but he cannot cash in. bigovernment is taking away this fisherman's big catch because he used the wrong gear. >> what? >> "fox & friends" starts right now. >> good morning, everyone. hope you had a good monday. maybe you had a better optimistic outlook on our future than the members of the super committee. >> i held out hope that there would be a last minute deal. >> that's so you. >> like in the movies. >> just like in the movies and just like in the end, i thought it would have to end in two hours and 12 minutes and i thought it would close. senator kerry did make a last minute overture but in the end, it was just not enough. >> game over like that. >> like pacman. >> jeb henserling writes in this morning's "wall street journal" that the problem came down to this, the democrats were absolutely inflexible.

they had to have $1 trillion worth of tax hikes. the republicans did apparently offer about half that amount but it was not enough. and let's take a look at what they were trying to do. ultimately, they were trying to cut just $1.2 trillion over 10 years which averages, as you can see, at $120 billion per year. >> of course, the 2011 budget was $3.6 trillion. that's way up from, i believe, when president obama took office. it was $2.8 trillion. we're doing a little more math here. >> yeah. >> divided by 3,600. >> what that means is that when you take a look at the amount of money they were trying to cut, less than just 3% of the budget and yet, they weren't able to do it. >> here's the thing. what really irritated me yesterday on top of everything else was how fast the press releases came out from every politician. whether they were involved in the super committee or they were not. it was like let's -- let's immediately take -- we have time to do a press release. we have time to do a press

rehe's -- release and tell you whose fault it was like this but didn't have time for a solution. >> they wanted to wait until after the markets were closed. it's amazing to see the president get the signing ceremony for veterans to get jobs. patty murray shows up at it and she's co-chairing the super committee and they don't have a discussion about a last minute deal and they won't take any questions on it. it wasn't even a topic. when it was time for the president to talk about it, when the super committee was indeed done and dead, here's what he said. >> there's still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of washington. they continue to insist on protecting $100 billion worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of americans at any cost even if it means reducing the deficit with deep cuts to things like education and medical research. even if it means deep cuts in medicare. so at this point at least, they

simply will not budge from that negotiating position. and so far, that refusal continues to be the main stumbling block that's preventing congress from reaching an agreement to further reduce our deficit. >> it's a fundamental difference in philosophy. it's spending vs. taxes. even if you taxed all the millionaires and billionaires 100%, 100%, it wouldn't begin to put a dent in the deficit or the spending of this country. so how can it only be a tax problem? it's not! it's a spending problem. >> gretch, a leadership problem. in washington, d.c., you cannot have fundamental change without the president of the united states being involved in it. he absolutely was not and, you know, you look at what he wants. he does not want to reduce the deficit. he does not want real changes when it comes to our entitlements. you know, we got to -- >> here the problem, steve. he's on the record saying that the medicare and medicaid and social security are providing

most of our debt. and they are -- the entitlements are clearly the problem so he's on record. he's also on record last january in cutting that deal that he did in lame duck session with the republicans who are heavily criticized by saying, you know, leave the current tax rates in place, it would be the wrong time to raise taxes. when he says tax cuts for the rich and bush tax cuts, it's tax rates that we've experienced over the last seven years and if they dissipate, taxes go up. he says taxes should not go up in a recession. >> but he ultimately -- he poisoned the well. you can look at what he said back in october, he said this thing is not going to work unless there are $1 trillion worth of taxes getting jacked up. anyway, leadership is critical to it. romney, mitt romney that is, former governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts addressed that last night with sean hannity. >> i don't think president obama understands what is unique about america. what is exceptional about america. i don't think he understands that it's free people and free enterprises that make america the economic powerhouse it is.

i think he thinks that governor bureaucrats well intentioned somehow can do a better job guiding our economy and our lives than free people. and he's wrong! >> so that is mitt romney's opinion about how this whole thing went down. let's keep in mind, besides these defense cuts now that are the automatic trigger effect over the next 10 years, starting after the election, by the way, although it's just that, it's also cuts to entitlements, guys, so yesterday when the president said he's not going to veto -- he is not going to veto any attempt to alter these automatic cuts, he's also going to take it under the chin a little bit because it's going to take away some of these programs that he would be in favor of. >> possibly. but there is a theory out there, if they had a legitimate negotiations, the health care industry would have paid a bigger price because the defense industry is being punished for absolutely no reason. listen to. this the secretary of defense says if these cuts go through, we'll have our smallest number of ships since 1915, smallest

ground forces since 1940 and smallest air forces in history. >> when the president came out and said let's blame the republicans, he said there's some people in congress that are thinking they can end run me and they're going to come up with something where they put off the cuts. if that happens, i'm going to veto it. i think we got a soundbite. >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off ramps on this one. you need to keep the pressure up to compromise. not turn off the pressure. the only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> so there he is right there. he's saying congress, if you try to mess with this, i'm going to veto it. at the same time, he's saying congress, go back to work. try to figure it out. he is trying to have congress bail him out. of the hole we're in. >> he's also trying to take the

easy way out because an election year is coming up. going back to the leadership point of view, if -- many people would argue in a leadership position, he would say ok, congress, you screwed up. let's go back to erskine bowles. let's go back to the debt commission and what they recommended or here are my ideas tore $4 trillion worth of cuts. maybe that would be a good position of leadership but he's not going to do that because in essence now he can blame congress as he moves towards re-election. >> he wants to vote present. >> it could be a problem but right now, cnn poll shows that 42% of americans blame republicans. 32% blame democrats. and that does look better for his party. and your suggestion actually was with "the washington post" suggested today, too, go back to a bowles simpson and have the president offer that forward and say let's hit reset and see if some things in bowles-simpson you want to change, for the most part, leave it intact and push it forward. >> yesterday when the president

of the united states addressed the nation talking about the super committee's super failure, he was tipping his hand to the coming election campaign season and that is it's going to be class warfare. the rich need to have their taxes jacked up and the republicans blew it by not doing that. >> all right. let's do some other headlines for your tuesday now because egypt's government teetering on the verge of collapse right now. let's go live. this this is in cairo where clashes are getting worst now. death toll up to 29 as egypt's civilian cabinet submitted a joint resignation to the ruling military council. it was greeted with cheers in the square but may not be enough to satisfy angry protesters. police are firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters. they say they won't leave the square until power is in civilians' hands. the mother of suspected al-qaida wannabe jose pimentel says her son changed after he converted to islam.

>> he just changed a little bit, i don't know why he changes. >> pimentel is accused of planning to blow up police cars and troops returning from the war. he was on the f.b.i.'s radar for two years but the agency turned down the case twice because no one believed he could pull off an attack by himself, that is. when the nypd arrested him, he was allegedly drilling holes into pipes with the help of a jihadist bomb making blueprint. three astronauts back on earth after spending 165 days on the international space station. the russian capsule landed in kazakhstan this morning. the astronauts took some time to get readjusted to conditions on earth. as you can see, it was pretty cold up there. three more astronauts head to the space station next month. to join three others currently orbiting the earth. the white house going country last night. president obama inviting some of nashville's biggest stars to celebrate the history of country music. >> ♪ been a long hard ride

♪ got a ways to go ♪ that we all call home >> dierks bentley opened the concert with his single "home" and dedicated it to members of the military. >> i hopped on planes to big cities and i've ridden buses through small towns and along the way, i've gained an appreciation for how much country music means to so many americans. >> also in attendance, "american idol" alum lauren alaina. she says -- she sang loretta lynne's classic song "coal miner's daughter." >> big time sean hannity fan. let's not bring that. let's keep it music. >> very nice night. >> straight ahead on this tuesday morning, want to start a business, you might want to move to canada.

huh? our next guest says our neighbor to the north is slowly becoming more free. >> then solyndra already blew through half a billion taxpayer dollars. now your cash is being used to bail off the laid off workers, too. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain.

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>> all right. longing for a little economic freedom. you may want to move to canada. that's because our neighbors to the north are starting to overtake many u.s. states when it comes to economic freedom. how did that happen? benjamin powell is an associate professor at suffolk university in boston and a senior fellow with the independent institute. welcome, professor. thanks for joining us. >> hey, brian. good to be with you. >> first off, how do you gauge economic freedom? what's your matrix?

>> ok, so economic freedom means just the ability to engage in voluntary transactions with others without fear of regulations getting in your way or taxes taking away your ability to do so. so we measured this thing by looking at how well your property rights are protected. how big government spending is, crowding out the private sector. how low taxes are, how burdensome regulation is. then on the domestic level, we look at labor markets and the same things again in taxation and government spending. >> so you -- this is really -- this is more of a story of how america is falling back than canada is picking up. here's the highest levels of economic freedom you've found out. alberta, canada. is first overall. delaware is second overall. texas is third. nevada fourth. colorado is fifth overall in terms of freedom. in terms of the lowest level of economic freedom, west virginia is 50th. mississippi 53rd. hawaii 52nd and alaska 54th.

a lot of states are falling behind. where is this regulation from? >> the big decrease among the states that are having this is increased government spending from our state governments but bigger story is this new report is showing it for the individual states vs. canadian provinces but it's picking up a bigger national trend where the entire u.s. economy is looking less and less free than it used to be. we used to be in the top 3% to 5% in economic freedom in the world. now we have dropped to 10 behind canada and other places like england. >> so we're behind england and canada in overall economic freedom. when did this trend begin? >> so this has been happening over the last few years with the big increase in government spending. first under the bush administration but now obama. this trend is going to get worst. this data is on a lag and not picking everything that's gone in with the fiscal stimulus

packages. we'll see economic freedom decrease further as the new rankings come out. >> that's so interesting. spain just elected conservative leader. you have a conservative leader to the north. for this trend to stop, somebody has to come in and say government's got to shrink. regulations has got to be peeled back. correct? >> yeah. absolutely and the happier worldwide trend for years had been an increase in economic freedom not just in the united states but in countries around the world. since 1980, there have been large increases in economic freedom. unfortunately, what we've seen over the last 10 years is the united states give back all of those increases that have happened. what it really requires is a fundamental change in the big government mindset that we have here in the united states. that means making real cuts in spending, not these trivial ones that are going to be automatic now that the super committee hasn't done anything but a fundamental reassessment of what role we want the government to have in our economy. >> there seems to be a huge gap between what it's like to be a businessperson in america and what it's like to be a politician in america and was actually illustrated in steve

jobs' book quite transparentally. there seems to be -- they seem to be talking at each other instead of to each other. what's it going to take for business to give the politicians a reality check? >> i think it's really not just the businesses but overall, voters in this country need to reassess what role they want from the government in their economy. otherwise, the politicians aren't going to do it themselves. they like taking your money and they like spending it on things. fundamental difference between politicians and businessmen is businessmen have to get your money from you voluntarily. they have to offer a product you like. politicians take your money from taxes and give you a bunch of junk that you don't want. >> he's a senior fellow at the independent institute. thanks for joining us this morning. >> all right. thank you. >> you said you were tired but you look like it's 12:00 noon so i really question that. great job. meanwhile at 18 minutes after the hour, straight ahead, she argued against her ex-boyfriend on national tv. now this woman is missing. >> somebody grabbed me and yanked me around.

he's current, i'm current. he's sorry, i'm sorry. we brushed it under the rug. >> you're addicted to each other. >> that woman's sister joins us with the latest on that case. and a professor at suffolk university claims our troops are nothing but cold hearted killers. now one of his brave colleagues serving overseas firing back taking action. congratulations.

