i know what my vote is. >> steve: wear a shirt. we don't want option number 3. the news is breaking on the u.s. economy the drum beat on jobs continues. 480,000 americans filing for benefits a week ago. that's about 20,000 higher than predicted. today more than 15 million americans out of work scott brown said to be sworn in today as massachusetts' first republican senator in more than three decades. his big win a few weeks back, shocking the nation, including washington, and ending the democrats' supermajority of 60 votes, and putting the senate very much in play with a mid -- with the mid-terms nine

months away. it's a busy news day, i'm bill hemmer. martha: i'm martha maccallum. good morning, everybody. brown's swearing in is coming a week early. why is that? his lawyer sent a letter to massachusetts officials to rush certification of the election so he can be sworn in today. bill: also when brown takes his seat he will be as campaigned, the 41st vote for republicans against health care reform policy and possibly any other item on the administration's agenda. caroline shively, as mafer -- as martha mentioned, more than a week before intended. >> reporter: brown was supposed to be sworn in next thursday but he says he's been patient and is getting questions from people saying why isn't he there yet. here he is taking questions in his driveway. >> congratulations, the 11th was a tentative date based on the information we were getting from the secretary of state's office as to what he would need for certification.

when he called me a couple of days ago and indicated he felt he would have it ready yesterday we obviously moved plans up because it's been a couple of weeks and it's time to get to work. >> reporter: there are potentially important votes expected before next thursday, that's what brown's lawyer wrote to the governor, they include nominees for appointments in the labor department. one vote is on a controversial union lawyer appointed to the national labor relations board. republicans would like to block it with a filibuster, having brown will allow them potentially to do that. governor duvall patrick will sign the certification papers. he was planning to do that this morning, anyway. at 5:00 p.m., vice president biden will swear brown in. bill? bill: some of the votes down the road, which ones are the significant votes which could be held? >> reporter: you mentioned the big one, health care, a vote might not happen because of brown, reasons, number one, republicans would have the votes to block it and two, the fact

that brown got elected in the first place, pledging to vote against health care, that makes dems thinking twice about the vote, thinking maybe theo maybe the mood of the country is against it. it's more than health care, though. think of other administration priorities like climate change, energy policy, judicial appointments. brown's election means democrats really can't push those through, they have to pull republicans into the process, bill. bill: caroline is on that story, thanks, and in washington, we'll hear more from scott brown a bit later this morning. thank you caroline. here's martha. martha: you mentioned this number, we've got brand new details on report which just came out moments ago and it shows a significant role that uncle sam is going to have over the health care system in the next few years and that is regardless of the outcome of health care reform. a report from medicare numbers crunchers show the government will end up paying more than health care costs by the year 2012, this trend log in coming and is now being sped up by the troubled economy and aging

baby boomers, millions of whom are starting to sign up now for medicare. bill: brand new poll numbers out, too, and this is interesting, in the race to president obama's former seat in illinois a. "rasmussen poll"ing shows republican mark kirk leading democrat alexi giannnoulis by six points, 46 percent to 40 percent. all this is as republican senator-elect scott brown is sworn in as we mentioned. we'll have a look at what the political playing field is shaping up in 2010 and that illinois seat is going to get a lot of headlines in the many months to come. martha: sure is. we'll be covering it over the course of this whole year. and now back to our top story that we just mentioned, the number of newly laid off workers, getting online for the very first time, folks, to sign up for unemployment, which is not a happy morning, when you head out to do that. that number is now at 480,000. that's the weekly jobless claims. stuart varney of the fox business network joins us live. good morning to you stuart.

>> bad news. it's bad news. martha: and it was coming. >> the bad news is the trend. we had been trending down, the number of people fronting up to the unemployment offices every week, the front was down consistently, then it plateaued out and we're rising again. that's not the trend the administration or anybody else wants to see. martha: what do you attribute that to, stuart? >> the economy is not expanding as -- well, i think the real problem is that people who are employers are not hiring a lot of people. they're manage to go punch out a lot of product and service without hiring extra people. in fact, some are still laying them off. martha: yeah, i mean, you find you can do your business more efficiently with fewer people and in this kind of economy, you're going to say let's just keep doing it the way we're doing it right now, right? >> it's called productivity. which is bounding ahead. that means fewer people employed. martha: this is a very disturbing story and it might cause some people to not really look at it too closely. it deals with your credit

rating which we all know our personal credit ratings is very important t. makes all the difference when you go to buy a home or car and they pull up the rating and say we're not sure we want to take a risk on you. but how about this, the united states has a credit rating, too, as a country, and that rating could be in big trouble, moody's investor service, they keep an eye on these things and they're out with a dire warning today, they say the united states of america risks losing its aaa credit rating unless the economy starts to show more robust growth. stu afort, this is the -- stuart, this is the kind of thing you look at in history books about the falls of different empires and you have to worry, is that where we're heading if our credit is not where it used to be worth in the world? >> look, we are still at this moment the gold standard. we are looked up to. we've got a aaa rating as a country. however, we're now proposing

massive decifits for years to come. we've got to borrow that money. and the world's financial people are saying hold on a minute, you want to borrow an awful lot of money. we're not sure you can afford to pay us back. therefore, we want to get more interest out of you. so this is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money. essentially this is a hit to our financial reputation, it's going to doss us -- cost us money down the road. martha: in other words, when you take out a loan and you're a very good credit risk you get a better interest rate but the tougher you are as a credit risk the more china and other countries that are lending to us will say we'll give you the money but it's going to cost you more because we're concerned about your balance sheet. >> yes. at the moment, foreigners and anybody else will lend uncle sam money for ten years at about 3 1/2%. now you've got this wrng, that 3 1/2% is likely to rise. i don't know where to, but it's going to rise. that means america has to pay out a lot more in interest than the years to come. martha: -- in the years to come. martha: stuart varney, thank

you very much. bill: and company. martha: okay. he wants to see the dancing girls. bill: i'll stay tuned for that. they're coming. new developments for those that drive a toyota, it's been a bumpy 24 hours for that carmaker now facing problems with its popular prius. we're now hearing about design problems with the hybrid's antilock brake system and toyota says it corrected the problem for prius models sold since late january but the company still trying to figure out how to inform prius owners. meanwhile u.s. transportation secretary ray la hood made news yesterday, sending the stock into a tailspin with these comments, saying americans should stop driving recalled toyotas. la hood then went outside of the meeting and tried to recall those words. roll this now. >> my advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to the toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it. >> so what i said in there

was obviously a misstatement what i meant to say, what i thought i said, was if you own one of these cars, or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. bill: that was a bit of a rough day. toyota's stock made a bit of a rebound, but still closed down 6 percent, that carmaker helped by its quarterly profit report which beat analyst estimates. meanwhile, ford has reason to brag through all of this, and a bit later on what you need to know about that. martha: all right. as you know, today is the national prayer breakfast and president obama has just stepped to the podium to speak to this group in its national annual tradition. let's listen to the -- let's listen to the president. >> -- outstanding remarks and her outstanding leadership at the state department. she's doing good every day. [applause] >> i'm especially pleased to see my dear friend, prime minister zapatero, and i

want him to relay america's greetings to the people of spain, and johnny, you are right, i am deeply blessed, and i thank god every day for being married to michelle obama. [applause] >> i'm privileged to join you once again as my predecessors have for over half a century and like them, i come here to speak about the way of my faith that informs who i am, as a president and as a person. but i'm also here for the same reason that all of you are. for we all share a recognition, one as old as time, that a willingness to believe, an openness to grace, a commitment to

