republicans. >> that's right. the republicans want you to die quickly if you get ck. >> remember that cheery slogan? he's on the attack again. this time calling his g.o.p. opponent a terrorist. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> welcome to the battle of the striped shirt. >> you're an arbitrator on this. >> i guess i will stretch and wear white. i am neutral because i sit in the middle. all right, we have to get to the headlines because that fox news alert, terror plot likely targeting americans intercepted by u.s. intelligence. the plan reportedly modelled after the 2008 mumbai attacks, remember those in india and set to focus on western tourists staying in france, england and germany. julie kirtz is live in washington for us with the developing details. >> that's right. western intelligence agencies had credible intelligence that mumbai style attack was planned

to target western tourists, as you said, likely americans staying in western hotels in france, england and germany. the attackers were allegedly of pakistani or algerian origin and trained in pakistan's tribal areas. u.s. intelligence decided to leak the information according to one source as a disruption tactic. the threat was credible and the concern was that it would evolve. at this point, there have been no arrests, gretchen, according to our information, officials are still working to investigate this plot. a big concern is that the plotters were modeling their european assault on the 2008 attack in mumbai, india, when armed gunmen, as you remember, killed more than 200 people in coordinated attacks there. several sources telling "the wall street journal" today they haven't seen a terror threat as serious as this plot for many years. gretchen? >> all right, julie, thanks for being on this story for us. we'll check back in with you throughout the morning. >> one thing, julie, i did hear it was off the arrest of a german suspected al-qaida guy. is that correct? over his -- over what he was

telling -- what he was telling officials? i guess she's gone. >> i heard the same report, though. >> yeah. >> we'll ask her that question at the top of the order next order. he ordered his favorite meal, steaks and onion rings. he won't get to eat them. his execution was put on hold. they granted him a reprieve. state did not have enough of the anesthesia for the execution. so brown who confessed to raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl argued his death would be cruel and inhumane. and while the judge continues to review the case, it will expire. he will not be able to execute brown or any other inmate until sometime next year. a student dressed in a ski mask and carrying an ak-47 terrorize a college campus before taking his own life. the 19-year-old, a sophomore at the university of texas fired four shots before running into the library. >> people just screaming and

yelling, get down. he's got a mask. crazy guy and it's just -- it's just -- it scared me. >> no one was hurt. back in 1966, at the same school, a man went on a shooting rampage from the clock tower on campus leaving 14 people dead. a fox news exclusive now. new cell phone video of president jimmy carter just moments before he fell ill on board a delta flight to cleveland. this happened yesterday. doctors say the former president had an upset stomach and will return to his scheduled book tour this afternoon after spending a night in the hospital. carter turns 86 on friday. nearly 7 1/2 billion dollars in benefits could finally be headed now to ground zero first responders. it could happen today. the house is expected to pass the long delayed 9/11 health bill that has been stalled by political gamesmanship. republican sponsor peter king says he's confident it will in fact pass this time. those are your headlines. >> why hurry?

bob woodward was on the bill o'reilly show last night. it talks about the struggles at the white house and what to do in afghanistan and pakistan and stuff like that. one of the early reports from "the new york times" said the president of the united states told woodward that the united states could absorb another 9/11 style attack. how could he say that? last night, o'reilly asked bob woodward about that comment. >> there's a group -- this country is strong. we could deal with another terrorist attack. what is bizarre is for the president of the united states to say it would be like the head of goldman-sachs going out and saying, we can absorb another financial crisis. >> the president -- >> it was bizarre. >> he did go on in his book to say i'm doing everything i can to prevent it. as i read more of that passage, it seemed as though he was kind of bucking up america saying how impressed he was the first time

around. >> remember when we discussed that originally when that came out, we were saying maybe that was the way in which it was intended. >> i think it is. >> maybe it was almost as a warning shot to the terrorists, hey, don't come after us. we'll still remain strong. >> which is kind of strange, gretchen, bob woodward had a chance to put it in context and didn't. but right there with bill o'reilly. >> and he characterized it as bizarre which is interesting. also in the book, there is 33 chapters and they only talk about one woman of note and that is hillary. she does come up in the conversation with bob woodward last night. here's the reporter from "the washington post" talking to bill about obama and who he trusts in his brain trust. >> i think what i found in all of this is that barack obama trusts his own ability to identify the issues and in the afghan war, he actually designed the strategy you hear about

operating under. >> obama thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. >> yeah, that's exactly right. >> now, you correct me if i'm wrong, my gut instinct and i have this not on any other thing than gut that barack obama doesn't listen to hillary clinton. she's not a major shaper in what he does or doesn't do. >> that's absolutely correct. >> how embarrassing. >> it's not surprising. come on, everybody knows to a certain extent he selected her as a save face sort of thing to neutralize all the people that are upset she didn't get the democratic nomination specifically a lot of women and a lot of men. when he chose her, it was a huge surprise. if you're not listening to her, why did you choose her? >> right. especially to a valuable position like that. think about condaleeza rice and president bush. can anyone honestly say that president bush didn't listen to condaleeza rice or listening to colin powell. donald rumsfeld must have got his way a lot. colin powell had a strong voice. henry kissinger and richard

nixon much that's an odd situation. that's how it was characterized if you don't have the respect or listen to hillary clinton. >> i wonder how she feels about that after hearing all that. >> she's smart. she combined with secretary of defense gates and together, they're a powerful force. >> yep. au let's talk about those ethics trials supposed to be coming up for rangel, bonner, they want to push them to start from midterm election but there's a hangup much the woman in charge -- >> not again. >> the same congresswoman who invited steven colbert to capitol hill. she's been in the news a lot lately. anyway, she apparently has no interest in starting these ethics trials before november 2nd. i wonder why. >> i wonder why. gee, and this adds -- remember nancy pelosi once upon a time said this will be the most ethical congress in the history of the world? then you got charlie rangel saying hey, don't leave me swinging in the wind until

november. it looks like the democrats are going to leave mr. rangel swinging in the wind. >> the crazy thing is that charlie rangel has combined with the g.o.p. to push for the same thing and that is a quick ethics trial and neither one will be listened to. >> the difference is charlie rangel says he's innocent and the republicans say charlie rangel is guilty. >> that part. you forgot. i left that out. out of time. >> mean whiwhilmeanwhile, earli, we shared with you there's a group of blue dogs more moderate democrats that don't like speaker pelosi anymore. they think she's too far to the left. now that list is growing. they've added another member of congress to that list. you have a democrat from louisiana, candidate, then you have gene taylor, and you have bright, you have edwards. they were all rallying around ike skelton, the democrat from missouri to become the speaker of the house if the democrats keep control in the house.

>> 48 democrats have signed a letter to support the bush tax cuts to move forward. no one wants to see them sunset. so 48. that's unbelievable. it's the incredible shrinking speaker. >> sure. this guy is running down in louisiana and one of the things he's running on, if elected, i will not vote for nancy pelosi as speaker. nancy pelosi yesterday said "i fully expect to be speaker of the house five weeks from now." you know what? even if the republicans win, she still would be. she'd be speaker until january. so what she said was actually absolutely true. she didn't say we're not going to lose the house. she will still be speaker in five weeks and six weeks as well. >> watch all those episodes of "matlock" has paid off for you. you seem to understand language better and better. my favorite congressman alan grayon is running to retain his seat in district 8 has outdone himself would you say, gretchen,

in florida. >> he put together an ad. he calls his opponent taliban and then mysteriously he took a speech that daniel webster gave back in 2009, he took it completely out of context to malign his thoughts on women. so first, let's watch the ad. >> i'm congressman alan grayon and i approved this message. >> religious fanatics try to take away our freedom in afghanistan and iran and right here in central florida. >> seen it yourself. >> daniel webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us. >> she should submit to me. that's in the bible. >> he tried to deny battered women medical care and the right to sue their abusers. he wants to force the raped woman to bear the child. dan webster, hands off our bodies and our laws. >> this is getting bipartisan condemnation. it's so out of context, you would think it was on "the daily show." >> you hear him say it. talking about submit, submit,

submit. and those little bite-sized soundbites. they were completely taken out of context. and in fact, here is 35 seconds of it to give you a little more context and you'll see that it's a complete distortion. >> so write a journal, second find a verse. i have a verse for my wife. i have verses for my wife. don't pick the ones that say she should submit to me. that's in the bible. but pick the ones that you're supposed to do. so instead, you love your life even as christ loved the church and gave himself for it. and as opposed to wives submit yourself to your own husband. she can pray that if she wants to. but don't you pray it. >> he really sounds like a taliban member, doesn't he? >> that is exactly the opposite of what the ad -- he said don't pick the verses that say submit to your husband.

if you are a woman in florida how could you possibly vote for alan grayson. i don't care what party he belongs to. how could you vote for him after he takes that entire thing? that's a total slam against women. >> as you see here, he certainly -- watch his apology. it just came out. what's not out of context by any stretch of the imagination is the fact that he has a terrible record on women's rights. i believe that's a man who refuses to apologize. >> fact check.org that looks at a lot of campaign ads, it's said it's absolutely false. it's a division of the school at the university of pennsylvania. also, the orlando sentinel has come out and reprimanded him for doing this. you got to figure if you're grayson, you just hope this controversy dies quickly. >> exactly. >> or hope that people don't ever watch the real thing. it's so disturbing. new jersey governor chris christie setting the record straight now. listen to this. >> i do not bash teachers. i bash their stubborn,

self-interested union. that's who i bash. >> we will show you what happened next after that. >> but first, stuart varney weighs in on this and first, we weigh in. we'll find out how much stu weighs. a union should have more control over private companies, really? don't they already have enough control. you can't answer yet, stu. >> don't rock the boat. ♪

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>> the president of the afl-cio openly calling for the death of free enterprise. speaking at a panel in new york city, he's said this. "we need to fundamentally restructure our economy and re-establish popular control over the private corporations that have distorted our economy and hijacked our government. that's a long-term job but one we should start now." >> well, is taking over private corporations a good idea? stuart varney is here. stuart, your response to that quote. >> it's a terrible idea, obviously. he was speaking in front of a very friendly audience. and i think he exposed his desperation. the unions at this point are truly desperate. a lot of them borrowed money to support the obama campaign in 2008. then membership is declining so the union dues income is declining. they haven't got what they wanted which is card check and they're not going to get it and

they're probably not going to get a bailout of the state municipal workers unions either so there's an element of desperation here right before a big election. they're summoning up the forces, marshalling the troops which is the hard left in this case and trying to protect their turf with the hard left. this idea will not fly. >> the other interesting thing is you named two things that aren't gonna happen. card check, no more bailouts poe t -- potentially but there's another black eye and andy stern is under f.b.i. investigation. >> we hear just this morning, i've heard that the andy stern investigation isn't going anywhere. he's being cleared. ok? that's what i heard as of this morning. but the black eye to the u.a.w. because of the pot smokers on the lunch break, that's hanging over everything here. the unions are not looking good at the moment and along comes mr. trumpka, he's trying to

shore up support but another thing that it exposes is the union's proximity to the president. andy stern is the most frequent visitor to the white house in the first six months. he's on the deficit reduction commission for heaven's sake and the unions are right there at the very center of the obama administration. and they're taking such a radical position, that's extraordinary. >> i just also was looking at the fact i think they gave $85 million to democratic causes to further their cause in unions. if you're a union member and happened to be this stray cat called a republican, how do you feel about that? you're required to pay dues and they're deciding where the money is going. >> that's the element of desperation from the unions. their membership is declining radically. this recession has cut into their membership and therefore, their dues income. they're desperate. >> this doesn't sound like america to say re-establish popular control over the private corporations. i don't know. maybe it's just me. >> i believe a couple of weeks ago, mr. trumka accused the

corporations of economic treason. that's pretty strong language, you know. dare i say that's unamerican. >> coming up on "varney & company" perhaps this topic. again started at 9:20. >> i will be there. >> on the fox business network. take another shower, you'll have some time. we got you off to an early start. >> where do i go with that? >> no more final exams. one school district wants to eliminate those tests all together and leave the grades up to the teacher. good idea? we report, you can decide. that's next. >> stuart is helping me with this segment. three days ago, this plane lost its landing gear and hit the runway on two wheels and a wing and it's happened again and the plane is made by the same company! what you need to know before you get on a plane.

