bad as they thought. bill: free drinks available, a lot of the passengers had their own bolted water and canned goods, and of course, they had spam. martha: of course. bill: but they had no toilet, no a.c. it's been three days, fire knocked the thing out, now it's coming into port down in san diego oavment beautiful day, by the way. martha: they're going to get a free vacation on the splendor. we'll see you tomorrow. thank you for being here. bill: see you tomorrow. jenna: thanks guys. we'll continue to monitor the situation in san diego and watch that cruise ship come in. it's 11:00 eastern time, 8:00 on the west coast and what you're looking at now is san francisco, california, the bay bridge, that's the bridge that links oakland to east bay, to san francisco, the main city in the area. and take a look at that traffic. we'll going to tell you why that traffic is being caused. right now, you can see traffic is at a near stand still because apparently a distraught man has made his way on to the bridge and is threatening to jump. now, there's also some

reports that he says he has explosives with him, but the big threat here is that he's threatening to kill himself. you can see some of the traffic that's being stopped there. as we take a look at this part of the bridge, we're going to try to get a more -- get more information about exactly what part of the bridge this is. you can see there's some land behind it, there's a big island that the bridge goes through as it comes from the east bay over to san francisco, and that's where all the major traffic is in the morning out there. just a point of reference, just to think about, this is one of those bridges that you're not able to walk on. if you're a pedestrian, you can't walk across this bridge like you could, for example, the golden gate bridge, so that's why it's pretty unusual to see anyone at all on the bridget self. also, another point of reference, this was the bridge that partially collapsed during the 1989 earthquake, and obviously, a lot of traffic concerns during that time, but what we're focusing on today is something very different. a man, threatening to jump, says he has explosives, and

an ongoing and developing situation in san francisco bay bridge. we'll keep you up to date as we hear more. jon: and this fox news alert, a huge explosion in karachi, pakistan's largest city. it apparently took place near the chief minister's house, also targeted, a police station there. our sister network, sky news, is reporting that it appears to be there are many casualties as a result of this explosion in karachi, pakistan. you can see some of the video coverage there from local arabic language stations that are feeding in pictures. we don't have any more information about who might be responsible but we will continue to monitor that and get you more information as it becomes available. good morning, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're here in the fox newsroom, busy already on "happening nop". a lot of news to get to today. we're going to take you to

the white house with new reactions from the comment -- with comments from the president's senior adviser about the soon to expire bush era tax cuts, david axelrod saying the president is ready to extend tax cuts even for the wet iest americans but the white house bay be -- may be backing off that. jon: seems to be movement. we'll see. the debt commission on capitol hill is out with drastic cuts proposed to rye to reduce our debt sits. what's on the chopping block? jenna: apparently a lot. and live at arlington national cemetary, at any moment now the vice president will lay a wreath at the testimony omb of the unknown as the nation pays tribute to all those who serve our country all around the world. jon: this fox news alert, the ordeal is almost over, 4500 passengers and crew can see san diego harbor now from the carnival cruise ship, the splendor, this after several days on the

high seas without power, no air conditioning, no hot water, pairly functioning toilets, and not the kind of food that you're supposed to get on a cruise. all of this, after a fire took out the ship's engine room, taking out -- taking the pleasure out of a pleasure cruise to the mexican rivera. claudia cowen is live from san diego harbor. how far out are they, how long before they can reach land claudia? >> reporter: jon, you can see the ship behind me. we'll have a full update in a moment. this ship, arriving sooner than anybody expected, so i'm going to toss it back to you for breaking news. jon: claudia cowen, thank you. martha: we're going to take you tokba arlington national cemetary where we will watch the vice president joe biden and secretary of defense robert gates lay the wreath at the tomb of the unknown. something that is done every veterans day. why don't we take a listen: >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

>> [playing star spangled banner] >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> [playing star spongeeled banner. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> [playing star spangled banner. >> ♪ >> ♪ >>

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>> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> [playing taps] >> ♪ >> ♪ jon: on this veterans

day the vice president joe biden there laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns a. sacred spot on some of the most hallowed ground in our nation, if you have never made the pilgrimage to arlington it is certainly a place to see and the tomb unknown and the changing of the guard there, it will leave a lump in your throat. on this veterans day we honor all veterans, those who have given their lives in service to our country and those who have returned home to continue to do what they can to make this country great. let's get back out to claudia cowen in san diego where that carnival ship is just about to dock after, what, three days of pretty rough conditions for the 4500 or so people on board.

claudia. >> reporter: that's right, jon. in fact they can probably throw a stone at the pier right now. check it out, the carnival splendor, arriving right on cue for just about the top of your show. it was towed into san diego's downtown harbor by no less than six tug boats. you can see a couple of tug boats now very gently pushing the splendor toward the pier. also escorted by a small notila of coast guard and navy vessels, arriving way ahead of the schedule we were given yesterday. now, it's going to take a while to park this 1000-foot long ship safely. remember it's only running on auxillary power to give everyone some interior lights and running water without brusters, it's what they call a head mooringa and dork officials say it could take a few hours and unloading everyone could take five hours or more. people will need to carry their own luggage, there are 12 decks, no working elevators. carnival is making sure everyone has transportation

to get to where they need to go. for many it's going to mean a two-hour bus ride back to long beach where they parked on sunday before boarding what they thought would be a seven-day pleasure cruise along the mexican rivera, wasn't seven days, wasn't even a cruise, but it will certainly be a memorable trip, jon. jon: at least everybody is getting home safely. they may not have had the trip they intended but they are safe. claudia cowen, thank you. jenna: kind of ironic going into san diego, rice -- right, the military presence, helping out on veterans day. real quickly, back to san francisco, we're watching the situation on the bay bridge where we understand a distraught man that was threatening to jump, said he had explosives and just provided a huge mess there for all the commuters going into the san francisco bay area. we're hearing now reports that he has been arrested. we're going to stay on this, brick you up to date as soon as we get back from a quick break.

jon: take a look.

san diego, the splendor, that carnival cruise ship is just about in port, after three days of misery for the 4500 or so people on board, about 1200 of them crew members, about 3300, passengers. they headed out the other day for what was supposed to be a luxury cruise, it turned out to be anything but. a fire in the engine room on board that ship left the vessel crippled and dead in the water. nobody seriously hurt as a result of the fire. they were able to get the fire out but they wound up a ship that had not much power to run anything, no air conditioning, no hot water, no interior lights, as we understand it, for those who had cabins in the interior of the ship. they had to sleep with their doors open at night just so they could get some air and some light from the hallways. but boy, what a mess. they've been eating pop tarts, crab meat and other items that had been shuttled in by the u.s. navy.

they are tantalizingly close to shore and oh what stories they will have. you can guarantee there will be lawyers lined up on the docks as well. jenna: what a beautiful day to welcome them back, though, on shore. the white house is reacting to the comments we've been telling you about by the senior adviser on extending the bush tax cuts, david axelrod telling the huffington post that the administration was ready to approve an across the board tax cut, even for the wealthiest americans but the white house now says the president only wants a temporary extension for high income earners. joining us now, karl rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to president bush, he's also a fox news contributor and by by the way his book just came out in paper book so hopefully some of the folks on that boat could pass the time by read thank book and getting caught up, maybe. >> i think they actually left before the book came out in paper book.