prayer, can bring sustenance to our lives. there is, of course, a need for prayer even in times of joy and peace and prosperity perhaps especially in such times, prayer is needed, to guard against pride, and to guard against complacency. but rightly or wrongly, most of us are inclined to seek out the divine not in the moment when the lord makes his face shine upon us, but in moments when god's grace can seem farthest away. last month, god's grace, god's mercy, seemed far away from our neighbors in haiti. and yet i believe that grace was not absent in the midst of tragedy, it was heard in

prayers and hymns that broke the silence of an earthquake's wake. it was witnessed among parishioners of churches that stood no more, a roadside congregation holding bibles in their lap laps, and was felt in the presence of relief workers and medics, translators, servicemen and women, bringing food, water, and aid to the injured. on such -- one such translator was an american of haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world, navy corpsman christian beshar, and why on a gurney, a woman asked where do you come from, what country. after my operation, she said, i will pray for that country. and in creeol, corpsmember

responded -- [speaking in native tongue] >> the united states of america. god's grace, and the compassion and decency of the american people is expressed through the men and women like corpsman breshard, it's expressed through the armed forces, through the efforts of our entire government, through similar efforts from spain and other countries around the world. it's also, as secretary clinton said, expressed through multiple faith-based efforts. by evangelicals in world relief, by the american jewish world service, by hindu temples and mainline protestants, katherine relief services, african-american churches, the united states, by americans of every faith and

no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose. it's inspiring. this is what we do as americans in times of trouble. we unite, recognizes that such crises call on all of us to act, recognizing that there but for the god go on, recognizing that life's most sacred responsibility, when affirmed as hillary said by all of the world's great religions is to sacrifice something of ourselves for a person in need. sadly, though, that spirit is too often absent when tackling the long term, but no less profound issues facing our country and the world. too often, that spirit is

missing without the spectacular tragedy, the 9/11, or the katrina, the earthquake or the tsunami. it can shake us out of com praisancey. -- com placancey. we become numb to the day to day crises, the slow moving tragedies of children without food and men without shelter and families without health care. we become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power, and in this tower of babel, we cents loo the sound of god's voice. now, for those of us here in washington, let's acknowledge that democracy has always been messy. let's not be overly nostalgic. divisions are hardly new in this country. arguments about the proper

role of government, the relationship between liberty and equality, our obligations to our fellow citizens, these things have been with us since our founding. and i'm profoundly mindful that a loyal opposition, a vigorous back and forth, a skepticism of power, all of that is what makes our democracy work. and we've seen actually some improvement in some circumstances. we haven't seen any canings on the floor of the senate any time recently. [laughter] >> so we shouldn't overromant size the past, but there is a sense that something is different now, that something is broken, that those of us in washington are not serving the people as well as we should. in times it seems like we're unable to listen to one another. to have at once a serious

and civil debate. and this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens, it poisons the well of public opinion, it leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other. it makes politics an all or nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong, when in reality neither side has the monopoly on truth. then we lose sight of the children without food and the men without shelter and the families without health care. empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility. and that begins with stepping out of our comfort

zones in an effort to bridge divisions. we see that in many conservative pastors who are willing to lead to fix our immigration system, it's not what would be expected from them, yet they recognize in those immigrant families the face of god, we see that in the evangelical leaders who are rallying their congregations to protect our planet, we see it in the increasing recognition among progressives that government can't solve all of our problems. their not talking about values like responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage, they're integral to any antipoverty agenda. stretching out of our dogness, our prescribed roles along the political spectrum, that can help us

regain a sense of civility. civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable. understanding, as president said, that civility is not a sign of weakness. now, i am the first to confess i'm not always right. michelle will testify to that. [laughter] >> surely, you can question my policies without questioning my faith. or for that matter, my citizenship. [laughter] >> [applause] >> >> challenging each other's ideas can renew our democracy but when we challenge each other's motives, it becomes harder to see what we hold in common. we forget that we share at some deep level the same

dreams. even when we don't share the same plans on how to fulfill them. we may disagree about the best way to reform our health care system, but surely we can agree that no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on earth. we can take different approaches to ending inequality, but surely we did agree on the need to let our children out of -- lift our children out of ignorance, to lift our neighbors out of poverty. we may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it's here in the united states or, as hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in uganda. surely we can agree to find common ground when possible, parting ways when necessary,

but in doing so, let us be guided by our faith. and by prayer. for while prayer can buck us up when we are down, keep us calm in a storm, while prayer can stiffen our spines to surmount an obstacle, and i assure you, i'm praying a lot these days , prayer can also do something else. it can touch our hearts with humility. it can fill us with a spirit of brotherhood. it can remind us that each of us are children of an awesome and loving god. through faith, but not through faith alone, we can unite people to serve the common good. and that's why my office of faith-based neighborhood partnerships has been working so hard since i announced it here last year.

we slash red tape and build effective partnerships in a range of uses. from promoting fatherhood here at home to spearheading inter faith cooperation abroad. and through that office, we've turned the faith-based initiative around to find common ground among people of all beliefs. willing to make an impact in a way that's civil, and focus on what matters most. it is this spirit of civility that we are called to take up when we leave here today. that's what i'm praying for. i know in difficult times like these, when people are frustrated, when pundits start shouting and politicians start calling each other names, it can seem like a return to sievety is not possible -- a return to civility is not possible, like it's a relatic of some bygone era, the word itself seems quaint, civility, but let us remember those who came

before, those who believe in the brotherhood of man, even when such a faith was tested. remember dr. martin luther king, not long after an explosion ripped through his front porch, his wife and infant daughter inside, he rose to that pulpit in montgomery and said love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. in the eyes of those who denied his hunty -- humanity, he saw the face of god. remember abraham lincoln, on the eve of the civil war, with states seating and forces gathering and a nation divided, half slave and half free, he rose to deliver his first inaugural and said we are not enemies, but friends. passion may -- though occupation may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. even in the eyes of confederate soldiers, he saw

the face of god. remember, william wilbur horris, he was vilified, derided, attacked, but he called for lessening prejudices and con sill ating good will and thereby making way for the less obstructed progress of truth in the eyes of those who sought to silence a nation's conscience, he saw the face of god. yet, there are crimes of conscience that call us to action, yet there are causes that move our hearts and offenses that steer our souls. but progress doesn't come when we demonize opponents, it's not borne in righteous spite, progress comes when we open our hearts, when we extend our hands, when we recognize our common

humanity. progress comes when we look into the eyes of another and see the face of god. that we might do so, that we will do so, all the time, not just some of the time is my fervent prayer for our nation and the world. thank you, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. [applause] martha: there's the president speaking at the national prayer breakfast this morning, and taking advantage i would say of the opportunity to talk about what he sees as compassion and the importance of compassion and civility. he talked a lot about returning to civility, he talked about stepping outside of your comfort zone in order to return to civility, a suggestion perhaps that those who are on the other side of the fence from him with regard to health care reform need to become more civil, that they need to find more compassion. so an interesting opportunity that he took there to sort of talk about his own agenda, and it seems like it was accomplished and

the reasons he wants to see them accomplished and his feelings about those who don't necessarily think his way, he said i've been spending a lot of time in prayer these days, also he got a bit of a chuckle out of the audience when he said, let me get it in front of me here, he said you can question my polity,o policy, but don't question my faith, then he took a pause and said or my citizenship, which got a laugh, of course, when you go back to all of those who -- all that stuff, he made a reference, which i don't remember him making a reference to that before. bill: that may have been off script, actually. it could have been. you heard the applause. we'll keep an eye on that. there's a headline in addition to the president, that's tim tebow, a lot of people didn't expect him to be there,ies a heisman trophy winner, quarterback from the university of florida, he's the guy wearing the bible verses under his eyes when he plays football and he's going to give the closing remarks and when that happens, if it's available you'll see it. in the meantime, 27 minutes after the hour. look at this, martha,

