>> and we have the top holiday gifts for the season. are you done with your shopping yet? >> no, i still got to shop for you and again, you want cash like last year. and dennis kucinich will be here. that should be interesting. >> thank you very much for joining us today. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same channel. bill: thank you, guys, good morning. more on what's happening in afghanistan in a moment. but first, a big blow to the nsa. a federal judge saying the collection of phone records is most certainly unconstitutional. martha: the nsa collecting massive amount of data called metadata on millions of americans and they cull through it and look for any connections. a u.s. district court, a bush

appointee says that likely violates the constitution, called it orwellian and says our founding fathers would be horrified. >> reporter: the plaintiff brought the case because he was upset about the data being collected on his account and his client's account. >> with we have here is the biggest violation of rights in american history. it was richard nixon who broke into one office building and had to resign from office. we have leaders on capitol hill who have broken into millions of homes. >> reporter: the judge richard

lee orichardleon is a bush appo. he drew this analogy, if it operates the way it does then omitting sprints, at&t from the collection is like eliminating george, paul and ringo from the beatles. report they painted to 3 they p5 other rulings that say it's okay. they said we believe it is constitutional as previous judges have found. we have no further comment at this time.

we have heard from snowed *. from edward snowden who spay once this data program. martha: speaking of edward snowden, the man who leaked the nsa program is applauding the decision. and he's looking for a new country to call home. he says the ruling individual case hivindicateshis actions. he's also asking for political action in brazil in return for help in the investigation they want to do on the u.s. spying on their soil. he says the united states

government has worked very hard to limit my ability to do so. enforcing down the presidential plane of evo morale ease to prevent me from getting there. martha: this fox news alert. a critical vote on the budget deal is about to get underway on capitol hill. but there is new outage from republicans who say the deal is paid for on the backs of our nations military. late last night senator jeff sessions filed an amendment in an effort to save the money that was cut from pension benefits.

senator ayotte says it's not fair to our military. >> the federal employees, the changes over go to new hires. the military didn't get that same protection. you would think we would treat the military the best with what they have done for your country. martha: some have suggested they should do the same for incoming members of the military to change their benefits package rather than on the other end. democrats need a couple republicans to cross the aisle to make that happen. bill: a war of words between republican lawmakers. a new report from a house oversight committee saying navigators are not keeping people's personal information safe and secure.

the allegation is sometimes they don't know what they are talking about. >> they are selling things they do not understand. they cannot certify to people who are buying them. and i believe the president should and the secretary sebelius should offer an advisory that they do not have a product worthy. it's a deceptive sales practice. bill: the white house says it's darrell issa who is leaking sensitive documents through this oversight committee. strong winds fueling a massive wildfire in big sur, california. dozens of families have been forced out of their homes. >> we have been told to pack some bags and prepare in case we do get evacuated. >> the driest year in the history of monterey county.

big sur is one of the wettest places in california and we had virtually no rain this season. bill: zero containment as of this hour and hundreds of firefighters from three agencies battling the flames. 8 aircraft in the air. investigators say usually these dry conditions can kick things up and when that happens you have got a lethal combination. martha: today's mega millions jackpot soars to $586 million. the frenzy of last-minute buying will send it even higher. jonathan serrie is out and about in atlanta. so what are the odds on this one.

>> the odds of winning the jackpot in this lottery are one in 259 million. but that's not keeping people away from playing the machine here. employees at this quick pick convenience store say it's expected to pick up this afternoon. the multi state lottery added a new matrix with more choices. that made it easier to win:smaller prize. so the jackpot keeps getting larger and larger and that is drawing in a lot of the people. here at the convenience store we asked a woman who said she hadn't played the lottery in 10 years. what brought her in. she says it was the size of the jackpot. martha: that will do it. en for those of us who don't play these. how does it compare to some we have seen in the past? pretty big.

>> reporter: not only is it the second biggest in mega millions but fourth biggest in the history of lotteries in the united states. mega millions set its record in january of 2012. the jackpot has rolled over 21 times since the last winner on october 1. and if there is no winner in tonight's drawing and the jackpot continues to roll over, we could be in record territory by christmas. martha: that's a lot of the cash. jonathon, thank you. pick up some coffee and a donut while you are there. bill: your chances of wining are slim. the chances of getting struck by lightning is 1 in 10,000. living until you are 110, 1 in 7

million. chances of being struck by lightning twice in your lifetime 1 in 1000 million. >> somebody is going to win. you will see the stories where the office buffedies roll out. we are not in it. i think we should get tonight. it could be but we are not in it. bill: yet. march from we'll get on that in the next commercial break. bill: what are you going to do if you win the big jackpot? stu would probably take me to lunch. martha: absolutely. bill: that would be it. martha: that's not it.

i would buy you anything you want. whatever you want be you think about it, i'll buy it for you. is the nsa spying program unconstitutional? a federal judge saying yes. but my next guest is saying that judge is dead wrong. michael mukasey saying why he believes the program can prevent another 9/11. martha: remember this moment? plowed into a crowd of people in venice beach. he will find out if he faces murder charges. wait until you hear what his defense is. bill: a desperate search for the boyfriend considered the suspect in the case. >> we have been pursuing this all along. i think it's just taken this amount of time to get to national exposure with the case.

so nothing has changed with us. we have been fighting for the truth since day one. for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. so people think the kind of accountability has gone missing in e placesets where it's needemost. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look.

