show show. we're going to have him come up with a new theme song for "fox & friends." >> brian: they got a great song. about see them on the road. ♪ good morning, everybody. fox news alert the with al qaeda on the verge of another brazen attack on u.s. with a sophisticated bomb. cia stopped it but we're learning about multiple plots out there. the authorities picking apart a device found in yemen similar to the underwear bomb by the attempted christmas day bomber in december 2009. welcome to "america's newsroom." i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning. i'm martha maccallum. this terror plot unraveled around the university of bin laden's death. al qaeda wanted to blow up a plane using an underwear bomb that had no metallic parts meaning it would have slipped by airport

officials. officials addressing this as the plot unfolded. >> the terrorists keep trying, keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible bay as ways to get innocent people. >> what this didn't makes clear this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country. and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. bill: with me now, michele bachmann being out of washington, a member of the house intelligence committee. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: that is area of expertise for you. what more can you add? >> we'll have update later today on the intelligence committee from updates from the cia i think the secretary of state and the defense secretary hit it right. this is new threat coming to the united states and potentially around the world and we must make surere that this does not happen. our defenses have to be such

that we can keep the american people safe. we have to be on top of this. bill: how many more are out there? >> well of course that's something i can't say, how many more are out there. we need to make sure we catch them before they are out bringing havoc on the rest of the world. bill: is there an slas explanation why there is no alleged bomber? why the suspect is said not to be a threat at this point? what would explain that. >> again i think the information is sensitive. it needs to be held closely within the cia at this point. what we need to make sure we interdict all these attempts. one thing i would like to say. this should be a very positive world for people around the world. the fact that time after time after time we have to foil the plots before they happen. remember they have to be right once. we have to be right every time. so this is a very sensitive issue and something that we have to be on top of. bill: indeed. the reason i asked that question because authorities

are quoted as saying, catherine herridge has said herself out of washington, no need to be concerned about this person anymore which leads you to believe was this conducted in a raid? was this attack on the ground? was there person taken out by a drone? all these pieces yet to be filled in. >> i think that information will come at the appropriate time. there is a transparency but at the same time there is balancing act dealing with the sensitivity and we always have to err on the side of keeping american people safe. bill: indeed. what does it say to you that they had some sort of detonation device perhaps would not have been able to be detected by the most sophisticated machines we have today in our airports? >> what it says we need to keep ahead of the terrorists and auld of our technology and all of our equipment has to be such that it can have detection because we simply have to have safe travel for people here in the united states and across the world and that's why it is imperative that we have the very best intelligence and we act on that intelligence. we have to make sure the feds speak with the state

and speak with the locals and private industry as well. the threat level is probably higher than ever before and we need to make sure that we're on top of it because there's, we have the entire world to cover and that's why it is important that we are on top of these threats. bill: big, big, job, to keep everybody safe and alive. michele bachmann, we'll be in touch with you and your office pending that briefing later today from washington. >> thank you. martha: interesting. she says the threat is greater than ever before. just hours after the news broke on this bomb plot we heard from the chairman of the house homeland security committee, congressman peter king. he explained the way he saw this specific threat. >> this was intended to be on an american plane, american-bound plane. it never made it onto the plane. there was never a danger of it going off in a plane and americans being put at risk. martha: so congressman peter king has had overnight to get more information on all

of this. he will be here later in the show. more on the investigation and the u.s. response. bill: officials have now been warning about the threat pose the by al qaeda out of yemen for some time now. estimated 300 members of al qaeda in that islamic country. the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula formed in 2009. they have been at war with the government of yemen. seizing towns in certain areas of the country in the tribal regions outside the capital city. we're working on more details on this story. as we get them we'll pass them along to you here. martha: we have a fox news alert here. the u.s. border patrol is unveiling its first new operations strategy in eight years that is happening today. it is expected to more targeted response as agency described as constantly evolving threats at our nation's border. national security correspondent, or national correspondent i should say steve centanni joins me live from washington. what is the new approach on this, steve? >> reporter: martha, it puts

more tell emphasis on intelligence gathering than the agency had before. old strategy was focus border patrol resource on popular border points which drove the immigrants to remote locations where they're easier to happen again. they're discouraged to stop crossingsing because of difficult terrain. the new approach according to the associated press to identify repeat crossers and why they keep coming and risk they pose to national security. the border patrol in 30-two page report outlines the new strategy response to very changing threat. the chief mike fisher, chief of the border patrol is expected to outline a new strategy before a house subcommittee today, martha. martha: steve, how does the border patrol say it ising changing to adapt this way? >> there are changes. crossing but undocumented immigrants has declined dramatically. first time there are slightly more mexicans

leaving the u.s. than enter iting. there are figurers from the fworder patrol for you. they made 327,000 apprehensions last year which is down 80% from 2000 when the number was 1.6 million. 2011 was slowest year for illegal border crossings since 1971 at the same time there are more border patrol agent than before. there are 21 thousand agents more than double the number working in 2004. there is increased spending on cameras, high-tech sensors to detect border crossing. the new strategy designed to do tail with the new enforcement down there on the border, martha. martha: steve, thank you. see you soon. bill: a bit of context on this now. the u.s. and mexico share a nearly 2000-mile border. mexico drug killings are rising every year. 2011, after an after 48 deaths per day. first months of 2012 more

than 3,000 people were killed in drug-related violence. martha: and to politics now. presumptive republican presidential nominee getting a new endorsement from his primary rival, conservative favorite rick santorum but it came late in the evening and it was basically buried deep in an e-mail and that has led many folks to characterize it as somewhat tepid lukewarm. here is what santorum wrote in the e-mail. as often said personnel is policy. i strongly encourage governor romney as he builds out his campaign staff around advisors that he add more conservative leaders as an integral part of his team. you can be sure i will work with the governor to help him in this task, to insure he has a strong team that will support him in his conservative policy initiatives. but santorum also writes they both agree that president obama must be defeated. lots of talk, scuttlebutt about that endorsement and

what the meaning really is last night. bill: gas prices falling for the 52-week in a row, decline, rather that is easing some fears that we'll see more than $4 a gallon by the summer across the country. aaa national average, $3.76. still up 47 cents from the start of the year when we were at $3.29 a gallon. is the recent price drop good news or just a tease? stuart varney, fox business network. what gives out there? >> let me start with the good news, may i, bill? it is good news for drivers. it is good news for truckers and drivers because diesel is down as well. it is good news for consumer spending power. your money will go further. the point is that, i'm sorry, regular gas is down about 20 cents a gallon since the end of march and it will probably go down some more. that's because the underlying price of oil has gone from $107 down to $96 a barrel today. so the good news is gas

