appropriate decision. >> did michael steele finally go too far? >> and he stole the show without eating a single hot dog. look at him. getting strong armed. find out what the former eater -- champion eater did that got him arrested. he was hungry! come on, let the guy in. let the guy in to have a hot dog. "fox & friends" begins right now. >> it is early. >> you are reaching for the coffee right out of the gate. >> it's a holiday for most people. i'm courtney friel in for gretchen carlson. >> that's right. we're in for brian and steve this morning. i'm clayton morris, dave briggs. man, the fireworks, i'll try to go to sleep and watching them up and then boom, boom. it sounds like -- yeah. and then you got to be -- >> more like a bottle rocket. a little weak. >> it's still fireworks. we hope you had a great fourth of july. thanks for being here to start

off your monday. we start off in the gulf. now, day 77 of the disaster in the gulf and rough weather thanks to hurricane alex still taking a toll on the cleanup efforts down there. craig boswell is live in pensacola, florida with the latest. what's going on down in the gulf today? >> good morning to you. yeah, hoping to get those skimmers back out in the gulf today. get back to work, you know, the leftovers of hurricane alex and the choppy seas of cutting some of that work in half but it's still pretty blustery where we're standing. economically, it's been a dismal holiday weekend here on pensacola beach. fireworks did go off here though some beach towns had canceled their fireworks. wasn't the usual crowd. this has certainly been no usual fourth of july holiday. look, businesses here, some of the beachside businesses reporting 70% to 80% hit this holiday weekend. typically they get about 100,000 visitors, this area of the panhandle certainly much less

than that because of the oil that's been washing ashore. fewer tarballs washing up on pensacola beach. however, the health department is warning people to stay out of the gulf and guys, of course, the other big deal here is the huge ship that is being tested out in the gulf today. should get some results from that. the a whale, the 3 1/2 football field long ship that is expected to suck up about 21 million gallons of oil-filled water a day. they're testing that. putting a lot of hopes on that. hoping that ship can get a lot of that oil out of that water. we should learn more about that later today. back here on pensacola beach, businesses are hoping they can try to recoup some of their losses. they're open today. businesses will stress that to you. look, we're open. wanna get you out here but it has been certainly a bleak holiday weekend so far. back to you. >> all right, thanks so much. live for us down there before the sun comes up and kenneth feinberg dealing with all this blow back right now from b.p.

of course, he's the guy put in charge of all the money. he's the money guy handing out all of this b.p. money and trying to get it out to all these claims. the white house has put him in charge and major garrett talking to him yesterday on "fox news sunday" asking whether or not this agreement with him and b.p. says he's working for b.p. or is he working for the people of the gulf? he responded. take a listen. >> i work for the people of the gulf region. that's who i work for. i am totally independent, it is a private agreement entered into between the administration and b.p. to find somebody who can design, implement and administer a totally independent facility. answer to neither b.p. nor the administration and i just want to get the job done for the good of the people in the gulf. >> it sounds like a little bit of a conflict of interest. he was paid by b.p. and hired by

the administration initially and he works for the people in the gulf so it is an interesting situation let alone the job he has to undertake. it's a little bit of an uncomfortable situation but let's hope he does the right thing and no reason to think he won't at this point. >> hey, i think it's great that we have a gulf paymaster on this getting the money back to the people who have lost so much. >> yeah, it's a mess. to think about how much money they have to figure out and dole out and one of the questions, of course, was about the compensation packages because all these guys have cash business for these fishermen. they simply don't have the records from last year to let everyone know, last year i made $35,000. this year, i made $42,000 so they've got to go through, we're gonna talk about that coming up exactly how they're addressing that as well as other parts of the gulf. whether or not affected by oil. >> did you hear about this? they want a federal tax amnesty. >> right. >> i think this is the most interesting part of this story. >> the i.r. s. going after the payments due them, that's a little bit uncomfortable now

because those folks aren't getting 100% of their wages replaced. it's hard to tax them for the reimbursements but b.p. meanwhile asking its partners in the deep water horizon oil rig, they want their partners to pay up. they do not want to shoulder the cost by themselves. they are 65% owners in this situation where petroleum, 25%, a japanese company owns 10%. now, to be clear, they have stepped down and said we want no part of sharing costs with b.p. they have, in fact, said gross negligence and willful misconduct was behind the spill in the gulf. and as for their comment on this lawsuit, they say they're assessing our contractual remedies. sound like they do not want to pay that 25% share. >> they say it's too early to draw conclusions but they'll go along with the investigation. >> i believe we have some sound, also, from kenneth feinberg on

this exact issue. take a listen. >> have to look at each and every case. there may not be oil on the beach. do you -- are you losing business this year because you can't take fishermen out to fish? you can't take a charter boat for sightseeing. you can't go into the marshes of louisiana. oil, physical presence of oil should not and will not be the only requirement. there are going to have to be some tough decisions made. as to who is eligible and who is not eligible. as i said last week, i'll look at the claims and look at the underlying facts of those claims, working for the people in the gulf. >> that specifically has to do with those claims that are coming in that has nothing to do with oil related. it could be tourism related. >> when a tough job he has. >> now for headlines that happened overnight. joe biden is urging iraqi

leaders to set aside their differences and form a working government. he made the plea at a fourth of july event in baghdad. >> finish what you started. legitimate representative of government that meets the needs and aspirations of all people. >> biden had a two-hour meeting with the former prime minister whose coalition won the most seats in the march elections. there was also a brief scare when a small explosion was heard inside the compound. five mortar rounds were fired. but the vice president and his wife were not hurt. the lockerbie bomber may not be on death's door after all. he was freed by scottish officials last year just because he was dying of prostate cancer. now, get this -- he may live more than 10 years. this is according to the same doctor who claims that he only had three months to live at the time of his release. he is the only person convicted

of the 1988 pan am jet bombing that killed 270 people. and you can imagine, victims' families are outraged by the new prognosis. toyota is about to announce yet another recall. the automaker is pulling more than 90,000 lexus and crown vehicles in japan. and that's just the start. a flaw in the engine could make these cars stall while they're in motion. the recall affects gs, is and ls models from 2004 to 2008. toyota is expected to expand this recall in the u.s. as well. so far, no accidents or injuries have been reported from the problem. it was a tense fourth of july at new york's john f. kennedy airport last night. hundreds of passengers had to be evacuated from terminal 1 after a bomb threat was called in. another passenger noticed an unattended bag. police evacuated the terminal and searched the area but did not find anything and then they later determined it was all a

hoax. and president obama spent the fourth of july holiday with u.s. military families at a white house barbecue. over 1,200 people were in attendance. he wished a happy birthday to both his country and his daughter melia because she turned 12. >> that's a good birthday to have. >> that's a big barbecue, bigger than the one clayton morris had yesterday. >> i have a new year's eve birthday. >> trumped the fourth of july celebration. i had melia beat on that. >> i have earth day. >> earth day? >> pardon me, clayton. not a real happy fourth of july weekend for michael steele, the r.n.c. chair. his fireworks started early last week because of his comments in regard to the war in afghanistan. here's what michael steele said, i do believe we have his comments. this is his reaction. keep in mind, again, federal candidates, this is a war of oba obama's choosing, not something the united states had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage

in. if he's such a history of -- a student of history, has he not understand that you know the one thing you don't do is engage in a land war in afghanistan? all right, because everyone who has tried over 1,000 years of history has failed and there are reasons for that. problem, as you all know, the facts are incorrect but as a republican national chair, no brainer. you do not politicize a war in afghanistan. one that a republican president chose. >> especially since so many republicans have come out despite obama's record on other issues whether it's health care, whether it's immigration. a lot of republicans, the afghan war is one they support. senator lindsay graham and john mccain yesterday had comments about r.n.c. chair michael steele. take a listen. >> up to him to see if he can lead the republican party after this comment. i'm going to lead it up to the republican national committee but i do praise him for clarifying the statement and retracting the statement. it couldn't have come at a worst

team. >> i think those statements are wildly inaccurate. there's no excuse for them. chairman steele sent me an e-mail saying that he was -- his remarks were misconstrued. look, i'm a ronald reagan republican. i believe we have to win here. i believe in freedom. but the fact is that he'll think that mr. steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the republican party as chairman of the republican national committee and make an appropriate decision. >> now, this may come in stark contrast to the g.o.p. ideology right now and what's so striking, too, is the amount of fundraising. this is the underlying ground swell point here which is how much money has michael steele been able to raise for the party and he hasn't been able to do it as well. is this the final straw that broke the camel's back? >> everybody is asking michael steele to resign and then senator john demint wants him to

apologize to military families. >> he wants steele to step down and happy to have him on tv but not as leader of the republican national committee. one challenge emerged on saturday. his name is gary emmenus, a north dakota republican who brought up what clayton about. not only does he have the facts and in conflict with the party but not raising enough money. >> ron paul came out. he is the only lone voice that came out in support of michael steele. he sent out a press release yesterday congratulating him and saying i'm glad that michael steele has spoken the truth about the afghan war. he doesn't think he should resign at all. we'll talk to j.d. hayworth about that later. >> stunning allegations against the president and his closest advisors, a terrorist group claims it's getting secret messages from the white house. >> and a big decision by the supreme court upholding your right to carry a gun but should

people be packing at work? the debate coming up. >> happy birthday to the united states of america. many of you enjoying an extra day off work today celebrating this independence day weekend. "fox & friends" returns after this. uh oh!! [ panting ] ♪ max!!! no!! [ female announcer ] windex multi-surface lets you keep up with messes right when they happen. [ sprays ] so you can put that windex shine -- on just about anything. [ sprays ] [ jeff ] [ chuckles ] did you see that? wayne? wayne!!?!?

[ laughs ] got ya!! [ female announcer ] get windex multi-surface and keep up. sc johnson, a family company.

it's tough to get enough servings of vegetables every day if you don't always like the taste of them. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. [woof woof] v8. what's your number?