happy veterans day. jenna: happy veterans day to you as well. let's talk a little about what we're hearing, about the reports, about some sort of compromise or not. why now? why now does david axelrod say definitively, yes, we're going to see a compromise that will include the top income earners? >> president obama sort of alluded to this in his saturday radio address but it looks like the white house might be trying to pull off a deal where the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 are permanently extended and those at the top are temporarily extended so this battle gets fought again. i suspect the republicans are going to want to say we either extend them all permanently or extend them all temporarily. i don't think they're going to want to give away the you get what you want in total and we don't get what we want. jenna: if i was the president here, the president has been criticized in the past in health care for handing health care reform over to congress, he says that's what he wanted to do, but with the tax cut issue being

so kind of explosive right now with the economy being what it is, what kind of role would you suggest the president take as far as this compromise goes? >> well, he's trying not to hand it over to the congress, because remember, you had 31 democrats in september who signed a letter to the house saying let's extend all the tax cuts, at least six additional members of the house associated themselves with the letter after it was sent, so you have a near majority already in the house of representatives as it exists today to extend all the tax cuts at least temporarily and he had found these out of the senate from some of the more moderate members of the senate saying now is not the time to be raising taxes on anybody. look, i think the president ought to kick this down the road and if they get a two or three or four-year extension of all the tax cuts, that would be sensible from his perspective. look, he wants the economy to be going and blowing by the time he gets ready to run for reelection and raising taxes now when the economy is sort of right about here and job creation is lousy, raising taxes is not a way to turn either one of those things around to

either the advantage of the american people or the president's own political survival. jenna: let's talk about the political strategy, though. because we have seen the democrats draw a line in the sand in the past, saying we'll extend the tax cuts for everybody except for those making above $250,000. one would think maybe from the outside they could force the democrats and republicans into a really tough vote if they wanted to, where the democrats could say we're not extending for the upper income earners and you, republicans, vote against that proposal, and vote against the middle class. >> the problem -- yeah, the problem is you've got a lot of democrats in congress and outside of congress who don't agree with it. there's an interesting poll out this week, a bipartisan poll, run by james carville's democracy core and ed gillespie's resurgent electorate and he asks 2010 voters do they favor extending all of the tax cuts or part of the tax cuts and james carville wrote the question so he could explain the best reasons why they should only be temp -- they should not be extended for

those making $250,000 a year. among all the 2010 voters, it was 49 percent in favor of extending all the tax cuts, and 45 percent opposed among independents, it was 51-40, republicans, 74-21, it was democrats who opposed that by 26-69, but even you got a quarter of democrats saying we ought to extend all the tax cuts. so it's a winning argument for republicans, because it draws the independents to their side, and i think the president understands that he's got to face that dynamic in the house and senate democratic caucuses as well. jenna: it's what is being said. we'll see what actually goes into action. karl, stay with us. we also want to talk to you about the leadership battles we're seeing in the house now. some democrats are saying they're not sure nancy pelosi is the right person to lead. what will be the minority party in the house come january? also tea party favorites, bouging out of -- bowing out of that race. we'll talk to karl about that, coming up. >> great, thanks. jon: he may have thousands of fans on facebook but the

so-called barefoot bandit is learning how many federal charges he is facing. the years behind bars he could do for allegedly stealing plane, high-end cars, boats, and other property, and also leaving his signature footprints at the scene of the crime. harris with some details:

jon: just in, the bay bridge upper deck is open once again, traffic beginning to flow after that standoff with a man who claimed to have a weapon and possibly even a pipe bomb. you can see the black and white patrol cars there on the far side of the screen, still parked behind what we believe to be the suv that the man drove on to the bridge. this all started a little less than an hour and a half ago, he said he had some kind of a weapon, stopped

his car in the middle of the bridge, said he had a pipe bomb as well. harris just got off the phone with san francisco police, they said they sent him some of their best negotiators, took the guy into custody and the bomb squad is assisting to make sure his vehicle does not contain any explosives. traffic is flowing begins but as you can imagine it has been backed up for an hour and a half and it's going to be mess for a while. luckily the lower level of the bridge was never closed. jenna: big news out there in san francisco. we also have breaking news on this story, the teenager accused of being the barefoot bandit is now facing the music. colton harris moore, in washington state, on five federal charge, intug interstate transportation of a stolen plane. prosecutors say this 19-year-old went on a two-year crime spree that took him from washington state to the carribean. harris has more from the breaking news desk with more. >> reporter: you know what, jenna, i bet this is going to become a movie but

before that we'll have to figure out what the ending will be. one colt on harris moore was picked up in the bahamas after crash landing a plane he stole from indiana. this is the kid that became an internet sensation in '08 and '09 after stealing according to police planes and other modes of transportation, teaching himself how to fly with no formal education or training on how to do that. let me just give you a taste of the list of crimes that he's accused of just to give you an idea of how busy this 19 yrl, scoredding -- according to police, has been. he's charged with interstate transportation, stolen firearm, being a fun tiff in possession of a firearm, piloting an aircraft without a set, interstate transportation of a stolen vessel, and the list goes on by the united states attorney's office. colt on harris moore, now in seattle, facing these charges. we'll have to see what comes next with all of this. but you'll remember, he

broke out of a half way house, and it of the quay that he did it back in seattle that made him famous on the internet, or infamous, depending upon your point of view. jon: i think -- jenna: i think on jon's point of view, he's a punk. jon: he's a punk! >> reporter: jon is a tough parent. jon: right now nancy palestinian pell's future, more and more house democrats, including some liberals and even a few long-time allies say they do not want to see the outgoing speaker continue ago the party's leader in the house of representatives. also on the other side of the aisle, tea party chair's michelle bachmann is throwing her support to jeb hensarling. let's compare and contrast these two events. karl rove is back with us begins. these are two powerful, well known leaders in the house, nancy pelosi more so than michelle bachman --

bachmann. >> there are at least 15 democrats who have gone on the record expressing their opposition -- opposition to her being made the democratic leader and i suspect that's the tip of the iceberg. there may be two or three times that many who are privately thinking that. you also have another group, people who have yet to declare the leaders' race, like fazio of oregon who said let's delay this until december, let's not do it next week let's delay it, the current democratic leadership held a meeting yesterday and decided they didn't need to wait so they're going to try and ram this through. so look, this is a bad thing for the democrats. this is the leader who crashed the democratic party after six years in power in the house and did so in a spectacular fawrks yet, she's intent upon remaining leader and it's hard to remove them if they don't want to go. jon: illinois congressman mike quigley is saying the reality of the situation is she is politically toxic, yet m some respects doesn't she wind up in a better

