would settle for concert tickets for her great granddaughter. spoken like a true grandma. bill: she might have success on that. answer, i know you're there. martha: love that. >> his advisors calling it a big choice convention strategy. newt gingrich scaling back his campaign schedule and his staff to save money. the candidate was speaking about an hour ago, explaining the move on radio with wtop. have a listen right here. >> we're exactly why we're downsizing. we need to be able to stay in. you have to respond to reality. we have cash flow shorter than we would like it to be. we're doing appropriate things to be able to campaign. we had a good day on monday in delaware, in our home state of wisconsin. had a very good day

yesterday in maryland and, we're back campaigning. bill: what now? ed rollins, former national campaign director for the 1984 reagan-bush campaign and a fox news contributor. ed, nice to see you. you worked with michele bachmann and mike huckabee. not to shortchange them either. >> good morning. bill: what is going on with gingrich now? >> he is out of money. adelson is not giving anymore money. the super pac cut off the money. he never had a real campaign. newt has been newt throughout this thing. he fired most of his campaign, half of his campaign left early. he is running a nontraditional campaign. now will be more of a nontraditional campaign and less relevant. he is in distant third place. he is talking about cutting back to schedule. his schedule is going to sees and libraries and rare occasion going out to see voters. this dial a delegate will not work. bill: what he says he wants to prevent romney from getting to the magic number. if he can do that he could

have a position of influence at convention. >> he will have as much influence as his 130 delegates give him which is not very much. he will not be relevant the rest of the way. he is a very powerful, articulate man who certainly can put some ideas forth but you have to do it on fox network and other places. he will not be a fact are to. the idea he will go to the convention, they will have a national debate in front of the delegates is be a surd. that will not happen. there are people that control the conventions, party people and equally important, mitt romney will have the vast majority of delegates if not a majority and he will control the convention. bill: no way you see him influencing the convention? >> this is about as he will haven't as guys that play fantasy football influence the national football league, it is total fantasy. bill: i know a few of them by the way. some of them are in this building. what drives him with no money and no staff and if the super pac money dries up? >> he has a strong ego and

basically thinks that if he can get in front of an audience the audience will applaud and be converted. it is just not going to happen. he had a shot. he was a frontrunner for a period of time. he never put a campaign together. he had very talented people around him. he didn't use them. this has been a campaign run by him and his wife and daughters. bill: you have spoken before about his hatred for mitt romney. >> still there. bill: hatred. >> still there. bill: strong word. >> he started this he would be about ideas. i think he thought he could push the agenda of the republican party. for a period of time he became the frontrunner he thought he could be president. he saw romney attack him with millions of dollars in commercials and he resents that. bill: talk about the two other men. rick santorum, what is he doing now. >> he will continue. he will have some success but not enough to offset the romney machine at this point in time. he has to win pennsylvania. if the romney people beat

him in pennsylvania which is very close race there is no validity. bill: pennsylvania on the 24th. we have a little bit of time. wisconsin is tuesday? >> yeah, i think this week, wisconsin is a winner-take-all. my assumption is romney probably wins that. santorum will do well when we go south but we start coming to some big, big states that have winner-take-all and i think that romney will start rolling up those. bill: you think it is a question of time? >> definitely a question of time at this point in time. bill: seems we hit a lull in the campaign that will pick up again. it ebbs and flows s that typical you believe? >> every cycle is difference. last year was frontloaded in 30 days. difference when we had 20 debates. now when she should be having debates. bill: that's a great point. we now, you know, you're down to four very interesting. not had a debate in a month and equally important the interest of viewers and everyone else is diminishing by the day. bill: what is fascinating

for me to watch is the daily tracking you find with a guy like scott rasmussen between barack obama and mitt romney. >> right. bill: they are neck-and-neck every day. >> they will be neck-and-neck i think right up to the close here. it comes down to not a national poll but basically states and probably 10 or 12 states will matter. probably 20 counties. bill: it will be that close? >> that close. bill: ed rollins. thank you very much. >> pleasure. bill: shoot me an e-mail, hemmer@foxnews.com. or martha perhaps. martha: i love your question. we will answer it coming up. how about this? onboard a bizarre, truly, frightening flight. we're going to talk with one of the passengers who tackled the pilot who lost it on that jet blue flight yesterday. >> he came running down the aisle and was screaming, afghanistan. there's a bomb. i got to get in the cockpit. he started banging on the cockpit door.