>> welcome back here to "fox & friends." u.s. based arabic newspaper is claiming the obama administration is in secret talks with the terrorist group hamas because of its ties to the arabic world. this report is coming one day before president obama is scheduled to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. erin klein, the jerusalem bureau chief joins us live this morning from jerusalem. nice to see you, welcome to the show. >> thanks for having me. >> this sounds like a bombshell of a story, aaron. that the white house has been basically secretly holding talks with hamas. what sort of proof do we have on this? >> nothing except for hamas' words on the one hand and i've personally spoken on the record with the chief of hamas in the gaza strip. the chief political advisor and they are claiming that they're in touch with american officials who are coordinating on some level with the white house. but we do have meetings in the past including very recently open meetings between hamas on

the one hand and american and former american officials like thomas pickering who is the united states ambassador to the united nations or, of course, former president jimmy carter hopping to the gaza strip. of course, those are outside the white house. hamas is claiming they're in touch with individuals in the white house and also, by the way, you go back to the presidential campaign, 2008 and remember, obama did have an advisor and his name was robert maly and he resigned admitting contacts with hamas. >> he did resign. we have a quote this morning from a hamas figure. comment, wanting to keep this communications under wraps. this is a sensitive subject. americans don't want anyone to comment on it. this will catch the attention of pressu pressure groups in the united states and cause problems. it certainly would cause problems. why in the world would the united states want to be meeting with hamas? what goals have they in place? >> if you look at obama's policies overall when it comes to meeting with adversaries,

negotiations, dialogues, they could believe that the white house somehow thinks if only they had talked to hamas, they can moderate them. the truth is we've seen this before. look at the p.l.o. leader, the godfather of modern day terrorism, yasser arafat. we in the united states opened negotiations with him and the reagan administration recognized the p.l.o. and in the end, arafat continued his violence, continued his terrorism, and hamas is making very clear and indeed, as i said i spoke with the chief in gaza that they're not willing to recognize israel's right to exist. they could in the end maybe have a 10-year renewable cease-fire with israel but ultimately they want to continue their drive which is called for in their charter. >> tuesday, tomorrow, president obama meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, a lot of tension there right now. what are they gonna talk about given this news? >> indeed and actually, the obama administration has been calling for it. i think they're going to discuss

this. a scaled back to the blockade of the gaza strip, of the hamas controlled gaza strip. israel says the blockade is necessary to make sure hamas doesn't rearm and regroup. basically, whether the white house is talking to hamas or not, that very policy within itself to scale back the blockade aids hamas and also, i think they're going to discuss a settlement freeze. this means no new jewish construction in the east bank in eastern sections of jerusalem. prime minister agreed to a 10 month freeze. main point of attention here will be iran. that's what they were most concerned about, obamobama's policies and negotiations, sanctions not working and israel wants to see something stronger when it comes to the iranian problem. >> oh, to be a fly on the wall in that meeting. thanks for joining us this morning. thanks. >> absolutely, thank you. >> coming up on the show, the numbers don't lie. more americans are growing frustrated with the growing role of government in their lives but

who is more at fault? democrats or republicans? the debate will surprise you when we come back. my wife thinks we stay at quali hotels to sle in their big comfy bs. [ giggles ] tell her it's for the hi-speed internet. ♪ [ female announcer ] free hot breakfast. big comfyeds. free high-speed internet. quality hotels. a lot. for a little.

are the things we make. this has always been a nation of builders, craftsmen. men and women for whom straight stitches and clean welds were matters of personal pride. they made the skyscrapers and the cotton gins. colt revolvers, jeep 4 x 4's these things make us who we are. as a people, we do well when we makeood things and not so well when we don't. the good new is, this can be put right. we just have to do it. and so we did. ♪ this, our newest son, was imagined, drawn, carved, stamped, hewn and forged here in america. it is well made and it is designed to work. this was once a country where people made things,

beautiful things, and so it is again. the new jeep grand cherokee. ♪

>> welcome back. president obama has faced his share of criticism since he took office and new polls showing a growing number of americans are angry about the federal government's performance. joining us now for a fair and balanced debate are democratic pollster michael bosein and republican pollster. good morning to both of you. i believe first timers on the show, right? >> that's right. good morning. >> welcome aboard. we're happy to have you. do not be angry in the response to this poll because it says, to the highest times since 1994, 25% of our electorate describes themselves as angry but alex, is

this just at the democrats and the president or is this at republicans as well as the entire federal government, congress, everyone, included in that. >> i think what you're saying is that the electorate in general is angry. we're seeing measures that are at all time highs in our polling. we have 75% of the american people say they only trust the government to do the right thing sometimes or never. and that's at an all time high in a generation of polling. but when you dig below these numbers, it really is independence and republicans that are upset the most and these two groups are really incensed by two things. president obama has really tripped the fault lines on two areas. the level of federal spending and the role of government and independents in particular are recoiling at the role of government and how much intervention there's been since president obama took office. >> well, the party with the majority in this case tends to pay for it like they did in 1994. will they pay for it in this

case, michael? >> well, it's certainly a challenging environment for democrats but i think we should not have revisionist history. it was actually president bush who signed the $700 billion bank bailout so i think what democrats want to do is reign in the big banks. republicans are in favor of bailing them out but not reigning them in. i think both parties as incumbents can face heat this year. >> alex, when you look at this, how do the republicans take advantage of it? unfortunately, everything is politicized at this point. as we move forward towards november, how do they take advantage of it? can they take back the house and, perhaps, the senate. we know what happened in 1994, they won 54 seats in the house. are we talking about a dramatic swing like we did then? >> we are talking about a dramatic swing for many reasons. one is that the president's job approval rating is below 50. it has been for a long time. it doesn't look like we'll get up again. historically when it happens, we're in for a big swing. other thing that republicans

take advantage of is the absolute enthusiasm in the party right now. we ask voters every year how interested they are in the elections and in 2006, the self-described interest among democrats around five to eight points higher than republicans. that was a big deal then. it indicated what was going to happen. today, republican self-described interest is running 20 points ahead of democrats. that is unprecedented. that's not an enthusiasm. that's the chasm. and republicans can definitely take advantage of that. >> that's big. the numbers of enthusiastic voters in this november election. michael, let me give you the last word on this. how do the democrats, including the president harry reid, nancy pelosi, how do they turn this around with a couple of months before the midterms. >> well, i think the key for democrats will be channelling the frustration voters have not towards the incumbent party but towards wall street and the institutions that led to the mess that we're in and if democrats can show we're looking to change that, that we're looking to prevent the wall street c. oeche.o.'s from marki

tens of thousands of dollars. we have a good chance to show voters that republicans stand in the way of making progress. >> certainly not an angry debate. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having us. >> coming up on the show, the president and general david petraeus sticking to their guns, insisting on a withdrawal from afghanistan beginning in 2011. could the controversial decision become political suicide? and a mega mosque under construction and opinions are split in the town that wants to build it. our next guest insists this will be a place used more for -- more than worship. happy birthday to huey lewis, the singer turns 60 today. let's go. come on. hurry up.

[ laughter ] [ slamming ] [ engines revving ] [ tires screech ] [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] before you take it on your road trip... we take it on ours. [ children lghing ] now during the summer event, ge an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz like the 2010 c-class, an iihs top safety pick, for 1.9 percent apr or lease one for $349 a month. we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times.

tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. since our beginning, we've been there for clients through good times and bad, when our clients' needs changed we changed to meet them. through the years, when some lost their way, we led the way with new ideas for the financial challenges we knew would lie ahead. this rock has never stood still. and there's one thing that will never change. we are, the rock you can rely on. prudential.

i got an egg [pop] i got gum a kazoo a candy necklace i got one of these [pop] a stamp helium fabric softener ear plugs [pop] lipstick two pills a day is what it takes to stay alive if you're hiv positive. those pills cost about forty cents a day.

>> welcome back to "fox & friends." it was a busy holiday weekend in afghanistan. general david petraeus is now officially in command as key senators speak out against the proposed deadline to start withdrawing troops. joining us with the latest from washington is malini wilkes. happy belated fourth of july, by the way. >> happy birthday -- sorry, happy nation's birthday to you, courtney and that's right, speaking from afghanistan, key republican senators are criticizing the president's plan to begin withdrawing troops next year. the president has promised to begin a draw down from afghanistan by july 2011 but he's also insisted that that date is only the start of a process that the withdrawals are going to be conditions based and the u.s. just won't turn out the lights and leave. on the sunday talk shows, g.o.p. senators john mccain and lindsay graham said that the president's statements have only confused afghans about whether the u.s. will begin a significant draw down in july 2011 or not.

>> this confusion is heard, it's heard among our friends. it's emboldened our enemies and we need to get it right and get it clarified. leaving afghanistan is about america being safe. and we can't leave this country in chaos, we'll never be safe. >> they spoke from kabul on the same day david petraeus formally took command of the 130,000 nato troops in afghanistan. petraeus said we are in this to win. the general says he agrees with the president's withdrawal plan but could agree with conditions on the ground. on "fox news sunday" joe lieberman says he thinks a withdraw time line is a mistake but thinks the president has clarified his position in recent weeks by describing it as conditions based. courtney, clayton and dave, back to you. >> thanks so much. live for us from washington this morning and a lot of other things right now on the plate for the president obviously meeting with israeli prime minister netanyahu.

immigration, that's tomorrow. immigration reform also on the plate right now for the president. if you remember the speech from earlier this week, president is laying out the case that, look, it's been republican. republicans have been the ones that don't want to work. it's an election year. they don't want to work with us but the president should also worry about some democrats because they're not willing to work with him on immigration reform right now. >> yeah, he has to worry a lot more. he's focused on the specifically 11 republicans who voted for immigration reform or supported it the last time it came around in 2006. when harry reid actually brought legislation to the floor in 2006, he had 14 democrats who voted against comprehensive reform. excuse me, that was june of 2007 when he brought it up. so 14 democrats might be his bigger problem than actually the republicans. admittedly, he does need bipartisan support here but he first has to get his own party in line. a lot like what we saw on health care, you know, a lot of democrats were the ones who did not want to get on board with this health care plan.

he's seeing, i think, the same thing with immigration. we'll see if they can get a bill to the floor which charles schumer has yet to do. >> republicans think the democrat are pushing issue now to get hispanic votes for the fall election. >> right. republicans are not willing to go along with it, the same way they didn't go along with it with president bush. we asked this opinion, what should happen first on immigration this should we secure the borders or pass new legislation? look at these numbers, 59% agree with governor brewer of arizona that we need to secure the borders first and that's what a the lot of people say. let's stop the bleeding before you can pass any legislation. >> what may happen this week is we've heard whispers of that lawsuit from the department of justice. could be handed down to the state of arizona this week. could happen as soon as tomorrow. so there's a lot of obstacles clearly before they can get to comprehensive reform. democrats are worried about voting for it because the same reasons republicans, the high unemployment, the sluggish economy, they're worried that they're gonna lose, you know, their seats if they do support

this immigration reform. so a long way to go. >> yep and we also have some other headlines for you this morning. brand new video into fox news from armenia where secretary of state hillary clinton participated in a wreath laying ceremony. she also met with armenia's president urging him to relax a recent law restricting the press. clinton has one more stop today in the country of georgia where she's meeting with women's leaders and georgia's president. she arrives back in washington tomorrow. remember that gaza flotilla accident? breaking overnight, turkey is threatening to cut off all diplomatic ties with israel unless the country apologizes for accepts the results of an international organization. nine turks were among those killed in the raid on the gaza bound ship. israeli officials have previously ruled out an apology. and until recently, turkey was israel's most important muslim ally. chaos at an independence day parade when horses trample a

crowd. a 60-year-old woman died from injuries she suffered when two horses got spooked and bolted during the bellevue, iowa, celebration. witnesses ran screaming as the horses raced down the street dragging a wagon several blocks and crushing 24 people. many were just children. >> horses got loose up there about four or five blocks and come running down through here and just -- they were mowing people over, little kids were getting mowed over and probably running about 40 miles per hour. >> police say at least four of the injured remain in critical condition. britain's queen elizabeth ii will be in the u.s. tomorrow paying her first visit to ground zero. the 84-year-old monarch will lay a wreath at the site of the world trade center attacks and also open the british garden of rememberance in nearby hanover square to honour the 67 british citizens who lost their lives on 9/11. the queen will then make her first speech in more than 50

years before the u.n. general assembly. this is my favorite story of the day. a food eating champ is behind bars this morning after causing a stir at the coney island hot dog eating contest. the six time champ sat out this year's contest because of a contract dispute. he refused to sign it. but he ended up storming the stage wearing a free kobi t-shirt. he was arrested with resisting arrest and trespassing but before the man began for a fourth straight year, joey chestnut proved one again he is the hot dog eating champion of the world. chestnut devoured 54 dogs in 10 minutes. he was actually -- he was not happy with his goal because he wanted to eat more. i think he had a goal of like 70 but his impressive victory, hardly the headline. >> last year, dave and i took on kyboshi. we took on chestnut last year.