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>> i like the laser light on that thing. we have some headlines for you on this tuesday morning. scary moments in colorado when

an airman at shriver air force base barricaded himself in a building with a gun. he was in an area where personnel get ready for deployment. that building was evacuated and a swat team was called in. no one was hurt. and he surrendered. more fallout at u.c. davis in california. the school's chancellor placing the campus police chief on administrative leave one day after suspending the two cops that pepper sprayed students. 11 people were treated for the pepper spray. two were taken to a hospital and the video went viral. gretch? >> thank you, steve. from courtroom confrontation to now missing. >> grabbed me and yanked me around. >> he's current. i'm current. he's sorry, i'm sorry. we brushed it under the rug and i stayed with him for a few more months. >> you're like drugs to each other. you're addicted to each other. >> next "people's court." auto that was michelle parker, a 33-year-old orlando mom of three. she vanished hours after that episode aired featuring it battling it out with her

ex-fiance over an engagement ring. joining me with the latest on the search for her is michelle's sister, lauren. good morning. >> good morning. >> so we just saw the two of them fighting on "the people's court." is it coincidental or is there something to the fact that your sister went missing right after that episode aired? >> i mean, it's definitely a fact that she went missing the same day of. whether or not it's a coincidence, i don't know. i don't know if somebody saw her on tv and said she's beautiful. did what they do and figured out where she's at or something. i don't know. >> so we saw her battling it out with her ex-fiance. that's dale smith. she has 3-year-old twins with him. apparently, the last time she was seen is dropping those twins off at his place on the same day that this episode aired. >> yes, as far as i know, that's correct. she was with me around 2:00 and

she yawned. i was doing a client's hair and she yawned and michelle said you look tired. yeah, i'm going to go pick the kids up from daycare and drop them off at their dad's house and go home and take a nap before i got to go to work tonight because she tends bar so obviously she works pretty late. but that's what she was doing. >> uh-huh. so we're looking at a photo right now of her ex-fiance dale smith. do you think he has anything to do with it? i hate to say this but the post court interviewer for the show referred to their relationship as a fatal attraction. do you think that he had anything to do with her disappearance? >> i haven't even seen the show. i didn't know that that was something that was said. i pray to god not. i mean, who would want to hurt the mother of their children? i don't see how in any way that he would benefit from it. so i mean, we're not looking at just one, direct thing right now. we're taking in all -- anything that's possible right now. so in my opinion, nobody is -- nobody is ruled out by any

means. >> i want to take another quick look at a clip from the show where your sister talks about her ex-fiance. >> he gets pretty malicious and vindictive and he's a mean person especially when he's been drinking. yeah, he should be and he shouldn't put his hands on me. he shouldn't have left me three or four times in the last year and a half that we've been together. >> there she is speaking about dale smith. now, i understand police did recover her car. what can you tell us about that as well as a text that your brother sent to her? >> the vehicle was found friday. i actually received a tip, they called my number. i flooded facebook with my number and everybody reposted everything. and i got a phone call from a gentleman who said i'm actually here with the vehicle, you know, this is the tag number so we were at the police station. i ran in and told them. and they had people in looking for it immediately. the text from my brother, the

last text message to go out on my sister's phone was at 4:26 p.m., and it just said the words, waterford. that was it and that was in response to my brother, he texted a couple of different friends a mass text, he needed a ride. so he texted out hey, what are you up to? and he sent that text message at 4:26 and the text message saying waterford came back at 4:26 so it was immediate that that text message was sent and it's just -- it's one word. she doesn't send one word text messages so it was just really weird. really weird. >> it's all part of the mystery and your sister remains missioning at this -- missing at this point in time. we hope you get more clues tomorrow. lauren erickson, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you guys. >> straight ahead on our show, big government is taking away his big camp. a fisherman told to surrender his prized tuna. check out that fish. all because he uses the wrong gear.

huh? and the super committee's failure might mean drastic cuts for our military. that's not all what's going to happen to the markets? stuart varney up next. they dropped 250 yesterday. what's going to happen today? happy birthday to steven van zandt of the e street band as well. 61 years young. [ adrianna ] when i grill lobster, i make sure it's a melt in your mouth kind of experience. [ john ] the wood fires up the grill a little bit hotter so you really get a good sear and it locks in the juices. surf & turf -- you n't go wrong [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's surf & turf event. choose from three grilled combinations all under $20. like our maine lobster with peppercorn sirloin or our new bacon-wrapped shrimp with blue cheese sirloin for $14.99. [ adrianna ] i think the guests are going to take a bite and be like "oh, man, this is so awesome."

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>> well, according to "the wall street journal", the latest fashion trend in hong kong now is eyeglasses without any lenses in them. people just wear the frames. they make you look intelligent even though they're totally useless, you know. kind of like the congressional super committee. i'm just saying. >> i can see clearly now. >> let's get them all eyeglasses without anything in them. >> i remember dwight gooden, the mets pitcher, said i wear glasses with clear glass because i like the way i look. >> sometimes people in television have done that, too. >> really? >> i'll be darned. >> who? >> interesting.

you probably already heard the super committee is a super failure. >> yeah and now automatic spending cuts to entitlements and the military are looking more likely after the next election. some in congress are scrambling to scuttle those cuts but president obama says not so fast. hold it! >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise. not turn off the pressure. only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees to a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> stuart varn -- varney. the question i put to you, stu, did the president do the right thing yesterday in making sure that these $1.2 trillion in cuts go through so that we do not

receive another downgrade as far as our credit rating? >> i think the president would have done the right thing had he jumped in with a plan of his own. we know what he wants to tax. millionaires, billionaires, fat cats, corporate jet owners, etc., etc. we know that side of the deal. but we have no clue as to how he wants to reduce spending or how he's going to go after entitlements. the man has put forward no plan whatsoever. all we know is what he wants to tax but not what he wants to cut. >> right. we understand that s&p came out and they said, ok, a downgrade is not imminent. also moody's analytical says we've already factored in the fact that there's gridlock in washington but fitch is another question because there's been some that have said if congress tries to do something by getting rid of the automatic cuts that are going to kick in in 2013, that action would trigger a downgrade. >> yes, i mean, this is gretchen's question all over

again. what about the downgrade? moody's, standard & poor's, no downgrade for now but fitch has said maybe we're going to put you on a negative outlook. that would mean a 50% chance of a downgrade at some point in the future because you have a whole year before these automatic cuts go into effect. a whole year in which our finances are probably going to deteriorate even more and our willingness to attack the problem is again under question. the downgrade is not cleared up by any means. >> so let's talk about the downgrade. i'm only kidding. let's do this. how about this, "the new york times" postulates maybe this is going to work out good because in 2013, the bush tax cuts go away and the $1.2 trillion in cuts, it will get us on the negative term when it comes to the deficit and a lot of people don't care that much about defense and they're willing to take these cuts and this increase in taxes. >> if you think that the way to tackle our debt problem is to raise taxes and cut the military, ok, i suppose this is a good thing. if you think that that will have

a good outcome for our debt and our economy, yeah, ok, "the times" has a point. i think the exact opposite. the way to fix the debt problem is not with higher taxes and cutting the military, it's to grow the economy. how do you grow the economy, in my opinion, tax reform. lower rates, fewer deductions, more revenue to the treasury. better economy. >> we'll look forward to hearing more of those nuggets of wisdom at 9:20 on "varney & company". >> at that time, we'll see what happens. >> gold nuggets of wisdom. >> you think it's going to go down. >> i'm not sure. >> it's not. it's going to go up a little tiny bit. >> a dollar coin, right? >> got it. all right. see you later. >> going to do some headlines. >> now we've got your headlines. police in texas searching for a pilot that abandoned his airplane with a huge stash of pot on board. investigators were called to the houston executive airport after the plane skidded off the runway. witnesses say they saw somebody running from the plane. it's registered to an owner in

texas. there were no reports of it being stolen. when they got there, everybody was gone. and it was full of pot. >> students angry over a tuition hike, they got into a violent protest with the cops. >> the college here in new york city held a public hearing over the $300 tuition hike. hundreds of people showed up. when it got too crowded, they told them to go to an overflow room. that's when things got out of hand. police arrested 15 people. >> you know they're in new york city. you got to be kidding. that's what you pay for a subway in new york city. the white house offering no explanation for five presidential pardons announced yesterday. the convicts have been found guilty of federal crimes ranging from selling marijuana to running illegal gambling businesses and the president commuted the sentence of a woman who served 10 years of a 22-year sentence for selling cocaine. you're free! look out. >> a law professor who has been serving in afghanistan for

almost a year quitting his job as suffolk university law school in boston. the reason -- army reserve major robert ruffage is cutting ties with the school, one of his colleagues, law professor michael avery wrote that e-mail to the staff calling all soldiers killers and the school's efforts to send care packages to the troops hurtful. he doesn't want to be associated with that particular school anymore, he says. >> i don't blame him. let's take a look at the weather and we got a map that shows you it is a rainy start to this tuesday throughout portions of the ozarks moving through the central missouri and mississippi valley out through the tennessee valley and the ohio valley as well. yuck! meanwhile, across much of southern dixieland down through florida, it is a lovely day. also, across much of the plain states, things are drying out. we have another storm moving in through the pacific northwest. meanwhile, the current readings as you head out the door, man,

it's cold in caribou, maine. 11 there. we have 35 in minneapolis. 27 in rapid city and as you can see, 60's across the mid atlantic. real quickly today, it's going to be 70 later on in memphis. almost 80 in atlanta. here in the big town of new york city, topping out at 50. 83 in tampa. all right. from tuesday morning to monday night football. >> last night, might have nodded off in the third and fourth quarters. let me tell you what happened. less of a game, more of a clinic for the patriots taking on the kansas city chiefs. tom brady leading his troops against k.c. and

you notice anything interesting about the cake? it's got a bit of a gap tooth that he's very happy with.

there they are. another party we're not invited to in hollywood. you know how much fun that would have been? >> i bet that's the first piece he took. right out of the middle. this is a story that might outrage you a little bit today. this has to do with solyndra. remember they already got 550, something like that from the federal government and they went belly up and now it turns out that the 1,100 employees who were laid off as a result of that bankruptcy are now going to get even more taxpayer dollars. well, it's going to add up to about $13,000 per person and it will cost you $14.3 million. >> ok, now the reason this is going to happen is because the trade adjustment assistance, the people at the department of labor, they figured out that if a company that you're involved in gets effectively priced out of the market by a foreign competitor, you can get this kind of relief. and remember, we have heard that solyndra was undercut by china flooding the market with cheap solar panels so they're saying, ok, because china is selling

stuff way below market, we're going to be able to give all of you money. by the way, in addition to this money of $13,000 worth of job training and other stuff, they're also eligible for unemployment insurance as well. >> and we're going to retrain them. retrain them to learn to do something else. >> they have to do something. sure. 18 minutes before the top of the hour. here's what's straight ahead. there's more than one way to catch a fish but not in the government's book. coming up, the fisherman told to surrender his prized catch. that's a huge carp. because he used the wrong -- >> chicken of the sea. >> i'm surprised. >> then who says the united states isn't the greatest nation on earth? surveys show a lot of americans feel that way. but miss america 2011 is here to prove them wrong.