there's a new push from republican senators asking questions how the underwear bomber was handled in the hours after his arrest, they want u.s. attorney general eric holder to testify before congress immediately. holder now saying he was the one who ordered the body bomber arrested and read his myrrh ander rights. jeff sessions, republican senator from alabama, he wrote a letter yesterday asking holder to appear before his committee. good morning to you. the head of that committee says it's in the work to get holder there, the question is when. what eric holder was saying yesterday is folks like you are making politics out of this decision, he was the one who made the call on the miranda rights. how do you react to that, senator? >> well, he just flat out said i made the call, it of the right call, i'll do it again and i'm going to keep on doing it, and this is contrary to the policy i think of the congress, it's clearly contrary to the 9/11 commission report, and a national decision really that we reached at that time that we should not treat these kind of al-qaeda

attackers as common criminals but treat them as the military unlawfully combatants that they are. i'm very disappointed with the letter. i think that we cannot allow this to happen. he assert that is it does not diminish our intelligence gathering capabilities, and as a prosecutor for many years, i know that when you tell an individual we're going to appoint a lawyer for you, and you don't have any -- you have a right to remain silent, you're going to reduce the amount of intelligence that we obtain, the interrogations were conducted by people who did not know the background of this individual and what was happening in yemen, a very important part of the world. so i thought it was very unsatisfactory, frankly. bill i think the point you make about yemen is very intriguing. let me get to that in a moment here, but here's what we're trying to piece together, it's christmas day, detroit, michigan, and what happened in that 50 minute? eric holder is saying they

talked specifically about whether or not they used the military tribunal system and he said no agency that he had contact with that day supported that. what do you make of that decision? >> well, that's not an accurate statement, really. i think that it is misleading to a great degree because apparently once they warned him of his rights, after this 50 minutes, he clammed up and didn't talk anymore. and they made that decision before top official were ever notified, and in fact mr. blair and even the fbi director holder himself said that he was not advised of this at the time it happened. and certainly not the secretary of defense. so you see this individual came from an enemy, al-qaeda, who has declared war on the united states and we've declared war on them, to attack us, and really, it's a defense issue. it's not -- that's the primary interest here, is defending america. bill: well, holder is saying there's no court-approved

system in place, meaning if you catch a terrorist in the united states, there's no system in place to take care of that person. i don't know how you feel about that, but i think a lot of people want to figure out well, where is this system and when could that be established. that's -- i'm just saying f. that's the defense he uses before your committee, how are you going to respond? >> well, that's a really, a disingenuous statement, it's not an accurate statement. they try military commissions, the supreme court expressed criticism of some of their procedures, the military has changed them, congress has authorized certain laws about how these commissions should be handled, and now they're going to pass muster. maybe they haven't gone through the supreme court, the new methods. he also suggested that the previous administration, that's the way they planned to do all this and that's the way they were doing it, but attorney general mccasey called it amateur hour at

the department of justice because this is not what they planned. we set up a courtroom at guantanamo, a whole procedure was set up, laws were changed to make these systems work well, and now we are ready. previously, we were not as ready as we are today. bill: we wanted to get you on today to react to the attorney general. quickly, when will this hearing take place? because it will be watched by a lot of people, frankly. >> it will be several months, but this hearing is just a normal budget hearing for the department of justice. we need a special hearing on this issue. it's a matter of critical national importance. bill: i'm out of time, jeff session, thank you for your time from capitol hill. >> thank you. martha: he went from near obsecurity to republican power player, senator-elect scott brown demanding to be seated in his senate seat quickly, and he will get his way, we understand, today, later on this afternoon. did his win reboot the gop and can republicans keep up their streak?

bill: martha, you know where your hard-earned money is going this weekend? martha: where? bill: check out miami. we'll explain. super bowl sunday.

>> the people as you know by their votes have now filled the office themselves and i'm ready to go to washington without delay! martha: without delay. you heard scott brown say it there, republican scott brown calling for a fast transition on his victory night in that tape and now this week, as of yesterday afternoon he's demanding to be seated right away. he's trying to speed up this whole process, the swearing in. the senator-elect sending a letter to duvall patrick and secretary of state bill gavin asking them to, quote, certify without delay, and brown has gotten his way, he will be sworn in as the new republican senator from massachusetts today. he is one of several gop victories leading into the 2010 mid-term elections. so what does all this mean

for the political landscape right now? david drucker is staff writing with roll call, and great observer of all things in washington. david, welcome, good to see you. >> good to be here martha. martha: i was pretty surprised when i got this coming across the blackberry yesterday afternoon that he would be sworn in today, it was supposed to be february february 11th. what changed in massachusetts? >> reporter: i think scott brown probably looked the a the fact that there was no reason he shouldn't be certified and seated sooner and probably just figured what am i running around here doing nothing for when i could be in washington. there are a lot of votes coming up, i would imagine his republican colleagues and republican senate leadership wanted him down here for some of these votes, and you know, he wanted to get to work, and there's no reason for him to have been delayed this long, and in fact, the reason i think it took this long and they were so, you know, judicious about the paperwork, was because after last year, with the rolle and burris affair and the need to have all of the paperwork to prove he was certified, with the same thing happening with al franken because of his

elongated battle with norm coleman, that the democrats and republicans in the senate felt that certain protocol had to be followed for scott brown, so everything was -- martha: but they don't follow that protocol when it's politically advantageous as we've seen in many instances going back to teddy kennedy who was sworn into his brother's seat pretty much the same day. >> well, you're right about that, but politics often dictates what happens here, and i will say this, after scott brown's election, when the democrats vowed to push through no health care vote without scott brown being seated i think to the republicans' advantage for him not to get up here right away, it meant the democrats couldn't try and rush anything through and had to let everything with health care sit and revea -- reevaluate them. martha: there is talk about republicans now having 41 senators, now he's going to get to work and some of that aura will sort of fall by the way side i imagine as things get down to business and we actually see how he votes on things. what's your prediction for how much influence he will really have?

>> well, i think that it's important to understand that every senator, even the biggest backbencher of the minority party has a lot of power because that's how it works. depending upon how he exercises the hour afforded him, he clearly has influence and is clearly going to be watched. i think this will change the senate because democrats no longer have the option of pushing through with democratic votes alone, so they're going to have to work with republicans a little more and it's going to get a little harder for them. by the same token, republicans are going to have to recalibrate how they oppose certain bills, understanding it might be easier for the democrats to pick off a republican here or there to push things through to get things done. but clearly, he's going to change the nature of the game here, and especially on big ticket items in the jobs bill, any budget bills, any health care bill that they try and get through here. i think you'll see a lot of him. martha: this election in massachusetts captured the attention of this entire

nation. now there's another race coming up in illinois, there's a number of races. let's take a look at some pretty interesting numbers from rasmussen, the illinois race to replace the seat that was held by now president barack obama and subsequently was held by roland burris. what do you think of the numbers, 46 percent for mark kirk, it looks at this point like at least this seat could go republican as well. >> well, this is, you know, how things have changed in just a year. you know, don't forget last year, arlen specter switched parties, left the republican party because he thought there was no way he would win in pennsylvania if he wasn't a democrat, and now republicans have a legitimate shot of capturing barack obama's old senate seat and i think that it is doable. now, between now and november, so much can happen and will happen, and so many republican candidates will be under fire the same way democratic candidates are, and it may diminish their prospects, but the same thing is true for democrats and they're facing now the weight of governing. unemployment is at 10 percent, people are unhappy, and i think that in certain states, if you have the right republican

candidate, which mark kirk is in illinois, and you have a democrat that can be tied to the establishment, which alexi giannnoulis can be, then it's possible for republicans to steal a couple of these seats and as long as they're able to hold their own open seats, difficult races in ohio, florida, new hampshire, places like that, then they could have a very good day in november. martha: a lot can happen in the next 9-plus months. david drucker, thank you very much. today as we mentioned, scott brown will be sworn in, we expect at 5:00, you'll see that live on fox news channel. bill: getting this word out of washington, martha, word about a health care compromise. democrats and republicans getting together on something that actually might pass. imagine that! whoa! details, coming up. martha: wonder what that's going to look look. toyota owners can't be blamed for being confused out there, folks. this morning, there's word of another toyota brand, a huge toyota brand, that has some issues. what you need to know, right after this.

