♪ >> gretchen: the book is "heaven for real" and todd and cloton shared their story with us. they'll join us in the after the show show to tell us more of their fascinating stories. colton's book. >> brian: that should be fascinating. that's one time i wish i could stick around. thanks for watching. >> steve: we'll see you tomorrow. same time, same channel. martha: all righty, on this monday congratulations on that election win, now welcome to washington, that's what the banner says as they come to washington, folks, this is the class of 2010, reporting for congressional duty and orientation today. good mornings everybody, i'm martha maccallum, great to have you with us on this monday, in "america's newsroom". rick: i'm rick folbuam in for bill hemmer. the newest people are

arriving on capitol hill and steve, a busy day for new members. what is the atmosphere like? >> reporter: not just a busy day but a busy week as the new members of congress roll into town. they're not rolling in to do works, not just yet. we have a lame duck session with the old congress that starts this week and they're hopefully going to be doing some work but the new kids in town rolled last week for meetings and the official orientation begins today, they boarded bus toss go to the capitol building where the official orientation will take place today and there they'll learn an awful lot about being members of congress, something most of them have never been before. and around this arrival, there's an awful lot of enthusiasm, among the new members. let's sample some of those members. listen now: >> i think it's about how this election was all about changing the course of the legislature and the congress

here in washington, and i think the congressmen and the senators gave us a few tips on the power that we have to change the course of the congress. >> what were some of the tip? >> well, we have to stand up for what we were elected for and come down here and if we want to change washington. don't let it change us. >> what we're hearing is people do want change. i mean, that's what you saw in this election, people want a different course for america. i mean this, new congress is coming in, the new freshman track i think are really -- are the core values of what the republican party stands for. >> reporter: a lot of values and change but first, the nuts and bolts. they're going to taught parliamentary procedures, how to get a bill through congress during orientation, during meetings all this week, setting up offices, how to do that, congressional ethics, how to maintain a budget and spend their money, all of these very important parts of being a member of congress here in washington.

back to you guys. rick: steve centanni, thank you very much. there are 85 republicans in the new freshman class, republicans winning the house during the midterm elections recently echoing the gop sweep of congress back in 1994. arizona republican john shadard was in congress in 1994, he was in that famous picture where republicans pledged a new contract with america, remember that, there's former speaker beginning gingrich. congressman sta -- shadad will tell us what lessons and warnings he has for the new freshman class. martha: that should be interesting. speaking of that lame duck session, the biggest agenda is the ha ha issue of the bush tax cuts, they're set to expire on december 31st and if they do that will hit every single one of us with higher taxes. stuart varney joins us from the fox business network.

you say you think we may see a compromise on this bush tax cuts issue by the end of today? >> i don't know about the end of today but this is so important, and the penalty for failure to reach a compromise is so grave that the pressure is really on to get a compromise. and moss people think there will be a compromise. at the moment, though, martha, everybody is staking out a negotiating position. nancy pelosi says do not extend them for the rich, we can't afford it, we have senator schumer saying extend them for the rich but not for millionaires, david axelrod and the president say middle class cuts, make them permanent, extend them for a limited time for the rich and republicans say make them all permanent. these are all negotiating positions, maybe moving towards the center which would be permanent middle class tax cuts and an extension of 2-3 years for the rich. if they don't get that agreement, everybody who pays tax sees their tax rate go up on january 1st.

penaltyies of failure for the economy would be severe. martha: maintaining them would mean you continue to pay taxes the way do you now, so everybody at home understands that. what about this idea about the million dollars being floated to change the upper barrier? >> senator schumer has come into this before and said it again over the weekend, everybody gets the same tax rate that they've got now, except for those people making a million dollars a year or more. truly, the very, very wealthy, they would have their tax rate go back to where it was before the bush tax cuts were put in place. martha: thank you very much for the breaking news and over to rick now. rick we have brand new pictures from capitol hill as the new freshmen arrive, this man is not a freshmen -- freshman, he's a long time veteran of congress, he's been there for decades and decades. of course, it's charlie rangel, the harlem new york representative who is facing ethics charges. his trial starts today, up on the hill. he is charged with

potentially violating a number of ethics violations, including not paying property taxes on a vacation property that he owns, also, using his own stationery to solicit funds for a building in his name, and some new revelations about some money that's being used to pay for his defense, and so the ethics trial for charlie rangel, starting today up on the hill. martha: he's going to represent himself. he has no lawyers. charlie rangel should be representing himself. that should be very interesting. in the meantime, we are reaching the end of the line in the alaska senate battle where they're still continuing to count the remaining tallies from the write-in candidates. joe miller has 38 percent of the votes, incumbent lisa murkowski has 37 percent of the votes, and democrat scott mcadams has a quarter of the votes but the likely game changer is the 15,000 write-in ballots that are still being hand counted out there. we see lisa murkowski's name

on the board because we know what she has so far, 89 percent of the vote has been going to lisa murkowski, certainly leaning her direction right now. rick: an ohio man is facing arraignment in a bizarre kidnapping case out of ohio. police say that they found a 13-year-old girl bound and gagged in the basement of matthew hopman, about 10 miles away from the girl's house in the town of mount mount vernon, in the central part of the state, meanwhile, investigators desperately searching for the girl's fally and a family friend. steve brown is live in chicago. what do we know about the rest of this family? reporter error we don't know anything at this particular time, on police still consider them missing, that is a missing persons case, and they are currently searching an area here hopman's home, noun as foundation park. this is an area of this neighborhood in mount vernon. it has a lot of state park necessary an around this particular address where hoffman lived, plus there's

a number of retention ponds, so a lot of space to look at. sheriffs said last night when they found sarah, they were hoping to find the others. >> we were hopeful we would find more than one, but our information was definitely that sarah was going to northbound that house. but like i say, we were optimistic or hopeful that we would find the other three people. >> reporter: and sheriff david barber of knox county, ohio says that hoffman is not cooperating at this time, rick. rick: but apparently police have been able to talk to this young girl that they've found. what do police know or what are they saying that they know about a possible connection between these four people and hoffman? >> reporter: yeah, importantly, sarah maynard is thought to be fine, currently at nationwide children's hospital in columbus, nearby, 40 miles away. police have at least done initial interviewing, the girl is expected to be released to her biological father today. the only connection that is

apparent from public records is that hoffman's parents live in a home in howe arrested, where the family, the three-person family and family friend all disappeared from. that's the only apparent connection through public records. rick: wow, a bizarre case. maybe we'll learn more as the search continues for those missing people. steve brown in chicago, thanks. martha: and a fox news alert for you this morning on surprising new retail numbers that are coming in today. u.s. retail sales, posting their biggest gain in seven months, so that is certainly a good sign, the commerce department reporting a 1.2% jump in october, nearly double what was expected, and that's the biggest increase we've seen since march. car sales also helped to fuel that rise, but that's certainly a piece of good news for the economy. if people get out there and buying, maybe christmas shopping dicking in and car sales doing well, so confidence in the market, it seems. rick: nice to see, we'll see

if that carries through the trading day. chuck schumer to theory cue on the bsh tax cut deal. we'll explain his plan that came out over the weekend. you can decide if it's something you would go for. martha: if you think social security is on shaky ground now, folks, brace yourself. we're going to talk to a member of the president's debt commission about new warnings that this system of social security is about to get crushed. >> we've cut benefits and raised taxes on social security without changing it from a political flush fund, which is what it's been for the last two decades to a real savings program so, we need to look at real reform before we go straight to social security which people have paid for and start cutting things.