prices down and probably going down some more. there is however, a flipside to that coin. lower gas prices are an indicator of a weakening economy. as the economy weakens we buy less gas and that's exactly what is happening. think about it, bill. last couple weeks we've been reporting far less job creation. home prices down some more. america is not working. not many pay checks out there as many as used to be. so it is an indicator of a weakening economy even though it is good news for drivers an consumers. bill: does that reflect on our economy or other forces at work outside our borders? what is happening in europe right now, is it forecast of its growth and reflection on that? >> no. primarily the american economy which has weakened this year. we had 3% growth last year. now we're down to 2% growth. a lot of people think it is down to 1% by the summer. bill: that jobs number we had last week, not impressive. stuart, thank you. see you five minutes on fbn

have a terrific show. >> thank you. martha: he will. he always does. coming up right here the obama administration says they will move ahead now with plans for a huge natural gas field in utah. so will that satisfy their energy critics? eric bolling is standing by. he will tell us what he thinks about that. bill: cool. those are, some of the stories we're watching. also in a moment we have this horrific attack on a mother and her frightened daughter. what we see this mother do may surprise you the most. we'll explain what is happening with that black and white surveillance video. martha: president obama obama taking credit for the pulling trigger and instigating the president obama attack. what if what happened on that night didn't work? there is new memo revealed shows how the president may have worked to cover himself from any criticism. >> that was a highly-lawyered memo. >> wow! you're saying that this was designed to protect

the president politically? >> i think there will be more coming tumbling out of that escapade. so far that memo is enough.

bill: startling revelations from the former attorney general that secretary of defense leon panetta drafted political cover for president obama. in the event the usama bin laden raid failed, michael mukasey revealed if it went wrong the blame would have fallen on a navy admiral, william mcraven, in charge of special-ops. he was the commander in charge of the raid. here is mukasey with sean hannity. >> there was a memo from leon panetta that described the authority that was given to mcraven, to proceed according to the risks only according to the risks that have been outlined to the president. if he encountered anything else he had to check back. you better believe if anything else had been

encountered and the mission had failed, then the blame would have fallen on mcraven that is what that is about. bill: what about all this? mike baker, former cia covert operations officer. what do you make of that allegation? >> i think, if you worked in government for any period of time, particularly in operations it doesn't necessarily surprise you. it is disappointing in the sense that, you know, the old saying the buck stops here but the idea that there was a, as mike mukasey pointed out, a heavily lawyered memo designed to try to get the buck to stop with admiral mcraven who heads up socom it isn't surprising n operations in my old outfit there were occasions when the lawyers would come in and say, basically explain to us, look, we're here to protect the agency and director. so good luck. it's to be expected in a sense but it is disappointing because old school, old days, you know guys like eisenhower and others they made it very clear that, you know are the

credit goes to the troops and the blame goes to me. not the other way around. bill: so is this standard operating procedure or not? or is it the way things are done today but not before? >> well, i think it's become more and more the way things are done. is it standard operating in the procedure in the current administration? yes and, you know in the past were there heavily lawyered memos? yes. so but i agree i was on the show with mike mukasey i could see how agitated and angry he was over this and i do agree with him. my point being it's not necessarily a surprise in this day and age. bill: what mukasey said, and maybe you caught this during the interview with hannity, he said i think there will be more that comes tumbling out about that escapade. what does he mean? >> i think what he is referring to in a sense nobody in washington can keep their yap shut for very long anymore. just as if, when when you think about the decision that president obama has been talking about, how difficult this decision was

for him to launch this attack on bin laden, think about what his options were. option, a, we have sufficient actionable intelligence not conclusive and we go with it and it works. option. about, i'm not going with it. i think the decision in that room was, look we have to understand this information will come out at some point. do we want to be the administration not to take the opportunity to get bin laden. much the same way if things had gone bad they needed something or were looking for something that could perhaps deflect the blame. so saying --. bill: this special-ops commander, mcraven, he is aware of all this as it is being arrange and put together? >> again, that would be speculation on my part of the was he informed of the memo? did he sign up to the memo or something put in a safe and will be pulled out if things gone south and there was a go and suddenly look at memo, i only given approval for certain parameters.

the thing went off the reservation because of field expediency. that's what you deal with when you're out there doing this. maybe now the blame is out there, it's speculation. bill: mike, for all of this to fall in line you would think mcraven was probably given a head's up? >> could be. i'm not signing up to that. you know, these sort of things you don't know how they play it inside the administration. bill: fair enough. appreciate that. mike baker here in new york. >> thank you. bill: martha, what's coming up? martha: we are expecting some fireworks this morning and they could be moments away in the john edwards trial because today a key edwards campaign member will head to the stand with some potentially radioactive testimony against the former presidential candidate. a big, big moment in this trial is unfolding this morning. we'll take you to the courthouse next. bill: also there are developments in this desperate search for two sisters and a manhunt for the man who may have kidnapped them. new details this morning and a live report on a story not

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bill: 23 minutes past the hour now. decision day in north carolina on gay marriage. voters heading to the polls in that state. they will decide on a proposed state constitutional ban on same sex unions. specialists meeting today in washington looking for ways to slim down america and skyrocketing weight problem. a new study suggesting that 42% of the americans will be obese by the year 2030. road crews out west. a heavy rain triggered this massive road slide and a rockslide near boulder, colorado. that debris causing major

delays. luckily no injuries reported. they deal with that out there. martha: new testimony this morning in the john edwards corruption trial, former edwards speechwriter, wendy button, is expected to testify that the 2008 presidential candidate knew all about the nearly $1 million provided by wealthy donors as a whole effort to aid in the cover-up of his pregnant mistress. that is very key to this case. jonathan serrie join us now. he is live outside the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina. jonathan what are we expecting to hear from wendy button and could it sort of button up what the jury needs to hear here? >> reporter: wendy button is the former speechwriter in 2009 helped john edwards draft a public statement where he admitted to the affair and the pregnancy that resulted. now prosecutors are likely to ask her what knowledge john edwards had at the time about the nearly one million dollars from two wealthy

donors to keep his pregnant mistress in hiding. prosecutors also called alex forger to testify. he is the estate donor lawyer for one of those wealthy donors, bunny mellon. he said that she never considered her contributions political but private gifts to a dear friend. forger said she was pleased to help. she was not exactly sure what that was. forger testified she wasn't interested in being named secretary of state or ambassador. it was the person that interested her. martha? martha: very interesting. so who is the first witness on the stand today, jonathan? >> reporter: this morning it's tim tobin. resumes testimony this morning. he testified for much of the afternoon yesterday. he is the former or neighbor of former campaign aide andrew young who took charge of keeping edwards' mistress in hiding during the 2008 campaign. tobin said he received a

unusual call from young and hunter while hiding in california. young report he had he handed to phone to hunter who asked tobin to retrieve several items of from north carolina home and photo with her ad and edwards with the words, i love you. tobin also recalled a conversation in 2008 raising money for advocacy group for the poor. according to tobin edwards said he had a friend, mrs. mellon who had great wealth. it would be a chip shot for her to endow the foundation with $50 million. tobin recalled another conversation following years edwards warned him his neighbor andrew young could not be trusted and accused the campaign aide trying to bilk mellon out of $50 million. talking about edwards, tobin said, i don't think he had remembered but a year earlier he said it would be easy to have mrs. mellon endow his foundation and $50 million was the exact number. martha? martha: boy, oh, boy,

jonathan. thank you very much. this is the most unseemly, talk to my neighbor. hi, i'm john edwards' girlfriend and i need you to retrieve a picture of us from my house. number of people got into this web according to the testimony. bill: bunny mellon was rich and loaded. >> like out of a movie. bill: but she believed in john edwards. she believed he had the power and ability to change america and hence change the world and that's why she got behind him in a bad way. student loan controversy set to hit the senate floor today. republicans promising to block it unless we figure out a way to pay for it, novel idea. tom coburn has a few ideas. she is live here on that in minutes. martha: took all the water on the planet and hit it in a bubble, what would it look like? really? that i thought the bubble would be bicker than that. don't did you? ♪ . ♪