position than she was in before because so many of the surviving democrats in the house on balance are more liberal in political persuasion than they were before this last election? >> well, that's right, but here's the reality. all of these democrats are going to have to go through redistricting. if you're from one of the big states like michigan, ohio, florida, pennsylvania or wisconsin or iowa that has gone through some kind of a political change and you face a much different environment, and you're with a republican governor and republican legislature, iowa does this by commission but the other states, the legislature redistricts, so you've got to be sitting there if you're jason almm -- altmeier saying i've got a left district and do i want her facing my party when i face the voters in 2012 and there there are about 195 seats redistributed by a republican governor and republican legislature and a bunch of the 195 are democrats and they're not going to want to have a san francisco liberal at the

head of their caucus in 2012 where they face the voter. jon: as that food fight goes on on the democratic side the republicans seem to have resolved one with michelle bachmann saying she is not going to challenge jeb hensarling for conference chair, that's the number four position in the house. i guess a good sign for that party? >> well, this is expected to be a hot fight, and now it's being resolved without hard feelings, and look, i know both of the people in question, they're both personal friends of mine, michelle bachmann has been in the congress for only a few terms, jeb hensarling from texas has been there for somewhat longer, he has got a -- he probably had lined up the votes because he had been there longer and been involved in a bunch of -- bunch of substantive media issues. the interesting thing about t. there's not much difference between the two people when it comes to their voting and views. in fact, jeb had a slightly more conservative voting record according to several voting groups than did

michelle but both were solid conservatives who are rock solid on spending, the decifit and debt and obamacare and it ended up being sort of a question of who had greater sort and a.m. caably michelle sent in a statement endorsing jeb and a few moments later he heralded -- heralded her support so it was done in an amicable way and it wasn't the ugly battle we suspected. jon: karl rove has a book with an updated chapter on president obama. >> thank you jon. jenna: here's a quick look in san diego. take a look at this ship. they're almost there. we're going to go back to san diego in just a moment to show you that arrival of all these passengers, all 4000 of them, on the carnival cruise ship, the splendor. the bipartisan debt commission out with new plans to reign in the soaring decifit, the cuts they're proposing are going to cut, but they say the cuts are necessary. we're going to look at the measures, what they have in@çu

jon: well, the splendor has been anything but for the last few days, and now that stricken ship is about to pull into port in san diego. in fact it is in port. it is about to be secured to the dock. there are happy family members on the docks, cheering, yelling, screaming, waving, welcoming their loved ones home after a three-day nightmare, really, smelly toilets, dark

cabins and limited food on board that ship after an engine fire knocked out most of the propulsion and electrical generating capability. the 4500 people on board, about 3300 of them, passengers, are finally back in san diego. they are going to be bused north to where they originally boarded the vessel, but it's going to take several hours. this is not going to be immediate. i half way expected to see folks taking to the life boats and lowering themselves to the pier, just to get off of that thing. it apparently has not been a pretty scene for these last few days. but they are almost there, they're going to secure the ropes, and then they again the la borous process -- laborious process of disembarking. you can see the happy faces lining ul. they just want a hot shower. >> no more spam and pop tarts! i wonder what the meal is going to be after three days at sea. we'll bring you to san diego

as we watch that story. in the meantime another big story, the president's debt commission out with drastic proposals to cut the spiralling decifit which now stands at more than a trillion dollars and the bipartisan leaders of that commission, former senator allan simpson and former white house chief of staff ir skin bowles saying there's no doubt it's going to hurt. among the proposals gradually raising the reterm age to 68 by 2050 and to 69 by 2075, reducing the annual cost of living increase for social security benefits and adding, adding, a 15 cents gas tax hike. also, cutting defense spending, specifically, on equipment, research, and overseas troops. joining us now, david sampson, former deputy secretary of commerce under president george w. bush and rob shapiro, former undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs in the clinton administration. welcome to you both. quite a report to take a look at. david, let's start with you. is this feasible?

>> well, i think this is a very important first step from two serious men in washington. i think it's an important first step in reigning in out of control federal spending. i think that the report is a clear recognition that we are on an unsustainable path when it comes to federal spending and the national debt, and i think the american people are ready for a serious discussion, i think that's the message of the 2010 mid-term elections, that they expect congress to go back and start having serious discussions about something that the american people knows is unsustainable. jenna: serious discussion -- serious discussions, but rob, we don't want things that are not realistic. is this fees snibl. >> it's certainly not feasible in its current form. jenna: what would you change? >> it's also -- let's recognize this is not only substantial spending cuts, it's also very substantial tax increases. but i think what the two

chairmen were doing is setting a bar, setting a threshold, for the other members of the commission to debate, and as various members say hey, i don't think i can go for that spending cut or that tax increase, then they can say well, what would you put in its place. they're trying to come up with a very big package since they know that once it gets to congress it will be whittled down and down and down. but that's the normal process. jenna: let me just stop you there. i have a question for both of you as you both have been a part of government i want to show a couple other things that this commission is recommending. one is about travel. the commission says you got to cut your travel. big business has to telecom ference, the government has to do that now as well. they want to cut off a couple billion dollars off of that travel budget. how about the printing costs? it's estimated that we spend $1.3 billion on printing, and the commission says why aren't you guys e-mailing? why aren't you double siding some of your printing? cut off $400 million off of that budget.

so the question, rod, to you first and david to you next is why hasn't that been done already? >> well, these are the kinds of things that are done normally when we're trying to cut spending or find more money for something else. the printing costs, for example, have been cut back in the past, they want to cut them some more, so let's keep this in perspective. you know, you're talking about a couple billion dollars out of a package that's $4 trillion. so yes, you need to do these smaller things, but you're only serious if you do the big things in both spending and in revenues. jenna: david, i'm sure some of our viewers are like we'll take a couple billion if we can save it off the prints fees. >> sure. every business is making decisions on things like travel and how they can be more efficient in their operations, but i would agree with rob, it's important to look for those savings, but i think that this offers a real important

opportunity to have a rigorous discussion about priorities, about national priorities, and we're never going to get this problem solved unless we have an open, honest discussion about priorities, about the size and the role of government. rob is exactly right, this report not only talks about spending reductions, but still, they're proposing a target spending level of 22 percent which is higher than the post world war ii average. it's got a target of 21 percent of gdp in revenue. that would be the highest revenue level in history. and so we need to have a more fundamental conversation about what are the priorities that we want to focus on. jenna: well we look forward to talking more about that, priority necessary general in the future, gentlemen. thank you very much, rob and david, we appreciate your insight. >> a pleasure. jon: the splendor is docking in san diego. a pretty tricky maneuver because the ship doesn't have its own power so they had to nudge it into place

with tug boats, et cetera. you can see the dock lines going out, the passengers are just this close to getting back on land but it's a process that's going to take some hours after a three-day nightmare cruise, smelly cabins, not much air conditioning and not much food, either. you can see they are happy to be home, at least in the good old usa there they are in san diego. we'll update you, coming up.