it was pretty bad. instead, we'll get cocktail weenies. we got a bunch of cocktail weenies out. it didn't go well. i think i had two. couldn't handle it. >> they weren't cooked. >> it was not one of my finer moments, believe me. i was good for a little tennis this weekend. men's final at wimbledon had the opponent taking on the world's number one, rafael nidal. he beat the czech in straight sets. that's rafa's second wimbledon, eighth grand slam overall and the second time he's won the french and wimbledon in the same year. the biggest story in sports, in this country, sorry to the world cup fans. the lebron james sweepstakes. we're learning that members of lebron's team secretly met with the knicks for a second time over the weekend. this after lebron's agent reportedly called the knicks with concerns about the knicks' salary cap situation. james was not present. he met with the bulls and his current team, the cavaliers, on

the same day. he's not expected to announce a decision until thursday at the earliest when his kids' basketball camp ends in the akron area. we wait with baited breath. finally, who is this guy, clayton? >> i don't know. >> i'm kidding. >> our sportswriter here on the program. his honeymoon, he's on it right now in italy. he and his new bride, jean, tell us they're living it up in italy. we hope they're not watching right now. they took this picture in sorento. they asked the same question when they reveal their from new jersey. do you know snooki? that's what people ask them when they tell them they're from jersey. all they think of is snooki is? that's sad. sorry to the people in jersey for that. >> sorry in italy, that's what we're known for this jersey is snooki. let's talk about new hampshire this morning. gun laws across the country right now are being relaxed in many localities, in many townships and in many states all

looking to the second amendment as the marker for allowing guns in and rolling back some of these bans. a new hampshire town is now allowing workers to carry guns to work as state laws there including virginia, all over the country, florida, as gun bans are being rolled back. bring your gun to work from now on. any time you want. >> yeah, in florida, you can carry a gun to your job if you have a permit. in virginia, you can carry a gun into a bar if you have a permit. that was passed in tennessee recently. in montana, under the firearms freedom act, you can carry a gun into the airport and in indiana, workers are allowed to keep their guns locked in their vehicles. >> we should say this is also a result of that monumental supreme court decision that was passed down last week regarding that case in chicago and in florida specifically you can bring them but you have to lock them up in your cars so we want to ask you -- is this dangerous now? is this a bad situation that we are opening up all over the country or is this just abiding by our second amendment rights? will this cause further, you know, violence in the workplace?

we certainly hope not. we want to hear back from you. >> we had a big debate a number of months ago about the virginia law that allows you to bring them into bars and a lot of people got fired up on both sides of the issue because some say do you want to mix guns with alcohol? people on the other side of the issue saying that's exactly why you want to vehave a gun with y, if someone gets rowdy, you should be able to protect yourself. >> same with the workplace, do you want to mix a disgruntled worker with guns at this point. people say you know what? the people who have a permit are ones educated about guns, who know how to use them correctly and safe. >> we're in philadelphia, one of the murder capitals in the country, unfortunately, i'm in philadelphia, i can speak about this. most of the gun violence comes from illegal guns. it's not registered gun owners. let us know what you think about it. friends at foxnews.com. >> i don't know. guns scare me. you can have one? >> i'd like to see you at the gun range. one of our viewers sent me a fourth of july picture with him

with a glok. he says i have mine out here. i'd like to see you with one. >> that's a picture. coming up on the show, as oil continues to gush into the gulf of mexico. many wonder what's on the horizon for the local fishing industry. we'll talk to a woman who knows those waters best coming up. >> could this help save some state money? the idea has environmentalists fuming. selling a national park. >> who said it -- the quote of the day. ever seen anything like it?

me neither. it's new beneful incredibites. uh-huh! it's just the way you li it-- made with wholesome grains, real beef, even carrots and peas. you love the smaller-size, easy-to-chew kibbles, and i love the carbohydrates for energy and protein for muscles. whoa! wait for me! ha-ha. you only think you're getting spoiled. [ woman announcing ] new beneful incredibites. another healthful, flavorful beneful.

[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. >> it's 45 minutes past the hour. time for some quick headlines. a for sale sign could soon be going up at grand teton national park. wyoming's governor is threatening to sell two square miles of state-owned land. he is fed up with the federal government dragging its feet on

a land swap deal which is costing wyoming millions of dollars. and check out this wild crash at a motocross race in spain. he gets tangled, falls off his bike and then the flight goes airborne landing right on top of him multiple times. fortunately, he would escape with just minor injuries. now over to dave and clayton. >> all right. >> where are you? >> picking up something wicked. >> she broke down gender barriers to become america's only female swordfish boat captain and was depicted in the movie and the book "the perfect storm." she's now featured in the tv series and has written a new book about life at sea. it's called sea worthy and linda greenlaw joins us to tell us what it's like to work in the fishing industry and share her thoughts of the future of fishing since the b.p. oil spill. nice to see you this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> you're returning to the ocean

after 10 years off, 10 years of not being out there doing swordfishing. what does that feel like? >> it felt good. it felt good. i missed it for the 10 years and always thought i'd go back to swordfishing. it's my first love. during that 10 yier span, i had opportunities but i never said i could go. i either had 800 traps in the water or on a book tour. a few months ago, the phone rang. i said if i don't say yes this time, it's more likely that i won't get back to it. i went back. >> this is for people well outside the fishing industry. there's a lot of takeaway. what did you learn and what can other women apply about working in a male dominated industry. in your case, an entirely male dominant industry. what advice would you have for women in a similar role? >> i kind of cringe when you say male dominated. i've not been dominated. >> you understand what i mean in terms of numbers, right. >> i sure do. i sure do. you know, gender really -- i didn't even think about gender

until i started my first book tour and did interviews. i never thought of it. i didn't want to be known as the first only best female anything. i like to be thought of as a great fisherman, good writer, decent person because these are my accomplishments. being female had nothing to do with that. >> breaking glass ceilings was never your goal, that was never a part of this. >> nope. i started fishing at the age of 19 and i fell in love with my life. i worked very hard at it. i like to think i got good at it. >> there's the life lesson. you hit on that exactly right. >> good. >> you know, the great author of the book "the perfect storm" called you the best captain on the east coast, the best captain he's ever met. beyond gender, you're the best. what advice would you give some of the fishermen dealing with some of the repercussions of what's going on right now in the gulf? they make their life by doing this, by going out there and fishing every day and they're living paycheck to paycheck. is there a bright side to any of this? are they going to be able to return to work? what's your sense of this? >> i'm optimistic eternally but

boy, the more the oil keeps gushing down there, the scarier it gets. there's a lot of people out of jobs down there and in the fishermen's case, it's not just loss of livelihood. it's loss of family tradition. it's loss of heritage. and i just hope that b.p., you know, can be responsible for cleaning up and stopping the flow, cleaning up the oil and compensating people. >> this is your whole life, right? fishing is your whole life. if something like this happened to you in maine where you're fishing, how would you respond? you can't go out there and do it anymore. >> i'm sure it's a very helpless feeling. if b.p. can't stop the flow and our government can't stop the flow, the fishermen can't stop the flow. >> yeah, it's painful to think because we see all the animals. we don't see the fishermen who are hurting down there. it's important to keep them in line. we want to remind folks the show "sword" returns to the discovery channel on august 10th, second season. linda won't be able to watch it. she's back at sea and the book on is "seaworthy". you can buy that now.

>> we appreciate it. >> thanks, guys. after the break, the battle to build a mega mosque. our next guest insists it will be used for much more than just worship.

>> all right. ist -- it's time for the answer to the quote of the day. the answer is ozzie osborne. congrats to you, torre. >> ozzy! there was controversy of a morphing being built steps away from ground zero. now the city of murfreesboro, pardon me, tennessee is clashing

over approved plans for a mosque there. the republican congressional candidate in that district says she and her staff have received threats after voicing opposition to the muslim center. >> joining us from nashville is luann zelnik. nice to see you this morning. dave mentioned that we have our own issue up here with ground zero with the mosque that you built there. 52% of new yorkers are opposed to it. does most of your community share your view on this mosque? >> they do. this is a regional islamic training center. we already have a mosque in murfreesboro and first of all, i want to say thank you for giving the voices to the people of this district. so many have stayed with them for their voice. the center is one of the largest -- the proposed center is one of the largest in the country. it's over 52,000 square feet. it's on a 15 acre site. just outside of murfreesboro. and it is of great concern, the people's voice if our community

were not heard regarding the passage and approval of the regional center. >> ok. i understand it's a big building but it strikes me as odd there's soccer fields, there's a swimming pool, classrooms, doesn't strike me as the place for terror training. is that what you are insinuating might take place in this facility? and if so, why? is there a reason for believing other things -- things other than religion will take place there. >> absolutely not. this has nothing to do with freedom of religion. it has everything to do with the political agenda of radical islam and shirea implications. i ask you only what's going on in deerborn, michigan or england and france again today. >> is there any reason to think this group is going to do anything other than pray and teach and obviously, swim and play sports down there. specifically, is there anything you've learned about this particular group because i'm sure there's more than one church in your community.

>> oh, absolutely there are. there's many churches in our community. and there's been a mosque here in murfreesboro for over 20 years. >> right, why should there be only one mosque? >> this is a regional center. and the advisory board on this center, there's concerns about some of the -- maybe some of the board members and their connections. there has been the people of this district were never -- the people in community were never given the opportunity to have their voice heard. their homes are within earshot and eye shot of the new center and there should be representation of all the people. all the people in our community, their voice should be heard and i stand with them on that voice. >> i stand with you on that, too. >> we have a statement from the mosque. it says -- we feel that we've done our best to address the concerns of our community and feel that given the circumstances, it would be best to resolve these issues on a local level. we only want to reside in peace with our friends and neighbors

do you feel this that will, you know, you being on this side that will help your run for congress in the fall? >> that has nothing to do with my run for congress in the fall. i think anyone running for office should provide their statements on how they feel on all issues and not hide behind political correctness and i think political correctness often we look at my own church. that outreach church in murfreesboro, took them five years. i'm asking why this was rushed through so quickly and approved. >> we're out of time. thank you very much for being on the program this morning. we appreciate it. coming up, pressure mounting against g.o.p. chairman michael steele, republicans calling for him to step down. how will he handle the fallout? that's next.