rick: welcome back. some extreme weather expected to slam parts of the midwest today, 1-3 inches of snow flowing

across northern minnesota and wisconsin, the twin cities already hit hard with the first snowstorm of the season. almost a foot blanketing the ground there. the metro area was hit with no power, and iowa seeing up to 8 inches of snow there, high winds knocking down power lines. twenty snow-related accidents were reported on the roads. martha: we have heard this is coming for some time but now baby boomers are tapping into social security and medicare at a rate that is likely to, quote, crush the system over the next few years. that is according to north dakota democrat kent conrad, a member of the debt commission who released their report last week. listen to what he says must be done: >> it is absolutely inter tiff -- imperative that we take this on for the country's sake and we're going to have to make some changes to social security, certainly we are. social security is going to

go cash negative in five years. it's going to go broke in 2037. netacare, we've extended the life of it by the health care reform package which has gotten almost no attention but still it's prepared to go permanently cash-negative in just ten years years. martha: beck beckel worked in president clinton's white house and is a fox news contributor, and andrea san santoras is with us. happy birthday to bob beckel today! >> thank you very much. martha: good to have you on today. andrea, we've been tearing when has been coming a long time. are we going to get serious about it? >> we've known this is going to happen and now we have to do something. we're not talking about it in the future, martha. actually, social security is running a decifit currently now and that's because both parties have raided the social security trust fund and you have less people working now, that means less people paying into the system, which is why it's

running decifit. so absolutely we have to do something. you know, it was originally set up when there were more people working, and it was supposed to be designed as a safety net, not as a retirement program. so at the end of the day, people like myself who are paying in now aren't going to g any benefits the way that it's structured now. now, i don't want bob to lose his benefits because he's been working very hard, debating me every morning, so he deserves that money, but also, there has to be something done for my generation, changes need to happen so that we do all get the benefits that we deserve. martha: you know, we've been talking circles around this, bob, for so many years, we need to do something, we need to raise the age at which you can get it. the proposal is 69, a 20-# -- at 20 # five, the length of life that people are living is getting higher and higher and it was supposed to be a widow's fund, not a retirement plan. >> it was called insurance for a reason, by the way. here's the reality of it.

both sides have demagogued this for years. my side that is demagogued it, republicans have demagogued it because they said you can't increase social security taxes, you can't increase the amount of money you make, it will be taxed for social security but here's what conrad was doing. last week simpson and bowles come out and put down this mark and it became real all of the sudden. peelt said is it really that bad? they rejected it out of hand but they got peoples' attention. i think conrad is -- conrad is following that up. i think politicians when they have the typical crappy answers, it's going to sound more hollow and the reality is the big part of the decifit, not a big part but a biggest percentage of the decifit is social security, and the social security trust fund. martha: i don't know how anybody can reject that out of hand. you look at what's going on in europe and they're finally starting to get serious about this issue. how many years is it going to take before we make the

changes that need to be make, andrea, and have a wake-up call and start living in reality? >> that's right, and ef decision that congress and the president makes that obama does that is related to fiscal and economic policy is so important because it threatens the health of our entitlement programs. at the end of the day we have to get real and start saying this program was designed as a safety net. how can we be not more reliant on the government but less reliant on the government so we don't have the costly areas. >> all you hear is we're going to protect social security. shouldn't president obama take this on himself and say look let's consider investment accounts for people that would like to put money away, let's consider the options. where is the president on this? >> well, you have to know where -- where he is because he has to submit a budget and that's going to include social security and this commission is coming out december 1. now, they won't get the 14 votes of the 18 they need to

support bowles and simpson, but the issue will be on the table, and -- martha: why not? who is going to vote against it, bob? >> the people who are on that commission, who are sitting members of the house and the senate are scared to death. they're running like scalded dogs. >> they're going to be scared to death when it comes to election time. >> you're right. and i say -- >> martha: they won't get reelected. >> both democrats and republicans have turned this into the, quote, third rail of politics. the third rail of politics is about ready to sting you if you don't deal with it. martha: they said testify the first wave and if they don't get serious about t. they're going to see the second wave is my guess as we head into 2012. have a great birthday! >> i even have a sat. >> that's sweet of you. >> martha: we've never seen bob in a hat. >> 39 with a -- it's a tough year. and i want to -- >> martha: and remarks thank you very much. bob, great to see you.

thank you. rick: party favors. coming up the class of 2010 from the perspective of the 94 freshman, arizona republican john shadard, part of the incoming class of '94, what he says new lawmakers should know before starting the job. martha: he's got some advice. and bambi going wild in the suburb -- suburbs, hear what this lady did that left these folks in shock. look at her go!

rick: listen to this, a

deadly blast at a very popular mexican vacation resort t. happened in playa dell carmen, right near cancun, mexico, officials say a natural gas leak may be to blame, investigators say the hotel lobby floor was hurled through the ceiling. >> what happened in. >> at the time when it happened we were at the restaurant and they heard a big bang and then a big cloud, and everybody ran out. >> you were scared. >> not really. >> what did they tell you? >> some people were hurt and leapt for the hospital. >> my husband left the room immediately and he looked and saw it had been a large explosion. we were at the reas rant. there was a crater in the ground. a crater, yeah. >> well, that blast killed at least seven people, including five canadians, two mexicans, and injured at least a dozen more, including two americans. martha: all right, on a much

lighter note now shoppers at an upstate grocery store got more than they bargained for when a deer ran right flu the front entrance. look at this little deer go! in buffalo, new york, they were in shock when bambi decided to jump flu the glass window in buffalo, new york. the four legged shopper made it out on his home but not before trashing the place. look at that. no injuries reported. look at him go. >> he's part kangaroo! you see him hopping there? he's a deer and kangaroo mix. you called him bambi. maybe he's auditioning for santa clause! >> i think he was scared. i think he was more scared of the people than they were of him. scary people sometimes! rick: but trashing the place, my goodness like the drunken rock stars at the hotels. martha: exactly, taking after them. veteran democratic

congressman charlie rangel faces a litany of ethics charges, including some brand new ones that are just coming out. his trial is getting underway on capitol hill and get this, he is representing himself, he does not have lawyers anymore. this could get very interesting, folks. we're going to take you there. rick: also, republican john shadigg, part of the freshman '94 class, the year when republicans swept both houses of congress, he joins nous a couple of minutes with caution for the newest house members. >> they want action but i think the action they want is to stop what nancy pelosi and barack obama have been doing. american people don't expect you to win every fight, but they do expect you to keep your word and try.