jon: all right. the splendor is in port in san diego. but the process of securing that nearly 1000-foot vessel to the docks is still underway. it's going to take a couple of hours, apparently, maybe more than that, for the 4500 passengers on crew -- and crew to actually disembark after a three-day nightmare cruise. a fire knocked out just about anything that needed power on that ship or the ability to generate that power. let's talk about what's going on with don gill --

dawn gil, her son was on board that ship with his new bride kendall. it was supposed to be a honeymoon cruise. dawn, have you spoken to them about how that cruise turned out for them? >> i haven't spoken to them since they boarded the ship. jon: so they do have a gang plank now connected to the mainland. they've got people on board, going in to start the process of bringing the passengers off. they left from long beach, right? they were not intending to disembark in san diego oarks so they're going to have to get these folks all the way up to long beach from san diego. i guess they've got buses lined up to do that. have you heard anything about that process dawn? >> i haven't heard about that process. jon: when this thing happened, the fire on monday morning, they were well out at sea, obviously out of cell phone range, so they haven't had the chance to call you since they got back into range? >> that's right. i don't know if her phone batteries are dead or they're just choosing to not call me, i don't know.

but i haven't heard from them yet. jon: all right. well, i know that it was supposed a seven-day honeymoon cruise. >> that's right. jon: pretty scary way to start off your married life. >> it was different, right! you know, fortunately, there were no injuries, and so they have a lot of time to just talk and visit and slow down, you know, instead of just maybe running crazy and doing all the events and stuff that a cruise offers, they had the opportunity to slow down. jon: we understand that they opened up the bar on the way in, so you know, if you wanted to have a gin and tonic at 8:00 in the morning, i suppose you could do that, but passengers have been saying that everything smelled like it spoiled, nothing was cooked. >> right. jon: sandwich meat. pretty disgusting. just knowing your son and his new bride, how do you suppose they held up? >> i think okay. he has been out on his own,

and so, you know, his meals might have been meager this past year, so pop tarts might be a treat, i don't know. jon: well, we wish them well , hope we get a chance to talk back to them after they get back to you. >> yes, i was looking forward to it. jon: and begin a proper honeymoon, i suppose, one of these days. dawn gil whose son and new daughter-in-law were honeymooning on board the splendor when it was stricken off the megan coast. thank you very much. jenna: we're getting up close pictures of the pansion, kind of clinging to the deck, get me out of there! the associated press say they expect in 45 minutes, people will start coming off. we'll continue to watch this out of san diego. [ male bean right right back with more of "happening now".

jon: well, just into port and just in to fox, the splendor is finally docked, people are finally able to go on board, presumably carnival cruise line employees and maybe customs and immigration officers, they are going on board and they will begin the process of disembarking the 3300 or so passengers and about 1200 crew who have been on that night matter cruise for the last three days. it left long beach, less than 24 hours into its voyage, there was a fire in the engine compartment that knocked out power generating capacity. the vessel -- nobody was hurd but -- hurt but the vessel couldn't move never and nothing could be generated on board in terms of power, no -- lights -- not many lights, emergency lights i guess -- no casino none of the fun stuff, you couldn't use the pool because there wasn't the ability to purify the water through the pump system, so those folks have been three days out hot showers, hot

food and in many cases without lights in their cabins. it has been kind of a stinky, smelly mess. they are about to disembark and oh what stories they will have to share. jenna: they're saying it wasn't much of a cruise. jon: wasn't an eation paradise voyage. jenna: back to san diego, there's such a strong military presence on this veterans day and that leads us to the next story. he has traveled 28,000 miles, visiting 50 states, on a mission to remember. the journey is started by his son, corporal george lutz i. , killed while on patrol in iraq, his father has adopt the honor flag in memory of fallen soldiers, and the journey is concluding today with a ceremony at arlington cemetary. the man behind this is george lutz, joining us live. george, let's start off with what's most important. tell us about your son. >> well, my son, toan yes,

as we called him, was in the united states army, and in psychological operations, he was serving in fallujah when he was killed. a wonderful man, father, husband, two beautiful children. he loved what he was doing, he loved serving his country, a man of faith. he was my best friend. jenna: you know, you started this journey on memorial day, that's the day that we remember our fallen heroes, and you ended it on veterans day, when we remember all those serving in our military. tell us about your journey. what was that like? >> it was an amazing trip, jenna. i wanted to make a statement. i wanted to make a national statement, a symbolic statement, and that statement was that we need to be aware, we need to be thankful, we need to be grateful, for the sacrifices that our men and women have made for us throughout history, and so i thought the best way of doing that was to travel across the

united states to all 50 states between memorial day and veterans day and to have a concluding ceremony to start where our men and women come home at dover air force base, and to finish where they are finally put to rest, at arlington cemetary. it was an amazing journey, with so many incredible opportunities to meet with governors, heads of state, legislators, patriotic americans, and many, many, hundreds and hundreds, of gold star families. those are families who have lost someone in military service to our country, throughout generations. jon: and we know that those families will receive honor and remember flags as well. what, about 300 have so far? >> yes. yes, jon. well, on this trip, i hope to present and did present flags in every single state, so just make that message clear. and over 100 flags were presented, just in the last

five months. to all generations, jon, from world war ii widows and siblings, all the way to iraq and afghanistan. jon: george lutz, senior, it's so good to talk to you and have you back after your long journey, thank you for undertaking it. >> well, thank you for the opportunity. thank you. jon onand another look at the port of san diego, where the splendor is in port. you can see folks waving, somebody has got a banner out there. not sure what it says. but they are happy to be back in the good old usa. they were intending to dock once again in long beach, where they left on sunday, but then that stricken ship, a fire on board, in the engine room, knocked out power. they have been cruising for all of that time without -- well, they weren't even cruising, they got towed back to shore, going with cold food, toilets that were bulky at best and no power. kind of a smelly journey, but they are back home and

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jenna: a fox news alert, an ordeal over for some 4500 passengers and crew. claudia cowan's live in san diego. claudia? >> reporter: hey, jenna, you can see a large crowd has gathered to witness the momentous event of the return of the carnival splendor, and among those here is paul patrick pause your sister, sabrina, is onboard this ship on her honeymoon. you just spoke to her, what'd she have to say? >> she's excited. they woke up and saw land, and they both started texting everyone saying, i see land, excited to be home. ready to get something to eat, actually relax now because i guess they haven't really been able to relax on this ship. >> reporter: yeah. it certainly has been a stressful journey. what's the first thing she's going to do? >> eat. eat and take a shower. a hot, warm shower. she's been cold.