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bill: there is an intense search underway at the moment and time is so precious here. these two sisters believed to be in serious danger and the fbi has confirmed their mother and older sister a have been found dead near the suspected kidnapper's home. now police believe the younger girls might still be with him, the suspect and eric shaun is live in the

newsroom. what is latest on this by the hour, eric. >> reporter: this is unspeakable hour. mother and teenage daughter murdered. two other daughters missing and suspected to be with her suspected kidnapper. bodies of the jo ann bain and her daughter were postively identified. it. authorities say they were abducted alongwith bain's two other daughters. 12-year-old alexandria and krliya. and adam mayes allegedly helped them move. sew described as odd and extremely dangerous and authorities are asking him to give up. >> we're not going to quit. we're not not going to give up. we know he is from this air area. lived from this area. his mother and daddy are from this area. that's why we're focusing so

hard on this area. >> reporter: authorities say mayes may be using two alias ses. christopher zachary wilde or paco gonzalez. he may have cut his hair and the girls too. bill: what do we know about mayes and his relationship with the family? >> reporter: mayes is like an uncle to the girls. now there is $50,000 reward for his capture. they say he stayed at the banes home helping to pack u-haul for a move from 10 sees to arizona. he happens to be a long-time friend of mrs. bain's husband, gary. when gary woke up the day they were supposed to leave he found out his wife and daughters vanished. the fbi says the surviving missing girls are quote, in extreme danger. authorities hope to find the younger girls alive and puttings up electronic billboards in places mayes has ties to including texas, north carolina and south carolina. bill, disturbing and tragic scenario as friend and family today are praying for the girls safe return. bill: eric, thank you.

when you get developments we'll put you back on the air. eric shawn. martha: back to washington now where senators are heading for a showdown in the heated student loan battle. moments from now lawmakers will begin debating a democratic proposal that would keep student loan interest rates from doubling. this as the budget battle continues to rock the house. republicans including paul ryan believe that the cuts will get government spending under control but democrats, very much disagree. >> the committee's proposing to double down on the misguided efforts to balance our budget on the backs of needy and most vulnerable while staunchly defending tax breaks an loopholes that benefit the wealthy. martha: that is the story. oklahoma republican senator tom coburn is the author of the new book, the debt bomb. it's a very interesting read where we're headed. he also on the senate finance committee. senator, welcome. good to see you again. >> good morning. how are you, martha? martha: good morning. student loan issue is one

part of the effort that house republicans are trying to make and also republicans in the senate to try to take a bite out of what you call the debt bomb but you're runing into some pretty strong headwinds. >> well, i think, the american people ought to ask the following question. first of all, we're going to have to borrow $1.6 trillion. that is 1.6 trillion, over the next 10 years to fund the student loan program. that used to be a private program that was run privately, that the government didn't have to borrow money and they subsidized the student loans through private. now, not only are we borrowing a trillion dollars, $1.2 trillion a year, we'll borrow an additional 1.6 trillion just to fund it. it is made-up example. as i said if you want to make something expensive, have the government make it affordable. what we have done, and i would also note, martha, in the president's budget there was just released two months ago, he doesn't cut the interest rate back on student loans. so all of sudden, there, is

there a new idea or something or is this a political tactic because we're talking about an election in november. when he doesn't have it in his budget and now he says he wants to cut student loans rates back from what they should be. what should happen, what should happen, market forces should control rate on interest. taxpayers are treated fairly that way and so are people who borrow the money who are students. martha: have a lot of folks shaking their head when you listen the argument back and forth you go back to raising debt ceiling there was deal put in place, you had to come up with $1.2 trillion in congress did in order to raise the debt ceiling. super-committee came in. they could not accomplish that. the sequestration kicked in which is supposed to take place in the beginning of the year and now the deal that you all are coming up with now is supposed to forego that sequestration because you don't want to see the kind of cuts happen in defense that are in that. am i right so far or correct me if i'm wrong?

>> first of all the sequestration doesn't start until january 2013. martha: right. january 2013. >> we didn't make near enough cuts. i'm speaking for tom coburn. not the republican party. sequestration is a stupid idea because what it says is you cut good programs as much as you cut wasteful programs which is crazy. which, the reason that sequestration was agreed to no politician says i have to have my hands on this because we were, to to do it. we just lack courage up here to do the right thing. if we're going to help people with student loans help them, if we're going to help them more and going to cost the american taxpayer money we ought to cut some spending somewhere else. there is $350 billion a year in waste, fraud and duplication i can point out to any american. martha: the reason i went through all that i think americans are so frustrated with the lack of action in congress. i think everybody in this country, democrats and republicans across the board

know there need to be some spending cuts in order to move, in order to protect the country, basically from complete default but democrats will tell you, as you hear all the time if you just, you know tax wealthy people more and take, raise taxes on oil companies, that you're going to go a long way to solving the problem. that is what they believe. >> well, they know that's not true. they know we need to reform the tax code and we could tax 100% of the wealthy of everything they make over $100,000 and we wouldn't come close to even balancing our budget in a year. they know that is not true. what, this is all about politics. this is all about november. this is silly time in washington. unfortunately it is silly time all the time in washington. there are no grown-ups up here. martha: seems like extends throughout the year. senator coburn, thanks so much for being with us. >> you're welcome. martha: the book is called "the debt bomb" interesting

read no matter what side of the fence you're on. bill: bomb is bigger than people like. prince harry went to washington paying tribute to the wounded warriors. the prince was honored for work he and his brother have done on behalf of wounded troops. >> i like to accept the award on behalf of my brother william, our foundation all those on both sides of the atlantic who work to tirelessly to support our wounded veterans but particularly for the nice because is their award. bill: well-stated. prince harry and prince william, both members of the british military. they walk the walk and talk the talk, right? i mean they serve. they go to tough places and they come back and talk about it and they share, well-done both those guys. martha: prince harry training to be apache helicopter pilot that is tough stuff. wants to go back to afghanistan as well as part of that. debate over same-sex marriage is heating up in washington. another member of the obama administration is now saying he does support it. everybody is waiting to hear

about the president and whether he has evolved as he says into a new take on all of this. critics are saying he basically is trying to please everybody. we'll have a fair and balanced debate on that hot topic just ahead. bill: also a mother runs from a knife-wielding robber leaving her little girl behind. what is going on in this picture? why the mother now says it was all to keep her daughter safe. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8.

