>> ainsley: welcome back. we're in the keystone travel trailer. we're looking for brian. where is he? >> steve: i don't know where brian would be. >> brian: i love this place. $28,000. >> steve: never mind that man behind the curtain. see you on monday.

>> president barack obama: we'll sit down and discuss how we move forward. my number one priority is making sure that we make the middle class tax cuts permanent. that we give certain -- the 98% of americans, affected by those tax breaks. gregg: malini wilkes is live in

washington with more on the story. why is the president strongly against expending taxes for the wealthy, tax cuts, i should say? >> reporter: good morning, women the president says we cannot afford to extend those upper income tax cuts, he says, we need the money to address the deficit and people like him, who make a lot of money, should be -- should pay. president obama arrived in japan, now, for another economic summit, and, talked about these tax cuts before departing the g20 in seoul, south korea and the issue is, president obama wants to extend these cuts for the middle class and not for the williest americans, making over $250,000 a year. republicans want them for everyone and, this week, david axelrod, senior advisor, told the "huffington post" that to prevent the increase for the middle class the administration would have to accept those cuts for everyone. at least temporarily. but, today, president obama denied that he is ready to make that deal. listen: >> president barack obama: that is the wrong interpretation, because, i haven't had a

conversation with republican and democratic leaders. here's the right interpretation: i want to make sure that taxes don't go up for middle class families starting on january 1st. that is my number one priority. for those families and for our economy. >> reporter: and the president said that he might be open to compromise but will not negotiate this in korea. while he's thronon the road. back to you. gregg: maloney wilkes. martha: the collapse of the trade deal is getting a lot of talk, an embarrassment, some say, to president obama and, the g 20 nations are refusing to back a u.s. push to make china boost the value of its currency, the anchor of varney & company and the fox business network, stuart varney joins us now.

why is it a failure for the president. >> let me amplify, you call it a failure, it may be a bit strong but there was absolutely no gain for america in these financial meetings. on the issue of a trade, no deal whatsoever. on currencies, china, refuses to budge. on the issue of america printing $600 billion new dollars, well, we're under harsh criticism from the rest of the world and the result is, you could probably call this a failure. the president has gotten nothing from other countries, out of this trip. now he returns to what you described a moment ago to near chaos and confusion on the issues of debt and spending in the u.s. and the result is these are difficult "financial times" for america, at home and abroad. martha: stuart, when you have countries like germany and brazil, really getting their backs up an accusing the united states of flooding the market with u.s. currency, through the infusion, of $600 billion into

the jetstream, mainstream, you know, i mean, this is an interesting situation, these countries are not ones that have ever accused us of stoking inflation. >> look, america is criticizing china for manipulating its currency. but, what is america doing? if you flood the world with dollars you are forcing the u.s. dollar down in value. and, other countries, whether brazil, russia, china, germany, they don't like it. you have a race to the bottom with currencies, and, everybody trying to get some kind of advantage over the other one in world trade. it is a dangerous situation. martha: stuart varn. martha: thank you very much for your in sight. happy friday to you. and, take care, stuart. gregg: crying foul in alaska casalaska's senate race lisa murkowski accusing observers from joe miller's campaign of challenging properly cast ballots, the republican and tea party

favorite said ballots don't pass the smell test for correct spellings. and murkowski's spokesperson saying the miller camp is, quote, delaying the inevitable. as of now, write in candidates have 40% of the vote in that state. martha: in washington lawmakers facing low approval ratings, the "usa today/gallup poll," 70% of americans a-- 17% approve of congress and 77% disapprove, and it was taken just after the midterm elections and then it was 21% and the numbers have gone down since the election and the new congress convenes in january and we'll see what they can do to pull the numbers in the other direction. gregg: we got through the mid terse and guess what? folks are planning the first debate for 2012. no kidding, the reagan presidential library announcing it will host the g.o.p. presidential contenders,

sometime in the spring and will be a crowded field up there, could involve 12 candidates, maybe more. former first lady, nancy reagan says her husband would be absolutely thrilled over this. and, if it seems a little early, consider this: the first debate in the last presidential election cycle was held about the same time, april 2007. put on your hats, here we go. martha: can you believe that? it will fly by and we'll be in the heat of it and speaking of that, a book signing blitz for sarah palin, launching a 9 day tour with planned stops in kansas, kentucky, louisiana and, tulsa oklahoma on black friday, the day after thanksgiving, for her new book, "reflexes of family, faith and flag" and she'll not just drop in on the big book chains, she'll go to walmart and costco where they sell a lot of books. gregg: love costco.

martha: great. will be a busy lady. gregg: will wisconsin be the next state to pass an arizona-style illegal immigration law? coming up we'll tell you what a lawmaker has to say about that. martha: homer owner's association meeting in houston, turns violent. we'll tell you what sparked this physical fight between people at the homeowners' meeting. bill: republicans promising to take apart the health care law, piece by piece. it looks like they may have a democrat on their side. recognize that guy right there? he shot a hole in cap-and-trade. >> if you put the country first, i don't care whether you are a democrat, republican, liberal, conservative, business or labor, it is how we do it and it works well. gregg: senator elect joe manchin may play a big role in the next health care fight. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups.

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medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you up to thousands of dollars. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, i can keep my own doctor and choose my own hospital. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now... gregg: financial watch dogs

reportedly failing to notice fraud and mismanagement big time in the los angeles suburb of bell, california. the auditor actually is giving that city a clean bill of health. that as town bureaucrats earned enormous salaries after charging residents an businesses $6 million in taxes, and the former city manager earning more than $1.5 million last year alone. reports finding examples of abuse at other california cities, the state comptroller now investigating the you a tits. -- audits. martha: the first member of congress to publicly argue president obama's health care law is unconstitutional. orrin hatch joining the fight to repeal the overhaul, at the state level and the case made by his colleague, tim pawlenty on the record, last night with greta. take a look. >> i feel strongly about this, greta. if we allow the federal government to do that it is

basically the end of the understanding that we have had throughout the history of the country, in federalism and that is why we are pushing back so hard. martha: orrin hatch is the senate judiciary committee, expected to be the ranking republican on the senate finance committee. senator hatch, welcome, good morning to you, always good to see you. talk to me about health care repeal. do you really think that it can get anywhere? how do you see it playing out, come january. >> that depends on how solid republicans and those number of democrats, at least five or six democrats, who believe we ought to repeal the health care bill, if we stick together, there is a chance, but, we're not stupid. we know the president will veto it unless the changes that are made are decent changes and we will -- at the same time, be trying to make major changes in the bill that might protect the taxpayers, and stop the federal government from running all over everybody and having a central government, one size fits all

health care plan. martha: you have been around congress a long time, and, senate a long time, when you look at this situation, the odds are that congress, you know, the republicans newly elected republicans in congress will try and get through a repeal bill on the house side, fairly quickly, as, you know, a symbolic moment when they get there in january and then it will go to the senate. there's a number of face and names that are put out there as possible democratic senators, who may come over to the g.o.p. side on this including joe manchin, ben nelson, we have pictures of some of these folks and the list is longer than this, kent conrad is among them and who do you think is potential to cross over and support your view on this? >> we we know five who say they will and it will take more than that of course for us to be able to change this. but, you know, let's be honest about it. if the federal government can dictate what you have to do and what you have to buy, rather than regulate economic activity, if they can dictate economic activity, our freedoms are gone and our liberty is gone and the

