stay right here." [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute -- www.ncicap.org -- gretchen: nothing like a little rooster call to get you going in the morning. today brian doing a little sleeping, probably. peter in his place. steve: great to have you. peter: thank you. steve: somebody who's happy to be somewhere. it's those two journalists who were sprung by bill clinton who made a rescue run to north korea yesterday. peter: big news. steve: absolutely. laura ling and euna lee right now are on that airplane, that charter that you see right there, with the former president of the united states, william jefferson clinton. i tell what you, the families are absolutely delighted in fact, according to "the wall street journal" both the girls got to make a phone call. they both said the only reason we're out is because bill clinton, because the north koreans asked for him specifically. gretchen: it's amazing, i think, that the north koreans gave

these girls three phone calls. there's a report that there was a man kidnapped in south korea, which was much more friendly, and he didn't get any phone calls -- or jailed, i should say. not kidnapped. they got these phone calls and they were able to say this message to their parents which was then relayed to the white house that bill clinton better be sent over there right away. i think it's fascinating that this came together. a lot of people skeptical this morning. they're asking questions about what, in fact, the u.s. may have given up to north korea. peter: americans delighted that these young journalists have been returned. it's great to have americans back on our soil soon of the but there is a question about what price will be paid for this negotiation. clearly bill clinton did a tremendous job in getting these people back. and i think one of the conditions of his trip was knowing that in fact, he would be successful in bringing the americans back. but in doing so, have we restored north korea to the community of nations?

and they put out an absolute propaganda statement that the former president of the united states had basically confessed to the crimes of these two young women who were doing nothing else but being american journalists. steve: clinton expressed words of sincere apology to kim jong il for the hostile acts committed by the girls. clinton courteously conveyed to kim jong il an ernest request of the u.s. government to leniently pardon them. peter: i don't think he admitted that they did it. steve: bill clinton would not have gotten on that airplane if it were not already a done deal. and john bolt yorntion the former ambassador of the united nations, said yesterday this comes really close. he essentially did something really close to what his wife is foresquare against. that is, did we negotiate with terrorists? and what exactly -- sure, north korea wound up with a great picture. there it is on the cover of the "new york times." bill clinton, kim jong il and

their party, including the chief nuclear negotiator for north korea. what did north korea get out of the deal? they wouldn't have just sprung them for nothing. they got something. we may never know. gretchen: the bottom line is kim jong il is still a nut so that hasn't changed. the rest of the world knows he's a nut so that hasn't changed. to me i'm not so sure that this was a big no-no, that bill clinton did this. the two girls are back home. so he had to say what he said. you know that north korea will spin this whatever way they want to spin it. i do think it's a bit of a problem for his wife now. because she's the secretary of state. here's what she said just a few weeks ago about north korea. gretchen: she was specifically speaking about kim jong il of north korea. the bottom line is they want

talks with the u.s. steve: and the united states warchts six-party -- wants six-party talks. gretchen: did they give that up? steve: we had the chief negotiator for north korea on the tarmac yesterday with bill clinton. you got to be crazy if you don't think at some point bill clinton, who's a very chatty guy, didn't start talking. during his administration he was talking about that country and getting the nukes off the able to over there. she wants six-party talks. bill clinton wants two-party talks. he looked great yesterday doing that. but you know what? you got to figure at 1600 pennsylvania avenue they're going, wait a minute, last week it was beer, this week it's bump. there's bill clinton on the cover of every newspaper, sucking up all the tv air time today and once again we're not talking about health care because we're talking about bill clinton. gretchen: i think it's a distraction for them. peter: i think it enhances the credibility of former president clinton and secretary of state clint ongoing forward. it's interesting that, you know,

this has happened at this point it may be a distraction. but it enhances both their credibility. gretchen: yeah. i think that the obama administration needs a distraction, quite frankly, right now. they got these tea parties brewing all over the country with people coming out enforce saying, wait a minute, maybe congress people should read these bills of they need a distraction. a lot of people are wondering what role bill clinton would play in this administrations. think we're seeing it now. this is a huge role for bill clinton i think we will now see him as the chief negotiator, potentially superseding his wife's role to a certain extent. that's where it could get dicey. peter: bill clinton is probably one of the smartest guys in the united states. when you speak to bill clinton, you speak to a guy that understands history. he understands his position in history. so this is another opportunity for him to try and improve his position in history. he was successful here. this is clearly a big win for

the united states for the moment in bringing these people back. do we do ourselves harm, though, in the international community? do we do ourselves harm in the five-way talks where by the world says, north korea, they really are reasonable people. the united states, you be reasonable, back off on the nuclear issue and maybe only settle for a lip yit on nuclear -- limit on nuclear proliferation. let the north koreans have their nuclear weapons but let's enter discussions about limits. at this point the president has said that's not acceptable, but let's see where the slippery slope goes. steve: talking of bill clinton, let's see if barack obama actually talks to bill clinton because they have not talked since march. remember, things were tough because bill clinton's wife was running against barack obama. peter: i find that incredible. steve: they haven't spoken on the phone since march. gretchen: the obama

administration could not say they spoke to bill clinton with this issue because they had to be separate from what was going on. we don't know if they've spoken. do we? peter: they say they haven't spoken. gretchen: do we believe everything we read? i don't. peter: no. but i think that one -- gretchen: anyway, let's move on to other news of the day. if it was one particular newspaper, i wouldn't necessarily believe it. this morning police investigating why a man gunned down three women in a fitness health club then turned the gun on himself. rick leventhal is live in bridgeville, pennsylvania with the latest on this tragic story. good morning, rick. >> good morning, gretchen. there were about 70 people inside the l.a. fitness center when this multiple shooting took place with multiple victims. many people telling similar stories. they were either working out and heard the pop of gunfire or they were in the room and actually witnessed or experienced this man open fire on a room full of women inside that club last night around 8:00. the man they say was carrying a

duffle bag, walked into the back of an exercise room, fumbled with the bag then apparently turned the lights off and opened fire. he killed several women inside that room. he wounded 10 other women inside that room. and then apparently turned one of the guns on himself. >> sounded like someone was hitting a rack he had ball. it kept repeating real lou because it was in that room. everybody ditched and ran as fast as they could. that's all i heard. just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. >> helped carry one girl out. she got shot in her thigh. she kept saying he was going to die. peter: when police arrived, it was a chaotic scene. they were administering aid, rushing them to the hospital. many of these women were working out, didn't have identificationen them so many of these victims still have not been identified. one witness was crying, apparently, that it was her ex-boyfriend she believed that had come in and opened fire.

but police haven't said yet who this gunman is or why he went on a rampage. >> one told me, he's going kill me, this is my ex-boyfriend, going to kill me. >> police say the gunman knew exactly where he was going and what he intended to do. the investigation is now beginning. the sun hasn't even come up yet here in the pittsburgh area. one of the hospitals received five victims. they all had multiple gunshot wounds and were admitted in critical condition. but three of them have now been upgraded to serious condition. so perhaps they'll be ok. but clearly an awful, awful scene here last night. we'll bring you more throughout the morning. steve: all right, rick. let's talk a little bit about cash for clunkers. harry reid after a lunch he had yesterday with the president of the united states who was trying to rally support for health care, harry reid came out and said, you know, we've got the votes, we've got 60 votes and we will probably add $2 billion more before the senators head out.

a lot of people have been talking about whether or not this made good sense, gave up to $4,500 for these clunkers. now there is news -- i kind of mentioned this yesterday. caulking to one of my car -- talking to one of my car dealer friends. that four of the top five cars that people are buying are made by foreign automakers. gretchen: yeah. as i mentioned, friends are in the car business. look at this list. number one, ford focus, number two, toyota corp corolla, honda civic, toyota prius, toyota camry. so had this whole cash for clunkers -- sorry, i can't say it without laughing. has it benefited foreign automakers when the whole point

many of these foreign manufactured cars are actually manufactured in the united states in many different states across the united states. i'm happy to see that the ford focus is right at the top of the american cars, the first. and the white house is saying that the american cars constitute about 47% of the cash for clunkers trade so far. steve: interestingly enough, there is on the official list from the federal government, there is a hummer that can you buy. peter: oh. steve: it is the h-3t2009 qualifies because it's 14 city, and 18 highway. so you can buy a hummer and the government will pay $4,500 if

you cash in your clunker. gretchen: more on that coming up. we'll talk to ray had a load on this issue -- la diagnose hood in just an hour. secretary of state hillary clinton in africa this morning. she'll meet with the president of somalia who's unbacked government is battling an islamic insurgency. clinton's seven-nation tour comes just weeks after president obama made his first visit to africa as commander in chief. cops say a mom who caused that terrible crash that killed eight people, including her own 2-year-old daughter, was completely drunk and high. police say diane shiewl her a blood alcohol level of .19, i believe that's .19, which is twice the legal limit when show drove the wrong way in new york. they also say she still had alcohol in her stomach, a jumbo

bottle of vodka found in the wreckage of her car. tests showed that she was also smoking pot within an hour before getting behind the wheel. >> how do you put five children in a car when you're a mother and you're drunk? how do you do that? it's incomprehensible, all these things. it won't come back, but it's making it worse for us now. because they had a lot more to give and that was taken away from them. >> the crash killed schuler, her 2-year-old daughter, three nieces and three people in the other car. schuler's son survived that crash. those are your quick headlines. steve: meanwhile, bill clinton's success in negotiating the release of those two american journalists from north korea. but does that come with a cost? what did we give up? and why dick morris says he was very surprised the former president was sent in the first place. peter: and putting an end to all the rumors this morning, we hear from paula abdul herself about

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steve: they are almost home. former president bill clinton has secured the release of two american journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in north korea. they are expected to land this morning at the bob hope airport in burbank. that is where anita finds herself at 3:17 pacific time. good morning, anita. >> good morning, steve. you have to get up early for a story. this is a good one. we are at the burbank airport in an area adjacent to the main airport. dowpdown we're standing next to hangar 25. this is where private aircraft come and go. and this is where we believe president clinton's plane will be landing sometime over the next several hours, perhaps as late as 35:30 local time on the

west coast. it has been quite an ordeal for these two journalists, laura ling and euna lee, the current tv journalists who were detained, sentenced to 12 years of hard labor and a very uncertain future. then, of course, yesterday came the surprise news that president clinton had made a surprise humanitarian visit to north korea to secure the release of these two young women. now, they were seen on the tarmac in north korea wearing short sleeves and jeans and looking pretty healthy. we understand, also, there could be a doctor onboard this plane in case of any kind of medical emergency. but we're also hearing through white house sources that the two women were enormously relieved and said to be in pretty good health. now, we understand the flight from north korea to los angeles is a little over 12 hours and that they did stop at one point in japan too refuel. we are -- to refuel. we are expecting that plane to

land here. these women will be greeted by their family and we're also told former vice president al gore could be here as well. back to you. steve: thank you very much. gretchen: president clinton's visit has proved a success for the united states. but some are asking this morning, is there a cost associated? with us is dick morris. is there a cost associated with this? >> yeah. i think this is an awful idea of bill clinton's. i feel badly for the two journalists, but what were they doing in north korea in the first place? the united states should not be giving kim jong il this opportunity for propaganda to show the world, hey, what's two nuclear tests between friends? sorry about those missiles we shot off. peter had it right. we can't reward that conduct by giving them a state dinner in north korea this kind of recognition this kind of support. now they're saying, hey this

country is a pretty good group of folks. steve: i thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. >> exactly. it's ridiculous to have done this. gretchen: how were we supposed to get the girls home, though, dick? >> i don't know. gretchen: how were we supposed to get them home? >> maybe they don't come home. maybe they go to north korea and live with the consequences of their decision to go there. the point is, you don't give a rogue state like north korea the opportunity to rehabilitate its image globally simply to get two reporters out of jail and give the former president, the current president, and the secretary of state a photo op. steve: they certainly got their picture. we want to continue the conversation with you. dick morris continues. he has a great book out. says no new taxes for the middle class. we have six specific ways that the middle class will be paying out. gretchen: and regular americans speaking out.