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domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. >> welcome back, everyone. a new pugh research survey poll says only 49% of americans think the u.s. is superior to other nations much that's significantly lower than a few years ago. >> our next guest is living proof that the american dream is alive and well. theresa scanlon is the youngest woman to be crowned miss america. that happened this year, 2011. miss america 2011 joins us on the couch. theresa, welcome back, by the way. >> thank you. good to be here. >> and theresa, are you surprised by that study to show that the decline in esteem for the country? >> quite honestly, yes. i was a little surprised but also, i was expecting it because i saw the younger demographic really has declining views about america. i just graduated from high school, what, two years ago and you're never taught about those

things in america to be proud of. where we are in world polls and world stats, you don't realize what a great country this is and so it's no surprise that really the younger generation mostly as the poll showed, it was the younger generation that had declining views of america more so than the older generation. >> that's so sad. >> when you look on your own personal history, you have the american dream story to tell. your grandparents came here. >> and i think really so many americans have the same story. i'm half croatian so my maternal grandparents came over from croatia when it was yugoslavia. the communist dictator was taking over at the time and drafting all of the men into the communist army so my grandfather escaped from that. they went to italy and stayed there in refugee camps for over two years before they came here to america. they left their family, they were about my age, 18, 20 years old, they left everything there to come here to the states to make a new life for themselves. they landed here in new york city and they started from nothing to build a new life for their children. their children's children.

me. my parents did the same. you know, starting from the ground up, and it was proof that the american dream is possible. >> and your grandmother gave this quote what i love, i never thought i'd have a granddaughter that would be miss america. best country in the world. >> yes. that's what they believe and that's what i believe. >> that was a family photo we saw with you. >> yes, yes. my entire family, a lot of the croatian side came to miss america because they were so proud. they were so excited. i've got a lot of my grandparents' brothers and sisters from croatia there. they were so tremendously proud of everything. >> and theresa, i'm going to the thanksgiving day parade with children, and a lot -- mine. and a lot of people think, oh, they can't wait to see underdog. they can't wait to see spongebob. no, it's going to be miss america. would you commit to being in the thanksgiving day parade. >> yes! we will be there on thursday. i'm so excited. this is the first time i won't be spending thanksgiving with my family but able to spend it here which will be tremendous. i'm looking forward to it. i know it's going to be amazing. >> it's going to be so great.

what a great experience. i didn't get to be in the parade. so lucky for you. let's take a look at the coat that you're going to be wearing. where is the coat? there it is. a beautiful white coat. >> absolutely beautiful. i'm looking forward to it. hopefully the weather is all right on thursday. we'll see. but it's going to be a great time and i'm really looking forward to it. again, every time i'm able to do things like this, my grandparents, my parents are tremendously proud and honestly, everything that i do this year is to make them proud and to never take for granted or take advantage of what they've given me and what this country has given me. >> you're going to patrick henry college, going to law school, judge and then the political world. >> absolutely. it's interesting, too, i was looking again at the fact that many people think that americans are uneducated. we're actually still, our u.s. work force is the most educated in the world. 85% of americans have a high school degree, about 28% have a college degree. and again, something you never hear. that young people here were uneducated, all of that. >> brian, she gave me a pick me

up this morning. >> which was? >> just her presence. >> we should be optimistic about america and that comes from miss america, theresa scanlan, have fun in the parade. >> thanks so much. >> his catch was worth $5,000. the government reeled it back because the fisherman caught it with a net instead of a rod. did you know there were those regulations? >> i did not know. i use dynamite. >> that fisherman here live. >> get ready for the return of "rocky." finally the musical. will this work? sylvester stallone is on board for a musical? rocky, are you kidding me?

>> it was the catch of a lifetime. commercial fisherman carlos rafael and his crew caught an 881 pound blue fin tuna off the coast of massachusetts. when they docked, the federal government took the fish that could have been worth thousands of dollars and joining us right now is fisherman and owner of carlos seafood, carlos rafael in boston. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> ok, so november 12th, you get a call from your crew. we got an 881 pound blue fin tuna. i know, you know, one was sold a while back in japan for over $300,000 at that size so you got to be seeing dollar signs in your eyes. you go to meet the boat at the dock, and you'd already called the appropriate officials. what happened next? >> when we back, came to providence town to haul the fish back in so it could be sold. it was an agent over there and

he asked what we had -- what we have on board the boat and we told him we have fish and the captain was so proud and i got a big blue fin tuna. so the agent started looking at him and he says what do you mean you got a blue fin tuna? yes, i do. and i have the permits to be able to catch tuna so i bought permits for every one of my vessels for the past three years, we figured one of these days we would catch the big one! so we caught the big one and i guess we had to give it to the government. >> that's just so crazy! so the government -- so the feds there at the dock said because you didn't catch it with a rod and reel and you caught it with a net, you had to give it up. now, every time you went to buy one of your tuna permits, and i understand you bought 15 through the years, did anybody ever tell you, carlos, if you catch a tuna, you got to do it with a rod and reel? not a net? >> no, i was never told of that.

>> but the government will tell you, you're supposed to know. i mean, i'm supposed to know everything. i mean, if i was to know all the laws of the land, i'll spend all my time just reading the laws of every law that's been put in the books. >> yeah. here's what the federal government said in "the cape cod times" up there. the matter is still under investigation. if it's determined there has been a violation, the money will go into the asset forfeiture fund. ok, so the tuna has been sold for around $5,000. how much of that money are you going to get, carlos? >> none! i have to give it all to the government. and one of the federal agents came to my office a couple of days ago and he gave me a warning. i mean, they didn't give me a fine. i could have got a fine for $10,000 or $20,000. god knows, what are they going to fine me for? >> because this is a regulation nation. that seems so unfair. carlos, thank you very much for getting up early there in boston and telling us your story. that's crazy. >> ok, thank you.

>> happy fishing. all right. what do you think? e-mail us, friends at foxnews.com. remember the millions of missing money at former new jersey governor jon corzine's now bankrupt company. the scandal is about to get twice as bad and the new york police busted this guy making bombs. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. autonsurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve

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through ultimate rewards. so, why settle for gold when you can have so much more? chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. call the number on your screen or visit our website to apply. >> top of the morning to you. it's tuesday, november 22nd of thanksgiving week. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks so much for sharing your time with us today. the super committee a super failure. no deal to slash the deficit but the president warns those cuts are still coming. >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. >> so the pentagon is on the chopping block but is it because the dems were too concerned with raising your taxes? we'll explain. >> meanwhile, she's maybe behind in the polls but she's ready to make a major comeback. why michelle bachmann who is live in our studio right now

thinks it's her turn to take the lead in the g.o.p. race again. congresswoman joining us live in a couple of minutes. >> and the italian stallion. >> you? >> rocky, a musical? >> yo, adrian! i did it! >> finally, a boxing movie we can sing about. but should rocky be bringing out his romantic side in germany 25 years from when "rocky 1" was released? i can't get my head around this. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> love broadway shows so much, i think a road trip to germany to see -- that might be one broadway show you'd see is "rocky." >> i might go see it if they

promise not to sing. if you can talk, why sing? i don't like musicals. >> so showcase their voices. >> maybe, who knows? it's coming. we'll tell you. details later on. meanwhile, you might say those who can do, those who can't form a super committee. and yesterday, america's biggest super committee called attention to the fact that they are hopelessly deadlocked, said we can't do it. didn't even take a vote on it. >> this is embarrassing for this country, i think. i mean, maybe everyone predicted it. but if you can't get in a room and come up with some sort of a solution of just $1.2 trillion in cuts, that's how much we spent in a milisecond yesterday while they were busy getting out their press releases blaming each other after the fact. this is despicable, i think, for this country and what does it say about the future of any bipartisanship? not sure. >> put it this way, what about the american spirit in we're going to work it out and find a way. no, i tried. we have a net, meet face to face and can't come up with a compromise. who would have thought? never agreed to a structure,

getting into the same room and in the case of the democratic party, even james clyburn said we're not on one school of thought of our strategy from here on in. in the end, the president saw clearly who is to blame. >> to their credit, many democrats in congress were willing to put politics aside and commit to reasonable adjustments that would have reduced the cost of medicare as long as they were part of a balanced approach. but despite the broad agreement that exists for such an approach, there's still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to this the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of washington. >> ok. fella that the president of the united states tried to come up with a grand bargain with was john boehner. he, too, was disappointed. he fired back in an op ed today. he said the republicans made a series of good faith offers that included tax reforms that would lead to new revenue and more economic growth.

the g.o.p. proposals would get rid of special interest tax breaks and loopholes and replace the current tax code. not everyone in our party was happy. we offered this reform but republicans put forth good faith offers that would address democrats' demands for more revenues. jeb henserling writes in "the wall street journal" today, that's what it came down to. the democrats were absolutely inflexible. they had to have $1 trillion in taxes. >> and pat toomey was the guy who actually put forward. he was on the super committee. he's the one who put forward that revised tax plan. that, as boehner says, a lot of republicans were not on board with that. he was at least trying to look for a compromise. he's going to be coming up on our show, by the way, this is what he said about the whole thing. >> i'm terribly disappointed. i really am. this was a huge opportunity for us to do something really meaningful, something that would lead to strong economic growth and job creation and begin to put our federal government on a sustainable fiscal path that we're not on now.