>> reporter: all right. is this a situation where you think she's going to take carnival up on its voucher for another free cruise in the future, or do you think she's had it by now? >> i think she's had it. my sister's one of those people if it don't work out the first time, she don't go back. so i guess she's pretty excited to get her money back, but she don't want to cruise again. >> reporter: how did she say the passengers spent their time these past few days? >> playing cards, keep positive spirits. >> reporter: did she say pretty much it was an ordeal that everyone could bear? >> yeah. the stench was -- the stench of what was on the ship, i guess, was the most unbearable to everyone, i guess. >> reporter: yeah. the toilets weren't working in the beginning. but she's going to get off this ship shortly. she has to go through customs, there's 3300 passengers, when do you expect to see her? >> hour and a half, two hours maybe from now? we're here for the wait i guess now. >> reporter: thank you very much for joining us and good luck reuniting with your city on her honeymoon with her husband,

one they will never forget. again, jenna, not much of a cruise. it certainly wasn't seven days in mexican paradise there along the riviera. it will certainly be a trip that these attention peapgs -- passengers will not soon forget. they're going to get a full refund and a voucher for a free trip on carnival if they want it. jenna: the brother sounded skeptical there about whether the sister was going to go for that, right, claudia? well, you could see why. >> reporter: indeed, he did. [laughter] indeed, he did. we'll see. i think we've been hearing stories that a lot of people were, apparently, nervous to get on this ship right when it sailed on sunday. a lot of people, apparently, had some misgivings about this, and, boy, their intuition certainly turned out to be right. we'll have to talk to more passengers once they disembark to get a feel of how it all went down onboard in this cruise ship. jenna: interesting. that intuition, you've got to follow your gut. claudia, thank you very much. back to you in just a few minutes. jon: want to update you on

something we told you about at the top of the previous hour, a huge explosion in karachi, pakistan. you can see video here from some of the pakistani television services that have been providing feeds to us. a huge explosion, reportedly as many as 15 people are dead, 50 wounded. this, apparently, targeted the criminal investigation department building. that's the investigation arm that goes after militants who may be arrested or picked up in the progress, in progress of the war in neighboring afghanistan. apparently, going after the people who have been going after some of the militants. reportedly 30-40 people may be trapped, 15 houses damaged in the area. it was a huge explosion. no claim of responsibility yet as far as we know. jenna: a lot to watch, happy

relate van -- veterans day, everybody. i'm jenna lee. jon: our top story, eric holder says he's close to announcing how and where detainees at guantanamo bay will be tried for the 9/11 attacks. topping the list, of course, the self-professed mastermind of those attacks, khalid sheikh mohammed. our national correspondent, catherine herridge, has more information live from california. catherine? >> reporter: thank you, jon. as that decision looms, what most americans don't realize is that the two terrorists convicted at began on the mow in the past six months got relatively light sentence, and in one case a detainee who confessed to helping bin laden escape from bore rah bore rah was given two years under plea agreement with the military. this video shows the impact of the ieds or imfrom vised explosive devices made by the canadian and used against u.s. forces in afghanistan. he admitted killing an american

special operations medic, chris spear. he was sentenced to 40 years by a military jury, but it was symbolic. he'll get eight years for the murder, and a former lawyer believes he could be out on the street much sooner. >> well, the military jury sentenced him to 40 years in prison after he admitted to murdering an american soldier. and the secret deal which was done without the jury knowing it was that he would serve eight years, most of which would be in canada which, essentially, could mean he could be paroled next year. >> reporter: so contrast the case with that of american zachary cher shire who was prosecutioned this year in a federal court. he pleaded guilty to threatening the creators of the cartoon "south park" because of its depiction. so when you look at the comparison, 30 years for making threats, someone who's prosecuted in the u.s. court and

for killing a soldier in guantanamo, you see the disparity, 30 years versus 8. in the case of the canadian detainee, he could well be back out on the street in a matter of a couple of years. jon: thanks. jenna: you know, the detention facility at guantanamo opened in 2001, shortly after the u.s. went to war in this afghanistan. and since then more than 700 suspected terrorists have passed through its doors. it currently holds 174 prisoners awaiting trial. former u.s. attorney general john ashcroft was the country's top law enforcement officer when the detention facility opened, and he joins us now on the phone. so, general ashcroft, big picture here. when it comes to these trials, when it comes to these court proceedings, what's at stake when it comes to our national security? >> well, a number of our intelligence-gathering techniques are at stake revealing how we deal with people in order to harvest the

intelligence which they have. if you have a high-valued detainee, they may know an awful lot about the way in which terrorists operate. they may know about specific plots. and our ability to harvest that or to get what they know from them, we sometimes have to reveal some of the things that we know, and we have techniques that we use to make sure that we get as much information that will help defend america. so one of the things that you consider in these settings is how do you defend america, not just how do you -- how much sentence is there that's related to the conduct of the individual? because, ultimately, defending against the next attack is the highest priority -- or should be -- of our effort in the international terrorist incident. jenna: so when it comes to defending america, catherine gave us two different examples. someone that had been tried in gitmo, and it seems like from

appearances looking from the outside in got a relatively light sentence compared to someone that was tried in the united states. when we're looking at the trial for ksm and where we should try a high-profile terrorist, when you look at gitmo and you think maybe they won't get as harsh of a sentence, but you look at new york city and you wonder if that's where it should be, what goes into making that decision, and what's best for national security? >> well, you keep focusing on the amount of the sentence. and that's, that' really how much punishment an individual gets. i think you also have to focus on how well you protect america. to you have to re-- do you have to reveal some of our methods, some of our intelligence operations? do you compromise things that are important in the national security in moving things through the kind of civilian court system in one setting as opposed to a military commission

in another? and so in be matters that relate to international terrorism and the safety and curt of american liberties, i think you have to weigh the safety and security of america and as well as what kind of penalty might be occasioned. and can it's very difficult to compare without knowing the specific facts, and i certainly wouldn't stand in criticism without knowing specific facts in one case as opposed to another. jenna: you know, it's a good reminder, you bring us back to defending america and what's best for our nation on vet rans today. -- veterans day. when we're talking about some of these techniques to draw information from some of those that are in our, in our prisons here, in gitmo, for example, those have been criticized. the enhanced interrogation techniques when, especially these people are brought to civilian court, and there becomes more of a controversy about those techniques. looking back on your time in

office, would you have done anything different seeing how this is playing out now and the debate between civilian court, military court and how we're actually moving this story forward? >> you know, we took some people into civilian courts. we took richard reid, i believe it was, the shoe bomber. but they were individuals that we didn't think had posed risk to the national security by taking them into civilian courts, and we did that. they were not individuals, however, ap rehented on the battlefield like so many of the individuals at guantanamo bay are or the individuals that were sort of the mather -- masterminds of mass mob murder. obviously, ksm is a confessed mobster who says he masterminded the killing of thousands of americans. and additionally, he was at the highest levels of the operation, and we needed to get the

information from him that we could to help us prevent further attacks. i personally never contemplated that we would take a person who was clearly a military individual, part of the declared war against the united states, and i never anticipated that he would be tried in a civilian court, and i think to do so poses certain risks relating to the way in which we handle those individuals, the way in which we gather intelligence. and i think when the president of the united states makes his mind up -- and this'll be his decision. the decision to take someone out of one department of government and put it into another isn't undertaken by the department. if you don't have confidence in the military to be able to properly process this situation, then you withdraw the person from the military where he was detained as a combatant, and you put him into the civilian system. i can't imagine that they would