called "angry mobs of rabid right wing extremists." ..xn0]u5.

shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >> i just want to state again clearly here that the president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle class families. gretchen: but hasn't the obama administration already raised taxes on the middle class? americans are paying an additional 62 cents for a pack of cigarettes thanks to the new tobacco tax. currently there are five other laws proposed that will have the average american dishing out more dough. with us again is the author dick morris. before we get to this whole middle class tax issue, i do want to ask about whether or not this was a good thing to send

bill clinton over there, a distraction to keep this away from the health care discussion for the obama administration. >> that's it, gretchen. they are trying to make it through august. when august opened, they were getting clobbered on health care reform. confidence in the american health care system rose from 32% in may to 46% now. opposition to his plan now is a nine-point margin. the elderly in particular are getting the point we make a catastrophe, which is they're going to get clobbered by this plan because it basically repeals medicare. they have to change the subject. they have two great ways to do if now -- the cash for clunkers which shows that at least something in the stimulus package is working, and now north korea. if they can make it through august without a focus on health care, they can cash in their 60 votes in september. peter: isn't the white house response really catastrophic in your words, on these things? is there a sense of hysteria

that you're now seeing out of the white house where they're attacking ordinary americans? not only allegations of intimidating senators but attack ordinary americans for opposition to a plan, for a political discussion. what does that show about the state of mind there? >> we've gone back to johnson attacking the students in the 1960's. now the students they're attacking are actually the same people but they're 70 now. gretchen: very good point. >> the point is look, they want to take away our health care system. my father has got a colostomy at the age of 95. he would be dead now. they wouldn't allow it to happen. my uncle has colon cancer. he's in his 70's. he's kept alive by the advanced colon cancer chemotherapy. in canada and britain, that's not allowed. it's too expensive when you're dealing with these kinds of issues, of course the elderly

are going to get sensitive about it. chapter 4 of "catastrophe" lays it out in detail. obviously they're going to get emotional about it, and they should. steve: let's backtrack to the talk about over the weekend, summers and geithner were talking about the possibility that they would do anything to keep the deficits down. of course, ceilings that could mean jacking up taxes on the middle class. we've already seen them jack up taxes on some energy -- >> do anything to keep taxes down except reign in the spending plans to keep the deficit down which caused the deficit in the first place. steve: why would they want to stop spending? do you think they will ultimately raise taxes on middle class? >> absolutely. of course they will. no question about it. there's not enough money to cover -- look, lets it this way so everybody gets it. the federal government spends $4 trillion when obama took office, it spent $3 trillion. now it's up to $4 trillion.

half of that is bore -- borrowed. what are you going to do pay for half the budget with the top 1% or 2% of the tax payers in the country? you can't do it. peter: we keep hearing from the president and now from mr. gibbs, his press secretary, let me make this clear, let's be clear, i'm making this clear. well, it was made clear on the campaign that there wouldn't be a 10-cent tax increase for the middle class. but they keep on saying that but we keep on hearing about these trillions of dollars in deficits. when that middle class tax increase comes to pass, how do they explain it? >> well, i think this is all part of making it possible not impossible. it shows the president doesn't want it. the president wants to tax rich people. but these moderate blue dog democrats are going to drag him, kicking and screaming, to a general tax increase which he'll oppose. look, reagan got away with a tax mike 1986. ok? and everybody said, well, he

doesn't really want it, the democrats are making him do it. that's what obama wants to create. gretchen: that's a very interesting analysis. >> jimmy carter went to korea when clinton was president and screwed up his negotiations with the north koreans in 1994. steve: that's correct. peter: carter was the last president before clinton to make that trip. steve: thanks. about half past the top of the hour. gretchen: we now know. could paula abdul be out at "idol?" hear what she's saying, at least what she's twittering, next. peter: and a monster bolt of lightning caught on a police dash cam. steve: then the russian president -- that's him. look at him. a new series of macho poses. he's on vacancy! gretchen: happy birthday to is a

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class at an l.a. fitness center in the pittsburgh suburb. witnesses say all of a sudden he dropped the bag, the lights went out, and all they could see were flashes in the dark. those flashes gunfire. witnesses say the experience, as you could imagine, terrifying. >> me and my friends were playing a game. heard gun shots. victims come running in covered in blood. everybody started running out. me and my buddy helped one of the victims that were shot. carried them out about 50 yards until the ambulance got here. gretchen: there are reports a note was found in his car that made it very clear he did not intend to leave the gym alive. steve: meanwhile, in most authoritarian regimes the inauguration of a president includes standing room only crowds in iran, ahmadinejad took his oath for a second nerm a half empty parliament chamber. and instead of a big parade opponents called for demonstrations against him. ahmadinejad promised to protect iran's frontier and

constitution. gretchen: move over, bernie madoff. there's a new scam. the scam being pulled off halfway across the globe in israel. joining us from jerusalem with details. this is not like bernie madoff in the sense that this has something to do with gambling? >> yeah. about the lottery, gretchen. you don't think of israel as a haven for scam artists, but recently it's become one. >> oh my gosh, having wo won $500,000. >> it's called the nigerian sting except it was done from israel. this one, an elaborate lottery scam that swindled $25 million from elderly americans. the calls made from an office in tel aviv. >> we've never, never, never, never, never lied to anyone, taken anything from anyone.

>> the scammers got the phone numbers from legitimate slips like these. those were then resold for marketing purposes to this phony company. they obtained the personal details of 185,000 americans. the suspects, most in their 20's, if convicted in the u.s. o could face decades in prison. the f.b.i. working closely are israeli authorities planted hidden cameras that helped bust the operation. the u.s. want the suspects extradited. and there's news of another scam taking place in israel, targeting americans. this time it targeted american inmates and u.s. soldiers stationed in iraq. greg: reena nina, thanks for the report. steve: after several deadly accidents, transportation secretary ray lahood will study the impact of texting behind the wheel. >> if it were up to me, i would ban drivers from texting immediately.

steve: me, too, mr. secretary. he cited a recent train crash in los angeles that killed 25 people. the rail operator sending repeated texts just seconds before that crash. is a national ban on texting and driving in the car? it's coming up in the next hour. the secretary of transportation will join us live. peter? peter: after pumping $75 billion into a foreclosure prevention plan only 9% of the people facing foreclosure are getting help. the white house says part of the problem, some banks have yet to implement the program. president obama launched the mortgage modification program back in february. the white house insists it will eventually help up to four million homeowners. what's going on with the weather across our great, great country? steve: thank you very much. here's our great, great country. including alaska up there and hawaii out there. we have some thunderstorms, as you can see, moving through south-central portions of the mississippi valley.

also up in the central plain states. the two strongest systems. also a little rain in portions of arizona. otherwise, the balance of the country nice. a little cloud cover. it's already warm across parts of the u.s. here in new york city, la guardia airport, 76 degrees already. return your tray table to its full upright position. and in the mid 70's through the dixieland states, up through the central plains. 50's and 60's in the northern plains. it's already hot down south. dallas right now 82, going for toasty temps. it's almost 100 right this second in phoenix, arizona. let's look at the day ahead on this wednesday. 100 in el paso. about the same for dallas. all across texas back through the desert. 89 here in new york city. 80 in chicago. in oregon, temperatures for the most part in the 70's and the 80's. speaking of oregon, here's a

jolt. wow. did you see that? lightning struck a transformer on a utility pole right in front of a police cruiser. it was captured on dash cam. after seeing this, the officer pulled off the road to collect himself. can you imagine how loud that would have been? # boom! gretchen: we have a fox news alert. we can report -- well, first we're going to talk about the shirtless putin? why not? just released, russian prime minister vladimir putin on the prowl in siberia. that's where he spent most of his vacation. apparently forgot to pack a shirt. pictures are supposed to reinforce putin's tough guy image. that one's weird. anyway, they were released. i was all for the traps originally in the water. i'm for that one. i'm not so hot about the one on the horse. that's a little strange. that was released by prime minister's personal present wrath. remember he did that a couple of years ago. there was a big ruckus, like how

dare a politician show us those ads that horse one, get rid of that one. a report now. the plane carrying former president bill clinton and the newly released journalists will arrive at the burbank airport. they're going to arrive at 8:30 a.m. eastern time, which will be 5:30 a.m. a little less than two hours from now. apparently a podium is being set up there. they're all going to come down and give the highly anticipated speeches, the first talking that we'll hear from euna lee and laura ling after five months of being imprisoned in north korea. peter: a 12-hour flight. a stop in japan evidently for refueling. i'm sure that's a flight filled with anticipation and excitement. it's great to have the americans coming back to our soil. steve: i'm sure their families will be there. you will see it live on "fox & friends" just an hour and 15 minutes from right now. meanwhile, it is an

international sensation, "american idol." of course, it has starred paula and randy and simon. and now this new woman. but that woman right there, in the green, paula abdul, saying adios. she twittered last night that apparently things didn't go well with certain negotiations with fox and she is leaving. she writes -- "with sadness in my heart, i've decided not to return to "idol." gretchen: i got to say that i'm going to miss imrawl abdul on the show -- paula abdul on the show, if this is true. idea that she's not going to be

there? come on. a lot of people watched for the train wreck. watched, of course, for simon, number one. but a lot of people wanted to see what exactly would come out of paula abdul's mouth. kara is a lovely woman who has a lot of musical talent herself and expertise in songwriterring, but i'm not sure she's the character that paula abdul is. peter: eight years on that show. steve: i think she is toast. fox released a statement saying she's a tremendous talent and we wish her the best. that usually comes at the end. peter: that's usually over. usually very over. steve: are you going to miss paula? e-mail us right now. friends@foxnews.com. gretchen: twitter. meantime, a high school on american soil funded by the saudi government? with close ties to terrorism? it will be allowed to expand now. a christian academy not given the same right. is there a double standard? peter: and they went to a town

hall meeting to speak out against health care. but some democrats are now attacking them, calling them "right wing extremists." we talked to two people who spoke out at a town hall meeting. they are outraged. you'll hear from them. when i was seventeen i was not good to my skin.