>> when pat toomey makes a suggestion or there's another suggestion coming from the democrat, why don't people just say, ok, pat toomey, i like three pages of this. i don't like the last three pages of this. why don't they negotiate? but instead, they would just say no, we reject it, take this. no, we reject it, take this. when they don't meet face to face, it's november 3rd and a bunch of guys wildcatting on television making proposals that were never written down. it's a joke. >> the super committee have in their mind as we have said about the president that it's all about re-election. is that why they didn't come to any of these decisions? i always said from the beginning, you should not put anybody on the super committee who is running for re-election. >> senator kyle is retiring. >> he's -- who else? >> the thing is he was looked at as the major obstacle according to the democrats as the father in the room that wanted to make sure the kids understand what's at stake. >> meanwhile, some have suggested on the republican side, don't worry about it. you know, we came up with this rule. we can change it. these cuts don't go into effect starting until, rather, january

of 2013 after the elections. john mccain said we'll do something about it, took a shot at the republicans trying to overturn it. >> i'll veto any effort to get rid of the automatic cuts, domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure. the only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduces the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> you see, i find it fascinating that even with those trigger effects in place, the super committee did not come together. i mean, they specifically chose those types of things as an incentive to get em to do something. because they knew that the democrats would not want to take cuts to domestic programs and they knew the republicans for

the most part would not want to take cuts to the military. and they still -- what more do we have to dangle in front of them to get the job done? now, this is what we ended up with. >> the two sides diametrically opposed. >> talk about leadership, mayor bloomberg who is usually a big supporter, not yesterday. he called this whole thing political cowardice and said obama is a chief executive and he's got to call people together and get the job done. someone else who feels as though president obama was way off key on this, mitt romney. >> i don't think president obama understands what's unique about america, what's exceptional about america. i don't think he understands that it's free people and free enterprises that make america the economic powerhouse it is. i think he thinks that government bureaucrats, well intentioned, somehow can do a better job guiding our economy and our lives than free people. and he's wrong! >> ultimately, at the end of the day, the president of the united states should have been the leader on this particular thing. he was not. he was missing in action.

some have felt that there can be no real change in washington, d.c. without presidential leadership, that he is diametrically opposed to any sort of entitlement reform or doing -- >> i'll tell you -- >> the deficit as well. he wants class warfare! it's what he wants. >> that's what it turns into. the grand bargain that he was willing, apparently, according to insiders, he was willing to adjust. >> never said it in public. >> he didn't, right. he didn't. >> who knows if it's real. >> who knows? >> all right. let's take a look at the headlines. on>> beginning fox news alert right now, this is out of cairo, three american students reportedly arrested by the egyptian government. egyptian state tv says the three men are being held for throwing molotov cocktails at security forces in the square. they're believed to be students at the american university in cairo. well, now, let's take a live look at the square in cairo. where clashes between protesters and the government are getting

worst now. the death toll up to 29. this as egypt civilian cabinet submitted a joint resignation to the ruling military council greeted with cheers in the square but still may not be enough to satisfy angry protesters who say they won't believe until power is in civilians' hands. qaddafi's former heir in captivity in libya. he was captured by rebel fighters on saturday more than a month after his father was killed. the capture setting off celebrations across the newly free country and closing the door on the possibility that the fugitive son would return for revenge. the hole is getting deeper now for m.f. global. that was the firm that was run by former democratic governor of new jersey jon corzine. the court-appointed trustee overseeing the firm's liquidation says $1.2 billion may be missing. previous estimates were $600 million. the justice department investigating how this could have happened.

m.f. global is already under suspicion of using customers' cash for its own purposes. broadway's next big star? rocky balboa? >> ♪ by people ♪ take it back >> sylvester stallone launching "rocky the musical" in germany next year with plans to bring it to the united states. sure, there will be plenty of boxing themes but the show will focus on the romance between rocky and adrian. the song "eye of the tiger" definitely included. >> yeah, that's it. lay off the boxing. that will sell. all right. 10 minutes after the hour. professor at suffolk university claims our troops are nothing but cold hearted killers and now one of his brave colleagues serving overseas gets to fire back. >> and the super committee failed and president obama says it's partly her fault. he blames michelle bachmann and

her fellow republicans in congress. she responds after the break. congresswoman, come on over. you're next on "fox & friends." [ male announcer ] what if you have potatoes? but you've got a meat and potatoes guy? pour chunky sirloin burger soup over those mashed potatoes and dinner is served. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky -- it's amazing what soup can do.

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>> vice president. >> obama. >> finished. >> whoa! >> perry. >> not one word. i got to do three. >> governor. texas. can't remember the third one.

>> you were put on the spot for that, i guess and here she is, congresswoman and presidential candidate michelle bachmann. you didn't know beforehand that you were -- >> it's all good fun. it's all good fun. no. no. >> good answers. >> thank you. thank you. it was fun. >> that brings it back you to that moment, everyone asked governor perry what it was like being him during that moment. what was it like being you? you don't dislike these people. >> no, these are nice, great people. >> what were you thinking? were you one of the people yelling out answer? >> no. that wasn't me. i think -- we felt really bad. we really felt bad for him, you know, because it could be any one of us that would blank. >> it happens. >> it happens. >> i have to say my minister brought it up during the sermon today, not today sunday and said that he loved your compassion that you had for rick perry on the stage and that it could happen to anybody. >> it could happen to anyone. >> it could indeed. let's talk a little bit about the super committee. they announced yesterday, we can't deal with this thing, we're going to kick the can down the road. >> like we didn't see this coming?

i mean? >> the president yesterday was blaming you and your party. inflexible. >> isn't that interesting. he was awol when it came to the debt ceiling fight last summer. awol regarding the super committee and he blames the people in the middle of the process. typical. this is what's going gone on for 2 1/2 years. it's lack of leadership. >> i thought with six people's names -- there's 12 people now whose careers are going to be affected and looked at as failures for what they did, what they didn't get accomplished for the country. that's why i was optimistic something would happen. it wasn't about president obama or speaker boehner. it was about them as much as the country. >> well, it is. i mean, it's a failure for all of us because the problem needed to be solved but really, it should have been solved last summer because what i was saying is we had enough money coming in to pay the interest on the debt. there's 535 members. what we needed to do was prioritize spending because we look at greece and it's obvious to all of us what has to be done. they got to cut back on spending. the welfare state isn't working.

pick up a mirror and look into it. that's the united states. we're spending too much money, too, we can't afford a welfare state. and so don't do it anymore. >> it's a fundamental difference in philosophy between the two parties right now. >> no kidding. >> and when you see this type of failure, you have to scratch your head and wonder whether or not bipartisanship is dead. will it be we'll only accomplish things in this country if one party is in charge of congress and the presidency? >> well, that -- i think you made a very good point, gretchen, because it would be terrible if we got to that point because it shouldn't be about political parties. it should be about the people. and right now, it isn't. it's about one upsmanship with parties. that's ridiculous. things are so bad right now that last month, you probably reported on fox that we were $200, $300 billion in debt for the month of october. one month. that means for every man, woman, child and the united states, it was $650 per person that we took on in debt. a family of four, that's $2300 more that we owe in debt.

so we can't even earn money as fast as they are spending it. it's the velocity of debt right now. >> i'm sure one of the things that will come up tonight among other things, the debate down at constitution hall in washington. for a while, you were at the top of the polls in the republican race. after the iowa -- >> and we will be again! >> some have suggested, look, romney is at the top and now it's gingrich. it's been contaain as well. maybe the others should drop out. >> take a good look. that's what people said last summer when i won the iowa straw poll, people said it couldn't happen. no woman had ever won. i won. i was the first woman to win and the first person to win in the shortest amount of time. but we've already identified more supporters for the caucus in iowa, that's comparable to a primary. we've identified more supporters than mike huckabee had when he won. so we're doing very well so, you know, watch out. january 3rd is coming.

and we're planning to do very well. >> despite your business, your job as a congresswoman and running for president, you managed to write a book. the new memoir called "core of conviction." what are we going to learn in this book that we didn't know already? >> well, it's a 3d look at who michelle bachmann is unfiltered and i think what you'll find -- >> do we need glasses? >> that's right. well, i came from a middle-class family but a lot of people don't know, we went to below poverty overnight. we lost pretty much everything we had in our home. i watched my mother put all of her wedding gifts and pretty things out on card tables in the driveway. and so she said to us, we're going to make it. we're going to hold on to our faith in god as a family and we're going to make it. and so when i was a 12-year-old, i had to get a job babysitting and i paid for my own glasses. my own clothes. my lunch at school. we didn't have anything. >> speak of babysitting. >> taught me good life lessons. >> one of the families you babysat was my family. >> that's right. one of the best families ever. >> thank you very much. but one of the small world

coincidences. >> there you are. with michelle in the pool. >> i think i was 15 and you were maybe 6? >> i was about 6, 5 or 6 and what i loved about michelle bachmann back then was her long hair. >> it went all the way down. >> my cher period. that's true. >> longest hair. >> and she always made great soda. >> i was a very good babysitter. >> good luck tonight with the debate and the brand new book is called "core of conviction my story." good luck to you. >> thank you. >> straight ahead, the nypd busted this guy making bombs. they say he wanted to kill his fellow americans but to the feds, that's not news. they knew about him and didn't do a thing. >> and it's the whiskey rebellion all over again. a new tax on one of america's favorite drinks. not going over too well. hit the road, jack! when gas prices jump...

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>> over the weekend, a potential terror bomb plot thwarted right here in new york city. the new york police department says jose pimentel wanted to blow up police stations, post offices and was just hours away from carrying out his deadly plot before he was arrested. despite pictures of him even building a bomb in his apartment, in an apartment, that is to say, the police department says they sought out the f.b.i.'s involvement but the f.b.i. never considered him a threat. look at that picture. f.b.i. doesn't think that's a threat. to try to figure it out, we called in fox news legal analyst

peter johnson jr. >> good morning. today it looks like the nypd had the prescription for justice. apparently, according to one report, the f.b.i. had an opportunity twice to get involved with this case based on the intelligence from the nypd and they decided not to. that somehow this lone wolf suspect didn't have the capacity mentally or physically in order to get the job done. and so what the allegation is now is that he was building three bombs, that he was an hour away from making one bomb operational. this man from washington heights, born in the dominican republic who had come to the attention of the nypd based on earlier reports from the albany, new york, police department that he had intended to travel to yemen for terrorist training. that never came true. but that put him under the microscope for the nypd for a long time. >> sure. so the nypd tells the f.b.i. we got this guy. we think he's going to do something stupid and twice, they said we're not interested

because he doesn't seem smart enough to pull it off. peter, it doesn't take a real smart guy to try to pull something like this off. >> there's two issues. there's not an intelligence test for terrorists. and a lone wolf is a wolf. a bomb is a bomb. whether it's branded by al-qaida or al-awlaki who this man was a follower of and according to commissioner kelly, became even more -- even more radicalized on news of his drone strike death in september of this year. this is a great, great lesson for us. unfortunately, to some extent, there's a patchwork quilt of protection here in the united states. here in new york, we understand there have been 14 terrorist plots foiled since 9/11. so the question in my mind is if there's a city that doesn't have the same capacity or assets or intelligence as new york, 1,000 people working on terrorism or more full time. and the ball is pushed to that

city, will they have the capacity to foil a plot in the same way and with the same resources that the nypd -- we have to be really, really vigilant of what's going on forward in this country and if these allegations are true, then the enormity of this would have been tremendous. he planned to blow up a bayonne, new jersey, police station. target returning soldiers. >> thankfully the new york police department was there. you got to figure the f.b.i. would want a do over. >> hopefully they'll get their act together next time. >> thank you very much. >> good to see you. >> good report. what do you think? e-mail us. this professor told students to stop supporting our troops because they kill people. now one of his brave colleagues serving overseas is doing something unbelievable. wait until you hear that. a dog dangerously in love with a pig. this is a story you have to see to believe.