martha: german chancellor angela merkel has been reelected to a third term. she is expected to take germany a bit more to the left announcing a minimum wage. london police saying they will not reopen the case into princess diana's death. they say there is no credible evidence special forces were involved. >> amanda knox said quote, i did not kill meredith. bill: a federal judge saying a program to collect your mehta ma

is likely unconstitutional. michael mukasey, first meta data is? >> the number that does the calling, the date of the call and the length of the call. it's nothing about the contents of the call or the identity of the person making the call. bill: not my address or the context of the conversation, no key words searched for? >> no words at all, key or otherwise. i have got to tell you richard leon is a fine judge and terrific person. but even great judges and terrific people occasionally make mistakes and he made a

mistake. bill: he stayed the order giving the government the chance to appeal. >> that's the responsible thing for a judge to do and that's what he did. bill: he said i cannot imagine a more indiscriminate and arbitrary collection of data or every american citizen without prior judicious approval. such a program infringes on that degree of privacy of the founder enshrined in the fourth amendment. >> i think the mistake that he made was in analyzing what the government could do fit abused the program rather than what the government in fact does when it uses the program. bill: edward snowden is listening to a decision like

this. you said in june the damage that snowden did was real. you said every time we tell terrorists we can detect them we encourage them to find other wayways to avoid detection. >> that remains true today. the problem is the judge analyzed what the government could do if it wanted to abut this information. it could draw a profile of my calls or your calls or somebody else's calls. the government uses it only when there is information about a foreign terrorist number when it's called by a number in the united states or to a number in the united states. but there is no contents. if it had been available before 9/11 it could have been prevented. bill: the appeals process.

how does it win? >> the government goes up to the d.c. circuit and if necessary the supreme court of the united states. there is a supreme court case that said back in the 1970s that the gathering of metadata is completely lawful. it's not taken from that person, it's taken from the telephone company. bill: if you were to take that example we were using pay phone calls. now you have got computers and cell phones and that's how people live today. >> that's correct. but metadata is still just metadata. the way we use our telephones and the danger of possible misuse of this information is much higher. and he's wrong about that, too.

bill: you seem to be making a case, this is not personal, it's just hard numbers that gives the nsa an opportunities to analyze. >> the nsa is not interested in any particular person unless it's triggered by a foreign terrorist number. then it's only which numbers are called by that number or have called it. bill: back in mid-november you said what would be the purpose of gathering information for recreational use. but who's to say what would happen in 5, 10, or 20 years? who's to say? >> the nsa is to say. they have rules and they discipline people who step outside them. bill: we'll see what happens on appeal. is there is months or years from now. >> i would think months but it

could be a year. bill: snowden praised the ruling. >> i wouldn't judge anything by that. martha: we'll have a great debate on that issue in a few moments. there may be major damage control that the white house. brand-new polls show president obama has the worst approval ratings of his presidency. bill: icy conditions sending a plane off the runway. >> you had to look around to realize, we are not on the runway anymore. ooh, homemade soup! yeah... [ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours.

[ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. [ male announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app.

bill: a white knuckle ride on a delta airlines flight. slid right off the runway.

no one injured but the 60 passengers. >> there was nobody freaked out about it. it wasn't a traumatic stop. you skidded off and you stopped. you had to lookture realize, we are not on the runway anymore. report * officials saying the airport was closed for an hour while a second runway was opened for use. martha: a man accused of plowing his car into a venice beach boardwalk is back in court today. >> reporter: he faces the judge in just a few hours. he pled not guilty, though police say the 38-year-old homeless man walked into the police station and confessed to

killing a tourist and injuring others in venice. during this hearing police said he parked his car, stopped at a liquor store and walked into a police station and said i'm the one you are looking for. i hit all those people. >> he's very fragile and frail. he's very, very withdrawn. but he will be very, very cooperative. >> reporter: campbell is a transient from colorado with a history of petty crime. a judge will decide whether he stands prime on assaulted with a deadly weapon. he faces life in prison if convicted. martha: you look at the video. it looks like it happened in a busy season. a lot of people out there. how could that be an accident? sight was at the venice pier and

boardwalk. because of a similar incident at a farmers market. police are saying this was no accident. he had to maneuver around barriers going down the board walk at 60 miles an hour. 16 were injured. 7 have been flown in from around the world to testify today. the judge will decide if he goes to trial. what we don't know is why. there is no history of mental illness and campbell had no address or driver's license at the time of the accident. bill: a massive manhunt underway for two suspects after a carjack in a popular mall takes a tragic turn. a rights in crime in so many parts of the country, an update on that.

martha: remember this? this one the prize for the most ridiculous item paid for with your tax dollars. wait until you see what takes the top spot. bill: you can't make it up. martha: there you go. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. eating healthier,tion by drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on.

and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

bill * six americans killed in afghanistan. >> reporter: six americans were killed in a helicopter crash in southern afghanistan where the taliban are extremely active. but reports say there was no enemy fire in the area. a lot of the helicopter crashes are due to weather or mechanical. but they have been shots down in the past by the taliban.

but u.s. forces say this was not the result of enemy fire. this has been a violent year for u.s. troops. only 119 u.s. troops have been killed this year. the peak was 499 in 2010. you can see the u.s. drawdown is starting to have a big impact. but it's still an extreme are yoan ex -- it'sstill an extremet place. but initial reports say it's a mechanical or weather will related incidents. bill: and a very, very big sacrifice as well. conor powell in jerusalem.