announce that kind of decision on vet ran day -- veterans day because it reflects a pretty serious lack, i think, of confidence. jenna: general ashcroft, we appreciate you joining us with a rare insight into what's going on here as far as our national security, sir. thank you so much. >> well, i'm glad to wish the veterans happy veterans day including my son who's a veteran and my nephew who's an air force pilot, joey ashcroft. i thank them for serving america. jenna: and we wish them well as well. thank you, sir. jon: and for more on this gitmo topic, we're joined by another man who spent time at the justice department, george terwilliger, former deputy attorney general. we know that the current attorney general, eric holder, said about a year ago that he was going to hold the trials for khalid sheikh mohammed and the others in federal civilian court right here in manhattan. there seems to have been a willt

of blowback. do you get the sense the department is changing its mind and, perhaps, going back to gitmo? this. >> it's hard to fathom that the department and, indeed, the administration wouldn't change its mind. and i think the principle reason for that is when we consider here on veterans day when, as general ashcroft did, we thank all our veterans including my dad who was a pacific world war ii veteran, what happened in manhattan and what happened across the river from here in washington at the pentagon were acts of war. and ksm was part of that act of war. he is a combatant. and what he did is far more than, than commit a criminal act. he engaged in warfare against the united states. so it seems that the process by which we adjudicate his responsibility and mete out punishment for that out to be proportional to the wrong that he committed in the context of warfare. jon: george terwilliger, we have a couple more questions for you if you'd be good enough to stay with us through this short

break. we'll be right back. jenna? jenna: president obama saying we're going to have to make some tough choices, he's talking about his bipartisan debt commission. we've heard raising the retirement age is one idea, so just how tough do we have to get to help our country? >> and so, my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. [cheers and applause] jenna: so what can you do if your country -- for your country? that's a good question. jon: also, we are live with a brand new state of the artemis sill destroyer named for a remarkable young man. the story of jason dunham and the ship that now bears his name coming up. ♪ let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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deadly explosion in cache chi. dominic -- cache chi. dominic is joining us live. >> reporter: jenna, here's what happened just over two hours ago, a suicide car bomber drove himself up to the headquarters of the criminal investigation department in the southern port city of karachi and blew himself up killing 12 people and as many be as 90 people injured. this happened very close to an area that includes the u.s. consulate and two big western hotels, the marriott and scherr tan, however, no indication that westerners have been injured in this particular blast. it left a crater 10 foot wide and is, apparently, one of the biggest blasts that we've actually seen to hit pakistan in quite some time leveling much of the police building. as many as 40 people still believed to be beneath the rubble. we believe it could be militants who are trying to actually spring people from the police headquarters. the headquarters known for being a detention center, an interrogation center for the militants they catch along the

afghanistan/pakistan borderline. more as we have it, jenna. jenna: dominic, thank you so much. jon: well, the attorney general, eric holder, says a decision is near on where to try khalid sheikh mohammed and some of the 9/11 co-conspirators. we're talking about where those trials might eventually be held with george terwilliger. there seems to be a lot of pressure to hold the trials military tribunal style at some place like began guantanamo bay. if he were to change his mind and say no federal court, does that somehow give ksm and these other guys a potential point of appeal? >> i don't think so. what rights they are due, jon, at this point are, is really a determination for the president as advised by the attorney general to make. these are irregular, unlawful combatants and while that may sound like legal terminology, what it means is they were

engaged in acts of war against the united states. they don't have a right to be tried as criminals anywhere. jon: but do you think that the military tribunal, the rules of evidence and so forth are going to be such that the conviction is is virtually guaranteed? we just heard from catherine herridge that some of the people who have already been tried in military tribunals have gotten off with relatively light sentences. >> again, i agree with what general ashcroft said in your earlier piece on this, that we shouldn't judge what process should be used by what the outcome is. each case is different. you know, we may or may not agree with the outcome, but i would not be overly concerned that the military tribunal system is going to be unnecessarily lenient. look, we're a nation that is grounded in the rule of law, and we're a people that believe in the rule of law. what process is due to adjudicate responsibility for something as horrible as 9/11 is not grounded in either what the

outcome is or even in some particular process to get there. we need to be fair to people, but we also need to be fair to ourselves and make sure that in that adjudication process when we judge whether or not people are guilty we're not shooting ourselves in the foot by surrendering important intelligence. jon: we all want that, yes. george terwilliger, former deputy attorney general. thanks. >> this thank you. jon: we'll be right back. to stay fit, you might also want to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

jenna: well, all eyes on alaska still where election officials are counting tens of thousands of write-in ballots today. incumbent senator lisa murkowski waging a write-in campaign after tea party favorite joe miller beat her in the republican primary. now, the sticking point is how voters spelled murkowski's last name. take a look at the creative ways you can do it.

every time it's misspelled, joe miller's team challenges that vote. just one or two letters' difference, and you're in trouble. dan springer's live in the alaska so, dan, how are those challenges being handled as they go through the court? >> reporter: with all the eyeballs on these ballots very, very carefully, in fact, they're just wheeling in the new ballots to be counted, so i'll get out of the way and show you as they walk in the new batch of ballots. 20% of the votes were counted, and nine out of ten murkowski supporters know how to spell her name. they did not get challenged. 8% were challenged by miller observers because of minor spelling errors, maybe hard-to-read writing, but the elections directer counted those for murkowski because, she said, she could phonetically pronounce the name. they're segregated because of the legal challenge. lieutenant governor craig campbell said yesterday why close counts. >> the intent of those counters and division of elections is to

make sure that the voters are not disenfranchised, that if there really is an intent to vote for whoever, that that gets counted. >> reporter: and campbell cited several court cases which, basically, dictates to elections that they have to take voter intent into consideration. jenna? jenna: speaking of court, we understand that joe miller filed a lawsuit. what happened with that? >> reporter: well, that's right. and he was seeking an injunction trying to get the count that's been doing be on here yesterday and for the next four days to be stopped because he doesn't like the way the count's going, the fact that they are using discretion and looking into voter intent. well, a judge yesterday ruled that he is not being harmed by the vote count being continued because those challenge votes are being segregated. so long story short, his challenge will continue next week, and it's his only chance, really, because as we're seeing these votes accumulate for murkowski, we can see that there's no way miller can make up the 11,000-vote disadvantage

he was at going into the count unless he wins in the his legal challenge to have all of the ballots that are misspelled thrown out. but i've got to tell you there are some challenges in which the name murkowski is being spelled correctly x they're still being challenged by the miller people saying they can't really read exactly what the person wrote. so the challenges are getting very sketchy, and some of the more coy sky people -- murkowski people are getting quite upset with how this challenge is going here. jenna: dan, how much longer do you think you're going to be in the alaska covering this race? >> reporter: i'll see you around christmas time back in seattle. no, they're saying it's going to be five days now. originally, they said three but really it's probably going to be until sunday, and then we'll know exactly how many write-in votes lisa murkowski got. it's looking very good for her. jenna: we appreciate you holding down the fort in alaska. dan springer, thank you so much. >> reporter: all right, take care. jon: they were the first african-american aviators in the u.s. armed forces, and on this

veterans day we are proud to honor them. we'll hear from one of the original tuskegee airmen who just returned to the skies in the an aircraft he once flew. it's a story you do not want to miss. plus, our town hall panel is getting fired up. send us your questions or join our live chat. harris is monitoring them. what's the buzz, harris? >> reporter: they have arrived at a flash point at this point. they are talking money big time. red rider on our live chat writes, we cannot afford to, quote, start cutting debt; we have to do it, in all caps. and then someone got things tipped off with this question, jim asks, does anybody think americans will be better off financially next year? someone writes, jim, i think it will be longer than that. mark writes, jim, not next year, but the following year though. so they're kind of planning ahead and looking at finances. and a ton of questions coming in the for our upcoming panel. go to foxnews.com, look for the top story on the front page and then just below it in red you'll see "happening now" and a