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>> time for your shot of the morning. this is what happens when you leave -- oh, my goodness! 1-year-old and 3-year-old boys home alone with a five pound bag of flour. >> you got to be kidding me. >> the two brothers in michigan

got a hold of it when their mom ran to the bathroom after getting home from the grocery store. so she hadn't unpacked the bags yet. so the brother thought they'd give her a hand. however, mom thought it was pretty cool the whole thing that ended up happening there. >> if they got a hose, they could make a lovely gravy sheen. >> oh, my gosh! look at that. look at that mess! where do you start? >> i guess you can tape it. i can't believe she's videotaping this. >> the mother seems to be in good humor considering. >> oh, my goodness. i hope she's not hosting thanksgiving dinner. >> not going to be any pumpkin pies. >> look at that. >> lots of trouble. trust me. 28 minutes now before the top of the hour. let's take a look at your headlines. police in texas searching for a pilot who abandoned his plane with a huge stash of pot on board. police were called to the houston executive airport after

the plane skidded off the runway. they saw someone running from the plane. it's registered to an owner in texas. no reports of it being stolen. >> the former head of aig thinks he got a raw deal and wants the government to pay up. he's suing the treasury department for $25 billion? because he claims aig was forced to accept an $85 billion bailout it didn't need from the government during the 2008 financial crisis. he also accuses the fed of taking from him and other aig shareholders in order to bail out foreign banks. >> good luck with that. meanwhile, it's the whiskey rebellion. jack daniels was about to be hit with $5 million per year in additional taxes on barrels of its whiskey but the proposal was shot down before it even reached the tennessee state legislature. the money would have gone to the town of lynchburg where the distillery has been operating for 145 proud years. jack daniels says -- say you're sorry, brian.

jack daniels says it pays enough taxes and the locals, many who apparently work there agree. >> it puts it on everything. they have a whole page of jack daniels stuff. it's the classic story about a talking pig that wants to be a sheep dog. >> oh, yeah! >> this is ridiculous, mom. >> it's only your first time. >> well, meet babe's biggest fan. that's the 11-year-old border collie from ohio. love to bark. ever since he was a puppy, it was all he wanted to watch. >> my idea to bring a tv in and a vcr and try to keep them -- one day i put it in, he made it quite clear that's what he wanted to see. every time it would go through the movie, he'd hit the tv and he'd bark and so i'd put it back in. >> so cute! anita has gone through seven

tv's. that's how cute that dog is. 10 vcrs and 26 babe tapes. >> no way! from time to time, we have gotten some e-mailed pictures of various viewers' dogs and cats. watching it is "fox & friends" program. if you are one of those families that has an animal that watches our program, particularly if you got a nielsen rating box, e-mail us. >> by the way, twitter, you can twitter us individually if you want and send us pictures and share it. s. doocy and kilmeade. >> meanwhile, s. doocy is going to do the weather and take a look. we have a lot of rain moving, as you can see, from the ohio valley down through the gulf coast at this hour. it's a soaker. some predominantly heavy weather moving through the great state of indiana into ohio at this hour. much of dixieland is dry, though, a few showers through portions of florida at this hour and some rain moving in the pacific northwest. current temperatures, as you step out, right there, as you see them right now, it's only 11 in caribou, maine and it's 73 in tampa. temperaturewise, i'd rather be

in tampa. >> remember, a few weeks ago, when that professor, the law professor at suffolk university wrote that e-mail out to everyone at the university basically calling our american troops serving overseas killers. and said that he believed that we should not be doing care packages for them or fellow students should not be doing -- >> they were at that university, trying to gather the students to get together care packages and mail it to the troops overseas and the professor says this. he said i think it's shameful that it's perceived legitimate to solicit in an academic institution for support of men and women who have gone overseas to kill other human beings. >> there you have michael avery, the professor there at suffolk who said it was shameful as well that they have these care packages that the drive is going on over there. as it turns out, a suffolk university professor actually serving in afghanistan right now, his name is u.s. army reserve major robert ruffage. listen to this.

>> we have many veterans that have gone through that school and they deserve better than this, than the person teaching them basically looks down his nose at them. treat them as lesser human beings. >> what did he do? guess what? he has resigned from being a teacher at suffolk. he taught a very popular class for eight years called "terrorism and law." but now he says you know what? i don't want to be aligned with a university that allows that professor to have that kind of reaction. >> yeah. the suffolk law school say they support the professor who sent out the shameful comment because he's got free speech rights but at the same time, they say that they have a proud history supporting the military and the fun drive has gone by. >> here's singer/songwriter matthew west who supports our troops. i know that you have sung a lot of songs about the troops and you've written some. what do you say about this particular story? >> well, i'll tell you what, i mean, to think of all the men

and women who are fighting to protect that freedom and freedom of speech, to me, that's heartbreaking, you know. i received a story from a soldier who sent me a letter that he wrote to his wife and he was counting the days until he was going to be home and i remember i wrote a song for that soldier's family called "when love comes home" and i just think about not only the soldiers who are protecting our freedom but their families and those words, man, can be so damaging and people just don't think through their words. >> i know it. speaking of songs, you wrote another song, i guess about a year ago, wasn't it? involving a little boy who got some very bad news. >> you know, as a songwriter, i'm a storyteller at heart and i believe there's a story that lies within all of us and about a year and a half ago, i asked people through facebook and twitter, hey, send me the story of your life. i received over 10,000 stories in response. spent two months in a cabin in tennessee reading everyone of those 10,000 stories. one of those stories was the story of a little boy named

zaches lock diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. received his care at st. jude's children's research hospital. after 18 months of aggressive treatment, there was nothing more they could do so the doctors sent this family home to simply cherish their last moments with their son. what happened after that was an incredible thing. the family decided that even though it wasn't christmastime, they were going to set up their christmas lights early. >> it was october, wasn't it? >> october. so they said you know what? this is his favorite season, we'll put these lights up. the neighborhood caught on to what was going on. they put their lights up in a show of support. the whole town caught on and this story just -- >> they wanted that little boy to have christmas. >> so he could have one last christmas and it touched my heart. i wrote a song called "one last christmas" as a tribute and hopefully a fitting legacy for this family. >> here's a clip from "heart of christmas." >> loves christmas so decorating early here, going to take him to the aquarium today. going to come home and have him surprised, whole house lit up.

you need any help? >> yeah. actually. how are you with knots? >> hey. >> hey. >> so you know how you've been looking for a way everyone could show support to the locks without getting in their way all the time? >> yeah. i think i found it. >> this movie is premiering. it's going to be on december 4th on gmc. >> i'm sure there's going to be some oscar buzz. >> you're going to be performing the song in the after the show show and so far, you've raised half a million dollars for st. jude. you want to raise what? >> this mother who lost her son is on a mission to make sure more children can receive the same care that her child got. she wants to raise $1.6 million which is how much it costs to run the entire hospital for one

day. she wants to do that in honor of her son and we're on a mission to help her. >> we'll link your information to fox and friends.com and you can see him perform a little later in our after the show show. thank you very much. the top five companies hiring for the holidays and even better news, a lot of the jobs are permanent. >> great. then he cracked down on unions. now he's coming back for revenge. scott walker joins us live to the possibility of a recall election against him. >> first, the trivia question of the day. born on this day in 1943, she was the first female athlete to be named "sports illustrated's" sportsman of the year. who is she? be the first to e-mail us. friends at foxnews.com with the correct answer. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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>> all right. we have quick headlines for you on this tuesday morning. three astronauts back on earth after spending 165 days on the international space station. the russian capsule landed in kazakhstan this morning where the astronauts took some time to get readjusted to earth's conditions. that's why they're in those snuggies. three more astronauts head to the international space station next month and don't adjust your sets yet. that's a park ranger car being chased by cops at 100 miles an hour in l.a. it started when rangers botched the arrest of a couple in a stolen vehicle. the man escaped before being handcuffed and took off in their suv. a ranger shot him in the stomach as he drove away. he called 911 while in the car and then pulled over and surrendered to the police who took him to the hospital. all right, brian, over to you. >> we'll have a chance to talk to governor walker. i would argue that he's going to be one of the difference makers when you look back at this past

year about politicians that have caused people to take notice. >> because he was instrumental, of course, in taking on the public unions in state of wisconsin. >> but not the cops and firefighters. >> no, that was different from what happened in ohio. that was overturned in ohio in a recent vote and now the governor of wisconsin, scott walker, some people in that state want to overturn him, brian, and throw him out of office. >> even though his approval rating is going up, up at around 42% right now, we understand the recall for most likely will be successful. they'll have enough signatures over 500,000, i think, by the middle of january. at that time, he's going to have to go run and remember arnold schwarzenegger, that's how he became the governor from california. but the recall effort doesn't surprise governor walker. he feels as though people's lives are getting better in wisconsin and the economy is looking solvent. >> one thing i hope you ask him is how many jobs have been created in that state. >> right. and so on that note, let's talk to him. 14 minutes before the top of the hour, he took on the unions as we mentioned and overturned collective bargaining and helping to fix the state's

budget and because of all of that, the opponents of wisconsin governor scott walker, the unions are trying to force a recall election. governor walker, welcome! >> good morning. good to be with you. >> governor walker, you're already in motion to protect your -- protect your position. how disappointing is it that you got to worry about a recall and not just worry about the state's business? >> well, you know, in our case, i've said since january 3rd, every day, every week, every month i'm in office i'll focus on helping the people, the private sector of my state create more jobs and even with the recall effort, my focus doesn't change but adds a little more to the nuance of it. it's unfortunate that a quarter of all the people that voted in the last election can force the majority of people that made a decision. they elected me last november and said we want you to balance the budget. we've met all those promises and property tax bills come out in a couple of weeks and they'll go down and we put more of our resources into our classrooms and protected medicaid for our seniors and for people who are in need. we did all those things and yet

you have a core group who are pushing a recall largely, let's be clear about it, largely these national unions who are funding it because they don't like the fact that i gave public employees the right to choose whether or not they want to be a part of a union. that's really what this all boils down to. but we're going to persevere and move forward. >> your approval rating is going up, still at 42%. you want it higher. disapproval at 56%. for the most part, you think your strongest argument is the results. and that is wisconsinites have $228 million of property tax money that would have been to the state is still in their pocket. >> well, and i think -- you take it a step further and say let's look at the difference. we're moving forward. we're freezing property taxes. we lowered the overall tax burden. we've helped create more jobs in the private sector since the beginning of the year after losing about 150,000 jobs over the last several years. contrast that to our neighbors to the south in illinois that took the path that many recall proponents would like, they raised taxes on businesses by 46% and raised taxes on individuals by 2/3.