bill: about nine minutes before the hour. syria's president claiming to accept a u.n. brokered sees fire as his troops stage a deadly new attack on opposition forces. the u.n. says more than 9,000 died in the year-long uprising there. u.s. nuclear regulators citing serious concerns about a california power plant. the facility south of l.a. has been shut down for two months. regulators doubt it will ever reopen. britain's queen elizabeth getting a makeover a tussaud's. unveiling the latest wax figure. modeled on her official diamond jubilee portait. in life she is more animated. martha: update the wax every once in a while. people change over the years. bill: i got you. i'm clear.

martha: because two deaths are possibly linked to this raging colorado wildfire. the massive fire forced more than 900 families to evacuate their homes. now federal fire crews are taking over in this situation. saying the fire may have been sparked by a quote, controlled burn, that they were operating in that area. some folks are worried that they may not have any home to come back to. >> comforting, but, it frightens you when you can read the vin numbers on the plane when it comes across your house. >> at what point would you leave? >> i'm not sure. i've been here almost all my life now. i don't know. >> yes, i'm worried and feel heartbroken for the people who have lot of everything. >> very much in the news. just trying to get any information we could. and then, saw the footage of our house, what was left of it. martha: that is awful.

joined by dan springer who is on the scene in conifer, colorado. you see the smoke rising in the distance behind your shot, dan. how is it going right now? >> reporter: you're right, martha. that couple you referenced. elderly couple, man, 77, woman 76. their bodies found at that home. one inside the home and one just outside. there is a woman from the fire zone who is missing. they have zero containment on this fire but that should change today because conditions to fight the fire are going to be better. wind are light. 23 homes so far damaged or destroyed. 6500 homes put on notice that they may have to also evacuate. 4500 acres burned so far. the national guard has been activated. we're expecting 450 firefighters to battle the fire today, alongwith a heavy airtanker and some water-dropping helicopters. yesterday the focus was on protecting homes. today they will try to contain this fire and put it out. martha?

martha: we talked about that controlled burn, dan. have they nailed down a cause of this wildfire? >> reporter: all indications are that is the cause but that is not the official one yet. the investigation continues but the colorado state forest service did do a controlled burn last thursday and friday in the a watershed area. watershed area that serves the people of denver. on monday a worker was checking for hot spots in the area and saw a fire burning out of control and it was being fed by gusts up to 70 miles per hour. this is video shot by a family fleeing their home that day. the timing of the prescribed burn is curious because denver is going through its driest march ever. only .3 of a inch of snow. residents are understandably upset. >> they set this fire, do you understand that? don't let them tell you it has not been set. don't let them tell you it's mother nature. it's not. it is a manmade fire set by jefferson county. >> reporter: the state forest service is not ready

to accept blame just yet. they say the investigation is continuing. you can imagine the liability if they are found at fault. martha? martha: that woman, that said a lot. thank you very much, dan. hope they get a handle on it. bill: think about when they have to make that decision when you leave. wow! when you lived your whole life there, it is a big, big deal. how is the lawyer for the government doing in making his case on health care? the white house coming to his defense. more coverage because we are only four minutes away from the latest round live in washington. we'll have that for you. martha: plus republican presidential hopeful mitt romney letting loose a can't-miss game of word association. i love these games, don't you? he played with none other than jay leno. that's coming up. [ male announcer ] for making cupcakes

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martha: it was a shocking situation at 30,000 feet. passengers forced to restrain the captain of the plane. incredible cellphone video capturing one of the most bizarre incidents we have ever covered aboard a commercial aircraft. brand-new hour starts now of "america's newsroom." welcome, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. it's stunning to think he got locked out of his own doc cockpit. fortunately show. it happened on a flight to las vegas. the captain rushed out of the cockpit and tried to force his way into an occupied bathroom. they say he had a mental break down. his copilot may have saved the day on board. >> he came over the intercom. please restrain them, we need to restrain them. that's when a bunch of male passengers went storming towards the front and they got him on to