martha: stunning new poll numbers so president obama with the worst approval numbers of his presidency. a record 55% of americans diseas -- americansdisapprovinge president has done. 62% disapprove of how president obama is handle can the healthcare law's implementation. these are tough numbers. you look back at president bush's approval. he was at 47% approval and people thought he was having a tough time. >> this is bad news for the white house. it's a year's worth of bad news. whether you are talking about the fallout from the benghazi scandal or the department of justice investigation that got

so much attention. the irs abuses and the nsa controversy. it has been a horrible year for obama and the white house. i think it has short-term and long-term implications. martha: obviously this doesn't go unnoticed in the white house. it begs the question, does anything change as a result? >> there is no question they will try to change it. but i think it's unlikely to have much of a significant impact on the substance. i think this president has been neutered in his presidency with some 3 years left to go. he's going to have a hard time shaping an agenda for the remainder of his second term. because he's so unpopular and because the initiatives he pushed have not born much success in the second term.

martha: i'm sure they would disagree with you. they look at it and say the website is starting to turn around. once people get to know what's in the healthcare bill they will like it. let's take a look at a couple more of these numbers. i want to get your thoughts on that. who do you trust to do a better job with the economy? 45% say the gop and congress. 41% say president obama. that will have democrats very nervous. >> there was a poll question asked about whether the website problems are an under case of broader problems with obamacare and 55% suggested their indication of bigger problems with obamacare. you have of 0% responding saying they want the individual mandate

delayed. if the white house thinks this is just another bump in the road. they are sorely mistaken. the polling that we have seen the last year on a variety of issues and the polling we have seen on obamacare lately. this is a big problem. it makes the president's challenges significant. martha: my mind goes back to during the shutdown. they were saying give us a one-year delay of obamacare and the president said that would be heartless and cruel. you have to wonder if they look back on that and say we should have taken them up on that. this one is stunning to me. it goes to an issue you don't hear a lot about. 79% of those polled say we are still in a recession. >> it's pretty striking the

people have. but it's a sign of what a lot of the come dayeer --it's a sign or toes haver -- of whatcommentatte described. martha: sentiment and confidence are more important than data. have a good day, see you next time. bill: stunning numbers. check this 61-yard kick with time running out in detroit. my oh my. he made it by 2 inches on the

right. justin tucker's 6th field goal of the night. great finish. longest field goal in ravens history. it's just -- it's just gonna ... martha: it really wanted to go through. bill: they are only a game back from my team the cincinnati bengals. there is always hope, but they are the bengals. martha: i feel your pain. we have that at home, too. i have 15 different bottles, mostly vitamins and supplements that have been recommended. people pop millions of these

every day, not just for health but beating heart disease and cancer. why the experts are saying maybe you are throwing your money away. bill: former lapd mark fuhrman and why the evidence points to the boyfriend. the family has strong doubts the boyfriend did it. >> i thought he was a good guy. he didn't seem like he had a harmful bone in his body. if it turns out to be him it's shock and i would never have expected it.

bill: police are looking for the killer of a pregnant california woman. their missing boyfriend said to be the prime suspect. but her mother has doubt he

could have done something so horrible. >> i have high doubts it was him. there has been a lot of information that has surfaced the last 6-7 months since the murder. a lot of people reached out to us on britney's facebook page. mentioning a lot of racial tensions with them purchasing 10 acres of land there, business deals. and there has just been a lot of speculation that people killed both of them and beau just hasn't been found. bill: it happened last may. the mystery continues with mark purchase fan, former lapd homicide detective. strangulation was the cause of death. based on what we know and based on your history and your experience yourself.

>> strangulation is a personal method of death and it isn't something somebody would premeditate a murder and plan this would be a such effective method of death because your closeness to the victim where your dna and fiber and the possibility it doesn't go well. this is usually an involvement that escalates into strangulation usually into some close contact or romantic involvement. that's pretty much the history, outside of a serial type of rapist or serial-type killer. bill: the family says the boyfriend does not have it in him. they do not believe he would commit such a crime. you say you can get off that island on a both or a plane.

why is it significant? >> the police have the opportunity to check manifests for ships and boats and airplanes. so they have not found evidence that he left the island or they can't find evidence that he left the island. and i understand that the family does not want to believe that the person that their daughter loved was going to have a baby with committed this kind of act. but northbound sees that in a suspect in a relationship where murder is the outcome. bill: perhaps he's dead and perhaps he died with her and they just found her body and not his. >> well, bill, you know, the police know the complete contents of the autopsy. they release the cause of death or method of death and that's strangulation. but they also can approximate the time of death. we know johnson the boyfriend

was making contact with friends and family the day before the victim was found on may 28. if they can state she died during that time he was contacting family members and friends or before, it makes him a suspect. he didn't report her missing nor did he identify her when they went to the media in attempts to identify the victim. bill: if beau johnson is never found, does this remain a cold case in paradise? >> i think it does. they need to talk to johnson to establish why he didn't report her missing and why he didn't identifier in the press. if they never find him you have the possibility of a murder-suicide where he did commit suicide, took his own life somewhere else and there is a possibility he was murdered. but i think it's highly

unlikely. bill: we are going to continue to follow this mystery. the family we spoke to yesterday were quite compelling. martha: a big day on capitol hill. senate lawmakers are getting set for a key vote on a house passed budget deal. bill: police in one state launching a massive manhunt after a deadly shooting at a packed american mall. >> it's always scary, it's scary to hear it happened here in a mall in just a beautiful neighborhood.