martha: we all have a lot of questions about this one. take a look at this rather shocking surveillance video, okay? here is mom and daughter walking into a shop in springfield, massachusetts. the man approaches, the woman runs leaves her daughter behind. the he then chases her. then you see them come back around and she is going into the store and there's a struggle with him at the door. you don't know where the daughter is at this point in the story because she was left, the little girl was left alone, there was some mixed reports on exactly what happened here.

even one report says the mother was stabbed in the neck at some point in all of this but we now understand that the mother and daughter are okay but boy, that is frightening moment and a strange reaction from the mom. bill: seems like there is more to it, huh? martha: yep. bill: new fallout on the obama's administration response to same sex marriage. first vice president joe biden came out in support, full support. then the education secretary arne duncan was asked about it, he said same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. when asked whether or not the president was on board this is the response from white house and jay carney. >> the president is right earn prp to describe his own personal views. he as you said his views on this are evolving. i don't have an update for you on that. bill: but i know two people who do. andrea tanteros, daily news could columnist, bob beckel, robert, g. beckel, former campaign manager. both are co-hosts of "the five". good morning. >> if you talk to bob long

enough he is against marriage all together. don't do it. >> a lousy institution. martha: that is whole another story. >> ask my ex-wifes. bill: you want to clear that up now or -- >> i'm going to let that one drop right where it is. bill: well-advised, bob. what is going on, andrea? they want it both ways so to speak or what? >> they do. i'm not believing the report this morning somehow biden made a gaffe. bill: you do not? >> no, bill. bill: you think it was entirely intentional. goes on "meet the press." nbc prepared to give the comment he does for what end? >> i do. president obama will be meeting with andrew cuomo this week in new york, a state that legalized gay marriage. today the tarheel state votes on banning gay marriages. remember the tarheel state. this is why it is important for the president. he won north carolina by only 14,000 votes. bill:.035% of the entire statewide vote. it was close. >> and site of democratic, national convention. democrats have a lot the a

stake. we need to decide to make a push to gain independence? it is issue actually evolving. mortgage country is moving in favor of gay marriage. i think the president is thinking. i try to push on social issues with contraception. let me try it with gay marriage. bill: bob, what about that? >> first of all let me say that joe biden making a dwaf -- gaffe is possible on occasion. so --. bill: you will concede that? >> i will concede that. and andrea should concede that as well. possible, unlikely, a fellow, sort of disciplined as he is. >> like when you make gaffs. >> that's correct. i make gaffs purposely. now look, the reality here is that the country is evolving, becoming more favorable toward gay marriage. more importantly the people strongly against gay marriage are evangelicals on the right who aren't going to vote for obama anyway so who cares. those in favor of it are not just the gay community which is financial support base for democrats and young people adamant about it.

i think politics of it are very good frankly for obama in targeted states. now where he is going to come down i'm not sure but in the end he will be for it. bill: you say the political issue is vastly overrated. >> i think it is vastly overrated. bill: that is what you just said. >> vastly overrated republicans think they have voting issue. what they have a real rom, stop to think about it, mitt romney said when he was running for senate against ted kennedy i'm farther to the left on gay rights than ted kennedy who is for gay marriage. now embraced one of these silly defense of marriage acts. bill: has romney been asked about that week? i haven't seen that. >> not yet. >> he hasn't been asked about it but he doesn't talk much anyway. >> agree with bob in this sense a lot of folks on the left are happy about obama's repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and wink-wink, not defense of. it is that youth vote. that is what he is going after. i think one vulnerability

this gives obama is the fact that he is painting mitt romney as a flip-flopper, a mealy-mouthed, finger in the wind politician. think issue makes obama look pretty much the same. so that is a problem for him. bill: now on this, what's the strategy for not endorsing it if you both think eventually will do it anyway? >> i think --. bill: what is holding him back? >> well, part of it is, people in his administration don't think it is a good idea. political consultants who work for him don't think it is a good idea. i think they're wrong. i think eventually will be there. will be issue in north carolina during the convention. might as well deal with it now. i think it will happen before then. like the pipeline. >> i don't. bill: 15 seconds is like issue of the week, anything but the economy. >> anything but the economy, bill. i do. i buy that. anything that can distract from the issue of day. i disagree with bob. i don't think the president will come out. let biden say one thing he will say another. after the election if he wins he will make a strong

push for it. >> he is going to win. >> i wouldn't bet on that. bill: thank you, robert and andrea. shoot an e-mail to hemmer@foxnews.com or follow me on witter @billhemmer. fire questions for "the five" the on bya or whatever else is on your mind. lines are open right now. martha: the white house has been under fire for a number of things with regard energy like rising gas prices and dragging their feet on keystone pipeline. all of sudden we have a big announcement on a brand new drilling project. what's up with that? we'll drill down on that, get it? bill: what is up with that? they deliver for you but will you have to deliver a bailout to the u.s. postal service? we explain the dueling plans to save snail mail, losing 25 million a day. ♪ . [ male announcer ] this is corporate caterers, miami, florida.

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♪ . bill: there it is. if you took all the water on earth, all the oceans, rivers, lake, even all the water in you, the people, and you put it in a sphere, how big would that sphere be? this picture courtesy of the u.s. geological survey, would be 860 miles in diameter and about as wide edge it edge as distance between salt lake city and topeka, kansas. that's it? why are they showing us this? we're not sure but we thought it was a nice picture. martha: far be it from me to argue with the u.s. geological society i was always taught growing up the water was major component of

earth and major component of us as well. i don't think, you know, that looks like --. bill: folks at home, talk about this among yourselves. we'll do a follow-up next hour. martha: yeah. that doesn't seem right to me. but we'll follow up on that. thank you, bill. so the obama administration is expected to green light a big drilling plan today that would be one of the largest natural gas projects in eastern utah. right? you've heard so much about why we're not drilling for natural gas to a greater extent in this country? here it is, folks. so the plan is going to drill about 3700 new wells over 10 years in a huge natural gas field. here's the guy who has been screaming about this since day one. fox business network eric bolling. had envelope with all of reasons. only thing that president obama needed to do to lower gas prices, lo and behold gas prices are coming down. >> they're coming down, martha. two of the four things governor palin and i recommended on special taken into account and actually employed. that's great. that is real all of the