martha: let's take a look at some of the top stories this hour. a hearing determine whrg the alleged fort hood shooter should stand trial is likely to get wrapped up today, major nidal hasan faces one # counts of premeditated murder. look at these pictures. flames engulf ago 30 story apartment building in shanghai, china, forcing some people to jump out of the windows in some cases. eight people so far are reportedly dead, 90 injured. no word on the cause of this

huge fire. rick: let's go live to capitol hill now. a rare ethics trial is just getting underway for long time democratic congressman charlie rangel. rangel is representing himself, he has just made his opening statement. let's take a listen: >> i have no idea, as to the counts, # eight of what could be considered summary judgment i think would indicate that this case may not be prepared for witnesses, that this committee who has asked that a judgment be made based on information that existed. rick: rangel facing a committee made up of four democrats and four

republicans, and he initiated this process himself. he faces a long list of charges and according to the "new york post" he may be facing a brand new charge today. molly henneberg, live in washington for us. so molly, the congressman as we just saw from a little portion of his opening statement, he's defending himself. what can you tell us about the that? >> reporter: hi rick. he is a lawyer, having been an assistant u.s. attorney before being first elected to congress in 1970 but obviously it's been a while since he's been a practicing lawyer. rangel and his high powered washington lawyers hat a -- had a parting of the ways after he paid them $1.4 million to defend him against these ethics charge. he also said he couldn't afford to keep paying lawyers that much money. head going this trial today, rangel had not indicated he had a lawyerenting him and that he would defend himself against these 13 alleged ethics violations. there's also a report today from the "new york post", owned by parent of fox news channel, that rangel may have used money from his political action committee

to pay some of his legal fees and that appears to be against house rules. rick: so what happens, molly? let's say he's found guilty of any number of these charges that he's facing, then what? >> reporter: as you were saying there were eight house colleagues, four democrats, four republicans, they're sort of the jury in this case, hearing the case against rangel from ethics committee lawyers and also hearing rangel's defense. that jury will have to be convinced by, quote, clear and convincing evidence that rang rangel violated house rules and the charges against him include failing to report income on a vacation home in the dominican republic and illegally using his harlem apartment as a campaign office, and rick, the upshot could be a vote of some kind by the house, showing displeasure or a critical report against him. we don't know yet what might happen. rick: molly henneberg, live in d.c., thanks. we've got gavel to gavel coverage of the trial, it's streaming live on our website, log on to foxnews.com for complete, uninterrupted coverage and a whole lot more.

that's fox news.dom. -- fox news.com. martha: 85 new freshmen on capitol hill, coming in the big buses you see there. they are the newest america and are of course energized as new members are to start making changes. congressman adam kinsiger has faced the newcomers. >> we are elected to be representatives of our district. i don't know except the one #th district of illinois and i say you know what, you put us into office to limit the size of government, quit spending money and put people back to work and have faith us. there are groups that are going to be able to stand against special interests and do the right thing and we're just getting started so it's going to be an interesting couple of years and ultimately we're going to do the right thing. martha: we will see. as karl rove has said, they are on probation, basically, until they do what they say they are going to do and i'm joined by arizona republican john shadegg, who was a congressman in 1994, which was of course an historic

year as the gop swept both houses of congress that time around. the senate and the house. congressman, welcome, good morning to you. >> a pleasure. martha: when you look back at '94, there was the same kind of excitement and enthusiasm that things were finally going to change in washington. what's disappointed -- what disappointed you back then and what would you advise these new members? >> i think the things that you discover when you get here is that this is a very, very hard town to change. you arrive, and you run into the old bulls who like things the way they are, there are traditions and there are customs and there are people with power already accumulated and trying to change those things becomes very, very, very difficult. and i heard adam and i think he's right, he needs to pay attention to the people who elected him, not to the people in this town and he needs to do what he told the electorate he would do, but it turns out, that's pretty darn hard. this is a town that resists change and resists reform like no other town. martha: well, how optimistic

are you? i mean, does it feel different this time around? are the american people more engaged than they were then? how does -- do you feel different? glie think it is different. i think it's very different. in one way, i think that our class came in after four years of not having been in power, we didn't realize any mistakes that we were about to run into. this class has seen not only the preceding majority, the democratic majority not listen to the american people and not fulfill their promises, but they watched republicans who elected -- who were elected in '94 promise to change this town and ultimately quite frankly as a group let them town change them so this class is on notice they'd better be paying attention to the american people, they'd better be keeping the promises they made and that they'd better make progress. i think they have a much better chance than we had. martha: i think a lot of americans truly hope so and we're just looking at pictures of the contract with america and we know in the years that followed that, spending soared. >> it did. martha: in washington.

and you know what, i think the american people to a certain extent had a little bit of patience for it because the economy was in a totally different situation. you know, i don't think there's the patience. i think these people will be tossed out if they don't do what they were they were going to do and many of those old guard thaw mentioned, may be tosseddous as well in 2012. >> i think this is absolutely right. if this class does not do what it promised to do or if the old bulls resist them in doing it and fail to do what they promised, shrink the size of government, have it become more account acialtion have it listen to the people, keep the promises they made, i think you're absolutely right, martha, they'll be thrown on their ear very quickly and that's the challenge for them. they have to figure that out and they will face resistance from the old bulls in this town, trust me. martha: we are in a dire situation and sometimes it feels like the people in america realize it but folks in congress don't realize t i want to ask you another question about '94. back then the house and senate both went republican in that year. >> that's right. martha: is it an advantage or disadvantage? how do you read the fact

that now the gop has the house but not the senate? >> i actually think that for them, it's an advantage. i think if they play it correctly, when we came in in 1994, we had both the house and senate, people had huge expectations for what we could do, and do very, very quickly. and point of fact, it's hard to do that because some of the resistance comes from inside. in this instance, i think the american people have to understand, we have a republican house, but the senate is still in the hands of the democrats and the president has the veto power. these republicans in the house have to fight for the change they promised, but the american people have to understand, they will only be able to accomplish so much of that. a limited amount of that. but i think it is important that they demonstrate that they are trying, very hard, to do what adam just said. martha: i think it's going to be a question, standing on principle in some cases. >> it is. martha: we'll see what happens, representative shadegg, thank you very much for being with us this morning. >> thank you. rick rick interesting insight. could $1 million be the answer to the tax cut

standoff? a new compromise potentially put out by one lawmaker and what it could mean for you. martha: and giving friday night lights a whole new meaning, why the lights went out for giants fans, putting one football game in the dark.

rick: new york senator chuch schumer pitch ago compromise in the tax cut standoff, republicans want to extend the expiring tax cuts for all americans, the white house says the extension should only be for the middle and lower class. here's what senator schumer is now putting out there: >> what if we moved it up to a million dollars?