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gretchen: a few news headlines for you. two russian attack subs spotted off the east coast of the united states? the visits unusual and unannouncessed. but the nuclear powered subs are allowed to be there.

they're in international waters. officials do not think they impose a threat. an edible chip that attaches to pills to keep track of whether patients are taking their medication or not. the use of remote monitoring could save billions annually on a range of diseases. steve? steve: that is a cool idea. a town planning board in fairfax county, virginia, voting monday night to allow the expansion of the i.s.a., the islamic saudi academy, which is a high school funded by the saudi government from saudi arabia here in the united states. it apparently has had close links, critics say to terrorism. so how did a school whose most famous graduate is in jail for life over a plot to kill president bush get approval to expand? pastor david stokes is the senior pastor at fair oaks church and is also a broadcaster and columnist for townhall.com. he has opposed this measure. pastor, why didn't you want the

islamic saudi academy to expand? >> well, a couple of reasons. first of all, a christian school on that same site had been denied the expansion due to traffic concerns 25 years ago. traffic is arguably worse now. also a fairness issue. fairfax county has been pretty tough on christian churches in zoning issues, expansion issues and pretty much gave this group a pass. but all of it, of course is tempered by the camel in the room, i guess, which is the whole issue of jihaddism and the teaching of the law and so forth. think some of these things are a great concern to citizens. steve: in fact, i know over the years a number of citizens have said, look, the textbooks are coming right out of saudi arabia and they talk about a bunch of stuff that is against what america stands for. then the saudis have countered, ok, we fixed the textbook. the saudis have said a number of times we fixed the textbooks. that satisfied critics? >> no. they've cooked the textbooks. maybe not fixed them.

maybe they sort of played a shelf game with them. but basically the contradict limb is still saudi-funded, saudi-controlled, saudi-influenced. working beneath it, within it and around it is this whole issue of anti-semitism, anti-christian stuff. it's very real. we know the doctrine which basically talks about the idea that they can sort of lie about these kind of things is also a very, very present reality. steve: pastor, you mentioned 25 years ago christian school was asked to expand and told they could not because of traffic and stuff like that. i used to live out there. traffic is much worse now. why did they go ahead and approve this, do you think, given the fact -- are they trying to look a certain way? >> yeah. i think so. i think on the one side they said we can't oppose this, some of those who voted in the 6-4 vote, because of curriculum. that's not on the table. but on the other hand, those who voted for it basically ignored

the traffic concerns i think out of concession to some kind of liberal notion to multi-culturallism. steve: they're going to be able to build there. thank you very much for joining us from d.c. today. thank you, sir. >> you're welcome. steve: meanwhile, regular americans speaking out about health care. but the left calling these angry mobs of rabid right-winged extremists. we're going to talk to a couple who was just trying to voice their concern. they're outraged how the dems are labeling them. . f%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

gretchen: concerned citizens or anger. discounting or attacking regular americans world about life

changing reforms. peter: steve and cathy wassing say they are regular americans and they are outraged by what they are seeing and hearing. they join us from st. louis, missouri. good morning. >> good morning. peter: you have broken the law? are you part of an unruly mob? are you engaging in using nazi swat. are you acting in a way that would cause you to be arrested in some way? >> absolutely not. >> not to my knowledge, no. peter: what have you done? >> well, we have attended a tea party and we went to a clair mccaskill had talking about the health care. and that's all we have done. peter: so you have attended a discussion about health care. you have attended a tea party. yet, there are some factions in the democratic party that say

that you are part of a mob rule. are you part of a mob rule? why are you speaking out on this issue? >> well, we're not a mob rule. we are just citizens who are just concerned about their health care and just other spending in the government and just -- we are nonpartisan. we, you know, we just live a simple life and we're just two people who decided to go to a town meeting to hear about what's going to happen with health care. and we were so shocked to find out that we were part of this group, supposedly. gretchen: steve, another accusation that's coming out from capitol hill, at least the democrats there is that this is all being orchestrated by the insurance companies. that they are sending bus loads of people to these rallies. i hear you sort of laughing there, cathy. steve, did that, in fact, happen in your case? >> i have never seen a bus load of anybody shipped to any of these events. maybe a car load of five people.

that's about the extent of that. gretchen: so you are just a regular american citizen who cares? >> exactly. >> correct. peter: what's your concern. we have a few seconds left, wassings. what's your concerns about health care now that you have had this opportunity. tell us. >> sure. i work in the health care field. we're small business owners. we have family. my father-in-law is 90 years old. is he extremely healthy. we have family that has medical issues. so, of course, we want some modifications to the healthcare system but we do not feel like it needs to be overhauled. this is very personal. this is personal for every american. when the government gets involved in it, it gets to be a little bit scary. gretchen: maybe, just maybe the members of congress could actually read the bill. steve and cathy wassink thanks for giving us your thoughts this

morning. >> thank you. peter: a developing story this morning. the two american journalists released from a north korean prison headed home right now, flying over the pacific with former president bill clinton in a chartered airplane. what did north korea get in return for their lives? we will be live for w. breaking details. gretchen: should we throw more program at the cash for clunkers clunkers? treasury secretary ray la hood at the touch the hour. peter: full service vegas casino now offering to fill your prescriptions while you gamble. in fact, they will let you use your casino credit for pharmacy co-pay. sweet. ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories.

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reducing blood sugar. hi i'm mike, and i lost 100 pounds on nutrisystem d when i was first diagnosed with diabetes, that first step was more like a giant leap. till i discovered nutrisystem d. in a clinical study people on nutrisystem d lost 16 times more weight and reduced their blood sugar 5 times more than those on a hospital-directed plan. plus a1c was reduced .9%. choose from over 140 menu options, there is no counting carbs, calories or points. i lost 100 lbs. and lowered my blood sugar level. nutrisystem d changed my life. mike is one of many who have lost weight and controlled their diabetes with new nutrisystem d. backed by 35 years of research and low glycemic index science nutrisystem d works. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back! new! nutrisystem d. lose weight. live better. call or click today. gretchen: very good wednesday morning to you.

thanks for sharing your time with us today on august 5, 2009. we start this morning with a fox news alert. because breaking news happening right now. an hour and a half from arriving home. two journalists freed from that north korean labor camp thanks to former president bill clinton. did their rescue come with a possible cost? peter: does cash for clunkers deserve more of our money? what if we told you four out of the top five cars being bought are foreign cars? we talked to the man in charge of the program, transportation secretary ray la hood. a lot of questions in just five minutes. steve: meanwhile, a bakery giving donuts a shock treatment. orders up a bipolar or a massive head trauma from psycho donuts. those are names of particular donuts you can get out west. you will be served by employees in lab coat and nursing gear. innocent humor or over the line? we are going to report and you are going to decide. meanwhile our slogan this hour comes from cat in virginia "fox

& friends" always nice to start your day. how nice to have peter when my brian is away. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- steve: yes, indeed. gretchen: that's somebody who watches all the time and knows that brian kilmeade is taking a couple days off and she apparently loves the fact as we do that, peter, you are sitting here. peter: thank you, cat, thank you you,. steve: they are almost back to their families, almost home 90 minutes. laura ling and euna lee after president clinton apologized for them. official apology? >> maybe, steve. north korea says that former president clinton gave a verbal message expressing thanks and

expressing views on improving relations between the two countries. tells fox the clinton trip does not open any avenue to direct bilateral talks. saying the trip was solely humanitarian in nature. they had been sentenced to 12 years hard labor for allegedly entering the country illegally. the journalists were doing a story along the korean border about human trafficking. the big story this morning is after years of isolating this rogue nation will the former president's trip lead to direct talks? north korea seems to think so. officials there released a statement says the clinton visit builds, quote, bilateral confidence between the two countries. north korea has been pushing with one-on-one talks for years. thinking it offers more prestige and leverage. the obama administration says it's six party talks or nothing.

senior administration official also confirmed through various channels that a deal was cut even before mr. clinton boarded the plane. we're about an hour and a half before they hit ground in l.a. back to you guys. steve: caroline, thanks so much. gretchen: a lot of people are asking this morning what else north korea possibly got out of this deal besides a very important photo on. dick morris thought that was the most damning thing happen here having the former president of the united states standing next to kim jong il. saying i'm not such a bad guy i'm standing next to bill clinton. he came over here. he is my friends. let me have the nukes. steve: great bill clinton went over. we understand they asked for him specifically. al gore offered to go and governor richardson offered to go they said no, send bill

clinton. the united states government did send bill clinton. there is one of the photo on pictures. it's great that he went over there and got them. but, you know, are we negotiating with terrorists because they are on that list. and it is interesting because here bill clinton is delivering barack obama his greatest international coo and, yes, president obama has not spoking to mr. mrs. given since march. peter: this is a big coupe -- coup for president clinton. these journalists back to american soil. but what some analysts are saying is it's going to be up to president obama going forward to maintain the hard line against a nation which is clearly perceived by a lot of people still as part of an axis of evil. i know that term is not invogue

anymore. there is a lot of concern about this country's, north korea's conduct vis-a-vis nuclear weapons. will we hold the line on nuclear proliferation or is this a first step to bring north korea back into community of nations. i think we are seeing that there will probably be discussions based on what bill clinton has done. but what the nature of those discussions are remains to be seen. gretchen: i guess i see both sides of the story today. had these two journalists been killed, for example, over there. then we would be talking about a whole different situation there i'm not sure there is a right answer. bottom line is they are home safe today. what i have been saying all morning is kim jong il is still a nut. i think the rest of the world knows he is a nut. steve: the guy is a terrorist. is he on the verge. gretchen: the rest of the world knows that. peter: once you are depicted in almost yalta like photograph with former president bill clinton who a lot of people have a lot of regard for around the

world, that elevates the north korean leader's presence, elevates his stature, tremendously. i think that you will see president clinton, you see the picture there of president clinton kind of a sour look on his face. is he not smiling. not happy. he obviously knew i did not want that picture to be used in a way that was to the united states interest. if you ever met bill clinton or seen him or spoken to him or even red about him. you know is he a steely, strong, negotiator. whether you like him or not. i can't see that he gave up anything to that north korean strong man in that discussion. he wanted our americans back. but i can't see that he would pay the price for it. gretchen: quite different photo than president obama with hugo chavez. quite different photo. move on to the rest of the headlines. a lot of stuff to tell you on wednesday. disturbing new details this morning about why a lone gunman

murdered three women in a health kur club and turned the gun on himself. the man carrying a gym class walked into a class at the pittsburgh suburb. the lights went out and all they could see were flashes in the dark. unfortunately it was gunfire. witnesses described the horrifying screen. >> one told me he is going to kill me. he is my exboyfriend. is he going to kill me. >> i helped carry the one girl out. she got shot in the thigh. she kept saying she was going to die. gretchen: a note was found inside his car that made it clear he did not intend to leave the gym alive. that mother who caused a crash that killed eight people including her own 2-year-old daughter was completely drunk and high. police say diane schuller had a blood alcohol level of .1 twice the legal limit when he drove the wrong way on the parkway in new york. she still had alcohol in her stomach and a jumbo bottle of

vodka found in the wreckage of her car. tests showed she also smoked pot an hour before getting behind the wheel. >> how do you put five children in a car when you are a mother and you are drunk? how do you do that? it's income prehence cybil. they won't come back, but it's making it worse for us now. because they had a lot more to give and that was taken away from us. >> the crash killed schueler, her-year-old daughter, her three nieces, and three people in the other car. schueler wants son -- schueler's son survived the crash. chinese muslims warming up to being sent to palau. more than four have agreed to it that's less than half of them. the uighurs were captured in afghanistan and pakistan in 2001. the chinese want them back for trial but their lawyers say that almost certainly means execution. so it's not going to happen. those your headlines. we will take a look at the weather? steve: yes, we are.