martha: we've got some new reports from u.s. counterterrorism officials, a top pakistani taliban leader is believed to bedeled, killed by a drone strike along the pakistan border last month. this is extremely important. he is said to be the leader of a group affiliated with al-qaeda and he is suspected to be behind that deadly bombing attack that killed seven of our cia officers in that region. so this is a huge hit if indeed this has been carried out. bill: martha, if you own a toyota, are you confused this morning? word that another toyota car is set to be recalled. back in september 2009 the carmaker told some owners to

take out the driver's side floor mat to prevent gas pedal jamming. in october toyota recalled about 3.8 million vehicles because of the floor mat issue and even expanded that about a month later. then in january, recalling 2.3 million other vehicles because of a different problem causing accelerators to stick and stopped production of eight different models here in the u.s. now, yesterday came reports of brake problems with the popular prius. we're going to try and make sense of all this this morning for you. liz mcdonald from fox business is here to talk the business side of it and our auto expert, gary gast low with what you need to know. gary, i will start with you. good morning, liz. what's the issue with this brake problem on prius, they call it regenerative braking, what does that mean? >> it's what most hybrids have and essentially what happens is when you press the brake pedal, the brakes do engage, first -- actually when you let up on the gas and press the brake pedal, a generator engages, the resistance from this begins

to slow the vehicle, an generates electricity, which is fed back to the battery. press harder and the hydraulic brakes the wheels take over like a normal car. it's this transition between the two that's the problem here, software controls that is correct there's also an antilock braking system involved, and in some situations, it's apparently getting confused. bill: let me understand this now. when i hit the accelerator, the brake comes on or i'm hitting the brake and the accelerator comes on or i'm hitting the brake, option c and it's not braking and doing what it's supposed to do? >> you let up on the gas, the generators kicks in, the car starts slowing, press on the brake and the generator slows the car first. it's harder on the brake, it switches from the generator to the hydraulic brakes. it's the transition from the generator to the traditional braking that's the problem. bill: they have issues. i'll come to the solution in a moment. but liz, boy, yesterday when ray la hood made those comments, toyota fell off the floor and in the meantime, ford is flying the flag, saying hey, we're doing really well. what's happening on the business side of all this?

>> that's right, bill. toyota was down about 6 percent in trading, it's hitting a 10-month low, around $73, the company out saying the recall could cost it $2 billion, and that could sink it into the red. as i noted, it's at a 10-month low. basically what we're seeing with toyota's stock, it's seeing about $30 billion in market share wiped out due to the recall. the u.s. congress is saying there are 19 crash deaths that may be linked to the accelerator problems, and now the prius problem is also putting heavy pressure on the stock. so -- bill: liz, i just want to play what happened with ray la hood, the transportation secretary, roll this, what happened inside of committee and then how he tried to clarify it outside. >> sure. >> my advice is if anyone owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to the toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it. so what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say or what i thought i said was that if

you own one of these cars, or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and have them fix it. bill: if i'm an executive at toyota, liz, i want those words on a string, back in his mouth. >> you make a good point, and actually toyota came out with a statement saying that they basically acknowledge the secretary's comments and they are saying to customers if you have any concerns over it, do go to a dealer, but his comments came sort of out of the blue, came sort of a nonsec quiter, came during an appropriations hearing so that ammunition was -- >> bill: you're right, liz. back to gary quickly, liz mentioned the dealership, is that the index option? >> it's really wait and see. toyota hasn't issued guidance as far as whether they're going to have a recall. they fixed the problem at the production end a couple of weeks ago but for people that bought the car in the lax six months, it's wait and see. they said if you press hard on the brakes t. will work. lil lil -- bill: this is going to linger. >> this is their golden boy

and it looks bad after everything that's happened. bill: liz, thank you, thanks to gary here. by the way, you can catch the fox car report live online at 4:00 in the strategy room with gary, he'll be talking about the latest prius news and we'll also talk to the editor about all about priorous.com, who knew? you can also get more tips and news from gary by heading to our website, foxnews.com, click on the leisure tab and auto along the side. great stuff, gary, and liz thanks to you as we. here's martha. martha: we all know the super bowl ads cost big bucks, right, but did you know that you're paying for one of them this year? details on how that ad works and how many of your tax dollars are being used to pay for it. bill: is it supposed to work that way? martha: huh huh. bill: it doesn't get any more fair and balanced than that, o'reilly and jon stewart, on the same stage, in the same room. if you do not miss anything today, don't miss this.

but, but on election night -- >> it's like ali's reach! >> you had no idea. >> trying to argue with -- did you ever hear wufn these, no, no, no new york city!

bill: so we're getting a super bowl ad with a political twist and you're paying for it, $2.5 million for a new government commercial. here's a picture from that. just one frame of the the census bureau is sending out the message to stand up and counted. some perspective for how much they go for, cbs reporting that 30-second spots cost anywhere from 2.5 to 3 billion buck, 30 seconds. there are reports that some may go for more than $3 million. usually the ads are from big companies like doritos and coca cola and budweiser.

now it's from the u.s. census. we'd like to know what you think about that. folk at home, what are you thinking about this? head to our website, foxnews.com. on our website, ca find our poll, scroll down, click on the you decide, do you buy the census bureau's ad, an unscientific poll. sixty thousand people have voted and 94 percent say it's a waste of money. martha: when you think about it, every psa is paid for by tax dollars and sometimes they have a perspective. bill: i'll never see that commercial. martha: you're going to be skiing. rub it in! bill: we have a lot to do. martha: rub it in, bill! the u.s. military is taking a rare break from secrecy, announcing the precise target of their first big offensive of the afghan surge in the helmand province area, a hot bed as we know of taliban activity and violence in the war-torn country. the idea t. appears, is to intimidate the taliban to think twice before engaging

coalition forces. steve centanni joins us with more from washington. steve, exactly where is this fight expected? >> >> reporter: martha, officially reporters like me are not supposed to know the answer to that question, but this is the worst-kept secret in the military right now. the town is marjar, apparently the target of the new offensive by nato and afghan forces against the taliban. it's in the helmand province, as you pointed out, in southern afghanistan, the military has announced the upcoming offensive, even giving it a name, operation mostoroq, which means joint operation. they've not officially announced what target they're going off but also not disputing reports that it is marjah and afghan officials say the area has been flooded with leaflets warning civilians an offensive is coming. martha: what about this strategy of warning the taliban, what are military analysts saying about whether or not this is a good way to go about this? >> well, it's a fairly unusual approach, as you pointed out, but it is in

keeping with general stanley mcchrystal's desire to keep down civilian and military casualties. experts say it's a gamble, it could allow the taliban to escape and reimroop somewhere else as insurgents did in iraq in the all-out offensive in fallujah in 2004 or they could prepare for a fight. one taliban commander has said his forces plan to stay and defend the town but if they leave it could depriv them of base operations and prevent a lot of blood shed and that may be the point of all this, after all. martha: a lot of initiatives being taken and we hope they're successful, steve centanni, thank you very much. bill: i wasn't rubbing it in, by the way. martha: just in case you didn't get that, bill is going to the super bowl. i can't wait. colts or saint? hold your breath. tomorrow. why groups are making a break from the grassroots movement. details on that.