above strategy instead of algae, geothermal, solar and wind. those are not all of the aboves. what are all of the aboves are things like this new plan to permit 3700 new wells, hydraulic fracturing wells in utah. can i explain a little bit what this means? martha: show us what you got. >> in old day in order to get access to natural gas formations do we have it here? natural gas formations are formations separated by rock. old days you have to drill here, drill here, drill here. technology changed. we figured out a way to turn the drill bit horizontally. way they do that shooting water, chemicals and sand into the ol' hell and access all of that gas. the problem was environmentalists were saying what is impact of that? obama administration pushed back says we'll not permit these drills because we're not sure what is going on here. this new study, new permit for 3700 new wells in utah basically says they're willing to push back on earlier standards, lighten

them up in order to access a lot of this gas. the reason this is important, natural gas is our future. the way we will become energy independent from other countries. can't bring natural gas in and ship it out and send it to china. martha: heating and air-conditioning. >> use it right here. continue to expand. real growth area for our energy future. martha: do you think they listened to you? >> i honestly they did. i hope they did. if not listening to us they hear pressure from the right and permit keystone pipeline. martha: politically give you an argument when you're up there. >> bottom line gas prices are headed lower. this is all good news. martha: good news. eric, thank you so much. eric bolling watch for him tonight on "the five". bill: also was leader of al qaeda being protected in pakistan yet again? hillary clinton making that charge. says al-zawahiri is in pakistan and why not go get him? martha: good question. president obama has a to-do list for congress. on it, incentives for new technology. anybody remember solyndra?

former governor george pataki is here on that. we'll be right back. more on "america's newsroom." are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar,

we did thingwith electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

martha: an explosive report accuses the justice department of corruption at the highest levels. this is coming from "newsweek." it accusess attorney general eric holder and the justice department of selective prosecution, basically staying away from awful the large wall street firms it contends because eric holder has ties to those law firms. a big story, minutes away. there are also this morning concerns of multiple al-qaida plots in the works. even as the cia breaks up another one. an underwear bomb, this time confiscate ned yemen according

to these reports. it is similar to the device worn by the christmas day bomber back in 2009 and there wasn't any metal in this one. the thinking is that would allowed it to get through airport security. that is the tip of the iceberg on this one, folks and that's how we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. no americans were ever in danger, congressman michelle bachmann telling us last hour she does not necessarily believe that that is the case. >> the threat level is probably higher than ever before and would he need to make sure we are on top of it, because we have the entire world to cover, and that's why it's important that we are on top of these threats. martha: new york congressman peter king is chairman of the house homeland security committee. and he joins me this morning. good to have you today. >> good to be here, than that you. martha: one of the questions that popped into everybody's

mind was that there was no concern that the plot was able to be carried out and it was strapped in its tracks. that raised a question, why? why was no one arrested in this entire operation? >> martha there is a lot that still can't be told on this. the fact is that from the first moment our intelligence people felt that the bomb could not be brought on to the plane. it never was brought onto any plane at all. all i can say is that the person who had the bomb, what i was told by the white house on this. is that he no longer is of concern to us. now, we can interpret that different ways, but the reason there is no arrest is that person for one reason or another is no longer of any concern, and we don't know if there's been any arrest. this is still an ongoing operation and it's important to note that. martha: understood. there are a couple of things that are of interest here, one is the drone attack that killed

cuzi. do we know that any of this from that story coming out led to that. >> i can say that was part of the overall operation. that was over the weekend and it's part of the same intelligence-gathering operation that allowed us to keep the bomb from going on to the plane and also allows us to keep possession of the bomb where it's being tested and only hraoeuzed banalyzed by our f.b.i. bomb experts. martha: the other person who figures in this is the bomb maker. what d role do you think he played in the plot that was uncovered. >> i am convinced that he was behind this. he is an evil genius when it comes to bomb-making. both the 2009 christmas bombing, the attempted cartridge bombing,

he is clearly -- i hate to use the term, he is the general just at this. we are doing everything we can to get him. he is, again, the person who is the one most responsible for this. in addition to that, though, also in yemen there are doctors, and others, scientists who are working to constantly evade our security procedures. martha: we know that al-qaida goes back and tries things again. the underwear bomber was thwarted, arrested, i guess it would should come to no surprise to u us to efforts to do a better job would be under way are we to believe there was an insider or we inch fill kwraeuted the cell in the middle of the operation and were able to stop it in. >> all i can say is we do have sources, we had reason, this was being monitored from early on, and cia is very good at people

having on the ground. i'll have to light of at that. this was mainly and intelligence-gathering operation. we've got human intelligence. martha: i understand that you can't talk about this in great detail. if it does turn out that that's what we did it sounds like it would be a huge step in the right direction, intelligence gathering. >> absolutely, absolutely. martha: peter king, always good to talk to you. bill: >> it's a victory for the u.s. bill: thank you for that. a feisty challenge from our supposed alleys in the war on tere over. secretary of state hillary clinton on our air yesterday said that the u.s. believes al-qaida leader ayman al-zawahri is hiding in pakistan. >> we need to do more, and we look to the government of pakistan to do more. it needs to make sure that its territory is not used as a

launch pad for terrorist attacks anywhere, including inside of pakistan. bill: it did not take long for the pakistanis to to fire right back. they say if washington knows where he is she should share the intel. general jack keane is a for-star general. what do you think the truth is about this story. >> i don't think hillary clinton would make a statement like that without the facts to back it up. we are not going to share much with the pakistanis as it compareit comes to him, they were complicit in protecting osama bin laden for at least five years in one location not far from one of their military bases and 40 miles from nare capitol city. it's a complicated relationship with the pakistanis to be sure and this is right at the

center. bill: it sounds like the relationship is not healthy, either, is it? >> it's been deteriorating over time. this is one area added to that. they provide logistical support to us in a ground line of communication from the ports through the cyber pass. and airline communication, we fly over pakistan all to supply our troops within afghanistan. that ground line has been shut down since november when we had a mistaken air attack on pac troops. the fact of the matter is, they also while supporting us on the one hand with this logistics line of communication provide sanctuary as we know for the afghan taliban within pakistan. in those sanctuaries they provide them intelligence, training, resources, and obviously safe-haven for them to conduct operations against us. bill: how do we win this thing ultimately?

if folks like yourself and others believe that the isi the intelligence service in pakistan, or members of the pakistani government knew osama bin laden was there the entire time and probably gave him protection, if we believe that on its face, then it's likely true in the second case wit ayam al-zawahiri. >> the relationship is moving from one of cooperation to one of confrontation. you add to that one other complication, and that is they are ever increasing their nuclear arsenal. they made a decision to build tactical nuclear weapons, which obviously gives us some concern. there is a raging insurgency inside the country to overthrow the regime. add that on top of the rest of it and you can understand why our diplomats pull their hairs without dealing with the regime. bill: general, thanks again.