take a look. we have got some thunderstorms moving through the lower mississippi valley at this time. also, portions of the unicam merle state of nebraska. cloud cover in the northeast ohio valley. it's going to warm up significantly across the southern plains back through the desert today. it's 7:10 in morning. gretchen: senate expected to pump 2 billion more dollars into the controversial cash for clunkers program? is it worth the cash to keep the program running. ray la hood is my guest this morning. good morning, secretary. >> good morning. gretchen: it looks like the senate will dole out $2 billion. a lot are scratching their heads how the program got off to a bad start. you believe it has been functioning well? >> it's gotten off to a tremendous start over 600,000 cars have been sold. and we think -- excuse me, over 157,000 cars have been sold and

over $600 million is out the door in just a week's time. that is a pretty good record for a government program. gretchen: yeah. some could argue that a lot of people wonder what the demand will be like in the coming years for cars. let's focus on the type of cars that have been sold. number one seller unfortunately live is the american made car ford focus then you have toyota corolla, honda civic, toyota prius and toyota camry. i understand many of them are manufactured in the u.s. but they are foreign cars. is this going to help american manufacturers or not? >> the goal of the program was to help american workers and also those who sell cars in show rooms and automobile dealers. that's exactly what happened. many of the cars that you cited and you are correct, ford focus is number one. but many of these cars that you have just listed are made in the united states. that means american workers go

to worker day earning a good living that sales men in show rooms, americans who sell cars are making a living, and that auto dealers around the country are seeing the boom in their sales. this is a win-win-win for america. and the american -- and the car manufacturers. gretchen: well, secretary, with all due respect there are a lot of people who are not in favor of this program. specifically a lot of dealers right now who are not even offering the program anymore because they don't have any confidence in the u.s. government that they will actually be paid that $4,500 per car. what do you have to say to those dealers today? will they, in fact, be paid back all of that money? >> every dealer who makes a deal with the program will get the cash that they have been promised. the fact is that when you have 157,000 cars sold in six or seven days. and $600 million out the door, there are a heck of a lot of

dealers around america, and i have seen many of them interviewed and they are wildly enthusiastic about this particular program. and they want it to continue. that's why the house passed an additional $2 billion with well over 300 votes. that's a pretty good reflection that the country likes this program and we believe the senate will do that today or tomorrow. gretchen: speaking of votes, i know that you were republican and a member of congress from illinois for many, many years. as a republican congressman, would you have voted to spend this kind of money on this program? >> absolutely. this is a lifeline to the automobile manufacturers to, to car sales men, to mechanics, to people who work in scrap yards. again, this effects so many aspects of our economy. this is a win, win to really give a boost. this is a part of the stimulus that really does work very quickly and it is going to be a lifeline to our economy and to the car manufacturers. gretchen: what do you say to the people who run charities who may

have been able to use some of those clunkers who now say hey, wife do we have dismantle them? you are actually hurting us now and also the environment, sir, aren't we expending more energy to destroy these cars than actually the benefits we may see on the roadway by getting rid of them? >> absolutely not. you drain the oil out of the car, you poor a chemical in. you turn the engine on and the engine is killed and all the rest of the scrap goes to a scrap yard. and it can be sold off by the scrap dealer. so, of the scrap dealers who have also been hurting can sell tires and batteries and oil pumps and water pumps and so, look it, many of these cars that are being bought are averaging almost 25 miles per gallon. these are the gas guzzlers we are taking them off the road. and putting good high mileage, good gas producing or less gas producing automobiles on the

road. gretchen: i'm out of time unfortunately but thank you so much for being my guest today and we'll be right back in a flash. >> thank you. of a complete bre. so kids get the protein and calcium they need to help build strong muscles and healthy bones. carnation instant breakfast essentials. good nutrition from the start.

peter: just hours from now, president obama returns to hard hit indiana county where the unemployment rate sits at nearly 17%. is he back to talk about stimulus money and the economy. >> well, steve brown is joining us from eckhart county, indiana. president obama is bringing a little, -- is he bringing some green to visit you today, mr. brown? >> yeah. very badly needed green in this area of the state of indiana. as a matter of fact, is he going to be announcing $2.4 billion worth of grants. grants targeted at getting production of certain items increased here in the united states. and those items would include batteries and electric motors. and engines and gears used in hybrid vehicles.

these grants will be announced today and the recipients of the grants will be announced today because president obama is going to be over at what used to be hanukkah motor coach. now owned by 1/2 star that we're going to guess that he is going to be bringing them. we are announcing they will be one of the recipients of those grants. peter: aren't electric motors and batteries made in china. >> yeah. that's exactly the point. the energy department using a block of its stimulus money. wants to get that kind of production done here in the united states. in order to be able to produce future cars, electric cars, more energy efficient vehicles in all sorts of products. they need to get those things made back here in the united states so this $2.4 billion is targeted in trying to get a toe hold in those particular injuries. we are talking about manufacturing that is not done well in this country. it's targeted at them. eckhart is the rv capital of america or perhaps the world, steve. i saw a couple of people writing

about, you know, this car for clunkers things a dud. although, if they are going to give people 4500 for clunkers, why don't they give them 4500 to buy an rv or to buy a boat? >> you know, there is an argument to be made about that certainly the republicans have gone forward and suggested that, you know, why not get the folks involved in getting them replace aging refrigerators or other household appliances as well. you have heard all sorts of arguments on that particular case that perhaps the government is selecting winners and losers in this particular economic situation. spending the stimulus money and making those kind of decisions, sure. that criticism has been out there. >> all right. you better put on a necktie the president is coming into town. steve brown in eckhart county. thank you, sir. >> i will get on it you are welcome. peter: dave ramsey is going to join us here and he will answer all your questions. that's next. >> and these donuts are making some people crazy. so are the employees serving

them up wearing lab coats on purpose and does psycho donuts, that's the outfit, cross the line of good taste welcome to the now network. right now

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gretchen: every wednesday we are graced with his presence and his answers to your most pressing financial questions. today we are talking about cash for clunkers with dave ramsey. and, dave, it's been called a success. but just a few months ago. [ laughter ] gretchen: don't laugh. just a few months as we were speaking to secretary of transportation ray la hood about his thoughts. of course is he pushing the plans. of course he is going to say that he likes it i find it interesting that as a republican for the last 16 years he said he would vote for all these billions to go for this program. do you think this has been a good program? >> it's obviously not been a good program. when they launch something, they go ok, everybody run to the car

lot. we are going to give you free money. oops, we are out. i mean, it's classic government stupidity. step up on the rug and we will jerk it out. it's all political posturing. there wasn't any real funding behind the thing to start with. if you really get down to it, let me tell you what our radio listeners are telling me. they are ticked that they as a taxpayer are having to buy other people cars. hello. this is basic. i don't want to buy you a car. you should buy your own freaking car. this is -- why -- you know, republicans are starting to sound like democrat light. steve: dave, at the same time, if the government is saying hey, here is 4500, people are going to take it. >> and exactly the people that don't need to. we are going from a clunker into a brand new car. hello. they are not financially able to handle this. does this sound like subprime mortgages all over again financed by the government? stupid on steroids but it's washington. >> you gotcha right. >> let's get to some other emails, peter.

let's take it away. >> tom in tennessee, i have a small business car. i drive a 99 tahoe. bought and used with 250,000 miles on it. should i take advantage of congress and taxpayers large jess and use the clunker program to get $4,500, pay cash for new model and section 179 it or take a cold shower and buy used all over again? what do you say, dave? >> well, tom, you take a cold shower because you are going to lose $4,500 when you drive that thing off the lot. the worst car accidents happen on the showroom floor. these cars go down in value like a rock. steve: good advice. tyler in alabama writes i purchased a car when i was much off better off financially. i wonder if you think it is better to go ahead and return my car and take the credited hit as well as the 14,000 charge offs i would get in my credit after it's sold at auction or should i try and keep making the huge financial monthly payments when i am able to?

i have no savings. >> well, tyler, we can tell by your wording that you don't think that this is a repossession. you know, i'm just going to turn in the car. no this is a voluntary repossession, son. and they are going to sue your but the -- butt for 14,000 after you turn it in. you are much better to sell the car, limit the amount of damage that is done instead of having a 14,000 or $15,000 hole after repo you might have a 14 or $15,000 repo. you get out of this mess and the next time you drive near a car lot, don't. >> all right. great to see you, dave ramsey. we can check you out on the fox business network later on tonight. >> good to be with you. thanks, dave. >> straight ahead. he turned lights off and started shooting. a gunman has killed three women during a pay ladies class, a spanish dance class. why did he do it? we are live from the scene in pennsylvania. >> he promised his son this flag would fly until he came home

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gretchen: fox news alert for you are now because a very tragic story coming out of pennsylvania last night. three women dead after a lone gunman enters a fitness class and opens fire and then turns the gun on himself. rick leventhal live for us in bridgeville, pennsylvania with the very latest. hey, rick. >> good morning. about 10 miles southwest of pittsburgh, outside the l.a. fitness club where the shooting took place last night, the gym was packed. this man walked into a latin dance class full of women. full name bling with did you feel bag, pulled out at least two handguns and opened fire and reloaded at least once because police are saying he may have fired as many as 50 rounds, killing three women in the class. wounding nine others. and then apparently turning one of the guns on himself and killing himself. the man's identity still has not

been revealed but we do have loretta moss here who was in the gym, heard the shooting and called 911. describe for us what you heard. >> as i was working out up on the treadmill, i heard some popping noise downstairs at which i thought it was coming from the react ballroom. and you know, i just kept working out and never thought someone was downstairs shooting. so we continue to work out. and next minute i heard someone screaming there is a guy with a gun. they are shooting. and everybody run. and i looked down, you know, because you really can't hear upstairs. so, with the music and the tvs, and i looked down, people were running out of the building. and i jumped off the treadmill. started to run. another guy looked at me said stop, lay down. we stopped, we laid down, and then like a couple minutes go by. we got up to run again. we set back down.