martha: can you tell what this is? bill: i cannot. martha: it seems scientists are confused, they've never seen a configuration quite like this before. michio kaku is going to join us with his answer. it's not what you think. ♪ star light, star bright ♪ make everything all right ♪

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martha: rising up against big government in a big way. here's a live look now, folks at nashville, tennessee inside the tea party national convention and we'll get to that in a second and grassroots opposition to government influence, in your daily lives? it has been the main motivation of the group, taxed enough already is where the name tea party comes from and the core of the futures we are told may be fracturing a little bit and we'll tell the movement we are told may be fracturing, and this is a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." bill: good morning, martha. martha: good morning, bill. bill: we have questions about the splinter groups, using the brand name to push agendas. martha: and carl cameron is live in the music city. and there is a -- his full face an should and shoulders and everything, hey, carl. >> it is exciting what is happening in the tea party

movement and nashville is the first convention of tea partiers, and it is held by one group in nashville and they expect 600 people to come to workshops and a thousand overall to come saturday night when the keynote speaker will be sarah palin and the entire activity is billed as bringing together the loose-knit grassroots organization from around the country and trying to start their schooling and since they got started in january and february of last year and burst onto the national stage during the town hall meetings during last year's august congressional recess in which health care was the focus, they've recognized a tremendous amount of political influence and noise within the republican party. the organizer of this particular operation, judson phillips says what they are trying to do is bring people together for organizing rally cries so they can bring more unity to the up start movement. listen to this: >> we want to bring people together, so they can network and meet each other and so they can learn. that is the big emphasis of the convention so people can learn. everybody is out there doing

things, some of them are really great ideas, and some of them aren't great ideas. and, we want to emphasize the things that really, really work and deemphasize the things that don't work. >> reporter: they recognize they have a lot of growing to do and recognize however potentially politically they've recognized and can move forward with and there are splinter groups with differing opinions and some have agenda items that don't necessarily comport with the more fiscally conservative orientation that started the organization, over a year ago, and have to deal with those types of issues and question about the convention and there is a cost to come and stay at the opryland convention center and sarah palin was initially to be paid large amounts of money and now she said the money will go to the cause and she will not profit from it and they are the growing pains of the grassroots organization by its own admission that needs to sort of nip the various disparate groups together. martha: it is fascinating to

watch the emergence of the politically influential group and as you point out, it is the way you watch parties emerge over the course of our history and there are growing pains, carl. >> reporter: there are a couple of places around the country where there were objections and first of all, there were tea party members who thought the idea of asking people to come and pay admission to this convention was offensive for a grassroots organization in and of itself but you have to put them somewhere to hold workshops and there are costs involved and there are organizations across the country who have begun to create intertea party movements, and particularly in florida there is an organizationen florida wherein the name, tea party party is copyrighted and trade marked and the individual who did that went around to other tae parea party groups an suggested they cannot use the name and these are the problems that prop up when you have a grassroots organization and they are making it up as they go along and self-organizing as opposed to a central governance

and don't want leaders and want to keep it the people's movement and subsequently there is friction and hope to work through a lot of it the next couple of days. martha: fascinating, carl cameron in nashville, tennessee at the tea party convention. bill: in the meantime, last hour we watched the political power players, taking part in the national prayer breakfast today. you saw president obama last hour, and the attention grabbing speaker this year might be the man, mid screen, 22-year-old former university of florida quarterback tim tebow and the heisman trophy winner is now in the midst of a controversy, over his role in a pro-life super bowl ad that will air on the weekend. molly henneberg is watching it live. what did he do there this morning. >> reporter: he'll speak at the end of the event, the heisman trophy winner is expected to do the closing prayer at the end of the national prayer breakfast and others speaking are hillary clinton and orrin hatch who led a prayer for national leaders, and the main speaker, president obama, who said last hour he had been, quote, praying a lot these

days, and who told the bipartisan audience, quote you can challenge my idea without challenging my faith. bill: what do we know about the super bohl ad tim tebow will be in with his mom, has anybody seen the ad. >> reporter: it will debut at the super bowl unless there is a leak and is expected to tell the story of his mother and her pregnancy 22 years ago and she and her husband were on a mission trip to the philippines and she got sick with dysentery and doctors advised her to get an abortion and she didn't and later gave birth to tim tebow who has gone onto much success on the football field and college and maybe may go into the first round of the nfl draft the ad is sponsored by focus on the family and will air on sunday. bill: has planned parenthood responded. >> and planned parenthood has an

no on-line ad, including two nfl athletes, one who played for the minnesota vikings. >> mom showed me that women are strong and wise and only women can make the best decisions about their health and their future. >> reporter: he says he respects mrs. tebow's difficult medical discussion and the ad doesn't mention abortion specifically but talks about the importance of women making their own health care decisions and the ad, planned parenthood has not bought time in the super bowl, it is just on-line. bill: starting monday there will be as much talk about the commercial, maybe more -- >> reporter: always. bill: than the game itself. molly, thanks, molly henneberg live in washington. mart martha. martha: operation night moves is busting a major human smuggling ring in houston, texas, 200 immigration and customs agents, raided transportation companies arresting 22 people who owned or worked at these companies and charging them with smuggling illegal aliens across the southern border and the department of homeland security saying these companies treated these alien as, quote,

commodities, to be bought and sold, the fed say these companies used pit bulls and armed guards to prevent their, quote, passengers from trying to escape. companies allegedly paid up to $650, per illegal, and would drive them from houston to other major cities including new york and miami, 81 illegal immigrant, also were taken into custody. bill: and we saw the jobs number, 408,000 americans filing for first time unemployment claims a week ago. about 20,000 higher and the job numbers continue to get bad. and in the meantime we'll hear from senate democrats a bit later today, about the infrastructure, small business loans and a path to cleaner, greener energy all set to get a nice, fat check from uncle sam courtesy of the taxpayer and critics are coming out calling a stimulus-2, roughly $83 billion worth and most of that coming from what is left of t.a.r.p., the massive bank bailout. got all this? rich edson, fox business network, live in d.c. good morning, rich, what else is in the bill if it passes. >> reporter: there would be

money for local governments, spending on schools and billions to extend unemployment benefits and this is the senate's proposal, house democrats have already passed a more expensive version, at more than $150 billion, and the president has sent his ideas for more spending and tax credits to create jobs. law maker have to negotiate all of these proposals down to one version and then, pass it, so this afternoon, democrats will officially lose their super majority in the senate, will have to snag at least one republican to get this through, and could make it challenging, senior democrats call this proposal a good-faith offer to republicans. bill: rich? >> reporter: bill? bill: rich? >> reporter: the president signed the stimulus plan, about a year ago and the bulk of the money is supposed to go out this year and next and in the meantime, unemployment is shot higher than the administration expected and the economy continues to shed jobs every month. we'll get that latest report, tomorrow morning. opponents say there is no reason to spend more money, funding

many of the same types of programs as the first stimulus, and, they say the first stimulus is a failure, the white house's latest estimate says the stimulus saved or created between 1.5 and 2 million jobs, and though those numbers have been disputed. bill: rich edson live in d.c. nicely done, see you soon. martha: visitors gathering off the coast of malibu, hoping to catch a glimpse of a baby gray whale. not very small, though, bill, babies come in around 20 to 30 feet. he or she -- not sure which is swimming close to shore for 24 hours, look at that beautiful animal. migration season is causing for whales to come in to the area and helicopters have been circling the coast, catching quite a show! bill: cool, that is california, right and i have a story from florida, coming up for you... not good. martha: no, terrible. bill: big headlines down there and in the meantime, lost their 60 seat super majority or will later today and leading democrats going with plan b for

overhauling health care and what is in that so-called compromise and what is not in it, coming up we'll look at that mark and then there is this. boom! an suv plows through a gas station and the entire terrifying accident was caught on tape and the only problem is cops say it was not an accident. bill: that is intriguing. intentional? let's hope not. what is this, we ask you? from deep in space, there is only one man with an answer in the building today. martha: that's right. bill: stay tuned for michio, kaku ( whooshing ) announcer: you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet.