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>> glad you're up. you look great. now some headlines. new video of israeli authorities storming a british catamaran. it was trying to break the gaza blockade. nine jewish active is were taken back to shore. they were released right after. 47 house democrats breaking with their leader. they just sent another letter to nancy pelosi arguing that the tax hikes on dividend and capital gains could prevent people and businesses from saving and investing. steve? >> thank you very much, brian. no student really likes taking tests and now in one school, they don't have to. timberlane high school up in new hampshire has gotten rid of midterms and final exams entirely. instead, they will evaluate the students in other ways. scott strange is the director of secondary education for

timberlane regional school and joins us from new hampshire. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you today? >> i'm doing fine. why get rid of the midterms and the final? >> i have to correct you a little bit. we're not getting rid of testing all together. we're still going to be assessing our students in a the lot of different ways. what we've done is removed the structure that our midterms and finals were delivered in. what we looked at was how can we best assess and find out what a student knows based on what our curriculum is telling us is the important pieces. >> ok, what you found was when students have -- wherever they are in the lesson plan, they got to stop and then review everything that they've learned so far for the midterm or the final, that's disruptive for the learning process. >> exactly. that takes at least eight days out of our school year and we turn those eight days back over to our teachers and we've asked them to really look at the competencies in 2008, the state of new hampshire mandated that all high school curricula becomes competency base.

our school has gone about creating those competencies, what are the most important pieces that we want students to know from our curriculum. now all the assessments that we'll be giving our students are geared towards those competencies. we find those two styles of tests, midterm and final wasn't getting us to a true understanding of what our students know and how they're measuring up to those competencies. >> i like the idea of kids getting eight more days in the classroom by eliminating that stuff. that's a step in the right direction. what about as soon as they leave your high school, they're going to wind up going to college. and colleges have midterms and they've got finals and also if they're not taking midterms and finals, how will they get, you know, be programmed to take the act's or the sat's as well? >> sure. you're talking two different kinds of testing here, steve. the sat's and the act's and the gre's when you take those in college, those are called norm reference tests where you're measuring a student against another group of students or like students across the nation. what we're looking at is measuring them against the

competencies and those are criterion based tests so we're measuring their knowledge and understanding. i understand the concern of some parents is that we're not preparing our students for college. but when you talk to colleges, you talk to , you know, admissions people and you talk to them, what they're saying is what colleges really want high schools to do is to send them students that can read well, that can write well, that can think well, that can take large pieces of information and sin thighs them like in writing a paper so if we send them to college with those kinds of skills, they're really going to be able to adapt and they're really going to be able to react to any kind of assessment that's given to them. and whether it be a midterm or a final or a large paper or an essay or anything that's thrown in front of them. so if we can get good students to colleges, they'll be ready for whatever comes their way. >> it's an interesting idea. and it just kicked off up in your school district. we'll have to check in with you at the end of the year to find out how it all turned out. scott strange up there in new hampshire, thank you very much. >> thanks, steve. have a good day. >> you, too. what do you think about that? do you think it's a good idea

getting rid of midterms and finals for the reason that scott just outlined? e-mail us right now, friends at foxnews.com. new jersey governor chris christie with another warning to teachers unions. >> i do not bash teachers. i bash their stubborn, self-interested union. that's who i bash. >> i wonder how he really feels. we'll show you what happened next there. then what happened to lead by example? coaches turn violent at the peewee football game. uh-oh! and happy birthday to the jazz composer and musician that's 68 years old today. happy birthday. plus flu season around the corner and walgreens is live in our plaza with the big red bus to help you stay healthy this year. she will give me a shot in five minutes. ♪

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>> in a new interview with "rolling stone" magazine president obama said he has stevie wonder, bob dylan and the rolling stones on his ipod. yeah. unfortunately, the question was do you have a plan to fix the economy? >> that was good. >> i thought bill o'reilly had a great instant analysis yesterday when the story came out about how -- that the president was on the cover of "rolling stone" and the extensive article feature on it was -- wasn't that the same magazine that -- that double crossed your hand picked general in afghanistan? general mcchrystal? >> absolutely. >> that and then also you have to wonder what the motive was besides slamming mcchrystal which would be to get out the young vote. right? because it's "rolling stone" let's face it is for young readers usually and it skews left so maybe he's trying to rally the base. but is there a deeper meaning

there that brian just alluded to? was this a way in saying, yeah, you know, let's just do this. this is kind of a plan. >> it was just a few months ago, too, not even talking about two years ago, three years ago, this could have upended his entire war operation had petraeus said no. >> the thing is there's an investigation at the pentagon to figure out what went wrong there and the consensus is that "rolling stone" broke the interview guidelines and the rules they had set out ahead of time. you would think that the commander in chief probably would have let the investigation actually conclude before granting them this juicy plum of an oval office interview. >> very interesting. here's what the white house said about it. "rolling stone" isn't the only outlet the president has ever spoken with in which we didn't agree with every article they've written or broadcast. i think there's a deeper meaning in that statement, too. >> but i'll let you decide. >> i used to subscribe. >> what happened? >> i never read it. >> ok. >> it was -- i got it in college. i think my mom gave it to me.

>> you wanted to be cool. >> i wanted to be cool. i left it on the coffee table and never read it. all right. time for some headlines on this wednesday. the second time in three days an airplane built by the canadian company bombardia skidded to a stop on a u.s. runway using one of the wings as landing gear. the latest in milwaukee. the plane could not lower one of its wheels. luckily the three dozen passengers on board weren't hurt. of course, on saturday, another plane came to a grinding halt with sparks flying at new york's j.f.k. airport. bombardia's jets have had at least three other landing gear malfunctions in just the past two years. >> as many as 30 people feared missing now in colombia this morning after heavy rain triggered severe mudslides. some of the missing were trying to get away from the falling mud but they couldn't move fast enough. the bus was eventually carried.

>> new jersey governor chris christie coming out swinging against the teachers union. listen. >> i do not bash teachers. i bash their stubborn self-interested unions. that's who i bash! >> wow, the republican governor outlines his plan to overhaul education and he did it last night. he wants to link teachers pay to students performance to make it easier for districts to fire the bad teachers and he wants to overhaul how teachers are evaluated. that would be key. >> a world war ii veteran is given a new purple heart. his original one was stolen. michael demitch received the honor in 1944 when he was wounded in france. but thieves recently broke into the 89-year-old's ohio home and stole the medal! now a local good samaritan is making sure it gets replaced. >> there's not too many chances in your lifetime that you get to reach out and say thank you and actually meet an american hero. >> i appreciate that. that's very nice of him.

>> he'll receive the new medal in a ceremony next week. who says that people aren't still nice to each other, right? >> absolutely. that was nice. generation to generation. meanwhile, in sports, a big night in baseball. three more teams clinch a playoff berth. first in cincinnati. watch this catch by the reds. >> he robbed him of a home run. the game will remain tied at two heading into the ninth. when jay bruce's walk-off homer ends a 15-year playoff drought. >> the 1-2 pitch to jones. swing and a miss! he struck him out! >> that's the other game. by the way, 3-2 and the rays clinched their second trip to the post season in three years. they won 5-0 over baltimore. only 18,000 on hand for the celebration but they still have to find out who is going to be in first place in the east because in toronto, the yankees locked up a playoff spot after a 6-1 victory behind c.c.sabathia.

they trail first place tampa by 1/2 game. you're about to see the greatest touchdown ever called back in a game. watch this, quarterback marquis tomkins hurdles over a standing defender on his way to the end zone. the only problem, ohio school football players says hurdling a player who has one or two feet on the ground is a penalty. they would soon go on to beat struthers high, it's too dangerous for everyone involved. in pros if you can do it, you do it. here's another example of adults setting a fine example. between two coaching staffs at a peewee football game. it started after a coach jumped in to separate two boys who were fighting on the field. tempers flared and both coaches of both teams would then jump in. no one was arrested. obviously, you can see it on camera. both teams now banned from

post-season play. unrelated, coming up on "kilmeade & friends" we'll talk to dana perino. she'll be live in the studio. the authors of freakanomics have a movie out. they'll be joining me live in the studio and bill hemmer also between 9:00 and noon. i want to make sure steve doesn't get the flu this year. how do i go about doing that? >> i'm glad you asked. we can get flu shots outside right now. friday is the start of the flu season and "fox & friends" got you covered. i'm here with the -- as you can see behind me, the walgreens big red bus where you can stop by today for free health screenings and get a free flu shot voucher. stacy is a doctor of pharmacy at walgreens and we were just talking, is that high enough yet? >> a little bit higher. >> i'll do that inside the bus. now, i got a flu shot last year, do i need another one? >> yep, you get a flu shot every year and this year it's even simpler, the h1n1 and another vaccine is all combined.

it's a one shot deal and we can take care of you at walgreens. >> now, do you have the option of in the arm or up the schnoz? >> you do. live vaccine is a nasal spray between ages 2 and 49 and shot is for 6 months and older auto. auto you've done this before, right? >> yes, many, many times. over 1,000 times. >> let's go inside. she told me a moment ago she's actually given dr. oz a flu shot and you know, he would start crying like a baby if it hurt. so i think i'm in good hands and, in fact, now we're inside francisco carusco. >> how are you doing? >> i'm doing ok. what are you doing here? >> this is the aarp walgreens tour, a nationwide campaign. we're a fleet of 10 buses that provides free flu shot vouchers and free health screenings. >> did you say the magic word, free? >> that's right, it's free. we're offering a free aarp membership to any aarp members or people over 50.

>> if you're over 50 -- how old? >> 50. >> over 50, you can get a free flu shot. >> flu shot vouchers are for any adults 18 and older uninsured. >> how did i get that free flu shot voucher? >> it's for uninsured folks who come to the wellness tour and take advance of the six free health screenings that included waist circumference and bone density. >> you know a lot of stuff. as these buses travel around, there is nine or 10 she told me about. it doesn't sound like you get the flu shots on the bus. you do them at the store. >> correct. the flu shots are given at any walgreens or clinics. >> for the average person who does not wind up with an actual free flu shot voucher, how much does a flu shot cost? >> you can go to any walgreens and the flu shots cost $29.99 and if you have medicare part b, medicare should cover it. >> very good, francisco.

all right. i'm ready for my flu shot. >> you already have it. >> you did not give it to me. are you kidding? >> you missed it. i did. >> fantastic! >> i told you i was good at this. >> when you gave it to me, i wanted to go ouch, that hurt! well, that was easy. it didn't hurt. that's the most important thing to know. >> check it out. if you'd like more information, go to our web site at foxnews.com. all right, stacia and francisco who probably is not driving the bus. that was great. it didn't hurt! >> wow, that's fantastic. >> i know. >> brian, we better get out there right now. >> i don't know. i'll have to see. all right, steve. roll your sleeve down and get back in here and get back to work. all right. coming up straight ahead now, new legislation promises to help save the environment. one problem, it could kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. we'll explain why. >> then he was set to be executed for murdering a child. but a judge just put his execution on hold. why? the prison was short on anesthesia! we're not kidding. judge napolitano here next with that story. >> first, the quote of the day.