martha: we are mourning the loss of a legendary author. he passed away this morning at a hospital in connecticut. his longtime friend and caretaker saying he suffered a stroke on friday. he is the man behind the children's classics "where the wild things are" made into a movie in 2009. awarded the national medal of arts by president clinton in 1986. he was 83 years old. how many of us have sat up reading "where the wild things are." i love the story of max being sent to bed without his supper. it's something all little boys can connect with. and when he comes back his mom has his dinner waiting for him and it's hot. bill: we remember him fondly. reese in peace. the u.s. justice department is being accused of foul play at the highest levels. attorney general eric holder

said to be at the center of this controvert controversy. we'll have that. martha: unbelievable video, hit-and-run. bill: that guy hit right there is going to make itment we'll tell you why. the secret lives of the mini madoffs, the surprising lifestyle that helped these two people elude police for more than two years on the run. >> i was shocked this morning when i found out. i went on the america's most wanted website looking and said i cannot believe that. >> reporter: and it's her? >> oh, absolutely it's her. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

bill: a pair of convicted ponzi schemers headed to jill as we get new details on their arrest after 12 years on the run. police are escorting them back to illinois after they were arrested in arizona over the weekend. back in 2000 the two pled guilty to a ponzi scheme admitting to

skaoelg the life staeufgs of their clients. they disappeared before the sentence was handed down. officers caught up with the couple living modest lives doing odd jobs and living under an alias in the southwest. >> initially janet, she denied who she was, and she kept that up for about 15, 20 minutes, when it was obvious that we knew who she was, then she eventually admitted who she was, her true identity. bill: you know how they caught them? a segment on america's most wanted, busted from arizona. martha: well a bombshell new report claiming that the u.s. justice department is taking part in selective prosecution intentionally avoiding cases against big wall street firms because of the attorneys for the white shoe forms. the obama administration

promised they would investigate the alleged fat cats. here is eric holder back in 2009. >> this is to strengthen our efforts in conjunction with our state and local partners to investigate crimes. martha: jay ceculo is the chief counsel at the center of justice. do you agree with this report. >> i think newsweek is right. you have a 20-year low for criminal cases brought against the financial institutions that were responsible for the collapse. remember this was a big part of the obama administration's policies at the justice department, a big part of what they ran on when president obama was running for president, then i look ago the history and where newsweek is absolutely correct

is we are at a 20-year low of criminal prosecutions when it comes to the financial sector which is unbelieve anal becaus unbelievable. you have to ask yourself, what is really at play here. i think it is the politics of prosecution. i was a government lawyer. i understand there is priority when you have a lot of cases to move after. this was an entire team set up to go after this fraud and nothing happened. martha: sometimes you feel the task force gets created you wonder what the heck ever happened to them and you think back to what eric holder has focused on. as soon as he took office one of the things he said he would focus on was investigating our own members of the cia for enhancement interrogation tactics. he got a big backlash for that. then you go through and you think of fast and furious and all of the things on his plate during this time. they constantly talk about what

they were handed in the financial crisis, what have they done about it? >> they've done nothing about it. they have created their own problems. you mentioned fast and furious. we've got the department of justice involved in a gun running program at the same time that they are investigating themselves, because of that they take the time and taxpayer resources to sue the state of arizona for enforcing arizona to enforce immigration laws which the federal government acknowledges, including eric holder's justice department they don't have the resources to do. then you look at the financial fraud that's taken place over the last five or six years, and you're right about the task force. we had the terrorism task force under bush, that worked, it was targeted, direct and it had an end game. the problem here is this is politics. politics say let's create this financial fraud tax force it sounds like we are going to be real aggressive and newsweek uncovers nothing has happened, 20-year low. martha: what they are suggesting is that the law firms eric holder was associated with represent some of the huge wall

street banks and there is a quid pro quo. you don't touch us and we will continue to give donations to the obama administration, and all of that. now, whether or not they can prove that in this piece remains to be seen. i mean there are things that the administration will point to as sreubt trees in this area. the largest inch dieder trading case that has ever been prosecuted was prosecuted under this administration and they will say that it's not true, that they haven't been serious about pursuing these. >> most of the cases that the department of justice have brought have been in the civil fraud arena. we hear the word fraud, and we assume it's criminal, that's not always the case. i've done a lot of civil fraud cases and the penalties are money, you get money back. if you look at the financial crisis that took place, and weighing guilt and innocence is something the justice department has to make a determination, they have a standard, the likelihood of successful lit gays. so the litigation. they create a monster task force

to bring these causes of action and nothing happens. i call that -- martha: i want to bring up one other thing before we leave. you can also talk about the fcc and fannie mae and freddie mac. >> they get a pass. martha: absolutely. that is a whole other ball of wax. >> the justice department would have very easily said there is a conflict of interest between eric holder and the firms representing these banks put in different prosecutors to do it. instead create a tax force and do nothing. and that's what we've seen take place here. martha: thanks for talking to us. bill: shocking video from a busy intersection. can you gets what the driver of this car was doing instead of paying attention to the road? wait for it, that's not cool, we'll have it for you. martha: a new report highlighting the problem of obesity in america. but is banning bake sales the answer? that would pretty much solve the problem if we didn't just have

those bake sales at school, right? we'll be right back. ♪ if i'd knew you were coming i would have baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake. ♪

martha: check out this incredible video from colorado. it's a motorcycle being hit by a car. watch the left side of the screen. wow. the dark car that you see blows through the red light and slams right into the motorcycle. here is another look at this. this is hard to watch. he landed face first in that intersection, but get this. he has a couple of broken bones and some chipped teeth, but he is alive. >> i don't know if she was

paying attention to the traffic or not. by looking at the video you could tell she had the red light. i hit face force. good this evening i had a full shield on. i just bless that on my life right now. martha: he looks pretty good for having gone through all that. the car's driver got a ticket and she could face charges. bill: interesting to see the campaign that is underway across the country to make drivers more aware of motorcyclists. you can see it on the highway signs, look out for motorcycles. martha: who knows if there was texting involved. that is a big campaign as well, and they need to have stiffer penalties for that. bill: that thing was in daylight, for crying out loud. news that will have a direct impact on your old fashioned mailbox and your wallet. a bailout for the postal service that puts taxpayers on the hook for $34 billion. is there a better way to do this? it is all your money. william la jeunesse is on this live in l.a. good morning, william.