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or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. of trying to use his truck as a murder weapon, inside of a gas station, on surveillance tape, roll this here, police say... police say that was no accident.

49-year-old roger mays as so angry he had to pay before he pumped -- oh, the horror -- and he told the clerk you are going to die and you will be pushing up daisies and she didn't take it seriously until she saw the truck coming through the window and she's okay. and mays has been a regular of the station for 20 years and has been arrested. and for good reason. martha: could have killed somebody. well, it's back. democratic lawmakers taking the president's cue, working on a compromise for the insurance reform plan, stunned by the republican victory in massachusetts which erased the 60-seat super majority in the senate, now the democrats are reverting to an agreement reached last month, between the white house and both houses of congress and the president says get back to work, we must finish the job.

>> president barack obama:... lesson from massachusetts i promise you the answer is not to do nothing. we have to finish the job on health care. we have to finish the job on financial regulatory reform. we have to finish the job... [applause]. >> president barack obama:... we have to finish the job even though it is hard. martha: all right, there is the president even though it is hard, congressman rob andrews from the great state of new jersey. my home state, democrat on the house budget committee, also chairman of the house subcommittee on health, employment, labor and pensions, good to have you here, congressman, welcome. >> sorry for the long title. martha: could you work on that a little bit? and we like to edit things here and talk to me about this, congressman. what are you going to reach out to republicans on? what can republicans actually accomplish, do you think, if they will get a seat at the table? >> we're going to start next week in the house on anti-trust reform. you know? right now the price-fixing laws that apply to supermarkets and

liquor stores and tv networks and everybody else do not apply to the health insurance industry. so, a lot of people on both sides have expressed the view that those laws ought to, and next week on the house floor we'll put up a simple bill that says we'll remove the exemption and try to pass it together. martha: what does that mean? you know, in a way people can understand, in terms of -- does that have to do with cross border purchasing of health care plans and things like that. >> what it will mean is health insurance companies have to compete against each other. martha: right. >> on the basis of quality and price and presenten they don't and it is odd that, if the executives of two health insurance firms got together this morning and made an agreement that said, let's not charge less than $15,000 for a policy, it is legal. they can do it and this would make it illegal to do it, same way it is illegal for supermarket owners to fix the price of food. and it is sensible. martha: i think it sounds

sensible, and i know one of the things about cross-state purchasing of health care plans, a lot of companies say, why can't i buy like with other insurance, a cheaper version in alabama, but one problem especially in a state like new jersey is when there are so many state mandates built in, and companies have to insure employees they cannot buy a plan from another state. how do you fix that? >> i agree it should be fixed, and in the bill the house and senate passed, there is an interstate marketplace, what the, change is, so with an insurer from any state, can sell to a buyer in any state, we think that is a good idea and should be in the bill mark let me talk to you about this. there is an interesting quote today in a politico story from a senior senate democratic aide. who said reconciliation would be a top of the list here, that would mean to leave the bill as it is and try to ram it through, with a majority vote. reopening the house-senate deal to make it more expensive or jerk it further to left would be

playing with fire and the reason i bring it up, two things that caused problems for the plan and where the icing on the cake were the cornhusker deal in nebraska which made a lot of these deals smack of back room deals that gave some states advantages and other state wouldn't get and the union deal, unions showed up at the white house and got exempt from paying the cadillac tax. are those things going to be gone? >> yes. i think it is very clear that the nebraska deal should go. that wasn't in the how about and we sure as heck don't -- martha: it seems to be clear and what about this union deal? the union deal isn't quite what you said the excise tax was changed for everybody, there was just a phase-in for collectively bargained plans and i'll say this to you. i don't think there should be an excise tax at all and my view is taxation of benefits doesn't make a lot of sense. martha: you want no cadillac tax program for everybody across the board, and will that happen.

>> yes. that is... i hope so. that is my personal view and i don't speak for anybody but myself but that is where the majority of the house is. martha: that pays for a huge chunk of the bill and you are back to the big problem, how do you pay for it. >> you can reduce what the bill spends. martha: there we go. >> what we heard loud and clear is spend less and we are responsive to answering that. martha: good to talk to you today. bill: 19 minutes past the hour and there is fear along the florida coastline, shark swimming in a deadly attack. have people there a bit on edge, it doesn't happen like this, horrific details and what we're now hearing from an eyewitness on there. martha: fatality and first in a very long time and the president released his new budget calling for billions in tax increase over the next ten years and now it was -- one state is following suit, so what is that going to mean for your wallet? that is next. ♪

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bill: there is word from the east coast of flashes a kite suv fer is said after a -- surfer is dead after a shark attack, steven schaeffer was found struggling off the shore and this is stewart beach on wednesday afternoon and when the lace guard paddled out he found the man surrounded by a swarm of what were likely, they say to be juvenile great white sharks. haven't heard of that before and witnesses are saying that he was bleeding badly from multiple bite wound and was taken immediately to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. >> i saw them working on him and pull him out of the water and the people did a great job, he just wasn't moving. he was -- it was difficult, i have to say. bill: this is very rare in that part of florida and we're

working some of our sources down there to figure out what happened yesterday and what they are seeing in the waters today, as i said, schaeffer died at the hospital a short time after he was brought to shore by that lifeguard. martha: clearing the way for state tax hikes in the pacific northwest could be a sign of things to come in your neck of the woods, looking to make up for red ink theron budgets and have a 2 -- in their budget and they have a $2.6 billion budget gap and they'll start by erasing a series of tax breaks and the first amend a voter approved initiative to require 2/3 vote in the state legislature to raise taxes and if they don't need the 2/3, and are looking to water down the notice requirements on tax proposals so they don't have to get the word out too much when they want to raise taxes and the goal, to shrink exemptions and loopholes because those will allow people to pay fewer taxes. bill: here in new york they are talking about a budget short fall, for mass transit of $400

billion. martha: unbelievable. bill: after they readjusted the books, for a short fall -- martha: where is it all going. bill: money is going out, and now -- martha: more tax dollars. bill: a tiny insect helping to create a big battle between homeowners and the federal government and folks live lang a cliff in maryland, that is slowly eroding and to top the erosion a rare beetle would lose the natural habitat, shannon bream is live this morning, how bad is this. >> reporter: we are talking about 90-plus homes that sit on a cliff overlooking the bay in maryland that are literally now in danger of falling into the ocean. and it's not just homes, back in 1996, a 12-year-old girl was killed in the area because of a landslide. now, some residents say they are literally waking up in the morning to find ten to 12 feet of land has fallen away. and decks and jaccuzis have fallen over the air and even pets and they've asked local, state and federal officials for help and have gotten nowhere and

here's what a resident told us: >> their response is when we -- when we ask for permission to put in some bracing structure, all their language is, for the protection of the beetles. they show absolutely no concern for human life. or private property. >> reporter: we're talking about the puritan tiger beetle, it is an endangered species and has plenty of protections, bill. bill: what does the government say? any response? >> reporter: there is a biologist with the department of natural resources, the state of maryland, and he says there are only 5,000 of these beetles left and 4500 of them, of course the vast majority are in these cliffs in maryland and they say, we'll help accommodate hope owners but not at the expense of an endangered species and in october -- a memo from the department, homeowners who requested permission to put up a concrete or stone structure, we're told, if you want to save your homes, quote, grading and stabilization of the cliff base

as proposed in the application would adversely impact the puritan tiger beetle by destroying the cliff habitat that is essential for larva and the proposed project would clearly destroy the habitat and, therefore is prohibited and so no help from the government. bill: wow, shannon, thanks, let us know when there are developments on that from maryland. >> reporter: will do. >> shannon bream in d.c. mark baton down the hatches, a huge winter storm is promising to make a mess of some spots of the country and talking about a blanket of snow that will be covering the area that you are looking at. we're tracking that threat, some areas will get hit hard with ice and we'll tell you who will get hit the worst, bill. bill: and breaking news in the arizona sweat lock lodge case, remember three people dead from the cleansing ceremony and police make a big break in the case and we'll tell you what that is in only three minutes. >> sure they are not breathing. >> no. >> is a nurse there? is she...