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>> all right. news by the numbers now. first, 800,000. a congressional report says that's how many manufacturing jobs will disappear in the u.s. if pending air pollution rules go into effect. reports say workers at places like plants could be replaced by machines. neck, 28 million. that's how much unemployed people in north carolina are being told to give back. the state mistakenly overpaid on

unemployment benefits. and 700 billion minutes, how much time the houston community college says all of us spend on facebook each month. that doesn't count judge napolitano who is never off it. >> you're right, brian. all right. >> much more serious story now. convicted child rapist and murderer's execution is now on hold for this guy. late last night, a federal judge in california blocked the execution of albert greenwood brown. get this, the state did not have enough of the anesthesia required for the execution and brown argued his death would be cruel and inhumane. >> that's right. the governor's office plans on filing an appeal today but in a weird turn of events. the state's entire supply of lethal injection drugs will expire the day after tomorrow and judge napolitano is shaking his head. they have this thing out here, if you're going to die by lethal injection, you get to pick the drugs that kill you. >> right. >> apparently, this guy picked these drugs that they only had a limited supply of. if they gave him a couple of shots, they wouldn't have enough if he needed an extra dose. >> correct. correct.

i mean, there's a very complicated lawsuit involved here. the very brief version of it is the people that administer the hypodermic needles that put the deadly chemicals in you are not medical personnel and cannot be trained by medical personnel because the medical profession has a rule of ethics that prohibits it from doing this. >> these are people from the prison who have learned to give shots. >> correct. some of these executions which is supposed to take two to three minutes took 45 to 60 minutes and the observers came to the conclusion that the condemned person suffered excruciating pain which federal law and the constitution prohibits. so people on death row actually sued the state of california saying would you please get this straight? so that we don't suffer like this? a federal judge threw the case out. supreme court reinstated the case. the federal judge heard the case and ended with a compromise and the compromise is the condemned person can pick the chemicals they want. this guy picked a chemical that would put him to sleep. the same anesthesia that we would all use if we were having

same day surgery. >> wouldn't feel all the pricks if they don't get the vein. >> correct. if it takes 45 to 60 minutes to administer the chemicals that stop his heart from pumping and lungs from breathing, he wouldn't know it. if california didn't tell the judge is they don't have chemical anymore either because of budgetary reasons or because somebody forgot to order it. they were going to execute him this morning and discovered yesterday they didn't have the chemical. the federal judge said the execution is off. go out and buy the chemical! >> right. it sounds like and you kind of touched on this a moment ago. california is bankrupt. >> yes. >> it sounds like they simply didn't have enough money in the kitty to buy this stuff to put this guy to sleep forever. >> california's death row mechanism is the slowest, most inefficient in the country. this guy committed his crime 30 years ago. >> that's right. and taxpayers have been paying for him to stay in that prison every single day for 30 years while that family suffers. >> absolutely. >> the child that he killed. >> the average stay on death row in california is between 24 and

25 years. so the efforts of the state to accelerate this have not worked. >> is he gaming the system? >> this guy? >> yeah. >> no, this guy is one of many people who filed a lawsuit that the supreme court said was perfectly legitimate. they're not supposed to suffer. it's supposed to be a quick and painless and efficient and the state is supposed to know what it's doing and have the materials on hand and it didn't. >> do you think there was anything seriptitious in the fact this they did not have it. >> i'll tell you this, a federal judge last night was furious at the state for not telling the state that they didn't have it and for not even knowing that they didn't have it. the prison officials didn't tell the lawyers in the courtroom that they didn't have the chemicals. >> it's so unusual for a bureaucracy not to get the things right. >> that's what i was thinking. >> even a bureaucracy that involves death. >> all right. pleasure. >> thank you, guys. >> watch him on weekends called

"freedom watch." it's great. >> why are dead city workers still collecting government checks? >> then democrats, some of them want to rename bush tax cuts the republican tax hikes. republican governor tim pawlenty will weigh in on that. >> the answer to the quote of the day, sophia bush. yeah, sometimes i worry. sometimes i worry. what if something bad happens? so what happens if someone gets my credit or debit card and buys a ton of stuff? that would be... really, really bad. [ male announcer ] with banof america's zero liability guarant, you're not reonsible for any frdulent charges on your card. guaranteed. bank of america says they'll credit any fraudulent charges back to my account s soon as the next day. the next day! that makes me feel bet about using these cards. they've got my back. they've got my ba. [ male announcer ] the opportity to worry less abt fraud with the zero liility guarantee from bank of ameri.

>> it's a shocking investigation. dead city workers in new york city getting sent millions of dollars in pension money but they're all dead in taxpayers expense. >> in one case, we found a pensioner who had passed on three years ago in 2007 and yet,

38 checks had continued to be cashed by somebody. >> wow. how does this happen? how can pension fraud be prevented? is it happening in your city or town? joining us from d.c. is a former deputy secretary of health and human services. as part of his duties, he oversaw the inspector general's office that investigates fraud. shocked by this or sadly, is this typical? >> yeah, sadly typical, unfortunately. you know, there's a story in japan where something recently happened very similar. there was some guy mummified in the back bedroom for 30 years and they came to congratulate him on the 111th birthday and they found the guy was dead and still getting a check. unfortunately it happens a lot. >> someone dies in your family and you're going to keep getting the checks. why can't we have a system that stops the checks when people die? somewhere, somehow, the death certificate would stop the pension checks from coming in? >> well, you're right. we need something like that. right now, i think we've been living for too long on the honor

system where you have to say i'm dead. my relative died. let's stop sending the checks. i think we need to use computer data bases to better integrate information like a death certificate or a marriage certificate if somebody is getting a welfare payment, for example, and that would stop -- automatically stop some type of payment that comes from the government. >> you think the next step has to be biometrics. describe how that could happen and how we could implement them and how much money we could save. >> biometrics is something that could work in health care fraud, for example. there's two things in health care fraud. the other is doctor billing for phantom services that they didn't provide. if somebody came in with a thumb print and said, you know, here i am. i'm eligible for the service, it would prove that the right person got the service but also that the service was actually provided and that could save, you know, billions. there's $60 to $100 billion of medicare fraud that happens annual. >> paying off people that are

alive rather than people that are dead. people need incentives to do the right thing and to be efficient, correct? >> yeah and it's hard to get government workers to say, ok, i'm going to find a way to cut back on this fraud. the best way to do it is maybe have the private sector gain some percentage of the savings on fraud if they can cut down on this. so if they discover fraud or if they have a perfect payment system, they would get a bonus. that doesn't happen to federal workers on a g. s. system which is a set salary scale. >> you're talking about 14 cases. 171 cases uncovering 171 additional cases in this investigation totalling $2 million and that's just what they found already. tevy troy, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> meanwhile, coming up straight ahead, we move ahead much the developer of a mosque near ground zero is going on another media blitz. reaction to his latest claims from a firefighter who lost his best friend in the september 11th attacks. and then take a look at this. protesters use a dump truck to

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>> good morning, everyone. wednesday, september 29, 2010. thank you for sharing your time with us today. we start with a fox news alert because a multicountry commando style terror attack has been thwarted this morning. the plans modelled after the attacks on mumbai in india and the suspects have connections to 9/11. a live report minutes away. >> throwing his weight behind republican candidates for the midterms. so is this a sign that the popular g.o.p. governor tim pawlenty will make a run for the white house? he answers us live looking a lot like that. >> so we'll ask him that? >> yes. one other question and that's

it. >> meanwhile, remember the hospital that captivated a nation with their pink glove dance we showed you here on the show? we loved that! you know what? they are back. and that is live and they've got a sequel. you'll see it right here on "fox & friends." for a wednesday. >> look at them. >> dance, people, dance. >> ♪ make it happen everything we can do everybody wants to be something ♪ >> it's one thing to dance but another thing to do it with pink gloves but they do it so well. >> as a child on the andy williams show, i used to watch them and think how do they get their whole family dance together? that's nothing compared to this. they have a whole hospital dancing together. >> who is going to take out an appendix today? >> many of them are breast cancer survivors and many of them work in the medical field

and all inspired by the pink gloves and that's the sign of breast cancer awareness month which is around the corner. >> then they can look so easy. >> they do and they're having a lot of fun. thank you very much for join us. we have a very busy wednesday and we start right now with news headlines. a big alert. >> fox news alert, a terror plot likely targeting americans intercepted by u.s. intelligence. it was reportedly modelled after the 2008 mumbai, india, attacks and set to focus on western tourists. joining us live with more on this julie kirtz. what do we know this morning? >> the deadly mumbai attacks were commando style raids, u.s. intelligence officials at this point have not confirmed the precise details of this new threat to european cities but here's what we know. the eiffel tower was briefly evacuated last night after a bomb threat. the second bomb alert there in two weeks. western intelligence agencies had credible intelligence that a

mumbai style attack was planned to target western tourists, likely americans, they say, staying in western hotels in france, england, and germany. u.s. intelligence decided to leak this information according to one of our sources as a disruption tactic. the threat was credible, they say, and officials were concerned it could evolve. at this point, there have been no arrests. the plotters were allegedly of pakistani or algerian origin and they were trained in pakistan's tribal areas and that's where the c.i.a. launched a series of drone attacks on tuesday. reportedly killing four militants just across the border from afghanistan. now, "the wall street journal" is reporting u.s. intelligence and european intelligence officials saying they haven't seen a threat as serious as this one in europe for many years. we're still collecting details. we'll bring them to you. back to you guys. >> thank you very much for that update. julie kirtz live for us in d.c. rest of your headlines. a cement truck plastered with anti-bank slogans was blocking the entrance to the irish

parliament earlier today. as tensions mount over the country's debt crisis and enormous bank bailout. a guard narrowly escaped being hit by the truck painted with the works toxic bank anglo as it drove to the banks. that is an apparent reference to a bank that was nationalized last year. that bank has $97 billion worldwide. the 41-year-old driver was taken into custody. new video of israeli authorities storming a british catamaran. boat was trying to break through the gaza blockade. nine jewish activists were taken into custody. they claim they were bringing aid to gaza. >> we still believe that we must not occupy other people. we must let people live freely. >> the activists have all been released now. the incident comes four months after israeli forces killed nine activists on a gaza bound flotilla. president obama in iowa today as he continues to re-energize voters heading into the midterm election. he's in des moines holding what

the white house describes a backyard conversation on the economy. in 2008, obama carried the state against john mccain but a recent "des moines register" poll has his disapproval rating at 55% among likely voters. let's get it over with! that's the message from the republicans on the house ethics committee. they're demanding new york congressman charlie rangel and california's maxine waters to finally face hearings on a slew of ethics violations before the november midterms. they're accusing democrats of delaying the trust. and those are your headlines. >> all right. joining us right now from minnesota is the governor of that state and author of courage to stand, a new book that comes out in january. they opened up a web site for that today, though. governor tim pawlenty. good morning to you, governor. >> good morning. >> we've been talking a lot about minnesota lately particularly on the weather map. you've had some terrible flooding. 101 bridges over the minnesota river are closed. you're calling for a special one day session of the legislature to pass some sort of relief, right? >> yeah, thanks for asking.