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martha: fox news alert. new jersey police are searching for two suspects considered to be armed and dangerous and on the run after his 30-year-old man was shot dead while his wife watched on in a popular shopping mall laden down with shopping bags, having just finished their christmas shopping. there is their car. it was found 10 miles away with the back window smashed out. we have a former police sergeant, good to have you here. are they going to catch these guys? >> they will over time. law enforcement is looking for two african-american males. it was abandoned in the car theft capital of the world which is north new jersey. it was secreted behind a boarded up home.

law enforcement has something to go on with dna in the car and footprints in the snow. martha: a beautiful couple, recently married, they just bought their first home together. is it a tragic indication that people are less safe when they do the normal things they want to do in life like go christmas shopping? >>'s combination of spa couple things. the crime late the past two years has increased. you see violent crime in 2012 is up 26 out of a thank you people exposed up from 23 out of a thousand. shoppers -- the predators are looking for soft targets. we are all soft targets during this time. november-december crime rates increase. we are not doing our due diligence in being aware of our surroundings and it's back to

basics we need to go. martha: most of the crimes happen between 3:00 and midnight in the evening hours. it's sad to say you might have to rearrange your schedule to stay away from this sawfl stuff. -- stay away from this all of stuff. bill: $150,000 on zombie games. senator tom coburn's annual waste book. >> what's unique about this waste book which he will be introducing at a press conference moments from now is it's likely to infuriate taxpayers. the waste occurred during sequestration. a few examples.

the state department spent $630,000 buying fans and followers for its facebook account. the department agriculture spending $16,000 to serve up fine wines in china. it paid the shooter nadal hassan $278,000 in military benefits before he was found guilty but they haven't paid benefits to the victims. the popular romance prong received nearly $1 million from the national endowment of the humanities to explore the fascinating often contradict kri origin of romance in the history of film.

it cut funds to the elderly while subsidizing homes within walking distance to the beach in hawaii. the $319 million to build mc.gov will be twice that. martha: $634,000 to buy fans for facebook followers at government agencies? martha: we pay zero, nothing. there is a battle brewing over the obamacare navigators. who are these people? >> these so-called navigators don't follow any of the rules every state in the union has for insurance people.

martha: all right, a fox news alert right now. we have been talking about this deadly crash this afghanistan that has killed at least six american troops. the aircraft went down in southeastern afghanistan. the americans were killed on that, and all of them were members of the nato security force there. an investigation's underway. preliminary reports in this, and we heard this from conor powell earlier, say there was no enemy activity, at least at this point that they toe of, in that -- that they know of, in that area. our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost today. and now we take you back to washington with this as a crucial senate vote is about to get under way on the controversial budget deal moments from now. there's a live look, senator patty murray, who was the author of this along with paul ryan, her republican colleague on this particular budget deal. she is speaking now on the floor as we start another brand new hour today of "america's newsroom." very glad to have you with us on a pretty busy news day in

"america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. morning at home. close vote here, not expected to have the same kind of support we saw in the house. a new poll showing americans are ready for congress to take action, 50% approve of the two-year deal, 35% say they do not like it. martha: mike emanuel joins us live from cap l toll hill with the details this morning. so, mike, the magic number in the senate on this would be 60. a little bit of trepidation as to whether or not they're going to get there. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, we expect it will be close, but all indications are they will probably get there. 55 senate democrats, many of whom are expected to follow their colleague, patty murray, then you've got republicans like john mccain who like this deal because it addresses cuts to national security, ron johnson from wisconsin says he likes it because funding the government for two years would be a lot more efficient than these

continuing resolutions. a virginia democrat offered this preview. >> i think you can see a path where you might get to 60 to break the filibuster and then end up with less than that in actually passing the budget, but that would still mean the budget would pass. >> reporter: so you need 60 votes here, and then some of those facing tough re-election battles may be allowed to peel off, and then for final passage all you need is a simple majority, mar that. martha: it looks quite possible, but there are some lawmakers, obviously, who are not happy with this deal. what's on their minds this morning? >> reporter: well, a lot of the keys don't like -- conservatives don't like it because they're concerned about the plan to pay for spending down the road. you've also got some who really object to the idea of touching the cost of living allowance for military retirees. >> what this budget does to current and military retirees and the fact that it breaks a promise that has been made to

military retirees for years and years, it does so retroactively unlike it does to federal employees in the budget. >> reporter: senator mccain says he's concerned about that as well. he says he's been given assurances by the chairman of the senate armed services committee that will be addressed before it takes effect in 2015, but others would like to see it addressed right now, martha. martha: that's a hot issue to be sure, mike. thank you very much. bill: so there are not major tax hikes in this deal, but there are plenty of fees, one most will feel at some point, if you fly, a surcharge added to each airline ticket would double to 5.60 per one-way trip, but it would go the treasury to offset some of the spending sequester cuts. we expect a vote this hour, so we'll see how close it is. martha: flying is such a pleasurable experience as it is so if you have to pay a little

more, i'm sure everybody will be onboard, right? raise your hand. [laughter] unbelievable. ♪ ♪ bill: more this hour. the web site delays continue with only days left until the obamacare deadline to be covered for the 1st of january. this as the president and the vice president meet with top tech company ceos only minutes from now trying to solve the issues still plaguing healthcare.gov once and for all. chief white house correspondent ed henry is not in hawaii, he's on the north lawn of the white house. who's he meeting with today, ed? good morning. >> reporter: good to see you, bill. they are going to talk about healthcare.gov with these tech ceos and coos, but also they say it's a broader discussion about the economy and jobs. some very familiar faces, many of whom support the president with his broader agenda, some raised money for him in the last campaign. he's got tim cook, the ceo of apple, you've got the coo at facebook, sheryl sandberg. you see her there, the book, "lean in." eric schmidt, executive chairman at google, but the president is