[ male announcer ] hello, bikes and backpacks. ♪ aloha, surfboards and skis. ♪ welcome, strollers and sippy cups. ♪ the nissan rogue's interior can be reconfigured dozens of different ways to handle whateverife throws at it... no matter which life you're living today. the award-winning nissan rogue -- now with up to $2,500 total customer savings ♪

>> good morning. today is monday, july 5th, the white house picked him to distribute claims and he's on the b.p.'s payroll. so how can ken feinberg claim he's working for the people of the gulf? >> are we in it to win it? let's do that together, shall we? a strong message from general david petraeus but it's leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many americans. growing more skeptical by the day. >> well, because we have this harry potter story, let's see if we can throw your voice over here. turned away at the museum park

gates, the man who was told he's too fat to ride. he's fighting back and joins us live in minutes. harry potter ride. "fox & friends" starts now. >> now. >> hi, we're the oakridge boys. >> you are watching "fox & friends." >> the deepest voice. >> that's classic. >> i think maybe next to the men's warehouse voice, you know, we -- >> not james earl jones. you chose -- >> you're gonna love the way you look. >> you guys are silly this morning. good monday morning. it is still a holiday for many of you at home with the kids and we're in for steve, gretchen and brian this morning. courtney friel in for gretchen and clayton morris over there, you guys. did you hear fireworks? >> i heard them. they woke me up. i want to be in bed super early. we'll show you some from chicago and boston. >> boston, d.c. i'm making requests. >> that must be nice. let's talk about this, though, the most devastating oil spill in new york city going on this morning. day 77.

forecasters now predict bad weather to get worse over the course of the week hampering the oil cleanup off the coast. craig boswell is live in pensacola beach, florida with more. good morning, craig. >> good morning to you. i believe those forecasters were actually right, guys. just started storming here. it's been blustery all morning. it's going to be hampering efforts to get those skimming boats back out on this water get them back to work this morning. hoping to get those out. that's to be determined. look, economically, this is an absolutely dismal weekend here along pensacola beach for businesses. many of the businesses reporting 70% to 80% dip over what they would normally get on this huge weekend during their summer. some of the beach towns actually canceled their fourth of july celebrations here on pensacola beach. they moved it to the pier. not the usual crowd they would normally have, certainly but this is no fourth of july weekend like they've ever had here before. there are fewer tarballs actually washing up on the

beach. that's encouraging. however, discouraging is, look, the health department is still warning people not to get into that gulf water here on pensacola beach. they don't know the long term health effects of being in that much oil. also, big deal today, of course, the a whale, the huge taiwanese skimmer that's been retrofitted, at 3 1/2 football field long and 10 story high ship will be testing that out today. the idea is it should be able to suck up 21 million gallons of oily water. we'll see. everybody is pinning their hopes on that. >> you can tell by craig's hair and the wind how difficult it is right there for the skimming vessel out there. they're worried about weather concerns and getting that thing going and maneuvering. they say in the maneuvering tests, it was able to maneuver pretty quickly and move it around. to see if they can get the oil sucked up into this vessel, that will be the real challenge. >> we hope so. that's a big boost for them if it gets going. what about the money? how is it being paid out? by whom? we know kenneth feinberg is in charge of this massive tax of

paying out the 2,000 claims being made every single day by people in the gulf. it appears there may have been a little conflict of interest at least on the surface here because kenneth feinberg as you know was originally appointed by president obama. now he's resigned from that position and he's paid by b.p. but he wants to make it clear, he works solely for the people in the gulf. >> i work for the people of the gulf region. that's who i work for. i am totally independent. it is a private agreement entered into between the administration, and b.p. to find somebody who can design, implement and administer a totally independent facility. i answer to neither b.p. nor the administration and i just want to get the job done for the good of the people in the gulf. >> now, that job made all the more difficult by a lack of paperwork. now, here's the thing. with the fishermen of the gulf, of course, as they work every day. they don't come home to have

filing cabinets of papers and lined up. we've heard this from fishermen. we're in a cash business and work out there every day. we don't come home and have the accountants go through and find out how much fish and how much money. that's the problem, i guess, for b.p. with these claims. >> if they play, they got to play. >> we know from waiters and waitresses that work around the gulf and work at restaurants affected by the tourism, they work in a cash business as well. they may not be then be able to report or have accurate records of all the tips. and yes, you may say that's a mistake but their livelihoods are also damaged were that's a mistake. how does kenneth feinberg figure out how to dole out some of this money. he addressed this. take a listen. >> have to look at every single case. there may not be oil on the beach. are you losing business this year because you can't take charter fishermen out to fish, you can't go into the marshes of

louisiana. oil -- physical presence of oil should not and will not be the only requirement. there are going to have to be some tough decisions made as to who is eligible and who is not eligible. as i said last week, i will look at the claims and look at the underlying facts of those claims. working for the people in the gulf. >> all right. so b.p. has already paid out $147 million in compensation and they also announced a new number today of what the cost of the oil spill has cost for them. response -- $3.12 billion and guess what? b.p. kind of maybe doesn't want to pay for the whole thing. and they're -- >> you think? >> they're saying, listen, we partner with other people on this well. anadark joins 25% and an oil exploration company in japan owns 10% of the wealth so they sent out back on june 2nd, b.p. sent out demand for $400 million

that would be due on july 12th. they asked them for money. >> that breaks down during the percentages you explain. >> reread the tea leaves. it sounds like the japanese company may realize they're kind of on the hook for 10%. as for anadarko, they are not being confusing at all. they're saying b.p. is grossly negligent and accused them of woeful misconduct. it's solely b.p.'s fault of what happened in the gulf. they're assessing their contract all remedies. >> i'm surprised that halliburton is not tied to this, too. they've been involved in the cementing portion of this. kenneth feinberg answering the question as to how much money has been paid out in the whole ordeal. people getting checks for $2500,

being paid out for six or eight weeks. >> $130 million has been paid out. it's not part of the escrow fund that we've seat up as we speak to be used to pay claims. >> that fund has not been paid down in anyway. >> correct. that $20 billion is still? the tank which is good news. that was major garrett filling in on "fox news sunday." >> got a lot of the answers that we talked about. those were all questions hanging out there for feinberg and major garrett got the answers. >> let's see what's happening overnight. vice president joe biden is urging eye leaders to set aside their differences and form a working government. they played the plea at a 4th of july event in baghdad. >> this nation was once ignored in sectarian stride and violence a lang of security and prosperity with a government

that represents the interest of every other community. until they get that straight, they're getting it straight, there's no real shot. they can become of what they're capable of. >> he also had a two-hour meeting with the former prime minister whose coalition won the nest seats during last march's election. there was also a brief scare when a shot was heard inside the compound. luckily, the vice president and his wife were not hurt. the lockerbie bomber may not be as sick as we were first told. he was freed by scottish officials last year, remember this? because he was dying of prostate cancer. doctors say he may live 10 more years. free, out of jail. that's the same doctor that claims he had 3 months to live at the time of the release. he is only -- he's the only person convicted of the 1988 pan am jet bombing that killed 270

million people. victims' families are outraged. >> put him back in. >> murder for hire plot adds to the mystery of missing boy kyron horman. kyron's stepmom tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband. sources say the allegation of what prompted his dad to move out of the couple's home and fire for divorce. a landscaper apparently told police that she approached him of killing kane six or seven months before kyron went missing from school. same report says that she denies the allegations. the mexican president's political party appears to be headed for victory. in state attentions all across the country. that's in spite of drug violence that overshadowed voting. the conservative national action party, one region wants ruled by the opposing revolutionary

party. the winners are important for him who needs a boost after several high profile assassinations and threats from powerful drug cartels. check out this wild video. jordan williams smacks into the car in front of him and then goes airborne. amazing, he climbed out of the wreckage without a scratch. the 19-year-old was even able to compete in a race later that day. >> whoa! >> he wasn't scared. >> at the race track in england. those are the headlines. >> i can't even do the bumper cars and they're like do other things later. you get the net jolt on the bumper cars and that's enough. >> let's talk about r.n.c. chair michael steele. was not such a happy monthly day weekend for him. fireworks went off last week. when as you might remember, he made some very controversial and inaccurate statements about the war in afghanistan.

here's what he had to say in connectic connecticut. auto athis is a war of -- this is not -- this is not something the united states had actively talked about. >> that was in connecticut on thursday and since then, no shortage, i think, of just about every republican has come out and there's only one republican who is supporting him but just about every republican has come out and said that's an absolute mistake. it's abhorrent. not only that, it's historically inaccurate. it wasn't president obama's choice to go into afghanistan. they attacked us on 9/11, of course, taliban and al-qaida. so john mccain fired up about this. and so is lindsay graham yesterday. lindsay graham saying he was glad he came out and apologized

and thought it was an absolute mistake. take a listen. >> up to him to see if he can lead the republican party after this comment. i'm going to leave it up to the republican national committee. but i do praise him for clarifying the statement and retracting the statement. but it couldn't have come at a worst time. >> i think those statements are wildly inaccurate and there's no excuse for them. chairman steele sent me an e-mail saying that he was -- his remarks were misconstrued. look, i'm a ronald reagan republican. i believe we have to win here. i believe in freedom. the fact is i think that mr. steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the republican party as chairman of the republican national committee and make an appropriate decision. >> the man stepping up who wants to challenge david -- mr. steele will be on "fox & friends" tomorrow. he's gary emenus from north dakota. he's challenging him. >> the big question -- should he resign? auto he'll not. >> think he's going to step

down. >> he's not going to step down. coming up on the show, president obama, general petraeus are refusing to budge on the afghan withdrawal deadline. more lawmakers are voicing their concern about 2011. we'll hear from a veteran on the front lines and take a look at this. he's in the doghouse. why did he get arrested? the challenge jobs. don't tell me about a dog. an exploding crockpot, free-ranging house chickens. call a day's work. ♪ proud to stand on our own, proud to be homegrown ♪

♪ can you hear it? ♪ fuelin' the american spirit ♪ no matter when, no matter where ♪ ♪ marathon will take you there ♪

>> welcome back to "fox & friends." general david petraeus now officially in charge of the war in afghanistan. some republicans speaking out about the 2011 deadline for withdraw. >> what i worry about more than anything else is the -- the july of 2011 firm date which the president has not -- certainly has not been positive as far as our commitment is concerned. in other words, we need a conditions based situation. not the date for withdrawal. our commitment must be we will succeed and then we will withdraw. >> former navy seal and iraq war veteran scott taylor joins us now for more on this. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. how are y'all? >> we are fantastic. this is everything right now and the president is in a tough spot, as you know, he has to please the folks in his party and he wants to do what general petraeus needs. what message does it send to our military and its leaders that we

are not real -- we're not real clear about the withdraw date. >> well, i think first of all, we shouldn't have a hard withdrawal date. i think it's imperative that our civilian leadership and our military leadership are on one team and they have one vision and that we're showing a firm commitment to the partners and afghan government and especially to the soldiers on the front line every day that we're committed to winning this thing first and withdrawal is dependent on the conditions set on the ground. >> this government in afghanistan is the pits. these guys haven't done anything. we've asked repeatedly for them to stand up and take security control. they haven't done it. hamid karzai has been playing both sides of the fence and he's been a disaster. corrupt government. setting a date certain in many people's estimation is -- gives thm a point at which they need to control like we did in iraq. anything to that argument? >> i believe you can put pressure on the afghan government without giving an

unrealistic and unreasonable date certain for next year. of course, there's been some developments that have happened as of late with the firing of general mcchrystal that are most likely going to push that date back. i think it's imperative we're looking at the conditions on the ground before we set a hard date with bringing out troops. of course, setting a hard date is a bad thing for our troops because of our enemy. >> scott, june was the deadliest month for our troops since the war began. how do you see things playing out over the next couple of months? >> well, i hope that general petraeus, like you said, he's only going to do -- look at the rules of engagement and make sure they're loosened to ensure that our troops over there are able to fire shots when they need to and that they're able to get the jobs done and that's one of the things that i believe was a big hindrance to the folks over there. but again, i'm confident that general petraeus will get in there and look at the rules of engagement, look at the situation and make assessments that help us move forward.

>> that's a good point. we believe he's going to make changes to the rules of engagement. >> it you know an unpaid medical bill even less than 100 bucks can kill your credit score? new push to help pay off that debt.