southern minnesota in particular has been hit really hard and we've got hundreds of homes that are damaged, lot of public infrastructure damaged but the national guard, our first responders, communities, neighbors have done a great job responding, we're grateful for their good work and we'll get these communities rebuilt but the state is going to have to do its share and that's why we're having this special session probably within the next couple of weeks. >> so governor, you've been out and you're making sure that your party is successful in the midterm elections. why be so active? who are you pushing for? why are you hands on? >> brian, i've been all over the country through my freedom first pack which is at t timpawlenty.com. we're trying to convey a message. among other things, if we're going to get the economy moving in the right direction, we have to do things to encourage the private sector. we have to do things to lighten the load and not increase the load. unfortunately, this president and congress doesn't understand that. we have to convey the message of what it's going to take to grow jobs and grow in the private sector economy. we've been all over the place but particularly in the upper

midwest. >> lets take a look at some of the candidates that you've been actively supporting. there you see christine o'donnell that you've endorsed. marco rubio in florida and the candidate from california in a tight race and meg whitman in california going up in a gubernatorial campaign against jerry browne. i understand one of the things that you obviously support is the g.o.p.'s pledge to america which they unveiled last week. what was your reaction to that? can the democrats now still call the republicans the party of no? >> no, i think the pledge is a good blueprint and it says to the country, look, if you elect the republicans, these are the kinds of priorities, area of focus and outline of what we're going to do for the country so i applaud the next speaker of the house, speaker boehner and his leadership team for putting that pledge out. i think it's a good blueprint. >> yeah. governor, we've been talking over the last number of weeks about how the polls show that it seems like republicans, in particularly republican men are the most motivated block of

voters for the midterm. as you travel the country, does there seem to be one issue that's really got people hacked off across the board? >> well, clearly, the issue of biggest concerns is the economy and jobs. but one thing that's making people mad and stirring the passions is government spending and excessive government spending and the government is out of control. 10 years ago if you asked people about the debt or the deficit or five years ago, they might say yeah, yeah, you know, it's a problem. but it really wasn't motivating their voting behavior. this year in grocery stores and down at the hardware store, the gas station, average people, not even people involved in politics are coming up and saying, governor, we've had enough. we've got to get the government spending under control. >> tell it to john kerry. he thinks the electorate is uninformed which is a great way to reach out to the people. something else that's important to bring up. when it comes to the bush tax cuts and for some reason, many people are still calling it that, a lot of democrats are seeing the wisdom in extending them.

46, 40 plus in the house. at least five over in the senate. what does that say to you about the climate in washington? >> well, i think it says that the country and the congress are reflecting what the people want which is don't raise taxes for anybody in a recession. don't do it at all. by the way, but to have steny hoyer, for example, come out and say this is the republicans' fault that there's a stalemate on this issue is preposterous. last time i checked the democrats controlled the whole congress and a big chunk of democrats saying we agree with the republicans on this. should tell nancy pelosi and steny hoyer something which is they're wrong and they should continue all the tax cuts, not just some of them. >> governor, what will the ramifications be if they actually go home on friday and they don't vote on this? they're going to go home and face the electorate and what's going to happen, then? >> well, i think the democrats will pay a further price for that stalemate. again, they're in charge of all the congress. they're in charge of the white house and it's within their power to make this happen and they're refusing to do it and they're letting politics get in

the way of what i think most of the country, even most of the congress and a good chunk of the democrats agree would be good for the economy. extend the tax cuts across the board for everybody. >> sure. ok, so nancy pelosi and company probably going to get out of town very promptly so they can go remind people why -- >> we'd like to kick them out of town. >> we've done a good job and why they need to be re-elected but it doesn't look like they'll get the vote. some people say if she's no longer speaker next year, steny hoyer may wind up as the minority leader. did you hear, he wants to rename the -- many do, as the bush tax cuts. he wants to rename them the republican tax increases because they were set to expire at the end of this year. what do you think of that? >> well, i think it just makes no sense. i mean, it's irrational. illogical. the democrats control the entire congress. if nancy pelosi and steny hoyer can't get the votes for what they think is the right thing to do, that's failed leadership and they should look in the mirror

and say they failed. >> governor, on top of that, the fact of the matter is bush wanted to make -- president bush wanted to make them permanent but didn't have the 60 votes to avoid the filibuster, he went through the procedural method which means you have to put an expiration date on them. that's the only reason they expire in 2010. and steny hoyer calls them -- he actually -- i think he called them bush tax increases on sunday. chris wallace almost fell off his chair! >> well, you know, again, i think we got to get steny hoyer maybe a little graph or chart so he can connect the dots. he clearly had a bad day yesterday when he was trying to think through this. >> let me ask you this, the president is on this full swing tour now really reaching out to the young people of america again going to colleges and universities and saying look, even though i'm not on the ticket for the midterms, you should still be nrpgized and come out and vote. and then you have joe biden, the vice president telling the democrats to stop whining, just go out to the polls. what do you make of that? do you think some of that inspirational message from two years ago has gone? >> it's hard to manufacture

passion and sincerity and frankly, if i was a college student and i looked at joe biden, i don't think i'd get really inspired but beyond all of that, it's got to be sincere. it's got to be real. it's got to come from the gut and it's got to come from the heart. i don't think it matters how many speeches the president gives or how many speeches joe biden gives, people aren't feeling the love. it's not there. sentiment has shifted from independents, young people to the republicans and now it's our chance to govern and we got to do what we say we're going to do this time and make sure we live up to the promises that we're making. >> ed rollins was talking last week and he said i already have an appointment with governor huckabee to sit down and decide what we're going to do meaning they'll probably work together about running for president right after the new year. when does governor pawlenty sit down with his people and decide when he's going to run or if he's going to run? >> i like mike huckabee and ed rollins so i have a lot of respect for both of them. as to my future, i'll decide what i'm going to do early next year, probably in the

january/february time frame. >> how handy. in january, your new book "courage to stand" is going to come out and of course, you mentioned earlier, you got a web site. if you want more information, go to our web site at foxnews.com. we know you got a busy day especially with the flooding in southern minnesota. thank you so much for joining us live here on "fox & friends." >> thanks for having me on. have a great day. >> you as well. coming up on the show, the developer of the mosque near ground zero is in the middle of near media blitz. reaction to his latest claim from a firefighter who lost friends in the september 11th attacks. >> and are unions to blame for our failing schools? what about the parents? of the children? a school administrator's opinion comes up next on the new movie "waiting for superman." >> plus -- they captivated the nation with their pink glove dance. today, those hospital employees are back and here live to perform their sequel -- i believe if my eyes don't deceive me, they're performing already. >> in the newsroom.

>> even the kids are getting stupider every year or something is wrong in the education system. >> your children and future generations are on the bridge of the titanic and everybody is

going to drown. >> so we've talked a lot about the unions and the teachers but what role should the parents play in improving education? with me now is the founder and executive director of the knowledge is power program in metro atlanta schools, david jurnigan. good morning to you. >> good morning, gretchen. >> this movie is so compelling. i believe that every american should see this movie. your thoughts? >> absolutely. this is a very powerful film and i think what's happening around the country, it's sparking a necessary conversation about the challenges in our public education system. >> and georgia does not have unions. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> we're not a union state. >> much of this movie pretty much annihilates the unions and their involvement and as many of the proponents in this movie talk about, they say it's the unions that care about the adults and not the kids. you also want to bring up the very important point that parents need to be involved as well. >> absolutely. we think parents are a critical piece to the puzzle.

and, you know, in our schools, we do a great deal of effort to make sure that our parents are engaged from the minute that we open up our schools. we do home visits with every family to make sure they understand it's a welcoming place. we provide cell phones to our teachers who are accessible to parents when they need them. but what we found is that i've never met a parent who didn't want a quality education for their child. >> that's so obvious in the movie, too. you service low income neighborhoods, right? and this school has grown -- so these are public schools, right? >> they are public schools, open enrollment. we do a lottery for our kids. >> what's so crushing in this movie and so sad, you watch these five kids to see whether or not their lives are going to be affected of whether or not they get into the charter schools by lottery. how many applicants do you have and how many do you have to turn down every year? >> we have four schools in atlanta right now and we have over 300 kids on the waiting

list between our schools. and every year, i take phone calls from parents who are begging to try to find a way and i have city uncilmen calling me trying to get their kids in. and, unfortunately, we have to comply with the federal lottery rules and can't give preference to kids. >> what is it about knowledge is power program, the kipp school, what is it about your school that has parents clamoring to get in? >> we believe that all kids can learn and do whatever it takes to get kids to learn. we focus on getting our kids to and from college. over 80% of our kids are going to college. we offer a program that provides more time in school. our kids are in school 50% more time. they go to school on saturdays and a couple of extra weeks during the summer. >> to keep them out of trouble. let me ask you this -- can you fire the bad teach snerz>> we can. all of our teachers are at will employees. >> let's take a lack at a quote from randy weingarten, the

president of the american federation of teachers and she's featured in the movie "waiting for superman" and she says this. the film casts several outliars in starring roles. bad teachers and teacher unions as the villian and charter schools as heroes ready to save the day. how do you like being called an outliar, david? >> well, i think charter schools indeed makes this point in the film that charter schools are public schools and he also makes certain to know that charter schools are not the solution. 1 in 5 charter schools are doing well. there's some that aren't doing so well. >> right. well, it's an amazing film and i'm blessed to know more about the public school education after seeing it. david jurnigan, thank you for being our guest today. >> thanks for having me. >> the developer of a mosque near ground zero refuses to back down. he just spoke out minutes ago. we'll show you what he said and get reaction from a firefighter who was leading a fight against the mosque. then she's a fast rising star of nickelodeon's hit show, teen

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>> let's catch up. we have headlines right now. exclusive cell phone video showing former president jimmy carter moments before he got sick on board a plane which was a flight to cleveland. he spent the night in the hospital but is expected to resume his book tour later on today. his spokesperson says former president had an upset stomach. meanwhile, the government finalizing a plan today to exit its majority stake in aig. the big insurance company. reports say the treasury department would exchange $49 billion of preferred shares for common stock that would then be

sold to private investors like all of us, perhaps. taxpayers are not expected to be paid back in full, however. that's too bad. brian, over to you. >> see the proposed mosque at ground zero still sparking protests across the nation. this morning, developer sharif el-gamal speaking out again just minutes ago, he refused -- >> the facts that are not being accurately portrayed is that our community wants this. >> former fdny firefighter, 9/11 survivor tim brown joins us now with some reaction. so he says the community wants it. he says he took a poll, 29-1, they wanted this. >> right, he's quoting the community board vote which they didn't need that approval in the first place but 70% of new yorkers are against this. and he's a brooklyn guy so i'm not sure what community he's talking about. i don't know how he all of a sudden took ownership of lower manhattan. >> tim, let's frame out why it matters to you. why does this issue matter to you? >> well, the actual location is

ground zero in our opinion. the landing gear went through the roof of the building. the area has never been searched for human remains. this is indeed the graveyard of my friends. >> and your friends number not only firefighters but other people. >> many other people. i mean, i'm a manhattan guy. i've lived in manhattan 25 years. this is my home, also, i don't know where sharif comes off claiming the neighborhood. >> whether this mosque is built, it's not hollowed ground. what are you talking about, it's not hollowed ground. there's delis and strip clubs there. >> who are they to figure out if this is or is not hollowed ground. this is for the families to decide, in my opinion. >> el-gamal is just on, he's a developer. i don't think he has a financial stake in this although he has to catch one the taxes. you were asked to go on "the today show". why didn't you? >> i had a long discussion with the reporter and i told them it had to be a fair portrayal of the situation. and i explained to him sharif's background and that he's not a

trustworthy guy and he refused to acknowledge that. and i -- if they're going to bring me in on tape and sharif live and cut my interview, i'm not going to give them that opportunity to do that. >> but we are. so let's talk about what the facts are. the facts are that elzanaty who is the money man behind this, had his lawyer on yesterday with channel 5 here in new york and said that essentially he'd be open to moving it. he found another spot and it's a few blocks away from that. el-gamal says it's not moving. i'm calling the shots. that's really not the case. >> well, i believe elzanaty. but, you know, this is a group of people who i wouldn't give my money to, i'll tell you that. if this comes down to a war, an internal war, i would say elzanaty wins that one. sharif has lied to me before. >> sharif el-gamal? >> sharif el-gamal has lied to me more than once. >> tim, here's what he just said about that very topic. about moving. >> there are no discussions about moving this project?