everyone below a million dollars will get a tax cut but the millionaires and billionaires won't. and i say that they shouldn't get it for three reasons: first, they're the only group whose income has substantially gone up in the last decade, middle class incomes have declined, second, they're not likely to send it -- spend it, they got plenty of money anyway and it's not going to butch the economy, boost the economy and third, we have a big decifit problem, we have a great jobs prorks better to put the money into decifit reduction, creating jobs than to give it to the millionaires and billionaires. rick: steve moore is senior economic writer for the "wall street journal". what do you snng. >> you know, it's interesting, obviously, chuck schum ser from your state of new york, new york and california have the highest tax rates in the country, they imposed these millionaire surtaxes, and you know what, those two states have the biggest deficits in the country so it hasn't worked very well at the state level. i don't think, rick, you're going to see any republicans leap at this idea. republicans' position has

been very clear, that if we're going to keep those tax rates for anyone, we're going to keep them low for everyone. so i don't see this happening. one other point i'd like to make, rick, in washington state this year, there was a millionaire tax on the ballot, in liberal washington state, and it failed by about 65 percent of the vote. americans know that rich people, whether they're talking about warren buffet or bill gates or lead gaga or tiger woods, those are the people that create the jobs in this economy. rick: republicans have been saying if you only keep the taxes lower for those making less than 250, you're going to sock a lot of small business owners. >> that's right. iraq rick these are small businesses that really do create the bulk of the jobs in this country. by raising it to a million, senator schumer says that would really include virtually all small businesses. is he right? >> well, except here's the problem. as you increase the income threshold, $500,000, a million, 50 million, what you're doing is you're taxing business in corks

you're not actually even taxing individuals, you're taxing a hire and higher percentage of business in corks and maybe now you're talking about not small businesses but medium-sized businesses but you know what, rick, it's very simple, if you take money out of those businesses they can't hire as many workers as they would otherwise. i talked to restaurant owners and people who own, you know, small, medium-sized manufacturers, and they say look, you raise my tax rate, that's less money i have available to hire additional workers. that's why i don't think there's a lot of support among the public for this idea. rick: you know, another thing that senator schumer said and i want to put it out there and let you respond to it, is that those making more than a million are not likely to take their tax savings and put it back into the economy. they're not going to spend that money. how is his thinking on that point? >> i'm glad you asked that question because that was one of the greatest flaws of his rationale for doing this. he is right that you take more from rich people, they're not going to consume it. you know what they'll do with that money?

they will invest it. they will invest it in businesses, they will save the money, and i think chuck schumer is exactly wrong, he thinks that what fuels this economy is consumption. it's not consumption. it's investment that leads to jobs, and new businesses, and so you're going to take money right out of the heart of businesses, whether it's direct businesses or rich people who are investing in other peoples' businesses. rick: you know, the president's argument, and we heard senator schumer say this a little bit in the sound bite, is that you can't on one hand call yourself a deficit hawk and on the other hand be in favor of borrowing a lot of money for across the board tax cuts. i'm just wondering, you know, what is the best line, the best argument for republicans who are going to sit down at -- at a negotiating table with president obama and his staff and try negotiate some kind of a deal on this? >> well, look, let's get serious about this. i mean, let's talk about chuck schumer. he voted for the $800 billion stimulus bill, he voted for the trillion dollars obamacare bill, he

voted for 50 billion aid to the states, he voted for $100 billion for unemployment insurance extension. all they've done for the last two years is spending spend, spend, spend and now they're saying oh, we can't afford to keep taxes low. what this election was about, rick, was people saying stop the spending. the american people didn't go to the polls and say you know what we want right now is a big tax increase. >> right. steve more, senior writer at the "wall street journal," always good to talk to you, steve, thank you very much. >> great to see you, have a good day. martha: all right. what you're looking at is the room where we were supposed to be watching the beginning of charlie rangel's hearing, as he's being investigated for 13 ethics violations, including, you know, tax issues and the like and spending money on a vacation home and not declaring it. those are just a couple of the things we were talking about but he left the room. he was supposed to represent himself. that was what we understood. he said he no longer had money to pay the lawyers he had initially hired, costing $2 million, so he hasn't had time to set all legal

defense fund and then he left the hearing. so let's take a look at what of -- some of what he said before that happened. >> i object to the proceeding, and i with all due respect, since i don't have counsel to advise me, i'm going to have to excuse myself from these proceedings, because i have no idea what -- >> martha: unbelievable. you never know what's going to happen on capitol hill, folks. so this hearing, as you may remember, was postponed until after the midterm elections, max east waters' hearing also postponed until after the midterm elections. things were supposed to get going today. he came in, said he doesn't have an attorney, can't represent himself, doesn't are a legal defense fund, and he walked out. rick: i think it's important that people we're he -- remember he invited this investigation. martha: he could have settled it, he said no, i am completely innocent in this case and i want to come in there and state my case and be clear because i've had a long prestigious career on capitol hill and i don't

want it to happen this way. this was his idea. excellent point, rick. rick: crazy town. martha: it is. go figure. rick the president has returned to that town, he's back in washington after a difficult 10-day trip to asia and coming home to a whole new polit dal reality that may not be easy, either. we've got a fair and balanced debate on the new normal on the hill. that's coming up. martha: it's foggy down there in washington today. trying to stop the violence at the u.s.-mexico border, casey stegall live at border with details and the new effort there. casey. >> reporter: good morning. armed soldiers are stationed all across the u.s.-mexico border here, but is their presention having an impact on the human and drug smuggling trade? a live report headed your way in just three minutes.

rick: were you watching the

giants name yesterday afternoon, the giants-cowboy, 85,000 people left in the dark while watching the giants and cowboys balt it out on the football field. this is a brand new stadium just outside of new york city, it cost $1.6 billion to build, all the lights went out yesterday, during the game, after a transformer blew out. watch: >> i saw someone hit the switch. >> i think there was more shock and awe because it was a new stadium. >> it was black. whole bunch of it. >> everything went black and all you could see were peoples' cell phones. >> nobody pannish dollars -- panicked. >> everybody was calm and laughing like it was a big joke. >> the lights were out for about six seconds total, and they did come back on, and that giants fan, a little upset because the cowboys went on to win that game, 33-20. >> all right.

now to the fight along the southern border with mexico. consider this. president obama has about 1200 national tbard troops spread out, so are they making a difference in the fight against human trafficking and drugs there? as part of "america's third war", casey stegall is live in tucson, arizona. what role are these troops -- everybody said are they going to be desk jobs or are they going to be actually doing something down there. what are they doing? >> they are not desk jobs, they are right on the border, where we are in nogales, arizona. they are essentially acting as extra eyes and ears for the border patrol agents gathered along the southwest border. they do not have the authority to detain a suspected illegal immigrant, but they are armed for their own protection. they're mostly watching the border fence, looking for people trying to enter this country illegally. they can also help with apprehensions and things of that nature. but you may remember is waso

it was back in may when president obama called for some 1200 troops to be deployed to the southwest border and here's the breakdown. there are currently about 263 on the ground in california, about 541 here in the state of arizona, 80 in new mexico, and about 284 in texas. more are expected, but this ramp-up period takes time since all of the soldiers have to be trained for the new mission, this deployment expected to last just about a year. martha: casey, how is it working, are they deterring people from crossing the border? >> they've only really been in place since the end of september so it's a little difficult to gauge at this point what impact they are having, whether apprehensions are up or down or drug seizures are up or down but the boots on the ground here are no doubt happy to get some sort of help, although people living in border towns like nogales here say that they need a little bit more help. in fact, certain members of the law enforcement community say it's going take a whole lot more than