facing new allegations about the so-called navigators, the folks who try to help people enroll and sign up on healthcare.gov, there are allegations by darrell issa yesterday that some of these folks are getting weak background checks. jay carney pushed back on all that and said this is just partisanship. take a listen. >> one of our concerns is that documents we now have show some serious areas that may still be wide open to hackers or even wide open to accidental discovery. some of these flaws are so great that somebody just inadvertently could end up, if you will, hacking a site. >> this is just one more data point in the republican obsession with sabotaging obamacare. all navigators must complete about 20 hours of training including training on privacy issues. and this training is not a one-time-only process. >> reporter: now, carney also says that the web site is getting better. you have to wonder, though, if there's some folks here at the

white house thinking it might have been a better idea to bring in some of these tech ceos before the october 1st deadline. bill: that's true. ed snowden, the.?bú nsa expecteo come up at this meeting, how do you anticipate that? >> reporter: well, still some of these tech companies are very frustrated the government has been kind of pressing them to participate in some of these whether it be phone data collection programs, internet data collection programs or federal judge, as you know yesterday, saying that he thinks the phone data collection program, for example, is unconstitutional. it's still got to go through more legal hurdles before it's struck down. the president has promised reform, you'll remember on "60 minutes" one nsa official said maybe there should be amnesty for edward snowden if he turns over other documents he had. jay carney made it clear that was a personal opinion over the weekend. they don't want to give edward snowden amnesty, they think he should come back to america and face those felony charges.

bill: ed, thanks. we'll talk to you a bit later. martha: so fire crews in california are racing to get a growing wildfire there under control. the pfeiffer fire has already destroyed several homes. strong winds combined with dry conditions making that situation worse at this point, and claudia cowan is live near the scene in big sur, california. what's the latest on it, claudia? >> reporter: well, martha, this fire is burning in one of the most picturesque places in the world, big sur, california, known for its rugged coastline and famous parks but not so scenic today as you can see with the thick smoke filling the air and flames burning out of control in a valley that has the highest concentration of homes in big sur, some 200 homes are now threatened. 100 residents have been evacuated. some of them have described hearing propane tanks explode, watching flames 30 feet high jump from tree to tree, rooftop to rooftop.

officials say 15 structures have been lost including the home owned by the big sur fire brigade chief. be. >> i just haven't absorbed it all yet. i walked out the door to go what i thought was a fire somewhere else, and there was ashes and sparks going right by my front door. >> reporter: some 400 firefighters from around the state are on it as soon as it gets a little bit lighter, the air attack will begin. two air tankers and eight helicopters will try to battle the flames in this steep, rugged terrain. it has burned 550 acres, just 5% contained, and strong, shifting winds continue to be a big concern today. the good news, no one has been hurt, and the fire has stayed east of california's pacific coast highway, that is the key road for people who live here and for the millions of tourists who visit big sur year round. one of the main objectives today is to keep the fire from jumping highway 1 and to allow the restaurants, campgrounds and several high-end restaurants and

resorts in this area to stay open. they have not had to close yet. martha, here we are just a week away, about a week away from christmas, and officials here are calling this a summertime fire because of the rugged terrain and the high temperatures and the strong winds and coming as it is during california's driest year on record. back to you. martha: tough time of year for them, and they've got their work cut out for them, claudia. we wish them good luck. thanks a lot. ♪ ♪ bill: today's megamillions looking to reach a record high, a last ticket-buying frenzy pushing the jackpot to $586 million. it'll go higher again today before the big drawing later tonight. currently, the record $656 million. of that was won in march of last year. we should know tomorrow if anyone has chosen the winning numbers or how high the jackpot might go after that if no one wins. martha: so we've been asking you, what are you going to do if

you win all that money, what would you do? and we've got some very interesting answers so far. bill: already we have. martha: and we are going to share some of those at the end of the show, so keep them coming @marthamaccallum, and we will keep reading them. bill: creativity goes a long way. martha: extra points for that. a central judge has now ruled that the nsa's controversial spying program likely violates the constitution. this is a huge development. so what's the ripple effect of that on the voters of this country? is there any trust in the government? bob beckel and karl rove will debate that. look at those two bright, shining faces. coming up. bill: all those multivitamins you're taking, a $12 billion a year industry, a new study suggesting it is a big waste of your money. we'll tell you what the doctors think about that when we ask them. martha: plus, talk about the holiday shopping rush -- that guy's in a big rush right there as the car plows into a packed store. >> i ran towards the center

column, and the cash registers flung right around me. you just react. you don't know how you do or anything, you just do. ♪