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it was stricken by an engine fire, and passengers endured three days of a nightmare at sea. not much in the way of air can being -- conditioning, not much light, no hot food, toilets that wereball key. but you can see the dock lines are out, the passengers are starting to disembark and, oh, what stories they will have. perhaps some legal action as well. we'll keep you updated here on fox. jenna: let's get you, i should say, to the white house. the white house now addressing comments from the president's top adviser, david axlerod. in an interview axle rod said the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board extension of the bush tax cuts. mike emanuel's live at the white house. so, mike, what is mr. axlerod saying about the bush tax cuts today? >> reporter: there's sensitivity about the word permanent versus the word temporary. for upper-income individuals, the white house recognizes the new political reality is they

need to strike a deal with the republicans, though they seem to be signaling a willingness to give a permanent extension of the middle class tax cuts, but a temporary extension for higher-income earners. in an e-mail to me from senior adviser david axlerod, he writes, quote, we need to extend tax cuts for the middle class. we can't afford to borrow another $700 billion for permanent tax cuts for the top 2%. there's pressure to get this done because if congress does not act during this lame duck session, everybody gets a tax hike starting in the new year, jenna. jenna: mike, we were talking about david axlerod, one of the top advisers to the president. we know the president is overseas, so what has the president said specifically about the tax cut issue recently? >> reporter: well, there was an interesting moment in the news conference the day after election day where the president was asked if he's willing to negotiate on the bush tax cuts. he said, absolutely. then this past weekend in his

weekly radio or internet address here's what he had to say. >> i recognize that both parties are going to have to work together and compromise to get something done here, and i want to make my priorities clear from the start. one, middle class families need permanent tax relief. and, two, i believe we can't afford to borrow and spend another $700 billion on permanent tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. >> reporter: now, senator mitch mcconnell, one of the republicans who will be negotiating with the president, says he would welcome the president's help in making sure that, essentially, nobody sees a tax hike in the new year. jenna? jenna: all right. something to watch. big story, mike. thank you so much, mike emanuel at the white house today. jon: lot of questions and comments coming in from our viewers, let's get to our town hall panel. josh block is a former spokesman for the clinton/gore and gore/lieberman presidential campaigns. sam youngman is white house

correspondent for the hill and douglas holtz-eakin was policy directer for john mccain's presidential campaign. josh, here's a question for you from fred rodmocker in southerland, oregon. would it be possible to ask the cbo if they plan to start first with subsidies in this country. what do you think? >> it's, obviously, a question of priority. america spends little on foreign aid, so we're not going to save a ton of money there. we've got much bigger problems that be that. you know, if we want to move forward, we're going to have to see compromises on both sides. the right's going to have to give up on taxes, the left's going to have to give in on into entitlements. jon: doug, here's a question from susie in texas. she writes, can someone please explain to me how raising the social security or retirement age one year to 68 over a period

of 40 years will help our current crisis? >> it will do very little for our current crisis. it's part of a social security reform that delays the receipt of benefits, so it slows the growth of social security spending, but it take an awful long time. the crisis happens between now and 2015, this has essentially nothing to do with that. jon: sam, a question for you. the federal freeze, does that mean congress and senate freeze as well? i think they're talking about the pay. this question comes in from julie. >> well, ideally. i mean, we've heard incoming house speaker john boehner say that's one of the first things that should be frozen is budgets and salaries for both houses of congress and the white house. clearly, that's an area where a lot of members of congress are sensitive, but it's just a number of, a number of cuts that are proposed in this commission, early preliminary commission report that are a lot easier to talk about than to accomplish. jon: josh, it does seem that,

you know, a lot of americans have had to take pay cuts in this economy. people are tightening their belts, families and so forth. here's a question from chuck dutcher, essentially on that same point. the government needs to reduce spending. if every american is cutting back on their personal spending, then so should the federal government. do you get the sense, josh, that there is any appetite or any discussion on capitol hill of reducing federal wages and benefits? >> i haven't heard anything about it. i mean, you know, i'd be surprised to see congress cutting their own salaries. it's hard for them to cut spending, i don't know that they're going to cut the paycheck they take home. that being said, federal employees' salaries have gone up over the last several years, and there is some question about whether that's a place that folks should slow down spending. jon: all right. stick with us, we'll be back with more questions from our america's town hall panel. thanks, guys, we'll be right back. jenna: as we horn our nation's

veterans, we're going to take a look, now, at the tuskegee airmen, the first african-american aviators in the u.s. armed forces. they graduated 396 -- 996 pilots between 1941 and 1946 including this man, retired lieutenant colonel bill wheeler. the medal of honor recipient a had not flown since 1945 until just recently. rick leventhal has this amazing story from our new york newsroom. rick? >> reporter: think about that, the last time bill wheeler flew a plane most of the world wasn't born yet, and a couple weeks ago this member of the tuskegee airmen jumped at the opportunity to grab a rudder again. as you mentioned, the first time since 945 that he did that. he was one of a rare group of black pilots who graduated flight school nearly seven decades ago. he flew many combat missions over europe, credited with destroying three enemy bombers, fighting the nazis and battling

racism at the same timement in in -- at the same time. >> we were not known as tuskegee airmen until 1972 when we formed a formal organization called the tuskegee airmen incorporated. before that we were just black pilots. >> you were a segregated group though. >> all the way. even in combat. all the way. every step of the way. >> reporter: after the war bill says he couldn't afford to buy or represent a plane, and he couldn't get a job to fly a plane because of his skin color. a couple of weeks ago he was invited to fly in a piper cub just like the one he trained on back in the day. dan taylor handled the takeoff and landing but bill took the controls in flight and says, some things you never forget. flying is one of them. >> it was a resurrection for me. >> and i have to tell you, i let him grab the stick, let him grab the controls, throttle, rudder, stick, he held altitude, you never lost it, bill.