the ground. >> he started yelling, it's going to blow up, or they are going to blow it up. i didn't know what he was referring to. bill: laura ingles live on this report. what do we know about the pilot's condition. >> reporter: according to sources the captain was taken to a year by medical facility under the care of the f.b.i. after the troubled flight landed safely in am rio, texas and is receiving medical attention. they have to decide whether charges will be filed. if they filed charges he may become the first airline captain every charged with interfering with his own flight. everyone who knows and works with the captain is trying to figure out what caused him to act erratically. the jetblue ceo says he knows the captain personally and describes him as a consummate professional. the captain was screaming, we're going down, ranting around iraq,

iran and bombs after running up the aisle of the plane after being locked out of the cockpit by the copilot. he is being called a hero for taking control of the situation. we have audio of the control tower exchange. >> runway 22 clear landing. >> clear land jetblue emergency, medical emergency. we need authorities to meet us. >> reporter: calm and cool after they tackled the captain to the ground and was restrained with belts. he was taken to a stretcher and taken off the plane. bill: the passengers on board, each of them have a story. >> reporter: it's one thing to have a passenger act up during a flight, we've heard about that. some on board the jetblue flight says they saw their lives flash before their lives when they realized it was the pilot acting out of control. >> if it wasn't for the people on this plane tying him up, then he would have killed us. >> it's good to be on the ground. i feel lucky. i'll problem below go to the

tables. >> reporter: a lot of people saying they hit the tables. he has been with jetblue since 2000 and a commercial pilot since 1989. his neighbors are shocked and his wife is speaking out saying there are several sides to every story. we have to wait for his. bill: normally on the route to vegas, all the action happens in vegas not when you're diverted to amarillo, texas. martha: can you imagine seeing the captain of your plane. all of these things go through your mind, wondering if he's a tera test reus. bill terrorist. bill: we'll talk to the guy who jumped on top of him in a while. martha: take a listen to mitt romney at a fund-raiser last night.

>> okay. incindominable. >> marco rubio. >> the american dream. >> paul ryan. >> creative. >> nikki hayley. >> nikki haley. >> energetic. >> donald trump. >> huge. >> rick santorum. >> press secretary. >> press secretary. martha: he had a pretty good night on the jay leno show. a pretty good comic time. a new poll has raised a few concerns perhaps for romney supporters out there. it questions his match up against the president, approval ratings lagging. 50% expressing an unfavorable opinion of mitt romney. the senior writer for the weekly

standard and a fox news contributor joins me now. steve moore, thanksteve joins me. how did he do. >> he seemed more more relax relaxed. i think he probably did himself some good. martha: this is one poll. it shows rising unfavorability ratings for mitt romney and increasingly better numbers for president obama. >> it does those and it shows those across the board. there are two areas of concern for mitt romney. on the one hand he lags behind president obama among independent voters with obama having a 50% favorability to 46% unfavorable. romney is down to 35 higher won favorable. he is lacking in enthusiasm and intensity from republicans. you have president obama with support from democrats up near

86%, where as mitt romney's support, his favorability among republicans is at 52%. there are two areas of concern for him if he is the republican nominee. martha: huge concern. if you can't rally independents and moderates and you can't fire up your base, you've got a big problem on your hands and it's going to raise that question again, steve about whether or not all of this inch fighting and prolonged process has hurt him. do you think that's what we are seeing reflected here. >> certainly, that is a big part of it. to a certain extent the numbers will flatten out or normalize when there is a one and one focus that the two men are putting forward, if it's mitt romney and barack obama. obama. more broadly there's been this internal debate among republicans in washington about whether this should be an election in which the republican

runs essentially as a referendum, as a generic republican so it's a referendum on president obama and his record or if republicans should go out of their way to create bold contrast and create real alternative argument. i think the romney team has favored the former and these results suggest that the latter might be more beneficial. martha: steve, very interesting. we have a long way to go in this race. a lot of people i don't think are paying attention or basing their statement on one or two things they hear on the campaign trail. a ways to go. steve, thanks so much. >> thanks. bill: new details now emerging in the shooting of a florida teenager trayvon martin. new reports say that he assaulted george zimmerman, zimmerman is the ro one who eventually shot and killed him. the florida police say the investigation is out of their hands but they are doing the best they can.