they have a massive budget deficit and talking about laying off thousands of public employees and had to shut down numerous state facilities. that's the path backwards. we don't want to do it that way. and hopefully lead us out of the national recession. >> i just also think the fact that governor cuomo does something similar in new york but he's a democrat, you're a republican and they don't want to deal. they want to fight. despite the fact that 49% of those who live in wisconsin oppose a recall, 47% support it and it looks like if they get 540,000 signatures by the middle of january , they'll succeed. >> one a day on average in the next 60 days, they'll get more than enough to do that. in the end, the election will be about the future. do we want to go forward? we've got a plan and a positive outlook to bring the state forward, to continue our job growth and to put more people to work in the state or do we want to go backwards like they're

doing in illinois and other states? you're right, you point out governor cuomo. governor duvall patrick in massachusetts actually signed something very similar, collective bargaining reform for health insurance for local officials. those are things that people -- even rahm emanuel of chicago is doing the same things. honest leaders are knowing you cannot move forward unless you're going to gut services or raise taxes but we took the path that was right for the people of wisconsin. >> got it. and governor walker, always enjoy talking to you. it's not an easy thing you did but no one can question your leadership. thank you very much for joining us today. >> happy thanksgiving. >> same to you, sir. next, the top five companies hiring for the holidays much let's give them a great thanksgiving. some of the jobs are for keeps as well. cheryl casone will be out here. and in 1964 "the leader of the pack" was the number one song. [ male announcer ] what if you have potatoes?

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>> answer to the question of the day, billie jean king. the winner is from north carolina. congratulations. the holiday season is almost here but if you're in need of a job, guess what? it's not too late. companies are still looking to hire. that's good news. cheryl casone from the fox business network is here with the top five companies and let's kick it off with target. >> target! you know this company, they are going to be trying to hire 90,000 to 100,000 people for the entire holiday season. the ceo came on fox business and said they're hoping to keep a third of those employees and this is sales associates, customer service reps. but again, decent benefits. not a bad 401k if you can get the full-time work at target. >> let's move on to pizza.

dominoes. >> one of the top nights of the year is the day before thanksgiving. super bowl is the biggest night for dominos. this used to be dominick, a little useless trivia in 1963 and now it's domino's pizza and 8,000 jobs out there. mostly delivery drivers right now. >> food is on the top of our mind for the holiday season. we move on to honey baked ham. >> exactly. surprisingly, this is one of the biggest seasons, not surprisingly, of course, honey baked happens, they have 4100 employees they're looking to hire just in georgia in that particular division. 6300 overall for the entire season. again, you would hope that you could get full time with honey baked happens. but you can -- you can try certainly. a lot of these companies, all five companies i've brought you today for the holiday jobs would like to keep people full time. that's the goal. it depends on how the season goes. >> ok, tjx companies, t.j. maxx, homegoods, etc. >> this is a company that prides themselves on being, they call

themselves off price. we have top brands off price. a lot of the clothing that they sell is in the stores right now. say kenneth cole made too many pairs of shoes, that's what you can get there. they expect to be very, very busy. tough economy. they expect a busy time and they're looking for just depends on different regions for sales jobs. >> i have to get in limited brands, too, which is victoria's secret, bath & body works, etc. >> they're looking to hire 55,000 employees for the holiday season. this is victia's secret, this is bath & body works. they've got henry vendel, believe it or not. all of these are holiday jobs and there are still some out there. a lot of people think the holiday jobs have been filled. they have not been. >> great news. and i tweeted those five companies as well and we'll have them on our web site. cheryl, happy thanksgiving. >> you, too. >> coming up on the show, from marriage to birth control, is the president snubing the catholic community by supporting

laws that go against their beliefs? well, we can report and you can decide. then senator john kerry came on "fox & friends" yesterday with an offer for senator pat toomey to end the super committee stand-off. today senator toomey here to respond. what really happened behind closed doors? looking good! you lost some weight. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.

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>> gretchen: top of the morning to you. it's tuesday, before thanksgiving, it's november 22. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for sharing your time with us today. the super committee couldn't cut it. the potential for a deal now dead. senator kerry has a last ditch offer for senator toomey, the republican from pennsylvania. here to respond, was it a real offer? >> steve: meanwhile, from marriage to birth control, is the president snubbing the catholic community by supporting laws that go against catholics' belief? a catholic beneficiary with a closer look at the policies straight ahead. >> brian: they already blew through a half billion dollars of your tax dollars. now 1100 solyndra employees might get another bailout funded by you, the taxpayer.

unbelievable. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> it's "fox & friends." >> gretchen: it's tuesday before thanksgiving. if you're heading off for the holidays, we hope you have a very safe trip. >> steve: over the river. >> gretchen: and through the woods to grandma's house we go. after months of negotiations, the super committee throwing in the towel. they're not going anywhere and admitting defeat. the bipartisan group of lawmakers failed to reach a deal to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> steve: joining us now is super committee member and pennsylvania senator pat toomey. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. >> steve: i know a lot of people said, oh, the super committee was a super failure. but i've been looking at the e-mail in the last 15 minutes. i see there are a lot of people who actually support members of the republican party who did not cave because the democrats were insistent on $1 trillion worth of tax hikes.

>> $1 trillion in tax hikes is right and would have been devastating for our economy. what is the point of doing something in the committee that's going to make our committee even worse? the other thing, let's be candid here, the problem is a spending problem in washington, with the very same tax rates we have today as recently as 2007, we had an almost balanced budget. but then president obama was elected. democrats had complete control of the government and they we want on a spending binge like we've never seen before. we were trying to get that spending under control, but the democrats were insistent h to have a trillion dollars tax increase. >> steve: senator, you supplied a plan that dick durbin briefly said was a breakthrough. where did the wheels come off? was he then muzzled? >> i think there was some initial interest in the plan that i offered which was to say if you absolutely have to come up with revenue, the way to do it is by reforming our tax code, simplify it, lower marginal rates, get rid of some of the loopholes and specifically

explicitly avoid the big tax increase that's coming in 14 months. for that you shouldn't have to pay a price, but if we did, we'd be willing to. and the democrats just said no, not if it's not a trillion dollars. >> gretchen: so yesterday on the show senator john kerry was here and this is before you decided that this thing would end in defeat. right here on this show, he offered a new deal to you. listen to this. >> we will take senator toomey's $350 billion. we will accept that amount of money. we will do it slightly differently, but through deductions. we'll accept his methodology of deductions, and then we will do a combination of cuts in the other sectors that will put together $1.2 trillion, providing they stop insisting on the continuation of the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. >> gretchen: was that a real proposal? did you hear that and then did you guys go behind closed doors and say, this might be another

breakthrough? >> i'm afraid not. i spent a lot of time with senator kerry over the last several months and i think he made a good faith effort to try to find a way to reach some common ground. but what you just heard him say was he'll take a $350 billion tax increase now and insist on an additional $800 billion tax increase in 14 months. that adds up to a little over $1.1 trillion by my math and by the way, to this day, they have never given us their proposal for the kind of structural reforms that we need to bring the entitlement programs under control. so we unfortunately were just never very close. >> steve: what about the president of the united states? he was miss -- after trying to get that grand deal with john boehner a couple months ago, he's been missing in action. in washington, d.c. these days, if you want to get something done, you've got to have the president of the united states involved and he obviously not serious about deficit reduction nor entitlement reform. >> not only that, the president actively made our job more difficult. he issued veto threats.

he said any touch in obamacare had to be off the table despite the fact that over time that's a multi trillion dollars extraordinary waste of money, very ill conceived program. he came in and said we ought to, in addition to all the -- everything else we were working on, we ought to find a way to pay for his latest $500 billion stimulus spending bill. the president was not helpful. >> brian: where do you go from here? the president says i'm going to keep the pressure on and leave the levers in place that will destroy the defense department and take out money from social programs. what's next? >> well, what's next is i think we certainly need to have the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts that are in existing law, but they need to be done in a much smarter fashion. they're way too heavily weighted towards defense. leon panetta, the president's own democratic secretary of defense, has said this those cuts would hollow out our defense. that's not acceptable. so i think you'll see over coming months we're going to offer proposals that would be alternatives to these cuts.

>> gretchen: how are you going to do that, because the president went on record yesterday saying he was going to veto that. are you saying if he's not reelected, that a republican president would then do something differently? >> well, certainly i believe that's true. i think a republican president would not hollow out our defense and would use some of the very readily available opportunities to save money in other areas that the democrats rejected on the committee, but that we would propose. even before that, i think a lot of democratic members of congress are going to say, wait a minute. should we really be jeopardizing our national security when instead, for instance, we could reduce ag subsidies? i think that's going to be the kind of trade-off we're going to present and it will be pretty clear we can shift some of this. >> steve: pat toomey joining us from downtown philly. thank you very much for joining us on this busy news day. >> thanks for ginning us. >> brian: in 35 minutes from now, john mccain will talk about what the impact will be on the defense department, what he plans on doing about it.

>> gretchen: the rest of your headlines for tuesday. fox news alert. let's go to cairo, egypt. these three students arrested by the government. three men being held for throwing molatov cocktails at security forces in tahrir square. they're believed to be students at the american university in cairo. this is tahrir square where clashes between protesters and the government are getting worse. the death toll now up to 29. this is egypt's civilian cabinet submitted a joint resignation to the ruling military council. it was greeted with cheers in the square, but still may not be enough to satisfy angry protesters who say they won't leave until power comes to civilians. the mother of suspected al-qaeda wannabe, jose pimentel says her son changed after he converted to islam. >> he was a nice guy. he just changed. i don't know why he changed.

>> gretchen: he's accused of planning to blow up police cars and american troops returning from war. he was on the f.b.i.'s radar for two years, but the agency turned down the case twice because no one believed he could pull off an attack by himself, but when the nypd arrested him, he was allegedly drilling the final holes into pipes with the help of a jihaddist bomb making blueprint. the white house going country last night. president obama inviting some of nashville's biggest stars to celebrate the history of country music. ♪ got a way to go ♪ ♪ ♪ >> gretchen: dierks bentley opened with his single "home," he dedicated it to members of the military. >> i hopped on planes to big cities. i've ridden buses through small towns. and along the way i've gained an

appreciation for just how much country music means to so many americans. >> gretchen: also in attendance, lauren alaina. she sang "coal miner's daughter." and those are your headlines today. >> steve: all right. we have told you over the last month or so about the scandal that is solyndra. we're on the hook for close to half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees. now as it turns out -- >> brian: oops. >> steve: thank you. as it turns out, because those people were working for solyndra and because solyndra made the case, look, the chinese were making much cheaper solar panels than us, because of that, they're now available for assistance from uncle sam. >> gretchen: so that means for those 1100 employees laid off when the company filed for bankruptcy a couple months ago, they will receive $13,000 of your taxpayer dollars each, which comes to the full equation of 14.3 additional million dollars in taxpayer money. >> brian: we have to pay to retrain them. >> steve: right. >> brian: to do something else.