>> at what point did you call 911? >> i didn't realize i had my phone. and the guy to the left or right of me said you have a phone. call 911. and it was like right in between when the shooting was going on, i think, i really can't remember. >> it sounds like it doesn't feel real to you. >> at any time feel real at all. he was like you have a phone. dial 911. with my head down, i'm trying to dial 911. and call the police. and fortunately, i got through. and someone was on the other line. >> the police say that they were here within five minutes but by the time they got here all of the shooting was over. >> was over. it was practically, i think, about four or five minutes, seemed like lifetime. >> i appreciate what you did. we appreciate your sharing your story with us. very sorry for what happened obviously statement with us for main. obviously gretchen, police have a lot of work to do here. we understand they may know who the shooter is they may have already spoken with family

members. and obviously this investigation is just now getting started as the sun has come up here over the l.a. fitness club where the shooting took place last night. >> all right, rick. thanks very much for that insightful interview as well. steve: all right. 25 minutes before the top of the hour. this is the summer of our discontent. you know, at these town hall meetings, a lot of people are getting up and they are yelling at their congressman men and women and members of the cabinet because they don't like parts -- you know, they are going there for information. they don't like parts of the health care initiative. but the president is launching. and now, yesterday, in fact, there you have hss secretary sebelius and arlen specter in pennsylvania and they were hooted down just a lit. yesterday, robert gibbs, the press secretary certainly said you know, this is a grass roots effort in some places. it's a fractured outrage. >> in fact have you had groups today, conservatives for patient rights that have bragged about organizing and manufacturing

that anger. buff interestingly enough, we interviewed two of the people who were at that rally who said hey, nothing was manufactured there. other than our own honest feelings. we have never been this proactive political type of people. we decide hey enough is enough. we need to go and at least get some of our questions answered. interestingly enough, peter, also i got an email from somebody saying that the obama campaign didn't seem to have a problem with bus loads of people coming to their events when he was running for president. but now they are turning those allegations around. >> that's a good point it appears and it's unfortunate. it appears you are right, steve and gretchen, this is a summer of discontent. that community organizing and direct action has become in the words of the white house, and the democratic national committee, mob rule. and manufactured anger. in another time, and place, civil disobedience, which we haven't even seen or direct action like the vietnam protests or the civil rights movement in the 50's or 60's in which there was civil disobedience was

something that the important in terms of our country's past and our future. i think we all agree that protests and speaking out in miracle in essential to the democratic process. i think you begin to cross the line. and this is my opinion, when you start to see that people speaking out in town halls, in community meetings, confronting congress people in a peaceful, direct way, using words, using language, is somehow emblematic of mob rule. to chill the speech of americans, is a line that we should not be crossing. and when the white house begins to be involved with a direct campaign, to chill my speech or your speech or any american's speech. democratic, republican, conservative, independent, libertarian, socialist, any person speech in this country, that means that there is a matter of concern. >> i tell you what, peter, you used the word mob. so did congressman lloyd done

bin down in texas he was a guy hooted down in one of his town hall meetings. if you watch the mainstream media coverage, effectively what they do is they show -- here you are, you are just out expressing your right in this country to express your freedom of speech, and they portray you as some kind of a nutty person. president clinton -- rather, president obama himself in september, out on the campaign trail, anticipating critics, he said this: i need to you go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. i want you to talk to them whether they're independent or whether they are republican. i want you to argue with them and get in their face. so, essentially, the democrats are saying you can't really do that, mob rule and stuff like that. and, yet, there is the president, the now president saying get in their face. that's what people are doing all across the country, getting in people's faces. >> no surprise they will turn it

around when it's not in their favor. they. a distraction because health care suffereddenly hasn't gone as well as they planned. >> there needs to be a single standard i think for community organizing. >> we have freedom of speech. >> for everybody. all right. 21 minutes now before the top of the hour. we start with a fox news alert. almost home. euna lee and laura ling will land in california in less than an hour from now. they will arrive with former president bill clinton who went to the communist country yesterday to win their release. we expect all three to speak to the need i can't soon after landing. the two journalists are been detained since march. long awaited reunion with their families life from burbank at :30 eastern time. >> and, an alabama sheriff facing a 4-million-dollar budget deficit is asking the state to help pay his deputy's salaries or put national guard troops on the streets. jennifer county sheriff mike hale alerted governor bob reilly to accept the help.

guard troops could be sworn in as deputies and put on regular patrols. he t. would be the first use of the national guard in a law enforcement capacity in the county since the civil rights era. gretchen: for the second time this week severe turbulence force as plane to land after takeoff. detroit bound delta flight lands in bad weather after taking off from tennessee. forced the plane to land in louisville, kentucky, after passengers on board were hurt again. a flight attendant was knocked over and passenger received injuries. on monday, 28 people were hurt when a plane on the radio from rio to houston was forced to land in miami after hitting turbulence and those are your quick headlines for a wednesday. >> meanwhile, let's talk about las vegas. you know, casinos out there are known for their quirky immeant. one casino hotel is surprising even the most experienced gamblers with its very own in-house. look at the sign on the shop. pharmacy below there is a look inside the pharmacy at the m. resort. >> what's at the vice shop vice

shop in hernandezson nevada. let the customers fill prescriptions and play the slots in one stop. our guest this morning is chief executive anthony marnell. he is here to tell us. should you be selling prescription drugs in the casino? is that good for the people that are coming? >> well, first of all good morning, guys. thank you for having me on. second, on the pharmacy, the pharmacy is not a discretionary product that the consumer has control over. so, it's a prescription written by a doctor and then the goal of the overall development as many amenities as possible. if you look at our location on the south strip. there is not a lot of things that surround us out there. when you look at the master plan, there is movie theaters. there was the pharmacy, there was a retail center. obviously the economy has slowed a lot of that. gas station, convenience store. so the name of the game is to provide a one-stop shop for

people when they come out of their house during the day. they can go to the movies and get some food and gamble and go to the pharmacy. fill up with some gas. go to the grocery store and everything was in one location. that's what the idea was all about. >> anthony, hats off to you for a brilliant marketing idea. i'm not going to take that away from you because i'm a huge proponent of free enterprise. you know you are going to have critics that will say wait a minute they can pay co-pays with the money they make, credits they make after they gamble? you know you are going to get criticism for that. >> i just want amax sill alan. >> well, i look at it like this. if a customer can take those points and go over to my cage and get cash back, and they can take that cash back and walk over to the pharmacy and put down the $5 or $10 co-pay. all i have done is taken the process out from going to point a to point b and let them go straight to the point that they are interested in. gretchen: what if they lose all their money and they can't pay for their co-pay to get their description. >> will you give them the co-pay if they lose the money in their

casino that would be a great marketing tool i tell us yes. >> i actually have that. one thing i want to point out, too. it's a fabulous service to our employees. >> that's a double edged sword then because you are encouraging people to lose their co-pay, too. >> you never know. >> it's bad in las vegas but it's not that bad. >> chief executive at the m resort casino in las vegas. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> straight ahead. a donut shop making some people crazy inside employees serving up pastries wearing lab coats like this. does psycho donuts cross the line of good taste? >> and while the country is fixated on health care and clunkers, our young men and women are risking their lives in two wars. former assistant secretary of defense bing west just returned from afghanistan, a personal story. you won't miss. you don't want to miss it. >> first the aflac trivia question of the day. this pilot was born with one

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steve: while everyone in washington has been duking it out over health care and cash for clunkers, remember we are still busy fighting two wars overseas. in fact, there are currently 130,000 troops in iraq and another 56,000 in afghanistan. former assistant secretary of defense bing west just returned from afghanistan. and he joins us live today from rhode island. good morning to you, bing. >> good morning. >> we hear a lot of stuff about what's going on in iraq. we know that a lot of attention is now going toward afghanistan. you just saw it with your own two eyes.

how good is it or how bad is it? >> it's a tough fight. the taliban, the afghans that we in the afghan army is fighting. they are equivalent to the apaches back in 1870s. they hit and run. this is a tough fight. it's going to remain a tough fight for several years to come. steve: yeah. of course, with the taliban, the taliban, you know, we invaded -- we went to war, essentially, after 2001. to get rid of the taliban. how did they wind up getting back? how did this happen? >> i think drugs have an awful lot to do with it. about 50% of the economy afghanistan comes from the opium. and the taliban and the druggies are just one group. it's one huge criminal organization. and we have to beat the drugs in order to beat back the taliban. plus, we have that huge 1500-mile border with pakistan that's wide open.

steve: somewhere along the way it, seems like nobody ever talks about getting bin laden anymore. yeah, is he probably over in afghanistan or pakistan or some place like that. let's win the war. over there do they talk much about bin laden? >> not really. i think that, you know, getting that son of a gun sooner or later is, you know, i certainly hope it's going to happen. but it's a huge country across that border. a big, big mountains. and even if you get him, it's not going to change things that much. but i still hope we really put him in the earth sooner or later later. steve: bing west, former secretary of defense just returned from afghanistan. third trip in the last six months. thanks very much for your service and thanks for joining us live. >> thank you. steve: you bet. switching gears completely. a donut shop serving up controversial donuts like this one. the massive head trauma donut. an employee serving them while wearing white lab coats. does psycho donuts cross the line of good taste? peter johnson jr. does that duty

on the other side of this brief timeout. but, first, on this date in history back on august 5th, 1998. roll with it by steve win wood was the number one song in america. . . i was in the grocery store when i had a heart attack. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. . lif

call now or go to lifelock.com. ♪ peter: hey, we're back at 53 minutes after the hour. the answer to the "aflac question of the day." neil armstrong. the winner is kathleen from tampa. now, a california bakery claims to have taken the neighborhood doughnut, put it on medication and given it a shock treatment. the name of the shop, soako doughnuts. it features treats like the bipolar doughnut and the massive

head trauma doughnut. the staff in their lab coats and nursing gear sees it as innocent humor but mental health groups are not laughing at it at all. and the co-owner of psycho doughnuts joins us and oscar white joins us for the united advocate for children and families. jordan, how can you have a doughnut talking about something as serious as head trauma? >> well, you know, we have a lot of customers who come in and they buy doughnuts for family members who are in the hospital because they've had a head injury. so it's actually a very light-hearted humerus doughnut shop. and the -- humorous doughnut shop. and the first mistake is to take what we're doing in a serious way whatsoever. peter: oscar, are you offended by the notion of a head trauma doughnut even though jordan says

there's some market at his doughnut shop for head trauma victims? >> i don't know what market he's making references to but the family voices we talk to every day are having a great deal of offense with that. you know, the fact that we are trivializing a very serious incident is not something that is to be taken lightly. the fact that you've got 1.4 million people in this country who are going to experience massive head trauma, 200,000 of them annually are going to be admitted into emergency centers, and 50,000 are going to die, i doubt very seriously whether they consider that light-hearted. peter: the name, psycho doughnut, are you changing the name, jordan, of psycho doughnut? >> absolutely not. peter: ok. let's talk about head trauma. you heard what mr. wright has to say. obviously there's a lot of people who are offended by that. would you this morning say, we're going to pull the head trauma doughnut, can you do that now? >> no, we're not willing to do

that. i would say we are a progressive company. and ever since are the start of our company five months ago we do plan to evolve the company. and it's part of the evolution. i believe that everyone will be able to find a doughnut that they can enjoy at psycho doughnuts. peter: oscar, how should people react to psycho doughnuts? should they go to that store, should they not go to that store? what thud she do at that point? >> me should basically get in contact with the storeowner and express their dissatisfaction for what i consider for humor applied in the wrong way. peter, i have absolutely nothing -- i see nothing wrong with the organization beings entrepreneurial. -- being entrepreneurial. using the free market system using -- making a profit. what i have a problem with is using mental health terminology out of context which can cause fear and discrimination.