federal government can do anything to you, they can force to you buy anything they -- the federal government wants to you do. so, we have to put limits around the federal government. that is what the constitution is all about. limiting the size of government, limiting the actions of government, and, what the president and others, the democrats have done is a totally partisan bill, and what they have done is to make it so that the courts control the constitution, rather than the constitution controlling the courts. martha: there is a gallup number out this morning, that is disturbing, 17% approval rating for congress. and i know that, you know, the senate is an institution that you love. you have been at this for a long time, as i mentioned before, senator hatch and i say that out of respect. what is your sense of -- >> thank you. martha: -- of whether or not anything will change with the whole movement, tea party movement, anger over health care, is anything going to be different come january? >> i think, things are going to change. we will have, seems to me, an

earmark moratorium, and, i am for an earmark moratorium and there will be -- >> mitch mcconnell disagrees with you, sir. what do you say about that? >> well, i don't think it is totally -- he totally disagrees with me, i voted twice for a moratorium on earmarks, and, i intend to vote for it again. on the other handle, we have to make sure that this earmarks that are essential to our country and to especially states that have to have them in order to continue economic programs that are already -- >> how do you draw the line, senator? everybody thinks their earmark is the one that, you know, is a substantial piece of legislation. that really does matter. >> well, the only way to do it, if they have a moratorium across the board on earmarks, which, it doesn't have to be permanent. i mean, let's look at it and see how it works. all i can say is i will support the best one i can find. and go from there. but, this business of forcing you to buy something you don't want to buy, in other words, the

health care program, this is a dangerous thing to do and i filed a bill, the american liberty protection act which will do away with the unconstitutional employee mandate, but, also filed a bill to do away with the job-killing employer mandate and if we pass those two bills, that will take the pillars, underpinnings away from this awful health care bill, that is going to bankrupt americans. martha: it will certainly increase the pressure on the president and, also will get it from the legal side, 20 states that are pursuing it from their attorneys general. so it will be an interesting, interesting winter, senator orrin hatch, thank you so much, sir. good to see you, as always. >> nice to be with you. gregg: vatican treasurers revealed, and we'll take you inside an exhibit and show you church documents few people have ever seen. martha: no more cold food or cold showers, carnival's splendor passengers enjoying their first morning on land. we'll talk to one of them, about

what it was really like on there, when we come back! don't miss it. gregg: were they really handing out spam. martha: this is the big question. >> no more cold showers, hot showers. >> i want a cheeseburger, hot food sounds amazing. >> everybody is pissed off. >> we camped on the ocean -- i hate camping!

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martha: this is incredible, a demolition gone very wrong, seconds after it got underway, authorities in springfield, ohio, taking down an old smokestack, and the explosion blew up the smokestack and it fell in the wrong direction. >> get out of here! get out of here!

martha: wow. you can see folks scrambling on the ground there. to get away from that thing, it came crashing down and went righten to a generator building and knocked out power to as many as 3500 customers, thank goodness nobody was in the way of this and there are no reports of injuries, it belonged to one of the largest power plants in the country, and stopped operating in 1981. wow, unbelievable. gregg? gregg: that is a big oops, isn't it? ancient rome and the mysteries of the vatican coming to liven a new exhibit. think of it as a virtual vatican library and it is open to the public, in st. peters' square and offers visitors a very rare look at some of the vatican's most treasured documents, greg burke is streaming live from rome and, greg, i still have my library card in the states, i'm not sure it will work there. who gets a card, and who gets

in? >> reporter: gregg, it's not easy to get a vatican library card, because a few years ago an american scholar was caught stealing pages from manuscripts one summer and it is tougher and tougher and you have to be an established scholar and that is what makes the exhibit so interesting, we talk to the curator about what makes this exhibit, knowing the vatican, so special. >> you can handle the books. this is a real innovation of the exhibition, and, you can sit in the library and, look at the medieval manuscripts, ancient texts of the gospels, or, prints of the 17th century. >> reporter: gregg, what is interesting is that really is just the tip of the iceberg, no doubt about that. they have a million-and-a-half books in the library and this show is only in one hall, only a teeny bit. gregg: what were the more

interesting things you were able to see. >> reporter: definitely the fact that you can leave through the old manuscripts, they are fax sim facsimiles, and they are more than 500 years old and illuminated manuscripts and light of other different things, they have a piece of the koran, early, early copy of the koran, and a lot of old prints and ancient coins, some 2,000 years old and others, more modern, actually, saw as well, 1921, u.s. silver dollar, gregg? gregg: amazing stuff, greg burke, streaming live, thanks. martha: i love that kind of stuff. coming up in wisconsin, the new arizona, a wisconsin lawmaker is ready for the battle, he says he's ready to promise to crack down on illegal immigration in his state. will we see the same reaction from the administration in washington, this time towards wisconsin. bill: and former president george w. bush entering the

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martha: all right, let's look at the top stories we are covering now, prosecutors in tennessee say the student convicted of

hacking into sarah palin's e-mails should spend 18 months in prison. a federal judge is set to sentence david kernell whose attorneys are asking for probation and there is brand new significant evidence today in the case of a missing disabled girl in north carolina. ten-year-old zahra baker has been missing a month and police believe that she is dead and there are reports police found her remains. authorities are not yet commenting on that story, we'll keep on top of that, though. and there is a wicked sandstorm blowing through parts of eastern china, and you can see the thick haze of sand and smoke filling the skies, and people are having breathing problems and are advised to stay indoors until these amazing strong winds die down. gregg: a new illegal immigration bill in wisconsin is proposed, taking a cue, apparently from arizona's law, listen to a local

assembly man says about the push to crack down on illegals in his state. >> the motivator is frustration, trying to get the federal government to enforce their own laws. and, in this case, they are not, we want wisconsin to join arizona, in protecting our borders, we don't want wisconsin to be looked upon favorably by these people, i want with this bill to be incarcerated up to 48 hours so they can have an opportunity to prove there legal status. gregg: six other states introduced legislation, and more to come, and will we see yet another nasty legal battle, judge andrew napolitano, senior judicial analysts and host of fox business network's "freedom watch", monday through friday, beginning monday. >> yes, thank you. gregg: federal judge susan bolton struck down one part of the controversial arizona law that requires legal aliens to carry with them their papers, when they get stopped.