one -- one -- 1200 troops and they're beg fog more assistance. >> i'm telling you as the sheriff, we're the number one pass-through county here in arizona, that it's not secure, that the violence and the concerns we have are more than just a public safety matter, 520 soldiers are not going to stop it. we have said we need 3000 armed soldiers, just here in arizona. >> reporter: so the hope is, of course, the sheer presence of the military along the border will be enough to serve as a deterrent as we continue to wage this war with the mexican drug and human smuggling cartels. martha. martha: all right casey, thank you very much. and for more on this new series we're doing, america's third war, log on to our website, foxnews.com, you will find much more of casey stegall's fascinating reports of what's actually going on at the border under the obama administration, and there is also other information on this growing national security threat. rick: when he come back he calls himself the mastermind

of 9/11 but will he ever stand trial for it? there are new reports coming out there may not be a trial in the near future for khalid shaikh mohammed. martha: congressman greg walden has a new job, his job is getting the new house majority in order, telling the congressional class of male announcer: introducing the world's first 100% custom, invisible, digital, and fully programmable hearing aid, loaded with today's most advanced hearing technologies, including our new soisticated

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martha: today what's the day charlie rangel from new york was supposed to get his hearing underway. to investigate these 13 ethics violations, but he got up and made a long statement and walked out of the room. molly henneberg joins us live from d.c. with more details. a shocker this morning. >> reporter: very interesting, what happened on the hill this morning. it began because charlie rangel and his legal team parted ways in october and he came en front of the jury, ethics jury today, if you will and said, hey, i

owed them something like $2 million and i couldn't pay them any more and i have not had time to get a new legal team and none has been provided to me by the committee committee and he said, quote, i have to remove myself and walked out, and, the ethics committee went into closed session to decide how to proceed. and that is what we are waiting on now to find out what happens. and rangel walked out of the room, and ended his testimony. martha: incredible, as was pointed out he could have been admonished and not gone through the process and he wants to go through the legal process and initiated the whole thing and now he says he cannot do it. at least for now. thank you very much. we'll follow it as it plays out on capitol hill today. martha: could be a tough crowd, there on capitol hill, nancy pelosi is back in the saddle over a week since democrats lost control of the building that you see on your screen. how will she be received by her fellow democrats? that is how we start a new hour

of america"america's newsroom" monday, i'm martha maccallum. rick: i'm rick folbaum and the california congressman blamed by a lot of people in her own party for their election defeat and giving the republicans the majority and now clings to the leadership post in the caucus and chief political correspondent carl cameron is live on the hill. nice see you. the republicans seems excited about this and democrats, not so much. >> reporter: sure, and, trials and tribulations of former ways and means chairman charlie rangel only add to that sense of the blues for a lot of democrats, and, the republicans are enthusiastic and ready to get to work and democrats are, too, but don't exactly know how. nancy pelosi now the soon to be minority leader, has decided to try to stay on as the democrat's leader and because the democratic conference has been so shrunken, it is decidedly more liberal and a lot of those moderate, centrist democrats, blue dogs and democrats in red

districts and those who were vulnerable because they were in places where perhaps john mccain had beaten barack obama in '08, come back to washington, in very, very smaller numbers, and, really worried about the future of their party. an, nancy pelosi's decision to stay on as minority leader and the election comes on wednesday, to them is a sign their own party has not gotten the message of the 2010 blowout. there is a democrat, keith schuler will run against her as part of her re-election campaign and a number of democrats said they would not support her if they lost the majority or, regardless, they thought she was too liberal and now, those chickens are coming home to roost and do so in the minority. and the vote will be wednesday and nancy pelosi is expected to be reelected as the leader of the democratic party, it is a very fractured, rather blue democratic party that comes back to a cloudy washington, and it seems fitting for them, while the energy and excitement on the

republican side will be opportunities of the new madge nor jort for them, it -- majority, for them it is the opposite for the democrats. martha: the man who is putting the republican plan into action, greg walden, the chairman of the g.o.p. transition team and he says this year's republican freshman class has a chance to make changes in washington and that is what they were elected to do. here he is during the weekend's republican response to president obama's weekly address. >> the in coming republican freshman class is no ordinary group. nearly half of the roughly 80 members never served in elected office before and bring a fresh perspective and a lot of energy, intelligence and in spirit we want to incorporate bringing the governments back to the people, and we want to include them and want to give them a seat at the

leadership table in the next congress. martha: greg walden, and as i said he's the head of the g.o.p. transition team. you see the bus arriving this morning. bright eyed and bushy tailed, congressmen and congresswomen, as they get ready to do their new job and there is a call upon them to be bold in their actions. that is what they were elected to do. and, moments from now we'll talk to representative greg walden and get his take on it, as he watches them all, get to work. rick: a number of orientation exercises, i guess, meetings, being held in washington, d.c. over the weekend. and, there was a lot of hay made between a couple of different gatherings, the freshmen were pulled in different directions, depending on which gathering they went to, people were paying close attention whether the pea party gather -- >> which party you showed up at, right? let's bring in congressman greg walden. he joins me now, good morning, good to have you here.

>> good to be with you. martha: you may have heard what we were talking about, and, the calls to take really bold action is what is upon this new congress, what kind of bold action will you encourage them to take. >> first of all, let's get our focus back, and open up the system and make it more transparent and accountable to get to the policy decisions that will allow us to cut wasteful washington spending and focus on getting americans back to work and my role as g.o.p. chairman of the transition team is to change how the house itself operates. open it up and let the public see the public's business being done and let the public participate in that process, as well. and we'll change the rules and open it up and make it more accessible, transparent and accountable. martha: a lot of folks expect the house will do an early vote, in this congress, on repealing health care. is that your expectation as well? >> i anticipate that fully, you know, it is simple, we have a pledge to america, that we developed, as a governing document after listening to americans, it is all right there in the pledge, what we said we'd do and we'll do what we said we

were going to do, that initiative of the pledge, those things we said we'd do, is what got point we're at, the biggest changeover in congress since 1938 and the biggest amount of republican seats since the 1940s and you can bet we'll do what we said we would do. martha: obviously you don't have control of the senate, we have talked with congressman john shaddag about the disappointments after 1994, a similar moment of enthusiasm, everything would change in washington and spending ended up soaring. what makes people think the same thing will not happen this time. >> i will tell you house, the house is where all budget and tack matters start under the constitution and we'll make sure bills as they are put forward have constitutional references and control the purse strings and sit down and work it out as adults. to get spending under control. i would say the difference between now and 1994, too, is this incredible explosion of deficit spending has taken place the last couple of years under speaker pelosi's leadership and harry reid's leadership and

barack obama's leadership. such that we now have these exploding deficits, $900 billion a year, each of the next ten years and now we have this international debt crisis as well and mention get it and -- >> i think americans get it in a way perhaps they didn't in 1994. and i think that is one of the central differences you can certainly feel out there, right now. what about social security? are you willing to encourage your members to go after -- make cuts in social security, make cuts in the defense budget, make cuts in medicare? is that what we will see. >>you know, i think what we have to do is look at every agency and program, and do the oversight that congress has not done to find efficiencies, we have to keep our commitments to older americans, that is clear -- >> what do you mean by that? do you mean that you would not consider cutting social security? >> look, there's a lot we can cut before we get to social security, how about not raiding the social security funds to begin with. i mean, there are lots of things we can do but there is so much waste across the government every agency, every program needs to be evaluated.