>> welcome back. one in three americans have trouble paying their medical bills. that can lead to problems for families trying to get a loan or being approved for a mortgage. now there may be relief in sight. >> joining us is the executive director and senior managing

partner at credit management services. good to see you. i'm glad you're getting involved in this because medical bills are not like running up frivolous credit card bills. we can't help sometimes having an accident and your research shows a lot of people have medical debt, right? >> in 2008, we had identified a problem that was preventing people from being able to buy homes, refinance their homes, or get the best interest rate and what this problem was was over medical collections and i don't mean big ones. i mean $80, $150. so we started seeing this happen in not just on a daily basis but five or 10 time a day so i put together research study. we researched 5100 people during a 10 month period of time and we found that 2200 of them had these medical collections on their credit report. and the problem is, courtney, is when you pay a medical

collection for $80, it stays on your credit report for another seven years which can drop your score as much as 120 points. >> that's unbelievable. and rodney, when we look at this harvard study that showed a link between medical debt and bankruptcy from back in 2007, this is frightening. take a look at this. 52% of personal bankruptcies filed in the united states attributed to medical debt. that's a remarkable number. >> yeah. well, the problem is small issues can lead to big problems and so what happens is is people will have their credit card interest rates raised because their credit scores dropped. and many times, that's because of medical debt and you're right, we don't ask for accidents, we don't ask for sickness. we didn't wake up this morning and say hey, i think i'm going to go to the store and buy me medical debt today. >> you're working on this bill. tell us about it. it kind of sound look a win-win situation. would anyone be opposed to it? >> here's what happens. it is a win-win for most -- for everybody out there. what it does is when you pay or

settle a medical collection on your credit report, rather than waiting seven years, the u.s. house version moves it up to 30 days. the u.s. senate version that was introduced may 26th moves it up to 45 days and so the only group that has been against it so far is fico. they've come out and said the way you pay your medical bills predicts the way that you pay your other bills. honestly, do you guys believe that? >> no, i love part of this bill, it immediately boosts the housing and auto industries and ve no cost to taxpayers as well. we wish you good luck. keep us updated on this as this bill moves forward. >> thank you. >> hope it passes. general david petraeus running the war in afghanistan and today, there's a new promise from the man in charge. >> and a new ban on fast food drive-through restaurants. you won't believe the reason why.

do you think these things should be banned? way in now. thanks to the new venture card from capital one, we get double miles with every purchase. so we earned a tropical vacation in half the time. we earn double miles every time we use our card. ( shouts ) double miles add up fast so we can bring the whole gang. ( grunting ) awesome!

it's hard to beat double miles. everyone knows two is better than one. introducing the venture card from capital one... with double miles on every purchase every day. go to capitalone.com. ( gasps ) what's in your wallet? wait up! this tastes suspiciously like... my recipe. so you like it? like it? it's my iention. kraft has stolen it from me. ♪ [ music stops ] ♪ i will be taking this dish as criminal evidence. ♪ gadzooks! these handles are hot. [ male announcer ] new kraft homestyle mac and cheese. rich, creamy, oven baked like jefferson used to make. [ jefferson ] thievery!

we all have one. that perfect spot. a special place we to smooth out the ripples of the day. it might be off a dock or on a boat. upstream or in the middle of nowhere. wherever it may be, casting a line in the clear, fresh waters of michigan lets us leave anything weighing us down back on shore. our perfect spot is calling. our perfect spot is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org.

>> welcome back. many of you are asleep like us, but we're going to show you the fireworks on our shot in the morning. we'll start in the nation's capital capped off celebrations with a fireworks display above the national mall. is there a better scene? >> philadelphia, yes, there is. >> that's pretty awesome. >> here's new york city whose red, white and boom, get that? >> over the hudson river in new york city's west side lit up with patriotism. >> that's fantastic. >> beautiful down there by the water and here's a city that i lived in for four years. boston, mass, they do it down there. take that banner away, please.

i know you like red, white and boom. you listen to the boston pops play in the egg shell. for me, that's my favorite situation to be involved in. what a great night. birthplace. >> sparkly gold twinkles, you know, are my favorite. >> philadelphia where boston started and philadelphia where it started here. and the firt place of the -- >> we could get video of philly. a lot of communities couldn't afford fireworks this year. you can watch them on line. >> let's turn our attention now to overseas. new developments in afghanistan. general petraeus officially in charge there as the administration gets a little pushback over a planned troop withdrawal. >> malini wilkes has more on this. >> good morning, two top republican senators says president obama's proposed timeline for withdraw from

afghanistan emboldens the enemy and is confusing to the afghan people. the president has set july 2011 as the date to begin drawing down. he has suggested it's flexible and that's the start of the process. it will be based on conditions on the ground ask they will turn out the lights and leave. on the sunday trauk shoalk show lindsay graham says it's a cause of uncertainty. others called it indecisiveness. >> i'm worried about the depth of our commit many. our commitment must be we will withdraw. david petraeus took charge of the troops in afghanistan. petraeus said he was in this to

win and he said he would at least rules on the engamement on the battlefield, they are continued to protect afghan civilians can tie their hands and put our own soldiers a lives at risk. petraeus says he agrees with the president's withdraw plan and should be based on conditions on the ground. back to you. >> live to us this morning in washington. thanks so much. >> here are the other headlines. new individualvideos into the n secretary of state hillary rodham clinton meeting with the president of georgia. they continue to recover from the 2008 russian invasion. it remains a problem for u.s. may have russian relations and clinton is meeting with women's groups in georgia before heading back to washington later today. chaos at an independence day parade when horses trample a crowd. a 60-year-old woman died from

injuries she suffered when two horses got spooked and bolted during the bellevue, iowa, celebration. witnesses ran screaming as the horses raced down the street dragging a wagon several blocks and crushing 24 people, many are just children. >> that happened so fast, we didn't see them coming until they were right here. >> everybody was in panic mode. it was like oh, my goodness. there's horses charging. my fear was the little kids. >> four of the injured are in critical condition. she's an activist on the way to raise motion awareness much i was recently trying to complete' 1500 mile trip from seattle to san francisco and she's canoeing all the way by herself. >> i think the ultimate goal is to try to motivate people to educate them and motivate people to make the change in their own individual lives so we ensure we

have a healthy ocean. >> she expects the trip to take her two months. she says no one is going to replace the ocean's water. it's our duty to keep it clean and now, dave, apparently hot dog eating is a sports event. that esn airs. >> food eating camp behind bars this morning after causing a bit of stir. we're talking about six time champ takeru kobayashi, a tsunami. he sat out this year's conat the because of a contract dispute. that makes it a sport. now that they have contracts. kobayashi ended up storming the stage and he was charged and arrested with resisting arrest and trespassing. your winner, be joey chestnut won four straight titles fortunately he was with d.

he was widely disappointed. we took him on last year on the plaza with a little cocktail weenies and i'm still feeling sick over that one. >> how many did you get? >> i think i probably ate about a dozen. not proud of it. >> can you get hot dogs through a drive through? >> sonic, you can get hot dogs through a drive-through. it claims that, look, drive through make people morrow bee . drive up, throw in some fast food. actually have to walk ever gene. that's the ironic thing about this. >> it's like in your d.n.a. to go and drive through -- when i move to new york, i never eat fast food ever. >> in california, you drive

everywhere. no one drives five feet and you get inside if it's five feet away. >> this is where and out burger first popped up in baltimore, california and where mcdonald's first popped up so this is, again, the kind of birthplace of fast food restaurants banning them. mcdonald's down the street from me has no more drive through. on a terrific base, they are a bit of a headache. as for banning fast food opinions that serve in unhealthy food. that's hard work on them. >> you c au >> you can get the burger just with lettuce. >> any time i go in a fast food restaurant, you're on the road and it's americans' sort of passage, right? you go to burger king, you go to mcdonn mcdonald's. there's no one at the counter.

you walk in and there's no one it's in the counters. >> no one has to get out and walk the 12 feet to the calendar. foxnews.com. are you outraged by the fan of fast food restaurants. >> a lot of people looking to buy have purchased, perhaps, a new iphone 4. a lot of people fans of android and motorolla drive phones, should they buy it? brand new and take a look at a nice review for you. >> every other week we're introducing a new android phone. the original droid. thaurz a new one coming out this month and it looks like a big winner. here's the things, it's got a beautiful 6-3 inch joan. great at looking at details.

form factor is one of the major things and it's trin thereiner but it raised camera toenl while mobile capability. turning droidx into not spiking it into any speed. voila, it fills in every speed. those are good things about it. now there's a big fan in some of the -- there's laggynesses in the photo application. i want to get it up and running. sometimes i'm waiting five or three times to get it going. sometimes photos disappear all together. there's also other things, that i'm being driven nuts. where's to the spunk wakother t?

when you get the phone in the mail in mid july, you're going to get the older version of the operation system. doesn't make sense. should you buy the voen on verizon and android, this is a sure choice for you. >> they just said i'm going to turn right for you and jump on at&t. head, head. >> the knew iphone four have yet to drop a call on this. for the death grip, apparently. >> i this had the death grip and there's some problems. if you're texting, skend an e-mail, you could walk out a whole long e-mail saying hey, janice, i can't make it to today's barbecue and enough

said. >> that might be bad. drivers will be texting. >> always upgrading. >> every week you'll get a new item. that's why you'll object ut of money soon. >> coming up, today's college students core likely from bringing books from the book club. >> don't go there. auto amy book club is inturning an article club. my goal is fired up by the bombing down of our nation's kids. >> turned away at the gate for being too fast. florida man on a mission to ride the harry pot earn ride no matter what it takes. >> it's time tofor the trivia question of the day [ male announcer ] thinking about your florida vacation

and about what's happening in the gulf? well, florida has 825 miles of beaches... and 1,260 miles of coastline. so, there's plenty of places in florida to enjoy crystal clear waters and a great beach vacation. go to florida live at visitflorida.com. for real-time information. waters blue and clear. pristine and uncrowded coastline. unwind where the sawgrass sweeps out to the horizon call for the hernando county vacation guide -- 800-601-4580. unwihey, it's great to see you're back after that accident. well...i couldn't have gotten by without aflac! is that different from health insurance? well yeah... ...aflac pays you cash to help with the bills that health insurance doesn't cover. really? well, if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflacccccccccc! it's the protection you need to stay ahead of the game... exactly! aflac. we've got you under our wing. aflac, aflac, aflac... aflac, aflac, aflac

♪ [ instrumental: uphey, max. [ announcer ] your dog's one of a kind. and now, you have the power... [ giggling ] to help significantly extend his healthy years. a groundbreaking 14-year study by purina... proves that puppy chow, then dog chow nutrition, fed properly over a lifetime, can help extend his lovable antics... up to 1.8 healthy years. [ barks ] long live your buddy. oh, max! long live your dog. purina puppy chow and purina dog chow.

>> one of the main attractions at the new wizarding world of harry potter theme park is called the forbidden journey and some park visitors actually are being forbidden to ride because of their size. 24-year-old couldn't ride but it turns out -- he turned his experience into a positive thing and joins me live from orlando. hi, good to see you.

now, i know you and your fiancee are harry potter fans. tell us what happened. you went to the park and then you couldn't fit in the ride. were you embarrassed sf>> at first i was a bit embarrassed. i mean, i knew going into it that there were some size restrictions although i didn't think i'd have as much trouble because other universal rides i'm able to fit into the modified seats. and i heard that if you can fit in those seats, you can fit on in ride. i went in, we experienced the land. got along for the light. i decided i'll go ahead and just in days that case, i'll get it in there. he told me for safety reasons, you have to have three clicks and head out to the exit and waited for the fiance as she rode the rides. it was a bit embarrassing but i've been overweight almost my whole life. i'm used to it. and i just turned this into a big positive experience for me.