>> absolutely none. >> there are no discussions about moving this project. >> in fact, he's -- either he's radically uninformed or there are discussions to moving it to 30 cliff street which is in the vicinity but further away. >> right. right. it's a step in the right direction, certainly. and, you know, i don't know that location. i don't know the -- i don't know mr. elzanaty very well. but it certainly is a step the right way. >> now, some say when the election is over, the temperatures will go down, emotions will subside. what's your reaction to that? >> the families are not letting this go. there is no way, you know, the media might cover it less. but the families are not going to let go of this. this mosque will never be built on our graveyard. >> all right. tim, thanks so much for coming in. thanks for your instant reaction and thanks for coming here. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up straight ahead, three minutes before the bottom of the hour, john kerry says most americans are too uninformed to vote. guess what? john stossel agrees. he sets out -- and he comes out to our set to explain and she's

the fast rising star of nickelodeon's "victorious" teen actress victoria justice will join us live and their pink glove dance routine became an internet sensation. now these hospital workers have a sequel. they're here to perform it live on "fox & friends." they have taken over the building. almost dancing. john certainly is. you want some fiber one honeclusters? yeah. you must really care about him. what? you gave him fiber. this tastes way too good to be fiber. they're delicious crunchy clusters with sweet honey and half a day's worth of fiber. you care about my fiber? not really. [ male announcer ] fiber one. ♪ can you hear it? ♪ fuelin' the american spirit ♪ no matter when, no matter where ♪ ♪ marathon will take you there ♪ and i was a pack-a-day smoker for 25 years.

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>> all right. welcome back to "fox & friends." remember john kerry ran for president once upon a time? >> seemed like yesterday. >> not too long ago, we discovered he thought people -- he thought voters were smart before he thought they were dumb. listen to this. >> we have an electorate that doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on. so, you know, people are

influenced by a simple slogan rather than by the facts and the truth or what's happened. >> uninformed. >> he was really upset because evidently he wants cap and trade to pass and he feels as though people have the wrong impression of it. >> yeah. that was also partly because a slam on the tea party movement, too, because many people would argue that the american electorate is more energized than ever before. at least speaking their mind and showing up for all those health care meetings and for the whole tea party thing but in a way, does he have a point? does he have a point that americans, many of them don't really know what's going on? watch what john stossel found out when he went to times square. it's scary. >> so who's this guy? >> looks like tom brokaw. >> who's this? >> that's a good question. >> yeah. i have no idea. >> i don't know. >> almost no one we asked knew who john boehner was. >> you know who this is? >> most people we asked didn't know who she was.

>> i don't know. >> i have no idea. >> however -- >> how about this? you know who this is? >> that's the situation. the situation. >> i actually had no clue who this guy is. he's a character on a current hot reality show. but many more people knew him than the leaders of congress. >> situation! >> situation! >> mike the situation. >> see, i know that one. i don't know the vice president, though. >> i don't know. call me a dummy, i know who john boehner is and don't know who the situation is. >> really? >> i guess i'm dumb in some people's minds. >> we've discovered in the last couple of days, situation is not a very good dancer on "dancing with the stars." >> but he's still in there unlike michael bolton who got voted out last night. candidates voting for governor of california went face to face last night. as you're about to see, the fangs came out. >> putting jerry browne in charge of negotiating with the

labor unions is like putting count dracula in charge of the blood bank. >> the republican meg whitman drawing blood scoring the best line of the night. she's new to this game. this is her first run for office. that could be a good thing. her democratic opponent, 72-year-old jerry browne, of course, a career politician. >> usually not a good thing. for the second time in three days, an airplane built by a canadian company skids to a stop on a u.s. runway using one of its wings as landing gear. it happened last night and happened in milwaukee. skywest jet couldn't lower one of its wheels. luckily, the three dozen passengers on board were unhurt. saturday, another plane came to a grinding halt with sparks flying at j.f.k. airport. hey, can we pull over the other planes and check them, please? >> no kidding. meanwhile, hushing the hogs. a federal law prohibits motorcycles from being allowed within a certain decibel level. it's often ignored but now california is actually trying to enforce the rules! can you hear me now?

governor arnold schwarzenegger, a biker himself signed a bill, that's better. making the state's standard the same as the federal standard. the law targets bikers who remove or replace factory installed emission control parts that often make the bikes louder. many bike owners oppose the law saying it adds uncertainty and more government bureaucracy. >> did you know that today is officially national coffee day? a survey by career builder and dunkin donuts finds that nurses top the list of people who believe they are less productive without coffee. what about tv anchors? media folks, we're not even on the list at all. maybe because there's not that many of us. not sure. >> maybe. thank you so much. >> as i pour the box of joe. remember the tea party, the original tea party, thank you very much, was about tea taxes? >> that was true. >> what did americans drink a lot of back then, brian? >> it was tea. >> that's right. and after the tea party, what did we start drinking more of?

>> coffee? >> good answer. thank you very much, steve. >> i just thought i could learn history from glenn beck. i don't know i could learn so much from the doocy kid. >> do you know in europe, coffee used to be known as arabian wine? >> really? >> wow! >> is he going to keep yelling stuff out? >> could you please go to baseball? >> please. yes. big night in baseball. >> donuts, first. >> ok, fine, i'll do both. big night in baseball as i continue to say. three more teams clinching playoff berths. shockingly in cincinnati, what i year they've had. watch this catch by reds drew stubbs. it would keep them in the game. their hopes of clinching alive. bottom of the ninth inning, they remain tied when appropriately enough, jay bruce's walk-off homer ends it. >> to start tonight. line drive. left center field. racing back to the wall! the reds are central division

champions? >> the 3-2 win gives cincinnati the national league central title. their first since 1996. next tamm park the rays clinched their second trip to the post season in three years. they won 5-0 over baltimore. get this, only 18,000 showed up to celebrate. what are they thinking? they are in first place but in toronto, the yankees lock up a playoff spot, too, after a 6-1 victory. the yanks are 1/2 game back and andy petitte will miss the turn. now to peewee football. here's another example of adults setting a fine example for children. watch this brawl between two coaching staffs in california at a kids game. it started after a coach jumped in to separate two boys fighting on the field. tempers flared and both coaches jumped in. no one arrested or seriously hurt. both teams now banned from post-season play. so can you imagine telling an 8-year-old you can't go to the playoffs? >> yeah, no kidding. >> she is a fast rising young star with her own hit tv show

"victorious" on nickelodeon. >> well, you didn't make the team. >> what? >> i beat everybody! >> i don't care. read the school web site. >> when a student shows up for a sports team for which there is no coach, the team captain shall decide if the student is granted or denied acceptance to the team. captain says denied! >> you've been denied! by the star of "victorious" actress victoria justice. good morning. >> good morning. top of the morning to you. >> can we get you some coffee? are you -- you're 17. >> i was eyeing those donuts, i'm not gonna lie. but it's too much sugar in the morning. i haven't had like a real breakfast yet. >> this one has had a bite out of it. >> you know what? no. i'm good. thank you, though. oh, there we go. all right! i'll take this one. this looks pretty tasty. >> maybe not coffee but you like milk, right? >> i do! isn't that convenient? yeah, i just -- i was -- i just shot for the 15th anniversary

forgot milk and so it's exciting. it's such an iconic campaign. >> 15 years of people with white mustaches. >> like you. >> really, really cool. it's about looking good and feeling good from the inside out. i was proud to be able to be a part of it. >> you're only 17 years old. you're from florida. did you have sort of this musical talent already going for you in your life and it just played out now in your role on the new show? >> yeah, i mean, ever since i was a little, i was always listening to music and my mom and i would drive around in the car a long time and, you know, she would never really let me listen to, you know, like popular radio stations so i was always forced to listen to franky valley and the four seasons and frank sinatra and bobby darren and all these people so i have like a pretty eclectic taste in music. when i first came out to l.a., i was enrolled in a performing arts middle school. when i went there, i had singing and acting and dancing classes for an hour every day. i think that really prepped me for my show today. >> same with me. >> yeah. >> the movie "fame", unbelievable, victoria. it's good to finally say the truth. >> yeah.

>> tell me about the premise of this series. >> i got a hair in any mouth, sorry. it is a story about a girl who is a regular girl and she's all of a sudden accepted into this pretty like prestigious performing arts high school. it's about her discovering herself and dealing with normal teenage problems and we have some cool original songs that i get to perform. it's really fun. >> so normal teenage girl problems. i read in the material that, you know, you have like a normal 17-year-old girl, you've got crushes on guys. >> totally. >> one of them is danny devito. >> i said that as a joke because people always ask me, they're like who is your celebrity crush? i always feel weird answering that. i don't know these celebrities. i see them from the outside. having a crush on someone, it's so creepy. what if i met them and they're like -- >> hey there, victoria. it's me, danny. >> yeah.

>> i don't know. don't really work for me. >> one of the other things that comes with now being the star of a new show is you are a role model to younger people. >> yeah, no lemon jell-o for a while. >> that would be the first step. also you're involved in a new organization called girl up. >> yeah, it's an amazing organization that was started by the united nations foundation and it's about empowering girls in our country to learn more about girls in developing countries that don't have an education, that don't even have clean drinking water, that go through violence issues and don't have health care. some of them get married by the age of 15. half of them don't even have birth certificates. i think it's important for all of us girls and everyone to join together and make a difference because, you know, if you go to girlup.org you can donate $5 and they can change someone's life. >> that's fantastic. you and angelina jolie working for the united nations. >> yeah, hand in hand. >> did you tweet about your appearance? you have over 200,000 follow snerz>> i do, yeah. >> did you tweet about your appearance?