so, wisconsin is being crafty here. and they are saying, well, we'll have the same sort of provision exempt you don't have to producer papers on the spot. but, rather, we give you 48 hours to produce your papers, will that work. >> i don't think it will work and as i heard the assemblyman say you will have 48 hours to producer paperwork, during the course of which you will be incarcerated and somebody else has to get it for you and we start with this baseline and you know as well as lobby, you are a lawyer, there is federal law and state law and immigration law is done by the feds and the public policy has been, federal law enforcement has to be even across the country, it can't have it stronger in one state than another and when the feds don't do their job as they are not doing now, it is their choice not to in force the law, and to the extent -- enforce the law and to the extent the wisconsin law does what arizona attempted to do, have state law enforcement officials fill the gap, i think it will be blocked by the federal courts and then federal law will be decided by state officials, and will mean different things in different states, if somebody is

incarcerated and arrested for a serious crime, given miranda warnings, police can ask them anything including their immigration status, if they are stopped for going through a stop sign the immigration status is irrelevant. gregg: judge bolton said in her ruling on arizona, this is an unreasonable period of time you might be detained but i checked the stats on this and it takes on average 81 minutes to check the federal database, is that unreasonable. >> actually, 81 minutes in law enforcement is very, very fast. i mean, the rule of thumb -- in my prior life the rule of thumb between arrest and appearance in court, or arrest and making bail and freed is 24 to 48 hours. 81 minutes is like lightning speed. but, the issue here is, the same as arizona. where does wisconsin come in directing its state and local police to enforce federal law? that is the problem the federal

courts will have, it is the constitution and federal law means different things in different states. gregg: here's a law school-type question. wisconsin is proposing in this law that its citizens would be able to sue government officials who are not enforcing the immigration law, clearly going after sanctuary cities, like madison, wisconsin who are refusing to abide by federal law, can they do that. >> one of the reasons we have a terrible problem with s.w.a.t. teams, with people being killed when they break down the wrong door, is because the police do not have personal liability when they make a mistake like this. and i'm in favor of being able to sue officials. but, you can no put an impossible burden on them, you can't sue state officials because they will not enforce federal law. that is not their job. gregg: the overriding ruling by the federal courts so far has been that arizona and other states are pre-empting federal law. >> right. gregg: doesn't federal law already allow u.s. immigration officers to stop anybody, any time, anywhere, for any reason,

to ask for documentation? >> no. not on the basis of the way they look. it would have to be probable cause of violation of the law, and it can't be appearance. gregg: sentence that what arizona was aig sayisaying, it appearance but can be any time, anywhere for another reason. >> yes. and the judge was saying because she is experienced in the world it will become appearance because cops will go on a hunch and that is not covered by the constitution. gregg: i heard that somewhere, probably from you. judge andrew napolitano, good to see you. >> good to see you, gregg. martha: while you and the judge were talk being had that news crossing the wires. it appears michael steele will have a challenger to his republican party chairmanship and it will come from a michigan republican, used to be head of the michigan republican party launched a bid to lead the republican national committee a couple of years ago, which was unsuccessful and he'll take another crack at it, saying he

thinks the candidates should be this ones in the limelight, which is seen as a bit of a slap at michael steele who has garnered a lot of attention in his leadership role at the r.n.c., that is the news, crossing the wires, wanted to bring it to you, as soon as we got it and we'll see where that goes. gregg: very interesting. former president george w. bush entering the no-spin zone. >> decision points, the name of your book. >> i think it is, yes! >> off camera -- giving me jabs -- >> i'll tattoo it here." decision points." >> everybody knows the name of the book. all right. when i write my books, one thing i wants people usually to take away from the book. what is that? >> well, my book must be a little more complex than your books... much more complex. gregg: ouch. the former president is macking the talk show rounds, as he promotes his new book." decision points."

martha: they hope it will climb the best-seller list, friendly competition there. in the meantime, the federal government putting billions of taxpayer dollars behind high-speed rail projects that are planned for several states and not everyone in those states is willing to climb on board, the newly elected governors of with yo wisconsin and ohio are putting the brakes on the train projects, mike tobin is live in chicago. what is going on with this. >> it is remarkable, true, a couple of newly elected politicians, governor-elect john kasich of ohio and scott walker of wisconsin telling the from aing -- federal government, thanks for the kind offer but we don't need your stimulus money and scott walker in particular is talking about money dedicated to create a new high-speed rail line between madison and milwaukee. a route he says doesn't have a traffic problem. it would cost taxpayers $810 million and wisconsin taxpayers would have to pony up the operating expense which he

estimates between 7.5 and $15 million per year and he says the money would be better spent on roads and bridges. >> we have roads and bridges across the united states and we certainly have them in wisconsin that need to be fixed and i hope the new congress and the obama administration would give that a second look, because, that is a much higher priority to get this state and ultimately our country working again. >> reporter: now, the rail project in ohio has been called this three-c project because it would connect cincinnati, columbus and cleveland and would cost $400 million and governor kasich, also, saying no thank you. martha: obviously there is a downside to this and there is talk about this in new jersey -- >> reporter: the downside -- >> there is a downside, right. >> reporter: the states don't get the money, transportation secretary ray lahood sent letters to both of these governors-elect telling them the money cannot be diverted for roads and bridges. it is specifically to the high speed rail line and you have politicians in surrounding states like dick durbin of illinois, saying we are glad to

take that money. martha: oh, boy, mike tobin, thank you, sir. >> if there is a way to qualify, if we have the matching funds, let's create the jobs and build the infrastructure and i'll tell you, in the future, wisconsin and ohio will look back and say we missed an opportunity. >> reporter: you have all of the politicians eager to get the money and eager to get the jobs created by them, martha. martha: mike, thank you very much. interesting story, mike tobin in chicago. gregg: new proposals out of the obama administration that would completely overhaul the tax system, what possible changes they are targeting and how they might affect you. martha: and a board meeting that looked more like a bar brawl. what got these folks so fired up they started slugging at each other. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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gregg: a "fox news alert," a very promise intents michigan republican saul anuisz announced he is planning to run against michael steele, the head of the republican national committee and basically in an e-mail said if the chairman steps out of the limelight it will allow this candidates to become the voice and face of republicans and will challenge michael steele and that is a slap at steele, who generated continues various repeatedly, as his tenure as republican party chairman sometimes drawing attention that has been detrimental, it has been said, of the republican party. so we'll continue to follow this challenge. martha: lots of talk about the controversial bush era tax cuts but it is getting closer, folks and they are set to expire in less than two short months from now and this as president obama's deficit commission is considering some major changes that were just announced

yesterday and the tax system -- could hitting the wealthy in the wallet mean collateral damage to the middle class? this is a central part of the issues of the discussion, let's bring in the senior advisor to senator hillary clinton, she's also the former communications director for the democratic national committee. and ron was a communication director to the former speaker of the house, dennis hastert and former senior advisor to trent lot. i guess we know a lot about you guys now! welcome! good to have you both here, always a pleasure to see you. maria, a little bit of back-pedaling from the white house on the tax cut thing and it sounds from david axelrod as if they were willing to let them expire and he didn't use the word temporarily in that piece and they came back and said, no, no, no, for the rich it would only be temporarily. >> i think a lot of people are reading wa too much into what they are saying, president obama has said in seoul what he has always said, his top priority is to make sure the tax cuts are

extended for the middle class who need them the most and have been so hard hit by the recession and he thinks it would be a huge mistake to extend them to the wealthiest income earners, especially because it will add almost a trillion dollars to our deficit and he said he was not going to negotiate in seoul but will sit down with democratic leaders and republican leaders here in washington. martha: i've got you. but, the argument, ron, is that if you don't let them expire for everybody, the middle class will continue to suffer in a lousy economy, that is the argument, right. >> it is interesting, david axelrod floated the trial balloon and that was not by accident, they know they lost a number of moderates in the election because of the economy, and because of lost jobs, and providing economic certainty to small businesses is key to getting them to hire people again. and, the middle class is suffering and so are small businesses who are -- do follow the upper tier brackets. and, raising taxes on small businesses in an -- a bad economy is a really bad idea.