>> reporter: what makes the story different is here is a federal agency that wants to save taxpayer money due to email and electronic banking the post office lost $3 billion in three months. the agency wants to begin closing post offices to stop the red ink, but some in congress won't let it. ♪ got to get the mail through. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: a lot has changed since horses moved the mail. it arrives like this. >> you've got mail. >> reporter: because of it the postal service is broke. >> in the post office was a business it would be in bankruptcy, it's insolvent. >> reporter: it loses $25 million a day. it does not receive a federal subsidy. that may be changing. >> today we take a very important first step to save an american institution. >> reporter: the u.s. senate passed a $34 billion bailout bill last month that actually

forces the post master to accept taxpayer money for jobs he doesn't need, and buildings he doesn't want. the bill prohibits the service from closing 250 mail processing centers, and 3,000 mostly rural post offices. republicans like that. the subsidy also fully funds the union retirement fund, democrats like that. who is not happy? congressman like republican dennis ross who say taxpayers should not be forced to sustain a business model that started going out of business long ago. what do we need to do to make sure that we cut something that need to be cut and if we don't cut it are we willing to borrow more money from china to fund it? how much would the senate bill cost you? log and to foxnews.com/your money and check out the taxpayer calculator. so if you make between 30 and $50,000 that $34 billion bailout will cost you about 55 bucks. if you earn 100 to 200,000 your

share about $400. if you're in the top tax bracket more than $4,000. democrats in the house generally want to pass a senate bill where most republicans want to allow the agency to close buildings, stop saturdays, layoff excess workers, and advertise on postal trucks to make money, that is your fight. bill: did i hear you say today that the post office loses $25 million a day? >> reporter: that's exactly what you heard. bill: that is remarkable. that is a lot of stamps william. >> reporter: think about doing something different. bill: it's all your money from l.a. martha: the president's laying out his election-year to do list today, and what is on that list has some warning the white house could be headed for another solyndra problems? we'll talk about there. the former government of new york george pataki is in the newsroom to weigh in. bill: what is the white house worth? america's home has just been appraised -- take a guess,

because after all it is our house. ♪ our house is a very, very, very fine house, with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, now everything is easy kuz of you. ♪ are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

martha: the blind chinese activist who sparked an international incident last week may have succeeded in his mission.

chen case the government has promised to investigate the abuses he suffered at the hands of local authorities in his rural village. if that is true it would be a rare case of beijing bowing to the demands of a sit ten. he claims he was put under house arrest after documenting forced abortions and sterilizations in his community. bill: the white house laying out an election to do list. on the list are inch tentatives for companies inventing green energy. former government of new york george pataki with me now in the studio. albany, new york is your own stomping grounds now. >> he's the nano center. i think it's ironic. it has now thousands of great middle class, high-tech jobs, and it's because we put in place policies that are the exact opposite of the policies that president obama is advancing and

has advanced. bill: is he taking credit for your ideas? >> i think he's looking at it and saying, this is what we node to do in america, and he's absolutely right, but the way to do it is by reversing the policies he's put in place. we lowered the corporate tax rate, we lowered the individual income tax rate. we reduced the regulatory burden substantially, and one of the things president obama is there to talk about is penalizing corporations if they have a factory overseas. it's the opposite of what america should be doing. bill: a couple of things here, here is the to do list. eliminate tax incentives for shipping jobs overseas. >> can i come in on that? american cops have more than $2 trillion overseas. if a company likes ibm is sitting on a hundred billion dollars in europe and decides they are going to open up a factory from ireland, are we going to say we don't want you to bring the rest back to open a factory in albany new york, or

ohio? the bowl simpson commission said we should adopt the tax code for corporations that is the same as virtually every other advanced country in the world, which would bring that money back and bring jobs here. bill: you think about microsoft and apple and all these companies. >> $2 trillion. bill: number two, help homeowners refinance their homes at a lower rate. >> we are all for that. everybody is in favor ever that. the interest rates right now are the lowest they have been in over 50 years, and how the president expects the government to impact that directly is confusing to me. but right now we do want homeowners to refinance. we don't want them to do it if they can't afford to pay the mortgage, that's how we got into this problem. bill: number three promote new tax credits for clean energy. >> we've had tax credits. bill: what's that sound like? >> it sounds like what we did 15 years ago, and the whole point being that you incentivize the private sector. what this president has done is give a half trillion dollars, or half billion dollars to solyndra, pick winners and

losers, pick industries instead of investing across the board in lowering taxes for the private sector. it's what we did, it works. we have to do more of it. bill: it's what i hear from business leaders all the time, and that is we're hesitant to invest because we're tired of the regulations, we are not sure which way healthcare goes and because that the economy stalls and that's essentially what we're seeing now. do you buy that argument? if you do buy that argument does anything change overt next six months? >> i think they are exactly right. the reason we have the worst recovery in the history of the united states, it's worse than the recovery after the great depression is because this president has imposed new costs on business through obamacare, new regulatory burdens through dodd-frank. he promises he's going to raise income taxes on business leaders if he's reelected and he ignores his own commission's report that says that we have the highest corporate tax rates in the development world and we have to lower them. his policies are the reason we

don't have more successes like the albany -- bill: they see the jobs from the past week. they want to try and change something don't they. >> they say you do something overseas and we won't get you have one of the carrots we'll give you in america. it's the opposite of what we do. it's a competitive world we say we want you to invest. bill: we'll see what happens. george pataki, the former governor of new york. >> good to be here. martha: could be a big day for democrats looking to oust the governor of wisconsin. five candidates facing off in a primary, the winner will be on the ballot next month in the recall election against republican governor scott walker. mike tobin is on this story live from will walk key milwaukee,

wisconsin. >> reporter: they are operating on the fact that when the votes are counted governor walker will face a face off against barrett. conservative attack ads have been pinpointing mayor barrett. >> they are focusing exclusively on me right now because they know he cannot defend his record on jobs. >> reporter: the other democrat is kathleen faulk. she has been a bit of a one-issue candidate with a promise to repeal the changes that governor walker made to collective bargaining. she has a lot of support from the unions. because of that support don't can't her out just yet. martha. martha: we've seen so much bitter, passion really dividing people in wisconsin. is there any hope that any of this will change that? >> reporter: no, don't expect the nastiness to go away, in fact it will probably increase, that is because wisconsin is very much divided and decided.

there are very few undecided votes. the side that will win this is the side that motivates its base out to the polls. one way to do that is to poke the bear, good your side good and angry so there is no way they stay home on election day. >> what a campaign wants to do is it wants to average state its base. it wants to inflame their supporters to the point that their voters want to run to the polling place with their hair on fire yelling and screaming, i have to vote. >> reporter: now tense of millions of dollars are pouring in from outside wisconsin to support both sides as ifth has become a ideological battle that could very well establish momentum that carries into november, martha. martha: thanks. we'll be watching. bill: the governor's mansion has nothing to do with the white house. an appraiser is estimating the president's pad to be worth

about $110 million. that would make it the third most valuable property in america behind a massive manhattan penthouse and a mansion in l.a. it crushes the value of nearly any other world leader. the prime minister, 10 downing street in london worth about $7 million. the queen beats out the president, buckingham palaces mated to be worth 1.6 billion. analysts say the white house could technically be be worth more than a million if you consider the historical value, which is the discussion we had during the commercial. martha: you have to subtract out the historical value. it's got a swimming pool, a basketball court, about ten acres for the actual white house property itself and it's beautiful. bill: my guess was way off. martha: we were both way off. we were way under, because we're cheated by the new york real estate market. we think everything else should be khaoerp. a stunning announcement today

from the state of israel and why it could have a major impact on a possible strike against iran. bill: also, they can get the chicken ph-b mcnuggets in the school cafeteria but apparently the only way to get kids to eat better is to ban the bake sale. who is saying no to that sugar high? martha: i'll give you three guesses.