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bill: floor of the senate now on this budget deal, they're voting now to end debate, and if that vote succeeds, they'll move on to a full vote on the budget deal that passed overwhelmingly in the house about a week ago. we expect it to be a tight vote, but all indications are it will pass, so we'll keep an eye on it throughout the hour. martha: in the meantime, a federal judge now ruling against the nsa's controversial surveillance program calling it, quote, likely unconstitutional. it collects millions of phone records, including those of americans worldwide, and part of that decision we're going to get into in a moment here, and i want to bring in bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager and co-host of "the five," and karl rove, former

senior adviser to president george w. bush and a fox news contributor. gentlemen, what a lineup. thank you so much. great to have you both here today. all right, first of all, this judge, leon, who was a president bush appointee, says that he thinks this program is orwellian and that it's a breach of the fourth amendment which is illegal search and seizure. karl, this is a big development. >> look, i respectfully disagree with him. the fourth amendment does not apply to foreign terrorists, and let's remember what this program does, it collects phone records for roughly five years, it can only be accessed when a bad guy from abroad calls into the united states or somebody in the united states calls to a bad guy abroad. and then you have to go to a judge on the foreign intelligence surveillance court and meet certain evidentiary tests before you can query the database to find out who is that bad guy calling inside the united states, or who's the person inside the united states calling that bad guy.

the database only connists of the phone number calling from, the date of the call, the length of the call, and it was queried 300 times last year under court order from the fisa court, the foreign intelligence surveillance court -- martha: well, several times they have disagreed with this program, where they have said that the program has many times been in violation of the rules. they've also cited instances where thousands of e-mails were also collected because when these rules were passed, you know, the world wasn't texting and e-mailing the way we are now, and that's one of the things that's raised a lot of big questions here, karl. >> well, the metadata program is an entirely different program, this one is authorized under section 215 of the patriot act, and that's what the judge's decision was about. this is a valuable program. you raised a question about whether or not there ought to be constraints on it, that's appropriate for both lawmakers and the executive branch to decide.

we're going to go up to the supreme court in this, in all likelihood. what was interesting was the supreme court has long held in a case that's now 34 years old, smith v. maryland, that this kind of data collection of business records from phone companies is entirely legal and appropriate and that those records could be accessed under certain standards that most of the standards have been talked about have to do with the fourth amendment as it applies to u.s. citizens. but this has to do with foreign terrorists calling into the united states or being called by somebody inside the united states. martha: well, you talk about effectiveness, and judge leon -- and, bob, i want you to address this -- the government does not cite a single case in which analysis of the nsa's bulk collection actually led to the thwarting of an imminent terrorist attack, bob. >> yeah. that's something i've been saying for some time. i want to see the evidence that this thing actually works, one. two, it is not quite as targeted as karl said. it is a massive collection. you're getting caught in a drag cell phone net, and if you

happen to have a phone call that has raised a flag, fine, they follow through and decide whether that's communication with a terrorist. in the meantime, everybody's phone records are being accessed. now, i find that to be intrusive and clearly against the fourth amendment, but beyond that when you talk about the fisa court, you said the fisa court's raised some questions, that may be true, but they've rubber stamped virtually every one of these thicks that the administration, both the administrations have asked for. and this, again, is one of the prices we pay for the patriot act. much too broad, much too much leeway for the government to do what they want in violation of the fourth amendment. martha: there are a lot of questions about whether or not this program is effective, and you can talk to the top experts who report on homeland security in this country, and they'll say there's a number of things that led to the thwarting of these attacks, and i know that's going to be debated -- >> well, martha, one point, one point about that. do you think the obama administration was inclined to keep this program in place? no. but they did, and they did

because they found it to be valuable. now, the court, you'll notice that judge leon was very specific in his language. they haven't shown us any instance of where it thwarted an imminent attack. the administration has, both the bush administration and obama administration have evidence where it thwarted attack. he meant stop something before it happened. our object is to stop it long before it happens, not just at the moment just before -- >> because the obama administration likes it doesn't make it right. martha: there you go. >> well, i agree with that, but my point is the obama administration would be inclined to get rid of a program, but it didn't because it saw it as a very valuable tool -- martha: you know how that works, carl. god forbid something happens, no administration wants to be the one that erased a program that was -- >> well, with all due respect, this administration has shown itself willing to do things like close down gitmo which, again, is another valuable tool in the warren to terror. martha: which they have not done. >> i would say they're simply

focused on covering their posteriors. martha: i want to pull up a poll. i think this nsa issue has implications for how people feel about the reach of big government in this country, and i think we're seeing that in some of these polls. it says are you okay with the government collecting information for national security. 55% say they have no problem with it, social network activity 30% in favor, web browsing history, 24% in favor. this leaves huge numbers of people who are not okay with this program. do you think, bob, that -- and this goes on to show the percentages in some of these other ways, telephone calls and e-mails and text messages, especially with young people which is what this poll is, a harvard poll be, they don't like this, bob, and it's having an impact on how they feel about government, it appears. >> that's exactly right. karl cited a 1970 maryland decision. so much has changed since 1970, and most of that is around cell phones and social media. and young people use that a hot. the fbi's being intrusive on

social media, we are allowing the government increasingly to get into our communication, and the idea going back to nice star -- fisa for a second had everything to do with foreign intelligence. when i was at the white house, i dealt with the nsa a lot. it's very difficult to get those boys turned off once they get turned on. they're all filling out their mega millions, they've got to go back and get -- i just think you've got to stop this. martha: yeah. a lot of people look hat this, health care, and they just wonder if there's too much of their personal information that's allowed to be tapped into should the government decide it wants to, and it's a huge issue. gentlemen, thank you very much. >> martha? martha: yeah, quickly. >> people are schizophrenic though. how many cop dramas do we see on television which, you know, they immediately access some database to find the cell phone records of some suspected perpetrator of a crime, and we don't see -- we're very schizophrenic. i admit people are nervous about

this, but just because the government has the power to abuse doesn't mean we ought to stop them. martha: effectiveness is key, and i think that needs to be demonstrated, and we've got to go. we're going to get cut off. thank you, bob, thank you, karl.