it's the stigma of people having a problem with it coming forward and dealing with the issue when the issue is being made a humorous joke and being trivialized. peter: have you met with oscar yet? >> no, we have not meet -- met in person. peter: would you meet with him? >> we are going to make some evolution in our store over the next few weeks. and i would encourage oscar to come and actually visit our store. i don't think you've been there. peter: jordan, oscar, please get together. let's see whether we have a middle ground here at psycho doughnuts. i thank you very much for getting up in the morning and being with us. be well. >> thank you. peter: they're almost home now. leana and laura ling will land in california in about half an

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[captioning made possible by fox news channel] gretchen: with begin with a fox news alert this morning because laura ling and euna lee will touchdown in california. you see inside that airport hanger in burbank. bill clinton successfully negotiated the release from north korea. but did the u.s. have to give up anything else in return? bill richardson is our guest moments away. steve: meanwhile, the american people are mad and they're not staying quiet. town hall meetings across the country are turning in debates between the people and their elected politicians.

but are the politicians listening? we're going to talk about that. peter: and she took two steps forward but now she's taking two steps back. paula abdul calls it quits from "american idol." what she's telling her fans next. what we're telling our fans is that this hour comes from craig in south dakota. this is what craig says. one more the money, two to go, three on the curvey couch and i'm in the know. good morning. steve: live from studio e in new york city, thanks very much for joining us on this very, very breaking news wednesday. because we told you a little bit about it yesterday, sounds like bill clinton brokered a deal. he did something in north korea. over the pacific ocean. gretchen: and peter johnson

sitting in for brian johnson. and laura ling and euna lee will ariff in california -- will arrive in california in a few minutes. >> we're inside a private hanger, private hanger 25, as it is known. this is where known commercial aircraft goes. this is where bill clinton's plane carrying two american journalists will be coming in in half an hour. the platform with stairs that has been set up with welcome home sign, that will be rolled out to the middle of the hanger here when the plane comes in and knows are the stairs which the journalists will use to come down and touch american soil for the first time in a long time. and what an ordeal it has been for these two women, locked behind bars in north korea for the last four months. and then yesterday we had the surprise news about their

surprise visit by president clinton. it was characterized as a humanitarian mission to secure the release of those two journalists. it certainly was successful. we haven't had an opportunity to hear from these two women for about four months, although they have been able to speak to their families from time to time. earlier we had a chance to catch up with the father of laura ling. and he told us a little bit about what he might say to his daughter when he first sees her. take a listen. >> hug her, kiss her, kick her butt and then hand her back to her husband. >> why kick her butt? >> well, why kick her butt, for sometimes overenthusiasm because it's so passionate towards the job. >> and that was doug ling, the father of laura ling, talking about how he hopes to joke around with his daughter when she arrives here. we're told the girls are in good health and about half an hour away from arriving at burbank

airport. a number of dignitaries will be here. we've already seen former vice president al gore here this morning, so we know he'll be here too. steve: all right, anita live from burbank airport. you'll see everything here on "fox & friends." but what does president clinton's presence in north korea mean for the future relations with the country? now, joining us is the governor of new mexico, bill richardson. good morning, governor. >> good morning. good morning. steve: i know at one point you offered, yeah, i'll go over. i'll do my best. also, al gore did the same. they said, nope, we want bill clinton. why bill clinton? >> well, for years the north koreans have tried to get bill clinton to come as president. it's a major coup for the north koreans to get someone of clinton's stature. they didn't get him as president but they get him as an ex-president. what kim jong il, the leader of

north korea, wanted to do is shore up his political base. kim jong il wants to leave power to one of his kids. there seems to be quite a bit of -- quite a bit of turmoil that has probably caused the north koreans to adopt some of the most hostile postures towards us in the last few years. underground missile tests, nuclear detonations, denounceations, all kinds of very hostile acts. so this does provide an opening, possibly, for us and the north koreans to at least start talking again. but that's about it. peter: it's apparent that this is good for kim jong il and the repressive regime in north korea. but tell us apart from the wonderful release of these two young journalists, american journalists, how it's good for america and is it? >> well, if is good for america. first of all, these are the only way we were going to get these

two wonderful journalists with a great family. it shows that america steps us for our potential hostages and prisoners, etc., as we do for our military. secondly, what we get out of it is a lessening of tensions. look, this is a country with nuclear weapons, with almost a million men and women in uniform. we have american troops in south korea, close to 30,000. they've got land mines there. they have sophisticated missiles. we want to lessen tensions. it makes sense for the international community to talk to north koreans, like south korea, japan, china, us. or us talking to them bilaterally so they don't do an unpredictable act. peter: stepping up for hostages increase the risk of more hostages being taken in the future. is that a good thing? >> well, this was an unfortunate

situation, the two women were detained in north korea. they had crossed the border. apparently they also admitted they did it illegally. but the regard -- they were doing their journalistic work, but they did admit they did come over illegally. so they gave this whole incident gave the north koreans an opportunity to use it as a bargaining chip. and that's what's happened before. the north koreans are very good at getting bargaining chips like this to attract a high-level envoy, but we get them back. tensions are lessened, possibly talks resume. so everybody wins in a small way. gretchen: sort of. i'm interested in the whole international story, governor, but i'm interested in the domestic story here because you got to know that president obama doesn't want to give center stage to former president bill clinton unless there's a huge problem going on on capitol hill like the demise possibly of health care reform. do you see that as the case here, that he was more than

welcome, president obama, that is, to handle and hand off the torch to president clinton to take center stage on this? >> well, look, secretary of state clinton was very involved in this. so it is an administration strategy even though clinton is going as a private citizen, private humanitarian. the problem is president obama had no choice. we can't possibly send an american diplomat or an american representative because the north koreans don't want to talk to them. the relationship is -- gretchen: was it a good distraction to president obama's health care? >> yes. it shows diplomacy being effective, getting hostages out, possibly starting a dialogue. we'll see what happens when president clinton comes back. so, yeah, it's a plus for everybody. i think obama looks good, clinton looks good. but, yeah, north korea, the leader. he gets some chips out of this with his own people that he can

deliver a former president at a time when there's turmoil in his country. steve: i hope the current president calls the former president and says thanks. gibbs said they have not spoken since march. before you go, you know, apparently the president, former president clinton did say, you know, we're sorry. hillary clinton said we're sorry to the north koreans. i thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. >> no, i don't believe -- this is what the north koreans said. but the white house has denied that happening. now, the girls -- steve: governor, mrs. clinton has in the past apologized to the north koreans publicly for the women, you know, wandering into north korea. it wouldn't be a stretch to think that bill clinton might show up and say, yeah, we're sorry that happened. >> what secretary clinton said she wanted amnesty. she was asking for amnesty. that implies a recognition that

there was a violation of north korean laws. but, look, the north koreans always say, look, there was an apology. they've done it with me before. the fact is that president clinton wasn't there to negotiate. he was just there to secure the release of the two americans. but then the north koreans, too, look, let's be realistic, when you sit down with them they talk to you for hours listing their griefanses. on nuclear issues. so it's possible there was a dialogue. but there was no apology offered by president clinton. i don't believe that. steve: all right. governor, we thank you so much for joining us today. >> all right. thank you. steve: you bet. gretchen: let's get another quick look at the rest of your headlines for a wednesday. a fox news alert. a disturbing detail of why that lone gunmen killed the women in that health club and then turned the gun on hisself. he went into a fitness center in

bridgeville. witnesses described the horrifying scene. >> one told me he's going to kill me, he's going to kill me. it's my ex-boyfriend. he's going to kill me. >> she got shot in her thigh and she kept saying she was going to die. gretchen: police have yet to identify the shooter. a note was found inside his car that made it very clear that he intended not to leave the gym alive. this is an amazing story. do you remember that awful crash that killed eight people last weekend? well, the mom who was driving apparently completely drunk and high. police say diane schuler had a blood alcohol level of .19, twice the legal limit, when she drove the wrong way in new york. they also said she still had alcohol in her stomach. and the jumbo bottle of vodka that was found in the wreckage of her car. tests show she smoked pot an hour before getting behind the car. >> you put five children in a car when you're a mother and you're drunk, how do you do that?

it's incomprehensible. >> we're outraged at this point. when we first heard. and just a lot to absorb right now. gretchen: the crash killed schuler, her 2-year-old daughter and three nieces. schuler's son miraculously survived that crash. a military veteran in fresno, california, insists he will not take down a at that timered american flag in front of his home until his son returns from iraq. paul hung the flag nearly a year ago when he left for his third tour in iraq. but his neighbors feel flying a battered flag is disrespectful. one man placed a brand-new flag on their front forch but that man says he's not budging. he says he expects his son home this week. and those are your headlines for this wednesday. steve: straight ahead, speaker pelosi or president obama, who is really in charge in washington these days? our political panel straight ahead is going to tell us who is driving the congressional car, next.

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gretchen: this is a loaded question, who really is in control in washington? well, some say house leader nancy pelosi setting the national agenda instead of president obama. on our panel today, hains johnson from the university of maryland and the co-author of "battle for america 2008." dan is co-author of a book and the same book, right? >> same book. gretchen: and also a political reporter for "the washington post." and author of "why you're wrong about the right." thank you for being on the panel this morning.