can we not find savings -- >> you will never get there, with all due respect, i don't think we'll ever get there when you look at the numbers without social security, defense, medicare, without tapping into those say cret cows. >> all of the entitlements programs and spending in washington all has to be reviewed and, let's stop adding to the cost and adding new entitlements that you cannot afford. obama's health care program, now law, is a huge new entitlement that cannot be sustained and will break us and i think everything has to be reviewed. martha: everybody will be watching what you and your colleagues are doing, very closely, you will be under a big magnifying glass. >> and if we change the rules appropriately we'll have even more opportunity to watch us and hold us accountable by opening up the congress. martha: thank you very much, congressman greg walden from oregon. bill: the countdown to obama 2012, it officially begins, david axelrod saying he'll begin

crafting the re-election campaign next year, planning on late winter or early spring kick off date and will leave the white house, and head back to chicago, to begin the strategizing, coming in a sit down with our own chris wallace over the weekend on fox news sunday. martha: and he's the self-admitted master mind of the 9/11 attacks, and there is a report that he might not stand trial any time in the near future. we're now 9 years since september 11th. khalid sheikh mohammed still in a legal limbo. that story, coming up. rick: airline security may be in the skies has to be a little less friendly these days and one passenger not happy with the latest screenings, why our own homeland security chief says, we all need to relax a little bit. martha: and the commander-in-chief back on american soil but it is a different washington than the one he left, why the president says he may have been too focused on some of the wrong things.

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martha: a deadly chain reaction crash killed five people, police arrested the driver of one car, carlos ramirez on suspicion of drunk driving and they say he swerved his car -- look at this scene -- into a group of motorcyclists on a highway outside san diego. four of the bikers were killed. and a passenger with ramirez was also killed. police are still looking for the first driver who triggered the crash. by cutting off his car, in the first place, awful scene. in california, over the weekend. rick: back to the office for president obama, returning to

washington with a new political landscape on his front lawn, the president's trip across asia, beginning with hand shakes and warm welcomes and ending with the commander-in-chief, defending his economic policies, and, now, coming home to a few sobering realities on american soil. >> president barack obama: we've spent the first two years trying to get the policy right. based on my best judgment about how we were going to deal with the short-term crisis. in that obsessive focus on policy i neglected some things that matter a lot to people and rightfully so. rick: recorded yesterday, on the way back from asia, advisor to the clinton-gore presidential ticket, back in 1996 and part of the gore-lieberman camp in 2000

and chip saltzman, a former campaign manager for mike huckabee, thanks for coming in. peter, the president says he may have ignored things that were important to a lot of people. what do you think he was talking about? >> well, rick, i think he was talking about jobs and unemployment and there's a lot of insecurity in the country about our economic future. and, look, you have a candid president that is willing to look within himself and say, here's what we did right and what we did wrong and, try to make improvements. i think there has not been as big a mandate as the tea party folks would lead us to believe. and, i think the danger for republicans, is they take what i believe is a far right message and they think that that is part of the mainstream of where the public wants to be, and i don't think it is. rick: chip, we talked about the new landscape the president returned to. i guess it will become very apparent, this thursday night, when the new republican leadership sits down at the dinner table with the president, at the white house, what is that

going to be like and what kind of conversation is there going to be, between president obama, john boehner and mitch mcconnell, who is still the minority leader in the senate but i man who said the number one priority is making sure obama is a within huone-termer. >> the republicans are coming to town with a huge mandate, the biggest election turnover in 70 years, less spending, less government, simple, period. and i think the republicans wants to carry that mantle and that is how they'll be successful and if the president is smart he'll move to the middle and try and work with the republican leadership and speaker boehner and leader mcconnell if he wants to get reelected in 2012. rick: alla bill clinton, do we see him moving a bit to the right to try and pass some of the legislation. >> i agree, taking the obama

agenda and obama co-opting it, the fact of the matter is, the reason why we are where we are is the administration tried to reach out to republicans, over some of the issues like health care and the health care bill, much derided was actually the dole bill from 1994 when he was the majority leader. so, the whole notion that the president overreached entirely as i think -- is i think wrong and the fact the republicans did not take the senate is evidence of that and we have a very much divided country but i like the idea they are getting down and meeting on thursday and i'm optimistic that they will reach an agreement on tax cuts. the president has a bipartisan commission on deficit reduction which i think made very very, critical recommendations, and are causing both sides consternation and, i think earmark reform is another area where they will come to agreement, every chief executive going back to republicans and democrats wanted earmark reform and, i think the big play, rick, is actually immigration reform, and i think the chamber of commerce and the president are pretty good agreement on that and is one of those issues where

i think, if you achieved immigration reform, you will get people back to work and the economy turned in around. rick: last word, chip, we talked about earmarks, spending cuts, martha interviewed a republican congressman who did not want to get specific with her, as far as where those cuts would come from, he said they have to be -- everything is on the table. but, specifically, will we hear from republicans, will we hear from brave republicans who are going to be willing to talk about cutting popular entitlement programs? >> i think you will have to over the next -- in the next two years if they are going to be reelected and really to answer their mandate. look the first thing they are going after is earmarks and there are no more and business as usual in the house will change when john boehner becomes speaker and we'll get spending in order, the first call to action for the republican chows. rick: peter and chip, thanks so much, good to talk to you. >> good to be with you. >> want to get on the plan, you have to go through airport security and sometimes that means a personal pat-down, a guy not happy about it and his

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rick: rocket fire sparking a massive explosion at a u.s. military base in afghanistan. look at this, you can see some of the black smoke, pouring, called camp wright, nato says the base came under attack from gun and rocket fire early this morning. one of the rockets hitting a fuel container. that of course resulting in a blast, destroyed 6 armored vehicles, and an ambulance as

well, no coalition forces were killed or injured in this attack. martha: this is an incredible story, a british couple is now savoring their first full day of freedom, after more than a year in captivity, at the hands of somali pirates, imagine what this has been like for them. paul and rachel chandler, were abducted while they were sailing in the indian ocean, reportedly freed after payment of a hefty ransom. greg palkot joins us live in london, what is the latest, what a story and thank goodness these people are finally free. >> reporter: what a story indeed. it is a happy end to a very long saga, paul and rachel chandler, we are told are resting in the u.k., high commission, or embassy residence in nairobi, kenya and they deserve it. they should be heading home, to england, tomorrow, and this after as you noted, they were

held in canivity, by pirates, 13 months, living in the somali brush and we are told, paul, 60 and rachel, 66, are in good shape and as for the ransom we have spoke to people close to the talks, months long talks involving their release and we are told the ransom amount is $800,000. and the first lump was paid to the rierts in june, and, then they have reneged on the deal and the second lump paid the last couple of days from family, friends, somalis, though they deny it, possibly the u.k. government and we are told the talks were not easy, they involved a lot of different players what is easy to say is the joy on the face of paul and rachel and let's listen to what she said yesterday. i'm happy to be here and happy to be among family and friends and to be among every day people. >> reporter: bitter sweet,

however, for the chandlers. just after their release, paul chandler learned of the death of his father. his 99-year-old father, four months prior. also, quickly, bittersweet for the 500 hostages, which still remain in captivity, the pirates still very busy, along that coast, and in somalia. back to you. martha: boy, that situation needs to be stopped. greg, thank you very much. greg palkot reporting from london. rick: we keep hearing the argument, democrats say extending them is an unaffordable tax break for the rich and republicans believe an extension would help to crate jobs and what the white house is saying about the bush era tax cuts. martha: the 9/11 mastermind, khalid sheikh mohammed, will he ever face justice, why a new report says his trial may not come any time soon. >> i would hope that eric holder will do the right thing and he will say clearly, that the trials will not be head in new york, that they will be held in