>> considering the circumstances, incredible. the men and women performing in an exemplary manner. i stand behind them 100%. this is something new to the city. i don't wish this upon anyone. and that is something that we are for getting about here, the men and women on the police department here are doing a remarkable job. bill: that is the acting police chief who stepped in on the matter. a student protest, this is a surveillance camera at a walgreens, about 100 students storming inside the store. they can be seen running up and down the aisles for five minutes. one store display was damaged inside the walgreens in miami. martha: a florida couple says they are living in fear after someone tweeted their address as the home of george zimmerman. matters got much lose when spike lee reportedly retweeted to awful his followers that address.

he has 250,000 followers and said quote, feel free to reach out and touch him. the address actually is miles away from the shooter's actual homes. the owners of the home say their son's name is george michael zimmerman and is no relationship whatsoever. they are fearing for their lives. you have spike lee retweeting someone's address. bill: there is a real good chance that the story is not going to progress until april 10th which is when the grand jury will convene there. pope benedict the xvi wrapping up history-day trip in cuba. celebrating a mass in revolution square 14 years after his predecessor pope john paul the ii preached on the same spot. we hear a lot of speculation

fidel castro will meet with the pope before the depart you're today. how significant will that be? >> reporter: well, bill, it is significant. overall it's highly symbolic as the trip is, clearly the pope coming to see cuba. that is huge because the church has been so limited here and because of what fidel is here, such a symbol for cuba, along with hugo chavez, what communism is here in this part of the world. because of who john paul the ii was and his fight against communism it is important and it's a show of good will. there are some major problems when you hear the pope talking about religious freedom, he's essentially saying more room for education, freedom of education, run schools for the church. bill: let's see if it makes a difference in the end. thank you. martha: landmark moments inside the supreme court showdown that

is ongoing this morning over healthcare. here is a moment of that from chief justice john roberts. >> purchased for it's own sake like a car or broccoli, it is a means of financing healthcare consumption and covering universal risks. well a car or broccoli aren't purchased for their own sake either, they are purchased for the sake of transportation, or broccoli, covering the need for food. i don't understand that thinking. martha: don't you love listening to these? they are fascinating. who knew it would come down to cars and broccoli and that would be diskeusd by these esteemed justice. it's really fascinating. moments ago the white house came up with a statement, they are sticking up for their lawyer basically who had a pretty tough day in court yesterday. bill: high in the sky a passenger tackling the crazed jetblue pilot at 35,000 feet is here live to tell us how this thing went down.

martha: what was that? bill: no fumar, or something like that, right. martha: you bet when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbels chunky. it's amazing what soup can do.

bill: new this morning the judge dropping the most serious charges against members of a michigan militia. they accused the group of being homegrown terrorists plotting against the government. the lawyers argued they only made offensive statements. the judge's decision ends the trial for several ever those defendants. >> i'm just happy to be leaving today, and i'm happy we won, and i'm happy not going to be in jail for th the rest of my life. we are not anti-government, really, we are just anti-for some of the things the tkpwo*

government does. i'm just speaking for me personally. bill: two members face charges for weapons. we'll see how that goes. martha: moments ago they began the proceedings at the supreme court and it is another momentous day, day three, the final day of hearing this argument. the lynchpin in president obama's healthcare law hangs in the balance right now as the supreme court has begun to review whether the individual mandate should be stripped from the law and the mandate requires that either buy insurance or pay a fine, that is the central issue to this overall argument. meanwhile the obama administration has just a few moments ago started to defend their top attorney, who has been taking a lot of heat for his performance yesterday. here is an exchange between justice alito and the solicitor general. >> it says that you and i walked around downtown washington at lunch however and we found a couple of healthy young people and we stopped them and we said,

you know what you're doing? you are financing your burial services right now because eventually you're going to die and somebody has to pay for it and if you haven't saved money for your buriel service you're going to shift the cost to somebody else. >> i think it's completely different. the reason is that the burial example is not -- the difference is here you are regulating the method by which you are paying for something else, healthcare. >> i don't see the difference. you can get burial insurance and health insurance. most people will need healthcare. everybody will be buried or cremated at some point. martha: very interesting exchange there. some, though are warning that neither side should jump to any conclusions about how all of this is going at this point. we are very glad to be joined bid neese a former u.s. attorney general welcome, good to have

you here today. >> thank you. it's good to be with you. martha: what do you make of that exchange. the white house is coming out and saying that he did a great job yesterday, what do you think that about exchange, and then we'll go from there. >> i think it's a very interesting exchange he which puts the finger on this particular issue that was discussed yesterday, and i certainly -- i was surprised the white house felt they had to come out. i wouldn't blame the poor solicitor general. he has a very difficult tas tock do. the president is very fond of saying, if you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig. well if you put lipstick on obamacare it's still unconstitutional. martha: i've seen some of the senators and people responding to all of this. patrick leahy was talking about the healthcare bill an said how is it different than social security, for example, which everyone has to pay into as part of -- out of their paycheck. what do you say to that analogy? >> well it's very clear there is a big difference.