martha: why is that idea -- does that idea fall on deaf ears with the administration and most democrats, maria? >> well, i think a couple of reasons, first of all, because i know the republicans like to argue that the tax cuts for the top income earners will affect small businesses and that is not true. 99% of small businesses do not fall into the top -- >> that is not true, actually, in fact half of the -- wait, hold on, i'll call you on that, half of the people who make over $250,000 a year in this country are running a small business. half of them, this notion that it will not make a difference, and if you talk with small business owners across the country, which i do any ever i get the chance to, they'll tell you, i'm not hiring, i'm worried about health care and this -- why not pull the brakes off of them and help them out. >> i talk to a lot of small businesses, too, and so have democrats and the president and in fact they've all said they make less than $250,000, and their priority is to make sure

the tax cuts for middle class families are the ones that are extended because that is where they fall in. the other thing, martha, is the majority of the american people don't think these tax cuts should be extended to the top income earners, especially when it will add almost a trillion dollars of deficits -- >> the point is and, ron, back to ron, you know -- i want to move on to the michael steele issue, the point. martha: an economic philosophy issue, when you do that, $700 billion is going to come back into the economy because business will be stimulated. that is the argument. hold on. ron, i want to change gears for a moment and i have you here and want the opportunity to ask about the michael steele issue, he wants to challenge him for the chairmanship of the r.n.c. >> michael steele will get challengers and that is natural, considering we had a pretty good election and other people want to take a shot at the mantle -- >> should somebody else take the

job. >> excuse me. martha: should someone else be in that position, in your opinion. >> my opinion it is up to the members of the r.n.c. to make that determination. i am not going to get into the fight here. i will not get into the middle. i would rather talk about whether or not the democrats are going to agree with republicans on creating jobs. than get into -- >> of course you would, ron. you punted on that, big time! >> that's right. i think, you know, we need to focus on where we are headed -- heading the country and i don't think putting nancy pelosi in charge of the house democratic caucus is a smart idea and nor do i think raising taxes on small business is a good idea and that is why -- >> neither is adding almost a trillion dollars per -- >> let me put the question this way, because i was -- i wants to move on to one other issue and i'm try again with maria, would you as a democrat like to see michael steele stay in the spot he's in? >> well, you know, from a purely

analytical standpoint, he actually was very successful in these past two years, if you take a look at what he has done in terms of winning elections, that is what the r.n.c. chair is supposed to do. martha: right. >> absolutely. so i think it will be very difficult for the republicans to make the argument that he should be gone. i mean, clearly, he makes tons of gaffes and i'm sure that is what they are not happy with but i think -- >> and he did -- he was successful and he had a successful bus tour, the fire pelosi bus tour and the american people did do that. martha: all right. >> why do you want to try to fire him then? >> i'm not -- >> for the record, we'll pick this up another day, because, it is intriguing. thank you very much, ron and maria, great to see you guys. >> thanks. martha: have a great weekend and we have a lot more coming up. gregg: punt that one and you called them both for dodging some stuff there. martha: wasn't going there. will be controversial. and, you know, one of the big questions that remains is how

influential is that role today, you know, the head of the r.n.c. and dnc. gregg: a lot in rations money and michael steele -- >> and a lot of people do, too. gregg: and michael steele said republicans cannot take the house and they did. and we'll look at the shift in power with lawmakers to get any important work done before boehner and company take over. martha: the carnival splendor passengers were out there to take the trip of a laifetime an, it was called the spam cruise and we may have to straighten that out, we called it that here yesterday. but we'll tell you the truth. whether or not there was actually spam on that ship, coming up. don't forget mrs. collier. i won't. ♪ [ female announcer ] clear some snow. ♪ or spread a little warmth.

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>> a great adventure, we talked to people and met a lot of people and talk to them, it was awesome. >> a little bit of panic but we were afloat and the crew made the best of things and turned out good, we made it back to land! gregg: a great adventure, awesome, really? you heard from a couple of passengers. really trying to make the best of a bad situation, after a fire disabled their cruise ship, lead leaving them stranded at sea for days, and now the investigation, into the fire's cause getting underway and we understand, panama authorities will take the lead, because that is where the ship is flagged and they'll get help from coast guard and the national transportation safety board and all of the passengers can enjoy a hot cup of coffee,

hot shower, working toilets, things we all take for granted. bob keats was a passenger on board the splendor and joins us now. bob, we only have a couple of minutes, let's cut to the chase, big bang, everything shuts down and what was the worst part of it? >> probably the lines for food. you know? because, in the beginning, people were looking to get in line for today and kept getting earlier and earlier and earlier and the crowds kept getting bigger, because once the hoard thing gets on, people, go, the food will be gone! and they hoarders will get it first and that is when the lines got bad. gregg: you know, what about, you know, lack of showers and not really functioning toilets and all of that. >> no, the toilets. it was the toilets. first thing was the toilets. you got up, we heard the bang, the grown, the grumble and the smoke and they made an announcement, there was smoke, and we didn't even know until we

opened up our cabin door and the hallway was filled with smoke and they said, open up your doors and we were on a balcony so we could get air through there and stuff but the toilets, instantly went and we were in the back section and so our toilets, until about a day-and-a-half out, didn't work. gregg: when, bob -- when you got through the long lines and finally got food, what kind of food did you have. >> well, i'm a vegetarian, and so it was mostly salads and fruits and we were pretty happy. but, then in the beginning when the -- once those lines started showing up we would skip to the quicksand witch and grab a tomato-mozarella sandwich before it got crazy. why wait in line for... gregg: the whole story about how they were handing out spam, which, by the way, i'm a big fan of and i know you are a vegetarian. turns out they bought it and it was on board but they ended up not handing it out, a shame, especially if i were on board.

>> i don't think there was any spam. no one talked about spam. you know, after they did the airlift drop, meat did show up in the line there. and they had turkey and pass stram pastrami. gregg: a lot of cheese and bread for you. would you do it again. >> oh, yeah, sure, absolutely! i mean, what are the chances of that happening again? i don't think so. gregg: go back on, bob -- good luck to you, thanks for joining us. >> cio! martha: you want somebody like that -- gregg: i have spam in my cupboards to this day. i love it. martha: we'll make sure you are never without it. one big election is still undecided. at this hour. ten days after the midterms, they are still counting the ballots in alaska. for the senate race, where write in candidate lisa murkowski is up against joe miller, you know the story and, they are

counting. the decision could be decided on the spelling issues, we'll have a live report from alaska tell you how the tight, tight race is shaping up. bill: and nancy pelosi facing push-back from members of her own party who now doesn't want her to run for house my minority leader. >> democrat leaders in the house elected nancy pelosi for a leader and it is almost as if they didn't get the message from the voters, this election. [ k. tyrone ] i'm an engineer. my kids say i speak a different language. but i love math and math and science develop new ideas.