>> thank you. gretchen: let's talk a little bit about the speaker, nancy pelosi. some people say it's her agenda that we are talk being and maybe not president obama's. your thoughts. >> she's the third most important element in the united states, the speaker of the house, constitutionally. nancy pelosi does not set the agenda for the united states politics. she has the house. she is the speaker. she has two roles but not the dominant figure in washington. she's a very interesting person. her background in politics, her father was mayor of baltimore. so that's who nancy pelosi is. gretchen: she is not concerned about being that well liked because when she was asked about her poll numbers being 29% favorable. she said, i'm not here to be popular and i don't care if i'm liked either. could it possibly be that obama's policies really are nancy pelosi's policies or not? >> gosh, i'd like to think there was that much sink ron isity

there. i don't think that the left hand always knows what the right hand is doing. i think what's interesting about the obama campaign is they were always on necessaryage. everyone was saying the same thing. i think the administration is completely offmessage. he has pelosi saying one thing that he may or may not agree with. we don't know. gibbs has the things he has to correct for biden. summers and geithner came over the weekend and said something contradictory about the economy. it's very interesting. i think obama was elected to be obama. you know. and instead of -- instead of being obama he seems to be delegating a lot of responsibility. gretchen: dan, is speaker pelosi a distraction for president obama? is she on message with the president? >> well, i don't think she's a distraction so much. but she has a particular constituency which is house democrats. gretchen: far left house democrats. >> they are more liberal than democrats as a whole. she has to make sure she can corral her constituency. it's president obama's

responsibility to bring the whole country together and particularly if he's trying to pass some of these bills to harmonize house and senate. so that's the challenge ahead. at any given moment somebody looks like they kind of have the lead because there's nor action in one place than another at certain points. but she's got her constituency she has to worry about them. gretchen: no kidding. and speaking about one of those policies, the health care reform bill, that's what we're going to talk about with the panel when we come back because the american people now taking back some of the power and debating politicians at town hall meetings from coast to coast. are they getting listened to or ignored? some reaction from some of those people coming back. and a horse plays chicken. wait, let's see that again. a horse plays chicken with a car and doesn't budge. >> wow. gretchen: that's what you call a racehorse. back in a flash. %%%%%%%%

gretchen: regular americans voicing their anger with the government's plan to take over health care. take lasten to some of them. >> and you have to believe that a government that can't even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run 1/7 of our u.s. economy. no, sir. no. gretchen: so why doesn't it seem that washington is listening? well, we're back with our panel. and in the commercial break i said to all three, i don't think any of us would want to be a member of congress right now going home to recess and maybe going to a town hall meeting like that because people are speaking up. right, s.c.? >> absolutely. there's no surprise that they're going home and meeting face to face with concerned american citizens. it seems if the administration and congress is willing to

understand that people don't approve this health care bill, they ram stimulus through, approval of congress at that time was 26%. they're going to do the same thing with health care. and then they're shocked when they go home and they find angry people, people with concerns. and then you have someone like gibbs calling that anger manufactured. it's really arrogant. gretchen: dan, one of the things i think will not sit well with some of these people who are upset is the response from the white house yesterday. the spokesperson, robert gibbs, saying this is manufactured, this is just insurance companies bringing bus loads of people to these rallies. wasn't it similar to how obama campaigned when he asked people to get involved in their communities too? >> well, one of the things we're seeing now is genuine concern of what congress may and may not do on health care. we know a couple of things. one is there has been a belief in the country, public opinion polls have shown this for a long time, people think things needs to be done to the health care system. there are problems that people experience with the health care system. the question is, how do you fix

that? in broad terms, some of what president obama has proposed is good. we are beginning to see that debate, that debate is an inevitable part of trying to legislate something that's this big. and august is going to be a very important time as members of congress goes out, as members of the administration goes out. gretchen: as a writer, a professor, someone that's studied health care, you encourage this debate. >> yes. something that affects every one of us is health care. do you have it or don't have it? there are 46 million americans that don't have it. 76 million americans can't pay their bills. and as the economy is going in the tank and more and more people lose their jobs with layoffs and you lose your benefits, a frightening thing. people are concerned. they are also alarmed because they don't know how it's going to affect them. they don't know if the money is going to come there. they don't know how it will change their lives. and we need to have a

discussion, serious discussion, what the impact is going to be. that's what we're about. gretchen: we are going to see a lot of that in august. you guys have plenty of discussion because you guys wrote a book together and it's called "battle for american 2008" and it's about? >> it's about the 2008 election and most extraordinary election that the country has gone through in a generation or more. gretchen: i saw a lot of faces of all the people who wanted to be president on front of that book. it was fascinated to cover it. i felt the same thing as well. thank you for being here. and just moments from now, laura ling and euna lee will touchdown in california. former president bill clinton helped negotiate their return. what did he give up in return? we'll talk about that. and check this out, dolls. i'm looking at this for my little girl or maybe not. why not? that teaches your kids how to breast-feed. would you want your daughter to have it or not? plus, paula abdul, haynes,

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peter: this is a fox news alert. laura ling and euna lee expected to land at the bop hope airport

any minute. steve: and was it the right move for bill clinton? john bolton is u.s. ambassador to the united nations. good morning. >> good morning. glad to be here. steve: we just had bill richardson, the governor of the great state of new mexico on. and i said to him, hey, i thought we sdepnt negotiate with terrorists and resaid, we didn't negotiate with terrorists. but doesn't it sound like it? >> there's no question we did. the north koreans requested president clinton. they didn't request governor richardson. they wanted to have the president make that trip be made at the end of his administration. they wanted the pictures of kim jong il and president clinton together and they got that. they may have wanted other things but we don't know at the moment. when you get people out of a hostage or a terrorist situation, you don't want to increase the risk for other americans down the road. people say, well, let's grab them and see what we can get,

and i'm afraid that's what we've done here. gretchen: mr. ambassador, what would you have suggested, as your former role at the united nations, knowing a lot about negotiations and strategies, what would you have done to get those girls home? >> i think i would have worked with china indirectly. obviously it's a grave humanitarian situation when our people are captured like that. but i think you have to keep your eye on the big picture as well and to try and increase the pressure on north korea rather than accommodate them in order to get those people out. it's a difficult situation. i don't deny that. but as i say, you have to look at the risks to other americans if you give in too quickly to a terrorist demand like this. peter: ambassador, what is the effect of that posed photo with president clinton and kim jong il that we saw before where the president -- former president clinton is standing there rather stiffly in this posed photo?

what's the effect of a photo like that around the world? >> it shows that kim jong il, a dictator of a starved country posing with the president of the united states. and even with them sitting stiffly in the chairs, the one with kim jong il with a smile on his face and president clinton wishing he wasn't -- looking like he wishes he wasn't there. steve: yeah. let's talk politically, though. i mentioned this earlier. this is for the second time in two weeks knocked the white house off message. now we're not talking about the fact that the president's poll numbers are going down. we are not talking about these town halls where people are screaming at their congressmen about health care. in is one of those diversions that the white house could be saying, you know what, this is not a bad thing at this point in time. >> yeah. i suspect the timing of the clinton visit had more to do with the negotiations with north korea than anything else. to look in the short term people are going to be happy these two

reporters have been released. it's the longer term that worries me. peter: ambassador, if you were part of the process, what would you have said? ok, you want president clinton but we want x, y and z in return. what would you have gotten for president clinton going to north korea? >> well, you know, i'm not sure there is something we want from north korea in terms of their nuclear program. i have been pretty resigned to see gore pick these reporters up. that wouldn't have been great either but it would have been better or even governor richardson, for that matter, a lot better than a former president. gretchen: all right, former u.n. ambassador, john bolton, thanks for being on the show today. always good to speak to you. >> thank you. gretchen: let's go to the headlines. and the inauguration of a president guarantees standing room only crowds. in iran, mahmoud ahmadinejad took inauguration of a second

term. he plans to protect iran's frontiers and the constitution. many believe that election was illegal. steve: meanwhile, after pumping billions into a foreclosure prevention plan, only % of the people facing foreclosure are actually getting help. 9%. the white house says part of the problem, some banks have not yet implemented the program. president obama launched the mortgage modification program back in february. remember that? well, the white house insists it will eventually ep up to four million home -- help up to four million homeowners but only 9% are doing it. peter: we have an update on a story we told you about. a decorated world war ii veteran is paying millions of dollars to pair service dogs with wounded soldiers from iraq and afghanistan. joining us with the story is phil keating. good morning, phil. >> good morning, peter. these dogs really are indispensible for thousands of

veterans who come back maybe missing a leg or another limb, relegated to a wheelchair or suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. and these service dogs cost about $30,000 to $50,000 to train, but they're absolutely amazing in what they can possibly do. world war ii veteran learned of these dogs and their ability and realized that the federal government was not providing these dogs to all the wounded soldiers coming back from afghanistan and iraq. so for the past two years, he's been trying to raise money. he's raised $2 million so far. then we did the story last week, we aired it on fox news channel, and he's overwhelmed about the outpouring of support. we have one in atlanta who lost his leg in fallujah. he now has a dog. but in the past week, irvin has received more than 100 letters across the nation, contributions of several thousand dollars. and he's also got some pleasure from some fill an tropic

organizations -- philantropic organizations. and a stock car racing circuit out of north carolina is offering to provide free advertising and maybe show irvin and his golden restreefer, cash, on the cars in some labeling fashion. it's absolutely amazing. and there's actually some legislation in congress, senator al franken from minnesota as well as congressman paul frank from here in florida, nevada bills in congress. one has already passed the senate. the one in the house is going to come back after the august recess and then they'll work on the compromise bill to get some federal funding to provide these new best friends for all of these wounded soldiers. peter: phil keating from miami, thanks so much, phil. have a great day. gretchen: what will they think up next? a spanish toy maker has created this new doll. yes, it's true. it's a breast-feeding baby doll. it's called bebe gloton.

which translates to glutton baby. it comes to -- i don't know if i can read this. it comes with a special halter top adorned with daisies that little girls can wear as they pretend to nurse. what? steve: weird. gretchen: when the doll is lifted to the daisies, it gets worse, it makes sucking noises. the doll is drawing mixed reactions. really? with some moms saying it's inappropriate but others say it promotes nursing. i feel a culture warrior segment coming up. steve: i wonder how they're selling. amazing video you don't see every day on everyday drives. check out the surprised video in his real when a horse tries jumping over a car. watch, watch, watch. yep, it's a car. and he jumps over it. peter: oh, my. steve: didn't quite make it, though, it crashed through the front windshield. the horse was not badly injured.

wow indeed. peter: trifecta. paula abdul has voted herself off the "american idol." or has "american idol" voted her off? the 47-year-old singer/dancer says she's quiting after eight years as a judge. she wrote on twitter a book, i'll miss nurturing all the new talent. but most of all, being part of a show that i helped from day one become an international phenomenon. fox says they're saddened about abdul's decision of leaving the show. they'll begin their next show in january without paula abdul. steve: sounds like she wanted a lot more money in an they wanted to give. gretchen: i think she brings some entertainment to the show. she never knows what she's going to say. just moments from now, our big breaking news story of the day, laura ling and euna lee will touchdown in california.

bill clinton helped their release in north korea. did he give up anything in return? we don't know yet. steve: plus, poor? nope. homeless? nope. what about abled body? these are some of the words that liberals are trying to take away from your kids' textbooks. more words that irk with tucker carlson. peter. peter: and g.i. joe, the great american hero, is back. one of the actors from the new movie, marlon wayans, talented marlon wayans, joins us live. - hi. - crowd: hi!