martha: all right, so procedural vote has taken place and passed, the budget will now go forward for the vote, the cloture vote has been passed, over 60 votes required to do that, and now they take a bit of a breather before this process continues as they try to get closer on an actual budget which they haven't done in years and years to come out of the senate. we'll be watching. bill: funny things happening. dick cheney has some strong feelings on obamacare and how it relates directly to his life. he's also got a new book out right now from the fox news

medical a-team, dr. marc siegel's with me right now, what did he say, doc? >> former vice president cheney is alive today because of a state of the art medical technology that was developed in each case just in time to save him. everything from a heart assist pump to the ultimate in 2012, a heart transplant. cheney is a fierce opponent of obamacare which he says jeopardizes a patient's right to choose their own health care. his opposition to the medical device tax comes straight from his heart. >> i'm very worried about it. i think it's a terrible idea. the people who invent those devices and produce them pay taxes like everybody else. but this is a unique tax that's going to be on the first dollar of revenue that comes in to the people who have invented and created these devices. when you think about the stent, for example, i had quadruple coronary bypass in 1988, tough surgery. tents weren't available then. later on when i had a minor

problem while i was in the white house, i got a stent. piece of cake. outpatient procedure almost. that development has saved the lives of millions of people, and it was put together, a couple of guys had an idea, they went to a third individual who put up some money and became their partner. he happened to be my neighbor in dallas. i didn't know it at the time, that he was involved in this, but they produced the stent, they got the patent, they sold it to johnson & johnson and, they've been enormously successful. but, by golly, they earned it. and there are people all over america today, all over the world that benefited from the development of that device. well, would that device have been developed or would it have been slower? when you start to tax something like that, it seems to me, you do serious damage to the long-term prospects forovation . >> patients with the resources of a former vice president will always be able to afford the latest treatments. but will these treatments be developed in the first place if obamacare's climate doesn't

support it? bill? bill: he's had a front row seat to all of this going back 35 years. thank you, doctor, very interesting stuff. martha:$/@' a new fight brewing between congress and the white house, and this one could go to court. a group of lawmakers plan to challenge president obama and why he's claiming they are overstepping their power. bill: also from the people's house the a giant house made of ginger bread. martha: that's impressive. bill: whoa! what it took to make that confectionary masterpiece. martha: and i did it all after work. [laughter] bill: true story. ♪ ♪ my customers can shop around--

see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors,

treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. the the the the

>> taking the president to court. federal courts usually reject lawsuits from one branch to another, but 29 members are backing a lawsuit that accuses him of failing to fufill laws. how is this time different? >> the federal judge that turned it before was brought by a democrat who tried to sue president obama and bush.

backers say while the court may not recognize the standing or the right to sue individual house members the house as a whole and an institutional body may have better luck suing. a south carolina congressman said the institution, if the executive is nullifying and saying he is not going to pass the law, he thinks they have a better chance of winning and we signed on and 28 other members. >> how is the administration responding? >> the supporters are speaking out, but we have not heard from the president himself. we heard from the senior council

and he predicted if the case gets to court a judge will toss the case. >> political attacks and policy criticism is what we expect. but trying to cloak them in a constitutional argument is un r unfortunate. >> he went on to say congress members can take their ball and leave if they don't like the president's game. but they are saying the powers in the constitution will be needed. >> thank you, shannon. a question on obamacare and the battle is on over privacy issues. the white house is pushing keep

to sign-up with navigators and no one knows who they are. >> these individuals, so-called navigators, don't follow any of the rules that every union has for insurance people. so the idea they are bonded or anything that would cause you to know they are not nel felons hasn't been done. >> the white house is pushing back against these allegations. who are these people? >> that is a big question. navigators can be anybody. anybody going through a university program or they can be convicted felons because they

don't go through a background check as they would if they were an employee or working for an insurance company. so they can be very bad people with bad intentions which is what isa is looking into it. >> there is another suggestion they come from the political arm political action group. is that true? >> they are coming from organizing for action and you have a report stating the remnants of acorn who were defunded for fraud, trafficking underage girls, and those people are now signing up to be navigators and handling sensitive information in light of loosing that federal funding as a result of fraud.

>> and that is one thing the white house says the personal information isn't at stake. are they pushing people toward medicaid? is that true? >> i don't have the answer for the pushing toward medicaid. we know it has expanded, but if the navigators are doing that, you would have to have a conversation with the navigators and the people trying to enroll. >> ed henry reported these navigators in training get 20 hours in training. >> this is the problem here. jay carney said the republicans are using this as a way to sabotage the law. these navigators go through training including handling personal information.

but they are not going through a background check. you have the health and human service secretary in charge of obamacare and hired by obama saying there is a potential convicted felons could be part of the navigators program and the administration isn't putting anything forward to fix that. instead they are attacking republicans. >> that is what carney said republicans are going after the navigators to sabotage the law. and kathleen sebelius said this: the case in point of them trying to shut it down is the meeting in dallas designed to stifle the reputation of people who are working hard to help their fellow people get covered. how would you respond to her? >> let's look at why isa held the meeting.