>> steve: exactly right. >> gretchen: it would be one thing if they weren't receiving unemployment benefits, but they are receiving unemployment benefits and this will be on top of that. >> brian: incredible. >> steve: sweet deal. >> brian: find out who has to mow their lawn. one of us. straight ahead, it's hardly a secret, from marriage to birth control, most of the president's policy go against catholic beliefs. is he snubbing the religious community? we have a catholic bishop here to weigh in. >> steve: mitt romney is saying who he would consider for vice president. one is a woman. ♪ i got nothing ♪ ♪ no magic words so humpty dumpty had a...

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>> steve: in president obama's first year in office, he eased the concerns of catholics and pro-lifers when he said he would

respect their rights and beliefs. >> the conscience of those who disagree with abortion and draft a sensible conscience clause. >> steve: with the series of new laws that go against their values, some catholics claim the president and his administration are not only stomping on their religious rights, but that they are being anti-catholic. joining us now is bishop william laurie, the chairman of the u.s. conference of catholic bishops and joins us today from stanford. good morning to you. >> good morning, nice to be with you. >> steve: michael gearson, who used to be a speech retire writer in the bush administration and also an op ed guy at the "washington post," he had a recent op ed on is the obama administration at war with catholics. and when you look at their record, some would say it looks like they are. what do you say? >> what i would say is that we certainly are experiencing right now some immediate and palpable threats to religious freedom,

sort of in the context of an overall long standing erosion of religious liberties. so we do have some problems. we are in dialogue with the administration, but the problems are very real. >> steve: sure. when you look at the department of health and human services with health care reform bill and where there is some suggestion that, for instance, the catholic hospital would have to provide contraception or perhaps perform an abortion, that flies in the face of what catholics are taught to believe. >> catholic hospitals, catholic charities, our schools provide first rate services and i believe it's the duty of government broadly to accommodate our religious beliefs and convictions and allow us to perform those services according to our light, even when we are engaged in a government contract because our

catholic institutions provide excellent services, bring a lot to the table and we should not be at a disadvantage in competing for contracts or providing services just because we have religious convictions, convictions that are also based in reason. >> steve: sure. but when you look at contraception and when you look at abortion, sir, it does appear just on those two things alone, that there would be an attack on catholic beliefs. >> certainly they are not being accommodated. i think about migration and refugee services that provide excellent services to victims of modern day slavery, human trafficking. there was not really a good reason to deny that contract in this coming year. the same is true for catholic relief services. there is no reason to force -- in fact, it is illegal in my

view, to impose this condition upon them, thinking about the religious freedom act. >> steve: absolutely. i want so ask you for your reaction on something that the former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, said yesterday in the pages of the "washington post." she said, i am a devout catholic and i honor my faith and love it. but they have this conscience thing. what do you think she's talking about there with catholics and their conscience thing? >> it's not catholics and their conscience thing. it's the bill of rights. religious liberty is the first of our freedom and the source of all the others. i think that there are comments being made in public by lawmakers and others that really underline the reason why we have this ad hoc committee on religious freedom and why we have to, as a country, unite in

defending our religious freedoms. >> steve: we thank you for getting up early in stanford, connecticut. >> i'm you will all the time and it's a pleasure. >> steve: i bet you are. bishop william lori, thank you. >> thank you. >> steve: all right. straight ahead, when george w. bush first went to washington, he made education a top priority. now another bush has taken the reins. his nephew, george p. bush will join us next. then scientists have debunked the six degrees of separation, turns out you actually know a lot more people than you think. what's your connection to that guy talking on the phone? details straight ahead.

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the pioneers. the aviators. building superhighways in an unknown sky. their safety systems built of brain and heart, transforming strange names from tall tales into pictures on postcards home. and the ones who followed them, who skimmed the edge of space, the edge of heaven, the edge of dreams. and we follow them up there to live by an unbreakable promise, stitched into every uniform of every captain who takes their command: to fly. to serve.

>> steve: quick headlines. new video just in giving us our first look at moammar gadhafi's former heir, saif al-islam in captivity in libya. he was captured on saturday by rebel fighters more than a month after his father was killed. just a day after he was endorsed by new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, mitt romney named the rising republican star as a possible vice presidential candidate. romney says there are about 15 people he is considering as a running mate. interesting. brian? >> brian: steve, i'm sure your name is on the list, but just reject all overtures. students in the u.s. falling behind their global competition. now to counter that, far more parents are choose to go educate their kids at charter schools. >> gretchen: in the last four years, the number of charter

schools in the united states has soared from just over 4,000 to well over 5,000. joining us now is one man leading that push in northern texas. >> brian: george p. bush is the chairman of uplift texas, the son of job bush -- jeb bush. welcome back. >> good to be back. thank you for having me this morning. >> brian: with this project, you're pushing charter schools. what's better about charter schools? >> well, the results speak for themselves. 100% of uplift education's children end up going to college, our acceptance rate in the college system is through the roof, our teachers are passionate. we pull a lot of our teachers from teach for america, and we're far exceeding kind of the average traditional public education offering a here in the state of texas. so really excited to be part of this effort, part of the public charter movement, which is really taking on a grassroots element here in the state.

>> gretchen: right. so 90% of uplift students are minorities and nearly 60% come from low income families. does this have to do with school choice, george? >> it has a lot to do with school choice. typically a lot of these kids, whether they're from socially or economically disadvantaged areas of our state, traditionally have only one choice and these are traditionally failing or underperforming schools that are encapsulated in our tired public education system. so entities like uplift education and others here in the state are trying to change that and provide some kind of optionality for parents that care with about -- about chair children's future but don't have the economic means. >> brian: it's tuition free. you get accepted through a lottery. so who pays for this? how does this sustain itself? >> the schools receive their

funding from the public independent school districts in which we operate. the only difference is that we get to implement our own curriculum, our own tried and true successful methodology in educating kids and getting them to college. >> gretchen: isn't each situation different? isn't the teacher situation different? >> it is different. we don't have to accept -- we get to select passionate teachers that aren't necessarily part of a labor or pay them based on tenure. we pay them based on success in the classroom, which is an essential element, i think, to improving public education, i think what separates uplift from others. >> brian: it's interesting is that your dad is very aggressive and very reform minded when it comes to education. did that spur you into this? >> it had a lot to do with it. it also had a lot to do with my background in public education. i was a former high school teacher before working in my uncle's campaign and going to law school myself and feel

passionate about the issue. i've always felt that kids born in the wrong zip code, unfortunately are left behind in our public education system and when i was approached by the leadership to get involved, i thought this was a great opportunity to highlight this important issue in our inner cities. >> gretchen: thank you for doing that on our show. we saw that in "waiting for superman" and it was heart breaking to see those families wait for that number to come out of the lottery system so that their kid could have a chance and so many of them don't get it. more are getting it in texas thanks to you. george p. bush, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> brian: meanwhile, straight ahead, when we come back, a very special project with two world class athletes. we're talking about scott hamilton, nancy kerrigan, live from brian park in new york city. yes, nancy is taller. >> gretchen: then it's the president's new message, pass the jobs act. and every american will get a bigger paycheck. how did that work? we're live at the white house.

>> first political news, yesterday president obama returned home to the u.s. after a nine-day trip to asia. he got to see some stuff he never sees at home, like jobs. [ child ] it's so cool! you can put a force field on him and be invisible!

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>> gretchen: fox news alert. brand-new predictions for the united states. gross domestic product known as the gdp, the rate of goods and services that the country actually sells, 2.0%. that means we're growing at a modest rate after a tough beginning to 2011. during the first six months of the year, the u.s. gdp was stuck at zero, .9%. while this appears to be good news, the experts say don't start celebrating yet. this isn't enough to lift the unemployment rate and it's likely people are dipping into their savings to spend, not necessarily making more and spending more money. it's better news than recently. >> brian: that's true. but it also helps that japan is getting on-line. we're building there again. >> steve: the white house trying to sell president obama's jobs plan by introduce ago web tool that they say would show what would happen to your pocketbook if the measure passes and if it fails. wendell goler is at the white house with the details on this new gimmick. good morning to you, sir.

>> good morning, it's basically a calculator that accepts the couple's income and applies the payroll tax cut and a 1.1% tax cut contained in the president's jobs bill and compares that figure with letting the payroll tax cut expire in december. for example, you put in $50,000. it shows you there is a $2,500 difference. it's aimed at pressuring congress to pass at least that part of the president's jobs bill. he said he'll try and get the overall bill passed in pieces if that's what it takes. late yesterday after the congressional super committee announced it had failed, mr. obama came out to tell americans there is still all of next year to figure out how to cut the deficit and warn congress he won't let lawmakers avoid the automatic spending cuts they agreed to if they don't come up with more responsible ones? here is a bit of what he had to say. >> my message to them is simple no. i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending.

there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure. >> the president will keep up the pressure today with a visit to manchester, new hampshire, where he will meet with a family and again call on congress to renew the payroll tax cut. that does have to be done this year. meanwhile, republicans say it was democrats who refused to compromise on the super committee. texas republican congressman jeb hensarling writing in an op ed, quote, even their modest changes were made contingent upon a minimum of a trillion dollars in higher taxes, a move sure to stifle job creation. he says even if congress agreed to all the tax hikes the president desired, it wouldn't reduce the national debt. guys, back to you. >> steve: all right, wendell goler, we thank you very much. brian? >> brian: let's go to the headlines on that toss. the taliban reportedly declaring a cease fire in pakistan?