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rick: now in "america's newsroom," the house ethics panel just denying a delay for congressman charlie rangel, the new york lawmaker making a plea, last hour, and then leaving the trial, he is facing a number of ethics violation and police are searching a park in central ohio after a 13-year-old girl was found bound and gagged in a man's home there. that man arrested yesterday, on

kidnapping charges. the killer's family disappeared four days ago, still no word on the rest of the family. and, testimony scheduled to resume today in the elizabeth smart kidnapping trial. prosecutors say smart was abducted by brian david mitchell back in 2002 and held captive for nine months. martha: a disturbing new report surfacing on the status of the 9/11 terror trials. according to a report in the "washington post," a trial for self-proclaimed master mind khalid sheikh mohammed is unlikely. at least for the foreseeable future. the report coming nearly a week after u.s. attorney general eric holder said that a decision on this, where to hold the trial, was imminent. >> this is an ongoing one we are working to make a determination about, the placement of that trial, and i would hope that whatever the decision is, will be one that will be judged on

the merits and what is best for the case and for justice, in that case. will be the thing that will guide their decision. we have been working on it and i think we are close to a decision. martha: not a lot revealed in that statement. christian has served as the state department senior advisor, from '03 to '09 and is also principal at the d.c. international advisory and we welcome him here. christian, good to have you here this morning. >> great to be here. martha: thank you, what did you make of eric holder's statement and of the report in the "washington post"? >> well, i think it looks like the obama administration is being forced to back off, yet another terrible decision regarding national security, you know, previously, there was a political decision to close guantanamo bay to the detention facility there, to please domestic constituencies within the democratic party, liberals if you will and luckily that failed and this is another instance of a decision that was motivated not by national security but by politics. and, in this case the trial went

-- of the master mind of the nine leanvin -- 9/11 attacks, being held in new york city and now they are backing away from that but, now, there is no decision on what to do with that person. martha: they say no decision has been reached as of now but the "washington post" suggested their reporting told them it could be pushed off until 2012 and 2012 rings a lot of bells in everybody's sears ears and may handled until after the election there. and what is the message sent to al qaeda. >> it is one of profound weakness and we have a litigator in chief, not a commander-in-chief and we need to litigate less and fight more in the war, a quick historical analogy, illegal combatants, caught in june of 1942, they were put before a military

tribunal, in july and the first section were executed in august, and two months from capture to kill and we are 7 years after khalid sheikh mohammed was caught and nine years after 9/11 and there is no end in sight and the answer is military tribunals in a more expeditious way of taking care of these people who have waged war on the u.s. martha: you think a military tribunal would be satisfying in terms of the justice brought by it? one of the concerns, obviously was having a trial here in new york, is some of the intelligence that was gleaned through water boarding would not be admissible in that court, in that courtroom. >> that's right, the obama administration seems to feel that justice can only be achieved through criminal courts, that we subject u.s. citizens, who are accused of crimes to and in fact these are an entirely different breed of people, enemy combatant is completely different than domestic u.s. citizen criminal and you are right. the rules of evidence, in u.s.

courts is too high. you would have to compromise, methods of collecting intelligence and information collected from the battlefield and we know with near certainty, this is one of the people, the mastermind of 9/11, admitted as much and you need a military commission to review the circumstances of the designation as an enemy combatant, an illegal one and then we can move on. martha: why is there a legal ambiguity as to whether or not he should be treated as an enemy combatant and tried en a military tribunal? is there a question about that. >> i think, the question the obama administration seems to have is just over the whole notion that you can act against people outside of the courtroom setting. and, it goes back to having a president with very little national security experience. who is from the senate, and if you will a litigator in chief and not a commander-in-chief and there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the threats we face and also, a fundamental failure to realize that we are at war, we are not prosecuting

liquor store bandits, we are going after people who have made war on the u.s. and not only want to kill us but in the case of khalid sheikh mohammed, has succeeded in killing over 3,000 americans. martha: the definition of the war seems to vary in some cases in terms of the take on it, christian whiton, thanks, very much. if there is no resolution, there will be a lot of outrage in this country and we will follow it. thank you. rick: a status quebec on the battle over the bush era tax cuts, a leading democrat calling for setting a new cap on who would get a break, suggesting the so-called rich would be anybody who makes over a million dollars a year. mike emmanuel is live at the white house. mike, the president had been saying, anybody who made over $250,000 a year, now chuck schumer saying, let's put it at a million, any word on a wonderful mi compromise. >> reporter: the president returning from asia and is a high priority on his agenda, recognizing as of the new year,

if nothing is done everybody gets a tax increase and he came back to the press cabin on air force one and reiterated his position. take a listen: >> president barack obama: we... pa paefpaef paefpaef >> reporter: the key word in that is permanent and obviously giving himself wiggle room, negotiations lead to a temporary extension of the bush tax cuts. for higher income folks. than he has gotten himself wiggle room, rick. rick: maybe another couple of years, an extension on the tax cuts, and what are some of the other possible outcomes here? >> reporter: as you mentioned,

the idea chuck schumer mentioned of capping it at a million dollars and here's more from senator jim demint from fox news sunday. >> i hope we can get a permanent extension but if the president wants to compromise on a 2-3 year extension, what is important here, chris, is businesses know what their tax rates will be over the next few years, and, so they can plan growth and plan to add people. >> what you have is a little shadow-boxing, rick, between the white house and some key lawmakers, before a scheduled meeting here at the white house on thursday. to discuss those bush tax cuts. rick: mike emmanuel live at the white house, thanks so much. >> reporter: thank you. martha: they just wanted to sell homemade cup cakes and why a sidewalk bake sale sparked outrage in a quiet little suburb. rick: and it could be the most infamous pat-down in history at the airport, the guy who recorded his close encounter with the tsa, he did on his cell phone and we'll let you hear some of it and talk about it