>> ok. yeah, let me tell you what universal said about the situation. we design our attractions so that the maximum number of people can experience them. and based the decisions on careful research. there will occasionally be people who for whatever reason don't ride in a ride's restraints. this is true at attractions everywhere. so you weren't like upset? do you understand where they're coming from? you weren't upset about this, were you? >> oh, of course. i understand completely where they're coming from. i don't blame universal. i don't blame the ride manufacturers. there's safety issues with rides. they have to abide by and i completely understand that. i've been a theme park fan my whole life. i grew up with disney and work for a disney web site, and so, you know, i understand about all these safety issues and i don't blame them at all. > >> instead of getting mad, you take this action. tell me how you started this

blog to document the weight loss and the raekdz iteaction it's g. >> as i was waiting for my fiancee to get off the ride. i decided i have to da something. i've been needing that proper motivation to lose weight. this is perfect. i decided i would start a blog and kind of name it after tharr potter book series. it's going to be a way for them to see my weight losses and progresses and then yahoo featured it on a news story and i got so many positive reactions and comments to it. so much support and love. it was overwhelming like people saying i'm inspiring them to lose weight. it's a great feeling knowing i'm doing that. >> your goal is to get into that ride by the end of this year. how is the diet going? how much weight have you lost? >> it's going good so far.

i went from a 48 to a 46. so far, so good. i'm hopping by the end of this year, i'll be able to get on that ride. >> congrats on what you're doing. i think it's great. definitely keep us posted. a great day. college students are more likely to read oprah's books than the classic. who's to blame? our next guest explains what she calls the dumbing down of our american kids. on this date in history, spam is introduced to the market by more hormel and on this date in 1946, the bikini was first unveiled of the designer. on this date in 1985, the number one song by phil collins. listened to that with my dad all the time.

we'll be right back. [ male nouncer ] a good reputation is difficult to attain. a reputation for unsurpassed quality and industry-leading customer service, even more so. which is why it must be earned. every day. every mile. with every driver. we've earned ours by relentlessly asking one simple question...

how can we ke it even better tomorrow? lexus. the pursuit...of perfection.

>> our trivia question of the day -- gentlemen? the music tells the story. the music is from mcmurray, pennsylvania. man, we miss "the sopranos" don't we? students entering college are more likely to breeze through a book on oprah's reading list than a list of classics. our next guest says colleges are dumbing down america's children. that's not where it starts. mindy peck is a professor of speech communication in the state of florida. good morning to you, professor.

>> good morning, dave. how are you doing this morning? >> fantastic. where is this dumbing down starting and give us specific examples of what teaches at whatever level are doing. >> what is happening is that we're noticing a trend that a lot of the dumbing down, if you will, is starting in the primary and secondary schools. a lot of the states, for example, our state here in florida are focusing so much on a lot of the standardized testing such as what we have here is the f-cat, the florida comprehensive achievement or assessment test and what we're noticing is because there's so much of a focus on there, when they come to college, they're not prepared for the real world nor are they prepared for college. not to mention my -- some of my close family members and some friends are high school teachers and there's even a trend in their -- and they're not allowed to correct in red pen because it makes them feel bad and also, they're not permitted to fail

them because they let them take a test over and over and over again until they pass. and i'm sure with many of the viewers and you all, that didn't happen to us. we failed. we failed and we had to learn how to fix it. >> how dare they use a red pen. here's something that confuses me. mindy, hang on. the kids that you see getting into colleges today have to do so much more to get into colleges than when i had to. i mean, they have to have extracurricular activities all over the board and volunteer and their time, i mean, is carefully scheduled out so are we dumbing it down because the requirements are so much more for students to get into college today? >> you know, that's a really good question. and i could not answer that question but yes, they do have to do a lot more. they have to do a lot more extracurricular and volunteer work but i've noticed there seems to be a difference between the parochial and private schools vs. the public schools,

too. what is going on with the difference for those children to get into the schools? because the parochial and private schools are doing just as much if not more but yet, those students seem to be grasping the concept much greater. what is it they're doing? this is something that a lot of we at the collegiate level seem to be discussing amongst ourselves wondering why is this happening because we have to -- seem to go a little further in trying to explain the critical thinking skills of what is lacking. that's our problem. >> what do we do about it? >> personally, i think that we need to start backing off of some of the focus on the testing and start going back to the ground level like a lot of us have when we are in school. and we need to get that critical thinking back to the students. stop focusing so much on the standardized test. stop focusing so much on i'm going to make you feel bad if i give you an f focusing more on you got this wrong, what do we

need to do? let's start thinking about this and go back to the basics with our critical thinking skills. >> i think you're right on the money there. i think so much focus going to a simple test score, kids are many k cramming these answers in their head. great point you make. appreciate you back here. >> dave, appreciate you guys, too. i'm a big fan. thanks so much for having me. >> coming up, head to head to the man who could have been president. former congressman j.d. hayworth wants to take mccain's seat in the u.s. senate. he joins us in the next hour on the controversy pace facing g.o.p. chairman michael steele and a judge ordered these people to spend time apart under the same roof. can he force them to split the house straight down the middle?

sir? finding everything okay? i work for a different insurance company. my auto policy's just getting a little too expensive. with progressive, you get the "name your price" option, so we build a policy to fit your budget. wow! the price gun. ♪ ah! wish we had this. we'd just tell people what to pay. yeah, we're the only ones that do. i love your insurance! bill? tom? hey! it's an office party! the freedom to name your price. only from progressive. call or click today.

patience, son. ah! [ female announcer ] sometimes, you can get so much out of so little. woohoo! [ female announcer ] especially when it comes to charmin ultra soft. its ultra soft design is soft and absorbent. it has so much absorbency, you can use 7 sheets versus 28 of the leading value brand. so your family can get more out of less. mom's never gonna believe this one. [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft. enjoy the go. good morning, it's monday, july 5. welcome to our third hour of "fox & friends." right now, bp promised to pay every cent of the clean-up cost in the gulf. so why is the oil giant asking someone else to cough up the cash? >> the pressure is on, calls for gop chairman michael steele to step down from some of the country's most well-known republicans, including this one.

>> i think mr. steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the republican party as chairman of the republican national committee and make an appropriate decision. >> din the rnc hairline go too far? >> and from top dog to the dog house, a former eating champion leaves coney island in handcuffs. why did he try and rush the stage? >> 'cause he's a wiener. >> well said. >> "fox & friends" begins right now. >> it's richard simmons, the best exercise for your mind is "fox & friends." >> thank you, richard. thank you. he's always glistening, always got that oil all over his skin, like oily and everything. today he'll be hot, hot, hot on the east coast. they could have record breaking temperatures, over 100 degrees over the east coast. >> the three -- richard simmons

will be covered in oil. today marks the 77th day of the disaster in the gulf and while gray skies bring bleak weather conditions, oil clean-up efforts are looking just about the same. >> now more from pensacola beach, florida. craig, the last time we saw you, you were about to get blown away. how are the conditions? >> well, not quite as blustery and rainy since we talked last hour. this isn't helping the conditions in the gulf where they still can't get some of the skimming boats out there and they need to, skimming up and pulling up some of this oil out of this water. the other big deal today, the whale, the huge ship, 3 1/2 football fields in length, ten stories tall. the idea that this ship might be able to suck up around 21 million gallons of oily water every day. they're doing tests on it. we should get some reports back on those tests today to see if it works.

but if history is any indication, over the last 2 1/2 months, a lot of things have gone wrong here in cleaning up this oil and trying to cap that well. but we'll find out later today. in pensacola beach, fireworks displays went off as planned. however, this has been no usual 4th of july weekend. people who came here really felt like there was no celebration at all. here is what some people had to say. >> sad? >> how so. >> because our beaches are being destroyed. they'll never be the same. when you lived here all your life, that's our pride, our beaches. >> i talked to a lot of people, particularly last thursday and friday when it really smelled like oil from the gulf and you could smell the tar balls that were on the surface of the sand. they just came here to see it one more time 'cause they really felt like maybe i might not see it in any good condition ever again. but they have gone along and scraped up a lot of the tar balls. but the long-term issues are the

layers of tar that remain below that top layer of sand and whether or not they're going to be able to remove that and what the long-term effects of that layer of oil maybe. >> clayton: thank you. we appreciate it. hopefully the whale, a whale works and hopefully this relief well gets finished up in a month and cap this is for good. >> dave: we had a couple folk here's for our 4th of july celebration that were barbecuing from pensacola and said to me, we're trying to sell our house down there. we were trying to sell our house before and now, no one is going to want to buy our house. right along the beaches, devastated by this. thoughts and prayers go out to those people trying to deal with this. we hope there is a solution. >> kenneth feinberg has an enormous task on his hands. he's the man in charge of paying out all this money to the people who have made the claims down there in the gulf. to give you an idea, there are 2,000 claims made every single day in regard to people who want some of that bp money to compensate them for their

losses. he was on fox news sunday with major garrett. he talked about the enormous task. he has a hand on perhaps what could be a conflict of interest in terms of who he works for. >> i work for the people of the gulf region. that's who i work for. i am totally end tent. it is a private agreement entered into between the administration and bp to find somebody who can design, implement, and administer a totally independent facility. i answer to neither bp nor the administration and i just want to get the job done for the good of the people in the gulf. >> part of that job will be dealing with the 95,000 claims that bp has gotten from the fishermen, all the people out of work, due to the gulf oil spill. so he also talked about who will be eligible, how they'll go about filing those claims. >> we have to look at each and every case. there may not be oil on the

beach. are you losing business this year because you can't take charter fishermen out to fish? you can't take a charter boat for sight seeing or go into the marshes of louisiana? oil, physical presence of oil should not and will not be the only requirement. there are going to have to be some tough decisions made as to who is eligible and who is not eligible and as i said last week, i will look at the claims, i'll look at the underlying facts of those claims. working for the people in the gulf. >> that's why chatting with the folks from the fox business channel. how do you buy stock in bp. trying to figure out this one is valid, this one five years from now is valid. you just don't know. you can imagine why bp now wants other people involved with their well and their partnerships to shoulder some of this burden. just look at this. this is the breakdown of the

deep water horizon rig that exploded. bp owned 65% of it. and others owned the rest. if you break it down, we're not on the -- we shouldn't be paying all of this. >> bp sent out these demands for $400 million on june 2 and they've got 30 days, that's friday, july 12, they're supposed to be paid. anadarko says bp was engaging in gross negligence and willful misconduct, so we really don't want to pay. and the other company says it's too early to draw conclusions, but we will participate in the investigation. >> we learned the total cost that bp has endured so far, over $3 billion already in terms of paying out for the clean-up and paying the victims. what about that big number? the $20 billion account we heard so much about. how much of that has been paid

out? kenneth feinberg answered that as well. >> about 130 million has been paid out. it is not part of the $20 billion escrow fund that is being set up as we speak. that will be used to pay claims and -- >> that's not been paid down in any way? >> that's correct. >> dave: so the 130 million paid so far, the $20 billion is off limits. >> clayton: that's good news 'cause it's untouched. >> you mentioned the person that is having trouble selling their house. i wonder if they'll be able to make a claim down the road. >> dave: they're going to try. >> clayton: why not? you'd be buying a pristine beach, here is a house on pensacola beach, beautiful beach, now covered in oil. to me, that sounds like a claim. but again, i'm not a lawyer. >> everyone is having trouble selling their condos. >> exactly. >> here are your headlines. new video just into our news room from baghdad.