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martha: all right. we are watching this breaking news this morning. it looks like michael steele, the head of the rnc, will have at least one challenger in that post. news coming out just about 20 minutes ago that republican saul anew sis from michigan will be challenging him for the chairmanship. we're going to talk to chris wallace about this just moments from now, so stick around for that. and it was all smiles during a meeting of the world's

economic power usas, but not everybody is going away happy. the global leaders posed for their traditional class photo, there they are smiling at the g20 summit in south korea, of course, held this year. president obama's hope of securing a free trade deal to boost u.s. exports was a major issue for him, and that did not happen. that's how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" on a friday morning. we are delighted to have you with us. greg i'm greg jarrett in for bill hemmer. the president talking about how to keep the global economy on track during his visit to south korea. take a listen. >> countries with large deficits must work to reduce them as we are doing in the united states where we're on track to cut our deficit in half by 2013 and where i'm prepared to make tough decisions to achieve that goal. likewise, countries with large surpluses must shift away from unhealthy dependence on exports and take steps to boost domestic demand. martha: well, that got a lot of

attention, and now the president is preparing for his second economic summit hosted by another big ally of the united states. mike emanuel is live at the white house. what was it, mike, that broke down in these free trade talks with south korea? >> reporter: well, martha, the president was making the case it's important to find a good free trade teal with south korea -- deal with south korea, not just any deal. here's more from the president. >> i'm the one who's going to have to go to congress and sell it. and from my perspective, again, i'm not interested in a announcement but then an agreement that doesn't produce for us. we've had a lot of those in the past. a lot of announcements, but at the same time we see american manufacturing deteriorate, and as a consequence, a lot of concern back home. >> reporter: clearly, a dispreponderate for this president -- disappointment for this president, this white house. if it sounds familiar, it is

something president bush tried to do before leaving office, now president obama trying to get it done, spent a lot of face-to-face time with president li of south korea, but in the end it's not done, at least not yet, martha. martha: what are some of the big sticking points here, mike? >> reporter: well, the president says he was worried about, for example, opening up south korean markets for american beef, american ranchers and farmers want to be able to sell american beef to a new market. the president is hoping to double american exports over the next five year, and so one way of doing that is, obviously, with some free trade deals. but there is some opposition in this country. some of the labor unions saying the president needs to look out for the working men and women of america. even if he does strike a deal at some point, he's still going to have to sell it back here at home with some of his traditional constituencies. martha: all right, interesting. thank you, mike. >> reporter: thank you, martha. gregg: as mike mentioned, the summit wrapping up today with world leaders still arguing over

currency deevaluation and global trade, president obama enduring some withering criticism over a decision by the fed to pump 600 billion into the u.s. economy, something other countries believe could weaken the dollar and lead to inflation. elizabeth macdonald joins us live from our new york city newsroom. e. mac, good to see you. i think it was about ten days ago "the wall street journal" said, you know, this is the equivalent of dumping $600 billion out of a helicopter. it not only devalues the dollar, but causes some pretty serious harm to confidence in u.s. currency at a time when investors are already fleeing the dollar. is that why the president got heat? >> reporter: yes, it is. and it came on top of the federal reserve buying about $1.7 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and u.s. treasuries. those reserves are still sitting with the banks and with the federal banking system, gregg, they've yet to be released into the economy. there's about one trillion in cash or so still sitting on is is the sidelines, so the fear is

inflation will be upon us. the dollar has slid since ben bernanke made his speech in august signaling he will be doing more of what's known as quantitative easing. where is fiscal authority here in the united states when the fed is making these moves? the bank of england is scaling back at a time when that government is doing, basically, fiscal austerity. but at the same time, gregg, what we're also seeing is china, japan and other countries seeking to devalue their own currencies to make their exports cheaper in world markets. gregg: and what do you get out of it? be maybe a drop in long-term rates of 25-50 basis points. risky strategy for little gain. elizabeth macdonald, good to see you. >> reporter: sure, delighted. martha: we've been telling you this morning that there will be a challenger toll michael steele, the head of the rnc, and it is michigan republican saul anuzis.

chris wallace, good morning to you. >> reporter: morning, martha. martha: what's your reaction? >> reporter: i'm not surprised. dissatisfaction within the republican party at the performance of michael steele, there was a feeling that he wasn't running a tight ship at the rnc and that he had turned off a lot of big donors. one of the reasons you saw karl rove and ed gillespie step in and help form this american cross roads organization is a lot of big donors weren't confident that if they gave money to the rnc, it was going to be spent prop properly. some of the state chairmen are concerned if michael steele has another two years in the office that these outside groups might become a kind of way around dealing with the rnc and permanently weaken its structure. martha: right. >> reporter: so you saw saul anuzis from michigan announce, i think you might see some more either current party chairs, state party chairs or former

party chairs. and you might see some outsiders. one of the names that's been dimensioned is norm coleman, the former senator from minnesota who lost in that tight re-election battle with al franken. martha: you know, a couple of things cross my mind. one is michael steele's proponents, his advocates would say, look, gop had the biggest gains since the 1930s, he drove this fire nancy pelosi bus all over the country, and, indeed, she lost her seat as majority leader -- or speaker, i should say, of the house. hard to argue with those numbers and facts. >> reporter: yeah. the question is does he deserve the credit for it or not? he will say, of course, he does, but there were a lot of other committees, there was also the house, the republican congressional campaign committee which was specifically working to elect a lot of republicans in the house. so, i mean, yes, it was a good year for republicans. the question is and, you know, there are two sides to the argument how much credit does michael steele and does the rnc

deserve for the good year republicans had? martha: and it does raise questions about these outside groups and the tea party and all the different organizations that had a lot to do with a lot of the victories we saw out there, the significance of that role, has it changed in your opinion? >> reporter: well, again, i mean, there is a reason that you saw people like karl rove and ed gillespie, getless by, of course, a former republican party chair himself formed these independent groups, and that was because there were big republican donors who didn't have conferred in the rnc -- confidence in the rnc and wanted to the find some place to give their money that didn't involve the party organization, and that's not a good thing for the rnc if there are traditional big-party donors who feel there are other ways to do it than working through the party structure. martha: big show on sunday. >> david axlerod, the senior adviser to the president who's involved in this confusing flap about is the president for

extending the bush tax cuts for the wealthy as well as the middle class, and if so, is there a deal to be made for a temporary extension. then we'll also talk to senator tea party as he's nobody, jim me -- known, jim demint who's making waves on earmarks, and then our power player of the week jeff bridges, the movie star who's involved in the trying to end child hunger. so a full slate on fox news sunday. martha: in washington they consider a political gaffe is when you slip and tell the truth? [laughter] >> reporter: exactly. martha: all right, chris. i'm always listening when you're talking, sir. just by the way. chris wallace in washington, he's on fox news sunday, of course, his guests include david axlerod and senator tea party as we just mentioned, jim demint. check your local listings for what time it's on in your town. bye, chris, see you later. gregg: telling the truth in

washington? apparently there are no gaffes there. martha: yeah. gregg: all right. its name does not suggest all that much is going to be getting done, but could the lame duck session be one of the most productive yet for congress? what it could mean to your bottom line. martha: and a midair scare prompted this emergency landing. now there are new answers to the safety questions surrounding the biggest passenger jet that flies in the skies. gregg: plus, you'd probably get scared off the the water if you saw one of these heading your way. ♪ gregg: sharks and other animals overcome incredible obstacles to migrate. mother nature at her best, you're not going to want to miss this -- martha: whoa.