the senior taliban commander says his group is now engaged in peace talks with the pakinstani government. among the taliban's demands, the release of its fighters from prison. in the past, peace agreements between the taliban and pakistan have only given the terrorists time to regroup. let's see if they wise up. >> gretchen: the hole is getting deemer for mf global, the firm that was run by former democratic governor of new jersey, jon corzine. the court appointed trust yeah overseeing the liquidation says $1.2 billion may be missing. previous estimates were 600 million. the justice department is investigating how this could have happened. mf global is already under suspicion of using customer's cash for its own purposes. that's a big no-no. >> steve: meanwhile, a commercial fisherman forced to give up a pricey catch because of government regulations. commercial fisherman and his crew caught this 881-pound bluefin tuna off the coast of massachusetts weeks ago. when they docked, federal agents

confiscated the fish because it was caught with a net instead of a rod and reel. oh, boy. the fish estimated to be port $5,000. he talked to us here on "fox & friends" this morning. >> we figured one of these days we would catch the big one. so we caught the big one and we have to give it to the government. >> steve: great. the government, the national oceanan administration says, quote, the matter is still under investigation. if it's determined that there has been a violation, the money will go into the asset forefiture fund. >> gretchen: the world smaller than you thought. scientists with university of milan and facebook claim six degrees of separation is more like four degrees. they say the average number of acquaintances separating any two people, 4.74. they used numbers to analyze the

networks of facebook, 721 million active users. so that's how they do it. if you're on facebook you're much closer to somebody else. that makes sense. >> steve: meanwhile, let's look and find out who is together under an umbrella. as you can see, widely scattered thunderstorms moving all the way from eastern portions of texas, up through the lower mississippi valley, tennessee valley as well, moving through portions of ohio and mid atlantic on this wet tuesday. meanwhile, the temperatures, as you can see right here in new york city, 46 degrees. 62 in raleigh. 60 to 70 is across much of dixieland. 70s along the gulf coast. look at that. right now 73 in tampa. and right now in rapid city, only 29. later today, we'll crank it up to 73 in raleigh. 78 in atlanta. and if you're in kansas city, missouri, 49. the skating world is no stranger to cancer. so this thanksgiving, the stars will take to the ice and help raise cancer awareness and

taking part in this year's kaleidoscope on ice program, which will air on fox, are figure skaters scott hamilton and nancy kerrigan. they join us from about five blocks from where we're sitting. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. i'd love to be sitting with you. it's a little chilly outside, but not too bad. >> steve: wait a minute. you're a professional ice skater. you shouldn't be whining about it's perfect ice skating weather! >> i'm a retired professional ice skater. it's cold! >> steve: you still have ice in your blood. nancy, tell us about kaleidoscope on ice. >> well, it has an unbelievable cast, jordan sparks, paul wylie and kurt browning, i'm skating in it as well. so much fun to get together and bring the awareness to the show. >> steve: absolutely. speaking of the awareness, as

one of new york's finest drives by, it's kind of hard to hear. scott, this is very personal for you because this is to create awareness about cancer. >> there are over 14 million cancer survivors in the united states alone. it's really -- this show is about celebrating life and really putting a spotlight on survivorship and the fact that cancer is no longer a death sentence. it's actually very treatable and more research is being done and there are miracles happening every single day. so we're there to kind of celebrate survivorship. i'm a cancer survivor. dorothy hamill, my cashoos a cancer survivor. and to really show people that really the best cure for cancer is still early detection. be in touch with what's going on with your health and let's watch an ice show and be thoroughly entertained. >> and we can be inspired and give hope to people like scott who are out there and just showing everybody to fight for

themselves and there is hope. >> steve: absolutely. we thank you very much for joining us. also we'd like to thank city pond at brian park for providing a live shot location. who is going to be the first one to get out on the ice and do the triple axle? scott, you or nancy? >> i'll do it. >> gretchen: i'll let him. >> steve: you'll have to watch the show on fox. we thank you for joining us live. >> thank you. >> steve: all right. meanwhile, 21 minutes before the top of the hour. while most of congress fights over who is at fault for the super committee's failure, john mccain is worried about the fallout. what do the drastic cuts mean for our military? the senator will be here live next. then they're bound to become this year's ungettable gifts. the hottest toys for the holidays and where you can find those things coming up just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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>> gretchen: welcome back. president obama warning congress he will veto any attempt to roll back cuts triggered by the super committee's failure to reach the deal, including $600 billion in cuts to defense. >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise. not turn off the pressure. the only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> steve: time to eat your peas. joining us now with reaction is

arizona senator john mccain. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. how are you gang? >> steve: doing okay. although when i heard the president say that yesterday, i immediately thought of you because you and some other senators have been trying to figure a way to lessen the impact of the sequester and now the president says if you try anything, i'm going to veto it! >> let me say, first of all, obviously again, the president has disregarded the recommendations of his secretary of defense, leon panetta, who said we would have a hollow army, the smallest air force in history, the smallest navy since 1915 and the smallest army since 1940. military chiefs have said these cuts would be totally devastating. we live in a dangerous world as we should know. so the president again is disregarded the strong recommendations and warnings of the secretary of defense and the leaders of the military. the second thing is, of course, that if we had agreed to the deal that the democrats had

proposed, it would have split the republican party. i'll tell you guys, because people like me who ran for reelection in 2010 said, we won't raise taxes in hard times. they wanted a trillion dollars in tax increases and never budged from that. and right away i'm proud of pat toomey and jon kile and jeb hensarling and all of these other people who stood fast under enormous liberal pressure. >> gretchen: it still doesn't look good, i don't think, for america to not be able to come up with some sort of a solution and it leaves you scratching your head about why congress' approval rating is at 12% right now. let me ask you this -- >> last time i saw it, it was at 9. we're down to blood relatives and paid staffers. >> gretchen: all right. if only it were so funny. but let me talk about senator toomey because he was on the show earlier. >> i saw him. >> gretchen: he's also concerned about these defense cuts and he

alluded to the fact that maybe this might be one of the few bipartisan things that you guys can come together on, that maybe some democrat also also agree that defense cutting is not the way to go and he was proposing maybe agriculture subsidies going away. what do you make of that? >> i'm all for that. senator lindsey graham and i are working on a proposal that we could continue to have defense savings and by the way, over the next ten years, there is already planned $460 billion in defense cuts. we've already cut $20 billion for fiscal year 2012. we are reducing defense spending and we're doing it rather dramatically. so i think we should do away with the agricultural subsidies. there is a whole lot of things we should do. finally, we should go ahead -- who disagrees on tax reform? why don't we scrap the tax code, have three tax brackets, have two deductions, mortgage deductions and donations to charity, and scrap the rest of

it? find any american who wouldn't agree with that. >> brian: in the "washington post" today, they bring up a recommendation for reset. they say let's go back to erskine bowl, make adjustments for both sides and offer that for a vote. how would you feel about that? >> i think it's better, frankly. there are some parts of erskine bowles that i disagree with, but i think it's better than doing nothing and i think we could make significant changes. i'm afraid that the philosophical differences between the two parties may have to be decided next november. >> brian: what about the president not saying anything, pretty much yet even in the morning when he's signing that bill, not meeting with patty muiry, she was sitting right next to him. and blaming his republicans in the afternoon. what about his leadership style through this whole thing? >> look, you know what his strategy is? despite fact he had overwhelming majorities in his first two years as president of the united states and did all kinds of things that obviously in my view have turned out in making things

worse, now his whole strategy is blame it on congress. that's the whole thing and it's unfortunate, but -- i don't think it will work. but we republicans have to come up with a solid economic proposal, jobs creation plans that we've been kind of all over the lot on. if we had a kind of a contract with america like we had back during the clinton years when we gave -- regained control of the congress, it would make a huge difference. we've got to have more positive proposals, although they're out there, but we got to be more -- show solidarity. >> gretchen: because it's always more difficult to go up against an incumbent who has the advantage just because of that. senator, happy thanksgiving to you. i hope you get to spend some time with your family. >> same to you, turkeys. >> brian: thank you very much. >> steve: we were that close to getting away. >> brian: my next question is when are you inviting us out to the ranch? we were supposed to do this like years ago. >> absolutely. we're going to have you out next

thanksgiving. >> gretchen: yeah right. >> brian: i'll wait for my voice mail. >> steve: thank you very much. straight ahead, get them while they're hot. the top toys for 2011 when we come back. >> gretchen: but first, let's check in with martha for what's on at the top of the hour. >> good morning, all you turkeys. good morning everybody out there. coming up here on america's news room, some brand-new polls we just caught. wait until you see what's happening now in this dynamic and are we greece? why can't our government get anything done? big questions this morning. steve hayes, senator john cornyn, congressman allen west, larry sabato, all of them will take that on and a new scandal in football, coming up. i was taking a multivitamin... but my needs changed...

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>> brian: black friday is three days away.

which toys are the ones to gob grab and how can you take advantage of those crazy deals? adrian is a toy expert with toys r us and here for the second straight year to talk about the hottest toys coming our way this holiday. welcome back. >> thank you. >> brian: let's start with the nerf. let's start over here with mickey mouse. >> mickey mouse, so this year mickey is rocking out. he has these really cool shades on, a lot of fun for kids, you just turn him on and he is ready to start going. you just press his foot. he's rocking the house. kids love this. he's got cool dance moves. kids will love to interact with mickey. >> brian: disney is pushing mickey again. after a while leaving him dormant, now he's coming back. does he only go to the left? >> no, he does the splits too, if we let him go. he'll dance and then do the splits. >> brian: wow. look at that. how much would this cost? >> this is $40. mickey is a lot of fun. really cool this year. and it's a perennial favorite.

that's why so popular. >> brian: i asked you about this garbage truck and i said what's the attraction? >> it's gross. >> brian: what do you mean it's gross? >> kids love gross toys n. this garbage truck you can fit ten different trashys. trashys are these little collectible creatures. they're gross and icky. they're a loft fun, kids love to collect items. >> brian: what do you do with them? what does it do? >> you collect them, you pick all the different rare characters. kids are all about collectibles, they want to share, swap with their friends. hundreds of different kinds so you can collect. >> brian: so we have the garbage truck. now we have? >> these are so cute! >> brian: big heads north texas neck. >> big heads. it's focused on the raggedy ann, the button eyes, really cute outfits. >> brian: what is it not having a nose? >> you know, they're so cute. this right here, this is the -- the name of this one is snuggles. so it's the man's fluff and stuff little sister.

>> brian: how much would this cost? >> twenty-one dollars. >> brian: this is? >> this is my keep on. you turn on the cylinder base and this item is really cool. it has two different types of modes, interactive mode, which is touch. it's turning on and getting with the surroundings. you can give it a hug. and it will react. you can also bop him on his head and he'll bounce. plus, you can turn it into music mode and if we had an ipod that you could play with it. >> brian: this is good for an only child. >> a lot of this is all about getting the attention of the child that is playing with. so really curiousity. squeeze it again. love the affection. so really paying attention. >> brian: this is probably my favorite. there you go. this is the gun. this is fantastic. >> this is the nerf vigilant. it's really cool. they have nerf disks instead of the darts. you're all out of disks. but they're foam disks so what happens is they can blast up to

50 feet away. that's really far for a nerf item. really cool and under $20. >> brian: everything is affordable. but yet hot. what is going to be the gift that is no longer on the shelves 'cause i waited too long? >> you definitely don't want to wait too long, but it's all about picking right gift for the child you're shopping for. if it's a four-year-old girl, they won't the same toy as an eight-year-old boy. these toys are really hot. go to toysrhouse.com/hot toys and check out all the ties for the age range you're looking for. >> brian: you would be a good person to have in the grab bag. >> definitely. >> brian: i guess mickey is going to dance us out. >> all right. >> brian: is that it? >> yep, then press on his right foot here. he's going to rock the house. >> brian: unfortunately, you have to go. we're going to be back with a few messages. i'm going to stare at mickey and watch him dance. back in a moment. ok, people. show me the best way to design

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