>> there is a... an emergency first responder trying to do cpr. >> cpr is in progress. >> yes. >> okay. all right. boss: y'know, geico opened its doors back in 1936 and now we're insuring over 18 million drivers. gecko: quite impressive, yeah. boss: come a long way, that's for sure. and so have you since you started working here way back when. gecko: ah, i still have nightmares. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

bill: are you scared yet? well... caution here. there is a huge winter storm about to slam the beltway, washington, d.c. an parts of the northeast -- and parts of the northeast and d.c. and philadelphia and, the storm could get more than a foot of snow and washington has had their share, have been they. martha: they have. bill: and expected to rage from friday, evening, through saturday morning, into the afternoon, forecast,saying it could be -- forecasters saying it would be worse than washington, when they got a foot of snow before christmas. martha: you will not be seeing that, either and the super bowl commercial, because you'll be in miami. bill: if the plane takes off. martha: you better leave right away. bill: if i walk there.

martha: and you know it well, the $787 billion stimulus package. paid for by you. supposed to rebeat the economy. create jobs, the finance committee is meeting now with the head of the office of management and budget, discussing exactly where is the money going. and is it working? and, william lajeunesse has details from los angeles, talk to us about where the money is going, william, what are the project and what is working. >> we did number-crunching and now we're spending $196 million an hour, in stimulus money, because there is a september deadline, and many critics would say we are spending it so fast we are wasting it and giving it to people who do not qualify for it and, projects that don't deserve it. prince, how about $1.5 million for ipods for sixth graders in new jersey and $233,000 at ucsd to study why africans vote the way they do and 7 jobs there for

african poll workers in africa. and how about, $2 million, for a fire station in nevada. that is fine, but because the county budget cuts they cannot afford the firefighters to staff it and 1.7 million dollars to penn state to study plant fossils in argentina, five jobs, $300,000 each and two go to averaare jen tin jens and to study malt liquor consumption, in buffalo, and they get $145 each to call an automated hotline to tell us how much they smoke and drink, $200,000 each and the napa valley wine train and critics complain about contracting, for instance, the people who got the contract for $54 million is an eskimo tribe outside of anchorage, and they are a minority company, and it is a no-bid deal and they hired a real construction company to do the job for half the cost of what the government is paying.

and their ceo, last company was a dot-com company that went bankrupt. >> the federal government is lousy in its contracting. when you add on top of that the element of speed where the contracting offices and the agencies are being pushed to hurry up and get these dollars out and these grants out, quickly, all you are doing is making it harder for them to make good choices. >> reporter: the omb says to senator grassley they are concerned about the the states' capacity to police our money and what that means in english, martha, they are concerned we are getting ripped off. back to you. martha: hopefully that will factor in, in some way to all the money that is still left to be spent. in that stimulus package and where that should go and how it should be spent and there is time still to save at least some of it. william lajeunesse, thank you very much. bill: and, you asked, we have this video from twitter from a viewer, what is going on with iran's statement about february 11th? that is referring to iranian

president mahmoud ahmadinejad's statement that appears to be a direct -- directed at the u.s., who else, right? jim walsh is an expert on iran, out of mit in boston, my guest now from the commonwealth of massachusetts. jim, this is are area of expertise. what do we expect on -- 2/11? february 11th. >> ashley: i couple of things will happen. february 11th is important to iran, because that is the anniversary of their revolution. when khomeni took over in 1979 and they'll have big celebrations, that day but that will also be the day that protesters, reformers who oppose the government will turn out in large numbers, so a lot of people are very nervous about what will happen, and will there be violence? the government is already starting to arrest people, they suspect are reformers, and started that on tuesday. and so everyone is focused on february 11th, in terms of mahmoud ahmadinejad's remarks, who knows what that was about. he's known for over the top

rhetoric and there was no coverage in the iranian press following that and i think it might be another one of his grand statements. bill: you think it is just empty words? he's saying the nation of iran will deliver a harsh blow to the global arrogance of western powers, meaning the united states, and western european countries. that is just words in your view? >> well, he's also said iran is the most powerful country in the world and is probably the case that it is not even the most powerful country in its own region and if you follow him closely, he makes statements like this a lot. and he's made a lot more of them in the past year, as there were problems at home. this is probably -- >> what i thought about, was maybe it relates to the nuclear program. maybe this is another test of a missile or a rocket in the rocket program. is that a possibility. >> they've had what they called iran's space day and launched the rat and two turtles and worms in the space and that is

behind them and they've iran nuclear day and that is not until april and if anything, mahmoud ahmadinejad's comments, in that interview, where he said that seemed to point in the opposite direction and he, contrary to what iranian officials have been saying, said, yes, we are interested in that nuclear deal that we turned down. and he was showing more openness to the nuclear negotiations at a time when people are talking about sanctions. so i do not expect any sort of big aggressive nuclear move or missile test or anything like that. i guess -- >> we'll find out in a week, when the calendar ticks off, the 11th of february. jim, thank you, great to have your expertise out of boston, you have a question you want answered, compose the e-mail in the form of a question, e-mail us at helper@foxnews.com and twitter@billhemmer, what is coming up. martha: it's not a bird, not a plane and not a star or a satellite or a meteor shower. what the heck is this thing?

one hand, the only man... he'll be here, moment from now. bill: and here's a tip for anyone who does not work in television, when the red light is on you are live on tv and apparently the guy in the background, deep in the background -- martha: with though white shirt with his back to you. bill: what he got caught doing on national television. martha: don't miss this. it is hilarious.

[meow] desperate for nighttime heartburn relief? for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease. and for the majority of patients with prescription coverage for nexium, it can cost $30 or less per month. headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain are possible side effects of nexium. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. ask your doctor if nexium can help relieve your heartburn symptoms. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >>. martha: back in the news for very big reasons. there are brand new developments in that eerie and tragic story, really of the arizona sweat lodge. you remember that story? the so-called guru, who ran the retreat that was supposed to help people but ended with three people dead. he is now charged with three counts of manslaughter, james arthur ray, is going to appear in court later today and back in october, the five-day trip started out as a spiritual

journey, for these folks, but, during the ceremony, everyone's inside this sweat lodge, it is called, and, then, people started to feel sick, it was extremely hot in there and there was only one tent flap open, near him apparent and then came the frightening 911 call: >> there are three. >> three of them? >> yes. >> okay. martha: two people died at the scene, one person died in a hospital, later, and doug burns is a criminal defense attorney, and a fox news analyst and former prosecutor joins us, welcome, gentlemen, this man is being charged with three counts of manslaughter. arthur, do you think it is a good case. >> yes, he definitely should be charged. i think a key fact here is he did this the year before, and no

one died, people got very sick and you knew or should have known it could cause death and you can get into a car and drive into times square at midnight on new year's eve and not intending to kill bill hemmer but knew or should have known that he is going to be there or someone will be there, broadcasting, the new year's eve thing and that is a -- called voluntary manslaughter and he should have known it could have caused -- martha: i don't think you have to bring bill into this! all right. you know, but, here's this thing, doug burns, obviously, it is a tragedy, okay? but i'm thinking, legally these people will say, you know, they probably signed releases, and went into this tent, willingly, and they are saying, though, that they were persuaded, very strongly, not to leave, they were told to fight through the weakness. as they were passing out, vomiting, and passing out. >> first i don't like the helper