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gregg: well, the agenda of the lame duck congress anything but lame, reducing government spending, what to do about your taxes, these are hot button issues on which republicans rode to big gains in the midterms. now, with the new balance of power in washington, can our leaders actually get anything done? joining me now, sam youngman who is white house correspondent for the hill. sam, good to see you. wednesday the white house suggested they might agree to extending all the bush tax cuts for everybody, then, you know, 24 hours later they're trying to tamp that down because party liberals are in a snit over it. is this big issue for the lame duck? >> oh, absolutely. we've been talking about this all year now, wondering what's going to happen when they expire. the white house dug in throughout the campaign in saying that we just can't afford $700 billion in tax cuts for the

wealthy. that being said, i feel like the president started telegraphing the day after the election that he was ready to negotiate. i think perhaps david axlerod went a little further negotiating ahead of the lame duck session than maybe the white house would have liked. but clearly, i think the president feels like he's going to have to move on this. the question becomes, you know, how serious are republicans in be congress and the white house about cutting the deficit? so, i mean, you're talking about adding billions in spending for tax cuts. gregg: right. and it's not just, you know, the bush tax cuts. my goodness, the estate tax set to expire, and suddenly on january 1st it's going to go from 0 to 55 president for the top rate -- 55% for the top rate, not to mention the exemption drops from 3.5 million to one million. are they going to accomplish something on that before january 1? >> i think they have to. i mean, another example is the alternative minimum tax. i mean, basically, what you're looking at is if these tax cuts

aren't extended -- at least the 98% the president wants -- if they aren't extended, what every american is looking at come january 1st is a significant increase in taxes. clearly, that's politically unpalatable. gregg: right. >> the president's going to push ahead, say he wants to do it for 98% of the country, but i think in the end he's going to have to make a compromise for at least a two-year extension of tax cuts across the board. gregg: democrats still control all branches of government and will do so during the lame duck and yet none of the 13 appropriation bills this year have been passed. there is no budget, and we're already six weeks into the fiscal year which means they've already violated the law for the last six weeks. anything going to happen on those? >> no. i think what we'll see is another continuing resolution. i think, obviously, the purpose is to keep spending -- push is to keep spending levels where they are with the exception of defense spending. look, this is just something -- this is another example that

critics of washington use to indicate that congress is broken. look at everything this congress was able to accomplish over the last two years, but not one of them was a budget. so i think it's going to be interesting to see what the white house can do to work together with the republican congress to come up with a budget for the future. gregg: jim demint wants a ban on earmarks. he's got some voices behind him even though mitch mcconnell's against it. anything happening on an earmark ban? >> this is where the rubber meets the road. the president has said repeatedly that he's in favor of an earmark ban, but this is what helps get lawmakers reelected. earmarks are how you bring the money home to your district or state, so it's very difficult for a lawmaker to actually go the distance and agree to a ban when they could be hurting themselves politically. gregg: yeah. unemployment benefits, dream act, you have got a lot of stuff on the lame duck agenda, so it's far from lame although who knows, it may turn out to be that way. >> no rest for the wicked. gregg: good to see you, thanks.

>> thanks, gregg. martha: the alaska senate race could come down to penmanship in the end, folks. in this one's getting very interesting. we're live from the final frontier. gregg: and pilot unions taking a firm stand against full-body scanners at the airports. what they're now advising thousands of pilots to do to avoid what they're calling risky checks. s-ítlóz[kzi@ñy÷ñ[÷ñw7ni'

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gregg: from the governor's mansion to washington, west virginia governor joe manchin giving his final farewell speech before moving his next move to becoming the next senator. there he is in the governor's reception room at the u.s. capitol. you may not recognize him without his rifle in his famous ad on cap and trade.

martha: that will be long remembered. in the meantime, the undecided alaska senate race may come down to good penmanship, and how many of us have that anymore in the days of e-mail? election officials are pouring over more than 90,000 ballots cast for the write-in candidate. more than 40% of the total vote came in these write-in ballots, and so they've got a lot to go over. republican joe miller is challenging some of those, as you would expect. dan springer is live in juneau, alaska. we're hearing allegations of voter fraud and intimidation in this race. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, martha. it was getting to be like groundhog day, the miller people challenging all of the votes that were misspelled by one letter or even some looking just like lisa murkowski but they couldn't read it quite right. midday there was a news conference called by a miller adviser, he started talking about voter fraud and intimidation, but when we pressed him for evidence, he

really couldn't produce any evidence whatsoever. it appeared to us as if he was kind of fishing because he kept bringing out the same number which was a hotline for voter fraud set up by the miller campaign. while this was happening behind him, the counters kept stacking up the votes for murkowski leaving miller and his supporters with very few options. >> are we're going to fight this battle, and we are not going to be cowed by the intimidation of the people that have been running this state for decades, running it as a personal fiefdom. >> we remain confident that 98% of all the votes as a write-in are being credited for lisa murkowski. faced with those same numbers, faced with the same results, it appears for the miller campaign it's become desperation time. >> reporter: now, floyd brown gained some notoriety back in 1988. people may remember the willie horton ad, well, he was behind that which many people say sunk the michael dukakis campaign.

martha: remember it well. so is there a path to victory for joe miller, or is that door closing? >> reporter: yeah, it's closing. he's really only got one path, and that is a judge at some point throws out all of the challenge ballots and they start over again looking at them, but i'm looking at the ballots that are being challenged right now, and so many of them appear to be lisa murkowski spelled correctly that it may not even matter. murkowski could get the miller total even without all the challenges of misspelled names. martha: yeah. i bet you're right. the name's been around alaska for a very long time, they've seen it a million times on campaign ads. i'm guessing they know how to spell it. we will see. dan springer, thank you so much. gregg: a new chapter in this an international scandal bagging russian spies on american soil. new reports on the identity of the man who outed, yes, there she is, anna chapman, and her comrades. what russia is vowing to do to them now. ma march she's been crowned.

and amazon.com is under fire, now, from children's rights advocates slamming the online retailer saying that it is dealing in child pornography on their site. this is a stunning story. is amazon breaking the law? artie and joey join us from the legal panel next. ♪ [ d ] for years, i was just a brewer. until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity to grow, the hartford is there. protecting their property and helping them plan their employees' retirement. ♪ beer or bread? [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com.

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martha: all right. these stories developing right now in "america's newsroom," a new report on home prices. in nearly half of u.s. cities it

shows they dropped in the third quarter, this after the federal home buyer tax credits sparked a surge in prices at the tart of the year. and a search for an ohio mother, her two children and a friend is sparking a lockdown right now at ken oncollege. police found tina herman's pickup truck near the campus yesterday after her boyfriend reported her missing. they're trying to figure out what is going on. and in the european union, they are demanding -- italian lawmakers explain -- why money earmarked for stimulus ended up being spent on an elton john concert. he performed in naples last year, apparently they want to know if stimulus dollars found their way there. i don't know, might be kind of stimulating. back to you guys. gregg: well, martha, there is this new twist on an international spy saga sparking yet more intrigue. remember those russian spies who got busted on u.s. soil over the summer? yeah, anna chapman.