[laughter] you never will. >> reporter: bill wheeler is 87. he's a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather, and we salute him and his fellow tuskegee airmen today on veterans day, jenna. jenna: we certainly do. what an amazing story, rick. rick leventhal in our new york newsroom, and on that note, we'll be right back. ♪ numbers, and i think our campus is spending too much money on printing. i'd like to put you in charge of cutting costs. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure, decaf or regular? - regular. - cake or pie?

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megyn: hey, everyone, i'm megnd kelly. is barack obama a one-term president? three signs the experts say do not bode well for him. sarah palin once again suggesting she may run for president. geraldo is here on his big oprah appearance. did you see this? the kings and queens of daytime tv got together and our own geraldo was the star. plus, a 14-year-old barrel has sex with an 18-year-old boy. she says it was rape and later kills herself, and now the charges of rape have been dropped because the victim is is

dead. does that make any sense to you? see you top of the hour. >> they're hosing us down as we're coming in. took a huge hit. bang, don't know what happened. i just went unconscious. next day they took me over, hung me by my feet for the entire day. you get to hanoi, an awful, sinking feeling hits your guts. i'm not going to be a p.o.w., my life is going to march on. jon: just in to the fox newsroom and just in to port, the splendor, the ordeal is over for the 45 passengers and crew. charlene is one of those who's just about to get off that ship. how's it been, charlene? >> well, it hasn't been too bad. it's been rough without bathroom

facilities or anything, power, lights, what have you. but overall they accommodated us quite well. jon: not the kind of cruise you were expecting, though, huh? >> no. this was my first cruise, and -- jon: uh-oh. >> unfortunately, but i'll make another one. jon: it's my understanding that carnival is going to our you a replacement cruise. you'll take them up on that? >> yes, i will. i will. jon: what about the food? how's that been? >> well, the food, it wasn't bad. at least, you know, we had salad, cold cut sandwiches, cereal for breakfast. no hot food. but it, you know, it was something that at least they gave us something, you know, to eat. jon: yeah. >> wasn't a steak or ham and eggs or what have you, but it was something nourishing, you know? jon: we hear them on the loud speaker, i guess your section is about to disembark, so we'll let you get back to it.

charlene, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: getting back to our panel, we're talking about the suggestions made by this debt commission that we've been talking so much about. we're going to get back to our panelists, josh, doug and sam. and a final question for all of you, a great question came in on our live chat asking what point of this report, is there a point of this report that you believe that democrats and republicans could agree upon? josh, why don't we go ahead and start with you. >> well, i think everybody agrees that there's a serious problem out there and that we need to cut spending, you know? "the new york times" reported yesterday that we're spend being at 23% of our gdp, but we're only raising 14% of our gdp in revenue. so we've got to raise the revenue and cut the spending. everybody's going to agree on that. how we do it, there's the fight. jenna: there is the fight. so, doug, specifically, do you see anything in this? we talked about traveling expenses, we talked about social security, it's wide ranging. do you see some specifics in this report that you can see

both sides agreeing on? >> i think if you look at the spending side, you're going to find things they're going to have to agree upon. the reality of the situation is that whatever traditional politics have been around cutting spending and how unpopular that might be, the danger of not cutting it's much greater. so we'll see both parties come to that realization. they're going to concentrate across the board on spending, health care's the biggest issue. i think the major omission in this report is discussing the recently-passed health care law. that'll have to go back on the table as well, and we'll see a real aggressive effort to cut back on the spending from both republicans and democrats because it's a national imperative. jenna: sam, we were talking on the board about maybe you put the debt commission along with congress in the splendor cruise ship and don't let them off until they actually agree on manager. [laughter] so, sam, specifically anything you see in there as well that both sides could agree on besides the fact that, hey, we just need to do something. >> i see nonstarters. i think this will tempt

washington to do what it does best and that's cherry pick small spending-cutting items here and there. what this report underscores and what we're hearing from both congress and the president is that this just shows how difficult it is going to be to rein in the deficit and how much sacrifice it's going to require from both sides, both politically and from americans. jenna: yeah. it'll be interesting to watch. we haven't each gotten to the taxing side, so we hope to have you all back to do that in the future. josh, doug and sam, thank you so much for joining us on this veterans day. >> thank you. jon: and now a very special story to bring you, jason dunham was a 22-year-old marine corporal killed in action in iraq back in 2004. now he has a huge new guided missile destroyer. >> they -- destroyer that bearss name. what did he do? a live report next. ♪

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jon: right now the latest symbol of u.s. military might is ready for the high seas. this weekend the navy will commission the most advanced warship of its kind, a state of the art destroyer named in honor of the first marine awarded the medal of honor during operation iraqi freedom. it is a story we are extremely proud to bring you. orlando shree that is is live onboard the uss jason dunham in for the lauderdale, florida. it is named for a truly exception alma lean. >> reporter: most definitely. jon, you talk about a hero? his family may not say that, but the truth is that's exactly what he was. we are talking about a young man, marine corporal jason dunham. this young man, the date was

april 14, 2004. this young man was in iraq. he was on patrol with a handful of other marines. they had to go on patrol, they saw suspicious caravan of cars. they approached the cars. dunham walked up first, and when he was walking up, one of the insurgents jumped up out of the car, began to choke him. at that point the other marines came to his aid. dunham, they say, screamed, no, no, he has a grenade. at that point this insurgent, the bad guy dropped the grenade. corporal dunham took off his cef lahr helmet -- kevlar helmet, laid it on top of that grenade, laid his body on top of it, and it exploded. he had been talking with marines and said, look, i believe this kevlar helmet, it's strong. it could take a grenade if it had to. he didn't know that really just days after that he would actually be putting that into play.

he did, he saved the lives of at least two other marines. we spoke with one of them earlier today. it is an incredible story. this ship is about 1,000 tons. -- 10,000 tons. it's 510 feet long and, jon, as you said, it is the elite of the elite. when it leaves here, it will head back, and it will port there in norfolk, virginia. jon: i know that you spoke to jason's parents. what did they have to say? this. >> reporter: we sure did. we spoke with his mom and dad, deb and dan dunham. the father told us, look, it is an honor to have this beautiful ship named after their son. there is a mast, if you could, chris, spin it around. the mast took a portion of the helmet that belonged to jason dunham as well as the dog tags. they placed it in the base of the mast, and it will be there forever. the father said that this ship will carry his son's memory. take a listen to the father, dan dunham. >> each day we spend with the sailor, the marines, anybody

connected with this for the past six and a half years is part of a healing process to us. because they're stories of jason, and we've heard stories we didn't know and can the sailors and marines have heard stories they didn't know. and i kind of keeps -- it kind of keeps jason alive. >> reporter: jon, i heard it said earlier today that this is a tragically beautiful story of self-sacrifice, and that probably is the best way to say this. this ship will be commissioned the uss dunham will be commissioned this coming saturday on the 13th. jon? jon: orlando salinas in ft. lauderdale, thank you so much for that report. and on in this veterans day we thank jason dunham ask all of our veterans. we'll be right back. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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jon: lots of parades on this veteran day. thank a veterannd