vice president joe biden talks of the future of iraq with iraq's president. he also met with the chairman of the islamic supreme council. yesterday he made a pitch for iraqis to set aside their differences and form a government. and there was also a brief scare. mortar shots were fired in a bomb exploded inside the u.s. embassy compound. the vice president and his wife were not hurt. check this story out. the lockerbie bomber may not be on death's door after all. he was freed by scottish officials last year because, remember, he was supposed to be dying of prostate cancer. now get this, he might live ten more years and that's the word from the same doctor who claims he only had three months to live at the time of his release. he is the only person convicted of the 1988 pan am jet bombing that killed 270 people, so the victims' families are outraged by this new prognosis. but the mirror reports his family says he's still ill. new video of secretary of

state hillary clinton in the country of georgia. she's meeting with georgia's president and cabinet officials. while there, she pledged that the u.s. will stand by georgia as it continues to recover from the 2008 russian invasion. clinton is also meeting with women's groups in georgia before heading back to washington later today. and toyota is about to announce yet another recall. the auto maker is pulling more than 90,000 lexus and crown vehicles in japan. that's just the start. a flaw in the engine could make these cars stall while they're in motion. the recall affects gs, is, and ls models from 2005 through 2008. toyota is expected to expand this recall to 138,000 vehicles in the u.s. as well. but so far, no accidents or injuries have been reported from the problem. >> thank you so much. let's talk about embattled rnc chair michael steele. you know the comments he made,

mentioning it's obama ace choice to go into afghanistan. the fallout has been massive. and trying to raise money for the republican party has also been an issue for michael steele. lindsey graham, john mccain on doing the rounds on the sunday talk shows yesterday, not happy about the rnc chair's comments. take a listen. >> if he can lead the republican party after this comment, i'm going to leave it up to the republican national committee. but i do praise him for clarifying the statement and retracting the statement, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. >> i think those statements are wildly inaccurate and there is no excuse for them. chairman steele sent me an e-mail saying that he was -- his remarks were misconstrued. i'm a ronald reagan republican. i believe we have to win here. i believe in freedom. but the fact is, i think that mr. steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the republican party

as chairman of the republican national committee and make an appropriate decision. >> did you hear what he just said? that comment about round reagan republican, it sort of sets michael steele at odds with observe members of the republican party, as if he's not on board with their ideal i don't believe. >> they said you're a at odds with 100% of the republicans. the man who is challenging this rnc chair from north dakota will be on "fox & friends" at 6:15 tomorrow morning. you'll want to hear what he has to say. >> senator jim demint says steele must apologize to the families of those fight not guilty afghanistan. >> we'll keep you updated on the michael steele fallout and whether any resignation is forth coming. plus this, the former congressman hoping to unseat john mccain in the senate. what does j.d. hayworth think politicians are doing wrong in washington, d.c. and what is next for michael steele? we'll ask him.

>> then they never expected this driver to survive. a closer look at the incredible video, an accident at 155 miles an hour. not going to believe this. we'll be right back.

>> welcome back to "fox & friends." lawmakers lashed out at republican national committee chairman michael steele over his comments regarding president obama and the war in afghanistan. >> it was an uninformed, unnecessary, unwise, untimely comment. >> i think their statements are wildly inaccurate and there is no excuse for them. >> chairman steele needs to apologize to our military, all the men and women who have been fighting in afghanistan. this is america's war. it's not obama's war. >> steele's term is not up until january, but do these comments justify an early resignation? we're joined by former congressman j.d. hayworth from arizona, also running against john mccain. nice to see you. >> clayton, good to be with you. >> clayton: you heard some of the comments there, obviously, from lindsey graham, from senator john mccain. do you think that michael

steele's apology went far enough? does he need to do more and step down? >> well, i notice he sent an e-mail to my opponent in this race and i didn't get an e-mail from chairman steele. all kidding aside, i think in the final analysis, a chairman needs to build the fortunes of the party, both politically and financially and not become the center of controversy. let's leave that to the candidates, their different position, for example, i'm a consistent conservative as opposed to john mccain and his somewhat curious policy stances on an open border and against tax cuts. so the candidates need to fight it out. the chairman needs to facilitate the party. >> clayton: if they do a good job of it -- go back to what you were saying about your opponent. john mccain saying he's a ronald reagan republican and we need to win in afghanistan. where do you stand on that and does michael steele represent the viewpoints of the party? >> understand what john mccain was doing. he may have been interviewed from afghanistan, but that was

for consumption in arizona. john mccain again is trying to reinvent himself as a conservative and wrap himself in the mantle of ronald reagan. so that really has nor to do with branding of john mccain than having michael steele walk the plank. but again, let me stand by the words, a chairman has to promote the party. when the chairman becomes the center of controversy, it's a very tough uphill battle to regain the equilibrium need to do lead the party. so to the extent that john mccain said mr. steele needs to evaluate his situation, i think that's good advice. >> clayton: you bring autopsy -- up a good point. different ideal ideologyieses flows. you have ron paul, another extreme in the party coming out yesterday defending michael steele, in fact, saying, quote, congratulations. he tells michael steele, congratulations on telling the truth about afghanistan. he's the only one supporting

him. what do you think of ron paul's statement? >> again, i worked with dr. paul and i look forward to serving with his son, rand, in the united states senate. but the fact is, let me move it past michael steele and talk about the policy in afghanistan. we've got a choice here and long-time "fox & friends" viewers remember brian kilmeade last week talking about the rules of engagement in afghanistan, the absurdity of a sniper taking shots at our troops and then drops the rifle. our troops cannot shoot at that sniper? we have to have rules of engagement that let our troops fight a war. it's a war, for crying out loud, not an overseas contingency. and that's the problem and to the extent the commander in chief refuses to give the orders to allow our men and women to fight and win, that's where the problem is. not with the republican party and who is the chairman of the party, but with the commander in chief failing to give decisive orders to allow our troops a

real opportunity to do what they can do and win a victory. >> clayton: let's talk about the tea party. they're fight ago war of ideology. let me tell what you senator demint had to say. saying -- sorry, this is lindsey graham saying this is basically going to go away. he says the problem with the tea party i think is it's unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country it will die out. what's your take on that? no cohesive message from the tea party? >> listen, lindsey graham is displaying that he's not on the ballot this year and in stark contrast to what he told the "new york times" about how his best friend, john mccain, is temporarily running to the right to try to beat me in a primary, lindsey is showing one of the inherent problems with a six-year senate term, the fact is, he can say something now for consumption and not have to face the voters of south carolina. just a little free advice to everyone who runs for public office, don't insult the voters. the fact is, the tea party movement and in terms of whether

you want to call them tea partiers or awakened american, they are involved. they are inspired and i think any united states senator insults the tea party at their own political risk. i'm pleased to have the support of so many tea partiers. i think it's important. >> clayton: we appreciate it this morning. thanks so much, mr. hayworth. >> thanks so much. web site is jd for senate.com. >> clayton: thanks so much. coming up, supporters of legalized marijuana call it a tax gold buy. especially for states in the red. turns out that may not be the case. we're going to look at the potential economic dangerous of legalizing pot. plus kids bringing their cell phones to the dinner table. what happened to families spending quality time together? kids bringing cell phones on vacation? where is the relaxing time?

the debate over legalizing marijuana continues to heat up in california. supporters say the state could make millions. perhaps as much as a billion by taxing pot distribution centers. our next guest, however, says the social impact of legalizing marijuana is not worth it. >> courtney: john is the executive director of californians for a drug-free youth. i know you just had this big conference with a bunch of different government officials, addiction specialists, all sorts of people. what were the main concerns that they expressed? >> well, the main concern was the increased use in our youth. that's the number one. secondly, the actual cost to the public health system that would increase. and thirders increasing crime. >> why did you believe that there will increase the numbers of people who try it, as you know, a poll out last week said

37% of california taxpayers, 37% of voters have tried marijuana. you think that number would go up. >> absolutely. the other side said the same thing. the way that they get to their $1.5 billion in revenue is to have a 20 to 40% increase in use. >> courtney: you also say he'll izing marijuana will cost california more than it will bring in. why is that? >> well, if you take look at tobacco, it's the same thing. co- back toe brings in $1.5 billion of revenue every year. but it costs $15 billion in public health care costs. >> the money that they have estimated, you mentioned one estimate yourself, sir, that said $1.5 billion in taxing marijuana, you're saying somehow the public health, the health cost would be greater than that every year? >> well, it would certainly be the same as tobacco. when you take a look at all of

the public health care costs of tobacco, the tobacco industry, the money that we get from it pales in comparison to the costs. the social costs, the public health care costs. we've seen that in our state alone. >> courtney: what do you say to people who believe that we should have the freedom to choose to smoke pot or not? >> well, people should have the freedom to do what they want until it starts to put a burden on society. once that happens, then we have to take a look at that. when we look at the criminal activity around drugs, when we look at the public health care costs, when we look at the challenges that our youth face every day, i think that become has problem. and when they talk about the fact that, well, if we tax and regulate and legalize marijuana, we can keep it out of the hands of youth. when you take a look at the youth and you look at the fact that alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drug abuse are the top three drugs of abuse in our youth, then you take a look at

the fact that they want to legalize marijuana. that's just going to take that and put that into the realm of legalizing another already illicit drug. that's just going to increase youth use. >> dave: thank you for being here. coming up, general petraeus running the war in afghanistan and today there is a new promise from the man in charge. >> courtney: then a former winner leaves in cuffs. but it may been what he wanted. his motive for storming the stage. we'll tell you about that coming up.

>> we got a fox news alert. the white house starting to feel the heat on afghanistan as key senators blasting the administration's plan to start withdrawing troops next year. joining us from the white house with the response on this is malini wilkes.

>> good morning. that's right. a couple key republican senators voicing their opposition to the president's plan to begin withdrawing troops from afghanistan next year. the president has said july 2011 as a draw down date, but he suggested it's somewhat flexible, that it's the start of a withdrawal and the u.s. won't just turn off the lights and go. on the sunday talk shows, i didn't understandy graham and john mccain said the president's statements have only confused afghans about whether the u.s. will begin a significant draw down in july 2011 or not. >> this confusion is heard among our friends, emboldened our enemies. we need to get it right and get it clarified. leaving afghanistan is about america being safe and we can't leave this country in chaos. we'll never be safe. >> chris: the senator spoke from kabul on the same day that senator petraeus officially took command of the 130,000 nato

troops in afghanistan. petraeus said we are in this to win and he suggested that he would review rules of engagement on the battlefield. the restrictions that are intend to do protect afghan civilian, but some troops have said can tie their hands, putting our own soldiers' lives at risk. general petraeus has said that he agrees with the pet's time line for withdrawal, but he also says it needs to be based on conditions on the ground. clayton, courtney, dave, back to you. >> thanks so much. >> let's turn to the battle over immigration. what's happening this week? we have heard that lawsuit from the department of justice will be served to the state of arizona this week. could come as early as tomorrow. and as president obama said last week, we need bipartisan work on this bill. he pointed to the 11 republicans who once supported immigration reform. but turns out it might be democrats that he has to get in line first. an interest article on the hill, they point that 14 democrats voted to filibuster an overall

immigration reform bill that harry reid brought to the floor in june of 2007. so forget about those republicans and bipartisan work, he's got a lot to do within his own party first. >> it always comes down to people running for reelection. president bush went through this with his own party. they didn't want to run on this amnesty issue that president bush wanted back when he floated this legislation. and president obama dealing with the same thing. it's 2012 right now. people are not willing to give up what they have in their home districts and jump on board a controversial immigration policy. that's what these guys are doing. >> courtney: the republicans are wondering if the democrats are pushing this issue so that they can appeal to hispanic voters. and opponents say it will be tougher for democrats to vote for similar bill like before because of the high unemployment rate. >> dave: the polls say you would like us to secure the border first before passing this new overall legislation, 59%, according to a fox news opinion

dynamic poll. we want reform, but we first need to secure the border and keep in mind, chuck schumer, who is backing this thing the hardest in the senate, has not brought a bill at all. there is no legislation -- >> clayton: this is what anger add lot of people when the president was speaking. there is no road map, no bill, no strategy. you can talk all you want. >> courtney: to be continued. the headlines. according to preliminary results, president obama -- poland's countying president has won the election. israeli leaders aren't backing down. new this hour, they're refusing to apologize for that gaza flotilla raid, even if it means has 'til relations with turkey. they threatened to cut diplomatic ties with israel

unless they apologized. nine turks were among those killed in the raid on the gaza bound ship. until recently, turkey was israel's most important muslim ally. britain's queen elizabeth i i will be in the u.s. tomorrow paying her first visit to ground zero. the 84-year-old will lay a wreath at the site of the world trade center and open the british garden of remembrance in hanover square to honor the 67 british citizens who lost their lives on 9-11. the queen will make her first speech in more than 50 years. what's it like to flip over five times going 155 miles per hour? look at this wild video. jordan williams smacks into the car in front of him and then goes airborne. amazingly, he climbed out of the wreckage without a scratch. the 19-year-old was even able to compete in a race later that day at a racetrack in england. >> unbelievable. >> clayton: like how you drive.