there was an undercover investigation that showed navigators in texas, who have been fired, encouraging people to lie on their application form to get a bigger federal subsidy which is defrauding the government. so there is a reason why the congressman is looking into texas and the navigator problem has a whole. they have a major problem on their hands. >> more on this? >> lots more. >> thank you. good to have you back on. >> good to see you. >> well, we have been talking about the mega millions jackpot at $586 million. we asked you to tweet in what you would do if you won all of the money. >> donnie tweets i would give $1

million to each citizen. >> and she would have a lot left over. >> i would never fly commercial again. >> i will join you. that is exactly what i would do. >> bernie says buy fox news. >> keep sending the tweets in. i agree with that guy because there is nothing better than -- commercial airlines are tougher and tougher and more uncomfortable and soon people are going to be on the phone next to you. tha i think that money is well spent on that. what would you do with the money? >> i would come to work the next morning and give you a big hug. >> and say see you later

>> chow, baby. >> all right. we will go buy the tickets. this is coming up this morning, millions of americans spending $12 billion on multi vitamins. it maybe a complete waste of money according to a study. >> the highest honor for one of america's favorites rock bands.

>> yeah. yeah. >> i am not going to stop it. >> get out the flannel and

ripped jeans, nirvana is going into the rock and roll hall of fame. hall and oats, cat stevens, linda ronstat. why they do it in new york -- i don't know. >> well case closed. that is the message from researchers after claiming multi vitamins don't have any benefit. we have two doctors here to talk about this with us. dr. sue and dr. brian, good to have you both here.

iook fish oil, vitamin d, a multi vitamin. am i wasting my time and money? >> i was not impressed with this story at all. so many studies show various findings. there was a study published in september with 55,000 people that showed a 7% reduction in stroke and that was using folic acid. >> some of the stuff we don't get in the food we eat. >> we don't. our food supply is so tainted. there are chemicals, hormones, or soil isn't nourished properly. a cup of broccoli doesn't have

the newt nutrients it used it. >> the doctor is correct about the weak soil. but most supplements on the market are made out of chemicals. i am a doctor of nutrition and have been in the business for 40 years. there are supplements called whole food supplements and they are the ones you want to go after. >> that is what i wanted to ask you. when you go to the store, there is a whole, and they are a lot more expensive, but they are ground up real food -- are they for real? >> absolutely. that is the way we have to go. the entire field is moving in that direction. you get wonderful nutrition.

>> so a lot of people will look at this and throw out everything in the medicine cabinet and this isn't going to make folks who make vitamins happy, but i would like to hear from you both. we have heard there are essential elements your body need and that is what is driving this. tell me what vitamins you would say keep having. >> i think you need to take a multi vitamin and fish oil and vitamin d because most of us in the northern don't get enough. but how are these supplement being made? and a lot of these things are not made properly. they have a low concentration of real ingredients and fillers. >> absolutely. >> and you have to take the pure form or you can eat the fish,

eat the vegetables, right? >> where are you going to get them from? >> here is what you have to know, my other book killer fix talks about the dangers of oil. chia seeds and flax seed are healthy and inexpensive. and juicing is a multiple vitamin. >> i really disagree with the whole concept of juicing. when people are trying to lose weight they get so many carbs from juicing and don't get the fiber >> i think you have given us valuable information and thanks to both of you. chia seeds. >> the debate rolls on.

jenna lee rolls on as well. what is happening now is happening now >> we are talking about health care and obamacare is taking stage again with a new poll showing the achievement. and rising rates for small businesses and the impact of that. and studying bears to get insight to obesity and weig weightloss. and the fda says not so fast on anti-bacterial soap. >> i chose to think they work. >> apparently we are suckers. >> all right. i will stay tuned for that. >> see you in ten minutes. talk about doing christmas right. a ginger bread house that is

life size. look at this sucker. >> beautiful. >> beautiful. waffle bars... fancy robes... seems every hotel has something to love... so join the loyalty program that lets you earn free nights in any of them. plus, for a limited time, members can win a free night every day. only at hotels.com i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male anner ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is!

>> everything is bigger in texas and that includes christmas decorations with a life size ginger bread house you can sleep inside. >> i smell delicious. do you like butter? 1800 pounds of butter is what it took to thick mace. 7200 eggs and 7200 pounds of flour and 4,000 pounds of brown

sugar to make the world's largest ginger bread house. this is the panels that people all over bryant college station were making and they were slathered on the exterior with icing. it is buckling and crumbling because the heat and rain hasn't been too nice. hundreds of volunteers started at the beginning of november. all value' -- volunteers -- that took a month to complete. people have been coming through donating money and they have raised about $200,000 they are giving to a hospital to build a

tr trauma center. the structure is wooden but the exterior is edible. the total calorie count is nearly 36 million calories. >> wow. >> plenty of samples. >> i will have a nibble later. >> i would not think eat the whole thing. >> he looks like a gingerbread man. >> a man put his car through a crowded california board walk and his attorney says he is fragile and this isn't his fault.

farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back,

so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

♪ bill: special reminder. where will you be on new year's eve, mccallum? martha: somewhere warm and sunny. bill: all american

new year's eve is coming this way. join elisabeth hasslebeck and me. we start 10:00 p.m. -- 11:00 p.m. eastern time. i'm looking for mccallum appearance despite the weather. martha: call you on the cell phone. good-bye everybody. see you tomorrow. jenna: "happening now," a new poll shows president obama with the lowest approval rating of his presidency. hi, everybody, i hope you have a great day so far. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. last year at this time the president's job approval rating stood at 54%. it has dropped 11 points to 43%. the disapproval number, rising to 55%. also when it comes to who do you trust more, while congress remains hoaxer it is starting to close a gap with the president that began last year. you can see the numbers there. joining us now to