a new report says they were stabbed in the back by their own deep undercover boss. a moscow newspaper says their spy master outed them, then defected to the united states just dayed before their arrests -- days before their arrests went public. the newspaper even says the alleged turncoat may have an assassin on his tail. david lee miller has the latest. what do we know about this double agent? >> reporter: some of the details are still rather murky, but the story broke in a russian newspaper, and they identified this double agent only by one man, they do not have a first name. but the paper says that he was the big spy boss overseeing all russian spies in the united states, and that includes, of course, as you mentioned anna chapman as well as the nine fellow spies that were arrested with chapman last june. now, the russian newspaper says that the double agent has a daughter in the unite, he also had a son, has a son who recently arrived here, and he

reportedly arrived in the united states three days before the start of a trip by the russian president in late june. it was during that visit that the russian president, medvedev, met with president obama. now, according to this russian newspaper it was only days later that the u.s. officials broke the russian spy ring. and among them arrested, of course, anna chapman. but one of the alleged spies who used the name lazarro reportedly only confessed to u.s. authorities after the double agent visited him behind bars. actually, according to the russian newspaper, showed him his internal russian spy file. but it is still not entirely clear, gregg, what role sherbikov plays in breaking down this russian spy ring. these are u.s. court documents, and they clearly show that the nine russian spies were under u.s. surveillance for nearly a

decade. in fact, lazarro had been under surveillance as far as back as 2003, so what, if any, role he played that resulted in the these arrests is still not entirely clear. tbreg greg makes you wonder how many others we're surveilling as we speak. david lee miller, thanks very much. martha: reports of a sit-down, now, between a former jets sideline reporter and a group of nfl investigators. jenn sterger is finally spilling the beans about brett favre. she claims he sent her lewd photos and inappropriate text messages back in '08. reports suggest thatsterrier and her legal team gave investigators a, quote, substantial amount -- they're saying that they heard things they had not heard before in terms of information from this sit-down. favre could face disciplinary action under the league's personal conduct policy. plus, in this an interview to air sunday, favre said that he would not return for another

season but, then again, we've heard that before. haven't we, folks? meanwhile, this is a very serious story. there are reports of new trouble for amazon.com. the online retailer is now accused of selling books and videos showing inappropriate pictures of young girls age 11-7. some of these pictures are in the nude, and the report comes one day after we did the story about amazon pulling a book titled "the pedophile's guide to love and pleasure," from its web site. i'm joined by art and joey jackson, a former prosecutor. welcome, you guys. good to have you here. >> how are you? this. martha: you know, this raises a lot of legal issues. i mean, as parents you sort of look at this initially and say, what company in their right mind would sell pictureses like this? arthur? >> well, obviously, it's very disturbing, and you used the word as parents which we all are. you know, this is an issue that comes up in front of the united

states supreme court over and over again, first amendment rights and where's the line. over the course of the history of our country, that line has moved in various places. now, the topic of pet feel ya is is such a disturbing one that i don't think the united states supreme court is ever going to find that it serves any kind of social good to have this out there. the one issue, being a lawyer now, that i haven't found what's actually in the book. the pedophile's guide to love and pleasure code of conduct, what if book says no matter how strong your instincts are, you should never pursue them. no matter how much you want to do something with a young person, you should never do that. so, you know, as a lawyer, i don't want the fox news people thinking that i'm advocating for this book -- martha: here's the way i look at this. what about, joey, what about the issue of corporate respond? i mean, if i'm running amazon.com, i'm going to say, look, we have standards. we are not going to allow this new book or these disturbing

photographs of little girls to be sold on amazon.com like it's some kind of porn site? this. >> and you know what, martha? you are absolutely on point. you know when they found corporate responsibility? when the buyer said if you don't pull this smut down immediately, we are not going to purchase your material. so why does it take outraged citizens to tell them what they shouldn't have been doing in the first place 134 listen, regarding the constitutional issues, they, obviously, have the sense to pull it down because they knew it would effect their profits, but regarding the constitutional issues, arthur, you're right. the supreme court does have a long history of this, but the supreme court does all the time. people think, martha, there's an absolute right in the first amendment to say anything, to do anything, to publish anything. no, not true. we regulate fighting words, defamation, obscenity, the list goes on. this needs to be regulated too. if they didn't pull it down, it would be with up to the attorney generals of the respective states. martha: there's a legal issue, and who was the judge who said, i know pornography when i see

it? >> oh, man, was it paul? >> you have friends on the supreme court, you don't know who it was? [laughter] martha: in the meantime, you know, it comes down to that. i mean, the law at some point has to say, look, we are able to make a judgment on this in terms of first amendment rights because it's harmful. >> even though we're all lawyers, well, we're lawyers and jarrett's a lawyer, you're right. it is a matter of judgment and corporate responsibility -- martha: sometimes it makes a nonlawyer to realize that. [laughter] >> i agree with you. you're right. >> most of the time. martha: exactly. >> in other words, it's just common sense. however, just so viewers know you can't yell fire in a movie theater even though you have a right to do so because the likelihood of people getting injured, and if they do, you're criminally responsible. however, if there's a holocaust memorial, the nazi party can stand there and heckle them. so there's these crazy --

martha: there's freedom of speech and freedom of, you know, commerce, extend to selling provocative pictures of young girls on amazon.com? this. >> it absolutely does not. no, no way. and not only that, but as arthur well knows and has probably represented his share of them as have i, there's a criminal component here too. this is distribution, distributing of child pornography. martha: yeah. you can send a text message of a naked girl and get in trouble for it, so how is this okay? >> it is not okay. >> i don't know what these pictures are. they're blurred pictures. obviously, if they're just pictures of an 11-year-old -- march mar they go into detail, there's a difference of a picture of your baby in the bathtub and pornography which is why i brought up the judge's name -- >> potter stewart. >> i knew it was a p! [laughter] you see that? martha: it goes back to potter stewart who said i know

pornography when i see it. >> in 1910 what pornography was when you saw it and 2010, those are two different standards. in if 1910 if they saw a maxim magazine, they would say that's pornography. >> well, it's true. >> the now it's on the newsstands -- >> well, standards do evolve, but i think we can all agree if you have prepubescent girls, clearly that's offensive whether it's 1910 or 2010. >> we all agree. however, in the time of the romans, it we'll wasn't offensive if you want to go that crazy. >> these are later times. martha: always good to see you, guys. >> thank you. gregg: ya coa bit v. ohio was the name of the case. [applause] >> you are sickening! gregg: potter stewart! anybody knows that. parsing president obama's comments on the split among house democrats over the fate of nancy pelosi. take a listen. >> i think speaker pelosi has

been an outstanding partner for me. i think harry reid has been a terrific partner in moving some very difficult legislation forward. tbreg greg so is that an endorsement or not for the outgoing house speaker's efforts to become the new minority leader? we're going to take a closer look at that. martha: and how about this? part of an engine blew apart midair and fell to earth. now there are new answers from the engine maker over the scare that prompted one airline to ground its entire fleet of super jumbo gents.