social security is clearly a tax, and it's been a tax since the 1930s when it was first imposed. here they are trying to say this is not a tax, this is something that people are being required to pay for, and if they don't buy the insurance from an insurance company then they are going to pay a penalty to the federal government, and the white house at least claimed all the time that they were going through the passage of this legislation that it was not a tax. so that is the big legal distinction between social security and obamacare. martha: the white house also said in defense of how this process is going so far, that in the prior two decisions that ended up going their way, they said u know what you know what, early on there was similar tough questioning of our attorney and we ended up winning. do you think it is premature, obviously it is premature. what is your assessment of how this whole thing is looking right now? >> i will agree that t you can never tell exactly how something is going by the way the oral

argument happens to be. at the same time i think we have to look at the legal analysis, and i think the only competent legal analysis you can make of this particular issue is that obamacare is not constitutional. this is different than anything that's been tried before, and if in fact obamacare was held to be constitutional under the commerce clause, then i think we would have as one of the justices pointed out in the arguments yesterday, we would have a whole new relationship between the individual citizen and the united states government. that's really the issue here. martha: i do want to squeeze in one more quick question. the issue of several built. if the mandate is shut down can the rest of the bill survive in your opinion. >> the statute itself dotes not have a serve ra built clause. it won't be the first time the court applied that. i don't think anyone will know

until they come up with their decision in june. martha: thank you so much for joining us today. bill: the trayvon martin. patti ann: shifting to washington. our politicians using the strategy t -- this tragedy to score bullet cal points. martha: jetblue passengers had some ride on their way to vegas. juvenile -pd into action after the pilot apparently had a mental break down of sorts. three minutes from now we'll hear from one of those passengers. we'll get his firsthand account of what happened on that plane. >> we've had a lot of business dealings together and also personal, a good friendship. very quiet family. you never hear anything from them, or rarely ever see them, so this is -- this is really a shock to me. [ kyle ] my bad.

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martha: breaking news that just crossed the wires in a bizarre murder case. a murder of a vermont prep school teacher. a snowplow driver and his wife are now being charged in this young woman's death. a 31-year-old and 30-year-old wife facing second-degree murder charges in connection with melissa jenkins death. police have just announced the arrests at a news conference. they took no questions, no motive given. more to come on this mystery. bill: sorting out this bizarre incident on board a commercial aircraft, first the captain was heard saying all kinds of crazy things and the copilot locked him out of the cockpit. that doesn't happen, folks. passengers then restrained the captain on board this jetblue

flight from new york to las vegas. he was ranting about the plane going down, something about iran and iraq and then he was held down, taken away in an ambulance after the plane was diverted to amarillo, texas. here is one on board. >> about five, ten minutes later he kind of rushed to the front of the plane and started punching in the numbers to get inside the cockpit. he started banging on the door, kicking on the door trying to get inside the cockpit. bill: david gonzalez was on board. david is one of the passengers that tackled the pilot and physically sat on him until the plane landed in amarillo, texas, a retired new york city corrections officer. david, what a story you with and good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: i want you to be the eyes and ears for us on board that plane. you were in the second row. you had seats 2b and 2c. >> that's correct.