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gretchen: back to our breaking news story today and continues to develop because laura ling and euna plee is about to be home, landing at the bob hope airport just minutes away. peter: and that's why anita

vogel joins us live. good morning, anita. >> good morning. we were told by security folks, someone came out and they said they're expecting the plane to be wheeled down at 5:45 west coast time. that's right about now. so that plane should be minutes away. once it does touchdown on the ground it will be towed into this private hanger via an electric tug. that's for e.p.a. reasons. so this hanger doesn't fill up with exhaust. but let me point you over here to my left. can you see the platform is already set up with the welcome home sign. it's already for the plane to be rolled in here. and there are the stairs that those american journalists will take to walk down and touchdown on american soil for the first time in a very long time. we can only imagine what an ordeal this has been for those two women who have been locked behind bars in north korea for more than 4 1/2 months, sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. so we know that these women will be greeted by their family members here today.

they will also be greeted by a number of dignitaries. we know that former vice president al gore is here. he's the co-founder of current tv, the news organization that these two journalists work for. let me show you over here to my right, we have several rows of white chairs set up. we understand there's going to be a podium. so we're expecting remarks once the plane does ariff and, again, we expect the plane to be just minutes away. brian. steve: all right, anita, thank you very much. for a minute we just showed you our friends at kabc out in los angeles, california, providing this helicopter shot. apparently that's the white boeing business jet on approach to bob hope airport in burbank onboard the former president bill clinton and, of course, the two journalists that he sprung yesterday. laura ling and euna lee. remember, they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for

somehow winding up in north korea. they didn't think they were there. they did. they grabbed them. and did he do some negotiating? what did the north koreans do in return? we don't know. all we know is the good news is that the former president did spring them. so it's a very positive day for him. peter: happy coming home for the ling and lee families and for these two young american journalists as this boeing jet, as steve points out, is coming in for a landing soon at the bob hope airport in burbank, california, after a 12-hour or so flight with a stop over in japan for refueling from north korea. there must be a tremendous amount of excitement on that plane, and i'm sure a certain amount of great satisfaction for former president clinton. steve: sure. peter: as he successfully brings home these two american journalists who had been sentenced to 12 years. gretchen: 12 years, they seemed

to be empassioned in their phone calls with their family members. apparently during that time last month they were able to pass along the message that it was president clinton that could make the difference in bringing them home. whether or not that was a setup by kim jong il because he never got that meeting with clinton that he wanted before he left office or not, that's what happened and that message was passed along to the white house. before you know it, president clinton off to north korea. no doubt, gentlemen, that deal was already sealed and delivered before president clinton got on the airplane to go to north korea and pick up these young ladies. much will be discussed about how this all happened and whether or not they should have even been this close to the iranian border or in fact were they in iran? many say they were not in iran when they were taken, but no doubt a huge political story here and it will take days and weeks to unfold as to what possibly the u.s. loses or gains in this transaction. steve: so they're on final approach.

there you have the president, former president and the two journalists. if you're just joining us, bill clinton went over to north korea yesterday. he was on the ground for about 20 hours and somehow he got kim jong il to go ahead and release the two girls. peter: apparently they had conversations for several hours between former president clinton and kim jong il, and so we have no word as to what the actual word -- there it's about to touchdown. but obviously important issues, i'm sure, including nuclear proliferation was touched upon. although i'm sure there was no agreements. steve: we should point out as the plane approaches bob hope airport in burbank saying that clinton expressed words to sincere apology to kim jong il for the hosle acts committed by ling and lee. the white house anded -- and the administration said there was no apology. secretary clinton, herself, said on july 20, we're very sorry that it happened. also, we should point out that

apparently on the tarmac when the former president did show up, the number one negotiator, the atomic negotiator for north korea was there as well. so you have to figure, knowing them and knowing bill clinton, at some point, despite the fact that his own wife wants six-party talks, there probably were some two-party talks for just a moment or so. gretchen: quite possibly. i think that was a complete p.r. move by the north korean government to make sure we were talking about the fact that they sent out their chief nuclear person for the exact reason that now we're talking about that. interestingly enough, the picture, too, with president clinton and kim jong il, kim jong il, a huge smile on his face, president clinton, not so much. peter: i bet there are huge smiles on a couple young women faces at 5:50 pacific time in burbank, california, as the plane has touched down, now beginning to taxi on the runway to a hanger where reporters will

be standing by and there will be remarks apparently made by the president. we don't know if ms. ling and ms. lee will be speaking to the crowd. probably several dig any -- dignitaries. there is nothing better when americans that have been captured returns home to american soil. that's something we can be very, very pleased and proud of. steve: yeah. peter: and the fact that a former president, whether it's president clinton or former president like president bush who's been involved in different missions on behalf of this country that they would get involved, that they would put their prestige on the line -- steve: sure. peter: is a testament to our form of democracy. gretchen: i think it's an amazing story between the two clintons as well. never in history have you had a president and then his wife or husband become the secretary of state as well and on this issue their messages seem to be different. you know, mrs. clinton said just a few weeks ago that she would

not want to have this sort of talk or go over and do this sort of negotiation. and now it's her husband they ask for. wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall between that conversation with secretary of state hillary clinton and former president bill clinton. steve: bill clinton was on a private humanitarian issue. this has nothing to do with the white house. but nonetheless, bill clinton, the guy onboard -- he used to fly on air force one, now he's on the business boeing jet, he's the comeback kid because he's just handed barack obama, mr. obama's greatest international coup, and keep in mind these are two families that, you know, nine months ago were bitter rivals. a year ago, because bill clinton wanted his wife to be president, barack obama wound up with the job. they have currently not spoken, the former president and current president, have not spoken since

march. it wonder how long it will be -- i wonder how long it will be before the current president saying, thank you for bailing me out on this and distracting people on the health care debate. peter: the president will call into that meeting in the hanger -- steve: that would be great. peter: that would be an exciting moment to hear from him. but i think, you talk about this being a private or humanitarian mission -- steve: yeah. peter: i guarantee you within a number of hours or a number of days this will have become an official mission of the white house -- steve: of course. it worked out so well. peter: and you know that president clinton would not have gone to north korea without having been briefed on all of the issues of the day. he went with his former chief of staff, mr. podesta. he went with several high aides that had been with him in the white house. the he went with another former government official who was

responsible with our relations with north korea. this was a mission conducted at the highest levels with the highest and most up-to-date information available. gretchen: in fact, he was briefed in person twice about all of these issues in north korea. i think you're exactly right, though, peter. i think becoming an official white house, for obvious reasons the president could not get involved with in, president obama, before this anything was pulled off and successful. let's go back out live to our anita vogel who is live inside of that hanger right now. anita, obviously the mood is of excitement only it is approaching 6:00 a.m. in california. have you before able to spot any of the family members of these two young women coming back home? >> hi there, gretchen. anticipation is certainly building here. i have not seen any of the family members yet, but i can tell you some members of our crew have spotted the former vice president al gore who we know is here and will be part of the reception when the plane lands -- when the plane unloads

here in the hanger. i have just been handed a sheet of paper of the family members who will be here to greet the journalists. we have most all of both women's families here. we have laura ling's husband, ian clayton, her parents, doug ling and mary ling, her sister, lisa ling, who is also a famous journalist, her husband, paul sung, and charles clayton. and we have euna lee's family, her husband, who is an actor. her 4-year-old daughter, hannah, and that will be quite a reunion. imagine this little girl has been without her mother for the past 4 1/2 months. and her husband's parents. so it's going to be quite an emotional and joyous reunion here. we indeed hear there was quite pan emotional meeting in north korea when the two journalists met with president clinton for the first time in. that that was sort of a tearful meeting, and we can only expect

the same here. we are just minutes away now from the plane being tugged in here via an electric tug. and then the girls will step off and touchdown on american soil. and then we are expecting remarks. we don't know if we're going to be hearing from president bill clinton, but we may be hearing from former vice president al gore and hopefully the journalists themselves. gretchen: we see that the plane -- anita, thanks for that reporting -- has opened. at least one person has come off the plane in advance, of course, of the president and the two young reporters coming off the plane. steve: there's the tug right there. just screened in the upper left-hand portion of the screen. you have to wonder whether or not -- we saw anita inside the hanger -- whether or not they'll open those big doors and get the whole airplane tugged in, as we've been told, or if they will emerge one by one.

you have to figure there's going to be a lot of running and hugging and a lot of kissing. and we heard from one of the fathers of one of the young women saying, you know, i'm going to let her have it from being that close out there. peter: it's very descriptive. he sounded with a lot of love. steve: and welcome her home. of course, if you're just joining us, it is three minutes before 6:00 a.m. burbank, the bob hope airport, and that boeing business jet has just made the very long trip from asia. onboard, the former president of the united states, bill clinton, and, of course, those two journalists who were working for al gore, laura ling and euna lee. al gore had offered at one point, yeah, i'll go over and talk to giving them back because they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. and bill richardson said he'd go. but ultimately the north koreans said, nope, we want bill clinton. well, yesterday bill clinton showed up. gretchen: and apparently that

request went out through the young women through telephone calls to their families about a month ago. it's amazing to me that's how it went down. and then the president was briefed, the former president, made his way over there and has apparently had a successful mission. peter: and we have the closure of one chapter with north korea. and it raises what the future will be. will we see president clinton returning to north korea on america's behalf to negotiate the nuclear issues? since he was the former chief executive of choice of the north korean strong man, will president clinton be making several of these trips across the pacific? steve: look. he's a young man, you know, as ex-presidents go. and he's got a lot of time on his hands. well, he's certainly the comeback kid again because he has become relevant by negotiating this international

cupe. we don't know exact -- coup. we don't know exactly, if anything, the north koreans got in return. we know they got a photo op on the cover of most american newspapers where president clinton, not smiling, looking stoyic, like he's on a rescue mission, and kim jong il with a great big grin on his face. gretchen: this is great news for president obama because this may have healed the riff, if there was one, between president obama and president clinton. i do think it's an ironic twist that president clinton's wife is the secretary of state. and so that will be interesting to see how this all pans out in the continued role of what president clinton is going to do. peter: well, let america enjoy in happy wednesday morning. steve: president clinton went over to north korea and sprung the women laura ling and euna lee.