>> yeah, you don't understand, i had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning today. >> give me your blackberry, i'll tweet for you. >> all right. we'll be watching. comes up on friday, your series on nickelodeon. >> yeah. >> the great victoria justice. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you, too. thank you for having me. >> you want to finish off that doughnut now? >> yeah, of course! >> a lot of companies promise to combine and lower your debt. if you sign up, don't expect your problems to simply disappear. dave ramsey will explain why and answer your e-mails when we come back. >> then, since i'm not eating, i'll read. then their first hit went viral. watch the new sequel to the pink glove dance. you're looking at a preview. it will be live right here on "fox & friends." first, the trivia question of the day. anyone available? >> sure, born on this date in 1966, this actress is cast in the first "friends" on tv back in 1979 and then went on the love boat. who is she?

the universe is changing captain too bad these cheap props aren't but la quinta is! la quinta inns and suites? yeah, buddy changing? lets take a gander captain they are changing! they have thousands of new rooms!

and lots of neato new lobbies! they're even better than before book rooms at lq.com hey, who's captain here? (laughing) wake up on the bright side at la quinta inns and suites la quinta! oh. about what? uh, they don't really think you're an exchange student. what? they think you're a businessman, using our house to meet new clients in china. for reals, player? [ woman saks chinese ] they overheard a phone call. speaks chinese ] something about shipping with fedex to shanghai.

and then you opened a bottle of champagne. that was for a science project. [ man and woman speaking chinese ] i'm late for..occer... rehearsal. [ man speaks chinese ] you and i are cool? i'll be home by curfew. [ male announcer ] we understand.® you need a partner who can help you go global. fedex. you're one of the 50 million americans with frequent heartburn. did you know, with prilosec otc, you can stop frequent heartburn before it starts? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes, or backs up into the esophagus. this causes the burning sensation in your chest, known as heartburn. with just one pill a day, prilosec otc treats frequent heartburn for 24 hours, providing all-day and all-night protection. here's how it works -- prilosec otc's unique delayed-release system protects the medicine as it passes through the stomach's tough acid. the medicine then gets absorbed into the body, turning off many acid-producing pumps at the source, so less acid is produced. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection all day and all night,

satisfaction guaranteed. trust the number-one doctor-, gastroenterologist-, and pharmacist-recommended brand to treat your frequent heartburn. to request a free sample, visit prilosecotc.com. prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. >> brian, have you ever gotten a nasty phone call like this from a mean debt collector? >> ma'am, you owe a federal debt. you really think we're going to stop calling you? really? >> been on a vacation for a whole week but you can't fill your obligations. >> great. wowment you may be tempted to consult a debt settlement company for help but dave ramsey says don't do it. he's here to tell us why and to explain the new rules starting this week to help protect people like those people from these debt settlement companies.

welcome, dave, what are the new rules? >> well, basically, starting this monday and then again in october there's another thing that happens. these rip-off scummy companies that are running radio and cable tv ads promising to get rid of half your credit card debt like it's no big deal, they've been charging huge up front fees. those fees are going to go away in october. they're only going to get paid when they do something. and they're going to have to be a lot more transparent about their fees and unload the whole thing. so i think it's going to drive a lot of the scammers out of the business. this has been the number one complained on topic with the federal trade commission so the ftc finally came down on them really hard. >> they can no longer tell you about their successful track record and can't promise to your credit score won't be hurt and can no longer be paid up front. they were asking for dough up front. >> yeah, they were collecting like $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 up front from both people before they did anything and then a lot of cases, they weren't doing anything after that. so we've had the tattered remains of people's lives in our

counseling offices for several years. we've been watching this unfold and really happy the federal trade commission stepped up. >> let's answer some people's questions. chris from texas writes we have a lot of debt. $40,000 in student loans and $100,000 in mortgage. we're stressed out and are raising two small children. we keep receiving debt settlement offers in the mail and are tempted to do it. should we, dave? >> absolutely not. because again, the fees are going to be ridiculous. and until the end of october, they're going to be up front and now this is by phone transactions only. they can still collect the up-front fees over the internet if you're dumb enough to do that or in person if you're dumb enough to do that. what this couple ought to do is take care of necessities first and if you've got to let something go, that would be the credit cards. and then you can begin to settle with them. it's tough. you've got to negotiate with them. you've got to put up with some turkeys on the phone. but get it in writing and do not allow them to have electronic access to your checking account and you can settle your own

debts. >> you've got some suggestions, best way to do it. first, there's no quick, easy way out of debt. work the snow ball method. list all your debts smallest to largest and pay the minimum on each. wh real quickly what is the snow ball method? >> we list our debts, smallest to largest and attack the little one. what we found is if you have a little bit of success, you'll keep going. >> all right. the great dave ramsey, thank you very much for joining us today from nashville. have a fantastic day! >> you, too, guys. >> we're live outside for the first look at the new pink glove dance. look at the ladies, still got plenty of energy. >> they sure do. >> back in this date in 1972, grand funk railroad has the number one hit in america. i'm an american man. everyone has someone to go heart healthy for.

who's your someone? campbell's healthy request can help. low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. it's amazing what soup can do.

>> the answer to the trivia question of the day is jill wheelen. the winner is sue from florida. now we're outside to gretchen. >> thank you, steve. you know that video, it went viral getting 11.5 million hits! a medical supply company teamed up with a hospital in oregon to create this pink glove dance to spread awareness about breast cancer. well, the pink glove dancers are back with a sequel. joining me now, emily summers, product manager and sue mcguiness, chief marketing officer. good morning, ladies. >> good morning. >> good morning to the dancers! >> now, emily, you were the brain child behind the whole pink glove dance and the choreographer? >> i was actually part of the brain storming group that put this whole thing together and choreographed it and helped produce the video, yes. >> and sue, you are the marketing director. i know now that since it's

become so popular, so many other people around the country have come to you and said how do we do this? >> right, we've been getting calls from all over the country. even today, people have been calling, some of the dancers want us to come to their hospitals. the word is spreading and people want to give back to breast cancer survivors. >> october is breast cancer awareness month. this is timely. you never thought that first video was going to go viral like it did, did you? >> no, we thought that getting 100 views was amazing and it's now almost 12 million views for the original video and we've almost hit six digits for this video that came out just the other week so it's already been incredible. >> so when you went through the planning stages for video number 2, you must have had a lot of pressure to put something pretty good together. >> well, yeah. the people were calling and we were trying to include everyone but in four minutes, we had 19 locations. we added survivors. there's 4,000 people in that video. it's overwhelming when you watch it. i don't know what to do next. >> right, we were discussing that in the commercial break.

for year three next year, what will do you? >> we're thinking international. under the eiffel tower. there's many options. >> i love this survivor's idea. you said you should do what next year? >> i don't know if i can say it on tv. no clothes next year! >> now, that would get a lot of views. so we want to mention that the ladies in the pink shirts are breast cancer survivors. we also have some men dancing. they are part of the medical profession. and women, too. let's watch them dance, shall we?

>> how can that not put a smile on your face? and gretchen, good job. very nice. give them a hand! fantastic. good job. >> guys and gals as well. meanwhile, straight ahead on "fox & friends" for this wednesday, remember when congressman alan grayson said this -- >> they want you to die quickly if you get sick. >> really? the congressman is calling his opponent a terrorist. then president obama calling his supporters irresponsible. is that a good idea?

a fair and balanced debate coming up next. but first, get up off your couch and dance with the people in pink. [ male announcer ] you can dream of completely transforming

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in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. see if america's most prescribed ed treatme is right for you. >> gretchen: good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, september 29, 2010. we begin with a fox news alert. new details about a thwarted terrorist attack aimed at several countries. westerners and hotels reportedly the targets and the suspects have ties to the 9-11 attacks. developing details ahead in a live report. >> steve: meanwhile, facing mounting pressure, the troubled developer behind that mosque near ground zero that's proposed speaking out moments ago about possible changes. >> there are no discussions about moving this. >> absolutely not. >> there are no discussions about moving this? >> steve: more from that interview straight ahead. >> brian: by the way, there is contradictory evidence. >> steve: i know it. >> brian: take a look at this. protesters using a dump truck to

attack a government building. their message, toxic bank. where this happened will be coming your way. "fox & friends" starts. >> gretchen: good morning, everybody. we start with a fox news alert because a terror plot likely targeting americans in european countries has been intercepted by u.s. intelligence. we're learning more about the alleged source a german citizen of afghan descent with connections to the september 11 plotters. joining us now live from london, greg. what can you tell us? >> our sister network in london, sky news, broke the details last night. fox news has been backing it up ever since. it is an al-qaeda plot to target numerous sites in the u.k., france and germany, pablo denmark, hotels where foreigners could be, where americans could be. done at a commando style raid. this has been exposed by

american authorities and hopefully disrupted and the disruption in part, these drone attacks we've been seeing in the pakistan-afghanistan border area that possibly aimed at breaking this up. since the story broke, gretchen, we've been looking hard at one of the central sources of the story. in fact, of the plot, a german of afghan descent. he worshiped possibly not coincidentally, at the same hamburg, germany mosque that mohammed atta attended and other 9-11 plotters attended. then he left hamburg, went to pakistan, trained with an offshoot of al-qaeda and captured in kabul, afghanistan, a few months ago, caught by the americans and interrogated and it is those confessions that in part is the basis of this whole move by u.s. authorities. my own contacts in germany, i must caution, say, however, his information was a little bit

unspecific, a little vague about the plots, about the ideas, about those involved, and that he wasn't completely clear, but enough to move to stage these attacks and raise these alerts. the past hour information is that he wasn't the only source of information. there were more details coming from pakinstani taliban. in fact, they might have been behind this more complicated plot to attack hotels in the style that we saw in 2008 in mumbai, india, that devastating attack by al-qaeda against foreigners in that city. we've been in contact with germany, they say they are aware of the threat, but didn't think it was imminent. france says they're not aware of it, but they are on high alert. u.k., no comment. we'll be following the story all day. back to you. >> brian: do you know anything about whether they were supposed to be simultaneous attacks? >> it was simultaneous and coordinated, according to some of the intelligence we're seeing. again, it wasn't going to be happening tomorrow, maybe even a next week, it was in the early

stages. but one of the ideas that were being thrown around by the people that the american intelligence were interrogating was it could have been very, very serious and they decided whether it was concrete or not, to move on it, ask questions later. >> brian: greg, thanks. >> gretchen: now the rest of your headlines. nearly 7 1/2 billion dollars in benefits could finally be heading to the ground zero first responders today. the house is expected to pass the 9-11 health bill. it's been stalled by political gamesmanship, but republican sponsor says he's confident he's going to pass this time. take a look at this new video out of israel where authorities stormed a british catamaran. it was trying to break through the gaza blockade. nine jewish activists were taken into custody, but been released. they claim they were bringing aid to gaza and it comes four months after israeli forces killed nine activists on the gaza bound flotilla. former democratic presidential candidate michael dukakis sharing his midterm

strategy with the white house. seen here during the 1988 campaign when he lost to george h.w. bush in a landslide, says democrats need to drive home the message that republicans want to return to the same policies that led to the recession. he didn't meet with president obama, but did pass the message along through his aide. a cement truck plastered with anti-slogans blocked the entrance to the irish parliament as tensions mount over the debt crisis and bank bailouts. a guard narrowly escaped being hit. toxic bank, a reference to the bank, nationalized last year, and now looks to cost irish taxpayers more than $34 billion to bail it out. that bank owes $97 billion across the world. police arrested the 41-year-old man who was driving that truck. those are your headlines. >> steve: i hope so. >> brian: bill o'reilly had a special guest on last night with his book on obama's wars. he was asked first off about

possibly the most controversial passage to emerge from the big book and that was the president on absorbing a terrorist attack. he says america can do it. bob woodward explained. >> there is proof this country is strong, we could deal with another terrorist attack. what is bizarre is for the president of the united states to say it. it would be like the head of goldman sachs going out and saying, we can absorb another financial crisis. >> steve: there you go. it was bizarre and we talked about that a little while ago. we're going to have the secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano on in about 20 minutes from now to talk to her a little about that comment. there were other details that o'reilley got out of woodward and one regards who he wants and undoubtedly is leaving hillary clinton this morning with steam coming out of her ears. watch. >> i think what i found in all