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stpwhrao 17 minutes before the hour. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu announcing plans for an early election. they put him in rival ship with a rival party which has spoken out against a strike on iran. yahoo's ceo says he never earned

a computer science today. they did not call him to step down from yahoo. anyone who found out the games were sold out in london you get another chance. a million more seats go on sale today and the rest will be available to the public in a month. martha: i guess at this point it doesn't matter if you didn't get a computer science degree. i mean you shouldn't lie on your resume. he's the ceo of the company. maybe he can take a summer class to make up for it. speaking of school, how about this. a classic school fundraising tool that we just have all taken part in at one time or another is now the target of the obesity fight going on in the state of massachusetts. state health department officials have banned bake saeults, folks, i sales, folks, to push that people eat more healthy. obesity rate will jump to 42% by

2040. michael farris joins me, the president of parental rights.org. they say they are going to do away with the bake sales and candy scales to raise money to take a class trip or for the baseball team, whatever they have to do. they say it's sending the wrong message. what say you, sir? >> i say that overweight government is not going to solve the problem of childhood obesity. we need to make sure that parents and friends and family are directly dealing with this problem. the idea that you can stop this by banning bake sales really is ridiculous. martha: they are saying it's a real important fundraising tool, and the reason they keep doing it time and time again, the bake sale you can raise $250. if your marching band needs to take a trip, or the candy thing does really well for raising money in these projects. they are saying that maybe this won't be a big selling point outside of school after school is over. >> did anybody think the

campfire girls would be alive if they had campfire girl celery? it's cookies that will sell. the reality is some people have this problem not everybody. a one-size fits all solution to a problem that is really for a few is not the way to go in a free country. we are trying to control everybody's lives not the lives of those who really need the help. martha: and, you know, you made a point in the beginning, really, it's up to parents to sort of oversee what your kids eat. maybe you say well, you know, you can split that we'll buy one little bag of cookies and you guys can share them. it seems to me the portions and the amount has caused this obesity problem in america and that has long roots. >> that along with the fact that kids don't go out and play any more. they need to get out and leave the x-box alone and climb trees and ride bikes. those are things that parents can do and the government is very unequipped to be able to

make that kind of a change in a child's life. martha: what is going on in massachusetts? is this going to pass or is there an uproar that will sort of make them come up with a different plan. >> who knows. massachusetts has the nanny-style of government down pretty well, it's a pretty effective form of government there. maybe the backlash will be sufficient. hopefully no other state will decide that they don't liberty this month that they'll try to control our lives in these kind of really overreaching levels of interference. martha: is there any rule do you think for government or for school systems in sort of helping parents to think about it? it seems to me the kids get a lot of talk about nutrition at school. as you point out it has to be happening at home. is that something that you think government should have any role in? >> well, you know, a little bit of role of an educator perhaps here and there, really it's got to be friends and family, someone who sees the child in a situation, they need to go and talk to the family. somebody who has an actual relationship, extended family,

neighbors, friends, that's where it will really be effective. government programs aren't going to be as effective as an involved friend that sees a ned and steps in and says you need to do something about this. martha: michael farris thank you very much. good to have you here today. i always am excited when i come out of church and there is a bake sale. you feel like you're doing something good for somebody. you can get a bunch much cupcakes for about $5. bill: did you sell cupcakes. martha: sure. bill: we sold candy bars door to door. martha: i used to buy some of the bars that i bought. bill: jenna lee standing by listening to us tkreub blink. martha: enough already. jenna: we are on air during lunchtime while you guys get to go off and have snacks. any time you want to drop anything by we are right next door. martha: america newsroom's bake

sale. jenna: former secretary of homeland security michael chertoff is here to talk about another potentially deadly plot to kill americans. what is our next move? how do we stay safe? those are the big questions today. plus we'll tell but a new strategy to ward offer repeat offenders trying to get into the u.s. illegally along our southern border, another big story. and the man accused of killing natalee holloway in court today. will joran van der sloot be extradited to the united states? all at the top of the hour. bill: we'll see you then, ten minutes away. a hit-and-run on tape, we waurpb, it is graphic and disturbing, but it does not end the way you think it might for that teenager flying out of your screen.

wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

martha: here is that incredible surveillance video of a hit-and-run crash that happened

in upstate new york. we must warn you this is pretty graphic. the car swerves. look at this. my goodness. right into that group of people. one person went right over the hood. it's so bizarre it looks like they are running towards it -- very odd. the police caught the driver. the victim, believe it or not, he bounced up and over the roof. you can see him landing there. he is okay. he was treated and released from the hospital. that could have been a very different store row. bill: good to be young. that was a teen abler who will be all right. a 36-year senate get van facing primary battle today that he has not seen in four decades. indiana senator richard lugar up against tea party candidate richard murdoch. watch this story and the vote in indianapolis. steve brown is there live. why does senator lugar a man who ran virtually unopposed face such a tight campaign.

>> reporter: there has been lingering questions about his residency. he has a home in virginia, not here in indiana. he does own property. there was a question about whether or not he was legally ledge sterd t registered to vote here. he has spent more time in washington casting votes than necessarily here campaigning when the campaign was slipping away. lugar finding himself on the attack going off richard murdoch's credentials. >> he does not have the qualifications and the background, has not done the homework necessary for the vital problems facing the united states of america, particularly with regard to security on our foreign policy or for that matter even broad items such as the agriculture policy. >> reporter: all of those items are important to republican voters today, but chief among them are jobs in the economy, of course, and lugar mentions those, but often mentions foreign policy first, not quite in sync with what voters are

thinking. bill: murdoch has a lot of help in his bid to defeat lugar. what does he say about that help. >> reporter: he has got a lot of help. there are a number of organizations who have been working with 50-plus indiana tea party groups have all chipped in to help. lugar has tried to make an issue out of that, this is how murdoch responds. >> to the charge that there is a special interest group that's been supporting us from outside the state, that is true, and the special interest group is called conservatives, and that's why they came together behind this campaign, they recognized this was the time to put a more conservative voice in the united states senate and we're proud to have their support. >> reporter: we did step out on to the campaign with both murdoch and lugar, but we saw just one from each. the energy level at the murdoch event was notably higher than at

the lugar event. it may be an indication of something going on broadly across the front to indicate he's in front. bill: we'll figure out what the outcome does tell us at the end of the day. steve brown thank you. martha: mitt romney hitting press hard when it comes to the economy, taking shots at the unemployment rate and bailouts. is that strategy working for them? we'll be right back.

>> he looks a little like justin bieber because it is indeed justin bieber. here he is! i was watching this, it didn't make sense to me and i didn't realize, when i hear a justin bieber song it makes me want to punch people in the face! bill: pretty good fight, apparently, went 12 rounds. i thought bieber was a basketball guy! mart