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and guide to understanding medicare. yep... this is one great card! call this toll-free number now for this... free information kit and medicare guide. >> good morning to you, i'm jon scott, when jenna lee and i join you in a few minutes, a great line-up of guests, we'll talk with senator elect richard blumehthal of connecticut and congressman mike pence of indiana. he's been something of a thorn in the side of this white house. so just what should the lame duck session of congress tackle? go to foxnews.com/happeningnow and you can weigh in. during our town hall panel. plus... the argument to cool it, in the global warming debate. and, judge andrew napolitano, sat down with sarah palin, all coming up on "happening now." rick: thank you, jon, he didn't want to go through the naked scanner and a california man was told that he had to undergo a full body pat-down. and, then he flipped on his cell

phone recorder. listen: rick: homeland security secretary janet napolitano had this to say about the scanner's controversy, saying, quote we ask the american people to play an important part in our layered defense, we ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy. and, a former assistant administrator for the tsa and the agency's director of security operations, and as we listen to the audio a lot of people might say, at least take the guy out to dinner before you touch him like that. seriously, is this what people are in for if they refuse the

full body scanner? >> you know, i think so, rick. i think that you can expect that and i think unfortunately, you know, any of us in -- any citizens of our country today would probably feel a little bit hesitant about going through a pat-down like that, but our a adversaries are resilient and these they're requirements we'll have if we are going to combat their obvious, very obvious attempt to continue to target our aviation industry, especially... rick: people don't like the full body scanners, they say it's an invasion of their privacy and i've heard security experts say it doesn't even work, the way we need it to. and, now, you hear about the techniques that is used in the full body pat-down and how graphic it can actually get. you know, i think there are a lot of people out there who are wondering, isn't there a happy medium and some way for us to keep unsafe passengers off of

our flights, without this kind of stuff? >> you know, that is a great question. i don't think there is, personally. i think that you know, we're not dictating necessarily these events that are occurring, you know, the events are happening across the world, there is intelligence and there is -- it is driving us to be able -- us as a society to have to actually go to these measures. i mean, nobody likes having the 4th amendment violated going through a security line but the truth of the matter is, we are going to have to do it. you know, always i think ask this question: if it was your children or your loved one going through there, not you, would you want them to do everything they could to be sure -- ensure the safety of the aircraft. rick: i think that that is an easy question for all of us to answer. we want our aircraft to be safe, especially when we have loved ones who are flying on it, but, here we are, sir, we are approaching what is the busiest time of the year for travel,

folks all over the country will be headed to airports, and getting ready to board airplanes, over the next week or so, for the thanksgiving break. what would -- we heard from the homeland security secretary, janja janet napolitano said be patient. >> before you go through the processes, you have to understand, at the transportation security administration level, there is a lot of effort in what they call testing evaluation to determine the equipment and processes and also, the time in which they have to do it, in order to get in where it is effective and efficient, at the same time to move the populace through the check points and there is a lot of -- especially during the holiday season. rick: thank you, former assistant administrator for the tsa, good to talk to you and happy holidays to you and your family. >> thanks. same to you, sir.

martha: something completely different... cup cakes, right, how could you refuse two 13-year-old boys trying to make a buck, and one town councilman making a federal case out of cup cakes. ♪ ♪ i fought the law and the law won ♪ ♪ i fought the law and the law won...♪

rick: call it a cup cake crack down en a new york city suburb, parents in chappaqua angry after finding out a councilman called the cops on two young boys for selling cup cakes and other baked goodies, without a permit. and, the 13-year-olds were making extra dough, pedaling the treats in a local park, the

councilman says, hey, those are the rules. and admits calling in the police may have been a little bit over the top. i'll say! come on! martha: and, do you know whether or not the councilman's wife owns a bakery in town. rick: taking money away from the councilman's wife! martha: i'd bet money on it! comments by hamid karzai could hurt military efforts in the war-torn country, a serious development, calling on the u.s. to reduce the number of troops in afghanistan, he also says, the u.s. should stop, quote, the terrible night raids that in flame the emotions of the afghan people and general david petraeus is not happy about these remarks, conor powell is streaming live from kabul, afghanistan and it makes the mission very difficult when these statements are coming from the president of afghanistan. >> reporter: it sure does, martha and general petraeus is more than just not happy, he is angry and frustrated with

president hamid karzai's comments over the weekend. over the weekend karzai told in an interview, reporters, that the u.s. should begin to wind down military operations in afghanistan and end those night raids that you mentioned and also wanted to see u.s. troops have a less visible presence here in afghanistan. now, this according to karzai's spokesman, is not a big deal, he didn't mean it as a criticism of the strategy, but, if you look at what he said, it was a direct criticism of the currents u.s. strategy that was devised by general petraeus in afghanistan and the u.s. troops are meant to be out an visible, and patrolling with afghan troops and keeping insurgents away from the afghan people and when ham karzai said he wants help less visible, he wants them removed and behind the scenes, not the strategy here in afghanistan, general petraeus devised, and actually calls for and it comes at a very tense time for general

petraeus as he's trying to sell not only to the afghan people, the american people, and really, to the world community that the surge strategy in place is working. according to senior u.s. commanders, and officials, these comments by afghan president hamid karzai only serves to undercut general petraeus's strategy here and make it much more difficult for him to sell to the american people, to the white house, the pentagon that he can get more time to make the strategy work, over the next year, next 2-3 years, it is something that is an ongoing rift between hamid karzai and general petraeus and they said there is no rift, but, based on past comments between the two, especially by afghan president karzai, there is real tension over the strategy and the future of the u.s. military operations, here in afghanistan, martha. martha: that's not good. conor powell, thank you very much, reporting live from kabul, brand new video as we have told you, lots of new congressmen and women, and senators arriving on capitol hill, and this is mitch mcconnell's office and you can get a bit of a scan of the

meeting and he's in the center and we saw mark kirk sitting over on the couch and these are the new g.o.p. senators as they file into the house and marco rubio is in the room there, in the middle of the couch, and they are getting together to discuss how things will go from here and i believe that is rand paul, next to mark kirk and, can we listen tor a second? >>... the '08 election we had two freshmen republican senators, and, obviously i'm pretty excited to be sitting here with 13 this year. and, this is going to be a huge improvement in the united states senate from our point of view and i believe the american people sure have chosen outstanding members to join the united states senate. thank you very much. >> senator... [inaudible] gridlock. do you share that sentiment?

martha: we saw mitch mcconnell as he welcomes 13 new senators and he's excited about that development. and wield be keeping a close eye on washington as those folks roll in and get acclimated. bill: we have new faces... name that lawmaker! when we come back after a quick break, what former president bill clinton has in common, with mike tyson. that is coming up. 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.™ 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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over 2", filmed in bangkok. martha: want to know what they're doing -- what they're doing there. rick: he was there for a speech on energy. no word on what he says or does in the cameo. martha: which raises the question is it appropriate for a president to be a a movie. it's a very funny movie. any pictures of jimmy carter doing that? do you see first president bush doing that? anyway, it should be funny. rick: looking forward to it, taking place in thailand. march that -- martha, good to you with be. martha: thank you for standing in for ibm her. thank you for being with us. we have "happening now" coming up right now. we'll see you tomorrow. jon: good morning to you, hope you had a great weekend, i'm jon scott, in the east, it is 11:00 straight up. and from coast to coast, brand new stories and breaking news coming your