of this is that barak obama trusts his own ability to identify the issues and in the afghan war, he actually designed the strategy (obama thinks he's the smartest guy in the room? >> yeah. that's exactly right. >> now, you correct me if i am wrong. my gut instinct, and i have this not on anything other than gut, is that barak obama doesn't listen to hillary clinton. she is not a major shaper in what he does or doesn't do? >> that is absolutely correct. >> steve: ouch. >> gretchen: and i'm sure that doesn't come as any surprise maybe to hillary clinton because some of the stuff she said, i don't think that barak obama has necessarily listened to. but then why did he select her? a lot of people will be asking that after they see that passage in the book. >> steve: there is one other juicy tidbit that i read about the book. according to woodward, he says that barak obama had a steep learning curve about the military. he, quote, possibly knew as

little about it as any major presidential candidate in years regarding the military. just didn't know much about it. >> gretchen: he also said something interesting about as he approached afghanistan. he considered it an intellectual approach, which is far different as opposed to president bush's approach which was sort of this win at all cost sort of passion about winning the war. when you approach a war intellectually, it can be a different outcome. >> brian: especially a necessary war. clear he was not all in to say the least. he wanted a way out. he didn't get it and hit the roof. he was as mad as he's ever been, according to one observer. the other story that gets people very angry, passionate, is what's happening at ground zero, building of the mosque. yesterday we brought in a man who had an interview with the lawyer and he had breaking news, that the mosque could be moved to a place a couple of blocks away. sharif el-gamal, the property

ceo, the one who facilitated this deal, hopped on another show and he says it's not going to move and he is in charge. listen. >> i am calling the shots. i am calling the shots and in a real estate transaction, there are different elements that come into play, but ultimately as the managing member, we are calling the shots. >> steve: so he calls himself the managing member. he's the developer. he's not the guy who owns the most of the project, though. that's the el zanaty who has an offer for 18 million bucks and knows of another spot where people are praying and he's saying, maybe that's good enough. is something going on behind the scenes? >> gretchen: i don't know. it sounds like there is infighting going on between the main people here, which would be interesting because of the fingers have been pointing at people who don't want the mosque down there as the trouble makers and now you got the people inside their own project who are not agreeing with each other. we had a former fire -- current

firefighter on the show who was at 9-11 and spoke to brian. here is what he had to say. >> if this comes down to a war, i would -- internal war, i would say el zanati wins that one. sharif has lied to me more than once. the families are not going to let go of this. this mosque will never be built on our graveyard. >> brian: he does consider that hallowed ground, even though the developers don't. >> steve: yeah. most in new york regard it as hallowed ground. remember this sound bite from alan grayson, congressman from in the orlando area where he said that the republicans plan for health care is don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly. he's got a new ad out that essentially calls his opponent a taliban. it is also a woeful example of a little clip being taken completely out of context. we're going to play the ad and explain what's the matter with it. >> i'm congressman alan grayson and i approve this message.

religious fanatics try to take away our rights. >> here in florida. >> wives, submit yourself to your husband. >> he wants to impose his radicalled inism to us. >> she should submit to us. that's in the bible. >> he tried to deny battered women medical care and the right to divorce their abuser. >> submit to me. >> he wants to force raped women to bear the child. >> submit to me. >> taliban dan webster, hands off our bodies. and our laws. >> gretchen: it is so amazingly wrong. he's portraying daniel webster as somebody who is saying he believes women should submit to all these things and that's why he equates him to a member of the taliban. listen to daniel webster. this is the republican opponent to grayson. this is where he got that little snippet from, where he says exactly the opposite thing. >> so write a journal, second, find a verse. i have a verse for my wife. i have verses for my wife.

don't pick the ones that say she should submit to me. that's in the bible, but pick the ones that you're supposed to do. so instead you love your wife even as christ loved the church and gave himself for it and as opposed to wives submit yourself to your own husband. she can pray that if she wants to, but don't you pray it. >> steve: that is some creative editing. it just took a tiny little bit and used that part for his own devices. the grayson campaign says this, what's not out of context by any stretch of the imagination is the fact that he, webster, has a terrible record on women's right. when you look at the record now, grayson has a terrible record on distorting exactly what somebody said and taking it out of order. fact check.organize says that ad we showed you is false. >> brian: bipartisan disdain

from a lot of democrats who think it's way out of bounds. you make the call. >> gretchen: it is out of bounds. it's a lie. >> brian: tell me what you think. new jersey governor is setting the record straight. >> i do not bash teachers. i bash their stubborn, self-interested union. that's who i bash. >> gretchen: governor kristy's plan to fix the troubled schools coming up. >> steve: democrats want to spend money to bail out the unemployed. republicans argue we should cut taxes and save money. so businesses will start spending again. who has got the better plan? that political panel approaching studio e. they'll weigh in in two minutes right here on "fox & friends."

>> gretchen: welcome back. in a interview with rolling stone magazine, president obama had harsh words for america's disappointed democrats. here is what he said, quote, the idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining is just irresponsible. it has been hard and we've got some lumps to show for it, but if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place. it seems he's talking tough to energize his base, but could that backfire?

on this morning's political panel, joe trippy, daniel hannen, member of the european parliament and author of the book "the new road to servedom" and janet adams. good morning. joe, let me start with you, you've been a campaign manager before. is this something that you would advise the president and vice president to do? >> ginning up the base, no matter what they say, they can't gin up the gop base any hotter than it is. the tea party folks and all others, there is a lot of energy there. no matter what you say, it's not going to up flame that. trying to get the democratic base excited is a great idea, i'm not sure this is the way i would have gone about doing it. >> gretchen: how would you have done it? >> what he's doing, getting at rallies, getting people emotionally charged up to go out and fight on election day like he did in wisconsin and he was doing on this tour is smart. i don't think telling people, come on, get up, you lazy folks

who -- you want to take your ball, it's not a good idea. >> gretchen: is it a smart political strategy when the independents decide the elections and he's really going after the far left people right now and it's maybe the independents that he needs to energize to vote in the midterms? >> that was settled at yorktown. but i think it's terribly important to be optimistic and one of the really endearing features of u.s. politics when you look at it from abroad is this self belief, this optimism and the most successful people in both parties are the ones who manage to radiate it. the way reagan did and obama when he was running the first time around. if you forget that, if you get dragged into attacking the other guy, you tend to suffer. >> gretchen: he hasn't been radiating a lot of the people who voted for him and that's the problem right now. so is it the right way to go so far left and not try to come to the center to get some of those voters back? >> i think he's just trying to be realistic. i mean, right now we have the far right using very great fear

tactics to rally up their base and so -- >> gretchen: like what? >> scare tactics, we almost have, you know -- i don't want to say the terrorist is going to get you, but sometimes we are working with the terrorist is going to get you. >> gretchen: we just reported today that a huge plot was thwarted. >> we understand that. we understand that terrorism is a factor, but there is not one hiding under every closet door. a billion people who are islamic are not all terrorists. we don't have to condemn them for the actions of 19 or however many. and so when we have this kind of very negative attitude, this very negative energy, it's a difficult game that is being played and it's a difficult point or line that he has to straddle. >> gretchen: our panel will stick around because after the break, they'll discuss who has the better plan. democrats want to spend to stimulate the economy, while

republicans insist on cutting taxes will allow the businesses create jobs. then janet napolitano joins us live at the bottom of the hour.

>> news by the numbers times, first 47. that's how many democrats are breaking with house speaker nancy pelosi to support the extension of all the george bush tax cuts. she wants to increase taxes on households that earn over $250,000 a year. but she can't. next, 800,000, a congressional report says that's how many american manufacturing jobs will disappear if new epa air pollution rules go into effect. the rules say machines will replace workers at coal plants. and $28 million, that's how much

money unemployed people in north carolina are being told to return to the state. turns out there was an error caused by the state and they overpaid unemployment benefits. good luck getting that back. >> gretchen: no kidding. thanks very much. democrats want to extend a $1 billion new deal style program, it's part of the stimulus program and directly pays the unemployed. it's set to expire next week unless congress keeps it going. republicans want to know when will the obama administration turn off government spending and extend tax cuts to stimulate the private sector? we're back with our political panel, joe trippy, daniel hannan and janet. consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since february. a wide amount of u.s. businesses tuesday reported that they believe the economy has stalled because of all the uncertainty on capitol hill. >> i agree with that, but i also think we have to look at this phrase, consumer confidence, because at a certain point, it may be reality. if we're also looking at the

number of people who are out of work or who are insufficient income, then we're not supposed to just spend through the nose. so, you know, i think that we have to look at that more seriously. in addition, my goodness, we spent $70 billion on a few bankers. i think we can afford one or two billion on the people they impoverished with their recklessness. >> gretchen: i know you are not a u.s. citizen, but you have similar battles across the pond. and would you be a proponent of stimulating the economy with more bailout money as janice would be or to cut taxes for all americans. first of all, some of us were against bailing out the bankers as well. we're being consistent. the problem with these new deal style programs is that it's much easier to turn on the tap than to turn it off. under the proof of that, you still got in this country 70 years on, a lot of the new deal apparatus there, including fannie and freddie and all of these agencies set up by

roosevelt. they've come to a cyclical then, it then becomes permanent. you realize that the state expanded perpetually. i think the best stimulus is a tax cut. let people stimulate the economy their own way. >> isn't that part of the process? >> what's wrong with that, permanent tax cuts. >> what's wrong with the personallance on the other side? >> the state is less efficient generally at spending our money than we are. not very good at building cars, installing telephones. >> you end up with a $700 billion in a -- your deficit forever if you let that -- particularly the tax cuts for the rich continue. right now the one thing about this program for unemployed people is they'll be on unemployment collecting unemployment. so why not pay them to do work? >> gretchen: you told me you're in favor of extending the tax cuts. >> no, no, i am in favor -- i don't think it's wise right now to cut taxes -- i mean to extend taxes -- we should keep it on

everybody. keep everything the way it is because for at least a year or so. i think -- >> gretchen: you would be one of the 47 democrats who does not agree with nancy pelosi? >> i think we should extend it for the middle class and the wealthy for a year or so until the economy really has recovered. i think it's -- i think it's a mistake to let them go on forever. >> can i come back to the deficit would be permanent. there is two ways of closing a definite sit. one is through taxes and the other is through spending. the problem with tax rises is it's taking money out of the economy. the best way to get the deficit down is through growth. >> gretchen: i've got to wrap it up with that thought. we're out of time. thank you to the panel. can our country absorb another terrorist attack as president obama suggests in bob word ward's new book? we'll ask janet napolitano at the bottom of the hour. >> i do not bash teachers. i bash their stubborn self-interested union. that's who i bash.

>> gretchen: governor chris christie of new jersey outlining his plan to turn around his struggling schools. can it work across the country. then the pink gloved dancers showed off their new dance. will it be the next internet sensation? you be the judge, when we come back.