bill: when was the first time you saw or heard that pilot. >> actually, i seen him come out the cockpit and actually try to make entry to the bathroom nearest to the cockpit. normally they barricade the area to avoid anybody from interfering in that -- when he opens up the cockpit door, and he continue get in, there was a young lady in there, and then he decided to, i guess, the stewardess told him to go to the back of the plane. at that time when he came back up front he was just a different person. he started to kick the cockpit door, and he says, why did you change the code on me? and the stewardesses right away tried to tackle the guy and it escalated toward the side of the door, where now i started to react because i just thought he was just going to pull the handle and open up one of the doors. i asked is there anything i can

do. and she said, please help me. apparently she had a fractured rib, and her chest was hurting, and so he started yelling at me, and basically telling me, you know, you got to pray to the lord, which i do any way, and he talked about iraq and iran, and that he wa, and as he was pointing to me i was able to grab his hand and put him in a choke hold. at that time it was a struggle, i couldn't get to his throat in time. i managed to get to his throat stopping the air flow to his brain to try to get him subdued. in a situation like that you're just trying to calm this guy down. bill: listen, people need to understand, you're the father of five and this guy is up and down the aisle saying you better start praying right now. >> that is correct. bill: i don't know what was going through your head, but the way you describe this guy as being one person before he went inside the bathroom, another

person when he came out, others say he was drinking a lot of water at the time. what in the world changed with this man, do you believe? >> i don't know. i just know when he came out his eyes were almost popping out of his head, and i just -- i just knew that the stewardess continue handle him any more, and i realized, hey, you know, if i'm not going to get involved now, you know, there is 130 people behind me, i just thought about just taking him out, try to get him to the floor, and stopping him -- bill: you don't want him to get back in that cockpit, did you? >> no, no i never would have let him back in there. he almost got in with one kick, and that's when the stewardess got involved, and the altercation escalated to the side door, and that's when i just said, something has to stop. i thought his intention was to open the door and just let it just come down. bill: you made a comment saying

you weren't sure you'd be here right now if he got back in that cockpit. >> yeah, yeah it was dangerous. bill: i'm certain this is not the trip to vegas you had anticipated. but the iron near is they're going to give you an award a bit later today. you being a corrections officer, off-duty, on-duty perhaps saved the lives or perhaps injury to a lot of people, david. thank you for your time. i guess what happens in vegas no longer stays there. >> no it doesn't. bill: you have a story to tell. >> thank you so much. thank you for your time. martha: thank goodness that man was on that flight. and all of the security guards heading out to vegas. who knows it could have been a very, very different story. bill: they had bulk on board. martha: how about this one. hollywood stars sometimes give their children some sort of interesting, different kinds of names. wait until you hear which star choose her baby's food before giving it to him. that's a story you don't hear every day. bill: that's intimate.

justice anthony kennedy could be the key to healthcare for millions of people. after this the judge is on this. he'll break it down, and this is fascinating. picking a wireless network

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three-quarters of the country because nato could finish training 350,000 afghan security forces by this summer. and an ohio judge ordering a mental competency test for t.j. lane, a teenager accused of killing three school mates last month. the judge's decision postponed the hearing in that case that was set for next week. and a new study finds that the galaxy may actually be full of plan events that could possibly sustain human life. how about that? it finds 40% of the plan events in the milky way have atmospheres that could maintain liquid. now what that means. bill: road trip. martha: there is something out there. bill: there we go. load it up. today the third and final day of supreme court hearings on the constitutionality of the healthcare law. but did you know what happens when the arguments are over? the judge is with us now, andrew napolitano, fox news analyst. good morning to you. three points i want to make.

the judges will hold a conference, then have an initial vote to see where they are right now on the issue. the initial vote comes today? >> reporter: it's a little flexible as to when they'll do it. given their pattern they'll probably take their first initial vote this afternoon or tomorrow morning, and it will be on all the issues from all three days of oral argument. that will divide them into camps. let's just say it puts four in one camp and five in the other, then the senior justice in the camp of four will decide which of those four will write the dissenting opinion. and the senior justice in the camp of five, the chief justice is senior whatever group he he is in will decide who will write the majority pin. and then they'll start circulating drafts. bill: they take an initial vote because they want to see where they are, right? >> reporter: absolutely. the next process is writing opinions and they'll need to know which side is going to prevail, who is going to write

the majority opinion, what the reasons for the majority opinion are going to be, who agrees with the reasons and who disagrees. bill: over the next two or three months they spend writing these opinions and sharing briefs, circulating and deliberating, perhaps? >> reporter: they circulate drafts are opinions, and sometimes an opinion can be crafted in such a way to pick off a justice from the other side by maybe softening the tone, or narrowing the scope of the opinion so as to attract a justice there the other side. that could have a profound effect or little effect. bill: it certainly could. if you're a judge that is on the fence, your colleagues could make a convincing argument to get to you go one way or the other. >> reporter: correct, if it's five-four one way it d could end up five-four the other way if a justice changes his mind or her mind because that person finds the draft the other side more appealing than the side that they are on. it is fluid until the opinions are crafted. once the majority opinion is