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we'll take a look coming up. also, our town hall usa panel is taking another look at what the debt commission suggests cutting. go to foxnews.com/happening now, get in our live chat and share your thoughts. "happening now." martha: well, new details, now, on what caused that super jumbo jet to lose part of its engine in mid flight. engine maker rolls royce says a single faulty component in the engine's turbine caused that terrifying orr -- ordeal. analysts believe that it's a bearing. rolls royce said the problem is specific to one engine model only and that they will correct it. the malfunction forced the australian-bound flight to make an emergency landing in singapore. it grounded the entire qantas fleet of a-380s, and how scary was that whole situation? thankfully, that pilot landed with no problem. gregg: president obama weighing in this on a growing split in the house democratic caucus.

outgoing speaker nancy pelosi facing a growing revolt against her bid to be the next house minority leader over the next congress. speaking from the g20 summit in south korea, the president didn't specifically get her back. >> i think speaker pelosi has been an outstanding partner for me. i think harry reid has been a terrific partner in moving some very difficult legislation forward, and i'm looking forward to working with the entire leadership team to continue to make progress on the issues that are important to the american people. gregg: john fund is a columnist for "the wall street journal". he joins us live. all right, listen, nancy pelosi accomplished what the president wanted her to accomplish. cap and trade, stimulus, you know, health care. why not more of a ringing endorsement here from president obama? >> look, of course nancy pelosi was a very good partner for president obama.

but she wasn't a very good partner for all the house democrats who lost and for all the house democrats who barely won last week. so i think the president's realizing that there's an incipient revolt brewing against speaker pelosi and is stepping back a little bit and talking about the entire leadership team without mentioning names. gregg: you know, i think it was eric cantor who said on fox news sunday that democrats don't get it. by electing nancy pelosi yet again to lead them, they didn't get the message, i think, is what he was saying. but i'm reading your column here, and i've got it up on the computer. and you're suggesting here that there are some people who may have buyers' remorse when it comes to electing nancy pelosi as the minority leader. could there actually be a movement afoot to stop her? >> not really because you need an opponent to stop her. but, you know, in ancient rome a phrase developed called the puric victory which is a victory

that isn't worth the cost. and nancy pelosi may be able to win the election as leader but not be able to lead. in other words, you have a paralyzed, divided democratic caucus that is, obviously, internally disrupted, and half of the caucus unsure whether nancy pelosi was really the right person to lead at this time. greg yeg yeah. a puric victory, indeed. how about a hobson's choice as well while we're throwing them out. [laughter] >> touche. gregg: i want to ask you this, what she passed -- and i mentioned it -- is fairly unpoplar. what she actuallied to pass is embarrassing. there's no movement on the bush tax cuts, no budget. she has presided over a congress which according to the gallup poll today has a 17% approval rating, and this her own rating is absolutely -- and her own rating is absolutely abysmal. is she tone deaf by throwing this lavish party celebrating

all of that? >> well, house democrats are upset about the optic of that, but they're also upset that she has, so far, not acknowledged any responsibility for these losses. she's basically blamed it on the frustration of the american people and said, you know, we passed good legislation. look, liberals, the progressive caucus in the house of representatives is happy with nancy pelosi. why? because after 80 years of trying, they finally got health care reform passed, and that will lock in an increasing government role in health care which is what they've wanted. and that will be very difficult -- although not impossible -- to get rid of. so from their point of view they took a lot of losses, but it was moderate democrats who mostly lost. the liberals in this safe seats like nancy pelosi had no trouble with re-election. gregg: john fund, people should read your column in "the wall street journal." good to see you, thanks. martha: coming up, migration like you have never seen it before.

look at this. ♪ martha: there is so much amazing video in what we're about to show you that will open the world of animals and what's going on in this their world in a way you've never seen before. it's amazing what scientists are learning about how animals migrate. it is fascinating, we're going to take a look in a few minutes. gregg: now, here's something that'll make you think twice at a public restroom, do you go for the paper talls or the air -- paper towels or the air dryer? which has a better chance of making you sick?ty o you're going to want to stick around for the answer. ructured . the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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martha: you are in for a treat, folks, because now we have one of the most in-depth scientific records of the migration of the earth's most fascinating creatures thanks to the "national geographic" channel dock uting all of this -- documenting all of this. the mass movements of the largest animals to the tiniest insects. david hamlin has been working on this for three years. hey, david, good to have you here. >> thanks. thanks for having me. martha: you know, we love to watch the "national geographic" channel at my house, so we're excited about this migration special, great migrations. take us through some of these and tell us what's happening and what we're seeing in these videos. the first one we're going to look at is the eagle. >> sure. well, this is one of the stories that'll be on sunday night in our first episode, feast or famine. this is bald eagles up in wisconsin. this is the mississippi flyway, one of the most important bird migrations in the north america, the huge migratory corridor of the mississippi is home to hundreds of thousands of birds

and the predators who feast upon them like these bald eagles. it's a remarkable get together. martha: it boil down to one thing: move or die, right? >> absolutely. it's critical for these animals. my graigs aren't just beautiful movements of epic numbers of animals, they're incredibly difficult, torturous affairs that these animals must undergo for the survival of their families and, perhaps, their species. martha: so how does it work for frogs? >> well, frogs are the same thing. the big thing about the frogs that happens here in wisconsin that you'll see, these guys are going after the bugs that emerge once a year with the seasonal change that's drawing in all the birds. so these are leopard frogs that are going after the may flies that emerge every year by the trillions, literally. a huge feast which is what calls in this so many of these birds and other creatures to come join the party. martha: we're going to take a look at the jelly fish, but i'm also interested in the how do you film this? [laughter] >> a lot of work, a lot of time.

but, you know, this is "national geographic". we're deeply committed to bringing the finest stories and images home. this is in the south pacific in a landlocked lake. thousands and thousands of years ago, these were ocean-going jelly fish, but they were locked in. they had no more food, so they made a bargain with algae that they feast on, but they must undergo two migrations every day to keep that algae alive. one moving across this lake to follow the sun and then another at night to go could be down to this bacterial layer. it's a remarkable story. martha: boy. you know what? what an amazing place the world is and earth is. let's take a look at the sharks because that's my favorite. i think it's a lot of people's favorite. talk to me about this guy. >> sure. well, the great white shark story is a really important one for us. this is in guadalupe bioreserve off the coast of baja, mexico. great whites are a important and

dynamic migratory species. they move thousands of miles every year. we went in december in the very heavy, stormy parking lot of the year when people don't normally go to witness what we actually captured which is these elephant seals in a very brutal collision with the great whites. it hasn't been filmed ever before in the fashion we captured it. martha: how did you get this video? i live off the coast of cape cod and, you know, we just watch and watch to see some of -- how do you watch this happen? >> well, carefully. [laughter] and cautiously. martha: you are very close. >> but, you know, we were -- honestly, we brought new equipment that allowed us to get this in two ways. we brought a two-man submarine i spent a lot of time in. we brought our cameraing in closer to -- cameras in closer to give you perspective like this. martha: a shark only has to eat a seal once every 17 days.

i guess you were hanging out waiting for that shot. i want to tell everybody when it's going to be on, but thank you so much as we watch these elephants. good luck with the specific, it looks fantastic. big chunk of your life, i know, so thank you for doing it. >> thank you. it's airing sunday night on the "national geographic" channel. martha: great. there it is. great migrations sunday night on the "national geographic" channel, 8 p.m. eastern time, 7 p.m. pacific. gregg, you said you saw it. gregg: yeah. it is absolutely breathe taking. i've never seen anything like it. they get exclusive footage that nobody has ever shot before. martha: if your kids spend too much time texting, if you put them in front of this, they will watch it because it's extraordinary. gregg: must-see tv. all right. u.s. intelligence officials learning of a brand new right-hand man to the world's most wanted terrorist. the new commander to head up al-qaeda operations against the west. to save some money

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