>> brian: this is a fox news alert. officials say this is -- there is still a terror threat in several european nations. this after intelligence officers intercepted details of a mumbai style terrorist attack plot targeting london, paris, germany, and denmark. that attack apparently was going to target western tourists at those hotels in those countries. u.s. intelligence officials also telling fox news an afghan man in german custody is providing details about the strikes that would have included targets with longer term economic impact.

preventive c.i.a. drone attacks in pakistan are said to helped thwart the plot which officials say were coordinated by al-qaeda's number three leader in pakistan. what's also interesting about the report last night on fox news was that the floods have helped isolate al-qaeda because the bridges in that area are out. >> steve: right. meanwhile, u.s. homeland security secretary janet napolitano is in montreal, canada to urge the international community to heighten security efforts and it's great we would have her on a breaking news day. good morning to you, may dam secretary. >> good morning. >> steve: how credible is this threat and what is the united states doing to help them? >> well, as director clapper said yesterday, we're not going to comment on specific threats except to say that we're constantly in contact with our allyies on a variety of threats and to make sure that we remain

safe, both in the homeland and western interests abroad because al-qaeda is a determined adversary. >> brian: i think that the american people deserve an explanation and just to be updated, don't you think, could you tell us first off, are we included in this so-called alleged coordinated attack? >> well, without, again, commenting on specific threats, we are constantly active in a pro-active way to protect the american people and to protect interests around the globe. one of the reasons i'm here in montreal, for example, is that a meeting of 190 nations, which is a branch of the united nations, and we expect by the end of the week to have a global consensus on raising aviation security standards, to make sure that we don't have an abdulmutallab ever again on a plane. that's our goal and standard and we have a global consensus. >> gretchen: he was the

december 25 underwear bomber who tried to blow up that plane going to detroit. let me ask you this, maybe you can comment on this, in bob woodward's book, president obama told him in july, we can absorb a terrorist attack. we'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9-11, even the biggest attack ever we absorbed it and we are stronger. what do you think he meant by that? you undoubtedly sit in in a lot of meetings where you're talking about these attacks. what did he mean? >> well, i think what he meant is that we are a strong and resilient country and we have absorbed terrorist attacks, we have absorbed a lot of other damage to our country and we always come back. we will come back again. we are doing everything in our power to prevent such an attack from occurring. that's why, for example, aviation security is the reason for my being here. it's why we do a number of other things to protect the country

the but again, if someone were to get through, if an attack were to get through, we would recover effectively and efficiently and go after the attacker and come back as a country. >> gretchen: even bob woodward last night on "the o'reilly factor" seems to be stunned that the president of the united states would say that. listen to this. >> we can absorb a terrorist attack. we will do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9-11, even the biggest attack ever, that ever took place on our soil, we absorbed it and we are stronger. >> gretchen: sorry. that was the wrong sound bite. he went on to say, bob woodward did, that that would be like the head of goldman sachs would come out publicly and say we could survive another financial crisis. >> i wouldn't draw that analogy. i think what the president is saying is that we are a strong and resilient country and i

think i would go further and say that our security is a shared responsibility. that's why, for example, we've launched the see something, say something campaign in transportation hubs and transportation systems around the country, so that every citizen can get involved. that's why we initiated the suspicious activity reporting for our local law enforcement department so they are part of the homeland security architecture that we have moving forward. it's everybody making sure that we are as safe as we can be, but recognizing that we can't seal the united states under a glass dome and if something were to happen, that we would come back effectively, efficiently, and strongly. >> steve: and in fact, this threat of perhaps simultaneous attack on paris and the u.k. and stuff like that, it's a wake-up call. it's a reminder that the threat is still out there.

>> well, it may be a wake-up call for some. i don't think it's a wake-up call for those of us that have been involved in the security business, if i can use that word, for a while. we know that al-qaeda and al-qaeda type affiliates are out there. they are determined and they are determined to attack targets in the west, be they so-called hard targets or soft targets. so our efforts need to be aimed at both. >> brian: i also read your editorial, today in the detroit free press, i believe, and in it you talk about how the -- essentially what i got from it is the terrorists are upset -- obsessed with aviation still to this day. i notice you don't use the term, terrorist. i just ask you, are you reluctant still to use that and aren't they terrorists? >> i think we use the term al-qaeda and al-qaeda type affiliates and those aren't terrorists, i don't know who are.

but again, the purpose is to say look, christmas day should never have happened. he should never have gotten on that plane. we've done a number of things since then to make sure that can't happen, but one of the most significant things we've done is involve the entire globe and the entire world in terms of recognizing that this is a global aviation system. he got -- he bought his ticket in one country, he got on in nigeria, he changed planes in amsterdam, the plane if it had exploded would have killed people from 17 different countries. every nation in the world has a stake in the safety and security of the global aviation. >> gretchen: basically saying there is an international war on terror. let's talk about -- >> steve: although the guy's dad did alert the american embassy. he said be on the lookout for him. it wasn't until the other people on the plane stopped him that that thing didn't employee up. >> gretchen: let's talk about immigration. >> that's right. >> gretchen: because you, of

course, used to be the governor of arizona, so you know a lot about the immigration situation and being from a border state. let's take a listen to what the president said recently about immigration getting demagogued. >> this is getting demagogued. we had 11 republican senators willing to vote for comprehensive immigration reform , including john mccain. they've all reversed themselves. i can't get any of them to cooperate and i don't have 60 democrats in the senate. my hope is that they come back and say, this is something that we can work on together to solve a problem instead of trying to score political points. >> gretchen: how do you react to that? will anything ever get done with regard to immigration? >> look, i know as a former border prosecutor and then a former border governor that something does need to be done. we need better enforcement tools. we need better processes for those who are crossing legally

to get visas. we need a better way to identify and track those in the country illegally. so we need a way to bring them out of the shadows. i think we have to address it from that standpoint. so we have put unprecedented resources down at the southwest border. we're basically talking about the southwest border. >> gretchen: that sounds like what arizona tried to do and they got sued by the federal government. that sounds exactly what arizona tried to do and got sued. >> that's not exactly what arizona tried to do. i don't want to get into that specifically, but in terms of border resources that have gone into arizona and texas and california and new mexico, we've never seen more agents, more technology, more infrastructure and, indeed, the congress just passed $600 million more. so more is on the way. at some point we have to say, enough is enough. it's time to really address the

immigration issues that go along with that. >> brian: just enforce the border, we mostly agree on that. secretary napolitano, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> steve: all right. straight ahead on this wednesday, parents get their chance to sound off on a plan to teach kindergarten students some sex ed talk. we'll talk to one of those parents live about what happened last night. >> gretchen: grammy winner michael w. smith with a live performance and a special dedication. ♪

♪

>> gretchen: president obama back in the campaign trail in iowa for what the white house calls a backyard conversation on the economy. our mike emmanuel joins us live from des moines. hey, mike. >> gretchen, good morning. couple hours from now, president

obama will lead that backyard discussion in this charming des moines neighborhood. should be similar to the scene we saw yesterday morning in albuquerque, new mexico and then from here, the president will travel to richmond, virginia, aides say the president likes going to different parts of the country, having conversations with voters to talk about how they were affected by the economic down turn and to try to make the case for what he has done to try to help the economy. last night the president was in madison, wisconsin at the university of wisconsin trying to energize the youth vote which was obviously quite critical to his election two years ago. here is a sample of his message in tone. >> i know sometimes it feels a long way from the hope and excitement that we felt on election day or the day of the inauguration, but i've got to say, we always knew this was going to take time. we always knew this was going to be hard. i said it was going to be hard. remember?

>> so the president today hosting a couple of backyard discussions, will be here and if there are any curve balls thrown his way, we'll be on top of things. back to you. >> gretchen: mike, thank you very much. let's head to steve. >> steve: thanks. a story we've been following closely. a plan to teach sex ed to kids as young as five. the helena, montana school district revised the plan in response to public outcry. many parents are still opposed. last night the school board met with the public to hear their concerns. parent michael was there and joins us live from helena, montana. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: what was the number one thing that other proposals that you were really against, because you got four kids in the schools there? >> i'm very against the young ages and explicit material they're going to teach. for example, in fifth grade, i think i mentioned before they teach the various forms of sexual intercourse, including contraception and dental dance.

>> steve: okay. so last night i understand the turnout was overflow. you were happy about the turnout. the board was listening. did they make any compromises? >> you know, last night they didn't say a whole lot. the vote on october 12. but i have a good feeling. you can't have that many people in a room and not make some compromises or back down, at least a little. >> steve: now, i understand that it sounds like they're now angling -- some of these things they were going to teach would start with kindergarten, first grade, something like that. no longer hear names for private parts, the real little kids, although they will use medical terms. are you okay with that? >> well, medical terms are the names that everybody opposed, so they really changed the language in the document. but those names are still -- those are medical names, so no, i'm not happy with that. >> steve: okay. what about apparently in first

grade they will not address same sex relationships? >> well, see, again that's almost misconception. they will talk about how family structure is different, which i think is important, but i wonder what's really going to be taught. are they still speaking same gender or different types of family relationships? >> steve: how would you like them to address that? >> i would like them to leave it up to the teachers. i trust the teachers that when that situation comes up about a different family structure, that the teacher will handle it with sensitivity and kindness and in the correct way. they don't need to teach it. >> steve: and ultimately you feel that when they finally come out with their proposals and recommendations, you will be happy with what they've come up with? >> i'll be happy only if they send it back to a committee that has several viewpoints. see, i don't need my things

taught. i need a committee that has viewpoints and parents on it. that's what i want and that's the only thing that will make me happy. >> steve: they heard you loud and clear last night. we thank you for joining us today from helena, montana. thank you. >> thank you. >> steve: coming up next, michael w. smith, a grammy award winner with a live performance and a special dedication. get those fingers ready. first let's check in with bill hemmer for a peek at what's happening in ten minutes. >> got talent looking forward to that. good morning to you, steve. dana perino takes on the merger between the tea party and the gop. democrats reelection committee for the fall, why no tax vote or ethics trial? furthermore, the christian question, colonel ralph peters tells us why he thinks we're treading water in afghanistan. a packed show with great guests. hope to see you in ten minutes on "america's news room."

♪ . >> brian: 17 million records sold, michael w. smith is one of the christian music's biggest stars. his latest cd "wonder" is out today. this will be a great day to book him. >> gretchen: he's here. >> brian: i cannot believe it. >> gretchen: welcome. >> thank you. >> gretchen: and this new cd you dedicate to your wife, who you've been married 29 years almost? >> just celebrated. >> brian: did she know you were a musician before you got married? >> she did. it's a miracle because this is the last thing she thought she would ever do is marry a musician. >> steve: you're on our show today. you were on hannity last night. here is a comment about what he said last night. >> the happiest people i know are the people who give things away and give their lives away. i think we all got a great opportunity to be able to

alleviate poverty and the church obviously has to do their job as well. but the government has to step up and let's pass a few bills and make some things happen. >> steve: a good sing who are is also a little political on the hannity show. as gretchen said, you're going to dedicate this song to your wife. >> is that right? >> yes. >> steve: what's the name? >> "you belong to me." >> steve: make sure you're talking to her and not brian and me. michael w. smith, folks. ♪ you were the one, my heart was overcome ♪ ♪ the day i looked into your eye s ♪ ♪ the feeling so surreal ♪ like time was standing still ♪ though you are the miracle

♪ you're sweeter than a desert tree ♪ ♪ you're so much more than beautiful ♪ ♪ but can it be that you belong to me ♪ ♪ so -- 30 years of mastering the love ♪ ♪ though the darkness comes, we'll hold each other tight ♪ ♪ i promise that will be enough enough ♪ ♪ oh, you are a miracle

♪ you're sweeter than a desert tree ♪ ♪ you're so much more, more than beautiful ♪ ♪ how can this be that you belong to me ♪ >> steve: that was nice. >> gretchen: more "fox & friends" just two minutes away. >> steve: good job, michael.

>> gretchen: michael w. smith is still with us. you're going to kick off this 21 city tour called make a difference. what do you mean by that? >> well, the whole tour is around world vision, trying to sponsor kids. there is a lot of kids who need sponsoring in third world countries. it really makes it worthwhile. >> steve: 20 cities, short period of time. you're going to have to take a nap this afternoon. >> i'll do tha