written, it's written, the decent writes the decent, the majority is permitted to redraft the majority opinion to comment on what the decent is. bill: wow, what a panel that is. now the court typically wraps up their term in june. >> reporter: yes. bill: we would expect a healthcare ruling likely to be one of the last delivered in the final weeks. >> reporter: chief justice roberts has run the most efficient court in modern times. they usually sit until the lots friday of june. the the past two years they've got even out a week early. expect this some time the second week of june. bill: there are a lot of people yesterday saying, you know, hey kennedy said this. therefore this is what is going to happen. you buy that? >> reporter: i think people should restrain their joy. i think people should not be jumping -- i believe this is unconstitutional. i personally was happy with what justice kennedy said. bill: you don't know what they are going to do. >> reporter: no i don't. the process of drafting and

redrafting and challenging the ideas of one colleague could produce a result different from what many people thought was apparent yesterday. bill: who knows what it will be tomorrow. >> reporter: that's right. martha: the official police report in this case is now shedding some new light on the shooting death of trayvon martin. but a has the whole situation turned too political. alan combs and tucker carlson will be here on that. bill: on the left is the boss of new jersey and on the right is just the boss. what garden state governor chris christie wants from bruce springstein, have you heard? ♪ [singing] [ grandfather ] that a boy!

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martha: florida police revealing

new details about the night that an unarmed teenager named trayvon martin was shot to death. the now publicly-released police report says that six witnesses were identified at the scene. some of them just heard things, did not see things. the officer said that george zimmerman was hurt, that he was given first aid after he was put into the police car, but calls for justice have come from the white house and from the haul of congress on this story. here are two lawmakers weighing in. >> there is no doubt that there was a failed investigation. we make no accusations, but what we ask for is for the failure to be remedied. >> now i'm not going to be politically correct, i'm going to say it like i see it. trayvon was hunted down like a rabid dog. he was shot in the street.

he was racially profiled. martha: an indication of some of the way of speaking about this whole thing that we're hearing over the course of this week. alan combs is here, host of the alan combs radio show. tucker carlson is editor of the daly caller and a fox news contributor. welcome to both of you gentlemen. this has been a very, very hot story, difficult story to get your arms around, a lot of what we sort of initially heard about it has changed a little bit, given some of the indications that have come out in this police report. do you think it's wise for democratic lawmakers to speak this way about this story at this juncture? >> i understand why they would. i don't think we could make this. or should make it a partisan issue, however, because there is still information coming in. we haven't heard all sides of the story. other new information that just came in is that the lead homicide investigator suggested

a manslaughter charge and the police department declined to do that. we also found out that some of the photos of trayvon martin that have been put up, particularly on conservative web sites, which would look menacing are not the right photo. there are all kinds of misinformation coming in as well. we can't make determinations until we have all the facts, obviously. martha: there is some confusion on that point, since you brought it up, about that investigator who was on the scene who was going to put a manslaughter charge down. i know, tucker you guys have been looking into this. it was on the front page of the daler caller in terms of information. do you have any new information on that point. >> we sent a reporter to florida, we have a number of reporters working on it. the one thing you learn this covering specific crimes is you really don't know as much as you think you do. it always changes. for people to weigh in, for professionals like the ones you saw on television, or the president himself to weigh in and make it a simple parable

about racism is very foolish. do you really want to have a conversation about who kills who he in this country? do you want to look at statistics? this is not something that they should weigh in at all. the president steps up and says, this boy looks like my son would have looked. they say he was killed because of the way he looked. bill: if a white president was shot and a white president said he could be my son, he wasn't playing the race card at all. >> people are shot every day tragically and the president doesn't weigh in on it. he weighed in on it because it's a racially charged case, and he shouldn't have done that. martha: we have another part of that statement. let's play that. i. >> i think every parent in america should be able to

understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened. >> that's wrong with that? >> obviously a very fair & balanced statement. we have to look at all the aspects of this. have all the authorities look at it on every level and get the answer. martha: i thought the president was very careful in his statement that he made, tucker. >> i think the fact that he made the statement in the first place. i don't know if you're intentionally pretending you don't understand what is going on. >> i'm not pretending anything. >> there is a reason that the congressional black caucus and the completely irresponsible congresswoman from florida you just saw are weighing in on this. as are alsharpton and the entire anchor line ups of a couple other cable networks because he are making this into a case based on race. it maybe. we just don't know that. you shouldn't say that.