hypothetical but it is a defensible case and here's why. first of all, they voluntarily went into the sweat lodge. two, they were not forced to leave, although you indicated, we talked about they are claiming they were and that will be a hot factual issue and if they were able to leave and we've been in a sauna and god, i feel hot and the doors open thank god and you leave and lastly they'll say that he did not construct the sweat box, he wasn't responsible for the maintenance of it. martha: and they'll have people there who say the man changed my life, and if it weren't for this man i would never have been able to... >> how did he change their life by psychologically getting into them and manipulating them and making them do what he wanted them to do and making them do something that put them in harm's way. and psychologically, manipulating them to stay in the sweat box as long as they could. it is common knowledge, right? you know you have to leave the sauna. martha: the bottom line to me, he had these people in there and doors were closed and according

to the early reports, there was one tent flap that was open, near him and so he could have air and i think legally it will come down to question of whether or not the people could have gotten out and what about the other people in the room and shouldn't they have said, i'm sorry. let's shut it down and get these people out of here? at the end of the day the case highlights a couple of things, we see trends in these type of 0 discussion and one is the distinction between a criminal and civil case and criminalization of everything and, two, is the confusion when we talk about homicide. most people say, murder. that is a strong term, and, you don't intend to kill anybody, it was an accident. martha: jail time or a fine. >> fine. >> no. martha: jail time. >> convicted will get him jail time, three bodies. three people are dead. young people, 38 years old, 40 years old, young, healthy people, are dead, that doesn't happen because they stayed two minutes longer. martha: and they have to prove a he understood the risk to their lives and b when he was made aware of the situation, he did nothing. >> and they'll look -- he has don't previously and people got

sick, no one died but they got sick and he should have known. martha: and paid $10,000 each. >> to die. >> terrible, that is true. martha: all right, always good to see you both, have a good day. bill: that is pretty good but you know what we have on desk, o'reilly and jon stewart, you'll see that and you see this picture? how much would you pay for a piece of art? how about a new world record for that? ♪ this one thing i'll eat, any time of day ♪ pancakes! ♪ from dawn 'til sunset, i'll never walaway ♪ ♪ blueberry pancakes are so go ♪ [ male announcer ] bisquick. pancake lovers unite.

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♪ ♪ bill: what is that on screen? no astronomer saw it before and scientist are clueless about what it might be, a meteor, star, clearly a ufo as in unidentified, and michio kaku is host of the new science channel theory, "physics of the impossible" tuesdays at 10:00, here for a second season, congratulations on that and back on the screen. what is it. >> we don't know. we are stumped, scientists around the world are saying, what the heck is this object? it doesn't fit any of the profiles of the usual suspects, that is the problem. bill: usual suspects are, comet... meteor, stars. >> stars, galaxies. planets. bill: how about an alien theory. >> well, the object is about the

size of the rose bowl stadium and is too small to be a planet or a star or galaxy and it's not a comet, there is no gas in the tail of the comet and it's not a meteor, it is not inside the earth's atmosphere and what is it and we are scratching our heads and the open thing we can think of at the presents time is once in a lifetime event, the collision of two asteroids in space and we have never seen that before and creating a starburst, a starburst of debris, and if that theory is correct it means with the weeks, the starburst gets bigger and bigger and eventually fades away. bill: the asteroid collision may have happened before but we have not seen evidence of it. this is the first time it is caught on camera and if it's an -- what would it mean to folks like you, you would study it to figure out what. >> we realize that, asteroids are predictable and know know what they are and if they clyde it is a game-changer and we think it may have wiped out this

dinosaurs and there was a cosmic collision, $100 million years ago and debris was sent all over the asteroid belt and one piece, get this, one piece hit the earth from the collision, 65 million years ago, and that is when the dinosaurs died in perhaps one year and we think and as steroid collision, a big one probably wiped out the dinosaurs. bill: that would be significant for people like you and what happened with, some folks saw it deep in space and said check that out and we took the hubble telescope and pointed it that way and now, we have the brilliant pictures. >> a month ago we saw a speck doing all sorts of shenanigans and the hubble telescope look at a and our jaws hit the floor. bill: it is p-2010-a-2 and that is short for. >> we are clueless! bill: we have to learn more about the asteroid collisions. >> that's right. bill: a lot about our future.

>> and they are random and we don't know where they come from and if the debris hits the earth they are unpredictable and we think the dinosaurs got wiped out precisely in this way. bill: only if they had the hubble, tuesday night, check him out on the science channel. michio, good to see you. >> thanks as always. bill: what is coming up. martha: apparently folks in the art world didn't get the memo about the recession, check out the life-size bronze sculpture, kind of see the background there, there it is. how much do you think it should go for, at sotheby's. bill: are you asking me? martha: yes. if you bought it. bill: $104 million. martha: yeah. 'cause he read it off the bottom of the screen, $104 million, the sculpture by alberto giacometti the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction, beats picasso and monet and the buyer is anonymous... bill hemmer, you bought it, didn't you!

see it on his front lawn. bill: in a moment we have a sit-down between the comedian jon stewart and bill o'reilly. have you seen it yet? facing off in the no-spin zone, don't miss this. moments away. stewart and o'reilly. >> do you understand the implications of you being important in any context? >> well, i think my family loves me. if that is what you are suggesting. >> i am stunned this has found -- >> listen mr. o i'm happy to be in the mainly leagues, here, thanks for calling me on the show.

-- they were born at home in the u.s. but the new home is thousands of miles away in china, making its way to beijing, three-year-old mei lan and tai shan drew huge crowds in washington. quite a crew. martha: that is tai shan. i can tell the difference. bill: the pandas are on loan until december, the two-year-olds are china-bound to be part of a breeding program there and they know how to fly, they're going to board out of dell us international airport on a giant boeing 777, donated by fedex, and you can watch it all streaming live on the website, foxnews.com, click on the pandas leave for china at the top of the page. check it out. martha: why did they call it that?

because that's the tai shan. here's my favorite story of the day, folks, we've seen it happen and if you work in the news business it's bound to happen, someone or something, unexpectedly, ends up on live tv when it's least expected but that was taken to the extreme down under. check -- you have to watch this closely, okay? are you watching? a banker in australia talking about interest rates and inflation until that -- pretty boring until the employee over his shoulder pulls up pictures of naked picture. he keeps popping up a new picture every ten seconds, and he's talking to his coworker, the guy sitting on the other side of the computer. the best part comes when, watch what he does, in a second here -- oh, there's another girl on the screen. bill: come on, man, wake up! >> oh my gosh, i'm on tv! bill: right after that, he was on the phone with h.r. when jon stewart stopped by on fox, just about every monitor in the building was watching o'reilly and stewart go at it here, really fun stuff, too.

o'reilly in part asked stewart what he thought about the job president obama is doing. check this out, roll this. >> i'm torn. for me, i feel like i can't tell if he's a jedi master playing inches on a 3-level ahead of us or if this is kicking his assist. >> you really don't know. >> for one thing, those types of broad analyses, you know, how's he doing, it doesn't lend itself to a very easy thing. what i'm certain is that he seems to have made progress or stabilized, certain areas. i'm appreciative of the fact that he has tried to reengage the regulatory mechanism of the government. >> wow, the regular later -- regulatory mechanism. that's way over high head. what is that? and you're way over 6-foot 5 inches. bill: that was a serious exchange. martha: you've got to watch the whole thing. bill: we clever, very cute, at times serious.