>> courtney: hey, i've never once been in an accident. knock on wood. people have hit me. but not my fault. >> what is this? all right. continue. >> courtney: we're not done. he says his wife makes him sleep in the dining room. is that still the same guy, the racetrack guy? are we teasing this? one thing for sure, it seems no one could stop this couple's constant bickering. but according to the new york post, a divorced judge will -- divorce judge will try a new form of treatment. ordering their home split in half. he ordered them to divide their 3,000 square foot home with a wall. the pair has two weeks to decide where that wall will go or the court decides for them. >> oh, boy, that will be reality show. give me a camera inside of that home. july 4, couple of things, honor

your country, honor the troops, you do fireworks and for me, you sit and you watch the hot dog eating contest out there in coney island. this year it had added intrigue because of the man. tsunami, what he did. >> this is dave's hero when he was a little kid, he looked up to joey chestnut who could eat hot dogs in a matter of seconds. he caused a bit of a ruckus yesterday. he showed up because of contract negotiations and didn't take place in the pageant, so he stood out there and he ended up climbing on the walls and then he was arrested and he was detained for cause ago bit of a ruckus. >> come on. >> courtney: he was trying to prove a point. he didn't want to sign the contract because he wanted to be a free agent. >> the fans are chanting, let him eat! let him eat! he was hungry. competitive eating is officially a sport.

but joey chestnut did win again, his fourth straight title at coney island. he scarfed down 54 hot dogs. nowhere near his record of 68. >> he had an off day. >> courtney: he was a little bummed because he was aiming for 70. >> yeah. he said he shouldn't have eaten those 34 pancakes for breakfast. a lot of kids now these days are sitting at the dinner table and they're bringing their iphones, blackberry, whatever they have, they're bringing nintendos to the table and not paying attention to what the family is talking about half the time. now there is a troubling trend, which is kids going on vacation with the family this summer and just completely tuned out. they're just texting their friends the entire time while the family is trying to relax on the beach. kids sending text messages to their friends, hey, i'm laying on the beach. just enjoy the beach. why do you have to be texting your friends? >> that's a problem families across the country are facing at this very moment when they're trying to talk to their kids over the breakfast table and

they can't get their attention because they're locked into the text messages. a lot of families are starting to draw the line on vacation and say leave the phone, leave the laptop at home. it will be impossible. but the other thing is, we adults kind of set the pace in some of these cases. i have a hard time putting down the phone. so it's got to be adults first. we got to put them down, leave them at home. >> courtney: once you put it down, it's so much more relaxing. >> clayton: it is, but you have to almost do it in a forced way. i love going on vacation and spending time. repeatedly a few days on vacation, i didn't have a cell signal. and i started to have convulsions about it. >> courtney: you have to make sure you set your out of office reply before you turn it off for good. >> clayton: that doesn't matter, i still get the e-mails. >> dave: we also asked you about a controversial story, about workers being allowed to bring guns to the office. you know about that landmark supreme court decision that happened last week regarding a chicago case. now in a lot of states, you can bring your gun straight into the

office. the state of florida i think starts today. you can bring it to work, have to lock it in the car, but in new hampshire, as of last thursday, as people go to work tomorrow, they can bring their guns to work. we want to know if you like this type of policy. do you not? >> clayton: donna writes, if the folks are concerned about gun and alcohol in bar, outlaw the alcohol. it causes more problems than guns did. preserve our second amendment rights. i'm a 69-year-old grandmother and i sleep with my .38 under my pillow. >> dave: wow. >> courtney: here is gary from georgia. hello, law abiding permit holding gun holders have never been a problem. the criminals in our society will now have to think a little longer about their intended victim. that may be able and willing to fight back. the most courteous crowd, you will ever meet is at a gun show. >> they have a good point because you bring up a lot of the workplace violence, a lot of the shootings. these are not the folks that are educated on guns that have a

permit. these are the people that acquire a gun illegally. that's what the opponents are saying that, look, it's not us. it's not we educated gun folks who are responsible for these incidents. >> clayton: just looking at gun violence, most of the gun violence is as a result of illegal guns. that's where most of the murders come in this country. john payne writes, if more guns cause crime, why aren't there any mass shootings at gun shows? >> dave: good point. another question we had, another story we covered for you, the drive throughs. banning drive throughs at restaurants because people say they're causing obesity and noise-related issues in california. here is keith from michigan. he said, that's why americans are fat. they drive through instead of walking in to get their fast food. their fat food. to get rid of them. >> courtney: that's about drive through, because you can eat in secret. no one has to know that you're stuffing your face at mcdonald's.

>> you think 129 feet you have to walk into the restaurant really is the reason we're overweight? >> i'm okay with banning drive throughs. here is another one. joany, what about happened to personal responsibility? the government needs to stay out of our personal lives. if someone wants to eat fast food and drive to get it, leave them alone. >> exactly. we are the fattest country in the world and we can keep eating as much as we want. that's our distinction. we have the most obesity than anywhere in the world. >> coming up on the show, democrats preparing to flip the switch, activating part of president obama's controversial health care legislation. but already a problem with the budget. peter johnson, jr. here to explain the money troubles ahead. >> courtney: also, what is the deal with all those 4th of july leftovers? we are going to be joined by our favorite chef with a quick and delicious post-party recipe. stay with us.

>> starting this week, americans who have been denied health insurance because they have preexisting conditions will be able to start getting coverage under the president's new health care reform, but the new opt-in program has significant down sides. not only are the monthly premiums expensive, but the program itself could run out of money very quickly. for more on this, we're joined

by peter johnson, jr. good morning to you, sir. happy belated 4th. >> nice to see you. >> dave: tell us more how this program could run out of money. >> it's part of the budget $5 billion is supposed to be allocated for people who have preexisting conditions who can't get insurance in their states or it's too expensive. but now congressional analysts are saying it may cost as much as $15 billion and by my calculations, maybe $20 billion to do that. that's only providing insurance for a small part of the market. the estimates are that there are two to 4 million people who may be excluded because of preexisting conditions. so the plan is to first insure maybe 10% of those folks at a cost of $5 billion. what analysts are saying is we don't have enough money and if the premiums are going to be $900 a month in some cases. >> dave: peter, this thing is not even fully operational and yet, this is what we've heard

time and time again, that we were a little off on these predictions initially. do you think this is a result of just rushing this bill fast through the house and through the senate, or is there something more to it? >> no. to some extent there is a quickness of the process. i've got to tell you, the preexisting condition part of this plan was something that really all americans wanted to see happen. they want to see it happen as soon as possible. but under the plan, it's going to take four years to put that into effect. some states are saying, we're going to operate it on our own. another 20 or so are saying, listen, federal government, you take it over. you finance it. we don't have the capacity to do it over the next four years and we're not so sure that the funding is going to be there, so you pay for it from dollar one. what people have to do if they have diabetes, if they've had cancer in the past, if they've had other conditions that have kept them from having insurance for the past six months, they

need to go to health care.gov, get an application either from the federal government or their state, depending on who is actually administering the plan, and get in there and see what kind of premiums they can get because the lack of insurance. this is very important for all americans who need this plan at this time. >> dave: that's healthcare.gov. the big thing that the democrats and the president hung their hat on was the projected savings. not just the cost, but how much this would save. so as all these estimates begin to climb now, that the cbo really cranks it out, might those savings be disappearing? >> the savings were ill louisory and a false promise to begin with. that was part of the -- i won't say a con, but part of the argument that was made in order to sell this. we're seeing even with this very small piece of this program, just affecting hundreds of thousands of americans, that the costs are going to double,

triple, or quadruple in very, very short order. the plan has been delayed. for a lot of states it was supposed to be on-line already. california, illinois, new york, this won't begin taking applications until the month of august. so obviously we're behind in terms of this plan. but if folks need this, this is something that all americans wanted to see changed, they wanted to see it changed quicker, and probably in a more comprehensive way. people are going to have to wait four years for the full benefits of the plan and for the full change to take place with regard to how insurance companies react. this is still the government financing insurance. in some sense, a public option. in some sense. a public option that a lot of us need and want to see, maybe on a more expediteth dieted basis. >> dave: that is good

information. enjoy the rest of your holiday. >> you, too. >> dave: if you're hungry, watch this next segment. a great way to fix those 4th of july leftovers. but first, we check in with martha for what's coming up on america's newsroom. good morning. >> no leftovers here. good morning. police believe that shots fired from juarez, mexico hit the city hall building in el paso, texas. karl rove joins us moments from now on the border battle and how the president is playing this politically. is joe biden's becoming the president's most trusted advisor on international policy?

welcome back to "fox & friends." you probably have leftovers from the holiday weekend. but what if you're tired of hamburgers and barbecue? here to show us a way to fix things up, those leftovers in a new way is greg scott from his restaurant and mixing up good stuff. >> this is shepherd's pie. first of all, happy 4th of july! [ cheers and applause ] >> dave: he's got to play to the crowd. you've got a lot of meat. >> shepherd pie was originated by the shepherds in europe as leftovers. so what they would do is take the ground beef, potatoes, vegetables, mix it together with some tomatoes, roast it and that became a primary dish. it was all started as a leftover. >> dave: so you've got the ground beef here. you can put in hammeringers from the weekend. >> we have -- here we have a pot

with our carrots, celery and onions. vegetables. here we're sweating our ground beef with garlic. >> dave: sweating? >> not giving it color, just rendering out the fat. afterward we'll stream the fat and put that on the side to reserve. then we'll take our vegetables with our beef, combine them and add our diced tomatoes in juice and let that render down. we season it with sometime, salt, pepper, nutmeg, until the desired consistency thickness. then we put it into our earthenware pot and then put some potato pureed mashed potatoes over it. i let to put gruyere cheese, a little panko crumbs, and then a little herb chive oil. >> courtney: how long does the whole process take? >> that's a great question, courtney. it takes around 20 minutes. but you can do the vegetables and the beef in advance.

after your celebration on 4th of july, you can not put everything away. you can cook your meat and vegetables, cool them in the fridge, the following day, take up the third step by adding your meat, vegetables and tomatoes in the pan and reducing it until it's a desired consistency and have potatoes in the refrigerator. >> dave: we'll have him stick around for the after the show show. more "fox & friends" in two minutes. i want to you teach me some knife skills. what is that? >> this is chives.

>> that's the sky cam up there. it makes you want to go to the beach. >> thank you for joining us on this holiday weekend on fox african-american friends. coming up tomorrow, you're not -- you might know this guy. the guy who wants to shut off and turn off the power for illegal immigrants. power bills, turn off the power all together. he'll be on "fox & friends" tomorrow. >> another guest on "fox & friends" tomorrow at 6:15 is a man, jerry, a north dakota republican and he's challenging michael steele. he wants him out as head of the rnc. we'd love to hear from him. why he wants steele out. he says he can raise more money. forget about what he said about