i don't even know what you're talking about. my site which is the largest of awful them has actual reporters on here trying to uncover facts, which we are doing. >> good. >> this is not a race case. martha: final thought from you on that, alan. >> certain things we know. we know that somebody without a gun was shot by somebody with a gun. we also know that there was a 911 call where you hear him being told, that is zimmerman being told, don't pursue, we'll take care of it and he appears to continue to pursue. had that pursuit not taken place trayvon may have been alive today. >> we know the man who shot trayvon was injured somehow. let's wait until all the facts come in. >> correct, let's get those facts. martha: it's a very hot topic. thank you for being with us this morning. bill: unfortunately it seems a long way from resolution. martha: it does indeed. bill: jon scott standing by, what you cook up there, jon.

jon: as you bell well know there will be breaking news as the oral arguments wrap-up on the president's healthcare overhaul. plus the follow-up on what some call pink slime. the beef companies are saying their product is being unfairly targeted, and talk about the media's role. we'll also tell you about the latest animal infestation in florida, snakes and now giant rats, oh my. that is coming up. bill: you're going to have some headlines today. see you in ten minutes, thank you, jon. martha: you know, fireworks aren't much fun when you are not expecting them to go off. look at that. the chaos that forced dozens to run for their lives. [sound of exploding fireworks ]

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martha: people ran for their lives after this huge explosion. look at this. cameras rolling at a fireworks factory that lid up the sky in thailand. it set off a chain reaction. four warehouses full of fireworks were destroyed. the factory closed at the time. they have no reports of injuries. we hope that will be the case. what are they going to do on the 4th of july when all the fireworks warehouses are gone. bill: that's where the sign says no smoking. this caught our attention, a harvard study found kh- alcohol can help men live longer. senior national correspondent john roberts is live on this. what did you find out?

>> reporter: the national bartender association and the harvard school of public health, you know, it really does tell us all things in moderation. a reasonable amount of alcohol is good but a large amount of alcohol is bad. for men who are moderate drinkers, two beers or two four ounce tkpwhraes of wine or four shots of liquor today, if they had a heart attack and kept drinking the same amount afterwards their risk of dying from vascular disease was lowered by 42%. >> previously it was unclear whether or not men should continue to consume moderate amounts of alcohol after they experience a heart attack. our study shows that moderate alcohol consumption should not be discouraged if they were already consuming alcohol, and in fact may improve longevity. >> reporter: medical science still doesn't know exactly how it does. it increases levels of hdl in your bloodstream, that is the

good cholesterol. you are better able to metabolize sugar. increases a clottin factor and decreases markers of inflammation. so, bill, this all would appear to be very good stuff for your heart. bill: is the recommendation, or do they maybe the recommendation that you should have a drink after a heart attack or start drinking to some extent? >> reporter: they don't make the recommendation. medical science, doctors skeptical about all of this. while there may be up sides to alcohol there are also some potential down sides. listen to this word of warning from doctor marc siegl a member of the fox news medical a team. >> alcohol is a toxin, it's toxic to the liver and it's toxic to the heart. so if you drink too much alcohol your pick link the heart and it damages heart tissue. you can never tell a patient with heart disease that they should drink alcohol. that is not sound medical advice. >> reporter: remember, keep in mind it's only two drinks per day. you go above that you can

actually reverse the good affects the alcohol brings. bill: moderation indeed. thank you john. happy hour is in six hours down there in atlanta. i'm going to try that out after lent. martha: all during lent not one glass of beer, wine, anything, we are so proufd you. bill: so far. ten more. i'm not counting -- martha: you are counting every day. all right. how about this chris christie is hoping this a brand-new casino means that atlantic city's glory days will be back. why he is asking bruce springstein to pitch in and do the right thing for his beloved state. the governor is on his way to his 127th bruce concert. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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bill: from one boss to another. in jersey the governor chris christie calling